On Wednesday, PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim exposed a severe flaw in Malaysia’s judiciary system.

Yesterday, we’re informed of yet another shocking revelation by fellow blogger Rocky’s Bru when his name is being registered as a voter even though he has never register himself as one in his entire life.

I’ve always been skeptical when people talk about phantom voters being used to win elections. I have always been sympathetic with the EC when people accuse it of flaws in the electoral process. With millions on the electoral roll, surely honest mistakes can be expected here and there.

There’s nothing honest about the EC’s mistake here.

Not only the Election Commission of Malaysia (EC), the further we move forward, the lesser one can trust on what you read, listen and witness in this country.

So, I’d strongly urge you to take some time and click here to check your registration status, otherwise comes voting day, you’ll find your name registered at somewhere that you might not have heard of and wasted a chance to vote your preferable candidate into the parliament.

At least if you find out your name is wrongly registered into a non-designated area, you still have ample time to lodge a complaint and rectify it in due time, especially when the general election is around the corner.

Furthermore, if you’re yet to register as a voter, let’s do it now or else, there is a possibility your IC will be misused and being registered as a phantom voter like what Rocky’s is facing now, the last hassle that you’d want to have with your unique identification number.

Nowadays, I find it unnatural and worrying that besides the three square meals you need to take care of, everyone of us stands an equal chance to be troubled by the new phenomenon of unique identity invasion.

Let’s regain control of your own destiny before it’s taken away from you.

As far as I’m concern, independence of a country’s judiciary stems from the notion of the "separation of powers", whereby the executive, legislature and judiciary form three separate branches of government, which can constitute a system of checks and balances aimed at preventing abuses of power without undue influence from any other source.

In Malaysia, the Federal Constitution of Malaysia clearly divides the authority of the Federation into the 3 main forms, as in keeping with the concept of federalism which form the basis of the government administration.

However, unfortunately, not only the practical realization of this principle that is disappointing, as it’s either because legal provisions themselves are shaky, or that they are not being enforced as they should be, it’s utterly shocking when PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim revealed a video clip that shows senior lawyer VK Lingam in a phone conversation, purportedly with current Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, allegedly fixing the appointment of ‘friendly’ senior judges in 2002.

Malaysiakini reported that among the matters discussed during the telephone conversation were the potential appointment of Ahmad Fairuz as the Chief Judge of Malaya (CJM) and his promotion as the Chief Justice (CJ), which eventually took place in 2003. (Click here for the full transcript of conversation between the alleged duo)
 
Anwar said the revelations proved that his appeals against his sodomy and abuse of power convictions were tainted and that he was denied a proper and fair trial, where Ahmad Fairuz was on the three-member bench which had dismissed Anwar’s appeal against the corruption charge in the Court of Appeal in 2000. (Click here to watch the press conference)

In addition to the video footage, Anwar during the press conference also played a short audio recording in which his name was brought up by Lingam. (Click here for the transcript and here to listen to the audio)

Meanwhile, Bar Council chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan in an immediate reaction said with the emergence of this video clip, the concerns expressed by various quarters in relation to the judiciary can no longer be swept aside, in which she also called for immediate and urgent action to address the issues raised in video clip.

Just like what Lingam said in the video clip, "we want to make sure our friends are there for the sake of the PM and the sake of the country", now it’s time for the similar judiciary system to return a huge favor to the rakyat by sending them to the "right place" for the sake of this country.

[UPDATED VERSION at 5:00pm, 20 September 2007] The Star’s SMS alert at 1.42pm.

DNA test confirmed that naked girl found in a sports bag in PJ Utama on Mon is indeed 8yr-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin, missing since Aug 20.

My heartiest condolence to her family, may the God bless her soul and may she rest in peace.

Meanwhile, blogger Nuraina A Samad dedicates a farewell poems to little Nurin Jazlin.

