Jumaat, 12 Oktober 2012

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

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The Malaysian Insider :: Food


Rule Britannia: A celebration of British classics at Delicious

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 04:17 PM PDT

The recipe for the Cornish Pasty comes from the Cornish Pasty Association in Cornwall!

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 — The Cock-a-leekie, a traditional Scottish soup that dates back to the 16th century, had a shot of sweetness from prunes which gave a nice balance to the savoury soup. It seems like a surprising ingredient in a soup of chicken, leek, rice, garlic and thyme, but it balanced out the taste profile beautifully.

Perfect fish fingers... yummy.

This classic soup is part of the two-month long British promotion at Delicious. On the menu are lots of British favourites like the Cock-a-leekie and of course, fish fingers. The flaky, perfectly-fried fish fingers were plated on top of coarsely mashed up mushy peas. I thought the sweet peas were a perfect pairing with the fish fingers.

There were rosemary scones sitting in a lamb stew in the Lamb, Carrot and Rosemary Cobbler. It makes for a hearty, satisfying meal and I just loved the scones which were redolent with rosemary. It was amazing dipped in the delicious braised lamb stew, which I happily slurped up. The lamb was tender, almost melt in the mouth.

After this was the Steak and Onion Pudding; cut into the soft buttery pastry, and the robust aromas of beef with onions waft up. Drizzled with an onion sauce, it was scrumptiously beefy. There were cubes of squash and zucchini in the pie as well, for even more contrasting textures.

Lamb, Carrot and Rosemary Cobbler... the scones in it are absolutely delicious.

Asked about the pastry later, E&O's group creative chef Steve Allen, a true Brit no less, explained that he had tried unsuccessfully to get the suet needed for the pastry here. "It's a butter pastry which I made with self-raising flour," said Steve. "The pudding was steamed for five hours, and rested overnight before being served."  No wonder the rich pastry tasted so good. According to the chef, the steak pudding was originally done with oysters and kidneys.

Chef Steve Allen... a celebration of some British classics.

Bemused that we liked it so much, the chef, who has been enjoying our local food such as curry laksa, added: "British food is quite heavy and starchy." Steve joined the E&O after a 10-year stint at London's Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, where he was the head chef.

Next up was the Fish Pie with a modern twist. This had salmon, sole and tiger prawns in a béchamel cheese sauce.  It was rich and heavy. I felt it was screaming for a salad to accompany it so you might want to order a side salad to go with this very rich-tasting pie.

The recipe for the Classic Beef Cornish Pasty came from the Cornish Pasty Association in Cornwall. "You can't change it," said Steve. The authentic Cornish pasty is "D" shaped and is crimped on one side, never at the top. It has a chunky beef filling which Steve has faithfully adhered to, with onions and potatoes. It's like a giant curry puff, except this one has been glazed with an egg wash, then slow baked in the oven. I would have preferred a lighter pastry but tradition is tradition.

Rhubarb Crumble and Custard... amazingly good.

I had been looking forward to the Rhubarb Crumble and Custard for dessert, and it was simply scrumptious.  The crumble was buttery and slightly crunchy, while the juicy rhubarb had some ginger in it. The custard brought together both the sweet and tart flavours.

At first I had mixed feelings about the Mixed Berry Summer Pudding and Cream. But all was forgotten with one taste of the pudding of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. The fragrance of the berries and balanced flavours of the soft pudding was delightful.

So if you are keen for a taste of British, head on over to your nearest Delicious restaurant.


Century eggs, love ‘em or hate ‘em!

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 02:13 AM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — Firstly, if you have got any concerns regarding century eggs (and I think I might know what your concern is), let me assure you they are NOT made by soaking eggs in horse urine.

In fact, they were never ever made this way. Century eggs are actually made by packing eggs with a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime and rice hulls for several weeks as a method of preservation.

Also known as thousand-year egg or millennium egg, century eggs are a popular ingredient in Chinese cuisine, where they are either consumed as is or accompanied by other ingredients. The preservation process it undergoes results in its whites turning into a gelatinous dark brown with little flavour, whereas the yolk becomes a dark greyish-green with a creamy, savoury flavour.

The yolk will also smell quite strongly of sulphur and ammonia, and perhaps this is why some believe horse urine is used somewhere in their preparation. Let me reassure you further, horse urine is acidic. To preparecentury eggs, it is the alkaline medium of the preserving ingredients that brings about the changes in their texture and flavours, which further eliminates any need of anything acidic.

