I started blogging at BolehTalk in Oct 2004. How time flies - it has been more than a year since I cut my teeth as a blogger.
My first article was on what I believed to be impractical fines related to Malaysia's then new smoking laws. I sent my views on subject to Mr X, owner of BolehTalk, who not only kindly posted it but also invited me to air my other views at his blogsite. It was the beginning of an activity that I haven't regretted taking up.
But I soon startled my colleagues at BolehTalk with my left-of-centre liberal views. Though not quite sporting a Che Guevera or Yasser Arafat T-shirt - mind you, some bloggers have accused me of such sentiments - I expressed how I felt about the Palestinian people.
Regrettably, the Palestinian cause seems to be short-changed for the following reasons:
(1) Many in Malaysia who supported the cause believe it's the Muslim thing to do while many Malaysians who opposed it somehow feel it's the appropriate non-Muslim stand. In this unfortunate black & white but totally irrelevant religiously-partisan approach, the true grievances of the owners of Palestine, & what is Israel in 1967, and the city of Jerusalem, have been completely lost. By assigning unnecessarily a religious banner to the Palestinian cause, those responsible have unjustly masked the true grounds of a simple case of a people robbed of their possession. Among the worst sabotagers of the Palestinian grievances have been the adjoining Arab nations of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, for their own interests.
(2) The disproportionate and selfish powers of originally, the European nations especially Britain, and subsequently/today, the USA in their arrogant disposal of land belonging to a people who had inhabited the land for thousands of years. It was due to the tight-assed upbringing of the superstitious Christian Right British PM, Lloyd George, and his gratitude to Chaim Weizmann for technological assistance during WWI, that persuaded him to promise away a Muslim Palestine, then under a crumbling Islamic Ottoman Empire, to European Jews to re-form a new Hebraic nation, one which had long since evaporated 2,000 years ago into mere Jewish memory. George did so believing in the biblical prophesy that God promised the return of Jesus Christ for the end of the world when the Jews returned from their Diaspora to the Middle-East, . The American Christian Right are today's leading proponents of ensuring and protecting the presence of Jews in the 50-year old state of Israel, so that the Messianic prophesy may come true.
Today, the State of Israel is a fait accompli, a political reality, regardless of the historical injustice to the Palestinian people. It's now wrong to chase some 4 over million Israelis away from their nation after 50 years of statehood. But it's right to support the Palestinian people to demand that the Israelis withdraw to the 1967 position. The two nations should learn how to co-exist, if not in friendship, then at least in peace and mutual economic benefits. The Israelis are equally responsible for enabling that without placing sole onus on the Palestinians. Unfortunately the religiously-blind Americans can't see this, always adopting the Israeli arguments that the Palestinians must be the ones to prove they are worthy of statehood while secretly sabotaging every concession or action that the Palestinian authority made.
Then, I took up a stand against lies, such as those perpetrated by Bush and Blair - yes, I know I know, I am only a mote in the world of international politics but every squeaky voice counts, and I make sure mine squeaks nosily.
Many were keen to see evil Saddam Hussein deposed, but without sparing a thought for the poor Iraqi people that war would visit upon them. To some people, to rid Saddam was the only overriding thought - f**k the Iraqi people. Afterall, they argued, "Can one make an omelette without breaking some eggs?" Of course the blokes who said that weren't the eggs! Just look at Iraq today. Sometimes the cure can be worse than the illness, especially if one barges arrogantly and bulldozes recklessly into an ill-thought solution, made horrendously worse when the action had been based on lies.
It has been an eventful year, where we were greatly shaken by the ferocity of the Boxing Day tsunami. Though handicapped by inexperience and lack of contacts and resources, KTemoc still blogged on the tsunami at BolehTalk to provide some well-visited postings. Our strategy was not so much to match the updates that other better established and reputable blogsites could offer, with dazzling charts and all. We at BolehTalk started to ask pertinent questions that were, very much to our amazement, picked up around the world. Hey, sometimes even Charlie Brown wins ;-)
In my bloggings at BolehTalk I have frequently urged readers to contribute to the International Red Cross & Red Crescent or other well-known charitable organizations such as Oxfam and Medecins Sans Frontieres to help the needy and desperate of the world like those in Darfur and those fallen victims to the tsunami or the earthquake in Kashmir. I have regularly put my money where my mouth is, and I hope those of you who can spare a dime or two, please help those less fortunate than us, without determining who the recipients would be - they are all bleeding red blood!!!
There was also the Malaysian blogsphere saga of 'Anwar' (not the de facto leader) and the 'oil & water' drama, where my colleague at BolehTalk, Mr X, made some personal and admirable efforts and indeed arm-twisting of Malaysiakini to publish his letter in a campaign for 'Anwar'. In the wake of the frightening government crackdown, BolehTalk was invited by another Malaysian blogsite to comment on the future of blogging in Malaysia - we did just that, with our views kindly published - we posted our original mail to said Malaysian blogsite in this BolehTalk post.
In March 2005, in deference to the feelings of my colleagues about what they considered to be my rather wild-eyed left wing pieces ;-) I decided to shift that part of my KTemoc-ish opinions on international affairs to a separate blogsite, here, which I daringly call KTemoc Konsiders - bloody cheeky mate, but that's me, or as some detractors would term as a raving looney leftie - thanks guys ;-)
Petaling Street Project asked for members to join its Mile High Club. I believe I qualify easily if I consider my total postings on both BolehTalk and KTemoc Konsiders.
But more importantly I am still around, either here or over at BolehTalk to inform, ask, share, debate, analyse, predict, speculate, joke about or more ominously for my detractors, plain annoy you guys, hopefully for another year.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Coalition of the Wailing
This bloke was one of Bush most ardent supporters in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. He insisted that using force against Iraq was legitimate and that Italy could not abandon America in their fight against terrorism.
A right winger, he has been that sort of person to make nasty WWII remarks about a German parliamentarian like calling the latter a Nazi, and made racist comments against Islam.
Now he is crying mama, that he tried to persuade President Bush not to go to war against Iraq.
One big rat deserting a sinking ship.
A right winger, he has been that sort of person to make nasty WWII remarks about a German parliamentarian like calling the latter a Nazi, and made racist comments against Islam.
Now he is crying mama, that he tried to persuade President Bush not to go to war against Iraq.
One big rat deserting a sinking ship.
Mahathir Strikes Again at Iraqi Overlords
Dr Mahathir strikes again. In the case where a lawyer of one of Saddam Hussein’s co-defendants was assassinated, Mahathir correctly put the responsibility of protecting defence attorneys on the occupying powers, the USA and UK.
Mahathir is co-chair of the international Emergency Committee for Iraq, formed in June to ensure Saddam’s trial is fair. He wants the UN to investigate into the circumstances of the lawyer’s death.
Related:
Your honour, the defence rest!
Mahathir is co-chair of the international Emergency Committee for Iraq, formed in June to ensure Saddam’s trial is fair. He wants the UN to investigate into the circumstances of the lawyer’s death.
Related:
Your honour, the defence rest!
Islami Inqilabi Mahaz Responsible for New Delhi's Bombing
The New Delhi death toll from the terrorist attacks is at 61 as mentioned by Times of India (see my previous posting). However, the injured has climbed to 188, several of whom are on the critical list. This may add on to the death toll eventually.
The Islami Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Group) has claimed responsibility for the triple blasts, engineered to cause max effect by exploiting the presence of commercial flammables at the market place. However, as mentioned in my earlier posting, security forces believe it’s the Lashkar-e-Taiba using another front to disguise its involvement. That seems to be its modus operandi whenever high civilian casualties have been involved.
Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed (Army of Mohammed) are radical Pakistani groups who were responsible for the 2001 attack of India’s Federal Parliament in New Delhi. The New Delhi's Institute for Conflict Management said that the culprits for the marketplace triple blasts were members of a Pakistani group, fronting for Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert, whom we know very well because we keep seeing him on TV, said:
"I am certain these attacks were carried out by groups from the subcontinent, although the operational method and modus operandi was inspired by al-Qaeda. The only groups who have the infrastructure and operational history to mount attacks like this are Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. It is very likely the attacks were meant to affect the peace process between Pakistan and India."
Though Lashkar and Jaish are both banned in Pakistan, you can gather that they have sympathisers deep in Pakistani Administration ranks. Very often, Pakistan’s military plays a double-headed game. Islamabad has of course condemned the bombings.
The Islami Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Group) has claimed responsibility for the triple blasts, engineered to cause max effect by exploiting the presence of commercial flammables at the market place. However, as mentioned in my earlier posting, security forces believe it’s the Lashkar-e-Taiba using another front to disguise its involvement. That seems to be its modus operandi whenever high civilian casualties have been involved.
Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed (Army of Mohammed) are radical Pakistani groups who were responsible for the 2001 attack of India’s Federal Parliament in New Delhi. The New Delhi's Institute for Conflict Management said that the culprits for the marketplace triple blasts were members of a Pakistani group, fronting for Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert, whom we know very well because we keep seeing him on TV, said:
"I am certain these attacks were carried out by groups from the subcontinent, although the operational method and modus operandi was inspired by al-Qaeda. The only groups who have the infrastructure and operational history to mount attacks like this are Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. It is very likely the attacks were meant to affect the peace process between Pakistan and India."
Though Lashkar and Jaish are both banned in Pakistan, you can gather that they have sympathisers deep in Pakistani Administration ranks. Very often, Pakistan’s military plays a double-headed game. Islamabad has of course condemned the bombings.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
JI Responsible for Teenage Beheading?
Indon President SBY has condemned the beheading of 3 teenage Christian girls in the Sulawesi town of Poso. He said:
"In the holy month of Ramadhan, we are again shocked by a sadistic crime in Poso that has now claimed the lives of three school students. I condemn this barbarous killing, whoever the perpetrators are and whatever their motives."
Police said up to six men in black clothes and masks used machetes to attack the students in Bukit Bambu village, while the teenagers were on their way to class. How f**king brave.
There was one survivor, Noviana Malewa, who suffered wounds to her face, and is currently in intensive care. The victims were 15 year old Yarni Sambue, 16 year old Interesia Morangke and 19 year old Alfita Paulina.
One of the girls’ heads was placed near a church. Is there no respect at all for a holy place?
The Poso area has been wrecked by inter-religious violence with sporadic bomb attacks and assassinations. Police believed that the bombings, which killed 22 people were the work of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants, the same Islamist group that bombed Bali twice.
"In the holy month of Ramadhan, we are again shocked by a sadistic crime in Poso that has now claimed the lives of three school students. I condemn this barbarous killing, whoever the perpetrators are and whatever their motives."
Police said up to six men in black clothes and masks used machetes to attack the students in Bukit Bambu village, while the teenagers were on their way to class. How f**king brave.
There was one survivor, Noviana Malewa, who suffered wounds to her face, and is currently in intensive care. The victims were 15 year old Yarni Sambue, 16 year old Interesia Morangke and 19 year old Alfita Paulina.
One of the girls’ heads was placed near a church. Is there no respect at all for a holy place?
The Poso area has been wrecked by inter-religious violence with sporadic bomb attacks and assassinations. Police believed that the bombings, which killed 22 people were the work of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants, the same Islamist group that bombed Bali twice.
New Delhi Death Toll Rising
There is a suspicion that the terrorist attacks in New Delhi were caused by Islamist groups, probably the Kashmir based Lashkar-e-Taiba, opposed to the recent rapprochement between Pakistan and India. 10 people have been detained.
55 people were initially reported dead though journalists believed that 70 could be a more correct figure. The Times of India has a figure of 61. The injured of more than 110 are still in hospital, with many still on the critically injured list.
India has sealed off its borders.
55 people were initially reported dead though journalists believed that 70 could be a more correct figure. The Times of India has a figure of 61. The injured of more than 110 are still in hospital, with many still on the critically injured list.
India has sealed off its borders.
Neo-Cons' House of Cards
The Plame affair has come to roost for Bush and his cohorts. I don’t want to blog too much on one of America's greatest treachery under the Bush Administration, but with VP Cheney’s chief of staff Lewis Libby gone, I would like to see 2 more blokes go, Cheney himself and Karl Rove.
Terrorist Bombings in New Delhi
3 powerful bomb explosions ripped through New Delhi’s market, where thousands had been shopping for the coming Diwali (Deepavali) and Eid al-Fitr (Hari Raya Puasa) festivals. 55 died while more than 100 were wounded.
The perpetrators are still unknown but the usual suspects would be Pakistani backed Islamist terrorists or Sikh separatists, though with today’s India in the camp of the USA, who knows what other terrorist groups it would have attracted by its new political alignment.
Pakistan has condemned the attacks but I doubt India believes its sincerity.
India has put major cities like Mumbai (Bombay) on alert.
The perpetrators are still unknown but the usual suspects would be Pakistani backed Islamist terrorists or Sikh separatists, though with today’s India in the camp of the USA, who knows what other terrorist groups it would have attracted by its new political alignment.
Pakistan has condemned the attacks but I doubt India believes its sincerity.
India has put major cities like Mumbai (Bombay) on alert.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
3 Indon Teenage Girls Beheaded
Sulawesi in Indonesia has always been a hotbed of Christian-Muslim conflicts since the days of the Dutch colonialists. The Dutch encouraged their missionaries to convert hill-tribe animists into Protestants, hopefully, to be employed as as allies against coastal Muslim Sultanates should the need arise.The local Christians identified themselves as Pamona.
There were battles between those two groups through the years. Eventually the Christians settled in the north and hill areas, while the Muslims domiciled themselves in the south and valleys. A wobbly stage of equilibrium came about.
President Suharto's transmigration strategy unwittingly f**ked the finely balanced Christian-Muslim situation in Sulawesi. In his two-fold bid to settle large tracts of sparsely-populated land outside Java, as well as to relieve Java (including Madura) as the island with the heaviest population density in the world, he accelerated his nation's transmigration programme in 1973 that saw waves of Javanese and Madurese, mainly Muslims, sent, sometimes forcefully, to the far reaches of the Indonesian archipelago including Sulawesi and Kalimantan (Borneo Island).
Such transmigration resulted in large influx of ethnically and religiously different communities into regions where locals/indigenous natives invariably reacted with anger to the new 'introduced' problems, alien culture, competition and 'disturbances'.
Sh*t was bound to happen sooner or later. In 2001 Kalimantan had serious ethnic conflicts between Madurese migrants and the Kalimantan indigenous Ibans. The latter resorted to their ancient warrior skills to strike terror into the migrants. Thousands perished.
