Isnin, 9 Disember 2013

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Unlikely scorers as Swansea draw with Hull

Posted: 09 Dec 2013 03:01 PM PST

December 10, 2013

Swansea City and Hull City players scuffle during their English Premier League match at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea, Wales, yesterday. - Reuters pic, December 10, 2013.Two unlikely goal-scorers lifted a largely dull mid-table Premier League clash between Swansea City and Hull City who shared the points in a 1-1 draw at the Liberty Stadium yesterday.

Hull striker Danny Graham's first goal in almost a year put the visitors ahead after nine minutes, the former Swansea player side-footing home from close range following a right-wing cross by Egyptian international Ahmed Elmohamady.

It was Graham's first Premier League goal in 28 matches - the last one scored for Swansea in January.

The Welsh side, who welcomed back Spanish striker Michu after a five-week absence with an ankle injury, were frustrated by Hull in the first half but played with more pace after the break and levelled after 59 minutes.

A short corner by Jonjo Shelvey came back to the former Liverpool midfielder and his driven cross hit Chico Flores and flew past Scotland keeper Allan McGregor for the Spanish defender's first Premier League goal.

Hull had a goal disallowed when David Meyler was adjudged offside, then Yannick Sagbo's shot from distance was saved at full stretch by Swansea goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel.

The visitors might also have had a penalty when a back post-header from Alex Bruce struck Dwight Tiendalli on the arms.

McGregor saved well with his feet from Michu in the dying minutes but a draw was a fair result.

The point moved both teams up one place in the table, Swansea to 10th and Hull 12th. - Reuters, December 10, 2013.

Bayern’s Guardiola wants possession and perfection

Posted: 09 Dec 2013 08:00 AM PST

December 10, 2013

Coach Pep Guardiola (pic) has demanded holders Bayern Munich finish the Champions League's group phase with the perfect record of six wins by seeing off Manchester City at home on Tuesday.

Bayern are on a record run of 10 consecutive Champions League victories, but Guardiola wants to finish with 18 points - something they failed to achieve last season under Jupp Heynckes, despite winning the title.

Even with City and Bayern already into the knock-out phase, only a victory at Munich's Allianz Arena and guaranteed top spot in Group D will suffice for the Spaniard.

"We're not yet confirmed as first in the group, but we have the chance to finish with six wins," said Guardiola.

"We have a big chance to be first, which would be good for us in the knock-out phase, so that is what we have to aim for."

Guardiola said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm is set to return after a two-week absence following a hamstring injury, while Germany midfielder Mario Goetze should play despite suffering from a thigh knock.

Having broken Barcelona's record for consecutive Champions League wins, Guardiola said he is only interested in seeing Bayern finish the group stage campaign with a perfect points haul.

"The records aren't important to me. They are important only for the history of the team, the club and the record books," he said.

"18 points for winning all the games means prestige and there is prize money at stake. That is what we must focus on."

Bayern swept aside City 3-1 at the Ethiad Stadium in October, the only time Manuel Pellegrini's side has lost at home this season.

The guests must win 3-0 at the Allianz Arena to wrestle top spot from the defending champions.

Munich have won all 18 matches at home since their last defeat, to Arsenal in March, and as a Barcelona player and manager, Guardiola has yet to lose at home to an English side in nine encounters.

Moreover, Pellegrini is still seeking his first win over Guardiola, who as Barcelona coach never lost against the Chilean's Villareal, Real Madrid and Malaga teams.

Nevertheless, Guardiola will send his side out with victory as the only acceptable outcome.

"Tomorrow (Tuesday) is a dangerous game against dangerous opponents," insisted Guardiola. "They have top players, the likes of (David) Silva, (Alvaro) Negredo and (Sergio) Aguero who can score two or three goals in as many minutes.

"Last season, Bayern beat Arsenal 3-1 away, but they won 2-0 in Munich and we could have lost first place.

"I expect a tight game. There won't be much space and we'll have to create chances."

Having won 14 titles in four years at Barcelona, Guardiola gave a glimpse of the perfectionism he demands of his players.

