Tuesday 15 November 2011

Eligible Malaysians abroad urged to register as voters at Malaysian missions

KUALA LUMPUR: The Foreign Ministry is urging all Malaysians abroad who are eligible to register as voters at the respective Malaysian missions overseas, to ensure their right to vote is guaranteed.

Deputy Foreign Minister Senator A. Kohilan Pillay said his ministry, acting on behalf of the Election Commission (EC), always cooperated in ensuring that adequate Voter Registration Forms (Form A) were supplied to all the embassies, high commissions, consulates general and Malaysian consulates overseas.

He disclosed this at the Dewan Rakyat sitting Tuesday in reply to Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR-Lembah Pantai), who wanted to know the level of readiness and preparations taken by all the Malaysian embassies, high commissions and consulates worldwide to ensure that Malaysian nationals abroad were given their right to vote.

Kohilan said the Malaysian missions also ensured that all the personal particulars of Malaysian nationals, including those who had registered as absentee voters residing abroad, were updated to include complete information such as their name, address and contact number in the foreign countries they were residing.

Meanwhile, responding to a question from Datuk Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), Kohillan said the campaigning process overseas was allowed after the nomination process had been implemented.

However, the campaigning must comply with the election regulations stipulated by the EC, he said. - Bernama.

Saturday 12 November 2011

full moon on 11.11.11


Date: 11.11.11

Time: 11.40pm

Venue: Westlake, Kampar, Perak

Thursday 10 November 2011

dusk over the hill


Date: 10/11/2011

Time: 7.08pm

Venue: Westlake, Kampar, Perak

Tuesday 8 November 2011

Malaysia’s Ahmadis living dangerously


SELAYANG: In the middle of Kampung Nakhoda, there is an unassuming three-storey building. Nothing about its humble stature makes it stand out from nearby houses, except for a council-erected signboard that clearly reads: “Qadiani Bukan Islam” (Qadianis are not Muslims).
Youths mingle inside the building’s compound, warily observing passers-by beyond the front gate. At FMT’s approach, they smiled and opened the gate, only to quickly close it, and the front doors leading to the building’s living room.
Inside, the youths set up video cameras and other recording equipment. They are friendly, but slightly skittish with the visiting journalist. They relax a little when their religious leader, Maulana Ainul Yaqeen Sahib, enters.
It is easy to see why. Ainul belongs to the Ahmadiyya movement, an Islamic sect coldly received by Malaysia’s Sunni Islamic authorities.
Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) officers in the past, he said, have raided the building – named Baitussalam – which serves as the local Ahmadiyya community’s gathering place and mosque.
“They (JAIS) pushed themselves through a hole in the front gate when we didn’t let them come in. They didn’t have a warrant,” he told FMT, relating the 2009 incident.
The JAIS officers barged their way into the building, and started inspecting its prayer room and taking photographs.
Ainul also said that a few of these officers would later pose as curious university students. One of them, he claimed, “borrowed” a copy of the Quran, and never gave back.

Given the cold shoulder
According to Ainul, Ahmadis are no different from other Muslims in terms of practice and the faith. “We follow the Quran, the five pillars of Islam and the tradition of the Holy Prophet. Even our Kalimah (Islamic creed) is the same,” he said.
But what sets them apart from other Muslims, is the belief that their sect’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was Islam’s Promised Messiah and the redeemer, the Imam Mahdi.
(The Ahmadiyya movement began in Qadian, India, during the late 19th century, and was later called Qadianis.)
It is a belief that has not only incurred the wrath of hardline Islamic authorities, but also their supporters.
In May 2010, Pakistani terrorists attacked two Ahmadiyya mosques in Lahore with grenades and automatic rifles, killing 86 and injuring more than 120.
Earlier in February this year, an Indonesian mob attacked an Ahmadiyya community in Cikeusik, Java. Videos released on the Internet showed the mob chanting “Allahuakbar” (God is great) as they beat and killed three Ahmadis, raining blows on them with sticks and stones even as they lay dead on the ground.
While outright violence against Malaysia’s 2,000-odd Ahmadis is unknown, the sect’s believers nevertheless are given the cold shoulder by both the authorities and locals.
According to the Ahmadis, opposition against the movement started shortly after the movement was introduced to Malaya by an Indian missionary in the 1930s.

