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Extra Supertanker stays big on flavour Posted: 19 Oct 2012 04:55 PM PDT Braised Wine Mash Pork Ribs in Japanese Pumpkin. — Pictures by Eu Hooi Khaw KUALA LUMPUR, OCT 20 — When Extra Supertanker first opened in Damansara Kim, Petaling Jaya, nine years ago, I took note of the fact the chef had a new, delicious take on Chinese food. The same Chef Chin, who is also one of the owners, is still there and he has continued to push the envelope, creating new dishes and drawing a loyal coterie of customers. From one shoplot it has expanded to three, and yet another restaurant has also opened at The Club in Bandar Utama. Four Treasure Soup. Loong Fu Parn fillets bathed in hot oil. In recent years, Extra Supertanker has become known for its Duck Sandwich and Thousand Layer Tofu, its braised dishes such as the Braised Soft Ribs with pig's tendon that's a special at the weekend, and the Roast Suckling Pig with a layer of prawn paste beneath, among others. Recently Chef Chin rolled out some new dishes on his menu. One of these was the Sei Poh Tong or Four Treasures Soup.  The smooth wantan popped up in the soup first, and we went on to unearth the fish maw, dried scallop, sea cucumber, chicken and black mushroom. I caught the stirring aroma of the double-boiled milky broth when the soup pot was unsealed, and every nuance and texture of each ingredient was well expressed in it. We went on to the Kong Lam Kam Ngan Pau or Jiangnam gold and silver abalone. At first it looked like there were two abalones on the dish. But it was really a round of marrow stuffed with the centre of the abalone, on one side, and the abalone, on the other, had a fat dried scallop embedded in it. I enjoyed the luscious marrow ringed with black moss, then encountering the sweet flavour of the abalone centre. The taste of the whole abalone was intensified by the dried scallop. Both were brought together by a light, braising sauce. The hot, zesty style of the Loong Fu Parn. A good fish demands the best skill in cooking, in the simplest style, to bring out its natural flavours. The Loong Fu Parn in Two Styles brought together the subtle with the spicy. First thin fillets of this hybrid of the giant garoupa (loong tun) and the tiger garoupa (lo fu parn) were laid on a bed of spring onions, then constantly bathed with hot oil till just cooked.  The oil also hit the spring onions, drawing a lovely aroma from them, and the fish was drizzled with a superior soya sauce. The fish stayed smooth, delicate and sweet. Then the head, sides and bony parts of the fish were steamed with ginger, tau so or fermented soy beans, lots of grated ginger and some cili padi, providing a hot, zesty and delicious contrast to the fillets. Jiangnam Gold and Silver Abalone. Eringi Mushrooms in Two Styles. Braised pork ribs marinated in wine mash, then double-boiled in a Japanese pumpkin was scrumptious. Who could fault the sweet potato-like texture of the pumpkin that had soaked in the winey sauce of the ribs, against the meat that fell off the bone?  The combination was irresistible — all of it was finished, even the skin of the pumpkin. The chef had drawn inspiration from bak kut teh, for his next dish — Pork Knuckle and Pig Stomach Braised in Herbs. There was the unmistakable aroma of dong quai in the sauce that also had other herbs in it. The simmering in the clay pot rendered a creamy texture to the skin of the very tender pork knuckle. The slices of pig stomach had soaked in all the herbal flavours in the stock too,  The Two Style Eringi Mushroom or Hang Far Koo impressed as well. Thick slices of this fleshy mushroom were sautéed, coated in salted egg yolk. Then pork shoulder ham was wrapped round lengths of the mushroom, flash fried and presented on a bed of caramelized onions. The salted egg yolk worked well with the sweet mushroom, as did the saltish ham with the sweet shallots. We made short work of these. Teen Chat Stirfried with Pork Neck Meat in Spicy Style. Teen Chat is a vegetable with an almost gelatinous texture when cooked.  Here we had the vegetable stirfried in a spicy style with pork neck meat. The teen chat was lovely, soaking in the dried chilli and garlic of the tender pork. The Fried Brown Rice with Wolfberries and Pumpkin was nicely done. It had firm rice grains tossed with plump sweet wolfberries, diced pumpkin, long beans, prawns and char siu. Pork Knuckle and Pig's Stomach Braised in Herbs. The Four Treasure Soup is RM25 each, Abalone RM38 a set, the Long Fu Parn RM19.80 per 100g, Pumpkin Sparefibs RM40, Pork Knuckle and Pig's Stomach RM50, Eringi Mushrooms RM25, Teen Chat with Pork Neck RM25, and Fried Rice RM25. Extra Supertanker is located at 48, SS20/10, Damansara Kim, 47400 Petaling Jaya. Tel: 03-7726 7768, 7726 7769. It's also at No 1 Club Drive, Bukit Utama, 47800 Petaling Jaya. Tel: 03-7726 8877

Extra Supertanker Posted: 19 Oct 2012 04:55 PM PDT [unable to retrieve full-text content]KUALA LUMPUR, OCT 20 — When Extra Supertanker first opened in Damansara Kim, Petaling Jaya, nine years ago, I took note of the fact the chef had a new, delicious take on Chinese food. The same Chef Chin, who is also one of the owners, is still there and he has continued to push the envelope, creating new dishes and drawing a loyal coterie of ...

