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Sydney Siege Ended After Australian Police Storm Cafe

SYDNEY – Heavily armed Australian police stormed a Sydney cafe early on Tuesday morning and freed a number of hostages being held there at gunpoint, in a dramatic end to a 16-hour siege in which three people including the attacker were killed.

Police have not publicly identified the gunman but a police source named him as Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee and self-styled sheikh known for sending hate mail to the families of Australian troops killed in Afghanistan. He was charged last year with being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife, but had been free on bail.

Several videos apparently showing hostages inside the Lindt cafe in Sydney’s central business district making demands on behalf of Monis were posted on social media during the siege.

The gunman, whom the frightened hostages referred to as “brother”, demanded to talk to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the delivery of an Islamic State flag, and that media broadcast that Australia was under attack by Islamic State.

Abbott said the gunman was well known to authorities and had a history of extremism and mental instability.

Around 2 a.m. local time (10.00 a.m. ET on Monday), at least six people believed to have been held captive in the cafe managed to flee after gunshots were heard coming from inside.

Police then moved in, with heavy gunfire and blasts from stun grenades echoing from the building.

“They made the call because they believed at that time if they didn’t enter there would have been many more lives lost,” said Andrew Scipione, police commissioner for the state of New South Wales.

An investigation would determine whether hostages were killed by the gunman or died in cross-fire, Scipione told reporters just before dawn.

CAFE MANAGER, BARRISTER KILLED

Police said a 50-year-old man, believed to be the attacker, was killed. Television pictures showed he appeared to have been armed with a sawn-off shotgun.

A man aged 34 and a 38-year-old woman were also killed, police said. The man was the cafe manager and the woman was a mother and lawyer, Sydney media reported. Four were wounded, including a policeman hit in the face with shotgun pellets.

Medics tried to resuscitate at least one person after the raid and took away several wounded people on gurneys, a Reuters witness said. Bomb squad members moved in to search for explosives, but none were found.

So far 17 hostages have been accounted for, including at least five others who were released or escaped on Monday.

The area near the cafe remained cordoned off on Tuesday morning, with bystanders and passing office workers leaving flowers under police tape. Flags flew at half mast across the country.

Leaders from around the world had expressed their concern over the siege, including Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada, which suffered an attack on its parliament by a suspected jihadist sympathizer in October.

NO LINKS TO TERROR GROUPS

Monis was found guilty in 2012 of sending threatening letters to the families of eight Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan as a protest against Australia’s involvement there. He was also facing more than 40 sexual assault charges.

“He had a long history of violent crime, infatuation with extremism and mental instability,” Abbott told reporters in Canberra. The prime minister did not identify the gunman.

New South Wales Premier Mike Baird declined to comment when asked by a journalist whether it was appropriate for Monis to be free on bail.

A U.S. security official said the U.S. government was being advised by Australia that there was no sign at this stage that the gunman was connected to known terrorist organizations.

Although the hostage taker was known to the authorities, security experts said preventing attacks by people acting alone could be difficult.

“We are entering a new phase of terrorism that is far more dangerous and more difficult to defeat than al Qaeda ever was,” said Cornell University law professor Jens David Ohlin, speaking in New York.

Australia, a staunch ally of the United States and its escalating action against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, has been on high alert for attacks by home-grown militants returning from fighting in the Middle East or their supporters.

News footage showed hostages in the cafe holding up a black and white flag displaying the Shahada, a testament to the faith of Muslims. The flag has been popular among Sunni Islamist militant groups such as Islamic State and al Qaeda.

The incident forced the evacuation of nearby buildings and sent shockwaves around a country where many people were turning their attention to the Christmas holiday.

In September, anti-terrorism police said they had thwarted an imminent threat to behead a random member of the public and, days later, a teenager in the city of Melbourne was shot dead after attacking two anti-terrorism officers with a knife.

The siege cafe is in Martin Place, a pedestrian strip popular with workers on their lunch break, which was revealed as a potential location for the thwarted beheading.

Muslim leaders urged calm. The Australian National Imams Council condemned “this criminal act unequivocally” in a joint statement with the Grand Mufti of Australia. REUTERS

Source: www.todayonline.com

December 16, 2014
Chee Soon Juan In Wall Street Journal: A New Vision For Singapore

Singapore has made great economic strides over the 50 years since independence. With a GDP per capita of $55,000, the island state is, by this measure at least, the most prosperous country in the world. Yet rather than being proud of their country’s achievement, measures of social harmony and happiness indicate that Singaporeans are far from pleased with the status quo.

