Maria Chin Abdullah Released from Lock-up

Lawyer and activist Ambiga Sreenevasan shared this photo with Maria Chin Abdullah, after the latter was released on Monday, on her official Twitter feed. 

Surprise, surprise! Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah was released at about 4.30 PM yesterday – her 11th day in the lock-up and a day before her habeas corpus hearing challenging her detention.

I don’t believe she is out of the woods yet – still, it gives her momentary relief. She is reunited with her family and that is comforting. 

Malaysians too can rejoice – for now at least. 

Supporters hold signs in support of Maria Chin Abdullah during a vigil at Dataran Merdeka, KL on November 28, 2016. Picture by Choo Choy May

On Sunday, in the Scottish League Cup final, Aberdeen were overawed and overrun, almost from the first whistle. And Celtic triumphed 3-0 – thanks to goals from Tom Rogic (16), James Forrest (37) and Moussa Dembele (64, penalty).

This was the sixteenth time the Glasgow team won and it was their 100th major trophy! An amazing feat!

Yesterday, I was at the Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam in Jalan Damansara, KL – and thanks to Nicole Leong and Rush Teh, I had a speaking slot. I presented CC speech #9 Persuade with Power titled “Kill Your Dreams”. I was also voted Best Speaker.

Additionally, I was an evaluator for an Advanced speech from The Professional Speaker manual as well as took up the last-minute role of a General Evaluator.

Christmas came early for Speakers Dream Toastmasters Club and I received this Wild Vines raspberry Zinfandel (Framboise) during the gift exchange – see photo!

US Election Recount

The US presidential election result is being challenged.

An election recount will take place soon in Wisconsin, after former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein (left) filed a petition Friday with the state’s Election Commission, the first of three states where she has promised to contest the election result.

The move from Stein – who raised millions since her Wednesday announcement that she would seek recounts of Donald Trump’s apparent election victories in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan – came just 90 minutes before Wisconsin’s 5 PM Friday deadline to file a petition.

Stein, who secured 31,006 votes in Wisconsin, was not the only presidential candidate to demand a recount. Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente, the Reform Party nominee who got 1,514 Wisconsin votes, also filed a recount petition, according to the state’s Election Commission.

Those are not the only two surprises waiting to ambush Trump.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign said it would join the recount although it admitted that it had not seen any irregularities so far in the White House contest won by Trump.

And I’m sure it will be targeting Pennsylvania and Michigan too. After all, Clinton benefits from the vote recount.

Had she won those three states, previously seen as part of the Democrats’ “firewall” – she supposedly would have secured enough electoral votes to win the presidential election.

Wisconsin has the first deadline of the three states in question. If Stein’s campaign wishes to file recount petitions in the other two states – she must do so by Monday to meet Pennsylvania’s deadline, and Wednesday to meet the November 30 deadline in Michigan.

Trump must be furious but for Clinton – a flicker of hope is ignited.

I was in Jalan Sentul, KL on Sunday morning – I attended the wedding of Kamaleswaran Jayarajah & Shreeta Sivarasa. Congratulations to the couple!

I love Indian weddings!

Tajuddin Abdul Rahman's "Kok"-up

I already said we are so fortunate to be in a place where so many clowns come together. (I am discounting the crooks in this particular post).

For sure, there will be no scarcity of humor – although in this country, warped humor is more often than not, a persistent phenomenon.

On Monday, we had a buffoon who wasn’t only trying to be perversely funny – but he is also a misogynist. By purposely targeting Seputeh MP Teresa Kok (left) – he blatantly bared his smutty wickedness.

Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (right) triggered a raucous racket of discordant dissonance when he alluded to the DAP parliamentarian as a "woman with a Kok"!

You don’t need to be a genius to know he was making a rude reference to the male genitalia! His salacious salvo had demeaned, degraded and disparaged a fellow parliamentarian.

If you know Tajuddin, he has carved infamy to himself with his obliging outpouring of oafish obscenities in the Dewan Rakyat in the past. On a regular basis at that. It looks as if he is really trying to outdo himself this time.