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Racism is not just black and white, says Wenger Posted: 19 Oct 2012 08:59 AM PDT LONDON, Oct 19 — Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said English football's campaign against racism should be widened to include other insults. Reacting to questions in the light of John Terry's four-match ban for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand and the ugly events during and after England's under-21 match in Serbia on Tuesday, Wenger said skin colour was not the only issue. "It is not only racism, black and white, it is against all kinds of insults we still have in the stadiums. We must fight more against it," the Frenchman, who has suffered his fair share of taunts over the years, told reporters. "You look at some faces when you walk around the pitch, what they shout at you is scary. That is, for me, racism." England defender Danny Rose said he was racially abused and pelted with stones in the Serbian city of Krusevac at Tuesday's match, prompting the British government to call for tough sanctions against Serbia. Players will wear Kick It Out T-shirts at league matches this weekend, supporting a campaign to eradicate racism from English football — an issue which has been under the microscope in the wake of the Terry case and Liverpool's Luis Suarez serving an eight-match ban last season for racist insults. Some black players have threatened not to support the campaign this weekend, among them Reading striker Jason Roberts, saying not enough is being done to punish offenders. Roberts's stance has been criticised by Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and Wenger also said that all players should be unified in their support of the Kick It Out campaign. "I feel that (black players) are the main targets and if they do not join in it makes the whole thing not efficient and not credible. We need all to fight together against that," Wenger said. "They have faced the most abuse, so I think it is important they are on board. "If they feel the punishments are not hard enough they have to express that in a different way but I think that it would be sad if they do not join in," he added. Ferguson said Roberts's threatened protest was the wrong way to get his message across. "I don't know what point he is trying to make," Ferguson told reporters at his Friday news conference. "I don't know if he is trying to put himself on a different pedestal from everyone but he really should be supporting all the rest of the players who are doing it." Chelsea captain Terry decided yesterday not to appeal against a four-match FA ban after being found guilty of racially insulting Ferdinand in a Premier League match last October. — Reuters

In-form Wozniacki reaches Kremlin Cup semis Posted: 19 Oct 2012 08:39 AM PDT MOSCOW, Oct 19 — Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki showed glimpses of her past form to beat last year's champion Dominika Cibulkova 6-2 6-7 6-1 in the Kremlin Cup quarter-finals today. The third seed from Denmark, looking for her second WTA title in a month after winning the Korea Open, will now take on unseeded Swede Sofia Arvidsson in tomorrow's semi-finals. "It was a very good match today as both of us played very well," Wozniacki (picture), 22, told reporters. "The difference at the end was that I could just keep my highest level up and I managed to win the most important points, especially at the beginning of the third set." Arvidsson eased past seventh seed Maria Kirilenko 6-3 6-3, knocking out the last remaining Russian in both the men's and women's singles of the Moscow indoor event. On the men's side, Malek Jaziri beat Czech Lukas Rosol 7-6 6-3 to become the first Tunisian player to reach an ATP World Tour semi-final. Jaziri, who upset third seed Viktor Troicki in the second round on Wednesday, saved all seven of the break points he faced and converted one of his eight opportunities to claim victory in one hour 44 minutes. "I'm really happy to reach the semi-finals here and if I'm lucky enough, why not make my first Tour final?" said the world number 112, who will face second seed Andreas Seppi tomorrow. Italy's Seppi thrashed eighth-seeded Japanese Tatsuma Ito 6-2 6-1 in less than an hour. But French qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who knocked out top seed Alexandr Dolgopolov yesterday, could not repeat his heroics, going down to giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6 6-3. Karlovic, who at 2.08m is one of the tallest players on the Tour, fired 23 aces against 116th-ranked Roger-Vasselin. — Reuters