During the preservation process, the complex, flavourless proteins and fats in the eggs are broken down into smaller compounds which have a much richer flavour, producing the century egg as we know it.

Century eggs with tofu is quite popular in China, differing from province to province. When served on top of cold soft tofu, the flavour of the century eggs is further intensified, allowing you to appreciate them much better.

It is also a delight to sink your teeth into the delicate blocks of perfectly chilled snowy white tofu and allow your taste buds to savour the fusion of tastes from the different ingredients. I should probably mention that century eggs is an acquired taste.

Cold Tofu with Century Eggs

Preparation time: Less than 10 minutes

Serves four

1 block store-bought soft tofu, rinsed quickly with hot water to remove any impurities

3 century eggs, soaked in hot water for 1 minute, discard water and then roughly dice

1 tablespoon fried shallots

2 birds eye chillies, finely chopped

1 stalk spring onions, roots removed and finely chopped

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1. Place soft tofu on a flat plate.

2. Scatter diced century egg, spring onions, chillies and fried shallots over tofu.

3. Drizzle with sesame oil and oyster sauce.

4. Serve immediately. Alternatively you can leave it in the refrigerator for 1/2 an hour before serving.


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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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Schumacher reprimanded for impeding HRT drivers

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 07:09 AM PDT

Schumacher takes a drink inside his team garage at the Korea International Circuit in Yeongam. — Reuters pic

YEONGAM, South Korea, Oct 12 — Seven-times champion Michael Schumacher today suffered the embarrassment of being reprimanded for impeding the two slowest cars in Formula One in practice for the South Korean Grand Prix.

The 43-year-old Mercedes driver was summoned to the stewards after second practice for holding up the HRTs of Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa and Indian Narain Karthikeyan 48 minutes into the session.

Spanish-based HRT have not scored a point in nearly three seasons in Formula One, and usually start at the back of the starting grid.

Schumacher, who has announced his retirement at the end of the season, started the last race in Japan alongside Karthikeyan at the back of the grid after collecting a 10-place penalty for causing a collision at the previous race in Singapore.

De la Rosa was testing a new rear wing for HRT in the afternoon session as well as tyre options.

Schumacher has now been reprimanded twice this season, the previous one coming at the Spanish Grand Prix in May when he held up McLaren's Lewis Hamilton — his replacement at Mercedes next year — in practice.

The German lapped fifth fastest in the afternoon session in South Korea. — Reuters

UK launches biggest probe into police over Hillsborough

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 06:54 AM PDT

Supporters hold up coloured cards in memory of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster before the English Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield in Liverpool, September 23, 2012. The fixture was Liverpool's first at home since a report into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster cleared their fans of any blame. — Reuters file pic

LONDON, Oct 12 — The largest independent probe into British police was launched today to examine potential criminal actions by officers involved in the 1989 Hillsborough football disaster in which 96 spectators died after a crowd crush in the stadium.

Serving and former officers, including those in senior positions, could face charges or misconduct proceedings for failings and cover-ups over Britain's worst sporting disaster, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said.

Last month, Prime Minister David Cameron apologised to families of the victims after a damning report detailed a catalogue of errors and evidence that police dishonestly tried to deflect blame on to fans of Liverpool football club.

The victims, many young, died in an overcrowded, fenced-in enclosure at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, northern England, at an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.

The tragedy changed the face of English football and ushered in a new era of modern, all-seated venues.

An independent panel found the police response to the disaster had been flawed and 41 lives could have been saved.

It also concluded that police had sought to blame the Liverpool fans, portraying them as aggressive, drunk and ticketless, and bent on packing into the already crowded stadium, vindicating families who fought a 23-year campaign to find the truth.

Senior police edited their officers' witness statements from the day to paint them in a less damaging light, the report said. South Yorkshire Police removed negative comments from 116 out of 164 police statements.

"The report revealed extremely serious and troubling issues for the police," said IPCC deputy chairman Deborah Glass.

"Its contents provoked a demand for those responsible for the actions revealed in the report to be held to account."

She said their probe would "without a shadow of a doubt" be Britain's biggest inquiry into police behaviour.

"We do not yet know how many officers or retired officers fall to be investigated. We do not underestimate the size of our task," she added.

The investigation will look at allegations that individuals or institutions were culpable for the deaths, and so should face manslaughter charges, and at claims that evidence was fabricated after the disaster and lies then spread to lawmakers and the media.

