耶稣受难日看人生得失

陈亚伦站在一颗橄榄树前面，地点：新加坡的 Garden of the Bay

作者：陈亚伦牧师

        信奉耶稣基督的信徒在耶稣受难日通常进入思考状态，即，一个上帝的儿子为何就放弃天上的荣华富贵来到地上受死担当世人的罪？

        在一个多灾难的今天，我们应该珍惜每一天。最近的马航MH370事件可供我们作思考人生得失的教材。我并没有对机组人员和乘客及他们的家属不敬，罗马天主教和基督教的教会都不停为此事件祷告，包括罗马天主教的教宗方济都公开带领信徒祷告，及大马教会联合的组织等，只不过我们不比佛教徒获得媒体那么多的曝光率而已。

        我们应该经常珍惜身边的人，也常常作好遇到意外的心理准备。我很佩服穆斯林，他们看待生死是上苍的旨意，就这样对生死很看得开。我通常飞出外国，都会交代妻子她的护照放在哪里。又在月历上写下来回航班，在外国亲朋的联络电话等。因为若我在我国发生意外，她不必太慌张不知所措，可以很快飞到外国为我办事。我也必定买旅游保险，因为航空公司的保险只保你上下飞机的意外，你下了飞机所发生的事情可能用到几十万令吉的医药费，那旅游保险就很有用了！这就是对家人负责任，这就是爱惜家人。

        人是万物之灵，因此人是最复杂的活物！我们可以为着金钱名誉地位争个你死我活，但争得来最终却发觉一切都是空虚的。不妨看看大多数人用了最有魄力的中间几十年来把这些得到手，到头来却导致满身病痛。他们就这样花了大部分的钱财来治病。治好了又打算再拼搏一番要把钱挣回来，却发觉此时已经老了没本事跟其他壮硕者打天下也！

        耶稣在世立下了极佳的典范，祂30岁正式出来传道。祂这样形容自己的处境：“狐狸有洞，天空的飞鸟有窝，但我却没有枕头的地方。”祂这般不注重身外物的情况，与世人那般为了生活而彼此恶斗岂不是有天渊之别吗？

        人有一种弊病，就是施恩之后，期待得到报答，否则就耿耿于怀。耶稣并不在乎得恩者回馈不回馈，祂甚至面对恩将仇报的人士时选择默默向天父祷告，祂只在乎他们得到帮助。我很感谢那些历来离乡背井往他国当宣教士的人士，特别佩服德兰修女，他/她们许多甚至赔上了性命和家庭，这些人都活出了耶稣的典范！

        当下一次你在气氛没有人欣赏你的贡献时，不妨思考这些伟人。人生有得必有失，不会常常都是得的。在基督教的教义里，跟世界的哲理是刚相反的。“要『得』必先『失』，而『失』反而是『得』。”很难领会吗？一点也不难！即使是做朋友，并不保证他/她们永远都是真朋友。连跟从耶稣三年多一起生活的门徒犹大，都会为了三十两银子而出卖祂！沃伦·巴菲特的一句精辟话值得反省：“随着年龄的增长，我们并不是失去了一些朋友，而是我们懂得了谁才是真正的朋友。”那么我们处事待人必须看得开，不必憎恨利唯利是图的朋友，就好像耶稣没有憎恨犹大一样。

        有人说，耶稣只活到33岁就死了真可惜。祂出来传道只3年多，但早死并不可惜，因为祂作代罪羔羊的使命已经完成了！从此福音由信徒传了两千年至今不断。其实早在三千四百年前的摩西已经说过人的寿命平均是70岁。对，人人要面对生老病死的命运，在世短暂，那么就不要在乎得失！最近台湾佛光山星云长老在马来西亚的一番话给我一个启发。他说不要用“生老病死”来看人生而消极，应该用“老病死生”来看人生而有盼望（大意）。以基督教的教义看这番话挺有意义，因人类犯罪而受到老病死的惩罚是事实，不过耶稣的受死却带给世人生命（永生）也是事实！

Good Friday – A Look at Gain-Loss in Life

Allen Tan stands in front of an Olive Tree at Garden of the Bay in Singapore

By Pastor Allen Tan

It is a common practice for believers of Jesus Christ to immerse themselves in a state of deep thoughts at the Passion Week. They will try to capture the reason why Jesus as the Son of God could forsake the splendor of Heaven and came to die for mankind.

In a time of mishap today, let us cherish each and every day. The recent incident of MAS MH370 has provided us with a lesson in pondering about gain-loss in life. I am not disrespectful for the crew members and passengers as well as their loved ones. The Roman Catholic and Christian Church have been praying for them without ceasing, including Pope Francis, who has also led their parishioners in prayer. However, compared with the Buddhists, we did not get as much publicity by the media as they.

We ought to always value the people around us, and get our heart prepared for whatever unforeseen mishap that might happen. I admired the Muslims, that they viewed life and death as the will of God, thus their minds were open towards life and death.  Whenever I was flying abroad, I would tell my wife where her passport was placed. I would also write down on the calendar my flight numbers and my contacts overseas. Because should there be anything happened to me, she would not be too frantic to fumble about for her passport and subsequently do not know what to do. Then she could fly over to handle my matter.  I would always buy travel insurance too, as the insurance offered by the airlines are only covered for flights. But when you were alighted from the plane, the airline insurance will no longer apply. However, travel insurance would safeguard your hospital bill in a foreign land which could be amounted to thousands of Dollars. This is committing responsibility to your family members, and a show of love towards them.