And Deputy Speaker Ronald Kiandee had refused to reprimand Tajuddin – explaining that the latter was merely referring to Kok's "family name". Even a village idiot will know – by the manner in which Tajuddin said it – that it was not! It was unacceptably offensive and undeniably lewd.

Unhappy with Kiandee's ruling, Opposition MPs continued to demand that Tajuddin apologize, with Amanah's Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad even calling Tajuddin "sial" (meaning, “damned”).

The angry arguments, which took place during Question Time, ended only when Kiandee directed proceedings to the next question.

Maybe, the milksop named Tajuddin is insecure – and so, he loathes the fact than any person with a "Kok" to his or her name is more "man" than him. I can say that about nearly all of the BN politicians, not just him!

Last evening, I continued my CC manual Round 37 from where I left off Monday. I was at the TMIKL Toastmasters meeting  and I delivered a "Research Your Topic" speech titled “The Gullibility Factor”. A good speech, methinks! 😁😁😁

As a matter of record, this is my 490th project speech.

The Catholic Church Failed Rwanda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The skulls of genocide victims in Rwanda. "The Catholic Church failed Rwanda in 1994". Photograph: Stephen Morrison/EPA

 

Rwanda’s Catholic Church have apologized for their role in the 1994 genocide, saying they regret the actions of those who participated in the massacres.

 

A church statement acknowledged on Sunday their members planned, aided, and executed the genocide, in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu hardliners.

 

The declaration by the Conference of Catholic Bishops, which was read out in parishes across the country declared: "We apologize for all the wrongs the church committed. We apologise on behalf of all Christians for all forms of wrongs we committed. We regret that church members violated [their] oath of allegiance to God's commandments".

 

Many of the victims died at the hands of priests, clergymen and nuns, according to accounts by survivors, and the Rwandan government said many died in the churches where they had sought refuge.

 

In the years since the genocide – which was sparked by a contentious plane crash that killed the then-president, a Hutu – the local church had resisted efforts by the government and groups of survivors to acknowledge the church's complicity in mass murder. Even saying those church officials who committed crimes had acted individually.

 

That is balderdash, baloney, bull!!!

 

[From the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda records – just two examples.

Fr. Emmanuel Rukundo (first pic) ordered soldiers to abduct and murder Tutsi refugees who had come to seek shelter at St. Leon Minor Seminary Kabgayi that he headed, among other crimes. Joseph Ndagijimana (second pic) was responsible for the killing of fellow priests in Kabgayi Diocese. In 2009, the former was convicted and handed a 25-year sentence while the latter was also found guilty and handed a life sentence].

 

Still, the bishops' affirmation represented a positive development in Rwanda's efforts at reconciliation.

 

"Forgive us for the crime of hate in the country to the extent of also hating our colleagues because of their ethnicity. We didn't show that we are one family, but instead killed each other", the statement said.

 

Bishop Phillipe Rukamba, spokesperson for the Catholic Church in Rwanda, said the announcement was timed to coincide with the formal end on Sunday of the Holy Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis to encourage greater reconciliation and forgiveness in his church and in the world.

 

Do Rwandans want to forgive? Are they ready to forgive? Can they genuinely forgive?

 

Forgiveness – it's a big word!

 

In an EPL game on Saturday, Liverpool disappointed – having failed to score, resulting in a goalless draw against Southampton.

On the Toastmasters front, I was an evaluator for a CC#10 speaker Lina Seow at the MIMKL Toastmasters meeting on Saturday; and I then delivered a CC#9 speech titled "Forgiveness" at the Liquid Gold Lite Toastmasters meeting at Hakka Restaurant in KL's Jalan Conlay a day later.

Bersih 5.0 – You'll Never Walk Alone

Bersih 5.0 in numbers:

Bersih 5.0 - In the Afternoon/Evening

Bersih 5.0 in the afternoon/evening:

Yellow as far as the eyes can see!

Bersih 5.0 - In the Morning

Bersih 5.0 this morning: