Close One Eye, Shut Up!

It seems Jasin MP Mohd Said Yusof is winning his battle -- if ever there was one -- with the Customs Department. He had the Finance Ministry backing him.

According to The Star's front page report today, the Finance Ministry ordered the department not to make anymore statements against Mohd Said.

And yeah, he sounds victorious too:

When met at the Parliament lobby, Mohd Said told newsmen: "That is what the Finance Ministry should have done earlier. The Customs Department has no right to reply directly to us via the media.

It should go through the proper channels, such as the Finance Ministry." [Source: The Star, Aug 29, 2006)

He had his parliamentary colleagues -- the backbenchers -- backing him up too, reports the New Straits Times:

BARISAN Nasional backbenchers yesterday delivered a stern message to potential critics: That they had little time for those who took them on in public or who questioned their immunity from prosecution.

Anyone who crossed them would be savaged in the House. And this is what happened as they attacked the Customs and Excise Department like never before and took subtle digs at the Chief Secretary to the Government.

They attacked the top brass in the Customs for going public over a threatening SMS sent by Datuk Mohd Said Yusof (Jasin MP) to the Customs preventive director Adnan Ariffin. This text message is only the latest point of contention between the MP and the Customs.

So this is it. Close one eye, shut up.

Dr M's Delegate Bid Unusual

Several Umno leaders have described Dr Mahathir Mohamad's bid to become a delegate for the Kubang Pasu division as "unusual and inappropriate".

"It has never happened in the history of Umno that former prime ministers and former Umno presidents would contest to be in the G7 and become a delegate," said Umno supreme council member and Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar. [Source: NST)

So, in other words, there shouldn't be a precedence. Other leaders said that Umno must examine his motive, that he should not bring himself to that "low level" by becoming a "mere" delegate.

That's a long-winding, beating around the bush, remark to express what essentially is a just-under-four-word sentiment: "Tun, don't come!"

As for the thing about "historical precedent", I guess that is no longer a valid argument nowadays. Minister Syed Hamid knows it, you know it, I know it -- that precedence is no longer happening once in a while. Precedence is created even as you are reading this, for without it, what we have is just history repeating itself, again and again, till oblivion.

I Should Change The Blog Title To "The Fourth Sniper"

One of these days, I may change the title of this blog in honour of the junior minister who likened anonymous bloggers to "snipers". He said in a report by The Star that:

"We cannot control them. If in the old days we used to have Wild Wild West, now we have Wild Wild Web. Wild Wild Web are bloggers who hide and shoot but are afraid to come out in the open for confrontation," he said.

"If they are truly gentlemen and responsible (for what they blogged), they should show themselves".

In the meantime though, I shall keep the blog title as it is -- "The 4th Person Perspective". In other words, the anonymous person's perspective.

Whether I blog anonymously or publicly, is a matter of choice, really. At the moment, I don't intend to expose myself -- not at this early stage of my blogging life -- although I am sure it's not that difficult to track me down should I run foul with the law. Maybe at some point later I'll do that. I'll surely do that if the situation warrants it.

But not now. It's too early. Furthermore, this blog is too thrivial to merit exposing the blogger. Let me reach to a certain level first before I decide whether I should display my real name and picture, as well as my phone number. Maybe when the time comes, I shall gladly declare this blog "The Sniper".

"Tak Guna Punya Jeff"

Tak Guna punya Jeff! Let me quickly clarify, however, in case someone is already thinking of shooting this budding blogger down, from the hip or otherwise, that that is not a partisan remark.

I don't mean anything by the title above and I shall just leave it at that, for my own amusement. More on this later if necessary...

Isn't The Word "Sekutu" Amazing?

Isn't the word sekutu amazing? If you translate it literally into English, it means "of the same lice". Now before anyone accuse me of being anti-Persekutuan (or anti-Federation), let me put the record straight.

I am talking about sekutu in the context of Amerika Syarikat dan sekutu-sekutunya or the United States and its allies.

You have seen how they -- the people of the same lice -- operate. Now you will see more of the way they work as the war continue to ravage the Middle East.

