Obama datang Malaysia bulan hadapan

Presiden Amerika Syarikat, Barack Obama akan melawat Malaysia dalam rangka lawatan empat negara Asia pada Oktober ini, menjadikan beliau Presiden Amerika Syarikat pertama yang melawat negara ini dalam tempoh lebih empat dekad.

Obama dijadual akan turut melawat beberapa negara Asia Tenggara lain termasuk Indonesia, Brunei dan Filipina, mulai 6-12 Oktober  sebagai sebahagian daripada komitmennya untuk mengukuhkan penglibatan politik, ekonomi dan keselamatan Amerika di rantau Asia Pasifik.

Kali terakhir Malaysia menerima lawatan Presiden Amerika Syarikat ialah pada 1966, oleh Presiden Lyndon Johnson.

Obama dijangka akan menemui Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak dalam satu pertemuan yang disifatkan sebagai “mengukuhkan hubungan dua hala yang semakin berkembang” di antara kedua-dua negara.

Kenyataan daripada Rumah Putih turut menyebut bahawa Obama akan menyampaikan ucaptama pada Persidangan Keusahawanan Global yang akan diadakan di ibu negara pada 11-12 Oktober.

Sebelum melawat Malaysia, beliau akan ke Indonesia untuk menghadiri Mesyuarat Pemimpin Ekonomi Kerjasama Ekonomi Asia Pasifik (APEC) dan akan menghoskan beberapa siri mesyuarat di luar acara APEC berkenaan.

Obama juga dijadual menghadiri mesyuarat Pemimpin negara-negara Kerjasama Trans-Pasifik, terdiri daripada 12 ekonomi, termasuk Malaysia.

Beliau akan mengadakan pertemuan dengan Presiden Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono bagi mengesahkan hubungan rapat dua hala AS dan meraikan tahun ketiga Kerjasama Komprehensif mereka.

Obama kemudiannya akan ke Brunei untuk Persidangan AS-ASEAN dan Sidang Kemuncak Asia Timur (EAS) dan mengadakan pertemuan dengan Sultan Brunei.

Selepas Brunei, presiden akan ke Filipina bagi pertemuan dengan Presiden Benigno Aquino untuk mengesahkan, antaranya hubungan ekonomi dan keselamatan di antara kedua-dua buah negara. 

--Astro Awani 

Televisyen ragut nyawa

Gombak: Seorang bayi perempuan maut selepas kepalanya dipercayai dihempap televisyen berukuran 29 inci (73.6 sentimeter) di sebuah pusat asuhan kanak-kanak di Taman Bersatu, Rawang, dekat sini, semalam. Mangsa, Rabiatul Adawiyah Adlan Zulkarnain yang berusia setahun lapan bulan dipercayai meninggal dunia dalam perjalanan ke Hospital Selayang akibat parah di kepala.

Berikutan itu, bapanya Adlan Zulkarnain Mustafa, 40, membuat laporan di Balai Polis Rawang.

ADLAN memangku jenazah Rabiatul Adawiyah sebelum dikebumikan, semalam.

Menceritakan kejadian itu Adlan berkata, dia menghantar mangsa bersama seorang lagi anak perempuannya berusia empat tahun ke pusat asuhan terbabit jam 6.20 pagi sebelum dia ke tempat kerja di sebuah bank di Kuala Lumpur.

“Bagaimanapun, 10 minit kemudian saya menerima panggilan telefon daripada pengasuh itu memberitahu kepala anak saya dihempap televisyen.

Apa puncanya Bumiputera tidak bersaing?

Saya agak pelik apabila dasar ekonomi untuk Bumiputera telah disalahkan kerana itu ini, begitu begini tanpa mereka sedar yang dasar itu dibuat adalah untuk memastikan bumiputera itu sendiri berdaya saing.

Orang Melayu dan Bumiputera yang mengkritik dasar itu sepatut bersyukur dan berterima kasih kepada pihak yang membuat dasar kerana tujuan dasar itu dibuat adalah semata-mata mahu membantu bumiputera itu sendiri. Malangnya, apabila bumiputera tidak berdaya saing maka bumiputera itu sendiri akan menyalahkan dasar dan lain-lain tanpa melihat sikap mereka sendiri.

