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I believe I should take up sensitive topics whenever possible. I hate hypocrites especially the ones in our very own society. Yes - I am talking about lesbians and gays. Here we are - poised at the crossroads of the country's future, our defacto leader in the PKR has been accused of sodomizing another man recently, again! I guess this form of sodomy exists within the cultures of lesbians and gays. Obviously, the leader has been arrested and underwent serious "checks" on his body. That was happening the last 24 hours. I seriously feel that something has gone wrong. Very very wrong.
On page 10 of the Star, guess what..we see this article. Aiyo...apa ni..here the incumbent government arrests a defacto leader who presumbly loves to sodomize men....and yet on one hand, we have a minister who wants to provide welfare aid to gays...hmmmmmmm...what is this country becoming to?

My contention - stick to the grounds. Look into the laws that govern the land. So what if the leader loves men? I guess I am insinuating about the leader but look at the current govt's stand to help gays. Come on lar - make up your bloody mind! Is this a ying and yang experience ? NOT!
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RM2 billion terminal - but not enough funds for public transport (Image from penangsentral.com.my) So we are going to have a montrous RM2 billion terminal in Butterworth that is supposed to be the gateway to Penang. This project is supposed to be located on a 12.8ha site “at the existing Butterworth train, bus and ferry terminal and [...]

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Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must really get legal advice before opening his mouth and disgracing our country, Malaysia.

Who is he to oust the person and/or the involvement of the IGP (Inspector General of Police) and/or the Attorney General (AG) from this Investigation or from that investigation. Where is the law that says that the Prime Minister has such power? I am at a loss..

When it comes to the Attorney General (who is also the Public Prosecutor), certainly his position and role is provided for in the Federal Constitution, and also the other laws of the land - and nobody can prevent him exercising his duties and responsibilities. Not even the say-so of the Prime Minister. It would also be wrong for some underling to exercise the power of the AG when he is around..and fully functional.

Our Prime Minister really must get legal advice before opening his mouth....oh, and the person the Prime Minister should be getting legal advice from is the AG.

While Abdul Gani Patail is AG, and Musa Hassan remains the IGP, you cannot ask them to relinquish their responsibilities, duties and powers in law... To ask them would be wrong... and for them to do so would also be wrong. (Did you, Mr PM, also ask them to leave out the DPM in the Altantuya investigation and prosecution?)

One solution...and one solution only, I see, and that is to remove the Attorney General and appoint a new Attorney General.

Likewise, remove the IGP and appoint a new IGP..

After all, that is what you just did with the DG and the Deputy DG of Immigration. They too are still being investigated - and they have not been charged in court yet. A new DG and Deputy DG have been appointed.
Mr Prime Minister, would it not be DISCRIMINATORY to accord a different kind of treatment to the AG and the IGP, who are also now being investigated...

Again - I say that the PM must stay out of this police investigation and not interfere any more....

The powers being demonstrated by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in this case -- and his personal involvement in the conduct of the police investigation --- only makes one wonder about the real independence of the police and the AG's chambers.

It also makes us seriously wonder whether it was this kind of PM's (or DPM's) exertion of power over the police and the AG that has led to the name of the DPM being left out from the Balasubramaniam's statement (as alleged in his 1st SD) and maybe the whole Altantuya case, and the fact that no charge was levied against the DPM (or his spouse).

We really have to wonder now...do we not since this time, the exertion of the PM's power is done so openly in this Anwar case...
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(Speech at the opening of the Tasek Dalam DAP Branch, Ipoh on Sunday, 20th July 2008 at 12 noon) The International Trade and Industry Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday that his ministry will be looking into attracting investors who are pulling out from China because of high costs there. Muhyiddin is being too [...]
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KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was not forced to strip naked during a medical examination at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH), its director said.
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KUALA LUMPUR, 18 Julai (SK) - Ketua Umum KeADILan, Anwar Ibrahim hari ini akan meneruskan siri jelajahnya ke seluruh negara di Bandaraya Bersejarah malam ini.

