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Bayern boss Hoeness ‘hid evidence for a year’ Posted: 11 Mar 2014 08:18 AM PDT March 11, 2014 Bayern Munich boss Uli Hoeness (pic) faced damaging testimony in a tax trial today when an official charged the German football legend had withheld incriminating evidence for over a year. New twists and additional witnesses will likely extend the high-profile trial – in which Hoeness faces a possible jail term – beyond this week, said a court spokeswoman. Hoeness, 62, in a shock confession told the opening of the trial on Monday that he used Swiss bank accounts to cheat on 18.5 million euros (RM83.64 million) in taxes, almost five times the amount prosecutors had assumed. A rueful Hoeness told the Munich court that he had stashed away the money during years of obsessive stock "gambling", during which he had lost sight of his winnings and losses. Today a tax official testifying in the packed courtroom challenged a claim by Hoeness that he was only able to provide authorities the full 70,000 pages of documents from his bank just two weeks before the start of the trial. The official said that IT specialists had determined that his bank had sent them as early as January last year. "This (data) stick was only put together on February 24," the Rosenheim tax office investigator told the court. "However, the data on it was created on January 18, 2013 ... This was determined by our IT colleagues," she added. The testimony piled further pressure on Hoeness, one of the best known figures in German football, whose tax troubles have often been front-page news since the scandal broke last year. Hoeness has spent more than four decades with the Bavarian sporting giants – first as player, when he helped then West Germany win the 1974 World Cup, then as team manager and, since 2009, as club president. He has stayed on so far at the helm of the European champions club amid pleas of loyalty from fans and players, and from corporate sponsors such as Adidas, Audi, VW and Deutsche Telekom. However, the public mood has darkened, with wider condemnation of German super-rich tax cheats who hide their money in secret accounts abroad rather than pay their fair share for roads, schools and hospitals at home. Munich daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung charged that when Hoeness first turned himself in to authorities in January 2013 – at a time when journalists had started to aggressively investigate his case – he had only told a half-truth. "His self-reporting was like a shiny soap bubble," the newspaper said. "It suggested Hoeness had decided to come clean. But it wasn't so. Hoeness, more specifically his lawyer, knew the bubble would burst. That's why they have now pricked it themselves." Prosecutors have argued that Hoeness' initial revelation of his Zurich accounts contained irregularities and would not offer him immunity because authorities already had Hoeness in their crosshairs at the time. The maximum punishment for major tax fraud under German law is 10 years jail, although sentences are usually shorter and can be suspended. Another newspaper, the Flensburger Tageblatt from northern Germany, pointed out that a possible guilty verdict would resonate far and wide by pushing citizens to rethink the finer details on their tax return. Since the case first made headlines, the daily said, "it has already triggered a tsunami of self-reporting that has flushed millions into the state coffers." – AFP, March 11, 2014.

Malaysian divers set to shine in World Series Posted: 11 Mar 2014 06:18 AM PDT March 11, 2014 Malaysia's diving team led by Pandelela Rinong (pic) is set to shine at the first leg of 2014 Fina Diving World Series in Beijing from March 14 to 16. Pandelela in her WhatsApp message from Guangzhou, China today before departing for Beijing said despite the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) aircraft, she and the other members of the team are determined to do well in Beijing. "I feel very sorry for those on the flight and their family members and pray for their safety," she said. Pandelela is accompanied by five other divers – Leong Mun Yee, Cheong Jun Hoong, Ahmad Amsyar, Ooi Tze Liang and Wendy Ng. The Olympic medalist will participate in two events, the 10m platform individual and the synchro partnering Leong Mun Yee. "My personal target is to win medals in both events," said the 21-year-old Sarawak-born diver. She finished third in the women's 10m platform individual category at last year's FINA Diving World Series in Beijing scoring 337.75 points. China's Chen Ruolin stamped her class as she recorded 403.75 points to win the gold medal. Meaghan Benfeito of Canada collected the silver with 362.25 points. Pandelela believed the training in Guangzhou, China from January 29 to March 11 made the Malaysian divers more prepared for the competition in Beijing. The diving world series is a high profile competition which offers the world's top divers the opportunity to compete regularly. It was launched in 2007 with three host organisers: Great Britain, China and Mexico. In recent years, Qatar, Russia and the United Arab Emirates have been added to the list of host countries. The 2014 Fina/NVC Diving World Series event consists of six legs and kicks off in Beijing on March 14-16, then to Dubai, London, Moscow, Windsor in Canada before the last leg in Monterrey (Mexico) on June 6-8. Divers compete for prize money and points at each of the six events, the 3m springboard and 10m platform in both solo and synchronised diving. The Chinese team is expected to dominate but the presence of strong teams from Russia, USA, Germany and Canada will threaten their stranglehold. Ilya Zakharov of Russia and David Boudia of USA won the gold medal in the London Olympics while Germany's Sascha Klein and Patrick Hausding topped the podium ahead of the Chinese at the 2013 Barcelona Fina World Championships. – Bernama, March 11, 2014.

