Moderates In Peril

From Gold Coast News, Australia

The assassination of Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto is not just a sickening blow to her people. It also gives the whole world cause to worry.

Bhutto was a moderate who wanted a civilian, democratic, secular future for Pakistan -- in other words freedom for a people who have suffered for centuries at the hands of kings, military dictators, colonising powers and temporary invaders.

The early indications are that the 21st century's oppressive power in the region, Islamic fundamentalism, is to blame for yesterday's bloodshed.

To the fanatics who want to stop democracy in its tracks and establish an Islamic crescent of influence from Pakistan to the Mediterranean, the sort of freedoms espoused by Bhutto pose a threat.

Pakistan and Afghanistan represent a fault line running between great civilisations, in the same way the Balkans was the space between east and west in the lead-up to World War I.

Both countries are bordered by Iran in the west, by China in the northeast, and for centuries have been considered the gateways of the Middle East and Central Asia. The giant Hindu power of India, an old foe of Pakistan, is in the southeast.

US-backed Pakistan and Afghanistan, where Australian troops are serving with NATO forces to provide stability and order, represent plum pickings for Islamic radicals. This is the region where Osama bin Laden has his power base among al-Qaeda, where the Taliban flourishes and where terrorism training schools abound.

Islamic radicals have made it clear they want to sweep away the normal rule of law, the fruits of democracy and the freedoms normally afforded to people living in a secular society. They want to establish religious states, operating under Sharia law.

Attempts by the West to hold back extremism and exert influence in this area began in earnest with the arrival of English forces in 1839 and with the subsequent establishment of British colonial power up until 1947. The US Carter administration and the Russians also tried to exert control over Afghanistan from the late 1970s, accidentally inspiring the creation of extremists such as the Taliban.

The killing of Bhutto is the latest and most telling chapter in the long power struggle in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Moderate and secular politicians are under attack from ruthless Islamic zealots.

This is a disturbing development for moderate Islamic states everywhere -- in Turkey north of Iraq and in Malaysia and Indonesia in our neighbourhood.

We know, from the pressure brought to bear by extremist Muslim clerics and by the establishment of radical networks in South-East Asia, that fundamentalists are single-minded in their drive to establish Islamic states.

And we know, from their bomb attacks against young Westerners in Bali and their brutal attacks on Christians in Sulawesi, they can be savage when they want to oust non-Muslims from what they perceive to be their own territory.

The policy of containment of the insurgents by Western forces in Afghanistan is not guaranteed of success.

Nor can we be sure that unstable countries such as Pakistan will be saved from the grip of the Islamic fundamentalists. Disorder and chaos are the tools of these terrorists.

The concern is that widespread civil unrest in the wake of the Bhutto assassination and the possibility of next month's Pakistani elections being cancelled will create a power vacuum, allowing al-Qaeda and the Taliban to move in.

There is one other concern, and it is a big one. Pakistan has nuclear weapons and long-range missiles which, in the wrong hands, could prove disastrous for the world. Bhutto's passing proves that radicals see moderates as a threat, and Western nations must take something from that. It reinforces the belief that, without moderating forces such as our Diggers in Afghanistan, the fundamentalists would spread their poison far and wide.
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Lesson For Malaysian Government In Benazir Murder - Rein In Muslim Extremists Before It Is Too Late

How the assassination happened.

* Benazir Bhutto addresses an election rally at Rawalpindi. The rally turns out to be a success and she prepares to leave the venue.

* She was exiting Liaquat Bagh (the venue) when her vehicle, a Black Lexus bulletproof vehicle, stopped near the venue’s gate where her PPP workers were shouting party slogans.

* Benazir came out from the sunroof of her vehicle to respond to her supporters’ cheers when a motorcyclist armed with a Kalashnikov opened fire on her. The gunman fired five times at her from close range.

* Benazir fell inside her vehicle after receiving bullet injuries on her head, neck and chest.

* The attacker blew himself up after firing the shots, killing 20 Bhutto supporters and wounding many others.