Despite Saturday's 7-0 rout at Werder Bremen, which extended Bayern's record unbeaten run to 40 Bundesliga games, Guardiola still found faults.

"We lose the ball too often over 90 minutes. I can't stand losing possession," he said.

"A 7-0 win at Bremen is good for the confidence, but they had their chances in the first half. We have to keep improving." - AFP, December 9, 2013.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

US gun control battle shifts from Congress to the states

Posted: 09 Dec 2013 04:35 AM PST

December 09, 2013

Part of the armoury of the Sandy Hook gunman. - Reuters pic, December 9, 2013.In the year since the massacre of 26 schoolchildren and adults in Newtown, Connecticut, efforts to pass gun legislation have stalled in the US Congress, but shifted to the states, helped by the deep pockets of outgoing New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In scores of statehouse battles, both gun-control and gun-rights advocates have notched wins since a mentally unstable gunman killed 20 first-graders and six adults at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.

Electoral and legislative fights since Newtown - including the election last month of a Democratic gun-control supporter, Terry McAuliffe, as governor of Virginia, the home state of the powerful National Rifle Association gun lobby - are likely a foretaste of battles to come next year in federal and state elections.

"We're in this for the long haul," said Mark Glaze, executive director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition founded by Bloomberg. "This issue is like a cruise ship that's been going in the wrong direction for a long time, directly toward the iceberg, and it's going to take a while to turn around."

Democratic President Barack Obama supported legislation in Congress this year that would have extended background checks for sales made online and at gun shows. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in January showed that 86% of those surveyed favored background checks for all gun buyers.

Obama backed a proposal to ban rapid-firing "assault" weapons like the one used in Newtown and tighter limits on the capacity of ammunition clips.

The measures failed to clear the Senate in April in the face of opposition from gun-rights advocates who say it is essential to hold the line on Americans' right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment of the Constitution.

The NRA has argued that attacks like Newtown were more a result of a weak mental health system than lax firearms regulations.

A week after the Newtown attack, NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre came out against gun control and called instead for armed guards in each of the 99,000 schools in the United States.

Erich Pratt, a spokesman for the Gun Owners of America, a gun rights group, said both Obama's gun-control approach and gun-free zones for schools and other sites of mass shootings are misguided.

"When a bad guy walks in there with a gun, he's going to be the only one with a gun until the police can arrive," Pratt told Reuters Television.

In the US House of Representatives, a gun-control bill by Mike Thompson, a California Democrat and the chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, has gained 186 co-signers, but has been stalled for months.

The bill by Thompson, a gun owner and Second Amendment backer, would expand background checks, but also would have features designed to attract support from gun-rights advocates such as banning gun ownership lists.

"When the federal government failed to act, the states stepped in to fill the void" on gun-control legislation, Thompson said.

In response to the Newtown massacre and the 2012 shooting deaths of 12 people in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater, about 1,500 pieces of gun legislation were introduced in US state legislatures.

Only about 10% of them were passed, with a slight edge - 74 to 66 - for gun-rights bills. They included making it easier in some states to get concealed-carry permits or removing information about gun or concealed-carry permits from the public record.

On the gun-control side, the most common theme was modifying laws on issuance of concealed-carry permits.

Major changes came in five northeastern states - New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey - with passage of legislative packages that featured restrictions on military-style weapons like those used in Aurora and Newtown.

"The number of new strong state laws is, at least since I've been involved in the movement, unprecedented," said Lindsay Nichols, attorney at the Law Centre to Prevent Gun Violence in San Francisco.

Colorado also passed gun-control measures, but since then gun-rights activists have used recall elections to oust two state senators who had backed them.

The ousters came despite the nearly US$3 million (RM9.6 million) Bloomberg and other gun-control advocates spent to stave off the recalls. A third senator resigned in November rather than face a recall vote.

Pratt, the Gun Owners of America spokesman, said the Colorado recalls would be a big factor in congressional midterm elections next year.

"What happened in Colorado should send shock waves through every legislator's heart that's been supportive of gun control," he said.

