Presiden PAS arah solat ghaib untuk Erbakan

Harakahdaily

TEMERLOH, 2 Mac: Presiden PAS, Datuk Seri Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang meminta semua ahli PAS agar menunaikan solat jenazah ghaib untuk pemimpin gerakan Islam Turki yang meninggal baru-baru ini, Profesor Nechmuddin Erbakan.

Erbakan, yang disifatkan sebagai bapa kepada gerakan Islam sedunia termasuk Malaysia meninggal dunia Ahad lepas.

Sementara itu, Dr Syed Azman Ahmad Nawawi, Pengerusi Lajnah Antarabangsa PAS telah diutuskan khas oleh Abdul Hadi untuk mewakili beliau ke majlis perkebumian Erbakan.

(Gambar: Dr Syed Azman, 2 dari kiri, bersama dengan Rachid Ganouchi yang turut serta di majlis itu)

Syed Azman melaporkan, jutaan rakyat Turki serta perwakilan gerakan Islam dari seluruh dunia menyhertai majlis perkebumian mujahid agung itu.

Suasana di Masjid Al-Fateh di tengah-tengah kota Istanbul di selubungi rasa sayu dan sedih yang amat memilukan, lapor beliau.

Pemergian mujahid agong Nechmuddin Erbarkan di tangisi jutaan rakyat Turki serta umat Islam di seluruh pelusuk dunia.

"Beliau pergi buat selama-lamanya meninggalkan kita," tulis beliau dari sana.

(Gambar: Rakyat Turki menangisi pemergian Erbakan)

Nechmuddin Erbarkan, seorang pejuang Islam yang gigih merupakan bapa perubahan gerakan Islam Turki yang telah merobah corak politik yang ada di Turki.

Beliau pernah di kenakan tahanan rumah, pernah keluar masuk penjara, pernah menjadi Perdana Menteri Turki dan juga amat gigih memperjuangkan reformasi politik di Turki.

Beliau juga amat di hormati di peringkat antarabangsa serta menjadi ’bapa’ kepada pimpinan gerakan Islam di seluruh dunia termasuk Malaysia.

Hubungan beliau yang amat rapat dengan pimpinan gerakan Islam menjadikan beliau sentiasa di rujuk dan menjadi contoh kepada gerakan Islam yang lain.

"Beliau juga mempunyai hubungan 'istimewa' dengan Presiden PAS, Datuk Sri Abdul Hadi Awang," tulis Syed Azman kepada Harakahdaily.

"Saya yang sempat hadir mewakili Presiden serta seluruh kepimpinan PAS di majlis perkebumian beliau, merasa amat pilu dan sayu apabila melihat hampir dua juta rakyat dari pelbagai lapisan masyarakat hadir untuk sama-sama bersolat jenazah di masjid Al Fateh di tengah-tengah kota Istanbul.

(Gambar: Jutaan rakyat Turki memberikan penghormatan terakhir kepada Erbakan di tengah-tengah kota Istanbul)

"Semua pejabat dan jalan-jalan di tutup dan rakyat berpusu-pusu dri pagi lagi menuju ke Masjid Al Fateh.

Turut hadir adalah Presiden Turki Abdullah Gul dan Perdana Menteri Rechab Tayyib Erdogan. Kedua-dua mereka adalah merupakan anak murid kepada Sheikh Erbarkan," lapor beliau.

Pimpinan Gerakan Islam dari seluruh dunia juga turut hadir memberi penghormatan terakhir kepada Mujadid Agong ini, antaranya, Sheikh Rachid Ghanoushi dari Tunisia, Mohammad Nazzal dari Hamas, Sheikh Mehdi Akiff dari Ikhwan Muslimin Mesir, Qadhi Hussien Ahmed dari Jamaat Islami Pakistan serta pimpinan gerakan Islam dari Moroko, Algeria, Sudan, England, Austria dan Afrika Selatan.

Selepas solat jenazah, beliau di kebumikan di perkuburan Negara yang terletak berdekatan dengan Masjid Al Fateh.

"Sayu dan pilu saya melihat ribuan rakyat yang menangis terisik-isik mengiringi pemergian mujahid agong ini," katanya.

Dari anak-anak kecik kepada yang tua semua bersedih dengan pemergian pimpinan agong mereka ini.
Sahabat-sahabat dari gerakan Islam juga tidak dapat menahan rasa sebak dan pilu mengiringi jenazah Mujahid Agong ini.

Inilah contoh Mujahid agong yang telah pergi meninggalkan kita buat selama-lamanya.

Airmata kesedihan membasahi semua pimpinan gerakan islam yang hadir dan pemergian beliau amat di rasai semua dan sukar di cari ganti.

"Selamat tinggal Mujahid Agong Nechmuddin Erbarkan," tulis Syed Azman dalam laporannya.

LAPORAN SEBELUM INI

Pemergian Erbakan kehilangan besar buat ummah

Necmettin Erbakan mentor pemimpin gerakan Islam

http://www.harakahdaily.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31145:-presiden-pas-arah-solat-ghaib-untuk-erbakan&catid=1:utama&Itemid=50

Pemergian Erbakan kehilangan besar buat ummah

Harakahdaily

KUALA LUMPUR, 28 Feb: Dewan Pemuda PAS Pusat merakamkan ucapan takziah buat keluarga Prof Dr Necmettin Erbakan, Parti Saedat dan seluruh rakyat Turki atas pemergian tokoh gerakan Islam itu ke rahmatullah kelmarin.

Pengerusi Lajnah Antarabangsa Dewan Pemuda PAS Pusat, Dr Raja Ahmad al-Hiss berkata, pemergian Necmettin Erbakan (gambar) adalah satu kehilangan besar buat rakyat Turki dan ummat Islam serantau.

Katanya, Prof Erbakan adalah merupakan pelopor kepada gerakan Islam di Turki sejak kejatuhan Empayar Othmaniah pada tahun 1924.

Sejak daripada itu, katanya Turki telah di perintah oleh rejim sekular di bawah Kamal Attartuk di mana Islam hanya menjadi amalan di masjid dan dalam majlis perkahwinan sahaja.

Katanya, umat Islam yang ingin melaksanakan Islam akan diambil tindakan oleh rejim Attartuk dan perlembagaan Turki sehingga ke hari ini masih menjadikan dasar sekular sebagai tiang kepada sistem Negara mereka yang di payungi oleh tentera.

Namun sejak daripada itu, ujarnya kumpulan-kumpulan Islam tidak berdiam diri untuk memastikan roh Islam dilaksanakan semula di Turki.

Jelasnya, antara pelopor kepada gerakan tersebut adalah Prof Dr Necmettin Erbakan yang menubuhkan Parti Refah pada 1983 dan akhirnya berjaya memenangi pilihan raya umum Turki dan membentuk kerajaan campuran dimana Prof Erbakan dilantik mengetuai kerajaan campuran tersebut dan menjadi Perdana Menteri Turki pada tahun 1996.

Namun, katanya pemerintah dan tentera yang melihat kejayaan Erbakan dalam membawa Turki ke arah era baru Islam mendakwa Erbakan cuba melanggari perlembagaan negara iaitu cuba menghapuskan sistem sekular ke arah Islam menyebabkan akhirnya Parti Refah diharamkan pada 1998 dan Erbakan telah diharamkan dari bertanding pilihan raya.

Namun Prof Erbakan telah cuba menubuhkan beberapa parti baru namun juga tidak berjaya apabila pihak berkuasa Turki dapat menghidunya.

“Di akhir hayat, beliau berjaya mengasaskan Parti Saedat pada 2001 sebagai alternatif baru kepada rakyat Turki bagi yang cintakan Islam dan keamanan sehinggalah ke akhir hayat beliau kelmarin.

