Bersih Win Government Lawsuit

Image credit: http://media.themalaysianinsider.com/images/uploads/2012/april2012/29/m_ambiga.jpg

Yesterday, the High Court has dismissed the federal government's claims against electoral reforms group Bersih for damage to properties during their 2012 rally in Kuala Lumpur, saying Putrajaya was unable to prove on the balance of probability.

 

In May 2012, Putrajaya took the unprecedented step of suing then Bersih co-chair Ambiga Sreenevasan and the group's steering committee members, as rally organizers, for damages of RM122,000.

 

The government filed its suit against Ambiga under Section 6(2)(G) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 which states that organizers must “ensure that the assembly will not endanger health or cause damage to property or the environment”.

 

But in June 2012, Ambiga filed a counter suit against Putrajaya, alleging that the government had breached her constitutional rights. Among other things, the former Bar Council chair charged that the PAA was against the Federal Constitution, particularly Section 6 which she said restricted her right to freedom of assembly.

 

Judge John Louis O' Hara also allowed a claim for unlawful arrest, detention and assault by police against Wong Chin Huat, a member of the steering committee and awarded him RM 21,000 in damages. The judge awarded Wong another RM30,000 in costs. [Wong later said the RM21,000 would go to a freedom fund set up by Bersih vice-chairman Thomas Fann in support of any Malaysian affected in exercising his constitutional right].

 

O’ Hara also dismissed Putrajaya's claim for a declaration that as organizers of the rally, Bersih must be held responsible for damages caused to public property, including police vehicles.

 

"It is clear to this court that the damages that occurred only happened after Ambiga had called off the rally”, he said.

 

The court’s decision is most welcomed. Malaysians saw stupidity first hand when the government initiated the lawsuit against Bersih. It was an act of frivolous flippancy, a futile folly that is a waste of public funds, time and effort. The BN government is indeed filled with so much frippery. 

 

I am certain Malaysians want Bersih to continue to hold rallies in pursuit of clean and fair elections. We await the next rally!

Cubitat - Plug and Play Living Space

Here’s something that is set to change the way we think about small-space living.

 

Canadian architectural studio Urban Capital, in collaboration with Italian designer Luca Nichetto, have created a standalone ‘plug and play living space’ and last week, it was unveiled at Toronto’s Interior Design Show.

 

Dubbed Cubitat, the multi-purpose cube measures 10 x 10 x 10 ft (3 x 3 x 3 m) and comes equipped with a kitchen, bedroom, entertaining area, bathroom, laundry and storage space. The space-saving design, which is still in its experimental concept phase – therefore, no estimated costings have been released – is conceptualized to easily and quickly furnish a small building into a compact home without the need for further renovations or additions.

 

Though no timeline has been set, the developers said buyers will soon be able to buy and customize the cubes online, before having them shipped to their destination.

 

According to Urban Capital the business concept for the Cubitat includes a five step process where customers can design their very own module online before it is fully prefabricated off-site and shipped to its final destination. Once on site, the Cubitat can be hoisted or slid into place, hooked up to the utilities and ready to be lived in. However, at 10 x 10 x 10 ft, it's unlikely to slide through the front door.

 

“It’s like that feeling when you open up a brown cardboard package that just arrived in the mail,” says Urban Capital. “When you lift that thing out of the box and set it down on the table and smile knowing how well it’s going to fit into your life. Just like that, except it’s your house”.

 

Urban Capital developer David Wex says: “Cubitat is about a more intelligent, holistic way to design and construct our living environments, taking cues from the prefab world and modern production methods”.

 

The Cubitat concept could transform any decent-sized space into a fully functioning apartment. Isn’t this cool?

Altantuya's Murder - Who Gave the Order?

The Altantuya killers: Sirul and Azilah. Image credit: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/images/sized/ez/Altantuya-Shaariibuu1-230813_840_534_100.jpg

 

According to what is being reported in the online news media and in Harakah Daily, Piah Samat, the 74-year old mother of Sirul Azhar Umar – one of the two cops sentenced to death for the murder of Mongolian model, Altantuya Shaariibuu – is alleging  that her son was framed. She supposedly made the claim when PAS information chief Mahfuz Omar, PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kayat and exco Salman Saleh as well as central committee member Idris Ahmad, visited her at her Perak house in Changkat Jering, Bukit Gantang on Sunday. And she is turning to God to seek mercy and justice.