The Battle Of The Domesticated And The Free-Range Lions

And in the land called Malaysia, the battle continues between two lions -- one, a domesticated lion while the other, a free-range lion.

The free-range lion is a battle-hardened veteran, is quick and has the knack of inflicting major damage to his target. The domesticated lion, on the other hand, although lacking in terms of battlefield experience, has with him several other aggresive lions eager to be let loose.

There were other smaller free-range lions who ocassionaly came in aid of the veteran, but alone, they too can inflict damage although not as severe as the patriach.

It is not clear at the moment who will emerge the winner but it looks like the battle, after a fiery start some two months ago, has entered a much slower pace, which is of course, a characteristic of a long war. It looks like the battle has just entered next phase, where both sides engage in a long drawn-out seize.

Both sides need to watch out for the opportunistic hyenas though. They can be a real nuiscance, always changing sides, always stealing from both warring parties, and in the darkness of the night, the lions can hear them laughing from afar!

Can The Human Race Survive The Next 100 Years?

Can The Human Race Survive The Next 100 Years? That was the question posted by Dr Stephen Hawking at Yahoo! Answers about a month ago.

His exact question was: In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?

It has generated 25,489 responses so far. Go read some of the answers. Hawking's own answer is this: "I don't know the answer - that's why I posted the question." The Guardian, via TODAY Online, has the story:

LONDON — It was an unusual move for one of the world's most eminent scientists.

Having built a career shedding light on the darkest secrets of the universe — from the essence of space-time to the complexity of black holes — Professor Stephen Hawking turned to the Internet for answers to the latest conundrum occupying his planet-sized brain.

The 64-year-old scientist posed an open question: "In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?"

It appeared on the Yahoo Answers website a month ago, immediately stirring up an Internet storm that saw more than 25,000 people log on to give their deeply-considered views: Some said we should just learn to get along, others predicted technology would see us through and more still invoked the powers of God, love and peace.

But what the world wanted most of all was to hear the great scientist's answer, an intervention that would amount to nothing less than a definitive treatise for human survival.

On Wednesday, he responded in a videoclip, with the familiar electronic voice saying: "I don't know the answer. That is why I asked the question."

Signs of disappointment were muted. One respondent chose to applaud the scientist's honesty. "It is humbling to know that this question was asked by one of the most intelligent humans ... without knowing a clear answer," wrote Inetap.

Others concluded that humans had had a good innings and it was time to hand over the planet, albeit in a shabby state, to a new caretaker species to see if they could do better.

"Maybe the human race shouldn't survive. Let other life forms flourish. We suck," said Videostooge. But Prof Hawking's frank admission that even he was stumped by the question merely opened a lengthy response.

In a four-minute recorded reply, he laid out a beginner's guide to the changing face of threats to mankind — from a devastating asteroid impact and nuclear war to climate change and rampaging genetically-modified viruses.

In the long term, humans will only survive if they can leave the rock they call home and spread out into space, to transform and occupy planets around our own sun and then around other suns. Failing that, he says, perhaps our best bet is to use genetic engineering to tinker with the human species and make us less prone to fighting war. — The Guardian

What do you think? Me? I don't know. I just wish I can write like the way The Guardian writers do.

Alright, At Least It's Not The Same Old "Grave Concern"

I must admit I was a bit pessimistic about what I thought would be coming out from the Meeting of the Friends of the Chairman of the 10th Islamic Summit Conference in Putrajaya today.

I had blogged earlier in the day expressing concern about the possibility of the meeting coming out with statements that parrot the same old expression of "grave concern" over the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

I was, in some ways, glad that my scepticism had been proven wrong and that a much stronger statement had been coming from the meeting's venue as the day pass by. Just now someone relayed to me a breaking news from Bernama:

Muslim leaders meeting in Putrajaya today demanded the United Nations Security Council to call for an immediate stop of Israeli aggression in Lebanon, failing which they call all OIC member states to push for the convening of the meeting of the General Assembly under "Uniting for Peace".

So, okay. Let me digest that piece of information...

