Police arrested a singer on racism charges after a man reportedly of Chinese descent complained about his performance of the song "Kung Fu Fighting," according to reports. 

Simon Ledger, 34, told Britain's The Sun newspaper that he and his band were performing the 1970s classic at the Driftwood Beach Bar on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England.
"We were performing Kung Fu Fighting, as we do during all our sets," he told the newspaper. "People of all races were loving it. Chinese people have never been offended by it before."
But Ledger told The Sun an Asian man walking by with his mother hurled an expletive and made an obscene hand gesture at the performers during the Sunday afternoon performance, then took a photo with his cell phone.
"We hadn't even seen them when we started the song. He must have phoned the police," The Sun quoted him as saying.
The man claimed he was "subjected to racial abuse," police told BBC News, and complained to the police the same evening.
'I thought it was a joke' Ledger told The Sun that police called him later that evening — while he was eating at a Chinese restaurant — to arrange a meeting. It was at that meeting that police arrested him, Ledger said.

The BBC report said police released Ledger after his arrest, intending to question him further at a later date.
"An investigation into this allegation is continuing to establish the full circumstances surrounding what happened," a Hampshire Constabulary spokesman told the network.
"I thought it was a joke but they were serious," Ledger told The Sun. "They seemed pretty amazed but said the law is the law and it was their duty. It's political correctness gone potty (a British term for crazy)."
The owner of the bar defended Ledger, telling the newspaper that he doesn't believe the song or the singer are racist, and that there "is no way he would abuse anyone."

KUALA LUMPUR: Sabah was supposed to retain its “negara” or national status in a series of arrangements to ensure that the rights of Sabahans would forever be protected during the formation of Malaysia.
This little known fact was revealed at a national conference on marginalised communities, which arrested the attention of the participants.

They were told that the ideals that gave rise to the birth of a new nation in 1963 have, however, been eroded until those rights have all but disappeared.
“Sabah was given the understanding that it was to remain a national entity within the Malaysian Federation, which was to be a partnership of four national units – Sabah, Sarawak,  Singapore  and Malaya,” deputy president of CigMa or Common Interest Group Malaysia, Daniel John Jambun, said in his presentation titled “Lest We Forget”.
Elaborating further, he said: “We were to remain as a ‘negara’ (nation), not to become a ‘negeri’ (state).
“What eventually transpired was a process during which Sabah (like Sarawak) became one of the 13 states in Malaysia, no longer on the same status as Malaya, but just one of the states.”
Later, Jambun said that it was also the reason why Sabah’s head of state was officially called Yang di-Pertua Negara from 1963 till the early 1980s when the title was changed and reduced to Yang di-Pertua Negeri.
Jambun’s paper was based on a book of the same name authored by Dr Chong Eng Leong who agreed to have his book  presented as a conference paper to the 220 delegates.
Chong’s book outlines the major losses Sabahans have suffered since independence due to various national policies following the formation of Malaysia.
Chong’s book focused on the “KL-encouraged” influx of Muslim illegal immigrants from Indonesia and Mindanao in the southern Philippines that served to dilute the once majority Christian native population in Sabah.


Unkept promise of autonomy
Jambun charged that the federal government was being disingenuous by claiming that the state had enjoyed tremendous development and numerous benefits since the formation of Malaysia.
“Under Umno, which took over the Sabah government from Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) in 1994, Sabah has ended up becoming the poorest state in Malaysia despite its vast natural wealth God has given us.
“Other than the economic losses, we also suffered loss of major rights and autonomy, as listed in the book, ‘Lest We Forget’,” Jambun said.
He said that a scrutiny of the 20-point agreement clearly showed that Tunku Abdul Rahman and other Malayan and Singapore leaders had promised autonomy or self-determination for Sabah, including retaining its own revenues.
It was a promise that has not been kept, he said.
“In fact, as a strategic move to ‘Malayanise’ Sabah, the population of the state was increased drastically through dubious means, mainly through the infamous ‘Projek IC’ or ‘Projek Mahathir’, which is to give Malaysian identity cards to Muslim illegal immigrants in Sabah to enable them to register as voters and thus change the political landscape.
“Through this project, the population of Sabah dramatically rose to 3.2 million, of which 1.5 million are bona fide Sabahans and 1.7 million foreigners.

“About 70,000 of these foreigners were registered as phantom voters and distributed throughout the constituencies in Sabah to give greater advantage to the ruling BN candidates to win elections.
“This strategy was then complemented by the infamous decision to implement what is called gerrymandering of constituency boundaries to give greater representation to Muslim-majority seats, thus outnumbering the non-Muslim natives,” he said, adding that the obvious manipulation has resulted in Sabah being dubbed BN’s “fixed deposit”.
Jambun also charged that the increase in Muslim-native seats and the reduction in Christian-native ones was made with the intention of forcefully and permanently changing the state’s demography.
This way, there would be more Muslims, thus depriving others of their rights, he said, adding that the issue of disenfranchisement would be brought to international attention.

