Protest Malaysia police detention of 3 international journalists of Al-Jazeera in Sabah!


(Image of Filipina journalist detained by Malaysian police in Sabah, sourced from interaksyon.com)




(Image below of some journalists & others, sourced from wikisabah.blogspot.com)

***

I received this via email and I strongly support this public statement by media on the rights of journalists:

Joint statement: Media rights groups slam detention of Al-Jazeera journalists in Malaysia and calls for greater transparency

26 February 2013

We, the undersigned organisations which advocate for media freedom and responsibility in South-East Asia, regret the unnecessary detention and interrogation of three Al-Jazeera journalists who were reporting an armed standoff near Lahad Datu, Sabah, on 20th Feb 2013.

The journalists arrived in Sabah on 19 February to report the “standoff“ between an armed group calling itself the “Royal Sulu Sultanate Army” and the Malaysian authorities which started on 14 February.

The Al Jazeera news crew comprising of senior Asia correspondent Steve Chao, producer Jamela Alindongan and cameraperson Mark Giddens were under the detention of Malaysian authorities for at least six hours, during which they were intercepted at sea off Tanjung Labian village, escorted to a local police station, transferred to another police station 30 minutes’ drive away while under armed escort, and questioned by the Malaysian Special Branch, before being released.

According to a statement issued by Al Jazeera on 22 February and eyewitness accounts, the three were questioned for 30 minutes to 2 1/2 hours each, sometimes together but also separately. Alindongan, a Filipina attached to the Al Jazeera English Network office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was questioned the longest at 2 1/2 hours, and was accused several times of working for the “Royal Sulu Sultanate Army”, despite showing the authorities her employee ID.

When asked during the detention, the Malaysian authorities said the security zone around the standoff area was off-limit to civilians and media to avoid “disrupt(ing) political negotiations” with the “Royal Sulu Sultanate Army” and that this was a “sensitive political situation”. The Malaysian authorities also said they were not allowed to specify the boundaries of the “no-go security zone” but acknowledged that when intercepted, the boat with the journalists on board was far from the “no-go security zone” and that the journalists had not broken any laws.

The journalists were treated politely throughout the whole detention period. However, the interrogating officers were not in uniform and when asked, declined to provide their full names or rank. Chao, Alindongan and Giddens, as journalists attached to international media organisations, are equipped and trained to provide coverage during wars, standoffs, riots, uprisings and other hostile environments.

Centre for Independent Journalism in Malaysia, Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility in the Phillipines, with Southeast Asian Press Alliance secretariat based in Bangkok understand the national security concerns as a result of this armed “standoff”. However, we find the length of detention of the three journalists unnecessarily long and the line of questioning on Alindongan to be unwarranted. We find the secrecy surrounding the identity of the interrogating officers to be unnecessary given that the ones being questioned were not criminal suspects but journalists on duty and identifiable as such.

In addition, we view the vague restrictions imposed on journalists covering the Lahad Datu “political negotiation/standoff” as an attempt at limiting journalists’ access at providing accurate, timely and fair coverage of a public interest security issue, especially given the looming elections in Malaysia. Given the impact on diplomatic relations between Philippines and Malaysia, it is even more important for the media to have adequate and safe access to be able to report on the situation accurately.

In view of the above, we urge the Malaysian authorities to take these measures in the short-term:

1. Make public the boundaries of the “no-go security zone” in the affected area to ensure civilians and media do not endanger their lives by breaching the limits.

2. Hold periodic press conferences to update the media on the “political negotiations” which are taking place to ensure media (and therefore public) official access to information around this public interest issue. This move will also allay the fear and uncertainty among people in the area and address the rumours abound in Malaysia regarding the “political negotiations/standoff” in Lahad Datu.

In addition, as a medium-term measure, we urge the setting up a committee comprising of the authorities, journalists, editors, journalist union, media advocacy groups, human rights organisations and other civil society groups, to draw up a "standard operating procedure" on how security authorities should deal with the media during conflict situations, using UNESCO guidelines as the benchmark. This initiative must be led by the Home Minister to show there is political will to stop future infringements on journalists on duty during conflict/armed situations.

