KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — There's nothing like a good risotto or pasta that tells you the Italian bistro you have just been to is worth going again. We liked the Prawn and Scallop Risotto at Uno! in Taman ... Read More
KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — They learnt to make butter and pasta, clarify a consommé, shape semolina dumplings, and ice a strawberry mille-feuille. All 17 of them.The children — little chefs — were bewitched ... Read More
KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — There's nothing like a good risotto or pasta that tells you the Italian bistro you have just been to is worth going again. We liked the Prawn and Scallop Risotto at Uno! in Taman ... Read More
KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — They learnt to make butter and pasta, clarify a consommé, shape semolina dumplings, and ice a strawberry mille-feuille. All 17 of them.The children — little chefs — were bewitched ... Read More
Warner plays a shot during Australia's Twenty20 cricket match against Sri Lanka in Kandy August 6, 2011.—Reuters picMELBOURNE, May 19 — Australia opening batsman David Warner will face a disciplinary hearing for his Twitter outburst against two senior Australian cricket journalists, the country's cricket board said today.
The flamboyant left-handed batsman criticised News Limited journalists Robert Craddock and Malcolm Conn in an expletive-filled tirade, which grabbed headlines in Australia.
The 26-year-old has been charged with breaking the code of behaviour which pertains to "unbecoming behaviour, regarding comments posted on his Twitter account," Cricket Australia said in a statement.
Several Australian media outlets published Warner's tweets in which he criticised a story by Craddock before he embarked on a running battle with Conn, who had come to the defence of his colleague.
The timing and the date of the hearing will be determined tomorrow, the CA statement added. — Reuters
AUCKLAND, May 19 — Two goals in four first half minutes were enough for Auckland City to clinch their third successive Oceania Champions League title against 10-man Waitakere United today.
The 2-1 victory ensured at least a US$500,000 (RM1.5 million) payday for the Auckland side and entry to the lucrative FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco in December.
Auckland's Adam Dickinson slotted home in the 16th minute after Waitakere goalkeeper Danny Robinson fumbled a deflected cross from Takuya Iwata before Alex Feneridis blasted home a shot from 30 metres that Robinson misread in the 20th minute.
The second goal, however, only sparked New Zealand's domestic champions into action with several attacking raids on Tamati Williams' goal before Waitakere's Roy Krishna managed to beat the offside trap in the 39th minute.
Instead of taking on Williams one-on-one, the Fiji striker calmly controlled the ball and squared it to Chad Coombes who pushed the ball home to give the west-Auckland side's fans hopes of their first Oceania title since 2008.
Waitakere pressed for an equaliser for most of the second half but were caught out on counter attacks by the Auckland team which resulted in Waitakere's Tim Myers receiving his second booking and a red card in the 59th minute.
"It was pretty tough for 10-men for quite a long period in that second half, probably 30 minutes, and the boys tried really hard," Waitakere coach Paul Marshall said in a televised interview.
"That first 20 minutes cost us. We were probably not in it for the first 20 minutes. A couple of goals against us and it just didn't pan out really."
Auckland's victory was their fourth Champions League title since the competition was revamped in 2007 and earned their third successive trip to the FIFA tournament, which involves club champions from all six confederations.
The amateur side shocked world football when they made the quarter-finals of the tournament in 2009 and were competitive in their only match last year in Japan.
"We played a really good game, it was tight but we got away with a win," Auckland City coach Ramon Tribuletix said.
"We're going to enjoy ourselves right now. Morocco will come later in the year." – Reuters
Amitabh Bachchan (right) shares the limelight Carey Mulligan and Leonardo DiCaprio as they arrive for the screening of "The Great Gatsby" and the opening ceremony of the Cannes festival May 15, 2013. — Reuters picsCANNES, May 19 — Indian movie actors and a new wave of directors are on a mission at the Cannes film festival — to show that their industry, which turns 100 this year, is more than just Bollywood.
The largest Indian contingent to date is on the French Riviera at the world's leading cinema showcase to promote their country, which has the world's biggest film industry, making over 1,000 films a year compared with about 600 in Hollywood.
Movies from Mumbai-based Bollywood and other regional India films have struggled at the global box office, with Indian cinema largely dismissed as lengthy, song-and-dance numbers.
