Philippines Unveils World Largest Ten Commandments Tablet

Kuching
Thursday, 27th October 2011

A building-sized edifice carved with the Bible's Ten Commandments was unveiled Wednesday, 26th October 2011 in the Philippines, making it the largest tablet of its kind, according to Guinness World Records.

The tablet, a copy of the rules supposedly handed down by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, was inaugurated by city officials on a hill overlooking the northern resort city of Baguio.

A local religious group, donated the imposing 152.90 square metre (1,650 square foot) tablet to the city as they were presented a certificate from Guinness World Records.

"This beautiful and divine edifice will serve to drive away the evils of spirits that time and again emerge," said Baguio Congressman Bernardo Vergara at the inauguration.

"May it drive away evils of illegal drugs, gambling, prostitution."

The religious leader who sponsored the project, Grace Galindez-Gupana, topped her previous world record, attained in 2009 when she built a similar 65-square-metre tablet on a hill outside Manila.

AFP

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Audit Finds Sharizat Jalil's Family Made Mess of National Cattle Farming Project

Kuching
Wednesday, 26th October 2011

This what PM's "1Malaysia-People First Performance Now" really means!

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — A RM73.64 million government project — linked to minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s family — to create Malaysia’s “Beef Valley” has turned into a mess, a federal audit report said.

The Auditor-General’s Report, released yesterday, showed that the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) set up in 2008 in Gemas, Negri Sembilan failed to hit its target of breeding 8,000 cattle last year.

Under the 9th Malaysia Plan, the centre is expected to produce 60,000 cattle by 2015.

“An audit check found production in 2010 was only at 3,289 heads of cattle or 41.1 per cent,” the report said.

The audit was conducted between January and March this year.

Among the reasons cited were the NFC corporation’s poor management including its failure to train 130 farmers for the project, the 5,000-acre farmland in Gemas being overgrown with thorny acacia shrubs, and poor use and maintenance of its facilities.

Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang also said the ministry’s initial main operator, Lamberts Agricultural Trade (M) Sdn Bhd, had backed out of the project, a move that contributed to the dismal performance.

The NFC is a joint-venture between Negri Sembilan and federal government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry (MoA) to commercially produce more beef domestically and cut down import of the meat.

Previous media reports showed the MoA picked a company called Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd, owned by Shahrizat’s husband, Datuk Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail, to spearhead the project, under a company called National Feedlot Corporation Sdn Bhd (NFCorp).

Mohamad Salleh is also NFCorp’s executive chairman.

Shahrizat’s (picture) three children, Izran, Izmir and Izzana, also play key roles in the NFCorp, the Malay Mail reported on June 24 this year. Izran is CEO while his brother and sister are executive directors.

The family-controlled beef project is marketed under the label “Gemas Gold” and can be found on the menus of several family-owned restaurants in the Klang Valley.

The audit report also found NFCorp did not finalise the standard operating procedure or implementation agreement in 2010.

It noted NFCorp claimed it could not do so because the government has yet to build an abattoir capable of slaughtering 350 heads of cattle a day.

The audit report said the Treasury completed a study on the slaughterhouse on April 5 this year to be presented to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

The audit report noted that two factories related to the project have yet to be built, namely the livestock feed factory that was part of the pilot project under the entrepreneur development programme, and a bio-gas factory to process waste from the abattoir and the feedlot into fuel for the farm.

The report stressed infrastructure upkeep as the most important factor for the project’s success and recommended the MoA devise a “Blue Ocean” strategy to boost its cattle breeding production to meet the original 60,000 target by 2015.

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Rural Folks Condemn Alexander Nanta For Lauding The Implementation of GST

Kuching
Wednesday, 26th October 2011

This MP should keep his mouth shut rather  than keep it open can anger the people. That was the most suitable advise that I could give to Alexander Nanta Linggi after I read an article published in Borneo Post yesterday.
I was stunned to read in Borneo Post how he lauded the BN leadership in imposing the GST. To the government the GST may be good but how about the rural folks especially the people of Kapit. People in Kapit should know what to do to punish their MP in the coming General Election in which many people predicted will be held in December 2011.