* Benazir lies unattended for sometime before being picked up and rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital.

* Doctors attempt to resuscitate her for 35 minutes.

* At 6:16 PM (Pakistan time) doctors declare her dead.

* Late evening the body is taken in a coffin from the hospital to her hometown Larkana.

* Bhutto’s 19-year-old son rushes from Dubai.

* The funeral is to take place today, December 28th 2007.

May her soul rest in peace.

***** When the outrage over this tragic incident subsides there will be much analyses on what went wrong on that fateful day and where Pakistan is heading to. The perilous situation there serves as a valuable lesson for Muslim majority countries like Malaysia.

As a consequence of the late Pakistani military despot, Zia-ul-Haq's experiment and flirtation with an 'Islamic republic' there have been over the past decade and more, many reports and worried comments about the changing environment in Pakistan which was fast turning into an exporter of violence and terrorism. The mushrooming of unsupervised madrassahs had laid the ground for the grooming and nurturing of aberrant deviants who were taught to fervently believe that anything done by them in the name of the Supreme Being, even if it be wanton murder, was not only acceptable but indeed desirable and a prerequisite to be looked up to as a true follower of the faith. Part of the turmoil in Pakistan today can be attributed to this unregulated spread of an errant brand of Islam.

Allow me a little generalization/license here. After the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 and the 'creation' of India and Pakistan, both these countries were more or less on the same footing and at the same level of development or lack of it. Ethnically they were of the same stock and culturally they had more in common with each other than say with other Asians or Arabs. While India until today determinedly maintained its secular credentials despite its overwhelming Hindu majority, the Pakistanis went the way of an Islamic state. Both nations by and large inherited the same institutions of the colonialists and the same federal constitution. Over time India progressed albeit initially in fits and starts and slowly reaped the rewards of pragmatic policies and remained politically stable, in part by firmly ensuring that the state did not meddle with religion which was considered a personal matter between her citizens and God. Now with India at the verge of becoming an economic and military superpower, one is tempted to ask why Pakistan did not follow suit and is hopelessly stuck in the terrible quagmire it finds itself in today?

Looking at and recoiling in horror at the chaos that is Pakistan, we in Malaysia should consider ourselves a fortunate lot. If today we are considered an oasis of peace amidst the gore and violence wracking the world, a large part of the credit should go to the sober policies of successive governments here. No one can deny that. Even if many disagree with unfair policies on a lot of issues which may have made them unhappy they still have to acknowledge the very significant contribution of the government in maintaining uninterrupted peace and stability.

Having said that I must hasten to add that the record of our government over the past few years has brought much discomfiture to Malaysians in general and non-Muslims in particular. The authorities seem to be in an undue hurry to backtrack on the fundamental rights guaranteed to non-Muslims while aggressively attempting to justify and portray our country as an Islamic one with arguments which fly in the face of 'basic structure' provisions in the federal constitution. In an unwise and indeed dangerous game of one-upmanship which the ruling Umno party is playing to keep PAS at bay and their Malay-Muslim electorate and vote bank contented, are our leaders exposing the nation to the risks of a Pakistan-style extremist epidemic and unwittingly rendering the more religiously inclined and 'vulnerable' section of society to the manipulations of fundamentalist criminals in mullah's clothing?

Today Pakistan stands alone as a failed nuclear-armed Islamic state where society is increasingly being radicalized and is indicative of the rapid stride it has taken on the path of extremism under General Pervez Musharraf. If our government insists on going down the same path on the grounds of expediency rather than principle and for a little political gain, it won't take a genius to point out that a similar fate awaits us too.
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An interesting read from The Jerusalem Post: Analysis: The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto

Ike Turner, Legendary Soul Singer, Dies Aged 76

Ike Turner, the legendary blues and soul artist whose career – and infamy – were defined by his stormy relationship with his wife, Tina Turner, died in his sleep early yesterday at his home in the suburbs of San Diego. He was 76.

Turner was present at the creation of rock'*'roll – he performed on the first rock record, "Rocket 88", in 1951 – and kept working to the very end of his life, winning a Grammy award earlier this year for his album Risin' With The Blues.