Looking behind the numbers, it seems that Singapore’s economic success has wrought havoc on less measurable, but no less important, aspects of life: Freedom, compassion and equality. It is the degradation of these values that has contributed significantly to Singaporeans’ disenchantment with the current system.

Even before the Reagan-Thatcher era of neoliberal economics, Singapore adopted a market-driven approach in which even value systems and social life were commodified. When the government wanted fewer births in the 1970s, it paid women to undergo tubal ligation. When it changed its mind and wanted more births, it gave tax incentives to couples to have more babies. When it wanted the children to demonstrate strong character, it rewarded their desirable traits with cash.

Monetizing things that we shouldn’t—especially under circumstances where societal values are involved—leads to harmful outcomes. It causes citizens to abrogate moral responsibility and devolve decision-making to market norms set by the elite few.

We need to fundamentally rethink how we pursue wealth and, more importantly, to what end. We need to ask that all-important question that Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel so trenchantly posed: What price do we pay when we cede our values to market mechanisms?

Unfortunately, without democracy Singaporeans cannot have a national debate on the future direction of our country. Talk about political freedom and the rights of the people is eclipsed by government threats that democracy undermines GDP growth.

And yet Singapore is in danger of being left behind. A survey of countries around the world reveals a distinct shift towards more democratic forms of governance. Many such political transitions have yielded greater, not less, prosperity. Adaptation to change is necessary for societies to keep themselves relevant in the global community. Singapore is no exception.

The island republic needs an alternative vision, one that will confidently usher Singapore into the next phase of development: Privately owned small and medium-sized enterprises, instead of state-owned conglomerates, need to be the prime drivers of growth; the wage structure should ensure that the working poor don’t see their real incomes shrink even as the number of billionaires rise; the elderly should not have to work menial jobs just to feed themselves; the media must be free from state control; and, most importantly, the political system needs to change to allow truly free and fair elections, where the political freedoms of Singaporeans are respected.

Singapore is at a crossroads. How the country moves forward will depend on the choices that the people and their leaders make today. The incentives that those in power build into the system will determine whether the country progresses or stagnates. To that end, the ability of Singaporeans to question authority and to build a capacity for collective reasoning and debate is essential.

It is shameful that we live in a state where market values guided by an authoritarian system trump moral ones guided by a democratic process. The danger is that we become blinded by the things we want and ignore the things we really need. Ultimately a nation’s success is not measured by the size of its GDP but by the number of minds it unfetters, the number of young lives it gives hope to and the number of poor it empowers. It is this kind of wealth, the kind that really matters, that Singapore must accumulate.

Now more than ever, we need a genuine conversation about Singapore’s future. Indeed, we need a bold new vision for the country.
* Written by Chee Soon Juan, Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party.

Source: http://online.wsj.com

December 6, 2014
Perbankan Islam Tumbuh Pantas Tetapi Masih Boleh Diperluas

BANK Islam tumbuh lebih pantas daripada bank konvensional tetapi ia terlalu tertumpu dalam beberapa negara utama sehingga terlepas peluang membangunkan sektor perbankan Islam sejagat, menurut satu laporan firma runding cara sejagat, Ernst & Young.

Bank Islam di enam negara utama iaitu Qatar, Indonesia, Arab Saudi, Malaysia, Amiriah Arab Bersatu (UAE) dan Turkey menguasai AS$625 bilion ($812 bilion) sehingga akhir tahun lalu atau 80 peratus daripada pasaran kewangan Islam sejagat.

Jika mengambil kira Bahrain, Pakistan dan Kuwait, perkongsian pasaran mencecah 95 peratus.

Laporan itu menganggarkan aset perbankan Islam dalam enam negara utama dijangka mencapai AS$1.8 trilion menjelang 2019.

Ia tumbuh 1.9 kali lebih pantas daripada bank konvensional dari 2009 hingga 2013.

“Apabila Turkey dan Malaysia meningkatkan lagi rentak pertumbuhan dan bank-bank Saudi meneruskan rombakan bagi banknya agar mematuhi syariah, kami jangkakan perkongsian pasaran negara-negara utama itu akan mencapai 80 hingga 90 peratus daripada pasaran sejagat,” kata rakan kongsi Pusat Kecemerlangan Perbankan Islam Sejagat Ernst & Young, Encik Ashar Nazim.