“Bagi pihak Dewan Pemuda PAS Pusat, kami merakamkan ucapan takziah dan semoga Allah mencuri rohnya dikalangan orang-orang yang beriman,” ujarnya.

http://www.harakahdaily.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31101:pemergian-erbakan-kehilangan-besar-buat-ummah&catid=1:utama&Itemid=50

Al-Jazeera saw the Arab revolutions coming

Wadah Khanfar

On February 11, the day Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president of Egypt, Al Jazeera faced a welcome dilemma: Scenes of elation were playing out not just in Cairo but throughout the region, and even with our vast network of journalists, we found it difficult to be everywhere at once. From North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, Arabs were celebrating the reclamation of their self-confidence, dignity and hope.

The popular revolutions now sweeping the region are long overdue. Yet in some ways, they could not have come before now. These are uprisings whose sons and daughters are well educated and idealistic enough to envision a better future, yet realistic enough to work for it without falling into despair. These revolutions are led by the Internet generation, for whom equality of voice and influence is the norm. Their leaders' influence is the product of their own effort, determination and skill, unconstrained by rigid ideologies and extremism.

It is now clear to all that the modern, post-colonial Arab state has failed miserably, even in what it believed it was best at: Maintaining security and stability. Over the decades, Arab interior ministers and police chiefs devoted enormous resources and expertise to monitoring and spying on their own people. Yet now, the security machineries in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have disintegrated in short order, while the rest of the authoritarian and repressive regimes in the region can see the writing on the wall.

These revolutions have exposed not just the failure of traditional politicians but also the moral, political and economic bankruptcy of the old Arab elites. Those elites not only attempted to control their own people, but also sought to shape and taint the views of news media in the region and across the world.

Indeed, it should surprise no one that so many Western analysts, researchers, journalists and government experts failed to recognise the obvious signs of Arab youth movements that would soon erupt into revolutions capable of bringing down some of the most pro-Western regimes in the Middle East. That failure has exposed a profound lack of understanding in the West of Arab reality.

US and European allies, supporters and business partners of the Arab regimes persistently preferred to deal with leaders who were entirely unrepresentative of the new generation. They were detached from the emerging reality and had no way to engage with the social forces that now matter. It is the growing periphery of the Arab world - the masses at its margins, not its feeble and decaying centre - that is shaping the future of the region.

These unfolding transformations have been less of a surprise for us at Al Jazeera. Since our launch nearly 15 years ago, we have chosen to keep close to the Arab street, gauging its pulse and reflecting its aspirations. It was clear to us that a revolution was in the making, and it was happening far from the gaze of a tame and superficial establishment media that allied itself with the powerful centre - on the assumption that the centre is always safer and more important. Many media outlets in the region failed to recognise what was happening among the Arab grass roots. Keen to conduct interviews with high-level officials and ever willing to cover repetitious news conferences, they remained oblivious to what was happening on the ground.

At Al Jazeera we have spared no effort to search for the real actors, wherever they happen to be: Whether in the cities, in the countryside, in camps, in prisons or in the blogosphere. We have been guided by a firm belief that the future of the Arab world will be shaped by people from outside the aging elites and debilitated political structures featured so disproportionately by most other news outlets.

The real actors did not appear on most television screens or magazine covers, whether in the Arab world or in Western media. Cameras were not attracted to them; columnists rarely mentioned them. Yet that did not deter them.

Al Jazeera swam against that dominant current. We gave all the players the avenues they needed to communicate, providing diverse viewpoints on the issues. During the recent uprisings we were inundated with videos, pictures and writings from the new generation. We opened our screens to them; it is their voices that viewers found so compelling in our coverage.

We refused to compromise on our editorial policy, which gives priority to the grievances and aspirations of ordinary people. Neither threats of punishment nor promises of rewards from information ministers, intelligence agencies or royal courts persuaded us to ignore or betray the oppressed and persecuted who demand nothing but freedom, dignity and democracy.

As I tweeted during the Egyptian uprising and as our reporters were being detained in Cairo: "When opinions crowd and confusion prevails, set your sight on the route taken by the masses, for that is where the future lies."

Wadah Khanfar is director general of the Al Jazeera network. This article first appeared in The Washington Post.

http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2370:al-jazeera-saw-the-arab-revolutions-coming&catid=38:analysis-and-opinion-&Itemid=72

'Saman ekor' no different than ISA, says PAS Youth

Harakahdaily

KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 2: PAS Youth leader Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi (pic) has described the controversial postal summons, or 'saman ekor', as being in the same league as the notorious Internal Security Act which provides for detention without trial.

"(Like the ISA), the postal summons tells the recipient to pay the fine without providing an opportunity to argue the case in court," said Nasrudin in a statement to Harakahdaily.

According to Nasrudin, even in the case of conventional traffic summons, a motorist was not obliged to settle a summose even though he or she acknowledged it by signing on the ticket.

"The signature is merely an agreement to be present in court, unless the recipent chooses to settle it by paying a compound," he said.

In the case of the postal summons, however, Nasrudin said the authorities appeared to be more interested in collecting fines through the use of hidden traffic police informants and cameras to prey on would-be offenders. Such summonses, he said, were then mailed to motorists who were presumed guilty and forced to pay up without due process.

"If the police has strong proof of any offence, they should not be worried about securing a conviction for offenders," he stressed.

Nasrudin said the authorities could emulate several techniques in developed countries to educate their motorists, such as installing audible speed breakers in vehicles, a move adapted in Japan to warn motorists of their speed limit.

'Authorities too eager to nab offenders'

In Germany, Nasrudin said it had been a practice for patrol cars to be deliberately parked within five to ten kilometres of each other to warn road users that there was road block ahead.

"It has proven to be an effective method to avoid issuance of summonses and at the same time ensure the safety of motorists.

"However, in our country, it seems the authorities were more interested in catching offenders," he said, adding that enforcement of traffic rules should be geared more toward education.

On the latest deadline given by the government for people to settle summonses, Nasrudin said this was a trend every time a general election was around the corner.

"It is as though the government is milking money from the public in order to finance UMNO and BN's election machinery for the general election. It is unfortunate if such were the case.

"Postal summons is the country's second ISA to punish the people without trial," he added.

Related:

'Keep your summons receipts and redeem your money'

http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2377:saman-ekor-no-different-than-isa-says-pas-youth&catid=36:headline&Itemid=70

Kerdau: Waiting for a wake-up call after 53 years

Li Fook Gao

March 2, 2011

COMMENT Upon reaching Kerdau, one gets the feeling that UMNO and BN ought to feel ashamed and embarrassed.

KERDAU 2011 ... Dusty roads symbolising how the town missed the development radar for the past 53 years

After all, how could a small town with 4,000 odd UMNO members be left in a miserable condition for 53 years?

Despite the heavy presence of Barisan Nasional politicians and the accompanying goodies, many residents have resigned to the fate that Kerdau would remain the same as it has been for the last half-a-century after every general election and by-election.

“Nothing will change. The leaders here were arrogant, but now they come bearing so many goodies provided we stick a Barisan Nasional logo in front of our houses,” a Chinese rubber tapper told me.

Like him, most people in Kerdau worked as rubber tappers. But luck has never been on their side despite the high price of rubber as production was affected due to the raining season earlier in the year, which affected rubber trees.

Life was generally easy-going, and here, one finds no opportunity for Kerdau's second generation and beyond. Most from the younger generation traveled far away in search of better jobs.

“No one wants to work as a rubber tapper,” said a 53-year old resident, who has five children.

