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Yaacob Ibrahim: Melayu/Islam Perlu Tingkat Integrasi Dengan Masyarakat Lain

Masyarakat Melayu/Islam Singapura perlu memanfaatkan kedudukan sebagai kaum minoriti untuk mempertingkat integrasi dengan masyarakat lain dan warga asing dan memajukan negara.

Demikian menurut penasihat Majlis Jawatankuasa Eksekutif Kegiatan Melayu (MESRA), yang juga Menteri Bertanggungjawab bagi Ehwal Masyarakat Islam, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, di sesi dialog pasca Rapat Umum Hari Kebangsaan dengan para pemimpin Melayu/Islam.

Sesi dialog tahunan itu diadakan untuk membincangkan isu-isu berkaitan masyarakat Melayu/Islam, yang disentuh oleh Perdana Menteri Lee Hsien Loong pada rapat tersebut.

Antara isu utama yang dibangkitkan di sesi tersebut ialah kehidupan masyarakat majmuk di Singapura.

Menurut Dr Yaacob, perubahan kepada corak kehidupan di Singapura kian berubah. Ini menjadi cabaran bagi rakyat Singapura serta masyarakat Melayu/Islam untuk memperkuat semangat berbilang kaum yang kita nikmati pada hari ini.

“Kalau kita boleh memperluaskan apa dinamakan ‘middle ground’ antara kita dengan pendatang, saya rasa itu ialah satu langkah yang lebih baik di mana sekaligus kita memperkayakan pengalaman kita dan juga pengalaman mereka.

“Jadi, bukan mereka harus mengikut kita dan kita mengikut mereka, tetapi kita sama-sama berkongsi dan dengan itu kita mencari, kita mewujudkan hubungan yang baru antara kita dengan pendatang-pendatang yang berbeza kalau dibandingkan 50 tahun lalu,” kata beliau.

Dr Yaacob menyifatkan pengalaman sebagai kaum minoriti di Singapura dapat membantu masyarakat Melayu/Islam untuk lebih memahami warga asing yang datang negara ini.

Beliau menambah bahawa itu juga merupakan salah satu cara untuk masyarakat kita menyumbang ke arah SG100.

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

August 30, 2015
Thousands Turn Up At Bersih Rally To Demand Reignation Of Najib Razak

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Tens of thousands of Malaysians wearing yellow T-shirts and blowing horns defiantly held a major rally in the capital Saturday to demand the resignation of embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The crowds were undeterred by a heavy police presence after authorities declared the rally illegal, blocked the organizer’s website and banned yellow attire and the logo of Bersih, the coalition for clean and fair elections that’s behind the weekend rallies.

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad added momentum to the rally when he made a surprise brief appearance in the city late Saturday with his wife to loud cheers from the crowd, and telling protestors to “carry on.”

Najib has been fighting for political survival after leaked documents in July showed he received some $700 million in his private accounts from entities linked to indebted state fund 1MDB. He later said the money was a donation from the Middle East, fired his critical deputy and four other Cabinet members as well as the attorney general investigating him.

Protesters in yellow Bersih T-shirts and headbands converged at five locations and marched to areas surrounding the landmark Independence Square, where celebrations to mark Malaysia’s 58th National Day will be held Monday. Police estimated Saturday’s crowd at 25,000 while Bersih says 200,000 participated at its peak.

The crowd thinned in the evening, though some protesters pitched tents on the streets to camp overnight. The rally was scheduled to last until midnight Sunday.

Supporters of pro-democracy group “Bersih” (Clean) pose for photographer before the start …

Scores of police sealed off roads leading to the square, which authorities have said is off-limits to protesters. Previous two Bersih rallies, in 2011 and 2012, were dispersed by police using tear gas and water cannons.

Some activists carried canvas bags with the words “My Prime Minister Embarrasses Me.” Some held placards saying “We will not be silenced,” while others chanted “Bersih” and waved Malaysian flags.

In one area near the square, a comedian entertaining the crowd poked fun at Najib. Dressed up as an Arab, he pretended to hand over a multi-billion-ringgit check as a donation to a rally participant.

“Stop treating us like fools, Mr. prime minister,” said businessman Tony Wong. “We deserve to know the truth about 1MDB. Where has the money gone to?”

Najib slammed the protesters for tarnishing Malaysia’s image.

A woman participant shows the support for the rally of pro-democracy group “Bersih”

“Those who wear this yellow attire … they want to discredit our good name, scribble black coal on Malaysia’s face to the outside world,” he was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama.

A nation of 30 million, Malaysia is predominantly Malay Muslim with significant Chinese and Indian minorities. Its ambitions to rise from a middle income to a developed nation this decade have been stymied by slow-paced reforms and Najib’s increasing authoritarianism.

1MDB, set up by Najib in 2009 to develop new industries, has accumulated 42 billion ringgit ($10.1 billion) in debt after its energy ventures abroad faltered. Concerns over the political scandal partly contributed to the Malaysian currency plunging to a 17-year low earlier this month.

Support for Najib’s National Front has eroded in the last two general elections. It won in 2013, but lost the popular vote for the first time to an opposition alliance.

Mahathir, who stepped down in 2003 after 22 years in power, has been quoted as saying earlier that people’s power is needed because the legal system has been violated.

Apart from Najib’s resignation, the demands being sought are institutional reforms that will make the government more transparent and accountable.

