Dr Denison Jayasooria

YSS: ‘Don’t bite our fingers’ 

For all intends and purposes Dr Denison Jayasooria is trying to do a good job and his efforts must be appreciated. But the rumblings that have come out do not point directly at him. He is unfortunate, YSS comes under MIC and Samy Vellu, and whatever the good doctor may want to do, is objected to because of MIC ala Samy Vellu, and not because of Jayasooria. MIC and Samy are thought of as anathema to the Indiians, and they want to disassociate with this group which is responsible for the downfall of the Indians. The Indians are not going to change their mindset for a long time to come or at least until Samy departs from MIC. The hatred is enigmatic, how could Samy do this.

So, good doctor please understand, it is not you or your group, but Samy.    

YSS: ‘Don’t bite our fingers’

RK Anand | Apr 2, 08 7:20pm

MIC’s social arm Yayasan Sosial Strategik (YSS) is surprised that it is being criticised for being ‘more inclusive’ regarding its roundtable discussion on the mid-term review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).

Several quarters want the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in the Prime Minister’s Department and not YSS to take the lead in this endeavour if the government is serious in wanting to achieve the three percent equity target for the Indian community.

Contacted today, YSS executive director Dr Denison Jayasooria said the April 10 discussion is the foundation’s own initiative and will be a low-key affair.

“We have not been asked by the EPU to do this, nobody asked us to do this. We are doing it on our own. We wanted to get input from a cross section of groups and that is why we invited 25 civil society groups and others.

“We categorically stated we do not want political groups. In the past, we were accused of not being inclusive,” he added.

He said YSS has invited even the more critical voices in the community, including Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) coordinator RS Thanenthiran to the discussion.

Following this, Denison – who is also a commissioner with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) – said he received queries on whether MIC now recognises Hindraf.

“It’s not a question of who is calling for the discussion. It’s a free world, the groups invited have the right to accept the invitation or not. If they want, they can come and provide us with input,” he said.

‘Don’t bite our fingers’

On the same note, Denison said these groups are also free to organise their own discussions or make efforts to get the EPU to spearhead the review.

“There can be multiple approaches. But don’t bite our fingers when we are reaching out. On our side, whether they like us or not, we have been working on the ground over various issues and many people have benefitted from this,” he added.

Denision said YSS has conducted numerous roundtable discussions in the past and several more concerning youths are in the pipeline.

Elaborating more on the 9MP discussion, Denison said it is being carried out with the foundation’s own budget.

“It is being held in our building (the MIC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur). There’s no budget even for a hotel. Only chapathi, tea and vadai will be served,” he quipped.

Earlier, Malaysian Indian Business Association (Miba) president P Sivakumar told Malaysiakini that the review should be handled by the EPU and not YSS.

Such a move would reflect the government’s seriousness in wanting to do more for the Indian community, he said.

According to him, the EPU is in a better position to make adjustments or recommendations for the Indian community in the review.

“We don’t think there is any quarter in the Indian community that has the concrete data to show the progress of the Indian equity increase to three percent under the 9MP,” he said.

His call was supported by Malaysian Associated Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MAICCI) president Pardip Kumar Kukreja and Consumers Association of Subang and Shah Alam, Selangor (Cassa) president Dr Jacob George.

YSS: ‘Don’t bite our fingers’

The Icon For Corruption

Mat Taib jabs Dr M, defends Pak Lah

Mike Tyson has paid his master well. Mahathir got him out as Mentri Besar Selangor, and Badawi brought him by the back door and gave him a ministerial post. He owes everything to Badawi. He has now paid him, the first instalment, many more will come. In the picture he smiles, wonder how one can do that, there is so much of filth and mud that he carried while being the Mentri Besar and today you claim innocence, and want to be counted as a leader. I wonder if his staff in the ministry are not giggling behind his back, a corrupted man with a history and now becomes a Minister. Well he has started his game and Mahathir is not going to be quiet, or yes Raja Petra will have something to say. Be prepared Mike Tyson, your life as a Minister is going to be exciting.

Mat Taib jabs Dr M, defends Pak Lah

Fauwaz Abdul Aziz | Apr 2, 08 8:07pm

Umno information chief Muhammad Muhd Taib today lashed out at former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad for launching scathing attacks on his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Defending his party president during a press conference at his Rural And Regional Development Ministry in Putrajaya, Muhammad said people should stop pointing fingers at Abdullah.

“What Mahathir and people are doing now is very, very wrong. It is not fair to point fingers at one person when everybody knows there were many contributing factors.

“It is very unfair to dump the blame on the PM. This is unfair and done in bad faith,” he said.

Muhammad was referring to “unfair” comments from Mahathir made at a forum yesterday on how Abdullah was shameless in refusing to resign for Barisan Nasional’s biggest election setback last month.

‘Not a level playing field’

He pointed out that there were also other contributing factors to BN’s performance including the role played by bloggers, news portals and short messaging service (SMS).

“It wasn’t a level-playing field (between the BN and opposition). BN did not use the portals, SMS and ICT (information and communications technology) to the fullest,” he said.

Muhammad noted that the BN lost in the “virtual elections” while opposition had cashed in on using video CDs showing temple demolitions which caused the swing of Indian voters.

The former Selangor mentri besar also questioned why are the people picking on Abdullah when other leaders have also previously lost in the elections.