On the other hand, there are a lot of rumblings that this constituency have not been well serviced despite the many promises made come every election since 1990.

Some parts of Kerdau look like remote areas of Sarawak, without clean water supply, such as Kampung Orang Asli Paya Sendayan.

PAS leaders touring Kerdau's abandoned low-cost housing projects, abandoned for more than two decades

As usual, UMNO and BN's temporary remedy is by providing water supply once every three days, in a desperate attempt to secure votes from these impoverished folks.

It also promised an allocation of RM9.25 million to upgrade a water treatment plant in Batu Sawar.

Besides promising the water treatment plant, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced a project to build a multipurpose hall for the Chinese community in Kampung Sri Kerdau, costing some RM400,000, a temple for the Hindus (RM100,000) and a volunteer Fire Station (RM150,000), bringing the total to almost RM10 million within just a day's visit.

The question is, however, is whether the Pahang state government led by Adnan Yaakob has the money to carry out these projects.

According to the Pahang state budget for 2011, out of an allocation of RM870,117,390 million, Adnan had only spent a mere RM270,693,250, equivalent to 31 percent, for state development, the rest going for 'operational costs'.

With 42 state constituencies in the largest state in Peninsula Malaysia, a constituency will receive an average of RM6.43 million this year.

Burdened by a debt of RM2.17 billion, one is tempted to know where the astronomical funding for Kerdau is coming from, and which constituency is being victimised of development fund in 2011?

If the government chooses to argue that the funds for Kerdau is from Federal coffers, how is such a high allocation can be justified and what about other constituencies that do not have a by-election?

Pahang’s problem is not new, and it is apparent that the BN state assemblymen are not doing their job in reprimanding Adnan's administration for his economic folly. The opposition, meanwhile, is only represented by 4 seats in the state assembly.

Like it or not, Kerdau voters are aware that once this by-election is over, things will be back to 'normal', just like how it normalised after each of the 12 elections.

Yet, the fact is that the timing of this election works best for them, because the next general election is looming, perhaps less than a year from now. As such, the BN will be dishing out promises again soon.

So it would not be a bad idea to use their vote to jolt the BN by voting the opposition to represent them just for several months. How much can a consitutency lose in one year?

Mind you, the RM6.45 million for a state constituency is only the average. By right, if one goes by the ratio of constituency's area in the Pahang state that has a total area of 3.6 million hectares, Kerdau (13,214 hectares) only deserves to receive RM993,632.00 or 0.36 percent out of the total RM270 million allocated from the state budget this year.

This means that what Najib promised in one day would be almost equivalent to what Kerdau would receive in 10 years from the state government, if there were no by-election.

Either Kerdau voters use this opportunity to give BN a wake-up call, or they could just hope for something to happen to their newly elected ADUN.

http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2378:kerdau-waiting-for-a-wake-up-call-after-53-years&catid=34:primary&Itemid=56

Hands off Libya, PAS tells Western powers seeking military role

Harakahdaily

KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 2: PAS is strongly opposed to any attempt at foreign military intervention in the ongoing people's uprising against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, saying such measures would only create yet another never-ending conflict in the region.

"Military intervention in the name of the UN Security Council will only open another flashpoint of a continous crisis which will only make life difficult to the people of Libya, just as military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq have not yielded any solution todate," said PAS president Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang (pic) in a statement to Harakahdaily.

He was responding to a sudden change of tune from Washington and its Western allies, who had been arming Gaddafi despite repression against his people, which have hinted for military intervention to speed up Gaddafi's demise. Analysts have however pointed to the North African country's immense oil wealth as the reason behind Western calls for interference in Libya, unlike its silence in other parts of the Arab world.

Several major Muslim countries who had condemned the Western-backed Gaddafi had earlier warned the US against using the situation in Libya as a pretext to control its vast oil reserves.

Iran said Western countries should not take advantage of the popular movement in Libya to turn the country into a military base, while Turkey said it was strongly opposed to any sanctions on Libya as the victims would not be Gaddafi but innocent Libyans.

"It will harm not the administration but the Libyan people. You cannot secure world peace by resorting to sanctions in each and every incident," said Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accusing Western powers of only eyeing Libya's oil.

"We call on the international community to approach Libya not with concerns about oil but with conscience, justice and universal human values," he said.

Hadi also called on the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Conferences to step in and seek a solution to the crisis and Libya, saying both bodies must exert pressure to urge Gaddafi to give up power.

Related:

Iran, Turkey warn West of exploiting Libyan crisis for oil, bases

http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2375:hands-off-libya-pas-tells-western-powers-seeking-military-role&catid=34:primary&Itemid=56

'Keep your summons receipts and redeem your money'

Harakahdaily

KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 2: Former Perak Menteri Besar and Bukit Gantang member of parliament Nizar Jamaluddin (right) has urged Malaysians who had settled their postal traffic summonses to keep their receipts so that their money can be returned by a new Pakatan Rakyat government.

“Those who had paid please keep receipt to claim from new Pakatan Rakyat government!” he twitted.

Nizar also called on the PR leadership to include the abolishment of the controversial postal summonses, or 'saman ekor', to be among the reforms it promises to carry out in the first 100 days of power at the Federal level.

The government had last year announced that those who did not settle outstanding postal summonses would be blacklisted and not allowed to renew road tax as well as driving license. The deadline for settlement of these summonses ended this week, and saw tens of thousands of people thronging police stations and postal offices to pay up outstanding summonses. The government has now further extended the deadline to March 10, in a move which enables it to collect millions of ringgit worth of fines.

PAS has been at the forefront of a campaign to oppose the postal summonse, calling for its abolishment in place of a better solution to educate the public on traffic rules.

MONEY FOR THE GOVERNMENT ... A long queue of people at a police station rushing to beat the Feb 28 deadline to settle summonses

Postal summons, or 'saman ekor', allows the police to issue summons notices to motorists, ostensibly for breaking traffic rules, but without being pulled over by officers when the alleged offence took place.

PAS vice president Mahfuz Omar has been leading an intense campaign called KASE (Kempen Anti Saman Ekor) following public outcry over the government's refusal to stop the practice of sending summonses via post.

Meanwhile, PAS president Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang (left) said the party would work together with its partners PKR and DAP to solve the issue, saying ‘saman ekor’ was not the best way to educate the people on road manners.

“We understand the hardship faced by the people because of ‘saman ekor’ which denies them an avenue to seek justice, to defend themselves and to prove their guilt, and worse, the people are punished recklessly by being blacklisted as well as other unfair actions,” said Hadi.

Hadi said the postal summonses and its enforcement through the Road Transport Department's action of blacklisting vehicles slapped with such summonses had only caused problem to the public, in particular rural folks and those from the lower income bracket.

Hadi however reminded that only a PR-controlled Federal government would be able to reverse the practice.

Related:

Postal summons: PR takes it to the palace

'Saman ekor', JPJ blacklist in contempt of court?

10 million signatures to say no to 'saman ekor'

http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2373:keep-your-summons-receipts-and-redeem-your-money&catid=34:primary&Itemid=56

PAS tells MB to explain losses as BN promises housing project revival

Harakahdaily

KUANTAN, Mar 1: Pahang PAS commissioner Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has urged Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob to explain the state government's 13th consecutive deficit budget as well as debts amounting to RM2.17 billion.

L-R: Pahang MB Adnan Yaakob and Tuan Ibrahim

Tuan Ibrahim said these were among the contents of the Auditor General's report on the Pahang state administration, which said four state-linked companies which failed to repay their loans were the main culprits for revenue loss of some RM227 million.

The Auditor General’s report has named the top two state-linked companies Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Pahang (PKNP) and Amanah Saham Pahang Berhad as having failed to repay their loan of RM160.71 million and RM 59.82 million respectively to the state government.

