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Category: Politik

  • Ministers Should Not Take Usage Of Public Amenities For Granted

    Ministers Should Not Take Usage Of Public Amenities For Granted

    The following is a letter from one of our readers, Maran Velayan.

    —
    I refer to your article, ‘Resident dismayed that “VIP Minister” Grace Fu parked her car in reserved spot’ (http://theindependent.sg/resident-dismayed-that-vip-minister-grace-fu-parked-her-car-in-reserved-spot). According to the article, the resident expressed dismay that the Minister would park in a busy carpark and in a spot which residents have to pay a fee to get season parking.

    This is not the first time some of these newer Ministers are caught parking indiscriminately, setting a very bad example for many others. In September, another netizen took Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung, to task for parking his car in lots reserved for emergency vehicles at the National Library (http://theindependent.sg/netizen-alleges-minister-parked-his-vehicle-in-a-reserved-spot-in-nlb).

    The National Library (NLB) was quick to jump to the defence of Minister Ong and said, “there are a total of 3 car park lots designated for invited guests. As can be seen from the photo, two of the lots were available for use by emergency vehicles, if necessary.” (http://theindependent.sg/nlb-suggests-it-was-alright-for-minister-to-disregard-emergency-vehicle-parking-lots)

    What NLB did not say was, why the Minister cannot be dropped off at a convenient spot by his bodyguard/driver and be picked up later when the event is over.

    All Ministers are assigned bodyguards, who often also double up as the Ministers drivers. When Ministers have to attend official functions, besides his/her personal bodyguards, another will be assigned to the Minister from the Singapore Police Force (SPF).

    This means that the Minister need not be deprived of proper security at an event even when the other driver is running an errand (like parking the car). Indeed this is what most older Ministers do and they are mindful never to take the public amenities for granted. The public too respects them for such considerations.

    Just like the NLB jumping to defend Minister Ong, a grassroots leader too has jumped in to defend Minister Fu. According to the Facebook page ‘We want Minister Grace Fu to resign’, Malaiya Maran S claimed that the event was organised by SPF and as organiser, the SPF has gotten permission from HDB to park at the red lot for a “short duration”.

    He thinks that “keeping aside 1 parking lot for the short duration isn’t too much” to inconvenient the public. “And on many occasions, when there is no nearby parking lot available, I have seen Ms Fu drop off at the vicinity and someone will valet park at another available location,” he added.

    imple logic would dictate that Minister Fu could be dropped off at the spot without compromising her security while her car is valet parked. And that is the right thing to do.

     

    Source: http://theindependent.sg

  • Indonesia Police Chief Warns Of Growing Role Of Women In Terrorism

    Indonesia Police Chief Warns Of Growing Role Of Women In Terrorism

    National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said Friday that terrorist groups have developed a new trend of recruiting women to launch attacks in the country.

    “Using women to carry out acts of terror is becoming increasingly more popular with terror groups because women are seen as less suspicious,” Tito told the press on the sidelines of a ceremony at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta, adding that recruiting women for terrorism was not new in other parts of the world.

    The National Police have arrested three women that have been implicated in a foiled plot to bomb the State Palace. The women include Dian Yulia Novi, Tutin, alias Ummu Abza, and Arinda Putri. They are suspects for their roles in planning and preparing for the thwarted attack.

    The three women are affiliated with the Surakarta terrorist cell, which was reportedly planning to attack the State Palace under the guidance of Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian jihadist who is currently fighting for the Islamic State in Syria.

    National Police Spokesperson Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said that the police had anticipated involvement of women in terrorist groups in the the country but did not expect that women would take on direct and core roles in planning attacks.

    “Terrorist groups here are recruiting women to avoid suspicion when carrying out attacks. It’s a new strategy to deceive the targets,” Boy said.

     

    Source:www.thejakartapost.com

  • Gadis Denmark Bertempur Lawan ISIS, Tapi Hadapi Hukuman Penjara

    Gadis Denmark Bertempur Lawan ISIS, Tapi Hadapi Hukuman Penjara

    DENMARK: Seorang gadis jelita warga Denmark, Joanna Palani, 23 tahun, kini menghadapi hukuman penjara enam bulan gara-gara berjuang bersama tentera Kurdi di Syria untuk melawan kumpulan pengganas ISIS.