A shift in the fight over firearms has come with the entry of Bloomberg, the billionaire founder of the media and data company that bears his name, on the gun-control side.

"Money always helps, and for the first time the gun safety side has some money behind it," said Jim Kessler, a founder of the Third Way think tank in Washington.

As of November 13, Bloomberg's Independence USA political action committee has sunk US$2.97 million this year into federal races. That includes US$2.2 million (RM7 million) in an Illinois Democratic primary that saw gun-control backer Robin Kelly defeat Deborah Halvorson, who had been highly rated by the NRA.

Independence USA also outpaced the NRA roughly 5 to 1 when it spent about US$3 million successfully backing gun-control Democrats for Virginia governor and attorney general.

Spending on federal lobbying for gun control rose to US$1.8 million (RM5.8 million) this year, a ninefold increase from the year before, but that was still far behind gun-rights lobbying, whose spending more than doubled, to almost US$13 million (RM41.7 million). The rising tide of money came as the number of groups lobbying on both sides of the issue roughly doubled this year, to about 80. - Reuters, December 9, 2013.

Walk this way, says China’s heavy metal shoe maker

Posted: 08 Dec 2013 10:21 PM PST

December 09, 2013

This picture taken on November 15, 2013 shows Zhang Fuxing walking with his iron shoes at a residential district in Tangshan, in northern China's Hebei province. - AFP pic, December 9, 2013.A Chinese factory worker says walking in huge iron shoes weighing more than 200 kilograms each can cure back pain, but faces hefty competition in his bid to build the country's heaviest footwear.

"I've been walking with iron shoes for seven years," said Zhang Fuxing, before strapping two crudely-welded iron blocks to his feet.

"After they reached 400 kilograms (882 pounds), I felt very proud. Next spring I plan to add 50 kilograms."

Zhang took a deep breath before each wrenching step in the towering footwear, with every impact leaving him struggling for balance.

It took him over a minute to take 10 paces, but he claims to walk up to 15 metres each day in the shoes, which he has gradually increased in weight, and touts them as a cure for back pain and hemorrhoids.

Zhang, 52, credits his ability to move the shoes — which he leaves outdoors, safe in the knowledge that they are close to impossible for most people to lift — to the Chinese spiritual martial art Qigong, said to involve controlling the flow of supposed bodily energies.

"It's not strong muscles that make you able to walk like this, the power comes from internal organs," he said, adding: "When you walk with your heart it will work."

Zhang believes his shoes to be the heaviest in China, but admits that competition from a number of other eccentrics renders his claim uncertain.

One of two Chinese iron shoe wearers to share a Guinness World Record for walking 10 metres backwards in heavyweight iron boots is Zhang Zhenghui from Changsha. According to a 2010 report by the official Xinhua news agency he has gold-painted shoes weighing more than 200 kilograms.

Lai Yingying, an entertainer from Fujian in the east, was shown by state broadcaster CCTV wearing shoes tipping the scales at a total of 300 kilograms.

A runner, Liu Mei, took to exercising in metal footwear after growing bored of tying sandbags onto his trainers, the state-run China News Service reported, and challenged other exponents to compete for the title of "Iron Shoe King".

His call "hit the world of eccentric stunt people like a tidal wave", the report said, but there is no record of the contest having taken place.

Zhang Fuxing — who runs a workshop making machine parts — says he was inspired by one of these pioneers. "I saw someone wearing iron shoes on TV. They said it was good for the heart and bones," he said.

At the time Zhang was suffering from back pain "so bad that I couldn't bend over to wash my face", but claims his symptoms disappeared just months after donning the footwear, an experience which left him wanting to share them with a wider audience.

He now manufactures a range of weighted metal footwear, which users strap over their existing shoes, in a small factory near his hometown in the northern city of Tangshan, and sells them online.

A snazzy red pair weighing 10 kilograms each costs 550 yuan (RM291.51), while the heaviest 60 kilogram boots sell for 1450 yuan (RM768.52).