“To make things worse, the report also revealed that the state government cannot take action against the GLCs which fail to repay the loan on schedule.

"It is now crystal clear why some economic experts predicted that Pahang has the potential to go bankrupt,” said Tuan Ibrahim.

Tuan Ibrahim, who is also the PAS vice president and election director in the upcoming Kerdau by-election, said the responsibility now was Adnan's to explain to the people, including the voters in Kerdau, on the measures taken to overcome weaknesses highlighted in the report.

Another promise to revive abandoned project

Meanwhile, Kerdau constituents are crying foul over a statement by UMNO's Kuala Krau member of parliament Ismail Said announcing an allocation of RM2.2 million to revive a long-abandoned low-cost housing project in Paya Taram.

Locals said the project had remained abandoned for the last 20 years despite repeated promises by BN to revive it in every election campaign.

It is believed that the government has handed over the project to private banks, with house buyers being told to apply bank loans of RM35,000, about RM10,000 more than the original price, with RM2.50 a square foot imposed for extra lots.

House buyer Sharuddin Mohd Salleh, 50 told Harakahdaily that although he welcomed the latest promise, he had doubts if the project ever see completion.

“When it is abandoned and completion date not known, it definitely makes us uncomfortable,” he said.

Siti Fatimah Abdul Rahman, 48, said her hope to own a house had been dashed by the stalled project.

“My son is now 24 years old and our dream house is still not ready. I am very disappointed as I had always planned to stay there, but until now it is not completed.

"I really hope that the house will be completed and the government will not ignore it. What’s more when there are parties who keep promising its completion during every election,” she said.

http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2366:pas-tells-mb-to-explain-losses-as-bn-promises-housing-project-revival&catid=34:primary&Itemid=56

Anwar on our equivalent of deposed First Ladies

Harakahdaily

IPOH, Mar 1: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, saying the problems plaguing Malaysia were not dissimilar to those of Tunisia and Egypt, said there were also similarities between the wives of the deposed two rulers and their counterparts in Malaysia.

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE? ... The PM's wife Rosmah Mansor and Leila Trabelsi, wife of the deposed Tunisian leader

There is no prize for guessing who Anwar was referring to when he said the Malaysian administration, like the former rule of Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, was also under the thumb of its leader's wife.

Anwar, describing Ben Ali's wife Leila Trabelsi as someone widely detested by Tunisians, said the people's dislike of her surpassed their dislike of her husband.

"On television, it was always Ben Ali, and then Leila, then Ben Ali, then Leila, Leila, Leila. Today, she sports a certain hair-do, the next day with a bun on the other side, and with a different dress," said Anwar to burst of laughter from the audience during a dinner talk organised by a PKR division near here.

"People called her ‘Leila Majnun’, ‘Majnun’ means crazy. Crazy for wealth, crazy for looks and crazy for hair buns,” he went on, as quoted by online portal TV Selangor.

As for Egypt's Suzanne Mubarak, she had the same habits as Leila, said Anwar, saying the former beautician turned First Lady soon amassed wealth for her children and family at the expense of the people.

Anwar (left) said at the end of their rule, both Mubarak and Ben Ali had stashed away billions of dollars worth of wealth robbed from their peoples.

He then advised prime minister Najib Razak to start carrying out reforms and not to have any illusion that events in North Africa would not take place here.

“A week after the revolt in Tunisia, Mubarak said Tunisia was not Egypt. Gaddafi in his speech two weeks ago, said Libya was not Egypt.

"Najib last week said this was Malaysia and not Egypt," said Anwar, adding however that the opposition in Malaysia still preferred to go through elections to bring about change.

"Let me warn Najib to ensure the next election is free and fair, if not the people will revolt,” reminded Anwar.

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Nik Aziz offers PM a lesson on mosque and Islamicity

Harakahdaily

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28: Kelantan Menteri Besar has derided a statement by prime minister Najib Razak criticising the PAS-led state government for having built only two mosques in Kelantan during its twenty years in power.

Nik Aziz (left) says Najib has only exposed his ignorance

In a posting on his popular Facebook page, Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat said by tying the number of mosques to a government's Islamicity, Najib had only exposed his deep ignorance about Islam.

Najib, speaking at a school in Kuala Krau, was reported by right wing Malay daily Utusan Malaysia as questioning PAS's Islamic credentials because the latter had only constructed two mosques in the whole of Kelantan in the two decades it has been in power.

In his response, Nik Aziz wondered if Najib would have given a similar view if he were living in Madinah during the time of Prophet Muhammad.

"If he were living during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him), would he have said such a thing upon discovering that the Prophet had only built one mosque during the ten years he administered Madinah?" asked Nik Aziz.

Nik Aziz added that Najib's thinking had been 'poisoned' by a secular frame of mind, not unlike the ultra-secularist Turkish leader Mustafa Kamal Attaturk, who founded modern Turkey on the ruins of the Ottoman empire which he helped to end.

Nik Aziz also went on to clarify that it was not only PAS which strove in the name of Islam, simply because it adapted such slogans as "Progress with Islam", and stressed that a person's Islamicity should not be measured by the length of one's beard, or his turban or dress.

http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2358:nik-aziz-offers-pm-a-lesson-on-mosque-and-islamicity&catid=34:primary&Itemid=56

Gadhafi forces retake towns near Libyan capital

AP – A Libyan army soldier loyal to Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi, poster in background, sits in a tank, in …

By MAGGIE MICHAEL and SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Maggie Michael And Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press – Tue Mar 1, 5:28 pm ET

TRIPOLI, Libya – Moammar Gadhafi's forces battled poorly armed rebels Tuesday for control of towns near the capital trying to create a buffer zone around his seat of power. The increasingly violent clashes threatened to transform the 15-day popular rebellion in Libya into a drawn-out civil war.

Amid the intensified fighting, the international community stepped up moves to isolate the longtime Libyan leader.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he ordered two ships into the Mediterranean, including the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, and he is sending 400 Marines to the vessel to replace some troops that left recently for Afghanistan.

Military leaders weighing a no-fly zone over Libya said it would be a complex task that would require taking out Gadhafi's air defenses, and Russia's top diplomat dismissed the idea as "superfluous" and said world powers should focus on sanctions.

Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, warned Western forces not to take military action against Libya and said the country is prepared to defend itself against foreign intervention.

"If they attack us, we are ready," he told Sky News, adding that the Gadhafis are ready to implement reforms.

Facing an unprecedented challenge to his 41-year rule, Gadhafi's regime has launched the bloodiest crackdown in a wave of uprising against authoritarian rulers in the Middle East. Gadhafi has already lost control of the eastern half of the country but still holds Tripoli and other nearby cities.

An exact death toll has been difficult to obtain in the chaos, but a medical committee in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the uprising began on Feb. 15, said at least 228 people had been killed, including 30 unidentified bodies, and 1,932 wounded.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has cited reports that perhaps 1,000 have died in Libya.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Congress that the U.S. must lead an international response to the crisis, including expanding already tough financial and travel sanctions against Gadhafi, his family and confidants and possibly imposing a no-fly zone over Libya.

"In the years ahead, Libya could become a peaceful democracy, or it could face protracted civil war. The stakes are high," she said.

Gadhafi's regime has retaken at least two towns and threatened a third, while rebels repulsed attacks on three other key areas — Misrata to the east, Zawiya to the west, and the mountain town of Zintan to the south of the capital.

One of those retaken was the strategic mountain town of Gharyan, the largest in the Nafusa Mountains, which overlooks Tripoli, a resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of government retaliation. The town fell after dark Friday in a surprise attack, and the government troops detained officers who defected to the rebels and drew up lists of wanted protesters and started searching for them, the resident added.