Beliau menambah bahawa industri juga akan meraih manfaat apabila lebih banyak negara seperti Mesir, Pakistan, negara-negara Afrika Utara seperti Tunisia, Algeria dan Maghribi menembusi sektor itu.

“Namun, tanpa rombakan undang-undang dan sokongan pemerintah yang kukuh, rentak pertumbuhan industri perbankan Islam dijangka sederhana,” tambah Encik Ashar.

Kekurangan pakar dan kurangnya kesediaan meneroka pasaran luar negara juga boleh menjejas pertumbuhan industri itu di samping menyekat pertumbuhan keuntungan bank Islam.

Secara purata, pulangan terhadap ekuiti (ROE) bagi 20 bank Islam terbaik di dunia adalah 11.9 peratus bagi tempoh lima tahun sehingga 2013.

Ini berbanding pulangan terhadap ekuiti sebanyak 14.5 peratus bagi 20 bank konvensional, tambah laporan itu.

Bank Islam mempunyai saiz satu perempat daripada saiz bank konvensional.

Walaupun Singapura tidak mempunyai penduduk Muslim sebagai penduduk majoriti, Penguasa Kewangan Singapura (MAS) berkata potensi pertumbuhan bagi kewangan Islam di Singapura amat kukuh, dengan lebih banyak bank luar negara menawarkan produk mereka.

Penolong Pengarah Urusan MAS, Encik Ng Nam Sin, sebelum ini berkata MAS komited mengembangkan “sektor penting ini”.

Malah, dengan permintaan daripada masyarakat Islam dan pelabur bukan Islam, kewangan Islam kini sama menonjol sejajar dengan khidmat kewangan konvensional.

Beberapa bank Timur Tengah pula, seperti Qatar National Bank, bank terbesar di rantau itu, difahamkan berminat mengembangkan khidmat kewangan Islam di sini.

“Potensi pertumbuhan bagi kewangan Islam di Singapura kukuh dan MAS komited mengembangkan sektor penting ini dalam industri khidmat kewangan,” ujar Encik Ng.

Beliau menambah bahawa matlamat MAS ialah menggembleng kekuatannya dalam perbankan borong, pengurusan aset dan pasaran modal bagi mengembangkan kewangan Islam.

Menurutnya, pendekatan serampang tiga mata dilaksana MAS bagi mengembangkan industri itu di sini.

Pertama, ia memastikan medan permainan sama rata bagi kewangan Islam dan kewangan konvensional.

Kedua, ia akan juga mempromosikan pembangunan bakat karyawan kewangan Islam di sini.

Ketiga, MAS akan turut serta dalam memupuk piawaian antarabangsa bagi industri itu dengan menjadi anggota majlis Lembaga Khidmat Kewangan Islam (IFSB).

Source: http://beritaharian.sg

December 5, 2014
Hjh Maimunah Restaurant & Catering Pte Ltd Terus Berkembang

ADA yang mengatakan restoran Hajah Maimunah diambil alih usahawan Cina. Ada pula yang kata ia bakal ditutup.

Namun pada hakikatnya, Hajah Maimunah Restaurant & Catering Pte Ltd masih bertahan walaupun menghadapi saingan dan kos yang meningkat.

Pemiliknya, Cik Mahiran Abdul Rahman, 49 tahun, ketika menjelaskan kedudukannya berkata:

“Semua khabar angin itu tidak benar. Mungkin ia tersebar ketika saya menggajikan seorang penyelia restoran berbangsa Cina baru-baru ini.

“Mungkin ada yang menyangka ia telah diambil alih usahawan Cina. Atau mungkin ketika kami mengambil sijil halal Muis. Ketika itu ramai menganggap restoran kami telah diambil alih usahawan Cina.

“Mereka mempersoalkan restoran Melayu memerlukan sijil halal sedangkan ini antara strategi kami meluaskan perniagaan.”

Malah, desas-desus mengenai restoran itu telah lama tersebar.

Anak Cik Mahiran yang juga Pengurus Besar restoran tersebut, Cik Masturah Didih, 28 tahun, turut menyangkal khabar angin itu.