One senior officer, Norman Bettison, the chief constable of West Yorkshire Police who has been accused of being part of a cover-up, announced last week he would retire next year to allow a full investigation into charges against him.

Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said prosecutors would consider all the material now available to see whether there was already evidence to bring criminal charges against any individual or corporate body. — Reuters

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

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Schwarzenegger hands out green award in Denmark

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 06:54 AM PDT

Former California Governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) presents the first Sustainia Award to CEO Simon Bransfield-Garth from the British company Azuri Technologies during a ceremony at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, October 11, 2012. — AFP/Relaxnews

COPENHAGEN, Oct 12 — Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger handed out a Danish environmental prize to a British company in Copenhagen yesterday, and praised the city as an inspiration for sustainable energy.

"Copenhagen is still 40 per cent more energy efficient than California. I'm jealous about that," the Hollywood actor told reporters.

Schwarzenegger was in the Danish capital to present the newly created Sustainia Award to the first winner, British Azuri Technologies.

The company is behind Indigo Pay-As-You-Go Solar which combines solar and mobile technology to provide a low-cost source of electricity for off-grid residents in developing countries.

A Danish think tank, Monday Morning, is behind the award, and Schwarzenegger serves as honorary chair of the prize committee.

The winner does not receive a monetary prize, but will receive help setting up investor meetings, and creating awareness around the sustainable technology and business solution.

European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard, also a member of the prize committee, said the interest in climate change and sustainable energy among the public and businesses had entered a new stage after the COP15 summit in Copenhagen in 2009 and the economic crisis.

"Today you cannot be a big CEO for a big company and not address this, so that is where things have really changed over the recent few years," she told AFP.

The chief executive of Azuri Technologies, Simon Bransfield-Garth, said there were currently 6,000 solar units in distribution in Africa (Kenya, Zambia, Malawi and South Sudan), and the aim was to distribute over 100,000 units by next year.

He also stressed the importance of the technology and business aspects of Indigo.

"It's not just about providing sustainable technology. It's also about providing a sustainable business model that goes along with it," he told AFP in an interview.

"You can't donate your way out of poverty," he said. — AFP/Relaxnews

First look at Chanel’s upcoming No. 5 campaign with Brad Pitt

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 04:17 AM PDT

First look at Chanel's upcoming No. 5 campaign with Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt shot by Sam Taylor-Wood for the Chanel No. 5 campaign. — AFP/Relaxnews pic

PARIS, Oct 12 — Following in the footsteps of Coco Chanel, Catherine Deneuve, Nicole Kidman and Audrey Tautou, Brad Pitt is the new face of Chanel's iconic No. 5 fragrance. Take a peek at the first photos from the new campaign unveiled by the French house today.

Brad Pitt is the first man in history to represent a women's fragrance, thanks to Chanel's dedication to break with tradition.

Brad Pitt was "an obvious choice," the brand explains. "There is no actor alive that compares with Brad Pitt, whose talent, popularity and looks are legendary, in the same way that no other perfume compares with Chanel No. 5, which was created by Ernest Beaux."

The ad, previewed by Relaxnews, is shot in black and white by British director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, Hanna), whose previous gigs include two campaigns for Coco Mademoiselle. It features a minimalist background that contrasts sharply with the opulent decors seen in the previous films for Chanel No. 5. Brad Pitt stands in front of a bare wall and recites a poem that seems to be addressed to a woman.

The minimalist decor serves to highlight the A-lister's voice, which Joe Wright describes as "magnificent." With this groundbreaking campaign, Chanel hopes to channel Pitt's charisma and heartfelt delivery to stir viewers.

The photographs documenting the shooting of the campaign are from Sam Taylor-Wood, while the forthcoming print campaign's pictures were taken by Steven Klein.

The 30-second spot will land on Chanel's YouTube channel at 8am CET (1pm Malaysian time) on Monday, October 15, and will hit television networks on the same day at 7pm CET. The print campaign will be launched mid-November. — AFP/Relaxnews

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

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Author Mantel eyes Booker history, Self a contender

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 05:28 AM PDT

LONDON, Oct 12 — Hilary Mantel could become the first woman to win the coveted Man Booker Prize for fiction twice with her historical novel "Bring Up the Bodies", the bookmakers' favourite alongside Will Self's "Umbrella".

