Ahad, 12 Januari 2014

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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Thrills, spills as Manchester City, Liverpool climb table

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 11:52 AM PST

January 13, 2014

Daniel Sturridge scores Liverpool's 5th goal after coming on as a substitute late in the second half against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium yesterday. - AFP pic, January 12, 2014.Manchester City took over at the top of the English Premier League table after winning 2-0 against Newcastle United in a tempestuous encounter at St James' Park on Sunday.

Edin Dzeko and Alvaro Negredo claimed City's goals, but the match's defining incident occurred mid-way through the first half when Newcastle midfielder Cheick Tiote had a goal contentiously ruled out for offside.

Referee Mike Jones decided that Yoan Gouffran had impeded City goalkeeper Joe Hart as Tiote's shot flashed past him, but the home fans jeered the decision and Newcastle manager Alan Pardew harangued Jones at half-time.

It was City's sixth consecutive league win and lifted them above Chelsea at the summit, although they will lose their hold on first place if Arsenal win at Aston Villa on Monday.

"It was a very difficult game and it's a very big result as we know it's a tough place to come and win," said City manager Manuel Pellegrini, who also lost Samir Nasri to what he described as a "serious" knee injury.

Pellegrini played down a touchline row between himself and Pardew in the angry aftermath of Tiote's disallowed goal and said that Jones had made the correct call.

"Nothing important was said on the touchline between me and Alan Pardew, but I think it's impossible for the referee to handle a game when every time he gave a decision against Newcastle there were complaints," he said.

"It was an offside goal as they were interfering with Joe Hart and the referee made that call."

Pardew, whose side remain in eighth place, said that Jones had not adequately explained his decision to rule out Tiote's goal.

"I'm not thrilled with the referee's answer when I've asked for an explanation as I don't quite get how he can disallow a goal of that quality on the technical point he is using," he said.

"Joe Hart is nowhere near it. It goes through a crowd of City players who are impairing his view. It's a massive call on a very technical point."

Bidding to avenge a 4-0 defeat at City on the season's opening weekend, Newcastle began at a high tempo, but it took the visitors less than eight minutes to make the breakthrough.

David Silva released Aleksandar Kolarov with an incisive pass down the inside-left channel and the Serbian left-back delivered a low cross that was clipped home by Dzeko.

The controversy arrived in the 34th minute when Tiote thrashed a superb shot past Hart from the edge of the box, only for Jones to disallow the goal after consulting his assistant, Stephen Child.

Hart kept Newcastle at bay in the second half, saving well from Yohan Cabaye and Loic Remy, before City midfielder Nasri had to be stretchered off following a wild, knee-high foul by Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa.

After Fernandinho had hit the bar with a header, Negredo sealed victory for City in the fifth minute of stoppage time when he ran the ball into the net after seeing an initial attempt blocked by Tim Krul.

There was controversy, too, as Liverpool beat Stoke City 5-3 in an enthralling match to return to the top four and claim their first league victory at the Britannia Stadium at the sixth attempt.

A fifth-minute Ryan Shawcross own goal and an opportunistic Luis Suarez effort put the visitors 2-0 up, only for Stoke to draw level before half-time through Liverpool old boys Peter Crouch and Charlie Adam.

Crouch reduced the arrears with a deft header from a Marko Arnautovic cross, before Adam drove a rasping drive past Simon Mignolet from outside the area.

However, after Marc Wilson had been penalised for felling Raheem Sterling, much to the disgust of the Stoke supporters, Steven Gerrard restored Liverpool's lead from the penalty spot in the 51st minute.

Daniel Sturridge made his return from a seven-week injury lay-off as a substitute and he neatly teed up Suarez for his second goal - and 22nd of the campaign - with 19 minutes to play.

Jonathan Walters gave Stoke hope by squeezing a shot past Mignolet in the 85th minute, but Sturridge beat Jack Butland at the second attempt two minutes later to finally put a breathless game to bed.

"I thought we were brilliant today," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers told Sky Sports.

"We made mistakes defensively, which wasn't so good, and we'll assess that, but to come here and get five goals and put in the effort and the work that we did was fantastic." – AFP, January 13, 2014.

Chong Wei fails to defend Korean Open Title

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 11:09 PM PST

January 12, 2014

Malaysia's badminton superstar Datuk Lee Chong Wei (pic) failed to defend his Korean Open title when he lost to Chen Long of China 14-21 and 15-21 in 56 minutes in the final at the Olympic Gymnasium 2 in Seoul today, according to the Badminton World Federation website.

