Rabu, 1 Januari 2014

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Bold Spurs leave Manchester United 11 points adrift

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 02:55 PM PST

January 02, 2014

Manchester United manager David Moyes (right) runs onto the pitch as he appeals for a penalty for his player Ashley Young during their English Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford in Manchester, northern England, yesterday. - Reuters pic, January 2, 2014.Emmanuel Adebayor inspired Tottenham Hotspur to a 2-1 win at Manchester United yesterday that is likely to have ended the champions' hopes of retaining the Premier League title.

Christian Eriksen doubled Spurs's lead, after Adebayor had claimed his fourth goal in five games under new manager Tim Sherwood, before Danny Welbeck replied in vain for United.

Adebayor was stretchered off in the 70th minute, but not even that injury could take the shine off a Spurs performance that left United in seventh place and trailing leaders Arsenal by 11 points.

Tottenham were required to weather a bright and breezy opening from their hosts, but by the time Adebayor struck his 34th-minute opener, the London club were good value for their lead.

The goal came following a blistering counter-attack as Kyle Walker broke up a United foray and Spurs exploited space on United's left.

Eriksen picked out Adebayor with a superb cross that the Togo international met, outjumping Chris Smalling in the process, to place an accurate header beyond the dive of David de Gea.

Adebayor, revelling under the new White Hart Lane management, almost had a hand in a second goal minutes later as he won the ball in midfield and found Aaron Lennon, whose cross was put wide by a sliding Roberto Soldado.

A two-goal advantage would not have flattered Tottenham, with Lennon squandering arguably the best chance of all as he raced onto Soldado's 14th-minute pass, only to be denied by De Gea.

It was a stark contrast to the opening exchanges, when Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris appeared fortunate to escape after seeming to handle the ball outside his box as he thwarted a United attack.

Welbeck was then denied by the Frenchman and Lloris enjoyed a slice of luck when he saved Smalling's fierce shot with the inside of his thigh before the rebound squirmed over the byline for a corner.

But for all their early possession and swift attacking play, United failed to really test Lloris in the opening hour.

Wayne Rooney's frustration earned him a 41st-minute booking for a petulant tug at Mousa Dembele, while Welbeck dived in an unsuccessful attempt to earn a penalty after Vlad Chiriches made the slightest contact with him.

Appreciating the dire situation, United manager David Moyes made a bold double substitution on the hour, bringing on forwards Shinji Kagawa and Javier Hernandez for midfielder Michael Carrick and full-back Smalling.

The move saw Antonio Valencia switch to right-back and it back-fired when he responded slowly as Spurs made it 2-0 in the 66th minute.

Again, it was a goal carved out of a counter-attack, with Soldado slipping the ball inside for Lennon, whose chipped pass across the area was met by Eriksen's stooping header as Valencia was found wanting.

Fortunately for Moyes, however, it took less than a minute for Welbeck to respond as he chased Adnan Januzaj's perceptive pass between two defenders and finished confidently over the advancing Lloris.

Januzaj led the charge for the equaliser, shooting just wide from 20 yards then slaloming in from the right before crossing to the near post, where Hernandez's back-heel was blocked by the goalkeeper.

Lloris also showed a rush of blood in chasing out of his area to challenge Ashley Young, sparking United penalty appeals, although the goalkeeper made amends with superb stops in quick succession from Rooney and Nemanja Vidic. - AFP, January 2, 2014.

Last-gasp Bendtner, Walcott keep Arsenal top

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 02:49 PM PST

January 02, 2014

Arsenal's Nicklas Bendtner (left) shoots and scores past Cardiff City goalkeeper David Marshall (right) during their English Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium in London, yesterday. - Reuters pic, January 2, 2014.Arsenal kicked off the New Year with a last-ditch 2-0 win at home to struggling Cardiff City yesterday that confirmed their credentials as Premier League title contenders.

Arsenal looked to have run out of ideas as they were frustrated by Cardiff's blue wall of resistance before substitute Nicklas Bendtner struck in the 88th minute.

Theo Walcott sealed the win in injury time to complete a gritty victory that suggests that this could yet be the year that Arsene Wenger's side end their nine-year trophy drought with the biggest prize in English football.

The late goals enabled Arsenal to return to first place, after Manchester City had taken provisional control of the title race with a 3-2 success at Swansea City earlier in the day.

Missing so many key players, it looked as though Cardiff would come away with a precious point before their crushing late heartbreak.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in the stands as he edges closer to taking charge of Cardiff following Malky Mackay's sacking.

The former Manchester United striker, now managing in his native Norway with Molde, would have been impressed with his potential new side in spells at the Emirates Stadium.

Few would have given Cardiff a chance, given their current struggles at the wrong end of the table.

Arsenal, on the other hand, would have considered this a home banker. Sitting at the top of the tree heading into 2014, this was a game they were expected to canter through.

