Lego Mural Draws Ire of Malaysian Authorities

Nov. 13, 2013

By JOANNA PRISCO via GOOD MORNING AMERICA

A street mural has become the subject of controversy in a Malaysian border city, with local officials complaining that it paints the area in a negative light. But some contend the image reveals an ugly truth.

Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic used a public street corner in Johar Bahru as his canvas to depict two Lego characters pre-robbery. In the mural, a Lego woman carrying a Chanel bag is walking down the street, while around the corner a Lego robber waits with knife in hand.

Legoland Malaysia, which opened in nearby Nusujaya in 2012, did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment.

Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic's controversial mural depicts a Lego woman with a Chanel bag , a Lego robber with a knife on a wall in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

STR/AFP/Getty Image

But Aziz Ithnin, an official with the Johor Bahru City Council, told the Agence France-Presse that the mural was illegal graffiti and was ordered to be white-washed.

"It's vandalism," he told the AFP. "The robber gives an image that is not good for our country, investment and tourism. If the painting stays, everybody will be scared."

Perhaps some tourists already were. Johor Bahru has long battled a reputation as a crime-ridden city. In 1997, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew described the state of Johor as "notorious for shootings, muggings and car-jackings," causing a backlash from Malaysians. Since then, the country has made efforts to change that impression with increased law enforcement.

Before the mural could be painted over, other artists contributed to the piece, adding a Lego police officer running behind the thug with handcuffs.

"Now that's a true vandalism! Malaysia never fails to amuse me," wrote Zacharevic on his Facebook page. But some commenters on his post said that the addition of the officer was an attempt to save the work by "making it politically correct."

In a later post, the artist told his fans not to be put off by the white-washing of the mural.

"Don't get upset by the painting being removed," he wrote. "Johor Bahru has proved to be a strong and opinionated state. Please continue to make Malaysia as awesome as it is. I will see you again."

Anwar is not God

Posted on 14/11/2013 - 09:29

Francis Paul Siah

Posted on 14/11/2013 - 09:29

Francis Paul Siah

OUTSPOKEN: “Anwar is not God and he should be prepared to face criticisms,” a defiant Matunggong assemblyman Datuk Jelani Hamdan posted on Facebook. The Sabah PKR legislator is currently embroiled in a public spat with his party’s leadership.

It’s interesting to note that Jelani has used such strong language in describing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. “He is not God” – a comparison between a political leader and God – is not a term we hear often. Why, were there people in PKR who have likened their party supremo to a superhuman or a divine being? Was Anwar really considered beyond reproach by party cadres and loyalists?

If Anwar himself thinks so, then it’s just too bad. If Anwar is God, then I’m Jesus. Aha!

But I doubt it. Anwar is an old hand in politics and should be able to play down personal accolades. He is also known as a man of great strength and character. However, all of us have egos but politicians, particularly those holding high public office, have bigger egos — so big and heavy that they are incapable of carrying it at times.

Of course, they would be delighted if their supporters continue to polish their egos with their hero-worshipping and adulation - who wouldn’t? We would too.

My worry here is that once those wielding power are put on such a high pedestal, they tend to think that they are somewhat invincible and can do what they like.

In order to continue winning the adulation and affection of their followers, they will likely go overboard and do the wrong thing — abuse their power. This is something which should worry all of us.

Anwar is an enigma. In the months following the 2008 general election, the opposition leader had the largest following of hero-worshippers in the country, in my opinion at least.

I was amazed by the thousands of postings online singing his praises. How his followers idolise him! This man could garner public adulation in a way no other political figure in the country was able to. 

Anwar deserved the credit too. For the first time, the Barisan Nasional lost its two-thirds majority and five states to the opposition alliance.

But I was quite perturbed by some PKR leaders who went overboard with their praises for Anwar. In the 2011 PKR convention, Azmin Ali described his boss as the “saviour” of the people and nation.

What? Anwar the saviour! With due respect, I am also a Malaysian and I don’t feel at all that Anwar is my saviour or that of my country. Seriously, I have yet to see anything tangible that Anwar had achieved to “save” Malaysia.

But Anwar has my respect and I have high regard for him as the opposition leader today. I support his anti-corruption drive and his Buku Jingga ideals of justice, transparency and accountability. Being the skeptic that I am, I must see that his policies have been brought to fruition first before I can say “well done, Anwar”.

Perhaps I can understand Azmin. He worships Anwar. That is his right. But Azmin’s choice of a hero is one of personal affiliation. He identifies himself with Anwar while many of us do not.