Since Suharto fell in 1998, and Indonesia saw the Muslim intellectuals like Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) as presidents and also others like Yusuf Kalla (current Vice President), Akbar Tanjung and Amien Rais on the rise, the military's previous forceful suppression of religious conflicts in favour of Indonesian nationalism started to falter. The Christian-Muslim acrimony in Sulawesi became worse, with even Javanese Muslims travelling there to aid their co-religionists in their fights.
Sulawesi has been a regular arena for ferocious battles between the Christians and the Muslims, with the military seemingly unwilling or unable to intervene. Over a thousand has been killed since Suharto stepped down.
The latest atrocity is sickening, with three schoolgirls beheaded while on their way to school - yes, just teenage schoolgirls. It doesn't matter which religion they belonged to - they were just young innocent girls.
The atrocity makes me sick. Those murderers have no balls to take it up with their equal match but instead picked on those poor teenagers.
There were battles between those two groups through the years. Eventually the Christians settled in the north and hill areas, while the Muslims domiciled themselves in the south and valleys. A wobbly stage of equilibrium came about.
President Suharto's transmigration strategy unwittingly f**ked the finely balanced Christian-Muslim situation in Sulawesi. In his two-fold bid to settle large tracts of sparsely-populated land outside Java, as well as to relieve Java (including Madura) as the island with the heaviest population density in the world, he accelerated his nation's transmigration programme in 1973 that saw waves of Javanese and Madurese, mainly Muslims, sent, sometimes forcefully, to the far reaches of the Indonesian archipelago including Sulawesi and Kalimantan (Borneo Island).
Such transmigration resulted in large influx of ethnically and religiously different communities into regions where locals/indigenous natives invariably reacted with anger to the new 'introduced' problems, alien culture, competition and 'disturbances'.
Sh*t was bound to happen sooner or later. In 2001 Kalimantan had serious ethnic conflicts between Madurese migrants and the Kalimantan indigenous Ibans. The latter resorted to their ancient warrior skills to strike terror into the migrants. Thousands perished.
Since Suharto fell in 1998, and Indonesia saw the Muslim intellectuals like Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) as presidents and also others like Yusuf Kalla (current Vice President), Akbar Tanjung and Amien Rais on the rise, the military's previous forceful suppression of religious conflicts in favour of Indonesian nationalism started to falter. The Christian-Muslim acrimony in Sulawesi became worse, with even Javanese Muslims travelling there to aid their co-religionists in their fights.
Sulawesi has been a regular arena for ferocious battles between the Christians and the Muslims, with the military seemingly unwilling or unable to intervene. Over a thousand has been killed since Suharto stepped down.
The latest atrocity is sickening, with three schoolgirls beheaded while on their way to school - yes, just teenage schoolgirls. It doesn't matter which religion they belonged to - they were just young innocent girls.
The atrocity makes me sick. Those murderers have no balls to take it up with their equal match but instead picked on those poor teenagers.
Why Only an Iraqi Court will Trial Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein’s lawyers have called for the former Iraqi president to be tried outside Iraq in order to get a fair trial. In a letter to UN Sec-Gen Kofi Annan, his lawyer wants Saddam tried at The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity. He also requested the current Iraqi judges be replaced by foreign ones.
What do you think?
Well, let me tell you what I think. First, I’ll start off by reminding everyone of what Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (a Kurd) said:
"Saddam should be executed 20 times".
Then he outdid himself by making another highly prejudicial pre-trial statement on Iraqi government television, that Saddam had confessed to ordering the massacre of Kurds during the Anfal offensive. Saddam Husssein has NOT made any such confession.
Western legal experts criticised the trial, saying it’s nothing more than a showcase with the guilty verdict already pre-determined. The evidence and the prosecution process would be completely irrelevant.
The trial will be a display of what has been termed as the ‘victor's justice’ or a political vendetta. It has been designed to overlay and mask the actual ethnic score-settling by aggrieved victims of the former dictator. It won’t be in the same mode as the South African Truth Commission, which was about higher level political reconciliation.
Had the Iraqi interim (US selected/approved) government chosen that South African path, there would have been a golden opportunity for genuine reconciliation among the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis. But alas, the Kurds, particularly, with the blessings of the US and the provocative urgings of the Israelis, are hell-bent on secession so reconciliation is not exactly top of their list of important stuff to do, if at all on the list.
Additionally, and probably the most important factor that explains why the Iraq interim government will definitely not permit Saddam Hussein to be trialled by an international independent body is that the USA doesn't want that, as the Americans will be implicated in Saddam's crimes.
In an independent court that is not subjected to US oversight, instruction and prodding, it will be not only be a PR disaster for the USA but some US officials of previous Administrations, including very high ranking ones, could face criminal charges. The USA had abetted Saddam Hussein in his massacre of the Shiites and Kurds, and even the Iranians, so it won't do to have US complicity in Saddam's crimes revealed.
Chilean judge Juan Guzman Tapia, who led the legal fight against former President Augusto Pinochet for human rights abuses, agreed that Saddam Hussein will NOT get a fair trial, and should be judged by only non-Iraqi judges. He stated that 'interested' parties, namely those who suffered (Kurds and Shiites), or benefited (Sunnis) from Saddam’s rule should not sit in judgement of the man. And may KTemoc add, neither should the USA.
Saddam’s lawyer asked for a court that will enjoy ‘independent and impartial international judges’, and not one that will go all out to ‘fix’ Saddam.
Saddam’s defence team also complained of the prosecution disadvantaging them by denying the defence of a copy of the accusation list, nor grant them proper access to Saddam, nor provide them with sufficient time to study the charges, as had been requested for the past three months.
Given this situation, we may expect a kangaroo court that would have already found Saddam Hussein guilty as charged, or as the Kurds and Shiites (and Americans) wish. In other words, find him guilty, then give him a 'fair trial' but make sure he doesn't blab about US complicity, then executed him to shut his mouth up for good.
In this respect the Butcher of Baghdad had been less hypocritical as he killed and murdered without the pretence of holding a so-called ‘fair’ trial, while his opposition now intends to commit exactly the same crime, namely kill on the basis of dislike, but with the hypocrisy of a trial added to legitimise the preordained execution.
The Iraqis must demonstrate their democratic merits and respect for due process of law by allowing Saddam Hussein to be trialled by The Hague. But OK, I won't hold my breath.
What do you think?
Well, let me tell you what I think. First, I’ll start off by reminding everyone of what Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (a Kurd) said:
"Saddam should be executed 20 times".
Then he outdid himself by making another highly prejudicial pre-trial statement on Iraqi government television, that Saddam had confessed to ordering the massacre of Kurds during the Anfal offensive. Saddam Husssein has NOT made any such confession.
Western legal experts criticised the trial, saying it’s nothing more than a showcase with the guilty verdict already pre-determined. The evidence and the prosecution process would be completely irrelevant.
The trial will be a display of what has been termed as the ‘victor's justice’ or a political vendetta. It has been designed to overlay and mask the actual ethnic score-settling by aggrieved victims of the former dictator. It won’t be in the same mode as the South African Truth Commission, which was about higher level political reconciliation.
Had the Iraqi interim (US selected/approved) government chosen that South African path, there would have been a golden opportunity for genuine reconciliation among the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis. But alas, the Kurds, particularly, with the blessings of the US and the provocative urgings of the Israelis, are hell-bent on secession so reconciliation is not exactly top of their list of important stuff to do, if at all on the list.
Additionally, and probably the most important factor that explains why the Iraq interim government will definitely not permit Saddam Hussein to be trialled by an international independent body is that the USA doesn't want that, as the Americans will be implicated in Saddam's crimes.
In an independent court that is not subjected to US oversight, instruction and prodding, it will be not only be a PR disaster for the USA but some US officials of previous Administrations, including very high ranking ones, could face criminal charges. The USA had abetted Saddam Hussein in his massacre of the Shiites and Kurds, and even the Iranians, so it won't do to have US complicity in Saddam's crimes revealed.
Chilean judge Juan Guzman Tapia, who led the legal fight against former President Augusto Pinochet for human rights abuses, agreed that Saddam Hussein will NOT get a fair trial, and should be judged by only non-Iraqi judges. He stated that 'interested' parties, namely those who suffered (Kurds and Shiites), or benefited (Sunnis) from Saddam’s rule should not sit in judgement of the man. And may KTemoc add, neither should the USA.
Saddam’s lawyer asked for a court that will enjoy ‘independent and impartial international judges’, and not one that will go all out to ‘fix’ Saddam.
Saddam’s defence team also complained of the prosecution disadvantaging them by denying the defence of a copy of the accusation list, nor grant them proper access to Saddam, nor provide them with sufficient time to study the charges, as had been requested for the past three months.
Given this situation, we may expect a kangaroo court that would have already found Saddam Hussein guilty as charged, or as the Kurds and Shiites (and Americans) wish. In other words, find him guilty, then give him a 'fair trial' but make sure he doesn't blab about US complicity, then executed him to shut his mouth up for good.
In this respect the Butcher of Baghdad had been less hypocritical as he killed and murdered without the pretence of holding a so-called ‘fair’ trial, while his opposition now intends to commit exactly the same crime, namely kill on the basis of dislike, but with the hypocrisy of a trial added to legitimise the preordained execution.
The Iraqis must demonstrate their democratic merits and respect for due process of law by allowing Saddam Hussein to be trialled by The Hague. But OK, I won't hold my breath.
World Lesson for China & Korea
1st Case
This man makes a terrible threat, which combined with his country’s covert intention to develop a nuclear bomb, which by the way everyone knows, is frightening stuff.
Though so far, he is merely all tough talk but no action. Nevertheless he has been condemned by the usual crowd – USA, Europeans & Australia – both for the threat and the intention to develop a nuclear bomb.
2nd Case
This man makes a terrible threat, which combined with his country’s powerful military, that everyone knows has the same destructive potential as a nuclear bomb but without the danger of contaminating coveted land, is equally frightening stuff, namely, to deny another people statehood which is equivalent to the act erasing a nation off the map. By the by, his country isn’t developing any nuclear bomb, because it already has 200 over nuclear devices.
Unlike the 1st case, this man has not only made tough talk but actually followed through on his nasty threats, with dire consequences for his victims. Nevertheless he hasn’t been condemned at all by the usual crowd – USA, Europe and Australia – for his threats, brutal assaults on innocent civilians or his possession of nuclear bombs.
Lesson
Korea and China have never come up well in their angry protests against a recalcitrant Japan, hellbent on whitewashing its barbaric military past by historical revisionism, refusal to pay compensation to victims of its WWII barbarism, and high level visits to the Yasukuni Shrine to spiritually rehabilitate class A war criminals, whose remains are enshrined at Yasukuni.
The protestors ended up looking like hooligans throwing stones at nice Japanese embassies instead of being the insulted, hurt and outraged families of Japanese victims. They have been condemned rather than the Japanese revisionists. That's like the USA or Europe or Australia condemning Israel for protesting against the German Chancellor's visit to the shrine of Adolf Hitler.
Already a very marked difference exists between the postwar treatment of Germany and Japan, without any condemnation by the world - any worship or remembrance of Hitler and top Nazis have been correctly erased off the face of German or Austrian soil, but Hideki Tojo and his fellow criminals were allowed to be interned and worshipped in the sacred Yasukuni Shrine.
My advice to the Koreans & Chinese - don't get mad, get cleverly even. Take a trip to Tel Aviv or New York to learn the skills of making the world feel guilty to the extent they do for Jews and, thus indirectly, Israel.
Then next time, the world will jump on a historically revisionist Japan instead of condemning the Korean or Chinese protestors as hypocritical hooligans. The world will then admonish Japan for worshipping an evil man like Hideki Tojo because that is just as unacceptable as worshipping Adolf Hitler.
Maybe they will also rebuke anyone for wearing the emblem of the ‘Rising Sun’ to a fancy dress ball in the same way they did Prince Harry when the young party-going naïve man wore a swastika armband as part of his fancy dress garb.
This man makes a terrible threat, which combined with his country’s covert intention to develop a nuclear bomb, which by the way everyone knows, is frightening stuff.
Though so far, he is merely all tough talk but no action. Nevertheless he has been condemned by the usual crowd – USA, Europeans & Australia – both for the threat and the intention to develop a nuclear bomb.
2nd Case
This man makes a terrible threat, which combined with his country’s powerful military, that everyone knows has the same destructive potential as a nuclear bomb but without the danger of contaminating coveted land, is equally frightening stuff, namely, to deny another people statehood which is equivalent to the act erasing a nation off the map. By the by, his country isn’t developing any nuclear bomb, because it already has 200 over nuclear devices.
Unlike the 1st case, this man has not only made tough talk but actually followed through on his nasty threats, with dire consequences for his victims. Nevertheless he hasn’t been condemned at all by the usual crowd – USA, Europe and Australia – for his threats, brutal assaults on innocent civilians or his possession of nuclear bombs.
Lesson
Korea and China have never come up well in their angry protests against a recalcitrant Japan, hellbent on whitewashing its barbaric military past by historical revisionism, refusal to pay compensation to victims of its WWII barbarism, and high level visits to the Yasukuni Shrine to spiritually rehabilitate class A war criminals, whose remains are enshrined at Yasukuni.
The protestors ended up looking like hooligans throwing stones at nice Japanese embassies instead of being the insulted, hurt and outraged families of Japanese victims. They have been condemned rather than the Japanese revisionists. That's like the USA or Europe or Australia condemning Israel for protesting against the German Chancellor's visit to the shrine of Adolf Hitler.
Already a very marked difference exists between the postwar treatment of Germany and Japan, without any condemnation by the world - any worship or remembrance of Hitler and top Nazis have been correctly erased off the face of German or Austrian soil, but Hideki Tojo and his fellow criminals were allowed to be interned and worshipped in the sacred Yasukuni Shrine.
My advice to the Koreans & Chinese - don't get mad, get cleverly even. Take a trip to Tel Aviv or New York to learn the skills of making the world feel guilty to the extent they do for Jews and, thus indirectly, Israel.
Then next time, the world will jump on a historically revisionist Japan instead of condemning the Korean or Chinese protestors as hypocritical hooligans. The world will then admonish Japan for worshipping an evil man like Hideki Tojo because that is just as unacceptable as worshipping Adolf Hitler.
Maybe they will also rebuke anyone for wearing the emblem of the ‘Rising Sun’ to a fancy dress ball in the same way they did Prince Harry when the young party-going naïve man wore a swastika armband as part of his fancy dress garb.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Humongous Robberies in Malaysia
In the beginning there was Bank Bumiputra, who experienced humongous losses 3 times, then there was Bank Rakyat, then ........ (fill in the blank yourself).
Now we have Bank Islam.