Gadhafi supporters also have said they were in control of the city of Sabratha, west of Tripoli, which has seemed to go back and forth between the two camps in the past week.

But witnesses in Zawiya, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of the capital, said rebels shouted "Allahu akbar (God is great) for our victory," and carried an air force colonel who had just defected after six hours of overnight gunbattles failed to dislodge anti-Gadhafi forces who control the city.

"We were worried about air raids but that did not happen," said one resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The Zawiya rebels have tanks, machine guns and anti-aircraft guns. They beat back pro-Gadhafi troops, armed with the same weapons, who attacked from six directions. There was no word on casualties.

In Misrata, 125 miles (200 kilometers) east of Tripoli, pro-Gadhafi troops who control part of an air base on the city's outskirts tried to advance Monday. But they were repulsed by opposition forces, who included residents with automatic weapons and defected army units allied with them, one of the opposition fighters said.

No casualties were reported and the fighter claimed that his side had captured eight soldiers, including a senior officer.

The opposition controls most of the air base, and the fighter said dozens of anti-Gadhafi gunmen have arrived from farther east in recent days as reinforcements.

In Zintan, 75 miles (120 kilometers) south of Tripoli, residents said an attack by pro-Gadhafi forces Monday night was the second since the city fell in rebel hands late last month. But, they added, Gadhafi's loyalists were bringing in reinforcements.

One person in Zwara, which fell to anti-government forces days ago, said guards were posted at every sensitive building and all the entrances to the town.

"We are threatened every day by pro-Gadhafi forces," the nervous Zwara resident said, adding that a pro-Gadhafi figure met with the town's leaders a few days ago and told them they had "a choice" to go back in to orbit "and he will forget what happened, or else he is going to attack us with military force. He even offered us money."

One sergeant in the Libyan army who is of Tuareg ethnicity and is fighting on Gadhafi's side said the military is divided.

"Us foreigners, we don't have much choice. We have to support Gaddafi," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press in Mali. "It because of him we are here."

He added that everyone who supports Gadhafi has not been watching any foreign news.

"There is nothing that's going to convince Gaddafi to quit," the soldier said. "The only way Gaddafi is going to go is if someone puts a bullet in his head, and I can't imagine that. The soldiers who are close to him would never let it happen."

Many young citizens of Mali and Niger who flocked to Libya in the 1970s and 1980s were ethnic Tuaregs and were recruited into an "Islamic Legion" modeled on the French Foreign Legion.

With fears high that Gadhafi could wage airstrikes against his own people, the European Union and the United States have raised the possibility of a no-fly zone over Libya — a tactic used successfully in northern Iraq and Bosnia.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the idea "superfluous" and said world powers must instead focus on fully using the sanctions the U.N. Security Council approved over the weekend. Russia is a veto-wielding member of the Security Council.

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, meanwhile, urged Gadhafi to consider exile, saying she's worried the African nation could plummet into a "humanitarian disaster."

"It's important that he get off the stage," Rice said told CBS on "The Early Show."

More than 140,000 people have streamed into Tunisia and Egypt, and the situation at the Tunisian border has reached a "crisis point," with up to 75,000 people gathering in just nine days said U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming. Many have returned to their homes in Tunisia and Egypt.

But thousands of Vietnamese and Bangladeshis at the Libyan side of border with Tunisia are "in urgent need of food, water and shelter," said Jemini Pandya, a spokeswoman for International Organization for Migration. Nepalese, Ghanaians and Nigerians are also sleeping unprotected at the borders, she added.

Thousands of foreigners — many of them Egyptians — have been stranded for at least a week at Tripoli's airport, where they have little food, no shelter and face mistreatment by Libyan authorities.

The workers were willing to stay in their homes across in various cities, including Tripoli, but said they were attacked by locals who stole their money, cell phones and threatened to shoot them unless they left. They said they came to the airport, thinking it would be safe, but have endured harsh conditions since arriving, unable to enter the terminal or even a bathroom at a mosque, without paying.

The grass in front of the airport terminal were littered with clothes, shoes, sheets, cans and garbage.

Mohammed Shahat, 26, who works in a ceramics company in Zawiya, said he has camped at the airport for a week.

"I was told that I can enter the terminal but first I have to pay 200 dinars (about $160). I paid, but then they took my passport and kicked us out," he said.

On Tuesday, Gadhafi's regime sought to show that it was the country's only legitimate authority and that it continued to feel compassion for areas in the east that fell under the control of its opponents.

A total of 18 trucks loaded with rice, flour, sugar and eggs left Tripoli for Benghazi, the country's second-largest city 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) east of the capital. Also in the convoy were two refrigerated cars carrying medical supplies.

People in opposition-controlled areas were running low on medical supplies.

Dr. Abdullah Gleissa, head of surgery at Jalaa Hospital in Benghazi said that while it had enough basic medical supplies, it was short of some instruments, narcotics and personnel skilled in certain types of surgery.

"We are still clearing up cases that have been waiting for operations," he said.

The battles were not limited to Libyan cities and towns.

Libyan state television channel Jamahiriya-2 said on a news ticker that jamming of unknown origin had temporarily affected broadcasts of the main state-controlled channel, Jamahirya 1. The main channel was back on the air Tuesday night.

The news website Quryna, which has ties to Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, has been down for days. On Tuesday morning, it bore a monarchist flag of the pre-Gahdafi era and a statement saying the site had been hacked by the rebels. Later, it opened to a mostly blank page that read: "This Account Has Been Suspended."

Play Video AP – Raw Video: Libyan town shakes off Gadhafi rule

• Slideshow:Anti-government protests in Libya

___

Associated Press correspondents Paul Schemm in Benghazi, Bassem Mroue in Cairo, John Heilprin in Geneva, Matthew Lee in Washington and Martin Vogl in Bamako, Mali, contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110301/ap_on_re_af/af_libya

U.S. warns of civil war in Libya unless Gaddafi goes

AFP – Libyan anti-Kadhafi protesters wave their old national flag as they stand atop an abandoned army tank …

• Slideshow:Anti-government protests in Libya

By Maria Golovnina Maria Golovnina – 50 mins ago

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya could descend into civil war unless Muammar Gaddafi quits, the United States said on Tuesday, its demand for his departure intensifying pressure on the longtime leader after news of Western military preparations.

But Gaddafi remained defiant, dispatching forces to a western border area amid fears that the most violent Arab revolt may grow bloodier and spark a humanitarian crisis.

His son, Saif al-Islam, warned the West against launching any military action to topple Gaddafi, and said the veteran ruler would not step down or go into exile.

"Using force against Libya is not acceptable. There's no reason, but if they want ... we are ready, we are not afraid," he told Sky television, adding: "We live here, we die here."

In Moscow, a Kremlin source suggested Gaddafi, whose authority has unraveled in much of the vast desert country, should step down, calling him a "living political corpse."

In prepared testimony to lawmakers in Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: "Libya could become a peaceful democracy or it could face protracted civil war."

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said Washington would apply pressure on Gaddafi until he bows out, working to stabilize oil prices and avert a humanitarian crisis.

She stopped short of saying the Obama administration was ready to impose a no-fly zone over Libya that would prevent Gaddafi using aircraft against rebels fighting against him.

On Monday the United States said it was moving ships and planes closer to the oil-producing North African state.