In doing so, the septuagenarian mother has rightly captured a singular truth, which is, Sirul was only carrying out his duties. And for that, he is condemned to death.

 

This brings us back to that oft-repeated question – who gave the order for Altantuya to be killed?

 

Just in case we forget – Sirul is not just any ordinary police officer. He is highly trained and he ranks within the exclusive, highly disciplined trained-to-kill elite cops. Therefore, he is expected to obey and follow orders to the letter.

 

That is why Malaysians are still waiting to know the answer.

In case you didn't already know, Sirul has been detained by immigration authorities in Australia. The country's media have said he will not be sent back as Canberra's extradition legislation prohibits any person from being sent back to another country for an offence punishable by death unless that country pledges not to carry out the death sentence.

This has set up a potential tug-of-war with the Malaysian government. And you can expect Putrajaya to be more enthusiastic about wanting to bring Sirul back to Malaysia because what if the latter spills the beans whilst he is there? Sirul had previously hinted he was taking the fall for higher-ups. 
 

On Monday, I was at the Phoenix Toastmasters meeting in the office of See Hoy Chan to deliver CC speech #7 titled “About Men” and I was evaluated by Benny Chia. There was much mirth and laughter from the audience. I was also given the additional task to evaluate a CC speech by another Toastmaster. Sadly, we started ten minutes late and we finished even later. Anyway, I am giving this meeting a 3.5 score over 10. Oh, I should mention that I was voted Best Speaker.

 

 

In a pulsating semi-final leg second leg against Liverpool on Tuesdday, Branislav Ivanovic's extra-time winner sent Chelsea into the League Cup final at Wembley. Again it was another story of missed opportunities for the Reds.

 

Liverpool have not reached a domestic cup final since winning the League Cup for the eighth time in 2012.

Auschwitz 70th Anniversary

The main gate at the camp

 

Child survivors at Auschwitz – still taken from footage recorded by Soviet forces

 

Survivors are unlikely to gather in one place again in such numbers as many are already in their 80s and 90s

 

Former inmates lay flowers and tributes at the so-called Death Wall. Picture: Jacek Bednarczyk/AFP

 

On Tuesday, ageing survivors and dignitaries gathered at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Oswiecim, Poland – a site synonymous with the Holocaust to honour more than 1.1 million people who died there. This marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation by the Soviet Red Army of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp. It is said that about one million Jews were killed at the camp between 1940 and 1945. Other victims included Roma (Gypsies), disabled people, homosexuals, dissidents, non-Jewish Poles and Soviet prisoners.

 

The camp first housed political prisoners from Poland, and captured soldiers from Russia. Then, Jewish families from across Europe were transported here in cattle trucks as the Nazis tried to carry out the Final Solution – the annihilation of Europe's Jews.

 

The museum was established in 1947 with the help and advice of some of its former prisoners, who fought to secure its future as a permanent memorial to those who did not survive, and a warning to future generations.

 

The most powerful displays – of human hair shaved from prisoners' heads, or the crumpled leather of children's shoes – are also the most fragile and perishable.

 

Prisoners' discarded shoes are on display

 

A chart at the museum shows how all the Nazis' enemies imprisoned in the camp were given special badges to mark them out: yellow stars for the Jews, a pink triangle for gay prisoners, a purple triangle for Jehovah's witnesses, and many more marking out each minority in a hierarchy of human hell.

 

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said that the Nazi Germans had made Poland a "cemetery for Jews".

 

Even 70 years on, Auschwitz itself stands as mute but concrete testimony to man's inhumanity to man: a place where the very ground still feels contaminated by death on an industrial scale.

 

Do not believe that we shall not witness human barbarity again. The evil that men do resides amongst us. 