Isn't it wonderful our financial guardian Bank Negara is ever so vigilant!!! After all, this is the Bank Negara who in 1992 suffered 9.3 billion ringgit losses speculating in the forward foreign-exchange market.
There have been also other incidents like the bailout by Danaharta, MAS (where taxpayers' money was used to pay RM8 per MAS share when it was trading only at RM3.6), Indah Water Konsortium (IWK), Renong's Time dotCom, Renong's Projek Usahasama Transit Ringan Automatik Sdn Bhd (PUTRA), Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd (KPB), you name it, sh*t have happened.
Renong is of course linked to UMNO.
Will there be no end to the robberies on Malaysian taxpayers' coffers?
Now we have Bank Islam.
Isn't it wonderful our financial guardian Bank Negara is ever so vigilant!!! After all, this is the Bank Negara who in 1992 suffered 9.3 billion ringgit losses speculating in the forward foreign-exchange market.
There have been also other incidents like the bailout by Danaharta, MAS (where taxpayers' money was used to pay RM8 per MAS share when it was trading only at RM3.6), Indah Water Konsortium (IWK), Renong's Time dotCom, Renong's Projek Usahasama Transit Ringan Automatik Sdn Bhd (PUTRA), Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd (KPB), you name it, sh*t have happened.
Renong is of course linked to UMNO.
Will there be no end to the robberies on Malaysian taxpayers' coffers?
The Singapore Hangman
He is already 73 years old and a grandfather at that. But he is not allowed to retire because he is irreplaceable. No one wants his job. Isn't that a dream situation for any employee where one is virtually indispensible?
But wait, there's more than meet the eye as to his job!
Darshan Singh is Singapore's chief (and only) executioner. In nearly half a century of service Singh has hung more than 850 prisoners.
The next man on his list is 25 year old Aussie Nguyen Tuong Van. This horrible event seems inevitable after the Singapore president was advised, predictably by his Cabinet, to reject Nguyen's appeals for clemency. Aussie Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has also made a final diplomatic attempt to save Nguyen's life, but he conceded that he has little hope for a favourable response.
When Singh hangs a convict sentenced to death, he would say to the condemned man:
"I am going to send you to a better place than this. God bless you."
Singh wants to retire but until the Singapore government can recruit another hangman, he has been asked to hang on (pun not intended).
Naturally Singh cannot blab openly about the nature or quirks of his work but a colleague told the media:
"He tried to train two would-be hangmen to replace him, a Malaysian and a Chinese, both in the prison service. But when it came to pulling the lever for the real thing, they both froze and could not do it. The Chinese guy, a prison officer, became so distraught he walked out immediately and resigned from the prison service altogether."
Is it right for man to kill man in such a manner? The responsibility is of course not that of the hangman or even the judge, but of the authority that prescribed the law. But I am glad that I don't have such a job that confronts me with the terrible dilemma and agony of terminating a healthy man's life in the name of social retribution.
Related:
(1)Shanmugan Murugesu – Nobility on Eve of Execution
(2) A Sad Tale of 2 Aussie Drug Smugglers
(3) Why I am Against the Death Penalty!
(4) Stupid if He's Smart, Smart if He's Stupid!
But wait, there's more than meet the eye as to his job!
Darshan Singh is Singapore's chief (and only) executioner. In nearly half a century of service Singh has hung more than 850 prisoners.
The next man on his list is 25 year old Aussie Nguyen Tuong Van. This horrible event seems inevitable after the Singapore president was advised, predictably by his Cabinet, to reject Nguyen's appeals for clemency. Aussie Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has also made a final diplomatic attempt to save Nguyen's life, but he conceded that he has little hope for a favourable response.
When Singh hangs a convict sentenced to death, he would say to the condemned man:
"I am going to send you to a better place than this. God bless you."
Singh wants to retire but until the Singapore government can recruit another hangman, he has been asked to hang on (pun not intended).
Naturally Singh cannot blab openly about the nature or quirks of his work but a colleague told the media:
"He tried to train two would-be hangmen to replace him, a Malaysian and a Chinese, both in the prison service. But when it came to pulling the lever for the real thing, they both froze and could not do it. The Chinese guy, a prison officer, became so distraught he walked out immediately and resigned from the prison service altogether."
Is it right for man to kill man in such a manner? The responsibility is of course not that of the hangman or even the judge, but of the authority that prescribed the law. But I am glad that I don't have such a job that confronts me with the terrible dilemma and agony of terminating a healthy man's life in the name of social retribution.
Related:
(1)Shanmugan Murugesu – Nobility on Eve of Execution
(2) A Sad Tale of 2 Aussie Drug Smugglers
(3) Why I am Against the Death Penalty!
(4) Stupid if He's Smart, Smart if He's Stupid!
Shanmugan Murugesu - Nobility on Eve of Execution
The Aussie support for Nguyen Tuong Van may have come too late.
But then the 25-year old convicted man, sentenced to the gallows, and his appealers have to contend with the non-negotiable and non-compromising stand of a stern and unmoved Singapore government, who rejects all pleadings for the life of a young man. To the Singapore authorities, the rehabilitation of young Nguyen has to be conducted in the ‘other’ world..
In Singapore’s death row there had been even nobility from one about to die. One of Nguyen’s fellow death row inmates, Shanmugam Murugesu, who was hung in May for possession of cannabis, had before his execution requested his lawyer, human rights lawyer M. Ravi, to save Nguyen’s life.
Ravi recollected what Shanmugam appealed of him:
"Before he died, Shanmugam made a personal appeal to me to save Nguyen Tuong Van's life at all costs. He called him the small boy, said he didn't know how they were going to crush this simple soul."
Shanmugam’s compassion for someone about to be executed like he was about to be, surely must stand out as one final redeeming act that hopefully would tilt the kammic forces to his favour in his after-life.
The Singaporean High Commission is in PR damage control in Canberra, but whilst Aussie support has finally emerged for Nguyen’s case, it has not been on the scale as that for Schapelle Corby.
Meanwhile the Australian Labour Party received a bollocking from some of its old timers about remaining silent on an Aussie receiving the death sentence in a foreign nation. The Labour Party seems to have forgotten one of its principal values, not to condone and to speak out against the barbarism of a person, especially an Aussie, being sent to the gallows.
Related:
(1) A Sad Tale of 2 Aussie Drug Smugglers
(2) Why I am Against the Death Penalty!
(3) Stupid if He's Smart, Smart if He's Stupid!
But then the 25-year old convicted man, sentenced to the gallows, and his appealers have to contend with the non-negotiable and non-compromising stand of a stern and unmoved Singapore government, who rejects all pleadings for the life of a young man. To the Singapore authorities, the rehabilitation of young Nguyen has to be conducted in the ‘other’ world..
In Singapore’s death row there had been even nobility from one about to die. One of Nguyen’s fellow death row inmates, Shanmugam Murugesu, who was hung in May for possession of cannabis, had before his execution requested his lawyer, human rights lawyer M. Ravi, to save Nguyen’s life.
Ravi recollected what Shanmugam appealed of him:
"Before he died, Shanmugam made a personal appeal to me to save Nguyen Tuong Van's life at all costs. He called him the small boy, said he didn't know how they were going to crush this simple soul."
Shanmugam’s compassion for someone about to be executed like he was about to be, surely must stand out as one final redeeming act that hopefully would tilt the kammic forces to his favour in his after-life.
The Singaporean High Commission is in PR damage control in Canberra, but whilst Aussie support has finally emerged for Nguyen’s case, it has not been on the scale as that for Schapelle Corby.
Meanwhile the Australian Labour Party received a bollocking from some of its old timers about remaining silent on an Aussie receiving the death sentence in a foreign nation. The Labour Party seems to have forgotten one of its principal values, not to condone and to speak out against the barbarism of a person, especially an Aussie, being sent to the gallows.
Related:
(1) A Sad Tale of 2 Aussie Drug Smugglers
(2) Why I am Against the Death Penalty!
(3) Stupid if He's Smart, Smart if He's Stupid!
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Bird Flu Pandemic - the Indonesian Problem
Following criticism of his government’s failure to take appropriate steps to arrest the spread of avian flu, which could lead to a pandemic of monumental proportion for a country like Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told a World Bank forum in Helsinki that an Indonesian pandemic would have graver and more nightmarish consequences than the recent Boxing Day tsunami.
Undoubtedly he has been angling for more aid.
But back to the criticisms of his government - the reasons why his government has not make much headway have been due to a combination of:
(1) Reluctance to conduct enforced cullings because of inability or reluctance to pay compensation;
(2) Reluctance to invest in preventive measures of a hypothetical health risk because of other dire needs;
(3) Innate corruption and inefficiency at every level in the Indon Administration (federal, regional and local) which may skim off whatever limited funds for the detection, reporting and treatment (culling) of the outbreak of such flu, as well as possible cover up and refusal to report any outbreak to Jakarta;
(4) The daunting geographical spread of the Indonesian nation and the difficulty of informing/educating the people about the dangers and associated symptoms of avian flu;
(5) The Indonesian traditional and cultural love of birds, and consequential reluctance to kill any infected specimen;
(6) The domestic fowl as a popular and cheap food source, hence a reluctance to conduct culling.
Australia is attempting to form a barrier against the spread of the bird flu virus by training adjacent countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Vietnam, Philippines etc to detect and deal with any outbreaks of the flu. But given those Indon problems, I wonder how the Indons would respond to such training?
The World Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has urged Indonesia, when aware of outbreaks of bird flu, to adopt Thailand's military-style approach by going from house to house to identify those fowls or birds tainted by avian flu and to execute control measures such as culling, vaccination, and biosecurity.
FAO has planned to send health teams to Indonesia to help the Republic combat the bird flu outbreaks. It is targeting Java as there are 120 million people living on the island plus the fact that most of Indonesia's bird flu cases have been from Java.
I wonder how the Indonesians in general and the Javanese in particular would respond to FAO blitzkrieg teams. Their culture militates against intrusion (house to house search), waste (culling), and outside interference. Their lack of awareness or understanding of an issue like bird flu may not be accommodating to FAO tactics. But conditions in Indonesia present an imminent danger with regards to the spread of bird flu.
We live just next door!
Undoubtedly he has been angling for more aid.
But back to the criticisms of his government - the reasons why his government has not make much headway have been due to a combination of:
(1) Reluctance to conduct enforced cullings because of inability or reluctance to pay compensation;
(2) Reluctance to invest in preventive measures of a hypothetical health risk because of other dire needs;
(3) Innate corruption and inefficiency at every level in the Indon Administration (federal, regional and local) which may skim off whatever limited funds for the detection, reporting and treatment (culling) of the outbreak of such flu, as well as possible cover up and refusal to report any outbreak to Jakarta;
(4) The daunting geographical spread of the Indonesian nation and the difficulty of informing/educating the people about the dangers and associated symptoms of avian flu;
(5) The Indonesian traditional and cultural love of birds, and consequential reluctance to kill any infected specimen;
(6) The domestic fowl as a popular and cheap food source, hence a reluctance to conduct culling.
Australia is attempting to form a barrier against the spread of the bird flu virus by training adjacent countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Vietnam, Philippines etc to detect and deal with any outbreaks of the flu. But given those Indon problems, I wonder how the Indons would respond to such training?
The World Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has urged Indonesia, when aware of outbreaks of bird flu, to adopt Thailand's military-style approach by going from house to house to identify those fowls or birds tainted by avian flu and to execute control measures such as culling, vaccination, and biosecurity.
FAO has planned to send health teams to Indonesia to help the Republic combat the bird flu outbreaks. It is targeting Java as there are 120 million people living on the island plus the fact that most of Indonesia's bird flu cases have been from Java.
I wonder how the Indonesians in general and the Javanese in particular would respond to FAO blitzkrieg teams. Their culture militates against intrusion (house to house search), waste (culling), and outside interference. Their lack of awareness or understanding of an issue like bird flu may not be accommodating to FAO tactics. But conditions in Indonesia present an imminent danger with regards to the spread of bird flu.
We live just next door!
Is Malaysia a Good Neigbour?
Unlike the Philippines, Thailand has never had any recent design on Malaysian territory despite conceding their sphere of influence in the northen States of Malaya (now Malaysia) to the powerful and rapacious colonising British a couple of centuries back.
Also, Peninsula Malaysia is fortunate that unlike our eastern State of Sabah, there isn’t any significant Thai ethnic group living in border states like Perlis, Kedah or Kelantan posing potential 5th columnist threats or having secessionist inclinations - mind you, we have mucho illegal Indon migrants. Nor has there been any evidence that Thailand had sought to influence the small groups of Thai Malaysians living in Malaysia's northen States to conduct nefarious activities.
However, let’s look into that magic mirror and ask ourselves whether we have been the well-behaved neighbour in the way that Thailand has conducted itself vis-Ã -vis Malaysia and its Thai Malaysian citizens.
What has been clear to many observers is the fact that there are significant numbers of Muslim in southern Thailand, who have been or are led by some radical leaders urging them to be Malays rather than Thais – in one word, they are secessionists. Another word to describe their attitude is ‘treason’. But that is a Thai internal problem. Similarly, whatever genuine grievances those southern Thai secessionists may have should also be a Thai domestic issue for them to resolve.
But unfortunately we are also aware that there are strong bonds between the Malay-Muslim communities across the Malaysian-Thai border. There has been an unspoken but well-known history of Malaysian support for Thai rebels in the south, though this didn’t or doesn’t necessarily mean the Malaysian federal government had/has been involved.
But sometimes being indifferent doesn't mean a hands-off approach. Official Malaysian indifference towards such dangerous and illegal cross-border insurrection could sometimes be as bad as giving, or misinterpretated to be, silent nods of approval to the Thai rebels' criminal activities.
Any Malaysian encouraging those southern Thais to militate against Bangkok’s rule has been/is unhelpful, and neither would be the provision of logistic, financial and moral support of those Thai rebel groups. By doing so, those Malaysians weren’t/aren’t really helping them. Instead they had/have been motivating or egging the Thais to continue their insurrection against their government, inevitably bringing about Bangkok's aggravation, followed by hardship, disaster and inevitably tragedy unto their families and neighbours.
By providing those Thai rebels logistic, financial, moral support and political sanctuary or a safe haven from which to conduct operations into Thailand, some Malaysians are actually instigating them towards further unpleasant encounters with the Thai security forces, and more shamefully, abetting a foreign insurrection.
As good neighbours we should advise those Thais who seek support from us to resolve their domestic issues with their government through democratic process. I think it’s time for all groups in Malaysia to be firstly, lawful citizens of a Malaysia that abide by the UN Charter of peaceful coexistence, and good citizens of the world who respect the sovereignty of other nations, particularly our ASEAN neighbours, rather than wave the ethnic or religious flag and pretend to support a so-called righteous struggle when in reality those Malaysian supporters had been or are interfering in the internal affairs of a foreign nation.