But it was his partnership with Anna Mae Bullock, the raspy-voiced teenager from Nutbush, Tennessee who married him and changed her name to Tina, that moulded both the best and the worst of his public reputation. Between 1959, when they recorded their first hit, "A Fool In Love", until 1976, when Tina walked out on him following a vicious fight on the backseat of a car en route to a concert venue, they electrified American popular music.

First they produced mere hits – "I Idolize You" and "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" – then began to revolutionise music itself, most notably in a collaboration with Phil Spector, then an up-and-coming producer, on "River Deep, Mountain High" in 1965. A sizzling cover of "Proud Mary", the Creedence Clearwater Revival hit, became their signature song and a perennial crowd favourite on the concert circuit. Ike always had a reputation as a womaniser – legend has credited him with as many as 14 wives, although the public record accords him just four – and a man with a tendency to substance abuse.

But Tina turned that image several shades darker with the publication of her autobiography I, Tina in 1976, depicting her ex as a vicious, unstable wife-beater. She was so afraid of him that she walked out of the marriage with nothing but her name, relinquishing her share of everything they had earned together over the previous 17 years.

Turner made several attempts to defend himself over the years, none of them especially convincing. "Sure, I've slapped Tina," he wrote in his own autobiography, Takin' Back My Name (2001). "There have been times when I punched her to the ground without thinking. But I never beat her."

While Tina enjoyed a renaissance as a solo artist in the 1980s, Turner slipped ever deeper into drug and alcohol addiction and ended up going to prison for four years in 1989 on drug-related charges. He was still behind bars when he was inducted into the Rock'*'Roll Hall of Fame. Tina, intriguingly, represented him at the ceremony.

Turner was born in to poverty in Clarksdale, Mississippi, earning his first entrée into the music business as an eight-year-old elevator boy at the offices of his local radio station. Over time he developed into a fine session musician, mastering both the guitar and keyboards.

The pair had met in 1958 when Tina, as a pushy teenager, grabbed a microphone at a St Louis nightclub and performed a B B King song for him. He invited her on the spot to become an Ikette – one of his back-up singers. A year later she pushed again, laying down a vocal track on "A Fool In Love" even though Ike had imagined a man singing it. The result proved to be hit-parade gold.

The couple married in 1962 and had two children together. Ike was flagrant in his infidelities, though, including an affair with former Ikette Ann Thomas, with whom he fathered a child and later married.

In her book, Tina portrayed him as a sadist and a monster who hit her and, on one occasion, broke her nose. That image became cemented in the public imagination when Tina's book was made into the movie What's Love Got To Do With It, with Angela Bassett playing Tina and Lawrence Fishburne playing Ike.

Turner's story is, in the end, a classic American tale of transgression and redemption – with his work providing the redemption. "I know what I am in my heart," he once told the Associated Press. "And I know regardless of what I've done, good and bad, it took it all to make me what I am today." (The Independent)
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Another National Service Trainee Dies. What Excuses Now?

A National Service trainee at the Cheneh Cemerlang camp in Kemaman died on the way to the Tengku Ampuan Afzan (HTAA) Hospital here Saturday night.

Mohd Rafi Ameer, 18, died at 10.30pm after having fever since last week, his sister, Zubaidah, said Sunday.

Jubaidah, 25, when met at the hospital, said her brother called her at their home in Bukit Rotan, Kuala Selangor, last Saturday, to inform her that he had fever and his leg was swollen for nearly week after he fell during training.

She claimed that she contacted the camp management to enquire about her brother's condition but was admonished and told that the management could look after Mohd Rafi.

Jubaidah said she called the camp again last night and was told that her brother had been sent to the Kemaman Hospital

She decided to go to the hospital at 8.30pm but when she called the hospital authorities while on her way there, they told her that Mohd Rafi had died on the way to HTAA.

She said Mohd Rafi was the fourth among six siblings and they are orphans living with their uncle in Kuala Selangor.