But the industry sees the 66th Cannes festival, where India is "guest country" to mark its centenary, as a chance to showcase a new genre of Indian movies globally and to promote India as a place to both make films and win a massive audience.
"If you use the term Bollywood it really represents the song-and-dance, credibility-stretched story kind of film," director Amit Kumar, whose gangster-cop thriller "Monsoon Shootout" held its premiere at Cannes today, told Reuters.
"We need to portray Indian cinema as more international and I hope our presence at Cannes will make the world realise that Indian cinema is most than just about Bollywood."
The Indian visitors to Cannes are also keen to lure investment to their film industry, which is forecast to grow to US$5 billion (RM15 billion) by 2014 from US$3.2 billion in 2010, according to a report by Ernst & Young.
Actress Sonam Kapoor (left) arrives for the screening of "Jeune & Jolie" (Young & Beautiful) May 16, 2013, with US athlete, actress and fashion model Aimee Mullins.India's presence has been high-profile since the start of the 12-day festival, with acting legend Amitabh Bachchan on the red carpet on opening night to mark his Hollywood debut in Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby" alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.
Actress Vidya Balan also walked the red carpet in the pouring rain that night as one of nine members of a jury led by US filmmaker Steven Spielberg that will decide the coveted Palme D'Or award for best picture on the final day, May 26.
A gala dinner to mark Indian cinema's centenary was due to be held today, attended by a list of stars including actresses Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor and Freida Pinto.
Vidya Balan, member of the jury headed by Steven Spielberg.'Shackles'
There is no Indian film in either of the two main competitions at Cannes. The last Indian film selected to vie for the coveted Palme D'Or was "Swaham" in 1994 while "Udaan" competed in Un Certain Regard for emerging filmmakers in 2010.
But four Indian films will be screened — "Monsoon Shootout", another thriller "Ugly", a tribute to the industry centenary called "Bombay Talkies", and love story "Dabba" (Lunchbox).
Anupama Chopra, Bollywood author, columnist and critic, said Bollywood was a tag that independent film-makers had to fight.
"Maybe one day (Indian filmmakers) will break free of the shackles of Bollywood and make a completely global film in terms of aesthetics," he said.
In 2011 India saw a 42 per cent jump in the number of Hollywood movies shot there, with several Hollywood studios such as Disney, News Corp's Fox, and Sony entering deals with or buying stakes in Indian companies.
There has also been a surge in the number of Hollywood movies released in India, where 3.6 billion film tickets were sold last year. Hollywood studios have been releasing their films in India simultaneously with their North American releases and also dubbing films in various regional Indian languages.
Uma Da Cunha, programme adviser at the 2012 Mumbai Film Festival, said studios wanted a slice of the huge Indian market.
"The big and significant change in Cannes is that the Indian film industry is being given space and attention on the international film scene and it is attracting business and ties from global film interests," she told Reuters. — Reuters
A custom-made electric guitar played by the late John Lennon and George Harrison of the Beatles is shown in this Julien's Auctions handout photograph taken at Julien's Gallery in Beverly Hills, California, and released to Reuters on May 18, 2013. - Reuters picNEW YORK, May 19 — A custom-made electric guitar played by the late John Lennon and George Harrison of the Beatles sold at a New York auction yesterday for US$408,000 (RM1.2 million), said officials with the company behind the event.
The semi-hollow-body guitar, manufactured by the VOX company, was sold to an unidentified US buyer at the "Music Icons" event organised by Beverly Hills, California-based Julien's Auctions and held at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manhattan.
Julien's said previously it expected the guitar, which was the centerpiece of Saturday's sale, to fetch between US$200,000 and US$300,000.
Harrison played the instrument, distinguished by two symmetrical flared shoulders on the upper body, while practicing "I Am The Walrus," and Lennon used it in a video session for the song "Hello, Goodbye," according to a statement from Julien's Auctions.
Both songs were on the Beatles' 1967 album "Magical Mystery Tour."
The VOX guitar was a prototype instrument custom-built for Lennon in 1966, said Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien's.
Lennon gave the VOX guitar as a gift in 1967 to Yanni "Magic Alex" Mardas, who was the electronics engineer for the band's Apple Records label, the auction house said.
The instrument, displayed in recent weeks at a museum in Ireland before the sale, was sold a few years ago by Christie's Auction House for a little over US$100,000. Nolan said the latest buyer, who sent a representative to Saturday's auction to bid on his behalf, wished to remain anonymous.