Di Melaka, Anwar akan menyampaikan ceramah pertamanya selepas ditahan oleh unit bertopeng hanya untuk memberi keterangan di Ibu Pejabat Polis Kontijen Kuala Lumpur, 16 Julai lalu.

Lokasi pertama di Melaka ialah di Batu 5 1/2, Cheng pada jam 9 Malam dan selepas itu beliau akan bergegas ke Dataran Hamas, Jasin.

Difahamkan beberapa tokoh turut memberi ceramah, antaranya ialah Ketua Angkatan Muda KeADILan Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, Presiden Pas Hadi Awang dan Penasihat DAP Lim Kit Siang.

Sebarang pertanyaan mengenai program di Melaka, boleh menghubungi Konoel Hashim bagi program di Cheng di talian 012-2572262 dan Mahani (Jasin) di talian Mahani (Jasin) 012-9721559.

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'I don't think we need to be too nationalistic in supporting Proton without taking into consideration what the business is all about.'
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The military has created a wall of silence around its frequent resort to barbaric practices, including torture, and goes out of its way to avoid legal scrutiny. Five photographs together break a silence. The first is of a former Gurkha regimental ...
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There is no oil shortage, not yet at least. That doesn't mean we're not quickly sliding towards Peak Oil. We probably are, but that has nothing to do with today's gas prices. The reason oil has skyrocketed to nearly $140 per barrel is because of speculation; rampant, "unregulated" speculation. The peak oil doom-sayers are simply confusing the issue. This is not about shortages or scarcity; it's about gaming the system to fatten the bottom line. The whole scam is being executed by the same carpetbagging scoundrels who engineered the subprime fiasco; the investment bankers. The Wall Street Goliaths are using the futures market to recapitalize their flagging balance sheets after sustaining massive losses in the mortgage-backed securities boondoggle. That's the whole thing in a nutshell. Now they're on to their next swindle; distorting the futures market with humongous leveraged bets on food and oil.

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First up, proud salutations to the courageous 'Raytheon 9', six of whom were recently acquitted of criminal damage charges following their occupation of Raytheon offices in Derry.

The action by the nine Derry Anti War Coalition members had taken place on 9 August 2006 while Israel was bombarding Lebanon with Raytheon-produced bombs, among them the infamous Bunker-Buster. Over 1000 Lebanese civilians were killed - while the countryside remains littered with deadly cluster bombs. Raytheon also list in their catalogue of death Cruise, Patriot, Sidewinder and Tomahawk missiles. The Derry activists succeeded in damaging much of the computer software and other Raytheon property, serving to highlight the company's own criminal activity. What we might call constructive destruction of destructive constructions.

Following the judgement, one of the 9, veteran writer Eamon McCann, made this admirable statement:

"The outcome of this case has profound implications.

The jury has accepted that we were reasonable in our belief that: the Israel Defence Forces were guilty of war crimes in Lebanon in the summer of 2006; that the Raytheon company, including its facility in Derry, was aiding and abetting the commission of these crimes; and that the action we took was intended to have, and did have, the effect of hampering or delaying the commission of war crimes.

We have been vindicated.

We reject entirely and with contempt the statement by Raytheon this evening suggesting that the result of the trial gives them concern about the safety of their employees. This is an abject attempt to divert attention from the significance of the outcome. Not a shed of evidence was produced that we presented the slightest danger to Raytheon workers. The charge of affray was thrown out by the court without waiting to hear defence evidence.

Our target has always been Raytheon as a corporate entity and its shareholders and directors who profit from misery and death.

There is now no hiding place for those who have said that they support the presence of Raytheon in Derry on the basis that the company is not involved in Derry in arms-related production. We have established that not only is the Derry plant involved in arms-related production, it is also, through its integration into Raytheon as a whole, involved in war crimes.

We call on all elected representatives in Derry, and on the citizens of Derry, to say now in unequivocal terms that the war criminal Raytheon is not welcome in our city.

