Mara religious extrimists depriving non-Muslim bumiputeras from applying scholarships

BY DESMOND DAVIDSON

 Tan Sri Amar Datuk Dr. James Jemut Masing

A senior Sarawak cabinet minister has taken Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) to task for posing questions on Islam to non-Muslim bumiputera students applying for Mara scholarships, saying it smacked of religious bigotry.

State Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing (pic) also described Mara as “stupid” for quizzing the students on Islam during their interview for the financial assistance, and questioned the relevance of such questions.

“Don't tell me Mara, which runs several educational and technical institutions, after 51 years (of Malaysia) will claim ignorance in failing to understand the racial and religious make-up of the state.

“Neither would I want to believe there are religious bigots in Mara who want to deprive non-Muslim bumiputeras of the scholarships with those kind of questions,” Masing said.

Masing’s attack on Mara was prompted by a complaint he received from a straight “A” Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) student, Nigel Unchat Jeremaiah, who said he was asked questions on hudud, "rukun Solat" (prayers) and "adat menziarah jenazah" (visiting graves), among others, during the interview last Saturday.

Masing said the line of questioning appeared to suggest bigotry on Mara’s part.

Asking non-Muslims questions on Islam is plain wrong. What relevance anyway are these questions when applying for a higher learning scholarship?

Nigel, who was applying for the scholarship to study mechanical engineering at Kolej Mara Seremban in Negeri Sembilan, said he and the other non-Muslim students were also asked to name some Muslim prophets.

Nigel, who attended the interview at Maktab Rendah Sains Mara in Semariang outside Kuching, said out of about 30 students who went for the interview that Saturday afternoon, about 10 were non-Muslims.

He feared his failure to answers the questions could cost him the scholarship.

“I'm surprised Mara failed to understand there are many bumiputeras in Sarawak who are non-Muslims and that Muslims are a minority in the state,” Masing said after meeting Nigel and his mother, Sudan Nyanggau, at his house in Jalan Ong Tiang Swee.

“I don't like to believe they have some hidden agenda,” he said of the council which is responsible for facilitating the economic and social development of the bumiputeras, particularly in rural areas.

The council comes under the purview of the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development.

“They should not have asked non-Muslims such religious questions.

“Asking non-Muslims questions on Islam is plain wrong. What relevance anyway are these questions when applying for a higher learning scholarship?

“That boy was hoping to study mechanical engineering, not become an ustaz.

“If he was applying for a scholarship to become an ustaz, then those questions are appropriate.”

Masing, who has been vocal on the Allah issue, warned Mara not to display such bigotry in Sarawak.

He said just because Malaysia is a Muslim-majority country doesn’t mean the whole nation knows about Islamic teachings.

Nigel was hoping to follow in the footsteps of his two older siblings - one studying at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and the other at University Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).

He would only know if he is successful in obtaining a Mara scholarship when the result is out on May 8.

State Mara director, Yusof Wasli, could not be reached for comment as he was in Bintulu on official matters. His office would not give his handphone number. 


Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) hari ini berkata pelajar bukan Islam yang menghadiri temu duga biasiswa, tidak perlu disoal mengenai Islam, kata seorang pegawai Mara negeri ekoran dakwaan ketaksuban agama.

Timbalan Pengarah Mara Negeri Sarawak, Mariam Mohtar memberitahu The Malaysian Insider pegawai dari ibu pejabat di Kuala Lumpur yang menjalankan temu bual biasiswa berkenaan sedang disiasat.

Mariam berkata demikian kepada Menteri Pembangunan Tanah Sarawak, Tan Sri Dr James Masing (gambar) yang sebelum ini menyifatkan Mara sebagai "bodoh" kerana menyoal  pelajar bukan Islam  berkenaan Islam semasa temu duga mereka untuk bantuan kewangan.

 

Serangan Masing terhadap Mara disebabkan aduan yang diterima daripada pelajar cemerlang Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), Nigel Unchat Jeremaiah, yang berkata beliau disoal mengenai hudud, rukun solat dan adat menziarah jenazah dan lain-lain semasa temu duga Sabtu lalu.

 

Mariam berkata siasatan kini mungkin akan melihat bagaimana temu duga dengan Nigel dilakukan.

Mariam, yang juga terlibat dalam temu duga tetapi  dengan kumpulan lain, "menyokong para pegawai dari Kuala Lumpur," berkata Mara mempunyai modul bagi soalan serta garis panduan “ketat” bagaimana temu duga perlu dijalankan.

"Ya, ada soalan mengenai Islam tetapi ia hanya untuk yang beragama Islam," katanya.

Bagi bukan Islam katanya, akan ditanya, apa yang digambarkan sebagai, "soalan sivik".
 
"Semua soalan ini pada dasarnya adalah untuk menilai pengetahuan am dan tahap pemikiran.

"Ini adalah kumpulan temu duga dan kita tahu siapa yang beragama Islam dan bukan Islam.

"Jika pelajar itu Muslim, dia mungkin mendapat soalan mengenai agamanya," katanya.

Nigel, bagaimanapun, mendakwa soalan itu tidak tidak ditujukan kepada pelajar secara individu.

Beliau berkata penemuduga melemparkan soalan kepada kumpulan dan mereka kemudiannya akan dinilai secara individu di atas jawapan yang diberi.

Nigel, yang menghadiri temuduga di Maktab Rendah Sains Mara di Semariang, luar Kuching, berkata daripada kira-kira 30 pelajar yang pergi untuk temu duga petang Sabtu itu, kira-kira 10 orang daripadanya bukan Islam.

Beliau bimbang kegagalannya jawapan semua soalan itu menggagalkan peluangnya untuk mendapat biasiswa.

Nigel berharap dapat mengikut jejak langkah dua adik-beradik yang terdahulu – seorang di Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) dan seorang di Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).

Beliau hanya akan mengetahui jawapan bagi temu duga biasiswa Mara apabila pada 8 Mei.

Scorpions drummer in Dubai jail for ‘insulting Islam’

DUBAI: The drummer for German rock band Scorpions has been in jail for almost a month after being arrested for "insulting" Islam and offensive behaviour at Dubai's international airport, media reported Wednesday.

James Kottak, a US citizen, was detained on April 3 while in transit to Bahrain. Kottak was on Tuesday sentenced to one month in jail by an Emirati court and based on time served would soon be released.

According to Gulf News daily, ground staff at the airport testified that Kottak, who was drunk at the time, refused to travel with a group of Pakistani and Afghani passengers.

He "started swearing", criticising "non-educated Muslims", and flashed his middle finger at Pakistani passengers, The National newspaper reported. - AFP

Sarawak MACC detains express boat operator

KUCHING: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has detained the operator of the "Kawan Mas" express boat, which sank in the Sungai Rajang near Giam Bungan in Belaga on May 28 2013, to investigate allegations of embezzlement of subsidised diesel. 

Sarawak MACC director Datuk Bahri Mohamad Zin said the arrest was the outcome of MACC's intelligence unit probe following the sinking of the boat, which was carrying 222 passengers from Bakun to Belaga town heading for Kapit. 

Three passengers died during the mishap. "The boat operator, aged 44, was detained yesterday at 6pm in Sibu. He was found to have owned six express boats, with all of the boats receiving government subsidised diesel. 

"According to the conditions for the subsidy, all six boats must be operational but only two were deployed to ferry passengers during festive seasons in order to reap more profits," he told a media conference at the Sarawak MACC office here today.