The Malaysian authorities must show that it respects and understands the important role media plays during these important events.
Signed:

1. The Centre for Independent Journalism, Malaysia, is a non-profit organisation that aspires for a society that is democratic, just and free, where all peoples will enjoy free media and the freedom to express, seek and impart information.

Media contact:

Masjaliza Hamzah, executive officer
Tel: +60 16-338 6603

Tragedy of having lost or not reading or not replying to a letter? Moral Lesson: Read ALL letters!


(Image below of a letter, sourced from blog.careesma.in)

 

Kiram letter seeking consultation on peace talks 'lost in the maze' - Aquino

By: Dexter San Pedro, InterAksyon.com
February 26, 2013 9:09 AM

 

Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and Pres Benigno Aquino III (Kiram photo by Noel Celis, AFP)

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA, Philippines -- President Benigno Aquino III admitted Tuesday that a letter from Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III to him in 2010 asking to be consulted on the peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front had been "lost in the bureaucratic maze."

But Aquino stressed that this was not enough reason for Kiram to feel left out of the peace talks process, much more for the sultanate to order the armed incursion of its followers into Sabah.

Early this month, more than 200 followers of the sultanate, led by Kiram’s brother, Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, landed in Lahad Datu town in Sabah and occupied the village of Tanduo to press their ownership of the territory.

Since then they have engaged in a standoff with Malaysian security forces.

"Let me say to Sultan Jamalul Kiram III: I have just been made aware that a letter to me, from you, was sent through the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process in the very first weeks of my term, when we were organizing the government. Unfortunately, this letter was lost in the bureaucratic maze," Aquino said.

"Let me make clear that there was no intention to ignore your letter. Knowing this now, will you let your mistaken belief dictate your course of action?" he added.

Aquino appealed to Kiram to sit down with the government "as brothers" to address their grievances "in a peaceful, calm manner according to our laws and according to correct processes when your people arrive home."

"The avenue of peaceful and open dialogue is still available to us. And so this is my appeal to you: These are your people, and it behooves you to recall them," Aquino said.

"It must be clear to you that this small group of people will not succeed in addressing your grievances, and that there is no way that force can achieve your aims," he said.

The Sabah claim of the Philippines should be upheld and pursued peacefully. I am against any military or even irresponsible verbal posturings on the current Sabah crisis with our Asean neighbor Malaysia, but let us vigorously, civilly and diplomatically pursue our Sanah claim.

Though I disagree with his sending armed men to Sabah, I support the public appeal of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III that the Sabah claim should be addressed and resolved by both Malaysia and the Philippines.

Are our political leaders afraid to upset Malaysia? Is this possible fear due to no support from the West on our Sabah claim, since it's the fault of Britain for illegally giving leased Sabah to its former colony Malaysia?

(Image of Lease Agreement between Sulu Sultan and British over Sabah, sourced from interaksyon.com)





(Image below of Sabah sourced from sabah.edu.my)






Click below to read Ateneo Law School Prof. Mel Sta. Maria opinion piece in interaksyon.com on why the Philippines legally and rightfully owns Sabah, which was illegally given by Britain to Malaysia.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/55753/mel-sta-maria--sabah-is-ours--we-should-claim-it


(Image below of the Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III , who historically owns Sabah. Photo sourced from malaysia-today.net)





(Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III image below sourced from gmanetwork.com)





Why the silence of our many politicos in the Philippines on the Sabah claim but a lot of noises on our other territorial claims? I think only former presidents Marcos and Macapagal had the guts to pursue our Sabah claim unequivocably.


(President Ferdinand Marcos image below sourced from © Bettmann/CORBIS)





(President Ferdinand Marcos image below sourced from en.wikipedia.com)




(Image below of President Diosdado Macapagal sourced from www-bcf.usc.edu)






Why not file an arbitration case in the United Nations (UN) now in order to encourage the Sulu Sultan's armed men to stand down and not cause bloodshed in the on-going crisis?