However, an unremarkable opening 45 minutes saw Arsenal fail to bring a save out of Cardiff goalkeeper David Marshall.

Walcott came the closest when he volleyed Jack Wilshere's cross into the side-netting after 13 minutes.

That besides, Arsenal looked a pale imitation of the side that had previously dismantled so many teams at the Emirates.

The home side dominated territory and possession, but everything was done at such a slow tempo that Cardiff were able to pile bodies behind the ball.

Santi Cazorla and Walcott lost their radars by shooting wide when well-placed and the midfielders were not the only Arsenal players to suffer a similar fate.

Cardiff were defending resolutely, but they were fortunate to escape in the 25th minute when Wilshere fell under Gary Medel's clumsy challenge in the penalty area.

There were few complaints from Arsenal when a penalty was not given, but replays suggested that the England midfielder, celebrating his 22nd birthday, had a strong case despite referee Jon Moss waving away his appeals.

Cardiff's ploy was to frustrate, but a rare venture forward saw Jordon Mutch produce a jinking run and shot that was blocked by the legs of Arsenal's largely redundant goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

Wenger would have spoken of the the need to quicken his side's passing during the half-time interval, although Cardiff had visibly grown in confidence.

Wilshere did finally threaten in the 65th minute when he struck the outside of the post with an angled drive.

It was the start of a concerted spell of pressure and Arsenal were coming ever closer to the breakthrough as they laid siege with wave after wave of attacks.

Per Mertesacker headed wide before wasting another chance when he escaped his marker but could only nod against the post.

Arsenal were becoming increasingly desperate, but with two minutes remaining they finally scored through Bendtner.

Bacary Sagna's header from Nacho Monreal's cross finally brought a save out of Marshall, but the ball fell kindly for the Denmark striker to rifle into the roof of the net.

It proved to be his final contribution as he limped off after turning his ankle in scoring, but the game was up for Cardiff and Arsenal were able to rest easy after Walcott skipped through to clip home in added time. - AFP, January 2, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

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‘Iron Man 3’ – 2013’s box-office superhero

Posted: 31 Dec 2013 06:01 PM PST

January 01, 2014

In addition to being the highest-grossing film of 2013, 'Iron Man 3' claimed the title of the fifth highest-grossing film in the history of the worldwide box-office. - AFP/Relaxnews pic, January 1, 2014.In the ranking of the highest-grossing films of 2013, the superhero action film claimed the top spot with its $1.22 billion (RM4 billion) in revenues worldwide.

Released in late April/early May, "Iron Man 3" took the success of Marvel's superhero films to a new level, rising to the top of the worldwide box office for the year. The feature headlined by Robert Downey Jr. is the only one to have grossed over $1 billion during 2013.

In second place, "Despicable Me 2" earned $918.74 million at the worldwide box office. This made the animated sequel significantly more lucrative than its predecessor, which took in $543.11 million during its run in theaters in 2010.

In a tight race between third and fourth places, "Fast and Furious 6" and "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" grossed $788.68 million and $784.72 million worldwide respectively.

The year's top 10 list reflects a keen interest for sequels on the part of movie studios and moviegoers alike. The list includes seven sequels as well as a reboot, "Man of Steel", which relaunched the Superman franchise. Only two films based on an entirely new premise made it into the top 10: "Gravity" and "The Croods", in seventh and tenth places.

Top 10 highest-grossing films at the worldwide box office in 2013
(source: boxofficemojo.com)

01. Iron Man 3: $1,215,439,994
02. Despicable Me 2: $918,741,000
03. Fast & Furious 6: $788,679,850
04. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: $784,724,000
05. Monsters University: $743,559,607
06. Man of Steel: $662,845,518
07: Gravity: $653,292,000
08. Thor: The Dark World: $629,388,000
09. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: $614,104,000
10: The Croods: $587,204,668 - AFP/Relaxnews, January 1, 2014.

Denzel Washington courted to play Green Lantern

Posted: 31 Dec 2013 04:45 PM PST

January 01, 2014

Denzel Washington (pic) is reportedly being courted to play the superhero in "Batman vs. Superman".

According to Nukethefridge.com, Warner Bros has its sights on the actor for the role of John Stewart, an ordinary man who becomes a member of the intergalactic police known as the Green Lanterns.

If he accepts the role, Washington will follow in the footsteps of Ryan Reynolds, the Canadian actor who played Hal Jordan, another Green Lantern, in the 2011 film on the superhero.

