Fuyoh! Obama tarik keluar tentera US dari Iraq

Mulai tanggal Sept 1 tahun depan, tentera Amerika akan (hampir) sepenuhnya telah ditarik keluar dari Iraq.
Dalam satu setengah tahun lagi.
Sekarang ada 142,000 askar Amerika di Iraq.
Yang akan ditinggal hanya 35,000-50,000 nak tolong 'jaga keamanan' sehingga 2011, tetapi kerajaannya dipulang sepenuhnya kepada rakyat Iraq - yang dia boleh control lah!

Ini mungkin berita gembira bagi ramai orang - apatah lagi yang menentang keras pencerobohan mereka.
Tetapi bagi saya, ia sesuatu yang membimbangkan juga.

- Dulu dia sekat ecokomi Iraq zaman orang-gila Saddam Hussein, sejuta rakyat negara itu mati sebab tak cukup ubat dan makanan.

- Lepas tu dia serang dan tinggal di Iraq, menjadikan negara itu tak aman. Dan askar US memang terkenal menembak sesiapa saja di jalan raya (pada awal pencerobohan).
Banyak sungguh cerita yang saya baca di mana jika kereta orang Iraq tidak berhenti di sekatan jalan, atau memotong konvoi tentera US, terus kena tembak mati kesemua yang di dalam kereta. Termasuk kanak-kanak.
Bukan dia nak kejar dan periksa, dia main tembak macam orang tembak anjing liar.
Katanya sejak pencerobohan, sejuta lagi rakyat dah mati.

- Sekarang, mereka tahu mereka gagal, dan penipu besar dalam kes menceroboh ni (Bush dan kroni-kroninya rupa-rupanya curi duit rakyat Iraq dengan memberikan kontrak-kontrak pembinaan semula kepada member. Jika tak ada duit nak bayar, mereka kebas minyak Iraq! Ini semua fakta, bukan omong kosong). Jadi mereka nak calibut.

Mereka dah tak kisah lagi Iraq ni mampoi ke stabil.

1) Misi Amerika berjaya - dengan membunuh orang-gila Saddam, mereka telah nyahkan orang yang mungkin mencabar Israel. AH! Ini sebenarnya sebab utama pencerobohan!

2) Misi Amerika berjaya sebab sekarang Iraq dah tak akan stabil lagi (orang-gila Saddam, pun pandai tadbir negeri lah. Tak macam Malaysia, yang tadbir negeri semua orang bijak-bijak, sebab tu macam nak rak! Mungkin kita perlu orang gila jaga KL ni. Kahkahkah).

3) Iraq, negeri yang terkaya minyak kedua di dunia selepas Saudi Arabia, akan jadi rebutan jiran-jirannya Iran, Syria dan Jordan.
Inilah yang Amerika mahu!
Jika orang Arab dan Parsi bodoh (dan mereka memang bodoh, tak macam Pemuda Umno) semua gaduh sesama sendiri, tak ada masa mereka nak fikir isu Israel-Palestin.

'Yahoo. Mission accomplished for US'.


Lepas ni dia bantai Taleban di Afghanistan dan Pakistan - yang ini saya setuju 100 peratus (Caranya mungkin boleh dibahas).
Memang dari dulu, saya rasa Saddam Gila ni tak dibilis pun tak apa, sebab yang lebih merbahaya kepada dunia (dan umat Islam!) ialah Taleban.
Kenapa?
Sebab hanya orang LEBIH gila dari Saddam yang bunuh pelajar perempuan yang nak ke sekolah.
Hanya orang TERLALU gila yang pukul orang di pasar jika tak nak simpan janggut.
Hanya orang SANGAT gila yang tak kasi orang dengar lagu pun. Kedai jual CD lagu atau VCD wayang semua kena bom atau bakar.
Hanya orang PALING gila halalkan bunuh semua musuh dia (yang beragama Islam pun). Dia bukan nak 'convert' orang masuk Islam atau percaya kepada ideologi dia, tetapi sesiapa yang tak sokong Taleban, dia bunuh terus.

Saya tahu benar perangai puak ni sebab kerja harian saya ialah mengendalikan berita Tenggara Asia (termasuk Malaysia) dan benua Indo-Pakistan. Banyak sangat cerita ngeri yang saya baca.

Kasi hancur ini Taleban sebelum ideologi laknat ni sampai ke sini, dan hancurkan Tenggara Asia.
Jika orang Malaysia-Singapura-Indonesia ikut Taleban, anak-anak perempuan kita semua tak boleh ke sekolah (apa lagi bekerja), semua kena simpan janggut (orang Melayu nak suruh janggut tumbuh dua helai pun susah!), semua penyanyi dan penghibur kena tembak mati. Dan jika anda tak sokong mereka, anda menempah ajal.

Abdullah & tol - Ini bukan cara tadbir negeri

TERKINI 11mlm
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Baguslah. Keputusan kekal hanya beberapa jam nak naikkan harga tol. Kini dah ditarik balik.
Rakyat untung? Tidak juga.
Rakyat kena bayar RM247 juta untuk untungkan syarikat-syarikat yang dah gemok. Ini wang anda dan saya yang bayar cukai.
Kalau ada yang suruh kerajaan beli balik semua syarikat tol lebuh raya nanti ada pulak suara-suara yang tak puas hati. Jadi gini lagi bagus. Kalau tol naik rakyat mati, kalau tol tak naik rakyat sesak nafas.
Baguslah.


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Pagi ini, kadar tol di lima lebuh raya utama diumumkan akan naik mulai Mac 1 (tiga hari dari sekarang), oleh Menteri Kerja Raya Mohamad Zin Mohamad.
Dan kini (hanya beberapa jam kemudian), Perdana Menteri Abdullah Badawi berkata perkara itu harus ditimbangkan semula.

Adakah ini cara Malaysia ditadbir?
Maaf saya katakan terus terang - Ini kerja orang gila atau orang bodoh.

Kalau nak naik naikkanlah, jika tidak jangan umumkan sesuatu yang membuat rakyat berang, lepas tu nak ditarik balik. Atau nak 'ditimbang semula'.
Fikirkan masak-masak di belakang tadbir, lepas tu baru umumkan kepada rakyat.
Keputusan flip-flop seperti ini sangat dibenci orang ramai.

Jika niat Abdullah ialah untuk menyejukkan hati rakyat, maknanya sebelum ini beliau tidor. Bangun tidor, tiba-tiba menterinya dah umumkan.
Baru dia sedar rakyat marah kadar tol nak naik sedang dunia dilanggar krisis ekonomi.
Atau mungkin tak ada menteri yang memberitahu Abdullah bahawa perkara ini sensitif dan mendapatkan persetujuannya nak naikkan kadar tol setelah difikir masak-masak.
Atau mungkin beliau sibuk menjelajah negara-negara Arab kononnya nak sebarkan nama Malaysia dengan menggunakan jet besar yang dibayar wang rakyat?

Dah terlalu kerap perkara flip flop seperti ini berlaku sehingga saya, seorang pemerhati dan penduduk tetap Malaysia, berasa malu nak kena explain dengan warga Singapura dan pemerhati isu-isu Malaysia.

Juga, flip-flop seperti ini membuat pelabur/investor marah. Jika tengah hari tadi mereka membeli saham-saham syarikat yang berkaitan lebuh raya, sekarang mereka dah 'sangkut' sebab esok hancur semua pasaran saham.

Kadar tol yang nak dinaikkan ialah di Lebuh Raya Utara Selatan (PLUS), Lebuh Raya Sistem Penyuraian Trafik KL Barat (Sprint), Lebuh Raya Bertingkat Ampang-Kuala Lumpur (Akleh), Lebuh Raya Sungai Besi (Besraya) dan Lebuh Raya Baru Pantai (NPE).

Sedih saya fikirkan negara yang dulunya aman dan stabil, sekarang imejnya kelabu asap.

GAMBAR: Kita panggil selipar, mat salleh panggil flip flop.

Bila isu gaji kecil meletup di Bangladesh....

Masalah besar melanda Bangladesh apabila unit separa tentera (paramilitary) Bangladesh Rifles, atau BDR, memberontak. Hampir diseluruh negara!
Mereka dikatakan telah membunuh ketua setiausaha BDR dan isterinya, kerana marah sangat gaji tak naik dan pihak tentera penuh menekan mereka agar mengurangkan penyeludupan di sempadan - antara India dan juga Myanmar.
BDR menjaga sempadan-sempadan dan dituduh menutup mata atas kes-kes penyeludupan, atau terlibat secara langsung.
Jawapan mereka - gaji kami kecil, jadi terpaksa hidup sebegini.
Dan hari ini, laporan mengatakan sekurang-kurangnya 50 orang telah terbunuh dalam pertempuran dengan tentera penuh di berek-berek BDR.
Kerajaan terpaksa mematikan semua talian telefon bimbit di Bangladesh untuk menyekat penyebaran berita dan laporan mengenai isu ini.
Terdapat 46 berek and 50,000 orang askar BDR.

