Category: Sosial

Baby With Birth Mark Spelling “Allah” Born In Refugee Camp

Suruc| A couple of Syrian refugees living in a Red Crescent camp in Turkey, have given birth to a baby bearing a unique birthmark on his forehead: the name of Allah in Arabic characters.

Hussein and Amira Qabbani fled Syria in June 2015, after their house was destroyed by an artillery shell, during some combat between ISIS and the Syrian army. Ms. Qabbani was already pregnant at the time, but she still walked more than 360 kilometers with her husband to reach the Turkish border.

The couple gave birth young boy, on Tuesday night, inside their tent of the Red Crescent refugee camp. The news of the young boy’s distinctive birthmark rapidly spread across the camp and even across the country, attracting attention from the Turkish media.

The birth of Mohammad as rapidly become a symbol of hope for the refugees, who have welcomed him as a message from the All-Mighty.

“This young boy is the living proof that Allah hasn’t abandoned us,” says Farid al-Nouri, another refugee. “It shows that despite all the horrors surrounding us, Allah is still watching over us.”

Other refugees from the camp, however, have criticized the media for giving so much attention to the Mohammad’s story while ignoring the misery of the other refugees.

“The journalists come here to see the baby, and they completely ignore the rest of us,” says Duraid Rezk, who has been in the camp for 16 months. “They don’t want to know that we have nothing to eat or that we are sick… al they want to see is the young boy.”

Dozens of journalists from around the Mulism world and even from Western countries, have indeed invaded the refugee camp of the last few days, and most of their reports talked almost exclusively of the young boy.

Since they appeared in the media, the Qabbanis have been handed a 3-year residence visa from the Turkish government, they have received lots of gifts from would-be sponsors and were presented with various financial and professional offers.

The couple declared this morning that they were “very happy to leave the refugee camp for a more regular life” with their son, even if it broke their heart to leave many of their friends and family behind.

Source: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com

September 1, 2015
SMRT Ltd (Feedback) Revealed?

I remember it was in the evening of December 15, 2011 when I logged into IRC to see a flood of comments about the MRT disruption. It was to be one of the worst train disruption in SMRT’s history. And then we had a plan.

I was part of an online community in IRC. It wasn’t very big. We had a channel called #brainy where like-minded people with an interest in everything that’s to do with human intelligence come together to have a banter. By intelligence, I do not refer to the collection of information that is of military or political value, but rather, the understanding of the power of reasoning, logic, and acuity.

The rules of the community was simple. None of us were to communicate in their own names or exchange personal information about ourselves. Everyone was anonymous. The idea was that without a face and the knowledge of a person’s character, no one will be able to have a cognitive bias about the individual. Without such bias, any discourse about a myriad of topics are seen with neutrality, without any irrationality in judgement due to inferences about the person’s background.

“Let there be light, and there was light.”

On December 16, 2011, right after the major breakdown, someone in the community lamented about how there wasn’t any proper feedback channel for SMRT that was real-time. It was then the page SMRT Ltd (Feedback) was formed. The intent was to compile all complaints into one easily digestible page to get SMRT to look into.

Of course, some of us felt it was a very boh liao thing to do at the time but coincidentally, the topic of discussion during the day in that channel was on the concept of Totalism, more specifically, Psychological Totalism.

Psychological Totalism is the idealogical concept of total control over human behaviour and thought. This may sound complex but it’s basically the idea that we can change human perception through a controlled conversation flow that seeks to exploit specific behavioural patterns and emotions of an individual with the objective of changing a negative perception into that of positivity.

I’m a big fan of dry humour, although I’m not exactly very humorous in nature. We had two accounts for the page: the Administrator, and the Editor. The guy/lady that started the page was the administrator, and anyone from the #brainy community who wants in can log in through an Editor account.

The Editor account is shared amongst other people including myself. I’m not entirely sure how many are there but the structure was simple enough to have a fallback contingency. The rule of our wolf pack was that anonymity has to be maintained; there should be no political discussions whatsoever, and that any disclosure as to who’s behind the page has to be from a personal angle instead of a group. (Eg. I am the page admin as opposed to several people are the page admins.) This was to ensure personal responsibility in the event the page have run-ins with the law. Let’s face it. Nobody is going to go to jail for you. If one gets caught, he faces the penalties whilst the Facebook page remains in it’s entirety.