National Service (NS) Training Department Director-General Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil told reporters that Mohd Rafi was admitted to the Kemaman Hospital yesterday before being referred to HTAA. "We're waiting for the outcome of the post-mortem for the cause of death," he said.

He said a committee headed by the deputy Training Operations Sector director-general, Jamaluddin Masrin, would be set up to investigate the case including the complaint by Mohd Rafi's family and whether he had reported any sickness during training at the camp.

Mohd Rafi was one of 137 trainees at the Cheneh Cemerlang NS training camp under Group 3 of the fourth series and was scheduled to complete training on September 8. (Bernama)

***** Another young life snuffed out. If it is true that he had fallen down and injured himself a week prior to his death and nothing was done about it, then someone has to pay for this gross negligence. What has happened to the much vaunted guidelines and procedures which are supposed to be in place and practiced by the camp management?
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Nuri Helicopter Wreckage Found

A NURI HELICOPTER
Wreckage of the RMAF Nuri helicopter reported missing since last Friday has been found at Gunung Bunga Buah at Genting Highlands at noon Tuesday, a spokesman of the Civil Defence Department (JPA3) said.

All six people on board the ill-fated helicopter have been confirmed killed. Preparations are being made to airlift the bodies to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

The aircraft carrying pilot Kapt Nor Azlan Termuzi, co-pilot Kapt Nor Intan Asykeen Mohd Arof, Sjn Khusnizam Ariffin, Sjn Mohd Azmie Md Yassin, Laskar Udara Kanan Saifulizam Alias and Laskar Muhammad Ridzuan Ahmad was on its way from the RMAF station in Sungai Besi to Kuantan when it lost communication with the control tower at 9.35am, 10 minutes after take-off.

I'm sure the whole nation is saddened by this loss and we convey our heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased.
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Condolences To Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin And His Family

It was indeed a shock to read a Bernama report which said that Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin's grandson, Zainal Ihsan Zainal Fitri, 11, died this morning after being in a coma since July 1.

We don't know the cause of the young boy's illness or why he went into a coma. However Datuk Zam's Press Secretary, Hisham Abdul Hamid, said the boy died at 5.10am at the Ampang Puteri Hospital here.

His body was taken to his parents' house at No. 130, Jalan I5, Fasa 5, Taman Melawati in Hulu Klang for burial at the Taman Melawati Muslim cemetery today. Zainal Ihsan was the second of four siblings. His mother, Zakinah, is Zainuddin's second child.

***** Any death is a sad one especially for the family of the bereaved. But when one so young is taken away suddenly, it is a loss which cannot be described and the grief unbearable. We can only sympathize with the family of Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin and pray for them at this time of agony, anguish and sorrow.

May God give them the strength and courage to endure this tragic phase in their lives.
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Shouldn't Someone Be Punished For This Callous Apathy?

The following report is from TheSun. It relates the lack of concern, heartlessness and unfeeling attitudes prevalent among the denizens of officialdom in Malaysia. Should our pegawai2 be termed and categorized as the 'living dead' for their impassive reactions to the needs of others and for being totally devoid of that essentially human quality, compassion? Read the report and comment.

NS administrators refused leave for trainee whose sick dad died
A housewife today took to task National Service camp administrators at Kem Kisana Beach Resort in Bali, Pasir Puteh for not allowing her daughter to take leave from training when her father was sick and for the funeral when he died two days later.

Semah Mat Ali, 52, claimed that her daughter Norliza Yusuf, 17, who is undergoing training at the camp, was allowed to visit her father, Yusuf Awang, 58, only for several hours last Saturday (April 21) when he was dying from stroke in Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital (HUSM) in Kubang Kerian and breathed his last on Monday (April 23).

This, she said, was despite the family producing a letter from the doctor to verify Yusuf's condition, which they (camp administrators) said to be incomplete.

"When her father died, Norliza was also allowed to leave the camp for only a few hours and told to return after that for several reasons, although the distance between our house and the camp is only about 30 minute's drive," she told Bernama when met in her Kampung Gong Chenggal house, here today.