Anwar is not my political idol because I have none. I do not hero-worship any political leader at all. Why? I feel that there is no politician in the country worthy of such servile flattery. Let’s get real -- there is no Mahatma Gandhi(s) or Nelson Mandela(s) in the Malaysian political scene.

And I would certainly not describe Anwar as a saviour. It’s too heavenly a term to use on a mortal and more so on a political leader. As a Christian, Jesus Christ is my only saviour.

Last year, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail also described her husband as “God's gift” to politics. I also felt then that was a bit over the top but I could understand and appreciate somewhat that this was a wife praising her better-half. I would comment no further.

At the Umno general assembly last year, we heard many delegates describing Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the “Father of Transformation”.

Although that was nothing new, I would hesitate to award the prime minister such a high-sounding title. I have yet to witness any major transformation taking place in the country. Many think that the nation is heading nowhere and Malaysians in general are unhappy and disillusioned. The push for “1Malaysia” has turned into a farce and the latest “Endless Possibilities” slogan is another joke. What Najib gave out in BR1M, he took back in the form of new taxes and subsidy cuts. What sort of transformation is that!

Please, let us hold back our accolades for politicians and not over-glorify them. It’s silly of us to do that and it’s also unfair to the recipients for they will be facing undue pressure in trying not to slip from the high pedestal we place them.

To be honest, other than agreeing that Tunku Abdul Rahman is the “Father of Independence”, I don’t think other former prime ministers deserved the public titles that we bestowed on them such as “Father of Development”, “Father of Modernisation”, etc.

Development and modernisation are natural processes in the growth of a nation. Whoever leads just happens to be there. After all, they had fought well and hard for the high public office and were duty bound to deliver.

So, let us not idolise or over-glorify political leaders. Most are undeserving of the accolades or the adulation. More importantly, let us not become a nation of sycophants.

Let history record the achievements of our leaders and glorify them if they are worthy, not us.

Francis Paul Siah heads the Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS) and can be reached at sirsiah@gmail.com.

THE ANT DAILY

Mass burial in typhoon-hit Tacloban. Food, water and medical supplies from the US, Malaysia and Singapore arrived

A wooden cross rests on a body bag containing the remains of a victim of super typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban on Wednesday. Decaying corpses in the ruined city compound a growing health menace after one of the strongest storms on record killed thousands. AFP PHOTO/Philippe Lopez

TACLOBAN — A city devastated by the typhoon buried some of its dead in a mass grave in a hillside cemetery on Thursday, a small sign of a progress in a relief effort that has yet to reach most of the tens of thousands affected by the disaster.

 

The ceremony took place in a graveyard just outside the city of Tacloban.

 

No prayers were said as workers buried 30 bodies enclosed in leaking black cadaver bags into the ground.

 

"I hope this is the last time I see something like this," said Mayor Alfred Romualdez. "When I look at this it just reminds me of what has happened from the day the storm hit until today."

 

Officials said efforts had been made to identify the bodies so families have a chance of finding out what happened to their loved ones in the days and weeks to come, but it was not immediately clear whether this included DNA testing.

 

Authorities say 2,357 people have been confirmed dead in the disaster, but that figure is expected to rise, perhaps significantly, when information is collected from other areas of the disaster zone. Most casualties appear to be concentrated on coastal regions of two main islands—Samar and Leyte, where Tacloban is located.

 

Earlier in the city, soldiers sat atop trucks distributing rice and water, and chainsaw-wielding teams cut debris from blocked roads, indications that relief operations were picking up steam, even as thousands swarmed the airport, desperate to leave.

 

The first nighttime flights—of C-130 transport planes—arrived since the typhoon struck, suggesting air control systems are now in place for a 24-7 operation—a prerequisite for the massive relief operation needed.

 

Food, water and medical supplies from the US, Malaysia and Singapore sat on pallets along the tarmac.

 

The UN's World Food Program distributed rice and other items to nearly 50,000 people in the Tacloban area Wednesday. Nearly 10 tons of high-energy biscuits were also delivered to the city on Wednesday, with another 25 tons on the way.

 

Hundreds of injured people, pregnant women, children and the elderly have poured into a makeshift medical center at the ruined airport. The run-down, single-story building with filthy floors has little medicine, virtually no facilities and very few doctors.

 

Doctors who have been dealing with cuts, fractures and pregnancy' complications said Wednesday they soon expect to be treating more serious problems such as pneumonia, dehydration, diarrhea and infections.

 

The medical woes add to the daunting tasks for authorities, including dealing with looters and clearing the bottlenecks holding up thousands of tons of aid material from coming in.

 

The disaster displaced 600,000 people. Many are living without shelter, hungry and thirsty, with their livelihoods destroyed. Much of the aid—and the staff needed to distribute it—remains stuck in Manila and the nearby airport of Cebu, a 45-minute flight away.

 

"The priority has got to be, let's get the food in, let's get the water in. We got a lot more come in today, but even that won't be enough. We really need to scale up operations in an ongoing basis," UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told reporters after touring Tacloban. Her office has released $25 million in emergency relief funds, accounting for a chunk of the millions of dollars pledged by countries around the world.

 

Some among the desperate residents have resorted to raiding for food. Mobs overran a rice warehouse on Leyte, collapsing a wall that killed eight people. Thousands of sacks of the grain were carted off. But police say the situation is improving on the ground, and there was little sign Thursday of a deteriorating security situation there.

 

Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said it may take six weeks before the first typhoon-hit towns get their electric power back. He said that in Tacloban, order needed to be restored "because if there's no peace and order, it's hard to reinstall the power posts."

 

He said army troops had fired shots Wednesday to drive away a group of armed men who approached a power transmission sub-station in Leyte province. The unidentified men fired back then fled. Nobody was hurt. 

 

Gegham Petrosyan, from International Committee of the Red Cross, said destruction along the south cost of Samar island was "massive."

 

"People are desperate for life-saving aid," Petrosyan said. "However, logistical and security constraints continue to hamper the distribution of desperately needed relief." —Associated Press

Lack of body bags a problem in typhoon-hit Tacloban

Rescue workers pour disinfectant on uncollected bodies along a street in typhoon-ravaged Tacloban City on Wednesday, November 13. Dozens of unidentified cadavers have been buried in a mass grave to prevent the possible spread of an epidemic. AP/Aaron Favila

By MARC JAYSON CAYABYAB,
GMA News
November 13, 2013 7:38pm

Lack of body bags is hindering the collection of decomposing bodies that litter typhoon-hit Tacloban city, according to its mayor, Albert Romualdez, on Wednesday.

In a phone interview, Romualdez said the number of bodies continues to rise in Tacloban, a once vibrant city of over 220,000 residents that bore the brunt of monster winds and waves caused by Yolanda last Friday.

"There's a rise in casualties," Romualdez said, noting that the number of fatalities rose from more or less 200 to an estimated 500.

"We also lack... body bags. Some of them just arrived today. We're having some problems in the collection of cadavers," he added.

Besides the lack of body bags, Romualdez also noted the lack of mobility in collecting the dead and clearing the roads choked with the debris caught in the storm.

He said once the trucks were finished clearing the roads, they may also be used in retrieving the bodies.

Romualdez said he would receive the report on the situation in the city on Wednesday night.

Tacloban was one of the areas severely hit by Yolanda, which brought storm surges from both sides of the city, which lies on a cove between a bay and a sea strait.

The national police has deployed over 700 policemen in Leyte amid reports of looting by hungry survivors clamoring for immediate response from a government overwhelmed by one of the country's worst natural disasters.

President Benigno Aquino III said the death toll from the world's strongest typhoon to hit land may reach 2,000 or 2,500, lower than the 10,000 previously estimated, Reuters reported. Official death toll from the typhoon was 2,275 as of Wednesday afternoon based on the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Yolanda, which brought monster winds and tsunami-like waves last Friday, is officially the fourth strongest tropical cyclone in world history in terms of overall strength. — KBK, GMA News

British woman facing the death penalty trafficking shabu into Indonesia

A British woman is facing the death penalty after admitting trafficking 1.4kg (3lb) of crystal methamphetamine into Indonesia.

Former police worker Andrea Waldeck, 43, from Gloucestershire, was arrested in her hotel room in Surabaya, East Java, in April.

She told a court in the city that she had been coerced into bringing the drugs from China.

Waldeck is due to appear at court again on 25 November for sentencing.

Gloucestershire Police said the community support officer, who was originally from Talgarth, Powys, left the force in February 2012.

The case comes as another British woman, Lindsay Sandiford, continues to fight against her death sentence for smuggling 4.8kg (10.6lb) of cocaine into the Indonesian island of Bali.

The 57-year-old, from Cheltenham, lost her latest appeal in August and is now pursuing other legal avenues.

Indonesia has some of the toughest anti-drug laws in the world but in practice death sentences are rarely carried out, says the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Bangkok. - BBC

No Sunni allowed to eat Shia food during Muharram?

Please Don't Accept / Eat Food Sent By Shia During Muharram

The month of muharram would commence shortly. During this month, shia prepare food dishes and distribute in the vicinity. Please don't eat anything sent by shia and dispose it off. The reason being that they are mushrik and its obligatory for us to refrain from food, which is not halal. Secondly they spit on the food, they send to sunnis, living in the neighbourhood, which shows their extreme hatred towards us. Those who have saliva of the shiite horse, they also mix it in the food.