Human beings are the most outstanding among all creatures, thus they are the most complicated among living things too! We would fight fiercely over money, fame and positions, but at the end of the day when we gained much, it was all emptiness! There is no harm just looking around, most people spent their best years in life just to gain these things, but one day they were knocked down by illness. They spent a large sum of their “hard-earned” money on medical bills. When they got well, they wanted to rise up to gain these earthly treasures once more, only to find that they were too old to fight with the young and mighty!

While Jesus was on earth He was the best role model for us. He emerged to preach officially at the age of 30. He has declared His status as “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but I have nowhere to lay my head.” With such a disregard of worldly things, is not it a vast contrast to the fierce fight by the world over livelihood?

The malady of human beings is to seek for reward over kindness offered, if not, they would harp on the matter. For those who had received favor from Him, Jesus did not mind whether they would return Him favor or not. Even when people returned Him evil for good, He chose to remain silent by praying to His Father. He only cared that they received help, period! I am always grateful to those who have left their comfortable homes and served as Missionaries in other countries. I admired Mother Teresa especially. And many of them had even sacrificed their lives and families. They had lived up to the model of Jesus.

Next time when you are upset for being unappreciative by others over your contributions to them, you might as well think of those great men and women of God. In Christian doctrines, the teachings are just the reverse of the philosophies of the world. If you want to ‘gain’ you must first to ‘lose’, and to ‘lose’ is actually to ‘gain’. It is too hard to grasp? Not at all! Even as to making friends, there is no guarantee that friends are always friends. Even for Judas, one who had lived with Jesus for three years plus, could turn out to be a betrayer of Him for 30 pieces of silver! One of the best quotes by Warren Buffet goes like this, “In the process of growing in age, we are not losing some friends, but rather, we come to know who our actual real friends are.” As such, we should take life easy in our day-to-day walk, and we ought to not hate the mercenary-type of friends, just as Jesus did not hate Judas.

Some people thought it was regrettable that Jesus had only lived a short life of 33 years. Though Jesus’ ministry was only 3 year plus, an early death was not regrettable as He has finished His mission as a Sacrificial Lamb for the sins of mankind! From thence the Gospel was preached by His disciples for two thousand years until now. In fact, as early as 3,400 years ago, Moses had already declared that the average lifespan of mankind is 70 years. True, everybody has to face the fate of life, age, illness and death. Life is temporal on earth, as such, do not harp on gain-loss in life! Xing Yun, the Elder Monk from Taiwan Buddhist Fo Guang Temple, in his recent trip in Malaysia, had made a statement which was really thought-provoking for me. He said we should not use “life, age, illness and death” to view life which would result yourself being negative. Instead we should use “age, illness, death and life” to view life so as to bring hope. Apply it in Christian doctrine, it is a fact that mankind was punished with age, illness and death over their sins, but it was also a fact that the death of Jesus has brought life (eternal life) to mankind!

Can Sabah and Sarawak secede from Malaysia?

Vidal Yudin Weil

 | April 14, 2014

This article is intended for those who think Malaysia or rather Malaya owns Sabah and Sarawak.

COMMENT

Once again I am writing about Abdul RahmanDahlan, the Kota Belud MP who was reported on Feb 17, 2014 in the mainstream media to have cited the 20-Points and said the following:

(1) It is seditious and treasonous to suggest that both Sabah and Sarawak secede from the Federation of Malaysia;

(2) Sabah and Sarawak cannot secede from Malaysia;

(3) Secession is not a solution to the woes of Sabah and Sarawak.

If readers have accessed my previous pieces about the man, they would conclude that Abdul Rahman really does not actually know what he is saying all of the time.

Before that I would remind readers that:

Official deceit which is one part of Machiavellian politics has always been the religion of colonizers and one classic lie that has never fail to be used is “you need us to protect you from yourself” has been said to the naive and brainwashed colonized population throughout the ages until today.

We do not need to look far, actually; the present political drama unfolding in Malaysia that is shaking right-thinking citizens reveals the unprecedented thievery and pretense perpetrated by mendacious opportunists from both sides of the political divide is ample indications itself.

Half past six champions of the void ab initio Malaysia Agreement of July 9, 1963 that saw the formation of the Federation of Malaysia are asserting that the rights of Sabah (20-Points) and Sarawak (18-Points) are safeguarded in a document identified as the Inter-Governmental Committee Report of 1962 or in short, the IGC Report; today, we shall see how foolishly wrong they are.

Before we proceed, it is necessary to recapitulate that the Malaysia Agreement is absolutely void from the very beginning because Britain at all material times never had sovereignty over the whole of Sabah to give away and the government of Malaysia like its predecessor the British government is still paying annual rentals to the Sulu Sultanate in the Philippines until today.

The Latin maxim “nemo dat quod non habet” is a legal principle that says you cannot confer property you do not own on another person except with the authority of the true owner or simply put – you cannot give what you do not have.

For further reading, go to the Manila Accord which was signed on July 31, 1963 between Abdul Rahman Putra, Soekarno, and Diosdado Macapagal; it is clearly and unambiguously understood that the formation of Malaysia is subject to the claim of the Philippines on Sabah being adjudicated in the International Court of Justice which Putrajaya is scared of going there for fear of losing.

