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Salam Aidilfitri
Disney studio chief Dick Cook stepping down
AP - Saturday, September 19
BURBANK, Calif. – Walt Disney Co. studio chief Dick Cook announced Friday he's stepping down immediately, after nearly four decades with the company.
Cook said in a statement he's been contemplating leaving the studio for some time and will be moving on to "new adventures." It wasn't immediately known who would replace him.
Cook's studio has come under intense scrutiny for the quality of its films. Recent movies, like "Race to Witch Mountain," "Bedtime Stories" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic" were box office disappointments.
Cook said he believed the studio's slate of upcoming movies is the best in its history.
Cook joined Disney in 1971 and moved up the ranks, becoming president of Buena Vista Pictures distribution in 1988. He became chairman of the studio in 2002.
"I have loved every minute of my 38 years that I have worked at Disney, from the beginning as a ride operator on Disneyland's steam train and monorail to my position as chairman of The Walt Disney Studios," he said.
Cook's creative instincts and showmanship enriched the company, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said
Mohsen Amdan berkata:Perjalanan yang hebat selalunya bermula dari sesuatu yang sukar, dan mengetahui, bila perlu membuat keputusan; bukan menanti keputusan dibuat oleh orang lain untuk diri sendiri
Why I threw the shoe — Muntazer al-Zaidi
Over recent years, more than a million martyrs have fallen by the bullets of the occupation and Iraq is now filled with more than five million orphans, a million widows and hundreds of thousands of maimed. Many millions are homeless inside and outside the country.
We used to be a nation in which the Arab would share with the Turkman and the Kurd and the Assyrian and the Sabean and the Yazid his daily bread. And the Shia would pray with the Sunni in one line. And the Muslim would celebrate with the Christian the birthday of Christ. This despite the fact that we shared hunger under sanctions for more than a decade.
Our patience and our solidarity did not make us forget the oppression. But the invasion divided brother from brother, neighbour from neighbour. It turned our homes into funeral tents.
I am not a hero. But I have a point of view. I have a stance. It humiliated me to see my country humiliated; and to see my Baghdad burned, my people killed. Thousands of tragic pictures remained in my head, pushing me towards the path of confrontation. The scandal of Abu Ghraib. The massacre of Falluja, Najaf, Haditha, Sadr City, Basra, Diyala, Mosul, Tal Afar, and every inch of our wounded land. I travelled through my burning land and saw with my own eyes the pain of the victims, and heard with my own ears the screams of the orphans and the bereaved. And a feeling of shame haunted me like an ugly name because I was powerless.
As soon as I finished my professional duties in reporting the daily tragedies, while I washed away the remains of the debris of the ruined Iraqi houses, or the blood that stained my clothes, I would clench my teeth and make a pledge to our victims, a pledge of vengeance.
The opportunity came, and I took it.
I took it out of loyalty to every drop of innocent blood that has been shed through the occupation or because of it, every scream of a bereaved mother, every moan of an orphan, the sorrow of a rape victim, the teardrop of an orphan.
I say to those who reproach me: do you know how many broken homes that shoe which I threw had entered? How many times it had trodden over the blood of innocent victims? Maybe that shoe was the appropriate response when all values were violated.
When I threw the shoe in the face of the criminal, George Bush, I wanted to express my rejection of his lies, his occupation of my country, my rejection of his killing my people. My rejection of his plundering the wealth of my country, and destroying its infrastructure. And casting out its sons into a diaspora.
If I have wronged journalism without intention, because of the professional embarrassment I caused the establishment, I apologise. All that I meant to do was express with a living conscience the feelings of a citizen who sees his homeland desecrated every day. The professionalism mourned by some under the auspices of the occupation should not have a voice louder than the voice of patriotism. And if patriotism needs to speak out, then professionalism should be allied with it.
