When does silence become complicity? Prime Minister  Najib now stands at the thin edge of vicarious liability. Vicarious liability arises from the doctrine of respondeat superior (the responsibility of a superior for the acts of his subordinates).

The Prime Minister’s reputation for personal honesty has been shredded by his unwillingness to stand up for upright governance. A Prime Minister bears moral  responsibility for the actions of his ministers. He is the “first servant” of the union cabinet. The term Prime Minister was first used in Britain in the 18^th century. Till then the leader of the British cabinet was called First Minister which, translated literally from Latin from which the term is derived, means first servant.

If the Third Prime Minister of Malaysia, (Tun) Hussein Onn, had not nominated Mahathir Mohamad as his successor in 1981, the course of Malaysian history would have been very different.Until we get a change in government, only one man can stop Mahathir’s deleterious effects on the nation – Najib Abdul Razak – but he either won’t or can’t bring himself to perform this saintly task. Such is the hold that Mahathir has over Najib.

Those who call Anwar an anarchist miss the point. Anarchists aim to destroy democracy . They break the law. They subvert institutions .Anwar does none of these. We may disagree with some of his methods — i do — but not with his intent. And it is important to separate method from intent.

The intent is clearly right: expose the corrupt , improve governance, unmask collusive politics, and undermine the nexus between businessmen and politicians. All these objectives are noble and necessary. Malaysia has for too long been a democracy of, by, and for the few rather than the many. This culture of privilege has corroded governance and created two nations: those who have it all and those who have very little.

In the middle of these two extremes is growing aspirational middle class which forms the core support group of ive him enough clout to be a disruptive influence.

Disruption can be constructive or destructive.Anwar’s modus operandi has two principal flaws. One, he exposes alleged corruption scams but does not follow them through to their logical conclusion. He says others (media, public interest litigants, opposition parties) should complete the job. That’s not good enough. If you start something, finish it. If you can’t , don’t start it. No one else, for example, is going to nail the allegations against Mahathir,. Public memory is short, public attention shorter. These issues will eventually wither away in Malaysia collusive system.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz will not quit his post as a result of the controversy over the appointment of his son Nedim as his special officer.so To be transparent, declare your assets. squirming his way through lies as can be seen in his reply. How can his son be in the Tourism Ministry website as a Special Officer one moment and next his Special Officer in his constituency of Padang Rengas MP ? Which is which ? Please stop confusing us.

In a democracy, voters elect a political party to govern in the expectation that its legislative leader – the PM – will set final policy. If he is second-guessed by the party president, it amounts to shortchanging the electorate. What they voted for and what they’ve got don’t add up. That flies in the face of fundamental democratic principles. It doesn’t happen in any mature democracy worldwide. It didn’t happen in  UMNO either The virus of dynastic politics introduced by UMNO has spread so widely that family members in government cabinet.two examples of dynastic politics rearing its malign head in a party that prides itself on internal democracy. To be fair though, these ar examples in UMNO rather than the rule.What of the charge that Mahathir anyway remote-controls Najib so it’s okay for, say,  to remote-control UMNO-ledBN government? If the PM does not have absolute power – and the absolute accountability that goes with it – we open ourselves to misgovernance. It’s no coincidence that 30 years  have witnessed more corruption scandals than during any other similar period of government in the past. When the head of the government has to shut his eyes to financial malignancy at the adharmic behest of his party or coalition, corruption is the intended consequence.with all the baggage that comes with it

hear this

Old horses like Nazri, Hishammudin, Zahid, Hamdan with limited visions and perception should all go if UMNO is to continue to be relevant and strong in the eye of the people. They have been above the law too long and too much as such have became arrogant and prideful, a trait in UMNO. They have forgotten how to be a public servant but became ‘Over Lords’ instead.

Nazri, the way you answered queries showed that you are cocky and intransigent. Please stop harping that you were elected with a bigger majority when that tiny constituency represented voters who were generally kept poor and ignorant by UMNO’s machination and indoctrination. And stop justifying you are rich and able to pay for your son’s salary. The fact remains you have no authority to appoint your son to carry out ministerial functions. That is the role of the civil service. If you wish to appoint your son to do your constituency and political work, his name should not be listed in the ministry, period. Remove his name and those who you have appointed but not on ministry’s payroll from the ministry’s web site now. Otherwise you resign.In any mature democracy a politician that is doing damage to the image of the government and party would resign without question. We will never see the true 2020 vision until people like this(mostly in UMNO) begin to understand why they need to step down.

Mahathir may have left office after 22 years in power, but today, he pops up like those annoying advertisements which appear, without warning, on your computer screen. Mahathir’s messages act in a similar way to some of those adverts; they can harm your computer with malware or other unwanted files, when they are “opened”. Perhaps, we need a spam-blocker that will work on Mahathir.

How will we ever learn from history, if we are prevented from examining what has gone badly wrong for this nation? Mahathir’s policies continue to divide the nation, but many Malays are under the illusion that he is their saviour. Sadly, after 56 years of independence, it is mostly non-Malays who are more Malaysian than the Malays.

t is ironic that the man who once said that “Melayu mudah lupa”, should forget his role in handing the national airline carrier, on a golden platter to Tajuddin Ramli. Few MAS employees will ever forget how the company’s performance plummeted with Tajuddin at its helm.

Mahathir observed that UMNO Baru had failed to tap into young, smart Malay professionals. He claimed that UMNO Baru, unlike PAS, did not like, and possibly feared people who were smarter than its leaders. Again, Mahathir mudah lupa. He once isolated younger men in his cabinet, like Anwar Ibrahim and Musa Hitam, in an attempt to contain their political aspirations.

When Mahathir was the Education Minister in the early 70s, he quelled student unrest with an iron fist. Did he forget that the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA), which many associate with UMNO Baru, stops young adults from their right to full political expression?

Younger people find the Opposition coalition more appealing and UMNO Baru is aware of this. In GE13, voters at polling centres were separated into one queue for elderly people and another for young adults.

EC officials ensured that the queues for the elderly moved relatively fast, whereas queues for the young moved with laborious slowness. In many instances, young voters, simply gave up and left despite staying in line for hours. UMNO Baru reasoned that young people were more impatient and impetuous, and welcomed their absence.

We are told that Najib is known as Bapak Transformasi (Father of Transformation). History will be the judge of his success at transforming both the nation, and his party, UMNO Baru.

Fears of greatest treachery

Najib realises that the nation is ripe for change but he is tortured by the recalcitrance of his party members. Like them, he has only his own interests at heart, and not the interests of the rakyat who elected them to office. He has only himself to blame for the bad example he set, which strengthened the UMNO Baru delegates’ resolve against reform.

Najib knows his enemies from outside the party, but he fears that the greatest treachery to befall him will come from within his own party. He knows that many within his own cabinet would not hesitate to stick a knife into his back.

The new Home Minister Zahid Hamidi is openly defying Najib’s authority and also that of his cousin, Hishamuddin Hussein, the former home minister. Recently, Zahid unearthed 260,000 hard-core criminals, whereas Hishammuddin had found none and even had the audacity to tell the rakyat that the increase in crime was just a perception.

Zahid recently found 250,000 Shiite Muslims, when Hishammuddin did not even allude to them during his tenure as Home Minister. These are attempts to discredit Hishammuddin, and Najib, the cousin who put him there.

These machinations are possibly designed to unseat Najib at the crux of his political career, the UMNO Baru general assembly which will be held later this year.

Earlier this month, Zahid warned that if the Sedition Act 1948 was abolished, four aspects of the Federal Constitution, namely the special rights of the Malays, the status of Malay rulers, the status of Islam as the federal religion and the status of Malay as the national language would be affected. Putting on a defiant tone, he advocated for the Act to be retained and said that he was unwilling to compromise on this issue.

When Najib promised to repeal the Sedition Act, last year, was he using this as a carrot to trick the public into voting for UMNO Baru in GE13? Did Najib have any intention of keeping this promise or was it just a ploy to get the voters to think that he was a reformist?

Perhaps, Najib will use Zahid’s interjection as a convenient excuse not to repeal the Sedition Act and so win back the support of the hardliners in UMNO Baru.

Unlike Zahid, Najib is facing the most important battle in his political life. Is Zahid’s opposition to the abolition of the Act  a means to present himself as the true defender of the Malays and of Islam in Malaysia?

All roads lead to Mahathir
 
Zahid is not acting on his own and it is glaringly evident, that all roads lead to Mahathir. The former PM has been very vocal in the past few weeks and will continue until the UMNO party conference.

Mahathir will continue to instigate and foment dissent. His divisive policies are symbolic of his rule. When he left office in 2003, few outside of UMNO Baru were moved when he wept as he made his resignation speech. His successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi gave us hope, but even he failed the rakyat miserably.

Mahathir claims that UMNO Baru is the only party that can save the Malays. This is another of his damned lies. In truth, UMNO Baru has caused the downfall of the Malays; ordinary Malays have become beggars in their own land because of his policies, and the UMNO Baru elite are just pimps living off everyone else.

Today, time is running out for Malaysia, and if Najib does not act to defuse the racial and religious time-bomb set by Mahathir, it will cause untold damage to the country. Mahathir cares for nothing but the continuation of his legacy, through his son, Mukhriz. A leader who does not give a damn for the peace, prosperity and economic stability of the country, might as well be called the Father of Corruption. Apa lagi Mahathir mahu (What more do you want, Mahathir)?

For today’s ‘shrill’ TV news has understood something its critics haven’t Malaysia is aspiring and not just to buy designer shoes and emulate the powerful, but also to access news that truly empowers ordinary lives. With a sudden profusion of media, Malaysia’s citizen wants to know everything, and not for vicari-ous thrills.

Faced with corruption, ineptitude and criminality, the citizen wants to know how to live with dignity and hope. MALAYSIANS wants to draw courage from others and offer sustenance to them too to connect to a community bound by middle-class ideals, which, in the previous obsession with patricians and proletariats, was completely overlooked.anti-corruption movement weren’t spurred on by TV. These emotions — disappointment, grief, hope — exist tangibly around us.

And living in an interconnected world, where American drones, Chinese dolls and EU visas impact her life, she wants to know exactly how India’s policies are made. Old TV discussions, involving chatty camaraderie, don’t touch this need but ‘shrill’ TV news, with daily stamina and occasional skill, presents emotions, ideals and demands that do.

What is behind Najib’s fear of offending Sharizat, I wonder? What logic is it that a PM can condone a former Minister, whose family is embroiled in a scandal amounting to RM250 million that rightly belongs to the rakyat, by accepting her as his special officer. How special is ‘special’ beats me! And, followed by such question such as “Why are you so interested in her?” made it more amusing. By the same token, he should also be asking “Why are you all so intent in the Scorpene/Altantuya scandal?”. right?Najib is full of shit himself, litrally. That’s why he’s afraid to speak up. This is what happens if we have a PM that’s full of shit. Malaysia is losing its voice due to a tainted personality. umno must realize that, and realize quick. Pick someone else as president!They’re very shrill, but they’re not anchoring TV news. Instead, they’re critics sharply criticising television discussions for giving shrill thrills whenever Mahathir fires at  Najib or a politician crosses an ethical line. As TV anchors prepare arsenals, critics also craft lofty columns about Outdoor Broadcast vans winging it to the borders or wars raging inside newscasters’ heads. They thus reveal how they’re stuck at a centuries-old version of news, unable to understand powerful new changes underway.

Former Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil has broken her silence on her appointment as a women’s affairs adviser to the government. this question, dosen’t  Najib know that she cheated RM250mil of Malaysian taxpayers money? Isn’t she a bitch with no diginity? As the amber’s of the 250 million fiasco have not been put off. the public are now put into a position where they have to fork out more finances. What else have been promised beside the salary and perks in exchange for her loyalty at the coming elections. It looks like Wanita UMNO have no capable leaders but rely on rejected politicians. There must be a dearth of capable Umno Wanita that PM Najib has to face criticisms for trying to resurrect the waning political career of Umno Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil. Her political life spiralled downwards due to the scandal of National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) whereby her husband was involved. Shahrizat must be a great asset to Najib; otherwise he would not take so much trouble at great risk, in getting her to be retained at the helm of Wanita wing and possibly later to be included in the cabinet. Has she much influence with the voting Wanita delegates that Najib are wooing? It looks like it, taint or not. Najib first appointed her through backdoor after 2008 GE when she lost the election. Even when NFC scandal hit the headlines her cabinet post was reserved for her when Najib unprecedented stood in as the Women, Family and Community Development minister.   rejected by the people Another thing I would like to add, what can this cow ex-minister contribute to our country beside more curi curi.

Najib is so sacred of the ‘old horses’ in UMNO as they are the one that will turn on him in the next party election. So, dare not sack, cannot do anything until his own seat is secured. A very sad man.

Rosmah  holding one of his  Ros Otherwise SHE SQUEEZE………, then our PM is finished!!

Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jali “I am the adviser at the Prime Minister’s Department,” she said in a text message to The Malaysian Insider today.

It was obvious that Najib did not want another party Wanita leader to outshine Shahrizat. Former Umno Wanita deputy chief Kamilia Ibrahim was the only leader who dared to criticise Shahrizat and see what happened –she was not selected by Najib to stand as parliamentarian in the recent GE. She contested as independent and was accordingly sacked from Umno. This is feudalism at its worse –protecting their elite groups. The rest of Umno members are either vassals or fiefs.

Her first appointment in 2008 was made by then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi after she lost her Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat in the general election that year.

Shahrizat, who has been Wanita chief since 2009 when she defeated Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, will face a challenge for the post from former Puteri Umno chief and Pengerang MP Datuk Azalina Othman Said at the coming Umno polls.

She was appointed a senator, followed by a Cabinet position the following year.

She stepped down as minister last year after the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) controversy erupted and did not contest in the 13th general election in May.

The Observatory has been informed by Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) about the harassment against Cynthia Gabriel, Suaram Secretariat Member, allegedly in retaliation for Suaram’s role in exposing a corruption case involving the Malaysian government and related to the Scorpene submarine scandal, involving at least RM500m in suspected kickbacks.

According to the information received, on 7 August 2013, at 3.00pm, Cynthia Gabriel went to IPD Petaling Jaya police station to be investigated under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948. The investigation took place after Suaram was informed that a police report was lodged against the organisation in relation to a fundraising dinner it organised on 19 July 2013 in order to raise funds for the Scorpene case, which is pursued by Suaram before a French court.

During the investigation of Cynthia Gabriel, the Investigating Officer did not share or detail the content of the police report that was reportedly brought against Suaram in regards to the Scorpene dinner. The questions focused on Suaram and its work generally, including its policies and positions, and paralleled the questions that were asked last year when Suaram faced investigations from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM), the Registrar of Societies (RoS) and the police from July 2012 to March 2013. The intention of these investigations was also to harass and intimidate Suaram for its work on the Scorpene case; the RoS withdrew all pending notices against Suaram in March 2013.

The Observatory condemns the ongoing harassment of SUARAM members and calls on the Malaysian authorities to put an end immediately to the judicial harassment against Cynthia Gabriel, all Suaram members as well as against all human rights defenders and organisations operating in the country.

Cabinet Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Nazri Aziz  had been cleared of any wrongdoing by his boss, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, over the issue.then why we need Judges, lawyers and Attorney General

“I am not worried. I am going to fight them. It doesn’t bother me,” he told The Malaysian Insider today.

The latest round of attacks came from bloggers and Malay groups who claimed that the minister was being arrogant by defending his decision to appoint his son, Nedim Mohamed Nazri, as his special officer.

They challenged him to contest in the coming Umno elections to prove his popularity.

The A-G’s overall powers, roles, and responsibilities are provided for in Article 145 of the Federal Constitution:

1. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall, on the advice of the Prime Minister, appoint a person who is qualified to be a judge of the Federal Court to be the Attorney General for the Federation.
2. It shall be the duty of the Attorney General to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the cabinet or any minister upon such legal matters, and to perform such other duties of a legal character, as may from time to time be referred or assigned to him by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the Cabinet, and to discharge the functions conferred on him by or under this Constitution or any other written law.
3. The Attorney General shall have power, exercisable at his discretion, to institute, conduct or discontinue any proceedings for an offence, other than proceedings before a Syariah court, a native court or a court-martial.
   1. Federal law may confer on the Attorney General power to determine the courts in which or the venue at which any proceedings which he has power under Clause (3) to institute shall be instituted or to which such proceedings shall be transferred.
4. In the performance of his duties the Attorney General shall have the right of audience in, and shall take precedence over any other person appearing before, any court or tribunal in the Federation.
5. Subject to Clause (6), the Attorney General shall hold office during the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and may at any time resign his office and, unless he is a member of the Cabinet, shall receive such remuneration as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong may determine.
6. The person holding the office of Attorney General immediately prior to the coming into operation of this Article shall continue to hold the office on terms and conditions not less favourable than those applicable to him immediately before such coming into operation and shall not be removed from office except on the like grounds and in the like manner as a judge of the Federal Court.
7. Abdul Gani Patail graduated with a third class ^[2] Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degree from the University of Malaya in 1979. He began his legal career the following year as a Deputy Public Prosecutor (the title for a prosecuting officer in Malaysia) in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. In 1985, he was promoted to Senior Federal Counsel for Sabah.^[3]

   In January 1994, Abdul Gani moved to the Attorney General’s Chambers in Kuala Lumpur. There he was appointed Head of the Prosecution Division (1994 and again in 2000), Head of the Advisory and International Division (1995) and Commissioner of Law Revision (1997).^[3]

   On January 1, 2002, he was appointed Attorney General of Malaysia.^[3]

After the recent general election, Malaysian democrats have again been frustrated. Once more, the United Malay National Organization (“UMNO”) emerged victorious, though many believe this was the most fraudulent election in Malaysia’s political history. Now, democrats are redoubling their efforts to reveal such fraud and to seek electoral reform at least with an eye to winning the next election.

Democrats take solace in the fact that UMNO is on very vulnerable political terrain; it cannot compete fairly within upon a democratic playing field, but they should not just exert political pressure on UMNO. They can use another strategy: public interest litigation designed to embarrass UMNO’s ethnocratic political program, a program rooted in an authoritarian and discriminatory principle of Malay political dominance. Through such litigation, democrats can cast further doubt on UMNO’s claim to exercise legitimate political rule.

At present, Malaysia has no tradition of public interest litigation. This, despite the existence of a supreme written Constitution that contains a bill of rights and provisions that protect important group interests within a rubric of legal equality and provisions that express the principles of the separation of powers and federalism, which guard against the excessive concentration of power in any single organ of government. It is plain that the constitutional framework imposes legal discipline upon political power in a way that is hostile to authoritarian rule that is readily amenable to public interest litigation.

Though people do not elect judges and advocates, the two are answerable and accountable to the public, said Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam here on Tuesday.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department cum de dacto law minister Nazri Abdul Aziz’s attempt to disown responsibilities for his contradictory statements in parliament on the grounds that he was only the reader – not the author – of those statements has brought serious concern to the soundness of the Barisan Nasional political leadership.

The senior minister was confronted with evidence of his son Nadim (left) using a luxurious vehicle registered in Michael Chia’s name, who together with Musa Aman (Sabah Chief Minister), were cleared by Nazri of corruption in parliament earlier.

Nazri had provided written answers in Parliament that there was no corruption in the four-year-old scandal where Chia was alleged to have been arrested in Hong Kong for trying to smuggle S$16 million of Musa’s cash to Malaysia. Nazri also denied that Chia was arrested, or that he had cash with him.

Nazri attributed these findings to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Attorney-General (A-G).Talking to reporters on November 1, Nazri explained that all his statements in parliament came from the MACC and A-G, over whom he had no control. He was only the minister answering questions in Parliament on issues that he was not involved in.

As such, he sees no conflict of interest with Michael Chia. Sadly and shamefully, Nazri was in effect saying that he merely parroted what these government agencies told him, for which he disavowed any responsibility.

Breach of Parliamentary Democracy

Nazri’s stance immediately raises an alarm. If Nazri disclaims responsibility over his statements, then who is responsible to parliament for them? He is a cabinet minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, looking after Parliamentary affairs, as well as de facto Law Minister.

So, if Nazri’s disclaimer is justified, does it not mean that in addition to Nazri (right) himself, the Prime Minister and the entire Barisan Nasional (BN) cabinet can also be freed from responsibility over possible false statements on the scandal made in Parliament?

Doesn’t this amount to the Barisan Nasional leadership abdicating wholesale its accountability to Parliament, and by extension, betraying the trust upon which the people have elected the coalition to power?

This is certainly a serious breach of the principles of parliamentary democracy upon which this nation was founded, for which Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak can no longer keep silent and must promptly stand up to make his stand to the nation.

He must urgently clarify in Parliament whether Nazri was authorised to make those statements and whether every Minister is personally responsible for what he states in Parliament.

And since MACC comes under the Prime Minister’s Department while the A-G is the cabinet’s chief legal adviser, both of whom are claimed by Nazri to be responsible for the statements he made in Parliament, Najib must now give unequivocal answers to many perplexing questions on the scandal, compounded by Nazri’s contradicting versions of the story.

Nazri’s contradictory statements

To appreciate the seriousness of these contradictions perpetrated by Nazri in parliament, I will briefly recap them as follows:

• On October 11, answering MP Chua Tian Chan, Nazri stated that the AG decided that there was no corruption, based on MACC’s investigations and reports. However, this assertion immediately clashes with MACC’s own statement a few days earlier, when its deputy chief commissioner (operations) Shukri Abdull said on Oct 5 that investigation were still on-going, due to instruction by its review panel to get more evidence;

• On October 18, answering MP Tan Kok Wai, Nazri changed his tune by saying that the investigation was not carried out by MACC, but instead, by Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), which concluded that there was no corruption. No explanation was given as to why Nazri reversed his story; and,

• On October 22, answering questions at the committee stage of the Budget 2013 debate in Dewan Rakyat, Nazri astounded all by denying that Michael Chia was ever arrested, neither did Chia possess the alleged cash, as he understood from MACC.

No explanation was given why the BN government had kept its strange silence, while reports of Michael Chia’s arrest with S$16 million cash meant for Musa Aman had swirled for the past four years.

It is important to note that while Nazri was dancing like a yo-yo in Parliament with his statements of exoneration for Chia and Musa, none of the investigating and law-enforcing bodies – ICAC, MACC or A-G – ever uttered a word on the scandal (except for MACC’s statement on October 5 that investigation was still in progress), least of all any declaration of the duo’s innocence.

All we have is Nazri’s words – words that are not collaborated or substantiated with even an iota of evidence, in addition to being self-contradictory and conflicting with MACC.

PM must answer

Under the circumstances, Prime Minister Najib must take responsibility for the bumbling Minister in his department and step up to give categorical answers to the following questions in Parliament to avert a total collapse of confidence in his leadership:

1. Is it true that ICAC has conveyed its findings of money laundering to MACC, including a money flow chart trailing the Sabah timber corruption money through a convoluted network to end up in Musa Aman’s UBS AG account in Zurich, complete with details of various nominee accounts, payers and payees, deposit amounts, etc? (This money flow chart has been widely circulating on the Internet for some time).

2. Is it true that MACC has carried out an investigation of its own on Sabah timber corruption including probe on Musa Aman and his brother Anifah Aman (Malaysia’s Foreign Minister) since the Michael Chia incident in Hong Kong?

3. Is it true that neither ICAC nor MACC has ever exonerated Chia and Musa of money laundering and corruption?

To avoid falling into the same quagmire as Minister Nazri has, the Prime Minister is well advised to buttress his answers with sufficient and credible facts – the kind of evidence that will restore public confidence.

Latest Nazri-Chia corruption scandal

With regard to Nazri’s latest refutation of any impropriety over his family’s beneficial link to Michael Chia on the grounds that his son is his son, with whom he has nothing to do, this is sheer child’s talk.

Whether Nazri likes it or not, his son Nedim is his immediate family, and for any improper favour granted to Nadim by virtue of Nazri’s position as a minister, the latter is deemed beneficiary and recipient of that improper favour.

Would Chia have given the half-million-ringgit Hummer SUV for use by Nedim’s family, if not for the fact that Nazri is a senior minister capable of doing Chia a favour?

In this case, Nazri easily stands out as a prime corruption suspect, as he has already stuck his neck out in parliament where he recklessly cleared Chia (as well as his alleged master Musa Aman) of any wrong-doing.

This is clearly a case with classical corruption ingredients, cut out for action by any corruption buster worth ihis salt in any democratic country.

However, in Malaysia, our MACC has already played deaf and dumb on the Chia-Musa scandal for the past four years. Will it also do a Chia-Musa on the latest Nazri-Chia corruption scandal this time around?

Inaugurating the Rs 4.2-crore Alternative Disputes Redressal (ADR) Centre and laying foundation for a new administrative block for the Madras high court in the presence of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, he said judiciary was enjoying enormous public confidence and trust, and hence advocates and judges must conduct themselves in a manner befitting the stature.

Later in the evening, while addressing members of various Bar associations, Justice Sathasivam called upon lawyers to work towards improving the public image and perception of the profession. “The image of the lawyer must change in the eyes of the society. I am confident that the day when all the lawyers wilfully offer their services both as advisor and as advocate, our society will revere the profession.”

While talking to reporters, Justice Sathasivam ruled out the possibility of establishing regional benches of the Supreme Court in different parts of the country.

He said there might not be any consensus on the location of regional benches. As for a southern bench of the apex court, he said, “You will demand that it be based in Chennai, but similar demands might arise from Hyderabad or Bangalore.”

He said even the all India conference of chief justices and chief ministers could not take a final decision on the matter, and added that the demand was misplaced as the apex court proceedings could be followed on real-time basis from any part of the country. “Right now no decision is likely on formation of regional benches of the Supreme Court,” Justice Sathasivam said.

Asked about the frequent lawyer-police clash in Tamil Nadu, the Chief Justice of India said advocates and police were not enemies and that both were working for the welfare of people. “They must understand the scope of each other’s job nature,” he said.

As for the continuing demand for recognising Tamil as language of the high court, he said the Madras high court has forwarded a favourable recommendation in that regard. But the government and other agencies must create necessary infrastructure including law books in Tamil and necessary clerical assistance.

Justice Sathasivam recalled that his senior K Duraisamy had assigned him a court work on the very day of his enrolment. India had approximately 12 lakh registered advocates, and every year 60,000 to 70,000 law graduates are joining the profession, he said.

Noting that the Supreme Court has introduced a system wherein the listing of cases and the bench before which they are listed would be conveyed to advocates and litigants through SMS and email, he said shortly the service would be extended to daily orders as well.

Earlier in the day, Jayalalithaa made an announcement of sorts when she said the acting Chief Justice of the Madras high court, Justice R K Agrawal, would soon be a chief justice and Justice R Banumathi would soon be Chief Justice of Jharkhand high court.

“The growing population, increasing awareness of rights and the abiding confidence of people in the judiciary have witnessed a tremendous spurt in litigation. However, in the Indian context, lack of awareness of legal provisions, mystifying legal terms, delays in disposal and the prohibitive cost of litigation are some of the barriers in the way of accessing justice. The cost of litigation has increased exponentially,” she said. The CM also recalled her government’s initiatives for the welfare of women and children, and said it was an area close to her heart.