And worst, the more than 1.1 million people of Sabah and Sarawak at that point of time were never consulted in a referendum whether they wanted Malaysia – only about 4,000 were reportedly interviewed by the Cobbold Commission.

Backward society

We cannot really blame Sabahans and Sarawakians who suffer from collective issues of ignorance because like the rest of Malaya today, for more than 50 long years, they have been indoctrinated with falsified historical facts and fed with substandard education that taught them “what to think” instead of “how to think” and living their entire lives on assumptions peddled by cheats and liars.

Do readers know why are things becoming so complicated and bad here in Sabah now?

Because the people of Sabah are so gullible to the extent that they cannot even be trusted to honorably do the right thing on their own volition during elections for their own good and that of their descendants.

Suffice to say, the Sabah of today has remained a feudal and backward society since the British left.

The fine example of Brunei not becoming a colony of Malaya, look at how they can do what they want with their oil and gas wealth – poverty practically does not exists there; the success story of tiny and resource-less Singapore who left Malaysia in 1965 being transformed into a First World nation today profoundly confirms that both Sabah and Sarawak are incurable failures of epic proportions.

Now, we go to the circus to showcase our clown of the day.

Question 1

The 1962 IGC Report by its name alone is only a report; and the pertinent confusion is this – since when can a mere report containing proposed recommendations or demands, as some people put it, evolve into a legally binding international Treaty, Agreement, Contract, or Convention?

In the 1963 Malaysia Agreement, were the 20-Points and 18-Points, or alternatively how many of both were clearly spelt out in the same?

Find out too exactly how many of the individual 20-Points and 18-Points were actually incorporated into the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, the latter of which is evidently masqueraded by the Constitution of Malaya.

By all international standards, is the IGC Report not at best only a Memorandum of Understanding with no legal force of law?

Question 2

If the IGC Report has no legality or statutory effectiveness, of what legitimacy do the Sabah 20-Points and the Sarawak 18-Points contained therein have?

Question 3

Ask yourselves this: if the clause “there should be no right to secede from the Federation” are in the Points that have no legitimacy nor legality, can Sabah and Sarawak still secede from the Federation of Malaysia?

Question 4

Do readers know that Malaysia is not a country but a federation of independent nations that consists of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore (left in 1965)?

Question 5

Do readers know the meaning of the word “treason”? The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as the crime of betraying one’s country.

Say for example the democratically elected government of the independent country of Scotland has decided that a referendum will be held onSept 18, 2014 to let their Scottish citizens decide whether they want to secede from the United Kingdom after more than three hundred years in the union since 1707; what treason is there?

Therefore, to the people of Sabah and Sarawak who harbor the wish of secession: you must first elect educated and competent patriots and nationalists to run your Sabah and Sarawak governments – not boot-lickers who are remotely-controlled by Malayan political parties like what is happening now!

Question 6

Now, Malaysia is a federation while Sabah (an independent nation) is our country or NEGARA in the Malay language; we have always been a negara when Malaysia was formed until 1976 when Parliament downgraded our status to negeri without consulting the Sabah Legislative Assembly after former Sabah Chief Minister Donald Stephens and many other leaders were mysteriously killed in an air disaster upon flying back from Labuan island without signing the petroleum agreement that robs Sabah to the tune of 95% of our oil and gas wealth.

The subsequent signing of the same by former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh and witnessed by Joseph Pairin Kitingan is also illegal because the Sabah Legislative Assembly was also not consulted on the matter.

How can anyone who calls for the secession of our country Sabah from the Federation of Malaysia be committing treason?

Question 7

The Macmillan Dictionary best defines “state” as a nation or country and the government of a country.

Take note that the State of Sabah like the State of Sarawak is an independent nation or country with a government where cabinet members are called ministers unlike say Penang or Johore where their local governments do not have cabinets and members are only executive councillors.

Sabah and/or Sarawak are equal in status with the entire Malaya combined and not with any individual states in Peninsular.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “seditious” as inciting or causing people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch.

As has been mentioned in question 4 supra, Malaysia is a federation of independent nations and Sabah is our nation or country (NEGARA in Malay) where we have our own government and in lieu of a monarch we have our own Head of State (originally called Yang diPertuan Negara and later changed to Yang diPertua Negeri by Parliament without consultation with the Sabah Legislative Assembly in 1976).

As far as we know, nationalists in Sabah and Sarawak are not instigating rebellions against the Sabah or Sarawak governments or respective Heads of State; for every citizen from the independent nations of Sabah and Sarawak, how can we when we call for the secession of our respective countries from a failed Federation of Malaysia be seditious, then?

Question 8

In every suit that we handled or lecture delivered in the past, we always provide simple and easy to understand analogies when we submit and today we give you the following:

If in a failed marriage (Federation of Malaysia), the lazy and incompetent husband (Malaya) not only neglect his conjugal duties (development) to his wives (Sabah and Sarawak) but also took away 95% of their wealth (taxes and natural resources) for his own extravagant spending, what should the wives do if not divorce and leave him?

If ever Sabah and Sarawak are to be bankrupted, let it not be done by Malaya for the benefit of Malaya.

Question 9

When the Federation of Malaysia was illegally formed in 1963 (as per our reasoning above), there were the governments of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore (left in 1965); do you realize that the government of Malaya has ceased to exist altogether unlike Sabah, Sarawak, and even Singapore?