Failing to conform to these rules will have access to the Editor role removed and access to the #brainy channel banned. This was a tough penalty because the IRC channel was a place where we shared alot of research topics; from brain hacking to philosophy, determinism and free will. Anything and everything. It was a goldmine of information and access to this community was by referral. One has to go through a simple series of test in network penetration and social engineering. It was our collective belief that if one is able to traverse a network without much digital footprint, he or she is competent enough to protect him or herself, and to keep the consequential effects of anonymity at bay, a belief that forms the building blocks of the #brainy community.

“Shots fired! Shots fired!”

We all had our day-jobs. To keep the engagement running, anyone who was free at any particular point of time will post on the page. I started posting on December 17, 2011. It was the day of the 2nd largest breakdown, and boy did I had fun.

I was known as the “Customer Service Guy” in the group. If you had message SMRT Feedback between December 2011 and June 2012, and you’ve received some smartass remark, that was probably me.

I am also that guy who is still finding that kueh.

I mastered the art of Tai-chi too.

I didn’t really ace my Math but I guess I got the concept right.

And of course, Philosophy.

The administrator does not seem to be an active participant of the page since early 2012. Every year, between January to March, SMRT Feedback will be unpublished for at least 48 hours. Posts deemed very controversial will be removed by the administrator, and once it’s been cleaned up, the page gets publish again.

The page has since grown into Singapore’s social media badass (or dumbass as some would call it), known for its dark humour and snarky wit. It was the effort of a collective, with a a belief that if you want to confront something head-on, you put everything out in the open instead of suppressing opinions and painting a fantastical picture over it. By suppressing thoughts, you amplify curiosity and if there is no proper channel for feedback, these curiosities will manifest itself into perception, creating an illusion of truth and with time, will be perceived as being the truth itself.

But of course, the reality of life took a toll. Many left and many joined. I left midway through 2012 to focus on a start-up. Priorities changed and the page was left to run on it’s own by anyone who is boh liao enough to do so. Many of SMRT Feedback’s followers who have been religiously keeping up with the page updates have noticed a change in tonality and overall ‘feel’. I don’t fault them. The old guards are now gone, and the freshlings took over. It’s been close to 4 years, surely many would have move forward in life. I did.

By 2013, the #brainy IRC group no longer exist. It has been running since 2004. And now here I am prepping myself up for the General Elections. I’ve stood for public office before, more specifically, stood infront of it – at the Police Cantonment Complex.

I’m not a fan of politics. It’s annoying all these back and forth talk about what’s good for the people and what’s not. I think all political parties have their fair share of good idealogy and at the same time, both camps have idiots saying idiotic things. I wanted to be rational; that common man on the street who wants his voice heard.

I didn’t come from a privileged background, neither is my father a ‘sombody’. I didn’t go through the traditional route of education. I went for night classes at the Singapore Accountancy Academy whilst at the same time studying for my ‘O’ level. I went into NS earlier than my cohort, and along the way dropped out of ACCA. I was heavily involved in start-ups and the creation of things although I didn’t actually create anything particularly useful.

And now it comes to this. The Teh Tarik Party.

I developed the concept of Teh Tarik Economics to represent the philosophical idea of determinism where every human decisions and actions are based from preceding circumstances, both cognitive and metaphysical, to cause a future chain of events shaped out of our individual motives and desires. Such events are then influenced through Psychological Totalism, as explained earlier – the idealogical concept of total control over human behaviour and thought.

Truth to be told, I’m not exactly sure what I’ve just said or how Teh Tarik has any relation to determinism.

But one thing I know for sure is that to make a good mug of teh tarik, the contributing ingredients that forms the drink has to be in harmony. With the right mix and the right temperature, we are able to create a nice consistency.

This can be applied to politics. Any policies proposed has to be in harmony with each other to collectively form the system. With the right diversity and the right environment, only then can the system be consistent.