He said, as a result, the boats that were permitted to carry only 64 passengers were frequently compelled to carry excess passengers, who resorted to sitting on the roof, especially during peak season. 

 

"MACC believed these activities have been going on for a while. The sinking boat incident was a 'trigger' to MACC to conduct investigations and based on our knowledge, the (express boat) company has made big profits," he said, adding that MACC's forensic accounting unit was currently investigating the company's account. 

He said MACC had also sought the cooperation of the Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry (KPDNKK) to obtain all documents pertaining to claims made by the company as evidence that part of the subsidised diesel was sold to parties that were not eligible to purchase it. 

MACC was in the process of obtaining a remand order on the boat operator while the offence was being investigated under Section 18 of the MACC Act 2009, he said. – Bernama

Obama is right!

Sarawak PKR chief and Ba Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian

KUCHING: Visiting US President Barrack Obama must look beyond the “deceptive picture” of Malaysia which is being painted by the ruling Barisan Nasional government.

Sarawak PKR chief and Ba Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian said the world has been blind to the erosion of human rights, justice and fairness in Malaysia thus far and urged Obama to look beyond this ‘picture’ of Malaysia.

In a letter to Obama, who arrived here for a two-day official visit on Saturday, Bian drew the former’s attention to the plight of Sarawak’s indigenous people, religious extremism, rampant abuse of power, corruption, deaths in police custody and gerrymandering.

Of the indigenous community, Bian said they were being treated with “indifference and contempt”.

“Large tracts of the native customary land of the indigenous people are taken by logging companies, huge plantations and dam builders, often without notice, consultation and free prior-consent and/or compensation as required under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

“These activities are often sanctioned or even aided by those in authority. The government has (also) ignored confirmed reports of rape of native girls by logging company workers in the remote jungles, “ he wrote.

On the simmering racial and religious issues, Bian told Obama that Prime Minister Najib Razak “dares not defend our constitutional rights for fear of offending the Islamists.”

“Racial and religious intolerance is allowed to simmer and fester by those who have the authority and means to stop it but lack the political will and fortitude to do so.”

“Religious extremists and bigots are attempting to convert this secular country into an Islamic state but our Prime Minister dares not defend our constitutional rights for fear of offending the Islamists,” he said.

Bian also pointed out the “widespread” abuse of power and corruption at “all levels of the executive, legislative and judicial systems.

Not meeting Anwar

He said persecution and imprisonment of opposition leaders is the government’s preferred method of dealing with dissent.

“Citizens who dare to march in the streets for their rights are assaulted with teargas, acid-laced water cannons, beatings and arrests.”

“The mainstream press is tightly controlled by the authorities and indeed many of them are owned by those with close links to the ruling coalition.”

“Deaths of those in police custody continue to occur unabated with at least one death reported per month since the year 2000,” Baru said.

Amidst all this, he said Malaysians were patiently chipping away at  “the grip that the oppressive, self-serving and corrupt regime has on the reins of power.”

He also pointed out that despite winning 52% of the popular votes, the multiracial opposition was denied the opportunity of forming the government because of the practice of malapportionment and gerrymandering in the country’s electoral system.

“We need you to take the lead of international leaders to recognise the struggle for democracy that is happening now in Malaysia.

“I pray that you will hear the many voices who will be speaking about our hopes and dreams for a beautiful, free and fair Malaysia that was meant to be, and which has the potential to be, if given the chance,” he told Obama.

Obama has spent the last two days in Kuala Lumpur meeting officials and in closed door talks with Prime Minister Najib Razak.

He was given a state welcome at Parliament house on arrival nd later attended a royal banquet. Yesterday Obama visited the National Mosque and held a town-hall style session with young leaders from Asean.

He is also to meet NGO leaders who have been critical of the government.

But he will not be meeting Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar however will meet the US national security adviser Susan Rice.

Source from FMT Borneo+

Obama's got the world in his hand says palmist

 It is a line of heaven’s mandate. Those with this line have the power from heaven to command the world. Master Chai, the ‘Oracle’

A palmist reading Barack Obama’s hand, cropped out of a picture, comes out with a startlingly close description of who he is

KUCHING: The ancient art of palm reading was put to a test yesterday and it passed with convincing colours when The Borneo Post showed the palm of US President Barack Obama to a palm reader, 81-year-old Master Chai, here without telling him whose hand it was.

Upon looking at the picture of Obama’s hand, which was cropped off the front page of thesundaypost of April 27, Chai exclaimed that the hand belonged to someone with immense power and holds the world in his hand.

Chai pointed out the main feature of Obama’s palm was the extremely rare ‘ball’ at the base of the thumb and the index finger.

“The ‘ball’ is a very rare sign. It shows this person is always in command of any situation and wields immense power. That mound means authority and success.”

Chai also noted Obama’s extraordinary heaven line stretching from bottom going up to the base of the middle finger.

“It is a line of heaven’s mandate. Those with this line have the power from heaven to command the world.

“Even the heavens fear him. For example, if he were to go to Miri, the rain would not fall there.

Wherever he goes, there will be no hindrance or obstacles from nature,” said Master Chai.

And the deeply set hand of the president shows that he controls destiny.

“A person with such a hand is a man who makes things happens and stops things from happening at his will.”

“Everything the person does would be perfect. Whatever comes from the hand would be something beautiful,” said Master Chai.

He added usually to read the destiny of a man he would look at his left hand but in this case the signs are so clear that it did not matter that he was reading the right hand.

When told that the palm he read was that of the US president, Chai was nonplused and seemed to regard it as just one of the thousands he had read before.

When asked if the 44th president of America would face misfortune or danger during his tenure as the Chinese regarded ‘4’ as unlucky and double ‘4’ could be doubly unlucky, the elderly seer said Obama might come across dangerous situations but he would always come out of them safe.

“Nothing will happen to him. He always has the heavens on his side. He is always at the right place at the right time,” said Chai.

However, there is a fly in the ointment as Chai noticed Obama’s lines show that his love life could be going through some turbulence.

“His marriage lines are broken and separated. They may mean his love life may be in trouble,” he said.

The picture of Obama’s open right hand as he waved to greet Malaysians upon his arrival was caught vividly on camera.

Since it was published, many readers had tried to decipher Obama’s palm lines with some saying his lines were inauspicious while others concluded he was someone special, prompting The Borneo Post to settle their rigmarole by turning to Chai.

Chai who has been reading palms for the last 50 years is locally known as “the oracle”

Source from The Borneo Post

‘Bumiputera entrepreneurs must stand on their own feet’

KAPIT: Bumiputera entrepreneurs must strive to compete in the open market instead of relying solely on the government for projects.
Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi said it was not wise to depend on the government as competition for its projects was stiff.
“Always strive to come out with new opportunities, for example, in the homestay or agro-based industry,” he said after officiating at Dewan Usahawan Bumiputera Sarawak (DUBS) Kapit’s triennial general meeting (TGM) here yesterday.
“In business, one must be daring and be proactive. There is no shortcut to success and you can’t run away from competition. For those who made it, there is no limit to what they can achieve.”

Nanta told those present that the government was ever willing to help those in the small-and-medium industry (SMI) grow as they played very important roles in the economy.

He added that entrepreneurs who are diligent had a bright future as there are growth opportunities everywhere, even in the rural areas.

On government programmes to help entrepreneurs, Nanta said he was working hard to encourage more local Bumiputeras to participate in the programme called ‘Rural Business Challenge’.

“Ever since this programme was implemented in 2012 by my ministry, no Sarawakians have won any prize although a few participated. That is why I am working hard to get more participants from Sarawak to make this programme a success.”

Nanta explained that the primary aim of ‘Rural Business Challenge’ was to provide a platform for rural Bumiputera entrepreneurs to promote their products and services.

He said his ministry had set aside RM20 million as prize money for the winners annually. The top prize is RM2 million, second prize RM500,000 and third prize RM300,000 for the different categories. The prizes are not given in terms of cash but in terms of equipment and materials for the winning businesses.

DUBS Kapit chairman Bangsa Untang, Kapit Resident Fedrick John George, Deputy Resident Joseph Ikan, DUBS Sarawak deputy chairman Zawawi Embong and political secretary to the Chief Minister Jefferson Jamit were among those present.

Source from The Borneo Post

Sarawak Next Big Plans After We Become Independence

Article shared by Sarawak Independence
with special thanks for allowing me to share this with my readers.

This is my proposal to Sarawak after we get out from Malaysia and become Independence.

Our beloved country Sarawak should created a big plans for our future on how to make Sarawak more successful and more prosper. So I highly suggest Sarawak to become a "Nation of Producer". We must remember countries like America, Europe, Japan, Korea and China are successful and become a super power country is because they are a "Nation of Producer". And this countries produce and export so many products from electronic devices, high tech products, to farming tools, also produce foods and produce military weapons. And China will replace America to be the next super power in the near future because China is the biggest Nation of Producer, and also every countries in this world is depending on China products. That why today China is a very rich country in the world.

So our beloved country Sarawak should become a "Nation of Producer" and we should follow and copy country like America, Japan and China so Sarawak can be successful, prosper and become a very rich country in the world and become Super power in Asia and in the World.

This Is Our Beloved Country Sarawak Should Do After We Independence:

1. First step, Sarawak should strive to become a world producer of electronic device, we should created and export high tech products like TV, Radio, Mobile Phone, Computer, Laptop, and all electronic device. But we should strive to make our products is the best in the world, with the highest quality, but our products must also cheap because this will attract many people to buy our products because they are cheap but have high quality. This should help create more income and money for our country so Sarawak can be a very rich country in the world.

2. Second step, Sarawak should strive to become the world biggest producer of foods and meat. Sarawak should strive to become the world biggest producer of rice, potatoes, wheat, coffee, cocoa, pepper and rubber, and also Sarawak should strive to become the world bigger producer of Cow meat and Pork meat, because there are high demand for this meat from people around the world. This ways we can add more income and money for our country so Sarawak can be a very rich country in the world. We should have no problems to achieve this vision because Sarawak was blessed with big land we can use.

3. To contribute for the science community, we should created the world biggest satellite dish in the world. Currently the world biggest satellite dish is in Puerto Rico, so hopefully we can replace them to be the world biggest satellite dish in the world. And the world scientist around the world are welcome to use our satellite dish for scientific purpose.

4. To join the elite group like America, Europe, Russia, Japan, Korea, India and China, and also to beef up Sarawak security for future and become a modern country, I highly recommend Sarawak to build our own Satellite and we must also able to launch our own Satellite into space. And we also can offer service to other countries and launch their Satellite into space for them, and we can also make money too by offering this service to them. So I highly recommend our beloved country Sarawak to build our own Space Agency, and we must have our own research & development center. This is very important because the next step for Human evolution and future is to explore our universe.

5. I also recommend Sarawak to use English as our first language in schools too, this way we can attract many foreign investors from outside to do businesses in Sarawak and this will created many jobs for Sarawakians. Using English will also make it easy for our students to continue their study because currently all the top University are located in English speaking countries like America, UK, Australia and New Zealand. Plus using English will allowed our students to work anywhere in the world too. I also believe using English will make Sarawak to replace Singapore as a business hub in South East Asian because foreign investors are considering Singapore is not friendly for business because Singapore government are controlling everything in Singapore and oppressing their own oppositions party and there is no Press Freedom in Singapore.

6. Also most important, we must train our soldiers to be the best soldiers in the world, so no other countries in the world can bully us, so we can protect our country economy and protect our country wealth so no other countries in the world can invade us and steal our wealth. So we must teach our soldiers to fight and defeat a big army, because security is important to every country. And most important all our soldiers should been given Bullet Proof Vest when they are in a combat or at war situation. Also Sarawak should continue to send all our Form 5 graduates for National Service training every year too, because this is important for our security, and our government should always keep improving our National Service training too. I recommend all our National Service trainee should always train with their Bullet Proof vest on their back.

7. To add to our country security, I highly recommend Sarawak to produce our own military weapons. Because we should learn from other successful country where they are producing their own weapons so they can defend them self from any larger enemy. So our beloved country Sarawak should have our own R&D Center or Research & Development Center for our Military to create new weapons, create high tech weapons and created new technology for our military and for our soldiers. I also recommend we build our own nuclear power submarine. Because nuclear power submarine is hard to detect by the enemy sonar radar compare to diesel power submarine, because diesel power submarine make a lot of noise, and also nucler power submarine is more quieter and hard to detect and it also can go far away too. I also highly recommend Sarawak to build our own Stealth Fighter Aircraft so our Fighter Jets will not get detected by enemy radar, because Stealth technology will give our military an edge over our enemy. We can also partner and work together with advance country like Australia or Germany or Japan to work together with them to created our Stealth Fighter Jets and our Stealth Submarine. We can also sell and export our home made weapons to other countries too so we can make a lot of money too and created income for our country. But most important, our home made weapons must have the best quality in the world, and our weapon must be the best in the world.

8. Most important, Sarawak should become a fully Democratic country when we get out from Malaysia and become Independence. And Sarawak should give freedom to every Sarawakian and must allowed for Peaceful Gathering protest or Peaceful Assemble law in Sarawak, so every Sarawakian can peacefully gathering and protest for their right, without asking for the peaceful gathering permit from the police.

9. Our next important step is to pick a very qualified leader to lead our beloved country Sarawak. Most important we should not pick a leader base on their religion or their race, but we should pick a leader who is qualified based on their capability and merit. And Sarawak people are very smart people and we have many people who are qualified to lead us. And I highly suggest we can pick Idris Jala to lead us, because he had proven his track record to lead big international companies like Shell in United Kingdom and Shell in Sri Lanka and save this companies from bankruptcy. He also manage to save Malaysian Airline from bankruptcy too. So we can have full confident that Idris Jala can turn around our beloved country Sarawak to become more successful and more prosper in future, because we want a proven CEO and a leader who can lead Sarawak to be more successful and not just to be an average success. Plus Idris Jala is also currently are working hard under Prime Minister of Malaysia to make Malaysia a high income country, so with all his knowledge he can turn Sarawak into a high income country too. So I highly suggest Idris Jala to lead our beloved country Sarawak !!!! - (This is just my suggestion, you are free to your own opinion)


So our next step now is to get out from Malaysia just like Singapore did long time ago, and let Sarawak become Independence.

YES WE CAN

Agi Idup Agi Ngelaban

Sabah and Sarawak should be given equal Parliamentary seats

KUCHING: Currently Malaya holds 166 parliamentary seats, Sarawak holds 31 and Sabah is represented with 25 seats.

The percentage breakdown of representation is 75% Malaya, 14% Sarawak and 11% Sabah.

