Ah, cheetah’s potentially unwanted political animals!

Potentially unwanted political animals @Bukit Antarabangsa have been detected by cheetah el-fared.
They have been detected as a component of the potentially unwanted political animals of both divides – the ruling and opposition camps.

“I know you all, Malaysiakini readers, take an interest in matters of political animals’ behaviors. I thought you all might want to know and share your thought about the following sad case, and remarks by BARA spokesperson, Khan,” cheetah wrote Saturday on his blog.

Malaysiakini news portal reported Friday that BARA spokesperson, Khan, on Friday slammed politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties for trying to gain cheap publicity from the tragedy instead of sincerely taking part in rescue and relief efforts, adding that “some are even fighting to occupy a relief centre set up by residents.”

“If they are not going to actively help during this period of crisis, then they should just keep quiet and stand aside,” Khan warned.

“When the disaster struck, we had expected the parties to come together and help us, not to compete and promote their so-called involvement,’ he added.

In his latest post, el-fared asked: “Is there any way that this so-called democratic animal incidents and its animality problem could be rectified?”

We recommend you all mutalaah their BIG CATS behaviors as well for this type of potentially unwanted political animals, and eventually relook at your acts of supporting them. The roots leading to their Big Cats are clear. You all just have to follow the links.

[Take the hint: if the allocations are known before hand, we use arrays; otherwise linked list. if the APF-authorized link list is managed by LLA, enter a F,LLA REFRESH command to refresh the Lookaside Directions -- as you see it.]

Jihadist calls for 'Facebook invasion': SITE

A member of an Islamic jihadist forum who urged supporters last week to wage a "YouTube invasion" by uploading propaganda videos has called for a similar attack on popular social network Facebook.

The SITE Intelligence Group, a US-based monitoring service, reported on Wednesday that the appeal for a "Facebook invasion" was made on Tuesday on al-Faloja, a password-protected jihadist forum.

After praising the "great success" of the "YouTube invasion," the forum member using the name Omar Abdul Hakim called on other members to start using Facebook, describing it as "a podium to reach millions of people."

"We will use Facebook as a new and exclusive media tool to fight the media offensive on jihadist media, its forums, and its websites and in order to reveal the Crusaders," Hakim wrote according to SITE.

The forum member posted instructions on how to register on and use Facebook and outlined "goals of the invasion" as "reaching the vast base of Muslims who subscribe to Facebook" and "participating and interacting with them."

"Let us start to post publications, articles, Islamic and jihadist pictures," Hakim wrote.

Facebook's terms of service prohibit "organizations or groups that promote or glorify hatred, violence, intolerance, Islamic militant groups have used the Internet for some time as a propaganda window and for communications. A draft US Army intelligence report warned recently of the dangers of the micro-blogging service Twitter as a potential terrorist tool.

SITE said that in August of this year, a member of an al-Qaeda-affiliated forum, al-Ekhlaas, had also called on supporters to use Facebook and set up a Facebook group for supporters of al-Qaeda. -- Agence France-Presse - 12/11/2008 12:57 AM GMT [el-fared]

Pilgrims flood Mecca for annual hajj

Saudi Arabia has mobilised a force of 100,000 men to protect an estimated two million Muslim pilgrims starting the annual hajj on Saturday [heading to a tent camp outside the holy city of Mecca in an itinerary retracing the route Prophet Mohammad (saw) took 14 centuries ago –ed.] amid fears of attack or deadly stampedes.

The interior ministry said that in addition to many thousands of Saudis, an estimated 1.7 million of the faithful have descended on the kingdom from abroad to perform the annual rites.

Local press reports spoke of a throng that could reach three million, and the official SPA news agency reported on Saturday that everything was proceeding smoothly.

The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam which the Qur'an says all Muslims must carry out at least once in their lives, if they are able to do so.

It began early on Saturday as pilgrims arrived on foot or by bus in Mina, a dusty valley 10 kilometres (six miles) from the holy city of Mecca.

Dozens of first aid stations lined the route, SPA reported.

Devotees are spending the day in prayer and contemplation in the valley, transformed into a city of fireproof tents.

At dawn on Sunday, they will head for the top of nearby Mount Arafat. Their time at the summit symbolises the wait for the last judgment and is the high point of the hajj.

Next, the pilgrims return to Mina to sacrifice an animal, usually a sheep, to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son on God's orders. This marks the start of the Eid al-Adha, the feast of the sacrifice.

They will spend another two days in Mina for the final rite -- the stoning of Satan. Each pilgrim throws 21 pebbles at each of three pillars symbolising the devil.

It is the most hazardous of the rituals. The pillars were enlarged a few years ago into 25-metre (80-foot) high concrete blocks. Bridges have been built at three levels at the site to help prevent a recurrence of fatal stampedes.

