Larang abu Chin Peng jadikan kita bahan ketawa: Bekas KPN, Abdul Rahim. No law to stop ashes being brought back: Wan Junaidi

CHIN PENG IS SUCH A HOT TOPIC NOW!

Larang abu Chin Peng jadikan kita bahan ketawa, kata bekas KPN

September 21, 2013
Latest Update: September 21, 2013 01:05 pm

Bekas Ketua Polis Negara (KPN) Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor memberi amaran Malaysia akan menjadi bahan ketawa jika kerajaan tidak berganjak daripada keputusan `naif’ dengan enggan membenarkan abu mayat  Chin Peng (gambar) dibawa masuk ke dalam negara untuk ditanam.

Menurutnya, tindakan itu juga akan menyebabkan bekas pemimpin komunis itu bertukar menjadi ikon dan ia adalah langkah terkebelakang dalam cubaan kerajaan untuk memenangi semula sokongan masyarakat Cina berikutan prestasi buruk dalam pilihan raya umum yang lalu.

“Masyarakat heboh mengenai abunya tidak dibenarkan dibawa masuk ke Malaysia. Pertelingkahan ini berlanjutan keterlaluan. Saya fikir ia sedikit naïf.

“Jika kerajaan tunduk kepada tekanan awam untuk tidak membenarkan abu mayat Chin Peng dibawa balik, saya fikir, kita akan membuat Malaysia ditertawakan oleh seluruh dunia,” katanya ketika ditemubual dari United Kingdom yang disiarkan BFM semalam.

Abdul Rahim, yang juga pengarah Cawangan Khas pada masa itu, mengetuai rundingan damai yang akhirnya mencetuskan Perjanjian Damai Haadyai 1989 – yang mengakhirkan secara rasmi pertempuran ahli Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM) yang bersenjata dengan kerajaan..

Penolakan untuk membenarkan Chin Peng pulang ke negara ini ketika beliau masih hidup, katanya, juga seperti mengejek dan memperolok-olokkan perjanjian damai itu.

Katanya, beliau pada masa itu meyakinkan kerajaan untuk berbincang dengan komunis, lebih 30 tahun selepas kegagalan rundingan Baling pada 1955.

Beliau berkata, walaupun Darurat 12 tahun tamat pada 1960, pasukan keselamatan masih bertempur dengan sisa komunis pada 1980-an, tetapi penolakan terhadap komunisme dalam kawasan adalah peluang untuk memperbaharui rundingan damai.

Pada masa itu, katanya, masih ada kira-kira 2,000 komunis sepanjang sempadan Malaysia-Thailand, dengan dua kumpulan terbesar ialah Biro Malaya Utara dan Rejimen ke-10 yang sebahagian besarnya ialah orang Melayu.

Beliau berkata, dengan sokongan perdana menteri pada masa itu, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Cawangan Khas secara rahsia mengadakan rundingan dengan komunis pada penghujung 1987 dan awal 1988 di pulau Phuket yang bertahan untuk lima pusingan.

Hasilnya, perjanjian damai 1989 ditandatangani di Haadyai merangkumi dua persetujuan, satu mengandungi dua terma utama dan satu lagi butiran pentadbiran mengenai bagaimana terma berkenaan akan dilaksanakan.

“Saya terbabit dalam merangka kedua-dua persetujuan, jadi saya mempunyai pengetahuan penuh bahawa mengikut terma persetujuan itu, semua perjanjian itu mengikat setiap ahli PKR, daripada yang tertinggi, paling utama hingga ke bawah, paling bawah.

“Jadi jika anda kata Chin Peng, sebagai setiausaha agung parti itu adalah ahli paling tinggi, maka dia layak mendapat semua kelebihan seperti dijanjikan dalam perjanjian itu, yang termasuk membenarkan beliau untuk kembali ke Malaysia,” katanya.

Beliau berkata, menurut perjanjian itu, dalam keadaan di mana bekas ahli komunis itu tidak dibenarkan secara tetap pulang ke Malaysia, mereka patut dibenarkan memasuki negara atas kebenaran lawatan sosial.

“Tetapi dalam kes Chin Peng, dia tidka dibenarkan kedua-duanya. Pada saya, ia tidak masuk akal. Ia tidka adil. Ada bekas komunis lain yang dibenarkan untuk balik dan mereka kebanyakannya Melayu,” katanya.

“Abdullah CD (pengerusi PKM) dibenarkan balik ke Malaysia dan diberi pengampunan oleh Sultan Perak. Rashid Maidin (ahli jawatankuasa pusat PKM), saya diberitahu menunaikan haji menerusi Kuala Lumpur dengan bantuan pihak berkuasa Malaysia. Apa semua ini?,” katanya.

