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Anak Selebriti Sharin Azhar, Berlatih Dengan Pasukan Bolasepak Valencia Di Sepanyol

Ibu bapa mana yang tidak bangga, lebih-lebih lagi jika anak mereka cemerlang dalam bidang yang diceburi dan berada setapak lebih dekat dalam menggapai impiannya.

Demikianlah yang dirasakan personaliti setempat, Shahrin Azhar Mohamed, apabila anaknya yang ketiga, Danish Qayyum mendapat peluang keemasan untuk mengikuti kem latihan di Kelab Bola Sepak Valencia, di Sepanyol.

Danish merupakan antara 12 pemain bola sepak bawah 16 tahun yang terpilih untuk menyertai kem latihan tersebut selama seminggu di bawah biasiswa Yayasan Olimpik Singapura-Peter Lim. Mereka bertolak ke Sepanyol pada Isnin lalu.

Dalam satu video yang dimuatnaikkan oleh ayahnya di laman Facebook, Danish berkata: “Saya ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada semua dan insya-Allah saya akan membuat yang terbaik.”

Pelajar berusia 14 tahun itu turut menerima ganjaran dermasiswa (bursary) sebanyak S$2,000 oleh Peter Lim, jutawan Singapura yang juga merupakan pengerusi bagi kelab Sepanyol itu.

Ketika dihubungi BERITAMediacorp, Shahrin Azhar tidak dapat membendung rasa syukurnya atas peluang yang diterima oleh anaknya itu.

“Ini adalah satu rahmat kerana dia sudah lama mengimpikan peluang seperti ini. Malah, Danish juga pernah menyuarakan hasrat untuk menjadi seorang pemain bola sepak profesional.

“Sejak kecil, saya dapat melihat potensinya untuk menjadi seorang pemain yang baik dan saya gembira melihat perkembangannya kini. Alhamdulillah,” kata ayah empat orang anak itu.

DARI SEORANG YANG PEMALU KE PEMAIN YANG BERANI

Awalnya disifatkan sebagai seorang yang pemalu, Danish juga lama-kelamaan dilihat semakin berani dan tidak lagi takut untuk berhadapan dengan pasukan lawan yang lebih dewasa, menurut ayahnya itu.

Seorang pemain penyerang yang turut bermain untuk kelab Home United bawah 15 tahun, Akademi Bola Sepak Kebangsaan (NFA) bawah 14 tahun dan Sekolah Sukan Singapura Kelab Bola Sepak Chelsea (Chelsea F.C. SSSG), Danish juga sering menemani ayahnya ke perlawanan-perlawanan bola sepak dan diajak bermain bersama.

(Gambar-gambar: Shahrin Azhar)

Pelajar Sekolah Menengah Coral itu turut dilatih oleh bekas pemain kebangsaan Singapura, Yahya Madon di peringkat sekolah.

“Danish menyertai sekolah tersebut melalui Kemasukan Langsung ke Sekolah (DSA) menerusi ko-kurrikular bola sepak. Malah, di bawah bimbingan jurulatih Yahya Madon, ramai rakan sepasukan Danish juga menjadi lebih baik disebabkan kemahiran teknikalnya yang bagus,” dedahnya kepada BERITAMediacorp.

MENDAPAT EMPAT TAJAAN

Turut diuruskan oleh syarikat pengurusan StarComm Management, bakal pelajar Sekolah Menengah Meridian itu, turut menerima empat tajaan termasuk Adidas, Lucozade, Yokohama Tyres dan AXA Insurance.

Sekolah Menengah Meridian adalah gabungan Sekolah Menengah Coral dan Sekolah Menengah Siglap, mulai tahun depan.

Menurut Shahrin, syarikat pengurusan tersebut juga mempunyai rancangan selanjutnya untuk mempromosikan Danish bagi sesi latihan di England dan Australia.

“Sebagai ibu bapa, kami harus memahami dan mengenal pasti bakat anak kita, tetapi saya membiarkan syarikat pengurusan untuk menguruskan anak saya supaya dia mendapat peluang yang secukupnya di luar negara,” jelasnya.