The vast tide of humanity massing in relatively small spaces has been the source of the bloodiest disasters, with stampedes causing the deaths of 364 people in 2006, 251 in 2004 and 1,426 in 1990.

After the stoning ceremony, the pilgrims go to Mecca's Great Mosque for a "farewell visit" to the Kaabah, a cube-shaped structure into which is set the Black Stone, Islam's most sacred relic.

US-made Sikorsky S-92 helicopters fitted with sophisticated technology such as night vision equipment are being used for the first time amid the spectre of the attacks which have haunted Saudi Arabia in recent years.

"(Saudi forces) are ready to cope with their responsibilities," Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdel Aziz said after inspecting the security forces supervising the hajj.

"Terrorism is not finished. It is still going," Prince Nayef told journalists ahead of the pilgrimage. -- Agence France-Presse - 12/6/2008 12:11 PM GMT

Terengganu a battleground: Critical test for Umno-BN in state by-election

Malaysia's coalition government faces a by-election next month which analysts say will be a critical test of public reaction to its reform promises after disastrous polls in March. (ref Malaysiakini : BN faces critical by-election test –ed. )

The by-election in northern Terengganu state, a battleground between the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the Islamic opposition party PAS, was triggered by the death of a deputy minister.

Election Commission deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar announced Friday that the vote would be held on January 17, with parties to declare their candidates on January 6.

After wrangles in the past over allegations of fraud and vote-buying, Wan Ahmad said that MAFREL (Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections) would be allowed to monitor the process.

"We like having MAFREL as observers as it boosts the confidence of people and transparency," he told a press conference.

The vote comes at an unfortunate time for the UMNO, which leads the Barisan Nasional coalition that was humbled in March elections -- losing a third of parliamentary seats and five states to the three-member opposition alliance.

Since then it has been in a state of disarray that is unlikely to be resolved until its annual assembly next March, when deputy prime minister Najib Razak is expected to replace unpopular premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Infighting and rivalries helped it lose an August by-election that allowed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to return to parliament -- a decade after he was sacked as deputy premier and jailed on sex and corruption charges.

Analysts said the UMNO faces a tough fight against the PAS, which along with Anwar's Keadilan party and the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party, makes up the opposition alliance.

"It will be a classic battle between two Malay political parties in a Malay heartland," said James Chin, professor of political science at the Kuala Lumpur campus of Monash university.

"If PAS wins it means the people do not believe UMNO's reform programme. It means their sentiments against the ruling party since the March elections are still there," he said.

"It could also demonstrate that voters do not have confidence in Najib Razak's leadership and believe that UMNO is not capable of any reform."

Najib, who as deputy premier will direct the ruling party's election campaign, has promised to make good on Abdullah's promises of change, which were never realised after he came to power in 2003.

But there are doubts whether the UMNO, which has become plagued by corruption in the half-century it has dominated Malaysian politics, is capable of undergoing the changes that voters are demanding.

The party won the vacant seat of Kuala Terengganu in March, but only with the slimmest of majorities.

"There is no escape but face the Kuala Terengganu by-election, which is wholly unexpected and could not have come at a worse possible time for UMNO and Barisan," the Star newspaper said in an analysis.

It said that a major factor would be the 11 percent of Chinese voters among the more than 80,000 eligible to vote. Malaysia's ethnic Chinese and Indian communities abandoned the coalition in the March polls.

A victory would be a major boost for the PAS, which lost control of Terengganu state in 2004, after having held it for just one term and alienating voters with extreme measures such as enacting Islamic "hudud" laws.

Since then it has dropped its hardline rhetoric and tried to reach out to Malaysia's minorities who are alarmed over rising "Islamisation" in the multicultural country. -- Agence France-Presse - 12/5/2008 7:24 AM GMT

Qaeda deputy lauds dead Bali bombers, slams Saudis

Al-Qaeda number two Ayman Zawahiri paid tribute to three Indonesian Islamists executed last month for the deadly Bali bombings in 2002, in an Internet audio message released on Monday. [as-sahab media's video here]

Zawahiri also slammed the Saudi royal family, accusing it of working with the United States and Israel against jihadists in the Palestinian territories, Afghanistan and Iraq.

He praised the three Bali bombers, saying "they knew the price of their action and they paid it with satisfaction.

"They faced a long journey of torture, imprisonment and oppression. They received the verdict joyfully," Zawahiri said in the 20-minute message made available by the US-based SITE Intelligence Group.

Zawahiri called the three "steadfast heroes" and warned of consequences. "I remind the crusaders that killing our brothers will only increase our determination to vex them and eventually drive them out of Muslim countries."

Indonesian Islamists Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas and ringleader Imam Samudra were executed by firing squad on November 9 for the attacks on packed nightspots on the holiday island of Bali which killed 202 people.

On the Saudi royal family, Zawahiri accused them of "working with the United States and Israel to undermine jihadist resistance in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq."