With a combined representation of 25% in Parliament, Sabah and Sarawak are disadvantaged when motions that affect the Borneo territories are tabled as Malaya holds the upper hand with their more than two-third representation of 222 MPs.

Under the 1963 Malaysia Agreement (MA63) it was stipulated that Sarawak, Sabah, Malaya and Singapore were to be equal partners within the Federation of Malaysia.

However in 1964, Malaya held 104 parliamentary seats, Sarawak 24 while Sabah and Singapore had 15 each.

The total number equated to Malaya holding 66% of the 158 seats.

With Singapore pulling out of the Federation in 1965, the parliamentary seats were reduced to 143 and Sabah was awarded an additional seat the following year.

The Borneo representation was a combined 40 seats hitting an all time high of 28%.

This however was quickly wiped out in 1974 when Malaya had an additional 10 seats increase giving them a 74% Malayan controlled Parliament.

The number of Sarawak seats (24) remained the same and was only increased to 27 in 1987 and then in 1994 Malaya once again increased their seats to 145 giving it 76% parliament control.

Restore equality

Any changes to the current quota in parliamentary representation will affect Malaya’s influence in the federation. As such it is not in their interest to give Sabah and Sarawak more seats.

In theory, if equal representation is allowed, what should the quota be?

One-third respectively for Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah? Should Sabah and Sarawak be given at least 34% of parliamentary seats combined?

If it is equally divided then the number of seats would be increased to an ‘extreme’ of 498, with increases of 135 and 141 new seats correspondingly, to Malaya’s unchanged 166.

Or will Sabah and Sarawak get something more ‘logical’, perhaps 60 seats each. But this will see Malaya reducing its 76% parliamentary representation.

In which case will the Malayan Barisan Nasional and Umno allow for a formula of equal representation? No way!

They will never allow Sarawak and Sabah BN component parties to have control in Parliament.

What about Pakatan Rakyat? It will be no suprise if Pakatan also fears equality for Borneo.

In a hypothetical scenario of a 498-seat Parliament, with Sabah and Sarawak having 166 seats each, Pakatan will only have 20 seats in Sabah, while in Sarawak, they will have 40 seats.

In a 250-member Parliament, Pakatan Sabah will have five seats while in Sarawak, they will in theory have only 10 out of 42 seats.

This is assuming the ‘re-delineation’ process in Sabah and Sarawak is done equally in both the urban and rural areas.

Although Pakatan has strong urban support it will not gain much backing from the rural Sabahan and Sarawakian.

It seems that the current ‘inequality’ in the parliamentary seat quota is a ‘win-win’ situation for both Malayan BN and Pakatan.

It is no surprise if both BN and Pakatan prefer not to change things.

The biggest losers are Sarawak and Sabah. We do not have adequate representation in the Parliament and motions that affect us are not heard or taken seriously.

To rephrase George Orwell;  “all Federation of Malaysia members are equal, but some members (one actually) are more equal than others’.

What are we going to do now?

Source from Free Malaysia Today

Don’t let UMNO dominate Sarawak

KUCHING: Sarawakians should learn from the bitter experience of Sabah, which no longer has control of the state due to Umno’s domination.

State Reform Party (Star) Sabah chairman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said that unlike Sabah, Sarawakians still have the right to determine who controls the state.

“The difference between Sabah and Sarawak now is you can still preserve control of your state,” he said in his keynote address at the ‘Forum: Malaysia Agreement 1963 – Past, Present & Future’ held here yesterday.

Jeffrey also expressed his admiration for former chief minister (now Yang di-Pertua Negeri) Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, whom he said had left a ‘very powerful message’ to Sarawakians prior to handing over his duties to his successor Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem.

“In his message, he stressed for the people to safeguard Sarawak’s interest in Malaysia and not allow Umno to come into the state. Now that is a very powerful message.

Jeffrey noted that Sabah had since moved from being one of the most progressive states in the country to the very bottom of the ranking.

“According to a study by the World Bank (WB) in Washington, Sabah is currently the poorest state in Malaysia and it is likely to stay that way for a considerable length of time given the current efforts in poverty eradication.

“This is an irony because Sabah is actually a very rich state. We have oil and gas just like Sarawak although presently Sarawak is producing more at the moment.”

Organised by the Sarawak Association for People’s Aspiration (Sapa) and Borneo Heritage Foundation of Sabah (BHF), the forum also saw Sabah Progressive Party president and former Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee, PBDS Baru deputy president Patrick Uren as well as human rights lawyer and activist Waythamoorthy Ponnusamy among the speakers.

Earlier at a press conference, Jeffrey, who is also BHF president, explained that the forum was organised with the aim of providing an atmosphere of open and sincere discussions.

“There should be no fear because if we were not allowed to discuss our views on the Malaysia Agreement, then we will never be able to resolve whatever disagreement we have,” he stressed, and proposed for Sarawak to work with Sabah in addressing the matter.

“Now we are out of tune, because Sarawak is controlled by the state’s political party, where even though they are in Barisan Nasional (BN), they can still make a stand on state matters compared to Sabah which is run by Umno and even the chief minister is appointed by Umno.”

Also present at the event was Sapa president Lina Soo.

Squrce from The borneo post

Remand for man who threatened to expose ex-girlfriend in the raw

SIBU: A man who threatened his ex-girlfriend that he would expose her naked pictures and videos to the public was yesterday placed under a four-day remand.

The 28-year-old man from Kuala Lumpur was alleged to have extorted the woman, who is in her 20s, twice before his latest alleged extortion RM1,000 in Sibu on Wednesday.

After his demand was not met, the man told her to meet him at a hotel in town.

The woman then sought help from the police who set up an ambush.

She arrived at the lobby of the hotel to meet the man.

When the man dragged her, the police arrested him.

It was said that the man’s handphone had illicit pictures of other women.

SEORANG lelaki ditahan di Sibu kerana disyaki mengugut bekas teman wanitanya bahawa dia akan menyebarkan gambar bogel dan klip video lucah mereka untuk tatapan umum jika tuntutan wangnya tidak dipenuhi.

Menurut laporan polis, pasangan itu tidak berjumpa lagi sejak hubungan mereka terputus di Kuala Lumpur tahun lepas.

Suspek, 28, dipercayai menghubungi wanita berumur 20-an itu apabila dia tiba di Sibu pada Rabu lepas.

Suspek dikatakan meminta RM150 daripada wanita berkenaan dan mengugut agar mendedahkan gambar dan video klip bogelnya di Internet.

Keesokannya, lelaki itu sekali lagi memaksa bekas teman wanitanya agar memberi RM1,000 dan menyerahkan wang itu di sebuah hotel di pusat bandar Sibu.

Bagaimanapun, wanita tersebut meminta bantuan polis yang kemudian membuat satu perangkap.

Suspek kemudiannya ditahan apabila muncul selepas wanita itu tiba di lobi hotel tersebut.

Polis juga menjumpai gambar dan video klip bogel suspek dan wanita berkenaan di dalam komputer riba dan kamera suspek.

Difahamkan, wanita tersebut sedang merancang untuk berkahwin dengan seorang lelaki lain apabila suspek muncul semula.

Telefon milik suspek juga mengandungi gambar-gambar lucahnya bersama perempuan lain.

This is toooooo much!

To me this is to much. Who is he? This man is one of the religious extremists. As a christian I feel like to kill him.