Wonder Woman, to be played by Gal Gadot, is the only other superhero whose appearance alongside the titular characters of "Batman vs. Superman" has been officially confirmed. Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill will portray the superheroes of Gotham City and Metropolis, facing off against one another for the first time. Zack Snyder will direct the blockbuster, which is slated to arrive in theatres in mid-July 2015. - AFP/Relaxnews, January 1, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

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Ethnic Russian recruits to insurgency pose new threat before Olympics

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 12:57 AM PST

January 01, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the site of a suicide-bomb attack on a bus in Volgograd. Reuters pic, January 1, 2014.The suspected involvement of converts to Islam in Russian suicide bombings points to the growing reach of jihadists beyond the Muslim provinces of Chechnya and Dagestan, where insurgency and separatism have simmered for two decades.

Russian news media say the authorities suspect an ethnic-Russian convert to Islam may have been behind one of the two suicide bombings that killed a total of 34 people in the past two days in Volgograd, a southern Russian city.

Another convert is suspected of building a bomb used to kill seven people in the same city two months ago.

The attacks came half a year after two Chechen brothers who had lived in Dagestan, became the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three Americans, sign that a conflict once seen as remote by the West could have consequences far afield.

Security experts say that insurgents have used ethnic Russians to carry out attacks in other parts of Russia, both because of the symbolism of their conversion to radical Islam and because Slavic appearance could help them avoid detection.

"This is a new strategy that we have been seeing more often lately. It's a massive problem for law enforcement agencies," said Andrei Soldatov, an expert on Russia's security services.

Pavel Pechyonkin, named by Russian news agencies as a possible suspect in the first of two attacks within 24 hours - a suicide bomb that killed 18 people at Volgograd's railway station on Sunday - was a paramedic from central Russia.

An ethnic Russian on his father's side, he converted to Islam, his mother's religion. He left home in 2011 to join insurgents in Dagestan, his parents said earlier this year in a video message posted on the Internet, appealing to their son to lay down arms.

In response, Pechyonkin recorded his own video message, saying he was following God's will.

"Here Muslims are being killed and kidnapped. Why should we follow those Christian commandments, when Allah urges us to fight those kafirs? Why shouldn't we leave their children orphaned?" he said, wearing a green tunic and skull cap.

Authorities believe an ethnic Russian from the Moscow suburbs, Dmitry Sokolov, built a suicide explosive belt detonated by his Dagestani wife in a bus bombing in Volgograd in October, law enforcement sources in Dagestan said.

The two met in online Islamist chat rooms. Sokolov was killed by Russian security forces in November, alongside four other militants in a house in Dagestan.

Vladimir Putin crushed separatists in Chechnya when he rose to power 14 years ago, but an Islamist insurgency spread to neighbouring Dagestan and remains the deadliest conflict in Europe. Fighters have been recruited into their ranks from as far afield as Canada.

Yekaterina Sokirianskaya, a Caucasus expert at International Crisis Group, says many new converts adopt a fundamentalist form of Islam that puts them in conflict with their families and makes them prone to "radicalisation".

"They are attractive to insurgents," Sokirianskaya said. "The last attack could have been carried out only by a Slavic man, because security measures were tightened and a woman in a hijab would have been noticed."

Heavy security around Sochi means an attack on the Black Sea resort city where the Olympics will be held in February would be difficult, security experts say, but the greatest potential threat is from a suicide bomber.

"This is an effective tactic. It requires little preparation and little money, but it is hard to stop," Alexei Filatov, deputy head of the veterans' association of the Alfa anti-terrorism unit.

Russian police have launched a security operation, making no secret that they are targeting migrants from Muslim areas. A bomber recruited from another part of Russia, preferably with a Russian-sounding name, would have an easier time reaching a target than one with a Muslim name whose identity documents were issued in Chechnya or Dagestan.

More than 120 people have become suicide bombers during Putin's rule, Grigory Shvedov, editor of website Kavkaz-uzel.ru, which tracks the unrest.

A harsh crackdown on adherents of the strict Salafist strand of Islam practiced by militants has added fuel to the insurgency, Shvedov and other experts say.

"Although brute force is being used in the North Caucasus, they (the authorities) cannot build a wall thick enough to prevent terrorists from slipping out," Shvedov said.

Local militant groups in Chechnya, Dagestan and other North Caucasus provinces united in 2007 under the leadership of Doku Umarov, a former Chechen rebel, whose Caucasus Emirate group says it was behind suicide bombings that killed 37 people at a Moscow airport in 2011 and 40 on the Moscow subway in 2010.

He urged his fighters in a video posted online in July to use "maximum force" to prevent Putin staging the Olympics.

Volgograd, about a day's drive north along a main highway from the Caucasus, is an easier target for militants than Sochi, the site of the Olympics, 700 km away.

Sochi, a 145-km long stretch of coastal resorts where Putin himself spends his summer holidays, has had its security beefed up with forces drawn from other cities. It is shielded by impassable mountains on one side and the Black Sea on the other, and can only be approached by air or a heavily guarded coastal road.

If they cannot reach Sochi, militants may have calculated instead on the symbolic value of sowing panic in Volgograd, one of the biggest cities in southern Russia with more than 1 million people.