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Freed Pussy Riot band member takes case to European court Posted: 19 Oct 2012 05:13 AM PDT Yekaterina Samutsevich, a member of the female punk band "Pussy Riot", sits in a car after she was freed from the courtroom in Moscow October 10, 2012. — Reuters pic MOSCOW, Oct 19 — The sole member of anti-Kremlin punk group Pussy Riot freed on appeal has taken her case to the European Court of Human Rights, her lawyer said today, accusing Russia of violating her right to freedom of speech and illegally detaining her. Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, was one of three band members sentenced to two years in jail in August for belting out a profanity-laced song against President Vladimir Putin in a cathedral in a case that sparked an international outcry. She was freed on appeal on October 10 after six months behind bars after her lawyer successfully argued she had not actually taken part in the protest because she had been stopped and led away before it took place. Irina Khrunova, a lawyer acting on her behalf, told Reuters today that Samutsevich had lodged a complaint with the Strasbourg court claiming her rights had been violated during the six months she spent in pre-trial detention. "Her rights were violated when she wasn't given food or (allowed to) sleep," said Khrunova. "She was held in a small room without being fed for hours." A defiant Samutsevich said in a recent interview that Pussy Riot had "achieved more than our goal" by igniting a public debate about the close ties between the Russian state and the Orthodox Church, whose spiritual leader has likened Putin's rule to "a miracle of God." She also said the trial had been an ordeal, with she and her fellow band members roused in their cells daily at 5am after returning to jail at 1am the previous night. "It was constant stress, constantly being under guard, handcuffed," she told Reuters. The two other band members — Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22 — remain in jail after a Moscow court upheld their prison sentences, a ruling Putin said they had deserved. The trio was found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" after performing a song asking the Virgin Mary to "throw Putin out" on the altar of Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral in February. The protest prompted accusations of blasphemy from the Orthodox Church and acerbic criticism from Putin, but sparked an outcry from Western governments and pop stars, including Madonna, who condemned the sentences as disproportionate. However, the altar protest was offensive to many back in Russia, which is legally a secular state. — Reuters

Rolling Stones debut new rockumentary in London Posted: 19 Oct 2012 04:37 AM PDT LONDON, Oct 19 — The Rolling Stones yesterday hit the red carpet in London for the world premiere of "Crossfire Hurricane", a documentary tracing the band's half-century of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Band members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts and former bassist Bill Wyman met dozens of fans outside the Odeon theatre in Leicester Square ahead of the screening. Wyman said he hoped the film, named after the first line in smash hit "Jumpin' Jack Flash," highlighted the influence of guitarist Brian Jones, who died in 1969. "I'm glad he's remembered, that's the most important thing," he said. Looking back on the band's career, Jagger said: "It goes super fast so enjoy it while you can. It seems so that we did enjoy it while we could, it's pretty obvious." The premiere caps a busy week for the iconic band, who confirmed on Monday they will play four gigs in Britain and the United States to mark their 50th anniversary. Guitarist Wood revealed the band's live preparations were "up to and above par", joking that they "won't be able to stop" touring if the gigs were a success. "I can't believe how well the band is sounding," he added. The band play their hometown London at the 02 Arena on November 25 and 29, followed by two nights at the Newark Prudential Center in New Jersey, just outside New York, on December 13 and 15. The live shows will be the first by Jagger, Richards, Watts and Wood for five years. "You would think it would be boring doing the same thing over and over again but it's not," said Wood. "It's totally fresh and totally new every time we get together. "There's a magic that comes when we get together. Individually we're kind of walking around the farm or, you know, unperturbed... but when we get together, the roof comes off." He also hinted at a possible tour, saying: "Once this wheel is turning I don't think it will be able to stop." The film, made by director Brett Morgen, will be shown in cinemas this month before being aired by the BBC2 later in the year. — AFP/Relaxnews