    Menurut Daily Mail, pada 14 November 2014, Palani, yang berketurunan Kurdi, membuat perjalanan ke Syria dan menyertai YPG (Unit Perlindungan Rakyat Kurdi) dan kemudian Peshmerga, tentera terlatih Kurdi, untuk bertempur dengan para militan ISIS.

    Mahkamah Copenhagen City mengenakan dakwaan ke atas Palani kerana dia melanggar undang-undang Denmark yang melarang warganya menyertai ‘pertempuran asing’.

    Ironinya, gadis jelita itu berjuang untuk menentang kumpulan pengganas.

    Pemerintah Denmark sebelum ini melarang Palani daripada menjadi pejuang Kurdi. Bahkan tahun lalu, pasportnya dirampas oleh polis dan pihak perisikan Denmark (PET). Namun, Palani bertekad untuk memberikan jiwa raganya demi demokrasi, kemerdekaan dan hak asasi wanita.

    “Jika saya ditangkap atau tewas, saya akan tetap bangga atas apa yang saya perjuangkan,” kata Palani, yang berketurunan Kurdi.

    Undang-undang tentang pertempuran asing ditetapkan pemerintah Denmark untuk memperketatkan usaha anti-esktremisme dalam negara itu.

    Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

  • Indonesia Police Arrests 3rd Woman In Foiled Bomb Attack On The Presidential Palace

    Indonesia Police Arrests 3rd Woman In Foiled Bomb Attack On The Presidential Palace

    JAKARTA — Indonesian police early on Thursday (Dec 15) nabbed a woman believed to have instructed a female would-be suicide bomber to launch a foiled attack on the Presidential Palace, as a senior Indonesian Cabinet Minister declared that the government is not losing the fight against radicalism.

    National police spokesperson Senior Commander Martinus Sitompul said they nabbed the female suspect, Tutin Sugiarti, 37, at a rented home in a village near Tasikmalaya city in West Java at 4.30am (local time).

    “She has given motivation to Novi to jihad (martyr),” he was quoted as saying in Antara news portal.

    Sugiarti is believed to have played a part in recruiting Dian Yuli Novi, 27, who was arrested on Saturday in Bekasi, West Java. Novi had intended to use a 3kg homemade pressure-cooker bomb for a suicide attack at the palace during the change of guard ceremony on Sunday.

    Sugiarti’s husband Hendra Gunawan, 39, was also arrested but it is not clear if he was involved in the terror plot, the authorities said.

    Sugiarti is the third woman arrested over the planned Sunday attack inspired by the Islamic State (IS), after Novi and Arida Putri Maharani, 25, were arrested by the police counter-terrorism squad over the weekend.

    Novi, who was among a group of seven people arrested, had worked in Singapore as a nanny, while Indonesian reports said Maharani facilitated the use of funds in the making of the bomb. Novi’s arrest came minutes after two men who delivered the bomb were ambushed by the counter-terrorism squad in

    East Jakarta. Another bomb maker was later caught in Central Jakarta.

    Maharani was arrested on Sunday in Sunda, a town in Solo. She is believed to be the wife of one of the two men and was also being prepared as a suicide bomber.

    Authorities said the group was controlled by a new terrorist cell based in Solo. The cell, police said, was set up by Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian militant who is in the Middle East fighting alongside IS militants.

    Naim is the mastermind of a terror attack in Jakarta in January, a July suicide attack on a police station in Solo, Central Java, and more recently, a plot to attack Singapore’s Marina Bay by launching a rocket from Batam.

    Meanwhile, senior Indonesian Cabinet Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who is close to President Joko Widodo, said the government needs to reinforce Indonesia’s founding ideology, Pancasila, which included national unity and social justice among its five principles.

    He said it has been neglected since the fall of former President Suharto in 1998 ushered in democratic rule.

    “We are not losing control (against radicalism),” he declared.

    Massive protests demanding the arrest of Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, who is on trial for alleged blasphemy, have affected the image of Indonesia as practising a moderate form of Islam and shaken the secular government.

    The blasphemy controversy has also given a national stage to the Islamic Defenders Front, previously known as a morals vigilante group with members involved in protection rackets.