Lennon was shot to death in New York in 1980 by a deranged fan, and Harrison died of lung cancer in Los Angeles in 2001. The surviving members of the Beatles are Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. – Reuters
Conservators at the Library of Congress screw down the map that first used the name America as it is prepared for its encasement in Washington December 3, 2007. — Reuters picWASHINGTON, May 19 — As online titans compete to deliver instant maps to smartphones, the Library of Congress in Washington is focusing attention on an antique "cosmology" printed in 1507 that serves as America's birth certificate.
The black-and-white map created by Martin Waldseemuller, a French cleric, was the first time the name America had appeared on any map.
Waldseemuller was prescient enough to show the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean at a time when no one else in Europe thought they were there.
The map, purchased a decade ago at a cost of US$10 million (RM30 million), is the centrepiece of an exhibit at the Library of Congress running through June 22 that features a collection of artefacts from Waldseemuller and his colleagues.
It includes later maps that lose faith in Waldseemuller's vision of America. In a 1516 world map, the Americas are called "Terra Ultra Incognita" — a faraway unknown country.
Still, the Library of Congress had pursued Waldseemuller's mammoth map for more than a century.
It shows two continents across the ocean from Europe, with a skinny isthmus between them, an embryonic Florida peninsula, a western mountain range on the northern continent, and on the southern continent, a clearly lettered name: "America."
These maps are essential for the same reason a smartphone is better with satellite images of Earth, according to Ralph Ehrenberg, chief of the library's geography and map division: people want to know where they came from.
Waldseemuller's maps came at a time of geographic exploration, technological advance, societal ferment and expanding communication — a time much like our own, Ehrenberg said in an interview.
The new way of communication in 1507 was printing with mechanical type, he said, while "now we have Google Earth, which is a new way of looking at the world today."
This week, Google unveiled a map application that the search engine giant said will customize the known world for every user. This competes with Apple's iMap app and possibly with Facebook, which is creating a map app of its own, as reported by USA Today.
"We have a universal need to know where we are on the globe and where we are in the world; it's one of the things that transcends time and space," said John Hessler, a library map curator and Waldseemuller expert.
That geographic comfort zone was unsettled in Waldseemuller's day. His best-known maps were made between 1492, when Christopher Columbus arrived at what he thought was Asia, and 1543, when astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus rocked the Renaissance with his theory that Earth revolved around the Sun, instead of the other way around.
Waldseemuller chose the name America to honour Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci, who explored the east coast of what is now known as South America. Because other known continents had feminine endings in Latin — Africa, Asia and Europa — he feminized Amerigo to America, said John Hessler, a curator in the library's geography and map division.
Also on this map, six years before Vasco de Balboa encountered it and 15 years after Columbus' seminal voyage, is an ocean east of Asia, now known as the Pacific.
So how did Waldseemuller know? He talked about new Portuguese sailing charts, and according to one theory, may have heard the Chinese claim that they had already discovered the Americas. Hessler discounted this.
"He knows it's a really radical geography," Hessler said. A map notation reassures viewers that his was an unusual and forward-looking world view.
Mariners, clerics, scholars and noble folk were the only map consumers in Waldseemuller's time, and maps were rare because they had to be laboriously printed. Waldseemuller wrote that there were 1,000 copies of his 1507 map; the Library of Congress has the only one known to survive.
Digital technology, satellite navigation and easy data availability now has made maps ubiquitous, said Joseph Kerski, a geographer at Environmental Systems Research Institute in Broomfield, Colorado.
"We're at a moment in time now where all of a sudden everything we know, everything we touch is being geo-enabled," Kerski said by telephone. Still, the role of maps is essentially unchanged.
While most of Earth's terrain has already been explored, Kerski said, mapping continues into such diverse areas as social networks and microbial activity in soil.
"We may not be exploring new lands per se, but we're still exploring and maps are still powerful, just as they always have been," the geographer said. — Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 — Childhood stories. Most people wrote theirs; fewer have drawn theirs. But one thousand words is not easy to write, and a picture does not have to be too detailed to tell a good ... Read More
Meor Yusof Aziddin adalah Malaysian folk singer/songwritter yang telah menghasilkan 10 album indipenden sejak tahun 2000 sehingga 2011. Juga penulis untuk buku tentang kehidupan, "Sembang Tepi Jalan" dan "Syurga Yang Hilang." Memblog di www.pestajiwa.net. Berkerjaya sebagai "professional busker" di KL Sentral di bawah pengurusan KTMB sejak tahun 2010 sehingga ke hari ini.