We seem to forget how the Thais gave us a taste of our own medicine by tolerating the CPM's safe sanctuary in Southern Thailand, in retaliation for our harbouring of PULO, the Thai insurgent group. We didn't like it then, so how do you expect the Thais to countenance our meddling in their insurrection, unofficial as these may be.
Also, Peninsula Malaysia is fortunate that unlike our eastern State of Sabah, there isn’t any significant Thai ethnic group living in border states like Perlis, Kedah or Kelantan posing potential 5th columnist threats or having secessionist inclinations - mind you, we have mucho illegal Indon migrants. Nor has there been any evidence that Thailand had sought to influence the small groups of Thai Malaysians living in Malaysia's northen States to conduct nefarious activities.
However, let’s look into that magic mirror and ask ourselves whether we have been the well-behaved neighbour in the way that Thailand has conducted itself vis-Ã -vis Malaysia and its Thai Malaysian citizens.
What has been clear to many observers is the fact that there are significant numbers of Muslim in southern Thailand, who have been or are led by some radical leaders urging them to be Malays rather than Thais – in one word, they are secessionists. Another word to describe their attitude is ‘treason’. But that is a Thai internal problem. Similarly, whatever genuine grievances those southern Thai secessionists may have should also be a Thai domestic issue for them to resolve.
But unfortunately we are also aware that there are strong bonds between the Malay-Muslim communities across the Malaysian-Thai border. There has been an unspoken but well-known history of Malaysian support for Thai rebels in the south, though this didn’t or doesn’t necessarily mean the Malaysian federal government had/has been involved.
But sometimes being indifferent doesn't mean a hands-off approach. Official Malaysian indifference towards such dangerous and illegal cross-border insurrection could sometimes be as bad as giving, or misinterpretated to be, silent nods of approval to the Thai rebels' criminal activities.
Any Malaysian encouraging those southern Thais to militate against Bangkok’s rule has been/is unhelpful, and neither would be the provision of logistic, financial and moral support of those Thai rebel groups. By doing so, those Malaysians weren’t/aren’t really helping them. Instead they had/have been motivating or egging the Thais to continue their insurrection against their government, inevitably bringing about Bangkok's aggravation, followed by hardship, disaster and inevitably tragedy unto their families and neighbours.
By providing those Thai rebels logistic, financial, moral support and political sanctuary or a safe haven from which to conduct operations into Thailand, some Malaysians are actually instigating them towards further unpleasant encounters with the Thai security forces, and more shamefully, abetting a foreign insurrection.
As good neighbours we should advise those Thais who seek support from us to resolve their domestic issues with their government through democratic process. I think it’s time for all groups in Malaysia to be firstly, lawful citizens of a Malaysia that abide by the UN Charter of peaceful coexistence, and good citizens of the world who respect the sovereignty of other nations, particularly our ASEAN neighbours, rather than wave the ethnic or religious flag and pretend to support a so-called righteous struggle when in reality those Malaysian supporters had been or are interfering in the internal affairs of a foreign nation.
We seem to forget how the Thais gave us a taste of our own medicine by tolerating the CPM's safe sanctuary in Southern Thailand, in retaliation for our harbouring of PULO, the Thai insurgent group. We didn't like it then, so how do you expect the Thais to countenance our meddling in their insurrection, unofficial as these may be.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Malaysia's Local Authority Councillors - Unelected, Unaccountable & Unwanted
28 people, representing the Alor Gajah Municipal Council, Malaysia, made a so-called study tour of Beijing and Tianjin cities in China in June. The trip to China by those unelected Council reps cost taxpayers RM 75,000.
Apparently the objective of the tour was to let Council staff learn aspects of city management in other countries, which makes me wonder what the 'F' were 28 of them including Kesidang assemblyman Koh Nai Kwong and various councillors doing on the trip if the benefits of the study tour were meant for Council staff, those actually performing the day to day management of Alor Gajah.
And why the hell do they have to go all the way to China to learn from a country not particularly renown for city management, when a nation with world reputation for superior management of its city lies just south of our border, Singapore.
This has been nothing more than a questionable exercise by unelected parasites putting their snout into the public trough, basically a rort of the public coffers for their own ‘jolly’. I wonder whether the tour took in a session of belly dancing by a Beijing north-western amoi as well.
The sorry episodes of unelected local authority councillors throughout Malaysia rorting the system under the guise of study tours have a long notorious history.
The sooner we have elected councillors, the better. We may not stop such rorting completely but at least we can vote those councillors out at periodic intervals. Right now, they are completely unaccountable.
Let's see at least a faint glimpse of AAB's Islam Hadhari that we have been long promised.
Apparently the objective of the tour was to let Council staff learn aspects of city management in other countries, which makes me wonder what the 'F' were 28 of them including Kesidang assemblyman Koh Nai Kwong and various councillors doing on the trip if the benefits of the study tour were meant for Council staff, those actually performing the day to day management of Alor Gajah.
And why the hell do they have to go all the way to China to learn from a country not particularly renown for city management, when a nation with world reputation for superior management of its city lies just south of our border, Singapore.
This has been nothing more than a questionable exercise by unelected parasites putting their snout into the public trough, basically a rort of the public coffers for their own ‘jolly’. I wonder whether the tour took in a session of belly dancing by a Beijing north-western amoi as well.
The sorry episodes of unelected local authority councillors throughout Malaysia rorting the system under the guise of study tours have a long notorious history.
The sooner we have elected councillors, the better. We may not stop such rorting completely but at least we can vote those councillors out at periodic intervals. Right now, they are completely unaccountable.
Let's see at least a faint glimpse of AAB's Islam Hadhari that we have been long promised.
How to Recognise a Loser!
Photo reminds me of my relationship with you-know-who, if you have been following my postings ;-)
******************************************
[This is my first attempt at posting an image. I have selected one that came to me in one of those numerous 'joke' emails. I do not know who the author is, but if he or she contacts me I'll be more than pleased to credit the photo with the correct ownership.]
Hurricane Wilma Puts Pressure on Aussie Diplomats
Hurricane Wilma has wrecked its fury on the Yucatan peninsula. Around 50 Aussies over there have been still unaccounted for.
Some families of those missing people have been pretty pissed off with both the Foreign Ministry staff in Canberra and Aussie consulate staff over in Mexico. They claimed that those diplomats have been doing buggerall about their missing loved ones. Aussie Foreign Minister stated on TV that Aussies in that area were advised to get out but instead elected to stay behind.
I can imagine how worried the families must be, and I can also very well imagine how they must be harassing the Foreign Ministry staff and Aussie diplomats over in Mexico to ‘do something’.
Equally, I can understand how frustrated the Foreign Ministry staff and diplomats must be feeling – what can you say about people who, despite official advice, stayed back in a area forecast to be hit by a powerful hurricane. And what can you say to those worried family members about how and who in the f**k would take them into the storm ravaged area without killing themselves, assuming they could even secure transport to get there.
But it does show us how and what the Aussies expect of their public servants, frustrating as it may be to those poor officers.
Some families of those missing people have been pretty pissed off with both the Foreign Ministry staff in Canberra and Aussie consulate staff over in Mexico. They claimed that those diplomats have been doing buggerall about their missing loved ones. Aussie Foreign Minister stated on TV that Aussies in that area were advised to get out but instead elected to stay behind.
I can imagine how worried the families must be, and I can also very well imagine how they must be harassing the Foreign Ministry staff and Aussie diplomats over in Mexico to ‘do something’.
Equally, I can understand how frustrated the Foreign Ministry staff and diplomats must be feeling – what can you say about people who, despite official advice, stayed back in a area forecast to be hit by a powerful hurricane. And what can you say to those worried family members about how and who in the f**k would take them into the storm ravaged area without killing themselves, assuming they could even secure transport to get there.
But it does show us how and what the Aussies expect of their public servants, frustrating as it may be to those poor officers.
Iraq Constitution Sits Atop Dodgy Figures
The Iraqi commission spokesman Farid Ayyar announced the approval of the draft constitution and acclaimed it as an accomplishment for all Iraqis. The final results of the referendum on the draft constitution took 10 days of counting, a period during which accusations of cheating abound.
To block the draft constitution, a minimum of three Iraqi provinces must vote ‘NO’, each by at least a two-thirds majority. Everyone expected the Sunnis to successfully achieve that because the Sunnis have an overwhelming majority in at least 3 provinces, namely Anbar, Salahuddin and Nineveh.
The Sunnis fear the proposed constitution because it will grossly disadvantage and marginalise them, effectively placing the oil-rich areas out of their reach but into the hands of the Shiites and separatist-inclined Kurds. This time the Sunnis turned out in full force to vote ‘NO’, unlike their boycott of the January elections. This time it matters to their future.
How then did sh*t happen? They have failed to block it despite all the inherent disadvantages to them!
The first two Sunni dominated provinces, Anbar and Salahuddin, as expected, polled over 80% against the constitution but in Nineveh where the Sunnis also form an overwhelming majority, they polled only a simple majority but not the 67% required.
Statistically, politically, and emotionally, this was virtually an impossibility because the Sunni represent a significant and 'hefty' majority in Ninevah. And with the Sunnis voting in tandem fashion across their 3 dominated provinces, it was unbelievable the Sunnis in Nineveh could only pull across the 55 percentile line, when by contrast in Salahuddin province their compatriots achieved a 88% majority. Only 67% was required for Nineveh to form part of the 3 blocking provinces but even this was not achieved in such a well established Sunni-majority area.
As an indicator of what must have transpired, in Iraq’s January election which was boycotted by the Sunnis, the Kurds and Shiites in Nineveh turned out in full force but could only muster a combined total of only 130,000 votes for Kurdish and Shiite candidates. Yet, in this referendum for the draft constitution, by an incredible miracle, the ‘YES’ votes almost tripled to 350,000. The ‘NO’ votes were only over 420,000, a majority but not enough to constitute the necessary two-thirds in the province to block the draft constitution.
The ‘sleigh of hands’ began with the Kurdish-dominated Independent(?) Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) in Nineveh announcing that based on 90% counting completed for the 300 voting stations in the province, 326,000 people had voted ‘YES’ for the constitution while 90,000 voted ‘NO’ - which was an unbelievable and overwhelming majority of nearly 80% for 'YES' in a province heavily dominated by a beseiged group that would be severely marginalised by the passing of the proposed constitution.
It's just as unbelievable as Ariel Sharon surrendering the city of Jerusalem to the Palesrtinians for the sake of peace.
As the Commission knew that the world’s eyes would be focused particularly on the 3 to 4 Sunni provinces, they wanted the media to accept these initial and obviously fabricated figures, signallying that Nineveh province has strongly supported the draft constitution, not only by a simple majority but by a landslide, a runaway victory so to speak. That way the Commission could effectively engender a belief that the result was more or less finalised, and more importantly dampened any further media curiosity or interest in Nineveh.
With the advantage of hindsight, it has become apparent that Nineveh was the crucial province selected for some special midnight polling count, whilst Anbar and Salahuddin were to be left to their true polling results. After the release of the misleading set of figures, the Commission down-ed periscope, went silent and issued no further results or progress.
Then the IECI's 'funny' figures was made even more ridiculous, ironically by the US military liasion when the latter independently released the final vote count. The US figures was a 424,491 'NO' votes and 353,348 'YES' votes, making it a total of 777,839 votes, round up to say, 778,000.
The US figures effectively made the earlier release by the IECI the biggest pile of bullsh*t. Remember, with 90% of the votes counted it was then 326,000 'YES' and 90,000 'NO'.
Let's look at the two sets of 'NO' votes released by different sources. First there was 90,000 (with 90% counting done), which then became 424,491, making almost a humongous 472% increase - yes sir, four hundred and seventy two percent. Can anyone find logic or an explanation in that low-gravity leap of Olympian proportion? The 'YES' moved up by a wee bit from its earlier figure, assuming that was even true.
Now, it seems that the IECI had used the period of information clampdown to work out a winning figure for the Sunnis but one that won't form a two-thirds blocking majority.
Second point - When Sunni turnouts in Salahuddin and Fallujah were both around 90%, how in the brazen world did the Nineveh IECI expect people to believe that the total voting in Nineveh comprised only 778,000 votes, which translates into the province's turnout as only 60% of eligible voters. This is really b-cube stuff, you know, Bullshit Baffles Brains stuff.
But 778,000 votes total? 60% turnout? These polling figures suggest that either the Sunnis could have shrunk into a minority from the overwhelming majority they have been (and in fact still are, in reality of course and not by IECI counted votes), or 40% of eligible voters, mainly Sunnis, were sleeping throughout the voting period.
During earlier allegations that cheating was rampant, the election commission's head, Adil al-Lami had pre-empted any suspicion about the results for Nineveh’s by saying that the province was not among those that appeared unusual. He said its results "were reasonable and balanced according to the nature of the population in those areas."
It seems that to al-Lamy, an initial 326,000 ‘YES’ votes against a paltry 90,000 ‘NO’ votes in a Sunni dominated area was not unusual, or that a ‘NO’ vote of 90,000 after 90% counting suddenly becoming over 424,000 votes was also not unusual.
Let's work out a wee simple Malaysian arithmetic - 10% remaining of a total of 778,000 voters = say a round up figure of 78,000; let's be generous and say that remaining 10% were all Sunnis voting 'NO', which then gives us 90K + 78K = 168,000 which still doesn't explain the US military released figure of 424,451 'NO' votes.
Saleh Al-Mutlaq and parliament member Meshaan al-Jubouri, both Sunnis of course, said polling officials in Ninevah had informed them that the provincial capital, Sunni-dominated Mosul, voted predominantly ‘NO’, by as high as 80%, which seemed to tally with general Sunni turnout in Anbar and Salahuddin, but the Electoral Commission of course reported a 50-50 split.
Additionally, it is known that the Assyrian Christians are against the draft constitution because its article 135 subdivides the Christian community into Chaldeans and Assyrians, a rather nasty legislative manipulation which can be exploited by the Kurds to expropriate Christian lands and villages in North Iraq. Precisely because of this, the Iraqi Christians have been campaigning vigorously against the draft constitution.
al-Mutlaq told reporters that members of the Iraqi National Guard (dominated by Kurds in the north and Shiites in the south) seized ballot boxes from a polling station in Mosul and transferred them to a governorate office controlled by Kurds.