Citing the revelation in Chong’s book, he disclosed that in the 1970 census, the mostly Christians and pagan Kadazandusuns numbered 215,811, Muslim Bajau and Iranun numbered 77,271 and Malays 18,362.
However, the 2000 census showed that the Kadazandusuns numbered 564,600, while the Bajau and Iranun 343,200, but the Malay suddenly stood at an astonishing 303,500.
He said that in the 1960 census, there was no Malay registered in Sabah, but just Bajau and Iranun.

‘Project Mahathir’ revealed
Jambun said that four people – Hassnar Ebrahim, Hassan Hamid, Yakup Damsah and Jabarkan Napi – cited in Chong’s book had been involved in recruiting new Malaysians by giving them identity cards.
He said that Hassnar, who is now Batu Sapi PKR head, had even revealed that there was a meeting in January 1986 chaired by the late Megat Junid Megat Ayob, then deputy home minister, detailing the mechanics of how foreigners were issued Malaysian identity documents.
Hassnar claimed that present at the meeting were former chief secretary to the government Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, three top police officers from Bukit Aman, Sabah director of Immigration Dusmi Ibrahim, director-general of Immigration Halim Harun, a deputy director-general of the National Registration Department, a principal private secretary by the name of Azmin, Yahya Lampong and Hassnar himself.
“As Hassnar revealed, when one of them objected to this treacherous act, he was told by Megat Junid that prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had approved it.

“This testimony was also given under oath during a trial to hear the 1999 Likas election petition filed by Chong, and that the testimony was not challenged,” Jambun said.
He added that Jabarkan, an ex-ISA detainee like Hassnar, also disclosed that there was a Sabah Umno special task force formed in 1991 to recruit foreigners who were then issued with Malaysian ICs and registered as Umno members and also included in the electoral rolls.
According to Jabarkan, office-bearers of the special task force for 1991-1993 were Musa Aman (currently Chief Minister) as director, Yahya Hussin as deputy director, Jabarkan himself as secretary and the late Malek Chua as treasurer. The team targeted 30 of the then 48 state
constituencies in an attempt to oust PBS from power.

Jambun said that he doubt the current Umno leadership would dare sue those who had revealed the clandestine activities in Projek Mahathir for it would open a can of worms.
The one-day National Human Rights Conference on the Future of Marginalised and Minority Communities in Malaysia was co-organised by CigMa, Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU), Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA), Hindu Rights Action force (Hindraf), Borneo Resources Institute (BRI) and London-based Human Rights Foundation.

Also present were Kita president Zaid Ibrahim, CigMa chief Jeffrey Kitingan, who is also leader of United Borneo Front (UBF) and Hindraf adviser, N Ganesan.


Source From: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/01/24/negara-not-negeri-status-for-sabah/

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU) officials will meet Youth and Sports Ministry secretary general Datuk Mohid Mohamed over its request for a RM3 million funding to conduct an athletic training in Ranau, Sabah.

Its president, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said the MAAU had sought a meeting with Mohid after the National Sports Council (NSC) rejected its proposal.

The NSC rejected the proposal on the basis that it would be a waste of fund and unsuitable as the Ranau Sports Complex is situated at a high altitude.

Shahidan said the MAAU's meeting in Perlis on Sunday unanimously agreed to pursue the matter with the ministry.

"We will explain to the ministry's secretary-general on the rational of shifting the training venue from the Bukit Jalil Sports Complex to Ranau," he said when contacted Tuesday.

The MAAU had complained that national athletes track workouts at Bukit Jalil had always been distracted by training conducted by athletes from other sports.

The MAUU has drawn up plans for 72 athletes to undergo an intensive training in four phases, starting next month as part of its preparation for the SEA Games in Indonesia in November.

LABIS, 23 Jan (Bernama) -- Eleven controlled items, including pork, have been listed under the Price Control Scheme in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration to ensure traders do no manipulate their prices.

Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that effective this year, traders were no longer required to apply for a licence to sell the items.

The reason being that it was reported that the regulation only inconvenient the traders because of the short enforcement period, which was less than two weeks, he told reporters after a visit to the Labis Market on Sunday.

Ismail Sabri said the 11 controlled items listed were chicken (including live chicken, standard chicken and super chicken), chicken eggs (grade A, B and C), imported round cabbage, white pomfret, large white prawns, pig intestine, pork and lard.