***

On February 22, 2013, the New Straits Times published this editorial which should hopefully remind our Philippine leaders that being too meek and seemingly scared of angering Malaysia can only forever weaken our rightful historic and legal claim on Sabah:

It's time Malaysia, Philippines resolved Sabah claim fast

By John Teo

DISPUTE: Finding an equitable solution requires uncommon goodwill on both sides

THE ailing Sultan of Sulu who reportedly gave the directive to send an armed group of relatives and supporters to Sabah at least had a rather keen sense of timing.

The move comes amid impending national elections in both Malaysia and the Philippines, with campaigning either officially or unofficially under way in both countries.

The Philippines' Sabah claim thus resurfaces at a delicate time for both nations, as the sultan may have intended.

One misstep and either or both nations' leaders are vulnerable to political and other critics.

Already, in Malaysia, the government is under growing pressure to act tough against the band of armed foreign intruders as the stand-off in Lahad Datu continues.

In the Philippines, the government is similarly under pressure to "resolve" the Sabah claim once and for all. Somewhat uncharacteristically, Philippine officials have described the situation as "sensitive", as ours have also done so.

Some in Malaysia wonder if the Philippine group is not doing the bidding of Manila, noting that it provocatively raised the Philippine national flag where it is now camped out in Sabah. It is plausible the Philippine government was caught off-guard by the event as it is claiming.

The administration of President Benigno Aquino III is seeking to speed up concluding a final peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. For that it needs the continued goodwill of Malaysia as the third-party facilitator in talks towards that agreement.

And it is precisely the very prospect of that peace agreement that was cited by the Sulu group for launching its action. The action might have been ill-advised to begin with but it was done as much to get Manila's attention as it was to get that of Malaysia's.

The group would have known that the ancient Sulu sultanate is no longer an internationally-recognised sovereign entity in its own right.

To pursue its claim on Sabah, it needed the Philippine government to do it on its behalf. It was moved to take things into its own hands because it sees little prospect of Manila advancing the claim once Manila becomes somewhat beholden to Malaysia for helping to bring peace to Bangsamoro, which will encompass the remaining territory of the sultanate.

The Philippine government has, since the administration of President Fidel Ramos, adopted the stand of putting the Sabah claim on the backburner as it seeks to practically advance long-frosty ties with Malaysia. That stand seems to have suited us and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was happy to play along when he was prime minister at the time.

On hindsight, it may not have been wise to sweep the whole issue under the carpet even as official ties between Kuala Lumpur and Manila improved over the years. But what could have been done, given the circumstances?

Malaysia would, of course, dearly wish for Manila to drop the Sabah claim entirely. But that is hardly realistic. Even if the Philippine government wanted that thorn in relations with Malaysia removed, it will be constrained by political realities existing within the country to unilaterally drop the claim.

The Philippines, on the other hand, may be able to live with the claim being referred by both nations for international arbitration.

If the international precedent set by the decisions to award disputed territories we had in recent years with Indonesia and Singapore to claimant countries that exercise effective control over the territories in dispute is taken as a guide, our case over Sabah should be on solid ground.

Yet it appears extremely unlikely we will submit the Sabah case for legal arbitration. And without consent by both countries to pick the path of international arbitration, it will not happen. Both countries will, therefore, need to creatively find common ground to meet each other half-way.

There have been hints from the Philippine side that the issue may be resolved with a negotiated final cash settlement. The Philippine side has always insisted that Malaysia has continued to make annual nominal payments over Sabah to heirs of the royal house of Sulu, something that Malaysia has not publicly acknowledged doing.

If indeed such payments are made, perhaps it is time we come clean about it and face up to the implications thereof. Sweeping the matter under the carpet serves no one since the matter is not likely to go away.

Finding an equitable solution to this festering issue requires uncommon goodwill between Kuala Lumpur and Manila and we are likely to get as good an opening for that now as we ever will.

General Operations Force personnel monitoring the situation in the Kampung Tanduo settlement in Lahad Datu, Sabah, where armed foreigners have been holed up since Feb 12. Pic by Zunnur Al Shafiq

International School Manila, the Philippines, Free Scholarships!

Deadline for applications is on February 13, 2013 (Wednesday)... at 4pm.

Application forms and other informations or requirements can be downloaded from the school website www.ismanila.org (go to Admissions>Philippine Scholarship Program).