His allegations have been supported by a similar report lodged by a former US military liaison with the Nineveh province IECI. The US major too confirmed a similar incident of seizure of ballot boxes from a polling station during the January elections. Major Anthony Cruz added that Kurdish militiamen tried to bribe local electoral commission staff to accept ballots that had obviously been tampered with. Cruz also confirmed a much larger ballot-stuffing scheme by Kurdish officials in the province.
I had predicted in my earlier post on the election that regardless of reported irregularities, fraud and rigging in the conduct of voting and its subsequent counting, the election will be declared as a victory for the draft constitution - too much is at stake for most parties, save for the Sunnis and Iraqi Christians.
But I don’t see the Sunnis now lying down quietly over this Nineveh scam in particular, or the passing of the dreaded (for them) constitution in general. I don't see how a connived piece of paper can bring peace to Iraq. I fear the insurgency movement will gain even more recruits. Unfortunately ordinary innocent Iraqis have to brace themselves for more of the same, what they are tragically experiencing now.
Related:
Iraq’s Voting Fraud
To block the draft constitution, a minimum of three Iraqi provinces must vote ‘NO’, each by at least a two-thirds majority. Everyone expected the Sunnis to successfully achieve that because the Sunnis have an overwhelming majority in at least 3 provinces, namely Anbar, Salahuddin and Nineveh.
The Sunnis fear the proposed constitution because it will grossly disadvantage and marginalise them, effectively placing the oil-rich areas out of their reach but into the hands of the Shiites and separatist-inclined Kurds. This time the Sunnis turned out in full force to vote ‘NO’, unlike their boycott of the January elections. This time it matters to their future.
How then did sh*t happen? They have failed to block it despite all the inherent disadvantages to them!
The first two Sunni dominated provinces, Anbar and Salahuddin, as expected, polled over 80% against the constitution but in Nineveh where the Sunnis also form an overwhelming majority, they polled only a simple majority but not the 67% required.
Statistically, politically, and emotionally, this was virtually an impossibility because the Sunni represent a significant and 'hefty' majority in Ninevah. And with the Sunnis voting in tandem fashion across their 3 dominated provinces, it was unbelievable the Sunnis in Nineveh could only pull across the 55 percentile line, when by contrast in Salahuddin province their compatriots achieved a 88% majority. Only 67% was required for Nineveh to form part of the 3 blocking provinces but even this was not achieved in such a well established Sunni-majority area.
As an indicator of what must have transpired, in Iraq’s January election which was boycotted by the Sunnis, the Kurds and Shiites in Nineveh turned out in full force but could only muster a combined total of only 130,000 votes for Kurdish and Shiite candidates. Yet, in this referendum for the draft constitution, by an incredible miracle, the ‘YES’ votes almost tripled to 350,000. The ‘NO’ votes were only over 420,000, a majority but not enough to constitute the necessary two-thirds in the province to block the draft constitution.
The ‘sleigh of hands’ began with the Kurdish-dominated Independent(?) Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) in Nineveh announcing that based on 90% counting completed for the 300 voting stations in the province, 326,000 people had voted ‘YES’ for the constitution while 90,000 voted ‘NO’ - which was an unbelievable and overwhelming majority of nearly 80% for 'YES' in a province heavily dominated by a beseiged group that would be severely marginalised by the passing of the proposed constitution.
It's just as unbelievable as Ariel Sharon surrendering the city of Jerusalem to the Palesrtinians for the sake of peace.
As the Commission knew that the world’s eyes would be focused particularly on the 3 to 4 Sunni provinces, they wanted the media to accept these initial and obviously fabricated figures, signallying that Nineveh province has strongly supported the draft constitution, not only by a simple majority but by a landslide, a runaway victory so to speak. That way the Commission could effectively engender a belief that the result was more or less finalised, and more importantly dampened any further media curiosity or interest in Nineveh.
With the advantage of hindsight, it has become apparent that Nineveh was the crucial province selected for some special midnight polling count, whilst Anbar and Salahuddin were to be left to their true polling results. After the release of the misleading set of figures, the Commission down-ed periscope, went silent and issued no further results or progress.
Then the IECI's 'funny' figures was made even more ridiculous, ironically by the US military liasion when the latter independently released the final vote count. The US figures was a 424,491 'NO' votes and 353,348 'YES' votes, making it a total of 777,839 votes, round up to say, 778,000.
The US figures effectively made the earlier release by the IECI the biggest pile of bullsh*t. Remember, with 90% of the votes counted it was then 326,000 'YES' and 90,000 'NO'.
Let's look at the two sets of 'NO' votes released by different sources. First there was 90,000 (with 90% counting done), which then became 424,491, making almost a humongous 472% increase - yes sir, four hundred and seventy two percent. Can anyone find logic or an explanation in that low-gravity leap of Olympian proportion? The 'YES' moved up by a wee bit from its earlier figure, assuming that was even true.
Now, it seems that the IECI had used the period of information clampdown to work out a winning figure for the Sunnis but one that won't form a two-thirds blocking majority.
Second point - When Sunni turnouts in Salahuddin and Fallujah were both around 90%, how in the brazen world did the Nineveh IECI expect people to believe that the total voting in Nineveh comprised only 778,000 votes, which translates into the province's turnout as only 60% of eligible voters. This is really b-cube stuff, you know, Bullshit Baffles Brains stuff.
But 778,000 votes total? 60% turnout? These polling figures suggest that either the Sunnis could have shrunk into a minority from the overwhelming majority they have been (and in fact still are, in reality of course and not by IECI counted votes), or 40% of eligible voters, mainly Sunnis, were sleeping throughout the voting period.
During earlier allegations that cheating was rampant, the election commission's head, Adil al-Lami had pre-empted any suspicion about the results for Nineveh’s by saying that the province was not among those that appeared unusual. He said its results "were reasonable and balanced according to the nature of the population in those areas."
It seems that to al-Lamy, an initial 326,000 ‘YES’ votes against a paltry 90,000 ‘NO’ votes in a Sunni dominated area was not unusual, or that a ‘NO’ vote of 90,000 after 90% counting suddenly becoming over 424,000 votes was also not unusual.
Let's work out a wee simple Malaysian arithmetic - 10% remaining of a total of 778,000 voters = say a round up figure of 78,000; let's be generous and say that remaining 10% were all Sunnis voting 'NO', which then gives us 90K + 78K = 168,000 which still doesn't explain the US military released figure of 424,451 'NO' votes.
Saleh Al-Mutlaq and parliament member Meshaan al-Jubouri, both Sunnis of course, said polling officials in Ninevah had informed them that the provincial capital, Sunni-dominated Mosul, voted predominantly ‘NO’, by as high as 80%, which seemed to tally with general Sunni turnout in Anbar and Salahuddin, but the Electoral Commission of course reported a 50-50 split.
Additionally, it is known that the Assyrian Christians are against the draft constitution because its article 135 subdivides the Christian community into Chaldeans and Assyrians, a rather nasty legislative manipulation which can be exploited by the Kurds to expropriate Christian lands and villages in North Iraq. Precisely because of this, the Iraqi Christians have been campaigning vigorously against the draft constitution.
al-Mutlaq told reporters that members of the Iraqi National Guard (dominated by Kurds in the north and Shiites in the south) seized ballot boxes from a polling station in Mosul and transferred them to a governorate office controlled by Kurds.
His allegations have been supported by a similar report lodged by a former US military liaison with the Nineveh province IECI. The US major too confirmed a similar incident of seizure of ballot boxes from a polling station during the January elections. Major Anthony Cruz added that Kurdish militiamen tried to bribe local electoral commission staff to accept ballots that had obviously been tampered with. Cruz also confirmed a much larger ballot-stuffing scheme by Kurdish officials in the province.
I had predicted in my earlier post on the election that regardless of reported irregularities, fraud and rigging in the conduct of voting and its subsequent counting, the election will be declared as a victory for the draft constitution - too much is at stake for most parties, save for the Sunnis and Iraqi Christians.
But I don’t see the Sunnis now lying down quietly over this Nineveh scam in particular, or the passing of the dreaded (for them) constitution in general. I don't see how a connived piece of paper can bring peace to Iraq. I fear the insurgency movement will gain even more recruits. Unfortunately ordinary innocent Iraqis have to brace themselves for more of the same, what they are tragically experiencing now.
Related:
Iraq’s Voting Fraud
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
The Farm where Man was F**Ked to Death by Horse
Do you remember that case of the man who was f**k-ed to death by a stallion? I am sure you all do ;-)
Well, it occurred at an Enumclaw-area farm in Washington State (not Washington DC – the State is on the western coast, just south of the Canadian border)
Detectives are investigating the owners of the farm after learning of its connection with the death of the ... eh ... stallion-rammed man.
It seemed the … eh … severely injured ... eh ... devastated? … man was dropped off at the hospital, which has a surveillance camera. From that video they traced the license plate of the car that dropped the very-f**k-ed man off at the hospital.
Sorry if I sounded a wee obscene with the F-word but I did try to minimise its use by switching to the euphemistic ‘severely injured’ and 'devastated', but really, those are too much of a mouthful and may even be misleading - you might mistake him for a combat wounded from Iraq.
From that licence plate, detectives traced the event of the … eh … f**k-ed-to-death man - now, that's more to the point, wouldn't you agree? - to the farm and the other people involved, who were no doubt sh*tting bricks by then (last part is KTemoc's speculation).
Meanwhile back at the hospital, the county Medical Examiner's Office ruled that the death was accidental as the result of having sex with a horse. Precise and to the point. I like such terse but accurate reports.
Look, surely you can't blame the horse for being very ... eh ... BEEEG so it has to be accidental. OK?
As mentioned in my previous posting, it’s not a crime for both men or horse because bestiality is not illegal in Washington State. Furthermore, there was no need to drag in the ASPCA as the horse was uninjured. Maybe horsey even enjoyed the episode, though admittedly the ending was a little sad – no more partners for you, you naughty horsey stud.
But wait, tell the ASPCA to hang on because investigators found chickens, goats and sheep on the property. Now, having sex with these smaller, weaker animals may involve a case of animal cruelty, which is a crime - so declared the Sheriff’s office. BTW sir, did you discover any rabbits?
In fact on further investigations, the Sheriff found that the farm was not completely unknown. It has been talked about in Internet chat rooms (but what about blogsites?). Through such chat rooms the farm has been known for a while as a destination for people looking to have sex with livestock.
He added "A significant number of people, we believe, have likely visited this farm."
Omigosh & f**king sheez, pardon me, I meant ‘galloping bonkers’.
The US Humane Society and the local animal-rights organisation Pasado's Safe Haven will highlight this case of extreme paraphilia - hey, told you guys I have just learnt this word – why then not use it- afterall that’s what education is for.
They intend to push for bestiality to be outlawed in Washington State. They don’t want animals to be sexually abused, especially smaller weaker ones like rabbits. And having sex with animals is really 'cruelty behind closed doors', even if only stable doors.
Hey man, afterall, 33 states out of the fifty in the USA ban sex with animals. If they can get Washington State to fall into line, that will leave only 16 states in America that allows bestiality. Pat Robertson should be proud that only one-third of the USA is permitted to practise what Sodom & Gomorrah did.
But what about big animals like the stallion which seemed to have enjoyed ... eh ... whatever ... that tore the naughty but unfortunate bloke apart? I wonder how it would have turned out with a meanie like a grizzly bear?
Too many questions, KTemoc, and you are not even an American.
Related:
(1) Unnatural Sexual Arousals & Acts
(2) F**Ked to Death by a Horse
(3) Kiwi Rabbit Fucker
(4) Arrested for F***ing Rabbits!
and as a special bonus
(5) A New Zealand Story
Well, it occurred at an Enumclaw-area farm in Washington State (not Washington DC – the State is on the western coast, just south of the Canadian border)
Detectives are investigating the owners of the farm after learning of its connection with the death of the ... eh ... stallion-rammed man.
It seemed the … eh … severely injured ... eh ... devastated? … man was dropped off at the hospital, which has a surveillance camera. From that video they traced the license plate of the car that dropped the very-f**k-ed man off at the hospital.
Sorry if I sounded a wee obscene with the F-word but I did try to minimise its use by switching to the euphemistic ‘severely injured’ and 'devastated', but really, those are too much of a mouthful and may even be misleading - you might mistake him for a combat wounded from Iraq.
From that licence plate, detectives traced the event of the … eh … f**k-ed-to-death man - now, that's more to the point, wouldn't you agree? - to the farm and the other people involved, who were no doubt sh*tting bricks by then (last part is KTemoc's speculation).
Meanwhile back at the hospital, the county Medical Examiner's Office ruled that the death was accidental as the result of having sex with a horse. Precise and to the point. I like such terse but accurate reports.
Look, surely you can't blame the horse for being very ... eh ... BEEEG so it has to be accidental. OK?
As mentioned in my previous posting, it’s not a crime for both men or horse because bestiality is not illegal in Washington State. Furthermore, there was no need to drag in the ASPCA as the horse was uninjured. Maybe horsey even enjoyed the episode, though admittedly the ending was a little sad – no more partners for you, you naughty horsey stud.
But wait, tell the ASPCA to hang on because investigators found chickens, goats and sheep on the property. Now, having sex with these smaller, weaker animals may involve a case of animal cruelty, which is a crime - so declared the Sheriff’s office. BTW sir, did you discover any rabbits?
In fact on further investigations, the Sheriff found that the farm was not completely unknown. It has been talked about in Internet chat rooms (but what about blogsites?). Through such chat rooms the farm has been known for a while as a destination for people looking to have sex with livestock.
He added "A significant number of people, we believe, have likely visited this farm."
Omigosh & f**king sheez, pardon me, I meant ‘galloping bonkers’.
The US Humane Society and the local animal-rights organisation Pasado's Safe Haven will highlight this case of extreme paraphilia - hey, told you guys I have just learnt this word – why then not use it- afterall that’s what education is for.
They intend to push for bestiality to be outlawed in Washington State. They don’t want animals to be sexually abused, especially smaller weaker ones like rabbits. And having sex with animals is really 'cruelty behind closed doors', even if only stable doors.
Hey man, afterall, 33 states out of the fifty in the USA ban sex with animals. If they can get Washington State to fall into line, that will leave only 16 states in America that allows bestiality. Pat Robertson should be proud that only one-third of the USA is permitted to practise what Sodom & Gomorrah did.
But what about big animals like the stallion which seemed to have enjoyed ... eh ... whatever ... that tore the naughty but unfortunate bloke apart? I wonder how it would have turned out with a meanie like a grizzly bear?
Too many questions, KTemoc, and you are not even an American.