He claims to have sold several hundred pairs, including at least 10 to his neighbours, several of whom gathered around on a chilly morning to watch Zhang take his wobbling steps.

"We've all worn his iron shoes, it makes your legs feel better," said Chen Guanghua, a woman in her sixties. "We can't all play badminton, but anyone can wear shoes." - AFP, December 9, 2013.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

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Harry Potter readied for watercolour adventures

Posted: 08 Dec 2013 07:09 PM PST

December 09, 2013

Artist Jim Kay's fully illustrated 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' is set for release in September 2015. - AFP/Relaxnews pic, December 9, 2013.Is he smiling, or setting his jaw in a determined lock? Jim Kay's Potter could be the Mona Lisa of Young Adult fiction.

Harry Potter's got a new face, courtesy of award-winning artist Jim Kay and his fully illustrated "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", to be published by Bloomsbury.

A touselled mop of black hair sits atop the studious face whose green eyes are framed by a pair of round, brown, broken-arm spectacles.

A September 2015 publication date (with the six other books in the series to follow), as distant as it may be right now, means there's time enough for ardent and amorous Potterheads to raise a new generation of miniature enthusiasts in time for the projected release.

Kay already has a strong track record, having shared the 2012 Carnegie Medal with two-time winner Patrick Ness for "A Monster Calls".

"It's like trying to choose the shiniest object in Aladdin's Cave; you pick up one treasure, and another gem catches your eye," he said of the JK Rowling collaboration ahead.

"I want to bring what I can to really show the depth of Rowling's stories... it's amazing to think, all of Potter's world, the streets, the shops, the creatures, the characters, all of these wonderful things come from the brain of one person."

"I want to keep that spell going, perhaps adding my own little twist, if possible. I hope over the years we will see lots of different illustrators having a go, in the way that 'Alice in Wonderland' has inspired artists for over a century." - AFP/Relaxnews, December 9, 2013.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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Yang pasti, tindak-tanduk ‘dia’ lebih Islam daripada Umno

Posted: 08 Dec 2013 07:33 PM PST

December 09, 2013

Penulis adalah seorang jurutera semikonduktor, wartawan freelance, penerbit dan editor buku motivasi yang suka mengikuti perkembangan politik Malaysia

Dia dibenci kerana ceramahnya lantang menyerang Umno. Dalam mata dan mindanya hanya memikirkan bagaimana membebaskan Melayu dan Islam daripada cengkaman Umno.

Bagi dia, Malaysia sepatutnya bersih daripada rasuah. Bagi dia, Malaysia sepatutnya sudah maju ke depan. Bagi dia, Melayu dan Islam sepatutnya sudah menjadi bangsa terulung. Bagi dia, Malaysia sepatutnya sudah menjadi model bagi negara Islam di dunia.

Tapi tidak. Semua yang diharapkan tidak berlaku. Malah yang sebaliknya berlaku walaupun perlembagaan Malaysia menyatakan agama rasminya ialah Islam.

Bagi dia, inilah yang mencemarkan nama Islam.

Pemerintahan dengan Islam sebagai agama rasmi, tapi negara gagal ungguli carta bebas rasuah malah dikenali kerana masalah rasuah – ini satu penghinaan pada Islam bagi dia.

Pemerintahan oleh majoriti pemimpin yang beragama Islam, tapi keborosan pentadbiran yang diwar-warkan sebagai wasatiyah cukup memualkan – ini juga adalah satu penghinaan pada Islam bagi dia.

Pemerintahan oleh mereka yang mengaku mereka pejuang Islam yang sepatutnya cintakan ilmu tapi prestasi pendidikan negara di peringkat antarabangsa langsung tidak menggambarkan keunggulan Islam dalam mencapai kegemilangan ilmu – itu satu tamparan pada Islam bagi dia.

Pemerintahan oleh majoriti Muslim yang menjadi kaya tapi rata-rata rakyat yang miskin adalah golongan mereka yang beragama Islam, bagi dia – ini bukan sahaja satu penghinaan pada Islam malah satu penipuan pada bangsa Islam oleh pimpinan Islam yang memegang kuasa.

