Our guest writer today is La Salle Br Anthony Rogers, who wrote the following reflection for Christmas:
We cannot sing Joy to the World without tears in our eyes.
The Prince of Peace, the Lord of Life, was born in the Holy Land, but today, it is the graveyard of Death and horror of Sorrows.
When I was mulling over what to write this time, La Salle Bro Anthony Rogers texted to suggest I write about “Genocide at Christmas: Walking with the Palestinian Jesus into the 21st Century in the context of Jesus’ prayer for ‘Your Kingdom Come'”.
Really, how do we celebrate the birth of Jesus with joy and good tidings when a genocide is taking place in the Holy Land? Many of the Christmas celebrations in church and outside are taking place without even a mention of the massacres not far from Bethlehem.
This book by Jesuit priest Paul Dass has recently been published: Integral Human Development: History and Memory – A Local Church Chronicle
Read the foreword by Kuala Lumpur Archbishop Julian Leow:
Remembering our past makes our present strong. A strong present helps us build a strong future.
This book by Fr Paul Dass, SJ about the history of the practice of integral human development in the life of the local Church helps us to remember our past so as to build our future.
This was the scene at the Penang International Dragon Boat Regatta last Sunday.
Someone from the state government gushed over the “stunning waterfront” at Straits Quay. But this ‘moonscape’ photo reveals something else – the utter desolation which will soon make way for high-density property development.
Aliran has come out with a statement calling for real protection for the whistleblower in the eye of the storm:
A whistleblower’s allegation that multiple state assembly members were involved in a major corruption scandal is serious enough for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate it urgently.
A primary schoolmate of mine from Penang reflects on precious moments from a generation past:
Do you remember those lazy Sunday mornings, when the air was thick with the scent of spices and the promise of a hearty meal? Where we’d sit at those rickety wooden tables, eagerly awaiting a steaming bowl of white curry mee.
Aliran’s latest media statement below:
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s outrageous response to criticisms of his “acceptance” of Najib Razak’s empty 1MDB apology is deeply troubling.
Anwar did not just dismiss public concerns; he showed contempt for those alarmed by latest developments. In bizarrely calling himself “father of the nation” – an accolade usually bestowed by others – he also revealed a feudal, patriarchal streak, similar to former Prime Minister Mahiaddin “Abah” Yasin’s.
This cover story from the Edge caught my attention:
According to news reports, more than two million victims in China are estimated to have been deceived into investing in MBI. The investments reportedly totalled RM300 billion, way more than what was siphoned away in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
A banker points out that it would have been difficult for so much money to come into Malaysia without attracting the attention of Bank Negara.
“This incident happened after 2015, when Bank Negara was already under scrutiny for not raising a red flag when money came into the account of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Surely, if that kind of money flowed into MBI’s accounts in Malaysia, it would have caught the attention of the central bank,” he says.
Bank Negara investigated companies under MBI and its principal officers for money laundering activities and other offences related to financial services. Finally, Teow, his son, another director and two companies — MFace International and MBI Marketing — were fined a total of RM20 million in August 2018 for undertaking unauthorised payment activities.
Barisan Nasional has taken a commanding lead in Mahkota with 20,032 votes against Perikatan Nasional’s 5,065 at 7.30pm.
Will PN at least be able to match the 7614 votes in bagged in Mahkota in the 2022 Johor state election?
Over the past couple of days, Penang has been hit by strong winds, swollen tides and heavy rain. Trees crashed down in several areas, like they did in Singapore.
The heavy rains have at least helped to fill up Penang’s dams, where water levels had declined of late.
On this Malaysia Day, Aliran celebrates the bonding together of the peoples of Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah in the Federation for 61 years.
Our nation’s greatest strengths are its diverse peoples and multicultural heritage – which contribute to our vibrant society. The existing inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony we enjoy is a precious gift that has been handed down to us.
Recent elections in Europe have revealed a seismic shift in the political landscape. They have also laid bare a growing discontent around the world.
In many nations, centrist or mainstream political parties have failed to deliver on the “people’s agenda”: affordable healthcare, adequately funded public education, as well as genuinely affordable housing, energy and nutritious food.
A couple of weeks before this by-election, Tasik Gelugor Pas information chief Abdul Rahman Kasim did not sound confident at all.
Rahman, who is on the ground in Nenggiri in Kelantan, rated Perikatan Nasional’s chances in the by-election as 50:50 at best. He said Umno had a strong presence in the area, going by the number of operations stalls it had.
This is what the Taiping Lake Garden looks like these days. (Photo taken on Saturday.) It’s drying up.
Imagine this is happening in an area that has long been known as the wettest region in the country.
The most telling moment for the “unity government” came on Sunday night, when a crowd of a few thousand at a dinner banquet applauded DAP MP Lim Lip Eng’s announcement that Pakatan Harapan had lost the Sungai Bakap by-election.
Imagine that. If that is not writing on the wall for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, I don’t know what is.
Two years have flown and if Anwar does not buck up, he will lose the next general election. Look what just happened to Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron in the UK and France.
Clearly, many among the ethnic minorities are no longer willing to give PH their undivided support. But because many of them feel they do not have a political alternative they are comfortable with, they stayed out of the Sungai Bakap by-election.
Some of the ethnic majority, the Malays, have no such qualms about voting for the opposition, so they switched their support from Umno or PH to Perikatan Nasional. Full article on Aliran website
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Voters in the Sungai Bakap by-election in Penang are heading for the polls tomorrow, but it has failed to capture the public interest.
It’s hardly the stuff of coffee-shop conversations here in Penang. Why? Perhaps its because it won’t change the balance of power in the state. But I suspect the real reason is that both sides have failed to articulate the People’s Agenda (structural reforms to the economy, healthcare, education and democratic change) endorsed by over 50 civil society groups.
By Rosli Khan and Anil Netto
So the piece “Penang LRT decision, the result of comprehensive evaluation“, published by a news portal on 11 June turns out to be only the personal view of the author.
Three hours later, the same new portal reported: “Putrajaya, not state, will decide on Penang LRT, says Loke“.
By Rosli Khan and Anil Netto
The population of Penang Island, standing at around 800,000, is simply too small to justify an elevated light rail transit (LRT) system, which is typically meant for cities with over three million people.