We call on the office of the Attorney General and the Crown Prosecution Service, in light of this verdict, to institute an investigation into the activities of Raytheon at its various plants across the UK, with a view to determining whether Raytheon is, as we say it is, a criminal enterprise.

We believe that one day the world will look back on the arms trade as we look back today on the slave trade, and wonder how it came about that such evil could abound in respectable society. If we have advanced by a mere moment the day when the arms trade is put beyond the law, what we have done will have been worthwhile.

We took the action we did in the immediate aftermath of the slaughter of innocents in Qana on July 30th 2006. The people of Qana are our neighbours. Their children are the children of our neighbours. We trashed Raytheon to help protect our neighbours. The court has found that that was not a crime. This what the Raytheon case has been about.

We have not denied or apologised for what we did at the Raytheon plant in the summer of 2006. All of us believe that it was the best thing we ever did in our lives."

The trial, moved from Derry to Belfast, and subject to a gagging order preventing media coverage of Raytheon's dealings in the province, illustrates the deep sensitivities felt by the British state when the profits and interests of arms companies are threatened.

The decision of a people's jury against Raytheon is also a reminder to pliant politicians that procurers of WMD are not always welcome in one's locale - even if they are providing those 'much-needed jobs'. For those endorsing Raytheon at Glenrothes, Scotland, and other UK locations, take note: this is not just about economic livelihoods, it's about the economy of death and the taking of others' actual lives.

Ruling the waves - and the skies

On which note, by what stretch of the caring imagination should we condone the ongoing spending of vast sums on military hardware? The Ministry of Defence has just signed contracts for two new aircraft carriers worth £4 billion. The proposed HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, so we're told by captains of industry and unions, alike, are great news for the economy and local communities.

Defence Secretary, Des Browne, said:

“This is a historic day for everyone in defense. The two aircraft carriers will provide our forces with the world-class capabilities they will need over the coming decades. They will support peace-keeping and conflict prevention, as well as our strategic operational priorities. Today’s contract signing seals the future for thousands of jobs, and ensures that we will have a Royal Navy fit for the 21st century.”

But, what motivations really apply here? Forward defence thinking and the national economy in support of a peaceful world? Or backward power and cravings of imperial grandeur? Still burdened by delusions of the latter, Britain is really a war economy state driven by corporate interests and the need to make the world a more, not less, warmongering place.

There's also the more 'mundane' question of how these pieces of high-tech flotsam help prevent a lone Al Qaeda operative leaving a bomb on a train.

It's a sobering thought when we stop to ponder what exists behind the respectable facade and language of the 'defence economy'. This is a war regime dedicated to protecting and enabling its arms masters around the globe. It's why Gordon Brown takes his eager turn in the prime ministerial arms tour to Saudi Arabia. It's why the Ministry of Defence is a revolving door to BaE and other elite arms corporations. It's why my MP, and New Labour clone, Tom Harris, blanked all efforts to explain and oppose the safe passage of US-Israeli bombs for Lebanon through Prestwick and other UK airports.

The UK was recently 'elevated' to the highest position in world arms-sales ranking following the signing of a £10 billion deal to supply the Saudis with a new 'kill' (my collective noun) of Eurofighter/Typhoon jets and other military equipment. Without a hint of irony:

"The Ministry of Defence says the terms of the contract - called Salam, Arabic for peace - and the total expenditure involved are confidential."

Meanwhile, back in ethical blighty, £76 billion will be released from the New Labour Treasury over the next 30 years to replace Trident and maintain its successor - all in breach of the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Alert to the 'menace'

All this while Gordon Brown, Des Browne and their war crimes syndicate ratchet-up the 'gathering menace' of Iran's 'nuclear ambitions'.

In sympathetic tones, the BBC have been eagerly repeating US 'concerns' about Tehran's "provocative" missile-testing exercise.

The BBC's own 'defence system' usually involves the claim that it's simply engaged in 'impartial' reporting of such 'worries', whereas, it's selective filtering and delineation of such stories forms a vital and offensive part of the propaganda armoury.