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Julia Roberts and Mark Ruffalo in HBO’s ‘The Normal Heart’ Posted: 10 Mar 2014 09:03 PM PDT March 11, 2014 Julia Roberts stars in 'The Normal Heart,' HBO's forthcoming TV movie. – AFP pic, March 11, 2014.The premium cable network has released the first trailer for Ryan Murphy's "The Normal Heart," a TV movie slated to air May 25. Julia Roberts and Mark Ruffalo headline in this drama on the early days of the Aida epidemic. Adapted from the play of the same name, "The Normal Heart" examines the beginnings of solidarity and awareness surrounding the Aids epidemic in New York in the early 1980s, when much about the disease remained a mystery. The HBO feature will examine the subject from the perspectives of both the scientific community and the gay community. Julia Roberts plays Emma Brookner, a paraplegic doctor who treats some of the first patients to exhibit symptoms of the disease, which was sometimes referred to at the time as "gay cancer." Mark Ruffalo plays Emma's friend and patient Ned Weeks, a writer who founds an activist group to fight the spread of the disease. Matt Bomer rounds out the cast as Felix Turner, a reporter who is Ned's boyfriend. Larry Kramer, author of the original play, which debuted in 1985, adapted his script into a screenplay for HBO. The creator of "Glee," "Nip/Tuck" and "American Horror Story," Ryan Murphy returned to directing for the project. "The Normal Heart" marks the director's reunion with Julia Roberts, whom he directed in 2010 in "Eat Pray Love." The early days of the Aids epidemic were also recently examined in "Dallas Buyers Club," which won two Oscars thanks to the performances of its stars Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. Watch the trailer for "The Normal Heart": Youtu.be/yaaTQLMEETw – AFP/Relaxnews, March 11, 2014.

Rock group Kiss tackles tricky spectacle of indoor football Posted: 10 Mar 2014 09:02 PM PDT March 11, 2014 Musician Paul Stanley of rock band Kiss attends a news conference to announce his part-ownership of Arena Football League team, the Los Angeles Kiss, in Anaheim, California yesterday. – Reuters pic, March 11, 2014.Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the rock band Kiss put down their instruments, wiped away the face paint and unveiled their own arena football franchise yesterday, promising to pair the niche sport with the pyrotechnic theatre of their concerts. Seated outside the Honda Center arena in Anaheim, California, the two sixty-somethings stayed true to their trademark self assurance and bravado in their plan to turn an indoor version of American football played on a smaller field with a heavy emphasis on high scores into a top entertainment draw in Southern California. "We don't compete with anybody else. We set our own trail," Stanley told media assembled outside the arena, which is home to hockey's Anaheim Ducks and only a few miles down the road from Walt Disney Co's Disneyland theme park. They aim to go where others have failed in a place with no shortage of entertainment and recreation alternatives. The LA Kiss will be the fourth attempt to establish a franchise in either Los Angeles or nearby Anaheim since the league began in 1987. The team begins their season on Saturday in San Antonio, Texas. Games will have a carnival-like atmosphere with elephants, fire-breathers, stilt walkers, little people and go-go dancers. "We are trailblazers, whether it's in rock and roll or now football," added Stanley, who along with Simmons purchased the franchise with two other investors last year. "There's no rivalry because no one can rival us. We're going to stake our claims and mark our territory." LA Kiss will give the 14-team Arena Football League another shot at making the sport stick in Southern California, the country's second-largest sports market, which has not had an NFL franchise in 20 years. Arena football depends on players whose professional prospects in the NFL, the country's most popular sports league, never came to fruition. Simmons, 64, and Stanley, 62, form half of Kiss, one of the top-selling rock groups of the past 40 years best known for their white-and-black face paint, garish costumes, and songs like party anthem "Rock and Roll All Nite" and ballad "Beth". They are not the first rock and roll owners in arena football. Jon Bon Jovi of Bon Jovi is a former owner of the Philadelphia Soul franchise. The league has made concerted efforts to court consumers in small and mid-markets such as Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Spokane, Washington, so far passing on renewing its past bets in competitive places like New York and Boston. "There's no reason that we won't deliver exactly what we said we would," Simmons said. "Anyone else who has failed in the past may have tried valiantly, but trying isn't good enough." The last franchise in the region, Los Angeles Avengers, folded in 2008 after nine seasons when the financially struggling league canceled its 2009 season. "It's a fair way down the sports or economic food chain," Allen Sanderson, an economist at the University of Chicago, said about the league. "I think one should probably look at it as more of a hobby than an investment." But franchise co-owner Brett Bouchy is steadfast that the LA Kiss should be viewed as an entertainment brand rather than a sports franchise like the