The annual literary award to an author from the Commonwealth, Zimbabwe or Ireland will be handed out at a glitzy dinner in London on Tuesday, and the build-up this year has been dominated by 60-year-old Mantel.

She won the Booker in 2009 with "Wolf Hall", her acclaimed 650-page historical novel charting Thomas Cromwell's rise to power in King Henry VIII's court, and is in contention again for the sequel.

Were she to win, she would become not only the first female the "do the double" but also the first British writer. South Africa-born J.M. Coetzee and Australian Peter Carey have won the prize twice.

"There has been discussion, I know, about the pros and cons of Mantel advancing so far in the prize again so soon," said Peter Stothard, chair of the Man Booker judging panel and editor of the Times Literary Supplement.

"The judges noted Mantel's even greater mastery of method now," he added.

Mantel could be back in the frame yet again in 2015, when the third and final instalment of her Cromwell trilogy, "The Mirror and the Light", is due to hit the shelves.

'Moving and draining'

The author has admitted that despite the trilogy's critical and commercial success so far, much was still riding on the final chapter of a 10-year writing odyssey.

"If I get the third book right then in a sense my whole life will have come right," she told Reuters in June. "But if I don't, then I am going to see it as a failure. In my mind it is all one long project."

Self's Umbrella was described by Stothard as "both moving and draining", a reference to some 400 pages without paragraph breaks or chapter divisions.

But he added that the tale about a misdiagnosed woman in a north London mental hospital would prove "much less difficult than at first it seems" to those who stuck with it.

Mantel and Self have taken turns at the top of bookmakers' betting lists.

Mantel edged out Self in odds offered by Paddy Power yesterday with Bring Up the Bodies at 6/4 after leap-frogging Umbrella at 9/4.

But today, Ladbrokes said Self had attracted a series of bets in the last two days making him 2/1 "hot" favourite ahead of Mantel at 5/2.

The other four shortlisted writers are Deborah Levy ("Swimming Home"), Malaysia's Tan Twan Eng ("The Garden of Evening Mists") and first-time novelists Alison Moore ("The Lighthouse") and Indian author Jeet Thayil ("Narcopolis").

The winner of the Man Booker Prize receives a cheque for £50,000 (RM250,000), international literary kudos and, perhaps most importantly, a significant spike in sales.

Research by the Guardian newspaper showed that Mantel's Wolf Hall, for example, sold 35,900 copies before the award was announced and nearly 600,000 afterwards.

The year before, Aravind Adiga's "The White Tiger" had sold just 5,703 copies before it won the Booker, rising nearly a hundredfold to 551,061 afterwards. — Reuters


Booker nominee Thayil offers bleak Bombay portrait

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 08:59 PM PDT

Thayil poses for a picture at his residence in New Delhi on October 3, 2012. — Reuters pic

NEW DELHI, Oct 12 — Jeet Thayil, one of the nominees for the 2012 Man Booker Prize for the year's best novel in English, paints a stark portrait of Mumbai, or Bombay as he calls it, in his debut novel "Narcopolis".

Thayil is a poet and musician who has been writing poetry since he was 13. His novel takes the reader through the Mumbai drug world's smoky alleys and features the musings of opium addicts in the late 1980s — a situation that Thayil, a former opium addict himself, knows well.

Thayil spoke with Reuters about his deep relationship with Bombay, his addiction and how this book came about.

The Man Booker prize will be announced October 16.

Q: What is your connection with Bombay?

A: "I went to school there as a boy. I went to St. Xavier's. My family left for Hong Kong when I was eight where my father was working as a journalist. Then I went to school in New York and then came back to Bombay in 1979 and joined Wilson College. In all, I've lived in Bombay for almost 20 years."

Q: Does this make you feel strongly about the city?

A: "Bombay does that to people. It makes a (connection) with you. It makes it difficult for you. It bludgeons you. I've been reading about that area, Shuklaji street. It is disappearing now — Kamatipura, Shuklaji street, (the) entire area between Mumbai Central and Grant Road is disappearing, being bought away by real estate sharks who are buying up all the broken-down houses and making tall buildings. So very soon that entire district will disappear, and with it a million stories. A look of Bombay will go... a certain character will go. Those people who live there now of course won't be able to afford to live there.

"At the end of 'Narcopolis', I have tried to draw that picture a little bit - that Bombay will become a very uniform-looking place. The kind of variety you used to be able to find there  like dockyards, for example. It will bear a high-rise tenement kind of look uniformly."