Bagi dia, ini semua salah Umno - seperti kata bekas Menteri Besar Selangor Mat Taib, Umno yang tidak merujuk pada Al-Quran dan Hadis semasa membuat dasar dan keputusan.

Bagi dia, untuk menyelamatkan Malaysia, terutama orang Melayu dan Islam, Umno mesti ditumbangkan.

Oleh itu, di dalam ceramahnya, dia jarang menyentuh mengenai isu agama seperti menjaga solat dan puasa, tapi lebih kepada menyerang Umno dan juga tindak-tanduk seorang Islam dalam hal sosial dan memperjuangkan keadilan.

Contohnya, dia selalu mengetuai perkara yang melibatkan demonstrasi rakyat, kerana baginya, itulah sifat sebenar seorang Islam yang sanggup mati untuk memperjuangkan hak rakyat.

Dia juga selalu muncul di tempat rakyat dalam kesusahan kerana baginya, itulah sifat sebenar seorang Islam yang tidak boleh duduk diam melihat sesiapa sahaja dalam kesusahan.

Apabila melihat rakyat Islam di negara ini tidak bersifat sedemikian, dia merasakan ini semua adalah kesalahan Umno dalam mendidik rakyat dan membasuh minda rakyat, terutama orang Melayu.

Sebab itu, dia lantang menyerang Umno kerana dia percaya Melayu mesti diselamatkan daripada kerja pembodohan Umno supaya tidak lagi ketinggalan oleh kaum lain. Baginya, Melayu mesti dibawa kembali kepada Islam sebenar, dan PAS adalah wadahnya.

Kini ada pemimpin Umno yang berani menuduh di hari yang terang dia ialah seorang pengamal Syiah.

Baguslah. Perkara ini sudah lama terpalit pada dia. Walaupun dia pernah menjelaskannya, tapi dalam politik persepsi pada seseorang itu makan dalam.

Serangan terbaru ini adalah peluang terbaik untuk dia mematikan isu Syiah "once and for all" dengan saman malu terhadap pemimpin Umno yang menuduhnya. Ada hikmah di sebaliknya.

Sebagai seorang bukan Islam, saya kurang mengenali siapa Sunni dan siapa Syiah. Tapi saya mengenali dia sebagai seorang pejuang Islam tulen. Dan daripada pandangan saya, Islam yang dicerminkan melalui tingkah laku dia adalah lebih Islam daripada kebanyakan pemimpin Umno.

Ketika saya masih ada ruang untuk membantu, saya memberikan khidmat terbaik kepadanya kerana merasakan dia layak dibantu.

Menggunakan "dia" di dalam artikel ini adalah satu penghormatan kepada sifat marhaen yang ditunjukkannya.

Sampai di sini, sudah pasti kamu tahu siapa dia. Dia ialah orang nombor dua dalam PAS.

Memandangkan orang yang menuduhnya Syiah hanya menamakan dia sebagai itu, saya turut melakukan perkara yang sama dalam artikel ini. Senyum. – 9 Disember, 2013.

* Ini adalah pendapat peribadi penulis dan tidak semestinya mewakili pandangan The Malaysian Insider.

Islam is not a rigid religion

Posted: 08 Dec 2013 03:32 PM PST

December 09, 2013

Ying Hooi is attached with a local university. Her research interests cover the fields of civil society, social movements, protests, political participation, human rights and democratization.

According to the Global Religious Landscape report from the Pew Research Center in December 2012, there are an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide.

That makes Islam the world's second-largest religion after Christianity. The report also stated that nearly two-thirds or 62% of Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region.

More interestingly, more Muslims live in India and Pakistan, a total of 344 million as reported, compared with the entire Middle East-North Africa region with 317 million.

This indicates the increasing numbers of Muslims around the world.

Recently, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) announced that a newly introduced database system, e-muallaf, specifically for Muslim converts will be launched in 2014.

Deputy director-general of Jakim Datuk Razali Shahabudin said one of the main aims was to update the information on converts.