I didn't do this so my name would enter history or for material gains. All I wanted was to defend my country. — Guardian
Muntazer al-Zaidi is an Iraqi reporter who was freed this week after serving nine months in prison for throwing his shoe at former US President George Bush at a press conference
Malam - malam Ramadhan Di Kuala Lumpur
Program Teknik Pembentangan Berkesan
Sebuah fiksyen dari Raja yang di cari orang
Disalin dari Malaysia Today
The following article is a work of fiction and any resemblance to people still living, already dead, or about to die is purely coincidental.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Bangun!
All rise. The judge walks in and takes his seat.
Duduk!
All sit down again.
Case number 1651/09, the Shah Alam High Court, Public Prosecutor versus Mohd Azmir Mohd Zin, Ahmad Suhairi Zakaria, Mohd Hilmi Ni, Eyzra Ezhar Ramlz, Ibrahim Sabri and Ahmad Mahayuddhn Abd Manaf. Will all the accused please come forward and enter the dock.
The six enter the dock.
Okay. What is the charge? Please read out the charges to all the accused.
Yes, your honour. You, Mohd Azmir Mohd Zin, Ahmad Suhairi Zakaria, Mohd Hilmi Ni, Eyzra Ezhar Ramlz, Ibrahim Sabri and Ahmad Mahayuddhn Abd Manaf, are accused of dragging a cow’s head after Friday prayers on…….
Hold on. What are they being charged for?
Sedition, your honour.
Sedition? How come I don’t get to hear sodomy cases? I want to hear a sodomy case. Is there any sodomy involved here?
No, your honour. Only sedition.
How did they commit sedition?
They dragged a cow’s head to the Selangor State Secretariat building.
How can they commit sedition against a cow? Dragging a cow is not seditious.
It was not a cow, your honour. It was a cow’s head.
Of course you have to drag a cow by the head. I know that. You can’t drag a cow by the tail.
It was not a live cow, your honour. It was a dead cow.
These six accused dragged a dead cow?
Not a dead cow, your honour. Just a cow’s head. They cut off the head and just dragged the head.
They needed six people just to drag one cow’s head?
No, your honour. Only two dragged the cow’s head. In fact, they carried it by the horns. Not actually dragged it along the ground.
Then how come six are being charged if only two dragged the cow’s head? Did they take turns to drag the cow’s head?
No, your honour. Two dragged the cow’s head. The other four stepped on the cow’s head and spit on it.
So this is sedition against the cow?
Not sedition against the cow, your honour. They committed sedition because their act was an insult to Hindus.
Was the cow owned by a Hindu man?
No, your honour. We have not yet established who owned the cow.
Did the owner of the cow make a police report?
No, your honour. But many Hindus did make police reports.
But none of these Hindus owned the cow?
No, your honour.
Then why are they so upset?
Because they feel insulted.
Aiyah! This case is getting very complicated even before the trial can start. Can’t we just charge them for sodomy instead? I want to hear a sodomy case. Judges become famous when they hear sodomy cases, not cases involving cow’s heads.
We can’t, your honour. There is no sodomy involved here.
I’m sure if the police investigate properly they will find someone who has been sodomised.
Well, your honour, I think Umno has been sodomised.
There you are. So there is sodomy involved. Can we amend the charges to sodomy against Umno instead?
But your honour, Umno was not literally sodomised. It’s more like figure of speech sodomised. Umno was sodomised politically.
Anwar Ibrahim did not literally sodomise anyone either. He sort of politically sodomised Dr Mahathir Mohamad. But that did not stop the government from charging him and finding him guilty of sodomy. Why can’t these six be charged for sodomy, for politically sodomising Umno? I want to hear a sodomy case.
For this particular case we can’t, your honour. But maybe we can give you another sodomy case to hear. Tiong King Sing just sodomised Ong Tee Keat by revealing the details of the RM10 million cash donation. It is now public knowledge and there is even a Statutory Declaration floating around.
Fantastic. Make sure that that case comes to my court. Where did the crime occur?
In Petaling Jaya, your honour.
Ah, then that comes under my court’s jurisdiction. Okay, let us proceed with this sedition case then. Are there any witnesses involved? How many witnesses are going to be called and how many days will we need for this case?
Initially, there were some videos of the crime.