“Sebenarnya, kami merancang meluaskan sayap membuka sebuah lagi cawangan di kawasan ramai penduduk Melayu. Ia mungkin di Punggol, Woodlands atau Jurong.

“Kami masih membuat kajian dan mencari lokasi terbaik untuk membuka cawangan terbaru.”

Menurut Cik Mahiran lagi, mungkin khabar-khabar angin itu tersebar apabila beliau mula dilihat menyepi daripada pengurusan restoran di Jalan Pisang dan Joo Chiat Road.

“Sebenarnya saya dan suami dalam proses peralihan menyerahkan pengurusan restoran kepada anak-anak kami,” katanya.

Cik Mahiran menambah, beliau dan suaminya, Encik Didih Ibrahim, 58 tahun, kini giat menguruskan sebuah resort di Puncak, Bogor, Indonesia, iaitu Villa Dlima.

Resort di atas bukit itu menempatkan 10 vila lengkap dengan kolam renang untuk disewa dan telah beroperasi sejak tiga tahun lalu.

Beliau dan suaminya, seorang warga Indonesia, turut menguruskan sebuah sekolah di Bogor, iaitu Darul Arham, yang kini mempunyai sekitar 450 pelajar menengah yang memberikan pendidikan sehingga prauniversiti madrasah dan sekular.

Dari segi tempoh peralihan restoran itu, keluarganya menyasarkan sehingga Oktober depan bagi memberi masa sepenuhnya sebelum diambil alih oleh anak-anaknya.

Selepas pengambilalihan itu, Cik Mahiran dan Encik Didih akan bertindak sebagai penasihat.

Bagi memantapkan pengurusan restoran tersebut, anak-anaknya diberi pendidikan berkaitan. Cik Masturah memiliki ijazah dalam bidang sains pemakanan dan teknologi dari Universiti New South Wales (UNSW), Australia.

Seorang lagi anaknya, Encik Ismail, 29 tahun, memiliki ijazah Sarjana Pentadbiran Perniagaan dari Universiti South Florida, Amerika Syarikat. Beliau dijangka memegang jawatan Pengurus Pemasaran dan Pembangunan Perniagaan restoran itu.

Cik Maria, 27 tahun, pula lulusan bidang Usuluddin dari Universiti Malaya dan bertindak sebagai Pengurus Operasi.

Encik Ibrahim, 25 tahun, pula adalah lulusan Universiti Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). Beliau kini membantu menguruskan resort Villa Dlima.

Seorang lagi anaknya, Cik Maryam, masih menuntut di Politeknik Temasek.

Cik Mahiran, ibu lima anak dan dua cucu, berkata:

“Anak-anak saya akan berusaha mengembangkan perniagaan dan memastikan restoran Hajah Maimunah kekal relevan. Mereka akan menyesuaikannya mengikut perkembangan teknologi, trend semasa dan mengetahui semua aspek perniagaan. Ini termasuk mengembangkan khidmat katering untuk majlis-majlis dan perkahwinan.”

Khidmat kateringnya juga menyumbang 20 peratus daripada hasil pendapatan syarikat.

Anak-anaknya, tambah Cik Mahiran, akan memastikan dapur pusat – Hajah Maimunah Manufacturing – yang terletak di Bedok North dipertingkat sesuai dengan keadaan semasa.

Usaha Cik Mahiran itu juga dilihat sebagai mewarisi usaha yang dibuat Allahyarhamha ibunya, Hajah Maimunah Haji Abdul Karim, seorang usahawan yang juga terkenal sebagai syekh haji satu masa dulu.

“Restoran Hajah Maimunah telah wujud sekitar 25 tahun dan kami mahu ia kekal dari generasi ke generasi,” ujar Cik Mahiran.

Menurut beliau lagi, kini pengurusan restoran tidak kurang mencabar untuk mendapatkan pekerja yang berkemahiran.

“Pekerja biasa mudah dicari tetapi pekerja yang boleh memasak masakan tradisional Melayu amat sedikit. Kami perlu melatih mereka selama enam bulan untuk membolehkan mereka memasak dan ada kemahiran yang lain.

“Apabila kami melatih seorang pekerja, kami juga mahu tiga atau empat pekerja lain turut tahu masakan yang sama agar mudah diurus.