Pengajaran bagi negara lain - isu gaji kecil boleh membawa padah jika tidak ditangani dengan bijaksana.
Tak tahu apa perasaan rakyat Bangladesh yang bekerja di Malaysia dan Singapura. Tentunya gusar.
Seperti di Malaysia, ribuan ramai warga Bangladesh yang bekerja kolar biru di pulau Singapore ni (tetapi tak lah seramai puluhan ribu yang di Malaysia).
Saya rasa pihak polis di kedua negara sedang memerhati isu ini dengan rapi agar tak terjadi perkara tak diingini jika perasaan meluap dengar berita dari Bangladesh.

More decisive style of Najib showing through

Incoming PM Najib Razak has said it: No to Airport LabuLabi.
And he shoved the issue right up the throat of Sime Darby by saying the conglomerate must be willing to pay RM800 million if it wants in. No free rides.

By doing so, Najib is again showing a more decisive style.
As I have said before, he has shown that he can dance with Anwar Ibrahim - the opposition alliance is now on the ropes after losing Perak and now facing problems in Selangor and Perak.
Buku bertemu ruas.

And Najib won't have - or at least doesn't have (yet? hahaha) - a 'Level Four' bunch of idiots and failed advisers who will decide for him how the country is run.

Of course, it remains to be seen if this style will help or worsen the economic outlook of the country.
Or that the rule of law will improve under his watch.
But after five years of the half-lost outgoing PM, maybe everyone should see a bit more of his style, and hoping for the best, before making any negative conclusions.
It is so easy to say: He is like Mahathir. But let us not forget that it was during "dictator" Mahathir's time that many Malaysians could afford to have second family cars, holiday abroad and saw their incomes jump.

As for Anwar, so many people have said he should've just concentrated on helping to run the five 'opposition' states (now four), rather than trying to wobble the federal government.
But that is sooooo against his style, it seems.

Finally, as I fully believe, a decision to build a new low-cost terminal within KLIA is good for connectivity and the country. So there.

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DPM confirms scrapping AirAsia airport - Malaysiakini

The government has confirmed it has vetoed an ambitious plan by budget carrier AirAsia to build a RM1.6 billion airport in Labu, Negri Sembilan.

MCPX

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said the proposal was scrapped because the carrier's partner in the project, conglomerate Sime Darby, refused to contribute RM800 million in construction costs.

"If they did not contribute, there is no basis for the project to be considered," he said, according to state news agency Bernama late Sunday.

Bomb goes off in Cairo, as Hillary visit nears

Just two weeks ago I decided not to extend a working visit to Cairo for fear of some kind of bombing violence as the Israeli-Gaza conflict just ended.
It is sad to be proven correct, as one French girl died and 20 others injured due to a bomb.

No one is sure who did it yet, but US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was to attend a big aid conference on Gaza next month. Will she now still come?
In Arab lands, it is easy to blame Israel's Mossad for screwing up things on Palestine to make things murkier and more difficult. So some fingers will soon enough point in that direction.

Sejarah Jerusalem yang panjang, sedih....

Anda dah penat baca cerita-cerita saya semasa di Jerusalem, atau Baitul Maqdis, sebelum ini - di sini, sini dan sini (dalam bahasa Inggeris).
Jadi saya gunakan gambar-gambar saja, nak ringkas cerita - saya harap inilah cerita saya di Israel yang terakhir. Dah penat tulis, tapi ada orang tanya ' apa lagi yang you nampak?'

Bagi yang pertama kali membacanya, saya ke Egypt dan Israel sebagai rakyat Singapura dan sebagai sukarelawan Mercy Relief, kumpulan bantuan bencana Singapura (tak ada kaitan dengan Mercy Malaysia).
Saya ke sana kerana nak tolong rakyat Palestin, bukan kerana 'holiday dan sokong negeri Yahudi' (seperti kata seorang rakan).

Mercy Relief diberi sumbangan hampir S$200,000 (RM460,000) dari rakyat Singapura - baik yang Muslim, Kristian, Hindu, Buddhist, Bahai dan sebagainya.
Kumpulan kami, lapan orang kesemuanya ke Cairo, El Arish dan Rafah - di sempadan Gaza, tapi tak masuk ke Gaza. Dan kemudian ke Israel - naik kapal terbang Air Egypt, turun di Tel Aviv dan kemudian ke Baitul Maqdis/Jerusalem.
Tujuannya ialah untuk memastikan saluran bantuan yang dihulur - tepung, gula, susu bayi, daging dalam tin, selimut, kasut - cepat dihantar ke dalam Gaza dengan berjumpa rakankerja Mercy Relief di kedua negara tersebut.
Mereka ialah United Nations Works & Relief Agency (UNWRA), Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC), Palestine Red Crescent Society dan Fondation Hommes de Parole - sebuah pertubuhan Switzerland yang dianggotai imam dan rabbi (paderi Yahudi).
Kami mengadakan mesyuarat dengan kesemua pertubuhan ini dan melawat gudang simpanan UNWRA dan ERC untuk memastikan apa yang di 'order' dah sampai dan akan dihantar secepat mungkin.
Egypt, ramai orang dah pergi jadi tak ada yang 'hairan'.
Israel tak ramai yang masuk, saya rasa.
Saya sempat melawat dan bersolat di Masjid Al Aqsa dan Masjid Kubah - lihat gambar-gambar di sini.
Saya juga sempat melawat ke Western Wall atau Wailing Wall, tempat sembahyang paling suci dalam agama Yahudi.

PICTURE 1: At the Wailing Wall.
I shall not say more as I could be making mistakes in describing the place - see wikipedia entry here (I hope no mistakes lah).
All male visitors have to cover their heads with something.
They had these paper 'songkok' for visitors. I took one and wore it, though it kept falling off to my embarassment.
This extra garb is similar to non-Muslim, and even Muslim, women entering masjid Putrajaya or Masjid Negara having to wear covering clothes to show respect to the place.
And men told to put on long pants if they wore shorts.

A board director of Mercy Relief, Satwant Singh, had a turban on. He does not need to wear anything else to cover his head as he walked to the Wailing Wall.
I guess if I had brought my kopiah....

I just stopped someone there (the Yahud pakcik) and asked some history of the place. He said if I got time, I could go BELOW the wall via an entry (behind him) to see how old the site was - the Israel government did some digging below some years ago that led to big political troubles with Muslims, who were afraid the two mosques above would collapse.

PICTURE 2: When I saw this view, my heart sank. Yes, we all know how close the Wailing Wall is to Masjid Al Aqsa and Masjid Kubah (the golden domed mosque).
But as you can see here, one is quite literally atop the other.
The Haram Al-Sharif or Temple Mount, where Al Aqsa and Masjid Kubah are located, is where Judaism says its former Solomon's temple was situated. The Jewish temple was razed in 586 BCE (2,500 years ago!) by the Babylonians.
A rebuilt temple was destroyed in 70 AD by Roman conquerors (nearly 2,000 years ago!).
Jews want Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount back to rebuild their holiest temple.
But to do that they have to tear down the two holy mosques at the top.
So how?

PICTURE 3: You have seen me in a daytime picture at Masjid Kubah. Here is the night picture.
As I said previously, I visited this place twice during my two-night stay in Jerusalem.
There was a full moon and the air was cool in winter.
A minute or two after someone snapped this pic for me, I said goodbye in my heart to Masjid Kubah, a place I don't think I will visit again.

I'd rather everyone negotiate their way to a settlement between Israel and the Palestinian territories and the status of Jerusalem.
Israelies have voted to have a rightist government who may not be too keen to make deals with Arab and Muslims.
But anyway, in case you think the issue can be resolved during your lifetime, think again.
The history of Jerusalem - which is more than 5,000 years old! - moves in HUNDREDS of years.
The sad thing if you were to read its history here - lots of blood is spilled every time a new power rises to take over the city.
The last time was when the British took over the place from the Ottomon Turks in 1917 (91 years ago). And then the passed it to the Jews in 1948, that's 60 years ago.
It sometimes makes me think that Baitul Maqdis is too holy for its own good.

You have Hyksos, Persians, Hellenists, Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantinians, Khalifah Umar, Crusaders, Salahuddin Ayyubi, Mameluks, Ottomans Turks, British, and now Jews-Americans controlling the city and areas around it.
The Jews took over the place just 60 years ago. If they're clever, they would negotiate now when they are super-strong to ensure they retain some control over it forever.
Since they won't do that - like all the previous conquerors, thinking they will always be powerful - history will show a new more power will rise and take over the place.
A few hundred years from now, I guess....

Part of that history was made into a movie - Kingdom of Heaven, from top movie maker Ridley Scott and starring Orlando Bloom, Eva Green and Jeremy Irons.

