Eid Mubarak to all

Racism

From Wikipedia

Racism, by its definition, is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. People with racist beliefs might hate certain groups of people according to their racial groups. In the case ofinstitutional racism, certain racial groups may be denied rights or benefits, or get preferential treatment. Racial discrimination typically points out taxonomic differences between different groups of people, even though anybody can be racialised, independently of their somatic differences. According to theUnited Nations conventions, there is no distinction between the term racial discrimination and ethnic discrimination.

Chauvinism

From Wikipedia

Chauvinism (pronounced /ˈʃoʊvɨnɪzəm/) is extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of a group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group. A frequent^[1] contemporary use of the term in English is male chauvinism, which refers to the belief that men are superior to women.

Supremacism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Supremacism is the belief that a particular race, religion, gender, belief system or culture is superior to others and entitles those who identify with it to dominate, control or rule those who do not. Examples include supremacism based on ethnic or anthropological origins (white supremacy, black supremacy, ethnocentrism), sexuality (male supremacy, female supremacy) and religion (see below).

Condolence:Singapore’s celebrated hero, people’s leader JB Jeyaretnam passed away

Condolence:Singapore’s celebrated hero, people’s leader JB Jeyaretnam passed away

 

Singapore’s celebrated former opposition leader JB Jeyaretnam died early this morning of heart failure. He was 82.  Singapore-based Chann el News Asia quoted Jeyaretnam’s son Kenneth as confirming the news. Kenneth said that his father, a former secretary-general of the Workers’ Party, had complained of breathing difficulties at about 1.30am on Tuesday. He was rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital but doctors were unable to revive him. He died of heart failure with both his sons, Kenneth and Philip, by his side, added the news report. Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam was the man who finally broke the ruling People’s Action Party’s (PAP) 16-year monopoly in the Singaporean Parliament in 1981.

Congratulations Zaid Ibrahim for your open letter to PM, YAB DS AAB

Congratulations Zaid Ibrahim

for your open letter to PM, YAB DS AAB

Malaysiakini

In our proclamation of independence, our first prime minister gave voice to the lofty aspirations and dreams of the people of Malaya: that Malaya was founded on the principles of liberty and justice, and the promise that collectively we would always strive to improve the welfare and happiness of its people.  

Boat carrying more than 100 illegals sinks

 

By DHARMENDER SINGH

 

 

PORT KLANG: A boat carrying more than 100 suspected illegal immigrants sank off the coast near Westport here early Tuesday morning, killing at least six people.

Selangor marine police commandant Deputy Supt Marzuki Ismail said police suspected the vessel involved was a barter trade boat that was trying to smuggle Indonesians going home for the Hari Raya celebrations.

Robert Oxton Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Oxton Bolt, CBE (August 15, 1924 – February 21, 1995) was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar winning screenwriter.

Although he was best known for his original play A Man for All Seasons – a depiction of Sir Thomas More‘s clash with King Henry VIII over his divorce from Catherine of Aragon – which won awards on the stage and in its film version, most of his writing was screenplays for films or television.

Palin’s Pakistan comments as stupid as Obama’s

From CNN’s Emily Sherman

 Watch: Gov. Sarah Palin answers questions at Tony Lukes in South Philadelphia.

WASHINGTON (CNN)- Sen. John McCain retracted Sarah Palin’s stance on Pakistan Sunday morning, after the Alaska governor appeared to back Sen. Barack Obama’s support for unilateral strikes inside Pakistan against terrorists. (SHIT)

During Friday night’s presidential debate in Mississippi, Obama took a similar stance and condemned the Bush administration for failing to act on the possibility terrorists are in Pakistan. (SHIT)

Extracts from U WinTin’s interview

Extracts from U WinTin’s interview with Irrawaddy

Irrawaddy

The Irrawaddy spoke with Win Tin, Burma’s longest-serving political prisoner, who was released after spending 19 years behind bars.

I always kept three principles in mind by repeating to myself the words Suu Hlut Twe. “Suu” means Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and stands for [our demand for] the uncondition

al release of all political prisoners. “Hlut” stands for convening the People’s Parliament, the Hluttaw. 

And “Twe” means dialogue.

Another principle I held is the “three supports.” We have to support the National League for Democracy. The NLD is our organization. If you talk about democracy, there must be organizations. The junta will be very happy if it disintegrates. Concerning the NLD’s strengths and weaknesses, we should try toturn the weaknesses into strengths. So we should support the NLD. 

Another thing we need to support is the Hluttaw. Parliament’s mandate comes from the people. It is not just the NLD’s mandate. It is also about other parties. That’s why the parliament must be supported. 

Going all out to help doctors

 

On the issue relating to foreign doctors, we still have to employ them as our country is still in dire need of doctors. However, we apply very stringent criteria and only those who meet the set criteria will be accepted for registration. Their appointments are on a contract basis.

Also, if their services are found to be wanting, their appointments will be terminated. We have done this before and we will not hesitate to continue to do so when the need arises. MMC will never compromise on the safety of patients.

The current exercise of employing foreigners will be scrapped once we have enough doctors. We know that more and more doctors are graduating from recognised institutions.

 

I REFER to “Reduce intake of foreign doctors,” (The Star, Sept 26) and would like to state that the Health Ministry and the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) have not and will never discriminate against Malaysian doctors.

China’s Muslims say Ramadan a time of repression

By WILLIAM FOREMAN

Associated Press Writer

All that was left on the chin of the Muslim man praying at the huge brownstone mosque was a small patch of stubble. He said officials had forced young men in China’s far western Xinjiang region to cut off their beards at the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

“If I didn’t shave, they would do this to me,” said the man, who put his wrists together as if handcuffed, his eyes bulging with anger. “If I say more, I could be arrested.”

He gave only part of his name, Arem, and stomped away.

For Muslims, Ramadan is a time of fasting and prayer. But for China’s Muslim ethnic Uighurs, the holy month is also full of fear and seething resentment about increasingly tight restrictions on how they practice their moderate form of Islam, influenced by the Sunni and Sufi sects.

Managing the restive Turkic people is developing into one of China’s biggest challenges. Like the Tibetans, the Uighurs have been unwilling to buy into the government’s plan: greater economic prosperity instead of greater religious freedom or autonomy.

Read more>>

This year has been especially jittery in Xinjiang, a sprawling territory three times the size of France that is home to 9 million Uighurs (pronounced WEE-GURS). Despite ramped-up security in the region before the Beijing Olympics, a string of bombings and deadly attacks – the worst wave of violence in a decade – deeply embarrassed China under the global spotlight.

RIGHTS: Oil Companies’ “Self-Policing” a Dismal Failure

 RIGHTS: Oil Companies’ “Self-Policing”

a Dismal Failure

By Alison Raphael

WASHINGTON, Sep 24 (IPS) – The intersection of human rights, the environment and corporate responsibility was highlighted today at a Capitol Hill hearing featuring activists from Burma and Nigeria who underlined the failure to date of “voluntary” controls over major oil companies operating in their countries.

Asean’s man of passion at the helm

By   Ian Timberlake  

Surin Pitsuwan can quote from both the holy Quran and English poetry, in the same speech. The self-professed “cheerleader-in-chief of Asean” at times sounds like a preacher, and his outspoken style may seem at odds with the 41-year-old history of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which he has led as secretary-general since the start of the year.

Asean has long been criticised as little more than a “talking shop” unable to play a meaningful role in the region.

But observers say that if anyone can make Asean more effective, it is Surin, 58, a Muslim former Thai foreign minister and academic who hails from his country’s south. “He’s much more dynamic,” said Carl Thayer, a Southeast Asian specialist at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University.