“Ini bertujuan memastikan restoran kami mampu bertahan dan terus berkembang. Saya akan terus melatih mereka dan tidak akan menunggu mereka berhenti kerja untuk melatihnya.”

Syarikatnya kini mempunyai lebih 60 pekerja termasuk dari India dan Malaysia.

Bagi memastikan pekerja setia dengan syarikatnya, beliau turut menyediakan asrama, pengangkutan, insurans dan perubatan yang dibayar sepenuhnya oleh syarikat.

Ini tidak termasuk makanan yang boleh mereka makan di restoran dengan percuma.

Tidak hairanlah jika ada di antara pekerjanya mampu bertahan bekerja dengannya selama lebih 10 tahun.

Dalam masa yang sama, beliau juga akur bahawa agak sukar mendapatkan bekalan makanan kampung seperti pucuk paku dan ulam-ulaman sehingga memaksa beliau memilih Indonesia dan Thailand sebagai sumber bekalan alternatif.

Malah, beliau yakin restorannya mampu bertahan kerana tiga unit di Jalan Pisang telah dibeli walau cawangannya di Joo Chiat masih disewa.

Beliau turut melihat potensi masakan tradisional Melayu kerana restorannya turut dikunjungi para pelancong terutama dari Indonesia, Malaysia dan Brunei untuk menikmati lebih 40 jenis hidangan seperti lemak siput, tahu telur, rendang daging dan kuih- muih.

“Anak-anak sayalah yang akan melihat potensi dan trend ini untuk meneruskan kesinambungan restoran Hajah Maimunah,” ujar Cik Mahiran.

Source: http://beritaharian.sg

December 5, 2014
International Islamic University Malaysia Student Named Best Overall Speaker At Cambridge University Women’s Open Debate

PETALING JAYA: International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) student Ameera Natasha Moore has been named best overall speaker in the recently concluded Cambridge University Women’s Debate Open.

In receiving the award, the third-year law student outranked debaters from renowned institutions including Oxford University, Durham University, Trinity College Dublin, University College London, Vienna University, Berlin University, St Andrews University, Warwick University, the London School of Economics and Tel Aviv University among others.

Ameera, 21, and her team-mate from IIUM, Sara Rahim, 19, were the highest ranked team in the tournament, also known as The Norton Rose Fulbright Cambridge Women’s Open, after accumulating the most speaker points in all four preliminary rounds.

However, IIUM bowed out in the four-way semi-finals knock-out round against Trinity College Dublin and two teams from Oxford University.

The ranking is just another cap in Ameera’s impressive international debate resume.

Ameera is also a two-time English as a Second Language (ESL) winner of the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championship, the champion and overall best speaker of the Asian English Olympics Debate Tournament 2014, and an ESL semi-finalist of the prestigious World Universities Debating Championship 2014 held in India.

Apart from being crowned this year’s Malaysian Royal National Debating Champion, the Sekolah Seri Puteri alumna has also accumulated a long list of trophies from various local tournaments.

“I feel great. I definitely was not expecting (the ranking) as I knew the competition was tough! Yet at the same time, I feel satisfied because being one of the only Asian teams there and to dispel the myth that women can’t talk about sports or international relations, was an experience I’ll never forget,” Ameera told The Star Online.

“During the tournament, my team-mate Sarah and I were practically jumping when the motion ‘This House Believes that the US and Iran should form alliances to fight against the Islamic State’, was revealed as we had done extensive research on the issue.

When asked to share her most memorable experience during the competition, Ameera said: “To come out of that debate ranking first with our opponents, including Oxford, congratulating us and saying that it was very well deserved, meant so much. To know that even your opponents are happy for you, that’s something that words can’t describe.”

After graduation, Ameera looks forward to working closely with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in helping with the plight of women and children.

“It’s important for women to use debate as a platform to break down existing stereotypes. Especially where women’s and girls’ rights are undermined, debate can be used as the most effective tool for changing mindsets and questioning patriarchal attitudes at politics, work and at home,” added Sarah, a second year IIUM economics student from Afghanistan.

The competition, which was held in Cambridge University, United Kingdom, on Nov 23, saw 51 all-women teams from across the world taking part.

Although most participants debated under the banners of their universities and tertiary institutions, the competition was also open to composite teams made up from several institutions.

The tournament was held to encourage participation from women in the debating scene and to raise awareness of women’s issues.

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my

December 5, 2014