Yet, no tradition of such litigation has emerged because the long-standing UMNO government has attempted to prevent citizens and judges from developing such a tradition. In the 1980s, after concerned citizens went to court to ask judges to check state authoritarianism by reference to constitutional norms, the government, led by Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, UMNO’s most well-known ethnocrat and the country’s longest serving Prime Minister, put an end to this practice. It sacked judges and amended the Constitution to limit judicial review. And, allegedly, the government rigged judicial appointments to produce a compliant judiciary.

Bracketing the question whether or not the courts are now well placed to develop a tradition of public interest litigation, it first bears noting that the conditions are right to revive public interest litigation. UMNO is weak. It no longer has a supermajority in Parliament and cannot amend the Constitution to suit politically expedient goals. Nor can it afford to appear to meddle in judicial affairs. Perhaps most significant is that UMNO lacks competent leadership. This is the result Dr. Mahathir’s long reign as UMNO head. Fearing challenge from within UMNO, he did not groom an adequate leadership structure within the party, so when he retired in 2003, he left it without the intellectual wherewithal to survive.

Right now, in a well-worn strategy, UMNO also seems keen to invoke the Constitution in its favour, precisely because it is politically weak. In the 1980s, the government argued that there is a “sacrosanct social contract” between Malaysia’s Founding Fathers in the Constitution, entrenching a legal-political principle of “Malay Dominance.” This argument inverts the doctrine of constitutional supremacy, which usually applies to impose hard legal limits on state power to protect citizens. UMNO relies on the doctrine to impose hard legal limits on popular politics to immunize the ethnocratic paradigm from political challenge under the guise of constitutionalism. It uses the doctrine to entrench an authoritarian state power over citizens.

Unfortunately, democrats have not developed an adequate response to this stance. Some lawyers and academics have sought to debunk the ethnocratic reading of the Constitution but they have only made a negative case. They have not set out a detailed constitutional vision for society that begins in an interpretation of abstract values of political morality like democracy, legality, and social stability and explain how these yield middle level principles that fit and justify the Constitution’s text, structure, and history, ultimately culminating in practical claims about what the Constitution requires.

In short, democrats need a theory of the Constitution capable of offering guidance for political deliberation, debate, and judgment suited to a pluralistic society like Malaysia.

Any such theory is likely to show how the Constitution enacts a “constitutional democracy,” not dictatorship. The cooperative efforts of thinkers, lawyers, judges, and citizens will be needed to build such a theory. But the principal laboratory for the construction of such a theory is the courts. There, conscientious lawyers and judges can apply and refine a coherent constitutional theory in the context of specific constitutional problems.

This is where the strategy of using public interest litigation will be crucial. The very recent Malaysian High Court judgment in Indira Gandhi on the constitutional validity of unilateral conversions of children by a Muslim parent shows how this strategy might work. In an impeccably reasoned judgment, Lee J articulates middle level principles to interpret constitutional text, structure, and history and then applies that interpretation to the issues before the court. While he does not set out a deeper theory of the Constitution, he alludes to such a theory in a postscript, noting that one has to read the Constitution as creating a framework of social cooperation predicated upon equality and tolerance intended for a pluralistic society. It is also worth noting that he expressly encourages public interest litigation as a way to develop this vision of the Constitution.

Lee J’s judgment foreshadows the sort of strategy for democrats I suggest here and reveals the power of that strategy. In this case, his arguments require the government to respond with a constitutional argument that lays bare its deeper theoretical assumptions about the Constitution, assumptions which will then be subject to legal testing that is apt to reveal that UMNO’s view of the Constitution is legally mistaken and politically unpalatable in a plural society. Public awareness of these problems is then likely to generate significant political pressure on the government to either accept meaningful democratic reform or eventually to exit.

Lee J’s decision shows that judicial independence is not dead in Malaysia and that courts can advance democracy via public interest litigation.

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will be charged next week with the alleged murder of ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, his lawyer said, the latest turn in a political drama that has unfolded since his return from exile in March.

News of the pending criminal charge came as details emerged on Tuesday about an audacious overnight Taliban jailbreak of some 250 prisoners including what a Pakistani official said were 40 to 50 “hard-core terrorists.”

In a separate development, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly for a businessman, Mamnoon Hussain, from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N, to be the next president, as expected. He will take up the largely ceremonial position in early September at the end of the five-year term of President Asif Ali Zardari, Ms. Bhutto’s widower.

Mr. Musharraf, who was previously Pakistan’s military chief, has been enmeshed in multiple court cases since his return to Pakistan. But a charge in the December 2007 Bhutto assassination, expected at a court hearing on Aug. 6, would be the most serious yet.

Ahmed Raza Kasuri, Mr. Musharraf’s lawyer, said the pending cases against Mr. Musharraf were “false, fabricated and fictitious.”

The attempted prosecutions, Mr. Kasuri added, “will fall like a house of cards.” The public prosecutor couldn’t be reached to comment.

Mr. Musharraf is alleged to have not provided Ms. Bhutto with sufficient security at the time of her assassination, when she was campaigning for coming elections. He is also alleged to have threatened her before she returned to Pakistan in October 2007, the lawyer said.

Mr. Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup and threw Pakistan’s support behind the U.S.-led war on terrorism after Sept. 11, 2001. The latest legal setback for Mr. Musharraf comes just before the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is expected to arrive in Pakistan for talks this week.

Washington has stated that the fate of Mr. Musharraf is an internal matter for Pakistan.

Mr. Musharraf was indicted in the long-running Bhutto case in February 2011, but the court couldn’t proceed against him until he returned to the country. Arrested over the case in April, he was granted bail in May, but he remains under house arrest in Islamabad, over charges he faces in a separate lawsuit.

Underscoring the unpredictable situation in Pakistan, officials confirmed new details Tuesday about a raid on a prison in northwest Pakistan by Taliban militants that led to the escape of committed extremists.

The jailbreak in Dera Ismail Khan began shortly before midnight on Monday with a concerted attack by Pakistani Taliban militants.

Malik Qasim Khan, the adviser on prisons to the provincial chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said guards at the facility stood little chance of repelling the assault. They fought off the attackers for half an hour until their ammunition ran out, he added, but attackers got away with the prisoners long before reinforcements arrived.

“This was 100% the failure of the intelligence agencies,” said Mr. Khan. “The guards fought back as much as they could. No one came to help them for three hours.”

Mr. Khan said the raiding party was 150 strong, with many dressed as police officers and armed with guns, bombs and rockets.

“We were not equipped for this,” said a police constable who was on duty. “We had old guns and sticks. By the time help arrived, the militants had done what they wanted.”

Assailants had time to call out the names of the prisoners they had come to free on a megaphone during the raid, local witnesses said.

Twelve people were killed in the attack, officials said, including five police officers and four prisoners from the minority Shiite sect of Islam, who were executed inside the prison by the militants.

Mr. Khan, the provincial official, said prisoners from the tribal areas—border regions that are under federal, not provincial, authority—should be kept in federal prisons. “All these militant prisoners are from tribes,” he said. “The federation should take them away, rather than leaving them as our burden.”

The Pakistani Taliban are linked to al Qaeda, which claimed responsibility for mass prison breaks last week in Libya and Iraq, where large numbers of extremists went free.

The storming of the jail in Dera Ismail Khan followed an almost identical operation last year by militants in Bannu, a town that also lies on the edge of Pakistan’s militant-plagued tribal area. Some 400 prisoners were freed in that raid.

The incident raised new concerns for the safety of Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who helped the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency track Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Dr. Afridi is held at a jail in Peshawar, which is also located next to the tribal belt. The Taliban have declared that they aim to kill him.

The provincial government repeatedly asked the federal government to take him away, saying that it can’t guarantee his safety, Mr. Khan said.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad  was supposed to minimise controversies arising out of incorrect decisions. However, they have increased,seems caught in a bit of bind. It is beginning to look like the punter who lost a flutter on the football match and then a fortune on the action replay. Its original mistake was a misconception; its contemporary error is a misperception.the historic flaw is its belief, at some gut level“How blessed fortunate and blessed we are as Malaysians in Malaysia,” he went on, as if he was some kind of M for Mandela, but then reverted to more like M for Machiavelli, Mussolini, Mobutu, Marcos, Mubarak or his old M for mate Mugabe with the remark that “Malaysians will have to get used to the apparent (?!) increase in killings on the streets, as it is the price of more freedom.”  M is in danger of subversion by a self-confident,aggressive, articulate, patriotic and well-meaning force, the oligarchy of the successful. It might be a mild exaggeration to suggest that its principal characteristics are aftershave and English.

Letter M means trouble considering the mockery that Mahathir and so many fellow malefactors and malignancies make of it, I’ve lost most of my former empathy with the otherwise harmless, blameless and useful letter M, and taken to seriously considering having it removed from my keyboard.“The price of freedom, of liberalism, of being free to say what you like, the price is people get killed,” he lied in the face of the fact that people all over the world are forever dying for, not of freedom. And that an estimated 50 million died at the hands of the regime run by arguably the 20th century’s most M for murderous enemy of freedom and liberalism, Mao Tse-tung.Lamenting the loss of one of his and his BN accomplices’ most cherished M-docratic powers, indefinite detention of critics and opponents without charge or trial, claimed that “greater civil liberties mean that the authorities can no longer take preventive action to stop such a crime.”Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad finally responded to criticism by Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that Malaysia would have gone bankrupt had he followed his predecessor’s brand of economics.

 KHAIRY JAMALUDDIN will  roasts DATUK MUKHRIZ MAHATHIR

There is nothing like soap opera for cleansing emotional bath. A brilliant, contemporary instance is the very British, very 1920, class-skirmish series, Downton Abbey. Name a cliché, and there it is, squeezing one teardrop after another. The lord of the manor is lost between two worlds; the grand dame, his mother, pours scorn on both like Oscar Wilde on steroids. The butler has a heart of gold and purse of copper. One daughter marries an Irish nationalist, who has the temerity not merely to be working class but also Catholic. A second daughter descends further in the social swamp. She becomes a journalist. As the acid-sweet grandmamma notes across the dining table, now that the family includes a country solicitor and car mechanic it was only a matter of time before someone became a journalist.By now it is clear which of the two national parties is pro-reforms. There was a time when  UMNO pretended to be that. In fact, so much so that it was called by many to be right-of-center. Over time, what has become clear is that the party is right-of-center only when it comes to regressive … Read more
Why have journalists been in such bad odor with every pillar of any establishment? Because they ask too many questions and never have enough answers? Or is it because they dip their snoot so often into the trough of corruption?

Journalism is possible only in a democracy; anywhere else information is propaganda. But a democratic establishment is no less caustic about this profession than the old order. Editors never seem satisfied with the occasional private dinner or periodic gong handed out by government; they keep probing into the mutually rewarding relationship between wealth and power, to the great distaste of politicians.Their rationale is cogent. There is no democracy without elections. Elections require money. Such cash does not grow luxuriantly on legal trees. This primary lubricant can only be generated by businessmen through deceptive accountancy. The quid pro quo is that such businessmen must be protected and rewarded. Case settled.

This argument is being nourished in drawing rooms across borders as the Indian subcontinent lurches its way towards a mammoth election season. Pakistan’s vote is in May; India, Afghanistan and Maldives will follow, with Bangladesh just a little behind and Nepal in permanent maybemode. Is there any ethical solution to this septic conundrum?

Yes, and it can be found where you least expect it, in the obvious. Polls require money but never as much as the candidate demands. The simple truth is that money cannot buy you the vote, or no government would ever lose. It is axiomatic that those in office will always commandeer a disproportionate share of available liquidity, but if this alone settled the issue then every election would be over before it began.

Voters are very wise; they will accept every little bribe thrown their way, and then vote on the basis of policy, politics and perhaps character. When candidates turn beggars or extortionists, it is not because they want to win, but because they want to knit a fat financial cushion that will comfort their posterior for the foreseeable future. Elections are the appropriate time for accumulation since ‘donations’ have become legitimized during this heartbeat moment in a democracy. The true algebra of spending offers different equations. Losers, driven by anxiety, tend to spend more than winners, all other aspects being equal.

Every election does offer one or two high-profile examples where money has been used to fashion a result, but this requires enormous political muscle and some very careful government engineering. Exceptions prove the rule rather than undermine it. The most dramatic election in Indian history was surely one after Emergency, in 1977. The principal opposition alliance, called Janata Party, had very little money in either north or south India. Janata won every seat in the north, and lost almost every seat in the south. Neither the presence nor absence of money changed the outcome. In the last Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, many DMK enthusiasts believed fervently that Jayalalithaa would be humbled by DMK’s money power. We all know who won.

The electoral excuse for corruption falters on facts. Will this change anything? Probably not. For parties and their candidates, cash collection has become too pleasant a habit. Businessmen might be aware of what is going on, but continue to feed this goose in the belief that it will lay golden eggs very soon. The existing system is their best insurance in an environment where profits can depend on manipulation. This cozy partnership explains why politicians are so desperate to get nominations, even when they are certain that they will lose. They know that whether they become MPs or not, they will always become richer.

The ancient lords, whether in aristocratic Britain or princely India, squeezed their peasants directly and built palaces served by butler and retinue. Their successors are more discreet. They bow before the voter and harass private sector plutocrats. But one thing has not changed. In the end, it is always the people who pay.

The former editor of UMNO daily New Straits Times Kadir Jasin has trained his gun at prime minister Najib Razak’s advisors, accusing them of incompetence and of bleeding public funds by receiving ministerial-level salaries.

Kadir  a staunch loyalist of former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, compared Najib with his predecessors, saying Najib has more advisors than any of them.

“The many million ringgit question is, who are paying these men and women their minister-level salaries and do they really contribute?” he asked.

With such a big pool of advisors, Kadir said it was not surprising to see “national budget deficits growing bigger” while at the same time the country attracts negative international ratings.

Kadir, a defender of draconian laws, also scolded the advisers saying they had managed to convince Najib to abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA) utilised by the second PM, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Najib’s late father.

“I wonder what role the Prime Minister’s advisory committee plays these days since preventive detention laws have all been done away with and as Malaysia becomes increasingly unsafe and unhealthy,” lamented Kadir, attempting to link abolition of draconian laws with the mysterious spike in violent crime.

Kadir also asked if Najib’s advisors were concerned of the looming economic crisis and whether there was a contingency plan prepared.

“Are we not worried? Are we prepared? Do we have a contingency plan?”

Yet to be announced, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s appointment as the prime minister’s adviser on women affairs has raised questions among gender equality activists who fear the role will undermine the authority of the incumbent minister.

Shahrizat’s return to the Cabinet has drawn flak from several women’s rights groups who viewed her role as redundant, and voiced apprehension that she may dish out conflicting advice on programmes initiated under the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development now helmed by Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim.

Such conflict, they suggested, could disrupt gender advocacy efforts.

“To be honest, if we have a women’s minister, an elected one, I don’t see why we need another,” Maria Chin Abdullah, executive director of Persatuan Kesedaran Komunity Selangor (Empower), told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.

Carving out a special seat on women’s issues just to accommodate Shahrizat was unnecessary, she said, highlighting that the Wanita Umno chief had not given much punch during her three years heading the ministry.

“I think she has done some things during her tenure, but I feel she has not done enough, for example, on the issue of Islamic family law, that till now nothing has been done,” she added.

Chin said there have been numerous amendments to the current laws that women’s groups have been lobbying for, and which appear to have stagnated.

All Women’s Action Society (AWAM) president Ho Yock Lin shared similar views, but expressed concern that Shahrizat’s return might undermine the power of the incumbent women’s minister.

As adviser to the prime minister, Shahrizat will be conferred full ministerial powers.

Picking Shahrizat was a major policy misstep, Ho said, as the prime minister would be signalling his lack of confidence in the existing women’s minister to carry out her job.

“At the same time, if there is a conflict of programmes, who shall the government listen to?” the AWAM president asked.

She said Shahrizat may have done some good during her turn in office, but despite her long tenure she had little to show for it.

It would be more suitable if Shahrizat were appointed Rohani’s adviser, Ho suggested, saying a new leader may revitalise the government’s efforts on women’s rights.

“It is time to for [Shahrizat] to go, time for new people to try [to take the lead],” Ho said.

“If she really wants to, maybe she can be an adviser to the ministry, but not the prime minister.”

Shahrizat’s help, however, may not be welcomed as her successor Rohani has stressed that her predecessor was not appointed to her ministry.

“It’s not adviser to my ministry,” Rohani told reporters on the sidelines of the Women’s Summit 2013 conference on Tuesday.

Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) executive director Ivy Josiah hoped the news of Shahrizat’s appointment was merely a bad rumour.

Shahrizat, the former Lembah Pantai MP, yesterday confirmed with The Malay Mail that she received her appointment letter last Thursday.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has maintained a resolute silence in confirming Shahrizat’s appointment when asked at a news conference on Monday.

Like Chin and Ho, Josiah said an adviser role was not sensible as it would undermine the status of the women’s ministry which has a large enough machinery to lead on policy and implementation on women’s issues.

“Furthermore if the rumour is true, it will not look good, as perception wise it will appear to be political patronage,” she told The Malay Mail Online in a text message yesterday.

Josiah noted that the appointment in an adviser role would mark Shahrizat’s return to political power, over a year after the Wanita Umno chief lost her Cabinet portfolio at the height of a national cattle-farming scandal.

Shahrizat was the women, family and community development minister from April 10, 2009 to April 8, 2012 and dropped from Cabinet after she lost her senatorship due to allegations of impropriety after her family was implicated in a RM250 million federal loan for a failed national cattle-farming project.

This is the second time Shahrizat will be given a political lifeline after having won a similar reprieve in the aftermath of Election 2008, when she was defeated by newcomer Nurul Izzah Anwar in the contest for the Lembah Pantai federal seat.

The embattled leader will be defending her post in Wanita Umno in the coming party polls and is expected to face a challenge from another ex-minister, the younger Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.The solution is to revamp how we fund politics, to mandate transparency and accountability in political expenditure and source of funds, to reform the justice system, so that all cases are settled beyond final appeal in a matter of months, rather than decades as of today. This would rejuvenate the authority and legitimacy of the …Read more

Isa Samad was in possession several pictures  of Najib Razak and Ziana Zain, was taken by Burglars

The main aim is to give a few more blows on Najib hoping that Najib will surrender his will to the real master, whatever the outcome of the GE-13 may be. Who in UMNO can beat Najib if not Mahathir?
Najib’s most dangerous enemies are now from within his own UMNO party, where he is the most vulnerable. All the wannabes are out to replace him. It is clear that Najib will just handover his prized list of ‘winnable’ candidates that he has guarded with his life to Mahathir and let Mahathir make the final decision. Firstly, Najib is just too indecisive to come to any conclusion and secondly, there is no way he could say ‘NO’ to the strong-willed Dr M.

Mahathir being politically cold-blooded and ruthless, Mahathir in his endeavor to create a clear path for his son Mukhriz to be prime minister in the future may have no choice but to sacrifice UMNO. And this he is willing to do. He has done it before and he thinks that UMNO can still survive.

Scientists have claimed that sex and having good communication can have a significant influence on relationships but factors like knowing partner’s favourite pizza topping, being employed and ability to support yourself also matter.

Scientists tested 2,201 participants, head to head, in seven “relationship competencies” that previous researchers had found to vital for promoting happiness in romantic relationships.

The researchers’ idea was to rank them in order of vitality to start building data on the aspects of relationships most important to keep them healthy.

The researchers, in addition to communication and conflict resolution, also looked out for love-making or romance, stress management, life skills, knowledge of partners and self-management to find the best predictors of relationship satisfaction.

Couples were queried about their competency in these areas and then asked how satisfied they were in their relationships; the researchers then correlated each partner’s strengths and weaknesses in each area with the relationship satisfaction of the person.

Couple, reporting communicating effectively, showed highest satisfaction with their relationships.

Study’s lead author Robert Epstein, a professor of psychology at the University of the South Pacific, in Fiji, said that learning more about partner is also important for a successful relationship, Time Magazine reported.

Do people over age 50 need or want erotica about our age group? Personally, at 69, I enjoy sexy writing, but I don’t respond to youth-focused erotica with its quick arousal and inevitable orgasms. When I read about a couple slamming each other against a wall or onto a kitchen counter because their drive is impossibly urgent, my reaction is “ouch,” not “ohhh.” I want to identify with the characters, and I’m most stimulated by writers who write from an older perspective, using characters of our age, experiencing our challenges.

In a freewheeling discussion on love and life over dinner at the residence of the charismatic Gudmundur Eiriksson, Ambassador of Iceland, at least three women categorically stated that they believed in onesided love that could carry on forever, with no hope of being loved back.

The olderthey  got and the more erotica they read, the more they wished for erotica that reflected their age, experiences, challenges, sexuality living in an aging body.wanted erotica that acknowledged the challenges, the liveliness, and the creativity of older-age sex.

Many — most? — people don’t feel this way at all. They’re aroused by characters and scenes that fill a fantasy that is unrelated to age and that takes them away from the realities of their own lives. They don’t want to be reminded of arthritic knees or undependable orgasms when they’re reading erotica.

Even among my own Ageless Erotica writers, there was no agreement when I asked them about the importance of “senior erotica.” Here’s a sampling of their comments:

“Good erotica is never about what the characters look like. It’s about sensations, sexy thoughts, hot words, how the partners give each other pleasure,” says Donna George Storey, author of Amorous Woman, a semi-autobiographical tale of an American woman’s erotic adventures in Japan. “For me it was deliciously naughty, a treat for my inner rebel, to write a true story about a juicy afternoon tryst with my husband of 27 years That story was very, very satisfying to tell.”
“I don’t believe we need erotica that emphasizes the challenges of seniors — people read fiction to escape from reality,” says I.G. Frederick, who writes steamy erotic stories and edgy, transgressive fiction. “However, all writers have a responsibility not to marginalize older adults by ignoring them. When they don’t appear in fiction they may succumb to the media myth that only the young get laid.”
“It’s important for my older characters not only to enjoy good, hot, steamy sex, but also to experience physical and emotional changes and deal with real life insecurities,” says Audrienne Roberts Womack, who also writes under the name Lotus Falcon, author of Sugar Dish Mouth Watering Erotic Poetry. “My main objective for writing erotic scenes for older characters is to emphasize that seniors are having and loving sexual relations just as they have always enjoyed it in their youth.”
“America and the world at large are obsessed with youth and beauty being paramount to sex appeal,” says Cheri Crystal, an award-winning erotica writer whose Help Wanted: Clitoris Missing In Action features a woman turning 60. “This preoccupation with staying young often affects how we feel about our sexual selves as we age. We want and need to see ourselves in fiction, particularly, erotica, because it makes us feel good no matter how old or how many limitations and challenges we may have.”
“Erotica from an older perspective is fascinating because within us are the memories of a lifetime: adolescent lust, young adult passions, the settled sexuality of middle age, and the difficulties and rewards of older age sex,” says Susan St. Aubin, whose A Love Drive-By includes erotic tales about people of all ages. “At almost 70, I run into more physical limitations, but my interior fantasies remain the same, and the erotic memories continue to grow!”
“When I write erotica, I’m focused on the erotic aspects of lovemaking so that age doesn’t really factor into it,” says Rae Padilla Francoeur, author of the erotic memoir, Free Fall: A Late-in-Life Memoir (read my review here). “When we do it, we’re not just thinking, hey, watch out for my bad knee. We’re hardly thinking at all.” Francoeur shares her writing with her lover, age 73, on date night. “If he says, ‘This is hot,’ I’ve done my job and I’m about to reap the rewards.”
Is “senior erotica” a trend? We may never know, because we don’t talk much about our erotica appetite or preferences. But we can make it a trend just by buying, reading, and talking about erotica that acknowledges our age group.

You’ll be surprised and, I hope, delighted, to expand your fantasy life to see what is possible at our age!

Along with most of the men present, I too was surprised, because one-sided love sounds more like a punishment than a happy state of being. To love someone who does not love you back seems like an exercise in disaster. I can understand such a love when there is some hope of it being returned in some measure some day, as happens in the movies. Or when you are, at least, admired in return. I can even understand a yearning for something you have shared and lost. But a love that continues with no possibility of return?

What good is a love that cannot be indulged in, celebrated, danced and sung to, a love that cannot enfold you securely with your loved one? A lonely love that finds no outer response is bound to feed on itself, resulting in frustration and emptiness. The Ambassador’s wife, the lovelyThorey Vigdis Olafsdottir, a psychologist and active participant in the discussion, agreed with me that a one-sided love is a sure path to frustration and obsession. It must surely be a very painful emotion, she said. She agrees with experts who opine that the pain is actually both ways – for the one who loves and for the object of that love. For the one who receives such a love, it is often very difficult to let the lover know that his/her feelings are not reciprocated. If the one loving you is someone close or someone you care for, it is not easy to hurt them by declaring your lack of love. Who doesn’t like to be loved or admired? So, more often than not, the receiver allows the situation to continue, giving the lover hope, thus making things worse.

At Ambassador Gudmundur’s dinner were three young, successful women — a poet, an advertising professional and a lawyer, who spoke of their belief in undying, unrequited love.

Shadan Ahmad, poet & theatre artiste… “I can relate to unrequited love. Sometimes you may glimpse your ideal in someone but the situation may not allow you to do anything about this feeling. I cherish such an emotion. It is enough for me if I have found someone worth loving. It may result in something at some point or maybe nothing ever, but the existence of that ideal in my heart is enough for me. For creative people like me, our own sense of self and purpose encourages us to seek divinity in love, and divine love is not likely to be actualised in this life. So it is good enough for me that I am able to live with my kind of love on my own terms, without having to pay the price for it. There was a time when I could not relate to Meera’s one-sided love for Krishna, but today I understand that she lived a divine life. It is better this way…”

Divya Shante (name changed), advertising professional: “Even after a break-up that I brought about, I continue to love this guy because that feeling of love stays with me just as strongly. It was a clean break; I do not even know where he is now. So it’s more about a continued love without the labels and bonds that define the relationship. I live with it without the hope that it will be returned because when things reach such an emotional stalemate that you love and yet are not able to resolve some stuff, then your feelings don’t die; you are just forced to stifle them. I go through phases when I feel sad looking at another couple; another time I feel blessed for living with such a divine love. I wish him well and pray for him. Yes, it does hold me back from loving someone else, but that cannot be helped.”

Shreela Sen (name changed), lawyer: “Once you love someone, the emotion doesn’t die just because some day the other person stops loving you. It can be a very painful emotion to be the only one to love, but I believe that it does exist; how can the chemistry of all that you have shared with a loved one, become nothing?”

What comes through strongly is three women who, having taken risks and made their choices, are unwilling to compromise with their idea of love. Women with strong personalities and a clear idea of the kind of love they seek, who prefer to enshrine the ideal within their hearts when reality or circumstances, as they call it, do not allow them to reach out and indulge. And somewhere, these women do realise that it is only here, in a realm removed from reality that love will not deplete into mundane emotion, where it will thrive, to never fade away. And the fact that they need do nothing about it — there will be no expectations either way — may actually be the best thing about it.

And yet, does it not seem like playing in the shallow waters of the beach, not allowing the waves of life to throw you up to the heavens before you land on ground – only to be thrown up again?