Related:
(1) Unnatural Sexual Arousals & Acts
(2) F**Ked to Death by a Horse
(3) Kiwi Rabbit Fucker
(4) Arrested for F***ing Rabbits!
and as a special bonus
(5) A New Zealand Story
Pakistan - Each Foot on a Different Boat!
Believe it or not, al Qaeda has issued a public appeal to Muslims to rush aid to Pakistan, despite its jihadi fatwa against General Musharraf for his alliance with the USA.
None other than al Qaeda’s No 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, broadcasted on al-Jazeera TV on Sunday the following message:
“I call on all Muslims and Islamic charity organisations in particular to go to Pakistan and give a helping hand to the victims there."
Matey you’re too late, the hatred West and other non-Islamic nations such as China, Russia, Japan, Korea are already there. In fact the usual mob were as always first at the disaster scene, regardless of whether the victims were Muslims, Christians or believers of other religions.
But the apparently strange al Qaeda appeal does provide mucho food for thoughts. Why would al Qaeda, a terrorist organization, make such a public plaintive exhortation to Muslims to aid a Pakistan that is officially waging war against al Qaeda itself?
Hmmm!
Related:
(1) Pakistan & Osama Playing Footsie?
(2) Pakistan - America's Afghan Problem
and the reason Pakistan became America’s ally in the war against al Qaeda
(3) The True Obsession of Pakistan!
(4) Paki's Sacrificial Lamb for Kashmir
None other than al Qaeda’s No 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, broadcasted on al-Jazeera TV on Sunday the following message:
“I call on all Muslims and Islamic charity organisations in particular to go to Pakistan and give a helping hand to the victims there."
Matey you’re too late, the hatred West and other non-Islamic nations such as China, Russia, Japan, Korea are already there. In fact the usual mob were as always first at the disaster scene, regardless of whether the victims were Muslims, Christians or believers of other religions.
But the apparently strange al Qaeda appeal does provide mucho food for thoughts. Why would al Qaeda, a terrorist organization, make such a public plaintive exhortation to Muslims to aid a Pakistan that is officially waging war against al Qaeda itself?
Hmmm!
Related:
(1) Pakistan & Osama Playing Footsie?
(2) Pakistan - America's Afghan Problem
and the reason Pakistan became America’s ally in the war against al Qaeda
(3) The True Obsession of Pakistan!
(4) Paki's Sacrificial Lamb for Kashmir
NZ Still Says No to US Nuclear Warships
Helen Clark resumes her position as prime minister of New Zealand (NZ) after a narrow win in the last election, but only in a coalition with the ultra-conservative political party New Zealand First, headed by controversial Winston Peters.
Peters has spoken out against NZ liberal immigration policy, particularly against Asian immigration. I think he fears the presence of Asians will adversely affect the economic opportunities for native Maoris. Read here for some of his anti-Asian statements.
The current coalition has seen Clark appointing Peters as the new Minister for foreign affairs and trade. A majority of Kiwis have criticised Clark’s choice as the appointment of an anti-Asian Peters may send a wrong message regarding NZ’s attitude towards Asia.
Just a couple of days ago, Aussie media reported that new NZ Foreign Minister has sought Aussie help to repair the rather fragile relationship between NZ and the USA. The Kiwis and Americans had a falling out in 1986, when NZ then under Labour PM David Lange declared a nuclear-free policy, which effectively banned US nuclear warships from entering NZ ports.
The US government threw its usual tantrum when it couldn’t get its bullying way. It cold shouldered NZ for years, refusing to continue the defence and intelligence cooperation that was a feature of the ANZUS defence security pact.
The reported attempt by Foreign Minister Peters to solicit Aussie help to re-engage the USA seems to be a reversal of the Kiwis’ abhorrence of nuclear weaponry.
However, PM Helen Clark has come out to declare that alleged reversal as nonsense, saying that Minister Peters informed her the news report has been nothing other than pure drivel. In other words, Clark’s Labour-dominated government is telling the Americans that its nuclear warships are still unwelcome.
But I wonder with Minister Peters?
Peters has spoken out against NZ liberal immigration policy, particularly against Asian immigration. I think he fears the presence of Asians will adversely affect the economic opportunities for native Maoris. Read here for some of his anti-Asian statements.
The current coalition has seen Clark appointing Peters as the new Minister for foreign affairs and trade. A majority of Kiwis have criticised Clark’s choice as the appointment of an anti-Asian Peters may send a wrong message regarding NZ’s attitude towards Asia.
Just a couple of days ago, Aussie media reported that new NZ Foreign Minister has sought Aussie help to repair the rather fragile relationship between NZ and the USA. The Kiwis and Americans had a falling out in 1986, when NZ then under Labour PM David Lange declared a nuclear-free policy, which effectively banned US nuclear warships from entering NZ ports.
The US government threw its usual tantrum when it couldn’t get its bullying way. It cold shouldered NZ for years, refusing to continue the defence and intelligence cooperation that was a feature of the ANZUS defence security pact.
The reported attempt by Foreign Minister Peters to solicit Aussie help to re-engage the USA seems to be a reversal of the Kiwis’ abhorrence of nuclear weaponry.
However, PM Helen Clark has come out to declare that alleged reversal as nonsense, saying that Minister Peters informed her the news report has been nothing other than pure drivel. In other words, Clark’s Labour-dominated government is telling the Americans that its nuclear warships are still unwelcome.
But I wonder with Minister Peters?
Unnatural Sexual Arousals & Acts
I have just learned a new word paraphilia, which is a form of mental sickness, where the individual achieves sexual arousal only through the involvement of a nonhuman object (like an animal), a non-consenting partner such as a child, or pain or humiliation of oneself or one's partner, or a bizarre situation. These include sadism, masochism, voyeurism, paedophilia, exhibitionism, etc.
The first two, sadism and masochism, commonly termed S&M, refer to a sexual need to, respectively, hurt or be hurt to obtain sexual arousal. There are S&M clubs in western countries where men and (sometimes women) join such clubs to whip/hurt a ‘victim’ or to be whipped/hurt by a domineering master, or a mistress called a dominatrix until they attain sexual nirvana, which we all know as orgasm.
Sometimes I wonder whether I am a sick masochist, somehow always ending up with domineering girlfriends who bullied me – it would appear then that I must be subconsciously welcoming their sadistic treatment of me, and come to think of it now, perhaps I had been subconsciously seeking out such dominatrices ;-)
OK ladies, applications shall be in triplicates please, and you must be able to demonstrate competent use of a mean bullwhip or rotan.
I am sure you guys know what voyeurism and exhibitionism are. Just as a refresher, the former is secretly watching a la a 'peeping tom', someone disrobe or engage in sex. Therefore seeing a striptease show doesn’t count.
The latter is flashing one’s genitals to someone (usually of the opposite sex) unexpectedly – alas, I’ve never encountered a female flasher, though I must confess, I have always hope for such an occasion. But then, wouldn't that render the event as 'expected' rather than 'unexpected' – and technically, would an 'expected'/anticipated viewing of someone's genitals then disqualify that event from being an act of sick exhibitionism in the true sense of the word?
As for paedophiles, if you catch them just cut off their cocks or, to be on the safer (legal) side so as not to be so unlawful, perhaps just kick them in their bloody balls and then hand them over to the police. If they are of the female variety, I’ll leave it to your sadistic imagination to punish them ;-)
Bestiality or sometimes variously referred to as zoophilia or zoosexuality is also a paraphilia – I’ll blog more on this type next, to follow up on my earlier postings of Arrested for F**king Rabbits, Kiwi Rabbit F**ker and F**ked to Death by a Horse.
The first two, sadism and masochism, commonly termed S&M, refer to a sexual need to, respectively, hurt or be hurt to obtain sexual arousal. There are S&M clubs in western countries where men and (sometimes women) join such clubs to whip/hurt a ‘victim’ or to be whipped/hurt by a domineering master, or a mistress called a dominatrix until they attain sexual nirvana, which we all know as orgasm.
Sometimes I wonder whether I am a sick masochist, somehow always ending up with domineering girlfriends who bullied me – it would appear then that I must be subconsciously welcoming their sadistic treatment of me, and come to think of it now, perhaps I had been subconsciously seeking out such dominatrices ;-)
OK ladies, applications shall be in triplicates please, and you must be able to demonstrate competent use of a mean bullwhip or rotan.
I am sure you guys know what voyeurism and exhibitionism are. Just as a refresher, the former is secretly watching a la a 'peeping tom', someone disrobe or engage in sex. Therefore seeing a striptease show doesn’t count.
The latter is flashing one’s genitals to someone (usually of the opposite sex) unexpectedly – alas, I’ve never encountered a female flasher, though I must confess, I have always hope for such an occasion. But then, wouldn't that render the event as 'expected' rather than 'unexpected' – and technically, would an 'expected'/anticipated viewing of someone's genitals then disqualify that event from being an act of sick exhibitionism in the true sense of the word?
As for paedophiles, if you catch them just cut off their cocks or, to be on the safer (legal) side so as not to be so unlawful, perhaps just kick them in their bloody balls and then hand them over to the police. If they are of the female variety, I’ll leave it to your sadistic imagination to punish them ;-)
Bestiality or sometimes variously referred to as zoophilia or zoosexuality is also a paraphilia – I’ll blog more on this type next, to follow up on my earlier postings of Arrested for F**king Rabbits, Kiwi Rabbit F**ker and F**ked to Death by a Horse.
Monday, October 24, 2005
A Sad Tale of 2 Aussie Drug Smugglers
A 25-year old Australian citizen, who resided in Melbourne has been caught with 400 gms of heroin at Changi airport, Singapore, trialled, convicted and sentenced to death. He could be hung within a week.
Nguyen Tuong Van smuggled the drugs in the hope to make some money to help his twin brother’s gambling debts. The Australian government has pleaded for clemency on his behalf but Singapore being Singapore, the plea was not considered. The man will now pay the ultimate price for his foolishness.
His lawyers lamented that the Singapore government in prosecuting him has failed to consider his usefulness as an informant against the drug smuggling ring which should have earned him a certain degreeof clemency.
To Aussies, the death sentence is an unacceptable form of punishment that is barbaric, and better placed in a more medieval era. Last night I saw/heard on TV what one of his lawyers mentioned.
He queried in frustration about the missing Australian public’s support for an Australian facing the death sentence in a foreign country? Does it have to be a young, beautiful and Anglo-Saxon woman who has been convicted of drug smuggling before the Aussie public would rally in support of a fellow Aussie facing the death sentence in another country?
One of Australia’s top disc jockey, Derryn Hinch, mentioned during the Schapelle Corby’s case, when the Aussie public was wiped up into redneck frenzy by a certain TV channel and some other radio jockeys, that Corby received that degree of support because she was doe-eyed, pretty, white, Australian, female with big boobs.
See my earlier post on Young, White, Pretty and has Big Boobs.
There is some truth in the perceptions of Hinch and Nguyen’s lawyer. But could there be other reasons?
For example, Singapore is a far more respected nation than Indonesia – in fact, a large number of Aussies are suspicious of Indon’s intention towards them.
Apart from the historical fear of the 'brown peril' & brown skinned natives having their evil ways with Aussie white virgins, there was the (first) Bali bombing which was perpetrated by some members of the Indon terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
Then, some sectors of Indon had incorrectly resented that Australia helped East Timor in its independence from Indonesia, and stopped the brutality of Indon militants against innocent East Timorese. Could the arrest and trial of Schapelle Corby be an Indon act of 'revenge' for Aussie interference in East Timor as had been the case of the Bali bombing?
The truth about the East Timor issue has been that the former Indon President Habibie was a bit of a loose cannon, initiating unexpectedly the independence referendum in East Timor, which caught Australia by surprise and displeasure. Of course the East Timorese seized the unexpected referendum opportunity to break free of Indonesia. The reality was that Australia didn't want that responsibility of being an independent East Timor's taiko because of the associated financial burden, defence involvement and the inevitable diplomatic/social offence to the Indons.
Habibie's role in setting the motion for an independent East Timor, unwittingly dragging Australia into the fray, was conveniently ignored by the Indon militants. Indon pride had been affected and the JI in its demented ideology and extremist militancy hit back - first with the Bali bombing and then waging a continuing terrorist campaign against Australia and Aussies for their 'interference', which of course had been created by Habibie.
We should be reminded of what Gusdur, former President Abdurrahman Wahid said of Indonesia's former presidents before him as follows:
"Soekarno was mad about women, Suharto was mad about money, but Habibie was mad, just mad."
So the Aussie-Indon relationship has always held a common core of dislike, distrust and anger, for some Australians, fear. Unfortunately, when the Aussie media chosed deliberately to stir and marshal the public's emotions behind Schapelle Corby, 'some' Australians soon became 'many' Australians.
I reckon the dimension of Aussie anti-Indon feelings has not been transferred into anti-Singapore feelings. Besides, what ratings can a TV or radio talkshows derived from rallying Aussie support behind an ordinary looking 25-year old Vietnamese Aussie.
Then of course, Singapore’s legal system is similar to the Australian’s system (except for the death penalty) so there is less suspicion of its rules, process and fairness.
But in the end, one cannot but help notice the contrast between the frenzied support for Corby and the complete absence of any support for Nguyen.
KTemoc is always against the death sentence for many reasons that I have blogged on earlier. But I fear that even with a last minute appeal again by the Aussie government, Nguyen will be executed soon.
Related:
(1) Why I am Against the Death Penalty!
(2) Stupid if He's Smart, Smart if He's Stupid!
Nguyen Tuong Van smuggled the drugs in the hope to make some money to help his twin brother’s gambling debts. The Australian government has pleaded for clemency on his behalf but Singapore being Singapore, the plea was not considered. The man will now pay the ultimate price for his foolishness.
His lawyers lamented that the Singapore government in prosecuting him has failed to consider his usefulness as an informant against the drug smuggling ring which should have earned him a certain degreeof clemency.
To Aussies, the death sentence is an unacceptable form of punishment that is barbaric, and better placed in a more medieval era. Last night I saw/heard on TV what one of his lawyers mentioned.
He queried in frustration about the missing Australian public’s support for an Australian facing the death sentence in a foreign country? Does it have to be a young, beautiful and Anglo-Saxon woman who has been convicted of drug smuggling before the Aussie public would rally in support of a fellow Aussie facing the death sentence in another country?
One of Australia’s top disc jockey, Derryn Hinch, mentioned during the Schapelle Corby’s case, when the Aussie public was wiped up into redneck frenzy by a certain TV channel and some other radio jockeys, that Corby received that degree of support because she was doe-eyed, pretty, white, Australian, female with big boobs.
See my earlier post on Young, White, Pretty and has Big Boobs.