The destroyer USS Barry moved through the Suez Canal on Monday and into the Mediterranean. Two amphibious assault ships, the USS Kearsarge, which can carry 2,000 Marines, and the USS Ponce, are in the Red Sea and are expected to go through the canal early on Wednesday.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe sounded a note of caution, saying foreign military intervention in Libya would not happen without a clear United Nations mandate.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said it was unacceptable that "Colonel Gaddafi can be murdering his own people using airplanes and helicopter gunships."

General James Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command, told a Senate hearing that imposing a no-fly zone would be a "challenging" operation that would mean actual attack.

"You would have to remove air defense capability in order to establish a no-fly zone, so no illusions here," he said. "It would be a military operation -- it wouldn't be just telling people not to fly airplanes."

Analysts said Western leaders are in no mood to rush into conflict after the troubled, drawn-out involvements in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"They will be desperate not to place themselves in that situation, unless not doing so would result in even worse massacres," said Shashank Joshi of London's Royal United Services Institute.

Suspicions grew that Gaddafi, a survivor of past coup attempts, did not grasp the scale of the forces against him.

"All my people love me," he told the U.S. ABC network and the BBC on Monday, dismissing the significance of a rebellion that has ended his control over much of oil-rich eastern Libya.

REBELS CLAIM STRENGTH GROWING

Rebel fighters claimed the balance of the conflict was swinging their way. "Our strength is growing and we are getting more weapons. We are attacking checkpoints," said Yousef Shagan, a spokesman in Zawiyah, only 50 km (30 miles) from Tripoli.

A rebel army officer in the eastern city of Ajdabiyah said rebel units were becoming more organized.

"All the military councils of Free Libya are meeting to form a unified military council to plan an attack on Gaddafi security units, militias and mercenaries," Captain Faris Zwei said.

Rebels guarding a munitions store near Ajdabiyah said they feared a direct hit by Gaddafi's warplanes could cause destruction for miles around.

But despite the widespread collapse of Gaddafi's writ, his forces were fighting back in some regions.

A reporter on the Tunisian border saw Libyan troops reassert control at a crossing that was abandoned on Monday, and residents of Nalut, about 60 km (35 miles) from the border, said pro-Gaddafi forces deployed to retake control there.

Mohamed, a resident of rebel-held Misrata, told Reuters by phone: "Symbols of Gaddafi's regime have been swept away from the city. Only a (pro-Gaddafi) battalion remains at the city's air base but they appear to be willing to negotiate safe exit out of the air base. We are not sure if this is genuine or just a trick to attack the city again."

Across the country, tribal leaders, officials, military officers and army units have defected to the rebels. Sanctions will squeeze his access to funds.

BREAD QUEUES

Tripoli is a clear Gaddafi stronghold, but even in the capital, loyalties are divided. Many on the streets on Tuesday expressed loyalty but one man who described himself as a military pilot said: "One hundred percent of Libyans don't like him."

There were queues outside bread shops on Tuesday morning. Some residents said many shops were limiting the number of loaves customers could buy.

In Geneva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on world powers to fully implement a U.N. Security Council resolution on Libya. The text, adopted on Saturday, includes a freeze on Muammar Gaddafi's assets and travel ban and refers his regime's brutal crackdown to the International Criminal Court.

Libya's National Oil Corporation said output had halved because of the departure of foreign workers.

Brent crude prices pushed above $115 a barrel as supply disruptions and the potential for more unrest in the Middle East and North Africa kept investors on edge.

At Ras Jdir on the border with Tunisia, Tunisian border guards fired into the air to try to control a crowd of people clamoring to get through a frontier crossing to escape the violence.

About 70,000 people have passed through the Ras Jdir frontier crossing in the past two weeks, and in the last few days the rate has increased to up to 15,000 per day, said Ayman Gharaibeh, an officer with the U.N. refugee agency.

Revolutions in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt have helped to ignite resentment of four decades of often bloody political repression under Gaddafi as well as his failure to use Libyan oil wealth to tackle widespread poverty and lack of opportunity.

(Additional reporting by Yvonne Bell and Chris Helgren in Tripoli, Dina Zayed and Caroline Drees in Cairo, Tom Pfeiffer, Alexander Dziadosz and Mohammed Abbas in Benghazi, Yannis Behrakis and Douglas Hamilton; Christian Lowe and Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers, Souhail Karam and Marie-Louise Gumuchian in Rabat and Samia Nakhoul, William Maclean and Alex Lawler in London; writing by Andrew Roche; editing by Mark Heinrich)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110301/wl_nm/us_libya_protests;_ylt=AreQQPvMdC7ilHi3.lSPkFNvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJpdmF1Y280BGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTEwMzAxL3VzX2xpYnlhX3Byb3Rlc3RzBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMgRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawN1c3dhcm5zb2ZjaXY-

Yemeni president says US and Israel behind unrest

AP – An anti-government protestor reacts as he and other demonstrators shout slogans during a demonstration …

• Slideshow:Yemenis rally against government

By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press Ahmed Al-haj, Associated Press – 1 hr 56 mins ago

SANAA, Yemen – Yemen's embattled president on Tuesday accused the U.S., his closest ally, of instigating the mounting protests against him, but the gambit failed to slow the momentum for his ouster.

Hundreds of thousands rallied in cities across Yemen in the largest anti-government protests of the past month, including a gathering addressed by an influential firebrand cleric whom the U.S. has linked to al-Qaida. "Go on until you achieve your demands," Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani told tens of thousands of demonstrators in the capital of Sanaa.

Some warned that the current political turmoil and possible collapse of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime could give a further opening to Yemen's offshoot of the global terror network, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. The Yemen branch, believed to have been involved in the attempted 2009 bombing of an American airliner, is seen as particularly active and threatening to the U.S.

Saleh has been a weak but important U.S. ally in the fight against al-Qaida. Yemen gets U..S. military aid and has allowed American drone strikes on al-Qaida targets. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Yemen in January and urged Saleh to do more.

However, on Tuesday, Saleh seemed to be turning on Washington. In a speech to about 500 students and lecturers at Sanaa University, he claimed the U.S., along with Israel, is behind the protest movement.

"I am going to reveal a secret," he said. "There is an operations room in Tel Aviv with the aim of destabilizing the Arab world. The operations room is in Tel Aviv and run by the White House."

Saleh also alleged that opposition figures meet regularly with the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa. "Regrettably those (opposition figures) are sitting day and night with the American ambassador where they hand him reports and he gives them instructions," Saleh said.

The Obama administration rejected the claims. White House spokesman Jay Carney called on Saleh to focus on implementing the political reforms demanded by his people instead of "scapegoating."

Saleh's relationship with the U.S. has been ambivalent, and he has at times attempted to play down his military alliance with Washington. Anti-U.S. sentiment remains strong in Yemen, as elsewhere in the region, and Saleh's comments appeared to be an attempt to discredit the protesters by suggesting they are serving foreign interests.

"Part of this is putting blame on others, part of it is trying to manage the situation," said Christopher Boucek, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a U.S. think tank. "He (Saleh) does not want to feed into grievances that gave rise to the opposition against him, such as being too close to the U.S."

In another attempt to silence critics, Saleh fired five of the country's 22 provincial governors Tuesday, including three who had spoken out against the government's at times violent crackdown on demonstrators.

In London, Britain's Foreign Office summoned a senior Yemeni diplomat to express "deep concern" over the deaths of protesters at rallies. "The government of Yemen should listen to the legitimate grievances of the Yemeni people," the Foreign Office said.

The momentum against the president, who refuses to step down until elections in 2013, has kept growing since protests erupted a month ago — inspired by successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. He has lost the support of key tribal chiefs and on Tuesday, opposition parties called their supporters into the streets for the first time. Crowds of tens of thousands each were reported in five areas of the country, including in Sanaa.