Q: How do you look at this change?

A: "No question, for bad. Not saying purely in a nostalgic way, I mean also politically. The political changes that have happened, the kind of changes that have happened in terms of money. The way the rich have become constantly richer while the poor are exactly where they were. So the divide has become even larger than what it was. And the whole right-wing thing that's happening in Bombay. The way outsiders, people of other communities, are made to feel unwelcome. These are the kind of things that one could have never imagined in Bombay. It was welcoming. Anybody with talent, ambition, with beauty, with brains  you could make it in Bombay. That is the point of this city. One thing after the other has been chipped away."

Q: In an interview you used the word "seductive" for Bombay. In "Narcopolis", words seem to come from under a cloud of smoke. Is there a parallel you have drawn between opium and Mumbai?

A: "That's kind of hinted at in the book where the change from Bombay to Mumbai takes place ... It's the change from this old 19th century romantic, glamorous, quiet, slow world of opium to the quick, brutal, modern, degrading world of cheap heroin. Interestingly, now there has been a class shift - it's the poorest who do it, absolute down-and-out street guys. When opium was happening, it was respectable. The well off did it, the upper-class Urdu-speaking ... it had a whole culture with it."

Q: Was writing "Narcopolis" difficult?

A: "It took me five years to write it in all ... I was working on a lot of (other things) as well. I didn't realize what the nature of the difficulty would be. And what it turned out to be was the opposite of catharsis. Catharsis gets stuff out of you. But this put bad feelings into me. Thinking about the nature of addiction, which I hadn't done in all those years. I had to be clean to think about it ... what it takes out of you, what it gives you. It gives you a lot. Wonderful things, which I know I'm not supposed to say, but it's a fact. It gives you a sense of being loved. There is no boredom ever, time becomes your slave, or the slave of your agenda. There is never an existential question. It gives you freedom in a way."

Q: How do you look back at the addiction phase?

A: "I look back at it with yearning. It's a bad thing!"

Q: There is a very important character named Dimple in the book — a eunuch who makes pipes in the opium den and identifies as a woman. Was she based on a real person?

A: "She was the one who made pipes in an opium den in about 1980-81. I only saw her twice. Then she disappeared. Many people in that world disappear. There was something about the way she used to make the pipe, very elegant."

Q: Why the long sentences?

A: "The opening sentence, the prologue, I wrote that about halfway through the writing of the book, and when I wrote that sentence, I realized this is the way the book should be. And I rewrote the book, changing the language of it with long sentences ... rather than short sentences because I realized the only way to write about opium was to write long, open-ended sentences where the writer who is writing it has no idea where the sentence is going to go. So you follow it and there is a sense of discovery — for the reader as well, I hope. You couldn't write a book about opium, which is a very slow, long process, with short quick Hemingway, journalistic, telegraphic sentences. So once I kind of stumbled on that, it changed everything. Then the book happened very fast." — Reuters


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The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa

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Hanya KPN boleh jelaskan penahanan aktivis oleh Imigresen , kata Bakri

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 01:14 AM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR, 12 Okt — Pengarah Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Bukit Aman, Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin berkata penjelasan mengenai arahan kepada pihak imigresen menahan pemimpin badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) di lapangan terbang hanya boleh dilakukan oleh Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Ismail Omar.

Bakri (gambar) ketika dihubungi The Malaysian Insider berkata segala penjelasan melibatkan polisi dan sesuatu arahan adalah di luar bidang kuasanya dan hanya KPN boleh mengeluarkan kenyataan.

"Ini luar bidang kuasa saya, hanya KPN saja boleh beri penjelasan mengenai polisi," kata Bakri.

Baru-baru ini, kontroversi melibatkan para aktivis yang ditahan di lapangan terbang dibidas kerana ia didakwa bermotifkan politik serta bertujuan untuk menakut-nakutkan mereka.

Tindakan menahan di lapangan terbang ke atas aktivis dan anggota Jawatankuasa Pemandu Bersih disifatkan oleh aktivis Maria Chin Abdullah sebagai satu bentuk gangguan dan sikap kerajaan tidak menghormati hak individu seorang rakyat Malaysia untuk bebas bergerak.