Bagaimanapun, katanya, beliau tidak bersedia untuk mengandaikan bahawa keputusan kerajaan itu ada kaitan dengan perkauman dan pada pendapatnya dalam isu Chin Peng, kerajaan tidak menghormati perjanjian damai itu.

Beliau berkata, masyarakat nampaknya tidak faham konteks perjuangan komunis antarabangsa dan menganggap pemberontakan 40 tahun komunis di Malaya adalah pergaduhan Chin Peng seorang dri dan hanya dia seorang yang mengarahkan semua tembakan dan pembunuhan.

“Saya tidak tahu mengapa ia jadi seperti ini (Chin Peng lawan kerajaan). Hakikatnya ialah baik atau buruk – apa pun Chin Peng itu, latar belakangnya ialah perjanjian damai sudah ditandatangani. Kita patut menghormati terma dan syaratnya,” katanya.

Chin Peng menghabiskan sepertiga hidupnya dalam buangan di Thailand.

Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak sebelum ini berkata, kerajaan tidak akan menarik diri daripada pendiriannya untuk menghalang abu mayat Ching Peng dibawa balik dan mencabar mereka yang tidak berpuas hati dengan keputusan itu untuk mengambil langkah undang-undang.

Semua pintu masuk ke dalam negara berada dalam keadaan berjaga-jaga, kerana kerajaan bimbang abunya dibawa masuk.

Semalam, parti komponen Barisan Nasional (BN), MCA juga melahirkan pendapat bahawa mayat Chin Peng patut dibenarkan pulang ke sini untuk kali terakhir.

Pengerusi biro publisiti parti itu, Datuk Heng Seai Kie berkata, mayat pengganas Dr Azahari Husin dan Nordin Mohamad Top dibenarkan untuk dikebumikan di Malaysia.

Kumpulan hak Melayu, Perkasa, bagaimanapun, memberi amaran kepada MCA supaya parti itu jangan menimbulkan kemarahan orang Melayu dengan mendesak Putrajaya membenarkan abu mayat Chin Peng dibawa balik ke sini.

Setiausaha agungnya, Syed Hassan Syed Ali, berkata ramai orang Melayu dan Cina mati dai tangan komunis yang diketuai Chin Peng ketika pemberontakan.

Chin Peng atau nama sebenarnya, Ong Boon Hua, meninggal dunia di hospital di Bangkok pada Hari Malaysia, sebulan sebelum hari lahirnya yang ke-89. Beliau ketika hayatnya berulang kali menyuarakan hasratnya untuk dikebumikan di kampungnya di Sitiawan, Perak.

Chin Peng lari ke China pada 1961 dan kemudian tinggal di Bangkok di mana dia diberikan pasport asing.

Beliau dilaporkan berpindah ke Haadyai beberapa tahun lalu dan berulang alik dari Haadyai ke Bangkok untuk mendapatkan rawatan penyakit barah.

Beliau dilantik sebagai setiausaha agung PKM pada usia 23 tahun dan menjadi “musuh nombor satu” British di Asia Tenggara ketika pemberontakan komunis di Malaya. – 21 September, 2013.

No law to stop Chin Peng’s ashes being brought back, says Deputy Home Minister

BY DESMOND DAVIDSON
September 21, 2013
Latest Update: September 22, 2013 07:07 am

Even as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak rejected calls for the remains of former communist leader Chin Peng to be allowed into Malaysia, a deputy minister today reminded Putrajaya that it has no legal power to stop anyone from doing so.
“There is nothing any of the authorities can do. We have no laws to stop the ashes from being brought in or penalise anyone carrying the ashes in,” said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (pic) after closing a career carnival at the Islamic complex in Kuching today.
His statement closely followed a warning by former police chief Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor that Malaysia risked becoming a laughing stock to the world if it refused to allow Chin Peng’s ashes to be interred in the country.

Chin Peng, who died in Bangkok on September 16, had repeatedly voiced a wish to be buried in his hometown of Sitiawan, Perak.
Wan Junaidi, who fought the communists at the height of the Malayan emergency in Sarawak, said he wouldn't know how the authorities would deal with anyone found carrying an urn with Chin Peng's ashes at the airport.
“I can't imagine it," he said, adding he was not aware of any law to stop such an act.
And even if there were such laws, it would be difficult to prevent the ashes from being smuggled by those determined to do so, he added.
“There's nothing the government can do about it,” said Wan Junaidi, a lawyer.
Najib had on Friday said Putrajaya would not budge from its stand and challenged those unhappy with the decision to seek legal redress.
"The government has decided and those unhappy with the decision can challenge it in court," he said.
Wan Junaidi said that Putrajaya feared that allowing Chin Peng's remains into the country might have repercussions. He said the government feared Chin Peng's supporters would build a shrine at the site where his remains would be interred, even adding that such a site could stir a communist revival.
Wan Junaidi denied that the government's decision was racist, a charge made by Barisan Nasional's key partner, MCA. The Chinese party had contrasted the decision to the stance taken by Putrajaya in letting the bodies of two Malaysian terrorists be returned from Indonesia to be buried in their hometowns.
“It's not a question of race. It's all about his fight, his struggle and who he fought. If Chin Peng was a Malay, an Iban, a Kadazan or a Dusun, his ashes too would not be allowed back into the country. He was a communist who fought against the government of the day. He did not only fight the British.
“If he had stopped fighting after the British left, then history would have been different. He did not. He fought well into the 80s, well after Malaysia was formed,” explained the former deputy speaker of Parliament.
MCA publicity bureau chair Datuk Heng Seai Kie, in making the comparisons, had referred to the late Dr Azahari Husin and Nordin Mohamad Top, both accused of bombings in Indonesia between 2002 and 2005.
This was immediately countered by Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who said: "Those terrorists did not kill our military or police personnel, or our people."