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British engineers create petrol from air and water Posted: 19 Oct 2012 08:21 AM PDT The carbon-neutral fuel can be used in an identical way to standard petrol. — Reuters pic LONDON, Oct 19 — A small British company has developed a way to create petrol from air and water, technology it hopes may one day contribute to large-scale production of green fuels. Engineers at Air Fuel Synthesis (AFS) in Teeside, northern England, say they have produced five litres of synthetic petrol over a period of three months. The technique involves extracting carbon dioxide from air and hydrogen from water, and combining them in a reactor with a catalyst to make methanol. The methanol is then converted into petrol. By using renewable energy to power the process, it is possible to create carbon-neutral fuel that can be used in an identical way to standard petrol, scientists behind the technology say. "It's actually cleaner because it's synthetic," Peter Harrison, chief executive officer of AFS, said in an interview. "You just make what you need to make in terms of the contents of it, so it doesn't contain what might be seen as pollutants, like sulphur," he said. The work is part of a two-year project that has so far cost around £1 million (RM4.9 million). The green petrol will not appear on forecourts any time soon, though. "We can't make (the petrol) at pump prices, but we will do eventually," Harrison said. "All we need is renewable energy to make it, and so when oil becomes a problem we will be able to make a contribution to keep cars moving or to keep aeroplanes moving." AFS said it was confident the technology could be scaled up to refinery size in the future. Each of the processes that go into making the fuel already take place separately on an industrial scale. For now, however, AFS plans to build a commercial plant in the next two years that will produce around 1,200 litres a day of specialist fuels for the motorsports sector, Harrison said. — Reuters

In climate puzzle for crops, ancient tree offers clues Posted: 19 Oct 2012 07:52 AM PDT Mountain guide Eduardo Zuniga stands by an ancient spruce in Fulufjallet, southern Sweden, October 4, 2012. — Reuters pic FULUFJALLET (Sweden), Oct 19 — On a windswept Swedish mountain, a 10,000-year-old spruce with a claim to be the world's oldest tree is getting a new lease of life thanks to global warming, even as many plants are struggling. Scientists are finding that the drift of growing areas for many plants out toward the poles is moving not in a smooth progression but in fits and starts, causing problems for farmers aiming to adapt and invest in cash crops that are more sensitive to climate than is this ancient conifer known as "Old Tjikko". At a range of latitudes, but especially in the far north, climate change is bringing bigger than expected swings, putting billions of dollars at stake in a push to develop varieties with resilience to frost and heatwaves, drought or flood. Understanding those plants which are thriving in such hectic environments — like this ragged Christmas tree on a marshy plateau 900 metres above sea level — may yield clues: "It seems to be growing quite well," said researcher Leif Kullman. "That's a result of warming in the past 100 years." Old Tjikko stands above dead roots that Kullman, from Umea University, says date from 9,550 years ago, just as the Ice Age ended. The spruce regenerates clones when low branches sprout new roots so that, unlike California's Methuselah bristlecone pine whose trunk bears over 4,800 annual growth rings, today's five-metre tall trunk began growing only about 1940. Yet the tree's survival in the same spot since the earliest days of agriculture may offer lessons for pioneers trying to take advantage of global warming to push the frontiers for crops further north but finding most plants to be far more sensitive. "There will be no nice wine from Sweden this year," lamented Lauri Pappinen, one of a handful of new wine producers on the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic, where grapes failed to mature after a cool spring followed by mildew in a wet summer. The failure of Pappinen's 2012 harvest was the first since he started producing a decade ago as an experiment on the same latitude as southern Alaska or Siberia. The Nordic region is aided by the Gulf Stream bringing warm water from the tropics. Grapes of rot "Maybe we could collect 300kg of grapes. But it's not worth making the machines dirty," he said, adding that his 3.5 hectare vineyard can produce up to 10,000kg. "The starlings