Pagi ini, K Arumugam,  pengerusi badan hak asasi manusia SUARAM  dan anggota Jawatankuasa Pemandu Bersih, Toh Kin Woon dalam satu pesanan ringkasnya berkata dia ditahan ketika dalam perjalanan ke Chennai di Lapangan Terbang Kos Rendah (LCCT).

"Semasa saya melalui Autogate ia tidak buka dan kemudiaannya seorang pegawai datang meminta pasport saya untuk pengesahan.

"Dia kemudian memberitahu saya dia perlu dapatkan nasihat pegawai atasan, 10 minit kemudiaan dia datang dan tidak memberi sebarang penerangan kenapa saya tidak dapat melalui Autogate," kata Arumugam kepada The Malaysian Insider.

Arumugam tidak menolak perkara tersebut mempunyai kaitan dengan peranannya dalam Bersih 2.0 dan SUARAM.

Pengerusi bersama Bersih 2.0, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan pada Selasa lalu telah ditahan di lapangan terbang selama 10 minit ketika dalam perjalanan ke Australia dan mendakwa pegawai  imigresen yang menahannya gagal memberi jawapan atas sebab apa dia ditahan.

Minggu lalu, seorang lagi anggota Jawatankuasa Pemandu Andrew Khoo juga berhadapan situasi sama apabila ditahan ketika pergi dan balik ke Bangkok.

Dalam laporan Free Malaysia Today, ketua pengarah Jabatan Imigresen Alias Ahmad berkata tindakan tersebut diambil selepas mendapat arahan daripada pihak polis "setiap urusan semua  individu ini perlu dirujuk kepada pegawai Cawangan Khas yang berada di lapangan terbang".

Alias juga menerangkan prosedur yang diambil bukan untuk menangkap atau menahannya tetapi hanya menjalankan temuduga seperti arahan yang diterima oleh polis.

"Kami hanya menjalankan tugas, penjaga pintu. Ia sama dengan kes mereka yang bankrap, nama mereka akan terpapar di skrin," kata Alias.

Dalam perkembangan berasingan, Bakri menyatakan pihaknya akan mengambil langkah mengikut prosedur standard operasi (SOP) dalam menjalankan siasatan melibatkan kes kematian dalam tahanan dan akan telus dalam siasatannya.

Bakri yang disoal oleh The Malaysia Insider mengenai satu lagi kes kematian Chandran a/l Perumal dalam lokap Balai Polis Dang Wangi mendakwa mereka akan telus dalam siasatan dan setiap inkues akan dijalankan.

"Kami akan jalan siasatan mengikut SOP dan secara telus. Kami akan siasat punca ia berlaku, jika terdapat unsur jenayah mereka yang bertanggungjawab akan dibawa ke muka pengadilan," kata Bakri lagi.

Semalam dalam satu sidang media di Parlimen, Ahli Parlimen Kapar S Manikawasagam menggesa KPN menubuhkan pasukan khas mempercepatkan siasatan kes tersebut.

Mangsa, Chandran a/l Perumal disahkan meninggal dunia 10 September 2012 yang lalu akibat tekanan darah yang tinggi semasa dalam tahanan. Namun menurut laporan polis oleh abang mangsa, terdapat kesan luka dan lebam pada tubuh mendiang.

Statistik antara tahun 2000 hingga Februari 2010 menunjukkan seramai 144 kes kematian dalam lokap dilaporkan melibatkan 64 orang Melayu, 30 orang Cina, 28 orang India, 8 bagi kaum-kaum lain dan 14 kes kematian bagi warga asing.

BN harus tunjukkan kualiti yang baik berbanding menyerang PR, kata Saifuddin

Posted: 12 Oct 2012 12:54 AM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR, 12 Okt — Barisan Nasional (BN) haruslah menunjukkan kualiti yang baik daripada menyerang Pakatan Rakyat (PR), kata timbalan menteri pendidikan tinggi, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah (gambar) semalam.

Beliau memberi komen dari laporan berita bahawa perdana menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak telah bertemu dengan spekulator matawang George Soros di New York pada tahun 2010.

Saifuddin berkata BN harus menonjolkan nilai-nilai yang baik daripada mengkritik PR, menurut laporan Malaysiakini hari ini.

"Saya tahu pilihan raya semakin hampir dan sebab itu kita perlu berkempen untuk memenangi hati rakyat.

"Bagaimanapun, saya lebih suka bercakap tentang nilai yang BN bawa, daripada mengkritik orang lain," kata ahli majlis tertinggi Umno itu.