Chin Peng will be cremated in Bangkok on Monday according to Buddhist rites. – September 21, 2013.

Your fly is open! Gideon Sundbäck, Father of Zipper

Gideon Sundback (April 24, 1880 – June 21, 1954) was a Swedish-American electrical engineer. Gideon Sundbäck is most commonly associated with his work in the development of the zipper. Source: Wikipedia. Today, Gideon Sundback is celebrated in a Google Doodle.

Google honors Gideon Sundback: Father of the zipper (+video)

Titanic hit iceberg 100th anniversary: Dead mourned

Titanic’s dead mourned 100 years later in poignant ceremony at sinking site

April 16, 2012

A girl at the unveiling of the Titanic Memorial Garden in Belfast’s City Hall on April 15, 2012 places a rose on a plaque bearing the names of those who died. — Reuters pic

ON BOARD MS BALMORAL, April 16 — At the shrill sound of a ship’s whistle in the North Atlantic, relatives of some of the more than 1,500 people who died when the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg remembered their ancestors in a poignant ceremony a century later.

On a still, starry night yesterday, with little glare from the moon, the memorial cruise ship MS Balmoral floated above the wreckage of the famous “unsinkable” luxury liner precisely 100 years to the day it foundered.

“At 2.20am all was quiet, as it would have been 100 years ago when it went deathly quiet, when the screaming stopped,” British Titanic historian Philip Littlejohn told Reuters yesterday. Littlejohn’s grandfather, Alexander Littlejohn, was a 1st class steward in charge of lifeboat 13 when the ship began to go down.

About 700 people were rescued that night, including his grandfather, but there were too few lifeboats to save the rest.

David Haisman, 74, a retired seaman from the English port town of Southampton, mourned the loss of his grandfather, who had been on his way to Seattle to start a new life in the United States with his wife and daughter.

“I’ve been brought up with the story but now I could feel it,” he said.

“My mother used to tell me how she got into lifeboat 14 and her feet became soaked with the 3 to 4 inches of water that remained in the bottom despite bailing.”

The last time she saw her father was when he cupped his hands and shouted “I’ll see you in New York”.

The story of the world’s most famous maritime disaster has gripped the world’s imagination, inspiring Hollywood films.

A memorial card on a wreath at the unveiling of the Belfast Titanic Memorial Garden. — Reuters pic

While some of those on board the memorial cruise were relatives of the victims, others had paid thousands of pounds in order to retrace the vessel’s fateful journey from Southampton to New York.

The ship, the biggest in the world at the time, foundered in frigid Atlantic waters off Newfoundland on April 15, 1912.

On Saturday, Balmoral’s ship’s whistle pierced the air at 11.40pm, the exact time the Titanic hit the iceberg, followed by a two-minute silence.

“I had this feeling that this is the place where all the suffering went on,” said retired seaman Haisman of the sombre moment.

Most of Balmoral’s 1,300 passengers then squeezed onto the deck for a service and hymns, and to watch three wreaths being thrown into the calm waters at 2.20am yesterday morning, the moment she sank.

Members of the Belgian quintet ensemble Grupetto played in honour of the band members who played on even as the Titanic went under the waves.

The sky was clear and the nearest iceberg was about 100 nautical miles north.

“It’s just so moving, it feels like you were part of something so special,” said Susie Millar, a journalist from Northern Ireland whose great grandfather Thomas Millar had worked at Harland and Wolff, the shipyard where the Titanic had been built, before becoming a crew member.

He was one of the people who lost their lives when it sank.

“As the wreaths went in, I thought of people in the lifeboats as the Titanic sank, who didn’t know whether they would be rescued or not,” she said.

“It all happened in real time and I thought that people wouldn’t have had time to say all their goodbyes, it all happened so fast.”