The price for live chicken is RM6.10 per kg, standard chicken (RM7.20/kg), super chicken (RM8.05/kg), grade A chicken (36sen each), grade B chicken egg (35sen each), grade C chicken egg (34 sen each), round cabbage imported from Indonesia and China, except Beijing (RM3.20 per kg)/per kg).

The price for other items are white pomfret (RM38.00 per kg), large white prawn (RM33.00 per kg), pig intestine (RM22.00 per kg) and pork and lard (RM16.00 per kg).

He said the prices were based on the price in Kuala Lumpur and that the price lists in other areas and states would be distributed to traders and wholesalers soon.

"During the price control period, traders are not allowed to sell above the ceiling price," he added.

Ismail Sabri reminded traders to display the items listed with pink price tags to differentiate them from the uncontrolled items, adding that action could be taken against those who failed to do so.

On the opposition harping on the increase on prices of goods in the campaign for the Tenang by-election, he said there was no increase in prices of essential items like cooking oil, flour and rice.

"So, the promise by the opposition that they will be able to reduce the price is baseless," he added.

The Tenang state by-election is called following the death of its incumbent Barisan Nasional (BN) assemblyman, Datuk Sulaiman Taha, last Dec 17.

The by-election, which polling is on Jan 30, will witness a straight fight between BN's Mohd Azahar Ibrahim, 39, and Pas' Normala Sudirman, 38.

-- BERNAMA

JKKK Perlu Dalami Ilmu Tadbir Urus Dan Lebih Bermaklumat



BANGI, 9 Feb (Bernama) -- Anggota Jawatankuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung (JKKK) digesa untuk mendalami ilmu tadbir urus dan perlu lebih bermaklumat selaras dengan tugas dan peranan mereka yang kian mencabar, kata Menteri Kemajuan Luar Bandar dan Wilayah Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.



Beliau berkata adalah penting bagi pemimpin mendapat maklumat yang tepat tentang dasar-dasar kerajaan sekaligus menjadikan mereka individu yang dihormati oleh masyarakat.



"Mereka ini perlu bertindak sebagai perantara antara kerajaan dan rakyat bagi memastikan rakyat faham dengan dasar-dasar kerajaan dan ambil tindakan yang sewajarnya. Kita tak mahu rakyat hanya tahu tentang 1Malaysia, NKRA (Bidang Keberhasilan Utama Negara) atau model ekonomi baru tetapi adakah mereka akan mengetahuinya secara mendalam?.



"Selain itu mereka ini lebih tahu tentang hal kampung mereka sebagai contoh menubuhkan pasukan keselamatan atau Rela jika kampungnya berhadapan dengan masalah keselamatan," katanya kepada pemberita selepas majlis Menteri Bersama JKKK di sini Selasa.



Sehubungan dengan itu beliau telah meminta kerjasama Institut Kemajuan Desa (Infra) untuk membekalkan maklumat berkaitan dan mengedarkannya kepada setiap pemimpin kampung untuk mereka mempelajari dasar-dasar tersebut seterusnya membekalkan maklumat itu kepada penduduk kampung.



"Kita kena maklumkan setiap apa yang ingin kerajaan lakukan... seperti dalam Rancangan Malaysia ke-10, untuk buat jalan baru ada tanah orang kampung yang akan diambil. Kita kena maklumkan supaya proses ambil alih dapat berjalan lancar sebab kalau lambat ini akan merugikan rakyat," katanya.



Mengulas keputusan Mahkamah Persekutuan yang mengisytiharkan bahawa pelantikan Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir sebagai Menteri Besar Perak adalah sah, Shafie yang juga Naib Presiden Umno meminta semua pihak menghormati keputusan tersebut.



Beliau turut bersetuju dengan saranan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak yang meminta rakyat negeri Perak tidak terlibat dalam sebarang kegiatan politik yang dianggap tidak menghormati keputusan mahkamah.



"Kita ada undang-undang, jangan nanti setiap apa yang diputuskan oleh mahkamah kita bantah dan apabila dikenakan tindakan oleh pihak berwajib kita kata mereka zalim padahal kita tahu kita dah langgar undang-undang," katanya.







--BERNAMA

Soares, who has six children and 40 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, is believed to be the world's second oldest person to graduate from college.

everyone can do it! in our culture 'biarlah budak budak seja sekolah'. Not-so-young people will tend to be ashamed to continue studying. I am so not agree...

Born in Richmond, Calif. in 1915, Soares said she had wanted to attend college right after she graduated from Roosevelt High School in Oakland in 1932, but that was during the Great Depression.

"Unless you had some help, it would have been impossible to go to college," Soares said. "However I never lost the desire to go."

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She had been tru hard days...but she keep her dream..Thats what we, dusun people should do!