The attack subverts its image as a bastion of Russian strength earned through victory in a decisive battle in World War Two, when the city was known as Stalingrad.

"A symbol of Russia's tragedy and triumph in World War Two has been singled out by the terrorists because of its status in people's minds," said Dmitry Trenin, the director of the Moscow Carnegie Centre. - Reuters, January 1, 2014.

World’s biggest fish market is moving away from its old ways and site

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 12:29 AM PST

January 01, 2014

As most of Tokyo sleeps, men in rubber boots haggle over tuna in the cavernous halls of Tsukiji market.

The clang of a bell around 5:30 am kicks off the action at the world's biggest fish emporium. Traders flash hand signs and bellow out prices as they buy and sell what will soon end up on plates in the Japanese capital and beyond.

Fins are lopped off to expose the red flesh among rows and rows of the hulking tuna carcasses, which are moved around the market by wooden cart.

In all, about US$18 million (RM59 million) worth of fish, seafood and vegetables, over 2,900 tons, change hands each day at the market.

"Do you see how we use hand signs?" asks one bidder, seconds after another man violently rings the bell and starts yelling out bids. "This is how people used to trade stocks in the old days."

Major stock markets have shifted to computer trading while Tokyo mushroomed into one of the world's biggest cities over the decades, but little has changed in the way business is done at Tsukiji since its opening in 1935.

Now, almost 80 years later, the city plans to move the market to a new location and give the popular tourist draw what advocates say is a badly-need technological update.

Not everyone is happy about the move away from prime-real estate in the centre of the teeming metropolis.

Relocating the market and building to a modern facility about 40% larger with state-of-the-art refrigeration will cost upwards of US$3.8 billion (RM12.4 billion).

The move, scheduled for 2016, has been marred by revelations of heavy soil contamination at the site, formerly a gas plant, about 2.3 kilometres away. That has saddled Tokyo with more than half a billion dollars in cleanup costs at the less-than-central location.

It is unclear what will happen to the current site beyond building a new road linking downtown with some 2020 Olympic Games venues.

Hiroyasu Ito, chairman of the Seafood Wholesalers' Association, insists the move is crucial for Tsukiji to handle demands for freshness.

"Railroad freight cars used to roll into the market and unload fish and goods right here," he says, pointing to a large picture in his office that gives a birds-eye view of Tsukiji's layout. We don't use the rail cars anymore. Now refrigerated trucks drive around instead."

Key to ensuring perishable goods stay fresh is a so-called cold chain which maintains produce at a consistent temperature until consumers buy it, something the market is ill-equipped to do, Ito says.

"Customers want fresh seafood so that they can eat it raw, which puts pressure on us. Delivery people have had to come up with high-tech cooling methods," he says. "We have managed to keep the fish cold in high-quality foam coolers, but we're pushing the limit. Tsukiji is outdated.

"In the new facility, we plan to shut out air from the outside and keep the fish section at a steady temperature."

The move to a scrubbed-clean market farther away from downtown is not popular with some shoppers.

"The messy and crowded scenes at Tsukiji are what makes the place attractive," said out-of-town visitor Tetsuya Kojima, who added that he was unlikely to visit the new site.

Some of the old guard are not about to leave quietly either.

Union member Makoto Nakazawa, a leader in the fight to stop Tsukiji's move, lashes out at what he sees as profit trumping all else.

"Tokyo wants to move the market to satisfy the greed of real-estate interests here. I cannot think of another reason," says Nakazawa, who has organised small demonstrations in protest.

The 40 hectares of land earmarked for the new market is soaked with toxic chemicals, the legacy of its previous life as a gas plant. Opponents have filed lawsuits over the city's purchase of the land without requiring Tokyo Gas to clean up its former site. That means taxpayers will shoulder the hefty 58.6 billion yen (RM1.8 billion) cleanup.

The bill could still grow. Labour and materials prices are shooting up with contractors in short supply as they focus on quake-tsunami disaster reconstruction projects and building for the Olympics in seven years.

Still, the municipal government says it is pushing ahead with plans to uproot Tsukiji and erect the new market by March 2016, about a year later than previously scheduled.

"We are aware of a number of difficulties," says Masataka Shimura, a Tokyo official leading the new market project. "But we're still planning to do the move as scheduled." - AFP, January 1, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

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Extraordinary anti-racist book celebrates 50th anniversary

Posted: 31 Dec 2013 06:31 PM PST

January 01, 2014

'Beyond a Boundary' by C.L.R James goes beyond the game of cricket to explore issues of race, caste and class in Britain's former slave colonies. - Reuters pic, January 1, 2014.Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King departed from a prepared speech to electrify and exalt a quarter of a million people packed into Washington by inviting them to share his dream of a nation in which all men and women would finally be equal regardless of colour.