If Malaya was not masquerading as Malaysia to colonize Sabah and Sarawak today, we really do not know what is…!

Question 10

In the year 1963 when Malaysia was formed, the governments of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore signed the Malaysia Agreement; an advocate and solicitor recently drew our attention to the following:

When Singapore left Malaysia in 1965, an agreement was executed on Aug 7, 1965 for the separation between the government of Singapore and the government of Malaysia without consultation with the governments of Sabah and Sarawak as original partners in the Malaysia Agreement.

Is the Singapore Separation Agreement of 1965 valid without the signatories from Sabah and Sarawak; if the answer is in the negative, is Singapore still technically and legally a part of Malaysia; further and in the alternative, is the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 voided as a result of the 1965 Separation Agreement?

Conclusion

The 1963 Malaysia Agreement is void ab initio; can the 1965 Singapore Separation Agreement further invalidate something that is clearly invalid in the first instance; or in laymen’s term, would blowing up a corpse which died years earlier with C4 explosives kill it again?

On June 18, 1984 former President Diosdado Macapagal who laid the Philippines claim on Sabah in 1962 said “unless Sabah becomes an independent state by itself, it shall be the continuing duty of our posterity to carry on the endeavor to return Sabah to the Philippines”.

In plain and uncomplicated language, it means that if Sabah truly becomes free, the Philippines claim will be dropped.

Our final question to readers from Sabah and Sarawak is this:

Is it not our nationalistic, patriotic, and holy duty to free our countries of an evil colonizer who is striving on racism and religious persecution, a greedy subjugator who commit continuous economic genocide on the people of Sabah and Sarawak by siphoning our wealth in the billions to sustain their lifestyle and leaving us with pittance?

To those of you who now understand but think and decide otherwise, where then have you hidden your conscience – in the sewage pond…?

The author is a retiree in Kota Kinabalu and depending on health, time, and interest, do blog occasionally at http://legalandprudent.blogspot.com giving no quarters to anyone.

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2014/04/14/can-sabah-and-swak-secede/

致馬來亞大學 - 院系調整尚需廣泛論證

2014-04-09 08:45
张一文

公立大學，顧名思義，辦學經費大多來自公幣，主要由政府財政供養，使用的多是納稅人的稅款。

儘管學校有辦學自主權，但是其院系調整，涉及國家和公眾利益，牽一髮而動全身，並非完全是學校內政，應該在國家教育行政主管部門的統籌下進行廣泛論證，聽取民意，科學決策，而不能僅僅由大學當局說了算。

院系調整，非同小可，有可能影響到國家教育的整體發展，這絕非誇大其詞。即便調整院系，高等教育的尊嚴、目標與宗旨不應“縮水”。北京大學中文系前身是京師大學堂文科的中國文學門。100多年來，教學體制時有變動，系名也幾度更迭，但總體框架基本不變，其尊嚴、目標與宗旨始終如一。直至今日，還叫北大中文系，成為世界中文教育的領頭羊。

倘若首屈一指的馬大中文系降格為中文組，其教育的尊嚴無疑大幅度降低，君辱臣死的一個可能後果就是，留不住資深教師，招不到優秀學生。越是這樣，在某些學術排行榜上越容易不升反降，從而拖累整個大學排名。

院系調整，不應拿本來就存量不多的學科“祭旗”。大馬的公立大學中文系本來就寥寥無幾，倘若再巧立名目，自行“削藩”，勢必稀薄中文高等教育氛圍，拉低中文高等教育地位，帶來負面示範效應，不僅不利於族群團結，也有損於國家的整體發展和長遠利益。

眾所周知，提昇中文高等教育，符合國家長遠利益。大馬是第一個承認中國的東盟成員國，中國已經成為大馬第一大貿易夥伴，馬中建交已經40年。培養中文高等專業人才（不僅是華語語言人才），加強馬中兩國戰略合作，是國家利益所在。

此外，大馬與台灣、香港、澳門關係源遠流長，大力培養高等中文人才，對於深化與這些地區的經貿往來和文化交流，亦大有裨益、至關重要。

一個不爭的事實是，中文已成為全球第二大網絡使用語言。隨著中國經濟的發展、國力的增強、從各種層面參與國際事務力度的加大，世界各國學習中文的人越來越多。據統計，目前全球學習中文的人數超過3千萬，100多個國家的2千500多所大學開設中文教育。在這樣的時代背景下，如果公立大中文系不進反退，離削自守，兵分勢弱，實在是違經背古，不合時宜。

結語，在法理上，由公幣支持的大學，若要推行改革的重大舉措，都有義務經過並經得起公眾的道長論短，有責任聽取讜言嘉論，體現教育規律，無偏無黨，為國家利益服務。在程序上，院系調整要先國後己，先花後果，而不是先斬後奏，先斷後聞。最後，願馬大和大馬所有的中文系，都能持盈保泰，繼往開來。（星洲日報／言路‧作者：張一文）

来源：http://opinions.sinchew.com.my/node/32234?tid=38

Sabah Kidnap - Failure to protect dwellers is dereliction of duty

11:39AM Apr 7, 2014
By Steve Oh

The Malaysiakini report ‘Retract ‘close down’ remark , Matta tells Junaidi’ highlights a serious flaw in government thinking that will damage the country’s image abroad.