Saleh's government is widely seen as corrupt, with relatives of the president holding key positions in government and business. Grievances about the growing disparity between Yemen's poor — nearly half the population of some 23 million — and a small ruling clique have helped drive the protests. Yemen is the Arab world's poorest country.

In the port city of Aden, the scene of deadly clashes between police and demonstrators last week, thousands rallied Tuesday to express their anger. "We are demonstrating and calling for the downfall of the regime because Aden, under Saleh, has turned into a village," said Faiza al-Sharbary, a 45-year-old teacher. "At one time, it was one of the best cities. Therefore this regime has to leave."

In Sanaa, tens of thousands gathered outside the university, the heart of the protests.

Al-Zindani, the influential Islamic cleric, praised the young protesters, saying their rallies are "a new way to change regimes that we did not know 50 years ago."

"Go on until you achieve your demands," he told them. "You have come out demanding changes as a result of desperation."

Al-Zindani's role appeared unclear.

Saleh, in power for 32 years, has tried to co-opt the preacher, appointing him last year as a mediator between the government and opposition parties over electoral reform.

However, al-Zindani is also thought by the United States to be a one-time spiritual mentor of Osama bin Laden. In the past, the cleric has criticized the U.S.-backed fight against al-Qaida, warning that it could lead to a foreign occupation of Yemen.

Some in Yemen said the current turmoil could strengthen the local al-Qaida branch.

"One of the principal worries of our regional and global partners has been that if Yemen goes into anarchy, the possibility of al-Qaida having easy access should be quite clear," said Mohamed Qubaty, a senior member of Yemen's ruling party.

Yemen has been the site of numerous anti-U.S. attacks, going back to the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden harbor, which killed 17 American sailors. Late last year, several CIA operatives were targeted in a failed bombing at a restaurant in a Sanaa suburb. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula was also thought to be behind the attempted bombing of an American airliner landing in Detroit in 2009.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Raphael Satter in London and Karin Laub in Cairo contributed reporting.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110301/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_yemen

AS tawar bantuan

LEPAS GERAM...orang ramai mengoyakkan poster Gaddafi ketika membantah kekejaman pemimpin Libya itu di Zawiyah, semalam. Bandar itu kini dikuasai penentang kerajaan.

WASHINGTON: Amerika Syarikat mengumumkan kesediaannya menawarkan ‘sebarang bantuan’ kepada rakyat Libya yang kini gigih menumbangkan rejim Muammar Gaddafi.

Ketika penentang kerajaan menguasai beberapa bandar di barat Libya, Setiausaha Negara AS, Hillary Clinton, menyertai desakan pemimpin lain dunia, termasuk Barack Obama, menggesa Gaddafi berundur.

“Kita baru saja memulakan proses menyingkirkan Gaddafi.

“Mula-mula, kita perlu melihat rejimnya berakhir dan tiada lagi pertumpahan darah,” katanya Menurut Hillary, Washington tidak sabar melihat Gaddafi disingkirkan daripada kedudukannya sebagai pemimpin Libya secepat mungkin.

Kenyataan itu dibuat ketika Hillary bersedia menghadiri mesyuarat peringkat menteri di Suruhanjaya Tinggi Hak Asasi Manusia Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu semalam.

Pada pertemuan itu, dia dijadual mengadakan rundingan dua hala dengan rakan sejawatnya dari negara lain mengenai Libya.

Sementara itu, akhbar The New York Times melaporkan, pegawai AS dan Eropah membincangkan pelan menguatkuasakan zon larangan terbang ke atas Libya bagi menghalang pembunuhan ke atas rakyat negara itu oleh tentera yang setia kepada Gaddafi.

Memetik sumber, akhbar itu melaporkan, setakat ini keputusan muktamad belum dicapai.

Menteri Luar Itali, Franco Frattini, pula berkata perjanjian persahabatan di antara negara itu dengan Libya yang dimeterai pada 2008 kini dianggap digantung. Pegawai kanan AS juga mengaku mereka membincangkan kemungkinan mengganggu siaran komunikasi di Libya bagi menghalang Gaddafi menyebarkan ucapan atau kenyataan kepada orang ramai.

Akhbar itu turut menyatakan, AS memberi pertimbangan sama ada tentera negara itu boleh membina kemudahan di Tunisia atau Mesir bagi membantu pelarian Libya. - AFP

http://www.hmetro.com.my/myMetro/articles/AStawarbantuan/Article/index_html

Rakyat Oman bangkit protes

SOHAR: Rakyat Oman terus menguasai jalan utama di bandar Sohar bagi menuntut kerajaan menangani masalah pengangguran dan melaksanakan reformasi di negara itu.

Bantahan terbuka itu diadakan sehari selepas enam penunjuk perasaan terbunuh gara-gara terkena peluru getah polis.

Protes itu - kebanyakannya disertai penganggur - menghalang laluan di bandar perindustrian penting Oman walaupun kerajaan mengumumkan bantuan baru untuk mereka.

Kerajaan juga memberikan lebih kuasa kepada majlis penasihat yang dilantik.

Protes diadakan di Bulatan Bumi - kawasan persimpangan penting untuk ke Muscat selama tiga hari berturut-turut walaupun polis cuba menyuraikan mereka.

Pihak berkuasa tidak kelihatan semalam selepas sehari sebelum itu berlaku pertembungan berdarah di antara polis dan penunjuk perasaan.

Jurucakap kerajaan mendakwa, hanya seorang terbunuh dalam konfrontasi itu.

Mangsa kedua, katanya, terselamat walaupun peluru getah itu terkena perutnya.

Bagaimanapun, di pihak penunjuk perasaan, mereka mendakwa sekurang-kurangnya enam terbunuh.

Agensi berita ONA melaporkan, protes bermula pada subuh Sabtu dan berlanjutan sehingga semalam.

Beberapa kenderaan kerajaan dan persendirian turut dibakar.

“Polis antirusuhan bertindak bagi melindungi orang ramai dan harta-benda mereka,” lapor ONA.

Selain rumah gabenor di Sohar, penunjuk perasaan turut membakar pusat membeli-belah. - AFP

http://www.hmetro.com.my/myMetro/articles/RakyatOmanbangkitprotes/Article/index_html

Pakej tukar suami isteri

Oleh Mary Victoria Dass
maryvictoria@hmetro.com.my

BUKTI...SMS yang dihantar pasangan dari negara jiran terbabit.

JOHOR BAHRU: Pakej pelancongan sambil bertukar-tukar suami dan isteri. Begitu aktiviti seks bebas hujung minggu dikenali sebagai ‘swinger’ anjuran segelintir pelancong dari negara jiran yang kini cuba menjerat pasangan di bandar raya ini untuk menyertainya.

Pelancong terbabit yang dinaungi lebih 10 kelab maksiat di negara itu serta kelab antarabangsa cuba mempengaruhi pasangan suami isteri berpendapatan sederhana di bandar raya ini dengan apa yang dianggap gaya hidup moden itu, kononnya boleh meningkatkan keseronokan masing-masing.

Malah, pelancong terbabit sanggup mengumpan ganjaran tertentu termasuk membiayai percutian selain menyediakan kemewahan jika pasangan suami isteri tempatan sanggup memenuhi permintaan mereka.

Kegiatan tidak bermoral itu didedahkan seorang ejen insurans di Taman Indahpura, dekat Kulaijaya, Arshad Mohd Ali, 27, yang mendakwa hampir terjebak selepas dipelawa sepasang suami isteri golongan profesional dari negara jiran berusia 30-an.

Arshad berkata, dia mengenali pasangan terbabit ketika membeli-belah bersama isterinya yang sebaya di sebuah pasar raya di bandar raya ini, akhir Oktober tahun lalu selepas tertarik sikap mesra mereka sebelum bertukar nombor telefon.