We don't want this kind of person to live in Sarawak. He is a west Malaysian. He is trying to poisoning the mind of our muslim friend in Sarawak and Sabah.

This is the real and true image of west Malaysian people.

All the while they (Malayan/West Malaysian) are the one creating problem for us. These Malayan people are the parasite.

Orang Malaya ini cuba tidak ingin faham dengan apa yang diketahui oleh orang lain.

Cara pemikiran orang Malaya ini seperti pemikiran binatang. Cuba ingin mencari gaduh dengan orang lain.

Orang Malaya ini cuba untuk menghuru-harakan keadaan, ketenangan orang lain.

Orang Malaya ini memang kurang ajar.

Orang Malaya membawa budaya jahat ke Negara Sarawak dan Sabah.

Ramai orang Malaya posting kereja di Sabah dan Sarawak menyebabkan ramai warga graduan Sabah dan Sarawak yang masih menganggur.

Haramkan orang Malaya di sekolah kebangsaan, di jabatan kerajaan di Negara Sabah dan Sarawak.Kalau tidak pemikiran anak-anak orang Sarawak dan Sabah akan diracuni dengan pemikiran binatang orang Malaya.

Haramkan orang Malaya di Pejabat PETRONAS, pejabat Bank dan pejabat swasta di Negara Sabah dan Sarawak.

Haramkan orang Malaya datang ke Sabah dan Sarawak.

Believe It or Not. The Mystery of the death reveal.

Death Or Dying

There is some truth to the old saying, “There are only two things you can count on in life: death and taxes.” Everyone experiences death. Death and dying are an inevitable part of human life.

Some people know ahead of time when their death will occur. Terminal illnesses, when diagnosed ahead of time, allow a person to set his or her affairs in order, make relationships right, and say goodbye to loved ones. In these cases, every person involved has a chance to gradually adjust and make peace with death, as much as possible. However, not everyone has this chance. Many deaths occur suddenly. Death can, and often does, strike without warning.

No one is promised tomorrow. The only thing we can count on is today.

Many people around the world turn to religion to answer questions about death and the afterlife, especially when someone is facing his or her own mortality. Strangely, even a brief glance at many of the world’s religions reveals that many theologies glamorize death, promising rewards in the afterlife, including increased understanding of God and the universe and even, in some cases, supernatural powers that were unavailable during the mortal life. Death often seems more attractive than being alive.

But the reality of death is that it should be avoided at all costs. Death is the worst thing to ever happen in all of existence.

Life is a precious gift we are unable to recreate once it’s gone. The truth about death lays plain the harshness of the grave … but also the true beauty of the life we already have. We invite you to learn more about this topic, and hope you better appreciate your life as a result.

Find out more....

Woman cuts off ex-boyfriend's penis, kills him

HONG KONG: A Chinese woman chopped off her former boyfriend’s penis with scissors and then killed him with a hammer after he raped her, a Hong Kong court heard, according to a report Tuesday.

Yeung Ki, 41, on trial in the city, has admitted killing 32-year-old piano teacher Zhou Hui on Boxing Day 2012 but denies murder, the South China Morning Post reported.

Yeung, a Chinese mainlander and Hong Kong resident, killed Zhou after an affair with the married man lasting years, during which he had deserted her while pregnant and borrowed money without paying it back on numerous occasions, it said.

On the night of the killing, Zhou “beat her, pushed her to the floor, and slapped their daughter”, then “forcibly had sex with her”, the High Court heard, according to the newspaper.

Afterwards, she drugged him with soup laced with sleeping pills, cut off his penis and flushed it down the toilet, then when he was awakened by the pain, beat him to death with “almost uncountable” blows from a hammer, the paper reported the prosecution as saying.

“Yeung Ki has been charged with murder. The trial will last 11 days,” a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong judiciary told AFP.

Zhou had also told Yeung he had nude pictures of her which he would post on the internet unless she gave him HK$200,000 ($25,800) to buy a car, the South China Morning Post reported, citing prosecutors who appeared in court Monday. --AFP

Sarawak to amend state land code?

KUCHING: Sarawak government intends to amend the State land code to allow sale and purchase of Native Customary Rights (NCR) land among the natives regardless of where these lands are located.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said the Land Code Amendment  Bill would be tabled for approval in the State Assembly sitting in  November this year.

"The amendment to the land code would enable the natives to buy  any NCR land in any place in the state because if we limit the sale and  purchase of NCR land only to members of natives in particular place or longhouse, the value of the land is almost valueless," the chief  minister told a press conference at his office here today.

At present NCR land owners are prohibited under the state land  code to sell their land to native buyers from different longhouses or  areas.

"This was applicable 200 or 300 years ago because the idea at  that time was to confine the land to the community and in those days of  course, land was only for farming but nowadays land is also for  commercial and industrial activities.

"So the law must adapt to the changes. It will therefore come  November we will be introducing the amendment to the land code so that  any native can buy NCR land and also sell them to any other members  either to the Malay, Iban, Bidayuh or the Orang Ulu," he added.

He said the amendment to the land code had nothing to do with the non-natives because the transactions were only allowed between native to native.

On a separate matter, Adenan said there had been a lot of comment  made on the Sarawak government prohibiting the entry of certain people into the state. 

"Some said why only opposition leaders not Barisan people are stopped from entering the state. 

"I will adress this matter in the coming sitting of the State  Assembly in May," said Adenan. -- BERNAMA

PKR would proceed with legal action to challenge the bans

Around 6 PM on April 21st, MP from Pandan, Rafizi Ramli was denied entry into Sarawak. This is the second time that Rafizi was denied entry to the state by the Chief Minister of Sarawak, Adenan Satem. During the Balingian by-election last month, Rafizi and several PKR leaders were denied entry into Sarawak.

PKR Sarawak chairman, Baru Bian said the inclusion of PKR leaders in the list of people banned from entering Sarawak as a ‘very interesting issue.’

PKR would proceed with legal action to challenge the bans, whether or not this ban is against the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.

Anwar, however, was allowed in. So far, Adenan Satem has not had the courage to go the whole way and ban the PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim as well, evidently because of the world attention this would undoubtedly receive!

Folks who are BN supporters, before you applaud Adenan Satem for this move, please, think carefully of the ramifications. If the Chief Minister can arbitrarily banning political adversaries which is a direct conflict with the freedom of movement guaranteed by the constitution, who is to say that he would stop there? Many of us Sarawakians are related to folks from West Malaysia and other countries from all over the world through marriages. What guarantee that he would not do the same to you and your relatives?

What good reasons why Adenan Satem banned PKR leaders from Sarawak? Is he feeling threatened? Or is he simply flexing his muscle to show that he is the man with power in Sarawak?

Folks who were banned by Adenan Satem were members of Parliament, elected by the citizens of Malaysia. Those folks are not criminals. They did not come as hooligans to destroy Sarawak. They are not thieves nor do they ever committed any crimes. Adenan Satem has no reason why he denied entry to folks like MP Rafizi Ramli.

Many people criticized Adenan Satem for wasting and using Sarawak's autonomy on immigration and abuse of power to keep opposition political leaders out of the state.

If he genuinely wants to keep bad people out of Sarawak, he could easily have used the Interpol database. As it turned out, the Government of Malaysia never made use of the Interpol database to weed out real criminals. This was obvious during the MH370 crisis when two Iranians were found to travel in Malaysia using stolen passports, right under the Immigration Department's nose!