are having a big party right now," he said. Climate unpredictability is especially true further north, in the Arctic, where the extent of ice on the Arctic Ocean shrank to a record low this summer. Less attention has been paid to how the thaw affects growing conditions on land. "That's been a surprise in the last years. Everyone thought it would be warmer and nice weather. But suddenly it's wetter and colder in some regions," said Lars-Otto Reiersen, head of the Secretariat of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme. Many studies show that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the main greenhouse gas, will initially lead to more growth of plants worldwide. But, Reiersen said, not enough study has been made of the downside of increased unpredictability. Part of the problem for crops at higher latitudes is that the sun still rises and sets at the same times — the light will always be faint in spring and autumn even if the air is warmer. "There will be extreme weather and that also means risks of frosts in the growing season," said Inger Alsos, a professor at the University of Tromsoe in Norway and a specialist in Arctic ecology. "Frost resistance is a key trait." Plant breeders and genetic experts were working with a frost-resistant clover, for instance, recently found on Svalbard, a chain of Norwegian islands in the North Atlantic, 1,000km below the North Pole. It could be developed to help grow animal fodder in the north. And Kullman from Sweden said experiments show that spruces, for instance, produce a type of anti-freeze letting them survive down to about minus 50 Celsius. That might also help genetic research into frost resistance. Wheat gains But for many crops, the expansion of potential growing areas due to climate change may not add to overall production. "The overall balance will stay as it is," said Hans-Joachim Braun, head of the global wheat programme at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre based in Mexico City. "The losses from climate change will offset the benefits we have expanding in high-latitude areas." "There will be beneficiaries, such as the United States, Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia," he said, noting that wheat now grows as far north as southern Scandinavia. But many developing nations that now produce wheat will lose out as it gets too hot. Plant breeders have made huge progress in the past. Maize, for instance, is a tropical crop that has been adapted to grow at lower temperatures and with longer summer daylight hours in places like the United States or Europe, he said. In the far north, Arctic plants may struggle since they cannot extend their ranges much if the climate warms — there is no land in cooler latitudes, only the Arctic Ocean and icecap. The northern bilberry, for instance, is likely to gain tiny new areas on the coast of Greenland or on Russian Arctic islands this century as the climate warms. But it will lose big tracts of growing territory to the south, said Alsos at Tromsoe. "The same is true of many Arctic plants," she added. Greenland hopes? Experts disagree about Greenland's potential to provide a fertile new agricultural space as equatorial lands burn up. Some speak of a new boom in the Danish territory as melting ice opens the Arctic to shipping, mining and oil exploration. But farming in most of Greenland is a long way off. Alsos said any thaw in Greenland, shrinking the fringes of an ice sheet that is 3,000 metres, or two miles, thick, will reveal barren ground. "There is no topsoil," she said. That would take decades, or centuries, to form. "And we are talking about Arctic plants. Agriculture is not really part of it," she said. Southern Greenland, populated, if only sparsely, can now grow more potatoes or carrots and animal fodder, she said. But agriculture will remain marginal. After past failures, almost 200 nations have agreed to work out a global deal to slow climate change by the end of 2015 that will enter into force in 2020 to help avoid more heatwaves, floods and rising sea levels. While that may be vital to ensure many crops, Old Tjikko can probably cope with the changes. Kullman said the spruce had survived partly due to factors such as its isolation from other trees on a boggy area with no reindeer. The animals can damage trees with their antlers and isolation means less risk of damage from forest fires. And he said that, while there would be disruptions to all plants as the climate warmed, their ability to survive should not be underestimated: "All of our species," he said, "Have survived previous inter-glacial periods that were even warmer." The biggest threat to Old Tjikko is probably not climate change, according to Eduardo Zuniga, a guide who shows occasional visitors the tree on its trackless plateau in Fullufjallet National Park, northwest of Stockholm. Some springy lichen has been trodden flat by sightseers coming to gaze on the "world's oldest tree", threatening to damage its roots. "We may," he said, "Have to put up a fence." — Reuters

