Daily Archives: May 18th, 2008

Are You Physical Enough To Take A 4th Wife

Come on Syariah High Court judge Shaikh Ahmad Ismail Hakim, don’t make yourself a comedian and a laughing stock. Are you going to question each of his 3 wives how virile he is, how often etc, and thereby intruding into the privacy of their married life. You either say yes or no based on the facts you know, rather than playing detective on the sex prowess of Mohamed Nor, which you should know is never constant.

Mohamed Nor Awang who plans to take a fourth wife, may just have to wait longer.

Despite the lorry driver filing an additional affidavit on his affordability to take yet another wife today, Syariah High Court judge Shaikh Ahmad Ismail Hakim is not convinced.

Instead, the court postponed the decision on Mohamed Nor’s application to June 5, to give him the opportunity to produce witnesses and documents to back his claims on his financial and physical ability.

In his affidavit, Mohamed Nor, 57, said he could afford to take a fourth wife although his salary was only RM1,500 a month, as he earned another RM2,000 from part-time jobs in transporting scrap rubber and repairing vehicles.

He said his first wife, Wan Rukiah Mat Yusof, 52, earned some money from a 0.8ha oil palm smallholding while his third wife Noraini Daud, 40, also owned a 2.4ha rubber smallholding.

“I have provided a piece of land, a house, and RM700 a month for them, and a motorcycle to enable them to take and fetch the children from schools,” he said.

Mohamed Nor said that 10 of 18 children from his three wives, including from his second wife, Kalthom Dollah, 39, were still schooling.

The New Straits Times Online……

Police report against dailies not a curb on freedom – Says So Shabery

I am not in the press line, but what I know even writing this blog or posting, is to ensure that the contents are correct in details and substance. That is known as freedom to write. What Shabery is attempting to say is the government practices partial press freedom, not complete press freedom.

He is a bit tardy to say the findings would be made public, and this matter is irrelevant now, as the findings have been made known. Going by what he says, he is making a mountain out of a mole hill, if the report was to be made public, what harm is there if the recommendation of the committee is made known earlier. National secrets, security and matters relating to the military are not found here.

He is the first government spokesman who had the guts to say how these recommendations came into the hands of the press, through a third party. No amount of intuition by the press people can suffice to make a correct report earlier. Good he never said the press people dreamt about it.

LUMUT: Police investigations into several newspapers for publishing the Royal Commission of Inquiry report on the V.K. Lingam video clip before it was made public is not aimed at curbing press freedom, Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said.

“The Government has the right to protect certain classified information before making a public disclosure,” he said.

The matter was a problem of national secrets being leaked out before it was approved for public disclosure, he said Saturday after closing a Lumut Umno convention here, about 90km from Ipoh.

He pointed out that the Commission was set up by the Government and its findings would eventually be made public.

However, he said it would be more proper for the findings to go to the Cabinet first before they were made public.

He cautioned that there could be other government secrets such as matters pertaining to security and military that could have been leaked to the public.

“We don’t know where the leak is. It could be from the journalists who used their investigative intuition or the printers or the officers involved,” he said.

“If there is a leak, how can we ascertain that there would be no future leaks on matters of security?” he added.

On Saturday, DAP national adviser Lim Kit Siang had urged the Government to retract its police report against the newspapers, including The Star, because it ran counter to a more open, accountable and transparent society as pledged by the Prime Minister after the March 8 polls.

Earlier this month, Shabery had also announced that press freedom is the trend of the future because it was no longer practical to fully control the media.

Assuring that the media is freer and the days of what can be published or not are becoming fewer, Shabery said:

“We feel that there is a need to manage (information) and the people have to be educated on what is good or bad information.”

He added that he did not foresee the Printing Presses and Publications Act being used against the newspapers to suspend their licences in the case of the commission’s report.

“It would not be like the time when The Star had its licence suspended,” he quipped.

He added that the “danger” would be if the Government talked about press freedom but felt uneasy about it and suspended the licences instead.

“In this case, it does not touch on the question of national security,” he said.

If the Attorney-General felt that there was a need to prosecute the newspapers, those involved would have the opportunity to defend themselves in court, he said.

He added that the process of law allowed all parties to prove their innocence.

‘Police report against dailies not a curb on freedom’

Mohaneswary’s – 6th operation

This is from a blogger friend A.Nambi from his blog Nanuvugal on the plight of young Mohaneswary of Batu Caves. Well, kind souls out there, please do what can be done. Thanks.

Mohaneswary is awaiting corrective surgery on her legs at Pusat Perubatan Universiti Malaya on May 22.

This is not her first experience but her sixth painful and hopeful one; she had underwent five such operations previously.

The young school student has no other choice but to bear the misery for she was born with defective legs.

It was fortunate for her and her poor parents that PPUM is taking over the cost of the surgery but their problems do not end with this good gesture.

Mohaneswary has to be in bed three to six months after the surgery; she needs diapers as she will be unable to go to toilet. Beside this expense, her parents need more money to get her vitamin supplements and nutritous food.

Her mother, Mrs Josephin, earns only RM 500 a month; her diabetic father earns a mere RM 300 to RM400. They have three more school-going children.

Mohaneswary and her desperate parents needs our help to ease their burden.