LEO

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Btw is it also true they use some of their blood in that food?

UMM KHALWA

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Shiite horse means the horse, which they decorate on 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th muharram for processions. They expect from an animal the fulfilment of their wishes such as those shia women, who are issueless, they pray to the horse to grant them babies. Many of them ask for prosperity and wealth from the horse.

Regarding mixing of blood, I don't know but we can expect any kind of stupidity from them, as taught by rented shia zakirs during ashura speeches. However I have read myself on a forum from a shia that they collect horse waste during muharram days and mix it in the food for seeking blessing of the horse.

LEO

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Whoa what's the significance of the horse?!

BINT MAHMOOD

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No significance at all, because sunnis believe it a shia fairy-tale. Now-a-days influential shia in India and Pakistan use the horse during muharram to earn, as layman shia donate in cash, even gold and silver, which goes in the pockets of owners of the horses. The horse, which we see in the shia processions are normally injected drugs, so they walk gently and don't kick shia, walking nearby the horse.

LEO

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They even spit in the glass if you ask them for water. My brother in law once told me that he used to go to shia teacher for tuition. Once he asked him for water, the teacher went to kitchen and put water in glass and spite in it unaware that he was been watched by other students.

Cursed rafidis!

UMAR BIN KHATAB

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This video clip in urdu shows a cursed shia zakir ( story - teller ) who replies to the question, why shia spit and then distribute. Initially he says that there is no such thing and then he lies upon the prophet (saw) that this is the sunnah and shia are the one who are acting upon this sunnah. Those who object to this tradition, should raise objection upon the prophet (saw) and not upon shia. Shia would keep doing it.

(Astghfirullah).

LEO

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Yes they do much worse, as Maulana Haq Nawaz stated in his Lecture, May Allaah(Swt) accept him Shaheed. Aameen. They go to the extent of even mixing discharge from unclean areas to mix in the food. 

Lahola Wala Quwata Illa Billa.

MUSAAFIRA

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salam alaikum wr wb Muslims.

you know, I don't believe this. Maybe some shias but not the ones I know. they def. don't believe this and I'll find it very hard to believe that they spit in food of sunnis or pray to horses. That's crazy. Plus the shias I know- get along well with sunnis. One shia is even married to a sunni. I'm not saying that's a good or bad thing, what I trying to say is not all shias are like that and I highly doubt the majority are like that.

MUSLIM1

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These rafidah are worse than the horse dung!

ABU'L 'EYSE

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we can not declare them kafir because our four imams had not called them as a kafi,

you can say that their festivals are haram not they

ONLINE

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In the name of Allah The most Merciful The most Powerful

We Sunnis wish all people well, and we ask Allaah to guide all those who are misled and to reward all those who obey Him. We hope that Allaah will guide those Raafidis… 

The differences between the Ahl al-Sunnah (Sunnis) and the Raafidis are very great and are fundamental. For example, the Raafidis say that the Qur’aan was altered, and they condemn most of the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them) and think that they went astray; they exaggerate about their imaams and worship them, and give them precedence over the Prophets and angels; they go on pilgrimages to mashhads (shrines) and graves, where they do all kinds of actions of shirk, associating others in worship with Allaah. They also believe in hypocrisy (as a tenet of faith) and call it taqiyah (dissimulation), and they believe in al-badaa’(the notion that Allaah “changes His mind”), al-raj’ah (the Return, i.e., the raising of the dead to life again for some time in the same form as they were before) and absolute infallibility of their imaams, and in prostrating on a handful of clay…

We advise you to read "Al-Khutoot al-‘Areedah" by Muhibb al-Deen al-Khateeb [this book is available in English – Translator], or Mukhtasar al-Tuhfat al-Ithna’ ‘Ashariyyah by al-Dahlawi, or Fikrat al-Taqreeb bayna Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Shee’ah by Naasir al-Qaffaari.

ONLINE

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Shia belief of Imamate, is a rejection of Finality of Prophethood and its Kufr.

SALAFEES ORTHODOX MUSLIM

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Read more HERE

Opinion on Deutero Malay

DATUK Dr Ananda Kumaraseri's comment piece, "Malaysia reflects its rich varied heritage" (NST, Nov 2), was a fair attempt at describing Malaysia's population and cultural variety, based on ancient history.

Unfortunately, his narration of the past was based on outdated theories and knowledge. There were no "waves" of migration into Southeast Asia, nor did Malays originate from Tibet or southern China, as he mentioned.