Likewise with 'studious' diplomatic editors across the liberal press, such as the Sunday Herald's Trevor Royle, who, for good measure, offers this gushing account of Israel's 'understandable' rationale for bombing the people of Iran:

“There is one other scenario no-one should ignore. The Israelis could act unilaterally, or at least with covert US support. They certainly have the motive. Not only has president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made unpleasant noises about removing Israel from the map, but a nuclear-armed Iran would be a very real threat to regional stability. During its 60 years of existence, the state of Israel has always obeyed the realistic military rule that it attacks if it feels threatened - just ask Egypt, Syria or Jordan - and there is no shortage of hawks to ram home that message. When former chief of staff Shaul Mofaz said an attack on Iran is "inevitable" he meant just what he said.”

Beyond the usual "from the map" distortion, Royle is positively flowing in his admirations for Israel, a commentary, we're encouraged to believe, to be 'balanced' by 'sober' reading of the 'military realities'. His, like the BBC's, is a voice typical of the 'sensible liberal' 'new world order' in which Britain, the US and Israel still have imperial prerogatives in 'responding' to the 'provocations' of dark-hued Others.

Britain's war regime

Thankfully, we still have voices of sane humanity like John Pilger and Mark Curtis to dig-deep into Britain's real murderous activities. In a ready-reminder of its ongoing crimes around the world, Pilger writes this week about the true, dark nature of Britain's military brutalities:

"A wall of silence has always surrounded the British military, its arcane rituals, rites and practices and, above all, its contempt for the law and natural justice in its various imperial pursuits...An even more imposing wall of silence ensures that the British public remains largely unaware of the industrial killing of civilians in Britain's modern colonial wars. In his landmark work Unpeople: Britain's Secret Human Rights Abuses, the historian Mark Curtis uses three main categories: direct responsibility, indirect responsibility and active inaction. "The overall figure [since 1945] is between 8.6 and 13.5 million," Curtis writes. "Of these, Britain bears direct responsibility for between four million and six million deaths. This figure is, if anything, likely to be an underestimate. Not all British interventions have been included, because of lack of data." Since his study was published, the Iraq death toll has reached, by reliable measure, a million men, women and children."

Across the globe, the pretence of 'ethical intervention' and concern for human rights is underwritten by the real business of warmongering:

"The militarising of how the British state perceives and treats other societies is vividly demonstrated in Africa, where ten out of 14 of the most impoverished and conflict-ridden countries are seduced into buying British arms and military equipment with "soft loans". Like the British royal family, the British Prime Minister simply follows the money. Having ritually condemned a despot in Zimbabwe for "human rights abuses" - in truth, for no longer serving as the west's business agent - and having obeyed the latest US dictum on Iran and Iraq, Brown set off recently for Saudi Arabia, exporter of Wahhabi fundamentalism and wheeler of fabulous arms deals."

With complementary intent, notes Pilger:

"the Brown government is spending £11bn of taxpayers' money on a huge, privatised military academy in Wales, which will train foreign soldiers and mercenaries recruited to the bogus "war on terror". With arms companies such as Raytheon profiting, this will become Britain's "School of the Americas", a centre for counter-insurgency (terrorist) training and the design of future colonial adventures. It has had almost no publicity."

Britain's playing of the modern Great Game in Afghanistan is treated, similarly, as some kind of benign and honourable sacrifice:

"The shabby, destructive colonial war in Afghanistan is now reported almost entirely through the British army, with squaddies always doing their Kipling best, and with the Afghan resistance routinely dismissed as "outsiders" and "invaders"."

Pilger's indictment and Curtis's investigations of Britain's war regime would, in a rational and compassionate society, be the subject of shameful reflection and progressive policy debate. Instead, we're regaled, courtesy of an obedient media, by a culture of respectable militarism, serving to maintain the noble charade of Britain's enlightened interventionism around the world.

Here's to more humanitarian 'invasions' and caring interventions against Raytheon and the offices of Britain's other corporate arms despots.

John
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