"Jika benar Najib bertemu Soros, jadi kita harus tunggu dan lihat dengan apa perbincangan mereka pada pertemuan mereka," katanya lagi.

Bulan lalu, bekas perdana menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad mendakwa Soros mahu 'mengawal' politik Malaysia dan 'memilih orangnya untuk menjadi perdana menteri'.

Dr Mahathir juga berkata pada minggu lalu bahawa "satu undi untuk pembangkang ialah satu undi untuk Soros."

Saifuddin turut berkata, "jika kita sibuk merendah-rendahkan orang lain, kita tidak dapat menunjukkan kualiti yang kita ada.

"Jika Soros yang kita kritik sekarang, satu hari akan memberi kenyataan menyokong kita, bagaimana?

"Sebab itu saya tidak berminat untuk menyerang Soros atau Suaram," katanya lagi.

Suaram mendedahkan tentang tuduhan rasuah bernilai berbillion ringgit dalam pembelian kapal selam Scorpene beberapa tahun yang lalu.

Susulan dari laporan dari media arus perdana bahawa Suaram menerima dana dari organisasi yang melibatkan Soros, badan pemantau hak asasi manusia itu telah menjadi sasaran siasatan dari kerajaan persekutuan.

Enam agensi kerajaan telah melakukan siasatan terhadap Suaram, dengan Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM) telah merancang untuk mendakwa Suaram atas "akaun yang meragukan."

Bulan lalu, menteri di jabatan perdana menteri, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz berkata menerima dana dari luar bukan isu utama.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion


The snatch thief and the iPhone

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 05:18 PM PDT

OCT 12 — My wife called me up on the phone sobbing uncontrollably, which actually made me panic since she has never done that before.

"I just got robbed!" she sobbed.

"What?" I asked.

"I said I just got robbed!" (Still sobbing.)

"I can't understand what you're saying. Stop crying and speak properly!"

"My handbag just got snatched!" (Not sobbing anymore.)

"Oh no! What about the iPhone 4s that I just bought you for your birthday?"

"It was in my pocket, not in my handbag. How do you think I'm calling you now?"

"Oh."

After I was convinced that the brand spanking new iPhone 4s was safe and secure, I asked my wife if she was okay. Fortunately, she was unhurt but shaken.

Also fortunate was the fact that, although she had lost her handbag, she only had about RM30 in it. But of course, her IC, driver's licence, ATM card and credit card all had to be replaced.

So I wonder who the joke is on here — the guy who got only RM30 for his very risky effort, or my wife and I who were glad that only RM30 was gone.

The issue here is, of course, the rampant crime that is happening in Malaysia and the fact that the government seems to think that this is just a matter of perception.

My wife experienced it first-hand, and so have many other people we know. I have even seen people having their purses snatched on several occasions while having drinks with my friends at night.

So many other journalists and writers seem to have experienced it too, judging by the number of personal accounts published in the media. So I don't think it is merely a perception.

It makes me even more irritated when the government says that what it needs to do is to battle the negative perception that the crime rate is high.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I wouldn't even be satisfied if they said that they want to battle crime so people feel safer.

Think about it. The most rampant crimes are really the petty ones, with snatch thefts being the most common. It isn't exactly serious organised crime.

There has to be other deeper issues that are causing these petty crimes to be occurring at such a high rate. Don't you think?

I'm no criminologist, psychologist, economist, sociologist, policeman, or politician. I'm just a humble journalist, documentary film-maker, father, husband and Malaysian citizen.

So what I have to say may not carry much weight but hear me out anyway and don't click the mouse since you've already read my column this far.

A person must really be desperate when they feel that they need to go to so much trouble and risk to snatch someone's purse when the returns may not be that much.

Could it be because he can't find a job? Could it be because the job he has doesn't pay enough for him to survive? Could it be because the cost of living is just too high?

It could be so many other factors that are contributing to the feeling of desperation for someone to resort to committing petty crimes.

So I'm guessing that the issue is much bigger than just crime. Maybe more thorough research needs to be done to find out the root cause of the problem and to come up with a solution.

But hey, I'm no criminologist, psychologist, economist, sociologist, policeman or politician. I'm just a humble journalist, documentary film-maker, father, husband and Malaysian citizen.

For the moment, I'm just glad I don't have to buy my wife a new iPhone 5 just yet!