Catholic Newsweekly Herald Loses Again

I ought to give credit to the Malaysian Christians because they tried and tried. Again and again. In the end, a five-man panel headed by Abdull Hamid Embong delivered an unanimous decision on Wednesday – that there had been no procedural unfairness in the Federal Court's decision last year not to grant the Catholic Church leave to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal.

 

On October 14, 2013, the Court of Appeal had ruled that Herald could not use the word "Allah" as it could threaten national security, public order and cause confusion among the religions.

 

And with a cavalier attitude, a Chinese Muslim lawyer, Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla came out to remark: "This decision should end the row over the word Allah, as, legally, the previous decision by the Federal Court should have been the end". What he means is that Christians should just accept the ruling and shut up!

 

The Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Most Reverend Julian Leow told Christians that the “Allah” ban was only limited to Herald and the word can be used in Malay Bibles and during praise and worship sessions. The ban applies only to the Herald? Is he for real?

 

MR Julian Leow is so naive! Naïve as the dry leaves on the ground. Please go and tell that to the zealots who seized the Malay language Bibles!

 

I suggest to go into problem-solving mode. Just call it New Herald and continue using "Allah". After all, New Straits Times and UMNO Baru used the same trick.

 

I went to the Bankers Club in KL’s Amoda Building in Jalan Imbi and I participated in the ‘Go With the Flow’ debate (a type of Table Topics that is unique to Premier Advanced Toastmasters Club) as well as evaluated Lee Meng Tze’s CC speech # 4 – her fourth round by the way – and I didn’t expect it but I was voted Best Table Topics Speaker and Best Evaluator.

 

This was one of the better meetings at Premier Advanced Toastmasters meetings I have attended – and yes, I did enjoy the speeches and evaluations. An 8 over 10 score for this meeting.

 

 

Peeing Devices for Women

One of Malaysians’ pet peeves is the stinky, dirty and wet public toilets. They are more like ‘disaster zones’ than a place where we can relieve ourselves.

 

It is not just icky stuff floating in the toilet bowl but ghastly stuff that can find themselves on the floor and elsewhere. It is safe to say that we would not generally approach these nausea-inducing places without a Hazmat suit. Unless it is an emergency – in which case, we will gingerly tiptoe carefully around the disgusting obstacles and do our business as fast as we can while at the same time, holding our breaths.

 

Probably with the exception of restrooms in the better shopping malls and the good hotels, public toilets in Malaysia are notorious for their squalid splendour with sights and smells that give you stomach-churning experiences. And things are not going to change anytime soon.

 

And if you are a woman – it can be really revolting if you have to sit on a toilet bowl that is less than pristine. Of course, nobody is expecting a toilet in that state – this is Malaysia after all. But we do deserve a toilet that is reasonably clean. 

 

I would like to think that in these sickening situations, a woman would like to stand and pee. And why not? At least, it is a hygienic and dignified bathroom experience, not to mention that she has now obtained the freedom to go anytime, anywhere.

 

So, for women who want to pee standing up – there are female peeing devices on the market and I am highlighting three of these:

 

The pStyle

 

 

Price: $12.99; size: 3.8cm x 3.8cm x 19cm; material: Hard Plastic

 

The Whiz Freedom
 

 

Price: $24.95; size: 15cm long (unfolded); material: Flexible Medical Grade Plastic

 

The Go Girl

 

 

Price: $9.99; size: 16cm long (unfolded); material: Flexible Medical Grade Silicone

 

Last Wednesday, Celtic eased back to the top of the Scottish Premiership in style as Motherwell were comprehensively beaten 0-4 at Parkhead.

 

Virgil van Dijk (26) and Leigh Griffiths (42) helped themselves to close-range headers in the first half, with Anthony Stokes the supplier on both occasions. And with the hosts utterly dominant, Mikael Lustig tucked away a cross from James Forrest after the break – in the seventy-sixth minute. And the victory was settled when Lustig crashed in an impressive late diving header in the eighty-first minute.

Stand to Pee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image credit: http://randommization.com/2013/06/28/go-girl-device-lets-females-pee-standing-up/

 

Some male practises are under threat.