Applicants can also go to the Middle School Guidance Office at International School Manila, University Parkway, Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Metro Manila, the Philippines or call Tel: 840-8555.

Spread the news!

(Image below sourced from schools.ac)





(Image below sourced from livinginmanilaphilippines.com)









The prestigious International School Manila (ISM) scholarships available now for the school year 2013-14.
The scholarship covers five years of education from Grade 8 through Grade 12.

Who are eligible to apply? Students now completing Grade 7 or first year high school, Filipino citizens and should be either 13 or 14 years old by September 1, 2013.
International school Manila is one of the best and most expensive private schools in the Philippines!

Please pass on the good news to others?

(Image below sourced from flickriver.com)

Good News! Scholarships in modern, clean, orderly, world-class garden city-state of Singapore! SHARE!

Singapore embassy in Manila, the Philippines is accepting until February 19 applications for the Dr. Goh Keng Swee Scholarships, which provide living, travel and school expenses to qualified applicants to pursue in the Lion City undergraduate studies "relevant to the financial sector."

More details, as well as application forms, are available at www.pscscholarships.gov.sg.

APPLY NOW, or at least SHARE this GOOD NEWS to others. Spread the news...

(Image below of Singapore sourced from collegescholarships.org)




(Image below sourced from app.www.sg)




(Image below of beautiful & orderly Singapore sourced from nexttriptouris.com)

I wish to pay tribute to an outstanding political leader, a courageous and principled man, a brash and decisive reformer---the late three-term New York City Mayor Edward Koch who died at age 88.

Ed Koch had demonstrated through his life and sterling public service record that one could be proud of ethnic heritage and still be a patriot of one's adopted country---having been Jewish and also American.

Read the two eulogies by a Bloomberg News columnist and another by the New York Times below.


(This image below sourced from wtsp.com)






(Image below sourced from nytimes.com)




(Image below of New York City sourced from blogs.villagevoice.com)




(Image below of New York City sourced from everaftermiami.com)





Here is an eloquent eulogy by Jeffrey Goldberg, a columnist of Bloomberg News:

Ed Koch, Proudest of Jews

By Jeffrey Goldberg Feb 2, 2013 12:14 AM GMT+0800

One of the reasons I adored Ed Koch (with eyes open -- I knew that his last term as mayor was a sad one, beset by corruption and hubris, and that he could have tried much harder to create a functional relationship with the city's black community) is that he reviewed movies like my grandmother reviewed movies. People may not remember this, but Koch had a long and illustrious post-Gracie Mansion career as a very bad movie reviewer. (A characteristic teaser Tweet: "Drive, don't run, to see Ryan Gosling in 'Drive.'")

My grandmother, who died several years ago and who also adored Koch -- even though Koch, unlike my grandmother, betrayed the city by living outside of it for parts of his life (my grandmother rarely ever budged from Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn) -- devoured movies, too, and her reviews had Koch's same slashing forthrightness and practical outer-borough sensibility. When I asked her what she thought of "Titanic," she answered, "Enough with the water already."

Many years ago, I gave my grandmother a moment of real joy when I told her that Koch had driven me home the night before from a dinner (his very loyal NYPD protective detail did the actual driving).
"Did you tell him I love him?" she asked. Actually, no. "Did you say thank you for saving us?" This was her unshakable view, and the view of many hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers: Ed Koch saved us. The city was in seemingly permanent decline when he took over City Hall, and he lifted up New York through sheer will, irrepressible optimism and hot air. He didn't make it perfect. But he did, in fact, save it.

There was one other aspect of Koch's gargantuan personality that moved New Yorkers like my grandmother. He was the proudest of Jews. He was just saturated with ethnic feeling, and rambunctious in his pride. His devotion to Israel was total, and he despised what he saw as an Upper West Side tendency to cringe and wring hands. He felt about the Jewish people, and their reborn homeland, the way he felt about New York.

Koch will be buried in Manhattan, of course -- he wouldn't have had it any other way. And on his gravestone, he decided several years ago, will be the words of the "Hear, O Israel" prayer, and these lines: "My father is Jewish. My mother is Jewish. I am Jewish.” These words are not his own; they were the last words spoken by Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter beheaded by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.