During the same year, Nelson Mandela faced the gallows when he went on trial for sabotage waged during an underground campaign to force the South African authorities to abandon their vicious racial separation laws.

And in England, West Indian migrants queued for hours in the hope of watching a cricket team captained by a black man conquer their colonial masters five years after the Notting Hill riots highlighted growing racial tensions throughout the country.

As if to underscore a tumultuous year, an extraordinary book, subsequently acclaimed by the English poet, cricket writer and broadcaster John Arlott as the finest ever written about the game of cricket, was also published.

Like all sporting classics and, as its title explicitly promises, "Beyond a Boundary" by C.L.R James is about far more than a ball game. It is instead based on the "clash of race, caste and class" on and off the field in Britain's former slave colonies.

The final chapter of James's masterpiece describes the triumph of the 1960-61 West Indies team in Australia led by Frank Worrell, the black Barbadian who went on to captain the wonderful 1963 side in England.

Before the team was selected James had carried out an unsparing newspaper campaign in his native Trinidad to get Worrell installed as captain in place of the incumbent white man Gerry Alexander.

"I would have been able to keep it up for 50 weeks, for there was 50 years' knowledge of discrimination behind it and corresponding anger," wrote James.

George Headley, the Jamaican maestro who carried the hopes and aspirations of black English-speaking West Indians on his shoulders during the 1930s when he systematically subdued the best bowlers fielded by either England or Australia, led West Indies in a home test after World War Two.

But neither he nor any other black man was given the honour of leading a West Indies side overseas until Worrell was finally chosen as captain for the Australia series.

Alexander, a fine wicketkeeper-batsman and a dignified man who excelled under Worrell, remains the last white man to captain West Indies.

After a succession of stumbling performances in the state matches, Worrell's men went on to play a full part in the first tied test match and were unlucky to lose the series to the unofficial world champions.

More importantly, their exuberance, skills and total commitment to attacking cricket revived a moribund game and a crowd equivalent in size to the one which listened to King poured on to the streets of Melbourne to bid them farewell.

"Clearing their way with bat and ball, West Indians at that moment had made a public entry into the comity of nations," James concluded.

A glance at the index to "Beyond a Boundary", indicates the breadth and scope of the interests and life of a Marxist intellectual who was born in Trinidad in 1901 and died in the London suburb of Brixton in 1989.

Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, who James knew, precedes England fast bowler Fred Trueman. Black American boxer Joe Louis, victor over German Max Schmeling in a world title fight which gripped the world's imagination as it hurtled towards a global war, is followed by Toussaint L'Ouverture.

L'Ouverture, the slave who became the architect of the Haitian revolution, the only successful slave revolt in history, is the protagonist of James's epic 1938 book "The Black Jacobins".

In a play based on the book, American singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson played the part of L'Ouverture.

To the bewilderment of some otherwise admiring American reviewers, James, who was expelled from The United States because of his communist beliefs during the McCarthy era, cites his three primary influences as English literature, cricket and the fierce moral code of Thomas Arnold's Rugby School, which demanded strict adherence to the laws of games and the officials' decisions. Before he was 10, wrote James, he was a British intellectual.

James's widow Selma, who typed the manuscript of "Beyond a Boundary", grew up in Brooklyn where the summer game was baseball, chronicled evocatively in another sports classic "The Boys of Summer".

Coincidentally, Roger Kahn's account of the 1950s' Brooklyn Dodgers and their post-baseball lives contains at its heart the struggles and ultimate triumph of Jackie Robinson, the first black man to play in the major leagues in the modern era.

Selma accompanied James to England after his expulsion from The United States and was intrigued by cricket, the summer game spread by England to its various colonies where it was further shaped by native climes and characters.

A feminist and anti-racist activist, writer and lecturer she took time out from her busy schedule at the Crossroads Women's Centre in London's Kentish Town recently to share her memories of James and "Beyond a Boundary".

"It (cricket) gives deep insight into human personality," Selma James said. "It's exciting. I found it really exciting. It tells me about human beings and that's what interested me. I'm not a sportswoman, and I never was, but the important thing was that cricket gave you important insights into human personality."

One of the personalities was Yorkshire opening batsman Len Hutton, who stoically defied the might of the Australian fast bowlers in the immediate post-war year before becoming the first professional cricketer to captain England.

While West Indies cricket, as James describes with a dispassionate but forensic clarity in the opening chapters of "Beyond a Boundary", was blighted by racism, caste and class. English cricket for much of its existence was divided by class. Amateurs (called gentleman) occupied one dressing room, professionals (known as players), the other.

Only amateurs had the honour of captaining their country, until the authorities bowed to the inevitable and appointed Hutton, who promptly led England to home and away Ashes victories.