“Malah, saya sering menasihatkan Danish bahawa jika dia mahu bermain bola sepak secara profesional, dia harus faham bahawa ia bukan setakat kemahiran sahaja, tetapi dia juga harus mengimbanginya dengan bisnes dalam konteks hari ini, sebagai contoh Cristiano Ronaldo dan Lionel Messi,” sambung Shahrin lagi.

TERUS RENDAH DIRI DAN FOKUS PADA MATLAMAT

Bagaimanapun, sebagai seorang ayah, Shahrin tetap berharap agar anaknya sentiasa rendah diri sekiranya dia meraih lebih banyak kejayaan pada masa hadapan.

“Kejayaan mungkin boleh membuat kita lupa. Tetapi kita harus sering mengingatkan diri untuk fokus pada matlamat yang ingin kita capai agar kita dapat terus berjaya, sekaligus memberi inspirasi kepada orang lain bahawa mereka juga boleh melakukannya, tanpa mengira latar belakang.

“Tentunya, pengalaman untuk berlatih di luar negara seperti ini adalah suatu yang berharga dan tak ternilai harganya,” kata Shahrin lagi tentang penerobosan yang dicapai anaknya itu.

Danish Qayyum dan 11 pelajar lain dijangka pulang ke Singapura pada Selasa depan.

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

December 16, 2016
Goh Meng Seng: Government Sector Must Stop “Old Method Using New Technology” Stupidity

I was driving a friend’s car the other day and found the car braked suddenly while I was cruising, my foot wasn’t pressing on any pedal. It nearly gave me a heart attack and a RED LED indicator popped up CTBA… and I got worried when the “Temperature indicator” jumped from the usual 34 degree to 37.

I asked my friend why was this so, was the car having some problem. I got a smacking that I am just too OLD generation and didn’t know “NEW (CAR) Technology” at all. I was using “old driving method” to drive a NEW HIGH Tech car!

Cruising is a method I learned from my late father to save petrol and this works especially well for manual gear car.

But I learn from Google (yes, please check Google before asking “High Tech” question, else, will get another suaning… 😀 ) that the “High Tech Car” nowadays will put brake on if it detected no contact of either the brake or accelerator pedal! Or that when the car was travelling at low speed and there is potential accident, it will apply brake on its own! This is to prevent drivers who are too tired from getting accident when they fall asleep with their feet off the pedal!

Wah, I say… but seriously, that’s too “intrusive” for my “Old Method – Petrol saving driving”! And that temperature indicator is not about the car temperature but the surrounding temperature! Well, I told my friend I didn’t know the street temperature can get as high as 37 and why do we need to know the “outside temperature” when we should be more concerned about the overheating of the car itself?

My friend scolded me, don’t use “Old Method” to deal with “New Technology”!

Actually, this makes me thinking for the day. My friend has a point. When New Technology is evolving, we should be mindful to use new methods of operation to deal with it.

One fine example was the bloody redundancy of “Cash Card” and “Ez-link” card. Why would we need TWO cards when we actually could combine them into one-for-all usage Cashless card?

Cash card can be used for purchases but very few people use it because it was cumbersome. It came up with two types, one with Sim the other “Flash” card.. But some carpark can only use one of them! Such redundancy is caused by the “Old Method Mindset” using “New Technology”!

On the other hand, we have a handy EZ-Link card which we could just Tap away but it could not be used for purchases at 7 Eleven or supermarket! And it can only be topped up at the MRT/Bus stations or ATM machines.

Same for Cash Card. When you go to petrol station, they can’t just top up the cash card for you but required you to top up at the ATM machine!

What the Heck! What’s wrong with these people at LTA and those in charge of “Cashless cards”?

In Hong Kong, one Octopus Card, can do it all! Carparks, Supermarkets, 7 Eleven, Bakery Shops, Bus, MTR… and you can top it up at any 7 eleven shops or OK shops!

