Attack on Freedom Flotilla - sadness.. envious, rage..

1.       Freedom flotilla is organised by a Turkish NGO, a coalition of civilian activists internationally from all over the muslim world, including European countries. Its purpose was to bring in aid to Gaza, where the enforced blockade of Gaza by both Israel and Egypt has caused immense hardship to its populace. It brought aid in the form of cement and construction material, food, medicince and such, and from day one had announced that it brought no weapons with it.

2.       The eight (or so) ships knew the risks. They knew that Israel would resort to violent means to stop them. They still went, and some had written their last will to their family members knowing they could be detained indefinitely, or they could be killed for whatever reason.

3.       Today, about 90kms from Gaza, in pitch darkness, Israel navy and armed personnel hijacked the boats, and the numbers vary, but between 10 and 20 of these brave, civilian humanitarians died. Israel TV played out the story that their strikeforce was attacked and had to react in self-defence. How these Israeli combatants,  after they had boarded the ships from abseiling down from their sophisticated helis, attack ships and subs clad in their full combat gear, could have been attacked with “knives and other sharp weapons” (by itself, an admission there were no ordnance) is a farce. Shades of “parang in Aminurrasyid’s car”, but that’s a digression.

4.       Israeli aggression is uncalled for. But now they have to deal with the response from the international diplomatic community, the outpouring of anger and hate from the large (albeit quite powerless) muslim community, and pressure from their previously close partners in the US and Europe.

5.       The sacrifice of the shuhada’ and the brave souls on-board Mavi Marmara was calculated to provoke maximum publicity for the crass, violent, insolent, manipulating and uncivilized political leaders of Israel. Others, who follow this struggle of the Palestinians, will have to wake up and take heed.

 

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http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/5/31/nation/20100531191843&sec=nation

 

No word on fate of Malaysians onboard attacked ship

By SHAUN HO

 

 

PETALING JAYA: The fate of Astro Awani journalist Ashwad Ismail, 26, and cameraman Samsulkamal Abdul Latip, 43, and nine other Malaysians believed aboard Turkish ship Mavi Marmara when Israeli commandos stormed it on Monday, remains unknown.

 

The other Malaysians are Noorazman Mohd Samsuddin (chief of the Malaysian delegation and a UIA lecturer), Dr Mohd Arba Ai Shawal (medical doctor), Dr Syed Muhamad Haleem Syed Hassan (medical doctor), Dr Selamat Aliman (businessman), Jamaluddin Elias (Klang councillor), Al Hilmi Husain Suhaimi (religious teacher), Mohd Nizam Mohamad Awang (engineer), Abd Halim Mohd Redzuan (Syabas executive) and Ustaz Hasanuddin Aqsi Assarip (non-governmental organisation personnel).

 

Astro Awani's last contact with its crew was at 7.45pm on Sunday, according to a statement from the TV channel.

 

A senior Astro Awani source said they were trying desperately to establish contact with the two.

 

The attack, which took place 65km off the Gaza coast in international waters early Monday, killed 16 people and injured many others.

 

The two-man Astro Awani crew had left Kuala Lumpur for Istanbul, Turkey, on May 23, before proceeding to Antalya Port to join the convoy, which departed for Gaza on Sunday.

 

Mavi Marmara was leading the international convoy, dubbed the Freedom Flotilla, with six other ships intending to deliver 10,00 tonnes of aid to the blockaded Gaza.

 

The cargo included building material, food and medical supplies.

 

According to a statement from Lifeline 4 Gaza, which coordinates the Malaysian delegation to the convoy, nine other Malaysians were aboard the ship.

 

Six other Malaysians on board another ship, the Rachel Corrie, which left from Cyprus, were safe, according to a statement by non-governmental organisation (NGO) Perdana Global Peace Organisation.

 

They were lawyer Matthias Chang, journalist Shamsul Akmar, Parit MP Nizar Zakaria, activist Ahmad Faizal Azumu and TV3 crew members Halim Mohamed and Jufri Junid.