Zionist support
Later in 1975, the Selangor Fatwa Council decreed that the Ahmadis were not Muslims, and recommended as a result, that their special Malay privileges be removed.
In December 2008, Selangor executive council chairman (for religious affairs) Hasan Mohamed Ali said that the state government was looking into forcibly grabbing the Baitussalam land.
Six months later, in April 2009, the Selangor Islamic Relgious Council (MAIS) issued a directive forbidding the Ahmadis from using the Kampung Nakhoda mosque for Friday prayers.
Those who disobeyed this order, MAIS said, could be subject to a fine and imprisonment.
A 2008 text released by the Federal Territories Mufti’s Office, under the Prime Minister’s Department, claimed that Mirza Ghulam was a British agent sent to divide the Muslims in 19th century India.
Entitled “Beware! Qadianis are out of Islam”, it also alleged that the Ahmadiyya movement received Zionist support, and printed its propaganda material within Israel.
Deceased Malaysian Ahmadis were not allowed to be buried in Muslim cemeteries, Ainul said, adding that their bodies had to be taken to a special gravesite in Cheras.
A few religious Muslim leaders, he claimed, were raising suggestions to change the Ahmadis’ religion under the MyKad to “Qadiani” instead of “Muslim”.

Children not spared
Some speeches made by other Muslim leaders, he added, were also allegedly inciting locals to act against the Ahmadis.
Citing a nearby mosque in the area, he said: “The uztaz (religious leader) made a speech…saying, ‘In Indonesia, these people (Ahmadis) can be killed.’ So indirectly, they’re asking the community to attack us.”
Although physical violence against Ahmadis is unheard of here, locals nevertheless act in their own way.
“They used to throw faeces at my father’s house… During (this year’s) Ramadan, some people threw fireworks in here… children would pass by shouting, ‘Qadiani kafir!’ (Qadianis are infidels!),” Ainul said.
In one instance, FMT noticed a passing motorcyclist who shouted “Astaghfirullah!” (I seek forgiveness from Allah) at the compound, hinting that the Ahmadis had strayed from Islam.
Not even the Ahmadis’ children are spared.
Mohd Farid Kamam, 26, said that his schoolmates saw him leaving Baitussalam one Friday afternoon when he was in Form Three.
“I was lining up on Monday assembly, and I heard my friends saying ‘sesat’ (astray), but I didn’t know (they were referring to me).”
“When I entered the classroom, seven of my classmates surrounded me and said that I had strayed from Islam… they asked me to recite the Kalimah Shahada to determine that I was Muslim,” he said.
Adding that he had done so, his classmates left him alone after that. But the school’s religious teachers would not, with some even refusing to acknowledge him.
“My friends and I were giving ‘salam’ to a passing uztaz. He would return the salam to my friends, but knowing that I was an Ahmadi, he would not return it to me,” Mohd Farid said.

Bowing to idols
But his most bitter memory came when he was sitting for the Religious Studies paper during his SPM examinations.
“I entered the exam hall, and everyone had a chair except me, so I had to bring in a chair (from outside the hall). As I was carrying it, one of my schoolmates smiled at me and said in front of hundreds of people, ‘What are you here for? You’re not a Muslim, you don’t have to do this exam’,” Mohd Farid said, grinding his teeth.
Malaysian Ahmadis also have to bear the brunt of various accusations about their beliefs. Some of these included “wudu” (the act of washing before prayer) with water from corpses, praying in the nude, dancing the “joget” during prayer and bowing to idols.
Jariullah Ahmad, another believer, told FMT that some locals claimed that the Ahmadis encouraged the eating of pork.
“When my grandmother was taking care of a (hawker) stall, people used to say that she would put pork bones into her food,” he said.
He claimed that state religious leaders were purposely aligning Malaysians against the Ahmadis.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Pakatan Rakyat or a Barisan Nasional government, because they’re both advised by the mullahs here,” Jariullah said.
As such, the Ahmadis have asked for the both the government and the mass media to allow for an open discussion over their beliefs.
Those requests have apparently fallen on deaf ears, Ainul said.
“What we want is an open discussion with JAIS and the religious authorities. We want a platform where we can speak out, and the public can watch. They can ask us questions… we will answer them and let the people judge for themselves,” he said.
Even so, Ainul did not appear confident that this would take place. He feared that his people might suffer the same fate as the Indonesian Ahmadis.
“If they don’t take the right action, we’re afraid that people will turn into a mob… it’s happened to Indonesia, now it’s at the stage where they throw stones at us.”
“We feel that worse things will happen here,” he said


Saturday 5 November 2011

Lembu / Cow












Photos were taken on November 4 at Bayan Lepas area, Penang.

