all the catholic churches in malaysia had been directed to read out the following statement in church beginning from today (31 march) and everyday for a week until 8 april.

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STATEMENT BY THE CONFERENCE OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOP OF MALAYSIA ON THE COURT OF APPEAL DECISION IN THE MATTER OF R. SUBASHINI SARAVANAN

We are deeply disappointed and feel aggrieved by the recent majority decision of the Court of Appeal that the non-Muslim wife had to seek recourse through the Syariah Courts. This is a form of religious oppression and an affront to human dignity. As the Federal Constitution is the supreme law of the country, a person of one religion should not be made subject to laws of and governance by another religion. We urge all to voice their grievances against the injustice through proper channels. Let us do all that is possible and also pray that justice and freedom of religion be restored.

signed by the President of Conference of Catholic Bishops of Malaysia, Most Rev. Datuk Murphy Pakiam, dated 27th March 2007 in KL.

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this is the prayer we are told to add in among our usual sunday’s ‘prayer of the faithful’.

“That government and authorities may respect the God-given religious freedom to every person and that no external constraints be placed on individuals or groups in seeking redress of their rights ot live according to the tenets of their faith.”

earlier the conference had also issues a press statement. it was reported in some paper. later on i will check for the source.

more about subashini’s case later.

you heard/read about how high-handed some city hall enforcement staff are - the way they tear down stalls or try to ‘detain’ people, etc, right? how they were rough to the people and all that? yes you sure have… and now, it seems animals too are not spared by their high-handed attitude, so claimed a sarjit singh guljara who alleged that city hall dragged his buffalo behind a moving vehicle for 10km.

Sarjit, who collected the seized animal from City Hall’s stable in Buntong here on Tuesday last week, said yesterday his buffalo had lost its tail, had injuries to its nostrils and neck, and looked as though it had not eaten for quite some time.

"I was shocked to see its condition. Now it’s eating everything I feed her. That’s how hungry she is. It looks as though she was not fed for at least six days while at the stable."

indeed, as sarjit wondered, how cruel can they be?
 

the gomen announced that dept. bosses will make surprise visits to see for themselves how counter staff run their services.

all good and well but er… i’m sure the staffs recognise their boss, so if they see the boss visting them, they will surely put on their best behaviour by being oh so nice and efficient to the public… so how do the boss gauge them? this i don’t understand.

mohd sidek the chief secretary to the gomen, said he wants counter staff not  only to provide fast service but to provide it  with a smile! hmm…. this reminds me, wasn’t it sometime back there was this ’service with a smile’ campaign? whatever happened to it now?

have you heard this news on 27 march from pc world?

don’t worry, it is not any of us malaysian bloggers. it’s US’s prominent blogger,  kathy sierra. many of you might not heard of her.. i don’t too until now. it’s just that since lately we bloggers in malaysia had been ‘demonised’ by a number of MPs, i thought to bring this up.

from kathy’s blog:

They posted a photo of a noose next to my head, and one of their members (posting as "Joey" commented "the only thing Kathy has to offer me is that noose in her neck size."

i wonder what did kathy said that made people want to threaten her life.

UPDATED: jeff ooi had also blog on this issue. he has the picture of kathy with the noose there. i saw it and had wanted to use it here but i think to myself, better not use it, out of respect for kathy. don’t want this kind of picture of her being shown everywhere (and possibly being passed around).

UPDATED:  0515 PM:  this morning i sent out this story of mine (though with some changes) off to all the press whom i have their emails. i was quite surprised when at 5.00pm i checked malaysiakini website and see my letter on this post published!. wow! i never imagine they could published it so fast…. just several hours after i sent the letter. a reporter from the sun had called me too and asked permission to use my story in her report. let’s wait and see. i’m looking forward to my letter being published in the star too. i actually sent 2 letters to the press - one is this stranded story here, another is asking the government to stop the existing bus operators once rapidpenang take over.

at the gomen’s retirement age of 55? MTUC’s (malaysian trades union congress) proposal of 60? when you can afford to buy an exclusive yacht like the cobra sultan? ok don’t go that far… maybe by the time you managed to own a mansion like klang’s councllor, zakaria?

well some people like to retire when they feel they have achieved everything - so it might be even less than 55! of course ‘achieved everything’ is very subjective - different people perceive it in different ways.

if i’m not mistaken, MTUC’s proposal of raising the retirement age to 60 made today, was not the first time. i support MTUC’s proposal as i feel 55 is too young for retirement. lots of people are still active and healthy at 55.

as for me since i’m no orang kaya, i guess i can’t even retire at age 60. must continue work work work… until i really can’t… maybe 80? hey, i can blog for a living after 60! that is consider working, right? 

ok, this is going to be a lazy CnP post. i saw this great post from walski regarding article 11 revisited, so am just going to link his post here. then i will also link some of my old posts that had to do with article 11.

anyone remember what’s the article 11? well read walski’s post.

anyone remember the series of article 11 forum that was held in various cities last year? well it seems that the article 11 coalition is making a comeback after a hiatus of 9 months by launching a series of video documentaries.

first we have this….

(picture from malaysiakini)

… a letter from the gomen itself requesting newspaper not to quote or refer to online websites or blogs.

then in came the zam zam guy, the minister of misinformation who said….

(picture taken from a commenter in susan loone’s blog)

yeah, he was only ‘parotting’  what the letter had directed - don’t quote websites… but look, like the minister of worrisome… er… tourism, who gave bloggers names like liars, cheats, rumours mongers and national unity haters, he too gave a string of names to us bloggers - frustrated journalists, political pundits, anarchist websites…

well ok, he means the hardcore poor.

PENANG: Hardcore poverty in the country can be eradicated in three years, said Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop. 

“The Government is confident of eradicating hardcore poverty by 2010 as planned under the Ninth Malaysia Plan. 

“Everything is on track to help them. The Government is reducing poverty by emphasising on education,” he said here on Sunday.

in 3 years time? that fast? emphasising on education? in what way and how? what is the ‘everything’ that is right on track done by the government, mind telling us, mr second finance minister?

found this in my comment box under ‘my momma told me...’. it is not suppose to be there as it is out of topic. perhaps it should be under ‘the pursuit of A’s‘ and it has to do with education. anyway,  methink this person is waiting to be heard and her story is too good to be stashed away in the comment box where only very few will get to read, so i am reproducing it here in all its entirety what she wrote.