NFL. "We're going the other way... We are trying to differentiate ourselves from everything else out there in sports," he said. LA Kiss will be able to seat about 15,000 people at the Honda Center, and Bouchy said the team has already been able to sell more than 7,000 season ticket packages with a goal of reaching 10,000 before the team's first home game on April 5. But the franchise's marketing plan has its own inherent risks as well, said Keith Willoughby, a business professor at the University of Saskatchewan, drawing a comparison with the failed XFL football league that attempted to fuse the sport together with the over-the-top sensibility of pro wrestling. "The challenge the XFL ran into was that it wasn't football enough for the football fan and it wasn't entertainment enough for the wrestling fan," he said. "You're trying to straddle two different cultural markets, and the inability to do both is a recipe for disaster." – Reuters, March 11, 2014.

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Elephants can tell difference between human languages Posted: 10 Mar 2014 08:23 PM PDT March 11, 2014 African elephants can differentiate between human languages and move away from those considered a threat, a skill they have honed to survive in the wild, researchers said yesterday. The study suggests elephants, already known to be intelligent creatures, are even more sophisticated than previously believed when it comes to understanding human dangers. African elephants – Loxodonta Africana – are the largest land animals on Earth and are considered a vulnerable species due to habitat loss and illegal hunting for their ivory tusks. Researchers played recordings of human voices for elephants at Amboseli National Park in Kenya to see how they would respond, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Some of the voices were from local Maasai men, a group that herds cattle and sometimes comes into conflict with elephants over access to water and grazing space. Occasionally, elephants are killed in clashes with Maasai men, and vice-versa. Other recorded voices were from Kamba men, who tend to be farmers or employees of the national park, and who rarely represent a danger to elephants. Still other voices tested on the elephants included female Maasai speakers and young boys. All were saying the same phrase: "Look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming." The recorded voices were played for hundreds of elephants across 47 family groups during daylight hours. When elephants heard the adult male Maasai voices, they tended to gather together, start investigative smelling with their trunks, and move cautiously away. But when elephants heard females, boys, or adult male Kamba speakers, they did not show concern. Discriminating between languages "The ability to distinguish between Maasai and Kamba men delivering the same phrase in their own language suggests that elephants can discriminate between different languages," said co-author Graeme Shannon, a visiting fellow in psychology at the University of Sussex. That is not the same as understanding what the words mean, but still shows that elephants can decipher the more sing-songy Maasai language from the Kamba tongue, perhaps based on inflections, use of vowels, and other cues. "It is very sophisticated what the elephants are doing," said Keith Lindsay, a conservation biologist and member of the scientific advisory committee of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project. "A lot of animals will take flight at just the general threat posed by people, but a smart animal doesn't do that," he told AFP. "Their response to hearing Maasai men talking was to be alert, to move away, but not to run away in total fear," added Lindsay, who was not involved in the study. "It is suggesting that elephants are capable of thinking, of recognizing that if Maasai men are talking, they are not likely to be hunting because if they were hunting, they would be quiet." Wiser with age Elephant groups with older matriarchs in their midst did best at assessing the threat from different speakers, further bolstering the presumed role of learning in the animals' behaviour. The elephants also did not act the same way as they did when recordings of lions were played, as was shown in a previous study. In those scenarios, they bunched together so that juveniles – those most at risk from a lion attack – were in the centre, and moved toward the sounds as if to scare the lion away. When it comes to recognizing people, elephants may not be alone in this ability. Other research has suggested that wild bottlenose dolphins in Brazil have become so familiar with humans that they engage in cooperative hunting with artisanal fisherman. Great apes, crows and even prairie dogs have also been shown to differentiate between humans on some level. A separate study published last month in the journal PLoS ONE showed elephants even have specific alarm calls for when humans are near, suggesting the relationship between people and elephants has reached a troubling point and that conservation efforts are more important than ever. "We have become a formal enemy of the elephants," said Lori Marino, an expert on animal intelligence at Emory University. "They can not only make some distinctions between us, but we are now on their list of species to watch out for." – AFP, March 11, 2014.