Singapura - Negara paling berinternet di dunia

UPDATE 8.40MLM SABTU
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Baru jumpa! (sebab baru cari) - Di Malaysia, kegunaan internet di rumah (internet penetration) ialah 59 peratus, menurut website ini.
Saya cuba website MCMC, tetapi muka surat tentang data internetnya rosak.

Jika betul 59 peratus, tinggi lah tu, sebab Malaysia ni masih banyak kawasan luar bandar dan negerinya banyakkkkkk besar. Tak macam pulau Singapore - kecil macam dari Gombak ke Shah Alam, dan semuanya kawasan 'bandar'.

Jika 59 peratus, ini bermakna jika ada 10 buah rumah di Malaysia, enam ada internet. Yang lagi empat tu saya pasti islah kawasan luar bandar.
Agaknya kalau dikira dari Gombak ke Shah Alam saja, peratusannya pasti setinggi 80-90 peratus.
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Setelah bertahun-tahun mengekori Korea Selatan, Singapura kini menjadi negara tertinggi yang menggunakan talian Internet - 99.9 peratus.
Ini bermakna, sesiapa yang tak menggunakan Internet di rumah di pulau kecil ini adalah dinosaur, jauh tertinggal di belakang.

Di setiap kedai makanan segera, atau di Starbucks dan Coffee Bean di Singapura (- makanan di semua cawangan Coffee Bean di Singapura kini halal. Starbucks masih tak halal -) ramai boleh dilihat melayari laman Net.

Francais popular seperti Macdonalds, KFC, Burger King, Delifrance, Polar Cafe, Swensen's Cafe, Yakun Kaya Toast pun halal, tapi Spinelli's Coffee dan San Francisco Coffee belum lagi.

Nak makan makanan Cina di Singapura? Pergilah ke francais-francais Banquet dan Fork & Spoon. Makanan Cina dimasak oleh tukang masak Cina/Hong Kong dengan logo halal Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura.
Di kebanyakan tempat ini ada free wireless surfing. Yahoo.

(Yang kena jaga ialah gerai-gerai jual roti prata (canai) di sini. Banyak yang tak ada logo halal, cuma ada perkataan 'No Pork, No Lard'. Ayam pangkung).

Saya kurang pasti berapa peratusan kegunaan Internet di Malaysia. Nanti akan saya usahakan.

Eh, sebenarnya, ini cerita bab Internet ke cerita makanan halal? Kahkahkah.

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A year-by-year look at Singapore's household broadband penetration rate:

2005: 51 per cent

2006: 61 per cent

2007: 77 per cent

2008: 99.9 per cent.

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Singapore is most wired nation on earth

(The Straits Times, Singapore. 18Feb 2009).

SINGAPORE is now the most wired nation on earth, with the household broadband penetration rate hitting 99.9 per cent last December.

The figure, given by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), puts Singapore ahead of places traditionally thought of as powerhouses in the wired world: South Korea (92 per cent), Hong Kong (83.8 per cent) and Taiwan (76.8 per cent).

It also handily beats the Government's own target, of a 90 per cent penetration rate by 2015, set in 2006 as part of a 10-year masterplan to transform the country and economy by promoting the adoption of infocommunications.

But although Singapore's broadband penetration rate is close to 100 per cent, it does not mean that almost all households have broadband access.

This is because some households have more than one broadband line - a home connection and a portable modem, for instance.

Following guidelines set down by the International Telecommunications Union, which are used by many countries, Singapore calculates household broadband penetration rate by dividing the number of household broadband subscriptions by the number of households here.

Subscribers to paid mobile broadband services - those who hook up wirelessly to the Internet via portable modems - are included in the calculation.

But the count excludes subscriptions to 3G mobile data plans and Wi-Fi hot spots, which are generally not home-based.

The exploding popularity of broadband is a result of big cuts in the prices telcos charge for access, and much higher access speeds.

Three years ago, when household broadband penetration rate was just 50 per cent, telcos were charging $47 a month for Net-access speeds of 512kbps.

Now, a user can surf at speeds of 10MBps for less than that amount.

Another draw is the telcos' practice of giving free personal computers or laptop computers to encourage people to sign up.

Mr Jayesh Easwaramony, an analyst with research firm Frost & Sullivan, said: 'Household broadband penetration is tied to PC or laptop penetration. That they are freely available has contributed to the take-up in broadband.'

Going by the latest available figures from 2007, 79 per cent of households here have computers at home. The IDA's practice of helping lower-income families get wired up by offering them new computers bundled with three years of free broadband at $285 has also worked to boost numbers.

Called NEU PC Plus, the programme, which was started in 2006, is targeted at students and the disabled from needy families with a gross monthly household income of under $2,000.

About 7,000 households are now on the scheme; by 2015, a further 38,000 will get on board.

Primary school pupils Jackson Quat, 11, and P. A. Mukgunthan, nine, are among those who used to have to go to school or to the library to gain access to computers to do their homework. Now, with home access, they save time and transport costs.

Mukgunthan said: 'I'm very happy to have free Internet. Now I can do all the things that my friends are doing too.'

User Paul Mah, 30, is among the masses of wired Singaporeans with more than one broadband line: He has a connection at home and a portable modem.

'It is useful when I need to do work outside urgently, or to kill time in between appointments,' said the part-time polytechnic lecturer and freelance writer. 'It's the lifestyle now. I want my laptop and stable Internet access when I'm sitting at Starbucks having coffee.'

Najib at the helm - Buku bertemu ruas

Let me give you a fast commentary about an on-going game:

- The opposition wins five states and denies two-thirds majority to BN.
- SAPP leaves BN.
- Anwar Ibrahim enters Parliament after winning Permatang Pauh.
- Pakatan Rakyat wins Kuala Terengganu
- Bota assemblyman in Perak jumps to PKR.

In this football match, the opposition was leading by 5-0.
And the game was thought to be over.

In between, top scorer Anwar was hassling the BN goalmouth with his Sept 16 plan and played other games.
The captain of the BN team, half asleep at the helm, was given advice by people allegedly more keen to amass lucre, according to former star footballer Mahathir Mohamad.
Now, that captain has been substituted. Thank goodness.

And now, BN has quickly scored two goals!
The crowd roars (not necessarily in support!).

- Perak was taken away with little warning, with the Bota traitor-idiot frogging back.
5-1!

- And then, I am sorry to say, a Pakatan player scored an own goal. She asked to be substituted.
5-2.

People ask: WHO is this new captain?
He's a zillion times better than Rip Van Winkle.
But more importantly for some people, the game is not yet over.
Anwar just now tried to dribble past the goalkeeper with claims of Kedah assemblymen being offered money to score more own goals.
But that is just a distraction from that embarassing own goal.

Who will win the game?
No one knows.
The game has lasted nearly a year already since general elections last March.
And people are not sure whether the royal referees are following the rules anymore.

But I tell you who is losing badly in the eyes of outsiders, dear sports readers.
It is a once stable country called Malaysia.

At this rate, before the game is over, the game would already be long over, folks.

Another day, another big crook (not in KL)

NO! Not in Malaysia. In Malaysia, semuanya baik-baik belaka.
We prefer sex scandals, not money ones.
Ini di negeri Uncle Sam.
This one just months after Bernie Madoff made off with zillions of people's cash.


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Texas billionaire Stanford accused of 'massive ongoing fraud'

HOUSTON: In Texas, billionaire Robert Allen Stanford was just another wealthy financier. But on the tiny Caribbean island of Antigua, he was an influential financial chief, decorated with a knighthood, courted by government officials and basking in the spotlight of sports and charity events he sponsored lavishly.
On Tuesday, all this unravelled as the federal authorities swooped down on the Houston headquarters of his company, the Stanford Group, to shut down what regulators described as a 'massive ongoing fraud' stretching from the Caribbean to Texas, and around the world.
Unknown is the status of investments in as much as US$8 billion (S$12 billion) in high-yielding certificates of deposit held in the firm's bank in Antigua, which the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in a civil suit, said Stanford and two colleagues peddled fraudulently to scores of investors.
Stanford's whereabouts were also unknown yesterday.
Like Bernard Madoff, who is accused of operating a US$50 billion Ponzi scheme, Stanford offered investment opportunities that were too good to be true: promises of returns on relatively safe certificates of deposit that were often more than twice the going rate at banks.
Regulators claim the Stanford Group lulled investors into believing that the certificates of deposit were safe by advertising investments in 'liquid' securities that could be bought and sold very easily. In fact, a big portion of the funds was in very illiquid real estate and private equity investments.
While the size of the alleged fraud spun by Stanford and his colleagues pales in comparison to Madoff's scheme, the news is likely to further erode confidence among investors in investment advisers.
Stanford Group said it could pay higher rates because of the consistently high returns it made on investor assets. And it claimed to be safe, thanks to monitoring by a team of more than 20 analysts and yearly audits of the investments by regulators in Antigua.
None of that was true, according to the SEC's complaint. The bank's consistent returns - it reported identical returns of 15.71 per cent in 1995 and 1996 - were 'improbable, if not impossible'.
Regulators, too, are likely to face tough questions. Already under fire for missing several red flags over the years in the Madoff case, they could face similar questions as Stanford's offshore banking activities caught the attention of the United States authorities as far back as 1998.
Antiguans, meanwhile, expressed shock at the news concerning their top investor, biggest private employer and owner of its largest newspaper.
With dual US-Antiguan citizenship, Stanford has lived for more than 20 years in the tiny island which has a population of just 70,000.
'The fall-out threatens catastrophic and immediate consequences,' Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said in a televised address on Tuesday. He added that his government was working on a contingency plan to tackle the Stanford crisis.
Some islanders viewed Stanford as a benefactor who financed the construction of a hospital and poured money into airline services. His enthusiasm for cricket in the cricket-mad nation also did not hurt. But others regarded the tall, moustached Texan as an arrogant investor in the mould of the island's former colonial rulers.
'I'm shocked but not too surprised. I always thought he was too good to be true,' said Ms Sonia Barrow, 35, as she carried her infant.
NEW YORK TIMES, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Confessions of a virgin relief worker

From straitstimes.com Blogs.

