To President-elect Barack Obama of the United States of America
Your election to be the next President of the United States is a sweet victory for all who espouse change, fairness and equality. The reality of a you being a first term African-American senator being elected to the highest office in the nation, by her citizens representing all races and religious backgrounds, brings much hope and inspiration to all of us in Malaysia.
We Malaysians have been dulled into a sense of complacency for far too long by the propaganda that change is risky, that the time-tested Barisan Nasional leadership knows what is best for the people, and that 'Ketuanan Melayu' is the only way to go. Your message of “We are the change we seek” is equally fitting for us in Malaysia. May this historic moment be the catalyst to open our people's and politicians' eyes, that change is possible, that no barrier is too great if we so desire to transform this wonderful country of ours into a land that every Malaysian can truly call home .
When you said “"Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long “, the message resonates all too clear for us and we do hope that we in Malaysia can also rise above the racial and religious politics to ensure a safe place under the sun for every Malaysian, regardless of race, sex, and religion. We want to celebrate and value our own diversity, and where caring for each other overcomes distrust between one another
We congratulate you on your victory, and we hope that it will bring about positive changes for the world, and inspire all Malaysians to reclaim our rights to determine how we want our beloved nation to change and progressSource by malaysia today
KUALA LUMPUR: A short stint in Holland has given Jivan Mohan the extra motivation to steer Sapura to glory in Division One of the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL).
The 25-year-old national midfielder spent 1½ months with the Hilversum Mix Hockey Club in Amsterdam prior to start of the MHL earlier this month.
“It was a great experience to play in Holland. Their league is very competitive and the games are very physical. I learnt a lot and it has motivated me to raise the standard of my game,” said Jivan.
Festive mood: Jivan Mohan (centre front row) enjoying an early Deepavali celebration with friends and relatives at his uncle M. Ramachandran’s house in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, on Friday. — ASRI ABDUL GHANI/The Star
“My goal is to help my club (Sapura) win one of the titles at stake this season.”
Sapura’s best achievement in the MHL was in 2005 when they were crowned League and overall champions. They were also League winners in 2004 and overall champions in 2006.
“Ernst and Young and Tenaga Nasional may be the more fancied teams but, hopefully, we can give them a good fight this time around,” he said.
The other teams in Division One are Maybank, National Juniors and Nur Insafi.
Sapura have played two matches so far, beating Maybank 2-1 in their opening match before losing to Ernst and Young 1-2.
Jivan is one of the two national players in Sapura’s side, the other being G. Sasitheran.
The team also have a good mix of former internationals in S. Kuhan, Maninderjit Singh, K. Keevan Raj, K. Logan Raj and goalkeeper Mohd Nashihin Nubli.
Jivan is also looking beyond the MHL in a bid to come out of the shadows of his more illustrious elder brother Jiwa, who quit the national team early this year after serving the country for more than a decade.
“My brother has competed in the Olympics and World Cup. I have not. It will be an important year for Malaysia next year and my goal is to help Malaysia qualify for the World Cup,” said Jivan, who recently graduated from the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) with a degree in Human Resource Development.
The national team were severely criticised after failing to qualify for the last World Cup and Jivan does want to see a repeat of that.
Jivan is now back with his family in Penang for the Deepavali celebrations and is hoping to make up for lost time with his loved ones.
“I have been with the national team for seven years and this has been possible because my family has been very supportive,” he added.
The MHL will resume after a one-week break for Deepavali and Sapura’s next match will be against Tenaga Nasional on Friday.
KUALA LUMPUR: National hockey player M. Jivan’s childhood dream was to become a police officer. And this could become a reality for the Penang-born player, who obtained a degree in the Human Resource Development during the convocation of the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang yesterday.
The 25-year-old midfielder, who has 98 international caps to his credit, said that it was not easy to juggle time between study and to train and play hockey for the country.
“However, it was all worthwhile as I obtained the second class upper degree. I thank my parents (Y. Mohan and Chua Cheok Kooi) for their support and encouragement,’’ said Jivan.