“We lost Terengganu in 1999. How come nobody asked Mahathir to step down then? When PAS lost Terengganu in 2004, how come nobody told (PAS spiritual leader) Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat to step down?” he quizzed.

Muhammad noted that Mahathir was a good leader but his comments are not helping the party at this particular time.

“We are trying to fight one person but our guru is hitting us at the same time. Nobody can call for Mahathir to be disciplined because he is kebal (untouchable). This is too much,” he told reporters.

Football analogy

Asked whether ‘yes-men’ in the party had made Abdullah’s administration different from his predecessor, Muhammad said ‘no’.

“The ‘yes-men’ did not make a difference to the administration. I was under Mahathir since 1982 for 11 years. I think the way they did business and dealt with things is almost the same,” he asserted.

“Leaders are saying things that are pedas (scathing), bebankan (burdensome) and they label Pak Lah with all kinds of labels. That’s unfair,” he added.

The Umno veteran also said that what some party leaders are trying to do in abolishing the nominations quota system is like changing the rules of a football game.

“It is like changing the rules […] and the goalpost itself while the game is going on. It should happen after the game,” he said.

With that, Muhammad stressed that the abolition of the nominations system should be done after the party’s elections in December this year.

Mat Taib jabs Dr M, defends Pak Lah

Technorati Tags: Muhammad

Man divorces two wives in 3 mins

Man divorces two wives in 3 mins

Shakespeare in the Merchant of Venice said “The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children.”  I remembered this as I read Roslan Ngah’s story of how he divorced his 2 wives in 3 minutes. A record of sorts, I suppose. Good, he has disposed of ‘his baggage’ and now God willing he will be married the forth time – in between the two wives he married and divorced the third after a  short stint in 2001. He is an experienced husband, surely, after knowing 3 wives. Or perhaps knowing many women is his essence of life. Many will come to his defence saying he might have had problems, strained relationship, etc etc and therefore his action is justified. 

What is odd is the husband and the wives are documented, with a passing insignificant comment, Roslan is also the father of 8 children. 8 fatherless children. What wrong did they do. Divorces are nasty but it is the children who suffer. Parents think of this. Although guiltless the children suffer. Sigh. 

 

Apr 2, 08 11:26am

A man divorced his two wives in three minutes, saying they had “collectively decided” to end their marriages to him and he had “never expected” such an outcome.

Roslan Ngah divorced his wives on Tuesday in an Islamic court in Terengganu by repeatedly saying “talaq”, which under Islamic law means a couple is divorced, the New Straits Times reported.

The 44-year old businessman told the daily that his wives, a housewife and a nurse who lived in the same house, had both wanted to divorce him.

“(My first and second wives) are like good friends but I never imagined that both of them had collectively decided to divorce me,” he said.

“I admit that my relationship with them had been strained over the past few months but I never expected our marriages to end in this manner.”
April Fool’s hoax?

Roslan married his first wife in 1986 and his second in 1995. He married a third time in 2001 but divorced shortly afterwards.

Asked if he would marry again, Roslan, who had a total of eight children with all three women, said: “I will not put off marriage indefinitely, God willing.”

Earlier, local reporters had dismissed messages about the pending divorce as an April Fool’s Day hoax but realised it was real when they turned up at the courtroom.

Man divorces two wives in 3 mins

Technorati Tags: Multiple wives,polygamy

Minister: Patriotic songs not effective among the young

Shafie Apdal has a reputation for bungling things as evidenced by his earlier tenure as  Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister. In my opinion I thought he would be dropped from the cabinet this time around, but he squeezed through based on the quota system.

One of the first duty he has undertaken is to popularise songs on patriotism and unity. My suggestions on this would include:

• Blar these songs in shopping malls, restaurants, bus stops and wherever people congregate
• Have enforcement officers going around, and introduce new rules making it an offense to close your ears and mouth when the songs are played
• Pay people to memorise these songs
• Make it a subject in school, and make it compulsory they must get at least an A grade to pass the whole exam
• No other songs on TV and radio, and if allowed, every other song must be Apdal’s song
• Distribute free CD’s with these songs and despatch your staff to put these CD’s in post boxes as their did for the porn VCD of a minister who resigned
• Finally, flyers everywhere, and this may help your cronies, actually all the resources required by my proposals will give you an easy way to help your friends. Two birds with one song.

If any further suggestions are wanted please contact bloggers who are more than ready to help.

There is another suggestion, very stupid though, practice what you preach and patriotism and unity will be a by product but then this may be a bit difficult for him to understand. And, please don’t treat patriotism and unity as a commodity, you are no more a consumer Minister, these two attributes come from the heart you can’t compel people.    

Minister: Patriotic songs not effective among the young

 

 

PUTRAJAYA: New approaches are needed to make the National Unity Department relevant to the younger generation.

Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal said he and department officers would think of new ways to reach youth with the message of national unity and a shared future.
“Playing patriotic and unity songs are no longer effective.
“This is a new generation of youth who think differently,” he said after attending his first briefing with department staff since being appointed to the post.
Shafie was previously the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister.

He takes over the unity portfolio from former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili, who is now the science, technology and innovation minister.

The New Straits Times Online…….

Technorati Tags: Unity,patriotic,songs,Apdal