If unretracted, the principle and precedent established is that your country has conceded defeat to interlopers and criminals and lost control of its border security because it admits it cannot safeguard its borders.

No one then can feel safe in certain parts of the country and its greatest natural assets often found in remote areas can no longer be safe for tourists.

When a government cannot guarantee the safety of its inhabitants within its borders something is seriously remiss. It signals the  government has failed to uphold law and order and thus failed in its most fundamental responsibility - to protect its citizens and others from potential harm from outside attacks.

Why should the internal security of Semporna be any different from that of Kuala Lumpur? After all practical problems have practical solutions. In times of peace should not the soldiers be redeployed in safeguarding vulnerable areas in the country? Malaysian soldiers have taken part in UN peace-keeping forces abroad haven’t they?

Even the ancient Chinese built a mighty great wall to protect its people in the most remote parts of their country. But Malaysia is not interested in protecting its relatively short borders? And wants resort owners to protect themselves or abandon the projects?

How mind-boggling is that?

What message or invitation is this sending out to those with criminal or other malicious intent that would want to enter the country illegally? I hope the government realises the ramifications of the deputy minister’s open remarks.

What is the use of sophisticated equipment such as the Scorpene submarines when they serve no useful purpose in ensuring the safety and security of the nation's borders? Would not more practical equipment that enhance coastal, air and other surveillance equipment and better intelligence be more effective and cheaper?

And then there is the common sense approach of working with the locals who can be their ‘eyes and ears’ well before any potential incursion is launched. How hard is it to have some of the Special Branch people located in the places where potential attacks may come?

If those Special Branch  people can be put to greater and proper use doing their real jobs instead of being underemployed and assigned to survey opposition politicians and civic activists the country’s security will be strengthened.

The same goes for the police. If more of them are properly deployed to go after criminals instead of ‘policing’ opposition politicians and civil activists who pose no threat to internal security, the country will be a safer place.

Ill-thought opinion or pillar policy?

It is something which no government in its right mind would want to have entrenched as policy that you give up what you can’t control within your sovereign borders. The government has to clarify if it is the deputy minister's unofficial ill-thought opinion made in the aftermath of the incident or a pillar policy of home security.

I doubt Malaysians will like to have areas within its borders declared ‘white areas’ as once threatened by the communists  during the Emergency and become ‘no-go zones’. It  will damage the country's image as a tourist place because a reason people visit Malaysia is its relative peace and safety.

Malaysians have already seen suburbs turn into bastions of private security since the police can no longer guarantee the home security of residents and home break-ins and robberies have become a serious endemic problem.

If Malaysia wants to be a developed nation it needs to give priority to home safety and border security and putting the right people in the right jobs must surely help. When you observe many of the problems inherent in the country that can be avoided, you need not be a genius to figure out that incompetence is not far down from corruption in the country's list of serious wrongs.

The deputy minister's idea of getting resort owners to desert the popular tourist areas is nothing short of preposterous. What is the point of owning one of the world’s best natural marine areas that people don't feel safe to visit or can’t visit? Will the government compensate the resort owners for their financial loss?

Government ministers should be more circumspect in what they say and not simply make statements without care and concern for the welfare of others. As it is Sabah is already finding unemployment a problem and where will the lost jobs in tourism come from?

In fact it will open the government to lawsuits for failing to provide the security for the resort owners since a basic obligation of all governments is to provide national security and when Semporna has been promoted as a desirable tourist destination to a global clientele.

The government should step in and regain and boost control of its border security than surrender to any foreign threat. It is the more intelligent and viable solution. I don’t see the foreign countries surrendering to the Somali pirates and asking their ships not to pass by those sea-lanes. Instead they sent warships into the areas to defeat the pirates.

We have seen the recent help Australia has given Malaysia in the search for MH370. Perhaps it is time Malaysia seeks Australia’s expertise also in helping to secure its borders because the latter has a bigger coastline to survey.

It has managed to keep out illegal intrusions into their borders with scant exceptions like the Sri Lankan boat carrying refugees that arrived in an Australian port undetected until in full public view a few years ago.

If the attitude you give up what you can’t control is applied elsewhere and resort owners are forced to take care of the safety of their resorts what is to become of Malaysia as a safe haven for tourists?

Private security becoming a growth industry

Someone must be making a pile out of those private security contracts. When private security becomes a growth industry then you know you are living in a criminal-infested place.

No centimetre of Malaysian territory should be surrendered to any foreigner and until you have the Home Ministry committed to the principle of safeguarding every citizen within its shores and will take every measure to improve security, Malaysia can expect more kidnappings and further intrusions because the deputy home minister has already publicly conceded defeat and lost the will to resolve the problem.

Many years ago a friend of mine was living in Lahad Datu when he saw the foreign intruders attack the area to commit their crimes. He was working there for the government.

Don’t Malaysian citizens also deserve to feel their government can be relied on to protect them while they are contributing to the country’s development in any part of the country?

Matta’s urging is one which will find much public support and the Tourism Ministry will have to change its slogan to ‘Visit Malaysia for the Ultimate Kidnap Experience’ and in small print, ‘Don’t complain we didn’t warn you to bring your own bodyguard’.'

It may be tongue in cheek but I do think the deputy home minister will have to retract his statement or damn Malaysia, as another dangerous third world destination that foreign tourists should avoid.

Clever ideas provide the solution but not-so-clever ideas become part of the problem.