Reme Ahmad
Assistant Foreign Editor
February 18, 2009 Wednesday, 04:27 PM

---

THERE are two things that I usually studiously avoid - insurance salesmen and giving on-the-spot donations for disasters.

There is nothing personal in avoiding insurance guys as I do think I have enough life, home, car insurance.

As for donations, yes I do make them, but in causes that I choose, not when someone put a box at a public place or when some students sneaked on me with a tin can.

The reason for this is my wariness that relief money would be misused.

I covered stories in the villages in Kedah and Penang that were hit by the December 2004 tsunami, and have lots of horror tales about who allegedly took the cash, mattresses and rice. I saw with my own eyes how the victims threw away lots and lots of donated clothing.

I interviewed families who cried because the money that was supposed to be for them disappeared into thin air, all 'disbursed'.

Yet just last week, there I was with a group of Singapore's Mercy Relief workers in Egypt and Israel.

The mission - to hand over nearly S$200,000 donated by Singaporeans to the Palestinians in Gaza who were hit by the 22-day conflict in which 1,300 died and thousands were made homeless.

No cash was given as aid. But flour, sugar, blankets, shoes, canned meat, baby milk were to be passed to the victims via four organisations with ground knowledge of relief work in the Palestinian territories. These were the United Nations Works and Relief Agency, the Egyptian Red Crescent, the Palestinian Red Crescent and Fondation Hommes de Parole - a Swiss-based organisation of rabbis and imams.

Blankets being sorted out at UNWRA warehouse in Jerusalem.

Like the other team members, I was proud to go to the four organisations to tell them that the Singapore donors were from all faiths and races in our tiny island (which, by the way, is bigger than Gaza with its 1.45 million population). Sure, the Muslims of Singapore gave donations, but so did the Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Bahais.

We headed out to Cairo first, and in my mind, I wanted to see how this humanitarian organisation called Mercy Relief behaves. The team was headed by its chief executive Hassan Ahmad and board director Stwant Singh. I thought, gee, they are Singaporeans and they are "officials". Better get ready for a lot of yawns and I-want-it-written-like-this stories.

How far wrong I was!

I have never met any of the Mercy people, although I have read news about their work of course. But at the end of the trip, all of us became good friends.

It was my first time mixing with relief worker-types. And many stereotypes were shattered. Satwant was the most unofficial official I had met. He is an ardent PAP activist and a lawyer too!

Over the next one week, this is the impression I have of Mercy and relief work.

- I was expecting to get a room for myself, in a five-star hotel. Instead, we all had to share three to a room. Apart from Siti Aminah, Mercy assistant communications manager, the men had to share rooms. There was even one night when Siti had to share a room with two, ahem, smelly men, so that Mercy wouldn't spend any more public money than it had to!

- The next time I go shopping at People's Park, I want to bring Mercy's head of international relief, Abdul Jaffar Mohd Mydin. He haggled over everything! Room rates at hotels, taxis and vans that we rent, and I thought, even food the group had to pay at cheap restaurants.

The best, or worst one, was this: It was late in the evening in the old quarter of Jerusalem (about 10pm) and the group just ended one meeting with relief officials. The temperature was a breezy 6 to 8 degrees C -- just my guess, but it was real cold even with me wearing gloves.

There were several cabs at one corner and Jaffar and Hassan wanted them to take us in two cabs to our hotel - located about 20min on foot, but just a few minutes on wheels. The price started at 50 Israeli shekels (about S$18). Mercy wanted 30 shekels per cab, the driver said 35. And for that, we walked!

Rather than spend an extra 5 shekels, a mere S$1.80, of public money, I had to endure freezing knees.

- The other way to save public funds is by asking for a free ride! We were at the office of the Egyptian Red Crescent and had to rush back to the hotel to get our bags and then go to the airport for the flight home. Ever so innocently, Mercy CEO Hassan asked our hosts whether they could provide us with a van. They said yes without hesitation.

- We also had help with letters or notes of passage from the Israeli ambassador in Singapore, Egyptian Red Crescent in Cairo and UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari who wrote behind his name card saying all aid should be given to Mercy Relief in its work.

Without these, we might have been stuck at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, at the many checkpoints between Cairo and the Rafah border. Also, the relief supplies from Singaporeans might have been moved much slower into Gaza.

In other words, Mercy officials thought ahead, saw obstacles and moved early to reduce these, as time is money.

- Nope, we didn't do any shopping, to my chagrin. There was no time, really, apart from a 5-hour wait in between flights at Amman airport in Jordan.

The only other time was when we were rushing through the shops of the Old City of Jerusalem. No one else stopped except for a few minutes. I stopped and managed to buy some souveniers.

Jaffar stopped to buy some teeshirts but was left behind by the others, so he dropped the idea.
In the end, most of us bought books and other stuff at the shops in the Cairo hotel and at Cairo's airport.

In other words, if you want to enjoy a holiday, following relief workers around would be a wrong move. And to a virgin relief worker like me, I appreciate a little better how humanitarian work is done.

Reme in front of 35tons of bags of flour donated by Singaporeans at Egyptian Red Crescent warehouse in Cairo.

Israel moves to the right - can you blame them?

Gaza has a total population of 1.45 million in a land at times as narrow as 4km! - like between Keramat and KLCC, or Bishan central to Toa Payoh central. The length of the strip is about the length of Batu Caves to KLCC, or from Changi to Tuas.
It is a tiny area and has more and more been described as "the biggest open-air prison".
None of the Palestinians could go in and out freely cos Uncle Yahud can easily block them.

The voters in Gaza, in the name of the much-Western touted democracy, chose Hamas in elections in early 2007. By June that year, Hamas went on a murder rampage and kicked out the Palestinian Authority (PA) from the Strip.
Israel punished the whole population by imposing a blockade, which led to the digging of dozens of tunnels between Rafah in Egypt into Gaza to bring in goods. And arms.
In other words, Gaza voters were punished for moving to the right and picking what they thought was a better group of people than the corrupt PA.

Now, in its general elections (on the last day I was in that Western-imposed country), Israel has moved to the right.
Under proportional representation voting (unlike the first-past-the-post practised in Singapore and Malaysia), it has had a hung election results in the past two weeks. No prime minister.
You can't really blame the Jews for voting to the right. Like the Palestinians, they got tired of left-wing, talk-only peace politics.
And I think they are worried that Barack Hussein Obama, unlike George W., might want to push them to the negotiating table and make concessions.


After the vote, centrist leader Tzipi Livni's Kadima party got 28 seats.
But right-wing Palestinian-denier Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud got 27 seats.
The kingmaker is frothing-at-the-mouth Avidgor Lieberman. His party's name is Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Is Our Home) and it now has 15 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.
Israel Is Our Home, the rest of you, duck off.

This was how he was described in one article:
"Lieberman, a burly man with icy, pale eyes and a trimmed beard, is known for his antipathy toward Israel's Arab minority. His legislative program includes a bill that would condition citizenship on swearing loyalty to the country, its flag and its anthem.
"Since Israeli Arabs are unhappy with the anthem, which refers to the “Jewish soul,” and with the flag, which features a six-pointed Jewish star, the obvious goal is to make them refuse the oath and lose their right to vote."

Nice CV. Pandai Abang L.

The question is: who will now 'punish' Israel for moving to the right and dashing hopes of making peace with Palestinians - just like Gaza was punished for moving to the right?
Hahaha, live in despair, brothers.


PICTURE: Another stupid pose. Me in Sederot - a farm town near the Israel-Gaza border.
The huge poster shows the three main party leaders - Livni, Ehud Barak of Labour party and Netanyahu. This was one day before the voting.