Katanya, dia tidak sangka hasrat murninya menjalin persahabatan dengan pasangan terbabit mendatangkan masalah apabila pasangan itu sendiri mendedahkan niat buruk mereka.

“Pasangan suami isteri dikenali sebagai Nin dan Sue yang masing-masing bekerja sebagai jurutera itu beria-ia berkunjung ke rumah kami pada pertengahan November tahun lalu hampir setiap hujung minggu selain tidak ketinggalan menghubungi dan mengajak kami beriadah.

“Mulanya, tindakan itu menyebabkan hubungan kami suami isteri dengan pasangan terbabit semakin akrab dan bagi menghargai persahabatan, kami memenuhi permintaan mereka dengan berkunjung ke rumah mereka di negara itu,” katanya.

Arshad berkata, tembelang pasangan yang belum mempunyai anak itu mula terdedah selepas mereka menghantar SMS menghasut yang memintanya dan isteri mencuba aktiviti songsang itu.

Menurutnya, lebih mengejutkan, pasangan itu tanpa segan-silu mendedahkan identiti sebenar mereka yang turut menjadi ahli sebuah kelab seks di negara asal yang mahu menarik keanggotaan baru dalam kalangan penduduk negeri ini.

“Saya terkejut apabila menerima SMS daripada Nin dan pasangannya yang memberitahu mahu mengajak saya dan isteri ke Melaka untuk berseronok bersama-sama pada 6 Disember lalu.

“Mereka memberitahu mahu membiayai kos penginapan kami di hotel selain makan minum sepanjang percutian itu.

“Mereka yang mendakwa sudah bosan melayan nafsu pasangan masing-masing juga meminta kami mendaftar sebagai ahli kelab maksiat di negara mereka secepat mungkin bagi memulakan kehidupan baru yang konon menjanjikan keseronokan,” katanya ketika ditemui Harian Metro.

Arshad berkata, Nin memberitahunya pakej pelancongan yang mempromosi seks bebas itu bergerak melalui kelab maksiat konon bertujuan menyemarakkan semula hubungan seks yang suram dalam kalangan pasangan suami isteri dan setiap peserta akan bertukar pasangan masing-masing suka sama suka.

Katanya, ketika dia menghubungi lelaki itu bagi mendapatkan penjelasan mengenai SMS berkenaan, jurutera itu cuba meracuni pemikirannya dengan menyatakan amalan itu sudah menjadi trend masyarakat moden seluruh dunia.

“Saya dan isteri bimbang dengan perlakuan sumbang pasangan itu dan dan lebih rela memutuskan persahabatan songsang yang terjalin daripada terus hanyut dalam dunia maksiat.

“Kami berharap dengan pendedahan ini pasangan suami isteri lain lebih berhati-hati dengan taktik pasangan warga asing itu kerana boleh menghancurkan kebahagiaan rumah tangga selain merosakkan akidah,” katanya.

http://www.hmetro.com.my/articles/Pakejtukarsuamiisteri/Article

Dipenjara 3 tahun, denda RM4,000

Oleh Meor Riduwan Meor Ahmad
mriduwan@hmetro.com.my

TENANG...Noorlaili diiringi polis selepas dihukum tiga tahun penjara dan denda RM4,000 kerana mendera anak tiri.

MELAKA: Seorang suri rumah, Noorlaili Mahat, 39, yang mendera anak tirinya dihukum penjara tiga tahun dan denda RM4,000 oleh Mahkamah Majistret di sini, semalam.

Majistret Muzila Mohamed Arsad ketika menjatuhkan hukuman itu berkata, walau apapun pendirian diambil oleh ibu bapa dalam mendidik anak, mereka tidak patut memperlakukan kanak-kanak hingga mendatangkan kecederaan.

“Meskipun tertuduh mengatakan mangsa kanak-kanak hiperaktif, tidak patut dia dilakukan sebegitu. Mahkamah mendapati tiga kesan kecederaan baru dan dua kecederaan dialami mangsa adalah konsisten dengan keterangan doktor pakar menjurus kepada akibat penderaan,” katanya.

Beliau membuat keputusan itu di akhir kes pembelaan semalam dan mensabitkan tertuduh yang didapati gagal menimbulkan keraguan munasabah terhadap kes pendakwaan.

Pendakwaan dilakukan Timbalan Pendakwa Raya Mahadi Abdul Jumaat manakala Noorlaili diwakili peguam Ng Aik Beng.

Berdasarkan pertuduhan, dia sebagai ibu tiri kepada seorang kanak-kanak berusia sembilan tahun didapati menganiayai kanak-kanak itu hingga mengalami kecederaan fizikal di seluruh badan.

Kesalahan didakwa dilakukan antara 22 Februari hingga 1 Mac 2009 di rumah No 150, Batu 4 3/4, Jalan Aman Lorong Alai, dekat sini.

Tertuduh didakwa melakukan kesalahan mengikut Seksyen 31 (1) (a) Akta Kanak-Kanak 2001, memperuntukkan hukuman denda tidak lebih RM20,000 atau penjara maksimum 10 tahun atau kedua-duanya sekali.

Terdahulu Aik Beng merayu anak guamnya dikenakan hukuman ringan dengan mengemukakan beberapa alasan termasuk ia kesalahan pertama, tertuduh tiada rekod jenayah lampau, selain ada dua anak masih kecil berusia tujuh tahun dan satu setengah tahun.

Beliau juga berkata, mangsa dalam kes itu hanya mengalami kecederaan biasa dan tidak kekal.

Sementara itu, Mahadi memohon hukuman berat dikenakan sebagai pengajaran kepada tertuduh dan masyarakat supaya tidak mengulangi kesalahan itu pada masa depan.

Katanya, sepanjang tiga bulan kes dibicarakan sejak 8 November 2010, sembilan saksi pendakwaan memberi keterangan sementara pembelaan memanggil lima saksi.

“Kesalahan dilakukan tertuduh serius dan saya mohon hukuman berat dikenakan memandangkan kes sebegini kerap berlaku.

“Lima jenis kecederaan dialami mangsa mengikut keterangan sudah lama berlaku menyebabkan kanak-kanak terbabit takut balik ke rumah dan kini gembira berada di rumah kebajikan,” katanya.

Pihak pendakwaan juga berhujah biarpun kanak-kanak itu hiperaktif, ia bukan alasan untuk dipukul dengan teruk dan memohon hukuman setimpal.

http://www.hmetro.com.my/articles/Dipenjara3tahun_dendaRM4_000/Article

2,000 pengundi Merlimau ‘hilang’

Oleh NUZULSHAM SHAMSUDDIN
zulsham@kosmo.com.my

JASIN – Sebanyak 2,000 pengundi berdaftar di Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Merlimau ’hilang’ dan gagal ditemui berikutan tidak lagi tinggal di alamat yang didaftar.

Pengerusi Barisan Nasional (BN) negeri, Datuk Seri Mohd. Ali Rustam berkata, jentera BN telah berusaha menjejaki ‘kehilangan’ pengundi-pengundi tersebut ke semua alamat namun gagal menemukan mereka.

“Kita akan terus berusaha mencari mereka supaya datang mengundi pada hari Ahad ini kerana undi mereka penting.

“Kita yakin pengundi-pengundi ini ada di sekitar negeri ini tetapi telah berpindah daripada alamat lama dan mereka masih boleh membuang undi pada hari pengundian nanti,” katanya yang juga Ketua Menteri Melaka.

http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2011&dt=0302&pub=Kosmo&sec=Negara&pg=ne_02.htm