She said one of the reasons given was their (camp administrators') fear that something untoward might happen to Norliza during the duration of her NS training at the camp.

Semah said Norliza, who is the fifth of six siblings, was very close to her father and was the one to bathe and feed him since she (Semah) had to go out to work in a tobacco farm in Tok Bali for income to support the family.

Norliza's sister, Norihan, 29, also regretted the treatment by the camp administrators. "Imagine how devastated she felt being the only one in the family who was not at our father's bedside when he breathed his last," she said.

She said the NS camp administrators should exercise compassion in such a situation. "What saddened us more was when the camp administrators turned down my appeal for my sister to be given a few days leave even when I submitted our father's death certificate," she added.

***** Such acts of official cruelty should not go unpunished. Who are these faceless 'administrators' who succeeded in devastating a young girl, preventing her from being with her dying father and refusing permission to grieve with her family after his death? Shame on these adults who have no remorse for their actions which has affected one of such a young age. These officials are mean people for whom indifference to the plight of others is an entrenched practice and how their actions traumatize the victim is of absolutely no consequence and not a matter to lose any sleep over. For their sin of omission should these National Service 'administrators' be punished? I would think yes.
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Adding Insult To Injury. The Travail Of A Departed NS Trainee's Family.

From the NST.

Muniswari Sinnan silently stroked her daughter’s forehead, her mind full of 18 years of memories. Prema Elenchelian had come home. Not with a happy smile and hug for her mother, but in a coffin.

"I never expected her to come home in this," said Muniswari, as her daughter was carried into the house.

The 18-year-old was doing her National Service in Pasir Putih, Kelantan, and was found dead in a toilet on Wednesday morning.

Friends and relatives gathered in the family’s Cheras Perdana apartment to bid her farewell. Some of the older women refused to believe she was gone, and gently shook her body telling her to wake up. Garlanding Prema’s body, her grandmother S. Mariayie cried that Prema was too young to die. "It should be my body that is being garlanded, not yours."

"She was like a sister to me. She was a sweet and humble person. I can’t believe she’s no longer with us," mourned R. Rajeswary, a former schoolmate.

Prema’s father R. Elenchelian and other relatives went to Tok Bali, Pasir Putih, on Wednesday, after receiving the news of her death. They arrived home around 2.30am yesterday. Exhausted, emotionally and physically, Elenchelian was not happy with the treatment he received in Kelantan.

"When I got there, I saw her body wrapped only in a white cloth. The officers said they couldn’t provide a coffin as they didn’t have any. So we bought one and brought her home."

Before leaving the camp, Elenchelian said he asked if he could see the toilet where his daughter’s body was found. He was told that it was too late. The guard had locked it and gone back home. "I couldn’t even see the place where my daughter died," the bereft father said.

Prema’s uncle S. Muthamil was more vocal in his criticism.

"Imagine having to drive eight hours to claim your daughter’s body, and another eight hours to bring her back home. It was both emotionally and physically exhausting. The least they could have done was to fly her body home."

Another uncle, who declined to give his name, said that it would have been better if she was dressed in her National Service uniform for her funeral. "It would have been a great honour if the department had done that. Instead, she was wrapped in plain cloth."

Prema’s remains were cremated at the Cheras Crematorium yesterday.

***** It's sad. A young life taken away so swiftly. However why couldn't the NS Department arrange the body to be transported to Kl? Perhaps a poor, dead Indian girl's family doesn't deserve any sympathy or respect from the authorities. Will Lee Lam Thye like to clarify this please?

Autopsy Reveals NS Trainee Dies Of Drowning.

The autopsy on the body of National Service (NS) trainee Prema Elenchelian shows that her death is due to drowning, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek says.

He said Prema was believed to have been attacked with fits before she drowned in a public toilet at the Kisna Beach Resort Camp in Pasir Puteh, Kelantan.

"Because of the fits and the water was running, she died in the toilet. She was unconscious and her death was due to drowning following the fits," told reporters after attending an open house hosted by MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting who is member of Parliament for Tanjung Piai, here today.