The left-leaning Labour lost out to Yisrael Beiteinu in terms of seats!
This was the first time that Labour, with 13 seats, did NOT become one of the three biggest parties after an election - as I said, the Israelis have moved to the right.
The religious parties, the biggest being Shas, have about 20 in total.
Many see Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu-religious parties ganging up their way into parliament.

As I have said before (unlike perhaps many angry, disappointed Muslims), I have real sympathies for the Jewish people's right to a state - as everyone wants to live peacefully with their families and have nice homes like those I saw in Sederot and on those beautiful hills on the highway near Jerusalem.

But that does not mean handing another group of people its holocaust by denying them peaceful lives and throwing at them phosporous bombs.
Did Israel use illegal "white phosporous bombs" so that it can kill more civilians? You bet. Just Youtube those words, and cry for world peace.

But but but.... Hamas fired those rockets first, you said. Yeah, but who stole the lands of the stupid Arabs in 1948?
Israel has been very clever in saying 'We were living in peace in our land until someone rained rockets on us.'
But it conveniently forgets that those guys raining rockets on you were living in peace until Jews kicked them out of their lands and then pretended they were not there.
Although I must blame idiot Arab governments, in 21 governments too!, too for not being serious with peace.
Shalom.


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Israel's president to meet parties before naming PM

JERUSALEM, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Israeli President Shimon Peres will hold talks with party leaders on Wednesday before deciding whom he should ask to form a new government after an indecisive election, a statement released on Tuesday said.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, head of the centrist Kadima party, and right-wing leader Benjamin Netanyahu have each staked a claim to be prime minister since the Feb. 10 vote.

Kadima won 28 seats in the 120-member parliament to 27 for Netanyahu's Likud party. Despite Livni's edge, Netanyahu appears to command the largest bloc of supporters.

Under Israeli law, Peres names the candidate for prime minister. He will begin consultations with members of the dozen parties elected to parliament after receiving the official results on Wednesday evening, his office said.

Peres will first meet members of Kadima and Likud, and consult with other parties on Thursday and Friday, the statement said.

The law gives Peres until Feb. 25 to name the lawmaker who will become prime minister if he or she manages to build a ruling coalition. The candidate has 42 days to form a government and must then win parliament's approval.

Past presidents have mostly chosen the leader of the largest party. The electoral stalemate means Livni and Netanyahu, a former prime minister, may choose to forge a coalition, politicians in both their parties have said.

Livni and her allies have said they would not join a government headed by Netanyahu. Netanyahu insists he should be prime minister and that he could form a government without Kadima and with the support of a rightist bloc of 65 lawmakers.

"Our test did not end last week, our test starts today," Livni told Kadima party faithful at an election victory celebration in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night.

"These elections showed that what happened at the elections was not just political, (we are) a new social movement that has been established and has swept this nation...it will continue to engulf the entire country wherever we will be," she said.

Left-wing and centrist lawmakers who could be Livni's natural allies have won 55 seats and not all have vowed to support her.

Peres's decision could depend on whom the largest far-right party, Yisrael Beitenu, with 15 seats, recommends as prime minister. That party has not said which candidate it will support and has been holding talks with both.

By-elections - BN needs to win only in Perak

I am back to talking about Malaysian politics, the politics of my lovely always-sunshiny adopted country, after missing the action for a week for some 'relief' work.
Much has been said about the elections in the two Bukits.
My view is that although there may be two by-elections round the corner, it might not be quite correct to say that both are "crucial" to Barisan Nasional-Umno.

It would be of no real use to the Umno-led coalition to win the Kedah DUN (state assembly) seat but to lose the one in Perak which consists of a Parliamentary constituency.
BN, really, only has to concentrate on the one in Bukit Gantang, Perak, and can afford to throw away the one in Bukit Selambau.
Its strategy will be: win at all cost in Perak and hope for the best in Kedah.

The reason is obvious. It needs to show Malaysians that the people of Perak, especially the Malays, are behind its takeover of the silver state from Pakatan Rakyat.


SCENARIO A: Win in Kedah, but lose in Perak.

It would still be unable to topple PR in the rice-bowl state of Malaysia, as Kedah is known.
Yet losing in Perak will mean a heck of a lot of jeers all round.
Malu brader, to be exposed naked like this.


SCENARIO B: Win in Perak, lose in Kedah.

BN and Umno will go to town saying it shows the legitimacy of the Perak assembly takeover. And rightly so, perhaps, since everyone has been saying "many Perakians" were unhappy.
The loss in Kedah will be quickly forgotten - it was a PR seat anyway.
And Umno leaders will attack the PR leaders for being "derhaka" to the Perak Sultan, the silver-haired king of the silver state (I wonder if he is driven in a silver Rolls and live in a silver palace and eat using silver plates....).

With about 64 per cent of voters in Bukit Gantang being Malay, wow. A win would show "orang Melayu menyokong ambil alih kuasa oleh BN, dan menolak orang yang derhaka terhadap Sultan" (Umno cal claim that "the Malays accepted the power takeover by BN, and reject those who revolted against the Sultan").
Another key factor at play - Changkat Jering, one of the state seats under the Bukit Gantang Parliament seats, is held by the frog Mohd Osman Jailu.
So we shall see whether the Malays are happy with this PKR guy who turned Umnoian or not.
Will he DARE to campaign? PKR fellas may wanna stone the devil that brought down its government!


SCENARIO C: BN wins in both Bukits.

PR leaders and Anwar Ibrahim might as well migrate to Egypt and build another pyramid so that they could all be buried together pronto. Khir Toyo will put in the last stone after applying super glue on it.
Malaysians will donate a new Spinx with the stupid smile. Spinx wearing songkok, even, to show that Ketuanan Melayu works.

But I am putting my last Zimbabwe dollar that this scenario of BN winning both seats as being impossible.
Unless some miracle were to happen like Najib Razak walking on the waters of the lake in Bukit Merah Resort (near Bukit Gantang, maybe even within the constituency).


SCENARIO D: BN lose both.

Umno and BN will be back to square one - Remember the gloomy mood after they lost Kuala Terengganu just weeks ago, and then the Bota idiot MP jumped to PKR? Yep, that mood.
Umno and BN will start to finger point again, even as Abdullah Badawi, now safely retired, flies out to his family's retirement home in Australia.


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BUKIT GANTANG PARLIAMENT SEAT, Perak.

Seat now held by PAS, whose MP passed away two weeks ago.
The late Roslan Shaharum, a PAS unknown, beat Umno's Treasurer Datuk Azim Zabidi by 1,566 votes.
This seat had always been a safe Umno seat until March last year.

Number of voters: 55,471.
Racial data:
63.5 per cent Malay
27.1 per cent Chinese
9.1 per cent Indian.


-------------------------------------------------------
BUKIT SELAMBAU STATE-ASSEMBLY SEAT, Kedah.

The seat belonged to PKR after winner V. Arumugam, an independent, jumped to Anwar's camp. He then disappeared and vacated the seat.
The retired mechanic had trounced S. Krishnan of MIC with a 7,695-vote majority.
With 30 per cent of the voters being Indian and 20 per cent Chinese, BN-MIC might as well not turn up here because they are sure to lose!
It is quite obvious from here that Umno will only give limited air cover for the MIC candidate as it is a hopeless fight, and it would want to concentrate in Perak in the south.

Number of voters: 35,464.
Racial data:
50 per cent Malay
30 per cent Indian
20 per cent Chinese.

Saudi appoints first woman minister

Alright, so she is a DEPUTY Minister.
OK lah. Better than nothing.
Her name is Norah al-Faiz.

I wonder whether the Saudis would soon allow women to drive....


The Prophet's first wife, Khadijah, was a successful businesswoman and so surely had to deal with many men to run her trading biz.
When she died, the one that took up her mantle as a public woman figure was perhaps Aisyah (spelling may be different from this Malay-nised one), the young woman and daughter of his very close friend that Prophet Muhammad married.
Many Hadiths - sayings and traditions of the Prophet - about the personal life of Muhammad (peace be upon him) came from Aisyah.

The most famous one, to me, was that the Prophet spent most of his nights, every night, praying in the wee hours of the morning.
When asked by someone why he should do that when he is a sinless prophet, he said: Then I should do it more to be grateful (something like that lah, braders and sistahs, don't kill me if my memory is weak).



As for women ministers, in other Muslim countries, I am glad to say this is a non-issue.
We had two Battling Begums in Bangladesh, both of whom were prime ministers. One of them is now back as PM, fighting off the other.
In Pakistan Benazir is still a top name despite her demise a year ago.
In Southeast Asia, we have ministers-in-bajukurongs (different from bananas-in-pajamas) in Indonesia and Malaysia for a long time already.

Still, hurray for Saudi, the country that guards the two holy mosques.
The Saudis under King Abdullah are also making waves in the Middle East for having forwarded a comprehensive plan for recognition of Israel in return for a peace settlement with the poor Palestinians. You would think that kind of plan would come from Israel's neighbours Egypt or Jordan.
And just as interesting, I read somewhere that in the current global economic gloom, while countries like Dubai and the rest of UAE, Iran, Egypt and Bahrain etc will suffer, Saudi and Qatar should remain steady due to the high prices of gas (not oil).