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Capello’s Russian mission

Posted: 11 Oct 2012 05:00 PM PDT

OCT 12 — Why aren't Russia better at football? It's an interesting question with no obvious answer.

After all, Russia is by far the largest country in Europe in terms of population (140 million according to the United Nations — nearly double the next on the list, Germany) and has a strong sporting pedigree which was once again demonstrated by their 82-medal haul — third behind only China and the United States — at this summer's Olympic Games.

Russia is also a mature country in footballing terms, with a long history in the game and a national league dating back to 1936.

Yet the Russian (and Soviet Union, going back into the communist era) national team, and Russian/Soviet club teams in domestic competition, have a notably lousy record.

They started well enough, with the Soviet Union winning the inaugural European Championships in France in 1960 (helped by the fact that only 16 nations entered), but it's been a long history of underachievement ever since.

The Soviet squad did manage to reach three more European finals, in 1964, 1972 and most recently 1988 when they were overcome by the brilliance of Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten's Netherlands (remember that volley by van Basten in the final? Check it out on YouTube if not).

Their World Cup record is truly dismal with a best-ever placement of  fourth in 1966, when they lost to West Germany in the semi-final and were then defeated by Eusebio's Portugal in the third-place play off.

They've not progressed beyond the group stage in any World Cup finals since 1986 in Mexico, and didn't even qualify for the last two finals — missing out on qualifying for the 2010 proceedings in South Africa after narrowly losing a play-off against Slovenia, a country with a population of just two million (one-seventieth the size of Russia's).

Things have been no better in club football. No Russian or Soviet team has ever won the Champions League or European Cup, with solitary successes in the UEFA Cup (forerunner to the Europa League) for CSKA Moscow (2005) and Zenit St Petersburg (2008) the only silverware claimed by Russian clubs on the continental stage.

Without embarking upon a detailed analysis of the history of Russian football (which I haven't done), I'm afraid I couldn't venture to offer an explanation for Russia's perennial failings.

It's certainly not a reflection of the nation's overall sporting prowess, which is generally extremely strong as demonstrated by their consistently excellent performances in both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

You couldn't accuse them of only being successful at individual sports, either — CSKA Moscow's basketball team, for instance, have won the prestigious Euroleague title on no less than six occasions.

Perhaps it's got something to do with the weather. Average temperatures in Moscow dip below freezing for five months of the year — hardly conducive to the effective development of an outdoors sport. But that shouldn't be an excuse because there has always been enough investment in Russian sport — historically through the armed forces and now through entrepreneurial billionaires — to provide indoor facilities, particularly at professional level.

The latest man charged with attempting to reverse the sequence of Russian footballing favour is Fabio Capello, who took over as national team manager from Dick Advocaat following Russia's predictably frustrating Euro 2012 campaign (won the first game 4-1 against the Czech Republic but failed to win again and didn't make the knockout stage).

Capello's "achievements" (very much in inverted commas) in international management with England do very little to inspire confidence that he can be the man to lead Russia into a glorious new future, but it's only fair to give him a chance. 

This is a man, after all, who has won more than a dozen major titles during a glitteringly successful managerial career, including the 1994 European Cup with AC Milan, so he should know what he's doing.

One of the reasons for Capello's failure with England was his apparent inability to ever learn the English language at a decent level, meaning that he was never able to establish any rapport with his players.

So it was somewhat concerning to read an interview on UEFA's website this week where Capello admitted he doesn't even recognise the Russian Cyrillic alphabet yet, never mind speak the language. That can't exactly help provide too much clarity in those all-important pre-match team meetings.

Despite the language barrier, Capello has made a winning start to his Russian adventure. His new team were unconvincing in a 2-0 home victory over Northern Ireland to kick off their World Cup qualifying campaign, but improved to register a more emphatic 4-0 away win in Israel.

Next up are Portugal in one of tonight's more attractive fixtures (11pm kick off, Malaysian time).

The game in Moscow could go a long way towards deciding the final outcome of a weak group also containing Azerbaijan and Luxembourg. It will surely be a straight race between Russia and Portugal for top spot and automatic qualification for Brazil in 2014, with the runners-up left to the perils of a play-off.

Capello certainly has a large pool of players to choose from, but his team doesn't possess any individuals even close to the ability of Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo.

And if the Real Madrid star can lead his team to a point or more in Moscow tonight, the Capello reign will start to face some serious questioning even at this early stage; Russia's bleak football history might not get much better any time soon.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com
 

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