If you wish to contribute either monetary or in the form of adult diapers , you can either meet them directly at their house located at No. 12-2B, Jalan PS/5, Taman Prima Selayang, 68100 Batu Caves, Selangor or bank in to their account number: 112157034180 (Maybank)

For further details or verification you may call Mrs. Josephin at 016-3349032 (you may mention the source of your info: nanavuhal.wordpress.com)

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Ahmad Shabery – True Information Minister

He is a blue-blooded, thoroughbred Information Minister. Look at the contents of his erstwhile speech:

  • Food, connoisseur of food, reduced food intake and the resultant gluttony, is bandied about to explain one simple matter that information is the right of the people
  • Choice of good and bad food again, in information technology, eat bad food and you have a tummy-ache.
  • Bad food, sorry wrong word, free media does not affect party or government, but I do know it will affect my digestion
  • Sabah blessed with free media, a transformation that took decades, it still won the elections. Here, he failed to mention, West Malaysia lost the elections, because they are in the teething stages of getting free media
  • Openness in information transference leads to cultural shock, basically perhaps the people cannot believe it has happened
  • He is starting classes to educate the people to choose sound and suitable information – something like, what big brother says is correct
  • Broadband extension and bloggers on TV are part of the openness – but sometimes bloggers can be hauled up if they speak the truth and this causes the person or persons concerned to have nightmares – what is important is the nightmare not the news
  • Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 is not a hampering factor – it is just another Big Brother is watching you reminder
  • Not all alternative media people can be given accreditation cards to cover Parliament sittings, besides logistical problems, I can also think of digestive problems of the people if sound and suitable information is not reported – there must be a lot of indigestible news spewing forth from Parliament

Everything said and done our Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery gave a memorable and beautiful public speech. It can be book-marked for future reference.

Information dissemination to society cannot be controlled as it is the public’s right to free flow of information, says Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

He said openness in channelling information is akin to people’s right to enjoy food.
“If you limit their food intake, they can become gluttons. And there is good and bad food, so people have to evaluate and make choices for their own well-being. In the context of current information technology advancement, openness should not be feared as a free media will not necessarily have disastrous effects on a party or ruling government,” he told reporters after delivering a public lecture on “New Challenges in Managing Media and Information in Malaysia”, here today.
“For example, in Sabah, the media is more free but the ruling party still won the majority of seats in the recent general election,” said Ahmad Shabery who also reminded on the need for such openness to be implemented gradually to prevent society from getting a cultural shock.
He said the openness should make the government more responsible and conscientious in convincing the people that they had made the right choice, besides educating them on the importance of choosing sound and suitable information.

Ahmad Shabery said the ministry itself had started to be more open and had invited the alternative media to participate in (RTM’s) interview programmes, while the choice of news was based on the value and not the people behind the news.
He said the openness in channelling information was more evident now with the government expanding the broadband capacity.
“This means that in principle, the government has allowed and facilitated free information flow, whereas in some countries there is a total clamp.
“Don’t be misunderstood that the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 is a hampering factor as it is only a small part of the matter,” said Ahmad Shabery who admitted that media control would continue to loosen based on the current trend.
On complaints from the alternative media of their not being able to get media accreditation cards to enable them to cover parliament sittings, he said the matter would be looked into.
“But if everyone (in the alternative media) gets the card, there will be logistic problems,” he added.

The New Straits Times Online……

Who Back-stabbed Whom, Badawi Or Rashid

It is a funny world and this has been like that from the beginning. When things work out, and there are two collaborators, they kiss one another, hug and say hello brother we did it. When things fail, damn you I don’t even come from your clan. How dare you call me my brother, I am of a different breed. That is the story of Badawi and Rashid the Election chief. When Badawi wanted the help of Rashid, history was made, Parliament passed a law to enable Rashid to stay on for another year. Rashid was in ecstasy, he promised Badawi the world. He told Badawi, what was 92% the last time, I will make it 100%. Although Badawi knew it was asking too much, he smiled on, Rashid will do it. Rashid was then the de-facto Prime Minister, he ran the government. He made statements, he threatened the opposition, he threatened the people, he was a clone of Badawi – forgetting he was just a civil servant, important today but tomorrow you are insignificant.

Came the elections. Neither of the two could believe the results – but then the people had decided. Rashid went into a limbo and was not heard for a time. His deputy made statements. The pronouncements that Rashid made were taken with a pinch of salt. But then he had not many years to go in service, only a couple of months, and Badawi was in no more mood to give him an extension. He wanted to go out with a bang. He claimed the cabinet,which was not in existence then, directed him on the issue of indelible ink, and he was innocent. He hoped the people would have something nice to say of him. But unfortunately Badawi hits back, it was just a request not an order, why, Rashid could have easily turned down the request. But would Rashid bite the hand that feeds him. Definitely no. So what was suggested in jest was taken as an order and the resultant fiasco of the indelible ink. I am told that the indelible ink changed its colour from black to yellow ashamed it had been sullied by two great people. But life goes on.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 (Bernama) — The government did not instruct the Election Commission (EC) to scrap its plan of using indelible ink in the last general election.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said, although in principle the government made the decision, it was delivered in the form of an opinion and not instruction.
The final say was still at the discretion of the EC which handles elections in Malaysia, he said.
“It is true the matter became a topic of discussion in the Cabinet because we had several information in relation to it, among them was certain people having brought the ink although they had no authority to do so.
“And we suspected the ink would be used in ways that could lead to confusion and give rise to difficult situations, could bring problems to the voting process on that day,” he said.
He was commenting on a statement by EC Chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman that the Cabinet did not approve the use of indelible ink although the EC had initially agreed to use it.
Abdullah said the government had received reports that using the ink would bring about several problems and therefore, it was cancelled after taking into account certain factors.
“I say this, either we proceed with it and let things happen as a result or we abort the plan because it will ensure no problems.
“The election ran smoothly, the results have been announced and everybody has accepted it so, why should it be made an issue,” he said.

No Instruction For EC To Scrap Ink Plan, Says Abdullah :: Bernama.com