PS. If you type Norah's full name in Google under Images, you get a quite a pretty face with no tudung although I don't know whether this was her.

-------------------------------------------------------
Saudi woman becomes deputy minister

Al Jazeera - Saudi Arabia has named a woman as deputy minister for education - the most senior role ever held by a female in the kingdom.

Norah al-Faiz, currently an official at the Saudi Institute for Public Administration, was named as the deputy minister responsible for women's education as part of a reshuffle of the cabinet, military and judiciary on Saturday.

King Abdullah also ordered the replacement of the chief of the Supreme Council of Justice, Saleh al-Lihedan, who last year issued an edict saying it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite television channels deemed to show "immoral" content.

The head of the commission is the kingdom's second-most influential cleric.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Humain was appointed as the new head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice which controls the religious police, replacing Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ghaith.

The police have wide powers to search for alcohol, drugs and prostitution, ensure shops are closed during prayer times and maintain the system of sexual segregation in Saudi society.

'Turning point'

The reshuffle, King Abdullah's first since he took power following the the death of his half-brother in 2005, also saw new education, justice and information ministers appointed.

"This is a turning point. It is the biggest change that happened in this country in 20 years," Mohammad al-Zulfa, a member of Saudi Arabia's Shura council, told the AFP news agency.

"It is a new start for King Abdullah. People are expecting changes," he said. "These are new faces who can bring change."

The monarch also appointed Abdul-Aziz Khoja, who was previously ambassador to Lebanon, as information minister, replacing Iyad bin Amin Madani, state-run al-Ekhbariya television reported.

Clerics had often criticised Madani for allowing the local press to take greater liberty in challenging the establishment.

Israel-Palestine: Ceasefire near? TelAviv demurs

To get aid quickly into Gaza, the fighting and the firings must stop.
Hamas has said a ceasefire is near, but Israel -the guy with the big guns and the big backer - says no.
After some rockets hit Israel, it hit back with an airstike in Rafah City in Gaza.
The Rafah border on the Egypt side that I went to - see PICTURE - had been closed about a week today. There was no lorry trying to enter Gaza, no mad scenes of people running into Egypt from Gaza soon after the attacks by Israel ended.

The Rafah crossing was used previously for entry/exit of Palestinians, but relief supplies to help the cold, hungry, homeless and injured would be allowed into Gaza if the craziness stops a while.
But because of the latest conflict it will be allowed to be opened to food and relief convoys too.

The 22-day war - more like a one-way holocaust to some people - killed 1,500 Palestinians and injured 5,500 people and put thousands of others on the streets as their homes were bombed to smithereens.

An foreign aid official met last week in the Middle East described Gaza, with 1.45 million people with nowhere to go and supplies needed to be brought in, as "the world's biggest prison".
According to witnesses, the Jewish soldiers who went in destroyed factories, killed cows and food crops. This apart from maiming children with phosporous bombs, banned by civilised countries.

More than most Muslims, I actually have sympathy for the Jewish people and Israel's right to remain as a state. This is not politically correct to say to most Muslims.
But then again, this is because my life experience is different from most people, after having been born and bred as a minority in Singapore, and then living among majority Malay-Muslims in Malaysia for 12 years.

I have lived through Ketuanan Cina (Chinese political dominance), saw what Ketuanan Melayu (Malay political dominance) was about.
And now I have seen Ketuanan Yahudi (Jewish political dominance) for myself. Some translate 'ketuanan' as 'supremacy'.
I saw a lot passing from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem and to driving through the countryside to Sederot, beside the Gaza border on the Israeli side.
I saw happy families, people walking on the streets like in other countries, beautiful houses, nice farmlands - all human beings want that.

But I do wish that the Ketuanan Yahudi people who went through thousands of years of being bullied, persecuted and murdered, and who went through a Holocaust, would now have some sympathy for those who are suffering their holocaust in Gaza and the West Bank.
Secure the peace, friends, but negotiate for a long-term solution too with your cousins, the Arabs.
Shalom.

I visited Al Aqsa & Masjid Kubah, PICTURES =2,

PICTURES:
1) Inside Masjid Al Aqsa is a reminder of the wars and fighting to take over Jerusalem.
A self-appointed 'guide' to the area showed us a cabinet full of shells - they looked like big artillery or tank shells to me. The guy said these were collected after the fighting with the Israelis.

Oh, those 'guides'. Because so few Muslim tourists come along, they spot a "brother" a long way away and persisted and insisted that they be our guides. For a fee of course. A friend of mine gave one 50 shekels (S$19, RM44), and he got a scolding - "This is nothing". He wanted more for showing four of us around for a mere few minutes.
Kurang ajar ini Arab guide - more rude than the Jewish soldiers, it seems to me.

By the way, there were two more Israeli soldiers on Haram Al Sharif=Temple Mount in the daytime when I visited. To me, they were there to keep the peace, to others it is perhaps a sign of the occupation of Islam's third holiest shrine.
There were many non-Muslim tour groups on their visits to the "Holy Land" - Christian and Jewish groups, and I saw quite a few African ones. I guess they were Christians, and Asians.
A friend of mine from Malaysia - yes, Malaysia - had been to the Holy Land, too.
But most of them just walked past quickly from one mosque to the other after snapping a few pictures, the significance of the place lost on them. Because their guides have little time to explain to them things before they move on to the next ancient holy site, or to the souk.


2) The main door of Masjid Al Aqsa. Thick green metallic doors. All the doors were closed when I was there and only Muslims are allowed in.
"Are you a Muslim? Where are you from?" asked one local guy as I was about to open that door. "Yes I am, I am from Singgafura."
As I went in, a mat salleh tourist wanted to follow me, but a few Arabs started shouting and he backed off.
In Singapore, the mosque nearest my home, Masjid An Nahdhah has what is called a Harmony Centre. This centre brings non-Muslims into the mosque often and hold dialogues with them.
This helps people understand what a mosque is and why it is central to Muslim life, etc.
If we get insular like we have been for hundreds of years, then can you blame people for not knowing our religion?

3) That old man wearing short-sighted tinted glasses is me. This is UNDER the Masjid Kubah. This place is below the big rock at the centre of the mosque where tradition says Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
(Actually, my glasses were not tinted. But when it catches light it will darken automatically, depending on the strength of that light, and brother, this place has a lot of light....)

I visited Masjid Al Aqsa & Masjid Kubah

PICTURES:

 1) The beautifully-ancient, yet understated facade of the Masjid Al Aqsa, with its faded black dome.

2) Inside the Masjid Al Aqsa. Having been to both Masjidil Haram in Mecca and Masjid Nabawi in Madinah, I would say the splendour of this place takes your breath away too.
I prayed zohor-asar jamak here. It's difficult not to get emotional.
I prayed for salam/shalom/peace between the cousins, the Jews and the Arabs, so that more Muslims could come here to pray.

And then, due to limited time (I was in Jerusalem to work, and was not on holiday!) I dashed about 150m away where there was:

3) Dome of the Rock (Masjid Kubah or Kubah Shakhrah, where the Prophet Muhammad performed his Mikraj). I prayed maghrib inside the golden dome mosque.
There is a huge rock at the centre of the dome of course, but I did not know there was a staircase that takes visitors BELOW the rock. Many people prayed here (the main prayer hall is upstairs).

Masjid Kubah is 1,300 years old! Masjid Al-Aqsa, in its current form, is at least 1,000 years old. Wow. The walls and domes have seen so many victories and despair of mankind here on Haram Al Sharif or the Temple Mount as the area is called.

(In contrast, Masjid Setiawangsa near my KL home in Wangsa Maju is about six years old, and Masjid An-Nahdhah in Bishan, Singapore, where I live is hardly three years old.
(The oldest mosques in Singapore and Malaysia cannot be more than 600 years old, when Islam arrived in Southeast Asia - spread by peaceful Arab traders).

I thought of the Crusades, and Salahuddin Al Ayubi or Saladin, and the most sacred site of Judaism - the Wailing Wall is just below this site, the Six-Day War, and how the whole issue could perhaps be resolved.
And the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and buried is very close by too.

This is not a new idea at all - the United Nations must be involved and the whole city of Jerusalem passed to this body to administer so that there would be security and peace.
Extremists on all sides - Jews, Christians and Muslims - will want to kill me just for saying this.
Sometimes I feel Jerusalem is too 'holy' for its own good (Idiots will wanna kill me for saying this, too).

The two mosques, from one point, looked forlorn, because unlike the busy scenes in Mecca and Madinah, only local Arabs and a few Muslim tourists come a-visiting. We met with a south Asia girl from Britain here. The rest were Jerusalem Arabs.

Finally, actually, ahem, I visited the two mosques in Haram Al-Sharif TWICE in the two nights that we were there.