The anniversary was marked in other parts of the world too, including Belfast, the ship’s birthplace, where a plaque was unveiled listing the names of those who were lost, including 28 from the city.

Professor Robert Ballard, the American oceanographer who found the wreck in 1985, said he’d been moved to tears as he joined relatives of the dead for the Belfast ceremony.

Meanwhile, on a beautiful lakeside in Ireland’s west coast county of Mayo, people in the tiny village of Lahardane gathered to hear a bell toll for the 11 locals who died on board, and three joyful rings for the three who survived. — Reuters

Tunku, Razak, Hussein Onn dll: Semua pendatang!

In this video, Dr. Azmi Sharom gave a clear historical background of Malaysia.

Like it or not, all of us are 'pendatangs' right from the day when Parameswara, the Pendatang of pendatangs, first stepped on the soil of Melaka.

21 September 2011 Last updated at 16:48 GMT

Hugo Boss apology for Nazi past as book is published

 

Hugo Boss supplied uniforms to both the party and armed forces

The German fashion firm Hugo Boss has apologised for its maltreatment of forced workers during World War II when it supplied the Nazis with uniforms.

It issued the apology to coincide with the publication of a new history of the company during the Hitler years, which it commissioned itself.

Its factory used 140 Polish and 40 French forced workers.

The book concludes that company founder Hugo Boss, whose past is already well documented, was a loyal Nazi.

"It is clear that Hugo F Boss did not only join the party because it led to contracts for uniform production, but also because he was a follower of National Socialism," wrote the author, Roman Koester, an economic historian at the Bundeswehr (English: German army) University in Munich.

Both Mr Koester and the company insist that it had no influence over the contents of the book, although it provided the funding.

Continue reading the main story

 

Umno was formed AFTER other political parties fighting for independence!

Malaysia's first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, referred to as 'Father of Independence', was just a "receiver of independence" handpicked by the British colonisers to safeguard their interests in Malaya, said national laureate A Samad Said.

During a public forum in Kuala Lumpur last night, Samad said, "To me, Tunku was not an independence fighter. He was a receiver, the person approved by the British to 'receive' independence... the British felt that the 'receiver' must be a person who can take care of its interests in Malaya."

The septuagenarian, more popularly known as Pak Samad (right), had worked together with leftist leader Ahmad Boestamam during pre-independence days and was told by the latter that after negotiations with another leftist politician Burhanuddin Al-Helmy and Tunku on the independence issue, the British wanted to hand the country to a suitable candidate which was Tunku.

As such, Tunku was just a "receiver of independence" (penyambut kemerdekaan) compared with the true freedom fighters such as Boestamam, Mat Kilau and Burhanuddin.

Samad said, "Umno was formed after Boestamam, Burhanuddin and others had formed their political parties to fight for independence. The British did not want to negotiate with these people (leftist politicians) because they would not safeguard the interests left by the British."

Samad also pointed out that individuals who had fought for independence were not given the chance to govern the nation because the aristocrats controlled political power.

The aristocrats, according to Samad, were Tunku, Abdul Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn. Samad said Mahathir was not one until he was conferred the title of 'Tun' while Abdullah (Badawi) was an aristocrat as well as Najib (Abdul Razak). Therefore, Samad said, the current government leaders were more inclined to protect the interests of the middle and the upper classes instead of understanding the woes of the grassroots.

Pining his hope on the new generation, he urged them to make a bold decision to change the current administration and said, "I'm not saying that Pakatan Rakyat is a good guy, but if you don't try, you would not know."

Say goodbye to the typewriter, 1867-2011 - Typewriter is becoming history!

If you ever thought it might be fun to own an old style typewriter, you need to move fast. The last typewriter factory in the world has stopped making new ones, and they have only 500 left in stock.

The Godrej and Boyce factory in Mumbai India actually stopped making them in 2009, and have been selling from inventory since then. Twenty years ago they would sell 50,000 per year, but recently the number has been more like 800.

While the typewriter is obviously a victim of computers and word processors, I'm surprised they don't have more of an underground following like vinyl turntables.

I have a bit of a soft spot for the clickity-clack of the manual typewriter, having gone through my college days doing all my work on my Dad's old 1950s Olympia manual (I guess that dates me too). I must admit however that I haven't dusted it off in decades, so I guess its time has come.

via The Atlantic
(Source)

An end to AIDS? Timothy Ray Brown, only human ever to be cured of AIDS

Click here  to read the above article.

Man 'cured' of AIDS after getting bone marrow transplant from donor with 'HIV immune' gene

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1387837/Berlin-Patient-Timothy-Ray-Brown-cured-AIDS-getting-bone-marrow-transplant-donor-HIV-immune-gene.html#ixzz1OOzv2DRn

Coke celebrates 125 years: From headache & fatigue mixture to no. 1 drink