Fun and futile things to do

1. Vote

From The Star: Youth voters eager, but unsure of their choice:

PENANG: Young and first-time voters are eager to exercise their right but are still undecided about their choice of candidates and political parties.

I may not be a professional voter, being a first-timer myself, but I've always thought of myself as a pretty logical person. This leads me to believe that I can give logical tips on choosing who to vote:

• Pre-election period is always full of hope, sunshine and promises that may or may not come true. Don't get sucked in. Try and remember if the candidates actually came through after the last election.
• Don't forget that elections are usually about choosing the lesser of all evils. Though you may not like what one candidate did, try not to vote for the opposition out of spite. Always remember the policies that they're touting. This is especially important for Muslim women.
• The incumbent isn't necessarily the best choice.
• Try to read coverage other than the usual newspapers, i.e. The Star, NST and etc. Reading other newspapers will help you think critically, though I don't advise that you depend on any one newspaper.

2. Sleeveface

From BBC: Picturing yourself as a rock icon:

Just when you thought vinyl records were being consigned to the dustbin of musical history, something comes along to make them relevant again.

Sleeveface started in a Cardiff bar but is fast becoming an internet phenomenon requiring just a record sleeve, a camera and big dollops of imagination.

Put the sleeve in front of your face, strike the pose of the rock god you've chosen, and get yourself photographed.

Err, that's it. It's easy but it helps if you have a big record collection.

Go have a look at the photos on BBC. It's quite cool. I wanna do one now.

3. Fight for your rights to have sex when you want to.

From BBC: Manila women fight contraception ban:

Twenty of Manila's poorest residents have filed a legal challenge against what they say is a ban on contraception.

The group - 16 women and four of their husbands - are fighting a policy which they say denies them access to condoms, to the pill and other effective forms of family planning.

This has had a devastating effect on their lives, they argue, causing unwanted pregnancies, pushing them further into poverty and harming their health and wellbeing.

More than 80% of Filipinos are Roman Catholics and the Church is hugely influential. Abortion is banned and President Gloria Arroyo openly backs the Church's anti-contraception stance.

The policy at the centre of the controversy was introduced in February 2000 by the then Manila City Mayor Jose Atienza, a staunch Catholic.

He backed "natural" family planning - a less reliable method which involves couples not having sex when the woman is at her most fertile - and called the use of alternative contraceptives "a very, very destructive practice which ruins Filipino values".

The policy has hit poorest people the hardest, they say, forcing people to choose between a packet of pills or food for their families.

Several of the petitioners have had many more children than they wanted - some at the expense of their health - because they could not afford to pay for contraception.

The policy also exposed women to violence from husbands who did not want to abstain from sex, the rights groups found in an earlier report, and meant more women were resorting to illegal and unsafe abortions.

No seriously.

Parliament dissolved, elections on

In a ridiculously confusing move, even for a Malaysian politician, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi first said (from The Star: Parliament won't be dissolved today, says PM):

BANGI: Parliament will not be dissolved today.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi put an end to such speculation, telling reporters here yesterday: “Esok tak ada (No, it won’t be tomorrow)”.

He also denied that today’s Cabinet meeting would be the last with his present team of ministers before Parliament is dissolved to pave the way for the next general election.

He then called a hasty conference to announce that, in fact, (from The Star: Parliament dissolved, elections on):

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has announced that Parliament has been dissolved, paving the way for the 12th general election.

At a hastily convened press conference at his office Wednesday afternoon, he said he had met the Yang Di Pertuan Agong in the morning and received His Majesty's consent to dissolve Parliament.

"I've informed Parliament and the Election Commission," Abdullah said. The state assemblies have also been advised to dissolve.

The Prime Minister declined to speculate on what date Malaysians would cast their ballots, saying that it would be up to the Election Commission (EC) to decide.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission said it would announce polling and nomination day on Thursday at its office in Putrajaya.

Right. If one were to speculate, one would think that something big is geared to happen that would affect the country's votes for the incumbent. In response, the PM hastily placed a temporary quick fix on the thing and called the election so that whatever happens, happens after his position is secured. That's if one were to speculate.

Anyway, check if you're registered here (it actually works. I checked), make sure you know who to vote for, and make sure it's for the right reasons.

Really? We're that good?

From NST: Our workers third in productivity:

KEPALA BATAS: The country's workforce has been ranked third among Asian countries in terms of productivity, ahead of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Based on the Global Competitiveness Report for 2007/2008, the salaries and productivity level of the local workforce was ranked just below Singapore and Hong Kong, scoring 5.6 out of seven.

