What’s so seditious about a little hate? |
- What’s so seditious about a little hate?
- EPL: Sunderland’s French veteran Reveillere out for a month
- A grown-up Christmas list — Audrey Edwards
- From housewife to senator: Katia Abreu is Brazil’s ‘ranching queen’
- After plane crashes over Syria, Islamic State captures Jordanian pilot
- Sony hacking highlights the rise of cyber ransoms — Katie Benner
| What’s so seditious about a little hate? Posted: 24 Dec 2014 04:47 PM PST DECEMBER 25 — Santa Claus might be dead! (SPOILER ALERT: Bigots may be offended below.) Late last night, I'd imagine Isma cadres were waiting with an assortment of pikes, scythes and vacuum handles to take down anyone trying to slip into low cost units across the country. Fairy tale has it, that a nefarious often-suspected paedophile — he's also oversized, over-aged, wardrobe-limited, elves-management certified and seasonally employed — breaks into homes and places gifts to dupe people. Dupe them into what? Into all kinds of badass activities. To the Muslim fundamentalists here that's like documented proof of efforts to proselytise to the innocent. Oh them Christians! Fat guy carrying presents without a beer in hand, please ring the Armageddon alert! So if you did not find any gifts under the tree today, they probably found him and killed him. In a very ugly way. Jokes aside — OK, quite difficult to talk about Isma without jokes — they might have a point. It's not theological Christianity but rather commercial Christmas that's turning young Malay children to sing "Jingle Bells" and Malay couples to pose around Christmas décor in malls. Good luck with beating Coca Cola and NetFlix! Hate me for a reason, let the reason be hate The year ends with some strange developments, like Umno politicians having a real crack at Isma and other screwballs. Their (Isma) Christmas jibes and pronouncements have upset senior Umno leaders, mainly those with substantial Christian electorates or studied at Oxford. Apparently, the right-wing religionists have become too angry, radical, absolutist and unceasing. I'm just waiting for Isma to turn around and say "Oi, we learn from the best." Of course waiting for Isma to show wit is like waiting for an Umno minister to apologise. Or waiting for one Umno division chief to reject a government contract. Or waiting for Umno delegates to stay away from karaokes when they come down to KL for their assembly. What I mean is, you have to wait for a long time. [To those uninitiated, Isma (Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia or Malaysian Muslim Solidarity) is a far right organisation with muddled goals of championing religion and race, and being colossally clueless about telling them apart and are just like the majority of Americans who believe in fairies. The same majority believe in flying pigs, but Isma members can't believe in pigs — walking, floating or summersaulting — but they can believe in almost anything else flying. Yes, a real bunch bursting with colour and weekend passes from the asylum.] It's not that they are mad set about their ways, it's that Umno thinks Isma are too angry. That's what really takes the cake. Pots and kettles come to mind. Umno leaders live on anger, their members are year-long almost intravenously fed a siege mentally of being under threat from all over by forces seen and unseen. One day someone is going to overdose at their annual assembly and the physician attending will sign off "Organs overwhelmed by rage." So it seems Umno is advocating a rage meter, an acceptable rate of anger. So when Khairy Jamaluddin, youth chief extraordinaire, said last month "There is a limit to our patience" loudly to a boisterous crowd, he was angry but within the parameters. His anger you see, is classier. Isma on the other hand is too angry. No one is regulating the steroids. Personally, I want to know. When did the Malays of Malaysia decide that the only messages they would listen to are those made by angry men filled with vitriol? Why not try love, man. Still, chuckles. You can't be trusted, trust me I know (The Sedition Song) If there was a chart for Malaysian opposition politicians like the US Top 40, you won't be on it if you have not been summoned for a sedition probe in the last 12 months. It's just too much of a fad these days. Even radio deejays are not spared. To be fair, some of their track selections have been criminal but I never thought the government would take them to court. But there is a bigger picture apparently — no, not the show on the radio station, focus on this visual please — on why everyone should feel glad there are archaic laws to imprison them. There is a greater good! Let me explain to the layman why he needs the Sedition Act. You are safe — can I have an applause now? Fine, that's not entirely true — cue, end the applause. You are safe, kinda. You are safe mostly. Well you are safe if you take the right precautions. Actually you are really safe if someone else, usually a government that is not interested in your opinion of what is safe, is taking all the precautions on your behalf including threatening you with imprisonment so that you can be safe. So you see, you really are safe as long as the Sedition Act remains. What's that you are shouting over there? The government promised to repeal it?
He may have said that this nation under his stewardship will inch to progress and strip away its historical baggage. He meant it then, and he meant it for a long time but now he says he's changed his mind. What? You think that it's deplorable and reeks of intellectual dishonesty. First of all, the prime minister does not like words like "intellectual" for it's too similar to "liberal" which is a big dirty word all by itself. Second of all it's completely acceptable to be dishonest if you are protecting the rakyat. Third of all, I need to go to the bathroom to throw up. The Umno guys since their assembly have been saying — roll your eyes as you like and often — that it is not the prime minister, but the people who have failed the repeal of the Sedition Act. So you see, it's the people, not the prime minister. The prime minister was like totally OK to jump off the bungee cord of NO-Sedition Act, but the people held him back. It's not the jumper, it's the rope. So Malaysia, can you grow up and become better rope, one that the prime minister can use? Go hug a tree Anyway another Christmas, another year over. While angry men continue to angrily refute allegations that there are those less angry than them, others will continue to be harassed by the system through the use of needful laws, there are more important preoccupations which we should not miss out, like Christmas drinks. And yes, go hug a bigot, it'll throw them off-balance. They swallow your hate up like a black-hole, it's the love that kills them. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist.  |
| EPL: Sunderland’s French veteran Reveillere out for a month Posted: 24 Dec 2014 04:39 PM PST
The 35-year-old fullback — capped 20 times — suffered the injury during the warm-up prior to Sunderland's crucial 1-0 win over fellow north east English side Newcastle last Sunday. Reveillere, who signed for Sunderland in late October, will be replaced by either Irish international centreback John O'Shea, who filled in against Newcastle, or specialist fullback Billy Jones for tomorrow's match against fellow strugglers Hull. Sunderland are presently 14th, four points above the relegation places while Hull are deeper in trouble second from bottom with no wins in their last 10 games and losing six of the past eight. — AFP |
| A grown-up Christmas list — Audrey Edwards Posted: 24 Dec 2014 04:38 PM PST
We weren't sure whether that family tradition would be kept this year seeing how she had just been discharged from hospital some weeks ago. But being the "strong tiger" that my mum is, she has recovered and on Tuesday declared that she would be making the cake, with the aid of other family members (she just loves to include everyone). Growing up, there was one year when mum was horrified to find out that my sister and I had taken to eating spoonfuls of the fruit mix that had been boiled. To this day, that was the year when "there weren't enough fruits for the cake". Through the years, there have been so many memories attached to the annual celebration. There was the going to church for Christmas Eve mass and waiting impatiently to head back to rip the wrapping paper off the presents. Hearing my parents rising early, after barely sleeping for a few hours, to cook for visitors that would start streaming in as early as 8am. The staples would be dad's "nasi minyak" with raisins and nuts, some sort of curry and mum's garlic-baked chicken. Later on, the second sister started making sugee cake, pineapple tarts and chocolate cake. And as a child, I always knew what I would be getting for Christmas — books. Lots of books. And mum had no choice, but to allow me to choose what I wanted. Most times, I had read them halfway through and wrapping them was just a gesture. We were a middle-income family where both my parents were civil servants. Times could get a wee bit lean, sometimes. It just meant no new clothes or you just didn't get the present that you wanted for some of the Christmases. Now, don't get me wrong. This isn't a tale of woe and sadness. Rather, the adult in me can't help but feel embarrassed at wanting more for this celebration during the growing up years besides realising that my parents always made sure that we kids had a good Christmas. Decades later, times have only gotten better with the three siblings growing up and being able to afford to buy "stuff" (to quote the nephew). But while in previous years, I would be able to name at least one thing that I wanted for Chrismas, this year I was completely stumped when my loved ones asked me that question. I really didn't know what to say. Because as tacky as it sounds, I have everything that I want. (You may roll your eyes now.) Either