"Len Hutton was the framework of CLR's campaign to make Frank Worrell captain," Selma James continued. "It was really the common man who comes from below who is the superior. He makes his way up to the officer class. That's what happened to Len Hutton and that's what happened to Frank Worrell."

The breadth of "Beyond a Boundary", and its maxim which has entered the English language "What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?" is staggering.

James gives exquisite pen portraits of Headley, fast bowler George John, opening batsman Wilton St. Hill and his close friend Learie Constantine.

Constantine, a great all-rounder whose test figures do not do justice to his prowess, was unable to get a job in Trinidad. Consequently, James wrote, he "revolted against the revolting contrast between his first-class status as a cricketer and his third-class status as a man", and emigrated to England where he made his name in the Lancashire Leagues and eventually became the first black peer to sit in the House of Lords.

"Beyond a Boundary" also visits classical Greece, berates English historians for ignoring the impact of the Victorian cricket colossus W.G. Grace and argues that cricket is an art form as well as a game comparable to "the theatre, ballet, opera and the dance".

"There is a chapter on Wilton St. Hills, that's a chapter of a novelist," said Selma. "There's a chapter on W.G. Grace, that's a chapter of a historian. There's a chapter on 'What is Art?', that's a chapter of an art historian. I knew that he had studied each of the subjects. He had his own view and it was an original view.

"As an historian he not only knew English history, he knew French history. CLR was the sort of person who would read a book and read it many times."

"Beyond a Boundary" and C.L.R. James's unifying vision formed part of a movement which in sport was to lead to a boycott of South African sports teams until Mandela was released after 27 years in prison and black power salutes on an Olympic podium in 1968.

"'Beyond a Boundary' did a very good job for the West Indies, not merely for cricket but for the West Indies," said Selma James. "It really was a deeply anti-racist book in the sense that it helped people who loved cricket to be less racist. It helped them and I think that was crucial." - Reuters, January 1, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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Syabas Kesas dan kerajaan Selangor

Posted: 31 Dec 2013 06:47 PM PST

January 01, 2014

Haji Subky Abdul Latif seorang penulis bebas dan tinggal di Kuala Lumpur. Seorang pendiam, dia gemar meneliti perangai manusia dan berita politik di Malaysia.

Syabas! Beribu-ribu syabas buat Kesas Sdn Bhd kerana berani mengumumkan tidak akan menaikkan caj Lebuh Raya Shah Alam (SLA) tahun depan.

Syabas juga buat PKNS kerana mematuhi dasar kerajaan Negeri Selangor untuk melakukan apa yang terdaya bagi menghalang kenaikan tol di mana-mana lebuh raya yang ia mempunyai saham konsesi.

Terdaya atau tidak PKNS menghalang syarikat yang punya saham majoriti untuk menaikkan tol tidak diketahui tetapi ia sudah ada dasar sekarang iaitu membangkang kenaikan itu.

Tidak perlu dengar cakap Noh Omar yang seolah-olah bebal itu agar kerajaan Selangor beli semua saham konsesi jalan bertol supaya tol tidak dinaikkan.

Pengguna Lebuh Raya Kesas sekarang boleh bersyukur kerana ancaman bala iaitu kenaikan tol tidak akan berlaku. Masing-masing boleh menunaikan sujud syukur kerana terlepas daripada ancaman bala itu. Walaupun penindasan atas tol itu masih ada, tetapi selagi Selangor diperintah oleh Pakatan Rakyat beban itu tidak bertambah.

Bolehlah mereka mengharapkan dalam PRU yang akan datang kiranya berubah kerajaan pusat, ada harapan tol boleh dijadikan sejarah dimansuhkan atau paling tidak, diturunkan mengikut kadar pertambahan kenderaan di jalan raya.

Jika Perdana Menteri Najib anak jantan betapa dasarnya disangka betul, maka dia dicabar, naikkan tol mulai seminggu dua ini sebagai yang diamarankan Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Wahid Omar betapa kenaikan tol tidak dapat dielakkan.

Wahid Omar adalah menteri suruhan. Dia tidak pernah minta pengundi menyokongnya supaya dia jadi menteri. Dia jadi menteri kerana disuruh Najib. Maka dia sebagai menteri suruhan tidak ada kuasa untuk membuat dasar menindas pengguna jalan bertol bagi menaikkan tol, melainkan dia menyampaikan amaran tol tidak dapat dielakkan daripada naik setelah ia tidak naik sebelum PRU13.

Apakah langkah menindas rakyat dengan menaikkan tol itu popular atau tidak, kerajaan anak jantan mesti naikkan juga bagi mengelakkan beban kerajaan menanggung sabsidi tol kira-kira RM400 juta setahun syarikat konsesi.

Najib boleh tempelak orang ramai. Mereka mana tahu beban yang kerajaan tanggung. Asyik membantah langkah kerajaan saja. Apakah kerajaan hendak dibebankan saja yang akibatnya konon negara boleh muflis.

