Day: December 13, 2014

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
13 December 2014

Perhaps the sedentary life of a civil servant or seeing too many ballot boxes finally got to retired Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman.

Yesterday, as the Perkasa vice-president, he warned that the Malay rights group would defend Islam against anyone that attacks the religion.

Today. he described Malays who criticised Perkasa as either idiotic or blind, and to the extent of taking potshots at Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin – who is no fan of the rights group.

Now why does a man like Rashid, who rose from the ranks to be the EC chief, believe there are Malaysians who are enemies of Islam. Or that critics are just idiots or blind?

In short, why does he behave like the famous literary character Don Quixote, who believed windmills were giants that he had to fight to death? Continue reading “Like Don Quixote, Perkasa officials have their imaginary enemies too”

Yesterday morning, the Minister for Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government and Sabah Barisan Nasional secretary Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan issued a statement on the mounting and widespread disappointment and disaffection among Sabahans to the 368-page Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS), and the Barisan Nasional government’s lack of sincerity and political will to resolve the 40-year nightmare and problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah.

Rahman said: “My job and that of my colleagues is not to convince the likes of Jeffrey Kitingan and Lim Kit Siang. Our job is to convince the people because that is what matters most.”

This statement formed the basis of the latest series of attacks by UMNO Twitter Bombers on my twitter site by multiple accounts, with 30 spam attacks on my site at 10.50 am.

The UMNO Twittter Bombers, human and robotic, first showed their hands in their targeting of my twitter site during the launching of the RCIIIS Report in Kota Kinabalu on Dec. 3 at 4 pm, when some 100 tweet accounts, both human but most robotic, launched a “carpet-bombing” of my tweet site, lasting some 90 minutes from 3.54 pm to 5.32 pm, with the most intensive attack registered at 4.11 pm with 46 spam attacks.

There were 49 same tweet attacks in five minutes, delivered in three waves – 17 tweets at 3.54 pm; 4 tweets at 3.58 pm and 28 tweets at 3.59 pm.

We have compiled a list of the tweet attacks and these UMNO Twitter Bomber accounts. Continue reading “Four twitter carpet-bombing of my twitter site by some 100 UMNO Twitter Bomber multiple accounts in nine days – two on the RCIIIS report and two on Mashitah Ibrahim”

— Mustafa K Anuar
Malay Mail Online
December 13, 2014

DECEMBER 13 — In recent years, as many of us are aware, ethnic bigotry and religious extremism have permeated various strata of our society to the point that ethno-religious relations have reached an all-time low.

This is bad news as it is something that our founding fathers (and mothers) did not plan for or foresee when Malaya achieved its independence from colonial rule in 1957.

Nerves were frayed as tension escalated over the years — from the cow-head incident in Shah Alam to pig heads left in the premises or near mosques to Molotov cocktails thrown into church grounds to body snatches to the seizure of Bibles in Selangor. Differences and diversity have been frowned upon while what we have in common is given less prominence or appreciation.

As if the above incidents are not enough to drive a wedge between the ethnic and religious communities in the country, the Malay community often have been warned about the purported threat from the Other, the primary objective being to create a siege mentality among them. Continue reading “Seeking moderation in a troubled Malaysia”

Koon Yew Yin
13th December 2014

Just before UMNO held its recent general assembly, I had written the following lines:

But I, and many other Malaysians, have not lost hope entirely. There must be individuals and groups in the party that know of the cancer and culture of corruption, authoritarianism, greed, self enrichment and opportunism within the party which many of the top leaders are bent on spreading to the rest of the country.

Surely, in a party with millions of members, there must be many of integrity, decency and sensibility who know that the party – in its present condition – is the Malay community’s worst enemy. Surely realistic platforms for real reform and change can be put up for discussion instead of the bashing of vernacular schools and self concocted enemies of Islam, royalty and the Malays. .

The main aim of this UMNO meeting should be to formulate policies to make Malaysia a developed nation; and to make the Malays a respected community that can stand on its own feet and without the need for crutches, keris-wielding or name-calling.

This group of moderate and honorable members must change the policies that have not worked. They must push out the leaders who have not performed and replace them with new blood that does not seek to make the non-Bumiputra the scapegoat for everything wrong or bad that happens in the Malay community.