Daily Breakfast Spreads: War Continues in the Middle East

AP Photo/Jacob SilberbergWhile we were soundly asleep in this part of the world last night -- I assume you've slept well, because I did -- the war continue to ravage in the Middle East. Via Bloomberg:

Israeli Planes Attack 100 Targets; Hezbollah Fires 210 Rockets

Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Israeli warplanes attacked 100 sites in southern Lebanon today, after Hezbollah fired 210 rockets, the most since the conflict began three weeks ago.

As many as 8,000 Israeli soldiers were sent across the border, the Associated Press reported today. The deployment followed a commando raid on Baalbeck, in eastern Lebanon, where Israel said it captured five Hezbollah fighters and killed 11. The Shiite organization responded with rocket attacks on Acre, Dir al-Assad and Kiryat Shmona. One person was killed.

Prospects for a diplomatic solution receded after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said late yesterday that Israel won't agree to stop fighting until a United Nations peacekeeping force large enough to contain Hezbollah is deployed. The UN postponed a meeting planned for tomorrow to discuss that force as the French government said the world body first had to agree on truce terms.

"If we have to go deeper into Lebanon, then we'll go deeper,'' Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, Israel's military chief of staff, told reporters in remarks broadcast from Beit Hillel, about five miles south of the Lebanese border. "If we have to go even deeper than that, we'll also be there.''

The targets struck by Israel today included buildings it said were used by Hezbollah fighters and missile launching sites, according to the army.

Ground fighting was limited to Lebanese villages adjacent to Israel's border, an army spokeswoman said. Residents in villages near the Litani River, about 29 kilometers (18 miles) inside Lebanon, were advised to leave, the army said.

Today, Malaysia as the chair of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is hosting the Meeting of the Friends of the Chairman of the 10th Islamic Summit Conference to discuss specifically on the situation in the Middle East.

We can expect a statement to come from this meeting, but will they go beyond expressing "grave concern" and merely repeating the call for immediate ceasefire? We've heard the phrase being repeatedly said over the past three weeks now and is fast losing its its meaning. The situation in the Middle East is "grave" enough, metaphorically and literally. Each day, people are burying their deads, and most of them children!

Via Bernama, our Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said of the meeting:

Malaysia Not Idling Watching Suffering In West Asia, Says Syed Hamid

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is hosting the Meeting of the Friends of the Chairman of the 10th Islamic Summit Conference on Thursday because it does not wish to remain idle watching the suffering of the people in West Asia, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said today.

He said Malaysia, as the chair of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), was taking action in accordance with its capability to hold the meeting. "Rather than take action individually, it is better to do so in a group," he told reporters after looking at the preparations for the meeting, here.

The one-day meeting would be attended by 19 countries, and they would be represented by the head of government or foreign minister.

Not A Good Day To Start A Blog

Sometime around 3.07pm yesterday, I posted my first entry here in The 4th-Person Perspective, my first tentative step into what could be an exciting past-time as a blogger, where I can blog just about any issues that strike my fancy.

I realised today that the path to happy blogging is as strewn with thorns as an unkempt garden of rose is strewn with thorns. "Bloggers Beware" said the headline in the front-page report of The Star today:

KUALA TERENGGANU: The Prime Minister has issued a warning – those who spread untruths and slander on the Internet will face the law.

If information in blogs, websites and online portals were incorrect, bordered on slander, caused disturbance or compelled the public to lose faith in the nation’s economic policies, their authors would be detained for investigation, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

"We cannot allow such matters to flow through uncontrolled," he told newsmen after attending a briefing on the proposed Islamic Civilisation Park in Pulau Wan Man here. [Source: The Star, Aug 2]

I guess, beware is what I shall do. I don't want this new-born 4th Person to run straight into the long arms of the law.

Proving A Sceptic Wrong

I'm a sceptic and that's the truth. Let's see if I can prove myself wrong. Some of you might think "Oh no! Not another!"

Alright. I'll be honest with you. I've been thinking long and hard whether I should create another blog where I can vent out. There'll photography, travel, books, current issues, politics, gadgets and so on. And not to forget, about blogging, a favourite past time of mine, and probably yours too.

Anyway, that's all for this first post. Will update soon.