Dr Ananda was reading knowledge of the 1930s, basically just archaeological knowledge.

Lots of new evidence in archaeology and linguistics, as well as DNA studies, in Asia more recently have overturned the theories and views about Southeast Asia that originated from the 1930s.

For a round-up of some of the new evidence, refer to the book Tamadun Alam Melayu (by M.A. Ishak 2009, published by Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia).

The picture is now emerging that it was in Southeast Asia that man first began to differentiate and that the races began to emerge in Asia.

This evolution apparently resulted in the emergence of a spectrum of peoples, from darker-skinned Negritos to lighter-skinned ones (Jakuns) and the still lighter-skinned "Malays".

That is to say, the Malay population did not go through the process of being deutero Malays and then proto Malays, as is so commonly mentioned.

What the new evidence seems to suggest is that Malays and Negritos both evolved together in Southeast Asia during prehistoric times.

At that time, southern Southeast Asia was one large block of land which then broke up to form the Malay Archipelago following rises in sea levels three times from 14,000 to 8,000 years ago. (For a comprehensive account of the sea floods and its significance in the history of Southeast Asia, please refer to the book Eden in the East by Stephen Oppenheimer, 2001).

Some of the people who arrived in Southeast Asia from Africa (about 60,000 to 80,000 years ago) did not stay in Southeast Asia long and moved on without going through the process of early differentiation in Southeast Asia. They became the aboriginal peoples of Papua New Guinea and Australia as we know them today.

Some others continued moving northwards instead and they differentiated further and became Tibetans, Yuehs, Thais and others, and only much later did the Chinese, Koreans and Japanese emerge.

In other words, human migration was from south to north, and not from north to south as suggested by the theories of the 1930s.

Thus, the Chinese are, in fact, a distant sub-set of Southeast Asians, and not the other way round.

The largest DNA studies conducted by scientists from 10 Asian countries, including Malaysia, China and Singapore, published their findings in December 2009.

They concluded that migration of man in East Asia was from south to north.

The 2009 findings reinforced findings from several earlier but much smaller studies, which also carried the same conclusions.

But much later, migrations of man from north to south in East Asia (and Chinese historical accounts mentioned these events) did take place. These migrations brought Vietnamese, Thais, the people of Myanmar and others into Southeast Asia.

These were thus back-migrations to the south, and these happened because of the pressure of the expanding Chinese population in the north.

But Malays have always been in the southern part of Southeast Asia.

There are no historical accounts, whether in China or wherever, of people who could be identified as Malays migrating south during historical times.

Malays (or, any other present-day Southeast Asians) could not have migrated south from the north earlier, meaning during prehistoric times either, as DNA studies have shown human DNA in Southeast Asia is older than that in China (in other words, human movement could only have been northwards during prehistoric times), and DNA composition in China showed a heavy Southeast Asian content, meaning Southeast Asian origin.

Over time, Malays having flourished as natives of Southeast Asia (alongside the Negritos) from the original migration from Africa and split following the break-up of their homeland -- the southern Southeast Asia land mass -- into the Malay Archipelago.

This resulted in the Malays becoming the population of all the islands of the archipelago. Their land-and-sea environment then caused the ancient Malays to develop a maritime way of life and maritime skills.

Eventually, the Malays sailed right into the Pacific Ocean populating all the islands there (where they are now known as Polynesians and Micronesians), and also to Madagascar across the Indian Ocean.

Malay kinship across these two oceans has been indicated by DNA studies from the 1960s and even earlier linguistic studies.

Their ancient presence in the archipelago led to the development of sub-identities like the Javanese, Bugis and others among the Malay ethnic group, also known as Malayo-Polynesian.

It is wrong, therefore, to suggest that Javanese or Bugis, for instance, are immigrant people in Malaysia, as all these people are mere sub-ethnic groups of a larger ethnic family, all inheriting a single common and extensive ancient homeland.

Thus, to get our prehistory and history right based on the new knowledge, Malays are the ancient ancestral people of southern Southeast Asia.

They did not migrate from anywhere else in Asia. The whole archipelago that resulted from the break-up of the original land mass of southern Southeast Asia was their original homeland and they kept sailing to and fro within the archipelago, even until present days.

The high cultural and linguistic diversity in the Malay Archipelago (despite being occupied by only one language family) is further proof of the Malays' ancient presence as linguistics theory suggests the more ancient a people are, the more they generate linguistic diversity.

Linguistic diversity among Malays in the archipelago is, in fact, the highest in the whole of Asia, thus pointing to their very ancient presence.

It is this ancient Malay population that is at the base of the country that we now call Malaysia.