Are the videos going to be entered as evidence? Then the accused might as well just plead guilty and save the court’s time. If there are videos then they have no defence.
The videos were available, your honour. But now the MCMC has asked Malaysiakini to remove the videos under threat. So the videos are no longer available.
So the evidence no longer exists?
No, your honour.
If there is no longer any evidence why waste the court’s time with a trial? Just drop the charges.
We can’t, your honour. We have to make the Hindus happy by at least pretending that we are putting the six on trial and then later either drop the charges or find them not guilty due to lack of video evidence.
Why later? Why not now?
We can’t, your honour. There is a by-election coming up soon in Port Dickson and there are about 20% Hindu voters there. This will make the Hindu voters very unhappy. We can only drop the charges after Umno wins the by-election. If not Umno is going to be sodomised good and proper.
Ah, if Umno loses the by-election can’t we then change the charge to sodomy since Umno was sodomised in the by-election?
Umno can’t lose the by-election, your honour.
Why not?
Because there are more than 5,000 postal voters in a total of only 14,000 registered voters.
I see. So the opposition is going to be sodomised instead then.
Sort of, your honour.
And these six people being charged are also opposition members?
They are, your honour.
I always said Anwar Ibrahim’s people are troublemakers. All opposition people are troublemakers. I have already decided to find them guilty even before the trial starts.
These six are not Anwar Ibrahim’s people, your honour.
You said they are opposition supporters.
They are Umno supporters, your honour.
But you said they are opposition supporters.
Yes, your honour. Umno is the opposition in Selangor
Mohsen Amdan berkata : Mereka yang terpengaruh dengan permainan isu kepala lembu ini menunjukkan betapa jumudnya pemikiran mereka. Dengan alasan tempat tinggal mereka majoritinya adalah muslim maka tidak boleh kuil didirikan disitu. Maka, bagaimana kita mahu membina masjid di Moscow, Glasgow, Seattle, Pyongyang atau tempat lain yang majoriti penduduknya tidak beragama Islam?
Kalau Jepun boleh..kenapa Malaysia tidak boleh?
DPJ sebuah parti muda, yang dibentuk kira-kira sedekad lalu dan menghimpunkan suatu gabungan besar terdiri daripada bekas anggota LDP dan beberapa parti kecil sosok kiri dan tengah yang lain.
Di Asia, sejarah sama turut tercipta beberapa kali — kekalahan Parti Kongres kepada Parti Bharatiya Janata (BJP) pada 1998 di India; kekalahan Parti Kuomintang kepada Democratic Progressive Party di Taiwan pada 2000; kekalahan Grand National Party kepada Millennium Democratic Party di Korea Selatan pada tahun 1997; dan kekalahan Golkar di Indonesia pada 1999.
Bagi penyokong Pakatan Rakyat di Malaysia, kemenangan tersebut diikuti dengan dekat kerana persamaan senario di Malaysia dan Jepun: UMNO, seperti LDP telah mentadbir negara lebih lima dekad; Pakatan Rakyat, seperti DPJ lahir dari gerakan politik sedekad lalu (apabila Keadilan ditubuhkan dan turut sama dengan PAS, DAP dan PRM menubuhkan Barisan Alternatif) dan menghimpunkan gerakan politik dari pelbagai kumpulan sosok tengah dan kiri.
Coraknya sama — parti memerintah yang lama dan memainkan peranan dalam pembinaan negara pada peringkat awal mula kelihatan lemah serta ketandusan idea selepas sekian memegang kuasa. Perjuangan mula dilupakan dan rasuah mengambil tempat. Di sesetengah negara seperti Indonesia, Korea dan Taiwan, pemerintahan parti tunggal menyempitkan ruang demokrasi.
Malah di negara-negara lain pun, kemenangan besar atau pemerintahan yang lama semuanya menyumbang kepada kealpaan pemerintah — sama seperti pemerintahan George W. Bush bagi Parti Republikan di Amerika dan Parti Konservatif di Britain antara 1979-1997 dan kini digantikan Parti Buruh.