It is the government’s duty to protect every inhabitant - citizen or visitor - within its borders and failure to do so is dereliction of duty and breach of trust.
-------------------------------------------------------

STEVE OH is author and composer of the novel and musical ‘Tiger King of the Golden Jungle’.

Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/259289

MH370 - IATA：監控與過濾身份‧馬應善用 API 數據

网主：我们为了马航 MH370 神秘失踪事件而难过。虽然如此此事件揭露了马来西亚掌权者的弱点，这有望助于他们纠正他们的失败。

会议揭露马来西亚出入境从来没有检查国际刑警提供的资料查阅乘客的身份，令人惊讶。我们祷告现在开始，这种操作不再发生。

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2014-04-02 09:58

（吉隆坡1日訊）國際航空運輸協會（IATA）總監東尼泰勒敦促大馬政府善用航空公司提供的“預報乘客信息”（API）數據，即日起監控與過濾乘客身份資料，避免重演2人盜用遺失護照登上馬航MH370的事件。

提供全球逾60國家資料

他說，這套每年耗資巨款，由航空公司收集的乘客數據資料庫，向全球逾60個國家政府提供乘客資料，不過他懷疑並不是每一個政府都會善用這套資料庫。

他今日在吉隆坡出席國際航空運輸協會大會時表示，馬航失蹤班機事件暴露了機場安全檢查的漏洞問題，2名乘客竟然可以盜用他人遺失護照，順利通過移民局檢測而登機，這已經顯示了安檢問題。

為了實現邊境管制和安保，現在有越來越多的國家要求航空公司以電子形式發送如預報乘客信息（API）和乘客姓名記錄（PNR）等乘客數據。

“這是政府的責任，各別航空公司也有權針對機場安全檢查提出要求。航空業都付出很大的努力，以確保政府所接獲的乘客信息，都是最新資料。”

由於內政部長拿督斯里阿末扎希曾發表“若將乘客的護照跟國際刑警的失竊護照數據庫比對，對入境官員來說是費時費事，更會導致航班延誤”言論，隨後遭國際刑警組織反駁，因此遭國際社會嚴厲斥責。

國際刑警組織指出，儘管其他國家每年使用該數據庫數百萬次，但大馬移民局不曾使用國際刑警組織的數據庫，來檢查飛機乘客的護照。

國際航運協會設工作隊
加強追蹤飛行班機

東尼泰勒說，國際航空運輸協會（IATA）與國際民航組織（ICAO）將合作成立工作隊，針對建立並加強“追蹤與掌握正在飛行的班機資料與狀況”

系統展開研究，讓地面人員可以全面掌握與追蹤正在天空飛行的航班狀況。

他說，在這個地面上任何舉動行為，都有可能被監視與掌控的年代，一架飛機卻無故失蹤，不留下任何痕跡的現象，不但匪夷所思，也讓人無法接受。

他今日在吉隆坡出席國際航空運輸協會大會時說，MH370客機失蹤事件，提昇了該協會對加強追蹤班機系統的警覺性與必要性。

“我們將向專業執法機構召開諮詢會議，檢查現有追蹤民航機的設備，並針對落實新追蹤掌控系統所需的投資額、時間與複雜性進行研究，以期能擴大追蹤覆蓋範圍。

“在這個地面上任何行為都能被追蹤與監控的時代，我們不能再讓法航空難與馬航班機失蹤事件重演。”

東尼泰勒強調，在尚未完成調查前，各造都不應對MH370客機失蹤一事作任何定論。

客機載鋰電池須遵守條例

另一方面，東尼泰勒指出，客機運載鋰電池是尋常的做法，但必須遵照危險物品條例。

“我獲知馬航MH370客機運載了鋰電池，不過，所有的鋰電池在運上飛機之前，必須通過嚴格的檢測。”

東尼泰勒也讚揚馬航的安全紀錄良好。他說，馬航從2006年就向國際航空運輸協會註冊，現有的註冊將於2016年檢討。

【本篇內容已在2014-04-02更新。】

来源：http://news.sinchew.com.my/node/357517

MH370 - Airlines call for more security, passenger checks

Web-Master: It was a heart-breaking incident that MAS MH370 just vanished mysteriously. Nevertheless if we looked at the other angle, that it had exposed the weaknesses in the Malaysian authorities in handling the disaster, something good will come if they would rectify their failures.

The Conference revealed that Malaysian Immigration did not check on the Interpol information about identities came as a shock, and we pray that things would improve at immediate action.
---------------------------------------------------------

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

PUBLISHED: 11:38 GMT, 1 April 2014 | UPDATED: 11:38 GMT, 1 April 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 highlights the need for security improvements both in tracking aircraft and screening passengers before they board planes, the International Air Transport Association said Tuesday.

The global airline body also announced it is creating a task force that will make recommendations by the end of the year on how commercial aircraft can be tracked continuously.

"We cannot let another aircraft simply vanish," said Tony Tyler, the director general of IATA, whose 240 member airlines carry 84 percent of all passengers and cargo worldwide.

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"In a world where our every move seems to be tracked, there is disbelief that an aircraft could simply disappear," Tyler said. "Accidents are rare, but the current search for 370 is a reminder that we cannot be complacent on safety."