Dr Ananda was right in suggesting that Malaysia's past shaped the "thinking, attitudes, ethos and the nature and substance of its statecraft".

Diversity is nothing new to the archipelago or to Malaysia, even before the arrivals of Chinese and Indians during very recent historical times.

I look forward to the revision of our school history books to keep abreast of the new evidence.

A.I, Kuala Lumpur

New evidence seems to suggest that Malays and Negritos both evolved together in Southeast Asia in prehistoric times.

Read more: MALAY ORIGINS: Evidence suggests otherwise - Letters to the Editor - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/malay-origins-evidence-suggests-otherwise-1.167600#ixzz2kRk1tNxx

Brunei to Release First Commercial Film

By  Angela Erika Kubo

November 12, 2013

The Bruneians joke that if you’re not shopping, driving or eating, you’re most likely watching a film. With live music and alcohol banned, there’s not much to do in the tiny sultanate – except to visit one of its five movie theaters. Hollywood blockbusters, as well as films produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, dominate the screens – but that could change in 2014 with the release of Brunei’s first commercial feature film, Yasmine: The Final Fist.

The $2 million project, which includes $100,000 from the Brunei government, is the brainchild of the nation’s first female director, Siti Kamaluddin. The action film is about a young girl, Yasmine, who initially wants to become a champion of silat in order to win over her school crush. Her father, a single parent, disapproves of his daughter’s interest in the traditional Southeast Asian martial art.  

The film came with many challenges. With a population of around 400,000 and no film industry to speak of, Brunei had to import foreign actors and even equipment in order to shoot it.

“I’m Bruneian, my line producer is from Malaysia, and it’s been a challenge getting extras. Normally you’d go to talent for this stuff but that doesn’t exist here, so we have to do it all ourselves: advertising, calling schools, sending text messages,” said Kamaluddin.

Some of the international cast includes Indonesian talent such as screenwriter Salman Aristo, actors Reza Rahadian and Agus Kuncoro, and actress Maharasyi Hanza. All were required to master the Bruneian dialect. Action director Chan Man-Ching – known for his work with Jackie Chan – oversaw stunts.

However, the lead role is played by Bruneian rookie actress, Liyana Yus. She spent an entire year “getting into character” and five hours a day training in silat.

“All of my friends have been asking me, ‘How did you get the part?’ Being an actress never crossed my mind, but I thought I'd go for the audition and I got the part,” she told The Guardian.

Although the nation has the second-highest quality of life in Southeast Asia and an affluent population thanks to rich oil and gas reserves, Brunei remains a country with a deeply conservative culture. The country’s last film, made in the 1960s, was a guide on how to be a good citizen produced by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Radio Television Brunei (RTB), the nation’s only TV broadcaster, still airs government campaigns and religious programs.

Despite the challenges that came with bringing the four-year project to life, the producer of Yasmine, who happens to be the director’s brother, Khairuddin Kamaluddin, stated earlier this year that he hopes that the movie will “kick start new industries such as film schools.”  - The Diplomat

Haiyan death toll could reach 10,000 - The Manila Times

The body of a dead man is seen at the bay of Tacloban on Sunday. Communities in the city were reduced to waste- lands after super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ sliced through them last week. AFP PHOTO

The death toll from a super typhoon that decimated entire towns in the Philippines could soar well over 10,000, authorities warned on Sunday, making it the country’s worst recorded natural disaster.

The horrifying estimates came as rescue workers appeared overwhelmed in their efforts to help countless survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), which sent tsunami-like waves and merciless winds rampaging across a huge chunk of the archipelago on Friday.

Police said they had deployed special forces to contain looters in Tacloban, the devastated provincial capital of Leyte, while the United States announced it had responded to a Philippine government appeal and would send military help.

“Tacloban is totally destroyed. Some people are losing their minds from hunger or from losing their families,” high school teacher Andrew Pomeda, 36, told Agence France-Presse, as he warned of the increasing desperation of survivors.

“People are becoming violent. They are looting business establishments, the malls, just to find food, rice and milk . . . I am afraid that in one week, people will be killing from hunger.”

Authorities were struggling to even understand the sheer magnitude of the disaster, let alone react to it, with the regional police chief for Leyte saying 10,000 people were believed to have died in that province alone.

“We had a meeting last night with the governor and, based on the government’s estimates, initially there are 10,000 casualties (dead). About 70 to 80 percent of the houses and structures along the typhoon’s path were destroyed,” Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria told reporters in Tacloban.

However, while Leyte was believed to have been the worst hit, the carnage extended across a 600-kilometer stretch of islands through the central Philippines.