Continue reading “25 Moderate Malays: A One Hit Wonder or The Tip of the Iceberg?”

By Caitlin Dewey
Washington Post
December 12, 2014

When three teenage girls from Denver left their homes for an Islamic State camp in Syria two months ago, their parents — and the FBI — were quick to search social media for clues to their escape. And in the weeks since the girls were intercepted in Frankfurt and returned home, it’s become pretty clear that they were indeed radicalized and recruited online.

But while accounts of similar Western recruits have fingered major social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, or popular messaging platforms like Kik, a report out from NPR claims another social network, Ask.fm, was actually the major force at play.

Which means Ask.fm — late of several recent cyberbullying and teen suicide scandals — may now officially qualify as the worst-reputed social network on earth. But don’t tell that to the site’s new owner, the blue-chip Internet company IAC: Ask.fm’s new owners are confident they can save the site, trolls and terrorists be damned.

“I absolutely believe rehabilitation is possible if you do the right thing,” said Doug Leeds, the site’s CEO. “There is that perception that [Ask.fm] is a parent’s worst nightmare … but safety is our first priority.”

Unfortunately for Leeds, that reputation has dogged Ask.fm since its beginning. The anonymous question-and-answer site — both a pioneer and an early warning, in the anonymous networking space — was founded in Latvia in 2010, and quickly grew to more than 100 million users in 150 countries. Its premise, both simple and mind-numbingly self-involved, is perfect for the teenage set: Essentially, when you log into Ask.fm, you’re greeted by a series of personal questions other users have left for you, with no indication of who wrote them or how they know you in real life.

You, in turn, get to pontificate to the anonymous masses on topics like “what do you do to fall asleep?” and “what’s the most delicious fruit?” — as well as, naturally, ask anonymous questions, yourself. Continue reading “Inside the battle for Ask.fm, the site where Islamic State recruited three American teens”

Gesaan Kerajaan Negeri Melaka supaya sekolah-sekolah menggunakan papan tanda dengan tulisan Jawi dengan alasan mendaulatkan Bahasa Kebangsaan boleh ditempelak dengan sekadar menunjukkan kepada mereka mutu terjemahan laporan Suruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja Pendatang Asing di Sabah (RCIIIS) yang dikemukakan kerajaan pada 3 Disember lalu.

Barangkali kerana begitu tergesa-gesa mahu menyiapkan laporan terbabit, pihak yang bertanggungjawab menyediakan naskhah rasmi dalam Bahasa Kebangsaan akhirnya menggunakan khidmat penterjemahan Google sahaja, dan menghasilkan terjemahan yang begitu rendah mutunya bagi sebuah laporan bertaraf ‘Diraja’.

Lebih 200 muka surat awal Laporan RCIIIS nampaknya seakan-akan tiada masalah, dan menggunakan bahasa yang begitu ringkas. Namun jika dicermati betul-betul kita akan mendapati bahawa terjemahan yang diberikan adalah dibuat secara langsung (direct translation) daripada teks asal dalam Bahasa Inggeris dan kedengaran seperti ditulis oleh murid sekolah rendah sahaja. Continue reading “Bagaimana kerajaan mendaulatkan Bahasa Malaysia sedangkan terjemahan Laporan Suruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja Pendatang Asing di Sabah pun menggunakan bahasa yang bermutu rendah, cincai dan nampak malas.”

Chris Johnston
The Guardian
11 December 2014

Owner of the ShamiWitness account, with almost 18,000 followers, was an executive at a company in Bangalore

A Twitter account followed by supporters of Islamic State (Isis) has been shut down after a reporter exposed the Indian man who had sent thousands of tweets about the jihadist group.

Channel 4 News revealed on Thursday night that the owner of the ShamiWitness account was an executive at a company in Bangalore called Medhi. It did not reveal his full name because he said his life would be in danger if he was identified.

However, after being tracked down he agreed to shut down the account, which hailed foreign Isis fighters who were killed as martyrs.

ShamiWitness had almost 18,000 followers and the tweets were seen an estimated 2 million times a month. They were mostly sent from his smartphone.

Mehdi said he would have joined Isis, but that he could not leave his family: “If I had a chance to leave everything and join them I might have … my family needs me here.” Continue reading “India-based Twitter account hailing Islamic State jihadists shut down”