    Its leader, Rizieq Shihab, told a Dec 2 protest in Jakarta that Indonesia would be peaceful if there was no blasphemy and other problems such as gays.

    Mr Pandjaitan said the government has Mr Shihab in its sights.

    “We have quite detailed data about him. We’ll see what happens. We know what we are going to do,” he said. “The President is very brave to do whatever is necessary for the benefit of this country. No hesitation at all.”

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Aleppo Residents Celebrates Liberation From Militants

    Aleppo Residents Celebrates Liberation From Militants

    The residents of Aleppo have taken to the Syrian city’s streets to celebrate the imminent official announcement of the city’s full liberation from militants.

    According to Syrian army officials on Monday, 99 percent of the formerly occupied regions of the city have been recovered by government forces, adding that the army is in the “last moments before declaring victory.”   

    “The battle in eastern Aleppo should end quickly. They (militants) don’t have much time. They either have to surrender or die,” said Lieutenant General Zaid al-Saleh, the director of the government’s Aleppo security committee.

    Press TV’s correspondent in the city says that there are reports of the complete liberation of Aleppo.

    Earlier, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the battle to liberate the city had reached its end and that government forces were making their final advances into the militant-held parts of the city. “The battle of Aleppo has reached its end. It is just a matter of a small period of time, no more, no less…,” said the group’s director, Rami Abdulrahman.

    He noted that the militants have now withdrawn from the last six neighborhoods they were using as hideouts in the city.

    Less than a month ago, the Syrian army started a wholesale push to drive the militants out of their stronghold in the city’s eastern side, making great strides in the process.

    Aleppo’s complete liberation from the foreign-backed militants would mark a significant victory for Syria in its nearly six-year-long campaign against foreign-backed militants. The liberation of Aleppo would deny the militants their main supply routes across the Turkish border while it would hugely undermine the morale of the militant groups.

    Daesh Palmyra offensive Aleppo diversion’

    Also on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Daesh’s latest attack on Palmyra was “apparently” launched from Iraq’s Mosul from “territories patrolled by the aircraft of the US-led coalition.” He added this “makes one think that – and I really hope to be wrong here — that it was orchestrated and coordinated to give a respite to those thugs, who are entrenched in eastern Aleppo.”

    He noted that the US had been using a conflicting policy towards the terrorists in Syria since the beginning of the conflict some six years ago, by battling Daesh but openly avoiding conflict with other terrorists groups.

    “There is a significant number of reasons to believe that [Al-Nusra] is being spared as the most effective combat-capable force, which opposes the governmental [forces] of the ground in order to be used for overthrowing the legitimate Syrian government when the time comes,” he added.

    While admitting that talks between Moscow and Washington over Syria are difficult, Lavrov voiced hopes that the US would stop exonerating the militants and commit to a “fundamental agreement” based on the “uncompromising struggle against terrorism.”

    In recent days, Daesh, the most brutal of the terror groups operating in Syria since 2014, has resurfaced in the ancient city of Palmyra in the west-central province of Homs.

    The group was driven out of the city back in March after holding it for some 10 months.

    Recently, it mobilized more than 4,000 terrorists, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency, re-entering the city of Palmyra amid fierce clashes with the army.

    Reports on Sunday morning indicated that Daesh’s attempts to re-enter Palmyra had been reversed, but various sources said later in the day that they had managed to force their way back into the city.

    Assad receives letter from Pope

    Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has received a letter from Pope Francis in which the pontiff voiced his sympathies for the people of Syria over the difficulties they had endured during the country’s years of conflict.

    The Vatican’s top diplomat in Syria, Cardinal Mario Zenari, delivered the letter personally to Assad on Monday.

    In his letter, the Pope condemned all manners of extremism and terrorism across the globe and especially in Syria. He also called for uniting all efforts to end the conflict in the country and to restore peace.

    Since March 2011, Syria has been hit by militancy it blames on some Western states and their regional allies. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and UN have put the death toll from the Syria conflict at more than 300,000 and 400,000, respectively. This is while the UN has stopped its official casualty count in Syria, citing its inability to verify the figures it receives from various sources.

     

    Source: www.presstv.com

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