So people, this animal here is a cow or you call it lembu in Malay.

It's a domestic animal la.

It means that it's killed or slaughtered for us, to eat.

I know some may be laughing right now what's so special about cow.

Well nothing special. I just love cow. I love animals.

And i don't eat beef.

Have you people really look into the cow ah? I mean scan them like how you scan the handsome guys and pretty girls?

If no, here's your chance.

I just wonder, will our children still be able to see these domestic animals such as cow, buffalo, sheep, duck, goose, chicken and so on in the future?

yea can! they can see it from my blog!

or only from the books. 

So selamatkanlah lembu untuk negara!

Anyway, this male cow was very polite and gentle. mmm.. i managed to be friend with him.

hahaha.

Tomorrow is the Muslim's Hari Raya Haji aka Hari Raya Aildiladha. This celebration is to commemorate the willingness of Nabi Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Nabi Ismail as an act of obedience to the Allah.

Some people even call this festival as the sacrifice festival as domestic animals will be slaughtered. 

This cow might be slaughtered tomorrow, Sunday, November 6 for that event. 

It's part of the celebration. 

Then the meat will distributed to the community and the poor. 

Happy Hari Raya Aidiladha

Thursday 3 November 2011

Passion for conservation

Passion for conservation

Posted on 10 October 2011 - 05:11am

by Azrina Abdullah

I WAS reading the news the other day about students and their favoured career paths. I was struck by how little our future leaders were interested in conservation as a career and proceeded to contact one of the most passionate conservationists I know, Reuben Clements, a PhD candidate in Wildlife Conservation, to talk about his chosen career path. Reuben has numerous international publications under his belt and is highly respected for his work. Here is the interview with some fascinating views on how conservation became his passion.

Why conservation?
Life is too short, so why not make a career out of something that enables you to contribute to the well-being of this planet? When I saw hills being mined, trees being logged and animals being killed for no reason, I felt I had to do something about it. I feel many would be emotionally affected after seeing habitats destroyed and try to make a difference. To paraphrase Gandhi, if you want to make a change, be the best example of that change, and others will follow.

Were you always into conservation? 
No. Before entering university, I did not know what to do with my life. I was “following the crowd” and pondered on safe career choices that would yield a comfortable monthly salary. Back in my time, few teachers or parents would ever tell their kids that they could make a career out of conserving biodiversity. But times are different now with greater awareness of green issues.

My turning point was doing a MSc at the National University of Singapore which focused on limestone karst conservation. I started to take more interest in conservation during my field trips to pristine and quarried limestone hills in Malaysia, where I witnessed both majesty and travesties. My involvement in on-the-ground conservation grew even more when I got a job with WWF-Malaysia as species conservation manager. Although I had limited opportunities to work on limestone karst conservation, I learnt a great deal more about the realities of conserving other ecosystems and species, and had the freedom to design and implement conservation programmes to help protect wildlife. I found this to be very fulfilling.

How do you think your PhD will benefit conservation, and society as a whole?
My PhD focuses on the issue of habitat connectivity for wildlife. Animals need to move safely across highways in order to find food and mates. We want to find out if highway viaducts are being utilised by large mammals, and the factors affecting their effectiveness. This will allow us to identify important wildlife habitats where highways should be avoided in order to reduce the risk of forest fragmentation. We are also conducting research to better understand the attitudes of indigenous peoples towards highways. Only time will tell whether our research will contribute to conservation and society – this largely depends on how effective we are at communicating our research findings to decision-makers who can make important policy changes.

What would you say to encourage youth to select conservation as their first career choice? 
In order to do conservation, you need to have interest and passion. Even if someone forces you to be a conservationist, don’t listen to them. I always tell young people to follow their dreams. If a person chooses conservation as a career over a medical or legal path, I still think it is a valuable experience to try it out for some time. But if you still do not derive any satisfaction from it, then please vacate that position and let a more passionate person take over.

Azrina Abdullah conducts research on the links between indigenous groups and wildlife trade. She was regional director of Traffic, an NGO which monitors the global wildlife trade. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com