Nepal’s miracle gel saves newborns from cord infection Posted: 10 Mar 2014 07:51 PM PDT March 11, 2014 Nepal has seen reduced newborn deaths due to infection with the introduction of chlorhexidine. – The Malaysian Insider pic, March 11, 2014Sangita Shrestha desperately waits in a hospital bed to see the baby girl she has just delivered. In the next room, a nurse applies a gel to the stump of the newborn's umbilical cord, wraps her in cloth and places her in a cot next to her mother. "I was naturally worried and getting impatient. Now I am happy to know that my daughter is safe from infection," 18-year-old Shrestha said at the Dhulikhel hospital, 30 km (19 miles) east of Kathmandu, Nepal's capital. The baby was briefly separated from her mother when an antiseptic gel known as "Navi Malam", or chlorhexidine, was applied to avoid umbilical cord infection – a main cause of newborn deaths in the impoverished Himalayan nation. Made by local firm Lomus Pharmaceuticals and backed by the government, the United States aid agency and other donors, the gel was introduced in 2011 in hospitals across Nepal and has helped to reduce the number of babies dying from umbilical cord infection. Trials have shown a 23% drop in newborn deaths due to infection since the gel was introduced, according to USAID. Nepal was the first country to adopt chlorhexidine for newborn cord care, with Nigeria and Madagascar in the process of implementing it in their health programmes. "The US will work to bring the chlorhexidine to the world," Rajiv Shah, the head of USAID, said during a visit to Nepal last month while presenting the government with the "Pioneers Prize" for leading the cord care programme. Taboos and hurdles Nepal, which emerged from a decade-long civil war in 2006 and political infighting, has since then deepened the economic woes of its 27 million people, a quarter of whom live on less than US$1.25 a day. The crisis has hit development efforts, driving thousands of young people to seek work abroad. Experts say Nepal's public health sector is in tatters, with fewer than 2,000 doctors and some 63,000 health workers at about 100 hospitals. Many of the country's 4,000 villages do not have a health facility and nearly two-thirds of babies are born at home without the presence of skilled midwives. Part of the reason for the high number of newborn deaths, experts say, is because pregnancy in the majority-Hindu nation is attached with taboos that confront women with social and religious hurdles to safe delivery. Many women cannot discuss pregnancy with anyone or take a decision to seek medical help without the family's consent. Families often apply a paste of turmeric powder, mustard oil and ash to the newborn after cutting the umbilical cord, raising the risk of infection and death. The newborn and the mother are considered "unholy" for 11 days after delivery and often have to live in a dark, cold and unhygienic room with the mother lacking a nutritious diet. Government officials say many people are still unaware that they should go to health facilities and seek the assistance of skilled birth attendants. "But things are gradually changing," said Baburam Marasini, a senior Health Ministry official. "The use of the simple technology and the low-cost naval gel has made a positive impact in reducing newborn deaths due to infection." – Reuters, March 11, 2014

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American author of ‘dark’ tales Saunders wins Folio Prize Posted: 10 Mar 2014 07:42 PM PDT March 11, 2014 American author George Saunders, whose fiction specialises in "darkly playful" twists of fate, won the inaugural Folio literary prize and 40,000 pounds (RM218, 542) for his collection "Tenth of December". Saunders, 55, who started out as a geophysicist and worked in the oil fields of Sumatra before turning to writing, was selected from a shortlist of eight authors for the new prize. Its sponsors say it is intended to recognise "the best English-language fiction from around the world" that has been published in Britain, regardless of form, genre or the author's nationality. "George Saunders's stories are both artful and profound," English novelist and poet Lavinia Greenlaw, the chair of the judges, said in a statement announcing the winner of the prize founded by the Folio Society, a publisher of deluxe classic books. "Darkly playful, they take us to the edge of some of the most difficult questions of our time and force us to consider what lies behind and beyond them. His subject is the human self under ordinary and extraordinary pressure. "...We have no doubt that these stories will prove only more essential in years to come." The Texas-born Saunders, who was a recipient of the $500,000 (RM1.6 million) MacArthur Fellowship, sometimes called "the genius grant", in 2006, is a professor of creative writing at Syracuse University in New York. He has written several collections of short fiction, including "Tenth of December" – published by Bloomsbury – a New York Times bestseller, as well as popular children's books. "No one writes more powerfully than George Saunders about the lost, the unlucky, the disenfranchised, those Americans who struggle to pay the bills, make the rent, hold onto a job they might detest – folks who find their dreams slipping from their grasp as they frantically tread water, trying to keep from drowning," Michiko Kakutani wrote in a review of "Tenth of December" in The New York Times in January, 2013. The other 2014 shortlisted titles were: "Red Doc>" by Anne Carson (Random House/Jonathan Cape) "Schroder" by Amity Gaige (Faber & Faber) "Last Friends" by Jane Gardam (Little, Brown) "Benediction" by Kent Haruf (Picador) "The Flame Throwers" by Rachel Kushner (Random House/Harvill Secker) "A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing" by Eimear McBride (Galley Beggar Press) "A Naked Singularity" by Sergio De La Pava (Maclehose Editions) – Reuters, March 11, 2014.