Dr Chua who is Johor MCA chairman, said that since the NS training programme began in 2004, 240,000 trainees had participated in it and eight had died while attending the programme.

He said the ministry was always concerned with the trainees' health and expressed sympathy over such tragedy. "When a death occurs, we understand the family is in grief and sometimes they believe there is a cover-up by the Health Ministry in this matter. "I would like to stress that there is no attempt to hide anything over what has happened," Dr Chua said.

He said a weakness that had been identified was that the NS trainees often took lightly when filling up questionnaires about their health. A health examination could only detect visible diseases, so the trainees must be frank about their health problems, he said.

Dr Chua said he would lead a Health Ministry delegation in a meeting with the National Service Board next Monday to discuss on how to enhance the trainees' health quality.

Among the main topics to be discussed was whether the questionnaire that must be filled by the trainees had to include new items or whether there were ways to detect diseases that were hard to be traced, he said. (Bernama)
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Yet Another National Service Trainee Dies. What's Going On?

A National Service (NS) trainee at the training camp at the Kisana Beach Resort died at a hospital here this morning.

Camp Commander Mej Zulkarnain Abdullah said P.Prema was rushed to the Tengku Anis Hospital after she was found unconscious in a toilet at Jeram Linang here about 2.30am.

He said Prema, from Kajang, Selangor, was confirmed dead at the hospital.

She was among the 400 NS trainees from the camp undergoing training at Jeram Linang near here yesterday.

Prema was said to have gone to the toilet with a few other trainees at the training area. Her friends later came looking for Prema, who had not come out of the toilet, and found her unconscious.

National Service Training Department Director General Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil is scheduled to hold a press conference on the incident at noon today. (Bernama)

***** With chilling regularity at least one or more trainees seem to die every new session. Then we get the NS department big boys giving excuses and later our usual politicians led by the DPM Najib come out with the same reassurances. Why oh why must a young kid, someone's precious child, die at a national service camp? Beats me.
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Update: Najib Extends Condolences To NS Trainee's Family

What Killed Anna Nicole Smith?

A Forensic Psychiatrist, Dr Michael Welner, M.D. analyzes what may have happened and why?

What are the possible causes of death?

Accident, suicide or homicide. At this early stage, no one can jump to conclusions. However, it would be professionally irresponsible to not consider all three possibilities.

What is the importance of an autopsy here?

An autopsy will examine for causes of sudden death, such as heart disease, or toxicology signs of overdose, or poisoning.

In a death investigation such as this, will an autopsy yield the answers?

Not necessarily. Even if Anna Nicole Smith is found to have a toxic combination of substances in her system, the possibilities of such an event happening still include accident, homicide and suicide.

What, then, can an autopsy definitively clear up?

If Anna Nicole Smith had cardiac disease severe enough to associate with a fatal heart stoppage, heart disease may be seen. If she ingested a poison, or an exceptionally high dosage of something, toxicology analysis will show that. Even then, such a finding of excess toxin or drug only eliminates accident as a cause of death. One would still need to pursue the probability of suicide versus homicide.

Read the entire report HERE
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Saddam Loyalists Mark Passage Of Traditional 40-Day Mourning Period.

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's elder daughter joined hundreds of Baathists in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday to mark the passage of the traditional 40-day mourning period.

Raghad Hussein, accompanied by her son and daughter and several of Saddam's defence lawyers, was greeted with chants of "Revenge, revenge for Saddam" and "Eternity to Saddam", on arrival at the San'a airport.

A convoy of cars carrying pictures of Saddam then drove them to a palace in downtown San'a for a ceremony hosted by the chief of the state security forces, Yahia Mohammed Abdullah Saleh.

Addressing the gathering, Raghad praised the insurgents in Iraq, saying, "As long as the resistance and the mujahedeen are fulfilling their duties in Iraq, the Iraqi people, without any doubt, will achieve victory."

"Saddam Hussein is the real hero and the pan-Arab leader. I am proud of him and proud of his great struggle and sacrifices," she added.