This is Chen Long's first win in the Korean Open whereas Chong Wei, the World Number One, won it in 2010, 2012 and 2013. – Bernama, January 12, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

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Morocco Berbers mark New Year, call for public holiday

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 11:41 PM PST

January 12, 2014

Thirty months after winning official recognition for their ancient Amazigh-language in a new constitution, Morocco's Berbers are pushing for January 13, when they celebrate their New Year, to be made a public holiday.

Festivities are planned in several cities around the North African country, including the capital Rabat, said activist Mounir Kejji, with Monday marking the first day of year 2964 for the region's indigenous pre-Arab inhabitants.

The other gatherings will take place mainly in parts of the country with concentrated Berber populations, such as Agadir and Tiznit in the southwest.

But more than just a celebration and a way of reaffirming their cultural identity, it will also be a chance for the Amazigh community to demand that this day is given its proper place in the national calendar, said Kejji.

In 2011, in response to Arab Spring protests sweeping Morocco, King Mohamed VI introduced a new constitution which acknowledged Amazigh as an official language of the state alongside Arabic, a major achievement for a tongue that was once banned in schools.

But the Islamist-led government has yet to pass the required legislation to implement the initiative, which would see Amazigh integrated into teaching and other areas of public life.

A decade earlier, the king had signalled his support for Morocco's indigenous Berber culture in a historic speech in the northern town of Ajdir.

Morocco hosts the largest numbers of Berbers, who live in scattered communities across North Africa – including in Algeria and Libya – but there are no official estimates of the size of the population.

A census taken in 2004 showed that 8.4 million Moroccans spoke an Amazigh dialect daily, or around a quarter of the country's total population.

In Morocco 'we want the Amazigh New Year to be considered a public holiday, following the example of other calendars,' Meriem Demnati, another activist said.

"With the constitution's recognition of Amazigh, this is a legitimate demand," said Ahmed Boukous, director of IRCAM, the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture, which was founded in 2001 and spearheaded the campaign to have the language recognised.

Collective memory

Anthropologists say the possible historical roots of the Berber New Year, known as Yennayer, are difficult to establish with any precision.

"Some historians link it to the enthronement as pharaoh of the Amazigh king Chachnaq after defeating Ramses III," believed to have happened in 950 BC, said archaeologist Mostafa Ouachi.

"For others it corresponds to what is known in Morocco as the agricultural calendar, celebrated around January 13," said the Rabat University professor.

Boukous said that the New Year celebration is a 'festival that marks the reaffirmation of some important aspects of agrarian society, a return to the land'.

It's a way for the Amazigh to 'refresh their collective memory,' he added.

Ahmed Assid, an academic and activist who supports calls for a 'national holiday,' said the traditional Berber New Year celebration had developed into a political cause.

"If the 1st of (Islamic month of) Muharram is a holiday in Morocco, and the first day of the Christian calendar is a holiday, why shouldn't the first day of the Amazigh New Year be also?" he asked.

The head of IRCAM says that for the moment, in the absence of any proposal to 'formalise' the event, 'there is no official position on the subject,' leaving the activists to push on with their campaign.

The youth wing of the Amazigh Network for Citizenship (Azetta) launched a petition earlier this month, according to Moroccan newspaper Liberation.

The daily said that around 100 groups are expected to celebrate Yennayer around the country. – AFP, January 12, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

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German bestsellers destined for Anglo market

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 11:31 PM PST

January 12, 2014

German cover art for 'Das Lavendelzimmer' ('The Little Paris Bookshop'). – AFP Relaxnews pic, January 12, 2014. 'The Little Paris Bookshop,' 'Taboo,' 'The Nightwalker,' and 'The Child' are all destined for English-language publication after proving popular with a German readership.

Little, Brown, publisher of JK Rowling's 'The Casual Vacancy' and 'The Goldfish' by Donna Tartt, has signed up 'The Little Paris Bookshop' by Nina George with a 2015 publication date in view, reports British trade journal The Bookseller.

The novel, which is about long-lost love and literature, will be George's English language debut, but the story – called 'Das Lavendelzimmer' or 'The Lavender Room' in German – was praised by literary critics and snapped up by the German public in 2013.

Ferdinand von Schirach, on the other hand, already has a foothold among an English-language readership thanks to 'The Collini Case,' and it's his 2013 crime thriller 'Taboo' (German title: 'Tabu) that will join 'The Little Paris Bookshop' at Little, Brown imprint Abacus, again for 2015.

And another Little, Brown label, Sphere Books, has received the go-ahead to prepare for the publication of two bestselling psychological thrillers from Sebastian Fitzek, 'The Nightwalker' and 'The Child.'