Jivan, who made his senior international debut in the Bangladesh Prime Minister Cup in 2001, said that he would apply for a job as an Assistant Superintendent of Police.
Family joy: M. Jivan is chaired by his father Y. Mohan and friends Kevinder Singh and Jayaprakash after the Universiti Putra Malaysia convocation yesterday. Looking on (from left) are elder brother Jiwa, sister-in-law Tarveen, younger brother Jayarajan and mother Chua Cheok Kooi.
“It was my dream since I was young to become a police officer,’’ said Jivan, whose elder brother Jiwa quit the national team in May.
Jivan, who has represented Sapura in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) since 2003, said that he also hoped to help his club win one of the two titles this year.
“We failed to win any silverware last year and we will give our best this time,’’ he said.
Sapura, who came back from a goal down to beat Maybank 2-1 in the opening match on Friday, will face favourites Ernst and Young today.
“We hope to get the better of Ernst and Young, who have several national players,’’ said Jivan.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today decided to discuss the controversy surrounding the tender process for the procurement of new helicopters for the armed forces at its next meeting.
MCPXCommittee chairperson, Padang Besar MP Azmi Khalid said the meeting is needed to inform the public of the real situation. Asked if Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who has been implicated in the controversy would be called in for the meeting, he replied: "We will see first, I don't want to jump the gun.""That is why we need a briefing first as I am not going to pre-empt this," he stressed.Azmi said the discussion was needed as committee members need to know the actual process of the purchase."The (meeting) will also discuss on how to make a decision on why they (the government) have to pay four times than the book value. The norm in the purchase in companies in that part of the world is only 2.6."How come you have to pay 4.7 more? So we'll leave it (the issue) to the members of this committee. I think they want to know the rationale of how it was done and why," he added.Azmi also assured that the people and the ministry involved in the Eurocopter deal would be called in.
Two other matters for discussionApart from the helicopter deal, the upcoming meeting will also look into the high-speed broadband contracts that were awarded to Telekom Malaysia as well as Maybank's acquisition of a 56 percent stake in bank Internasional Indonesia, a financially struggling bank, with a discounted price of RM4.26 billion."The committee will keep having discussions for us to come up with better measures to curb these situations," he said, adding that the meeting however will not involve any investigation.Today's meeting which was held in the Parliament building also discussed the introduction of the use of bio-metric system to handle the issue of illegal immigrants in the country.No date has been fixed for the next meeting. In another development, Azmi said the committee had suggested that the Home Ministry help Immigration Department set-up a bio-metric system at all entry-points on land and sea throughout the country to curb illegal immigrants issue.The RM50 million system, which is now being introduced in Tawau, Sabah, uses a high-technology system which detects the identity of an immigrant automatically by using the thumb-print."There are a lot of (illegal) immigrants who were sent back (to their respective countries) and had questionable records but came back to Malaysia with a different name," said Azmi.Even though the bio-metric system in Sabah costs RM50 million, this however could help reduce the security cost of the people, he explained."Social cost will also be much reduced. If the bio-metric system can be used in Singapore to observe the outflow of immigrants from Malaysia, I don't see why we should not use it too," he said.The bio-metric system, he noted, could be used between Thailand and Malaysia and other boarders in the country.He further suggested that civil-volunteered corps Rela could also be utilised to guard the coastal regions."The illegal immigrations will not come to designated entry-points. They come through to any coasts unguarded, now we have introduced Rela as an organisation, and they have quite the strength in numbers. Why not utilise them?” he asked.The three-hour meeting which was held with representatives from the Home Ministry was also attended by opposition MPs Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Selatan), Tan Seng Giaw (DAP-Kepong) and William Leong (DAP-Selayang).source by malaysiakini
A high-level investigation has ‘confirmed’ that current attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail had abused his power to fabricate evidence in Anwar Ibrahim’s trials 10 years ago, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.source by malaysiakini
Altantuya Shariibuu, the controversially murdered Mongolian national, and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak are back again in the spotlight.