 

Meru state assemblyman Dr Abdul Rani Osman, who was on board one of the ships, managed to send a message to some of his Selangor state assemblymen that he was safe.

 

PAS activist Jamaluddin has yet to get in touch, said PAS secretary-general Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar.

 

It is learnt that the Israeli navy has diverted the convoy to the port of Ashdod where a special passport and detention centre has been set up.

 

An Israeli television reported Monday that Israeli forces attacked the flotilla carrying aid to besieged Gaza, killing up to 16 and wounding more than 30 others.

 

The clash occured after Israeli soldiers tried to stop the flotilla from reaching Gaza.

 

News agencies reported that Israeli forces opened fire after being attacked by a number of passengers.

 

Israeli commandos dropped from a helicopter onto the deck of the Mari Marmara around 4.30am local time, and immediately opened fire on unarmed civilians, said a tweet of human rights group Free Gaza Movement.

 

 

Midnight posting: Mind above materiality

1. Keheningan malam ini bagaikan ada kelainan dari sebelumnya. Ketenangandi dalam muhasabah dan mutabaah ini berbeza, mungkin didorong oleh rasa kekesalan dan kesalahan yang menebal.

2. The serene faces of sleeping children invokes feelings of loving,care and concern for their welfare, for their future, for their iman and self-development.

3. Not at this time the concerns for making the next million, of closing the x mn deal, of taking the soulless business to the next level. At the core of the human soul, there is no place for wealth, money, much less for the insane amounts that are placed into the hands of the undeserving.

4. This is not misplaced zuhud. True that the world needs money and wealth, but that is not the overriding purpose of life, of living and of creation. Those who say money is not everything does not know where to shop, so the quote goes. But which shop sells love, care and concern? Fake, temporal ones maybe. Redlight districts sell manifestations of love, but not the innermost core of love.

5. Wealth, funds, money are not the center of life. People are. Connections are. Faith is. How empty life seems to be when all we care about is what our bank balance is at the end of the day. At life's end, when the terminal arrives, no shop sells preparations to move to 'the next level'. Healthcare to extend life maybe, but perhaps not so much the quality of life. The dependence is above all, beyond everything, is the biggest gift of all, the gift of mercy, living and concern.


6. Lose this priority, and we're screwed. Damn right, we're all screwed.

Memories: Imperial Studies

Memories: Imperial Studies

1. It has been almost 15 years to the time I graduate and left my alma mater, but the true value of the education I received there seems to be amplified the longer time wears on.

2. I remembered the struggle and the suffering, contrasted with the gallivanting my brethren faced in LSE undergoing some artsy type education, pretending that they too were suffering. I remember the Eid where I spent the day at the lab, trying to make the circuit design work according to its cursed specs, and then still trying to squeeze the performance out of the stupid bugger. I remember almost failing in my 1st year after being unable to juggle my repsonsibilities and unable to discern between my capabilities and potential. I remember the passionate teachers, lecturers and professors, the Greek, Prof Spence, the Powerman - and the Brit colleagues who like me took a look at the Sings, and collectively decided, it aint worth it to be like them.

3. I wasnt happy with my results, I thot it wasnt commensurate with the effort that I put in. But I also realised that between effort and passion were two great gulfs. I studied in Imperial because I wanted the name, and I studied in E&E because it had practical relevance in what was to be my career in TNB then. I wasnt prepared for the slog though. Everything up to then had been a piece of cake, all I needed was a lot of last minute cramming, and things would turn out to be not so bad, or pretty great. I had no idea that there was a lot hinging on these little decisions, or that being good wasnt enough. Good is the enemy of great, is the champion of mediocrity. Until and unless you seek the frontiers of your chosen profession, your career, your choices, you'll languish.

4. That last statement could have been a little exaggerated, especially when I look around at this country and see the society that our mass production education system has produced. We can all live happily without straining ourselves to be the best that we can be. Ok, what. But wait, the undercurrents are very strong indeed, and it could just sweep us off our feet and drown us all.

