Blog book launch & forum

Date: Friday the 5th Dec

Time: 8 to 10 pm

Venue: KL/Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall

Blogging and Democratization in Malaysia is probably the first fully-researched work on the Malaysian blogging phenomenon, covering the period of living dangerously before the March 2008 general election and the choppy months following it. The authors, Jun E Tan and Prof Wan Zawawi (one of my songwriting heroes), arrived at the blogging scene when bloggers were united by their fear and driven by a shared dream.

Admission is FREE and supper provided. Book lovers may feast on the latest books by SIRD.

YB Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who is political secretary to Selangor MB, will officiate.

The authors and Nik aside, other speakers at the forum come from the organisers, namely the Centre for Policy Initiatives, SIRD-Gerak Budaya, the National Alliance of Bloggers (All-Blogs) and the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall.

Mishap in New Zealand

Mass Comm student and lecturer die in road crash. A study tour to New Zealand involving students and lecturers of the Faculty of Communications & Media Studies, UiTM, met with tragedy when the bus they were traveling in was rammed by a truck in Auckland. The dead have been identified as deputy dean Shafiee Ahmad, 51, and 2nd year student Sakinah Ahmad, 21, according to a posting here.

A tahlil will be held at the Faculty in Shah Alam tonight, 8pm. Friends and ex-Masscommites welcomed.

Zaid Ibrahim sacked

update 2pm, 4/12: Zaid won't join opposition now, tells press conference that he is "victim of double-standards". Click here.

Original posting

"I feel fine". It was just in March that Pak Lah appointed Zaid Ibrahim a senator so that he could assume the post of de facto Law Minister in his Cabinet. Tonight, the outgoing Prime Minister chaired an Umno supreme council meeting that decided to sack Zaid for attending the PKR's congress over the weekend.

Zaid made quite an impression in the short time that he was Minister. Possessed with a wish to restore confidence in the judiciary, he got the PM to agree to pay ex-gratia to Salleh Abas and the judges from the 1988 crisis (Pak Lah even got himself a rare standing ovation at the dinner in April) and initiated the idea of a Judicial Appointment Committee (which is being discussed and likely to be tabled at Cabinet this month and, if approved, could be Pak Lah's biggest legacy). But he stepped on many big toes along the way. In Sept, he decided to quit Pak Lah's Cabinet.

I asked Zaid a while ago, after getting The Star's sms alert on the sacking: "Shocking news. Do you feel betrayed, bro?".
Zaid told me: "No, I feel fine."

He'll be holding a press conference on Thursday at 10 am at the Tropicana Golf Club (which is not too far away from Keadilan's headquarters).

Resign, Karpal tells Bar Council leaders

Karpal Singh has got enough of the Bar Council and is calling on its committee members to resign for keeping quiet over his running battle with the Chief of Justice and for allowing the Government to foot the bill for a dinner the Bar hosted in April.

Read a tentative report here; subscribe to Malaysiakini if you want to read the full report and more.

KJ: Umno Youth chief should be Minister

Khairy Jamaluddin says - and this is according to his trusted New Straits Times here ok? - the Umno Youth chief should be a Minister in Najib Razak's Cabinet. Najib is scheduled to take over from KJ's father-in-law in March 2009 and KJ is contesting the post.
As the current Umno Youth deputy chief, the SIL has an edge over Mukhriz Mahathir (who's talking like an Education Minister, here) and Khir Toyo, even though both received more nominations than he did to qualify for the contest.

Actually, KJ is just stating an Umno/BN tradition. If he wins the Umno Youth chief, tradition would beg Najib to make him a full Minister. If Mukhriz Mahathir wins, he should be in the Cabinet, too. The problem is if Khir Toyo wins. He would have to be made a senator first as he is not an MP. I was told, however, that Khir Toyo does not wish to be in the Cabinet even if he wins the Umno Youth chief post. He wants to focus on taking back Selangor and rebuilding the Youth movement, he once said.