More importantly, the database is set up to detect the action of some converts who allegedly undergo conversion a number of times. He said: "After this, no one can deceive the Islamic Religious Department and the database will also ensure that the converts will not be overlooked in the Islamic missionary programme."

I cannot comprehend why there is a need to keep track of converts as I see it as an act that infringes on their rights.

Religion is personal. Moreover, Islam is universal. All Muslims should be treated the same. According to Leon Moosavi, an expert on Islamic conversions at Liverpool University, the key problem for converts is about a lack of support and not the general belief that converts are more vulnerable than others to radical kinds of Islam.

As such, I applaud the initiatives of Jakim or any other religious institution in providing support to assist converts to learn and have a better understanding of the religion. However, I oppose such a database system. The intention might be good but it should not be done this way.

How common are converts to Islam? And what are the reasons that drive them to adopt the religion?

There are many reasons. Some embrace Islam after years of contact with Muslims. Some convert because they want to marry a Muslim and it is rule that no one is excused from at least in Malaysia.

In France, for example, the conversion phenomenon is impressive. While the number of converts in France remains relatively small, its yearly conversions to Islam have reportedly doubled in the last 25 years.

Of an estimated six million Muslims in France, it is estimated that about 100,000 are converts, compared with about 50,000 in 1986. But some Muslim associations claimed that the number of converts is higher, as high as 200,000.

Calculating the numbers of converts and to keep track of their activities like how Jakim intends to do is tricky.

If anyone has a real desire to become a Muslim, all one needs is to recite the Syahadah, the testimony of faith. With the pronunciation of this testimony, with sincere belief and conviction, one enters the fold of Islam.

However, in some countries, including Malaysia, the religion has been "formalised" and "politicised".

In short, Islam has been misused in many aspects. Here, converts are given a "certificate" similar to an identity card to confirm they have been "admitted" to Islam.

Recently, at Umno's general assembly, Pandan Umno delegate Datuk Mohd Haniff Koslan was quoted as saying that, "Malay millionaires are important because Malays are Muslims. When Malays are rich, Islam would be defended. If Malays are poor, Islam would be sidelined."

Islam should not be based on ethnicity. As a Muslim-majority country, intolerant Islam is on the march. Such a phenomenon is indeed worrying and contradicts the image of Malaysia as a modern and progressive country.

The local authorities have made it as though Islam is a rigid religion with its long list of dos and don'ts, although Islam itself should be flexible.

Such rigidity reduces the freedom of many people within the Muslim majority to develop their views.

Islam today is a global religion and a beautiful religion. Globalisation has contributed greatly to the spread of Islam worldwide in various ways. It is time for the local religious authorities to realise this and not make Islam a "rigid" religion. – December 9, 2013.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa

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GLC belanja RM96 juta untuk iklan di akhbar tahun ini, kata Najib

Posted: 09 Dec 2013 02:31 AM PST

December 09, 2013

Kira-kira RM96 juta dibelanjakan oleh syarikat berkaitan kerajaan (GLC) untuk membeli iklan di akhbar tempatan pelbagai bahasa tahun ini, kata Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Perdana menteri berkata jumlah terbesar ialah di akhbar berbahasa Inggeris sebanyak RM49 juta, diikuti dengan akhbar bahasa Cina sebanyak RM24 juta, akhbar bahasa Melayu RM22 juta dan Tamil sebanyak RM238,000.

Pengiklanan GLC itu dibuat di akhbar-akhbar utama antaranya The Star dan New Straits Times bagi bahasa Inggeris, China Press dan Guang Ming bagi akhbar berbahasa Cina, menurut Najib yang juga Menteri Kewangan.

Utusan Malaysia dan Berita Harian untuk bahasa Melayu, serta Tamil Nesan dan Makkal Osai untuk bahasa Tamil, katanya dalam jawapan bertulis kepada soalan Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam pada persidangan Dewan Negara hari ini.

Mohd Ali, dalam soalannya, ingin tahu jumlah GLC yang telah membelanjakan wang untuk iklan di dalam akhbar bahasa Melayu, Inggeris, Cina dan Tamil sejak dua tahun lepas.