5. Malaysia is now the 10th most competitive nation by one measure. Yet, that masks the fact whether our industrial policy has effectively cultivated manufacturing, industries and services around our resource advantages, or whether we have diversified away so that we are no longer masters of any. Socially, we are disintegrating except for the efforts by society to painfully gradually bring about change in spite of the leadership.. and that beings us to the issues that we face politically.

6. All these are manifestations of attitudes of individuals, where aggregated at society level, brings about the lethargy that we can obviously view without much effort now.

7. It all begins and ends with attitude. Be the best that we can be. Be disciplined enough to bring this change that we want to see. And change the system - we collaborate to bring about the change taht we want.. bit by bit, step-by-step, until we end up fulfilling our beliefs, either in life or in death.

Malaysian Politics and Economy

An admission – I’m just a layman not used to talk about policy-level issues on a local scale, let alone national scale. But I need to get this off my chest.

1.       KPIs are so last century, but hurray GoM is now implementing this as part of their alphabet soup of governance, as advised by the alphabet soup consultants!

2.       Sibu shows the Chinese electorate are a pretty sophisticated bunch who move as one big mass of body politic

3.       Hulu Selangor shows that the Malay-electorate can still be swayed by short-term financial perks – RM50k anyone? Same for Indian-electorate.

4.       Innovation & Technology, the pivot around where the NEM is supposed to sway on to bring us to the high-income territory, is just so bloody far away that I just cant see it happening

5.       The PM has shown that he’s no statesman – u don’t go around explicitly bribing your electorate

6.       Brain Drain shows no signs of abating, and I fear that it may pick up steam after the next GE “when” BN still wins majority seats because of no. 3 above

7.       The Opposition, while showing some promise to reverse some of these deep-seated fundamental problems, have major issues of credibility and leadership. Let’s take a look at national leaders – there’s DSAI – who has funnyman Saiful being a pain in the ass, quite literally – but beyond him….? LKS or LGE – oh please! Let’s not trade a bigot with another. Dzulkifly Ahmad, Nizar, Khalid Samad are too far away from the national consciousness.

8.       Malays are at an important crossroad – they must choose their future – let go of the easy money and be competitive OR milk the nation till everyone starves. You think they’ll be able to make the right choice?

9.       Malaysian sportsmen are our hope for a common, united Malaysia, but are let down by weak mentality. So hockey, badminton, football – not much success there to unite everybody. Squash – too much on the fringes.

10.   The most articulate young politicians are not given the platform to shape or to move policy, institutions or society. Those given opportunities are betrayed by inexperience, lack of ability, easily outmanouvered politically and most importantly in my opinion, let down by an inordinate exaggerated belief in one’s own ability. Personal conviction of youth is our main hope, and when we don’t have enough competition amongst apathetic, rotten, amoral, unethical, ambivalent youth raised in an ineffective education system to produce young leaders– we have a major problem.

11.   oh – item 10 – our education sucks. We need more of the Musleh schools – perhaps in an English medium, which makes them Adni schools. And that needs to be opened to all public, without restriction.

12.   Then there is the teachers – overworked, underappreciated, overwhelmed, stressed and scope creep continues unabated. But they get a nice big Selamat Hari Guru card from the PM… isn’t that sweet?

13.   Financial management of the country sucks. We have a Madoff-like institution giving out high returns regardless of its portfolio performance, we have a provident fund which is so risk-averse that at your retirement age, the average Malaysian will still not have enough, Zakat institutions that are.. I reserve judgment.

14.   We have in inordinate sense of self importance – why do we still protect Proton at the expense of all Malaysians? Btw TM stands for Terribly Mediocre – unbefitting of its status as a national fixed line operator that will soon rollout triple-play and quad-play products. Practise meritocracy and see what Digi does with this. And VW to partner Proton. Btw what happened with Proton’s acquisition of Lotus – Lotus is now dragged down to Proton’s level! CK says we can source out other hydro plants from Sarawak, but which will still need the submarine cable, which was too costly. Oh yeah, he won the Best CEO award, so we should be comforted. Come to think of it, who are the major shareholders of these companies?