There is some truth in the perceptions of Hinch and Nguyen’s lawyer. But could there be other reasons?
For example, Singapore is a far more respected nation than Indonesia – in fact, a large number of Aussies are suspicious of Indon’s intention towards them.
Apart from the historical fear of the 'brown peril' & brown skinned natives having their evil ways with Aussie white virgins, there was the (first) Bali bombing which was perpetrated by some members of the Indon terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
Then, some sectors of Indon had incorrectly resented that Australia helped East Timor in its independence from Indonesia, and stopped the brutality of Indon militants against innocent East Timorese. Could the arrest and trial of Schapelle Corby be an Indon act of 'revenge' for Aussie interference in East Timor as had been the case of the Bali bombing?
The truth about the East Timor issue has been that the former Indon President Habibie was a bit of a loose cannon, initiating unexpectedly the independence referendum in East Timor, which caught Australia by surprise and displeasure. Of course the East Timorese seized the unexpected referendum opportunity to break free of Indonesia. The reality was that Australia didn't want that responsibility of being an independent East Timor's taiko because of the associated financial burden, defence involvement and the inevitable diplomatic/social offence to the Indons.
Habibie's role in setting the motion for an independent East Timor, unwittingly dragging Australia into the fray, was conveniently ignored by the Indon militants. Indon pride had been affected and the JI in its demented ideology and extremist militancy hit back - first with the Bali bombing and then waging a continuing terrorist campaign against Australia and Aussies for their 'interference', which of course had been created by Habibie.
We should be reminded of what Gusdur, former President Abdurrahman Wahid said of Indonesia's former presidents before him as follows:
"Soekarno was mad about women, Suharto was mad about money, but Habibie was mad, just mad."
So the Aussie-Indon relationship has always held a common core of dislike, distrust and anger, for some Australians, fear. Unfortunately, when the Aussie media chosed deliberately to stir and marshal the public's emotions behind Schapelle Corby, 'some' Australians soon became 'many' Australians.
I reckon the dimension of Aussie anti-Indon feelings has not been transferred into anti-Singapore feelings. Besides, what ratings can a TV or radio talkshows derived from rallying Aussie support behind an ordinary looking 25-year old Vietnamese Aussie.
Then of course, Singapore’s legal system is similar to the Australian’s system (except for the death penalty) so there is less suspicion of its rules, process and fairness.
But in the end, one cannot but help notice the contrast between the frenzied support for Corby and the complete absence of any support for Nguyen.
KTemoc is always against the death sentence for many reasons that I have blogged on earlier. But I fear that even with a last minute appeal again by the Aussie government, Nguyen will be executed soon.
Related:
(1) Why I am Against the Death Penalty!
(2) Stupid if He's Smart, Smart if He's Stupid!
Sunday, October 23, 2005
12 Good Reasons For Being Malaysians
1. We are not Indonesians but Malaysians – you can tell who's what by our use of the word ‘butuh’, which changes meaning once the Malacca Straits is crossed, though there is a strong correlation between the different use of the word.
2. We have the world’s tallest building, best F1 circuit, biggest pewter mug, longest and sharpest keris (belonging to UMNO Youth) … highest/tallest/biggest/largest/ … blah blah blah ... because Malaysia Boleh (can do).
3. We can be driving, picking our nose, cursing another driver, talking on the mobile phone, drinking, eating, processing kwa-chih, tuning or adjusting the car radio and bribing the cop at the same time - traffic fines can be settled on the spot with the cop, sometimes with a discount.
4. We can even divorce by sending SMS (dai tambi, this was in Singapore, not Malaysia!) – Oops, OK lah, since some of us can even guarantee a passageway direct to divine paradise, it's possible to purchase 'tickets to heaven', a world-first - just wait for Malaysia's 2008 general elections.
5. Nasi lemak, teh tarik, soup kambing, roti canai, bah kut teh, etc for breakfast, tiffin, lunch, tea, dinner, supper, extra supper until breakfast again, yes man, available 24 hours.
6. We can save lots of electricity because our TV shows are so crappy, and our power stations keep breaking down.
7. We are a completely blameless lot because we usually blame everything on the smoke haze, Indons, Thais, Singaporeans, Ukraine, George Soros, Jews, Americans, Australians, or at the domestic scene, the Chinese, Malays, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans, Bai’s, Ayah Pin, TAR, Chin Peng, etc although our favourite punching bag now is TDM, whom we were bodek-ing until he retired.
8. Our unelected 'resource'-ful City/Town Councils work under the 1st world practice of delegation - delegate one person to drive the van, one to carry the ladder, one to change a street bulb and three others to watch.
9. We are Towering Malaysians, able to make 2 lane trunk roads into 3 lane highway and back to 2 lanes but only when cops are sighted.
10. There's always something for the Public Works Department to do. They dig, resurface, dig and resurface, and ... at least until the road, bridge or building collapse due to poor construction in the first place – even the hallowed Parliament House is not exempted. And our main roads are designated highway because that would enable companies, blessed by the government, to collect toll, maybe until 2957, our Millenium Year.
Merdeka (but not from the toll).
11. As per the case of our city councillors, our ruling party has set a democratic example where its members have the democratic rights NOT to nominate anyone other than those selected few already determined by the party elite.
12. As an intrinsic part of our Boleh-ness we probably hold the world’s record for bestowing the most number of knighthoods - no problem, we have 15 separate sources able to bestow knighthoods. We aim to achieve a second record on this, by striving to have more knights in the realm than common people, which will be achieved pretty soon.
2. We have the world’s tallest building, best F1 circuit, biggest pewter mug, longest and sharpest keris (belonging to UMNO Youth) … highest/tallest/biggest/largest/ … blah blah blah ... because Malaysia Boleh (can do).
3. We can be driving, picking our nose, cursing another driver, talking on the mobile phone, drinking, eating, processing kwa-chih, tuning or adjusting the car radio and bribing the cop at the same time - traffic fines can be settled on the spot with the cop, sometimes with a discount.
4. We can even divorce by sending SMS (dai tambi, this was in Singapore, not Malaysia!) – Oops, OK lah, since some of us can even guarantee a passageway direct to divine paradise, it's possible to purchase 'tickets to heaven', a world-first - just wait for Malaysia's 2008 general elections.
5. Nasi lemak, teh tarik, soup kambing, roti canai, bah kut teh, etc for breakfast, tiffin, lunch, tea, dinner, supper, extra supper until breakfast again, yes man, available 24 hours.
6. We can save lots of electricity because our TV shows are so crappy, and our power stations keep breaking down.
7. We are a completely blameless lot because we usually blame everything on the smoke haze, Indons, Thais, Singaporeans, Ukraine, George Soros, Jews, Americans, Australians, or at the domestic scene, the Chinese, Malays, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans, Bai’s, Ayah Pin, TAR, Chin Peng, etc although our favourite punching bag now is TDM, whom we were bodek-ing until he retired.
8. Our unelected 'resource'-ful City/Town Councils work under the 1st world practice of delegation - delegate one person to drive the van, one to carry the ladder, one to change a street bulb and three others to watch.
9. We are Towering Malaysians, able to make 2 lane trunk roads into 3 lane highway and back to 2 lanes but only when cops are sighted.
10. There's always something for the Public Works Department to do. They dig, resurface, dig and resurface, and ... at least until the road, bridge or building collapse due to poor construction in the first place – even the hallowed Parliament House is not exempted. And our main roads are designated highway because that would enable companies, blessed by the government, to collect toll, maybe until 2957, our Millenium Year.
Merdeka (but not from the toll).
11. As per the case of our city councillors, our ruling party has set a democratic example where its members have the democratic rights NOT to nominate anyone other than those selected few already determined by the party elite.
12. As an intrinsic part of our Boleh-ness we probably hold the world’s record for bestowing the most number of knighthoods - no problem, we have 15 separate sources able to bestow knighthoods. We aim to achieve a second record on this, by striving to have more knights in the realm than common people, which will be achieved pretty soon.
US Marines used pages of al Quran to Shine Boots
Bloke is a Bahrain Arab caught in Pakistan for suspected terrorism. The Pakis handed Juma al Dossari over to the Americans (better give Uncle Sam someone instead of a Paki).
In Kandahar, Afghanistan, the US interrogators tortured him - kicking, hitting, burning him with cigarette stubs and hot tea, walking over him, making him walk over barbwire and broken glasses, you name it they did it.
Then they desecrated the Quran. He saw Marines using pages of the holy book to shine their boots, and that they threw copies of the Quran on the floor, and interrupted or even mock-mimicked his praying.
Then, something gross occurred. He was stripped naked and a US female interrogator stood over him and smeared him with her menstrual blood.
They took him to Guantanamo and apart fromdrabbing draping the US and Israeli flags on him to humiliate him, made him watch a couple bonking away on a table, then asked him whether he wanted to have a go, provided he identified a few blokes in a photo for them. The torture in Guantanamo went on, both physical and mental.
In Kandahar, Afghanistan, the US interrogators tortured him - kicking, hitting, burning him with cigarette stubs and hot tea, walking over him, making him walk over barbwire and broken glasses, you name it they did it.
Then they desecrated the Quran. He saw Marines using pages of the holy book to shine their boots, and that they threw copies of the Quran on the floor, and interrupted or even mock-mimicked his praying.
Then, something gross occurred. He was stripped naked and a US female interrogator stood over him and smeared him with her menstrual blood.
They took him to Guantanamo and apart from
Two Beautiful Aussies in Bali - The Story Continues
In my previous post A Tale of Two Beautiful Women I contrasted the situations faced by two Aussie women caught with drugs in Bali. One has already been convicted and handed a 20 year imprisonment while the other is just about to face trial.
Read this to see the superb battle plan and campaign subtly escalated for the 2nd one.
By contrast to Michelle Leslie's smooth purring legal conduct and campaign (like a Rolls-Royce car which the millionaire boyfriend probably might have), Schapelle Corby's case was a circus and comedy of errors all rolled into one, and then hijacked by unscrupulous people including some unhelpful press frenzy. See a selection of my many postings on her case (sequence of blogging from bottom to top of lists):
(1) Schapelle Corby Defence - Asking for a Miracle
(2) Schapelle Corby On-Off-On Defence Team
(3) Schapelle Corby Sacked Defence Team
(4) Schapelle Corby Defence - The Circus Continues
(5) Schapelle Corby Surrounded by Vultures, Vampires & Ghouls
(6) Schapelle Corby Story - Her Defence Must Stop Showbiz Antics
(7) Schapelle Corby Story - Appeal Grounds a Dog Breakfast?
(8) Schapelle Corby - Transcendent grace, careful styling, stunning good looks
(9) Schapelle Corby Story - Vengeance of The Trojans?
(10) Schapelle Corby Story - Australia Now on Trial!
(11) Schapelle Corby Story - The Sad Truth of Aussie Support
(12) Schapelle Corby Story - Forget Helen, Just Destroy Troy!
(13) Schapelle Corby Story - The Poisonous Support!
(14) Australian Rednecks Jeopardise the Corby Case
(15) Schapelle Corby Case - Hell Paved with Good Intentions
(16) Schapelle Corby - A Study in Unhelpful Media Frenzy
Read this to see the superb battle plan and campaign subtly escalated for the 2nd one.
By contrast to Michelle Leslie's smooth purring legal conduct and campaign (like a Rolls-Royce car which the millionaire boyfriend probably might have), Schapelle Corby's case was a circus and comedy of errors all rolled into one, and then hijacked by unscrupulous people including some unhelpful press frenzy. See a selection of my many postings on her case (sequence of blogging from bottom to top of lists):
(1) Schapelle Corby Defence - Asking for a Miracle
(2) Schapelle Corby On-Off-On Defence Team
(3) Schapelle Corby Sacked Defence Team
(4) Schapelle Corby Defence - The Circus Continues
(5) Schapelle Corby Surrounded by Vultures, Vampires & Ghouls
(6) Schapelle Corby Story - Her Defence Must Stop Showbiz Antics
(7) Schapelle Corby Story - Appeal Grounds a Dog Breakfast?
(8) Schapelle Corby - Transcendent grace, careful styling, stunning good looks
(9) Schapelle Corby Story - Vengeance of The Trojans?
(10) Schapelle Corby Story - Australia Now on Trial!
(11) Schapelle Corby Story - The Sad Truth of Aussie Support
(12) Schapelle Corby Story - Forget Helen, Just Destroy Troy!
(13) Schapelle Corby Story - The Poisonous Support!
(14) Australian Rednecks Jeopardise the Corby Case
(15) Schapelle Corby Case - Hell Paved with Good Intentions
(16) Schapelle Corby - A Study in Unhelpful Media Frenzy
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Burning of Taleban Corpses - the Saga Continues
The US is in serious damage control over the bad publicity in the Islamic world following the burning of the corpses of two Taleban fighters. The US administration, unable to blame Newsweek magazine this time for desecration against Muslim beliefs, has come out with an explanation.
According to the US military, after killing the two Taleban insurgents the US soldiers sent word to nearby Gonbaz for the villagers to collect the corpse. The Americans claimed that the villages refused to do so probably because the dead men were not Afghans but Pakis.
Note the US explanation contained the qualification of “probably”, which means they didn't know, are guessing or just plain bullshitting. In the American and English-speaking spinworld one should always look out for such tell-tale signs in a statement.
[On spinned bullshit please read my earlier post New English Terminology - Courtesy of US Military]
Then the explanation went, that since the US soldiers were sharing a hilltop with the uncollected bloating corpses they had to cremate the bodies to neutralise the stench.
But if the hilltop was so important, why couldn’t they remove the bodies elsewhere?
A few questions remained to be asked of the US military:
(1) Did the villagers refuse to collect the bodies because they could be killed or arrested (for torture), a belief that seems to be supported by the next question;
(2) What about the US soldiers taunting for the villagers through loudspeakers to have some ‘balls’ to collect those bodies? The following insulting message was what had been provocatively broadcast to the villagers:
"Attention Taleban you are cowardly dogs. You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing West and burnt. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the ladyboys we always believed you to be."
Hardly the sort of message to help us believe for one instant that the US military had been civic enough to ask the villagers to remove the bloating blodies for decent burial.
Then one US officer in Kandahar truly descended down to the level of the al Qaeda and Taleban terorists by pointing out that “the Taliban and al-Qaeda never show any qualms about defiling the bodies of dead Afghan or American soldiers."
In my previous post on this issue I clarified to reader mob1900 that the US shouldn’t compare itself to those that they alleged to be lawless terrorists, because if they do then they themselves are like the scumbag terrorists they condemned.