His 2006 debut, 'Die Therapie' was published in English as 'Therapy' in November 2013. – AFP Relaxnews, January 12, 2014.

Canada’s closure of science libraries riles researchers

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 11:18 PM PST

January 12, 2014

Canada's closure of science libraries, containing a vast repository of environmental data dating back more than a century has researchers worried that valuable books and reference materials are being lost in the name of cost-cutting.

Unique in its shore access to three oceans (Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific) and with the largest number of freshwater lakes in the world, Canada over the years has amassed a huge cache of books and scientific reports on fisheries, meteorology and wildlife – on everything from beluga whales to songbirds.

Until recently, they had been stored at seven Fisheries and Oceans and 12 Environment Canada libraries and reading rooms across the country.

But the federal government last year ordered most of them closed and fired dozens of librarians as they began consolidating the materials at three locations – in Sydney, British Columbia and in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (both Fisheries libraries), as well as at Environment Canada's National Hydrology Research Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where a single librarian with the help of a couple of students have reportedly been tasked with sorting through and cataloguing hundreds of boxes of materials transferred there, to date.

The closure of a government library at the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg, Manitoba in particular was mourned by many marine scientists because it held unique data on freshwater lakes dating back to 1880.

More worrying, according to researchers, is that excess and outdated materials have ended up in dumpsters, which local media reports likened to book burning.

"This is a national tragedy," said Peter Wells, a professor at Dalhousie University and senior research fellow at the International Ocean Institute, both in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The government however says the impact of the closures has been exaggerated, and that the libraries were frequented by a mere dozen people (other than government staff) annually, and that it also plans to digitize much of the books to allow a larger audience to access them online, more cheaply.

"It is absolutely false to insinuate that any books were burnt," Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said in a statement.

Shea explained that the department's collections of information on fisheries, aquatic sciences and nautical sciences – which it claims are 'one of the world's most comprehensive' – will be preserved and new materials will continue to be added.

Only duplicate books have been discarded after being rejected by other libraries, staff and the general public, Shea said.

The minister's reassurances, however, have done little to quell the controversy with scepticism running high, after several other controversial policies enacted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government in recent years – including withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol and gagging government scientists – raised the ire of scientists.

Researchers have called the measures attacks on science itself, and efforts aimed at silencing critics of the government's agenda, which is focused on jobs and the economy, with environmental stewardship arguably playing second fiddle.

This now widespread view – rightly or wrongly – that Harper has an anti-science bias even provoked a march on Parliament by scientists in laboratory coats, waving anti-Harper placards, in 2012, accusing the government of a lack of evidence-based decision-making.

"This government doesn't like scientific information (being out there) on environmental issues," Wells summed up.

The federal government has taken an 'ideological decision' on the libraries, accused Jeff Hutchings, another maritime researcher at Dalhousie University and past chair of a Royal Society of Canada panel on marine biodiveristy.

"It's symbolic in a bad way," he said.

Hutchings worries especially about the loss of marine data that stretches back before climate change and modern commercial fishing.

As well, he dismissed Shea's suggestion that the books and research would become more widely available online, as only works specifically requested have been scanned and digitized, according to him. – AFP, January 12, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa

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Liew Chin Tong Pengerusi DAP Johor yang baru

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 03:26 AM PST

January 12, 2014

Ahli Parlimen Kluang Liew Chin Tong (gambar) dipilih sebagai Pengerusi DAP Johor baru, menggantikan Dr Boo Cheng Hau yang memegang jawatan itu mulai 2005.

Liew, yang juga Pengarah Pendidikan Politik DAP dan anggota jawatankuasa pusat parti, dipilih menyandang jawatan itu oleh 15 anggota jawatankuasa DAP Johor yang bermesyuarat hari ini.

"Keputusan hari ini akan hanya menyatupadukan lagi parti dan saya akan berusaha supaya DAP Johor mencapai segala matlamatnya," katanya kepada pemberita selepas pemilihan hari ini.

DAP Johor sebelum itu mengadakan konvensyen tahunannya yang ke-17.

Liew turut berterima kasih kepada Dr Boo atas sumbangan beliau kepada DAP dan Pakatan Rakyat di Johor serta menawarkan jawatan sebagai timbalannya kepada bekas pengerusi DAP negeri itu namun ditolak.

Dr Boo, yang ditemui selepas itu berkata, Ahli Parlimen Kluang berusia 36 tahun itu memerlukan kebebasan dalam menjalankan tugasnya sebagai pengerusi DAP Johor.

Beliau akan berehat buat ketika dan meneruskan tugasnya sebagai Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri Skudai serta ketua pembangkang di Johor.