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Siapa yang lebih baik? Posted: 18 Oct 2012 09:52 PM PDT 19 OKT — Setiap ucapan punya konteks dan latar-belakangnya tersendiri termasuklah apa yang diucapkan oleh Datuk Husam dalam perbahasannya dalam penggulungan Belanjawaan Kelantan baru-baru ini. Ketika menyebutkan tentang DAP lebih baik dari Umno, konteksnya adalah tindakan Umno yang menggunakan peruntukan Akta Kuasa Darurat Kelantan, yang dibentangkan Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tun Hussein Onn di Dewan Rakyat pada 19 Oktober 1977 untuk "memagerankan" Kelantan. Saya difahamkan masa itu Akta itu masih dalam bentuk rang undang-undang Kuasa Darurat Kelantan. Usul yang dibawa oleh TPM itu disokong MCA. Akibatnya sistem pemerintahan demokrasi digantung dan Kelantan ditadbir secara "de facto" oleh Kerajaan Pusat apabila MAGERAN diisytiharkan pada 8 November 1977. MeMAGERANkan Kelantan sebenarnya merupakan satu senjata politik untuk membolehkan Umno menang di Kelantan pada PRU Mac 1978 berikutnya. Husam seterusnya mengingatkan Dewan bahawa ketika itu yang menentang penggunaan akta itu ialah Lim Kit Siang. "Siapa yang menentang akta ini dan ada dalam rekod Hansard. Satu-satunya yang menentang akta ini ialah Lim Kit Siang, padahal ketika itu PAS dan DAP tidak ada hubungan," katanya. Jelasnya apa yang dimaksudkan oleh ADUN Salor ini yang juga Naib Presiden PAS adalah kritikan terhadap Umno tentang hal amalan "demokrasi" dan kalau dibawa lebih luas lagi dalam konteks hari ini adalah perkara yang bersabitan "Tadbir-Urus" atau "governance". Dan perkara "governance" menyangkut perkara "Keadilan, KeAmanahan, Pertanggungjawaban, Ketelusan, "Rule of Law" (Kedaulatan Undang-undang) dan integriti atau bebas rasuah dan salah guna kuasa. Tajuknya dan pertikaiannya tidak menyangkut hal aqidah dan keimanan atau siapa Islam atau bukan Islam. Sebaliknya, tajuk utamanya bersangkutan dan tadbir-urus yang seharusnya bagi orang Islam adalah hasil natijah iman dan komitmen kepada prinsip-prinsip penting dalam akhlak dan muamalat Islam. Disini, perbezaan dan ukuran yang dimaksudkan oleh beliau tentang DAP nyata lebih baik dari Umno disegi amalan demokrasi dan tadbir-urus yang baik atau "good governance". Sehubungan perkara ini saya suka mengungkapkan apa yang disebutkan oleh Imam Ibn Taimiyymah: (InnalLaha yansuru daulatun 'Adilah, walau kaanat Kafirah, wa inkaanat Kafirah, wa La yansuru daulatun Zolimah, wa lau kanat Mukminah). "Allah membantu negara Adil, walaupun Kafir, dan Allah tidak membantu negara zalim walaupun mukmin". Mafhum atau maksud kalam Ibn Taimiyyah ini cukup jelas tentang persoalan pemerintahan (daulah) dan tadbir-urus yang mendukungi Keadilan dan KeAmanahan yang diberi Allah bantuan dan pertolongan dengan sifat Ar-RahmanNya ke atas semua mahklukNya. Dalam sebuah hadith Qudsi "RahmahKu mengatasi Kemarahan(Amarah)Ku". Saya kira Husam tidak perlu apologetik tentang apa yang beliau sebutkan dalam DUN Kelantan itu atau takut serta gusar dengan ugutan oleh seorang ADUN BN bahawa kenyataan ini mahu disebarkan seluas-luasnya. Biar sahaja ia diberikan liputan luas, kelak rakyat seluruhnya akan faham maksud sebenarnya! Kalau kita panjangkan lagi segala kezaliman dan kebobrokan Umno khasnya dekad-dekad mutakhir ini maka akan lebih menyerlah bagaimana parti politik Melayu yang tidak komited untuk berpegang dengan prinsip-prinsip Islam akan akhirnya "menjulang ketuanan bangsa-parti"nya dan sanggup berlaku zalim kepada pihak lain. Ambil sahaja bagaimana Umno menafi dan merampas hak rakyat Kelantan dalam hal royalti minyak Kelantan. Bagaimana Umno menafikan peruntukan per kapita hak Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) yang sebenarnya termaktub dalam peruntukan Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Senarainya terlalu panjang samadayang bersangkutan dengan hal urusan ekonomi dan pembangunan termasuklah "penswastaan" dan "monopoli" untuk kroni dan mengorbankan kemaslahatan awam dan rakyat. Tidak kurang zalimnya adalah dalam "mencekik" dan "menjerut" system Kehakiman dan badan-badan penguatkuasa seperti SPR, SPRM, Suhakam dll sekaligus menghilangkan unsur "Semak-Imbang" sebenarnya yang diperlukan untuk menjaga kewibawaan dan kebebesan semua institusi-institusi penting dalam negara.Tidak termasuk hal yang