Positioning: Malay Supremacy No. 1

1.       The Quran and the Sunnah, the references from where Muslims take their guidance from, are race-blind. There’s a narration that is said to be the asbabunnuzul for Surah Al-Hujurat’s commandment for the taaruf between the various races and tribes, though I cannot verify its standard, that upon conquering Makkah, the Prophet appointed Bilal to call the prayers. This provoked racist comments from the Quraysh, and was dealt with by this aayat. On this account, and many others, the Quran and Sunnah has been proven to be ahead of its time.

2.       Purpose of leadership is for justice. In the light of a race-agnostic policy, how could justice work in an environment of a marginalised majority? To that end, when the NEB was formulated, it was the right thing to happen. However, execution failures have caused even the rationality of evening out racial income disparity as a means to quell resentment and covetousness. We are now at the stage of identifying the natural successor to this outdated NEP.

3.       Malay triumphalism accompanying political concurrence on NEP back in the 70s were so misplaced that what is seen as special accommodative crutches were then seen, or more gently put, packaged as Malay Supremacy as a reward for being the majority and for being an earlier immigrant. Let’s not get the historical facts in the way that the Chinese were muslims earlier and may have influenced and assisted early Malaccan rulers. Latter-day British immigration policies in the 18^th and 19^th century, in a period of weak Malay Sultan administration were blamed as the reason for general malay poverty and backwardness.

4.       I digress. Back to the NEP. Execution failures meant that the closely connected, proxies and undeserved obtained the lion’s share of wealth creation. The Malay wealthy class only needed to prepare a business plan for a concession business, monopolistic trade, or general contracts and they were set for life. Additionally, they could invest in a risk-free, high return investment plan called the ASN, with vague differences to Mr Madoff’s and Mr Ponzi’s investments plans. Oh yeah, ironically, they were also not Syariah-compliant and invested in non-syariah assets, thereby expunging muslims sensitive to these issues meant to adavantage Malay-muslims.

5.       Business and work practices stealthily advantaged connected people. In this way, professionalism and meritocracy were the first fatalities. Covetuousness transferred from the Chinese, who were gradually marginaliesd and had to find other sources of sustainable businesses from within their scattered Chinese diaspora, to the wealthy connected Malays. In any case, China is now the burgeoning economic force, unlike the pariah communist state that it was in the 70s, and probably played its part in strengthening the resolve of the Malaysian Chinese. But the malays did not have that many alternatives. This was the only country in the world that had a significant Malay majority, Malay political power and positive malay policies. The dilemma was that they were not doing that well that they could pack up and leave. Indonesia is probably another 10 years away from becoming that alternative provided they continue on the present growth curve.

6.       In 2008, the unthinkable happened. BN won, but lost an unprecedented number of seats. UMNO was still significant, but not by much. They’ve lost the Chinese vote, and the opposition milked the multiracial platform. Under this present state of affairs, Malay dominance will be permanently eroded. Is then justice served?

Positioning: Embarassments... part deux

Kikeh, Limbang, and Blocks J & K

1.       I actually have a lot of time for Brunei, as an oil-rich sultanate, which historically had gifted Sarawak to Malaysia, and sold Sabah to people, who later brought the state into Malaysia. Furthermore, they are a mulsim country, and given the right leaders who could develop the country and not be too embroiled in the next Rolls Royce and the next superhot model, could in the future be a friendly party and a powerful ally. But not in the present.

2.       So, when news broke of Pak Lah announcing Brunei does not dispute Limbang as Malaysia’s territory it came as a surprise as the dispute is not that well-known compared to the noisy neighbour’s claim of Batu Putih. And when it emerged that the price of dropping the claim is Block J & K, we need to stand up and ask the nature of the decision. And, when this decision was only ratified in the Cabinet “THIS YEAR”, and not through Parliament, then we have a national scale embarrassment and a major goof-up.