19 MEI — Seperti yang diduga penyanyi pop 80an Herman Tino (Masrun Tamsi) yang bertanding sebagai calon Bebas di Tanjong Karang kalah dalam Pilihanraya Umum ke-13 (PRU 13) yang baru berlangsung baru-baru ini. Beliau hanya mendapat 340 undi. Jika saya pengundi di kawasan beliau bertanding itu, beliau akan mendapat 341 undi, pun jauh untuk menjangkau Datuk Seri Noh Omar dari Barisan Nasional yang mendapat 20,548 undi.
Herman Tino bukan orang politik. Itulah kenyataannya. Politik memerlukan cerita dan perlakuan yang bagus-bagus dan kelihatan sempurna yang penuh dengan bunga-bunga keindahan yang nyata dan jelas. Mereka tidak akan faham tentang hal-hal yang surreal yang ada elemen kejiwaan atau jambatan kasih-sayang, antara mesej yang yang mahu disampaikan oleh beliau itu.
Apabila Herman Tino melakukan perkara yang luar biasa dengan berjalan kaki dari Kuala Lumpur ke Tanjong Karang dalam kempennya yang tidak mendapat perhatian dan sokongan, jelas beliau hanya keseorangan dalam misi dan cita-citanya. Kesungguhan dan nilai kejujuran mengikut faham nya hanya mengundang fenomena yang aneh di kalangan pengundi dan masyarakat.
Pun beliau masih bersyukur dengan kekalahan itu malah akan mengadakan kenduri kesyukuran dan menjemput mereka-mereka yang menyokong beliau untuk sama meraikan majlis tersebut yang tarikhnya akan diumumkan nanti.
Bukan semua artis itu punya kredibiliti untuk menjadi orang politik. Politik memerlukan bakat semulajadi. Saya lihat ciri-ciri itu ada dalam diri Norman KRU atau Presiden SENIMAN, Zed Zaidi. Jika mereka menjadi calon, mereka punya harapan cerah untuk menang dan berjaya dalam dunia politik.
Politik memerlukan mereka yang pandai bercakap dan berjanji. Tidak ada orang politik yang berkata mereka tidak punya banyak wang melainkan janji-janji yang penuh dengan elemen kasih-sayang seperti yang Herman Tino lakukan.
Jika tokoh agung kitaTan Sri P. Ramlee itu masih hidup dan di penghujung kariernya beliau memilih untuk menjadi wakil rakyat dan menceburi politik, bagi saya beliau tidak akan berjaya dan nasibnya mungkin sama dengan Herman Tino. Sekurang-kurangnya Herman Tino di penghujung kariernya masih punya peminat terutama bagi mereka yang lena dibuai dengan lagu-lagu terutama di era kemuncaknya sebagai penyanyi pop suatu masa dulu.
P. Ramlee pula di penghujung kariernya seperti mentol yang malap dan masyarakat termasuklah media telah melupakannya sehinggalah ke hari matinya. Dah mati barulah mereka seperti dikejutkan dari mimpi, kelam-kabut memuja dan menganugerahkan berbagai anugerah dan gelaran untuk namanya sampailah ke hari ini, pun apalah gunanya lagi?
Hari ini konsep Peace and Love sudah tidak relevan lagi untuk masyarakat kita yang manja dan suka dibelai dengan nilai pesona dan materi apatah lagilah jika ia dipersembahkan di pentas politik yang penuh dengan elemen kebendaan dan pura-pura di dalamnya.
Ini bukan zaman Woodstock dulu yang mana mesej kasih-sayang itu disambut dengan bentuk yang lebih praktikal, pun timingnya memang sesuai. Tidak ada manusia yang sukakan peperangan, kecuali mereka yang punya kepentingan saja.
Rakyat suka jika wakil rakyat mereka itu suka tersenyum, beramah tamah, menjenguk dan merakyat walau sekali dua menjelang pilihan raya. Itu sudah mencukupi bagi mereka terutamanya untuk orang kita. Jangan buat benda yang pelik-pelik, itu rakyat tidak suka dan tidak akan faham. Tak faham satu hal, bahkan mereka akan "reject" begitu saja.