This then would depend on the strength of your personality. Are you strong enough to use the one-sided emotion to your benefit, to allow it to energise you and to feed your creative instincts? Or, do you let it enervate you and leave you to regret and fade away like Devdas? Will you allow the emotion to leave you forlorn or thrilled? That depends on how you allow it to play out in your heart — a lonely love away from love — or a divine love that is beyond all love.

A new survey has revealed that ladies are the most content to bare it all in front of their better halves at 34, as this is the age when they finally accept their body shape.

The survey found that 34 is the magical age when 40 per cent of women admitted that they take a good look at their naked bodies with pride every day, the Daily Express reported.

When the respondents were asked about their favourite part of their bodies, 30 per cent of women said they were proud of their breasts, while 22 per cent chose their legs.

However, over 50 per cent of the ladies wanted a flatter tummy.

The research was commissioned by Sanctuary Spa.

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 Najib-rosmah-Endless Possibilities

Cynicism is never irrational. The irrational, often wrong, sometimes right, are impelled by instinct, heart or even conscience. Cynics are morality-proof. They prefer data to truth.

the Mere Mockery of a Trial’:dramatic work in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and often slapstick elements are used for humorous effect

The cast of this murder mystery – including the prime minister himself – are not yet off the hook, pending appeals and a civil suit that promises more answers.

Abdul Gani Patail: never doubted his ability, decision  runs according to script Justice is about posturing

Report No : 7380/06 Station : Travers Name : Sirul Azhar bin Haji Umar IC No : RF125591 Race : Malay Date/Place of Birth : 29-1-1971 Age : 35 years male Occupation : Police officer Address of workplace : UTK, Bukit Aman Name of father : Haji Omar bin Haji Hassan Address of father : Deceased Recording Officers : Insp Nom Phot a/l Prack Dit at Office D6, 3rd Floor, Bukit Aman on 9th November 2006 at 1307 afternoon.Interpreter-from-to- On 19th (sic) November 2006 I was asked by the investigating officer K/ASP Tony Anak Lunggan to record the statement of a Malay inmate named Sirul Azhar Bin Haji Omar Kp RF 125591. The inmate was then brought to me and I ordered the release of his handcuffs. I then interviewed the inmate who appeared to be proficient in Malay. I also found the inmate in good health. I then read out the warning under Section 113(1)(a)(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code to the inmate as follows ;- IT IS MY RESPONSIBILTIY TO WARN YOU THAT YOU ARE NOT OBLIGED TO SAY ANYTHING OR TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS. BUT WHATEVER YOU SAY WHETHER IN ANSWER TO A QUESTION OR NOT SHALL BE GIVEN AS A STATEMENT. S. Do you understand the warning that has been read and explained to you? J. Yes I understand. S. Do you have any questions about the warning? J. No. S. Do you want to give a statement? J. Yes I want to give a statement. S. What do you want to tell me? J. As a member of the Special Action Unit (UTK) on an undetermined date 5 or 6 days before the incident on 19thOctober 2006 while I was in my office I received a telephone call from Tuan Azilah (Azilah) the officer above me requesting that I meet him in Central market. I could not meet him at the time because I was together with Tuan Khairy as his driver. At that time, I was driving Tuan Khairy to deliver hampers in Selayanga and Batu Caves. On my way to there roughly after 12 noon I received another call from Azilah who asked me where I was and I told Azilah I may be late coming back as I was assisting an officer and I replied I would call him back after completing my duties. At around 3.00pm, after dropping off the officer at the office in Bukit Aman, Azilah telephoned me again and told me to meet him in Central Market. At about 3.15pm I met Azilah at Central Market. He instructed me to observe Malaya Hotel where the woman who was disturbing the businessman [sic] stayed. Azilah also informed me there were three women staying in a room on the 8th floor, the number of which I am unable to recollect. After that I went together with Azilah in my car, a Satria bearing registration number WEA 4717 to look for Malaya Hotel. On the way there, Azilah talked about a reward of between RM50,000 and RM100,000 if the case was settled. Azilah and I however failed to locate the hotel after circling the area many times. After failing to locate the hotel, Azilah and I returned to Central Market and while we were there, Azilah asked an artist at Central Market for directions to Malaya Hotel. The artist, who was Malay, drew a plan of the location of Malaya Hotel . After that Azilah and I walked towards Malaya Hotel. We reached Malaya Hotel at 4.00pm. When we arrived at Malaya Hotel, Azilah invited me to go to the 8th floor of the hotel. After we reached the 8th floor Azilah showed me the room that was occupied by the woman who was disturbing Razak. While on the 8th floor, Azilah asked me to “shoot to kill” all three women in the hotel room and asked that I stay in any one of the rooms on the 8th or 7th floor or any other floor with all lodging expenses borne by Azilah. I informed Azilah that I would not be able to do it because of the presence of CCTV (closed circuit television cameras). After that Azilah and I took the stairs to the 7th floor to find a suitable room to stay. After looking at the room, I found it to be unsuitable and Azilah and I returned to Central Market. Upon arriving at Central Market, Azilah ordered me to use my car and drive to Razak’s residence to observe the residence. At about 4.30pm Azilah and I were driving when Azilah pointed Razak’s residence to me. I then drove my car and reached a petrol station near the Puduraya area. Azilah filled the petrol tank with RM30 worth of petrol. After filling the petrol, Azilah and I drove back to Razak’s residence in Damansara Heights. After observing Razak’s residence, Azilah and I returned to Central Market to enable Azilah to get his car. After dropping Azilah at Central Market I went to the UTK office in Bukit Aman. After that I did not contact Azilah again. On 19th October 2006 at about 8.30pm while I was at home in Kota Damansara, Azilah contacted me via his mobile phone and asked me to go to Razak’s house immediately. Azilah also mentioned there was a Chinese woman who was causing a commotion in front of Razak’s house. I was ready at about 8.40pm and drove my jeep bearing registration number CAC 1883 towards Razak’s house in Damansara Heights. Upon arriving in Damansara Heights, I stopped my jeep a distance away from Razak’s house. After parking my jeep, I walked towards the entrance of Razak’s house. When I arrived in front of Razak’s house I saw Azilah together with a Malay woman in front of the house. There was a car and Azilah was outside the car and the Malay woman was inside the car. I saw a Chinese woman talking to an Indian man whom I did not recognize and also a Chinese taxi driver who was seated inside the taxi and security guards inside Razak’s house. I then entered the car which was a red Proton Wira and sat in the passenger’s seat. While I was seated in the car, I saw Azilah persuading the Chinese woman with the help of the Malay woman to sit in the same red Proton Wira Aeroback where I was seated. The Chinese woman entered the car and sat behind me while the Malay woman also entered the car and sat behind Azilah who was in the driver’s seat. While Azilah, the Chinese woman, the Malay woman and I were seated in the car, the Chinese taxi driver came and asked for the taxi fare from the Chinese woman. Azilah gave him RM50 but the Chinese man demanded an additional RM150 because he said he had to make several trips. Azilah then gave the Chinese man RM100. After that Azilah drove the Wira car towards my jeep. Upon reaching my jeep, I alighted from the car and drove my jeep out of Damansara Heights towards Kuala Lumpur. During the journey, Azilah called and said we would have to transfer the Chinese woman to my jeep and said that we should look for a spot. When I arrived at Jalan Duta I stopped my jeep by the side of the road and got down from the jeep and I asked Azilah whether the spot was suitable to do the transfer. Azilah replied that it was not suitable and suggested Bukit Aman instead. I then went ahead to Bukit Aman followed by Azilah closely behind and arrived at Bukit Aman at about 10.00pm. Upon reaching Bukit Aman, I stopped my car at the back of the Bukit Aman officers’ mess and Azilah together with the Malay woman brought the Chinese woman to my jeep. I noticed the woman was refusing to get in while being pushed into the back of my jeep. After the Chinese woman got into my jeep, Azilah entered my jeep and sat in the passenger seat. I drove out of Bukit Aman followed by the red Proton Aeroback which was driven by the Malay woman. I could no longer see the red Proton Aeroback driven by the Malay woman once we had passed the entrance to Bukit Aman. Along the journey, Azilah asked me to find a place to “shoot to kill” the Chinese woman. Before arriving at Jalan Duta I noticed the back left tyre of my jeep was punctured. I drove through the Smart Tag lane at the toll booth and stopped on the left hand side of the road to change the tyre. While I was changing the tyre, I noticed two Road Transport Department (JPJ) officers on duty but I continued to change the tyre with Azilah’s help. After changing the tyre, I drove to my house in Kota Damansara to take the explosives that I had kept there. After taking the explosives I got into the jeep and drove to Sungai Buloh and Kuala Selangor before arriving at the Punchak Alam forest reserve at about 11.00pm. At the Punchak Alam forest reserve as I was bringing the jeep to a stop, I felt a pain in my stomach and got out of the jeep and relieved myself (defecated) not far away from the jeep. After I had relieved myself, I went back into the jeep and at the same time I saw Azilah outside the jeep carrying a bag containing an M5 weapon and silencer from the jeep that was located at the foot rest of the passenger seat and gave it to me ordering me to “shoot to kill” the Chinese woman who was inside the jeep. After asking for the Chinese woman’s articles, the Chinese woman surrendered her jewellery. She then asked to be allowed to urinate. Azilah brought her down from the jeep and I saw the Chinese woman urinating by the side of the jeep. After urinating, she saw the weapon that I was holding. I saw that she was in a state of fear and she pleaded not to kill her and said she was expecting. At the same time, Azilah wrestled the woman to the ground and I could see that she had fallen and was in an unconscious state. I opened fire towards the left side of the woman’s head. After the Chinese woman was shot, Azilah removed all her clothes and I took a black garbage bag and Azilah put all the Chinese woman’s clothes into the bag. After putting all her clothes into the bag, Azilah noticed movements in the Chinese woman’s arm and ordered me to fire another shot but the gun did not fire. I then emptied the weapon and loaded the gun again and fired another shot at the same area which was the left side of the woman’s head. I then took a black plastic garbage bag and with Azilah’s help put the bag over the Chinese woman’s head to prevent blood from spilling. After that I lifted the hands of the victim while Azilah lifted the legs of the victim and we carried the victim into the woods. Azilah then carried the bag containing the explosives and handed it to me. I took the explosives and attached it to the victim’s head while Azilah attached the explosives on the victim’s legs up to the abdomen. Azilah then pulled the long wire towards the jeep and I altered the position of the jeep so that it faced away from the woods and drove the jeep about 15 meters from the victim. After the detonation of the explosives, I pulled the excess wire into the jeep and left the scene and headed towards Bukit Aman. Azilah and I arrived at Bukit Aman at approximately 12 midnight. At the UTK office, Azilah handed me approximately RM430. After that I had a bath and changed clothes and put the clothes that I wore during the incident together with the victim’s clothes into a plastic bag. After that, I entered the jeep and drove the jeep to a rubbish container in the Bukit Aman area near a construction site. I threw some of the victim’s belongings and the wire that was used to detonate the explosives together with the empty bag that contained the explosives into the container. After throwing the things, I drove the jeep out of Bukit Aman and head towards my house in Kota Damansara. I threw the victim’s clothes and my own clothes along the way to my house. I arrived at home at about 1.00am and to lay down to rest and slept. After that I did not have any contact with Azilah until I was sent back from Pakistan and was arrested. S. To whom did the MP5 weapon and silencer belong to? J. The weapon belonged to the UTK Bukit Aman and was for my use. S. What do you mean by the word “jimat”? J. Jimat means “shoot to kill”. S. Are you telling the truth. J. Yes it is the truth. The statement was read back to Sirul Azhar Bin Haji Omar KPT/Paspot RF 125591. S. Do you wish to make any amendments or additions to your statement after the statement has been read to you? J. No S. Are you giving this statement voluntarily? J. Yes The recording of the statement ended on 9th November 2006 at 1635 hrs.

The testimony of the former aide-de-camp of then deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has “no relevance” to the prosecution of former Special Action Force (UTK) duo Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar, attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail said today So Altantuya brought herself to Puncak Alam, shot herself in the forehead and then blew herself up!’Misdirected by the High Court so wouldn’t this make the whole trial a miscarriage of justice based on a technicality issue?

Although the Appeals Court judges did not give many details for their decision to acquit the Altantuya killers except to say that there had been serious misdirection by the lower court, there is little doubt the most glaring flaw was why did they fail to order a retrial, and instead so ‘kindly’ dished out an acquittal – which would mean the killers can never be charged again for the same crime?It is also most unfortunate that the first couple have not dared to utter a word so far despite the public outrage. Both have been implicated and have made denials in the past when accused of involvement in the murder. Now that their ex-bodyguards Azilah Hadri and Sirul Umar Azhar have been freed of their death sentences for killing Altantuya, how can Najib and Rosmah pretend it doesn’t involve them and continue to stay silent?

This is why apart from the public outcry, there is a lot of unease in the legal fraternity. To almost everyone in the country, it is like the powers that be are trying to shield Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

And to add salt to the country’s wound, these ruthless ‘invisible hands’ are once again using the nation’s court system to get themselves and their cronies out of a sticky situation. It is beyond shocking, how could they

But – and especially given the Sirul admission of guilt – the scenario and main question remains the same. Why not a retrial? This is the biggest black mark and it will take a long while before Malaysian courts can hope to to recover any respectability after such a debacle.

For Najib, he doesn’t care. He only wants to save his own skin.

Looking at the case from all directions, it is hard to refute that Najib is behind the charades because he is central to the entire Scorpene-Altantuya scandal. Being accused of connection to such a diabolical corruption cum murder case is definitely bad for a person holding the highest office in the country.

This is why Najib must step down immediately. Umno should demand his resignation. Otherwise, Umno will be ridiculed and teased as a party of murderers and thieves.

the two men listened impassively as High Court Judge Zaki Yasin ruled that he found their defense “unbelievable” as “each of them are blaming the other.” He said he was convicting “both of you as charged” with murdering 28-year-old Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu sometime between Oct. 19 and Oct. 20, 2006. “They failed to raise any reasonable doubt” of the prosecution’s case, Zaki said. Lawyers said the two would appeal the verdict.

The court said the two former elite police offers would go free because Najib’s chief of staff, Musa Safri (left), was never called to testify in a trial that was widely regarded as a cooked-up sham designed to protect Najib,

Razak Baginda was initially charged along with the two bodyguards but in a highly unusual proceeding was freed without having to put on a defense despite having delivered a sworn statement that he had asked Najib’s office to do something about Altantuya, his jilted girlfriend, who was harassing him. He immediately decamped for the UK and hasn’t been seen since in Malaysia.The original court case against the two bodyguards was replete with numerous irregularities including the last-minute replacement of the trial judge and prosecution team before the trial began and what appeared to be clear attempts to keep evidence from being introduced in court, including an assertion by Altantuya‘s cousin that she had seen pictures of Altantuya with Najib and Razak Baginda at dinner together.

The woman also testified that all records of her entry to the country with Altantuya had disappeared from the immigration department. Her allegations were never followed up.The decision by the three-member appeal court came despite the fact that Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, one of the two, confessed to the murder in a sworn statement that inexplicably was never introduced in court. Sirul had even been read his rights prior to the confession. He was also not questioned by prosecutors in court about the events he described in the excluded confession.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail

Everyone has a set of target to meet, from the lofty to the lowly. Everyone except AG Gani Patail.

Under him, prosecutors have lost a whole bunch of high-profile cases.

But who cares and who is counting, right? He still has a powerful job.

Even a rookie lawyer could have seen that the case against the policemen would have been strengthened by showing their common intent and this could have been done by putting Musa Safri – the man who had contact with them – on the stand.

Gani said yesterday that he still firmly believes that Musa’s testimony has no bearing on the case. But given his track record in the courtroom, why would we rely on his legal brain?

Cynthia Gabriel, Director of the human rights NGO Suaram, issued a statement that the “shocking verdict throws open the murder of Altantuya in 2006 and questions now abound as to who killed her. It also throws open the question on how she was killed. How were the C4 explosives (used to blow up her body) obtained? It’s not like C4 can be obtained at 7-Eleven stores,” she said.

The tangled case has transfixed Malaysian high society for nearly seven years, in major part because of the extraordinary efforts by the government and prosecutors to insulate Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, and others from the case. Those efforts included promising a now-dead private detective RM5 million to shut up and get out of the country after he had implicated Najib in the case.Altantuya was murdered execution-style on Oct.19, 2006, leaving behind a note confessing that she was attempting to blackmail Abdul Razak Baginda, a security analyst and close friend of then Defense Minister Najib, for US$500,000. Although no reason was given for the blackmail attempt, it was thought to have been in connection with the US$1 billion purchase of submarines from a French-owned defense contractor in which Razak Baginda’s wholly owned company, Perimekar Sdn Bhd, received a €114 million commission that was characterized in a French investigation as a bribe to be steered to the United Malays National Organization.

WINNERS

Musa Safri

He got promoted, holds a senior position in Special Branch and occasionally has to deal with the irritation of publicity when the case of Altantuya comes up.

Altantuya Shaariibuu, the former Mongolian model whose life was ended brutally in Malaysia, but no one faces justice for the crime. August 24, 2013.

Yesterday was one such day when the Court of Appeal also said that it was puzzled why this missing piece in the chain of events in the murder of the model was not called to testify for the prosecution.

According to Abdul Razak Baginda, he was introduced to Azilah and Sirul by Musa, who was then the aide-de-camp to Najib. Razak also said that he asked Musa a couple of times what had happened to Altantuya.

The court would have loved to hear from Musa what exactly did Razak tell him about Altantuya, what were his instructions to the police sharpshooters, did either policeman inform him what had happened to Altantuya, and did he tell his boss that he had introduced two policemen to Razak?

So many questions? But Musa was spared the hot seat and the penetrating questions. He still has his comfortable life.

The ticking teenage timebomb:Time to have that sex talk emotional apocalypse

A city court has observed that consensual sex with a girl aged below 18 years does not constitute an offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The court said the provisions of POCSO Act suggest that where a physical relationship — which is not in the nature of an assault — takes place with the minor girl’s consent and where the consent has not been obtained unlawfully, no offence can be said to have been committed.

Rejecting the plea of the police and Delhi Commission for Women that POCSO Act prohibits minors from having any kind sexual relationship, additional sessions judge Dharmesh Sharma said, “I am afraid if that interpretation is allowed, it would mean that the human body of every individual under 18 years is the property of the state and no individual below 18 years can be allowed to have pleasures associated with one’s body.”

ASJ Sharma, however, urged state authorities to spread awareness related to unsafe sex or early marriage. “But there lies a greater responsibility on all of us, the state including police in spreading and creating public awareness about the impact of girl or boy marrying at a tender age or indulging in unsafe sexual activities,” he said.

The court made these observations while acquitting a 22-year-old youth of charges of kidnapping and raping a 15-year-old girl whom he later married. The youth, a native of West Bengal, was acquitted of the charges as the court held that the minor, on her own will, accompanied him and obstacles should not be put in their happy married life.

“As the evidence indicates, they got married voluntarily with their free consent. Hence no case is made out under section 363 (kidnapping) and 366 (kidnapping or inducing woman to compel her marriage) of the IPC,” the court said.

“In my opinion, it would neither serve the object of present enactment (POCSO Act) nor the purpose of criminal laws to hold the accused guilty on the ground that he had sexual intercourse with the girl below 18 years,” the judge said, adding that it would not be good for the girl if her husband was sent to jail. The POCSO Act treats girls and boys below 18 years of age as minors.

“It is high time that state authorities, its machinery, NGOs and women groups made a determined and sustained endeavour to reach out to all in schools, colleges and residential places, thereby creating public awareness on various aspects of life in case of marriage at a tender age… besides creating awareness amongst adolescents and young adults about the serious psychological and physical health issues that such a relation entails,” the court observed.

According to the prosecution, a complaint was filed before the police on March 5 by the minor girl’s mother about her daughter going missing since February 26.

The accused was arrested on March 6 and the girl was also recovered from his custody, it said. The girl, in her statement recorded before a magistrate, said she had willingly gone with the accused to his native place in Kolkata and they got married in a temple there and since then they have been living together.

During the trial, the youth told the court that the girl had accompanied him to Kolkata on her own and they got married there but he denied having physical relations with her. The court also noted that the marriage was
accepted by the girl’s mother.

Finally, after 8 long years, the ban on dance bars in Maharashtra is over. The Supreme Court has upheld the Mumbai High Court’s order to squash the stupid, brutal, insensitive ban. Earlier, the Governor too had refused to sign it. But the State insisted on going ahead, rendering over 75,000 young middle class girls jobless and, what’s worse, because of the State’s obscene charges in court and the media, unemployable. The dance bars were described as pick-up joints and the girls, by insinuation, sex workers.

These claims were never proved in any court. But they achieved exactly what the State wanted. The lives and reputation of these hapless girls were instantly destroyed. They became easy targets for criminals and anti-social elements. Many were socially ostracized. In certain neighborhoods, even local political groups began to terrorize them and their families, forcing them to run away. Some of these girls eventually ended up on the streets doing exactly what they were accused of because they had no other option. A few escaped to the Middle East. Many chose suicide.

The pompous, vulgar, moralistic State had, in one stroke, destroyed not just thousands of lives and reputations but in its typically misogynistic fervor, tried to pretend it was cleaning up Gotham city. What they actually did was drive dance bars underground. The parties shifted to private locations and the girls who danced in the bars were now replaced by others who did not just stop at dancing.

Girls feel pressured to look like porn stars due to the widespread availability of adult material online which is accessed by teenage boys (file picture)

Young men are developing unrealistic expectations thanks to pornography, it has been claimed (file picture)

 Girls ‘feel under pressure to look like porn stars’: Teacher urges MPs to tackle online filth

• Teacher at girls school said desirable body image has become ‘extreme’
• Young girls are rated on looks and given scores out of ten by peers, she said
• Policies needed on sexual activity between pupils and sex acts in school

Today’s 15-year-old girls appear to be heading for an emotional apocalypse, with figures suggesting that 43 per cent feel depressed or anxious, while 27 per cent are suffering from a full-scale mental illness. Pressures to be thin, become sexually active and excel academically are just a few of the factors being blamed.Anna Moore finds out why today’s teens are at crisis point

Horny girlfriend role playing the part of the naughty schoolgirl and get fucked up her ass. Just to fulfill her boyfriend’s fantasy of pulling off the school uniform of a cute little schoolgirl and long dong thrusting into her tight holes. How sweet was that of her? The pigtails really do complete the look.

 

I was first taken to a dance bar by a friend of mine, a young American girl who had come to write her PhD thesis on Indian movies. She articled at a local production house and spent her evenings in the dance bars because she loved dancing to Hindi film music. She found these bars quaint, charmingly old fashioned, and, O yes, wonderfully safe. The bouncers who hung around ensured no girl was ever touched. Only currency notes were at times thrown at them in filmy style and those who chose to make friends with customers were advised to do so outside the premises, beyond official duty hours. I am sure some did make friends. But so do girls in any retail premise. To assume that they are thus also retailing sexual favors is stupid and vulgar, typical only of a gross, misogynistic mindset.

Now, after the Supreme Court order, the State will hopefully allow dance bars to reopen. But, from the way they have reacted, permissions will not be easy. Haftas will quadruple. Harassment will continue under other pretexts. I will be curious to see how many bar owners will risk restarting their business. As for the girls, new ones will replace those whose lives were willfully destroyed by moral policing. But what bothers me is that there are still people among us who support such discriminatory bans and rah-rah the brutal system that enforces it. A State that cannot provide livelihood to women should be the last to deprive them of their jobs.

What is funny though is that during these past 8 years the 4 and 5 star hotels have been running their discotheques and night clubs openly. No moral issues were ever raised about girls dancing there. The State did not insinuate they were women of easy virtue even though they were openly dancing with men, often in far less conservative clothes than the bar girls wore. Yet no one ostracized them. No mobs gathered around their homes, demanding they quit the neighborhood. A new and vulgar caste system was deliberately created by the State, targeting only middle class girls performing in dance bars, where they dance alone or in groups with other girls. Their homes and reputations were vandalized while the State went on a spending spree with our tax money to fight a long, stupid legal battle against them. That too, after the Governor had told them not to. And the High Court had turned them down. So they went all the way to the Supreme Court to fight a case that clearly violated the right to livelihood.

What is this sick, moralistic charade all about? Why does the State still want to persist with the ban even after the Supreme Court has turned it down? Who will compensate the 75,000 victims? Who will help them regain their lives?

Flo Woods, 15, from Oxfordshire
It has got a lot harder for girls because there are a lot more people looking at you. Everyone’s on Facebook – everywhere you go, it’s all about the image.

Every girl wants to be skinny, have a nice bum, nice legs, good skin. Walking into school, if you don’t look right, you feel that people are looking at you. When I’m in town and I see someone I know, I’ll think, ‘What am I wearing? Is my top tucked into my jeans the wrong way?’

Girls don’t just want to look pretty, though – they also want to be popular and have good grades. They want to get everything right, tick everything on the list.

They feel they have to try harder than boys in every way.

I’m lucky because I ride: I do eventing and it’s such a relief, a complete escape. I feel as if I have a secret language with my horse. She puts her nose on my shoulder and breathes into me and I know she understands.

I’m a very happy person, but every other night I cry myself to sleep and don’t know why or what I’m crying about. I know it’s not a big issue and I know it’ll never be solved.

I don’t want anyone to pity me. I just blame hormones and stress. I mentioned it to Mum the other day and she was horrified and said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ I thought everybody did it!

‘Riding is such a relief, a complete escape. I feel as if I have a secret language with my horse’

The expert opinion

‘School can become a living nightmare’
Oliver James, clinical psychologist

There has been a horrifying rise in anxiety and depression among 15-year-old girls, and the evidence points to four good reasons. First, day-to-day school performance; second, exams.

The first recorded rise happened in the period when girls accelerated academically and flew ahead of boys. For some girls, school has turned into a living nightmare — if you come second in geography, your world falls apart.

The third reason is [obsession with] body shape: not prettiness, but thinness. The fourth is family problems: divorcing parents, family rows.

For boys, it’s more ‘water off a duck’s back’; girls feel more involved.

At 15, they’ve been through puberty and can easily make themselves look 17 or 18, but they’re still very young, not that confident and not sure of the rules. It’s too much, too young, too many things going on.

A few years later, if they’ve had a happy childhood, they can opt out of that toxic experience and be free.

They’re more in charge, not so pressured by peers or boys to do things they don’t want to do. I think 15 is a watershed year.

Oliver James is author of Love Bombing: Reset Your Child’s Emotional Thermostat (Karnac Books, £9.99) To order copies at a discounted price with free p&p, contact the YOU Bookshop, tel: 0844 472 4157, you-bookshop.co.uk

The expert opinion
‘At the heart of all this is anxiety’
Steve Biddulph, parenting educator

A worrying percentage of British girls are in trouble. Eating disorders affect about 12 per cent; there’s been a 68 per cent increase in self-harm in the past ten years — and girls are now drinking more than boys.

At the heart of all of this is anxiety, driven by a culture where everyone feels in competition to be impossibly good-looking, and also perhaps a lack of calmness and steadiness in parents who are caught up with consumerism as well.

