A question of prohibition

This pix is currently circulating on the web, it reminds me of an article I read this morning :

After serving thirty years of the ban, during which consumption of alcohol beverages in the country has grown manifold, the debate on whitening of Pakistan's large black market in alcohol business has surfaced again. The issue was recently raised in parliament with one member of the ruling party making a case for its legalisation.

- By M Ismail Khan, The News,Pakistan.

However, the reason that he had given for this was very specific and conditional – he was saying that the country had a very high number of hard drug addicts and that alcohol could be used to wean these addicts away from these drugs. In addition to this, the issue has cropped up in civil society debate with some arguing for legalisation so that the government can through taxation enhance its revenue generation. Keeping all this in mind, there seems no harm in joining in the debate.

Now before I offer my own strong opinion on the subject, it would be prudent to look around and see what is actually going on in the big picture. Many of our zealots will be pleased to learn that George W. Bush is one the world's rarest head of state, commander-in-chief, and the chief executive, who doesn't drink alcohol. He reportedly quit drinking when he was in his twenties and has managed to stay that way. However, this is not to say that Mr Bush would have been more considerate about the loss of human lives in Iraq and Afghanistan caused by his policies had he not been a 'dry' person.

The United States banned alcohol in 1920 through the eighteenth amendment to its constitution, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors. But it took only a decade or so for the people there to realise the futility of this exercise, and the amendment had to be repealed – by another one, the twenty-first, in 1933. Though many historians credit the prohibition act to political pressure exerted by feminist groups fighting domestic problem, but since till 1920 women did not even have the right to vote in the US, most likely the prohibition experiment was the result of earlier movements by fundamentalist religious groups, especially the Methodists, and later on by the Protestants, against alcoholic beverages. Similar prohibition attempts, made from time to time in other countries like Canada, Russia, Iceland, Norway and Finland have failed due to one reason or the other.

Muslim countries, or rather countries with predominantly Muslim population, have faced a similar dilemma. In open and liberal ones like Turkey, Malaysia, Egypt and Indonesia people enjoy considerable freedom of choice and this includes the right to consume alcoholic and/or non-alcoholic beverages. Those living in more conservative countries like Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia also enjoy freedom of choice but this they must exercise in secret. Those who have the money and interest can do this no matter where they live. But the secretive approach often results in disastrous consequences due to corruption and use of sub-standard products.

Iran has found it difficult to rid itself of bootleg liquor. Even after enhancing the punishment for drinking to 74 lashes, a heavy fine and imprisonment of three months to a year, Iranian meykash are not willing to give up. Despite the stringent crackdowns, and confiscations of tens of thousands of bottles, they find bootleggers who will get them anything from French wine to Russian vodka.

In March 2006, the Saudi newspaper Okaz reported that as many as 20 people died after drinking poisoned cologne in the cities of Makkah, Taif, Medina and Riyadh, and 40 other people were also admitted to hospital, some in critical condition. Saudi Arabia applies a strict interpretation of Islamic law, bans alcohol but the people are so pent up that they drink the nearly poisonous cologne in the kingdom as a substitute for alcohol, or that's what the report would suggest. Recently, the Saudi ambassador in Ankara created waves in the media by serving alcoholic beverages to his guests at a mixed dinner held to celebrate the arrival of the new ambassadors from Yemen, Algeria and Palestine.

Pakistan is no exception. Here, every year newspapers report confiscation of thousands of liquor bottles, and dozens of people dying after drinking substandard and/or poisonous homemade liquor (in many cases what they end up drinking is no different from pure spirit). From 1947 to 1977, alcoholic beverages were tolerated publicly, and small scale and well-regulated liquor houses were open under the supervision of the government in bigger cities. However, in 1977, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, an avid socialite himself, in his efforts to appease the religious establishment, enacted prohibition.

Thirty years down the line, it is perhaps a good time to reflect on the progress made so far. It would be interesting to find out how Pakistan of 2007 is faring with the Pakistan before 1977. Has prohibition succeeded in its basic objectives? Has it made people more pious than they already were? Have corruption, nepotism, street crimes, fraud, usury, rape, prostitution, drug addiction and all the other un-Islamic and immoral deeds gone down?

An honest assessment will tell us that it has not – prohibition has failed, as did the spirit behind the prohibition. All kinds of alcoholic beverages continue to be available to those who can afford them. According to a study, Pakistan has maintained a steady growth in the use of alcoholic drinks all these years. Per capita consumption of alcoholic drinks has crossed one litre in 2006, which is a pretty tipsy figure considering that 97 per cent of the nation is officially banned from drinking.

Smugglers, criminal gangs, and black marketeers are the biggest beneficiaries of the ban and are making billions of rupees in this tax-free illegal trade. The handful of licensed liquor producers such a Murree Brewery cannot meet the ever-growing demand in the country, and the covertly operated private distilleries pose bigger threats to human consumption due to their unhygienic and substandard quality.

This black market alcohol industry has also created new avenues for corruption and bribe opportunities among policing institutions. The biggest loser has been the state treasury -- which gets ripped off of major revenue in taxation and duty. There is no doubt that the use of alcohol is un-Islamic and cannot be encouraged but one cannot say the same for taxation on the use of alcohol -- a business that exists and is in fact flourishing outside the taxation net. Business, as they say, does not follow ideology. It can be regulated but cannot be prohibited as it makes its own way.



The writer is from the Northern Areas, and is presently based in Islamabad. He has a background in media, public policy, and governance.

Women's Fair Representation Looks Decades Away

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 1 (IPS) - Although nearly 17 percent of the world's parliamentarians are women -- a rise of 4.7 percent compared to 1995 and an all-time high -- the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) says that the pace of reform is so slow, it would be another 70 years before women achieved full parity with men in politics.


"I have great doubts about the coming years," IPU Secretary-General Anders B. Johnsson told IPS. "I do expect setbacks to happen, but I hope we can successfully reverse them."