Worried that authorities may jam communications, more than 41,000 Malaysians have downloaded FireChat — the smartphone application that allows users nearby to communicate with each other when the Internet is down and which powered last year’s Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, said developer Open Garden.

Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed has warned police will take action if the rally turns violent or protesters break the law. He has said that protesters should show their unhappiness with the government at the ballot box, not in the streets.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com

August 30, 2015
More Trouble At Trivelis As Shower Screen Shatters

Two more residents at premium housing development Trivelis have complained about shattered glass shower panels in their flats.

Logistics manager Jaime Chen told The Straits Times that her husband found out the shower panel in the common bathroom had shattered when he went to the four-room flat on Thursday to install safety films on the glass panels with several workers.

The developer, EL Development, had agreed to provide safety films for free to all residents after complaints of shattered glass panels at the Design, Build, and Sell Scheme (DBSS) project.

Madam Chen said: “We collected the keys in January but thankfully we are not living here yet or someone may have been injured by the shattered glass.”

The 34-year-old added that the developer will replace the shattered panel but she is worried about its quality. She also complained of other defects including crack lines on the wall, chipped furniture and hollow floor tiles.

Mr Christopher Tan, 36, said the glass panel in his common bathroom shattered even after the safety film was pasted. He discovered the damage when he went to his four-room unit on Wednesday. Mr Tan, who is self-employed in the food and beverage industry said: “(The film) only prevents the shattered pieces from falling all over the floor. It does not address the quality control of the screens. A lot of us are worried about the possible dangers to old folks and kids when they use the bathrooms.”

A spokesman for EL Development confirmed that there were two cases of shattered shower glass panels in August. That makes it a total of 11 cases out of about 5,400 shower screen panels in Trivelis. He added that all shattered panels will be replaced free-of-charge.

He also said that the safety films does not prevent shattering but improves safety.

“We have acceded to the residents’ request (for the safety films) as part of the goodwill package to give them a piece of mind.”

Trivelis made headlines in recent months after complaints about defects surfaced. Around 400 owners, who started collecting their keys in January, found problems from defective stove knobs to rusty dish racks to poor quality laminate flooring. The common corridor along 40 units was also prone to flooding during heavy rain.

The developer gave a “goodwill package” in May, offering them safety films, a new dish rack and extended the warranty on the laminate flooring from a year to 10 years.

Source: www.thestraitstimes.com

August 29, 2015
PAP Manifesto With Slogan – With You, For You, For Singapore

The People’s Action Party (PAP) unveiled its 2015 General Election manifesto on Saturday (Aug 29) with the slogan “With You, For You, For Singapore”. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and several PAP candidates are speaking at the gathering of 1,000 party and non-party members, held at Infinite Studios near Portsdown Avenue.

“Apart from holding on to all our current seats on Polling Day, we also want to be able to eat Orh Luat, Orh Neng or whatever you may call it with residents of Aljunied, Hougang and Punggol East”: Charles Chong at launch of the People’s Action Party’s #GE2015 manifesto.

UPDATES: http://bit.ly/1NEUsp3Posted by Channel NewsAsia Singapore on Friday, 28 August 2015

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

August 29, 2015
Nearly $100,000 Raised After Photo Of Refugee Dad Selling Pens Goes Viral

BEIRUT (REUTERS) – An online fund-raiser has raised more than US$67,800 (S$95,000) for a refugee from Syria and his daughter after a campaigner based in Norway shared moving pictures on social media of the man selling pens in the streets of Beirut.

Gissur Simonarson, founder of Conflict News, posted the pictures on Tuesday and was flooded with requests to help the man, a Palestinian from the devastated Yarmouk refugee camp on the southern outskirts of Damascus.

The pictures showed Abdul Haleem al-Kader, a single father of two, holding up pens on a roadside in Lebanon’s capital, his four-year-old daughter Reem asleep on his shoulder, according to Simonarson’s funding page.

A subsequent online campaign, which had initially aimed to raise US$5,000, collected as much as US$67,800 in 24 hours according to the page.

“It’s nice to see people come together and make a difference in another person’s life,” Simonarson wrote.

Lebanon is home to well over one million refugees from Syria’s war next door and such scenes are common in Beirut.

Young refugee children sell flowers, packs of tissues or offer to shine shoes for a small sum.

According to Buzzfeed News, Kader first left Syria four years ago with his wife and two children, moving to live in Egypt. His wife insisted they return to Syria, then left Kader and the children when he refused.

“I had nothing to do in Syria anymore, since the chocolate factory that I used to work in before is closed,” he told BuzzFeed in a phone interview.

“Some of my friends told me, ‘Why not go to Lebanon and try there.’”

Though he was looking to work in a chocolate factory in Lebanon as well, none were hiring.

“So I have no other options to feed my kids but selling stuff in the streets.”

Simonarson told Buzzfeed he knew his photos would draw a response.

“I talked to the guy I got the photo from, but he wasn’t the original photographer,” Simonarson said.

“We haven’t been able to find the original person who took the photos yet.”

“Conflict News has pretty good reach – I thought i might be able to locate him,” Simonarson said.

So he set up the Twitter handle @Buy_Pens, urging @conflict’s 64,000 followers to aid in the search.

After an initial false start, two Twitter followers managed to locate Kader based on the retweets of the original photo.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

August 29, 2015