The danger time usually starts around 14; typically, a girl vulnerable to these pressures has a dad who is critical or cold; a mum who is stressed and busy; has had fairly unlimited exposure to TV (such as in her bedroom) from early childhood, and now digital media — texting Facebook — with no time restrictions.

Special attention is needed from ten to 14, when a girl starts to become her own person. She needs adults who have soul, who ask her about her beliefs, values and what she stands for, what she wants her life to be about. She needs to develop an interest or an activity that really makes her feel alive.

Research shows that girls whose mothers talk positively and intelligently about sex have daughters who are much more choosy and careful about early sexual behaviour: the more they know, the slower they go.

Fathers are essential too, as they carry a strong unconscious message that their daughters are interesting and worthwhile, safe from any sexual connotation. Having an involved dad can delay a daughter’s sexual activity by up to two years, and increases school achievement.

My book opens with the story of Kaycee, a 14-year-old who finds an older boy showing interest in her at a party.

They end up having sex after a few drinks, but she finds out that he has done it for a bet with his mates.

She can’t tell her parents and her life goes off the rails. Her situation arises partly because of a cruel boy, but also because of expectations that girls should and must be sexy, that it’s the way to belong and to be loved.

The trashing of young love by porn, pressures and expectations is a tragedy of our time.

Steve Biddulph is the author of Raising Girls (HarperCollins, £12.99) To order copies at a discounted price with free p&p, contact the YOU Bookshop, tel: 0844 472 4157, you-bookshop.co.uk

Eleanor Barrett, 15, from London

Eleanor Barrett, 15, from London
It was weird. Up until years nine and ten – that’s age 13 to 15 – boys weren’t talked about. Then suddenly people started getting boyfriends, having their first kiss, having sex.

People ask if I have a boyfriend and I say no, then they’ll ask ‘Why?’ I say, ‘Because the boys my age are immature, they’re not that nice…’ ‘Oh, you must be a lesbian then!’

There’s so much pressure.

On TV, in movies, you see 15-year-olds conducting relationships. Twenty years ago, they were much older – even in Grease, they were adults, not children.

And boys then seem more courteous and gentleman-like. They’re not looking for a relationship now; they’re after one thing.

If you’re a girl who sleeps with a lot of boys, you’re a slut. If you’re a guy who sleeps with a lot of girls, you’re a king.

‘You’ve got to keep your teachers happy, your parents happy, yourself happy’

My idea of a birthday party is having the girls round for a sleepover, staying up until really early in the morning, watching a movie.

For everyone else it’s, ‘Let’s have a house party, my parents are out!’ There’s drugs, smoking, binge drinking. I’ve been to one and it was the worst experience of my life.

I used to go on Facebook. It makes you feel very pressured to get nice photos of yourself and get lots of ‘likes’ and good comments.

I got so obsessed. It’s really addictive – you’re constantly at the screen. If someone made a nasty comment, it really upset me, and a good friend was bullied quite badly.

People wrote mean comments about her on Facebook and loads of people ‘liked’ them. I’d had it – I deleted my account. I’ve been two years without it and have never gone back.

Exams are another pressure. You’ve got to keep your teachers happy, your parents happy, yourself happy.

You’ve got to try to fit in socially, and at the same time, look after your body, regulate your intake of food and get enough exercise.

It’s overwhelming. It’s like you’re trying to keep up a very wobbly wall.

Nina, 15, from Manchester
I was diagnosed with depression last November after I’d taken an overdose of  co-codamol. I’d had a chest infection so I’d been at home.

It sounds so stupid and irrational, but the thing that set off my suicide attempt was the fact that even though I’d been away from school for two weeks, not one friend had been in touch to ask if I was OK. Fifteen minutes after taking the pills, I told my parents and they took me to A&E.

I’d been feeling depressed for about six months, since around my 15th birthday. The symptoms were physical as well as mental.

I felt tired and ill and I wasn’t eating – not for any particular reason, but my appetite just disappeared. I was self-harming too. I told my mum but she dismissed it and if I ever brought it up, she’d get agitated and change the subject.

After the overdose, I was taken more seriously and saw a psychiatrist, who wasn’t helpful. She told me the self-harming was ‘attention seeking’.

‘I was diagnosed with depression after I’d taken an overdose’

She did prescribe antidepressants but Mum wants me to see a psychologist instead for another evaluation. My first appointment is next week.

Although I still find life hard, and even going to school is a struggle at the moment, going out for long walks seems to help. It gives me time to think and get some fresh air. I’ve learnt breathing exercises too.

I think academic and social pressures were probably triggers. I’m doing my GCSEs and I’ve never been able to cope well with pressure.

I go to a private girls’ school and teachers don’t understand that there are more important things in life than doing well academically – like mental stability!

The pressure from teachers is less than half of it though. The girls at my school want to be the best of the best. I recently overheard someone say, ‘I can’t believe I only got 92 per cent. I know it’s an A*, but I could have done better.’

There’s also too much pressure on girls to look and act a certain way. If a girl isn’t stick-thin, tall and drop-dead gorgeous, she has no place here.

My relationship with my dad is another problem. We’ve always clashed – and since my overdose, he’s always busy working and hardly speaks to me. Maybe that’s just his way of dealing with it.

The expert opinion
‘The teenage brain becomes hard-wired to seek risk’
Stephanie Davies-Arai, parenting expert at communicatingwithkids.com

Fifteen is when the ‘teenage brain’ kicks in and becomes hard-wired to seek novelty, risk, excitement and the company of peers.

All teenagers at this age are relentlessly comparing themselves to members of their own sex, and finding where they are in the pecking order in terms of attracting the opposite sex.

Girls tend to want to please, and have the added pressure of a culture that values them mainly for their ‘hotness’.

As a mother, you should avoid lecturing and disapproval. The way you are as a woman — your own attitude to your weight, appearance and self-esteem — will have more impact than anything you say. Have light day-to-day chats; let your daughter know your opinions, but in a conversational way.

She’s more likely to listen if she finds you interesting. Tell her something you’ve read in the paper and ask for her view. Listen, be interested. Don’t force your opinion — state it and let it go.

Minnie Cullen Close, 15, from London

Minnie Cullen Close, 15, from London

Boys are under a different kind of pressure – maybe to be a little bit naughty, a bit cool. Girls are under more pressure to be academic, pretty, popular, skinny, with nicely brushed hair and painted nails.

A boy once said to me, ‘You should paint your nails more often. Girls look more attractive with painted nails!’ I have friends who are boys, but I haven’t had a boyfriend for a year or two. When I did, there was loads of pressure to do stuff that I didn’t really want to do.

‘Girls are under more pressure to be academic, pretty, popular, skinny, with nicely brushed hair’

I know people who’ve been bullied online. One girl in the year below me went out with a boy, had sex with him, then dumped him for someone else.

Everyone felt sorry for him and started posting BBM [BlackBerry Messenger] statuses calling her a slut. She was really upset. I don’t think she deserved it.

The pressure to meet your academic targets is too much. I’ll have done 14 GCSEs by August and I’m supposed to get all As and A*s.

I had to retake an English exam because I got a low A – and it meant I wouldn’t have been able to get an A* in my final grade.

There’s pressure from teachers and parents, but I put loads of pressure on myself to do well. I don’t know why. It’s a bit of a pride thing. If you know you can do it, you want to.

The Expert opinion
‘A surgically enhanced, Photoshopped image is “normal”’
Dr Richard Graham, child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Capio Nightingale Hospital and specialist in technology addiction

The ‘transformations of puberty’ are fraught with confusion, to the point where you don’t quite know who you are or what you’ve become. You want to be attractive and desirable; at the same time you’re anxious that you’ve turned into something terrible.

At this stage, the responses from peers, more than family, can make a huge difference. At the same time, the image these girls are held up to — skinny, surgically enhanced, hair-extended — is impossible.

This generation of 15-year-olds is growing up not just with TV, magazines and billboards, but with Facebook, the internet and Tumblr. Photoshopping is ‘normal’. It’s agonising to hear how desperate a girl is to get the right image of herself, to get enough ‘likes’.

When she’s so absorbed in appearance, it makes her less connected, less interested in others in a deeper, meaningful way.

One way of trying to lose anxious feelings is to bully others, to make someone else feel bad so you don’t — which explains a lot of the brutal sexting, ‘slut shaming’ and online bullying that is so prevalent. In a Lord of the Flies world, no one wants to be bottom of the food chain.

IN THE PAST YEAR ALONE…

Rosie Whitaker, 15, a talented ballet dancer who struggled with bulimia and the compulsion to self-harm, died in front of a train in Southeast London last June. Her family issued a statement that said, ‘She was a well-balanced and well-loved young lady who had everything to live for. However, during a period of stress brought on by the pressures of conforming to her peer group and studying hard for GCSE exams, it appears she was, unfortunately, heavily influenced by websites and online communities promoting self-harm and suicide.’

Tallulah Wilson, 15, who attended a private school in London, had posted suicidal messages on Twitter, before being found dead on the train tracks at St Pancras station in October last year. She struggled with anorexia and claimed she had been bullied at her previous school.

The father of Helena Farrell, 15, a gifted cellist and singer, says his bright daughter had been plagued by ‘dark thoughts’. Her body was discovered in woodland near her home in Kendal in January this year. It is thought that she killed herself.

The body of Anna Johnson, 15, was found on the M9 motorway near Stirling in January this year after she apparently fell from a bridge. The bright teenager attended a leading private school. Internet users suggest she may have taken her life after being bullied, but it’s unclear whether there is any foundation to the claims.

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The Mail has campaigned for strict regulation on adult material online

MORE DAMAGE FROM OVERVALUING VIRGINITY SEX SECRETS EVERY WOMAN MUST KNOW

The Damage of Overvaluing Virginity Both Christians, very involved in the church and on the outside seemed happy. I was not shocked when they broke up though, because she had confessed to me their biggest problem: He would not let go of the fact that she was not a virgin. Over and over he brought up that he needed to “mourn what was lost,” even though these conversations would often end with her in tears. His fixation on the fact that she had previously had sex, even though she was repentant about this, clouded their relationship. He was devastated when she broke up with him, and could never admit anything he’d done wrong.

The Damage of Overvaluing Virginity Both Christians, very involved in the church and on the outside seemed happy. I was not shocked when they broke up though, because she had confessed to me their biggest problem: He would not let go of the fact that she was not a virgin. Over and over he brought up that he needed to “mourn what was lost,” even though these conversations would often end with her in tears. His fixation on the fact that she had previously had sex, even though she was repentant about this, clouded their relationship. He was devastated when she broke up with him, and could never admit anything he’d done wrong.

There is something seriously wrong with how much he, and so many other Christians, value virginity.

In college, hanging out in my dorm, my Campus Crusade for Christ leader was telling us about how terrified she was on her wedding night. Despite the months she’d spent daily working out and eating next to nothing, she was so petrified of her husband seeing her naked, it’d taken her two glasses of champagne and a bubble bath before she relaxed enough to consummate their marriage. I’ve heard similar stories of good Christian girls, who’d waited their entire lives to have sex, spend the days and hours leading up to their wedding in a state of panic.

Somehow, I doubt that this is the attitude God wishes us to have about marital sex.

These circumstantial occurrences during sex may not be very common, but these can happen to you as well. So the next time you find yourself in these embarassing situations, just take a count of the following points…

Sex with my ex
Imagine screaming your ex’s name, or your secret lover’s pet name, just when your partner is about to climax. Damn! It can’t get worse than this. “I had an arranged marriage and it was a blunder that I did on my honeymoon. I yelled my ex’s name in pleasure and my hubby was very frustrated hearing another man’s name. Believe me, we didn’t have sex for months, until I convinced him that there’s nothing between me and my ex now,” shares Deepti Shah (31), who got married last year.

Such an occurence is likely to make your partner feel estranged, besides injecting a feeling of suspicion in your love life.

Hot tip: Though fantasies are an essential part of a gratifying sex life, expressing fantasies in such unexpected ways can often put end to your relationship. “A lot of women fantasise about their idol or a past lover while having sex as it turns them on. But it’s important to remember that sex is an emotional experience too, so don’t appear to be emotionally weak and let your past lover/fantasy hover in your mind space while becoming intimate with your present beau. This causes a discord in your relationship. A combination of prayanam, gym and a job (PGJ) is the best way to keep away from a fertile imagination,” suggests Dr. Aruna Broota, clinical psychologist.

Nature’s call
This blooper is the mother of all sex bummers faced by couples. Often confused with a squirting orgasm, it is related to the pressure applied on the bladder due to sexual stimulation. A problem commonly faced by women, this often leaves the male partner feeling half pleasured. Recalls housewife Pratibha Trivedi, “I often feel like urinating half way through the act and this creates a problem for my man, besides being unhealthy.”

Hot tip: Never force yourself to reach a climax if you’re feeling like relieving yourself. “The nerves that are stimulated during an erection are quite close to those of the urinal bladder and sometimes an overlapping can result in urinating during sex. So make sure you have attended nature’s call before you gear up for the act of sex. In case there are any other organic problems, certain medications can help deal with them,” elucidates Dr. Prakash Kothari, a leading sexologist.

Oops! I farted
It may sound like a marginal interruption, but if it comes in the way of pleasure, it’s sure to marr the excitement. “It was a horrifying nightmare. I knew my wife had medical implications due to which she suffered gastritis, but it was a highly disturbing when we were sexually engaged and I stopped enjoying sex with her anymore,” recalls Ravi Mehra.

Hot tip: Make sure your digestive system is in place before you indulge in a make out session. “Avoid potatoes, pulses, peas, and bakery items that enhance gas formation (gastritis). Also, we recommend you to consume a digestive pill or opt for a brisk walk after the meal to make the food settle down completely,” recommends Dr. Kothari.

The problem lies in the churches, and many Christians, reaction to this news. Instead of changing the way they address premarital sex, and treating young people with the understanding and forgiveness needed, too many church leaders focus on trying instead to simply get young people to stop having sex. That’s been the method for decades, and obviously, it isn’t working.

It’s not just the people who chose to have sex that these messages fail to help. There is also the large number of women (and some men) who had no choice in losing their virginity. One out of every six women will be the victim or an attempted or completed sexual assault in their lifetime. That’s just in the United States. In the Congo alone, 48 women are raped every hour. Every hour. Imagine being one of these women, who made their way into a church service only to have to listen to the pastor give an hour long sermon on sexual purity. Or being a college-aged woman, having endured a sexual assault the year before, listening through countless Bible studies given on why waiting to have sex is the most important thing she can do for her faith. Even the media is obsessed with maintaining the lie that virginity is a Christian’s greatest virtue. The hoopla over Olympic athlete Lolo Jones is a perfect example.

While there isn’t anything wrong with encouraging young people to wait, there is something wrong when that encouragement is done by telling them how ruined their lives will be, and how much they’ve “lost” if (and most likely when) they do mess up. Maybe, instead of raising young people to be terrified of sex and the repercussions they’ll face if they do mess up, Christian leaders should spend time talking about how amazing it can be when it’s within the relationship for which it was intended. I have been on both sides of it, and I can say that sex with my husband is something incredibly different than anything I’d ever experienced before. Sex is both physical and spiritual, and when there is commitment, trust, deep love and intimacy, it becomes something vastly different (and better) than a quick, emotionless encounter. Sharing this truth with young Christians involves a level of transparency and honesty that is desperately needed within the church. Its a lot easier to convince people to wait for something that is wonderful, than warn them against something dangerous and sordid.

The truth is, I do wish I’d waited and “saved myself” for my husband. Every once in awhile I do feel a tinge of sadness that he was able to give himself to me in a way I couldn’t give myself to him. But that’s all it is, a “tinge.” Because I’ve already been forgiven, and our marriage is so much more than sex. And we’re in love for so many more reasons that have nothing to do with sex what so ever. Christian men and women are complex, amazing individuals who have been done a great disservice by being told that the most important thing they can bring to a marriage is virginity. Respect, maturity, integrity, a sense of humor, forgiveness, these are all traits that every happily married person needs. The church needs to be telling young men and women this, as frequently as they tell them how much better sex is within that committed, monogamous relationship.

* I say “marriage-like” since I believe this both for straight or gay Christians, and know that in many places in the world, gay Christians are legally not permitted to wed.

 How God most likely does not want people panicking about impending consummation in the days prior to their wedding day, though this happens to many as she pointed out, and 2) that too many people do not think about how a person who has been raped is likely to hear all the talk about the importance of “sexual purity.” The damage done in these two realms is nothing to take lightly.

Yes, I agree that there is something disturbingly wrong with the way so many Christians (and people of various faith traditions) place such a high value on virginity. But it seems to me that describing pre-marital sex with phrases such as “messing up” or failing to “save oneself” all serve to perpetuate the value placed on virginity.

Perhaps we need to look a bit deeper to name the source of the trouble here, which is actually much more than a concern about whether a female has an intact hymen on her wedding night. The source of the issue is, in my and many Christian theologians’ opinions, the view of bodies and sexuality in general. All the talk about purity — variously (un)defined — focuses predominantly upon females, and throughout faith traditions the main concern is with women’s virginity. Thus the main crux of this conversation is actually women’s bodies; they are seen as objects to be owned, controlled and adorned properly.

Understandably, many people do decide to turn to the Bible for guidance on this topic. As with most topics, however, one can find biblical passages and stories to back up multiple angles on the issue of sex and sexual encounters. In the New Testament, Paul does encourage sexual relations only within marriage; he simultaneously encourages people to abstain from marriage entirely if they can handle it. In 1 Corinthians 7 he states three or four times that singlehood is to be preferred to that of being married. By the way, this line of thinking lead to some early Christian groups believing that marriage itself is a sin, due to how sex was viewed (for more on this please consult April DeConick’s “Holy Misogyny: Why Sex and Gender Conflicts in the Early Church Still Matter”).

It also ought to be noted that in Matthew 19 Jesus apparently affirmed his disciples’ worried claim, “If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.” In fact, if one can handle it, becoming a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom is even suggested by Jesus in that exchange.

I am not sure, then, how we are best to invoke Paul’s or Jesus’ advice in the discussion of sex at all. It does strike me as foolishness to quote from one of Paul’s letters on this topic, given his outright claim to be single: We do not ask a childless person for advice on parenting, do we?

If we turn to Genesis 2:24, the infamous passage that is foundational for all no-sex-before-marriage claims, what we see is a highly biased choice of wording. It might be more accurate if we read it, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his woman; and they shall become one flesh.” It is a choice on the part of the translators to translate ishshah as “woman” in 2:22-23 and as “wife” in verses 24 and 25 and. The only reason to make this shift is because their sexual union is implied, though there is no discussion of marriage. This is perhaps one of the most powerful “lost (or gained) in translation” moments in Scripture, given what it has allowed the Church to claim in terms of the sinfulness of premarital sex. Of course this is bolstered by passages such as Deuteronomy 22:13-21, which says that a marriage is only valid if the woman is a virgin. If she is not, she is to be executed. With this kind of consequence associated with a woman’s, but not a man’s, virginity, it is no wonder that traditions influenced by biblical ideals place such “value” on virginity, disproportionately more focused on females. Additionally, given the numerous times men in the bible have non-consensual sex with women, it becomes very difficult to suggest that there are biblical standards on this topic worth imitating today.

But all these dissections of biblical passages keep us from dealing with the deeper issues, still.

Consider looking at the topic from this perspective: sexuality is a part of being human. Sexuality is a component of love and intimacy. It is a part of what we are wired to engage in and enjoy. As with anything that can affect our health and wholeness I do not endorse abusing it, but when engaged in respectfully and responsibly it is a good thing. Silencing the conversation and communication about mutual, pleasurable, responsible sex is absolutely detrimental to people, and many will confirm that it is detrimental to intimate love relationships.

Consider how every time we talk about sex and sexuality in dualistic terms — as either right or wrong in whatever form — we are controlling others’ experience of it instead of being interested in their well-being. One might want to consult teenage pregnancy rates in this country, and note that the highest rates overlap with “Bible belt” regions. Coincidence?

When we label sex according to whether it is “pre-marital” or not we perpetuate the fallacy that “normal” sex only happens within a marriage and is the only form of “legitimate” sex. There is an affirmation that being married is best for all people because that is when a person is finally complete as a human, now able to have sex. Additionally, “it is better to marry than to burn with passion” has led to countless marriages between young people who have not been taught how to maturely handle their passions.

And suggesting that being “sexually pure” is the greatest thing a person brings to her or his partner in their marriage? This actually says that sexual intercourse is a form of ownership of the other person. It says that “purity” is about who gets to lay claim to you, which is the quintessential way of objectifying a person.

I think it is time to lose the shaming language too often used in this conversation, and to reframe how we think of, talk about and value sex altogether.

Here are five sex secrets that may help you understand and get even closer to your guy…

Men are full of surprises and bedroombehaviour is no exception. While it’s impossible to explain all male behaviours, here are five sex secrets that may help you understand and get even closer to your guy.

He’s nurses the fear that he’ll let you down
Men feel tremendous pressure to perform sexually. While women aren’t waiting formarriage to have sex, and that means they are far more relaxed in the bedroom. Sexually satisfied role models, like Madonna and the ‘Sex and the City’ sirens, encourage urban women to be open about their sexual desires and complaints. These liberated women to cause some trouble for their male partners. Suddenly, the pressure to perform is on, and he can’t help but feel like he has to please you. Even though you may not be so bothered about his performance and you might forgive him for a few poor performances, he has a hard time forgiving himself. It’s really tough on him.

Warning:
If your man has a recurring problem of performance, he may start to blame you to protect his ego. Be prepared to handle this situation.

What you can do:
Don’t take it personally or, worse, insult him. And never laugh! Just pretend that it is no great deal for you.

Men need validation to get their groove on
Sex is a source of power from ages, and it gives proof that one is masculine. To a man, having sex means that he can move a woman, that he’s energetic, a provider and a lover. Basically, your guy wants to be a superhero, and he certainly wants you to see him in that light. When he satisfies you sexually, he feels like superman. If you’re enjoying yourself, let him know that. He’ll love you for your compliments.

Warning
No encouragement means no fun. Whether you are enjoying yourself or not, just be encouraging.

What you can do
A good rule of thumb: Don’t fake it but don’t fight it. Just look happy and satisfied and that would make your man feel super.

Men don’t like waiting too long
Women should never hold out to have sex simply because of the so called rules of dating. He is more likely to commit if there is a sexual component to the relationship, and it is important for him to know that you find him sexually desirable.

Warning
If your guy is offended when you initiate sex, get rid of him.

What you can do
We’re all sensual beings; we might as well be who we are. So don’t be afraid to make a move.

Men too are conscious about their bodies
Let’s face it: Men may not worry about weight nearly as much as women do, but they do have their own image issues.

Warning
Most men are quite concerned about their general physical condition, height and baldness. In other words, they are hoping for mood lighting in the bedroom just as much as women are.

What you can do
Help your man by telling him that you find him attractive and showing him affection.

Most men will not forgive a cheating girlfriend
Men who have been betrayed, especially in the bedroom, are far less likely to forgive their partners than women in the same situation.

Warning
Men want loyalty at all cost.

What you can do
Show your loyalty not only by remaining faithful when in a committed relationship, but also by supporting your man in front of colleagues and friends and defending him when necessary. This allegiance will make your man more secure and will give him the motivation to let loose in the bedroom with you. Men want commitment just as much as women do; they just want it packaged

All those who believe that a caged parrot is a perfect example of a spineless government agency that only imitates the voice of its master, have never known .  Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC)   spineless government agency is a breed unto itself

A nation that cannot uphold its law cannot preserve its order. civil society indicating a typical travesty of justice,

Israell – BN –  style.endless possibilities

The exception as the rule Good Intentions cannot justify bad delivery
Bill passd in parliamnt are not in the laudable intention but in the clogged delivery. The desire to be politically correct has overtaken the imperative to be politically sensible. Method and order structural flaw could further erode the already ebbing credibility of our parliamentary systemThe irony is that such flaws can be easily corrected, with some time and thought. Both have been absent from the process, the favourite weapons of Hercule Poirot, might be usefully employed in analysis.It is odd that the government should have chosen law and order as its final alibi after some exhausting self-laceration in its search for a credible explanation for the escape ofJustice
When Instuation smuggled  The Predators to safety, the authority of state abandoned the responsibility of state. Excuses, evasions and lies have shifted over years; this central truth has not.the umbilical chord of the colonial, or neo-colonial. Who had dared to arrest a pillar of the American corporate establishment. ‘Bail or no bail’: what was a rotten piece of paper signed in an Indian court worth to a lord of Wall Street? Not even the decency of silence. Anderson was publicly, even proudly, contemptuous of those who did not have the courage to interrupt his freedom for a mere industrial disaster in which a few thousand semi-slave Indians had been gassed to death within hours and thousands more would die over years.Accusation is the easy exit route from Bhopal. Introspection will take us back to the beginning. Betrayal is impossible without trust. We did not trust Carbide to be honest. We trusted our political class, and it continues to search for new and inventive ways to betray us again.

What bothers me is the carpet bombing scam coverage that ensured there were no goodbyes for the man who with evangelical zeal exposed the sleazy underbelly of  the high-profile murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu, over the past 9 years, and did his best to set it right. Worse, there was no debate over who his successor ought to be. So the Government sneaked in its own nominee,Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah as public prosecutor clearly to undo some of the outstanding work Ghani Patail did for Mahathir

Take a leaf from Appointment of Shafee in Sodomy II

He pointed out that the move was permissible by law, citing the recent appointment of lawyer Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah as public prosecutor in the appeal against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II acquittal.

Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah as public prosecutor in the appeal against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II acquittal.

Muhammad Shafee was given the authority by the Attorney-General to lead the prosecution team in its appeal against Anwar’s acquittal on a charge of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Anwar’s defence team, however, filed a motion in the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya yesterday to disqualify the appointment.Earlier today, PKR’s R. Sivarasa criticised the Court of Appeal over the two former policemen’s acquittal, saying it should have ordered a retrial instead.

The Subang MP stressed that the appellate court was empowered to do so, especially when there were a number of key witnesses who were not called during the High Court trial that led to the duo’s conviction in 2009.

“There is ample power under the law in section 60 of the Courts Judicature Act 1964 to order a retrial which is regularly done in appeals,” Sivarasa said.

Always watch out for ‘The Big Obsessive Scam’ the media goes after. It often covers up a great deal more than it reveals. It also draws away our immediate attention from issues where we were about to get close to a dangerous truth or two. Poirot famously described it as a red herring, a cunning device to draw people’s attention away from real issues to focus on a non sequitur MacGuffin.

Like the MacGuffin, which Hitchcock made cult, The Big Obsessive Scam vanishes or becomes irrelevant once its purpose is over. This is what the spot fixing scam could be: Too much outrage chasing what matters so little to most of us. The evidence in hand is flimsy, so flimsy that it’s unlikely to get past the smallest court but the noise around it is so much one would think World War III has broken out

The prosecution was aware that the trial judge had failed to thoroughly analyse the evidence and had urged the Court of Appeal to use its powers to prevent a miscarriage of justice but the three-man bench was not convinced.

In fact, Judge Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who wrote the grounds, said, the two ex-policemen should have been acquitted at the trial stage.

She said the prosecution had conceded that there were various non-directions by the trial judge, Mohd Zaki Md Yassin, and invited them to use a provision in the Court of Judicature Act 1964 to cure the defects.