David Nicholls novel ‘Us’ annonuced for September Posted: 10 Mar 2014 05:53 PM PDT March 11, 2014 British author David Nicholls. – AFP/Relaxnews pic, March 11, 2014.The next novel from "One Day" author David Nicholls is inspired by his European travels while promoting the 2009 success. "One Day" went on to sell over 5 million copies, with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess starring in the 2011 movie adaptation. Set for publication on September 30 in hardback format, "Us" deals with Douglas Petersen, husband in a failing marriage and troubled by his relationship with his son. With his wife, Connie, planning to leave him after their son leaves home, there's one last vacation to get through, a family holiday touring Europe's major cities. That's the platform for David to face up to the man he's become, make good with his son, and rediscover his wife as the woman he first fell in love with, two decades prior. The publicity tour for "One Day" afforded Nicholls the chance to visit "all the extraordinary places that I'd have loved to have seen as a back-packing teenager but never got the chance," he said. Publisher Hodder & Staughton's announcement revealed several key themes for "Us": living together, parenthood, the relationship between reason and emotion, art and science, parents and children, middle-age and youth. "'Us' is a road-trip, with all the pleasures and disasters of a long, difficult journey," Nicholls elaborated. "It's a love story of course, and I hope there's the same mixture of comedy and drama that I've strived for in the other books. But it's also about family – the bond of marriage and the demands of parenthood." – AFP/Relaxnews, March 11, 2014.

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MH370, PRK Kajang dan masa depan Pakatan Posted: 10 Mar 2014 05:11 PM PDT March 11, 2014 Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed is a three-term MP for Pulai and the new PAC chairman. Apart from being in the new politics, he also writes for The Malaysian Insider while debating other matters at www.jazlan.net Hari ini, genap empat hari kehilangan pesawat Sistem Penerbangan Malaysia (MAS) MH370 yang dalam perjalanan dari Kuala Lumpur ke Beijing membawa 239 penumpang dan anak kapal. Saya secara peribadi mengucapkan banyak bersabar kepada semua keluarga penumpang dan anak kapal serta berdoa mengharapkan yang terbaik kepada mereka terbabit. Di pihak kerajaan, semua yang terbabit dalam operasi mencari dan menyelamat, sedang berusaha sebaik mungkin bagi mencari pesawat malang berkenaan dengan segala keperluan serta aset ditumpukan ke arah usaha terbabit. Hari ini juga, adalah permulaan rasmi kepada "gelanggang" Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK) Kajang dengan proses penamaan calon bermula sebelum hari pengundian pada 23 Mac ini. Kemeriahan dan keriuhan PRK Kajang ini, tidak lagi se"gamat" kira-kira dua minggu lalu, apabila bekas Adunnya, Lee Chin Cheh meletak jawatan pada 27 Januari lalu, dengan Ketua Umum PKR, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim mengumumkan diri sebagai calon PRK itu. Ketika itu, DUN Kajang ibarat pesta dengan semua pemimpin pakatan bersilih ganti berada di sana, siang dan malam dalam memastikan kemenangan Anwar.  Malah ada antara mereka dengan bongkaknya, meletakkan majoriti 10,000 undi pada PRK Kajang. Pelbagai spekulasi, telahan dan andaian dibuat mengenai "Langkah Kajang" dan dalam tempoh dua minggu itu, menyaksikan pelbagai episod "politik" bermula dengan kata sepakat yang dicapai antara kerajaan Selangor PKR pimpinan Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim dengan kerajaan pusat mengenai penstrukturan bekalan air negeri itu. Selepas puas Khalid dihentam pimpinan tertinggi PKR terhadap langkahnya menandatangani Memorandum Persefahaman (MoU) dengan kerajaan pusat, bakal calon PKR PRK