menjejaskan kesihatan dan keselamatan rakyat amnya termasuklah dalam isu Lynas di Gebeng dan Asian Rare Earth (ARE) di Bukit Merah dan mengutamakan kepentingan komersial dan elit bisnes-kroni. Ini konteksnya yang dimaksudkan beliau bahawa DAP lebih baik dari Umno. Testimoni dan prestasi Pentadbiran Pakatan Rakyat di negeri Pulau Pinang hari ini di bawah DAP lebih menyerlah lagi di segi prinsip Kompetensi, Pertanggungjawaban dan Ketelusan (CAT) untuk membangunkan "good governance". Ketirisan berbilion ringgit dalam Laporan Ketua Audit 2011 cukup sebagai bukti dan testimoni. Sayugia saya sebutkan, pada akhirnya bahawa Aqidah dan Keimanan sememang punya pertalian yang intim dan kuat dengan tadbir-urus atau "governance". Seandainya Aqidah dan Keimanan itu kuat dan mantap pastinya ia akan melahirkan pentadbiran yang Amanah kepada Allah serta menunaikan tanggunggjawab kepada rakyat. Sebaliknya, ketika pentadbiran itu sarat dengan rasuah, salah guna kuasa serta membolot kekayaan negara, saya berani menegaskan, berdasarkan pelbagai ayat-ayat Allah khasnya mesej dari Surah Mutaffifin, bahawa Aqidah dan Keimanan Penguasa Politik itu adalah sangat dipertikaian bahkan sangat rapuh justeru kerana tidak takut kepada Allah SWT dan Amanah Allah pastinya akan menuntut Pertanggungjawaban di Mahkamah Rabbul Jalil di Yaumul Hisab — Hari Pembalasan. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Are you doing what you love? Posted: 18 Oct 2012 05:07 PM PDT OCT 19 — Some time ago, I received an email from a career website I forgot I had subscribed to. The email subject was: "Are you doing what you love?"  Without opening it, I marked the email as spam and moved it to the trash bin, but the question stayed with me. The first thought that came to my mind was: "Should I be?" The common perception is that we are better off doing something we are absolutely passionate about. It's a tired cliché shoved as a matter of course at the young and ambitious, looking to start down their own path in life in search of their destiny, and I suspect amid the current convocation season many a fresh graduate will hear it in one form or another. And yes, to some extent enjoying what we do for a living helps us to become happy and successful. But doing something you love is not the be-all and end-all of success and happiness. In my opinion the key factor is not so much something you love as something you don't hate. Am I doing what I love? At this point in my life, the answer would be yes. I love to write and I happen to write for a living. But I did not get to it as a job by wanting to do something I love. When I first entered the workforce, I did not have my mind set on finding a job doing something I love. My only thought was to find a job I can do. And I did. I remember the day I handed in a bound copy of my dissertation to my supervisor and thought, this is it — I'm done, I'm graduating. Along the way I discovered that while I love geology and enjoyed studying it, it wasn't necessarily something that I would like to do for a living. It would be great to write but as a fresh graduate with nearly zero experience that seemed beyond me. So the big question for me was: what now? As I wandered around the geology building wondering at the newly appeared emptiness that followed the realisation that one is actually done with university, I stopped by the computer lab, surfed the Net and checked out Jobstreet. As I looked through the listings, one advertisement for a sub-editor caught my eye — the only requirements were good English and a degree in anything, along with the standard list of personal qualities, and importantly, fresh graduates accepted. And I thought, why not? I went for it and I got the position. And I was a sub-editor for nearly three years. While I'm not bursting with passion for sub-editing, I discovered that some of my little habits and quirks helped me do it after an initial learning period. Over time, I discovered that I was fairly good at it and that discovery made me happy doing it. I was happy with the job not necessarily because I loved doing it, but because I loved being competent at it. The fact that I could do it meant I did not dread coming in to work every day, which I feel is an important factor in workplace happiness and eventual career success, more so than actually loving what you do — contentment as opposed to bursting passion. If you are pondering your career, avoid giving too much weight to passion and love. If you are good at something and the thought of doing it for a living does not scare you silly, it is probably the right thing for you to do. At the very least, it would be the right step towards what you should be doing. So, are you doing what you love? * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