The failure by the prosection to call Deputy Superintendent Musa Safri and the failure of the trial judge to consider the notice of alibi were among the main reasons for the acquittal of two former policemen in the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu (pic).

In the 47-page written judgment released this morning, the three-man Court of Appeal bench ruled the failure to call Musa proved fatal to the prosecution’s case as he could have unravelled the narrative of the prosection’s case.

The two former police commandos Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar were acquitted on Friday for the murder of Altantuya on October 19, 2006.

he judgment written by Court of Appeal judge Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat also pointed to discrepancies in the affidavit by political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda and Sirul’s testimony in court pertaining to Musa’s involvement in the case.

“It must not be overlooked that this ugly and horrendous episode started with the request by Razak to Musa before Azilah and Sirul came into the picture.

“The evidence established that Azilah and Sirul’s task was to patrol the vicinity of Razak’s house and their presence there that night was upon the request of Razak to Azilah,” Tengku Maimun said in the judgment.

Only Musa could have unravelled this, she added.

At the time, Musa was the aide-de-camp of the then-Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

On Azilah’s acquittal, the Court of Appeal ruled that the trial judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Md Yassin, had failed to consider the notice of alibi which revealed that Azilah could not have been at two places at the same time on the night of Altantuya’s murder.

The Court of Appeal said that the call logs of telecommunication companies which were tendered by the prosecution were aimed to track Azilah’s movement on the day Altantuya was murdered.

According to the exhibits, Azilah was at Pekan Subang at 10.15pm and at Kampung Melayu Subang at 10.19pm.

However, the police station diary at Bukit Aman indicated that Azilah was there collecting his weapon, a Glock EAH 387 and two bullet magazines, at 10.18pm.

He had then left for Putrajaya for escort duty to then-Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

The investigating officer in  Altantuya’s murder case, ASP Tonny Lunggan had testified in the trial that the station diary was true and accurate.

This, the Court of Appeal held, had cast doubts on the accuracy of the call logs.

He said an appellate court in exceptional cases would have upheld a conviction despite the misdirection.

“However, looking at the whole evidence and circumstances of this case, we are of the view that this is not a fit and proper case for us to invoke the proviso,” she said.

Tengku Maimun said the circumstances relied upon by the prosecution had not been fully and cogently established and the chain of evidence was not complete.

“We cannot say if a reasonable tribunal properly directed, would have convicted the appellants (Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar) on available evidence.

“The court below had ignored and overlooked salient facts and evidence favourable to the appellants which resulted in serious and substantial miscarriage of justice to the appellants,” she said.

She said the cumulative effect of these non-directions rendered the convictions of the appellants unsafe.

Tengku Maimun also said that the prosecution’s case relied on circumstantial evidence.

All those who believe that a caged parrot is a perfect example of a spineless government agency that only imitates the voice of its master, have never known a caged parrot.

“It is our judgment that the circumstantial evidence are insufficient and not strong enough to sustain the finding of guilt,” she said.

Tunku Maimun said the appellate court was conscious that a heinous crime had been committed but the benefit of the doubt must be given to the policemen.

The Court of Appeal also ruled that Deputy Superintendent Musa Safri, the former aide-de-camp of then-Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, could have unravelled events which could have contradicted political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda’s statement in his affidavit which formed part of the prosecution’s evidence.

And the failure to call him to the murder trial proved fatal to the prosecution’s case as there was no rebuttal against Abdul Razak’s statement.

On that note, the trial judge had acquitted and discharged him without calling for his defence.

However, there were discrepancies in the affidavit with former police Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar’s statement with regards to the senior officer, which only Musa could have unravelled.

This was stated in the 47-page unanimous judgment written by Tengku Maimun.

The burden of independence OF Justice
The unfortunate truth is that there is reason for this cynicism. A lot of the opinions that abound in media, both mainstream and social, are rooted in  pre-fabricated positions that fly under the flag of one label or another. In addition, over the last few years it has become clear that very few of our certitudes about the independence ofjustice the allegedly independent institutions stand up to scrutiny.

A nation that cannot uphold its law cannot preserve its order.

It is odd that the government should have chosen law and order as its final alibi after some exhausting self-laceration in its search for a credible explanation for the escape of JUSTICE

Why do we say “law and order” rather than “order and law”? Simple. Law comes before order. Law defines the nature of order. Law is the difference between civilization and chaos. Law is evolutionary: the edicts of tribes, chiefs and dynasties lifted human societies from scattered peril to structured coexistence. The laws of democracy have vaulted us to the acme of social cohesion, for they eliminated arbitrary diktat and introduced collective will. The divine right of kings is dead; it has been reborn as the secular right of an elected Parliament.

A nation that cannot uphold its law cannot preserve its order. When Instuation smuggled  The Predators to safety, the authority of state abandoned the responsibility of state. Excuses, evasions and lies have shifted over 26 years; this central truth has not.

ustice M S Liberhan did not need 17 years and a thousand pages to tell us what has been public knowledge since December 6, 1992. The Babri mosque was not torn down in the dark of night. It was brought down slowly, stone by stone, in Sunday sunlight, before hundreds of journalists, to the cheers of countless thousands of kar sewaks in and around Ayodhya. The mosque was not dynamited in a minute; it was demolished by crowbar and shovel.The Liberhan Commission could have completed half its report by taking a look at that film. The media was equally comprehensive in its coverage of the brutal riots that followed: The Sri Krishna report has done far greater justice to the truth in its findings on the Maharashtra riots, so much so that there is all-party collusion on its non-implementation. There was only one question trapped in doubt: What was prime minister P V Narasimha Rao doing while Babri was destroyed on the longest day of the last two decades? Why was home minister S B Chavan, father of the present Maharashtra chief minister, immobile, inscrutable and stolid?

Shock raced through Delhi when word filtered through that an assault had begun in Ayodhya. Phone calls began to pour into the prime minister’s residence in the hope that he would use the authority of the state to uphold the rule of law and fulfil a political and moral obligation. There was a monstrous response from the prime minister’s personal secretary. The PM was either unavailable or, worse, asleep. It was a lie. Rao’s inaction and Chavan’s collaboration were deliberate.

Liberhan protects prime minister then with an equally conscious fudge, shuffling the blame on to unspecified intelligence agencies. Everyone knew what was going on, IB officers better than most. PM called a Cabinet meeting only in the evening, when there was nothing left to be saved — not even reputation. By this time, fires of hatred were lighting up the dusk of Mumbai and dozens of cities across the nation. An elaborate programme of blame, reward and punishment was put into place. Those (including bureaucrats and journalists) who acquiesced in Rao’s charade were rewarded; Congress Muslims got a bonus for silence. Rao remained in power till 1996, but he neither ruled nor lived in peace.

The words of this column will make no difference. A government can reduce the past to rubble as easily as an Opposition party can erase a centuries-old mosque. My apologies for a rare detour into the personal, but this is a rare moment. I was a minor part of the Rao government and resigned on the night of December 6 since the stone wall constructed around the prime minister’s house had become impervious to anything except sycophancy. Words demand a different kind of loyalty, and one was relieved to return to the world of words.

Deficit of trust Tengku Adnan said Umno may have been guilty of resting on its laurels following Election 2013 but the UMNO election  be the electoral gamechanger

For nine years, NAJIB kept the humiliation close to his chest, of how Mahathir vetoed change agenda when he first became prime minister

As expected, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s offer of peace and national dialogue on the eve of the country’s Independence Day left members of Umno’s top decision-making body flummoxed and blustering, with those with vested interests the ones to object the loudest.

“Umno leaders who always find fault with Anwar so silly. To ask Why Now is banal if not stupid,” mocked former Umno leader Zaid Ibrahim on Twitter.

Zaid was referring to news that the Umno supreme council had discussed and even made a “collective decision” at their meeting this afternoon, hours after Anwar’s proposal.

“We reached a collective decision on the matter but it is not for me to announce,” Malaysian Insider quoted Hishammuddin Hussein as saying.

“It’s not something we want to make a big hue and cry about. The country will still be around tomorrow.”

It is telling that Prime Minister Najib Razak, the Umno president, took care to rush off before the meeting ended, possibly so as to evade any blame and to shield himself ahead of the party’s election in October.

Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor  This devil is one of the Satan’s influence?

Among the Umno supreme council members who spoke out most vehemently against Anwar today were Mukhriz Mahathir, the son of former premier Mahathir Mohamad, and Khairy Jamaluddin, the son-in-law of another former premier Abdullah Badawi.

Both Mukhriz and Khairy are eyeballing the PM’s chair for themselves, and should there be any unity government formed, they would have to compete against the young talent in Pakatan including Nurul Izzah, Azmin Ali, Rafizi Ramli, Husam Musa and Nizar Jamaluddin.

It is not surprising that both Mukhriz and Khairy have described Anwar’s offer to start a dialogue with BN as an act of desperation.

“He wants to talk about this now, after losing in the elections and losing in court on election petitions. To me, he has no credibility to make this offer now. He should just bring this up in Parliament if he is really serious. But after losing in the election petitions, he is making this offer. We cannot accept this,” Mukhriz Mahathir said.

“We have no problem in holding a dialogue, but don’t try to show that he (Anwar) is the one trying to unite the country. We have to know what are the terms of reference for the dialogue. We must be sincere in holding the dialogue,” Bernama reported Khairy as describing Anwar’s offer as an “act of desperation”

For Umno, the biggest hurdle to victory at the 13th general election is the perception that it is a corrupt and elitist party that practises cronyism, its secretary-general said today.

Umno insiders told Malaysia Chronicle that whatever decision Najib announces in the coming days, talk of a “unity government” would dominate the topic of conversation especially in Umno as its election neared. This despite the fact that Anwar had only called for a dialogue between the Barisan Nasional government and the Pakatan Rakyat opposition to discuss the major issues currently disconcerting the nation and disrupting its progress.

“Unity government cannot be immediate as even Anwar himself has said so. It is just too complex and while Umno and the Malay community as a whole would welcome a peace-making offer, there are many vested interests involved,” an Umno watcher told suara

“Some of the warlords, and you should know who, will have to make way. Pakatan has many talented people who are also young and clean. They will make the Umno warlords look bad. Do you think they will agree to a unity government if it disadvantages them? Of course not, so it is no surprise Najib has to watch out for this group. They will rock the boat, destabilize the country, anything to make sure that they don’t get shaken off the durian tree by Najib, so to speak.”

“But let me tell you a secret, the dialogue has actually already started. Anwar is not expected to take up any government position that will undermine the position of other key leaders. (Talk of) unity government will take centre stage. The supreme council will ensure Najib will emerge a stronger president after the Umno election.”

Unity talks is probably one of the most positive political news that the silent majority Rakyat has ever heard since the end of the last general election.

The initial sceptical response from some Umno quarters are just basic ego chest-thumping exercise of some typical politicians. Every politician would like to have the luxury of a last say and an upper hand over all matters.

There are many possible benefits of the roundtable talks. The opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has highlighted in his pre-Merdeka olive branch speech that the country is in an urgent need to address the deteriorating economy, racial and religious harmony, law and order issues.

If the roundtable talks is conducted in an open, free, frank and practical manner, it can tackle the multiple ills that our nation is facing at the moment. The country is in such a state of disarray on many areas that Umno alone will not be able to tackle the problems
posed.

The unity talk could also mean a possible checkmate on Mahathir’s hands on our nation’s affairs. No wonder Mukriz Mahathir made his chest-thumping reaction like; “But after losing in the election petitions, he is making this offer. We cannot accept this”.

Yes, of course, his father will not be able to accept this. Perkasa will not accept this too if they have their way.

If Najib is working positively with Pakatan, the forces that support him in Umno might have greater strength in resisting Mahathir’s marching orders from the background.

The unity talks also give hope for our nation to heal the current racial and religious rifts that might take us down the path of self-implosion. This is probably the last hope for a positive change or a turn around before we descent into an uglier scenario that might put our country back a few decades.

If in a hypothetical scenario where Najib loses his Umno presidency in the coming party election, the Parliament might still be able to uphold Najib’s Premiership with the support from the Pakatan camp and others who thinks that the country is going in a wrong direction.

The “others” support can come from parliamentarians that are from East Malaysia, MCA, MIC and Gerakan.

The Umno delegates who are for Muhyiddin Yasin (if he intends to run for the top post) will have to think twice before voting him in as the new Umno president. This might not necessarily guarantee him the position of the Prime Minister of the country.

Someone in the Parliament can put a no-confidence motion on Muhyiddin if Najib is sidelined. If the the motion of no confidence sails through, a conscience vote can be called in parliament to determine who enjoys the confidence on the floor of the parliament.

We must also remember that there will be some liberals within the Umno ranks like Tengku Razaleigh who are able to lend support to Najib’s Prime Ministership vote on the floor of our parliament, if push comes to shove.

This is a tectonic shift away from the tradition that Umno president is automatically the country’s prime minister, instead the representatives of the people voted in a prime minister through a conscience vote on the floor of our parliament. That will be a sign of
a maturing democracy for our country.

Some political pundits have predicted that talking with Pakatan will weakened Najib’s position in the run-up of the Umno party elections.

On the contrary Najib might have the upper hand if he manages to come out with a positive working framework with Pakatan before the Umno party elections.

The Umno delegates would have to think hard on the likelihood of changing the tradition of the presidency’s automatic Premiership of the country if they want Muhyiddin as their head.

However if Umno decides to re-instate Najib as the president of Umno, then the prime minister’s post is his and he will be able to secure the tradition of the Umno president’s automatic Premiership of the country.

Najib now might have an opening to secure his Prime Minister’s position by choosing to accept the offer of a roundtable talks with Pakatan.

Some Pakatan supporters might think that the unity talk is a bad move by Anwar Ibrahim. My question to those who opposed to this idea is what if our country descent into chaos like Egypt and Syria?

The frequent racial and religious rows are clear signs indicating to us that we are going towards that direction. Would that dead end direction help our country mature into a democracy?

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s call for a dialogue with BN is being done in the open and not secretly, said PKR Youth in responding to PAS today.

The reactions from the Umno leaders and from their social media are what we have expected. Datuk Seri Anwar had taken the opportunity of the Merdeka eve to offer an olive branch so as to stem the slide in interracial and interfaith relationships and also to stem the slide in the economy,” Saifuddin told a press conference on Monday
.

Anwar had made a major concession, agreeing to set aside his grouses over the conduct of the fraud-tainted May 5 general election, for the sake of national dialogue to lift the morale of the nation and to get the economy going again.

Sad to say, top Umno leaders had bombarded his call, and accused him of political “desperation”.

However, their attacks against Anwar have backfired with many criticizing the Umno bigwigs, who include Mukhriz Mahathir, Khairy Jamaluddin, Nazri Aziz and Shafie Apdal, of trying to protected their own political positions as well as the vested interest of their cronies.

“When country spend more time talking about religious/ethnic issues it means economy not well. It means distraction required,” former Umno leader Zaid Ibrahim said on Twitter.

“Truth is economic transformation must be real. Old ways and attitudes do not work anymore.

Mahathir agenda is over, and its will is exhausted. It has no answers, beyond blaming Anwar on the one side and Najib  on the other. While the first is normal, the second is startling. A government does not determine who sits in the Opposition, but it does choose a stalwart for Prime Mininister

1984 affirmed nationalism, and 1989 indicated that corruption was a non-negotiable liability. In the Nineties the political gains of economic revival were destroyed by the politics of identity. In a unique variation, optimism became a common strand between two antagonist governments in the 21st century’s first decade. The wheel has slipped back into a quagmire of Voters live through five years of meek reality to vote, on one day, for redemption and resurrection. He who mobilises hope, wins.

“Whatever the grouses, the Prime Minister should give a good response and accept the offer made by Datuk Seri Anwar in good faith because these are issues that affect a lot of people. Just 3 days ago, I was in Singapore and the exchange rate was RM2.63 to the Singapore dollar. These are the signs that the situation is critical and requires immediate response from both sides of the political divide.

“Just a day ago, the PM gave news that made the nation very happy. This will have a chain reaction. So stop the posturing on issues such as the ‘anjing’ case (involving dog-trainer Chetz Yusof), the use of the word Allah, the destruction of the ‘surau’ (Muslim prayer room in Johor). Focus on what matters. The Opposition Leader had made the initiative. We hope PM Najib will respond positively and urgently,” added Saifuddin, referring to the shock fuel price hike announced by Najib a day ago.

The GE13 results, where Pakatan Rakyat got 51 percent of the popular votes shows that a big number of the Malays have awakened.

This is not only a fractured and polarised nation, it is also a failed nation. A nation whose institutions have been relegated to the ruling elite’s apparatus, a nation whose education system produces graduates that can’t think and are unemployable, a nation whose administrators are chosen not on merit and are totally inept, a nation whose majority race still depends on clutches and rent-seeking, and worst still a nation whose ruling elite is resorting to fraud and even treacherous act of giving citizenship for votes to sustain their hold on power.

 Politicians, from Umno and other race-based parties know that they have to play the race card to win votes. In this respect, Umno knows the game very well. They are the master at this, and they are the ruling party.

To stop all this racial politics (and religious politics), Umno must first be stopped. Otherwise, race and religious politics will continue until the end of time, or until the Malays wake up to Umno’s deceit.

Umno leaders are stupid if they didn’t see this and chose to not to acknowledge this ‘awakening’ by reforming their parties as well as the government machinery that they control.

At least Pak Lah (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) has awakened from what I read in the book ‘Awakening’, but not the so-called warlords and the grand old man, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

This awakening is feared most by Umno which will result in the party losing political power in time to come. The biggest obstacle for Umno to reform is Mahathir. With Mahathir still alive and kicking, you can forget about implementing reforms.

Today Umno is not interested in promoting racial harmony and unity. They are very vindictive because believe the Chinese did not want to ‘cooperate” with the Malays anymore. That is why they are determined to show the film ‘Tanda Putera’.

But they forget that Umno does not represent all Malays in this country. In GE13, out of 7.3 million Malays who voted, only 3.4 million voted for Umno-BN but 3.9 million Malays voted for Pakatan Rakyat.

The Chinese also voted overwhelmingly for Pakatan because they wanted a clean government, cheap cars (without excise duties), toll-free highways and other promises as specified in the opposition manifesto.

Indeed, the Chinese still wanted to cooperate with the Malays – those in Pakatan – for a clean government. The Chinese reject Umno-BN because they are synonymous with rampant corruption, cronyism, nepotism, etc.

‘In GE13, out of 7.3 million Malays who voted, only 3.4 million voted for Umno-BN but 3.9 million Malays voted for Pakatan.

If creative politics is a pattern of inventive responses to society’s inertia and small margin for change, then Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim’s call last week for a national dialogue among all political parties in the country is a step in the proactive vein.

Since political parties claim to speak nothing but gospel truth, it may be opportune, as we squabble towards another general election, to raise a Biblical parallel. Which of the two fetches more votes? A sermon on the Mount with its appeal to the meek who shall inherit the earth; or resurrection, which promises hope in the mess of despair?

Right now, the political situation in the country is at a standoff between a government that cannot garner credibility for its victory in the general election and an opposition that can shout but cannot shift the status quo.

Word on the grapevine says that the unity government overtures from the Najib Abdul Razak administration to PKR failed because it was seen as an attempt to split the unity of Pakatan Rakyat by drawing away from its fold the party that holds the Opposition coalition together.

The political charade of that maneuver was highlighted by the denials that an offer was made in the first place which issued from some quarters of the Najib administration after it became obvious that the overture had no chance of success.

To these quarters, post-failure denial is imperative to sustain the fiction that the BN victory does not need any more authenticity than what the parliamentary arithmetic provides it.

But the fact that the overture to PKR was made underscored the point about the BN victory’s want of credibility and the corresponding need to shore it up with a tie-up with PKR that would disintegrate the opposition.

That PKR spurned the offer reflected the strength of the underlying consensus in Pakatan that the majority of voters wanted change and felt that the opposition coalition was the better vehicle by which to realise it.

Prior to the general election, Pakatan had to contend with the perception that the coalition’s unity was a matter of mere expedience, and was not anything more substantive.

Stay United in Common Cause

Sure, the secularity of DAP consorted uneasily with the theocratic inclinations of PAS but as time wore on, it became more and more evident that voters’ desire for political reform and change exerted a dynamic on the nature of the inter-party relations within Pakatan.

The pull of this dynamic impelled Pakatan towards unity as leaders within the coalition sensed that the tide of voter sentiment in favor of change was strong enough to compel those doubting the viability of the opposition to submerge their doubts.

True, the continuing success of the Pakatan state governments in Penang and Selangor helped sustain the belief that it was not mere political expedience that accounted for their both state administrations’ viability.

Something stronger – a shared desire to prove that the Opposition could provide better governance to a populace long starved of it – has also been at work in welding the coalition together.

Pakatan’s Anwar is fond of citing the Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset on the need not to underestimate the intelligence of the masses.

Fifty-seven percent of those who voted in the general election marked their ballots for change.

Extrapolating from this, one can contend that a majority of the electorate wants Pakatan to stay together.

Leading off from here, one can also argue that the decision of PKR to spurn the offer of a tie-up with UMNO-BN accords with the wishes of the majority of voters.

But people are apt to become bored with a standoff which is why Anwar’s can for a national dialogue on the daunting array of problems facing the nation – from the threat of national insolvency, mounting crime, debased education, racial and religious tensions, and endemic corruption – is a proactive response to the prevalent stagnation in national affairs.

The call has elicited contempt from UMNO quarters, but that is only to be expected. These quarters have deprecated the need for a dialogue and have said whatever needs be discussed and debated ought to be done in Parliament.

Are they not in danger of underestimating the intelligence of the masses which voted for change and who know that their push for it has been stalled by a gerrymandered electoral process that has yielded in parliamentary representation skewed towards maintenance of the status quo rather than change?

In the next several weeks, if UMNO-BN continues to be constrained by the combination of its lack of ideas and if it conducts governance in business-as-usual mode, the need for more creative responses from Pakatan would require it to come with something to refresh the political script.

There is no need to let the cat out of the bag before its time, but to set the feline among the pigeons is a necessity in the face of a static situation whose sterility will be off-putting to voters.

The maintenance of voter interest is one of the deeper challenges of the current situation. Pakatan must demonstrate that it can be creative in the face of looming UMNO-BN sterility and refusal to change.

Re-packaging of EO/ISA in progress. Well at least Zahid admitted “increasing crime rate in the country”, having said that, shouldn’t the Police be taken to task first?

UMNO says before elections crime has greatly decreased. Now after the elections the same UMNO people are saying crime has greatly increased. So obviously UMNO has and always have been lying to the rakyat that crime NEVER decreased in the first place before the elections. Now that the cat is out of the bag UMNO wants everything back to normal that is laws to harass and arrest the innocent under the pretense of security. This is the way of UMNO – paint a beautiful picture before revealing the monster underneath.Is the increasing crime rate in Malaysia due to inadequate law or inefficient enforcement processes. Maybe we should learn from our neighbour on how they manage the crime rate. Never heard that their law was inadequate for the enforcement to carry out their duty. I learn from them that to reduce crime, just get the culprit to the court in the shortest time possible. Not asking for more than 72 days.

object based on the principles of: 1) Innocent until proven guilty 2) Detention without trial is a travesty of justice and is open to abuse.

I suggest if the police arrest and then fail to prove the crime or when it is proven that the police arrested without tangible evidence, the police involved MUST be punished in the same hearing or made to pay reasonable damages. This clause MUST be included to make sure the police do not exploit laws to revenge, punish or enrich themselves. A man is innocence until proven guilty and arresting an innocent man is a travesty of justice and against his natural right. A police too must be seen as ‘earning’ their salary by working for it. Not just arrest anybody, then take to police station to beat them into confession. This way the police do NOT reduce or solve crimes, they ACTUALLY make them revengeful and CREATE MORE criminals.

been observing Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as the Home Minister , had been completely mismanaging a sensitive Department like Police which would have been handled more carefully . I am sorry to state that instead of providing an innovative and benevolent leadership for keeping the police force of the state intact, efficient and fighting machine, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi  introduced a much despised British policy of divide and rule coupled with equally dirty policy of use the officers and throw them by deliberately spreading disinformations about them, whereby he succeeded in creating the “crisis of confidence” among senior officers on one hand and the government on the other. That, in turn, destroyed the command and control mechanism of Police which is considered to be a “soul” of any uniformed organization anywhere in the world.

A situation so drifted that none in the department trusted the other, every one perceived the other to be a potential spy or rival who, as if were daggers drawn at each other and were out to harm or finish each other. Under the circumstances of such a suspicion lurking from all the directions, ,Home Minister lost all credibility and confidence vis-a-vis police officers and vice versa, which ignited the “of fratricidal police war” i which was later on exploited by  underword opening the floodgates of politico-legal problems for this government on one hand and involving “patriotic police officers” in number of encounter cases on the other. The result was and is for everybody to see. A very big number of police officers are languishing in the different jails today. So much so that,Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi himself fell into the grave which he used to dig for others. r It may not be the inadequacy of the law 100%. It has also to do with the prevalence of corruption. An ex IGP, and an ex director of the CID have said that the syndicates have infiltrated the forces. The latter said it publicly at a dinner function, and to date no one has challenged his statement..Home Minister, Care to share with us the details of your proposed changes to the PCA so that we can have a healthy dialogue on issues that affect us all? This is what mature society does. After all, we are going to be a developed nation by 2020. No harm practising some maturities ahead of time. The government doesn’t need to always give the Rakyat shock therapy, like the 20 sen increase yesterday!

Better Home Minister would prevail someday and the soul of this government would get awakened in our favour. But Ahmad Zahid Hamidi  has belied  hope. we realized the truth in the statement of Mahatma Gandhi who very rightly observed, “States are soulless machines…. And the governments have no conscience….” Accordingly, this government instead of construing our “dignified silence” to be a “virtue” worth rewarding has mistaken the same to be our “weakness” worth ignoring. It is most painful to state here that this government took us for granted all these years in the most arrogant manner.

The longevity of the Indian politician  In an unexpected move, the Pope has retired because of age. At 85, he believed he no longer had the mental and physical strength to carry on. This move was totally unexpected and almost unprecedented and caught the world by surprise. That this was so is interesting for in the ordinary course of events, the idea of a 85 year old man retiring from a taxing and significant job, should not come as a shock to anyone. Perhaps the idea of a religious leader sits well with that of age, but it does beg a question about the role played by age in discharging one’s duties in key jobs. In politics, for instance.

In India, an old politician never dies, he just, well, never dies. Much has been said and written about the need for youth in the gerontocracy that is Indian politics, something that bears no repeating . As a rule, the significant ministries get divided up between the old-timers, while the youngsters ( most of them inheritors of political estates) get the junior roles. To be considered young, one needs to be under 50, but anyone under 60 can also carry off this label (Shashi Tharoor is radiant at 57, for instance). Interestingly, barring odd exceptions like Vilasrao Deshmukh, who passed away at what appears like at relatively young age of 67 but which is in fact the average life expectancy in the country, we don’t hear of that many politicians dying early, at least not of natural causes. There are a large number of leaders that have died violent or unnatural deaths at an early age, but otherwise most politicians seem not only to live longer but stay active till very late in life (the average age of the Indian cabinet is over 64).