Persoalannya: Jika mahu berdaya saing apakah yang perlu dilakukan oleh bumiputera itu sendiri?

Soalan lain, jika dasar yang dibuat itu bagus mengikut kehendak semasa apakah jaminan boleh diberikan yang mana bumiputera itu memang berdaya saing manakala pegangan ekuiti bumiputera itu akan dapat dicapai dengan mudah?

Kita semua sedia maklum akan permasalahan dalam perniagaan yang mana bumiputera itu sendiri suka mengambil pendekatan yang mudah apabila mereka menjadi ali baba untuk mendapatkan keuntungan cepat tanpa berfikir panjang.

Mereka juga sudah dimanjakan dengan pelbagai kelebihan dan keistimewaan yang mereka perolehi tanpa mengambil sedikit pun pendekatan untuk memastikan mereka lebih maju dan lebih berdaya saing dengan kenikmatan tersebut. Apa yang mereka tahu ialah mereka patut dapat apa yang patut mereka dapat kerana mereka adalah warga pribumi jadi apa pun yang terjadi mereka sedikit pun tidak akan rasa terjejas.

Apakah perkara yang saya nyatakan sebentar tadi ada yang masih hendak menafikan?

Dalam sektor pendidikan juga begitu, bumiputera tidak ada sikap untuk menguji diri mencuba bidang yang lebih mencabar. Apa yang mereka akan lakukan adalah mengambil jurusan yang mudah, yang tidak memeningkan kepala dan jurusan yang kebanyakan orang lain ambil. Jadi bagaimana pelajar bumiputera akan keluar sebagai graduan yang berkualiti? Mereka sendiri tidak dapat untuk menyahut cabaran kerana mereka lebih pentingkan apa yang mereka suka dan mana yang menyenangkan mereka.

Oleh itu, siapa yang perlu dipersalahkan dan di mana kesalahan ini hendak kita letakkan? Adakah dasar atau jurusan yang ditawarkan? Ataupun sikap bumiputera itu sendiri? Jika kita mahukan kualiti, maka diri kita perlu lebih berkualiti untuk pastikan ia berkualiti. Sama juga dengan daya saing. Jika kita mahu berdaya saing maka diri kita perlu ada daya saing yang tinggi tanpa berkompromi.

Mengapa orang lain boleh dan kita tidak boleh? Jika kita tidak boleh, apa sebab kita tidak boleh?

Kita jangan lupa akan peribahasa 'hendak seribu daya, tak nak seribu dalih'.

Oleh itu, lakukan perubahan sikap kita bagi memastikan kesemua matlamat dapat dicapai dan buang sikap negatif yang mana akan merosakkan imej bumiputera itu sendiri.

Oleh: Nur Muhammad Tajrid, melalui Astro Awani 

Little to laugh about in dark comedy 'The Family'

There's not much to laugh about in Luc Besson's dark comedy "The Family." The plodding, overlong film follows a former mob boss who snitched on associates and wound up overseas in a witness protection program with his wife and kids. But rather than try to assimilate, the clan can't stop resorting to its old ways, which consist mainly of inflicting mayhem on innocents.

As the movie opens, Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro) is hiding under the pseudonym Fred Blake and moving into a new secret hideaway with wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), son Warren (John D'Leo) and daughter Belle (Dianna Agron). Their noisome personalities and unlawful inclinations have forced the family to quickly uproot from Paris and the French Riviera, so now they're trying out a tiny town in Normandy. Along for the ride are a few FBI agents, including Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones).

Before the quartet unpacks, they're already up to no good. Most notably, Giovanni has a body to bury and Maggie blows up a grocery store because the proprietor turned her request for peanut butter into a screed against American obesity. (Although it isn't entirely clear how Maggie understood, since the lecture was delivered in French and she couldn't even pronounce "peanut butter" in French.) Logic takes a vacation for much of this movie.