Jika Najib sangka dia betul. Langkahnya rasional dan ia bukan untuk menindas rakyat, laksanakan apa yang Wahid amaran itu.

Amaran itu adalah tambahan ancaman yang menindas rakyat selepas PRU13. Rakyat sudah ditindas dengan kenaikan harga minyak, gula, ancaman tambahan tarif eletrik mulai kokok ayam pertama tahun 2014. Dan sekarang tambahan caj tol.

Jika tol tidak jadi dinaikkan, bukan kerana dasar atas tol tidak menindas, tetapi justeru ancaman politik yang Najib dan Barisan Nasional hadapi atas reaksi rakyat bersama pembangkang atas ancaman kenaikan itu.

Reaksi Anwar Ibrahim dan Khalid Ibrahim ialah memanfaatkan kuasa politik yang ada pada mereka untuk menghalang tambahan penindasan ke atas pengguna lebuh raya yang kerajaan Selangor ada saham.

Pengguna lebuh raya SLA (Kesas) sudah bebas daripada ancaman itu. PKNS juga akan redakan kebimbangan orang-orang yang tertindas. Jika tidak ada tindakan sepadu Anwar dan Khalid, tiada cara bagi semua terlepas daripada ancaman bala. – 1 Januari, 2014.

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

You are as free as you want to be

Posted: 31 Dec 2013 02:40 PM PST

January 01, 2014

Abdar Rahman Koya is at the end of his thirties, and considers himself to have all the qualities of an ordinary Malaysian, a practising Muslim, and an incorrigible cynic.

The recent action against newsweekly The Heat has incensed a section of journalists in the country, especially those working in the "freer" Internet media.

I can't help observe that a big number of these angry journalists were once working for government broadsheets, and were in the thick of the action at the height of the Malaysian media's descent into press fascism in the eighties and especially in the late nineties, when all journalism ethics were suspended, nay discarded.

Some have even called for the formation of an alternative journalist union to fight for press freedom, frustrated that the majority of the existing members of the National Union of Journalists are not committed to press freedom and have failed to protect the plight of journalists.

I am not sure if the problem of press freedom in Malaysia is something that can be championed. The fact is we are as free as we want to be, and this applies not only to journalists.

It is the journalists themselves who should decide to be free, without fighting for it from the authorities. As long as they are free to type their words and are not bothered about what happens later, they have honoured their profession.

Of course, some will say this is utopian. But this is the age of the touchpad, and one does not need a permit to be able to put one's thoughts across to the whole of humanity.

If one is arrested or charged, and jailed or fined, does it mean it is the end of press freedom? Similarly, just because a newspaper is closed, we should not think freedom is dead.

There is nothing to stop someone from speaking out, provided he is ready to pay the price and ready to face the consequences after speaking out.

Should a writer exercise his God-given freedom to speak out only when he feels safe knowing that there is a union of journalists ready to defend him? Does that mean he is truly free in speaking out?

As such, I really think our state of journalism, and not the various draconian laws limiting press freedom, is to be blamed.

Some ten years ago, I was asked to briefly pen my view about Malaysia's state of the media. This is what I wrote, and I still stand by it:

The problem with the media in the country is within: the journalists themselves. It is not so much the control of the press by the government but their lack of self-esteem. They consider their vocation just a job to earn a living and they are prepared to sell themselves for a pittance.

When they began writing they were idealistic and set out with some commitment to change the world, but gradually their belly takes over their brain and mind. Then they stop thinking and produce mediocre articles and reports that are acceptable to their political bosses. They begin to measure success by the figures in their pay cheque.

Journalists must remember that there will be no output without input. The quality of the output also depends on the quality of the input. For instance, if our input is mainly the mediocre speeches of our ministers, then our output must be trash marketable only with the mainstream newspapers.

Some of the best journalists in this country are financially very, very poor, but they can walk with their heads held high.

An analytical mind, clear thinking acquired from an early age and the moral courage to call a spade a spade – these are the qualities which make a journalist a journalist.

In a democratic system, journalists play a role similar to that of ulama (religious scholars) in an Islamic system: to speak for the people. In Islamic parlance, such ulama who support the government while distorting Islamic principles are called "ulama sultan" (court ulama). Similarly, journalists who disregard democratic principles are "court journalists". – January 1, 2014.

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

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

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Majlis Diraja Johor hormati keputusan ahli korporat pulangkan darjah kebesaran

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 01:55 AM PST

January 01, 2014

Artikel tulisan Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim dipercayai tidak disenangi oleh Majlis Diraja Johor. - Gambar The Malaysian Insider, 1 Januari, 2014.Jumaah Majlis Diraja Johor menghormati niat tokoh korporat Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim untuk memulangkan semula ketiga-tiga darjah kebesaran negeri Johor baru-baru ini.