that or the warm fuzzy feeling of Christmas has yet to come. Or maybe it's a combination of both. What I do know is what I want isn't material. Instead, I want "stuff" for my loved ones. So, my grown-up Christmas list this year is as follows: * For the parents, good health. Lots of it. How else are they going to keep up with the occasional nagging (grin) and have the patience to listen to the rantings and jokes of their girls? * For the whacky sisters, good health. Plus for the second one, lots of desserts and for the eldest, may her eye bags lessen. * For the nephew, success in his studies and gaming (like, hello, why else have we been giving you all those Razer and Alienware peripherals?) * For the other meaningful people in my life (you know who you are and I love all of you to bits), of course, may your health be all the colours of the rainbow and not just pink. Less work-related headaches, holidays and comforting thoughts to get through the day. Now with that short list done, (once again as it has been said a few times over in this space) it would really be nice to have a year with less bickering. Put a lid on it, seriously. It's getting tiring when insults are somehow still being dreamed up during this season to justify the opinions of certain quarters against another religion. It's hurtful and whether it is the opinion of a few or many, what have we come to that hurling insults on a daily basis seems to be a given? At the very least, would it be too much to ask for a little respect for each other next year? Or in the very near future? I am not asking for rainbows and crazy Care Bears running around giving a little love (although the mental image of this happening is quite cool). Just for everyone to reflect, breathe and be kind. Now, excuse me. I have presents to wrap and the annual shepherd's pie to make. Have a good one, folks! * Audrey is news editor at Malay Mail. She can be reached at audrey@mmail.com.my. ** This is the personal opinion of the writer. |
| From housewife to senator: Katia Abreu is Brazil’s ‘ranching queen’ Posted: 24 Dec 2014 04:35 PM PST
Today, she is a powerful rancher and senator who was named Brazil's next agriculture minister, a choice that has infuriated small farmers, environmentalists and indigenous groups who call her the "queen of deforestation." The post is a high-profile job in Brazil, the world's seventh-largest economy and an agricultural powerhouse. Abreu, 52, wants to make it even more so, vowing to overtake the United States as the world's largest food producer. But in a country where big agriculture is often at odds with those fighting to protect the Amazon rainforest and the indigenous people who live in it, the appointment of an agribusiness insider has ruffled feathers. Abreu, the head of powerful industry group the Agriculture and Livestock Confederation of Brazil (CNA), won environmental group Greenpeace's "Golden Chainsaw" award in 2010 for her "contributions" to destroying the Amazon. Indigenous communities and Brazil's landless workers movement have accused her of trying to expand commercial farming at the expense of the environment. She has also been criticised by her own allies for joining forces with left-wing President Dilma Rousseff and her Workers' Party (PT), whose policies Abreu attacked in the past. Brazilian 'Margaret Thatcher' Abreu is elegant and determined, with an iron will that drew a comparison to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher from The Guardian newspaper. After starting her political career on the right, she joined the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), a close ally of Rousseff's PT, for elections last October. "I don't accept the demands of the left or the right. I'm free and I live in a democracy. I support whomever I want," Abreu wrote on Twitter. After Rousseff won the election by a tight margin ― fighting off her unpopularity in the business world and accusations of mishandling Brazil's struggling economy ― she named Abreu her new agriculture minister Tuesday. She will start the job when Rousseff begins her new four-year term on January 1. A supporter of genetically modified crops and an opponent of expropriating large landowners' property, Abreu is an unapologetic defender of big agriculture, which makes up 23.3 percent of Brazil's economy. When indigenous groups have shot arrows at her photograph in protest, Abreu has fired back that if Brazil keeps creating indigenous reserves at its current rate, it won't have any farmland left by 2031. Presidential 'destiny'? Abreu's current political life is a long way from her life at age 25, when her husband, a large-scale rancher, died in a plane crash. Abreu, who was pregnant with their third child at the time, had to take over their cattle operation in the northern state of Tocantins. "When I started out I didn't know a cow from a bull," she told Brazilian magazine Epoca. She not only took to the job but became an outspoken proponent for farmers and ranchers, winning a seat in the Senate in 2006. Abreu does not hide her political ambition. "Running for president is not a plan ― it is fate. I'm getting ready for that, preparing in case it is my destiny," she told The Guardian in May. As minister, she will run up against old adversaries. "She represents the most backward form of the landed gentry, who wield land as an instrument of power and real estate speculation ... with no concern for the environment," said Igor Santos, head of the Landless Workers' Movement. ― AFP |
| After plane crashes over Syria, Islamic State captures Jordanian pilot Posted: 24 Dec 2014 04:32 PM PST
A senior Jordanian military official said the pilot was taken hostage by the "IS terrorist organisation" in its northern stronghold region of Raqa. Both the jihadists and activists reporting to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile. But the US military dismissed the claim, saying "evidence clearly suggests that ISIL did not down the aircraft", using another name for IS. US Central Command, the body overseeing the coalition air war over Iraq and Syria, gave no reason for the "crash", and confirmed IS militants had taken the lost jet's Jordanian pilot captive. The crash was the first coalition warplane lost since air strikes on IS began in Syria in September, and marks a major propaganda victory for the Sunni extremist group. Coalition warplanes have carried out regular strikes around Raqa, which IS has used as its de facto capital since declaring a "caliphate" in June straddling large parts of Iraq and Syria. IS posted photographs online purportedly showing its fighters holding the pilot. One showed a man being carried from a body of water by four gunmen. Another showed the same man on land, surrounded by almost a dozen militants. A photograph was also released of the pilot's military identification card, showing his name as Maaz al-Kassasbeh, his birth date as May 29, 1988, and his rank of first lieutenant. The jihadists claimed to have shot down the warplane with a heat-seeking missile. Images distributed by IS supporters of the alleged aftermath of the crash appeared to show the distinctive canopy of an F-16 fighter jet. Deadly Iraq suicide blast The pilot's father, Youssef, was quoted by Jordanian media as saying the family had been informed by the air force of his capture. He said the military promised it was "working to save his life" and that King Abdullah II of Jordan was following events. An activist in Raqa said IS militants were divided over the fate of the pilot. "The Chechens want him dead but the Iraqis want to keep him alive," Nael Mustafa told AFP via the Internet. "For some time, there have been divisions among them over who should be in command." The decision would be made by the shura, or council, representing all nationalities in IS, a Sunni extremist group that has committed widespread atrocities including mass executions and public beheadings. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern and appealed for the pilot's captors to treat him humanely. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond tweeted his support for the pilot. "Concerned for Jordanian pilot held by ISIL. We stand with Jordan at this difficult time," Hammond wrote. Jordan is among a number of countries that have joined the US-led alliance carrying out air strikes against IS. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain are taking part in the strikes in Syria alongside the United States. Elsewhere in Syria, 10 people including six children were killed as they left rebel-held Zabdine in southeast Damascus for a regime area, said the Observatory. In neighbouring Iraq, a suicide bomber killed at least 26 people and wounded dozens in an attack on Sunnis opposed to IS as they gathered to receive salaries south of Baghdad. And in the northern city of Kirkuk, a gunman killed the head of the provincial counter-terrorism forces. The US-led coalition first launched strikes against IS in August in Iraq, weeks after the jihadists overran the country's Sunni heartland. The coalition said it had carried out 10 strikes yesterday in Syria, including one near Raqa, where the Jordanian jet crashed, and seven in Iraq. Iraqi security forces, backed by the strikes, Kurdish forces, Shiite militias, and Sunni tribesmen, have retaken some areas, but have been facing stiff resistance from the entrenched IS militants. Some Sunni militiamen have joined the fight against IS and yesterday's attack near a military base in the Madain area targeted Sunni fighters known as Sahwa. The Sahwa, or "Awakening" in Arabic, date back to the height of the US-led war in Iraq, when Sunni tribesmen joined forces with the Americans to battle insurgents including IS's predecessor organisation, the Islamic State of Iraq. — AFP |