If Rafizi sued the State Government and won, it would be a pity indeed if the Federal Court were to find the action unconstitutional and revoke the State's autonomy right. And Sarawakians would have lost a pillar of their autonomy on Immigration, thanks to Adenan for screwing it up!

Source from Radio Free Sarawak

LangRimba says:

Adenan Satem has the right to ban anyone entering Sarawak if he felt that these people are trying to influence people mind to protest against the government. These west malaysian are trying to influence the people of sarawak with their malayan ideology.

We sarawakian do not need Malayan based party to rule us. We don not need PKR, DAP, PAS, MCA, UMNO to rule us. We have opposition parties of our own such as SNAP, SWP, STAR, PBDS Baru and many more.  These sarawak opposition of us should unite together to form their own Sarawak Pakatan Rakyat.

We also do not need Malayan extremists NGO of ISMA and PERKASA to teach us here. We have enough of our own NGO to fight for the right of our own people.

I am not BN supporter nor I am PKR supporter. I have my right to vote whom I want to vote because we are democratic nation. 

I am sure that our Chief Minister would not banned someone anyhow simply abuse his position banning anyone if they are no threat to the people of sarawak. Adenan have the right to ban them as accordance to our 18 points sarawak immigration act.

PKR have the right to challenge Sarawak government on the matter.

Ryan Giggs revives Class of '92 as Paul Scholes returns to join Nicky Butt and Phil Neville on Manchester United coaching staff

Man United The Class of 92

Ryan Giggs called Paul Scholes and persuaded him to help coach the side

They will be joined by Phil Neville and Nicky Butt in the Man United dugout

Giggs wants the team to start playing the 'Manchester United' way again

Tom Cleverley is likely to get a game with Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata possibly dropped while Giggs is in charge

No sooner had one regime slunk out of the back gates at Manchester United’s Carrington training ground than another was driving in through the front. Before 9am on Wednesday, Paul Scholes was back at his spiritual football home.

The story of Scholes and United this season serves, in many ways, as a window into the uncertain, unhappy world of David Moyes.

Moyes, sacked by United on Tuesday morning, thought he had offered Scholes a role last autumn and briefly the former Old Trafford midfielder worked with Nicky Butt and the Under 19s.

Soon, though, the relationship was in pieces, with Scholes heading back home to Oldham under the impression Moyes didn’t want him.

On Wednesday morning, United’s interim manager Ryan Giggs had repaired the damage with a single phone call and his former team-mate was back amongst it at first-team training. 

United’s technical area will begin to resemble a screen grab from the Class of ’92 movie when Norwich arrive in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.

Giggs, for his part, knows that his role as United manager will be a cameo. He will not be considered for the post at this stage and is aware the incoming manager — set to be foreign — may not want him either. 

Between now and the end of the season, though, he will attempt to turn back time and it is hard to blame him.

Before telling the United squad on Tuesday afternoon that he was bringing in Scholes and indeed Butt, Giggs sat the players down and delivered a simple message.

‘Ryan was very straightforward, as always,’ revealed an informed source. ‘He told the  players it was time to go back to playing like Manchester United.

‘He said it was time to get on the front foot, to press and to start dictating games. Like everyone else in the room, he is fed up worrying about the opposition all the time.

‘He wants this team to be ruthless, brave and unforgiving, just as it used to be.’

Giggs — for all his understandable denials — is known to have disagreed with Moyes’s tactics. On more than one occasion, he tried to persuade Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor to change his outlook.

The style the 40-year-old will attempt to impose on Saturday at Old Trafford will owe much more to Ferguson — and indeed his first youth coach Eric Harrison — than it will the man who drove out through Carrington’s rear entrance after his dismissal.

Giggs has told central midfielders including Tom Cleverley that they are not to sit alongside holding player Michael Carrick any more but to move into advanced positions and hurt the opposition when United have the ball.

Cleverley, who has struggled more than most this season, is expected to start against Norwich, as is another academy product, Danny Welbeck, and Adnan Januzaj. Not surprisingly, Giggs will jettison Marouane Fellaini and, more controversially, is giving thought to leaving out Juan Mata.

If United start without almost £60m of Moyes signings then it will represent a staggering indictment of the mistakes of the past eight months. Fellaini has been so poor that Moyes himself had started to drop him while Mata’s form has been lamentable since United signed him in January.

Respected figures in the game have been critical of Mata’s inability to influence games going against United since he moved from Chelsea and there is no way Giggs will select players he believes don’t have the courage to receive possession in difficult areas.

Mentor: Giggs will try and implement a style of play learned under his former manager Sir Alex Ferguson

On Saturday, Old Trafford will witness a highly motivated United team. It could well be that Norwich suffer. United, with nothing of worth left to play for, will attack the game unshackled, motivated by a desire to show they are better off without Moyes.

There remains a key group of senior players who believe Moyes has tried to turn public opinion against them. That is a dubious assertion. Nevertheless, motivated footballers can do remarkable things and it would be no surprise if United finish their miserable season with a flourish that will remind people of their true worth.

The United board — with the Glazers in attendance — will look on with interest. As they continue their efforts to turn the heads of Louis van Gaal and Carlo Ancelotti towards Manchester these coming days, they are aware that a few Giggs victories will start a bandwagon of public opinion in favour of the Welshman’s appointment.

Whatever happens, he will not get the job this time. It could, however, be fun watching him try and that particular commodity has been rather thin on the ground in Stretford this season.

On the attack: Tom Cleverley will be encouraged to take up more forward positions in United's midfield

Amending Land Codes For Self-gained. Stop Grabbing Our Land!

Now that Malaysia’s Barisan Nasional (BN) have got around to ditching Taib Mahmud they need to ditch his unconstitutional land grab laws too.

The former Chief Minister passed a series of amendments to Sarawak’s Land Codes, in order to help himself to lands belonging to the native communities.

One such change in May 2000 obliterated native rights to their traditional pulau galau and menoa lands.

This has been found time and again by the Federal Courts to be unconstitutional.

As Land & Survey Department documents released by Sarawak Report have clearly shown, the vast majority of the lands seized thanks to these illegal amendments were handed to members of Taib’s own family or to his cronies in politics and business (who were expected to pay him fat kickbacks).

Take the case in the latest ruling this week by the Appeal Court against the State of Sarawak, involving the Iban communities of Sebangan.

Raziah’s land grab in Sebangan

It was Sarawak Report who first brought this particular disgraceful land grab to wide attention, when in 2010 we reported from the area and revealed that Taib’s own sister Raziah Mahmud was behind the snatch in her role as a director and major shareholder of the company Quality Concrete.

In typical Taib family style Raziah owed her position and her shares in Quality Concrete to the fact that as a Taib family member she could swing the concessions they were after from the Land & Survey Department and so-called Land Custody and Development Authority, both dominated by Taib.

Without so much as a by your leave to the local community these criminals had set about logging one of the last remaining virgin forests of the region on the basis of a ‘provisional’ license obtained to turn the area into an oil palm plantation.

And when the people protested the greedy billionairess had the cheek to offer them just RM250 per family to surrender up the heritage of their children and grandchildren.

There are so many cases – gangster tactics

When Sarawak Report went to the area to report on the problem we were told, there was nothing to be done as there were so many similar cases across the state and powerful people were involved.

However, the local people were not to be daunted.  Led by Numpang Suntai (brother to the Radio Free Sarawak presenter Christina Suntai) and some brave headmen they started a legal case and demanded the logging stop.