 

Take the case of a male tenant in a rented apartment in the German city of Duesseldorf who sued the owner of the flat he is residing in so that the former can get back the full refund of his 3,000-euro ($3,490) deposit. All because the proprietor had told the resident he would withhold 1,900 euros because the marble floor of the bathroom was permanently stained by splashed urine.

 

According to national news agency DPA, the district court, on Thursday, ruled in favour of the plaintiff. Even though Judge Stefan Hank agreed with an expert's report that it was in fact uric acid that had eaten through the floor – he also said that standing to urinate was a common practice.

 

He said the flat's owner should have made his tenant aware that the marble was highly vulnerable. And: "Someone who still practises this previously dominant custom is regularly confronted with significant disputes, particularly with female cohabitants. However normally he must not reckon with damage to the marble floor of a bathroom or guest toilet."

 

Tenants' rights are a frequent subject of litigation in Germany.

 

Last June, the same Duesseldorf court ruled that an elderly smoker must vacate his home of around 40 years after neighbours complained about his cigarette smoke. It said that the pensioner had not tried to prevent smoke from seeping into the communal hallway of the apartment building and had failed to adequately air his flat and empty his ash trays, it said.

 

On Tuesday, I attended the Allianz Toastmasters meeting in KL Sentral where Haji Hashim Adnan was tasked to evaluate my CC #5 speech titled “When I Speak”. Overall, a good meeting and my score is a 7 over 10.

Budget 2015: A Revision

On Monday, Prime Minister Najib Razak (also the finance minister) passed the verdict that the Malaysian economy will remain positive and won’t be in deficit. In fact, he bravely denied there was an impending crisis. In the same breath, however, he announced a revision of Budget 2015.

The highlights are as follows:

• Putrajaya’s projected operating expenditure of RM273.9 is to be slashed by RM5.5 billion.  The GDP growth target is at 4.5%-5.5% this year from 5%-6%.
• The current account will remain in surplus but smaller at 2%-3% of GNI.
• The fiscal deficit target in 2015 is revised to 3.2% of GDP from 3%.
• Reduced forecast for baseline oil price to $55 per barrel from $100 per barrel.
• The development expenditure of RM48.5 billion will be maintained.
• Government revenue at RM222.9 from RM235.22 billion.
• The government expects additional RM1 billion in GST collection.

Just looking at the numbers above, I get even more worried. They reflect a lack of understanding of how languid the economy is, a lack of appreciation of how bad the economy can get and a lack of precaution on how to deal with the economy when it goes downhill. 
 

Operating expenditure remains high. Cropping it by a miniscule 2% is not really going to do anything at all.

 

Why won’t Najib consider performing a liposuction on our bureaucracy? May I suggest we target the Prime Minister’s Department? Having ten Ministers is a joke.

PKR’s Rafizi Ramli had claimed that their discretionary budget could be as high as RM7 billion!

 

And better still, if we had taken corrective action as per the recommendations made in the 2012 and 2013 auditor-general reports on wastages in government spending – it is asserted that Putrajaya could save up to RM30 billion.

 

Already, we are passing through challenging times. And not to mention the hostile global conditions that hang over us like an overcast sky of oppressive severity.

 

But Najib seems to think the country is in good hands. All because he holds a degree from UK’s Nottingham University – which means he knows how to mismanage our economy! Oops, I mean “manage”.

 

The pessimists amongst us are the villains because they exaggerate about our economic entanglement and worse, they paint a bleak doomsday picture of the country.

 

Najib reminds me of MAD’s Alfred E Neuman (left) and his famous phrase “What, Me Worry?” I don't think he sees our fiscal situation as being problematic. He must think Malaysians can cope, come what may.

We can survive on RM1 chicken and kangkung – so, what's the problem?

 

On Monday, I was in Jalan Puteri 2/1, Bandar Puteri in Puchong, Selangor to take up the role of General Evaluator at the Puchong English Toastmasters meeting. I last visited the club on July 07, 2014 which was some time ago and it was really nice to be back there. A good meeting and my score is a 7 over10.