But tradition or not, a lot of people can't quite stomach the prospect of KJ being a Minister. Wonder why ...

CSL's latest flame

Chua Soi Lek, the newly-elected MCA deputy president, had gotten himself into another controversy, it seems. This time with some young Malay graduates who grouped under the Gabungan Graduan Melayu Muda, the same body that dragged the Penang state government to court over the multilingual road sign.
GGMM president Khairul Azam Aziz said he and supporters will march from the LRT station at Ampang Park at 3 pm to the Wisma MCA, where he hopes to deliver a notice of demand to CSL.
"We want Dr Chua to apologize openly to the Malays for his statement that ketuanan Melayu is not longer relevant," Azam said here.
GGMM plans to take Chua to court on Wednesday if he fails to apologize.

Right-wing Umno blogger Big Dog says MCA should take stern action against CSL, here.

Sime man faces Sessions Court charge

Sime Darby of the world's-largest-plantation-merger fame, which expects profits for the year to tumble 46 per cent, will make the wrong kind of headlines tomorrow when its Human Resources boss Ishak Abdul Hamid appears at the KL Sessions Court tomorrow (Monday, Dec 1) over the controversial sacking of Group Financial Officer Razidan Ghazalli and Golden Jomalina's General Manager Muhammad Mohan Kittu Abdullah.

Also charged for a similar offence is KPMG Corporate Services Sdn Bhd executive director Tan Kim Chuan. KPMG carried out a forensic audit on the purported RM120 million trading losses incurred by Golden Hope Plantations Berhad.

Both Razidan and Muhammad Mohan were sacked for alleged “failure to discharge their functions to the standard of care that were reasonably expected of them”, resulting in the RM120 million. Three others - former Golden Hope's Group Chief Executive of Golden Hope Dato' Sabri Ahmad, former Director of Oils and Fats Dr Anhar Suki and General Manager of Commodities Trading and Marketing Azmir Yahya were forced to resign immediately.

Ishak could go to jail for 3 years if found guilty but the charge has brought about fresh questions on the sacking of the two senior execs and the circumstances under which the others had to quit.

Click here for more.

Najib and RPK on Aljazeera

Monday- Thursday, Riz Khan LIVE interviews. The DPM and his most ardent fan Raja Petra Kamaruddin will appear on the Riz Khan's Malaysian special on Aljazeera this week. They will appear separately, though.
Riz Khan's series of "live" interviews with Malaysia's movers and shakers will also Kee Thuan Chye and Joe Kukhatas. And, of course, a one-one-one with Dr Mahathir.

Find out the programs' schedules and also how you can take part by asking Riz Khan or the panelists questions, here.

18 tahun penjara terlalu lama?

Adakah hukuman yang dijatuhkan ke atas pendera Nirmala Bonat terlalu zalim? Pasti anda masih ingat akan foto2 ngeri di atas. Semasa berita tentang pembantu rumah dari Indonesia diseterika dan disiksa oleh majikannya meletup, saya masih menjadi pengarang di Malay Mail. Kami membuat liputan besar2an tentang kisah ngeri serta menyayat hati ini. Hingga kini, sukar untuk dipercayai bahawa ada di kalangan kita di bumi bertuah ini yang boleh bertindak sebegitu kejam kepada insan lain.

Pasquale berpendapat penjara 18 tahun yang dijatuhkan ke atas Yim Pek Ha adalah setimpal (klik s i n i) tetapi seorang blogger Malaysia yang menetap di luar negara, Gobloking, merasakan di sini bahawa ianya suatu hukuman yang zalim kerana Yim mempunyai anak2 kecil. Katanya 3 tahun penjara adalah memadai tetapi Yim mesti bayar gantirugi yang tinggi kepada Nirmala.

