Timeslice

IIUM wins royals 2008 junior category

Yem Mohamad — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:24:14 +0000

Congrats to the IIUM junior team for bagging the championship. On another note, well done UM for being the Champions for the first time. Well done indeed.

Keep up the good work and see you in the upcoming debate tourneys….

My sister is in the news

Yem Mohamad — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:57:35 +0000

Click on the youtube video link to your right to check out my sister in tv3. For international viewers, sorry its not in English (as the news is aired in my national language-Bahasa Malaysia). When I have the time (or energy) to translate, I’ll do so.

Wordpress 2.7 review

Yem Mohamad — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:13:20 +0000

Since I’m managing a few ther blogs/websites, I decided to make all of them run of wp cms since the start of the year. The result was nothing short of facinating. Enjoyed very much what wp can do for you. However, another great leap for wp was when they launched wp2.7.

For me, 2.7 truly enhances what you can do for yourself at your own pace and comprehension of the web to make your website truly functional and great. I’m bored of re-writing what wp2.7 can do for you, that you can find yourself.

What I do want to say is my verdict of wordpress 2.7: It’s great, it couldn’t have been better (at least for now).

Teacher shows disturbing video clips to 8 year olds

Yem Mohamad — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:31:38 +0000

Mum sees red over funeral video clip shown in school

By KAREN CHAPMAN and TAN EE LOO

The Star, Nov 9 2008.
PETALING JAYA: A parent has lodged a police report against a school for allegedly showing an inappropriate video clip to Muslim pupils.

Intan Sabrina Mohamad said her eight-year-old son was terrified on Thursday after watching the 20-minute video clip that had explicit images of a corpse.

She said her son’s religious teacher had allegedly inflicted fear in the pupils by telling them, “you need to pray or this will happen to you.”

“My son said he’s seen hell and cried when I tried to put him to bed on Thursday night,” said the boy’s father Michael O’Leary.

O’Leary said the video clip should have been scrutinised by child psychologists to evaluate its impact before being shown in school.

The video clip allegedly shows scenes of funeral services and a corpse wrapped in white cloth with effects of thunder and lightning.

It had the words Sajak Kematian (Poem of death) at the bottom of the clip.

Intan Sabrina, a rehabilitation physician, said her son told her some pupils cried after watching the video.

The mother of two said a parent-teacher association meeting would be held tomorrow to look into the matter.

She lodged a police report at the Damansara Police Station on Friday morning.

According to the police report, a religious teacher had said he did not have to submit the video for scrutiny.

It is learnt he refused to withdraw the video which was shown during an extra-curriculum religious education programme.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein has instructed his officers to get to the bottom of the matter.

“If it is true, it is crazy,” he said when contacted.

Ministry director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom said officers would visit the school next week and asked parents to write to him so he could investigate the matter.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Exami–nations Syndicate director Datuk Dr Salbiah Ismail clarified the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination will be from Tuesday to Dec 5 and not from Wednesday as was earlier reported.

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Intan Sabrina Mohamad is my eldest sister. Original news report can be found h e r e.

RPK Freed… as reported by CNN

Yem Mohamad — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:13:36 +0000

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – A Malaysian court ordered the editor of an anti-government news Web site [It's called Malaysia Today: http://mt.m2day.org/2008/ ] released from detention Friday, ruling that his arrest under a law allowing indefinite incarceration was unlawful [more on what I wrote againts ISA h e r e], a lawyer said.

Shah Alam High Court Justice Syed Ahmad Helmy Syed Ahmad ruled that the home minister acted outside his powers in having Raja Petra Kamaruddin arrested September 12 for allegedly causing racial tensions, said Raja Petra’s lawyer, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar.

“It’s a historic ruling and definitely a wonderful step in terms of civil liberties in Malaysia,” Malik Imtiaz said.

He quoted the judge as saying the grounds given for Raja Petra’s detention were insufficient and his arrest under the Internal Security Act was unlawful.

The ISA allows the government to detain anyone for an initial two-year period without charges and to extend the detention indefinitely.

Raja Petra, who was accused of threatening public security and causing racial tension by publishing writings that ridiculed Islam in this Muslim-majority country, was to be taken to court later Friday to be formally set free.

It’s not the first time that a court has ordered the release of ISA detainees, and the ruling also does not prevent the government from rearresting him under the ISA. The government can also appeal the ruling.

Raja Petra, 58, has increasingly infuriated authorities by publishing numerous claims about alleged wrongdoing by government leaders on his highly popular site, Malaysia Today. The government has denounced most of Raja Petra’s allegations as lies.

He is also on trial in a separate case, having been accused of sedition by implying that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was involved in the murder of a Mongolian woman. Raja Petra denies the allegation. If convicted, he faces up to three years in jail.

The legal controversies come at a time when the government’s popularity has hit at an all-time low while the ruling party is riven with factional fighting and faces the threat of being ousted by the opposition.

The Internal Security Act is a holdover from British colonial days, when it was used against communist insurgents. Independent Malaysia’s postcolonial government has kept the act in the statute books and has used it sparingly against political dissidents [bloody hell!!!! using it every year against hundreds of citizens is what you call 'sparingly'... American misinformation anyone?], ignoring calls from opposition groups and others to disband the law.

Raja Petra’s arrest triggered widespread protests by civil society groups, lawyers and other online commentators.

Some of Malaysia’s most popular blogs offer strong anti-government commentaries and present themselves as a substitute for mainstream media, which are controlled by political parties or closely linked to them.

The government estimates there are more than 700 Malaysians [really? only 700 people ke] who blog on social and political issues.

my notes: RPK’s arrest was not warranted. Indeed he can still be held under various other laws we have in the country. However, I do think he should stop posting rubbish on his web. He asserts to much of his views and pass it of as ‘reports’ without actually revealing any of his sources to date. Nonetheless, we now have 1 less ISA detainee. Umm, Mr. Government, how about the remaining 200+ detainees??

First state to give results (update 3)

Yem Mohamad — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:52:29 +0000

Kentucky: McCain: 8 electoral votes, Vermont: Obama 3 electoral votes.

Good luckbama

Good stuff, good stuff: obama 199, McCain 78. 270 needed to win presidency.

wokay, obama 333, mccain=irrelevant. obama won. wohooohoho

Good luck America 2008!

Yem Mohamad — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:34:25 +0000

“Lest it be known that the ferver of Obama has sent ripples across the world. May the wise Americans choose wisely for not only are they choosing a leader for America, they are choosing a leader for the world”…. Nelson Mendela, Nov 2, 2008

Moving on to wordpress 2.7

Yem Mohamad — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:32:41 +0000

I’ve been anticipating this move for quite sometime already. Looking forward to the upgrade.

A short banking history on the United States

Yem Mohamad — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:54:00 +0000

Very timely article written by the outspoken John S. Gordon for the New York Times:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122360636585322023.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_mostpop

p/s: if this is a ’short’ history, I can’t imagine a ‘long’ one. blurghghghgh….

Varsity debate goes practical

Yem Mohamad — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:33:34 +0000

Here is a very interesting website on how we, university debaters, use our rules, procedures and knowledge to evaluate the US Presidential debates between Obama and McCain recently. I personally know a few of the judges and have been judged (interestingly enough) by all of them in few Worlds tournament. They are all fantastic judges and have seen more debates than they can ever remember.

Here’s the link: http://electiondebates.wordpress.com/

For US Voters, think hard on who your next leader shall be, for he will not only lead your country, but will probably change the course of humanity in the next 4 years. So please choose well…..