Forget the whining about old age and ossified ideas for a moment and focus on the truly important question. How do they do it? When every profession mandates a retirement age that seldom crosses 60, what makes politicians feel young and dynamic at that age ( Narendra Modi is 62 and looks like an advertisement for an age-defying tonic)?  Is it only the fact that they get to make the rules and decide never to retire unless forced to?

By any yardstick, politics is a stressful profession. For those not fortunate enough to inherit political legacies , politics involves a long, hard, highly unpredictable journey to a position of any significance. Unlike other jobs, where the path to career progression is clearly defined, and a transparent process is put in place, politics offers no clarity whatsoever. Even after becoming a leader of significance, promotion to party positions or ministerial berths follows no established patterns of logic. Choices are made on factors that are highly variable-  identity, loyalty to individuals, the desire to balance the influence of rivals, among others. Even after coming to power, staying in power is a time-consuming enterprise. While getting elected might seem like the politicians’ biggest concern, in actual fact, it is in managing the internal dynamics of one’s own party by keeping a host of rivals at bay that keeps most politicians occupied.

Nor is everyday life easy for a politician. The job involves being available at all times, both to the unending stream of constituents and favour seekers, as well as to the party and ministry, if one is in power. Travel is frequent and at election times, arduous by any standards. Mentally too, the pressure is significant, for the job involves, almost by definition, dealing with crises of various kinds. Given the nature of the job, few people can be trusted and the burden of responsibility falls squarely on the individual.  In addition, now most politicians run some sort of commercial enterprise, both legitimate and otherwise, as evident in the dramatic rise in personal wealth of our elected representatives, that undoubtedly calls for time and attention.

Perhaps power is the ultimate tonic (and aphrodisiac going by the exploits of N D Tiwari). Perhaps the fact that in politics one blossoms late, shifts the deployment of energy into the second half of one’s life. Perhaps politics is best aligned with shift in faculties that accompany age; the physical becomes less important than the mental and wisdom and experience become highly valued commodities. Perhaps the accumulation of a large network of influence requires time.

Perhaps a lot of this has to do with how politics and role of politicians is imagined in India for in other democracies, the trend has been towards younger politicians. Politics is not seen as a job, but a jagir. It is seen as a way to build a power base which is then traded for significance. Most prime political real estate is cornered by existing principalities, through political dynasties, but the few that make it on their own operate in a similar way. Positions of power are devices of dispensation, rather than accountability. The ministerial berth is a recognition of one’s efforts in the past rather than a charge to create outcomes for the future. The idea of a public position as a reward that is one’s due is one that necessarily privileges age and seniority over capability and energy. This one-sided view of power also places little responsibility on its recipient to feel the pressure of performance.

But it does raise another question. Do we need to revisit  our ideas about age and capability given the reality that 70 year olds do seem to function quite well in highly sensitive positions? Does the whiff of intrigue and the lure of significance infuse a sense of vitality till late in life? As life expectancy increases in the country and a large number of 60 year olds enter the ranks of the retired, do we need to imagine new kinds of vocations that harness their wisdom? If politicians can do it, why not the rest of us?

That’s what most men think they have once they are married. We speak to men from the city who aren’t single but ready to mingle.

All names in this story have been changed to save married men from being exposed! And besides, nobody had the guts to go on record to say that they cheat/cheated behind their wives! Abhishek Rana, a computer professional and whose been married for five years now, has been working extra hours in the office of late. And this, he does not to “patao” his boss, but his “hot” secretary, who has been giving him a “green signal” for last two months now. “I’m going drop her home tonight and before that maybe take her out for a cup of coffee,” he said. “Unlike me, she’s single and I’m ready to mingle, so why wait. Besides, there’s no risk involved. She knows I’m married and she is flirting with me at her own risk,” he said.

That’s how Abhishek plays his game and he’s not alone. Banker Anil Sharma may not have felt the seven-year itch yet, but he too feels it’s safer to flirt with women once you are married. “They know we won’t leave our wives and put our marriage at risk for a fling. And besides, like us men, even women want to have some fun. So why ask only married men why they flirt, why not ask women why they flirt with us instead,” he said.

Businessman Nirmal has an answer to why women flirt with married men. “Women know that these men won’t want a commitment from them but can give them all the loving they need.” Nirmal doesn’t deny the fact that he too “looks around” and though he has not had a fullfledged affair with anyone, he does flirt with women, mostly from his workplace. “Women flirt with me knowing very well that I’m not serious about them. Who wants more commitments to keep, ek kaafi hai,” he said.

Investment banker Saurabh on the other hand has a different set of problems. “I think women flirt with men when they know that they are married. It’s strange because ever since I’ve got married, women who earlier stayed away from me, now openly flirt with me. I maintain my distance but what I want to ask them is ‘Where were they earlier?” Even Rishabh who got recently married to his girlfriend of three years, says that his wife’s friends now flirt with him and sometimes they do that in front of his wife. “They feel safer and I’m put in an awkward position because I don’t know how to react,” he said.

Many surveys have proved that most people tend to stray after after years of marriage. “I have an office spouse with whom you spend more time then with my wife. Inspite of the same routine day-to-day work in the office which can get quite boring, it’s my friend who keeps me going. I think there’s no harm in me having her in my life,” said James who works as a copy-editor.

If some men think it’s ok to have an affair, there are others who prefer “healthy flirting”. “I do that all the time. How else can you make your life interesting,” asked Steven who also thinks that his wife might be doing the same with other men. “There’s nothing wrong in that as long as we don’t tell each other about it,” he winked. Terence has been married for eight years and boasts of having had two affairs. “How long can you eat ghar ki daal, we need to sometimes eat biryani too. But that apart, I think women, especially single girls prefer married men because we are experienced. We have more patience to deal with them and provide them with emotional security,” he said.
That’s what most men think they have once they are married. We speak to men from the city who aren’t single but ready to mingle.

All names in this story have been changed to save married men from being exposed! And besides, nobody had the guts to go on record to say that they cheat/cheated behind their wives! Abhishek Rana, a computer professional and whose been married for five years now, has been working extra hours in the office of late. And this, he does not to “patao” his boss, but his “hot” secretary, who has been giving him a “green signal” for last two months now. “I’m going drop her home tonight and before that maybe take her out for a cup of coffee,” he said. “Unlike me, she’s single and I’m ready to mingle, so why wait. Besides, there’s no risk involved. She knows I’m married and she is flirting with me at her own risk,” he said.

That’s how Abhishek plays his game and he’s not alone. Banker Anil Sharma may not have felt the seven-year itch yet, but he too feels it’s safer to flirt with women once you are married. “They know we won’t leave our wives and put our marriage at risk for a fling. And besides, like us men, even women want to have some fun. So why ask only married men why they flirt, why not ask women why they flirt with us instead,” he said.

Businessman Nirmal has an answer to why women flirt with married men. “Women know that these men won’t want a commitment from them but can give them all the loving they need.” Nirmal doesn’t deny the fact that he too “looks around” and though he has not had a fullfledged affair with anyone, he does flirt with women, mostly from his workplace. “Women flirt with me knowing very well that I’m not serious about them. Who wants more commitments to keep, ek kaafi hai,” he said.

Investment banker Saurabh on the other hand has a different set of problems. “I think women flirt with men when they know that they are married. It’s strange because ever since I’ve got married, women who earlier stayed away from me, now openly flirt with me. I maintain my distance but what I want to ask them is ‘Where were they earlier?” Even Rishabh who got recently married to his girlfriend of three years, says that his wife’s friends now flirt with him and sometimes they do that in front of his wife. “They feel safer and I’m put in an awkward position because I don’t know how to react,” he said.

Many surveys have proved that most people tend to stray after after years of marriage. “I have an office spouse with whom you spend more time then with my wife. Inspite of the same routine day-to-day work in the office which can get quite boring, it’s my friend who keeps me going. I think there’s no harm in me having her in my life,” said James who works as a copy-editor.

If some men think it’s ok to have an affair, there are others who prefer “healthy flirting”. “I do that all the time. How else can you make your life interesting,” asked Steven who also thinks that his wife might be doing the same with other men. “There’s nothing wrong in that as long as we don’t tell each other about it,” he winked. Terence has been married for eight years and boasts of having had two affairs. “How long can you eat ghar ki daal, we need to sometimes eat biryani too. But that apart, I think women, especially single girls prefer married men because we are experienced. We have more patience to deal with them and provide them with emotional security,” he said.

Here is a list of women guys should stay away from…

Relationship addiction, when you research it, is quite startling. There are so many of us who don’t even realise we are addicted to being in relationships only because it fuels our self-worth, alleviates our fears and that it’s often at the cost of our self-esteem, not recognising our own voids, and holding onto damaging relationships.

If you put all your energies into ‘fixing people’ and plunging into the chaotic lives of others because being needed makes you feel worthy, if you feel responsible for other people’s happiness, buy extravagant gifts for those you care about, offer unsolicited advice, feel lonely even when surrounded by people, are unable to accept compliments, and constantly focus you attention and time on controlling, protecting and making people do things your way, you have relationship addiction.

There’s nothing wrong about helping others or looking out for them, but not at the cost of your own needs, your feelings and your own growth. Most people glorify their giving nature by claiming it to be selfless and that martyring their own lives is ultimate sign of caring, but what they are essentially doing is compromising on their values and needs or spiritual self in order to avoid someone’s anger, displeasure or rejection.

If you’re the kind of person that can never say “no” and never ask for help, it’s time to ask it from yourself and for yourself. You must change your patterns. Stop being controlled by your fears and release yourself from past worries and regrets. Plunging into someone else’s life is a silly way of escaping your own miseries and self-perception. You are an equal and do not need the validation of others to determine your sense of self-worth. Let the best relationship you share, be with yourself.

Women are always quick to state what they hate about men, trying to prove that it’s them who should work towards keeping the relationship going. However, it’s not always men who are to be blamed. Let’s face it, as there are things women hate about men, there are also quite a few things that men hate about women. Here are few kinds of women that men tend to stay away from:

Miss clingy
Believed to be every man’s worst fear, this type of woman frequently verbalises how desperate she is to get married. Clinginess is a big mix of insecurity, possessiveness, and other self-esteem issues. Men generally end up identifying such women only when they can are well into a relationship. Though such women initially appear to be independent, once they are in a relationship and feels safe, her neediness begins to manifest.

Miss I, me, myself
Unlike other women, these are the ones most men will give chance and try to win over, simply because these women are a challenge. Because of the strength these women possess most men tend to avoid commitment with them. However, they are captivated by this strength and view winning them over as conquest. These women have both, the competitiveness of a man and the sensitivity of a woman. In an instant, they can switch from being seductive to emotionally distant. In fact, they use their hatred for men as a shield to avoid being hurt.

Miss I’m the best
It is believed that successful women are the ones men tend to feel threatened by and to an extent it holds true. Actually, men are not threatened by successful women, but are of the opinion that successful women do not need them.

A lot of women often say that they do not need a man to make them happy, as they earn good money, own a house, and have a wonderful social life. Such women do not depend on men and this is what puts them off the list. Definitely men do not want a woman who is totally dependent on them, but when a confident woman allows herself to depend on them, man get flattered.

Miss chatter-box
For a man, a talkative woman is neither good nor bad. Most women are accused of being too talkative when, in reality, they are speaking more simply because they are discussing a subject that is of great interest to them and not just because women talk more. In a woman’s world, everyone speaks together. In the world of men, it is considered rude to speak out of turn and one is not to be interrupted by the other until he’s done. Therefore, when a woman asks a man a question and he proceeds to answer her – and then she begins to interject her opinions for the next 10 minutes – he’ll just quit trying.

Miss read my mind
For some reason, a woman expects her man to know exactly what she’s thinking at all times. As a result, she constantly tests him, using his responses to gauge his level of love. This type of behaviour should be avoided, as very few men are interested in dealing with the constant guessing games

- A Bosnian man, who claimed that he was used by his ex-lover for sex and to get a child with European genes, filed a suit against the woman seeking RM600,000 (S$230,000) in compensation.

Ervin Ahbabovic, 41, a permanent resident who has been in the country since 1995, filed the suit at the Sessions Court here on Friday.

Ahbabovic, who is commercial director of a company, claimed that he fell in love with the 29-year-old local woman in 2008 and hoped they would get married one day.

They lived together and the woman gave birth to their son in 2010.

In his statement of claim, Ahbabovic said their relationship went sour after the baby was born and his lover kept finding fault with him.

“At the same time, I realise that her sexual desire and dominance started to go beyond normal boundaries. She demanded sexual intercourse six times a day with approximately one hour for each session,” he stated in the claim.

He said he initially thought her sexual desire towards him was based on love and affection, but he was wrong.

He alleged that the woman would threaten to commit suicide if her sexual lust was not fulfilled.

 Will 20cent hike unseat the PM? Unsavory tales of governance from UMNO

“My recommendations are sincere and well in line with the statement made by his own Cabinet colleagues such as Khairy Jamaluddin, who admitted his ministry is trying to reduce costs and increase savings,” said Rafizi.

“One of the easiest ways to save public funds is to revoke special privileges on gasoline expenses now enjoyed by ministers, deputy ministers and their senior officials. This will teach them to be more careful in planning trips and programs.

Make no mistake, a second Asian Financial Crisis is on its way. This storm will not blow over soon. It originated in the US, when the Fed proposed to taper and end quantitative easing.

The frightening thing is that this will happen in stages over the next 12-18 months, and each turn of the liquidity screw can cause a fresh financial storm. Nothing that Najib says can avert the storm.

The government should cut its expenditure following the fuel price hike yesterday to show that it is serious in reducing its fiscal deficit, said Umno Youth.Najib have mismanaged economy for the last few years      

The Prime Minister can only convince the public of his sincerity and necessity of raising RON 95 petrol prices by 20 cents to save annual subsidy costs of RM 3.3 billion by also implementing open competitive tenders and fighting corruption which would save RM 51 billion annually.Without accompanying measures that demonstrates the Federal government’s commitment against corruption, the public would easily see through such fake sincerity and counterfeit necessity to cut costs.Why should the people, especially lower-income groups, bear the pain of paying RM3.3 billion annually in increased petrol prices if no action is taken against those political bandits who steal the nation of RM 51 billion annually?

Instead of responding to such simple logic, the Federal government would try to divert attention away from the inescapable conclusion by playing up racial, religious and extremist sentiments.

Such racial and extremist tactics are used successfully by BN to avoid dealing with the 4 real problems of Malaysia namely, crime, corruption, rise in indebtedness of governments and individual households as well as the declining educational standards, productivity and skills of Malaysian labour force. In Hong Kong, many investors and analysts identify these four main issues have made Malaysia less attractive or even less competitive

Reducing crime is not that difficult if the BN Federal government is willing to let the police fight crime instead of monitoring opposition leaders. Presently only 10% of the police force are involved in crime investigation work. If that proportion is increased to 50% of the total police force, I am certain police omnipresence will be able to defeat criminals in Malaysia

Umno Youth has urged the government to formulate concrete measures to safeguard the people’s welfare and mitigate the effects of the recent increase of fuel prices.

Its chief Khairy Jamaluddin said the latest petrol subsidy cuts, which were announced on Monday, would directly affect the livelihoods of low to middle-income Malaysians.

“We are concerned about the people following the reduction of fuel subsidies recently.

“We therefore urge the government to ensure that the welfare of the people is protected under the 2014 Budget,” he told reporters after chairing an Umno Youth executive council meeting here yesterday.

Khairy said the government, under the upcoming 2014 Buget, should carry on with the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia cash handout programme, as well as introduce tax cuts to alleviate the people’s financial burden.

“We also hope that the government will monitor the price of goods. We urge the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to take strict and swift action against any companies found to have increased the price of goods and services unreasonably.”

Elaborating, Khairy said the monopolies of certain goods currently held by several companies should be checked and halted.

“These monopolies have caused the price of goods to remain high. If the control of such commodities are broken and liberalised, the prices of goods will fall, thus improving the people’s livelihood,” he pointed out.

Khairy also urged the government to reduce the subsidies given to large corporations in an effort to cut the nation’s fiscal deficit.

“The government should conduct a study to reduce gas and fuel subsidies given to owners of factories. Subsidy cuts must also apply to big companies, and not just the people.”

On another matter, Khairy said the Umno Youth did not agree with some of the suggestions put forward in the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

“We have agreed and decided that several issues are non-negotiable. We feel that any plans to expose Malaysian-owned companies to an unfair playing field would be unfair.”

He added that the government should not compromise the bumiputeras’ economic agenda, and that any plans that would impede the development of the bumiputera entrepreneurs should be opposed.

Meanwhile, the Energy, Green Technology and Water Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid has confirmed that the electricity tariff would remain at the same rate despite the hike in fuel prices.

“Although the price of gas and other natural sources of energy continues to soar, the government would still maintain the current tariff rate,” he said after launching the seminar for Renewable Energy Specialist Trainers, here, today.

So many stories coming from UMNO people, now thatNajib has decided to project himself as the  only  PM candidate. As the smog around him lifts, it becomes more and more clear that Najib is hardly the exemplar of great governance it is made out to be. At first, it was only the fake claims of development: hugely exaggerated investment numbers courtesy Vibrant PRO, brushing-under-the-carpet of the dark spots like  numbers, and of course, usurping of the Malaysia’s prosperity and development, even though that predated his regime. But now, questions of basic governance are being raised.

Lokman Noor Adam, who is vying for the post of Umno Youth vice-chief, said he is disappointed with his party over the recent fuel price hike.Can someone explain how the 20sen diesel price increase from RM1.80 to RM2.00 resulted in the Johor bus assoc members’ costs to go up 30%?Does it make sense for PM to increase prices of fuel and with the saving RM3.3 billion a year to finance BR1M3.0, which should be more than RM500. This would happen every year as the amount of BR1M increases and so the fuel prices. Don’t be surprise if nasik lemak biasa would cost RM10 by the year 2018 when GE14 would be held. the damage has been done, pointless to cry over spilt milk. Any kind of handouts proposed will not salvage the far reaching effects of this foolish move by Umno. The move is so ludicrous that people wonders whether this is really subsidy rationalization or to cover the extravagant life style of the rich and powerful. Raising petrol price is the worst that Umno can do as it has repercussions on all other commodities – transport, food, provisions, pharmaceuticals and all activities related to these items. The most affected are wage earners, pensioners and the poor. Heartless businesses are just waiting for these opportunities to raise prices and make easy money. Why rob the poor? If Umno cannot do without the extravagance at least stick to taxes that effects one according to his purchasing power instead of pushing up the cost of living for all and sundry. A 11% increase in Ron 95 will see a 11% increase in a ball of soup mee. Well done Najib. Make the traders richer.

Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir keeps the guessing game going on rumours that he is going for the Umno vice-president post in the upcoming party polls.

The son of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is keeping mum on his decision as speculation is rife among bloggers that he is contesting one of the three vice-president posts.

From India Don’t waste petrol, pleads PM. And what about you, your ministers and babus, Sir?

The economist Prime Minister of India is quite perturbed over our dipping economy and the rising dollar. And the other day, in his uncharacteristically aggressive avatar when he took on the opposition, he also pleaded with his countrymen to save petrol and not waste it.

It was, for a change, a sagely advise and I welcome it fully, PM, Sir. For, not only will it save precious foreign exchange but would be great for the environment too. I would have been happier if you had also announced some incentives and policy guidelines on how one can use less petrol/fuel. Perhaps a line or two with advise to your policy makers to actively promote non-motorised transport, among others.

And dear PM, do you know why, despite the genuine concern with which you advised people not to waste petrol, the common man still derides you for what you said? It is because he knows you can never practice what you preach.

They see you, other politicians, especially ministers and bureaucrats, waste petrol with impunity. They also know that all those who make these pleas will themselves never be hit by any price rise even if the rate were to go up not by Rs 2 per litre but even Rs 1000 per litre, because they never have to pay for it. Their bill is, and will, always be footed by us, the common man, through the tax we pay for you to be able to maintain your luxurious, profligate, lifestyles.

Look at the number of cars that accompany all your ministers, from you to the junior most. Do a discrete enquiry about how the posse of cars at their disposal is misused by anyone in these offices, from PAs to EAs to all others, with the attendant red light beacons atop. It is as if it has been received in dowry with a lifetime, guaranteed, fuel supply.

And not just your ministers, look at the bureaucrats, and don’t need to go out of Delhi for that. Just a cursory look at what happens in Delhi alone would suffice. Each and every senior government officer misuses the ‘official’ vehicle (office cars, cars summoned from PSUs under ministries and taxis) made available to him or her. Madam’s kitty parties, dropping kids to school, grocery shopping, getting to personal parties to anything else is ‘official’. And why do they get away with it? Because I and 99 per cent of those reading this post, are paying for its misuse.

In fact, I have a good mind to file an RTI application to check how much you dole out as fuel bill for your officer in Delhi. And in that I would include what you pay the taxi companies whose services you employ. Needless to say, I would also like to know who owns the taxi companies these contracts are given to.

I read a statement by the petroleum minister that in order to curb petrol usage, he would ask the petrol bunks to be shut at night. Again, it is a well-intentioned move, but will be seen as no more than a knee-jerk response. What you need to do is provide a credible public transport system to the population.

Delhi already has a metro that is as close to world class as we can create. But how many of your ministers or Babus ever use public transport? Delhi Metro touches the major office areas of the city such as Udyog Bhavan and Central Secretariat. Even your own office and Rashtrapati Bhavan are walking distance from these stations. Why not make it mandatory for all those who do not have a threat to their lives to use the metro? Offices can run shuttle services from the stations to the office and even from the sprawling government residential complexes to the nearest metro stations. Or is it below the dignity of all your non-clerical officers to be seen in a public transport with dirty, smelly, commoners?

PM, Sir, please remember that we, the common people, will respect you if you were to follow certain principles yourself. For that, you need to convince us that you practice what you preach. If you are unable to set your own house in order first and still want to preach, you should desist from playing a sage.

In the meanwhile, have you seen an advertisement where Sachin Tendulkar drives around an SUV at a track and has a great time and then emerges, excited like a child and asks, let us go for a drive again. You could perhaps advise the nominated member of the Rajya Sabha and also a Bharat Ratna aspirant to not do adverts that make a virtue out of wasting ‘precious’ fuel.

Learning from the 1997-99 experience, all Asian countries (including India) have built up large forex reserves, reduced leverage compared with 1997, and shifted to floating exchange rates. This makes them far more resilient, so they should not collapse as in 1997-99. But they will suffer severe damage regardless.

Depreciation raises the price of all items that can be exported or imported. Estimates differ, but a 10% depreciation probably sucks out 1-1.2% of purchasing power through inflation.

At Rs 68 to the dollar, currency depreciation is around 25% since May, implying a loss of purchasing power of 2.5-3% of GDP. That is hugely recessionary. It will be reflected in much higher prices of petroleum products, fertilisers, most commodities, and knock-on transport and material costs.

Chidambaram wants people to invest, but the coming recession will induce every corporate to postpone investment. A falling rupee keeps making Indian assets cheaper in dollar terms, so foreigners thinking India has good long-run prospects will wait till the Fed’s storm ends.

The fall in purchasing power created by a falling rupee cannot be offset by a huge fiscal and monetary stimulus, as in 2008.

Storm will continue

Chidambaram has sworn to hold fiscal deficit at 4.8% of GDP. With slowing revenues and rising subsidies, only slashing Plan spending can check fiscal deficit.

Money must be kept tight to check inflation. So, the crashing rupee will generate pro-recessionary fiscal and monetary forces. This in turn means corporate earnings will crash, a good reason to dump shares.

Corporates with large unhedged dollar borrowings will suffer huge balancesheet losses, jeopardising banks that have financed them. International rating agencies will have good reasons to downgrade India, worsening the climate further.

Rohini Malkani of the finance minstry wrote in this newspaper on Tuesday that using a model based on relative inflation with trading partners, India’s equilibrium exchange rate should be the July level of Rs 58-60 to the dollar.

Many experts say the rupee has overshot and will come back. Really? Remember the same thing was said about the Indonesian rupiah when it depreciated from 2,500 to 3,000 to the dollar in 1997, but it eventually went all the way to 18,000.

Estimates based on fundamentals quickly become meaningless because a crisis changes fundamentals hugely. The crashing rupee has already changed the economy’s fundamentals. Do not think that the rupee has just temporarily overshot, and will revert soon to Rs 60 per dollar. The storm is going to continue well into 2014.

Datuk Raja Nong Chik Zainal Raja Zainal Abidin will vie for a post in the Umno supreme council at the party elections next month.

He said the Federal Territory Umno liaison committee had nominated both him and Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique for the supreme council.Nominations for the various posts are on September 28 while the party elections are slated for October 19. The party general assembly is in early December. – September 7, 2013.

Loyalty doesn’t mean obedience or adherence; it implies keeping the interest of dear ones at heart by following your own set of values Blind faith or loyalty in a dog is a laudable virtue, but when it comes to human beings, it becomes a questionable one. Very often, we are expected to display loyalty to our in-groups 

The VP incumbents are Hishammuddin Hussein, the Defense minister, Shafie Apdal, the Rural minister and Zahid. Hisham and Shafie are clearly pro-Najib while Zahid has been ‘neutral’.

Three stalwarts have recently announced their intention to challenge the trio. These are former Negri Sembilah chief minister Isa Samad, former Malacca chief minister Ali Rustam and Sabah chief minister Musa Aman. All 3 have strong grassroots support in Umno and good chances of winning.

Among the incumbents, the under-performing Hisham and Shafie look the most vulnerable. If Zahid decides against joining the Mahathir camp and going for the deputy presidency, he will still have a good chance of defending his VP post, but it would be a very tough fight with no guarantee that he will survive.

“This is what is meant by dog eat dog. The hunt for power is too great for the status quo to remain. Najib will find himself more and more isolated. Even if Mahathir decides to let him stay as No. 1, he will be a lame-duck party president and prime minister.

“Mahathir will seek to control from the No. 2 spot and from the VP positions. I would say, the most vulnerable person in Umno now is Muhyiddin. It looks like he might be discarded, even by the Mahathir camp, if he is not careful and continues to delay announcing his intentions. Not just Mahathir but Najib’s side is sending him the message that they can do fine without him. Zahid will shift up, this will be good Mukhriz. And as for Najib, he doesn’t have much choice but at least he gets to remain president and PM for another term. For Muhyiddin, it will be bye-bye just as it was for Dr Ismail, Ghafar Baba and Musa Hitam. Not all deputies get to inherit the presidencies. So if Muhyiddin wants to stay in the game, he has to be quick. The problem is, he may have left it too late and done himself out of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

When the emperor stepped out naked in the fairytale, The Emperor’s New Clothes, who was more loyal? The entire kingdom that pretended to admire his non-existent clothes, or the child who cried out, ‘Look mom, the emperor is naked’? Birbal is a good example of an adviser who tempered his loyalty with sense and intelligence, using wit as a tool to convey his honest opinions to Emperor Akbar in a court full of yeasayers. Nobody can question his loyalty to the emperor and yet he often disagreed with Akbar. But then you need a generous and confident Akbar to admire the Birbal in you.