On Mar. 1, the IPU presented its latest statistics on women in parliament following parliamentary turnovers in 51 countries (61 chambres of parliament) over the last 12 years. Rwanda continues to rank in first place, with women holding 48.8 percent of seats in the Lower House. Still, only three other countries in the world have reached at least 30 percent female representation -- Sweden (47.3 percent), Costa Rica (38.6) and the Netherlands (36.7).

"The increase in the number of women is slower than in the preceding years and if we are aiming for equality in parliament -- roughly 50 percent men and 50 percent women -- then we will wait until 2077 to celebrate this event," Johnsson noted.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro also recognised this gloomy trend. During the opening of the 51st session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) this week, she said that: "Thanks to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Beijing Platform for Action, we have a clear road map for all actors -- governments, civil society and the United Nations family -- to end discrimination against women and girls and to speed up progress towards gender equality."

"But while goals and commitments are in place, we still have far to go in ensuring their full implementation of representation in decision-making positions," Migiro added.

According to Johnsson, there are number of regions where women have undergone setbacks. "We have seen no progress in the Pacific Islands the last decade and judging from the past, we don't see much hope for progress coming in the next elections," he said. Less than three percent of the Pacific Islands' parliamentarians are women.

The IPU also saw missed opportunities in post-conflict states. "Most of them were doing well and made sure women can be elected, but in Congo and Haiti that was not the case. The number of female parliamentarians therefore decreased," Johnsson said.

"Maybe one reason for the decrease in Congo and Haiti is the fact that there were no quota systems in either one of those countries," he added. "In countries that practice some kind of quota system, the number of women returned in those elections reached almost 22 percent, while in the countries that do not use quota systems, this percentage was barely 12 percent. This is a considerable difference."

Barbara Prammer, speaker of the Austria's Parliament, argued during the presentation of the IPU statistics Thursday that: "Women have a different way of [doing] politics. We have a high feeling of responsibility."

"Women who are in power should not forget their past. They are now role models and have to think of what they can do for other women," she said. "They have to get other women into power as well."

Margareth Mensah-Williams, vice president of the IPU Executive Committee and vice chairperson of the National Council of Namibia, stressed that women in power should reach out to the media to increase gender sensitivity among the public. "We don't want a stereotype portrayal," she stressed.

The good news, Johnsson said, is that "the number of women who are presiding parliaments is higher than ever". Of the 262 presiding officer posts in parliaments around the world, 35 are occupied by women. Several of them were elected just recently.

In the Arab states, progress also continues. The United Arab Emirates has the "honour of being the country with the highest increase of all countries," Johnsson said. The percentage of women in that parliament increased from 0 percent to 22 percent.

"[This] reflects a growing trend in that part of the world where more and more women can vote but are also elected to parliament," he said.

Latin America is the continent with the highest female representation in parliaments. In most of the recent 20 elections, women made notable gains.

During the 51st session of the CSW, other organisations also discussed female representation in government.

The Global Youth Action Network published a report for the CSW that included the results of a worldwide questionnaire of 1,318 young people from 59 countries and eight regions, mostly under the age of 20. More than half of the young people who participated in this process were girls and young women.

One of the key findings was that respondents believed that "Governments are primarily responsible for protecting girls from violence and discrimination."

According to the report, the message of young people is clear: "They want more representation in the groups that interact with the political and legal decision makers to ensure that the rights of girls are respected, and viewed as important."

When young girls were asked what they would do for women if they were the head of their country for one day, they mostly responded that girls should get an education.

Sadly, some of the girls could not imagine the concept of being a leader. "Although the girls were given the chance to imagine themselves as leaders, many could not bring themselves to visualise such a thing," an Ethiopian facilitator of the questionnaire said.

The main goal of the CSW is to reach conclusions on priority themes for each year. The conclusions consist of an analysis of the major theme of concern and a collection of recommendations for governments, intergovernmental bodies, several institutions, civil society actors and other relevant stakeholders. Such recommendations should be implemented at international, national, regional and local level.

The IPU reported that of the 43,882 parliament seats in the world, 36,446 are occupied by men and 7,436 by women.

The percentage of women in single and lower houses throughout the world is 17.1 percent. There are 33,174 parliamentarians active in single or lower houses -- 30,812 of them are men and 6,326 are women.

In the upper houses and senates of the 51 countries surveyed, 16 percent of the parliamentarians are women.

Established in 1889, the IPU is a focal point of worldwide parliamentary dialogue and works for peace and cooperation among peoples and for the firm establishment of representative democracy

Ernst-Jan Pfauth - IPS (Inter Press Service News Agency)


United Nations women parliamentarians

Malaysia distances itself from Mahathir

Malaysia's government sought to distance itself from a war tribunal set up by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad to try world leaders, including John Howard and George W Bush, for alleged war crimes.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Mahathir's move was an "independent effort" and would not hurt Malaysia's ties with the countries whose leaders were accused of committing crimes against humanity.

Mahathir, who remains a respected figure in the Islamic world after his retirement in October 2003 after 22 years in power, launched the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal on Wednesday. The tribunal doesn't have the legal authority of an international organisation and cannot impose penalties.

It plans to hold trials based on complaints by Iraqis and Palestinians against leaders including Howard, Bush, Britain's Tony Blair and Israel's ex-prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Syed Hamid said he doesn't think Mahathir's actions will hurt Malaysia's relations with the United States and the other countries.

"Even in the (United) States, there are groups who don't agree with the war," he told reporters. "If you are mature enough in international relations, we must allow for existence of differing views."

He said the war tribunal was a reflection of democracy in Malaysia.

Mahathir "has taken that approach. I will not say the government supports or objects to it," he said.

"It is an independent tribunal. Let them take the initiative which is within their rights as citizens of Malaysia ... it is nice to see freedom being exercised."

The tribunal received its first petition on Wednesday, signed by 10 people who said they were victims of crimes against humanity in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

Most members of the nine-person tribunal are Malaysian legal experts and former judges, but it plans to add more foreign members.
(The West Australian)


Malaysia Mahathir Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

Johor floods-Was reclamation responsible?