Untuk faham tentang apa mahunya orang kita terutamanya yang nampak Islamik (bukan semua) itu sangat mudah. Pertama kita perlulah tunjukkan kita ini pandai bercakap dalam hal-hal agama yang melibatkan hal-hal yang bersangkut paut dengan bab fekah dan syariat sahaja seperti yang selalu kita tonton dalam ceramah-ceramah tokoh agama selebriti seperti ustaz Azhar Idrus atau ustaz Don.
Apabila ustaz Azhar Idrus berkereta mewah sana-sini sebagaimana layaknya seorang selebriti yang disanjung dan dihormati, pun itu dikira sebahagian dari konsep kefahaman dan keperluan orang islam yang berjaya juga seperti yang termaktub dalam bab-bab nafsu yang mungkin berlebihan.
Saya baca juga kisah hidup rasulullah dan sahabat-sahabatnya. Apa yang saya faham kebanyakan mereka itu hidup dalam keadaan yang amat sederhana dan zuhud. Bukankah sifat menunjuk-nunjuk itu mampu membiakkan bunga-bunga riak tanpa kita sedari walau mulut kita menafikan?
Segera saya selak semula satu kisah dalam sebuah buku yang saya miliki karya penyair agung asal Lebanon, Khalil Gibran (1883-1931). Ceritanya tentang seorang ulama yang disanjung di daerahnya kerana pandai mengubat dan berceramah dan segala hal yang melibatkan perkara-perkara yang baik dan mulia di sisi masyarakat. Maka pada suatu hari berjalanlah ulama itu dengan pedatinya menuju ke satu kampung atas satu jemputan.
Tiba-tiba di dalam perjalanan itu beliau terlihat sekujur tubuh yang sedang nazak, yang akhirnya barulah ulama itu sedar yang tubuh yang nazak itu adalah iblis. Iblis adalah lambang kejahatan, manakala ulama itu adalah lambang kebaikan dan kemuliaan. Pun ulama itu perlukan sang iblis untuk menjadi sebahagian dari topik dan modal utamanya dalam proses mengubat dan berceramah dan iblis tidak patut dibiarkan mati. Tanpa cerita tentang kejahatan, apa lagi modal yang mahu disampaikannya?
Akhirnya ulama itu memimpin dan menolong sang iblis agar dia terus hidup demi sebuah kepentingan.
Bagi saya jika seorang itu datang kepada saya walau tanpa imej yang Islamik, pun jika pandangannya atau kata-katanya mampu menambah ilmu dan memberi saya sesuatu yang positif, pun itu sudah memadai dan saya tetap akan berterimakasih kepadanya.
Selain itu jangan bercerita tentang perkara yang lebih-lebih dalam agama, itu rakyat tidak suka. Level kefahaman yang paling sesuai hanyalah untuk makam amarah atau lawammah, itu saja. Islam yang kita faham itu mesej jelasnya hanyalah untuk syorga, neraka, pahala dan dosa.
Walau di syurga nanti nikmat yang paling utama adalah menatap zat Allah, pun kerana itu bukanlah hal yang melibatkan kebendaan dan angan-angan, maka itu tidaklah dititik-beratkan sangat bagi kebanyakan mereka yang Islamik itu dari segi imej terutamanya.
Keduanya mereka perlu tunjukkan imej orang kaya yang berjaya untuk meyakinkan rakyat terutamanya untuk golongan marhaen. Itu penting sebab ibarat orang berniaga yang mahu berjumpa pelanggan, perlulah menunjukkan mereka itu dari golongan yang berjaya. Jadi bila seorang wakil rakyat itu datang dengan kereta besar dan perut besar, itu akan membuat hormat rakyat terhadap mereka bertambah-tambahlah lagi. Itulah mentaliti kebanyakan orang kita yang tipikal dan stereotype.
Apa pun ceritanya, kita memang tidak boleh lari dari hal dan kebendaan selagi kita masih berkehendak. Pun terapkanlah nilai-nilai kesederhanaan terutama bagi mereka-mereka yang dihormati masyarakat kerana kehendak jiwa perlu juga kita kisahkan untuk mencapai makna keseimbangan.