Go now, beautiful soul,
Go now, innocent soul,
Go now where the angels await you

Go play in that garden
by the dazzling stream
pluck the juicest grape

Go now
Can you not hear their
gentle whispers

Fare thee well now, little angel

[ORIGINAL VERSION] When 8-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin went missing on August 20, her uncle Jasni Abdul Jalil set up a blog (http://nurinjazlin.blogspot.com), where he hopes that it could reach out to a wider audience and hopefully someone would be able to let the family know the whereabouts of the missing girl.

(SOURCE: In Search of Nurin Jazlin)

Up to date, she has been missing for 29 days and according to the blog, she was last seen at a night market in SS1, Wangsa Maju. While it’s feared that the kid might have been kidnapped, let’s keep our finger crossed for the kid to be found soon and being reunited with the family. God knows what they’ve to go through.

Please call 019 - 366 7067 (JAZIMIN)  or 013 – 248 6651 (YAN) if you’ve any information to offer. Let’s spread the message across and utilize the power of interconnection via blogging to the max to help search for this very young kid.

Good news!

Mozilla today (Monday) announced a new initiative to stimulate innovation in Internet mail and communications. Mozilla plans to develop Internet communications software based on the Thunderbird product, code and brand. The new initiative also aims to nurture a robust developer ecosystem in order to drive improvements through open source and community innovation, in the tradition of the Firefox web browser.

Hopefully a good fight to Microsoft Exchange, where Microsoft has done little to nothing to improve the e-mail experience for the past 10 years.

I was thinking, if the Government is willing to fork out more than RM100 million to celebrate 50th Merdeka anniversary, what’s wrong with celebration with nationhood on September 16, which marks the anniversary of Malaysia Day, the day when when the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak formed a 14-state federation which called "Malaysia"?

According to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, the government has decided that the celebration of nationhood is only on Aug 31 to show that the country is together as a nation, but not on Sept 16.

"Malaysia Day is an important day but we have decided that there should be only one day of independence because that is to show that we are together as a nation,"

Was Najib trying to justify if we Malaysians are to celebrate Malaysia Day, that would means we are not united as a nation and would cause nation disintegration, even when his colleague in Barisan Nasional Koh Tsu Koon, who is also the Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon was quoted as urging every Malaysian to celebrate and recognise Sept 16 as Malaysia Day, which is equally important as the National Day?

"It is a day which should be equally important as Merdeka and I urge the Government and everyone to celebrate and recognise its importance," he said.

Let’s face the truth. While Aug 31 is to celebrate the independence of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu (Federation of Malaya), it’s Sept 16 which is the real birthday of Malaysia, with the inclusion of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, in which I think is a lot more significant to every Malaysian in a whole than Aug 31.

Probably the Singapore factor plays a role in Najib’s statement, especially with Singapore’s expulsion from the federation in 1965 and became an independent country, something he might want to avoid talking about at all cost …

… or afterall, it’s as simple as the fact that the leadership of this country doesn’t want to be perceived as celebrating Singapore’s first PM Lee Kuan Yew’s birthday, which falls on that day too?

A few hours after I safely landed at Manila, I received a SMS alert from The Star at 6:34pm.

A Thai budget airline One-Two-Go jet crashed and broke into 2 while landing in Phuket in bad weather, details of casualties not released yet.

Later, it was reported by Associated Press (AP) that 66 people of 123 passengers and five crew members were killed.

The exact cause of the crash remained unclear Sunday evening but witnesses said that amid heavy wind and rain the plane had slid off the runway soon after touching down. Poor visibility was said to be part of the reason too.

The crash was the latest in a series of accidents involving low-cost airlines in Southeast Asia where Orient Thai airlines, an affiliate of One-Two-GO, has been warned about its safety procedures where operation manuals are not updated and that fire extinguishers and oxygen tanks were not in working condition.

Meanwhile, it’s true that the weather around South-East Asia is not that good for the past few weeks. The same goes to this trip, it was a very bumpy ride indeed, I’d say one of the worst that I’ve ever experienced due to turbulence although pilots normally announce it as bad weather.