Singapore reclamation work seems to be having environmental impact
(The Star)

TO the naked eye, it is clear that reclamation work by Singapore have resulted in Pulau Tekong, which belongs to the republic, coming too close to Malaysia, Utusan Malaysia said.

The newspaper had sent a team on a boat ride in the Straits of Johor to check on the reclamation there and ascertain if it could have caused the bad flooding in Johor recently.

The team said that from the boat, they could clearly see that Singapore had reclaimed land far into the sea towards Malaysia and the waters on the Singapore side have become so narrow that it could not be used even by small boats.

The newspaper said the reclamation had also made the Johor River and the Straits of Johor shallow and this had affected the flow of water.

Pasir Gogok Fishermen Association chairman Ismail Hassan said he had received many complaints from members that the water which used to be 60m deep was now only 40m.

He believed the narrowing and sedimentation of the Johor River from reclamation work meant that the water could not flow freely into the straits.

He added the shallower river had resulted in the water overflowing its banks and flooding Kota Tinggi.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar downplayed remarks by Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, saying there were "all sorts of possibilities" that had led to the devastation.

"Before we give any view about what triggered the floods and all this sort of thing, we are going to undertake a technical study," Syed Hamid told reporters.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also had dismissed Ghani’s remarks.

The Johor MB had said the recent floods that devastated the state may have been caused by Singapore’s land reclamation work on Pulau Tekong opposite the mouth of Sungai Johor.

He had said the reclamation had effectively plugged the mouth of Sungai Johor, causing it to burst its banks after torrential rains in January and flood the inland town of Kota Tinggi.

Yesterday, Singapore rejected Ghani’s claim.

"The comments are unfounded," Singapore’s Ministry of National Development said in a statement.

"This is confirmed by the results from technical studies that were commissioned separately by both the Malaysian government and the Singapore government," the ministry said.

Singapore has rebutted the claim and even Malaysia 's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak has distanced himself from his colleague's statement.

"There are all sorts of allegations but we can't reach any conclusion unless a thorough technical study is done on the cause of floods in Johor," he said. "The actual cause of the floods is exceptionally heavy rainfall."

Meanwhile Singapore's Ministry of National Development (MND) said in response to media queries: "The comments are unfounded. This is confirmed by the results from the technical studies that were commissioned separately by both the Malaysia n government and the Singapore government."

The studies were carried out as part of the proceedings before the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to settle the dispute on Singapore's land reclamation works at Pulau Tekong and Tuas View Extension.

The MND pointed out that a study carried out by Malaysia 's Department of Irrigation and Drainage in 2002 on the impact of the reclamation works should there were no appreciable changes to the water levels within the Straits of Johor for flood flows.

"As such, the study concluded that there is no increased flooding due to Singapore's reclamation works," said the MND. Other studies came to similar conclusions.

Both governments then accepted that it would not be necessary for the flood impact to be assessed any further.

"There is, therefore, no scientific basis to the allegations that the flood is caused by Singapore's land reclamation works in Pulau Tekong," said the MND.

The Johor administration has come under increasing pressure in the wake of the floods that killed 17 people and left Malaysia with a massive RM1.5 billion bill — the cost of helping the flood victims and repairing roads and schools. About 30,000 people are still taking shelter at relief centres.

Until now the Johor government had not pointed fingers at anybody over the floods. In fact, it had been banking on visitors from Singapore to help bring its economy back on its feet

Did Singapore’s Reclamation Works Cause Kota Tinggi’s Drowning?
(Malaysia watch2- H J Angus)

It would be difficult to determine if this reclamation project is indeed the cause of the river not being able to discharge the flood waters as quickly as before unless we have evidence to show that the river’s mean velocity has indeed been reduced by the project.

It is basic science that if something is obstructing the flow of water, the flow will be affected but the actual quantum should be based on proper measurements studies on the change in the characteristics of the river.

The project commenced in 2002 and Malaysia took the case to the ITLOS in 2003 who ruled in Singapore’s favour with the agreement that “the recommendations of the experts would be used as the basis of a "mutually acceptable and beneficial solution". “

Our case to make this claim will be weakened if we did not do the following as soon as the project started:

• Monitor the water flow average velocity
• Measure the rate of silting along river course and mouth
• Size of the reclaimed island
• Changes in the tide

And correlate all the results. Of course presupposing that there had been no illegal logging further upstream.

We had at least one year to get monthly readings on these and other(?) data but did we provide ITLOS any data to support our complaints?

Now with the Kota Tinggi floods we start to point fingers again but what happened to the experts and their recommendations?

Otherwise a river widening and deepening project should have been a priority for the 9MP. Speaking of land reclamation works, the bridge to Permas Jaya gives a very good view of a major land reclamation works on the JB side. The massive clearing of the mangrove and major construction works here may also may been the cause of some of the floods.


Malaysia Johor flood Singapore Singapore reclamation work

Oh, Pak Lah

Fifty-year-old Malaysia is in crisis.

The effective ceasefire in inter-ethnic relations put into place after 1969 has after almost 40 years, led to an impasse in Malaysian political discussion.

Many feel it but are at a loss as to what can be done. This crisis is more than economic. It is systemic in the sense that a bankruptcy of ideas plagues both the regime and the opposition. For example, Malaysian journalists normally feel they have to fish for news by getting politicians to say something controversial which they then quickly ask other politicians to comment on, and so news is created. Such ad hoc news tends to be superficial, gossipy and is easily forgotten.

The hope for reforms and honest government that many felt after Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi took over as premier in October 2003 has greatly waned over the last three years. Now, when the country starts out on a lackluster and faltering Ninth Malaysia Plan and prepares to acknowledge 50 years of independence, many are not certain about what it is they are to work for and what it is that they are to celebrate.

The floods that hit the country this year have dampened spirits even more.

Two separate issues over the past week painted a stumbling, weak and fumbling Prime Minister.