3.       Kikeh, located in southern Block K just next door is a major find, and rightfully ones Malaysia needs to be proud of given that it’s the first deepwater oil exploration. It’s Malaysia’s largest known oil reserves. If Block J&K which has just been signed away has anything similar, and the 26m peoples of Malaysia are now sharing a portion of this find with Brunei’s population of 0.3m, then we have had some lame duck for a PM. Stand your ground, and just give our friends in Brunei a modern equivalent of a bunga emas… but not selling the whole bloody family jewels

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Foreign Source: Business Times (Singapore)

Pauline Ng In Kuala Lumpur 

Image : 

Date Published : 04 May 2010

But foreign ministry doesn't clarify issue of rights to waters outside the blocks

MALAYSIA'S Foreign Affairs Ministry (Wisma Putra) has affirmed the country's recognition of two previously disputed oil blocks as within Brunei's maritime areas under Exchange of Letters between former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah last year.

The Exchange of Letters between both leaders on March 16, 2009 represents an agreement which has settled various outstanding issues between both countries, Wisma Putra said in a statement yesterday.

It stated the 'key elements' to the Letters as: the final delimitation of maritime boundaries between Malaysia and Brunei; the establishment of a Commercial Arrangement Area (CAA) for oil and gas; the modalities for the final demarcation of the land boundary between Malaysia and Brunei; and unsuspendable rights of maritime access for nationals and residents of Malaysia across Brunei's maritime zones.

With regard to the maritime areas, Wisma Putra said the Letters established the final delimitation of territorial sea, continental shelf and exclusive economic zone of both states, but did not provide specifics.

However, it said Malaysia's oil concession Blocks L and M, which coincided with Brunei's Blocks J and K, 'are recognised under the Exchange of Letters as being situated within Brunei's maritime areas, over which Brunei is entitled to exercise sovereign rights under the relevant provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982'.

It further stated that the contents of the Letters were approved by the Malaysian Cabinet on Feb 11 this year and that the state governments of Sabah and Sarawak had been consulted and fully briefed.

Moreover, it noted that the establishment of the CAA incorporating these blocks would provide for revenue sharing from the exploitation of oil and gas between Malaysia and Brunei. It did not provide a time frame, but Mr Abdullah had previously stated the two blocks would be jointly developed for a period of 40 years.

Wisma Putra's statement notwithstanding, a number of matters remain unclear.

For one, the issue of rights to waters outside blocks L and M have not been clarified. Another is sovereignty over Limbang, the area between the two parts of Brunei.

Did Malaysia surrender its sovereignty over Limbang in order to jointly develop the two oil blocks, asked Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang?

Wisma Putra made no mention of Limbang in its statement, but following the signing of the Letters of Exchange in Bandar Seri Begawan, Mr Abdullah who stepped down as prime minister the following month had told reporters: 'Brunei has decided to drop the Limbang issue and, as a result, Limbang is part of Malaysian territory.'

Even so, political observers noted that Sultan Hassanal has not made any official comments on whether Brunei would forsake its claim on Limbang.

Few had considered the Exchange of Letters until last week when Murphy Oil announced its production-sharing contracts with national oil company Petronas covering blocks L and M had been terminated as they were no longer Malaysian territory.

Mr Abdullah's predecessor and his harshest detractor Mahathir Mohamad then accused him of signing away oil-rich territory and giving up US$100 billion in oil revenue.

Wisma Putra said the termination of the production-sharing contracts was in accordance with the establishment of the CAA, and that the Exchange of Letters had resolved the outstanding bilateral issues between both countries.

Because the waters off East Malaysia contain significant oil reserves and the country is heavily reliant on oil revenue, the matter is unlikely to fade away soon.

Tolled Roads and National Embarassments!

Tolled Road Solutions

1.       Asas Serba has come up with a RM50b dividend bond proposal to fund its takeover of all the expressways in Malaysia, and also promises a 20% reduction of tolls as part of the proposal. Is is feasible? Sure. But that is not the question.

2.       Why are expressways lucrative? Most international funding agencies cite the PPP / PFI arrangement of tolled roads as workable. BUt the real question was how it was structured that was positively lopsided so as to create a disadvantaged party in the Government.