------------------------------------------------------
AND NOW, THE STORY


Read previous stories here and here on my trip with the Mercy Relief team to the Middle East to help the Gaza war victims.
The Singapore humanitarian organisation collected nearly S$200,000 from Singaporeans of all races and faiths to help the war victims in Gaza after the Israeli bombardment.

Rather than send cash directly - an impossible mission plus the additional worry of abuse - Mercy Relief (no relation to Malaysia's Mercy Malaysia which sends doctors to help people), aid goods were to be sent in.
But how? A lot of money would be wasted if the goods were bought in Singapore and freighted (air, ship) to Gaza.
Another way perhaps would be to buy the goods in Egypt (which neighbours Gaza - apart from Israel) and send them in. But Mercy Relief would not have the ground knowledge on how to go about delivering the goods to the Gazans.
So Mercy Relief decided to work with organisations which have worked/are working with the Palestinians instead.
It chose two methods to send the relief goods - one via Egypt, the other via Israel.
This was after picking groups with local knowledge on relief work in Occupied Palestine, if you like the term (ie Gaza and West Bank).

In Egypt: The goods were bought by the Egyptian Red Crescent (30 tons of flour, 20 tons of sugar, for example) [my earlier posting of 30,000 tons and 20,000 tons are incorrect] and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (medical supplies and equipment). These two organisations are to send the goods when the borders open and the relief supplies will be distributed inside by aid workers such as UN agencies.

In Israel: The goods were bought by the United Nations Works and Relief Agency, UNWRA (flour, blankets, for example) and Fondation Hommes de Parole, a Swiss-based organisation of rabbis and imams (20,000 clothes, shoes, blankets, etc).

The eight-person Mercy Relief team (7 guys and 1 young lady) met with officials from these four organisations in the two countries over the one week that we were there.
The team was headed by its chief executive Hassan Ahmad and board director Satwant Singh.

All of us were Singaporeans, so we entered Tel Aviv from Cairo (Air Egypt flight 1hour 10 min). And then took a van to Jerusalem about 40min away.
Beautiful countryside, green hills - no wonder the cousins are killing each other for the plot of land. And no wonder people have been fighting for this plot in the Mid East for thousands of years!
The weather outside was around 15 deg C to 20 deg C, so it was cool and beautiful.

Being a relief team using public money, we stayed three to a room (except for the lady, Siti Aminah) at the Addar Hotel in an Arab neighbourhood - see its website here.
(Everywhere we went, it was three to a room - no abuse here! Siti Aminah even had to share a room with two smelly men in Cairo for one night to cut costs!)
The small Addar hotel is owned by an Arab, plus there was plentiful of Muslim food around. Heck, if you woke up in that area from a coma (like some prime minister from some country), you would think it was just another Arab neighbourhood in an Arab country.
Errr, then again, it WAS an Arab country in recent memory, until 1948.

In between the meetings with aid officials, some of us ran off - just a 10-minute walk - to the Old City.
We entered by the oh-so-beautiful ancient Damascus Gate (pictures and stories later) smack into warrens of the souk. Macam-macam ada!

If you don't stop at any of the hundreds (thousands?) of shops, it would take some 10 minutes to the security checkpoint to enter the Wailing Wall, Judaism's most holy site - but that is another story too, with lots of pictures.
Turn left before that checkpoint and one right turn later, you hit the checkpoint to enter Haram Al-Sharif or Temple Mount - dua masjid di atas bukit.

To enter by this "muslim" gate, instead of the gates for non-muslim tourists, a Jewish soldier stopped us and wanted to see our passports.
He then asked each of us to recite 'fatihah' (That's what he said). This is the first chapter from the Quran and similar to the Lord's Prayer for Christians.

Yep, if I wanna get angry I say this: Orang Yahudi jaga masjid dan tambah hina kepada kita sebab dia suruh kita baca fatihah, kalau tidak tak boleh masuk (Jews guard our mosques and insult us further by asking us to read fatihah in front of him, or else we cannot enter).
One of my friends kena read both fatihah and then 'qul hu allah'. Yep, that's what the Jewish soldier said. The soldier looks kinda elderly for a soldier, but he was polite not aggressive.
His young colleagues behind me carried guns though.
(I have heard this same story about Jewish soldiers asking Muslims to recite al fatihah many times, so I was ready to recite properly lah).
The elderly soldier asked me to stop after three verses.

A non-muslim with us, Mercy Relief's board director Satwant Singh, was not allowed to enter.
The elderly Jewish soldier told him politely: Sir, you can enter if you go round to the other gate.

Yes, if you want to protest, you gotta go round to the other entrance far away for non-muslims. And that gate is opened mostly in the early mornings only.

My two Muslim friends were incensed, and used four-letter words for being insulted like this, just metres from Al Aqsa. Yep, we were cussing away just metres from the third holiest shrine in Islam, which I thought was kinda cute.

But to be fair, without that guard, non-Muslims might enter and cause a scene and problems with the mosque officials inside. Maybe even a bloody riot in this sooooo-politically-sensitive city.
These are not 'normal' mosques after all. To Muslims around the world, these mosques are under occupation.

We had earlier gone to the Wailing Wall, but after this visit to the two holy mosques, we ran out of time and rushed back the hotel for another meeting somewhere.
We did not have time to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, just metres away. Such a pity, because to understand the complex issue of Palestine-Israel, a visit would have helped.
To many Christians around the world, a visit to "the Holy Land", ie Israel, means visiting Christian sites.

Relief work in Egypt - 'Singgafura' welcomed

From a Blog entry in www.straitstimes.com that I wrote on my Blackberry while in a van between Rafah, El Arish and Cairo on Friday.

-----------------------------------------------------


Aid from 'Singgafura' heading for Gaza

Reme Ahmad,
Assistant Foreign Editor

February 09, 2009 Monday, 02:39 PM

Reme Ahmad is part of Singapore's mercy dash to Gaza

---

IN CAIRO: I have read this line from news reports many times in the last few weeks - “The Egypt-Gaza border crossing at Rafah is closed today”.

The crossing is the main gateway from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, which came under heavy attack from Israel recently.

The other big story out of Rafah these days is that there are, or were, tunnels dug from here going into Gaza.

On Saturday, I was at that crossing on the Sinai peninsula, and yes, the checkpoint was closed again.

But no worries. If you need to bring in relief supplies into Gaza, all is not lost.

I am in Egypt as part of a team from Singapore's humanitarian group, Mercy Relief, who is here to oversee the handing over of aid supplies.

The Rafah border that I saw on Saturday did not have long lines of trucks laden with relief goods trying to get into Gaza.

Because the crossing is closed quite often nowadays, some aid agencies have switched to using another route to enter - via Al Ouga, which is also on the Sinai peninsula.

This includes Mercy Relief which wants to send medical supplies, sugar, flour, canned meat and other aid goods into Gaza. Its goods from Egypt will be sent by the Egyptian Red Crescent.

Mercy Relief's chief executive Hassan Ahmad it wa easy to "blame the system" if your aid supplies got stuck at the border, but working with the correct partners who know the ground is important.

In Rafah, the situation remained tense, with soldiers packed in trucks and jeeps moving around the area.

Some of them carried their guns openly.

My images that there would be a busy border town in Rafah - maybe on a smaller scale of Woodlands or Johor Baru, ripe for shopping - dissipated.

The dry desert dominated with a few houses made from brown bricks. The only signs of life were a few short shrubs and the soldiers.

The van carrying the Mercy Relief team was stopped by Egyptian security officers yesterday.

But they turned friendly very quickly upon learning that we were from "Singgafura", and had hoped that the border would reopen soon so that its relief supplies could be sent into Palestine.

All eight of us were excited nonetheless at reaching this border area. Each of us whipped out a camera and started to snap pictures in front of a big sign which says "Welcome to Rafah Land".

On one side of these pictures were buildings on the Gaza side.

The team had not wanted to enter Gaza, even if allowed, due to safety reasons, as tensions between Israel and the Palestinians remained high.

After a few minutes of picture taking, the cool winds were replaced by a hot sun and we all retreated into the 11-seater van.

We then went to the Mediterranean seaside town of El Arish where we had spent the night before.

After lunch at a seaside restaurant, our van retraced our route back to Egypt, including driving over a long, tall bridge to cross the famed Suez Canal back to Cairo.

As the van crossed from the Sinai peninsula into the northern African part of Egypt, I pondered wistfully on the land of Moses and the Israelites, still torn by strife, thousands of years later.

Back from Mercy's trip to help Gazans =2

The Straits Times. Feb7, 2009

Mercy Relief to deliver $189k Gaza aid

By Reme Ahmad , ASSISTANT FOREIGN EDITOR
		Mercy Relief chief executive Hassan Ahmad (in blue shirt) discussing aid supplies with Mr Mohssen Ahmed Shash (left), general-secretary adviser of the Egyptian Red Crescent, at a warehouse in Cairo. -- ST PHOTO: REME AHMAD

Rafah (Egypt) - A team of aid workers from Singapore non-governmental organisation Mercy Relief has arrived in Egypt to oversee the handing over of US$126,000 (S$189,290) worth of humanitarian relief to Palestinians affected in the Gaza crisis.