First, copies of official documents have been circulated on the Internet with regards to a purported US$50 billion foreign fund-raising exercise by the Government.

In the name of accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance, Abdullah must clarify three things, urged Lim Kit Siang,

1. Whether and why the government has adopted the unusual and even extraordinary arrangement to raise US$50 billion funding for the Ninth Malaysia Plan infrastructure development projects from 25 world top prime bank or local prime bank through dubious private companies.

2. Whether and why Asasatu Technology Sdn. Bhd, whose status in the latest record in Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) is “winding up”, has been chosen to arrange the USD50 billion for the Malaysian government.

A check with the SSM, the particulars of Asasatu Technology Sdn. Bhd are:

(i) Address: No, Jalan Arowana 4,
Kawasan Perniagaan Arowana, 13500, Permatang Pauh, Penang

(ii) Shareholder/director – Zubir bin Ahmad 1,980,000 shares
-Rosni binti Rahmat 20,000 shares

(iii) Last filed accounts – 31st Dec. 2000.
(a)Fixed assets RM542,248; current assets RM1,976,421.
(b) Current liabilities RM1,071,641; long-term liabilities RM321,756.
(c)Profit for the year RM39,512; accumulated profits RM125,272.
(d) Four “unsatisfied” charges to four banks exceeding RM7 million.

3. Whether and why the partner and agent of Asasatu Technology Sdn. Bhd. to arrange for the USD50 billion financing for the government’s Ninth Malaysia Plan is the Sydney-based Project Equity Services Group (PESG). An Internet search raises many questions about the PESG, whether it is a front-company for Roland Bleyer, who is also President of Union Financial Services Corporation and dogged by a long history of allegations of scams by their victims world-wide.

As the Malaysian Government has prided itself as one of the advanced exponents of e-government, the Prime Minister cannot turn a blind-eye and claim ignorance of such Internet material.

If Abdullah is really in the dark about such Internet material, LKS is prepared to forward to him all relevant information.

Second, the New Straits Times Publications (NSTP) – Utusan Malaysia Merger exercise.

Sections of the country's Malay community are up in arms over the proposed merger of New Straits Times Press (NSTP) and Utusan Malaysia, two of the country's oldest media groups closely linked to the government.

Critics say that it would dilute the so-called 'Malayness' of Utusan Malaysia, the flagship publication of the governing party Umno, undermining the paper's role as the defender of Malay rights.

Umno controls a direct 50 per cent interest in Utusan, and several members of the party's main policy-making body voiced objections to the deal. They argued that the merger plan would not be well received by the Malay community and could trigger a backlash against Umno.

However, Umno's top leadership, led by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, looks favourably upon the merger.

It was clear from earlier media statements since December that the Prime Minster and his deputy were pretty much behind the move to merge the two UMNO owned media entities in Malaysia.

After much “deliberation” and sniping behind the scenes by UMNO Supreme Council members as well as Ministers themselves who objected to the move, the merger exercise has finally been called off.

This was after it has been reported in the media that the Supreme Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of aborting the exercise (43-8), despite the Prime Minister and his deputy voting in favour. It is probably the closest one can get to a rebellion within UMNO.

And what was the Prime Minister's public response?

He claimed that the decision to abort the proposed New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd (NSTP) and Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd merger is the “best decision”. The Prime Minister said he had had reservations when the proposal was first mooted. “But I thought it was best to give those who proposed it some time to consider it carefully.”
“it is the best decision” and that he “had reservations”


Tun Dr Ismail's autobiography "The Reluctant Politician" by Dr Ooi Kee, has a section where he thought that Malaysians of all races, going to the government "is one of the easiest ways to make money; and they know very well that some [may be] thrown out in five-yearly elections [...] so they accept bribes and become corrupt".

He is certainly right in that many do join the government or the governing political parties for it is indeed one of the easiest ways to make money. Unfortunately, he was wrong in that political developments in the country over the past 30 years have seen these politicians entrench their positions, with little possibility of being dumped in elections.


Malaysia Abdullah 9MP Media merge

Defend your right to free speech!

Calling one, calling all! Defend your right to free speech!

This is the official statement of Bloggers United. This statement is jointly drafted by Susan Loone and Sheih of Kickdefella. All those who believe in justice and right to free speech, please sign on and put this up in your blogs. Spread it around; let it grow far and wide. The fight is on!
- kickdefella

BLOGGERS UNITED CONDEMN ACTION AGAINST ROCKY & JEFF & DEMAND LEVEL PLAYING FIELD in ALL ACTION AGAINST BLOGGERS

We, Malaysian bloggers, we, who believe in justice and right to free speech, we, who endorse the Bloggers United movement, unanimously condemn the action taken by media conglomerate NST against bloggers Rocky Bru and Jeff Ooi. The action by the newspaper against the duo is an action against all bloggers who believe in their right to free speech, freedom of expression and justice.

The recent event may seem like a grave development in the path of bloggers, but it can never and must never impede or stop us from defending our right to speak, to express, to write and to tell the truth, to be the watchdog, eyes and ears of the people, or simply to share our view, and give fair comment on any subject which involves and affects us as humans, as rightful citizens of this country.

The recent event may very well give the government owned media the opportunity to dictate the so-called ‘truth” but such actions only prove that bloggers must unite, continue to uphold the right to free speech and freedom of expression, fight for justice, even if it is not our own, be more alert, committed to the cause of free speech, relentless and persistence in the face of such persecution like the one which had befallen on the two of us.


What YOU do to any of US, is what YOU do to ALL.

As responsible bloggers, we demand and claim our space on the blogosphere for free and fair comment, where important national issues and prominent personalities are discussed.

Although it may seem as if the NSTP defamation suits will have a chilling effect on freedom of bloggers, as litigation can be expensive and may jeorpadise a blogger’s economic position, we will not be cowed or silenced by those who have no regard for free speech.

If you find our post offensive, you may refute us with correct facts and figures and fair comment, in the spirit of free speech.