National Productivity Corporation (NPC) director-general Datuk Nik Zainiah Nik Abdul Rahman said the report involved 131 countries and was conducted by the Swiss-based World Economic Forum.

Sure or not? Was this study conducted by the same people who said our gross national income per capita is US$10,320? Even the DG of the NPC was in such disbelief that she said that there needs to be a more robust method of measurement of productivity.

More on Malaysia's awesomeness from NST Spotlight: Malaysia's rural health service second to none:

Malaysia has one of the best rural health services in the world, according to the International Health Organisation. The services being offered, including through embracing such new technologies as telemedicine, have helped rural folk enjoy the latest treatments, writes ANNIE FREEDA CRUEZ, JASWINDER KAUR and ALINA SIMON.

IT may come as a surprise to Malaysians to learn that there is a health clinic every five kilometres of the country. And that more than 95 per cent of the rural population have access to a doctor.

It can be said that every Malaysian has access to good primary healthcare. In many countries, rural areas are often neglected but not so in Malaysia.

There are 2,965 clinics and 151 mobile clinics in rural areas in the country, which is why Malaysia has won kudos for its rural health programmes from international agencies such as the International Health Organisation.

In the provision of primary healthcare, the Health Ministry has in fact achieved its target ratio of clinics to population: there is one health clinic or centre for every 20,000 people while there is one community or rural clinic for every 4,000 people.

Hmmm... one clinic every five km. Sure or not? Where are these clinics located? Pre-election news is so optimistic.

On the actions of governments

From Bloomberg: Danish Police Say Muhammad-Cartoons Death Plot Foiled:

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Danish police arrested three suspects in an alleged plot to murder one of 12 cartoonists whose caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005 sparked riots in Muslim communities around the world.

Denmark's Security and Intelligence Service, PET, detained two Tunisians and a 40-year-old Dane with a Moroccan background at 4:30 a.m. local time today in Aarhus, where Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that commissioned the cartoons, is based.

``The purpose of the clampdown was to prevent a terror- related homicide,'' PET chief Jakob Scharf said in an e-mailed statement.

``The clampdown occurred after a long period of surveillance.''

The detainees are suspected of planning to kill Kurt Westergaard, 73, who provided the newspaper with a cartoon of Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban. The cartoons, and the efforts of a Danish Muslim delegation in the Middle East to draw attention to their publication, led to consumer boycotts of Danish goods and the torching of Danish embassies.

``I fear for my life, when the police tell me there are certain people who are working with concrete plans to kill me,'' Jyllands-Posten cited Westergaard as saying today.

`I think the aftermath of this insane reaction will last as long as I live. It's sad, but those are the terms under which I now live.''

Police Protection

``This case unfortunately shows that in Denmark also there are groups of extremists who don't recognize or respect the basic principles the Danish society is built on,'' Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an e-mailed statement.

``The government takes very seriously all attacks on freedom of speech,'' Rasmussen added.

``In Denmark, one not only has the freedom to think and speak, but also to draw what one chooses.''

Denmark's Royal Library on Jan. 30 said it was in talks to acquire the 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The library said it would treat the cartoons as it does the books in its collection, and would allow patrons to sign to view them.

``It would be natural for us to have them at the Royal Library,'' Jytte Kjaergaard, a spokeswoman for the Copenhagen- based institution, said then.

``We don't perceive them as works of art. We don't have any view on their substance or content. Our view is that they hold a place in our cultural heritage. The cartoons have become a part of Danish history.''

This article is so awesome on so many levels. First of all, the reporters didn't even have to leave their offices. Everyone's e-mailing them statements. Secondly, that freedom of speech is so important in Denmark. I've never experienced that in my life.

On the other hand, they arrested them before they could actually act on their assassination plot. How are the police so confident that it was in the works?

And also, one for the rest of the world. From BBC: Australia apology to Aborigines:

The Australian government has made a formal apology for the past wrongs caused by successive governments on the indigenous Aboriginal population.

In a motion passed unanimously by Australian MPs on Wednesday morning, Mr Rudd acknowledged the "past mistreatment" of all of his country's Aboriginal population.

"We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians," the motion said.

Mr Rudd said he apologised "especially" to the Stolen Generations of young Aboriginal children who were taken from their parents in a policy of assimilation which lasted from the 19th Century to the late 1960s.

"For the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry."

For the full text of the apology, click here.