Gio and Maggie's teenagers have picked up a few tricks and traits from their parents. Warren is an accomplished con artist, forger and intel collector, and Belle — a seemingly serene blond princess — launches into a game of badminton using the face of one of her peers as a shuttlecock. While there is potentially an ounce of poetic justice when Belle unleashes her fury on a boy who boorishly hits on her, there isn't the same sense of comeuppance when Gio takes people down. When a plumber tries to fleece the mobster, Gio responds by breaking the man's leg in a dozen places. The infraction committed by another man who gets dragged behind Gio's car is even less severe.

That's the main problem with the movie. The Blakes think they're vigilantes, but in most other movies they'd be the bad guys. Of course, there are worse guys, including a hit man who plans to collect the $20 million bounty on Gio and company's heads. That portion of the plot gives the story a little jolt, but mostly the film follows along aimlessly as the "Blake" family fails at fitting in.

While De Niro can ace playing a father (he nabbed an Oscar nom for "Silver Linings Playbook") and a mobster (he won an Academy Award for "The Godfather Part II"), he doesn't add much here. Neither does Pfeiffer, whose Brooklyn accent is all drawn-out vowels and dropped R's one moment and gone the next.

After the movie limps along for an hour and a half, Besson suddenly switches gears and does what he does best. A showdown during the last few scenes proves thrillingly suspenseful. Better yet, Gio and his family finally manage to channel their anger toward worthy adversaries rather than defenseless French people. The scenes can hardly qualify as funny, but at least for a few moments, the movie manages to be fun. 

-- The Washington Post

#SaySomethingNice : What's your message?

The #SaySomethingNice campaign  started in 2011 but the organisers are going all-out in conjunction with Hari Merdeka on August 31 until Hari Malaysia on September 16.

“It’s for Malaysians to say something positive to each other. #SaySomethingNice is the foundation but the public are encouraged to use their creativity to create activities such as #WriteSomethingNice, #PaintSomethingNice, #FacebookSomethingNice, #RecycleSomethingNice and more,” says entrepreneur Anas Zubedy.

He added that this campaign does not seek any profit but is a way to showcase the positive side of the country.

“There are a lot of beautiful things that we can showcase. We are hoping that 10 to 15 years from now, it will encourage tourists to come to Malaysia and enjoy the beautiful things that are available,” he added.



Anas targets for one million Malaysians to be aware of this campaign especially through social media campaigns on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

This year, the campaign was introduced after the recent 13th General Election (GE13) campaigning period, that has somewhat divided the society.

"It is alright to disagree, but we've come to a point where we've been disrespectful and hurtful. We do not want that. We want to showcase kindness. Now that GE13 is over, it is also time for politicians to concentrate on the work instead of exchanging rough words," he added.

- Astro Awani 

Delhi gang-rape case: The four men who have been given the death sentence

NEW DELHI:  Nine months after a young medical student was gang-raped and murdered on a moving bus in Delhi, four men have been given the death sentence for the attack that shocked India and ignited weeks of protests demanding better safety for women and swift justice for the 23-year-old who was killed.

Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh were sentenced to death by hanging at a fast-track court in Delhi today.  They were found guilty of "cold-blooded murder" on Wednesday. The judge said today that it was a "rarest of rare case" that deserved the death penalty.

The four men are expected to appeal against the sentence in a higher court.  Vinay Sharma broke down as the sentence was pronounced. A defence lawyer alleged that the judgment was made under "political pressure."

The student's parents have repeatedly demanded the death sentence for those who killed their daughter.  "They did not spare her," her father said after the men were convicted, "why should they be shown any mercy?"

The woman and her male friend were lured onto a bus on December 16 after they left a mall where they had watched a film.

As the bus drove through South Delhi, passing through three police check points, the men hit the student's friend with iron rods before using them to violate her.   45 minutes later, the couple was thrown naked and semi-conscious on the road.

The young woman's injuries were so severe that she died in hospital in Singapore two weeks after the attack.

Before she died, she gave a detailed statement to the police, which helped convict her attackers; her family says she also told them she wanted to see the men burn.

For days, thousands of demonstrators marched in different cities, forcing the government to introduce tougher laws to punish sexual offences; special courts to try rape cases quickly were also sanctioned.

Of the six men who were arrested, the alleged ring leader was found hanging in his prison cell in March.  Another, who was 17 at the time of the attack, was convicted by a juveniles court last month and sentenced to three years in a reform centre.

Source: Agencies