Apparently, these High End Natural Aristocrat Scholars sitting up there are only concerned about their “turf” instead of consumers’ convenience and services! In fact, both cards evolved because of transportation needs, be it ERP gantries or public transport. LTA should have combined them all in the first place by setting the protocol and standards!

This is the “Old Methods” using “New Technology” stupidity we are seeing in Singapore… and we still want to pride ourselves as “First World High Tech Cashless City”?

Source: Goh Meng Seng

December 16, 2016
International Crisis Group: Rohingyas Involved In Attack On Border Guards Headed With People With Links To Pakistan And Saudi Arabia

A group of Rohingya Muslims that attacked Myanmar border guards in October is headed by people with links to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Thursday, citing members of the group.

The coordinated attacks on Oct. 9 killed nine policemen and sparked a crackdown by security forces in the Muslim-majority northern sector of Rakhine State in the country’s northwest.

At least 86 people have been killed, according to state media, and the United Nations has estimated 27,000 members of the largely stateless Rohingya minority have fled across the border to Bangladesh.

Predominantly Buddhist Myanmar’s government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, blamed Rohingyas supported by foreign militants for the Oct. 9 attacks, but has issued scant additional information about the assailants it called “terrorists.”

A group calling itself Harakah al-Yakin claimed responsibility for the attacks in video statements and the Brussels-based ICG said it had interviewed four members of the group in Rakhine State and two outside Myanmar, as well as individuals in contact with members via messaging apps.

The Harakah al-Yakin, or Faith Movement, was formed after communal violence in 2012 in which more than 100 people were killed and about 140,000 displaced in Rakhine State, most of them Rohingya, the group said.

Rohingya who have fought in other conflicts, as well as Pakistanis or Afghans, gave clandestine training to villagers in northern Rakhine over two years ahead of the attacks, it said.

“It included weapons use, guerrilla tactics and, HaY members and trainees report, a particular focus on explosives and IEDs,” the group said, referring to improvised explosive devices.

It identified Harakah al-Yakin’s leader, who has appeared prominently in a series of nine videos posted online, as Ata Ullah, born in Karachi, Pakistan, to a Rohingya migrant father before moving as a child to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

“Though not confirmed, there are indications he went to Pakistan and possibly elsewhere, and that he received practical training in modern guerrilla warfare,” the group said. It noted that Ata Ullah was one of 20 Rohingya from Saudi Arabia leading the group’s operations in Rakhine State.

Separately, a committee of 20 senior Rohingya emigres oversees the group, which has headquarters in Mecca, the ICG said.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a news briefing on Thursday that the United States was aware of the report and reviewing it, but declined to comment further.

Groups like Islamic State and al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent have referred to the plight of the Rohingya in their material, and the battlefield experience of at least some of the Rohingya fighters implied links to international militants, the ICG said.

However, ICG said the group has notably not engaged in attacks on the civilian Buddhist population in Rakhine. Harakah al-Yakin’s statements to date indicate its main goals are to end the persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar and secure the minority’s citizenship status.

“It is possible, however, that its objectives could evolve, given its appeals to religious legitimacy and links to international jihadist groups, so it is essential that government efforts do not focus only or primarily on military approaches, but also address underlying community grievances and suffering,” the ICG said.

Source: www.reuters.com

December 16, 2016
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

December 16, 2016
Singaporean Cook Attacked Near KSL Mall In Johor

A 44 year-old man was left lying bleeding and dying along Jalan Sutera Road, near Johor’s famous KSL mall.

The incident happened at about 7.30AM today.

According to Johor Police, police received an emergency despatch at 7.30AM about a fight at the scene of the crime, and sent a team to investigate.

When they arrived, they found the 44 year-old Singaporean, who works as a cook, lying on the ground with severe head injuries. He was sent to a hospital immediately and is in stable condition.

Eye witnesses said when the incident happened, 3 men armed with baseball bats surrounded the man and hit him repeatedly.

Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

December 16, 2016