Setiausahanya Datuk Abdul Rahim Ramli berkata, keputusan Jumaah itu telah dipersembahkan kepada Sultan Johor Sultan Ibrahim Almarhum Sultan Iskandar.

"Jumaah Majlis Diraja menghormati niat mulia Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim. Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar mengucapkan selamat maju jaya kepada Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim," katanya di dalam satu kenyataan empat perenggan hari ini.

Undang-undang dan peraturan Darjah Mahkota Johor, kata Abdul Rahim, memperuntukkan seorang Datuk Johor boleh berhenti menjadi ahli darjah di atas apa sebab sekalipun dengan memulangkan tanda kebesaran itu kepada Jabatan Menteri Darjah berkenaan.

Kenyataan beliau itu merujuk tindakan Muhammad Ali yang juga bekas Presiden dan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Johor Corporation (JCorp) memulangkan kesemua tiga darjah kebesaran Johor kepada jumaah pada 27 Disember lepas.

Tokoh korporat itu pada 28 Disember lepas berkata tindakannya itu adalah berikutan kenyataan Abdul Rahim pada 5 Disember lepas berhubung artikel tulisannya dalam sebuah akhbar tempatan yang disiar pada 2 Disember lepas.

Setiausaha Majlis Jumaah Diraja Johor itu telah meminta Muhammad Ali memberikan penjelasan berhubung artikelnya yang bertajuk, "Menuntut Hak, Menebus Masa Silam".

Darjah kebesaran yang dikembalikan ialah Darjah Datuk Seri Paduka Mahkota Johor (SPMJ) yang diterima pada 8 April 1996 dan Darjah Datuk Paduka Mahkota Johor (DPMJ) yang diterima pada 8 April 1984, kedua-duanya membawa gelaran 'Datuk', serta Darjah Setia Mahkota Johor (SMJ). - Bernama, 1 Januari, 2014.

Umno Shah Alam desak paderi tarik balik kenyataan mahu terus guna ‘Allah’ di gereja

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 01:49 AM PST

January 01, 2014

Lawrence sebelum ini dilaporkan berkata akan terus menggunapakai kalimah Allah di gereja-gereja di Selangor. - Gambar The Malaysian Insider, 1 Januari, 2014.Umno Shah Alam dan Pemuda serta Puteri Umno cawangan Kota Raja hari ini membuat lima laporan polis bagi mendesak pengarang mingguan The Herald, Paderi Lawrence Andrew, menarik balik
kenyataannya tetap mahu menggunakan kalimah Allah di semua gereja di Selangor.

Ketua Umno Shah Alam, Azhari Shaari berkata kenyataan paderi itu bertentangan dengan enakmen syariah negeri malah ia juga melanggar titah Sultan Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, yang melarang penggunaan kalimah Allah oleh orang bukan Islam di negeri ini.

"Kami mahu paderi Lawrence tarik balik kenyataannya dalam tempoh empat hari bermula hari ini dan jika tidak diendahkan, pihak kami akan membuat lebih banyak desakan dan laporan polis.

"Malah Sultan Selangor sendiri pun telah menitahkan bahawa kalimah Allah di Selangor hanya untuk umat Islam saja dan tindakan paderi itu juga ibarat mengingkari titah Sultan," katanya kepada pemberita selepas membuat laporan itu di Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah Shah Alam.

Sultan Sharafuddin sebelum ini menitahkan bahawa penggunaan kalimah Allah hanya tertakluk kepada umat Islam sahaja mengikut peruntukan di dalam Jadual kepada Seksyen 9 Bahagian 1 Enakmen Ugama Bukan Islam (Kawalan Perkembangan Di Kalangan Orang Islam) 1988 yang diwartakan pada 1988.

Justeru, Azhari turut mencadangkan pihak Peguam Negara untuk meneliti semula kenyataan paderi terbabit sama ada ia bertentangan dengan prosiding mahkamah berhubung isu penggunaan kalimah Allah supaya tindakan sewajarnya dapat diambil jika ia didapati menghina mahkamah.

Paderi Lawrence dalam kenyataannya yang disiarkan di laman sebuah portal pada 27 Disember lalu itu menyatakan pihaknya akan tetap menggunakan kalimah Allah di semua gereja di Selangor.

Azhari turut meminta Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim serta Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor untuk segera mengambil tindakan selanjutnya mengikut bidang kuasa masing-masing berhubung kenyataan terbabit agar kepentingan umat Islam di negeri ini terus terpelihara.

Ketua Pemuda Umno Kota Raja, Khusyairi Abdul Aziz pula mencadangkan paderi Lawrence untuk segera membuat permohonan maaf secara terbuka berhubung kenyataannya yang dilihat mampu mengganggu keharmonian masyarakat di negeri ini. - Bernama, 1 Januari, 2014.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Rabu, 1 Januari 2014