Even in death, Koch will be celebrating the two most important aspects of his epic life: his city, and his people.

(Image below sourced from courant.com)




Below is an eloquent obituary of the New York Times on this remarkable mayor:

Remembering Ed Koch

By THE NEW YORK TIMES 

 

Paul Hosefros/The New York Times On the brink of power: Ed Koch on primary day in 1977, two months before he was elected to his first term as mayor.

With the death on Friday of Edward I. Koch , the “little Jewish kid from the Bronx” who grew up to govern New York City through 12 of its most memorably turbulent years, remembrances of the man, his deeds, his words and his 88 years flowed in from all over the world in every possible form.

Today on City Room we are curating moments from Mr. Koch’s seemingly infinite public life, and the reaction to his passing.

12:58 P.M. | On Koch's Tombstone, Daniel Pearl's Last Words (Image below sourced from hfba.blogspot.com)

The last words of journalist Daniel Pearl, kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistan while investigating al Qaeda in 2002 for the Wall Street Journal, are inscribed on Mayor Koch’s tombstone.

Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Daniel Pearl

“My father is Jewish. My mother is Jewish. I am Jewish.”

Mr. Pearl, as the journalism blog Poynter points out, died 11 years ago today.

In a 2008 interview with the Associated Press, Mr. Koch said he was moved that Mr. Pearl had chosen to affirm his faith as his last words.

He also said in the interview that he bought his plot at the Trinity Church Cemetery because it was the only graveyard left in Manhattan with room. “I don’t want to leave Manhattan, even when I’m gone,” he said. “This is my home. The thought of having to go to New Jersey was so distressing to me.”

On the tombstone, Mr. Koch also included a Jewish prayer. And there’s no “How’m I doin’? ” inscribed. Instead, he wrote:

He was fiercely proud of his Jewish faith. He fiercely defended the City of New York, and he fiercely loved its people. Above all, he loved his country, the United States of America, in whose armed forces he served in World War II.

— Jennifer Preston

12:22 P.M. |The Mayor of the Underground

Tyrone Dukes/The New York Times Where the action was: Mr. Koch handing out leaflets outside a subway station in 1975, when he was a Congressman.

Mayor Edward I. Koch ventured underground in his jacket and tie, spoiling for someone, anyone, to tell him how he was doing. When graffiti-addled subway cars presented an eyesore, he proposed dispatching dogs — or better yet, wild wolves — to patrol the yards where trains were often vandalized. And as he prepared for the moment that arrived Friday morning, when Mr. Koch died at age 88, the three-term mayor took care to ensure that the city’s transit riders were properly considered.

“He wanted to be buried near a subway,” said Richard Ravitch, who led the Metropolitan Transportation Authority during Mr. Koch’s first term and became a close friend, “so that people could come to his grave easily.”

His plot at Trinity Church Cemetery is a short walk from the No. 1 train.

There are few figures in the city’s history so synonymous with its signature mode of transportation, and few who took such an active interest in its finer details. On Friday, transit advocates credited Mr. Koch with cajoling the transportation authority to improve announcements, doubling the city’s commitment to an agency rebuilding program, and securing over $1 billion for city subways and buses in 1985.

But perhaps most memorable was Mr. Koch’s campaign against subway graffiti, even if his most imaginative plan never quite came to fruition.

His proposal was simple: build a fence, perhaps two fences, around the perimeter of the train yards, and place dogs inside to dissuade marauding vandals.

In an interview released by La Guardia and Wagner Archives, Mr. Koch recalled his detractors’ concerns: “Oh dogs, they’ll bite,” they would say. “I said, ‘well, that’s what dogs are supposed to do.’”

Then he had another idea.

“Instead of dogs, put in wolves,” he told them. “There is no recorded case of a wolf in the wild state ever attacking a human being in North America. It’s happened elsewhere, but not in North America.”

Alas, wild wolves never came to protect New York City’s subways. But some dogs were recruited. In 1981, days after he announced the use of German shepherds at a yard in Corona, Queens, the mayor was informed that one of the guard dogs had given birth to four puppies.