It was at that point that traditional gangster tactics kicked in.
 
A mysterious fire was started at the logging camp and immediately the police sprang into action on information from the company that Suntai and other leading protestors were responsible.

The former Shell executive, his cousin the NGO leader Nicholas Mujah and three other upstanding leaders of their community were all rounded up and arrested and thrown into jail wearing prison suits.

Fortunately for them they were able to rely on the legal representation of land rights lawyer Baru Bian and the trumped up charges were soon dismissed.

 However, there are many others who have suffered similar treatment defending their lands in Sarawak and who have not been so lucky under Taib’s gangster government.

Bian took Quality Concrete and the State of Sarawak to court and, in what was fast becoming a celebrated case, Quality Concrete lost in the High Court and the villagers won!

Shortly after, it is noted that Raziah slunk off the board of Quality Concrete, although she has continued to use the Quality Concrete building in Kuching to house the offices for her many, many other land grabbing companies.
 
But, lo and behold, instead of accepting defeat, the State of Sarawak (ie ex Chief Minister Taib Mahmud) appealed the case, as he has time and again with all the cases he has been losing under the Sarawak Land Code.

And, as with eight previous similar cases, when this scandalous matter finally reached a ruling in the Court of Appeal the court confirmed the original judgement in favour of the villagers.

Quite simply, it has been upheld time and again in the Court of Appeal and also in the highest Federal Court that the land grabs performed under Sarawak’s amended land codes violate the constitutional rights of the native peoples of Sarawak.

 “Once again the court of Appeal has affirmed our long held views on the concept of NCR over land. I hope against hope the new CM TanSri Adenan Satem will be humble enough to depart from his predecessor’s stubborn refusal to recognise the concept of Pemakai Menua and Pulau Galau as NCL in Sarawak. And to take a brave and pragmatic stand not to appeal against such a decision now and in the future” [Baru Bian speaking on his latest land rights victory]

Yet the stubborn old man Taib has continued to appeal each case and to play for time, while his crony companies get a free hand to lay waste what is left of Sarawak’s forests and native lands.

It must stop!

When a law is repeatedly found to be unconstitutional it is the duty of the State Government to repeal or amend it, so that it abides by the constitution and no longer engenders illegal acts.

Taib Mahmud is a man who studied the law only to consider himself to be above it and like the obstinate old man that he is, he has refused to budge.

But his successor must now show he can do better.  Adenan Satem has so far proved himself to be little more that a puppet to his relative the new Governor, but on this matter he must insist on letting reason prevail.

Of course, Taib fears that opportunities to grab more territories will be missed for his family and that he will lose the political power that comes from controlling the handing out of lands.

There is also the problem that victims will be costly to compensate and that lands which have been sold on by his relatives and cronies to other companies will now have to be returned to their rightful owners and those companies will want compensation too!

Nevertheless, a government must do the right thing when it has been found to be a fault.

And by handing back lands the State Government will be benefiting the people, whose interests it is supposed to represent, rather than Taib’s family and cronies.

Private investors should also take note.  Any company considering purchasing logs or oil palm plantation land in the gangster state of Sarawak must henceforth stand warned.

If the timber or lands they are buying were obtained under Taib’s illegal legislation then from now on they purchase at their own risk.

Investors and buyers can no longer plead innocence!

By Sarawak Report 

LangRimba Says:

This served as reminder to us. No more Joint-venture project allowed in our NCR Land. No logging activity allowed in our Pulau galau and menoa land. 

Jailed for kissing Buddha statue

Sri Lanka has detained a female British tourist for having a Buddha tattoo on her right arm and ordered her deportation, police said Tuesday.

The unidentified woman was arrested at the country’s main international airport on Monday and appeared before a magistrate who ordered her deportation, police said in a statement.

The statement said she had an image of the Buddha seated on a lotus flower tattooed on her right arm.
“She was taken before the Negombo magistrate who ordered her to be detained prior to deportation,” it said, adding that she was arrested shortly after her arrival on a flight from neighbouring India.

It did not say what charges were brought against her, but Sri Lanka barred another British tourist from entering the island in March last year for showing “disrespect” to Buddhism by having a Buddha tattooed on his arm.

Sri Lanka, a majority Buddhist nation, is highly sensitive to perceived threats to the religion.

In August 2012, three French tourists were sentenced to six months in jail, which was suspended for five years, for kissing a Buddha statue in what the authorities considered was a sign of disrespect.

Sri Lanka prevented US rap star Akon from visiting in 2010 over one of his music videos which featured scantily clad women dancing in front of a Buddha statue.

It was not immediately clear where the detained British woman would be deported to. -AFP

Moyes pays price for self-inflicted blunders

Manchester United's manager David Moyes reacts after their Champions League quarter-final second leg soccer match against Bayern Munich in Munich, April 9, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Michael Dalder

 

(Reuters) - David Moyes could probably quote a list of excuses explaining why he failed at Manchester United but ultimately it was a series of self-inflicted blunders that led to his dismissal after less than 10 months in charge of the outgoing English champions.

Having been hand-picked by Alex Ferguson, the first thing Moyes did when he arrived at Old Trafford was to remove his fellow Glaswegian's entire backroom staff, men who represented the mortar between the bricks in an unprecedented haul of silverware.

United made a promising start, winning 4-1 at Swansea on the opening day of the Premier League season after a 2-0 Community Shield win over Wigan, before Moyes soon promoted Ryan Giggs to an assistant coaching role after the poor run that followed.

His first major signing was Marouane Fellaini, a faithful servant from his Everton days, for 27.5 million pounds ($46.21 million) and the towering Belgian turned out to be a complete misfit in a fading midfield screaming out for a playmaker rather than yet another enforcer.

Mindful that Moyes was given a huge pair of boots to fill and a squad in dire need of an overhaul, the board and most fans were still behind him at the turn of the year, despite giving up on any realistic chance of winning domestic silverware.

Successive defeats to Tottenham Hotspur in the league, Swansea in the FA Cup and Sunderland in the League Cup left United facing their worst season in decades, but it was the humiliating home losses to Liverpool and Manchester City in March that turned the fans against him.

PLAYERS CONFUSED

Many were unhappy in the manner in which he tamely accepted a 4-2 aggregate defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals and Sunday's 2-0 reverse at his former club Everton was the final straw in a tormenting nine-month and 22 day spell for a manager who was simply out of his depth.

Seemingly overconfident when he rode in to replace Ferguson, Moyes soon struck an uncomfortable and confused-looking figure when he admitted that the job was much harder than he thought it would be.

Reports that his coaching methods, coupled with a defensive strategy in big games unfamiliar to a side accustomed to an expansive style, appeared to alienate some of the senior players in the dressing room.

This disharmony and continued run of mediocre results pushed the corridors of power at Old Trafford over the brink and they finally lost their patience, deciding a change was needed with four games still remaining in the season.

The painful Everton defeat also acted as the catalyst that ended the support of the last remaining sections of hardcore fans, who still defended him when others charted a plane to carry a banner saying "The Wrong One - Moyes Out" during last month's 4-1 home win over Aston Villa.

The Old Trafford faithful will now hope that the next in line will quickly stop the rot and get the rebuilding process on the right track.

Provocative statements can destroy peace, stability — Kurup

KOTA KINABALU: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup said people who make provocative and racial statements are merely seeking recognition and will not do so if the public ignores them.