The first two cases will have grave impact not only on the internet, but country as a whole as the country celebrates VMY2007. The healthy, mature and democratic growth for free speech and expression in our midst is at stake. The reputation of the nation as it strives to promote our multimedia supercorridor and love for IT will be a national joke for all the world to feast on.

We demand for a level playing field in all action meted out to bloggers and in particular in the defamation proceedings particularly in terms of financial resources and capabilities, and secondly, that the legal rights of bloggers et al are properly protected in keeping with the imperatives of an information society and knowledge economy which Malaysia aspires to become.

For further information, please contact blogger susan loone at susanloone@gmail.com and sheih at kickdefella@yahoo.com

**********

Charter 2000-Aliran is deeply concerned by the recent defamation suit brought out by the New Straits Times Press against bloggers Jeff Ooi of "Screenshots" fame and Ahirudin Attan ("Rocky's Bru") for their allegedly defamatory postings.

Although we don't intend to go into details of the case as it might be interpreted as being sub judice, we are disturbed by the repercussions the suit might have on blogging circles in the country. Bloggers may feel pressured to exercise more self-censorship and caution and this might deter them from exposing abuse of power and corruption at the highest levels.

This suit is also politically significant especially for advocates of freedom of expression, since the space available for democratic discourse on the Internet is far wider than the shrinking space available to the mainstream media. The mainstream media rarely expose major scandals or display investigative journalism. This uncritical and unquestioning approach was especially evident in their reporting of the case of the murdered Mongolian woman.

Given this political context, a legal suit - especially if it involves a claim of damages that runs into the millions - may open the floodgates to other attempts to muzzle bloggers and webmasters using legal means.

In the name of accountability, transparency and good governance, we call upon the government to institute reforms that strengthen democratic institutions and protect the right to free expression in the media, including the Internet.

Dr Mustafa Kamal Anuar & Anil Netto

Coordinators

Charter 2000-Aliran

19 January 2007

June Tan : Bloggers sued: A chronology of events
Kean-Jin Lim : Leave bloggers in Malaysia alone!
Lucia Lai : defamation suit against bloggers
Politic 101 : Boycott Monsterblog
Howsy : NST's Defamation Suit Against Bloggers: The Snowball Effect Aftermath Prediction
Sun2surf : NST sues Jeff Ooi, Rocky for defamation
Tony Pua : The Silence of the Bloggers
Susan loone : Calling one, calling all! Defend your right to free speech!
kickdefella : Calling one, calling all! Defend your right to free speech!
Jeff Ooi : Bloggers sued in Malaysia... ( 2 )
The Star : NSTP gets injunction to remove blog postings
Unspun : Not all are fans of Malaysin bloggers
Global Voices : Bloggers Sued
A Kadir Jasin : Blogger Lwn NSTP: Terima Kasih Atas Simpati
Aliran : Blocking bloggers
Singapore Tomorrow : Malaysian Bloggers Sued by New Straits Times Malaysia.

dirty politic

In Malaysia, government’s lax attitude to banning of books shows poor grasp of implications

Book banning: Extreme censorship
(CIJ-Centre for Independent Journalism)

The banning of books is a serious violation of freedom of expression. It should not be done at all, and never done lightly. It is thus distressing that the Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow implies that book bannings can be reversed or re-considered if there are complaints from distributors or importers. This implies firstly a lax attitude towards the banning of books, and second it puts the onus for action on book distributors, whereas the responsibility should lie with the Ministry to ensure that no frivolous bannings occur.

CIJ has learnt from local sources that Datuk Fu has responded to media coverage of banned or restricted books by saying that the Ministry has not received complaints about book banning from distributors. He further said that a meeting will be held with the distributors to discuss how the process of banning books can be made more transparent. While CIJ applauds the move to engage in consultation and improve openness within the Ministry, the underlying assumption that books must be banned is disconcerting.

It is also worrying that the Ministry is looking at making the banning process more streamlined, rather than reconsidering whether book banning is important, effective or consistent with Malaysia's aim of achieving Vision 2020 within the next decade and a half. When books are banned, ideas are removed from circulation. This stunts the ability of our students, academics and general public from dealing with controversial ideas, and assumes a paternalistic attitude that is not suited to a country with a high standard of educational achievement.

The Centre for Independent Journalism has, further, consistently condemned the banning of books, and with a group of over 100 individuals and 10 organizations had called for a repeal of the ban of 18 books banned in June 2006. The organization reiterates the call for an end to the banning of books and a repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

The Centre for Independent Journalism, Malaysia (CIJ) is a media organization that aims to improve current Malaysian journalism practice and independence through advocacy, research and analysis, training and practical work. Started in 2001, CIJ has initiated various projects in developing grassroots communications skills through training, infrastructural support and direct action.

Ends

Issued by

Sonia Randhawa
Executive Director

Southeast Asian Press lliance

The implication that book bannings in Malaysia can be reversed or reconsidered upon complaints from distributors or importers has distressed a local communication rights organisation.

“This implies, firstly, a lax attitude toward the banning of books and, second, it puts the onus for action on book distributors, whereas the responsibility should lie with the (Internal Security) Ministry to ensure that no frivolous bannings occur,” said the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) in a 9 January 2007 release.

Notwithstanding that, CIJ reiterated, “The banning of books is a serious violation of freedom of expression. It should not be done at all, and never done lightly.”

CIJ, a SEAPA partner in Malaysia, was responding to a 9 January report in “theSun” daily quoting Deputy Internal Security Minister Fu Ah Kiow as welcoming complaints from book distributors dissatisfied over arbitrary censorship of titles, an issue that came to light in recent months.

The deputy minister acknowledged the inconsistent interpretation of the censorship guideline at different entry points to the country and said the procedure will be streamlined.

While CIJ applauded the ministry’s move to engage in consultation and improve openness within, it found the underlying assumption that books must be banned disconcerting.

“It is also worrying that the ministry is looking at making the banning process more streamlined, rather than reconsidering whether book banning is important, effective or consistent with Malaysia’s aim of achieving Vision 2020 within the next decade and a half.”