When truth and loyalty are in conflict, we should have the wisdom and courage to decide what to do. Unconditional loyalty is outmoded; loyalty should be conditional, based on our own set of values. A consciousness of this would give one the courage to take unpopular stances that go against the prevailing misguided opinions in groups. Silence can also be looked upon as complicity if we quietly go along with something we do not believe in.

How can the consequence of loyalty to another be self-betrayal? Being loyal to someone does not mean closing your eyes to their faults; it means keeping their well-being and best interest close to your heart. Loyalty should not mean blind faith; it should mean an on-going reality check not just for our own benefit, but also for the benefit of those we profess loyalty towards.

In fact, our loyalty as self-respecting human beings should be with our own selves. If you are a good human being, you are bound to do good not only for yourself, but also for the benefit of those you are loyal to; if not, you are not good to those who possess your loyalty anyway.

Loyalty to ideas, religion and politics is good only so long as it helps us relate with like-minded people and protects us, giving us a sense of belonging. It is good so long as it does not encourage narrow-minded bigotry. One needs to keep re-examining ideas in different contexts and bring a new light and fresh air to old, antiquated beliefs.

Most of us hold beliefs that have been passed down to us through generations without pausing to re-examine them in the light of fresh evidence or the changed reality. What good are ideas you adhered to at the age of 13 by the time you reach 50? Bring new light to well-entrenched beliefs, analyse and rethink them. Else you are deceiving your own self and being self-righteous.

Loyalty must be tempered with truth and intelligence and must adhere to the values one holds dear. It should not be confused with obedience or adherence, but should be looked upon more as a feeling, an emotion, a bonding with someone for whose benefit you are prepared to go to great lengths.

Is unconditional loyalty a virtue?

Khairy should do his job and it is better for him to focus on his duties first before interfering in PR matters,” Anwar said yesterday, reported Malay daily Sinar Harian.

politics — without using our own judgment, just because we ‘belong’. Hence you will often notice that many amongst an agitating group do not even understand the basic principle they are fighting for; they are just in it together. Use of intellect and adherence to truth are expected to take a backseat when it comes to standing up for, or with those we owe our allegiance to.

“Mahathir will seek to control from the No. 2 spot and from the VP positions. I would say, the most vulnerable person in Umno now is Muhyiddin. It looks like he might be discarded, even by the Mahathir camp, if he is not careful and continues to delay announcing his intentions. Not just Mahathir but Najib’s side is sending him the message that they can do fine without him. Zahid will shift up, this will be good Mukhriz. And as for Najib, he doesn’t have much choice but at least he gets to remain president and PM for another term. For Muhyiddin, it will be bye-bye just as it was for Dr Ismail, Ghafar Baba and Musa Hitam. Not all deputies get to inherit the presidencies. So if Muhyiddin wants to stay in the game, he has to be quick. The problem is, he may have left it too late and done himself out of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“So this is why within the Najib camp, they are also offering Zahid all sorts of sweeteners so that he will remain a friendly party. They can also be using Zahid as a threat against Muhyiddin to signal that if he doesn’t play ball and maintain the status quo, they might support Zahid to go for the deputy presidency. That way, Muhyiddin is left out in the cold and will have to push for the presidency by himself, which he will surely lose without showing to the party delegates that he has a strong team behind him.”

“The third and perhaps the most likely explanation is that the rumors are being spread by supporters of former premier Mahathir Mohamad and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin. They might be using Zahid to threaten Muhyiddin that if he gets cold feet and doesn’t make up his mind real soon, like within a week or two, to go after the presidency, then they will support Zahid to go after the deputy presidency. The chances are high for Zahid to beat Muhyiddin especially if Zahid has the support of Dr Mahathir and Daim. Zahid is seen as a more dynamic leader than Muhyiddin. This way, Dr M ensures he has a loyal party at the No. 2 spot to keep watch over Najib and at the same Zahid’s challenging the deputy presidency will leave a vice-presidency slot vacant for Mukhriz to assume.”

“You see, the battle lines drawn in Umno are still very fluid. Top-level negotiations are still on-going and getting even more intense. For example, Tengku Razaliegh is still looking for ‘inspiration’ on whether to challenge Najib for the presidency. This actually means Razaleigh is still trying to drum up enough support to make his bid meaningful. So the same goes for Zahid and Muhyiddin. If they get the right support and they believe they can be successful, the two of them will challenge Najib for the presidency as a team, with Muhyiddin going for No.1 and Zahid for No.2. This would be the worse scenario for Najib,” an Umno veteran told Malaysia Chronicle.

“So this is why within the Najib camp, they are also offering Zahid all sorts of sweeteners so that he will remain a friendly party. They can also be using Zahid as a threat against Muhyiddin to signal that if he doesn’t play ball and maintain the status quo, they might support Zahid to go for the deputy presidency. That way, Muhyiddin is left out in the cold and will have to push for the presidency by himself, which he will surely lose without showing to the party delegates that he has a strong team behind him.”

“The third and perhaps the most likely explanation is that the rumors are being spread by supporters of former premier Mahathir Mohamad and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin. They might be using Zahid to threaten Muhyiddin that if he gets cold feet and doesn’t make up his mind real soon, like within a week or two, to go after the presidency, then they will support Zahid to go after the deputy presidency. The chances are high for Zahid to beat Muhyiddin especially if Zahid has the support of Dr Mahathir and Daim. Zahid is seen as a more dynamic leader than Muhyiddin. This way, Dr M ensures he has a loyal party at the No. 2 spot to keep watch over Najib and at the same Zahid’s challenging the deputy presidency

all eyes are on next month’s Umno election where the party’s central leadership is due for renewal. Some 150,000 delegates will be called on to vote for a new lineup, with even Prime Minister Najib Razak’s presidency of the party up for grabs.

Not surprisingly, speculation has swirled with most of the rumors emanating out of the the Umno grapevine itself as the stakes are enormously high. By convention, whoever is the Umno president is also made the country’s prime minister and the deputy president the deputy prime minister as the party currently holds the most number of seats in Malaysia’s Parliament.

And despite the vehemence of Zahid’s denial, the speculation cannot have failed to have sent a shiver down Muhyiddin’s spine as he is possibly now the most ‘expendable’ leader in the Umno top echelon.

heated response of Umno vice-president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to speculation that he would challenge Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for their party’s No. 2 post.

the battle lines drawn in Umno are still very fluid. Top-level negotiations are still on-going and getting even more intense. For example, Tengku Razaliegh is still looking for ‘inspiration’ on whether to challenge Najib for the presidency. This actually means Razaleigh is still trying to drum up enough support to make his bid meaningful. So the same goes for Zahid and Muhyiddin. If they get the right support and they believe they can be successful, the two of them will challenge Najib for the presidency as a team, with Muhyiddin going for No.1 and Zahid for No.2. This would be the worse scenario for Najib,”

Pemilihan kepemimpinan Umno semakin panas. “Hot” kata bahasa jalanan anak-anak muda dewasa ini.

Tetapi, umpama kereta api, adakah yang panas itu kepalanya (lokomotif) atau gerabaknya yang berisi penumpang yang “gumbira” (meminjam bahasa P Ramlee) dan kargo yang berharga?

Kalau kepalanya saja yang “hot” tetapi penumpangnya moyok, meragam, meluat, menyampah dan tidak sabar turun atau mahu lokomotif baru menarik mereka pun tidak berguna juga.
Kereta api wap KTM panas, bising dan berasap. Saya nostalgi. Inilah kereta api zaman muda saya.

Tetapi setakat hari ini, apa yang dilaporkan oleh media massa memberi gambaran pemilihan kepemimpinan Umno adalah mengenai kepala kereta api.

Mungkin saya terlepas pandang. Yang saya baca hanya seorang sahaja daripada banyak orang yang menawarkan diri sebagai calon dilaporkan bercakap mengenai gerabak, penumpang dan muatan iaitu Mohd Ali Rustam yang berkata dia mahu memperjuangkan semula asas penubuhan Umno.

Kalau setakat hendak memilih kepemimpinan dan mencari ganjaran peribadi jangka pendek, tidak perlulah ahli Umno bersusah payah memeras otak. Pilih saja yang koceknya dalam dan prinsipnya cetek.

Apa orang Umno mahu?

Tetapi kalau mereka mahu kepemimpinan yang berjiwa perjuangan dan mampu menebus semula maruah parti dan kembali memperjuangkan kepentingan bangsa, agama dan negara, mereka perlulah memilih yang lebih baik.

Kalau mereka mahu orang Melayu dan kaum-kaum Bumiputera lain diberikan peluang untuk membebaskan diri mereka daripada terus menjadi warga ekonomi kelas tiga, mereka wajib memilih barisan kepemimpinan yang cerdik, berani, berilmu dan berwawasan.

Kalau mereka berasa dasar pertumbuhan ekonomi yang disertai oleh pembahagian adil seperti yang terkandung dalam Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB) baik untuk mereka, mereka wajib memilih barisan kepemimpinan yang tidak “apologitic” memperjuangkan hak majoriti.

Soalnya (soalnya), akan adakah dalam barisan calon Umno nanti orang seperti itu? Atau, seperti kata P Ramlee, walhasil balik asal itu pasal tak hasil.

Masih adakah lagi pewaris Allahyarham Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Allahyarham Tun Dr Ismail dan Tun Dr Mahathir di kalangan kepemimpinan dan calon pemimpin Umno dewasa ini?

Masih pedulikan kepemimpinan Umno kepada kedudukan orang Melayu dan Bumiputera lain yang berupa majoriti dalam kelompok 40 peratus rakyat jelata terkebawah dalam arena ekonomi?

Selepas menyalahkan kehambaran pencapaian Barisan Nasional kepada tsunami Cina, adakah Mohd Najib dan kepemimpinan Umno akan mengucapkan terima kasih kepada orang Melayu dan anak negeri Sarawak dan Sabah kerana menyelamatkan BN dan Umno pada 5 Mei lalu dengan memberikan mereka apa yang telah diabaikan?

Apakah Mohd Najib akan membentangkan agenda Melayu, agenda Bumiputera dan agenda rakyat miskin yang lestari (“sustainable”) sebelum atau ketika Perhimpunan Agung Umno kali ini?

Gila “wow factor” lagikah?

Atau adakah Mohd Najib dan barisan penasihatnya (yang sama panjang kereta api kontena Butterworth-Padang Besar) akan terus melaksanakan strategi “war room” PRU 2013 mereka yang tidak menjadi?

Kereta api berlokomotif diesel angkut kontena. Selamat, jimat, cepat.

Apakah mereka masih terus mencari “wow factor” yang mereka harap akan memberikan mereka faedah jangka pendek kerana mereka perlu mempertahankan jawatan atau mahu mendapatkan jawatan dalam parti?

Adakah mereka akan memberikan gula-gula seperti biasa dan melaksanakan dasar-dasar yang tidak lestari semata kerana mahu cepat menuai hasil?

Kalau “faktor wow” yang mereka mahu, jawapannya mudah saja – turunkan harga petrol dan diesel 30 sen seliter dan umumkan BR1M ketiga sebanyak RM1,000 atau lebih sebelum penamaan calon 28 September dan pengundian 19 Disember ini.

Kepada para bekas Menteri, para bekas Adun dan MP, para pemikir yang idealistik dan kepada semua yang kerap bermimpi di siang hari mengenai agenda Melayu dan agenda “growth with equity” nasihat dua sen saya mudah saja.

Kalau ada orang menjanjikan kita segelas air, kita jangan percaya sehinggalah kita minum dan tidak mati keracunan. Moralnya jangan mudah sangat percaya dan wajib sentiasa ada penawar racun berbisa.

Isyak-Allah kita selamat, bangsa kita selamat, negara kita selamat dan agama kita selamat dan orang Melayu boleh berkata “I am Malay first” tanpa diherdik oleh orang bukan Melayu.

Akhir kalam, adakah aspirasi Tun Abdul Razak masih mengalir dalam darah daging Umno?

Kuasa, kata beliau, terletak di tangan masyarakat Melayu dan untuk memanfaatkan kuasa itu, orang bijak di kalangan orang Melayu haruslah terdiri daripada elit yang ditentukan oleh kebolehan, sikap dan komitmen kepada negara keseluruhannya. Kelas, kelahiran dan wang bukanlah faktor utama”.

Ahli Parlimen Gua Musang, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah kini membayangkan kemungkinan beliau bakal mencabar Najib bagi jawatan Presiden UMNO dalam pemilihan pada 19 Oktober depan. Walaupun memberitahu bahawa beliau belum memutuskan perkara itu tetapi katanya, ” hasrat itu ada tetapi belum ada keputusan lagi”.

Namun katanya, segala-galanya akan terjawab pada hari pendaftaran pada 28 September nanti.

Sejak beberapa lama nama Tengku Razaleigh dan Muhyiddin Yassin telah menjadi sebutan sebagai pemimpin yang dikatakan akan mencabar kedudukan Najib bagi jawatan Presiden UMNO. Keadaan itu bukan saja berdasarkan keputusan pilihanraya yang menyaksikan BN lebih terperosok berbanding pilihanraya 2008 tetapi juga disebabkan pelbagai isu yang melingkari kepimpinan Najib.Muhyiddin juga sehingga ini belum membuat keputusan rasmi tentang jawatan yang bakal ditandinginya tetapi besar kemungkinan hanya mengekalkan jawatan Timbalan Presidennya saja berikutan beliau dilihat hanya bergantung kepada kekuatan dan sokongan Mahathir semata-mata jika ingin mencabar Najib. Memandangkan Mahathir sudah membuat kenyataan mahu kedua-dua jawatan tertinggi itu dikekalkan, kekuatan Muhyiddin untuk mencabar Najib juga turut tidak berkembang.

Ini menjadikan hanya Tengku Razaleigh atau Ku Li yang tinggal sebagai satu-satunya pencabar Najib yang dirasakan sesuai.

Namun Ku Li, walaupun agak veteran, beliau ada kekuatannya yang tersendiri. Rekodnya yang sarat dengan pelbagai sumbangan dan kecemerlangan sebelum ini, imejnya yang bersih, peribadi yang terpuji dan keyakinan terhadap kemampuannya melakukan perubahan adalah sandaran yang selalu diperkatakan. Sejarahnya yang hanya kalah 43 undi ketika menentang Mahathir pada 1987 seringkali menjadi sebutan.

Jika beliau memutuskan untuk bertanding, ia adalah semata-mata untuk berkhidmat serta memperbaiki banyak kerosakan yang ada dalam UMNO sekarang dan tidak mahu melihat UMNO dan kerajaan terus terumbang-ambing di mata rakyat.

Walaupun belum pasti beliau akan mencabar Najib dan kita terpaksa menunggu sehingga 28 September ini untuk mengetahui kedudukan sebenarnya, sekurang-kurangnya bayangan yang diberi oleh Ku Li itu merupakan harapan kepada sebahagian orang yang kecewa melihat kepada apa yang berlaku kepada UMNO dan negara sekarang.

Baik di dalam UMNO mahupun rakyat biasa, kritikan kepada Najib kini semakin membesar. Jika sebelum pilihanraya, kritikan banyak terarah kepada pemborosan dan pembaziran isterinya, kepimpinan yang lemah, pendekatan yang merugikan Melayu, lebih memanjakan kaum Cina, rasuah, penyelewengan, ketelusan kerajaan dan sebagainya, keadaan ini nampaknya menjadi lebih parah lagi sekarang ini.

Kelemahan dan ketidakuayaan Najib sebagai pemimpin dan Perdana Menteri meliputi hampir semua segi. Tidak saja rakyat biasa yang bercakap mengenainya, bahkan ramai ahli dan pemimpin UMNO juga bercakap mengenainya. Berbuallah dengan kebanyakan ahli dan pemimpin UMNO, topiknya mesti tidak terlepas daripada memperkatakan tentang kelemahannya.

Jika sebelum Najib menjadi Perdana Menteri, pemborosan keluarga pemimpin lebih berkaitan mengenai rumah atau kereta besar, tidak ada sesiapa terbayang pemborosan di eranya sehingga ke peringkat membeli cincin bernilai RM24 juta boleh berlaku di ketika masih ramai orang Melayu masih miskin, berpendapatan bawah RM3000 sebulan dan sering digula-gulakan dengan bantuan BR1M.

Mujurlah isu cincin itu menjadi kecoh dan ia akhirnya dipulangkan kepada penjualnya, jika tidak, kita mungkin menyaksikan lebih banyak lagi barang kemas yang mahal-mahal menjadi kebanggaan dan penanda aras betapa mewahnya kehidupan keluarga seseorang pemimpin di negara ini.

Selain meneruskan pendekatan memanjakan kaum Cina walaupun diketahui tidak disokong oleh kaum itu dalam pilihanraya, Najib juga meneruskan banyak perkara yang dilakukannya sebelum pilihanraya lalu sehingga menyebabkan BN hanya menang 133 kerusi sahaja. Ekonomi masih lembab, hutang makin bertambah, defisit makin memburuk, belanja masih boros, pengangguran makin tinggi, jenayah berleluasa dan pelbagai lagi kelemahan dalam megurus kerajaan.

Ramai kalangan dalam UMNO yang dulunya mempertahankan Najib, kini secara terbuka mengkritik dan membelasah beliau secara terbuka. Pelbagai gelaran dan kata-kata yang tidak manis mulai secara terang-tangan dilabelkan kepada Najib. Tiada lagi lagi rasa segan untuk menegur dan mengkritiknya, malah memaki hamun sekali pun. Kebimbangan terhadap kelemahan Najib yang berterusan bukan saja dijangka menjerumuskan negara ke lembah yang lebih berselut tetapi juga memungkinkan UMNO dan BN akan hilang kuasa dalam PRU 14 nanti.

Isu mengenai Pemandu atau Unit Pengurusan Prestasi dan Perlaksanaan yang bertali arus didedahkan kepincangannya sejak kebelakangan dalam media baru menelajanjangkan lagi “panau dan kurap” yang selama ini terlindung dalam pentadbiran Najib. Pemandu yang diketuai oleh Idris Jala dan mirip seperti peranan “budak-budak tingkat 4″ ketika era Pak Lah, bukan saja didedahkan dengan pegawai kanannya yang tidak bermoral, kecenderungan terhadap bangsa asing dalam pengambilan kakitangan, kebergantungan kepada konsultan luar, malah turut dikaitkan dengan pembaziran operasi sehingga RM337 juta sejak empat tahun lalu.

Dengan segala kepincangan dalam Pemandu itu tetapi prestasi ekonomi dan kerajaan tidak juga bertambah baik, malah yang lebih dikesali Nalib nampaknya tidak belajar daripada kemelut “budak-budak tingkat 4″ yang menjadi punca utama kejatuhan Pak Lah dulu. Najib bukan saja mengulangi kesilapan itu, malah meletakkan kebergantungannya kepada golongan penasihat mirip “budak-budak tingkat 4″ dalam skala yang lebih besar lagi.

Hari ini Pemandu bukan saja dikritik hebat, malah sehingga dicadangkan ditutup operasinya dan diminta menggunakan sepenuhnya peranan EPU sebagai tangan penting dalam pengurusan ekonomi negara. Ia jelas menggambarkan kelemahan Najib dan gejolak rasa kebanyakan ahli UMNO terhadap Pemandu tidak jauh bezanya dengan kemarahan mereka terhadap “budak-budak tingkat 4″ suatu ketika dahulu.

Daripada hampir semua segi, Najib terlihat lebih lemah dan jauh lebih buruk dari Pak Lah. Sebab itu, bagi kebanyakan pendapat dalam UMNO, mencabar Najib bukan lagi suatu keperluan atau sekadar ingin memberi pilihan kepada perwakilan UMNO dalam memilih pemimpin, bahkan ia sudah menjadi suatu kewajipan.

Walaupun belum pasti, namun Ku Li satu-satunya sandaran kewajipan itu ketika ini.

Ku Li mungkin agak veteran dari segi usia tetapi pengalaman, daya juang dan kemampuan berfikirnya tidak pernah tua atau dimakan usia. Idea dan pandangannya dalam banyak perkara masih kelihatan segar dan sesuai dengan zaman. Beliau mempunyai keluarga yang cukup sederhana dan tidak bermewah. Isterinya juga tidak pun kenal dengan cincin RM24 juta.

Dalam usianya sekarang juga, niat Ku Li hanyalah ingin berkhidmat dan memperbaiki segala benda yang rosak saja. Khidmatnya pasti tidak lama. Pemimpin muda boleh mulai beratur dengan selesa di belakangnya untuk mengambil alih baton kepimpinan negara sebaik saja tugasnya selesai nanti.

Cuma, ketika banyak orang dalam UMNO bercakap tentang kerosakan dan ingin memperbaikinya, bimbang dengan kelemahan Najib yang membahayakan negara, pembaziran, pemborosan, Pemandu yang dikatakan berada di laluan bengkang-bengkok, risau BN mungkin hilang kuasa dalam PRU 14 nanti dan menyebut perkataan transformasi berulangkali setiap hari, semua kata-kata itu haruslah dibuktikan dengan perbuatan juga.

Barulah ia dinamakan transformasi.

Collective voice of Utusan’s editors  Ku Li’s time as a candidate for the number one post in the party is over.

a top-heavy  UMNO with some radical engineering created a pyramid without slopes.at the apex. Across the wide base were the masses , busy building crypts in which Mahathir intended to bury Anwar. The relationship between people and leader was direct, without intermediaries, nourished by mutual sacrifice and commitment. Mahathiri was transparent about his methods. He called himself a dictator before anyone could accuse him of being one. UMNO would become family property merely one generation after his martyrdom, but his pyramid-without-sides was perfectly suited for a dynastic module

Change is a mist which floats through events, often obscured by the daily cloudburst of facts. It is noticed least by those it affects most. Politicians have a sharper eye than they are given credit for, but they can miss the obvious. A tectonic shift is taking place in the structure of party politics. After a long and dominant reign, the high command is dead. It has become a dinosaur, a museum piece whose skeletal jaw hints at the massive bite it once possessed.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, the soundbite of talking about fixing the economy and getting rid of corruption is commendable. However, it is nothing original; we all know it.In fact we, the common Malaysians, are directly suffering from the consequences of the bad management of economy and widespread corruption. You, a well-provided prince, will not understand our plight. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah,the last inheritors of a concept that has exhausted its moment in history. After them, there will be command, but it will not be very high.

Corruption in its various forms and its related ills are so prevalent and entrenched throughout the administration that it has become second nature, hardly touching the conscience of those parasites that live by it.the unkindest cut of all is Najib’s part-withdrawal of oil subsidy as it affects the poor and middle income earners most.

Under PM Najib Razak’s watch, corruption has come to such levels that despite imposing every means of taxation on the people, there are moves to further burden the people with tariff hikes and GST (Goods and Services Tax) and whatnot.

You offer us words of wisdom. So what? We can even give you more. Who are in power now? BN, isn’t it – your party and government? So by association and doing nothing about it and only offering sweet words, you are integral part of the problem. No?

Dr Mahathir Mohamad is the only prime minister who devalued the ringgit, the very symbol of the nation’s sovereignty. If that were to be his only negative legacy, Malaysia could easily bear it.

Unfortunately the man has burdened (and continues to burden) Malaysia with many more ugly legacies. He has also devalued our culture and institutions. Most of all he has devalued the trust we have in each other, a vital but scarce asset in a plural society.

On a much lesser scale, and to serve more as a concrete example, the upcoming Umno leadership convention will be another. With its ‘no contest’ rule now the norm, the convention mocks the very meaning of a leadership election, reducing it to the same level as the old Soviet “elections.”

This coming event will again expose the party’s corruptness and how pathetically bereft it is of talent.

The same old tired and tainted candidates will be recycled. It is an exercise less of renewal and rejuvenation, more of an old and leaking sewer treatment plant, with nothing to hide the stench.

As for the candidates, they would be like desperate monkeys elbowing and clawing each other for the top branches, their howling effectively drowning out the sound of the tree crashing down.

Legally speaking, this party is of course not the original Umno, rather ‘Umno Baru’, Mahathir’s own creation after he manoeuvred a less-than-honest squeaky victory over his challenger, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, back in 1987.

The party was subsequently deregistered. Umno Baru is but a pretender to that glorious old party, the spirit of 1946, the one that bravely fought against the Malayan Union and ultimately brought the country to independence. No surprise then that this Umno Baru has all of Mahathir’s ugly trademarks.

I am privileged not to have met the man; thus my analysis is strictly based on his policies and performances as a leader. It is not coloured by personal feelings or show of gratitude. I am spared themudah lupa (ingrate) epithet.

Again thanks to Mahathir, this mudah lupa is a special burden in our culture where one’s personal kindness and familiarity could hide and indeed excuse many a sin. Mahathir himself is not spared this burden; hence his being easily hoodwinked by the put-on piety and humility of his chosen successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Even Mahathir’s subsequent enthusiasm for Najib Abdul Razak to replace Abdullah was based less on Najib’s talent, more an expression of Mahathir’s gratitude to Najib’s late father for having “rehabilitated” Mahathir into Umno.

Yes, Mahathir was once kicked out of that grand old party back in 1970 in the aftermath of the deadly 1969 race riots. Those early leaders of the original Umno were wise and prescient.

Rehabilitated he was, and with his subsequent ascent to the top post, the country now bears the burden of his follies. We will continue to do so long after he is gone, such was the damage he inflicted upon the country.

The currency devaluation was painful enough, especially to the poor. We still bear it today. Judging by past performances, this upcoming leadership contest would again assault our sensibilities, especially of Malay culture. Forget about our budi bahasa (gracious) and halus (soft) ways.

Those previously found guilty of “money politics” (that’s corruption, to the rest of us) like then Umno vice-president Mohd Isa Abdul Samad and allegedly Umno Youth Chief Khairy Jamaludin would again be elected to top positions.

So too would former Selangor chief minister Mohd Khir Toyo, except that he is supposed to be serving time for corruption. Incidentally, Mohd Khir is regarded as “clean” by his fellow Umno members.

As for Isa and Khairy, the former is now put in charge of the multi-billion ringgit Felda, the latter, a cabinet minister. That too, is part of Mahathir’s legacy.

One might quibble about Khairy for he once bragged about being Mahathir’s vocal critic. However, Mahathir’s legacy is the overall negative culture he fostered in Umno Baru. In any other culture or jurisdiction, that young man would not even be nominated for dog catcher. That speaks volumes to the degradation of Umno Baru.

That is Mahathir’s legacy, its destructiveness is pervasive and permanent precisely because it is less obvious.

Mahathir’s scathing and relentless criticism of his successor, Abdullah, cannot hide the obvious fact that he (Mahathir) was responsible for the mess. He appointed Abdullah.

Similarly, Mahathir was highly instrumental in Najib replacing Abdullah. Mahathir’s excuse of there being no one else is just that – an excuse. Two successive dud appointments to the highest office of the land, another of Mahathir’s ugly legacies.

Mahathir never tires of reminding us about Petronas Twin Towers, the gleaming highways, and the KLIA, all built during his administration. He also used to brag about Putrajaya, the multibillion-dollar new capital city. Not anymore.

Yes, Putrajaya sports some futuristic bridges but it must be the only capital in the world that does not have any foreign embassies. As for those bridges, they must be the only ones to be erected where first they had to dig a lake so they could be water underneath those bridges.

It is pathetic that after having served as the nation’s longest serving chief executive, Mahathir could point only to those physical monuments as his legacy.