Sebab itu sistem demokrasi memberikan ruang untuk rakyat menukar tampuk pemerintahan, sebagai usaha menyegarkan suasana politik. Walaupun parti yang lama memerintah cenderung mencari jalan mengukuhkan kedudukan mereka dan menyempitkan ruang demokrasi, tetapi mereka tidak dapat menentang kuasa rakyat selama-lamanya.
Maka selepas perubahan lanskap politik negara menerusi Pilihan Raya Umum ke 12 pada 8 Mac 2008, ramai yang menantikan PRU 13 sama ada Pakatan Rakyat mampu menewaskan BN di peringkat Persekutuan.
Baru-baru ini Mohd Khuzairi Ismail dalam rencana “Revolusi Politik Jepun” di Utusan Malaysia mengulas kemenangan DPJ di Jepun. Walaupun mengakui proses pertukaran kerajaan malah gelombang 8 Mac di Malaysia sebagai sebahagian proses kematangan sesebuah demokrasi, beliau berhujah bahawa Malaysia belum bersedia kerana kita belum mencapai negara maju. Kerajaan sedia ada perlu kekal bagi membasmi kemiskinan.
Hujah ini agak pelik memandangkan sekiranya sesebuah kerajaan gagal menyelesaikan masalah kemiskinan selepas lebih 50 tahun memerintah, bukankah itu menggambarkan kita perlu kerajaan baru? Negara-negara seperti Taiwan dan Korea semuanya dahulu berada pada tahap ekonomi kita pada tahun 1960, tetapi sudah pun memintas kita. Hujah ini mirip pandangan bahawa kerana di dalam beberapa aspek sasaran DEB belum tercapai, maka kita terus memerlukan DEB. Saya fikir hujah yang lebih kuat adalah kita perlu pendekatan baru bagi mencapai sasaran tersebut kerana jelas pendekatan sedia ada tidak berjaya.
Kita juga boleh melihat contoh India, demokrasi terbesar di dunia yang juga mempunyai ramai penduduk miskin. Pertumbuhan ekonomi India hari ini diasaskan oleh Manmohan Singh sebagai Menteri Kewangan daripada Parti Kongres pada 1991. Sekalipun Kongres tewas kepada BJP tujuh tahun kemudian, pertumbuhan ekonomi India berterusan, dan masih lagi kukuh hari ini selepas Kongres mengambil alih semula pucuk pimpinan India dan Manmohan menjadi Perdana Menteri. Masyarakat miskin India jauh lebih ramai berbanding Malaysia, tetapi pertukaran politik sebanyak dua kali masih mengekalkan pertumbuhan ekonominya yang mengkagumkan.
Kerajaan yang waras akan mengekalkan dasar yang bermanfaat untuk negara, dan memperbaiki kelemahannya, tanpa mengira parti. Di Selangor contohnya, projek-projek pembangunan berterusan tetapi dasar pembangunan negeri diimbangi dasar Merakyatkan Ekonomi Negeri Selangor bagi membolehkan rakyat Selangor berkongsi kekayaan. Kita meningkatkan garis kemiskinan bagi membolehkan pihak yang perlukan bantuan memperolehnya.
Daripada banyak perubahan yang berlaku di seluruh dunia, ada beberapa pengajaran penting untuk Pakatan Rakyat:
a. Perpaduan: Kejayaan Tony Blair pada 1997 dan kini David Cameron di Britain adalah kebolehan mereka menyatupadukan parti mereka yang sebelum ini berpecah-belah. Oleh itu Pakatan Rakyat mesti mengurangkan beberapa insiden kebelakangan ini yang memberi gambaran seolah-olah Pakatan Rakyat tidak bersatu-padu. Persetujuan pucuk pimpinan Pakatan Rakyat dapat dihayati oleh ahli dan pemimpin setiap peringkat agar benar-benar berkesan.