Kajang Anwar Ibrahim pula kemudian didapati bersalah oleh Mahkamah Rayuan Jumaat lalu, atas kes liwat 2 dan dijatuhkan hukuman penjara lima tahun. Keputusan Mahkamah Rayuan yang mengenepikan hukuman Mahkamah Tinggi dua tahun lalu itu,  sekaligus menyebabkan Anwar Ibrahim tidak boleh bertanding dalam PRK Kajang dan kini wujud pula kemungkinan berlakunya satu lagi PRK iaitu di Permatang Pauh. Walaupun, ketiadaan Anwar Ibrahim dalam PRK Kajang tidak memberikan impak besar kepada kemenangan PKR dalam pilihan raya kecil itu, namun saya mengharapkan bahawa calon baru yang dipilih menggantikan Anwar terdiri daripada muka baru dalam parti berkenaan. Namun sangkaan itu meleset sama sekali, apabila PKR dan parti pakatan sebulat suara memilih isteri Anwar, Datuk Seri Wan Azizah bertanding dalam pilihan raya kecil itu, bagi menggantikan suaminya. Adakah PKR ketandusan pemimpin lain untuk diketengahkan dalam kancah politik negara dan langkah untuk meletakkan Wan Azizah bertanding dalam PRK Kajang ini, sememangnya  membuktikan betapa parti ini, sememangnya mempermain-mainkan sistem demokrasi negara serta rakyat selain satu pembaziran wang rakyat yang nyata. Jika selama ini, BN dan Umno dituduh sebagai parti yang mengamalkan kronisme dan nepotisme, PKR juga membuktikan bahawa mereka juga parti yang sama, jauh bertentangan dengan apa yang sering dilaungkan oleh pemimpin mereka. Segala-gala dalam PKR sebenarnya, berkisar kepada Anwar dan keluarganya, terbukti ia sebuah parti yang mengamalkan kronisme melampau tetapi tidak kepada penyokong-penyokong parti ini. Bagi mereka, Anwar adalah segala-galanya, tanpa mahu berfikir mendalam betapa karier politik ketua pembangkang ini, sudah berakhir apabila akan menjalani hukuman penjara lima tahun. Semua mengetahui bahawa Anwar adalah "pengikat" kepada parti dalam pakatan dan ketiadaannya akan mengakibatkan perebutan kuasa terutama sekali antara PKR dan PAS dalam menentukan pemimpin mana yang layak menerajui pakatan pembangkang. Jadi, bagaimana Pakatan mahu memperjuangkan nasib rakyat sekiranya, isu perebutan kuasa antara pemimpin mereka tidak dapat diatasi.  Malah, sehingga ke hari ini, tiada satu konsensus atau pelan alternatf dalam pakatan berhubung siapa yang akan menerajui Pakatan jika Anwar tiada… Hadi Awang, Lim Guan Eng atau Khalid Ibrahim. Ini adalah dilema paling besar yang sukar diselesaikan dan mungkin akan menjadi punca kepada "penceraian" dalam pakatan parti pembangkang. Sebelum ini, saya selalu menyatakan bahawa pada pilihan raya umum akan datang, gabungan parti yang akan membentuk kerajaan ditentukan selepas pilihan raya  berbanding pada waktu kini. Mungkin, saya kata mungkin, DAP atau PAS akan menyertai BN selepas pilihan raya atau PKR bergabung dengan Umno semula kerana dalam politik tiada yang mustahil. Jika ini berlaku, ia baik untuk rakyat kerana ia "memaksa" BN untuk bersikap lebih rendah diri dan telus dalam pentadbiran kerajaan memandangkan parti pembangkang menyertai gabungan parti pemerintah seperti yang berlaku pada 1969 apabila PPP dan Gerakan menyertai BN. Ahli BN "nak tak nak" tetap menerima kepimpinan Datuk Seri Najib Razak walau apa yang berlaku sebagai perdana menteri tetapi tidak dalam pakatan pembangkang yang masih tidak lagi bersepakat terutama sekali di peringkat akar umbi untuk menerima Anwar sebagai perdana menteri atau menteri besar Selangor. Seperti kebiasaan apabila pemimpin pembangkang didapati bersalah, BN dan Umno dipersalahkan dengan pelbagai teori konspirasi ditimbulkan penyokong pembangkang bagi meraih simpati serta sokongan rakyat terhadap Anwar. Dan sudah pasti, mereka ini, akan sekali lagi turun ke jalanan melakukan demonstrasi kononnya bagi menuntut keadilan tetapi sebenarnya, cuba menjatuhkan kerajaan sedia ada yang dipilih rakyat secara sah dalam Pilihan Raya Umum (PRU) 13 tahun lalu. Malah seorang pemimpin PKR dalam reaksi