Kejayaan Liew menewaskan Dr Boo dilihat ramai pemerhati sebagai "kemenangan" Setiausaha Agung dan Penasihat DAP Lim Guan Eng serta Lim Kit Siang, yang tidak mempunyai hubungan baik dengan bekas Pengerusi DAP Johor itu.

S. Ramakrishnan pula dipilih Timbalan Pengerusi DAP Johor manakala veteran Ahmad Ton serta Tan Chen Choon dipilih Naib Pengerusi Satu dan Dua.

Terdahulu, 303 daripada 528 perwakilan yang hadir pada konvensyen parti memilih 15 anggota jawatankuasa DAP Johor daripada 23 calon yang disenarai.

Pada pemilihan itu, Liew di tempat ke-14 dengan 185 undi manakala Dr Boo memperoleh 219 undi untuk berada di tempat ke-10. – Bernama, 12 Januari, 2014.

Gesaan Dr Mahathir kembali isyarat pemberontakan dalam Umno, kata Kit Siang

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 01:48 AM PST

OLEH MD IZWAN
January 12, 2014

Pemimpin veteran DAP Lim Kit Siang (gambar) menyifatkan cadangan bekas perdana menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad kembali ke Putrajaya merupakan isyarat pemberontakan dalam Umno.

Bekas menteri penerangan, Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin hari ini dalam tulisan blognya menyuarakan cadangan supaya Dr Mahathir kembali ke Putrajaya.

"Cadangan tersebut bukan saya undi tidak percaya kepada Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak.

"Tetapi juga adalah isyarat plot dan konspirasi daripada kuasa tindak balas anti-demokratik dalam Umno dan Barisan Nasional untuk memberontak," kata Lim dalam satu kenyataan hari ini merujuk kepada tulisan Zainuddin dalam blognya.

Ahli Parlimen Gelang Patah berkata gesaan tersebut sememangnya sudah dijangka memandangkan pentadbiran Najib dilihat lemah khususnya dlam menangani isu kalimah Allah selain cadangan supaya Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) dikembalikan semula selepas dimansuhkan oleh Najib pada tahun 2012 lalu.

"Zainuddin Maidin hanya menguji untuk melihat sama ada rakyat Malaysia bersedia untuk melihat Mahathir kembali ke Putrajaya," kata Lim lagi.

Namun, Lim menegaskan negara tidak perlukan Dr Mahathir kerana langkah tersebut hanya akan menyebabkan Malaysia lebih lagi ketinggalan dalam mencapai status negara maju.

"Malaysia tidak perlukan Mahathir kembali ke Putrajaya atau polisi Mahathir dikembalikan dimana telah menyebabkan berjuta bakat negara yang baik hilang begitu sahaja," tegas Lim lagi.

Penasihat DAP tersebut juga berkata Mahathir harus bertanggungjawab kerana kegagalan menggunanakan sumber manusia dan asli yang dimiliki untuk membangunkan Malaysia hingga mengakibatkan rasuah berleluasa, salah guna kuasa, kronisme dan juga sistem kehakiman negara tercalar.

"Kembalikan Mahathir adalah jalan penyelesaian paling buruk untuk negara," ujarnya lagi.

Baru-baru ini, Dr Mahathir yang mengetuai negara dari 1981 hingga 2003 mencadangkan kepada Putrajaya untuk mengembalikan ISA bagi mengawal kumpulan "minority ekstremis", yang didakwanya menjejaskan kestabilan negara.

"Untuk ekstremis seperti kumpulan itu, kita perlu ISA," kata Dr Mahathir kepada wartawan pada Khamis selepas menjadi tetamu dalam rancangan Hello On Two di RTM2.

Cadangannya itu mendapat sokongan Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar yang berharap ISA diperkenalkan semula selepas dimansuhkan, dua tahun lalu.

"Ya, Akta Kesalahan Keselamatan (Langkah-Langkah Khas) 2012 (Sosma) mencukupi, tetapi apa salahnya dengan ISA?

"Kedua-dua undang-undang itu sesuai untuk sebab berlainan. Sebagai pegawai penguatkuasa undang-undang, saya mengalu-alukan undang-undang yang boleh membantu saya mengekalkan keselamatan dalam negara dan ketenteraman awam," katanya.

Sejak Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 (PRU13) Mei tahun lalu, terdapat penyokong Dr Mahathir, termasuk veteran Umno dan blogger yang mendesak supaya bekas perdana menteri itu kembali kerana masih ramai ingat kepimpinan Dr Mahathir yang tegas dalam membuat keputusan sehingga memimpin kepada kerajaan lebih kuat.