A few dozen other deaths had been confirmed in some of these areas, but authorities admitted they were completely overwhelmed and many communities were still yet to be contacted.

“We’re still establishing command and control through logistics and communications,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala said.

He said among the communities yet to be contacted was Guiuan, a fishing town of about 40,000 people on Samar island that was the first to be hit after Yolanda swept in from the Pacific Ocean.

About 130 hundred kilometers to the west of Tacloban, the popular tourist islands of Malapascua appeared to be in ruins, according to aerial photographs, with people there unaccounted for so far.

“The coast guard commander cannot communicate with the area. They are cut off in communications and from power,” regional civil defense director Minda Morante said.

Deadliest on record

The Philippines endures a seemingly never-ending pattern of deadly typhoons, earthquakes, volcano eruptions and other natural disasters.

It is located along a typhoon belt and the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many of Earth’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

However, if the feared death toll of above 10,000 is correct, Haiyan would be the deadliest natural disaster ever recorded in the country.

Until Haiyan, the deadliest disaster was in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake devastated the Moro Gulf on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, killing between 5,000 and 8,000 people.

In Washington, the Pentagon announced that US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had responded to a request from the Philippines for military aid.

“Secretary Hagel has directed US Pacific Command to support US government humanitarian relief operations in the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan,” it said.

“The initial focus includes surface maritime search and rescue, medium-heavy helicopter lift support, airborne maritime search and rescue, fixed wing lift support and logistics enablers.”

United Nations leader Ban Ki-moon also pledged that UN humanitarian agencies would “respond rapidly to help people in need”.

Ban is “deeply saddened by the extensive loss of life” and devastation caused by Haiyan, said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky in a statement.

2,000 missing

In Samar, at least 300 people were confirmed killed while 2,000 others were declared missing.

Leo Dacaynos, a member of Samar’s disaster management council, told DZBB that the 300 people died in Basey, a small town on Samar.

He said almost 2,000 other people were missing in Basey and Barabot town.

This was the first confirmation of large-scale fatalities in the island of Samar.

However, vast areas of Samar, an island of over 733,000, still have not been contacted over two days after the typhoon struck.

Most of the deaths were caused by the storm surge which brought floods 20 feet deep in the two towns.

Basey and Barabot are coastal municipalities.

Dacaynos said Samar acting governor James Tan is focusing on relief aid in Basey.

He added that they are trying to contact Barabot which is still isolated Daraynos appealed for food, water and other emergency supplies for the affected towns as stocks there are getting low.

An Australian man widely identified as a former priest who blew the whistle on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church is among the dead.

The Department of Foreign Affairs on Sunday said the 50-year-old New South Wales man had been killed, although it declined to confirm his identity.

But the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and other media said he was former priest Kevin Lee, who was removed from his parish responsibilities in Sydney last year after admitting to marrying a woman in secret.

Lee spoke out about abuse in the Catholic Church on an ABC program, Unholy Silence, last year. He was believed to be living in the Philippines with his Filipina wife and young baby.

Almost 10 million affected

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said the storm affected two million families or 9.53 million individuals.

Officials in the regions of Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western, Central and Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao and Caraga are still assessing the effects of the disaster.

Close to 100,000 families were staying at 1,790 evacuation centers and 36,627 others were staying at friends and relatives’ houses.

DSWD has extended an initial P10.6 million worth of relief assistance to Bicol, Western and Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Caraga.

In Tacloban, the DSWD set up a satellite internet service at the city hall to enable people to communicate with their relatives.

AFP AND PNA

Singapore poverty in the spotlight

The island's rich get richer while its poor get poorer, prompting calls for an official poverty line to be set.

Singapore - Begging is illegal here, under the island-nation's Destitute Persons Act, carrying a fine of up to $3,000 or imprisonment for up to two years for repeat offenders.

But Singapore's poor still can be found, often selling packets of tissues outside food centres. Or spending the night on benches near their jobs to save the transport fare home - they are commonly called "sleepers". Or collecting empty soft drink cans out of trash bins.

The poor have no place in Singapore's vaunted success story, but there are growing calls for one of the wealthiest countries in the world to acknowledge rapidly rising income inequality by setting an official poverty line. Hong Kong's recent decision to set a poverty line as a way to better identify and assist its poor has prompted a similar debate in Singapore's parliament.

A report to be formally released on November 11 says Singaporeans are not aware of the scale and depth of poverty. Meanwhile, a new public awareness campaign challenges citizens to try living on $5 for a day in a nation with one of the highest costs of living in the world.