GEORGE TOWN, 19 Mei — Ketua polis negara (KPN) baru dan menteri dalam negeri perlu berhenti "bermain politik" dan mula melindungi rakyat Malaysia, pelancong dan pelabur selamat daripada jenayah dan bahaya, kata pemimpin DAP Lim Kit Siang hari ini.
Penasihat DAP tersebut membidas KPN, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar dan Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamid ekoran kenyataan kedua-dua mereka ke atas perhimpunan Pakatan Rakyat (PR) dan rakyat Malaysia yang tidak gembira dengan keputusan pilihan raya.
"Kedua-dua perlu sedar bahawa mereka dibayar oleh pembayar cukai untuk menjalankan tugas utama mengurangkan jenayah, untuk melindungi keselamatan rakyat Malaysia, pelancong dan pelabur dan untuk menghapuskan perasaan takut terhadap jenayah yang menghantui rakyat Malaysia dalam negara ini , bukan mengabaikan tugas mereka dengan bermain politik dengan menggunakan kedudukan mereka," kata Lim dalam satu kenyataan hari ini.
Lim kemudiaan mencabar kedua-dua individu supaya menumpukan tanggungjawab mereka serta memberitahu kepada rakyat bagaimana mereka akan mengurangkan kadar jenayah, bukan dengan hanya bersikap sambil lewa dan pandai berpolitik sahaja.
"Kalau mereka banyak masa terluang, apa kata mereka cabar diri sendiri untuk membuang Johor Baru sebagai pusat jenayah dalam tempoh 12 bulan daripada sekarang.
"Adakah Khalid dan Zahid mampu mengumumkan perletakkan jawatan mereka kepada umum jika mereka gagal melakukannya untuk memastikan Johor Baru selamat dan terjaga semula?" kata Lim.
Menurut Lim lagi, kedua-dua mereka hanya sibuk bercakap tentang konspirasi mengguling kerajaan tetapi tidak pula melakukan siasatan terhadap pihak yang mengeluarkan kenyataan berbau perkauman walaupun banyak laporan polis telah dibuat, sebagai contohnya terhadap bekas hakim Mahkamah Rayuan Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah.
"Mengapa pihak polis tidak mula siasatan ke atas ucapan hasutan dan perkauman yang dibuat kepada orang awam oleh bekas hakim Mahkamah Rayuan Mohd Abdullah pada Ahad lalu walaupun laporan polis telah dibuat?" soal Lim lagi.
Malah, akhbar milik Umno Mingguan Malaysia hari ini juga melaporkan bahawa Khalid memandang serius pendedahan bekas paib pengerusi DAP, Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim, yang menuduh terdapat konspirasi menggulingkan kerajaan melalui demonstrasi jalanan dan rusuhan dengan nama Malaysia Spring.
"Individu yang membuat dakwaan pun tidak mempunyai integriti atau keberanian untuk membuat laporan polis, bagaimana Ketua Polis Negara boleh berkata akan memulakan siasatan ke atas tuduhan yang keterlaluan dan tidak berasas?" kata Lim lagi merujuk kepada Tunku Abdul Aziz.
Bulan lalu, media melaporkan pembunuhan dan percubaaan merompak terhadap wanita berumur 52 tahun Irene Ong di Bukit Gasing yang menyayat hati dan mendapat tumpuan orang ramai.
Putrajaya telah mengatakan dari 2009 hingga 2012, kadar jenayah kebangsaan menurun sebanyak 27 peratus sementara jenayah jalanan menurun sebanyak 39.7 peratus tetapi ramai pengundi wanita yang berjumlah separuh daripada keseluruhan pengundi.
Polis mengatakan kadar jenayah juga jatuh enam peratus untuk suku tahun pertama 2013 berbanding tempoh yang sama tahun lepas tetapi beberapa kumpulan mempertikaikan angka tersebut, mengatakan ianya telah diubah.
Pengerusi Pemantau jenayah MyWatch R. Sri Sanjeevan mengatakan Putrajaya dan polis hanya memberitahu jenayah adalah satu persepsi dalam tindak balas terhadap kebimbangan awam.
MyWatch menuduh polis Februari lalu mengubah statistik jenayah, mendakwa kes-kes ragut dan samun tanpa senjata api serta kecurian dan pecah rumah, adalah lebih tinggi daripada indeks jenayah diterbitkan dari Januari hingga Oktober 2011.