Other speakers at the ceremony lashed out at the United States and Iran, and some unnamed Arab regimes they labelled as US collaborators in Iraq.

Saddam was sentenced to death on November 5 for the killing of 148 Shiites in Dujail after a 1982 attempt to assassinate him. On December 26, Iraq's highest court rejected his appeal and the former dictator was executed on December 30 in an unruly scene that brought worldwide criticism of the Iraqi government.

Saddam loyalists chose to mark the end of the traditional 40-day mourning period in Yemen a day early, to draw attention from other ceremonies across the Middle East the following day. (NDTV.Com)
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Death Of An Author. Sidney Sheldon 1917 - 2007.

The best-selling American novelist, playwright and screenwriter Sidney Sheldon has died aged 89.

He died of complications from pneumonia at hospital near Palm Springs, California, his publicist said.

He had a career writing award-winning Broadway plays and Hollywood film scripts before turning to novel-writing at the age of 50.

His books - such as Rage of Angels and The Other Side of Midnight - were best sellers but did not win over critics.

He said he wrote his books - often featuring strong female characters - so that readers would want to continue to turn the page.

"My books are adventurous and exciting enough so that men want to read them and I hope I have enough insights into women so that women enjoy reading the books," he said in a BBC interview.

He was born 17 February, 1917 in Chicago. (BBC NEWS)
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Death Of An Intellectual. Syed Hussein Alatas 1928 - 2007.

AL-FATIHAH

A former politician and academic, Professor Syed Hussein Alatas, died at his home in Damansara Heights, here at 9.30 Tuesday night. According to his son-in-law, Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah, Syed Hussein died of a heart attack.

He had earlier fallen down at home and was immediately taken to the University Malaya Medical Centre in Petaling Jaya, where he was pronounced dead. His remains were taken home early Wednesday morning for burial later Wednesday.

Syed Hussein was born on Sept 17, 1928 in Bogor, Indonesia. Syed Hussein's academic career began at the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka where he worked as head of the research department from 1958. He had also served with the University of Malaya from 1963 to 1967 before being appointed as Head of the Department of Malay Studies of the National University of Singapore from 1967 to 1978.

Syed Hussein was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya in 1988. He was also among several intellectuals who had formed the Gerakan in 1968 as an offshoot of the defunct Labour Party. The Gerakan was relatively successful in the 1969 general election where it campaigned for social justice.

Syed Hussein also played an important role in the formation of the Parti Keadilan Masyarakat Malaysia (Pekemas) when Gerakan joined the Alliance coalition in 1972. However, the Pekemas collapsed in 1978 following massive defections. (Bernama)
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UPDATE: Prof Syed Hussein's Death A Great Loss

Rayappan's Family Plans To Take Legal Action Against Mais. Is This Wise?

The late A. Rayappan's family plans to take legal action against the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) for causing them trauma as a result of the tussle over the van driver's body.

Their counsel, A. Sivanesan, said he would discuss the next course of action with them and the decision would be known tomorrow.

The tussle for Rayappan's body between the family members and Mais had traumatised everyone involved, he told reporters after prayers at the family home in Kampung Pasir, Setapak, today.

He also disputed Mais' action of asking Rayappan's family to attend the Syariah Court, describing it as "unacceptable' as they are not Muslims.

Rayappan's second daughter, Mary, 46, said that although the family was relieved that the fight for her father's remains had ended, the effects of the episode would linger on.

"We are grateful to those who supported and gave us the strength not to give up on getting back our father's remains," she said.

On Nov 30, chaos broke at the morgue of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital when Rayappan's family and Mais locked horns over who had the right to the body of Rayappan who the family claimed had denounced Islam and re-embraced Christianity in 1999.

Rayappan died at the hospital on Nov 29 of complications from diabetes.

Mais took the case to the Syariah Court seeking custody over Rayappan's remains but withdrew the application on Thursday after finding no new grounds to support its claim.