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KPDNKK selar PPIM lancar anugerah kepada organisasi menindas Posted: 18 Oct 2012 11:54 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR, 19 Okt  — Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi Dan Kepenggunaan, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (gambar) membidas langkah Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia (PPIM) yang memperkenalkan Anugerah Organisasi Tiada Kemanusiaan (OXK) dan Anugerah Organisasi Tidak Prihatin (OXP) untuk organisasi yang menindas pengguna pada hari ini. Ketua Aktivis PPIM, Datuk Nadzim Johan dalam kenyataan kepada sebuah Malaysiakini berkata anugerah tersebut ialah bertujuan mempertahankan hak pengguna. "Saya merasakan langkah oleh PPIM itu tidak wajar dan sepatutnya tindakan hukuman sahaja sudah memadai. "Mana pernah dalam sejarah negara kita berikan anugerah kepada organisasi yang teruk, anugerah selalunya diberikan kepada organisasi yang betul-betul berprestasi baik," kata Ismail kepada The Malaysian Insider. Antara organisasi yang tercalon untuk dua anugerah tersebut ialah The Store dan Giant, Bank Rakyat, firma Malaysian Building Society Berhad (MBSB), penyedia perkhidmatan televisyen berbayar Astro dan agensi tiket, Ticket Charge.  "Mereka (PPIM) sepatutnya beri pendidikan dan memainkan peranan proaktif untuk tingkatkan kesedaran di kalangan pengguna, bukannya dengan mengambil langkah seperti ini. "Sebagai contohnya negara-negara maju lain, kementerian tidak memainkan peranan banyak sebaliknya persatuan pengguna yang lebih banyak memberi kesedaran dan mendidik pengguna tentang hak mereka," tambah menteri itu lagi. Mengulas mengenai dakwaan PPIM yang mengatakan rangkaian kedai kopi Starbucks memperuntukkan sebahagian wang mereka untuk rejim Yahudi di Israel, Ismail membidas langkah itu sebagai salah kerana mempolitikkan perkara tersebut. "Tindakan tersebut adalah menyimpang dengan peranan PPIM, mereka sepatutnya tidak mempolitikkan perkara tersebut. PPIM sepatutnya memfokuskan kepada hak-hak pengguna," tambahnya lagi. Di samping itu, Ismail juga bertindak memuji Persatuan Pengguna Pulau Pinang (CAP) yang memainkan peranan mereka mendekatkan diri dan memberi kesedaran kepada pengguna. PPIM berkata pemilihan calon-calon untuk OXK dan OXP dibuat berdasarkan banyak aduan yang diterima daripada pengguna terhadap organisasi berkenaan. Pada masa sama, PPIM mempelawa orang ramai yang merasakan diri mereka dinafikan hak sebagai pengguna, untuk mengemukakan pencalonan terhadap mana-mana organisasi atau individu seperti wakil rakyat atau bos mereka. Sementara itu, berdasarkan beberapa aduan tertinggi yang diterima oleh PPIM beberapa organisasi telah dikenalpasti untuk dicalonkan. Selain dua anugerah tersebut, satu lagi "Anugerah Kambing" terhadap mana-mana organisasi di bawah dua anugerah tersebut yang didapati mendapat respon yang paling teruk daripada pengguna.  Selain organisasi, anugerah ini juga menerima pencalonan untuk individu.

Ekonomi lesu dunia jejas permintaan minyak sepanjang baki tahun ini, kata Ernst & Young Posted: 18 Oct 2012 11:31 PM PDT Ekonomi lesu dunia jejas permintaan minyak sepanjang baki tahun ini, kata Ernst & Young SINGAPURA, 19 Okt — Pasaran bagi baki tahun 2012 kekal tidak menentu dengan harga minyak menjadi agak tidak berkait dengan asas pasaran, kata Unjuran Suku Ke-4 Minyak dan Gas Global Ernst & Young. Ernst & Young (E&Y) berkata dengan kelembapan ekonomi global, ia menjangka ini akan membantutkan pertumbuhan permintaan minyak pada jangka pendek. Bagaimanapun, harga minyak sedikit kukuh pada suku ketiga dan ini akan menjadi asas kepada pelaburan oleh syarikat minyak dan gas meskipun keadaan ekonomi masih tidak menentu, katanya. E&Y berkata baki tunai yang sihat di kalangan syarikat bermodal tinggi dan keperluan untuk menggantikan rizab akan meningkatkan aktiviti pelaburan pada suku keempat hingga memasuki 2013. Ia juga berkata ketibaan musim sejuk di Hemisfera Utara juga akan memberikan peningkatan bermusim kepada permintaan minyak dan gas. Laporan itu berkata kebimbangan mengenai keadaan ekonomi global menghalang harga minyak mencecah ketinggian yang dicapai pada suku pertama tahun ini. "China dijangka mewakili hampir satu pertiga peningkatan permintaan minyak dunia pada 2013 seperti yang diunjurkan oleh Agensi Tenaga Antarabangsa," katanya. Sementara itu, ketua minyak dan gas global E&Y, Dale Nijoka, berkata berikutan keadaan ekonomi global yang lesu, permintaan sepanjang baki 2012 ini dilihat terus lemah. — Bernama

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