Paul Low, Presiden Transparency International Malaysia, dilantik jadi Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri. — Gambar failKUALA LUMPUR, 19 Mei — DAP mengkritik Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri yang baru, Paul Low, supaya tidak hanya menjadi jurucakap kepada kerajaan pemerintah Barisan Nasional tetapi sebaliknya melaksanakan tanggungjawab yang diberi.
Setiausaha agung DAP, Lim Guan Eng, mendakwa Presiden Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) tersebut mengamalkan budaya berbohong seperti diamalkan parti pemerintah BN apabila berkata ahli Kabinet tidak perlu mengisytiharkan harta kepada umum.
"Paul Low tidak seharusnya bertukar begitu cepat daripada Presiden Transparency International Malaysia kepada jurucakap BN dengan menggunakan budaya pembohongan BN apabila menerangkan kenapa ahli Kabinet tidak perlu menhisytiharkan harta secara umum," kata Lim dalam satu kenyataan media hari ini.
"Sekarang Paul Low sudah menjadi menteri BN, beliau telah akhirnya menelan semua propaganda BN kononnya pengisytiharan harta akan menggugat keselamatan menteri kabinet," tambahnya lagi.
Ketua menteri Pulau Pinang juga mempersoalkan Low yang tiba-tiba bertukar pendirian sebaik masuk ke dalam Kabinet walaupun sebelum ini menyokong pemimpin kerajaan pentadbiran DAP tersebut yang mengisytiharkan harta.
"Sebaliknya menggunakan pendekatan serupa demi meningkatkan integriti di Kerajaan Persekutuan, kenapa pula beliau memiliki pendirian berlainan sekarang?" soal Lim.
Lim Guan Eng: Timbulkan propaganda BN. — Gambar failLow juga dibidas pemimpin DAP tersebut kerana mengatakan pengisytiharan harta Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang dan ahli mesyuarat negeri (exco) adalah tidak rasmi kerana tiada tindakan diambil walaupun maklumat yang diberikan adalah tidak benar.
"Pengisytiharan harta Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang disahkan oleh sebuah firma perakaunan antarabangsa dan diakujanji oleh ahli exco bahawa mereka telah memberikan maklumat yang tepat dan benar.
"Semua ahli exco yang gagal mengisytiharkan harta akan dilucutkan jawatan. Bukankah itu hukuman berat yang mencukupi untuk memastikan semuanya patuh?" ujar Lim lagi.
Penasihat DAP Lim Kit Siang juga turut mempersoalkan kewibawaan dan kemampuan Low berada dalam Kabinet, serta mencabarnya untuk melaksanakan lima perkara bagi membuktikan keupayaannya.
Low digesa untuk mendedahkan laporan dan penilaian penuh terhadap Ikrar Integriti Pilihan Raya TI-M pada 20 Februari 2013 oleh Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak, mengadakan tiga Suruhanjaya Inkuiri Diraja (RCI) melibatkan cadangan Perdamaian Kebangsaan, insiden 13 Mei 1969 serta tuduhan rasuah ke atas Tan Sri Taib Mahmud serta Datuk Seri Musa Aman, disamping membuka semula kes Teoh Beng Hock dan Ahmad Sarbani.
"Bolehkah Paul Low menyelesaikan kelima-lima kes dalam minggu pertama beliau sebagai Menteri, dengan mendapatkan persetujuan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak untuk melaksanakannya?" soal Lim Kit Siang.
Kedudukan Indeks Persepsi Rasuah Malaysia (CPI) menurun untuk beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini, walaupun Malaysia bertambah baik pada tahun 2012 untuk menjadi negara ke-54, di dunia, indeks antarabangsa masih meletakkan Malaysia di bawah negara-negara Afrika seperti Rwanda (50) dan Botswana (30 ).
"Hanyalah apabila kerajaan BN berkomitmen untuk melakukan pengisytiharan harta secara umum dan melaksanakan tender terbuka maka rakyat akan percaya," kata Lim Kit Siang lagi.
"Apa sahaja yang kurang daripada itu hanyalah akan menambahkan curiga bahawa Paul Low hanyalah seorang apologis yang dipergunakan secara kosmetik untuk menunjukkan kononnya UMNO dan BN itu anti rasuah."
The Malaysian Insider :: Food
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