Najib berkata pada tahun lepas, GLC membelanjakan kira-kira RM164 juta untuk iklan dalam semua akhbar dengan RM89 juta untuk akhbar berbahasa Inggeris, RM39 juta berbahasa Melayu, RM35 juta berbahasa Cina dan RM229,000 untuk berbahasa Tamil.

Beliau berkata antara 17 GLC yang membeli iklan dalam akhbar tempatan ialah Axiata Group Berhad, Sime Darby Berhad, Malayan Banking Berhad, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Berhad dan Tenaga Nasional Berhad. – Bernama, 9 Disember, 2013.

Sidang Dewan Undangan Negeri Pulau Pnang kecoh isu perkauman

Posted: 09 Dec 2013 01:33 AM PST

December 09, 2013

Persidangan Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) kecoh apabila berlaku pertikaman lidah antara penyokong kerajaan negeri dan wakil rakyat Barisan Nasional (BN) berhubung isu gerai makan diroboh Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang (MPPP) baru-baru ini.

Kekecohan tercetus apabila Phee Boon Poh (DAP-Sungai Puyu) mahu ketua pembangkang Datuk Jahara Hamid (gambar) menarik balik kenyataannya berhubung isu itu yang disifatkan sebagai rasis.

Phee mendakwa Jahara cuba menimbulkan persepsi perkauman terhadap Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan (PBT) apabila mengatakan PBT hanya mengambil tindakan terhadap peniaga Melayu.

"Saya tak kata PBT hanya ambil tindakan kepada orang Melayu. Kalau ada impression (tanggapan) macam itu saya minta maaf. Saya hanya minta keadilan, penjelasan. Peniaga terbabit bukan baru berniaga sehari, dua... sudah 20 tahun.

"Kalau mahu ambil tindakan, ambil tindakan terhadap semua... jangan pilih-pilih," kata Jahara ketika membahaskan Rang Undang-undang Perbekalan 2014 di persidangan DUN hari ini.

Pertikaman lidah itu berjaya dihentikan apabila Speaker Datuk Law Choo Kiang mengarahkan Phee duduk selepas Jahara memohon maaf dan mengarahkan ketua pembangkang itu meneruskan perbahasannya.

Bagaimanapun, dewan kembali kecoh apabila Jahara mahu kerajaan negeri menjelaskan mengenai nama Pulau Mazu yang didakwa sebagai nama baru bagi Pulau Jerejak.

"Adanya satu pulau di sini diberi nama baru Mazu Island. Mazu Island ini adalah Pulau Jerejak yang mana telah diberi nama baru oleh seorang pengusaha yang mempromosikannya dalam bentuk pelancongan.

"Sebuah tokong besar juga dibina tanpa kebenaran. Siapa yang meluluskan semua ini," katanya sambil menunjukkan gambar pengusaha itu bersama Ketua Menteri Lim Guan Eng.

Tindakan Jahara menunjukkan gambar itu menimbulkan rasa tidak puas hati R.S.N Rayer (DAP-Seri Delima), Phee (DAP-Sungai Puyu) dan Soon Lip Chee (DAP-Jawi) yang bangkit mempertikaikan tindakan itu.

"Itu sudah melampau... tindakan ini menuduh seolah-olah kerajaan negeri beri kelulusan semata-mata orang itu mengenali ketua menteri. Mana ada bukti ketua menteri beri kelulusan," kata Rayer.

Jahara kemudiannya berkata beliau hanya mahu penjelasan kerajaan negeri berhubung kewujudan nama Pulau Mazu itu.

Bagaimanapun, Jahara terus-terusan diasak wakil rakyat berkenaan yang mahu beliau menjelaskan tindakannya itu.

Tindakan wakil rakyat yang tidak memberi peluang kepada Jahara untuk berbahas telah menyebabkan kesemua 10 wakil rakyat BN meninggalkan sidang DUN sebagai tanda protes. – Bernama, 9 Disember, 2013.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Isnin, 9 Disember 2013