These people often issued such statements over the social media and did not realise that they could destroy the peace and stability the country enjoyed, he said at a media gathering and dinner here Saturday night.

Saying that the matter should be handled wisely, he said the media had a major role in shaping public opinion and should be responsible in ensuring that accurate information reached the public.

Quoting a statement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in the latter’s blog, Kurup said Najib had said: “If you want to preserve the harmony of this country, don’t let these instigators overpower us! Even better, don’t pass on news of such incidents as it is almost certain to incite fear and hatred”.

Kurup said racial and religious bigotry would never be erased due to human nature but the government and the media could work together to suppress the intolerance and bigotry faced by the people for the continued progress of the country.

“We need to stop insane individuals and groups from exploiting our misunderstandings and past mistakes. We cannot allow them to hijack our unity, our peace and our future,” he said.

Kurup said the media should take heed of a recommendation by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Unity and National Service that the media should continue to play an important role in publishing news and articles that help to strengthen unity.

The media, as partners in unity, should take note of the recommendation to avoid misunderstanding in the society, especially when certain people with vested interests attempted to manipulate statements for their own gain, he said.

He said the media should be cautious when reporting news because published information could trigger controversies and assumptions to the extent of changing the people’s perception of the transparency of the government and nation.

“We can’t sit on our laurels, we need to work harder to maintain and manage our precious national unity because the dynamics of the issues change frequently. What worked in the past is totally irrelevant today. Unless there is an effective government response with great assistance from the media, we would fail and destroy the unity we took years to build,” Kurup said.

He said unity needed to be treasured, protected at all costs, and media assistance was required to strengthen national unity and preserve it for the future generations to inherit. — Bernama

Mystery Thickens Over Missing Millions Meant For Schools

 Source from Sarawak Report

The company cited as the vehicle for SUPP leader Peter Chin’s pre-election plan to build 15 Sarawak schools has categorically denied any involvement in the project.

The KL based developer See Hoy Chan has told Sarawak Report that it had no knowledge of the RM559million proposal, which was rushed through and approved by the PM and Deputy PM’s offices in the weeks just before the election.

Details revealed in our original expose cited a list of 15 badly needed schools in Sarawak and Peter Chin recommended the consortium One BU Redha Services, comprising the Taib crony company Redha Services and One BU Sdn Bhd to build them.

A letter was sent to the Prime Minister’s office from One BU Redha Services Sdn Bhd claiming that their consortium was “part of the See Hoy Chan Holdings Group of Companies”.

‘Part of the See Hoy Chan group of companies’

Indeed, One BU appears to signify One Bandar Utama, which seems to associate it with See Hoy Chan’s well known KL development, the Bandar Utama township. It is an association that seems strengthened by the fact that One BU Sdn Bhd shares the same registered address as the See Hoy Chan Group, 1 Persiaran Bandar Utama.

However, on contacting one of the directors of the major family firm last week, Dato Teo Chiang Liang, we discovered it was not the case.
He told Sarawak Report emphatically:

“My company did not have anything to do with it. It has nothing to do with the main company See Hoy Chan. I am not aware of this [project] or who the consortium members are. As far as I am concerned I am not aware of the existence of this company. If there is an individual interest, that is a personal interest – as far as the company is concerned it is not involved.”

This denial throws added concern about the due diligence exercised over a half billion ringgit project that the PM processed hurriedly through his own office on the urging of just one BN politician from Sarawak days before the election announcement.

SUPP’s Peter Chin was the politician who drove the project through the back door at the PM’s office.

Chin’s correspondence repeatedly referred to the project as being a way to win votes for BN from Sarawak rural folk who have waited for 50 years for proper schools, which in itself betrays corrupt party political motives.

Furthermore, to process a proposal for such a vast public project through such a backdoor method is of course, highly irregular – certainly in any democratic country.

We have already queried why a local politician in Sarawak would push such a proposal privately and recommend just one unheard of consortium to do the work?

It now appears that the consortium was making false claims to be linked to a major and respected established group.

Shareholder link with See Hoy Chan

Tatler’s top 300 mover and shaker – One BU shareholder and See Hoy Chan director Dato Teo Chiang Hong

See Hoy Chan does have one director who does appear to have a direct link to the project. However, when we contacted him for information he cut off our calls and ignored our emails.

Dato Teo Chiang Hong is a brother in the family directorship, who sits on the board of the company and also heads the group’s involvement in the plantation business in Sarawak.

He has been cited as one of Malaysia’s richest and most influential ‘movers and shakers’, certainly in the Tatler social scene – the magazine lists him and his wife as top socialites.

It is Teo Chiang Hong who is the main shareholder of One BU Sdn Bhd. The other shareholder is his wife Lai Chui Meng, known as Lisa Teo.

When we rang Dato Teo to query if he had authorised the claim that his company was also part of the See Hoy Chan group, he said that he was in China and it was not convenient to speak.

The call cut out after we nevertheless requested a speedy confirmation of brief questions.  And when we rang later our calls were not answered again.  Nor was our email, which was sent last week.

Shareholder of One BU Sdn Bhd is indeed one of the Directors of 

See Hoy Chan and his wife. But was this a group enterprise?

The failure to elicit an answer from Dato Teo, combined with the categorical denial of his brother that the consortium is linked to the main See Hoy Chan Group, leaves a glaring series of questions for the Prime Minister, his deputy and Education Minister, Peter Chin and indeed Taib Mahmud to answer.

Glamour – wife Lisa Teo/ Lai Chui Meng also appears on Tatler’s 300 list.

Specifically, how could such a project have been recommended and authorised in the absence of a basic due diligence check on the company?

After all, we are talking about 15 key schools that were to be promoted to voters during the election period.

We are also talking about RM559million in public money to be ultimately spent on this apparent public private partnership.

Maybank

Maybank also comes into the picture, since Sarawak Report has received a copy of a letter from the branch known to supply services to Dato Teo, a short distance from the company’s Bandar Utama township headquarters in KL.

This letter from the branch manager, which was sent to the PM’s office as part of the application, assures that the bank can confirm that the One BU Redha Consortium has sufficient access to finances to act out its part in the project.

In fact, one year later there has been little further mention of the 15 schools which were cited in the one side of A4 document which the PM’s office accepted as the basis of the ‘project proposal’, authorised within days.

Letter of recommendation from Maybank assuring access to credit facilities – send to DPM Muhyiddin Yassin

There has been no further mention either of the half billion allocated by the BN government to the plan to build these desperately needed facilities.

SUPP’s Peter Chin is in an accountable position on this matter and his response as to why he recommended this ‘vote winning’ project under such insubstantial and apparently ill researched conditions would be welcomed.

Meanwhile, it seems that Sarawak’s vulnerable rural voters have been left high and dry again over promised schools and promised hundreds of millions for much needed development of Malaysia’s richest resourced state.

Dato Teo (right) on the party circuit – he should answer questions 

about the more serious matter of Sarawak’s 15 missing 

school projects

LangRimba Says:

This is very serious where its involved half billion 

of Rakyat money. As a concern citizen I hope something 

must be done to solve this matter. 

There are hundreds of schools especially the rural school 

need urgent repair and renovation.

From these reports I'm not sure whether the company has 

been awarded the contract as there is no offer letter from 

the ministry of education. Could be this is just the promised 

by DPM and PM to win the support of the people.

My questions:

Does the money already being released to Sarawak 

government? 

or  

Where is the evident that the money is missing or 

paid to certain individuals or companies concerned?