(”Vision 2020″ is Malaysia’s blueprint to make it a developed nation in 2020.)

“When books are banned, ideas are removed from circulation. This stunts the ability of our students, academics and general public from dealing with controversial ideas, and assumes a paternalistic attitude that is not suited to a country with a high standard of educational achievement,” said CIJ.

CIJ has consistently condemned the banning of books and with a group of over 100 individuals and 10 organisations had called for a repeal of the ban on 18 books in June 2006 (see its past alerts here: http://www.cijmalaysia.org/ ).

SEAPA supports CIJ’s repeated calls for an end to the banning of books and a repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

---

The Thai government blocked access Monday to a U.S.-based pornography website that uses an image of Buddha as its logo and is calling on Buddhists around the world to condemn the site, an official said.

The Chicago-based website, www.buddha-porn.com, features sexually explicit material beneath an image of a golden statue of a seated Buddha and contains pornographic images divided up in different categories named, the Buddha Galleries, Nirvana Galleries, and Satori Galleries — the last two referring to Buddhist beliefs about reaching enlightenment.

I’m still trying to figure out the attraction of insulting other people’s religion with this type of nonsense.

The website’ s home page offers this disclaimer: “This site is in no way associated with religion and any religious symbols on this site are just a joke…”

Sorry, guys. The joke ain’t funny and we are not amused…


The News ;

BANGKOK — The Thai government blocked access Monday to a U.S.-based pornography website that uses an image of Buddha as its logo and is calling on Buddhists around the world to condemn the site, an official said.

The Chicago-based website, www.buddha-porn.com, features sexually explicit material beneath an image of a golden statue of a seated Buddha and contains pornographic images divided up in different categories named, the Buddha Galleries, Nirvana Galleries, and Satori Galleries — the last two referring to Buddhist beliefs about reaching enlightenment.

About 90 per cent of Thailand's 65 million people are Buddhist.

“It certainly crosses the line in a Buddhist society, “ said Culture Ministry official Ladda Tangsuphachai, adding that the site was blocked by the Information Ministry after culture officials brought it to their attention. “We ask Buddhists around the world to send letters to condemn the website, ” he said.

The Foreign Ministry is asking the website' s administrators, through the U.S. Embassy in Thailand, to remove all Buddhist references from the site, Mr. Ladda said.

“I don't know what their intention is, but I assume they did not know that this is unacceptable in our culture,” Mr. Ladda said.

The website' s home page offers this disclaimer: “This site is in no way associated with religion and any religious symbols on this site are just a joke.”
- AP

Malaysia book ban Thailand website block

Confession from the ex-PM on the toll concession agreement,

In the midst of the furor over the toll charge hike, Dr Mahathir admitted that toll concession agreements were not well-conceived during his tenure as prime minister.

Obviously the toll price saga has heated up to supernova magnitude that Dr Mahathir is distancing himself from the dodgy agreements, but effecting self-humility - calling himself a 'stupid' politician - and blaming the government officers for not checking the fine print of the agreement with the toll concessionaires.

The former Prime Minister today said that highway concessionaires should reveal how much they have collected in toll todate so as to address people's dissatisfaction over the recent toll hike, he said the volume of traffic might have increased five-fold since toll agreements were inked.

"By right, the income of highway concessionaires should have gone up. So I think it is best that information on the collection is revealed," he said at a news conference to announce the convening of an international conference next month to make war a crime.

Dr Mahathir, who helmed the country for 22 years before stepping down in 2003, suggested a renegotiation of agreements with highway concessionaires, saying that such companies could be reasonable provided they did not lose money.

"Toll could be increased but the rates shouldn't be too high", he said when asked about a protest mounted by members of opposition parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Sunday against the recent toll hike by five highway concessionaires.

On the downward trend of crude oil prices, Dr Mahathir said that if prices stayed low, then the government might consider reducing the prices of petroleum products in the country.

"I think we should always look at the price and see what we can do to provide relief for the people," he said as he kept on reminding the Press that he was no longer the Prime Minister.

The news conference saw Dr Mahathir, armed with his trademark no-nonsense style, tackling all sorts of questions ranging from his criticism of the government to the situation in southern Thailand.

Vowing to stick to his ways, he said: "I will criticise anything that is wrong whether it is done by our government or other governments. That has been my principle even when I was Prime Minister.

"I will never hesitate. If the most powerful country in the world do something wrong, I will say it.

"And they are welcome to say when I am wrong. Of course they say I've been wrong all this while, 22 years of bad government," he added.

Dr Mahathir was also asked to comment on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's remark in an interview with the Bangkok Post that criticism against Khairy Jamaluddin had smashed his son-in-law's pot of rice.

"It is a very big rice bowl, running into hundreds of millions of dollars (ringgit). How much rice can you eat," the former Prime Minister said.


Proton must ditch entire management: Mahathir

Malaysia's loss-making auto manufacturer Proton needs to dump its entire management or risk deteriorating even further, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday.

The government is currently negotiating a partnership deal aimed at providing Proton with the expertise it needs to arrest a sharp decline in market share in a newly competitive market.

"They need to have a change of management. It is quite obvious that this management has destroyed Proton completely," said Mahathir, an adviser to the automaker which he helped found in the 1980s.

"If it stays under the present management, it is going to go downhill," he told a press conference, adding that he had no objections to a foreign partner coming on board.

"Foreign, local, whatever. Whatever the government thinks is best," he said.

Mahathir said Proton's manufacturing facilities were running well below capacity.

"It bothers me because today, Proton sales are very poor, the vendors are suffering, some have folded up, the dealers are suffering because they cannot sell," he said.

The government owns 59 percent of Proton, including a 43 percent stake held by its investment arm, Khazanah Nasional.

Three Malaysian automotive companies -- DRB-HICOM, the Naza group and the Mofaz group -- have expressed interest in acquiring all or part of the government's stake.