3.       Malaysia's structure allowed for the concessionaire to cite a construction cost, which already included a substantial margin. In return for the financing risks undertaken by the concessionaire, the toll concession will be for an agreed period, say 20 years, with builtin adjustment formulas to compensate the concessionaire for the maintenanc, upgrading, operations and also for inflationary pressures over the period.

4.       This is not dissimilar to the first-generation IPP structures, and certainly provides the concessionaire with an advantage for it to diversify into other areas such as YTL's forays into global markets knwoing that there is a stable, recurring cash cow back home that could protect it from risks inherent in foreign deals. Anyways, YTL's foray into regulated markets meant that it was still cautious enough, and the sweetheart deals it could conclude with dodgy clauses about appointing key personnel from the other party to juicy posts meant that it could live well off the initial deal.

5.       Quite why UEM, Renong, and now Khazanah has been unable to take advantage of PLUS is another

5. issue. The latter may well need PLUS to cover for the other dodgy deals that it has inherited.

6.       Where's the sweetheart deal in toll roads that Asas Serba is so interested in? The secret probably lies in the capital structure. Why bonds? This will be a fully leveraged deal - but the finer details is where Asas Serba is hoping to clinch it. And beware the valuation for all the expressways and the concession period that it is asking for. In all probability, the public would do well to consider if it intends to forsake the multiple generations beholden to tolls for a 20% reduction Asas Serba is throwing about.

7.       For whatever the deal’s worth, the question is who’s paying? Government saves on compensation payments, and lest we forget, it’s not the Government’s – it’s the rakyats. Now who will pay for the sweetheart deal for Asas Serba? For sure, the existing private shareholders for the toll concessionaires will receive a premium to facilitate their decision to sell for the profitable routes, and the less profitable ones will still walk away with their money’s worth.

8.       The solution isn’t replacement like-with-like. The solution is for expropriation, and the rakyat owns it. If Asas Serba, without track record and just a few sheets of A4 people can expect to raise RM50b, why not sovereign government of Malaysia?, Let it be that once toll concessions end, we can expect that there will no longer be continual payment in perpetuity, whereas now exits are deferred by concession extensions.

Musa Hassan - the embarassing IGP, Syam - the more embarassing Minister in charge

9.       The issue here is justice. If you can dispense justice, and there is integrity and professionalism in how you dispense your responsibilities, there are no embarassing questions you need to fend off. And if the IGP of Malaysia 'merajuk' - bloody hell, what hope do we have? We may as well have Rafidah Aziz there. And if the Minister echoes and supports this embrassing turn of events - ei... malu la!

10.   I have serious reservations abt Syam and his pronouncements. More often than note, he just hits the wrong nerves. He’s just so out of touch – and if this is the best UMNO can offer… bloody hell!

interesting developments

IKRAM

Interesting developments - yesterday was the day for the initiation of Ikram's base units - the Districts. From there, nominations for State and Central Committees will be done. Interesting that there will be a Central Committee this time round to oversee(?) the Executive Committee. Interesting that there are fresh faces as the mergers bring with them new work ethics. Health, through MIG and An-Nur, is a major contributor. There looks likely that there are fresh legs to bring this forward to go with the fresh faces.

So, personal reflection time. Where now? My time with JIM has always been with the activism, and perhaps that has not been as fulfilling for the soul as it should have been. Hence, the need for a marriage of tarbiyyah and ‘amal. Excellent organizations take time to develop their internal human capital. I signed up.

MARS2010

It’s not easy to push the Islamist agenda in society’s mainstream. We are talking two divergent mentalities, pathways.. one needs to take a few steps back before we can find a common thread to bond the two thoughts together, or to put it differently, there needs to be a confrontation between the two to establish the superior thought. These are the preparations one needs to make. The concession here is that, at any point in a civilized society in a post-modern world, there is no place for violent means. Being articulate, swift, cunning, and guided by Allah’s will and hidayah, is the only option. Voicing out dissension in civilized, subtle and measured tones means how clear-minded we’d need to be when bringing people to our side of the story. It will be difficult, but preparations need to be put in place now.