Subsequently, Rayappan's remains were released to the family and cremated and he was given a Christian burial.
-- BERNAMA
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MAIS Withdraws Its Claim On Rayappan's Body.

The following terse report via TheStar SMS update and online news reads thus:

The Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) filed a notice in the Shah Alam Syariah High Court on Thursday, withdrawing its claim on the late Rayappan Anthony's body.

In an earlier report, the Syariah Appeal Court was to review the order that granted the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) control over the late Rayappan Anthony’s body.

***** If this move settles the controversy that had erupted recently, it should be good news all round. It is of course sincerely hoped that no new factor or person or body comes into the picture at this juncture to purely stir shit, to promote him, her or themselves as warriors for an undetermined cause.

I don't know what prompted the religious department to take this decision. However I'm sure it must have been carefully deliberated, taking into account the legal and constitutional provisions as well as the long term implications for the country. Perhaps good sense does prevail from time to time in this fair land of ours.
More updates as they come in.

Earlier related post: Should Rayappan Anthony Be Given A Christian Burial?
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Update from Bernama: The Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) has decided not to claim the body of A. Rayappan for burial according to Islamic rites.

Mais chairman Datuk Mohamed Adzib Mohd Isa said all the information gathered before showed that Rayappan was a Muslim, but the evidence pointing that he was not a Muslim was overwhelming.

"So, I hope the matter is solved and we don't think the people will view us negatively because we make the decision based on the existing facts and not emotion," he told a press conference here Thursday.

Rayappan, 70, a former van driver, died at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital on Nov 29 of diabetes complications.

Last Friday, Mais applied with the Syariah High Court to have his body buried according to Islamic rites because he had converted to Islam in 1990 and assumed the name of Muhammad Rayappan Abdullah.

However, his family objected on the grounds that the deceased had renounced the religion.

On Monday, his widow Lourdes Mary Maria Soosay, 69, filed an application at the Civil High Court in Kuala Lumpur for her late husband's body to be released to her, claiming that Rayappan had been a Roman Catholic when he died.

Rayappan's body is being kept at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital morgue until the tussle for it between Mais and his family is sorted out.

Umno Veteran Khir Johari Dies Of Heart Attack.

AL FATEHAH

Umno veteran Tan Sri Mohamed Khir Johari died Sunday, believed to be of a heart attack, in his house at Suasana Central Condominium at Jalan Tun Sambanthan in Brickfields. He was 83.

Khir Johari held several key positions in Umno including as secretary-general. He was among the longest-serving cabinet ministers since 1950s till his retirement in 1983.

His son, Zairil, 23, told Bernama his father appeared healthy when having breakfast with the family this morning. However, he suddenly had breathing difficulties and fell off from his chair while watching television at about 10.30am. He said his family called for an ambulance and the medical personnel, who arrived 10 minutes later, confirmed his father had died.

Zairil said funeral rites would be performed at the National Mosque before his burial at the Heroes' Mausoleum at 6pm. Khir Johari suffered a stroke in March 1981.

Khir Johari, fondly called "Pak Khir", is survived by nine children, five of whom are girls. His first wife Puan Sri Kelsom @ Che Tom Abdul Rahman, whom he married in 1943, died on Sept 20, 1994. He later married Puan Sri Christine Lim in February 1996.

Khir Johari, who was born in Kampung Kancut, Alor Star, was a teacher at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College in 1945 before entering politics. He served as Education Minister, Trade and Industry Minister and Agriculture Minister. He was also appointed Malaysia's ambassador to the United Nations in New York, to Mexico and Brazil.

Khir Johari was also active in sports. He held important positions in sports bodies including as Badminton Association of Malaysia president, Sepaktakraw Association of Malaysia president and Bodybuilding Association of Malaysia president.

Among his sweetest and most memorable achievements is leading the national badminton squad to win the coveted Thomas Cup in Jakarta in 1967.
-- BERNAMA
Related Bernama Reports:
1) Umno Loses Veteran Politician In Khir Johari
2) M'sian Sports Fraternity Loses An Active Sports Personality