However, The Edge financial weekly reported Sunday that the government will instead choose either Germany's Volkswagen AG or PSA Peugeot Citroen of France to take a stake in Proton.

The Edge said Volkswagen intended to acquire a controlling stake in Proton's manufacturing division, which could see Proton turn into a manufacturing hub for the German firm.

Peugeot was more inclined towards a relationship which would preserve Proton's identity while collaborating on cheaper models for export regionally and with a controlling stake less of a priority, it said.


Other matters he touched on included Khairy Jamaluddin, Scomi and allegation that the Turkish-built yacht that was reported by a Turkish newspaper to have been bought by Abdullah was actually a gift for him (Mahathir) by a Malaysian tycoon.

"Actually I am quite interested if I could buy, but I don't have the money," he said. "Turkish wooden yachts are beautiful and I thought we could bring them here to Langkawi (so) I asked someone who has the money to bring the yacht to Langkawi as it will look nice, (but) he said no (because) wooden boats won't last in Langkawi."

He added: "If anybody wants to bring a wooden yacht to Langkawi, I am for it but don't ask me for the money, I don't have that kind of money."


BN mungkin akan tewas - Dr M

Sambil memberi amaran Barisan Nasional (BN) mungkin cuba menggunakan politik wang untuk memenangi pilihanraya kecil Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Batu Talam hujung bulan ini, bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad membayangkan calon BN mungkin akan tewas jika pengundi amat tidak gembira dengan kerajaan BN sekarang.

Menurut laporan Bernama, Dr Mahathir menyifatkan 'mood' rakyat sudah berbeza dan tidak sama seperti dahulu.

Jika pengundi gembira, katanya, majoriti BN mungkin meningkat, tetapi jika mereka tidak gembira, maka majoritnya mungkin merosot.

Tetapi katanya, jika pengundi amat tidak gembira dengan kerajaan BN sekarang, maka calonnya mungkin tewas.

Bercakap dalam sidang akhbar bagi mengumumkan Sidang Damai Global bagi tahun ini, Dr Mahathir berkata, pilihanraya kecil Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Batu Talam hujung bulan ini menjadi pengukur kepada populariti kerajaan BN sekarang.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad membayangkan adalah sukar bagi penggantinya Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi untuk mengulangi kejayaan cemerlangnya dalam pilihanraya umum yang lalu.

Dalam pilihanraya umum 2004, sejurus selepas menggantikan Dr Mahathir sebagai Perdana Menteri, Abdullah memenangi 90 peratus kerusi Parlimen.

Bekas Perdana Menteri itu berkata, Abdullah akan terpaksa menanggung kesan daripada dasar-dasar yang dilaksanakan oleh pentadbirannya dalam pilihanraya umum yang dijangka diadakan pada 2008 atau lebih awal.

Politik wang

Dr Mahathir berkata, pilihanraya kecil itu akan mencerminkan ‘mood’ rakyat terhadap kerajaan serta mengingatkan, BN mungkin cuba menggunakan politik wang untuk memenangi pilihanraya kecil tersebut.

Katanya, beliau telah mengalami sendiri pengalaman tersebut apabila ada pihak yang menggunakan wang untuk menewaskannya.

Oleh itu, katanya, rakyat mesti menolak dan melaporkannya jika berlaku politik wang dalam pilihanraya kecil itu nanti.

Dr Mahathir merujuk kepada pertandingan jawatan perwakilan Umno bahagian Kubang Pasu pada 9 September lalu di mana beliau gagal dipilih mewakili bahagian itu ke perhimpunan agung Umno di Kuala Lumpur.

Bekas Perdana Menteri itu mendakwa berlaku politik wang yang mengakibatkan beliau tewas dalam pertandingan tersebut. Lembaga Disiplin Umno masih lagi belum mengumumkan hasil penyiasatannya mengenai perkara itu.

Abdullah gagal penuhi janji

Dr Mahathir juga menyifatkan Abdullah telah gagal memenuhi janji-janji yang dibuatnya sewaktu pilihanraya umum 2004.

Beliau turut mengkritik peruntukan RM600 juta untuk kontraktor Kelas F. Pada 13 November lalu, sehari sebelum perhimpunan agung Umno, Abdullah mengumumkan peruntukan itu sebagai tambahan kepada peruntukan RM1.5 bilion bagi pembangunan luar bandar di bawah Rancangan Malaysia Kesembilan (RMK9).

Dr Mahathir berkata, adalah salah untuk kerajaan memberi peruntukan kepada parti, terutama parti kerajaan.

Sebaliknya, kata beliau, peruntukan itu mesti diberikan kepada semua orang dan jika ia tidak dilakukan melalui saluran rasmi, dan terhad kepada satu parti politik sahaja, maka ia melanggar undang-undang.

Bekas Perdana itu yang mengkritik hebat pentadbiran Abdullah sebelum ini, turut menyentuh pelbagai isu dalam sidang akhbar selama 45 minit itu.

PM Abdullah Badawi : Tough decisions won't swing votes



Anwar:Toll Hike to Pay for Crooks and Bandits

The on-going protest over the hefty toll hike in the Klang Valley took on another twist when a former finance minister claimed last night that he was told a hike in 1997 was necessary as the concessionaire had to pay out ‘kickbacks’ to certain individuals.

Anwar Ibrahim, deputy premier and finance minister that year, revealed that a highway concessionaire sought an increase in toll charges in 1997 because the extra money was needed as inducements for unspecified individuals.

Speaking to about 200 National Union of Bank Employees delegates at their first extraordinary delegates conference in Port Dickson, Anwar said the matter was first raised by Works Minister S Samy Vellu.

Anwar said the Treasury later found that there were no justification for the toll increase sought.

“He (Samy) still said it was important to increase (the toll charges), and I told him that he should resign (from cabinet) and go work for the company (instead),” said Anwar.

Following this, a ‘Tan Sri’ from the company sought an appointment with Anwar to appeal against the refusal to allow the toll hike.