I created the Manifesto to represent this consistency. It’s idealistic and radical, but perhaps it’s something that we need for Singapore. If you haven’t already read the Manifesto, here are the policies that I’ve covered:

1. Family Development & Care

2. Immigration

3. Tax

4. Education

5. National Service, Healthcare, Society, CPF and Transport

Let’s face it. It’s not the future of our children we are worried about. We are more worried that we have to pay for their asses in the future. Nobody wants to make a living. They simply want to retire early. There’s a difference.I end this note with the hope that Singaporeans will now think rationally when deciding the future of Singapore. Don’t oppose for the sake of opposing, and don’t be blinded by populist ideology. I am not pro-Singaporean neither do I accept the definition of a ‘true-blue Singaporean’. When we divide people into different categories and class, we are in for a downward spiral, and it’s something that I cannot accept.

The current team at SMRT Feedback will continue to do what they do best and I thank them for helping me to amplify the manifesto. This is also part of their public disclosure policy, to ensure the Government, the Authorities and the people, that SMRT Feedback is here to stay and will be the neutral voice for Singapore, without fear nor favour. I’m no longer part of them but I guess once you’ve put on the mask, you carry their legacy. And yes, they are still anonymous. I have no idea who they are and it’s not anytime soon that their identities will be revealed because the structure and design is pretty much failsafe – has been for the past 4 years, and will remain so for the next few years.

I may or may not run for elections, but the manifesto is there for everyone to figure out where their vote goes to.

In the near future, I’ll probably be walking to court with a target behind my back, but I guess that’s the beauty of karma.

To one and all, my name is Azly J Nor. In case I don’t see you, good morning, good evening, and goodnight.

Source: SMRT Ltd (Feedback)

September 1, 2015
Thousands Signs Petition To Help Sisters Sentenced To Gang Rape

Over 120,000 signatures have been collected for a petition to help two sisters from India who were sentenced to be gang raped by their village elders.

The sentence was handed down by a council of men in the village of Sankrot in Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh, on July 30 after the girls’ brother eloped with a married woman from a higher caste.

According to The Telegraph, the man’s family is said to be from the “Dalit” caste, known as the “untouchables”, while the woman is from the “Jat caste”.

Meenakshi Kumari, 23, and her 15-year-old sister, who has not been named, had been sentenced to be raped and paraded naked with their faces blackened, for their brother’s crime, reportedTime.com.

They ran away to the capital and submitted a petition for protection to the Supreme Court, but face arrest if they return home, said Mail Online.

A petition to demand justice for the sisters was started by human rights group Amnesty International.

On its site, the group said: “Nothing could justify this abhorrent punishment. It’s not fair. It’s not right. And it’s against the law. Demand that the local authorities intervene immediately.”

Source: www.tnp.sg

August 31, 2015
Ban On Entry To Singapore For Foreigners With HIV Eased

For more than two decades, foreigners infected with HIV have not been allowed to set foot in Singapore. However, the ban on those entering on short-term visit passes was lifted on April 1, The Straits Times has found out.

The ban remains for long-term visitors, such as those looking to work in Singapore or those who want to accompany a child studying here, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed.

“The policy on the repatriation and permanent blacklisting of HIV-positive foreigners was recommended in the late 1980s when the disease was new, fatal and no effective treatment was available,” a spokesman said.

But the ban was lifted “given the current context with more than 5,000 Singapore residents living with HIV and the availability of effective treatment for the disease”.

The human immunodeficiency virus causes Aids, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

The Straits Times understands that foreigners here – excluding permanent residents or spouses of Singaporeans – found to be HIV- positive will be deported and put on a permanent blacklist.

The MOH spokesman added: “Lifting the short-term travel restrictions… poses very low additional risk of HIV transmission to the local population.

“However, the public health risk posed by long-stayers is not insignificant, hence the restriction on long-term visits has been retained.”

The rule is similar to immigration laws found in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, he added.

HIV attacks the body’s immune system and is transmitted mainly through sexual intercourse, although it can spread in other ways, such as by sharing contaminated needles.

A spokesman for advocacy group Action for Aids said it welcomed the change, but restrictions should also be lifted for long-term visitors.

“People living with HIV or Aids are not criminals and should not be banned from entering the country,” he said. “(They) can and should be able to have fulfilling and rewarding lives, with loving relationships and be integrated as part of the community. Unfortunately, discrimination is still prevalent.”