Just to reiterate, he's not apologising for the way the Aboriginese are today or their state of being today. He's apologising for the actions of his preceding government in persecuting them as a people, and by persecuting, I mean killing them indiscriminately and implementing policies that resulted in the Stolen Generation.

What's America suddenly afraid of?

I come back from Thailand and this is the news that greets me. Nice. Well at least it gives me something to blog about.

It appears that America has decided to usher in the Year of the Rat by cleaning up the rats in the world. I can actually picture someone in the White House saying that with a thick American accent:

"Gentlemen, the new year in the Chinese calendar has officially begun. Let's ring in the Year of the Rat by cleaning up these Commie and Jihadist rats! Yee-haw!"

What are they suddenly so scared of, I wonder. Is it a distraction from the Presidential race between a woman and a black man? Is it to reassert their 'manhood' because their next president may be a woman or a black man? Or is it just GWB having his last hurrah?

Attention: Americans who may have stumbled upon this. It's a joke.

Attention: The rest of the world who many have stumbled upon this and inadvertantly got the idea that I care about what you think. I don't.

Moving on. BBC is chock full of interesting stuff today, such as this. From BBC: Saudis clamp down on valentines:

Religious police in Saudi Arabia are banning the sale of Valentine's Day gifts including red roses, a local newspaper has reported.

The Saudi Gazette quoted shop workers as saying that officials had warned them to remove all red items including flowers and wrapping paper.

Black market prices for roses were already rising, the paper said.

Saudi authorities consider Valentine's Day, along with a host of other annual celebrations, as un-Islamic.

In addition to the prohibition on celebrating non-Islamic festivals, the authorities consider Valentine's Day as encouraging relations between men and women outside wedlock - punishable by law in the conservative kingdom.

There's a black market for roses.

More on Americans v The rest of the world. From BBC: US marine held over Japan rape:

A US marine has been arrested in Okinawa, Japan, on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl.

Sgt Tyrone Luther Hadnott, from Camp Courtney base, is alleged to have raped the local girl in a parked car.

The 38-year-old denies the accusation but has admitted to forcibly kissing the girl. He has not been charged.

A Japanese official said Sgt Hadnott met the girl on Sunday and offered to drive her home.

Instead he is reported to have taken her to his house, but when she started to cry he said he would take her home, which is when the alleged rape took place.

Okinawa's governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, said he felt "great anger" about the situation.

"This is a serious crime that contravenes a woman's rights and should not be forgiven," he told reporters.

Local tensions

Tokyo has asked the US military to tighten discipline among its personnel and take steps to prevent such incidents from taking place.

Lt Gen Bruce Wright, commander of the US forces in Japan, said US officials were aware of the "serious allegations" and were monitoring the situation in cooperation with the Japanese authorities.

Allegations of crimes by US troops against Japanese locals cause particular unease after a 1995 case in which three servicemen were jailed for the rape of a Japanese schoolgirl.

In 2006, a US civilian military employee was jailed for nine years for the rape of two women.

Damn straight, rape is a serious crime. Good to know soldiers have to answer for their own actions somewhere in the world. It's so rarely the case.

On a lighter note. From NST: Lonely Planet picks Malaysia as one of world's top destinations:

One of the world’s most widely read travel guidebooks has picked Malaysia as one of the world’s top destinations for this year. According to Lonely Planet, many of the hottest tourist attractions are on the East Coast. These include Taman Negara; Tasek Kenyir, Southeast Asia’s largest man-made lake; elephant sanctuaries in Kuala Gandah; and turtle sanctuaries - like the Ma’ Daerah Turtle Sanctuary Centre in Kemaman, opened in 1999.

“Malaysia is one of the most pleasant, hassle-free countries to visit in Southeast Asia. It’s buoyant and wealthy. It has moved towards a pluralist culture, based on a vibrant and interesting fusion of Malay, Chinese, Indian and indigenous cultures and customs,” said Lonely Planet’s website.

“Aside from the gleaming glass towers of the 21st century, Malaysia boasts some of the most superb beaches, mountains and national parks in Asia. The jungle at Taman Negara is so dense you could pass within metres of an animal and never know it.”

The greatest reward of a visit to Taman Negara is to be present in one of the world’s most pristine extant primary rainforests, Lonely Planet said. “The jungle here is claimed to be the oldest in the world: none of the Ice Ages had any effect here, and Taman Negara has eluded volcanic activity and other geological upheavals.”

As someone who is only just discovering what Malaysia has to offer, I'm inclined to agree. I've been impressed time and again, especially this year. Yay. Except the title of the article is misleading. The quote clearly says South East Asia. But whatever.