Anwar said he calculated the cost of running the highway with the ‘Tan Sri’ and realised that its operating cost included paying inducements to certain individuals.

“This ‘Tan Sri’ said he had to pay! Pay leaders and their families from Perlis to Johor,” he said.

“(So I said to the ‘Tan Sri’) you pay these rotten crooks and bandits, you give them million of ringgit. And you expect me [minister of finance] to sign (the documents), so that the poor workers, teachers, farmers fork out the money for you to pay those crooks?” Anwar added.

Controversial trial date

Anwar claimed he refused to sign the documents allowing the toll increase. Subsequently after his sacking a year later - in September 1998 - the documents were signed by the government and toll rates for the unspecified highway was increased a month later, he said.

He said he had made the matter public before, but there had been no investigations into the matter.

Anwar, who is Parti Keadilan Rakyat advisor, also condemned the decision to hold the murder trial of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu until March 2008.

“It’s to make sure that you don’t hear it until after the (next general) election. This is a murder case, not a political case. If Malaysians are condoning corruption to murder, then we are condemning ourselves to hell,” he said.

He warned that the world was watching the case closely, the Mongolian government and parliament in particular.


Malaysia Mahathir Abdullah Anwar toll hikes Proton politic

Report card on Abdullah

Analysis by Joceline Tan, the Star

DATUK Annuar Zaini had spent last month in hospital recovering from a stroke.

But last week, he changed from his hospital gown into a colourful batik shirt and took leave from the hospital because he insisted on speaking at a conference on “a long-time friend.”

The friend is none other than Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and the conference came across as a sort of mid-term review entitled “Three Years in Putrajaya.”

The direction he had set on education and human capital was lauded, likewise his open style of administration.

But they had issues with the widening gap between rich and poor, the slow progress in fighting corruption, greater efforts at race relations and, most of all, that there was still much room for improvement in policy execution and the public delivery system.

As for Annuar, he spoke on corruption, an issue the Prime Minister had felt strongly about from the start of his administration.

He said if the Government genuinely wished to tackle corruption, it had to review the minimum wage of the public service support system. It was a fact that public servants in big cities could not survive on their wages and this gave rise to the need for side income.

At another level, he advocated firm action against officers with authority living beyond their means and tarnishing the image of the public service.

“We can see some changes in the area of corruption but, generally, Pak Lah is like the soprano who has to sing alone without enough support from the chorus or orchestra,” said Annuar.

The civil servants took the brunt of shortcomings in the mid-term of Abdullah’s administration.

The Prime Minister’s plans, as Home Minister Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad pointed out, were first-class but the implementation was weak and this had been the case even before Abdullah’s time.

Poor implementation was caused by various reasons: misunderstanding, confusion, lack of effort and even manipulation regarding policies and plans.

It is certainly no fun being a civil servant these days – poorly paid and accused of all sorts of things. And as policy analyst Khoo Khay Peng pointed out, the civil service also had to be re-oriented to make efficiency and competency its key emphasis.

“The Government has to stop using the civil service as a social tool, for example, to absorb unemployed graduates into the service. If it is quality that they want, then they have to be very clear about who they take in,” said Khoo.

Those around Abdullah have reason to be concerned about the delivery ability of the civil service. Abdullah came in on a wave of support and promises. But a slow economy and the increases in fuel prices have made people a little more impatient than they might have been about delivery.

There have been improvements but not at a rate fast enough for most people. “The reality between what he aspires to and the reality on the ground is quite different,” said Annuar.

Hence, the urgent need for the civil service to carry out the plans he and his team have worked hard to put in place the last few years.

If the civil service falls short on its role, Abdullah will bear the main brunt of public unhappiness.

Abdullah’s problem at this mid-point of his mandate is not just about the civil service but also about the way his Umno grassroots want to take certain policies.

“The PM started off very well by emphasising human capital and the need for meritocracy. He knows we need that for the next acceleration, to propel us against the upcoming market competitiveness. But then we have all this talk about the Malay Agenda and the NEP and the need to incorporate it into national policies,” said Khoo.

Abdullah has much to think about as he moves ahead from this mid-point.


Analysis by M Bakri Musa

Pak Lah’s Leadership: Detached, Incompetent, and Increasingly Irrelevant

Detached, incompetent, and increasingly irrelevant. Those words best describe Prime Minister Abdullah’s leadership, if indeed it can be thus called. The only consolation is his increasing irrelevance. Let us hope that he remains content playing the role of the tenth sultan. He is not much good to Malaysia, but then he could not do much damage either. Malaysia has survived worse before; it will survive his incompetent leadership. What we cannot estimate however, is the lost opportunity: Where could Malaysia be if only we had effective leadership.

Take his leadership, or lack of one, during the recent flood. With over half of the peninsular states affected and thousands stranded, he saw fit only to express his sorrows. He then went right ahead with his scheduled overseas vacation. The typical civil service “nine-to-five” mentality; once out of the office you forget about your job and responsibilities. This “time card punching” culture is entrenched and difficult to eradicate even after you become Prime Minister.

Only when there were considerable criticisms in the Malaysian blogosphere of his absence did he do an about turn and came home to tour the flooded areas. The mainstream media were, as usual, silent on his initial absence. When Abdullah finally cut short his overseas vacation, The New Straits Times, a paper never known for accuracy or truthfulness, declared that Abdullah toured the flooded areas immediately on returning from his earlier trip to Venezuela. The paper conveniently omitted that Abdullah was already off on his way abroad for his vacation.

It matters not; Abdullah has become irrelevant. All he could do was engage in “photo ops” with some babies and to express his anger at the inevitable looters. Surprise! Surprise! As Home Minister, he should at least send more reinforcements of police personnel and threaten aggressive prosecution of the lawbreakers. Instead he asked the people to make citizen’s arrests. As if that would do it! Abdullah was reduced to doing the only thing he could: sermonizing. Indeed “touring” is the right word; he was no different from the other voyeuristic visitors.....(more)


Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi PM

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)

---

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."


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