The three-week hunt for Flight 370 has turned up no sign of the Boeing 777, which vanished March 8 with 239 people on board bound for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. A multinational search team of aircraft and ships are searching a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean but say they have no idea where the plane might have gone down hours after it vanished from radar.

Tyler also called on governments to step up the use of passenger databases such as the one operated by Interpol to determine if a passport has been stolen. Interpol has a database of 40 million stolen or lost travel documents, but most countries including Malaysia don't run passports through its computer system.

"Airlines are neither border guards nor policemen. That is the well-established responsibility of governments," Tyler said. "The information is critical and must be used effectively."

Last week, Interpol rejected comments from a Malaysian minister that it takes too much time and is too difficult to check the agency's database.

The police agency said in a statement that it "takes just seconds" to reveal if a passport is listed on its database, which is regularly used by the United States, Singapore and other countries.

The presence of two men on the Malaysia Airlines flight with stolen passports had raised speculation of a possible terrorist link, but it is now thought they were asylum seekers attempting to get to Europe. Nonetheless, their easy access to the flight "rings alarm bells," Tyler said.

IATA said more than 3 billion people flew safely on 36.4 million flights last year. There were 81 accidents, 16 which were fatal with 210 deaths.

___

Associated Press writer Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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Chief Executive and Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Tony Tyler, right, talks to Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation Director General Azharuddin Abdul Rahman after Azharuddin stopped his speech halfway and requested journalists to leave the conference room during the IATA Ops Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, April 1, 2014. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)

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Chief Executive and Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Tony Tyler speaks during the IATA Ops Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, April 1, 2014. The IATA said the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines plane highlights the need for security improvements both in tracking aircraft and screening passengers before they board planes. The 3-week hunt for Flight 370 has turned up no confirmed sign of the Boeing 777, which disappeared March 8 with 239 people on board bound for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-2594110/Airlines-call-security-passenger-checks.html#ixzz2xhbcQ8z4 

Malaysia's 'Joan of Arc' of abused migrant workers

7:55AM Apr 1, 2014

OBITUARY A beacon of hope is extinguished and Malaysia is a darker place for its irreplaceable loss. News of the passing of Tenanganita co-founder and director Irene Fernandez was not what I had expected to read in Malaysiakini yesterday.

I am saddened by the death of a remarkable and irreplaceable woman, a towering and selfless Malaysian who devoted her life to helping the helpless, comforting the exploited and soothing the wounds of the tortured in a once bright place that is blackened by corruption and that has lost its way.

Often she faced insurmountable odds against the might of the powers-that-be and its institutions of persecution. The political tyrants made life unfairly difficult for this intrepid, irrepressible and humble Malaysian 'Joan of Arc' of maltreated migrants and repressed refugees in her country.

It is incredible how such an amazing woman who spoke out for the voiceless and right-less can be charged in court for doing good for others, and it is an indictment of ourselves that we allowed the good to be called evil and the evil good and Irene to be bullied by those who abuse their powers and disgrace their humanity and country.

It is hard to speak of Irene without recalling the hostile environment where the authorities are unwilling to be scrutinised and held accountable for their deeds. She overcame the untold hardships she suffered at the hands of the overbearing authorities that had harassed her.

I first learned of this amazing woman some years ago when news of her court case emerged in the local newspapers and Malaysiakini. This unassuming and soft-spoken woman had been unfairly persecuted and prosecuted for her role in highlighting the plight of migrant workers.

It was the irony of her plight and her unwavering commitment to her cause and forbearance under unfair persecution that earned her a place in my heart. She was my hero not found among men in her ‘jihad’ for the unjustly treated.

When proud men pursued gain and glory,  this woman of women chose to side with the poor and oppressed.

Twisted persecution

Malaysiakini co-founder Steven Gan, then a reporter for The Sun, and his colleagues had in 1995 written an incriminating report of the government on 59 primarily Bangladeshi inmates that had died of preventable and treatable diseases such as typhoid and beri-beri at the Semenyih immigration detention camp.

The Sun had refused to publish the damning report so Gan turned to Irene who published information from it under the title, ‘Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Conditions of Migrant Workers in Detention Centres’ and for that she was hounded for the rest of her life by the government.

She was arrested and charged in 1996 with “maliciously publishing false news” and found guilty in 2003 after a seven-year trial. But her trials, courtesy of the government, continued outside the court. They are well-documented in local newspapers and even some outside.

In this sort of twisted persecution when politicians abuse their powers in government to prosecute the innocent who help others against the politically connected, Irene is no different from Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng when he was jailed for not dissimilar reasons.

As with opposition leaders Anwar Ibrahim and Karpal Singh, what her political enemies could not achieve in the popularity stakes, they did by using the court to hamper her attempt to attain political office by turning her into a criminal, thus disqualifying her from running for parliament.

While the wielders of power in darkness tried to tarnish her name, the enlightened world saw differently, and she was chosen in 2004 to receive a Right Livelihood Award, also referred to as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize.'

A woman not filled with bitterness

I have met Irene twice, and regrettably, not more. The first was when my wife and I saw her in her office in Petaling Jaya when we visited Kuala Lumpur. My wife a medical doctor had always been interested in the plight of sex slaves and wanted to find out more from her about the subject.

Some months later, Irene and her husband and son were sitting in front of me as we shared dinner in a Chinese restaurant in Perth. I had asked her to give me a call when she visited her son in Perth and she did. Then I noticed that Irene had looked frail and had trouble walking and used a walking stick as aid.