“Now that’s productivity,” he said.

Mr. Ravitch said Friday that the reduction in graffiti had more to do with the purchase of stainless steel cars, which were easier to clean, than with menacing animals. But Mr. Ravitch recalled Mr. Koch as a sparring partner and a friend, an occasional cheerleader for the system but a man who “often used to say on television, ‘If you don’t like the subways, don’t blame me, blame Ravitch.’”

Once, Mr. Ravitch recalled, Mr. Koch called the city’s transit workers “loungers and loafers.” After Mr. Ravitch defended the workers — and the city’s editorial boards defended Mr. Ravitch — the two decided to call a truce. Mr. Ravitch invited the mayor to his home on a Sunday night, for Chinese food. “We ordered spare ribs and egg rolls,” Mr. Ravitch recalled.

Mr. Koch also waded into other corners of transportation policy. Decades before Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s bike lanes sprouted along the city’s thoroughfares, Mr. Koch installed experimental lanes of his own — inspired by a trip to Beijing, where he admired the bicycle’s prevalence. Mr. Koch later reversed course, and in 1987 moved to ban bicycle use on sections of Park, Madison, and Fifth Avenues during many weekday business hours.

But the subway always remained near to his heart. In a recent interview, Mr. Koch marveled at how cordial riders had become since his administration ended, recalling a crime-riddled age when “the rule was, avert your eyes because eye contact meant battle. Like two animals.”

In recent years, he said, even pregnant women had begun offering him seats.
“I always say no,” he said.

— Matt Flegenheimer

(This old photo of Ed Koch below sourced from globalgrind.com)

I believe this tycoon's eldest son Donald Trump, Jr. should publicly apologize to the Philippies and all people concerned with the environment for his errors regarding the U.S. navy ship stuck in Tubbataha Reef in western Philippines here in Asia. Don Trump is wrong, and he should be humble enough to apologize.

(Image below of the controversial tweets by Don Trump sourced from dzmm.abs-cbnnews.com)



(This image below of Don Trump sourced from news.bbc.co.uk)





(Image below sourced from ph.news.yahoo.com)





(This image of U.S. navy ship sourced from everythinginbudget.blogspot.com)









(Image below sourced from huffingtonpost.com)





(Don Trump with his wife Vanessa, this image below sourced from tumblr.com)









Here's the news report from the Philippine Star newspaper yesterday which angered many people like me:

Trump Jr says US ship 'more important' than damaged reef

By Camille Diola (philstar.com) | Updated January 31, 2013 - 11:38am

Donald Trump, Jr. flew in in June 2012 to lead the grounbreaking ceremony of Century Properties Group Inc.'s Trump Tower in Manila. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines - The son of American billionaire Donald Trump expressed disappointment over the dismantling of US Navy minesweeper stranded on the Philippines's Tubbataha reef, saying the move was "stupid" as the ship is "more important" than the marine sanctuary.

Businessman Donald "Don" Trump, Jr. reacted on the proposal to cut up the $277-million ship and said the damage on the coral reef does not cost as much as the pricey Navy vessel.

"Yes, a $277-million boat is more important than a 200x50 section of reef that has already been run over," Trump said on his Twitter account on early Thursday morning (Manila time)..

The American businessman also reacted to an ensuing thread on the microblogging site to explain to a fellow American who said that the cost of the ship may be lesser than cleanup expenses as well as US' payment to the Philippine government for damages.

"Please, cleanup costs? The ship is (stranded on a) 200 by 50 at most on the edge of the reef. It hit and stopped. Give me a break ... That is not worth 277 million by any standard." he added.

Trump, who recently visited the country for the ground breaking of Trump Tower in Manila, also responded to Filipinos on Twitter who further questioned his opinion on the ship's greater worth.

"I don't like that it happened but if you took $2 billion in (revenues) and take the ratio (of damage) from earlier its rather minimal," Trump said, referring to the $2.5 billion economic value of reefs in Southeast Asia.

He also said that cutting up the ship would take months as well as other significant resources that would not justify its lost value.

"Pull it off (sic) rather than spend months tearing it up. How do you take apart a ship without other ships?" Trump added.