| Sony hacking highlights the rise of cyber ransoms — Katie Benner Posted: 24 Dec 2014 04:28 PM PST DECEMBER 25 — Just three days before cyber-attackers crippled Sony Pictures, the hackers sent an email to executives Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal that said they would do great damage to the company if they weren't paid off. The note, discovered by Mashable, was simple and straightforward, though sketchy on the payment details: We've got great damage by Sony Pictures. The compensation for it, monetary compensation we want. Pay the damage, or Sony Pictures will be bombarded as a whole. You know us very well. We never wait long. You'd better behave wisely. From God'sApstls We've got great damage by Sony Pictures. The compensation for it, monetary compensation we want. Pay the damage, or Sony Pictures will be bombarded as a whole. You know us very well. We never wait long. You'd better behave wisely. From God'sApstls The email has been largely forgotten amid the blur of Sony-related cyber-attack coverage, including stories about backstabbing emails and North Korea's purported role in the hack over the film "The Interview". But security experts say it's not unusual for companies to receive emails from hackers who threaten to hold data hostage, or destroy it altogether, if payment isn't made. In some cases, the attackers do hold systems for ransom and they do get paid. "Recently we have seen an uprising in 'cryptolockers' and [malware that] is referred to as 'ransomware', which allow the criminal to hold assets hostage in exchange for things not attached to the Internet, like the ability to block the release of a movie or even hostage exchange," says Ryan Wager, director of product management at the security company vArmour. Just this month, several hospitals were infiltrated by hackers demanding payment. (Hospitals, full of sensitive patient data, have been hit in the past, too.) The criminals' playbook was pretty much the same as what's used in most of these attacks. The hackers got in, used a type of ransomware to encrypt files and then demanded payment in return for the key. Here's how David Wood, co-owner of an Australian medical centre that recently got hit, described how it was hacked: "They literally got in, hijacked the server and then ran their encryption software," he said, adding that the data was "secure in the sense that no one's taken any of it". A security expert told the news media that the damage was extensive enough that the hospital would probably have to pay. Security researchers say the use of ransomware has exploded over the past year, largely because the black market for credit-card numbers and other personal data is oversupplied. As prices plummet, creative attackers have looked for other ways to make money on lax corporate security.
"One of the scariest changes is that attackers are even getting better at getting to your back-up data, says Marc Maiffret, the chief technology officer at the cybersecurity start-up BeyondTrust. Researchers say hacking groups looking to make more money with ransomware are also selling their services to the highest bidders, essentially, as hacker mercenaries. Maiffret says that's one reason smaller countries and terrorist groups that traditionally haven't had a strong cybercriminal presence are showing up more frequently now. Only an estimated 2 per cent to 3 per cent of targeted companies pay a ransom, says Sagie Dulce, a data security engineer at Imperva. But even that tiny percentage can mean a lot of money. Dulce says a typical cryptolocker can take in US$30 million (RM96 million) in only a few months. "As electronic currency becomes more widely used, more people will pay," he says, noting that most criminals want to be paid in Bitcoin. The Sony attack made clear that hackers have the ability to do more than just take sensitive data. The increasing popularity of extortion shows that big companies won't be the only targets. As vArmour's Wager puts it, "The days of smash and grab attacks to simply steal credit-card information and user information are far behind us." Unless everyone starts thinking defensively, the greatest damage is yet to come. — Bloomberg View * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. |
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