The eight-person team last Friday visited two hospitals near this Egyptian border town, where injured Palestinians are being treated.

The package, which included medical supplies, blankets, flour, baby milk and canned food, was bought using donations from Singaporeans.

The team, headed by Mercy Relief board member Satwant Singh and its chief executive Hassan Ahmad, arrived in Egypt last Friday.

Rafah is a main border crossing into the Gaza Strip, which came under heavy Israeli attack recently. About 1,300 people have died, nearly 900 of whom are civilians.

The town of Rafah is located about five hours by road from Cairo, Egypt's capital.

For safety reasons, the team is not entering Gaza.

'Our modus operandi is always to personally deliver aid in kind. But this time, there will be a slight departure from that, because of safety concerns,' said Mr Hassan.

Mercy Relief is working with organisations that have a strong knowledge of the ground - the Egyptian Red Crescent, Palestine Red Crescent Society, United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and Hommes de Parole, a Swiss-based group of rabbis and imams.

'We are still here on the ground and we will try to personally deliver the aid to the affected people, as far as possible, because we want to be accountable to our donors,' said Mr Singh.

The Singapore team is scheduled to meet Egyptian, Palestinian and international aid workers over the next few days to hand over the aid supplies.

The aid was bought with donations from Singaporeans as well as groups such as the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, Inter-Religious Organisation and Singapore Buddhist Lodge.

Launched more than five years ago, home-grown Mercy Relief has worked with victims of the 2004 tsunami and last year's Sichuan earthquake.

I am back from Mercy Relief's trip to help Gazans

Whew, soooo many stories I have to tell.
Now it is 0800 and I am at home in Singapore. I landed at 5.45am at Changi.

I went with 7 others in a team from Singapore humanitarian group Mercy Relief last Thursday to oversee the handing over of foods and other aid supplies for the Gaza Strip.

The flight was a back-breaking 10-hour flight from Cairo and it is 6 hours BEHIND Singapore-Malaysia (5.45am Thursday is 11.45pm Wednesday), so kepala groggy with jet lag.

And after the 8 deg C to 20 deg C of the cities I visited, Singapore suddenly felt not-funny hot.

Mercy Relief Singapore sending supplies to Gaza

I am in El Arish right now, 6hours behind Singapore-Malaysia times, a seaside town about four hours from Cairo and facing the Mediterranean Sea.
The temperature at 7am just now was about 8 degrees C or thereabouts.

The sprawling town is next door to Rafah town which we will go to in about an hour's time.

Yesterday me and the team from Mercy Relief Singapore were in Cairo, to check the humanitarian group's sugar and flour supplies to be sent into Gaza by the Egyptian Red Cross.

Mercy is sending 60,000 tons of flour, 30,000 tons of sugar, medical supplies, baby milk, canned milk, hygiene packs etc donated by Singaporeans. Worth USD126,000.
Donated through groups such as Islamic Religious Council, the National Council of Churches, the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, Singapore's Inter Religious Organisation.
Dude, people are dying are suffering, so Singaporeans set aside their differentreligious beliefs, I am happy to report.

But guess what? I am not so concerned about Gaza as Perak state in my adopted country.
What gives? The most enlightened royal house in Malaysia is now under siege.

Mid-East here I come....

I might not be able to update much this blog because I will be traveling to the Middle East for a week.
I will be a member of a mission of Singapore aid NGO, Mercy Relief to Cairo, Rafa and several other places.
Details later, dudes.

Fox outfoxed Part 2 - It's Anwar's fault!

When Anwar Ibrahim banged the drums loudly soon after the March elections last year that he had a Sept 16 date to topple the federal government, few people blinked.
Many voters were angry-tired- exasperated with BN and Umno or both.
And can you blame them?

So, few people had complained too much about toppling the coalition that had ruled Malaysia for 51 years.
Yes, the DAP did make some noise about it is not quite right to encourage defections.
Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh made some respectable noises, but nowhere near the decibels everytime Islamic state and hudud are mentioned.

And when Anwar two weeks ago paraded Bota assemblyman like his new car, few people again blinked.

So now that the tables have been completely turned, why blame Najib Razak or BN?
I see a lot of angry comments about the wrongs of defections and how the four frogs should be abhorred.
Personally I agree that it is not right at all these defections.
But hey, you lived by the sword, so now get ready to die by it, people!

If Perak had remained with Pakatan, but Negeri Sembilan were to fall due to defections to the opposition alliance, would YOU make much noise?

So don't give me this double standard buddy.
Hidup Barisan! Hidup Najib!
(Mampos aku kena kutuk.... but if I say Hidup Abang Nuwar, I will be loved.... Though seriously, my profession doesn't allow me to take sides)

Give it to the incoming PM, man, he dances with wolves. And won.
This time round....

Fox outfoxed?

But the Perak game is far from over.
Interesting times.
The former Lord President (chief justice) of Malaysia, Sultan Azlan Shah, will now have to decide.

Look before you leap, guys

After a long night of making love, he notices a photo of another man on her nightstand by the bed.

He begins to worry. "Is this your husband?" he nervously asks.

"No, silly," she replies, snuggling up to him.

"Your boyfriend, then?" he continues.

"No, not at all," she says, nibbling away at his ear.

"Is it your dad or your brother?" he inquires, hoping to be reassured.

"No, no, no! You are so hot when you're jealous!" she answers.

"Well, who in the hell is he, then?" he demands.

"That's me before the surgery," she replied.

Perak Sultan told 3 things by MB Nizar

What exciting days in Perak, the land with the most beautiful mosque in Southeast Asia, masjid Aladdin - see PICTURE for Masjid Ubudiah in Kuala Kangsar.

What is happening in the state named after a pricey metal, silver (the colour of tin, its past key export product) is the most sexy thing to have happened since tin was discovered two centuries ago!

Pro-opposition online news, Siasah, said MB Nizar Jamaludin, at his much-talked about meeting with the Perak Sultan this morning told him three things:
- Issues surrounding the current turmoil,
- The resignation of two ADUNs,
- Possible by-elections.

Then again, maybe we should have a state-wide elections yeah?

Let's have a state election for Perak state!

Since the March general elections, Umno-BN have gone from one crisis to another. Rudderless, leaderless, hopeless.
Close it down already.

Ahhhhh, but now I see a spark of life.
Maybe it could still fight back.
If Umno-BN could engineer the downfall of the Perak state government through defections, then maybe the old dog has some tricks that will keep it alive - instead of being sent to the dog pound to be shot. The proverbial canine, after all, has already been castrated.

(Don't think that I am trying to insult Umno by calling it a dog. Orang Melayu ni kadang sensitif tak kena tempat. One of my fav all-time movies is called Eight Below - about a bunch of eight beautiful huskies. Left for dead, most came out alive from the cold winter.
(Apt for Umno, no? Watch the trailer here and buy the movie! Most people who watched it cried like babies, because it is a story of love and caring and sharing).

Anyway, I digress,
BN needs three defections to take over the state government.
The current difference is 32 Pakatan Rakyat, 27 BN.
If three PR assemblymen frogged over, it will 29-30 to BN.

Two of them have already quit! Or did they???
And the deputy assemblywoman from DAP is missing.
Wow, pandainya Umno. If indeed this was all engineered by the Grand Ole Party.
(Kalau tidak, dan ini diatur oleh Anwar Ibrahim - as said by some people - sebab nak kasi orang keliru, malulah Umno, party masih terus tak bermaya...)

Of course, all these resignations, if true, are, ahem, 'morally wrong'.
These guys were voted in by the rakyat, and whether they were paid money to jump or not, they cannot suka-suka lompat parti right?
That would have been a good argument if Anwar Ibrahim had not done the same just a few days ago.
He proudly showed off his old friend from Bota, and do notice that he did NOT call for a fresh by-election. He has got no moral qualms to do this, so why should BN?

And note that just a few days ago, DAP man Ngeh in Perak said that there were going to be defections in Negeri Sembilan that would topple the BN government.
It means that this DAP leader had no qualms if it helps their side.

All these mean that we could have more fun and games in the next few weeks - maybe even a snap state election in Perak.

I was calling for a by-election in Bota just a few days ago. Now maybe we should have an election for the whole of Perak!

Only then, perhaps, could we like confirm where both sides are going.
Do many Malays in rural Malaysia - northern Perak in this case - reject BN?
What about the swing of the Chinese voters there?
And the significant number of Indian voters.


PICTURE: The most beautiful frog the world! I just bought a doll of this Red-Eyed Tree Frog from Spinelli's coffee. Expensive it is in Singapore, but what a beauty. Unlike those froggy politicians. Eh, katak makan lalat, kan? Alamak....