2 seperate police reports are lodged against Malaysian bloggers Jeff Ooi and Raja Petra.
3 groups lodge reports against blogger (NST)
Three police reports were lodged against blogger Jeff Ooi for allegedly defaming the country, government and police force.
The reports were lodged by the Malaysian Islamic Consumers Association, Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress and Pertubuhan Seni Silat Ikatan Kalam Malaysia against a statement issued by Ooi to an Al Jazeera reporter. The statement was allegedly broadcast on YouTube following an illegal gathering on Nov 10 organised by a coalition of opposition parties and non-governmental organisations calling itself Bersih.
The police reports were lodged at the Sentul police headquarters yesterday about 4.30pm.
The complainants want Ooi to be investigated, alleging that the interview given to Al Jazeera not only tarnished the image of the country but was also seditious and caused racial tension.
Ooi is also alleged to have given inaccurate information to Al Jazeera in stating that the police used unnecessary force in dispersing the demonstrators.
[The videos in questions... video 1 & video 2]
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UPM in confrontation with its students again. [Malaysiakini]
Lee Song Yong, a second-year computer science student is in a battle with Universiti Putra Malaysia to get back a notebook that security personnel confiscated on Aug 22.
UPM on the other hand is seeking disciplinary action against Lee for not cooperating with the varsity officers during the confiscation.
This is not the 1st time UPM is involved with similar confrontation; another student had his laptop confiscated in September but his issue is settled sooner with the involvement of some opposition politicians.
I don’t like seeing lawyers and politicians involving in university affairs, but the lack of transparency from UPM in handling these disciplinary issues has left me no choice but to believe that the student is being victimized instead of some political agendas.
The disciplinary proceeding is a really bad joke as Lee’s lawyer mentioned. Do UPM authorities really expect the students to just hand over their expensive belongings when told to do so without questions asked? Besides, do they have enough reasons to do so?
Update Nov 23 - Lee is suspended for one semester for ‘obstructing campus officers from performing their duty’. [MP Lim]
I am not a supporter of the BERSIH’s yellow march yesterday (Nov 10) despite its great success (as claimed by the organisers).
I applaud the protesters’ spirit to convey their thoughts;
I condemn police’s action to use tear gas and water cannons on the protesters;
I hope that the Election Commission (EC) could be more independent;
I wish that the flaws in our electoral system could be minimized.
So why am I still not a supporter of the BERSIH rally?
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Malaysia universities have completely fallen out of the Top 200 Universities list from THES-QS World University Rankings in 2007. [Full list in PDF].
I never like the THES-QS ranking system which favoured universities with English Language as teaching medium. The top 16 universities are from English speaking countries; only 3 out of the top 25 are from non English speaking countries… and the fact that the top university in Germany (Heidelberg University) only ranks at 60th doesn’t give much credibility to the ranking.
Honestly, I don’t give a damn about how Malaysia universities are positioned in the list. That however doesn’t change the fact that our quality of higher education is in an embarrassing state. We don’t need a ranking to justify that; I graduated from UM 5 years ago, I know how bad we were… and the situation has probably worsen in the last few years.
Make no mistake, Malaysia has excellent talents. We have lots of Malaysians doing well in foreign universities; I have friends that didn’t perform well in SPM or STPM, but exiled in foreign universities… we have great potentials, and we are competitive. Those potentials are however wasted by our local universities… talents are being shaped into mediocre graduates, which is quite a shame.
I have written a post in August regarding the problems in our local universities in response to Badawi’s recent education plan; read it if interested.
AirAsia’s female cabin crew uniform is under fire during the UMNO General Assembly. A Wanita UMNO delegate had strong words against the AirAsia uniform for female cabin crew, deeming it an ‘embarrassment’ to women. [Malaysiakini]
“The uniform is too revealing. We don’t want to look at their thigh and knee,” said Zaleha Hussin, an elderly woman delegate from the northeastern state of Kelantan.
“Malaysia is an Islamic nation and we are ashamed of the AirAsia uniform,” she told the meeting.
Male delegates also supported the change of dress code. “It should be implemented by explaining that we are a Muslim country,” said Azman Ruslan, a lawyer. [Reuters]
I think AirAsia’s female cabin crew looks great in their uniforms. If they feel comfortable working in it, and not embarrassed of revealing their knee… why should we feel embarrassed or ashamed about their outfit?
I have been on flight in a few occasions (twice with Air Asia); most of the time I would be sleeping, reading or watching movies (if available), just like what most others would do… only perverts and idiots would keep staring at the cabin crew.
According to Lim Kit Siang, UMNO youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin had said in the UMNO General Assembly debate yesterday morning (Nov 8): “Today is the first time the Umno president’s speech is not being read by the masses because a particular ethnic group controls the distribution line of newspapers and they are on holiday.”
I am not sure that if he is blaming the Indians or meant something else, but the words are uncalled for regardless. It shows no sensitivity and is on the blink of being racist.
There is nothing wrong for the Indians to control the newspapers’ distribution line; it’s a free market… Indians are not protected by government policies or provided any special privileges.
It’s not like the Hindus have chose to celebrate Deepavali during UMNO General Assembly, it’s UMNO who chose to have their annual assembly on Deepavali instead… now, who’s fault is it that the speech was not being read on time?
UMNO Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin said during the UMNO General Assembly about our subsidy system…
“Why should we give subsidised petrol to the already rich, who drive luxurious cars with high capacity engines? It should be meant only for the man riding a kapcai (low-cc motorcycle).”
He added that billions of ringgit could be saved and the money used instead to develop village roads, build more public infrastructure and construct schools.
His statement is half true. Malaysians have been pampered with all kind of subsidies all these years… perhaps it’s time to let the petrol price roamed freely and save the money for other benefits, to help the poor for example.
I would applaud if the billions Ringgit saved could be used to develop our villages… but I am afraid that we might use it for something else… paying for a crook bridge (that was never built), spending on new toys or sending a traveller to space. Who can guarantee that the money saved from the cut subsidy would be well spent?
In my words…
“Why should we spent money to send a man to space, who rides on a billion dollar spaceship with super capacity engines? It should be meant only for the men riding on wheels.”
Employers wishing to recruit foreign workers must now advertise the job vacancies in their companies with the Electronic Labour Exchange for two weeks before their requests can be considered.
Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said the employers must show proof that they had advertised with the labour exchange set up by Human Resource Ministry…
“If proven that there has been no response from locals within that period, then the employers can apply to employ foreign workers and their applications will be considered by a committee.” [Bernama]
I have written in an earlier post regarding this matter, that Malaysian companies have not taken enough initiative for the past decade to hire locals to fill their vacancies, but went straight for foreign labour instead because they are cheap, and easy to find.
I am not sure what is the Electronic Labour Exchange, how it works or how effective it is… the move is however welcome nonetheless; at least it shows that the government is giving some thoughts to control the influx of foreign workers and opening more job opportunities for locals instead.