b. Agenda yang jelas dan diyakini: DPJ di Jepun menawarkan agenda yang jelas kepada rakyat Jepun. Walaupun ada pihak yang mempertikaikan dasar tersebut bersifat populis, tetapi pendekatan mereka menangkap imaginasi rakyat. Keadilan pada 2008 menawarkan lima janji Anwar yang juga populis dan berkesan, tetapi cabaran pada PRU 13 dengan adanya Pakatan Rakyat adalah agenda bersama Pakatan Rakyat yang jelas. Kelebihan kita berbanding dahulu adalah adanya kerajaan-kerajaan negeri di bawah Pakatan Rakyat yang boleh dijadikan contoh perbezaan kita berbanding BN. Agenda tersebut mestilah melangkaui ideologi sempit, tetapi mudah difahami rakyat.
c. Meyakinkan pihak terlibat (stakeholder): Perubahan kepada kerajaan yang lama memerintah pasti merisaukan pihak terlibat sama ada kakitangan awam, institusi kerajaan mahupun golongan peniaga. Parti Konservatif di Britain misalnya memberi jaminan akan mempertahankan Perkhidmatan Kesihatan Kebangsaan Britain bagi menolak imej ekstrim kanan mereka. Ketua DPJ, Yukio Hatoyama menulis esei di New York Times bagi meyakinkan masyarakat antarabangsa tentang agenda DPJ yang dilihat anti pasaran dan anti Amerika. Pakatan Rakyat perlu menjelaskan kepada institusi kerajaan dan kakitangan awam tentang tekad memelihara muafakat Perlembagaan serta hubungan baik dengan golongan pelabur dan peniaga.
Kita juga boleh mempertimbangkan cadangan Dato’ Nazir Razak di the Edge agar diperkenalkan pengampunan bagi rasuah, cuma saya merasakan garis pemisahnya bukan hanya masa tetapi saiz rasuah tersebut. Dengan ini anggota institusi kerajaan yang risau akan kedudukan mereka akan dapat diyakinkan bahawa sekiranya kesalahan mereka kecil, mereka tidak akan diburu dan dihukum dengan syarat selepas tarikh yang ditetapkan mereka tidak lagi mengulangi perkara tersebut.
d. Penampilan tokoh-tokoh muda dan berwibawa: Kelemahan parti yang terlalu lama memerintah ialah wujudnya kabilah-kabilah yang berkepentingan dan tokoh-tokoh lama yang membolot kuasa, lantas memberikan imej yang hambar. Penampilan tokoh-tokoh muda dan berwibawa memberi imej segar, sebagaimana DPJ di Jepun, Parti Buruh di Britain pada 1997, MDP di Korea dan juga Pakatan Rakyat pada PRU 12. Namun di sebalik kejayaan tersebut, kita juga melihat beberapa calon yang kurang kredibiliti turut menang. Justeru pada PRU 13 Pakatan Rakyat mesti terus mencari calon-calon baru yang muda di samping memastikan mutu calon jauh lebih baik berbanding sekarang.
Saya percaya empat pengajaran ini penting bagi Pakatan Rakyat melakari perubahan sama seperti di Jepun, Korea, India , Taiwan dan Indonesia. Rakyat Malaysia usah risau, sekiranya kita gagal, sistem demokrasi yang digunakan untuk memenangkan kami juga boleh menghukum kami. Di Korea, India dan Taiwan, parti-parti lama kembali merampas kuasa. Itulah realiti sistem demokrasi
Lagu Raya yang mengusik kenangan
Saham Sime Darby akan dijual?
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 — Malaysia is offering China a stake in its prized jewel — Sime Darby Berhad, the plantation-to-power conglomerate that is one of the world’s largest palm oil companies and also with extensive interests in the Middle Kingdom.
The unprecedented step was taken recently by the Najib administration and signals a move by the government to sell down its holdings in government-linked companies (GLCs) as well as strengthen strategic ties with certain countries by allowing them or their investment arms to hold equity in Malaysian blue-chip GLCs.
The Malaysian Insider has learnt from government sources that Najib Razak discussed the plan to offer up to 10 per cent of Sime Darby Berhad for sale to China at a recent Cabinet meeting.