When one is the armed Service of a civilised nation one is expected to conduct oneself according to the norms of civilised society that have already been internationally codified and observed by civilised nations.
Related:
(1) US Troops Burned Muslim Corpses to Taunt Taleban
(2) No Civilian Killed, Only Suspected Insurgents
(3) Rumsfeld Authorised Guantanamo Torture Techniques!
According to the US military, after killing the two Taleban insurgents the US soldiers sent word to nearby Gonbaz for the villagers to collect the corpse. The Americans claimed that the villages refused to do so probably because the dead men were not Afghans but Pakis.
Note the US explanation contained the qualification of “probably”, which means they didn't know, are guessing or just plain bullshitting. In the American and English-speaking spinworld one should always look out for such tell-tale signs in a statement.
[On spinned bullshit please read my earlier post New English Terminology - Courtesy of US Military]
Then the explanation went, that since the US soldiers were sharing a hilltop with the uncollected bloating corpses they had to cremate the bodies to neutralise the stench.
But if the hilltop was so important, why couldn’t they remove the bodies elsewhere?
A few questions remained to be asked of the US military:
(1) Did the villagers refuse to collect the bodies because they could be killed or arrested (for torture), a belief that seems to be supported by the next question;
(2) What about the US soldiers taunting for the villagers through loudspeakers to have some ‘balls’ to collect those bodies? The following insulting message was what had been provocatively broadcast to the villagers:
"Attention Taleban you are cowardly dogs. You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing West and burnt. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the ladyboys we always believed you to be."
Hardly the sort of message to help us believe for one instant that the US military had been civic enough to ask the villagers to remove the bloating blodies for decent burial.
Then one US officer in Kandahar truly descended down to the level of the al Qaeda and Taleban terorists by pointing out that “the Taliban and al-Qaeda never show any qualms about defiling the bodies of dead Afghan or American soldiers."
In my previous post on this issue I clarified to reader mob1900 that the US shouldn’t compare itself to those that they alleged to be lawless terrorists, because if they do then they themselves are like the scumbag terrorists they condemned.
When one is the armed Service of a civilised nation one is expected to conduct oneself according to the norms of civilised society that have already been internationally codified and observed by civilised nations.
Related:
(1) US Troops Burned Muslim Corpses to Taunt Taleban
(2) No Civilian Killed, Only Suspected Insurgents
(3) Rumsfeld Authorised Guantanamo Torture Techniques!
Friday, October 21, 2005
3000 Qantas Jobs for Malaysia?
Qantas has threatened its engineering unions that it will outsource 3000 jobs overseas because the current product by its engineering staff in Australia is far too expensive and inefficient. KTemoc has heard rumours that Qantas is looking at Malaysia.
Mind you, it's still a threat to wring more concessions out of the unions. If the unions give way, nothing may come out of the management threat. The airlines claimed they are under pressure to cut cost as fuel prices has been soaring, and the threat of terrorism reducing tourism movements and thus passenger loads.
There is of course one additional but seldom mentioned issue - airlines executives want to show more and more profit each succeeding year. Every year Qantas would moan and groan about inefficient union workers and high cost and diminishing business, but at the end of each financial year, would post extraordinary profits again.
Mind you, it's still a threat to wring more concessions out of the unions. If the unions give way, nothing may come out of the management threat. The airlines claimed they are under pressure to cut cost as fuel prices has been soaring, and the threat of terrorism reducing tourism movements and thus passenger loads.
There is of course one additional but seldom mentioned issue - airlines executives want to show more and more profit each succeeding year. Every year Qantas would moan and groan about inefficient union workers and high cost and diminishing business, but at the end of each financial year, would post extraordinary profits again.
Your honour, the defence rest!
Your honour, the defence rests.
And indeed he did, after being kidnapped by gunmen and then killed. Saadoun Janabi, a defence lawyer for one of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants Awad al-Bander, was kidnapped by gunmen and shot dead. Police just discovered his body.
Seems someone, Shiite, Sunni, Kurd or American, is making sure there may be no defence for Saddam and his henchmen.
Why do I reckon it could be any party? No one really knows what the f**k is going on in Iraq.
And indeed he did, after being kidnapped by gunmen and then killed. Saadoun Janabi, a defence lawyer for one of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants Awad al-Bander, was kidnapped by gunmen and shot dead. Police just discovered his body.
Seems someone, Shiite, Sunni, Kurd or American, is making sure there may be no defence for Saddam and his henchmen.
Why do I reckon it could be any party? No one really knows what the f**k is going on in Iraq.
Kill all Domesticated & Wild Birds?
This is ominous. Asian countries have experienced this. Until recently it was Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia. Now, Thailand just has another death. Much worse, the dead man's son has also been infected which raises the very frightening question of whether the infection had been from man to man, rather than from birds.
And then over in Europe it started with Turkey, Romania, Russia. The Russians and Turks have culled thousands of birds.
In Africa and the Middle-East they are worried sick. Read here, here, here, here, and here.
Yes, avian flu has spread, literally on the wings of birds across the world.
Now in the face of such pandemic threats I hear but only deafening silence and a total absence of proposal to eliminate anything fowl-ish in Malaysia, in the same manner that some previous proposals called for the total ban and elimination of pigs because of the porcine potential for the carriage of deadly virus.
OK, based on those very arguments of eliminating the most dangerous virus-carrying creature plus the real fact that avian flu is now undeniably an imminent humongous threat, if we are truly serious about avoiding the greatest probability (no longer just a 'possibility' as the chances have monumentally increased in the last 6 months) of pandemic avian flu, we should eliminate all living fowls from the face of Malaysia – chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, quails, pet birds, wild birds (both caged or overflying specimens), and anything associated with birds like cats - yes sir, especially cats.
OK guys, I was just being cheeky and not really proposing the above avian or feline genocide. The better solution for Malaysia would be to ensure:
(1) fowl farms are kept in strict hygienic conditions and regularly and diligently inspected;
(2) satisfactory compensation schemes in event of enforced culling - to de-motivate people from smuggling their fowl assets across quarantined zones, as had happened during the nipah-pig crisis. Any resistance to culling would render the programme ineffective.
As an example, in this area of public management and thus government responsibility, our neighbour Indonesia has admitted on several occasions to its inability to compensate its bird rearers for culling, which added to the insidious spread of avian flu hazard;
(3) monitoring and reporting system, especially of migatory birds - do more random tests of the avian visitors;
(4) quarantine strategy, plans and programmes that are transparent, accountable and objective.
Impose ultra strict quarantine control at the borders with our two most potentially 'dangerous' neighbours, Thailand and Indonesia where the avian flu has emerged currently with devastating effect. Watch out especially for the illegal importation of fighting cocks and merpati pet birds from the north.
As an example of dangerous importation - Australian quarantine services have just seized 102 pigeons imported from Canada because those birds have been exposed to the bird flu virus and have tested positive to bird flu antibodies;
(5) public education and information system - no bullsh*t and hiding of the true status just to fool tourists;
(6) a plan for vaccination which hopefully needn’t be needed if all the above work;
(7) evacuation plans and procedures from high risk areas;
(8) publish all the policies, strategies, plans and budget for public comments.
And then over in Europe it started with Turkey, Romania, Russia. The Russians and Turks have culled thousands of birds.
In Africa and the Middle-East they are worried sick. Read here, here, here, here, and here.
Yes, avian flu has spread, literally on the wings of birds across the world.
Now in the face of such pandemic threats I hear but only deafening silence and a total absence of proposal to eliminate anything fowl-ish in Malaysia, in the same manner that some previous proposals called for the total ban and elimination of pigs because of the porcine potential for the carriage of deadly virus.
OK, based on those very arguments of eliminating the most dangerous virus-carrying creature plus the real fact that avian flu is now undeniably an imminent humongous threat, if we are truly serious about avoiding the greatest probability (no longer just a 'possibility' as the chances have monumentally increased in the last 6 months) of pandemic avian flu, we should eliminate all living fowls from the face of Malaysia – chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, quails, pet birds, wild birds (both caged or overflying specimens), and anything associated with birds like cats - yes sir, especially cats.
OK guys, I was just being cheeky and not really proposing the above avian or feline genocide. The better solution for Malaysia would be to ensure:
(1) fowl farms are kept in strict hygienic conditions and regularly and diligently inspected;
(2) satisfactory compensation schemes in event of enforced culling - to de-motivate people from smuggling their fowl assets across quarantined zones, as had happened during the nipah-pig crisis. Any resistance to culling would render the programme ineffective.
As an example, in this area of public management and thus government responsibility, our neighbour Indonesia has admitted on several occasions to its inability to compensate its bird rearers for culling, which added to the insidious spread of avian flu hazard;
(3) monitoring and reporting system, especially of migatory birds - do more random tests of the avian visitors;
(4) quarantine strategy, plans and programmes that are transparent, accountable and objective.
Impose ultra strict quarantine control at the borders with our two most potentially 'dangerous' neighbours, Thailand and Indonesia where the avian flu has emerged currently with devastating effect. Watch out especially for the illegal importation of fighting cocks and merpati pet birds from the north.
As an example of dangerous importation - Australian quarantine services have just seized 102 pigeons imported from Canada because those birds have been exposed to the bird flu virus and have tested positive to bird flu antibodies;
(5) public education and information system - no bullsh*t and hiding of the true status just to fool tourists;
(6) a plan for vaccination which hopefully needn’t be needed if all the above work;
(7) evacuation plans and procedures from high risk areas;
(8) publish all the policies, strategies, plans and budget for public comments.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
US Troops Burned Muslim Corpses to Taunt Taleban
"Attention Taleban you are cowardly dogs. You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing West and burnt. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the ladyboys we always believed you to be."
So said the US soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade of the US army to villagers of Gonbaz outside Kandahar, Afghanistan, as they burnt the corpse of two dead Taleban fighters.
The whole scene including the burning of the corpses was captured by a freelance journalist, Stephen Dupont, who was embedded with the US paratroops. Dupont was filming for Australian SBS TV channel.
Burning the corpse of a Muslim is particularly offensive to other Muslims and considered as a desecration.
Though the US soldiers later claimed they incinerated the bodies for hygiene reasons, Dupont pointed out those soldiers making the provocative messages, which was broadcast to the villagers by the US army psychological operations unit, demonstrated without any doubt that the desecration of Muslim bodies by burning was deliberate (see my underlined bold words in 1st paragraph) and intended to bait the Talebans.
Knowingly desecrating enemy corpses is a violation of the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of enemy remains in wartime.
Needless to say, the US military has made the usual noises about investigating the allegations and blah blah ... is repugnant to our common values ... blah blah ... and you may bet that nothing will come out of this.
Kabul has kept mum so far. Anyway, what can President Karzai do?
Some Americans cheered the desecration while others, more cool headed and sensible wrote lamentations as follows (I have chosen 3 that I thought are the best):
(1) "America.....a good christian country! Hey we baptised them with gasoline before they were burned. But there wasn't enough time to build an altar" ...
Writer was obviously referring to the Taleban-ish conduct (excuse the pun) of the Old Testament Hebrew King Josiah, the Mother of Them all Talebans, who loved to burnt his captives on altars as sacrifices to his God.
(2) "Reminds me of a book I read about Dr. Josef Mengele and his burning of bodies. All except for twins, of course.There's no defined sense of what's right or wrong in our military. It's a clusterfuck of confusion for our troops. This story pretty much defines the entire Iraq War: A Failure Gone Up In Flames".
(3) "This act of barbarism says far more about us than our enemies, I'm afraid, and one that military brass will not succeed in blaming on a few bad apples. It shall be seen by Muslims abroad whom we purportedly wish to keep from 'radicalism' as the true face of American values, the true countenance behind our civil democracy. This one tape, like the many torture photos, destroys the efforts of a thousand Karen Hughes."
"There is simply no excuse. This is deeply dishonorable, and a fitting compliment to systematic torture policies. How our government thinks that we shall win the 'hearts and minds' of the Muslim world through these practices is beyond me. In desecrating those bodies we do not succeed in taunting a few 'lady men' Taliban, but rather the fundamental beliefs of Islam itself, securing an ever widening perception of the United States as crusading infidels."
Well said!
So said the US soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade of the US army to villagers of Gonbaz outside Kandahar, Afghanistan, as they burnt the corpse of two dead Taleban fighters.
The whole scene including the burning of the corpses was captured by a freelance journalist, Stephen Dupont, who was embedded with the US paratroops. Dupont was filming for Australian SBS TV channel.
Burning the corpse of a Muslim is particularly offensive to other Muslims and considered as a desecration.
Though the US soldiers later claimed they incinerated the bodies for hygiene reasons, Dupont pointed out those soldiers making the provocative messages, which was broadcast to the villagers by the US army psychological operations unit, demonstrated without any doubt that the desecration of Muslim bodies by burning was deliberate (see my underlined bold words in 1st paragraph) and intended to bait the Talebans.
Knowingly desecrating enemy corpses is a violation of the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of enemy remains in wartime.
Needless to say, the US military has made the usual noises about investigating the allegations and blah blah ... is repugnant to our common values ... blah blah ... and you may bet that nothing will come out of this.
Kabul has kept mum so far. Anyway, what can President Karzai do?
Some Americans cheered the desecration while others, more cool headed and sensible wrote lamentations as follows (I have chosen 3 that I thought are the best):
(1) "America.....a good christian country! Hey we baptised them with gasoline before they were burned. But there wasn't enough time to build an altar" ...
Writer was obviously referring to the Taleban-ish conduct (excuse the pun) of the Old Testament Hebrew King Josiah, the Mother of Them all Talebans, who loved to burnt his captives on altars as sacrifices to his God.
(2) "Reminds me of a book I read about Dr. Josef Mengele and his burning of bodies. All except for twins, of course.There's no defined sense of what's right or wrong in our military. It's a clusterfuck of confusion for our troops. This story pretty much defines the entire Iraq War: A Failure Gone Up In Flames".
(3) "This act of barbarism says far more about us than our enemies, I'm afraid, and one that military brass will not succeed in blaming on a few bad apples. It shall be seen by Muslims abroad whom we purportedly wish to keep from 'radicalism' as the true face of American values, the true countenance behind our civil democracy. This one tape, like the many torture photos, destroys the efforts of a thousand Karen Hughes."
"There is simply no excuse. This is deeply dishonorable, and a fitting compliment to systematic torture policies. How our government thinks that we shall win the 'hearts and minds' of the Muslim world through these practices is beyond me. In desecrating those bodies we do not succeed in taunting a few 'lady men' Taliban, but rather the fundamental beliefs of Islam itself, securing an ever widening perception of the United States as crusading infidels."
Well said!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)