Malaysia's Anwar promises to dump pro-Malay policies

Agence France-Presse - 9/2/2008 8:29 AM GMT

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said Tuesday he would dismantle controversial positive-discrimination policies for Muslim Malays if he seizes power in the multicultural country.

Anwar said he would replace the New Economic Policy (NEP) launched in the early 1970s with a system to boost all poor Malaysians, whether they are majority Malays or from the minority Chinese and Indian communities.

"We will do everything in our power and disposal to help and assist the poor and the marginalised, which means the vast majority of the Malays and the poor Chinese and the poor Indians, but we do it on a needs basis," he said.

He also promised to abandon the Approved Permits (AP) scheme for importing cars, which it is claimed has corruptly enriched a small number of Malay entrepreneurs.

"Those talking about Malay dominance would realise that the AP is a classic case where the Malays and the Malay name has been abused, raped and plundered by the few," he told a press conference.

Anwar, a former deputy premier and finance minister who was sacked and jailed a decade ago, has vowed to topple the government with the help of defectors within weeks.

He accused embattled Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of spending his way out of trouble with a 2009 budget packed with perks and tax cuts, and said if he comes to power he would reduce the projected 2008 budget deficit of 4.8 percent of GDP.

"I suspect Abdullah feels that his days are numbered, so he spends as much as possible because he knows the next government has got to deal with the debts," he said.

The NEP was launched two years after racial riots broke out in 1969, in an effort to narrow the wealth gap between the Chinese -- who control the business sector -- and Malays, who dominate government.

But critics say it has failed and that the policy's beneficiaries have been Malay entrepreneurs who cash in on an array of perks including discounts on property purchases and specially allocated government projects.

Anwar's opposition gained unprecedented ground against the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in March general elections, after successfully garnering support from across Malaysia's racial spectrum.

The 61-year-old opposition leader -- himself a Malay -- has also had to defend himself against allegations he has sold out the interests of the majority community in return for political gains.

A Soul Has No Color

I've started work at DBU International Admissions & Recruitment Office for close to 4 weeks already. Today, we had a prayer meeting for the Nations! A lot of the student workers here represent many of the different countries in the world such as Korea, Jamaica, India, Botswana, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Japan..and the list goes on. We had the privilege of praying for the new incoming students who will be here for Fall. It was an amazing time...

God is beginning to break my heart again for the nations, for the people that haven't heard of Him, for the people that need Him so much. How will they call on Someone they have not believed? How can they believe if they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things."

This post is rather sketchy, raw and un-edited..it's really just a glimpse of the many things going through my mind and heart. People need the Lord, after all..God loves everyone the same..and.."A Soul Has No Color."

Cite Soleil = Sun City??

Here's a post i wrote in August last year! I finally finished it and here it is..finally. Yikes!


I was reading up about this place called Cite Soleil yesterday on wikipedia..and my discoveries appaled me. It struck a chord in me..yet i don't know how to help. I've never heard of this place before until yesterday..and this are bits of what i read.

Cite Soleil means "Sun City" in English, but it sure doesn't look or feel sunny to me. It is one of Haiti's poorest, roughest, and most dangerous areas.

The shantytown was originally designated to house manual labourers but with its extreme poverty, persistent unemployment, high rates of illiteracy, the unsanitary conditions due to the absence of public services, and rampant crime and uncontrolled violence, it has become a microcosm of Haiti's problems as a whole.

Not only is Cité-Soleil the poorest area of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere it is also becoming one of the most dangerous as armed gangs roam the streets. Murder, rape, kidnapping, pillage, and shootings are common as every few blocks is controlled by a rival armed faction, such factions said to number over thirty-two.

Most of the residents of Cité-Soleil are children or young adults. Few live past the age of fifty; they die from disease, including AIDS, or violence. Since December 2006, UN Peacekeepers and Haitian National Police have been involved in intense operations and frequent gunbattles with armed gangs, resulting in the deaths of 30 people, including 20 gang members. A total of two UN soldiers and ten policemen have died and ten have been wounded.

There's more written about Cite Soleil..but i think picture speaks louder than words..

I was pondering on how a country can come to this devastating stage, and then I remembered a conversation Thomas and I had with a friend from Jamaica. Worrell told us that Haiti is one of the countries with most witchcraft activities. The leadership of the country have basically given the country over to the devil. Many people are involved in witchcraft, vodoo and demonic activities. And the result is clearly seen today..take a look at a country that have given their souls to the devil.

Hmm..

Gloomy Shopper Alert

An interesting article i read. So watch out..Gloomy Shopper Alert! :)


Sad and introspective? Don't go shopping!
Agence France-Presse - 2/8/2008 2:56 PM

Glum shoppers hoping to boost their self-esteem with a bout of 'retail therapy' will spend more for the same item and come to regret the purchase, a new study showed Friday.

According to a study released at the annual meeting of the Society for Social and Personality Psychology, inward-looking people who are down in the dumps tend to spend more money on the same item than their neutral-emotion counterparts.

Earlier studies have drawn a link between mood and spending habits, but this one highlighted the key role played by how self-focussed a person is.

"It is the combination of sadness and self-focus that drives the effect, and it turns out that sadness leads to an increase in self-focus," said Cynthia Cryder, a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University and one of the co-authors of the study.

"What we think is going on is that sad and self-focussed people are feeling pretty bad about themselves and have a decreased valuation of themselves. They want to enhance this valuation, and one way to do this is by acquiring material goods," she said.

Placing a higher value on those goods could be an attempt by the sad, self-focussed person to boost their self-esteem by transferring the value of the item to themself.

The big problem is, the purchase is often regretted later.

"A huge key to avoiding decision-effects like this is being aware that you're sad in the first place. But that's rather hard to do," Cryder said.

"Participants in studies such as ours usually have no idea that their feelings influence their decisions, so it's impossible to correct," she said.

"Secondly, always re-evaluate major purchases one day or one week after you make them so that you can make sure that whatever you bought is still attractive to you," Cryder said.

"That lowers the probability that you'll have an over-priced mistake due to some fleeting influence that you didn't know about and still don't know about. You just know, 'Wow... why did I pay so much for that?'"

You are God alone

My latest favorite song by Philips, Craig and Dean!




You are not a god
Created by human hands
You are not a god
Dependant on any mortal man
You are not a god
In need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that’s just the way it is

[chorus]
You are God alone
From before time began
You were on Your throne
Your are God alone
And right now
In the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
You are God alone

You’re the only God
Whose power none can contend
You’re the only God
Whose name and praise will never end
You’re the only God
Who’s worthy of everything we can give
You are God
And that’s just the way it is

[chorus]

[bridge]
Unchangeable
Unshakable
Unstoppable
That’s what You are