Professor Roy Chan, who is on the governing council of the International Aids Society and is also the president of Action for Aids, added: “People living with HIV infection who are on antiretroviral therapy and are successfully virally suppressed are not infectious to other people.”

Antiretroviral therapy can reduce the virus to undetectable levels in the blood, enabling the immune system to recover and function almost normally.

A 56-year-old who is HIV-positive and declined to give his name said: “Some of my friends who are HIV-positive are worried about how to pack their medication and if they will be barred when they travel. We hope to be allowed into other countries, so we would want to accord the same treatment for people who enter our country.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

August 31, 2015
Thai Bombing Suspect ‘Not Cooperative’

The foreigner arrested on suspicion of involvement in the deadly Aug 17 bombing is not cooperating with investigators, Thai police said.

As the 28-year-old is believed to be part of a network, the security agencies are expanding their hunt, based on mobile phone records, for others behind the blast that killed 20 people, 12 of them foreigners.

Yesterday, police searched another house in the Minburi district, close to where last Saturday’s arrest took place, and found more bomb- making materials.

Security agencies downplayed the view held by many analysts that the blast was an act of international terrorism, saying that while no motive is being ruled out, the man who was arrested could be part of a people-smuggling group, acting in a feud.

“Security forces have always been reluctant to define something as terrorism, for domestic and international political reasons,” said Professor Panitan Wattanayagorn, an adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, General Prawit Wongsuwan. “But there is no reason really not to call this terrorism,” he acknowledged.

The suspect is being held for possessing illegal explosives. The haul found at his rented apartment was “staggering”, said a source familiar with the investigation.

It included bomb-making materials such as pipes and fuses, ball bearings of the type used in the Aug 17 bomb and, according to a picture released by police, at least one explosive belt of the kind used in suicide bomb attacks. Stacks of fake Turkish passports were also found.

The source said the area where the suspect stayed, in the eastern outskirts of Bangkok, is a “staging point for Uighurs going to Malaysia or Turkey”.

Of the foreigners killed on Aug 17, most were ethnic Chinese, though of different nationalities.

Security analysts speculate that the blast was a possible revenge attack by extremist Uighur elements in retaliation for Thailand’s deportation last month of more than 100 Uighurs to China, which drew widespread outrage. The Uighurs are a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in China’s restive Xinjiang region.

At a press conference yesterday, a regime spokesman, Colonel Winthai Suvaree, made only a brief statement, then showed film clips of normal life and security officers checking people at border posts.

Analysts see the reluctance to use the “terrorism” label as aimed at protecting the local tourism sector.

China, too, is reluctant to link the blast to the Thai regime’s acquiescence to its deportation requests, said one analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity. That would be admitting the deportation triggered a deadly backlash.

Said the source familiar with the investigation: “The facts speak for themselves – the scale, venue, the identity of those killed, the ethnic origin of the suspect. You don’t have to be a terrorism expert to draw a conclusion.”

Denial would only mislead the international community as well as Thailand’s own security agencies, analysts warn.

“While Thailand should be commended for its initial breakthrough in the investigation, Bangkok must understand that the threat is persistent. No country, including Thailand, should deny the reality of the terrorist threat in South-east Asia,” Singapore-based security specialist Rohan Gunaratna said.

“The impact of the terrorist attack in Bangkok needs to be harnessed… to strengthen their counter-terrorism capabilities. Rather than denying (that it is terrorism), it is in the long-term interests of Thailand and the region for Bangkok to engage (with)… counter-terrorism partners and address gaps and loopholes.”

Deputy police chief Jakthip Chaijinda yesterday urged the media to “have confidence in the state officials, in the military, police”.

“We are not going to risk our team, our nation and our country to (find) a scapegoat to close this case. There are many parties, many organisations watching,” he said.

“Contrary to what critics say, the Thai police actually do a very good job; they are not flashy but they plod and prod,” the source told The Straits Times. “There may be little understanding of the broader picture, but it is robust police work.”

However, he warned that the bombing had changed the situation. “Now they must allow their professional, good officers – and there are many – to work free of any political interference. It is in the Thais’ own interests that there should be no political spin.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

August 31, 2015