Day: December 5, 2014

by Khaled Abu Toameh
Gatestone Institute
December 5, 2014

When One Radical Group Believes Another Is Not Radical Enough

It is always dreamlike to see one Islamist terror group accuse the other of being too “lenient” when it comes to enforcing sharia laws. But it is not dreamlike when a terrorist group starts threatening writers and women.

That is what is happening these days in the Gaza Strip, where supporters of the Islamic State are accusing Hamas of failing to impose strict Islamic laws on the Palestinian population — as if Hamas has thus far endorsed a liberal and open-minded approach toward those who violate sharia laws.

Until this week, the only topic Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were talking about was how to rebuild homes and buildings that were destroyed during the last war between Hamas and Israel.

Now, however, almost everyone is talking about the Islamic State threats against poets, writers and women. Continue reading “ISIS in Gaza”

By Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo! News
December 4, 2014

The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the illegal immigrants in Sabah has turned out to be a big disappointment.

We had hoped to get conclusive findings in its report – announced last Wednesday, almost two years after the hearings began in January 2013 – but instead, after the 43 days spent on hearing the testimonies of 211 witnesses, the months of writing the report and then the months of keeping Malaysians waiting for it to be announced, what the panel came out to tell us was that Project IC “probably existed”.

“Probably”? Project IC, which purportedly gave out citizenships illegally and systematically to immigrants in Sabah, has been in the Malaysian consciousness for decades. Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was even said to be the mastermind behind it, which accounts for why the scheme is called Project M as well. Those who were part of it testified to its existence at the RCI and named figures in high authority implicated in it.

And yet the RCI concludes that the whole operation was not politically motivated. It says the Government and political parties were not involved. It blames instead syndicates and former National Registration Department (NRD) officials out to make big bucks. Continue reading “Do Sabahans Deserve the RCI They Got?”

Datuk Seri Najib Razak would have lost his premiership and UMNO/Barisan Nasional kicked out of Putrajaya if the 368-page Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS) had been written and released before the 13th General Elections on May 5 last year.

If a Sabah state elections is held now, I have no doubt that UMNO/BN would be kicked out of state government and power by the single issue of the Report of the RCIIIS.

This is the measure of the disappointment, disbelief, disquiet and dismay which had greeted the release of the RCIIIS Report in Kota Kinabalu on Wednesday, both in Sabah and in Malaysia.

This may explain for the cloak-and-dagger arrangements for the launching of the Report of the RCIIIS, where the DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu Jimmy Wong, the DAP Sabah State Assemblyman for Kepayan Edwin Bosi, former Senator Maijol Mahap as well as NGO representatives were unceremoniously barred from the event, as if the authorities had something to hide instead of marking a historic event for the state and nation. Continue reading “Najib would have lost his premiership and UMNO/BN kicked out of Putrajaya if the RCIIIS Report had been written and released before the 13th General Elections”

There is nothing for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to crow about for Malaysia’s improvement in Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2014, moving up to 50th spot among 175 countries from the 53rd position last year.

Although any improvement is to be welcomed, there is no ground for Najib to be ectastic to talk about “not rest on our laurels”, as Malaysia has yet to achieve any laurels on the anti-corruption front under his premiership.

For the sixth consecutive year, the Najib premiership (2009-2014) has registered a lower TI CPI ranking than under the two previous Prime Ministers, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah.

This is illustrated by the following chart on TI CPI 1995-2014:

Prime Minister	Best ranking	Best score	Worst ranking	Worst score
Mahathir	23(1995)	5.32/10 (1996)	37 (2003)	4.8/10 (2000)
Abdullah	39(2004)	5.1/10 (2005/7/8)	47 (2008)	5/10 (2004/6)
Najib	50 (2013)	52/100 (2013)	60 (2011)	4.3/10 (2011)

No wonder of Mahathir had always boasted that corruption is worse now than during his 22 years as Prime Minister (although Abdullah can also make the same boast about his five-year premiership).
Continue reading “TI CPI 2014 nothing for Najib to crow about when he has done worse in TI CPI rankings in his five years as PM than Abdullah’s five years and Mahathir’s 22 years”

Sense and sensibility has not only abandoned the UMNO leadership and delegates at the UMNO General Assembly last week, but also after, so much so that UMNO Ministers are incapable of diligently and responsibly discharging their duties not just to UMNO, but even more important, to the nation and all Malaysians.

I will ask for a meeting with the Home Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Zaid Hamidi on the expiry of 480 hours on December 18 to find out why the Home Minister is unable or incapable of fulfilling his public oath that the police will start investigations within 24 hours of a report lodged against any individual who impinged on a sensitive issue.

It is more than a weeks since two DAP MPs, Teo Nie Ching (Kulai) and Kasthuri Patto (Batu Kawan), my political secretary Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud and DAP activist Syefura Othman lodged a police report against former Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr. Mashitah Ibrahim for her hate speech at the UMNO Wanita General Assembly calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious fear, tension and conflict with the despicable falsehood that the Chinese community in Kedah had committed the sacrilegious act of burning the Quran “page by page during a prayer ritual”.

Yesterday, together with DAP MPs Zairil Khir Johari (Bukit Bendera), Steven Sim (Bukit Mertajam) and Vincent Wu (Assistant National Organising Secretary), my political secretary Dyana Sofya and the two DAP Kedah State Assemblymen, Tan Kok Yew (Derga) and Teoh Boon Kok @ Teoh Kai Kok (Kota Darul Aman), as well as the PAS State Assemblyman for Kubang Rotan, Mohd Nasir Mustafa, I visited the Taman Anggerik market food court in Alor Setar where the sacrilegious act by the Chinese community was alleged by Mashitah to have taken place. Continue reading “I will ask for meeting with Zahid on the expiry of 480 hours on Dec. 18 to find out why the Home Minister is unable to fulfil his public oath that the police will start investigations within 24 hours of a report lodged against any individual over a sensitive issue”

Huffington Post/AP
12/04/2014

KOBANI, Syria (AP) — The men and women of Kobani call one another “heval” — Kurdish for ‘comrade’ — and fight with revolutionary conviction, vowing to liberate what they regard as Kurdish land from Islamic State group militants.

Amid the wasteland and destroyed buildings, a sense of camaraderie has developed among the town’s defenders who have for more than two months doggedly fought off the advances by the extremists.

Often, members of the same family can be found on the front lines.

Nineteen-year-old Shida’s father was a fighter before her. After he was killed, she gave up hopes of becoming an artist and decided she must follow in his footsteps to honor his example. She says her mother supports her decision. One of her six brothers is also fighting, the rest of her siblings are living in Turkey. Continue reading “Kurds Defend Kobani From Islamic State”