segera selepas penghakiman Anwar Ibrahim Jumaat lalu, menyatakan akan mengatur gerakan Reformasi 2.0 dan jika ia terbukti benar, sekali lagi negara akan dilanda kucar kacir. Ketika rakyat sedang dilanda kesedihan akibat nahas pesawat MH370 serta berdepan dengan isu kenaikan kos sara hidup, tiada sebarang penyelesaian konkrit yang diberikan pemimpin pembangkang. Bagi mereka, segala-galanya adalah berkisar untuk menumbangkan BN serta Umno dan menawan Putrajaya. Malah, sejak empat hari kehilangan pesawat MH370, tiada pemimpin pembangkang yang secara terbuka menyuarakan sokongan terhadap apa yang sedang dilakukan kerajaan bagi mencari dan menyelamat semua penumpang serta anak kapal terbabit. Dalam operasi menyelamat dan mencari pesawat Boeing 777-200ER ini, semua negara di rantau Asia Pasifik bekerjasama dan mengenepikan segala "permusuhan" yang ada sesama mereka bagi mencari MH370. Lebih 40 kapal dari sekurang-kurangnya 10 negara mengerahkan semua aset ketenteraan dan risikan serta menggunakan teknologi canggih bagi mengesan pesawat ini…sesuatu yang perlu diberikan pujian. Tetapi malangnya, sikap kerjasama dan tolong menolong ini, tidak berlaku dalam parti pakatan dan adalah amat malang "jaguh-jaguh" pembangkang dan pro pembangkang ini, tidak secara terbuka bersama-sama dengan majoriti rakyat Malaysia mengharapkan yang terbaik bagi pesawat malang ini. Lebih menyedihkan, sikap dangkal seorang pemimpin pembangkang dalam Twitternya, yang membuat lawak "bermuda triangle" terhadap usaha mengesan dan menyelamat MH370 ini, berdepan dengan kutukan dan kemarahan rakyat Malaysia. Malah, ada juga penyokong pembangkang di laman sosial membuat dakwaan bahawa kejadian kehilangan MH370, adalah sesuatu yang dirancang kerajaan lebih tepat lagi oleh BN dan Umno bagi menenggelamkan kes Anwar Ibrahim daripada perhatian umum. Sampai begitu sekali, telahan dan cacian dilemparkan kepada BN dan Umno tanpa mereka mahu mempercayai terhadap takdir Allah SWT bahawa segala apa yang terjadi ini, adalah ketentuan Ilahi. Sebenarnya, tanpa disedari bahawa kegagalan Langkah Kajang atau Rancangan Kajang ciptaan Pengarah Strategi PKR, Rafizi Ramli ini, secara tidak langsung memberikan "kemenangan" kepada Khalid Ibrahim kerana sudah pasti, beliau akan terus dapat memimpin Selangor sebagai menteri besar. Ketokohan dan kewibawaan Khalid dalam memimpin Selangor terutama sekali dengan memeterai perjanjian air dengan kerajaan pusat juga membawa makna bahawa beliau satu langkah di hadapan dalam usaha merebut jawatan timbalan presiden PKR Jun ini sekaligus mengancam kedudukan Azmin Ali. Apa jua telahan dan teori yang diatur untuk Anwar dalam PRK Kajang ini, terpaksa dirombak dan sepanjang 12 hari tempoh berkempen sehingga malam 22 Mac nanti, akan menyaksikan bahawa tuduhan, cacian dan kata-kata nista dilempar serta ditujukan kepada BN dan Umno. Namun PRK Kajang ini, secara tidak langsung akan menentukan masa depan PKR dalam pakatan pembangkang dan nasib parti ini, terletak di tangan kira-kira 40,000 pengundi N25 pada 23 Mac nanti. Kemerosotan majoriti undi berbanding apa yang diterima Lee pada PRU 13 lalu, akan membuktikan rakyat menolak politik kebencian yang cuba ditanam parti pakatan terhadap BN dan Umno. Tambahan pula, yang bertanding mewakili adalah presiden PKR sendiri yang sekali lagi cuba menyelamatkan suaminya mengulangi skrip sama ketika 1999 dengan menjadi bidan terjun untuk PKR. Bagaimanpun, walaupun Anwar sudah dikeluarkan daripada arus politik perdana ia tidak bermakna BN terutama sekali Umno akan menerima sokongan padu daripada rakyat.  Proses transformasi serta peremajaan BN dan Umno perlu diteruskan bagi bagi mengikis persepsi rakyat yang sering mengaitkan parti ini, dengan unsur korupsi, kroni dan nepotsime. – 11 Mac, 2014. * Ini adalah pendapat peribadi penulis dan tidak semestinya mewakili pandangan The Malaysian Insider.

