Archive for November 7th, 2012

Yen Yen’s High Standards of Wastage

By Martin Jalleh

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Rakyat berharap selepas pilihanraya ini mereka tidak dibohongi lagi

― Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 07, 2012

7 NOV ― Bila pilihanraya akan diadakan Tuhan sahaja yang tahu. Inilah kali pertama seorang Perdana Menteri belum lagi disahkan oleh rakyat sokongan mereka terhadap beliau. Mandat yang sekarang ini adalah mandat dan sokongan rakyat terhadap Abdullah Badawi.

Najib tidak berani membuat keputusan kerana beliau masih ragu untuk mengadakannya kerana rakyat semakin hari semakin menunjukkan sikap tidak berpuas hati dengan kerajaan pimpinan Najib yang meminjam mandat Abdullah Badawi.

Tetapi tidak mengapalah. Bagi pandangan ramai lagi ditangguhkan pilihanraya ini lagi mudahlah untuk menundukkan BN kali ini. Oleh kerana terlalu lama menangguhkan pilihanraya ini maka lagi jelaslah yang kerajaan hari ini yang mempunyai segala-galanya untuk memperkuatkan diri mereka tidak berdaya untuk menolak arus perubahan yang ingin dibawa oleh rakyat.

Apa yang pasti Najib akan terus keluar menjelajah ke seluruh negara kerana beliau terpaksa melakukannya disebabkan Umno di peringkat bawahan tidak bergerak dan tidak berdaya untuk berfungsi lagi.

Maka kita terpaksalah menanggung kos perbelanjaan penjelajahan Najib yang setiap kali lawatan itu memakan belanja yang berjuta jumlahnya. Semuanya itu adalah tanggungan rakyat belaka. Saya selalu berkata yang kita terpaksa menanggung perbelanjaan Perdana Menteri dalam siri kempen untuk menegakkan benang basah mereka. Read the rest of this entry »

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The strategy that paved a winning path

By Scott Wilson and Philip Rucker
The Washington Post
Wednesday, November 7

In early spring, President Obama’s veteran campaign staff in Chicago confronted the question that would ultimately determine the presidency: how to run against Mitt Romney?

The choice discussed on frequent calls between the White House and One Prudential Plaza was whether to campaign against Romney as a flip-flopper — a former centrist governor of Massachusetts who turned conservative to win his party’s nomination — or use his career as the head of Bain Capital to cast him as a protector of the privileged at the expense of the middle class.

“The most striking data we saw early on was on the ‘understands problems of people like me’ question,” said a senior White House official involved in the discussions. “Into the summer, Romney was in the teens in this category.”

The choice was made. The onetime campaign of hope and change soon began a sustained advertising assault that cast Romney as a heartless executive, a man who willingly fires people and is disconnected from how average Americans live their lives — an approach reinforced by Romney’s mistakes along the way. Read the rest of this entry »

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Sabah’s ‘development or else’

Erna Mahyuni
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 07, 2012

NOV 7 — A long time ago, Sabah was like the miserable child in a messy custody battle. Custody battles are hard. It’s not easy for a judge to rule on what truly is best for a child. Who could provide a better environment? The rich parent or the one who makes up for it in affection what he or she lacks in money?

Sabah got to choose… and chose the poorer parent, who wasn’t getting paid child support from the other, richer parent: Umno. Umno was still mad about the PBS walking out and like all vengeful “spouses” chose to try and beggar PBS and, by proxy, Sabah.

But in the end, choice didn’t matter. Because Sabahans’ right to choose who they wanted to lead them was taken away from them by the Great Frog Exodus.

It’s funny that Sabah’s chief minister, Datuk Seri Musa Aman, can so blithely state that Sabah has grown as a “progressive, prosperous, peaceful and stable state” under Barisan Nasional.

That’s like saying after starving and torturing a child for leaving your care and then bribing someone to place the child in your hands, you expect the child to be grateful for receiving what it was due, after you denied it child support for eight years? Read the rest of this entry »

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No fatwa on ‘belligerent infidel’ term used in ‘Utusan’, says minister

By Mohd Farhan Darwis
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 06, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 — The National Fatwa Council has never issued any fatwa (religious orders) to refer to non-Muslims as “kafir harbi” or belligerent infidels, minister Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom said today, referring to the label some conservative Muslims had used to describe the secular DAP opposition party earlier this year.

The minister in charge of Islamic affairs also said that any statements calling non-Muslims as “kafir harbi” or “kafir zimmi” are merely personal opinions, and added that Muslims are not bound by these personal convictions.

His statement comes just months after Umno-owned Malay daily Utusan Malaysia reported several Islamic religious scholars as saying that it is “haram” or forbidden for Muslim voters to support the DAP, which they have described as a “belligerent infidel” party.

“Until now, there is no fatwa or legal opinions related to the position of non-Muslims in Malaysia as Kafir Harbi or Kafir Zimmi issued by the state Fatwa Committee, or MKI (National Council for Islamic Affairs Malaysia),” Jamil Khir said in a written reply to PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

Legal opinions are only valid and recognised after receiving approval from the states’ Fatwa Committee and the MKI, Jamil said.

“Fatwa and legal opinions in this country can only be issued by the authorities.

“Therefore, any opinion or institutions apart from the two entities cannot be considered as fatwa, but only personal conviction.” Read the rest of this entry »

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