Bagi saya, hukuman yang berat perlu untuk mengajar sesetengah daripada kita supaya menghormati orang lain, walaupun ianya seorang pembantu rumah dari seberang. Sama juga mesej yang perlu dihantar kepada rakyat bukan negara ini yang bikin sial di sini merampok, merogol and menipu rakyat tempatan, iaitu makhamah Malaysia kita TIDAK akan bertolak ansur dengan penyangak dan penjenayah.

Baru minggu lepas makhamah menjatuhkan hukuman 32 tahun penjara dan 18 rotan keatas seorang rakyat Malaysia yang merogol pembantu rumahnya yang berasal dari Indonesia. Isteri perogol dikenakan 6 tahun penjara kerana bersubahat dengan suaminya dan kerana menenyeh cili pada kemaluan mangsa selepas dia dirogol. Nak baca, klik sini.

Sila baca juga laporan Malay Mail, Divided Feelings.

Malaysian GLC's Snake & Ladder

Che Khaleb or Amokh for Petronas? Heavens forbid, but the market talks.

Ismee Ismail (with songkok), the group managing director and chief executive of Tabung Haji, is tipped to leave for TNB while Che Khalib, the current Tenaga boss, is said to be eying a Petronas job.

Like I said, it's market talk. We've also heard that Amokh or Azman Mokhtar, the Khazanah boss himself, is keen on Hassan Merican's job. Never mind if Hassan's shoes may be many sizes too large, even for both of them combined!

I won't rule out anything, especially after learning the other day that Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan had proposed to the NSTP Board to bring in Kamal Khalid, the PM's 4th Floor chief operative, as the new CEO! And when the Board turned this down, Kali, who is the outgoing NSTP deputy chairman and editorial advisor, had then proposed that a position of Deputy CEO be created for the PM's special officer! I'm not sure if Kamal even knew that his name had been dropped like that.

Syed Faisal Albar, Kali's trusted friend, left NSTP to head Pos Malaysia. Syed Faisal's right hand man, Jezilee, is leaving his COO post at NSTP for the equivalent in Pos Malaysia. A couple of other top execs from NSTP are expected to leave and join Syed Faisal at Pos Malaysia, too, leaving Anthony Bujang, the new NSTP chief executive, a big hole to fill.

Kamal Khalid may still find an executive's position in Media Prima (the international side, I heard). Another 4th Floor op, Zaki Zahid (pic), is expected to head for MRCB.

If this was a game of chess, someone's moving around his pieces in a desperate attempt to save the old King's reign. Perhaps Nor Mohamed Yakcop, the MoF ll, can shed some light on these moves, starting with his friend's attempt to put Pak Lah's chief press attache as the NSTP boss.

Understand the fatwa: Lah

update 28/11 - Christians fatwa on yoga
“Why must you get involved in a practice that has an intimate connection with a religion or religious belief?” said Rev James Wong of the Basel Christian Church of Malaysia in Sandakan."

Original post:

26/11 PM urges all quarters to understand yoga fatwa and not twist facts; Muslims performing yoga exercise and not chanting mantras can carry on/STAR

Ah, the Prime Minister must have read Nuraina's posting Now I Can Do Yoga. In it, she said she's glad that the National Fatwa Council has confirmed that it is okay to do yoga -- minus the spiritual elementsl, of course.

Tough few days

Lost & Found. It's been a tough few days. A death in the family. A favorite auntie. She cared for us when we were boys and Ramuan China Kechil in Melaka was very kampong, unlike today.
And I lost my bagpack while lunching at Kelana Jaya. The Panasonic Toughbook contained as much sentimental stuff - pictures of family and friends - as it did my work. Also gone is a digital recorder containing hours of interview with Tun Salleh Abas. Etc.
My daughter said there is always a good reason behind a misfortune. My son said maybe it's a sign sent from above that I should stop blogging. Heh. A brother has lent me his Fujitsu so it looks like the sign is for me to go on blogging.

p.s. And the counter says it's close to 8 million unique visitors. Thank you all in advance for the hits.