As I fly quite occasionally, sometimes it causes very uncomfortable sensations in me which leads to certain assumptions as a consequence, which is untrue as according to a research, it was revealed turbulence might be uncomfortable, but it’s not unsafe.

We can learn to overcome these sensations when we "know" that we are in fact safe, which is how people who take roller-coaster rides are able to enjoy them, much like skydivers do. These people actually learn to anticipate with excitement the "rush" that comes with accelerations of their body through space.

The bottom-line is, understand the fact that it’s safe. It’s true that I’m afraid to take roller-coaster and I guess the best way to solve the fear is to confront it.

But for the time being, I’d stick to Captain Lim and Captain Ron Neilsen for some advice until the new turbulence system that alerts pilots to patches of rough air as they fly through clouds is in place.

…. the day when the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak formed a 14-state federation which called "Malaysia".

Subsequently, Singapore was expelled from the federation in 1965 and became an independent country. More significantly, Singapore never look back since then while we’re too busy practicing ethno-centrism politics.

Happy Birthday, Malaysia!

Tun Dr. Mahathir was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit of Institut Jantung Negara (IJN) at 7pm yesterday, allowing doctors to conduct investigations and close observation of his overall condition.

Please find the official media statement issued by Tun’s personal aide Sufi Yusoff.

MEDIA STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Institut Jantung Negara, 15 September….YABhg Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit of Institut Jantung Negara  at 7pm yesterday.

This is to allow for doctors to conduct investigations and close observation of his overall condition post bypass surgery.
He was stable overnight and continuing with light exercises.

However, he is expected to remain in ICU for continued monitoring.

Yesterday, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Azmi Khalid said his ministry and agencies under it will remove shark fin’s soup at their functions.

"By refraining from the consumption of shark’s fin soup, it is hoped that the ministry would contribute in one way or another towards the current conservation efforts for sharks species," he said.

While it’s heartening to know Azmi making the pledge to protect sharks due to their importance to the marine ecosystem, I can’t help but to ponder whether shark fin’s soup as an expensive East Asian delicacy, which is believed to be the most expensive seafood in the world is served in any events and functions under the Goverment’s ministries and agencies?

Not only this country is not playing a role in preventing eco-catastrophe, god knows how much taxpayers money has been spent on the luxury food, given the fact that shark fin is considered the most valuable part of a shark, selling for more that US$700 per kg.

[UPDATED VERSION] Another 7.5 quake happened a few minutes ago where its epicenter is not far away from the one that happened last night.

I can feel the tremor as I was still on the bed, which lasted for ~5 minutes. No joke.

Meanwhile, The Star’s SMS alert 8:14am.

Indonesia issues a 3rd tsunami warning after a 7.7-magnitude quake hit at 7:49am Malaysian time; quake hit 140km southwest of Jambi, Sumatra.

Immediately after the earthquake, inspection was carried out at Petronas Twin Towers and confirmed that Twin Towers is safe for occupation.

As you are aware, an earthquake that occurred off the coast of southern Sumatra at about 7.10 pm yesterday and followed with another one at about 7.49 am this morning had resulted in tremors being felt in many buildings in peninsular Malaysia including the PETRONAS Twin Towers.

Inspection of the building was immediately carried out on both occasions and confirmed that the PETRONAS Twin Towers is safe for occupation.

We are in constant communication with the Seismology Department and will keep you informed of any development in the region.

Please be assured that we are taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the building and occupants.

TENANT CARE
KLCC URUSHARTA SDN BHD

[ORIGINAL VERSION] The Star’s SMS alert at 7:58pm.

A TSUNAMI ALERT has been issued following 7.9 quake in Bengkulu, people in Perlis, Kedah, Perak and Penang advised to move away from beaches.

Meanwhile, tsunami alert was withdrawn at 11pm.