Menjelang 2014, ketegangan berlaku lagi berhubung isu penggunaan kalimah Allah oleh bukan Islam sementara kumpulan Islam bertegas perkataan Allah itu adalah eksklusif untuk Islam. – 12 Januari, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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Apabila Islam menjadi alat untuk menindas rakyat

Posted: 11 Jan 2014 03:27 PM PST

January 12, 2014

Amin Iskandar adalah penerima anugerah zamalah Asian Public Intellectuals (API) bagi sesi 2009-2010. Kini merupakan Pengarang Berita bagi The Malaysian Insider. Beliau "berkicau" di www.twitter.com/aminiskandar.

Hari ini di Malaysia, apa sahaja boleh "dihalalkan" dengan menggunakan nama Islam.

Fatwa-fatwa yang dikeluarkan oleh mufti atau ulama dijadikan senjata oleh penguasa untuk menindas orang ramai.

Tetapi, "hukuman syariah" ini hanya terpakai kepada rakyat bawahan dan orang miskin sahaja, tidak kepada golongan kelas atasan.

Katakanlah anda seorang anak muda yang mempunyai kekasih dan ingin "berasmara" di hotel murah, sudah tentu anda akan menjadi mangsa "keganasan" penguatkuasa agama tidak berapa lama selepas masuk ke bilik.

Sebaliknya jika anda mampu menyewa hotel lima bintang, sudah pasti anda akan terselamat daripada penguatkuasa agama yang rakus ini.

Tidak hairanlah mengapa penulis pernah melihat sepasang anak muda lebih rela "melakukannya" dalam kenderaan di tempat orang ramai lalu lalang di Shah Alam kerana lebih selamat berbanding hotel murah.

Semalam, Muzakarah Ulama anjuran Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) memutuskan "haram" bagi penganut agama Islam menyokong Gabungan NGO Malaysia dalam Proses UPR (Comango) kerana tuntutan mereka yang dikatakan bertentangan dengan syarak.

Persidangan yang dihadiri hampir 25 tokoh agama dan cendekiawan Islam seluruh negara itu bertegas tuntutan Comango sebagai merosakkan akidah umat Islam.

Walaupun masih banyak masalah besar di kalangan umat Islam Malaysia seperti kemiskinan, kebodohan, kemalasan dan kelemahan dalam segala bidang, Comango pula yang menjadi ketakutan "cendekiawan" ini.

Oleh kerana hari ini kerajaan pemerintah tidak menyukai Comango, maka tokoh-tokoh Islam ini pun mengharamkan pertubuhan tersebut.

Kalau suatu hari nanti kerajaan menyukai Comango, tidak hairan jika mereka ini akan kembali menghalalkannya.

Kita tidak pernah mendengar tokoh-tokoh "Islam" mengharamkan rasuah, penyelewengan dan pemborosan kerajaan pemerintah.

Tidak ada di kalangan tokoh Islam ini bersuara apabila Laporan Ketua Audit Negara 2012 mendedahkan penyelewengan dan pembaziran kementerian dan jabatan kerajaan.

Mereka juga tidak bersuara apabila majoriti umat Islam di negara ini berdepan dengan siri kenaikan harga barang yang membebankan.

Beberapa hari lalu semasa menerima kunjungan Perdana Menteri Turki, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Datuk Seri Najib Razak berkata: "Oleh kerana kedua-dua negara ini dikenal pasti sebagai model demokrasi dalam dunia Islam, menjadi tanggungjawab kita untuk menunjukkan bahawa kita boleh menerajui bukan sahaja kerjasama dua hala tetapi juga daripada segi Islam dan demokrasi."

Komen perdana menteri itu agak melucukan.

Bagaimana beliau boleh mengatakan Malaysia sebuah model negara Islam dan demokrasi apabila baru sahaja Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN) mengharamkan Comango kerana dikatakan tidak Islamik?

Tidak malukah Najib mengatakan Malaysia model negara demokrasi apabila akhbar mingguan The Heat digantung permit penerbitannya?

Bagaimana pula dengan tindakan bodoh kerajaan pimpinannya mengharamkan kalimah Arab Allah untuk digunakan bukan Islam sebagai rujukan kepada Tuhan?

Lebih baik Najib mula "memimpin" negara sebelum mandatnya ditarik balik.

Najib tidak perlu bercakap tentang perkara-perkara besar seperti Islam dan demokrasi sebelum berjaya memainkan peranan sebagai perdana menteri. - 12 Januari, 2014.

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

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Ahad, 12 Januari 2014