He described a Saudi-sponsored UN conference on religious tolerance last month as a "ridiculous farce" and "only another trick to negotiate and meet with the Israelis." -- Agence France-Presse - 12/1/2008 5:12 PM GMT

afp: World leaders plead for religious tolerance

Mumbai attacks: Probe shows no links to Malaysia

An initial probe into the Mumbai attacks has not uncovered any links to Malaysia, said consul-general in Mumbai, Wan Zaidi Wan Abdullah.

He said the Indian authorities had denied newspaper reports that the terrorists had used Malaysian travel documents and credit cards.

This was revealed to the consul-general by senior police investigators but there is still no official statement from the Indian government on this so-called link.

"Investigations are ongoing with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States and India's own Central Bureau of Investigation, their police and other enforcement and intelligence agencies," Wan Zaidi said.

It is reliably learnt that Indian authorities have also sought the assistance of British and United States intelligence following reports of the terrorists' links with international criminals.

He added the authorities had yet to ascertain the authenticity of news reports that Malaysian credit cards were discovered in the knapsacks of several terrorists killed in shoot-outs with Indian crack Black Cat commandos.

He also denied reports that eight of the terrorists were living in Mumbai for a month prior to the attack and were posing as Malaysian students.

"If there were any truth to these reports, then Malaysia would have been linked to the terrorist attacks," he said when contacted in Mumbai.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said police were liaising with Interpol on the matter.

"The claims are unsubstantiated. This is an allegation that does not have any evidence," he said after a National Economic Council meeting.

The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. -- By: Adrian David, NST

Petrol prices cut: RM1.90 per litre wef Wednesday

Malaysia on Tuesday cut petrol prices by 5.0 percent, bringing pump prices down to 1.90 ringgit (0.52 dollars) per litre amid easing global crude prices.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said said the 10 sen cut would be effective Wednesday with diesel also reduced by 10 sen to 1.80 ringgit per litre.

"As the price of oil has visibly dropped, the government has again made a decision to reduce retail prices so that the public can benefit," he said in a statement.

It is the sixth fuel price cut the government has announced since June's 41 percent hike on the back of soaring crude costs, which sparked angry street protests and calls for the premier to resign.

The last cut, by 15 sen, was just over two weeks ago.

June's hike saw inflation soar, with the August price index reaching a 26-year high of 8.5 percent, also driven by the escalating cost of food and transportation.

Inflation has since eased at 7.6 percent in October as fuel prices dropped. -- Agence France-Presse - 12/2/2008 9:37 AM GMT

Projek 16 September diteruskan, gegarkan Sarawak! - Anwar

Penasihat KeADILan, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim memilih Sarawak sebagai usaha terbaru menjadikan 'projek 16 September' menukar kerajaan persekutuan satu kenyataan.

"Langkah pertama, gegarkan Sarawak. Sarawak barisan hadapan kita sekarang," kata Anwar dalam ceramah khas malam tadi bersempena Kongres Nasional kelima parti itu selama dua hari di Shah Alam.

Ini merupakan kempen terbaru Penasihat KeADILan itu yang dilancarkan selepas pelan asalnya berhubung isu pertukaran kerajaan, berlalu 16 September lepas.

Difahamkan pengumuman itu berikutan sambutan baik 12,000 penduduk Sarawak yang dilaporkan menyertai parti itu dua minggu lalu.

Anwar berkata, tarikh 16 September itu, merupakan sasaran ke arah membina satu kekuatan bagi menubuhkan kerajaan baru bersama dengan Pakatan Rakyat.

Menurutnya, mengambil alih kerajaan bukan perkara mudah dan menasihatkan agar rakyat bersabar menunggu masanya.

"Ini isu yang tidak mudah diungkap dan dilakar dengan kata-kata kerana ada sebab, ada hal yang saya tidak dapat sebutkan.

"Orang yang bersetuju, menunggu waktu untuk menyeberang, syaratnya tidak didedahkan sehingga mereka bersedia. Jadi, cakap salah, tidak cakap pun salah.

"Cakap salah, tidak cakap salah, jadi semua serba salah," katanya dengan gaya bernyanyi dan disambut dengan gelak ketawa ribuan para penyokongnya.

Sehubungan itu, Anwar berharap orang ramai bersabar walaupun beliau mengakui terdapat ahli-ahli KeADILan dan rakyat yang ragu-ragu dan tertanya-tanya bilakah beliau akan membentuk kerajaan baru dan berada di Putrajaya.

"Jika Allah mentakdirkan kita menang, kita menang. Saya yakin, insya-Allah sebagaimana mana saya yakin sebelum 8 Mac," katanya.

Beberapa hari sebelum pilihan raya umum ke-12, Anwar membuat kejutan dalam ceramahnya di Singapura apabila mendedahkan lima negeri akan jatuh ke tangan gabungan pembangkang. - mks _ Harakahdaily Mon Dec 01, 08 8:43:24 am MYT