MCPX
Making waves in cyberspace is an article entitled ‘Abuse of power by the deputy prime minister’ appearing in ISA detainee Raja Petra Kamarudin’s Malaysia Today website. The report reveals a string of SMS messages purportedly exchanged between Najib and lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah over a period of nearly one month, starting from Nov 8 to Dec 2, 2006.Their correspondence revolved around Abdul Razak Baginda, one of Najib’s advisors charged with abetting two police officers in the slaying of the 28-year old Mongolian national - with whom the deputy premier has been alleged to have had a sexual relationship.
Tipped to succeed Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when he steps down by March next year, Najib is now in locked in the throes of a heated race for top party posts in his Umno party.
Not only is he contesting the Umno presidency, which Abdullah is vacating, he is also busily organising and installing a line-up of lieutenants who can help him shore up power in his bid to become the next premier.
No effect on campaign
However, his supporters deny the latest news could have any effect on his campaign.
"We are not bothered about that," said a long-time close supporter told Malaysiakini. "It is obviously intended to sabotage him but he is riding a wave of popularity now. I don't think Umno members have much choice anyway."
Yet the 55-year old Najib, who has repeatedly denied the allegations, has taken the trouble to swear his innocence twice. The last was at mosque during the Permatang Pauh by-election tussle with Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.
In delegates' conferences at 191 Umno divisions across the country, Najib has secured 28 nominations - winning the thumbs-up from all the divisions that have voted so far.The UK-trained economist needs to obtain a total of 58 nominations in order to stand for party election in March next year.
So far, no one else has been nominated to contest the presidency - which comes with the premiership in tow - but party watchers say it it is still a long journey ahead, with another three weeks to go until nominations end on Nov 9.
Anti-Najib banners
Meanwhile, anti-Najib banners have sprung up in some parts of the city. Civil groups have been condemning Raja Petra's detention under the Internal Security Act, calling for the oppressive law - that was originally intended to contain terrorists - to be repealed.
Some critics have even suggested that his arrest was to stop him from writing about the Altantuya murder, which could potentially upset Najib's plan of becoming the nation's next prime minister.
"The extension detention order is clearly politically motivated to silence critics and dissenting views from the government. Raja Petra has been very vocal in exposing corruption and abuse of powers in the government, especially the gruesome murder of the Mongolian women, Altantuya that may implicate powerful figures in the government," said Syed Ibrahim, chairman of the Abolish ISA movement.
String of SMSes
The Malaysia Today article, which came out on Saturday, said while the SMS correspondence did “not answer lingering questions about Najib's alleged past relations with Altantuya, the text messages show clearly Najib's active intereference in the case very early on.” One of the text messages allegedly sent by Najib said that Razak “will face a tentative charge but all is not lost.” The article went on to question: “This message raises a lot of questions about Najib's role in this case. Why did he mention ‘tentative’ charge and that ‘all is not lost’ for Razak Baginda? How would Najib know this before Razak was charged? Is there already a deal in place that will see Razak aquitted?”
Raja Petra, the editor of Malaysia Today, was arrested under the ISA last month and jailed for two years for allegedly disrespecting Islam in some of the articles that had appeared on the website.
A thorn in Najib's flesh, Raja Petra - who is also a well-known supporter of Anwar - has published numerous exposes about Najib and his wife on his website.
He is also facing sedition charges for having allegedly implied the deputy premier and his wife, Rosmah Mansor were involved in Altantuya’s death. Both have denied the allegationsource by malaysiakini
Jabatan Tenaga Manusia opens applications for Industrial Technical course for January 2009 intake (closing date) 20 Oct 2008. Please visit www.jtm.gov.my for more details. Please assist me to pass the information to all our brothers and sisters out there. For online application, please ,logon to http://www.jtm.gov.my/UPLSept08/index.jsp
To President-elect Barack Obama of the United States of America