But even as government spending on anti-poverty efforts is rising - assistance payments to the poor exceeded $100m Singaporean dollars for the first time last year, a nearly 45 percent jump from the previous year - business-minded Singaporeans are balking at the idea.

Some 105,000 households in Singapore - that's one in 10 family homes, or 387,000 people - earn an average monthly income of $1,323 and some 114,000 individual residents earn less than $805 a month, according to government data. That's despite the country's average per capita income of $52,305 a year, one of the highest in the world.

While Singapore has no official measure of poverty, the average household spends $1,250 a month for a four-person household on basic needs - food, clothing and shelter, says a two-year-old survey held by the Department of Statistics.

"In light of rising concerns about increasing inequality, and debate about the existence, extent and nature of poverty in Singapore, it is time for Singapore to join comparable developed nations in officially defining and measuring poverty," reads the report to be released Monday by Singapore Management University's Lien Centre for Social Innovation.

In the report, a team of researchers and policy experts say officially defining and measuring poverty will help to identify at-risk households and to measure the performance of efforts to lift people out of poverty.

The report cites two measures of inequality in Singapore. First, the period from 1998 to 2010 saw the real median income of employed residents in the bottom 20 percent fall by approximately 8 percent, while the income of those in the highest-earning quintile increased by 27 percent. Second, Singapore's Gini coefficient - which measures the degree of inequality within the country - increased between 2002 and 2012 at a rate that far outpaces the rest of the developed world.

"Rising inequality does not necessarily denote the existence of poverty. However, rising inequality combined with evidence of poverty indicates that the poor are being left further behind, and this appears to be what is happening in Singapore," reads the report.

Income inequality

Singapore does not have as high percentages of impoverished residents as those in the less developed world, and its poor tend to go unnoticed amid the country's steel-and-glass opulence. But researchers point to a growing inequality - it ranks 26th out of 136 countries for income inequality - and a high cost of living: In 2012, Singapore was the world's sixth most expensive country to live in, according to the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2013.

Yet Singapore's poor are largely hidden, in part because affordable public housing typically means a roof over the heads of the working poor and elderly poor. That helps to create an overall impression that poverty and homelessness may exist only negligibly, if at all.

Reflecting that view, a leading academic, Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, wrote in 2001: "There are no homeless, destitute or starving people in Singapore. Poverty has been eradicated, not through an entitlements program (there are virtually none) but through a unique partnership between the government, corporate citizens, self-help groups and voluntary initiatives." 

The fact that many needy residents live in the shadows of a rich society prompted a new campaign to raise awareness about the poor in Singapore. Singaporeans Against Poverty, launched in October and organised by Caritas Singapore, a Catholic social action group, is intended to operate for three to five years.

"This is not a charity or donation drive. We want to set everyone thinking about the poor in Singapore. Who are they? Why are they in such a plight? How do they survive?" said Caritas Singapore advocacy committee chairman and member of parliament Laurence Lien. "We want to start a conversation. We invite everyone to move out of their comfort zones to join in this conversation." 

Public service advertisements include videos showing everyday citizens making decisions about what to eat, what to wear, and how to spend money, with the tagline: "105,000 low-income families would gladly swap their problems with yours." There is a webpage with facts about income inequality and a planned online educational game.

The campaign also urges the public to participate in its $5 challenge, which is based on the statistic that some 387,000 Singaporeans only have about $5 a day to spend on food and transport per family member. Radio personalities have been enlisted to join the campaign and make on-air appeals for listeners to do the same.

The 'cliff effect'

Calls for Singapore to follow Hong Kong's lead prompted a debate in parliament in late October, where Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Social and Family Development, expressed the government's opposition to the idea. He said he worries a single measure would allow some needy people to fall through the cracks.

"In Singapore, we use broad definitions for the groups we seek to help, have clear criteria to identify and assess those in need, and tailored schemes to assist them," he said in a written reply. "A poverty line does not fully reflect the severity and complexity of the issues faced by poor families, which could include ill health, lack of housing or weak family relationships."

Chan added: "If we use a single poverty line to assess the family, we also risk a 'cliff effect', where those below the poverty line receive all forms of assistance, while other genuinely needy citizens outside the poverty line are excluded. Our assessment process is rigorous but also flexible to cater to the genuinely needy. Singaporeans who do not meet scheme criteria but who still deserve help, can receive assistance." 

Singaporean bloggers were quick to criticise Chan's comments. "Chan's answer reinforces a general view about this government. They really do not want to provide social assistance," wrote Alex Au Waipang on his popular blog Yawning Bread. 

"At heart they really do believe in trickle-down and little else. They only get into social assistance when they can't avoid it and a problem is staring them in the face."