During our dinner, my wife and I learned more about her work. I got a greater insight into her work and role and I remember a woman not filled with bitterness or one would expect to be full of acrid remarks for her cruel persecutors and political enemies after all the injustices she had been put through.

Instead she merely stated what was true regarding the plight of the migrants, what they were up against, and even in such normal discourses, it is difficult not to note the injustice of all she had undergone. But Irene had shown no ill-will toward her cruel persecutors and our conversation was about those who she helped.

She overcame what her persecutors had dished out to her and with her passing, the plight of the refugees becomes more urgent with the need for more people to stand behind the work of Tenanganita she began.

I had learned much from our brief time together and if I have regrets in life, surely one must be in failing to follow up with Irene because we were overtaken by other pressing things and soon lost touch with her.  

As I write, I recall the strength of this remarkable woman in whose stoic countenance were etched the sufferings of a saintly woman, sufferings not the fruit of personal making but from helping the helpless in their pitiful plight.

The troubles and sorrow of the suffering became as much hers. I was with greatness and regret not having realised it.

A life of many trials

Malaysia came to its senses when on Nov 24, 2008, justice Mohd Apandi Ali overturned Irene's conviction of 'maliciously publishing false news'.

For 13 years since her arrest and charging in 1996, Irene had lived a life of many trials, her passport was held by the court, she could not stand for parliament in 2004, and was the subject of many police visits to her office and questioning.

Yet I had observed she had not been shy in making timely and relevant comments when needed on the plight of migrant workers and refugees. In a place where many are cowed and timid, Irene roared like a lioness without fear and favour, and political correctness was not in her vocabulary.

In her quiet dignified manner, she seemed a tower of insurmountable strength on an unshakable urgent mission. In fact I see in her a regal quality that only great  people like Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa display. Such people of conviction are rare these days.

Malaysia has many women of noble character who make their country a better place. They are the salt of the nation. Irene stood tall among them, if not above most, and has left a legacy that will be a challenge to match, if at all possible.

With other Malaysians and those who have been beneficiaries of her compassion and commitment, I share the grief of the passing of a great Malaysian and I know would have been a great friend had we had not let that opportunity slip.

My wife and I pass on our condolences to Irene's family. Good night, Irene, good night - see you in the morning.

---

STEVE OH is author and composer of the novel and musical ‘Tiger King of the Golden Jungle’.

Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/258722

Pakatan: Putrajaya to blame for local and international scorn over MH370

By Zurairi ARApril 1, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Malaysia’s handling of the MH370 crisis has not only invited scorn from international communities but also made it difficult even for fellow Malaysians to support Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his government, opposition MPs said today.

After being allegedly snubbed again from an official briefing on the search and recovery operation originally scheduled for tonight, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs said they will not settle for anything less than a briefing by a minister who has all the facts in hand.

“We feel not only sad, ashamed, but also angry about how so many mistakes and weaknesses could have happened,” DAP’s Lim Kit Siang told reporters in Parliament here.

“Everybody wants to give our utmost support in this tragedy, but these actions highlighted questions about our system’s incompetencies.”

The Gelang Patah MP said Malaysian authorities have gone through a series of blunders since the jetliner went missing, the latest being the conflicting last messages from the plane.

Malaysia’s civil aviation department said late yesterday the last words spoken by one of pilots of missing plane were “Good night Malaysian three seven zero”, and not the more casual “All right, good night” originally reported.

Malaysian authorities’ handling of the search has been heavily criticised by international communities, especially by Chinese relatives of those on board the missing plane, who accused the government of incompetence and even a cover-up.

In one show of this alleged incompetency, Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri was recently forced to backtrack on a remark he made in Parliament on the air turnback by the missing jet.

The leader told the House that the military had initially assumed that a Malaysian jet detected on its radar on March 8 was ordered to turn back by air traffic controllers.

But shortly after, Abdul Rahim admitted that his remark was merely based on his own assumption, which was inaccurate.

Lim, however, said he believes otherwise.

“I believe what he said in the house was not his own opinion, but he was given information, he was given a briefing by government staff,” Lim claimed.

PKR’s Azmin Ali pointed out that Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim had promised a briefing on the crisis for PR MPs tonight, but it was no longer possible with the absence of Defence and Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

“This morning we received information that the minister had run off to Hawaii for another conference,” said Azmin, referring to Hishammuddin’s meet with his defence minister counterparts from Asean.

“I see that Barisan Nasional are the ones politicising the issue. They’re not serious in working with PR to find a solution for such an important issue.”

This comes as Lim pushed for a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on the incident to start three weeks from last Sunday, regardless whether the “black boxes” of the missing flight MH370 are found or not.

The opposition pact insisted again today for the PSC or Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to be held soon so PR lawmakers can help out in the crisis.

Last Thursday, Shahidan insisted that Putrajaya will not set up a special parliamentary committee or a panel to conduct a royal inquiry into the missing Malaysian jet before the “black boxes” are found.

Shahidan stressed that the federal government’s top priority now was to find the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders, key pieces that could unravel the puzzle over the plane’s fate.

On March 25, Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said he was not in a position to decide whether a PSC or Royal Commission of Inquiry should be formed to look into the disappearance of flight MH370.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/pakatan-putrajaya-to-blame-for-local-and-international-scorn-over-mh370#sthash.pmbUyQFn.dpuf