MH370 Posted: 10 Mar 2014 04:25 PM PDT March 11, 2014 Rushdi believes that a change agent must tell the truth to a benevolent dictator, religious hardliner, and compassionately connect with youth and have nots. "If the black box flight recorder is never damaged during a plane crash, why isn't the whole airplane made out of the stuff?"  – Daniel Tosh How do you make sense of MH370? I must have flown more than 400 times in the last 15 years, and the thought of what happened to flight MH370 at a cruising altitude of several kilometres over the earth, the safest part of a journey, has become a Bermuda Triangle mystery. I share the sentiments of many: how can a plane, Boeing 777-200ER, just disappear with today's (tracking of flights) technology? This is not to point fingers at Boeing or Malaysian Airlines (MAS), but, as passengers, we assume every take-off has been thoroughly vetted for structural integrity, equipment functionality, security has allowed on 'fly-list' passengers, etc. Obviously, there are external events that cannot be controlled. Mind What must have flashed through the minds of passengers and crew during the immediate (assumed) demise? I pray there is hope to find survivors, but the longer it takes – it has been more than 60 hours at time of writing – the chances become more remote. (I'm presently in GCC and fly back home to the United States tomorrow, a 15-hour trip, and the mind-set is very different about travelling now. I would be a liar if I said I was not nervous. Would I travel with Malaysian Airlines, if it were still flying into Newark Airport? Yes, without any reservations as it has a good history on safety.) I, like many travellers, who have encountered violent air-turbulence, including plane drop over the oceans, can say without a shadow of a doubt that it is the most helpless feeling in the world. You don't know when it's going to end. You recite a prayer (Al-Faitah).You pray there is not another one! And you continue to pray till you land! You grab the armrest and squeeze as hard as possible, thinking it will provide some comfort, but that is also going down. You look at your neighbour, and they have the look of embracing for an impact. For many, it's the first time you make eye contact with your neighbor. You look at the stewardess and you can literally lip-read the prayers she is reciting. You hear the pilot's voice over the PA system, and try to find strength that the turbulence will be over soon. You can hear the spoons, cups, and plates colliding and falling in the gallery, and that just exacerbates the heightened tension. You hear screams from fellow passengers, be it first class to coach, and it's all the same. You literally have your life pass before your eyes, and, in those few seconds, your brain has computing power of a super computer, thinking about everything concurrently and still making sense. It's your life history plus a living will made on the spot! The above is just from making it through some turbulence. I pray it was peaceful for these brave people. Tragedy Is there a silver lining in tragedies? Tragedies have a tendency to bring people and countries together. For example, death in a family, especially if it's the patriarch or matriarch, generally makes family closer knit, at least for the short term, as it's about coming together. There is a therapeutic effect of "healing beginning" in the coming together. For example, the tragedy of 9/11 brought people and countries together on a united front against extremism. Or the tsunami, Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy showed the global outpouring into the hard-hit areas, and it did not matter if it was remote rural villages or developed cities. "There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilised as a source of strength ... No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster."  – Dalai Lama XIV Takeaways As the investigation continues in understanding and recreating the last few minutes of MH370, I, like many others, hope there are humanity and technical takeaways. On the technology, there must be a better way to track flights, from taking off to cruising to landing, that cannot be "disengaged, disabled or destroyed", much like the announcement made by pilots/cabin crew before taking off about cigarette smoke detectors in the bathroom. Pilots undergo testing periodically, as theories have been raised about pilot suicide. If passengers must undergo extensive scanning before boarding, a minor inconvenience for safety, then same applies to pilots. Examining air-frame integrity and cabin pressure fatigue on equipment, especially in humid climates where planes are continuously in the air (to maximise revenue per seat). For grieving families and those concerned, the airline, MAS, and politicians in Malaysia, have a responsibility to keep them updated, say, every 15 minutes. All of us have been stuck at airports, and not knowing about the status of the flight is anger-inducing, if not, airport rage. This is a million times worse, so politicians need to be human and don't get upset if families want answers! Joseph Stalin once said, "the loss of one life is a tragedy, loss of (239 or) a million lives (should not be) a statistic". God bless those 239 people and their families, all our thoughts and prayers are with you. – March 11, 2014.

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