We have to constantly remind ourselves that the deterioration of our institutions (especially our schools and universities), the pervasiveness of corruption, the soiling of our culture (especially Malay culture), and the erosion of the trust we have in each other are very core of his legacy.

It took the Soviets generations to free themselves of the grip of Stalin’s ghost. It took the Chinese decades to recognise and then overcome Mao’s malignant feng shui. How long will Malaysians, Malays specifically, take to escape the hantu (ghost) of Mahathirism? Will we ever?

 Najib is a complete and utter failure on every level. It was evident right from the day he inherited his father’s political career by default. He may share the same ruthless ambition, but certainly not the smarts  Garbage in garbage out (GIGO) equals to taxpayers’ money in taxpayers’ money out, but they don’t care. The government of Najib Razak is turning into a cesspool of stupidity. That’s how Umno does it nowadays. Appoint losers as a thank you for their loyalty

Miss Dyana Sofia Mohd Daud, drew the ire of Umno politicians. Can we govern this country with this kind of thinking? Do we allow Umno longevity? these Umno heroes got it wrong. The young lady was not suggesting that UiTM be opened to non-Malays. She was suggesting that an institution similar to the UiTM model be established to admit poorer but qualified non Malay students – two different things.

She knows UiTM is sacred ground. The Umno Malay supremacists will never allow anyone to touch UiTM. Some even said, it can only be done over their dead bodies.

Under the present climate, where shootings appear to be common place, such a challenge may be a stupid thing to say in public. But then stupid is Umno’s second name, so we shall not even humour the person who said: over his dead body.

We hope the person who says that will get elected into Umno’s MKT – the decision making body. Umno’s MKT will then become the abode of the mediocre and opportunists.

Saifuddin Abdullah would have been the much better choice. Zahrain Hashim can’t even manage the Football Association of Penang without breaking its piggy bank.

The Malaysian government often feels that the ambassador to Indonesia is a dumping ground consolation post, and that explains Zahrain’s appointment. Previously when Mahathir did not want Mohd Rahmat in the cabinet due to a lack of quality, he was appointed ambassador to Indonesia.

Rahmat later came back as information minister when Mahathir needed some blind loyalist to dilute Musa Hitam’s strength in Johor.

With so many diplomatic issues with Indonesia, we need a higher calibre person to be sent to Jakarta and not some trash like Zahrain, who is being rewarded for having turned on PKR. Former deputy higher education minister Saifuddin Abdullah would have been a better bet for the post.

Zahrain’s post just another Umno rewards programmeThis is Najib’s philosophy of ‘you scratch my back, I scratch your back’, and that is how Zahrain was appointed as ambassador to Indonesia.
Dood: This is nothing new and typical Umno/BN behaviour. Posts are not meant to provide service to the public or the government, but are mainly as political rewards.

Zahrain Mohd Hashim, a reject from PKR is now made the ambassador to Indonesia while others are made senators. Are Umno leaders serious about their transformation plan under 1Malaysia PM Najib Razak?

Umno/Najib is good at selecting clowns to do a man’s job and this appointment of a double crosser and a backstabbing two-headed snake is a fine example. Right thinking rakyat know this was the reward for being a turncoat.

This fat headed MP thinks he has landed a posh job, but wait till the crunch hits him when he least expects it. With sensitive issues that bloom like spring buds (the haze problem and the maids issues), dealing with the Indonesians needs a level headed and experienced person.

You can rest assured that this Zahrain will screw things up instead of solving problems that arise.

Are there no other credible Malaysians to be picked for this post? It looks like rejected katak (turncoat) politicians are well looked after by Umno.

 Decision has been made by the Prime Minister to choose Zahrain over others, among them the suave and articulate Saifuddin Abdullah. Let us face it. We are not perfect; and it is not fair to expect Zahrain to be perfect. He has his strengths, in particular his networking skills and friendly disposition. He should not be condemned for leaving PKR to form and lead Konsensus Bebas in Parliament. It was a choice he had to make, and I happen to know that he had agonized over his decision to quit Anwar’s party and end their friendship, which goes back a long way. The fallout between them is more serious and deep seated than what has been suggested by some commenters on this blog.

I am in principle against the idea of appointing former top civil servants, retired army and air force  generals and admirals of the navy, Inspector-Generals of Police, businessmen and  discredited politicians as Ambassadors. There are exceptions, of course. I remember Mr. R. Ramani who was our Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Tan Sri Phillip Kouk, and Ambassador Tan Sri PG Lim; they represented our country with distinction. But it should never the rule.

It is reliably understood that 31 ambassadorial posts will be up for grabs soon,and I am told that  most of that will likely be filled by ex-UMNO politicians and others as reward for their loyalty. Former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar will be our Ambassador to France.

In my view, Ambassadorial posts should be for professional diplomats. They come from the ranks of our Foreign Service. The job is demanding and challenging, requiring specialized knowledge about our foreign policy, international relations, and diplomacy. At some stage, the policy of using ambassadorships  as reward for loyal service must be reviewed. Otherwise, we would have a demoralised Foreign Service.

All that said, I wish to remind Dato Seri Zahrain that he is going to be His Majesty’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Indonesia, the largest democracy in ASEAN. He does not represent UMNO. His task is to promote good relations between our two countries. Specifically, he should be:

• Speaking with one voice to others on Malaysian policy–and ensuring his staff do likewise–while providing to the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister expert guidance and frank counsel;
• Directing and coordinating all executive branch offices and personnel attached to the mission ;
• Cooperating with our Parliament and Judiciary so that our foreign policy goals are advanced; security is maintained; and executive, legislative, and judicial responsibilities are carried out;
• Reviewing communications to or from mission elements;
• Taking direct responsibility for the security of the mission — including security from terrorism — and protecting all  Malaysian Government personnel on official duty and their dependents;
• Carefully using mission resources through regular reviews of programs, personnel, and funding levels;
• Reshaping the mission to serve Malaysia’s  interests and values and to ensure that all executive branch agencies attached to the mission do likewise; and
• Serving Malaysians, not just Ministers and VIPs with professional excellence, the highest standards of ethical conduct, and diplomatic discretion.

Please do your duty well as you are now under the microscope of Malaysians and Indonesians, and prove your critics and detractors wrong.

The task of dealing with Anwar’s activities in Indonesia should be left to UMNO operatives. UMNO would be well advised to appoint an effective team to counter Anwar’s politics in the Republic of Indonesia.–Din Merican

Zahrain as envoy deprecates Jakarta posting

by Terence Netto@ http://www.malaysiakini.com

COMMENT If diplomacy is the art of fishing tranquilly in troubled waters, the appointment of Zahrain Mohd Hashim as Malaysia’s envoy to Indonesia must have been done with the expectation that as an ally-turned-adversary of Anwar Ibrahim’s, he has what it takes to sway an audience whose affinity for the Pakatan Rakyat supremo is said to be deep and abiding.

Diplomatic postings to sensitive capitals are usually reserved for practitioners of the craft who are not only well versed with bilateral issues but are also equipped with the special tact that is best described as the ability to remember a woman’s birthday and not remember her age.

If he does possess such fine discretion and the aplomb to navigate in rough weather, the former chief of Penang PKR and MP for Bayan Baru has not given advance notice of it.

By appointing Zahrain as Malaysia’s envoy to a sensitive posting like Indonesia, the government of Najib Abdul Razak is signalling that partisan political considerations outweigh other priorities when it comes to such appointments.

It is reliably learnt that former Deputy Minister and MP for Temerloh, Saifuddin Abdullah, was taped by Wisma Putra for the post but Zahrain beat him to it.

Saifuddin’s ability to engage with adversarial opinion and openness to the democratising currents let loose on the world by the internet, had put him in the running for the appointment but Zahrain’s pull with powerful influences behind the scenes in the Najib administration won out in the crunch.

The post of Malaysia’s Ambassador to Indonesia is laden with the importance that comes not only from the presence of some two million Indonesian workers in Malaysia and the controversies that periodically roil relations between the two countries.

There is also the matter of the different trajectories that the evolution of their polities is taking.

Keeping up with Indonesia

Indonesia is increasingly seen as having stolen a march on Malaysia in acclimatising itself the better to the winds of democratic change brought on by modernity while Malaysia appears unwilling to get out of the authoritarian groove that its bigger neighbour languished in during the Suharto era.

Not a little pride stemming from the one-upmanship that is played between the neighbours with the stakes of press freedom, free and fair elections, campaigns against graft, etc, ride in the comparative balance between the two countries.

In these comparative indicators, neither country likes to see itself as trailing the other, it being a matter of not just keeping up with the Joneses, as in the economics analogy, but, more importantly, being ahead.

In appointing Marty Natalegawa, a highly educated career diplomat to the Foreign Affairs Ministry four years ago, the Indonesian government was seen as attempting to render the portfolio the preserve of foreign policy professionals in their governing elite, keeping it out of the reach of merely political appointees.

From the time of appointees like Adam Malik through to Ali Alatas, Jakarta’s Foreign Affairs portfolio has been the domain of the foreign policy professional.

Founding leader Sukarno’s decision to host the Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung in 1955 had inaugurated an era of Indonesia’s importance as a player on the world stage and of its geostrategic significance in the region.

In tandem with this thinking, it became imperative that the foreign affairs portfolio required the ministrations of a professional with feet firmly planted on the country’s vital interests but with the ability to survey the global horizon.

Saifuddin better choice

In Natalegawa, it is said the country has an appointee with the requisite breadth of vision which makes Wisma Putra’s choice of his Malaysian interlocutor in the Indonesian capital a matter of professional gravity and not a little delicacy.

Appointment someone like Zahrain, who is little more than a political flunkey, to the post detracts from the significance of the ambassadorial role.

If he has been appointed to sway Indonesian media and ruling elite opinion away from its longstanding predilection for Anwar Ibrahim as a Malaysian leader, it is unlikely to achieve that purpose:  Zahrain lacks the articulation and grasp of issues to bring it off.

The level of intellect in governing circles in Indonesia is higher than in Malaysia which partly helps to explain the high standing that Anwar, who is more cerebral than most BN leaders, enjoys among the ruling elite in Indonesia.

Saifuddin (right) would have assayed the role of Ambassador th better because he is more endowed intellectually than Zahrain and in his five years as Deputy Minister prior to his defeat in Election 2013 managed to shed the reflexive partisanship of the UMNO flunkey.

That was evidence of some broadness of vision that Jakarta’s media and other mavens would more readily appreciated.Suffice diplomatic postings to sensitive capitals should not be viewed as rewards for politicians of expedient and shifting allegiances.

The receiving nation would be apt to view the emissary as soiled goods and the decision to accredit him to them as a deprecation of the recipient’s importance.

Umno members have been urged to use the upcoming polls as an opportunity to strengthen the party and not weaken it.

Party vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said the new selection process, through which 150,000 members can cast their votes as compared with 2,500 delegates previously, should be used as a platform to strengthen Umno.

He expressed hope that any contest for positions would be done in the “spirit of family” and not to create fractures among the organisation.

“We practise democracy but this needs to be guided properly,” the rural and regional development minister said in a press conference today after attending a meet-the-people session.

A commotion took place during the Umno Kampung Gadong branch meeting today, leading the meeting to be postponed for the second time after some members claimed that their names were missing from the branch membership list.

The meeting had been scheduled to be held at the Rasah Umno division building here at 3pm yesterday, after the first one on Sept 1 was postponed for the same reason.

Several branch members claimed their names were replaced with new members who were unknown to the branch members and locals there.

The commotion led Umno branch permanent chairman Mokhtar Othman to postpone the meeting.

“Some members were not happy as their names were not in the list, leading us to leave it to the Umno division to set a date for another meeting,” he said, adding that a registration of new members could not be conducted.

Meanwhile, former branch chief Baharuddin Abu Bakar, claimed the problem began in 2009 when more than 100 out of 258 branch members were removed.

“I was shocked to see names of people I did not know,” he said.

Rohayati Ayub, 63, said she was surprised when she was told her name was not in the branch members list when she attended the meeting a week ago.

“I am a member of the party and never faced this problem before. All of a sudden I’m not allowed to attend the meeting anymore,” she said.

Meanwhile, Umno Rasah division chief, Datuk Hasim Rusdi said he was not going to pick sides on this matter.

“Members whose names were removed from the list can lodge a complaint and if proven true, we will rectify it. In fact, before this, there was a branch chief charged for casting members without permission,”

Hasim who is the party’s state liaison committee secretary, advised all members to follow Umno party’s Constitution to avoid any unwanted incidences.

This is a sly way of preempting a challenge. Typical of one who is experienced in shady transactions, judicial fixing and skullduggery.Sandiwara sahaja! Shadow boxing, wayang kulit, political make-believe, clowning, staged shows. Behind it all, power-crazy, self-interest, vested interest, drowned in Mt.Kinabalu-high ego!Sandiwara sahaja! Shadow boxing, wayang kulit, political make-believe, clowning, staged shows. Behind it all, power-crazy, self-interest, vested interest, drowned in Mt.Kinabalu-high ego!

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah supports incumbent Umno president Najib Abdul Razak and will not want to dethrone him, says BN secretary general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor

When was the last time you heard Tengku Adnan ’s voice? How many of the several stirring speeches made by  Najib can we hear in our heads? I can remember the first line of the ‘Long Years Ago, we made a tryst with destiny’ as spoken by him but nothing else. Not even the deeply moving ‘the light has gone out and there is darkness everywhere’ speech delivered on  UMNO’s demise. And when it comes to the other leaders of the freedom struggle, there is a startling absence of memory, visual or otherwise

If Najib can win the Presidency in an open contest, he should not fear being challenged. Razaleigh has nothing to lose in going for broke. Mahathir cheated him out of the Presidency in 1987. To add insult to injury the High Court declared Umno unlawful instead of discounting the illegal votes that Mahathir obtained and handing the Presidency to Razaleigh. Razaleigh should go for the Presidency and revive the old Umno.

The absence of memory is not confined to lofty nationalistic sentiments alone. Even cricket, our contemporary national religion and the site of complex statistical memory is increasingly devoid of the references to the past. The earlier generation grew up in a time when we heard stories about the alleged fierceness Part of the reason lies in the way we have sought to preserve memories. Statues and monuments of a ritualistic nature serve to emphasise the datedness of the past. Time is cruel to statues and museums, and turns them stiff with rigor-mortis. We need new devices where memory lives, breathes and performs. In the absence of these new ‘living museums’ we will either forget or create a new past that is nothing but a mirror reflection of ourselves projected back in time.

Resonate with a deep desire to do the right thing and carry the unmistakable ring of mutual respect and admiration that they shared with each other, their differences notwithstanding. They tell a story that is profoundly inspirational for today. We need to find a way to make these memories live again. We need to sometimes hear  Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan   in our head

“Sometimes you have to pay to enjoy all these you know,” Tengku Adnan told reporters.

Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan   looks stupid even when he doesn’t open his mouth and when he does, you just feel nauseous.
If one doesn’t have the brain to comment on any issue then the best thing to do is to just shut up instead of embarrassing oneself. There are so many factors to consider when purchasing that ‘roof over your head’. This moron makes it sound so simple. well coming from someone who’s brain dead, I’m not surprised.this people will never know what it feels like to live from pay check to paycheck. Ofcourse, the median monthly income for malaysian households (rm 3000+) probably represents 2-3 days of personal expenditure for these arrogant politicians. Congrats to those that voted these imbeciles in, now youre reaping the fruits.

You are an idiot. People are making vaild points and you coming out with garbage. Get off your high horse and start helping the people. Instead of finding why house prices are high and trying to bring the pricesdon to affordable levels , you are running people down.

“Sometimes you have to pay to enjoy all these you know,” Tengku Adnan told reporters.

Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor wants Malaysians to stop complaining over the skyrocketing price of properties.

“If houses are expensive, then don’t buy from the developer or else, don’t grumble too much,” he said, adding that everyone is bound by the simple rule of “willing buyer and willing seller”.

Tengku Adnan said that if one is seeking comfort and location, then they must be prepared to pay the price.

“Otherwise, you can always buy from the many agencies run and endorsed by the government such as PR1MA, DBKL, SPNB and many others.”

“You all complain and grumble too much. Everything goes up, you get upset and you want a convenient life.

The past was an intrinsic part of the fabric of the present; one lived in continuous time.

Otherwise, today, it is as if only the present exists. The past when consumed, is in its renovated version; it is re-presented to us in a form that is consumable today. Anything in black & white, anything that is grainy, any voice or sound that has not been re-mastered is rejected. We are happy to use the past as material for the present as seen in the mind  of Federal Territories Minister

Police will not re-open investigations into the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu.Sometimes, the formidable morphs into the pathetic. For a long time, ,probe in Altantuya murder,be above any challenge, criticism or scandal..with its potent combination of powerful interests seemed to carry such sweeping and overwhelming force that it looked to be above any challenge, criticism or scandal. The players, administrators, sponsors, franchisees, the television broadcaster, commentators and the mainstream media at large all appeared to be part of a monolithic structure that acted in unison and found a way of deflecting all criticism.Distressingly, this is being enabled by media that promotes the very people who are architects of this mess simply because at this point in time, what they have to say is useful in attacking the current dispensation at the BCCI. This selective use of critics studiously ignores the larger context; the absurdity ofInspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said it was not necessary to do so and even questioned the reason for fresh investigations.The problem of course is that protection and punishment, accompanied by anger and recrimination directed at the police and the politicians, seems at least somewhat tangible. Talking about societal change and the shaping of new mindsets seems to be a project in wishy-washy wishful thinking. When change is distributed so thinly over so many people, it looks impossible. It is much easier to believe that the police force and a limited number of people in power can be made to change and give us solutions.

Sometimes, the formidable morphs into the pathetic. For a long time, the juggernaut Submarine Furor Returns to Malaysia, with its potent combination of powerful interests seemed to carry such sweeping and overwhelming force that it looked to be above any challenge, criticism or scandal. The players, administrators, sponsors, franchisees, the television broadcaster, commentators and the mainstream media at large all appeared to be part of a monolithic structure that acted in unison and found a way of deflecting all criticism. There  middleman, for his controversy it created, seemed to enjoy immunity from any consequences, as one excess piled on top of another and dodginess, financial and otherwise, looked like it was part of the script.

 Shafee Abdullah: sodomologist extraordinaireâ.Razak Baginda saved by his affidavit drafted by Lingamgate linked Shafee Abdullah he is the one who received the sms from Najib When comes to Anwar everything that government does is wrong, fabricated, false accusation, MUHAMMAD SHAFEE ABDULLAH: When the trial first started, I think at least for the first two months or … Read more

key figure says he helped PM’s wife get a witness out of town

A key figure involved in the cover-up of the spectacular 2006 murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu appears to have gone off the reservation, giving interviews to opposition media hinting at the involvement of Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, in the conspiracy.

Deepak Jaikishan (left), a Kuala Lumpur-based carpet dealer who reportedly was Mansor’s business partner in the past, allegedly promised RM5 million to get out of the country to a private detective who charged that Najib had been Altantuya’s former lover, after the detective filed a sworn declaration describing his knowledge of the affair between the two and giving excruciating details of sexual practices, among other specifics.

The detective, Perumal Balasubramaniam, was terrorized after being dragooned into a Kuala Lumpur police station and told his family was in danger. He immediately decamped for Chennai, India after being promised the money to recant his declaration. He has remained outside of Malaysia, issuing periodic statements giving additional details of the affairs as well as alleged attempts by Najib’s forces to cajole him into coming back and blame Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim for the whole thing.

Altantuya, named in French Police documents as a translator, was murdered in October 2006 by two members of an elite police unit operating under Najib’s jurisdiction. The two were later convicted and sentenced to death for the crime. Abdul Razak Baginda, one of Najib’s closest associates and according to French prosecuting magistrates’ documents the alleged conduit for a €114 million bribe to the United Malays National Organization for the purchase of submarines from the French defense contractor DCN and its subsidiaries, was acquitted of the crime.

A central figure in the massive bribery case of Malaysian officials for the purchase of submarines from a subsidiary of the French defense contractor DCN has caused a furor in Malaysia with an exclusive interview with the Kuala Lumpur-based political party broadsheet New Straits Times.

In the interview, Jasbir Singh Chahl told the newspaper, which is owned by the United Malays National Organization, the country’s biggest political party, that the murdered Mongolian party girl and translator Altantuya Shaariibuu had never acted as a translator in the affair. He also said Perimekar Sdn Bhd., then a wholly owned subsidiary of a company owned by one of then-Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak’s best friends, actually had done legitimate work to earn a €114.96 “commission” that has been characterized as a bribe by French officials.

In the wake of Chahl’s remarks, Home Minister Zahid Hamidi has threatened the leaders of Suaram, the human rights NGO that took allegations of the affair to French authorities, with sedition. The Registrar of Societies has also threatened to take away Suaram’s certification as an NGO.

No one outside of the New Straits Times, the UMNO mouthpiece, has been allowed to interview Jasbir Singh Chahl. If neutral journalists had been allowed, they could have brought up the 135 French documents that question Perimekar’s role in the purchase, and prove that Altantuya had visited Paris in the company of Perimekar’s boss, Abdul Razak Baginda. They could also have brought up a mysterious payment of €36 million from a DCN offshoot to Terasasi (Hong Kong) Ltd, a mysterious company whose only directors are Razak Baginda and his father.

Najib, Malaysia’s Prime Minister since 2009, has just come through a bruising political campaign in which corruption allegations, including those surrounding the submarine purchase, played a major role. For the first time since Malaysia became a nation, the Barisan Nasional, the ruling national coalition, came out on the short end of the popular vote, winning 47.38 percent of the popular vote against 50.87 percent for the opposition headed by Anwar Ibrahim. The Barisan, however, managed to win 140 of the 222 seats in parliament through gerrymandering.

The documents made available to Asia Sentinel from the French prosecutor’s office in Paris, make it clear both that DCN officials characterized Perimekar as “nothing more than a travel agency” allegedly designed to enrich UMNO officials, and also make it clear that Altantuya had accompanied Abdul Razak Baginda, the beneficial owner at that point of Perimekar, on a visit to DCN offices in 2005, before she was murdered by two of Najib’s bodyguards.

The documents, published in French, remain uploaded on the Asia Sentinel website and can be viewed here (French Prosecutor’s documents).

It has thus long been clear that Chahl is dissembling on both counts. Chahl’s credibility has been damaged further by the fact that he was ousted from Perimekar early on in the negotiations himself. In several memos found during the DCN investigation, Chahl demanded a full fourth of Perimekar’s total €114.96 million as a finder’s fee. He was subpoenaed as a witness in the case, but after first indicating to French lawyers that he would cooperate, he stopped talking. The case with Razak Baginda has been settled out of court, according to Cynthia Gabriel of Suaram.

According to the French prosecutor’s documents, Perimekar was described as “never more than a travel agency…The price is inflated and their support function is very vague…Yes, that company created unfounded wealth for its shareholders,” according to one of the documents. In another, the DCN officials said that “In Malaysia, other than individuals, the ruling party [UMNO] is the largest beneficiary [rather than Perimekar, the company to which the commission was directed]. Consultants [agents or companies] are often used as a political network to facilitate such transfers and receive commissions for their principals.”

The payment appears to have been in violation of the OECD Convention on Bribery, which France ratified on June 30, 2000. On Sep. 29, 2000, according to document D00015, DCNI, a DCN subsidiary, “took corrective actions” after France joined the bribery convention.

Contracts concluded after that date were to be routed to Eurolux and Gifen, companies held by Jean-Marie Boivin, DCN’s former finance chief, and headquartered in Luxembourg and Malta respectively. Boivin is being investigated for having played a central role in the “corrective actions,” with what were described as “outlandish commissions” traveling through the welter of companies that he established in tax havens around the world.

“A separate agreement sets other compensation consisting of a fixed amount independent of the actual price of the main contract,” one document reads in reference to the payment to Perimekar. “This has been made to be consistent with [DCN's] internal rules and [its subsidiary] Thales and those of the OECD. The beneficiaries of these funds are not difficult to imagine: the clan and family relations of Mr. Razak Baginda. In addition, these funds will find their way to the dominant political party.” Malaysia’s dominant political party was and is UMNO.

As to Chahl’s assertion that Altantuya had never been a part of the Scorpene equation, it is true that she was not part of the negotiations before Chahl himself was said to have left Perimekar over his demands. But later, when Razak Baginda and Najib visited DCN in 2005, records show she accompanied the Perimekar boss when he and Najib were dealing with matters pertaining to training the Royal Malaysian Navy personnel to operate the submarines.

Despite voluminous attempts by both the pro-government newspapers and pro-government bloggers to assert that Altantuya had never visited Paris or had anything to do with the matter, Razak Baginda himself, when he was under investigation on charges of ordering the two bodyguards to kill the 28-year-old pregnant woman, told investigators he had traveled with her to France in 2005.

Records seized by French investigators from DCN bear that out. According to the records, Abdul Razak Baginda and Altantuya met with Jean Marie Boivin, the alleged French fixer who helped to organize “commissions” for friends in high places to pick DCN’s submarines on that same trip. Boivin arranged to pay for a jaunt by Altantuya and Abdul Razak to Macau. In those documents, Altantuya is described as Razak Baginda’s translator.

Najib has sworn on the Quran that he never met Altantuya, although she was in France at the same time as he was, accompanying Abdul Razak Baginda.

Razak Baginda had been Altantuya’s lover, supposedly after Najib had given her up, according to Balasubramaniam’s sworn declaration. Immediately on being cleared without having to put on a defense, Razak Baginda fled to the UK with his wife, where he has remained ever since.

Attempts to reach Jaikishan by Asia Sentinel have been unsuccessful. He first contacted Harakan Daily, the Malay-language newspaper operated by Parti Islam se-Malaysia, the Islamic opposition leg of the three-party Pakatan Rakyat headed by Anwar, and later gave an interview to Malaysiakini, the Kuala Lumpur-based independent online news website, describing additional details. Additional interviews have also been carried by the Malaysia Chronicle, another opposition website.

In the interviews, Jaikishan acknowledged that Najib and Rosmah had asked for his help in dealing with Balasubramaniam. In a translated interview, he told Harakan Daily that “Maybe my mistake was helping in the case of Bala, getting involved in Bala’s case to help the family of the Prime Minister. That was when I became famous. I don’t like it. I’d like to be low profile.”

In the Harakan interview, Jaikishan compared his involvement in Balasubramaniam’s case to rescuing a drowning friend. “So I jumped into the pool to help a friend,” he said. I felt at that time, I was the only one (they) sought for help.” He quickly responded: “Najib’s family” when asked whom he meant by ‘theirs.’

Jaikisan’s motives are unclear, sources in Kuala Lumpur told Asia Sentinel. One of the articles made a veiled reference to a belief that he hadn’t been given proper thanks for his efforts. One well-wired businessman in Kuala Lumpur said Jaikishan was known to have become close to Muhyiddin Yassin, the Deputy Prime Minister and a putative rival for the premiership should Najib stumble.

“It’s an UMNO play”, the source said. “Deepak claims he is now very close to Muhyiddin. The timing of his solicited interviews – he called the news portals and offered himself – on the eve of the UMNO assembly suggests he wanted to embarrass Najib and Rosmah.”