Borneo Post reports MP Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi lauded the Goods and Service Tax (GST), which is implemented in 167 developed countries worldwide, as a good move to uplift the economy and improve people’s lives.

He said:

“To achieve a developed nation status in 8 years from now by the year 2020, we need to implement GST. GST is a vital tool for the development of the country. GST needs to be implemented to replace the existing national tax policy so as to be more efficient, transparent and effective,”

He said this when officiating at the closing of an awareness programme on GST organised by Royal Customs Department, Sibu branch in collaboration with Kapit District Office at Meligai Hotel here on Saturday afternoon.

“Despite being located far in the interior, at least Kapit is not left out of the programme as the division is one of the financial contributors to the development of the country. Hopefully the participants know what GST is and impart the knowledge to their colleagues and friends. It is a good beginning and I hope that more such programmes will be held here in the future. GST is something new to Kapit though only a handful of people know of the system,” he pointed out.

On the importance of GST, Nanta said the government could not rely on taxes alone which were insufficient to finance its various mega development programmes.

To Alex, dont just said about the mega projects, I have this question for this MP " How is the GST going to benefits the people  from the longhouses especially in Kapit? Dont you know by imposing GST will increase the price of goods?

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Laporan Ketua Audit Negara 2010: Kem 1 Divisyen di Muara Tuang Bernilai RM214 Juta Terbengkalai

Kuching
Tuesday, 25th October 2011

Tidak percaya sungguh bagaimana kem yang bernilai RM 214 Juta dan telah dilanjut sebanyak 3 kali masih belum dapat disiapkan. Sebagai seorang bekas pegawai tentera, dari luar saya sangat bangga melihat kem ini. saya telah menyiarkan gambar-gambar kem berkenaan di 1Malaysia-Photogallery. Tetapi apabila terbaca laporan Ketua Audit bagi tahun 2010,  saya merasa sangat  kesal dan malu ini kerana kema yang sepatutnya menempatkan . ibu pejabat 1 Div serta sebuah pasukan elit infantri  10 RRD walaupun dari luar nampak telah siap sepenuhnya tetapi  hakikatnya masih belum ssiap sepenuhnya selamat untuk dihuni.

Projek pembinaan Kem Muara Tuang, Sarawak yang eslesai pada Februari tahun lalu, masih belum lengkap dan beberapa kecacatan serta kepincangan mula terserlah, kata Laporan Ketua Audit Negara 2010.

Menurut laporan itu, hanya 95.7 peratus berjaya disiapkan meskipun kerajaan telah membenarkan tiga kali lanjutan tarikh akhir untuk projek bernilai RM214.43 juta.

Pasukan audit juga mendapati kerja-kerja dijalankan tidak mengikut spesifikasi yang ditetapkan.Antaranya, kayu yang tidak berkualti digunakan, kecaccatan kerja-kerja konkrit, kerja lepaan simen yang nipis dan bahan-bahan kalis air mula tertanggal.

“Berdasarkan pemerhatian tersebut, pihak Audit telah memberi teguran kepada perunding/kontraktor dan pada bulan Mac 2011, Tim Projek memaklumkan bahawa tindakan telah diambil oleh kontraktor untuk membaiki kerja tersebut.

“Sekiranya kerja yang tidak mengikut spesifikasi/tidak berkualiti yang dibangkitkan tidak diperbaiki, pihak Audit akan mengesyorkan kepada Kementerian supaya nama perunding dan kontraktor ini disenaraihitamkan,” petik laporan itu.

Kontraktor berkenaan Konsortium Jendela Hikmat Sdn Bhd (JHSB) juga didapati belum  membayar bon pelaksanaan RM10.72 juta, seperti yang dikehendaki oleh Kementerian Kewangan untuk projek-projek yang bernilai melebihi RM200, 000.

JHSB, yang telah dianugerahkan kontrak berkenaan pada Mei 2006, memberi alasan seperti kenaikan kos bahan-bahan pembinaan akibat perkembangan ekonomi yang tidak menentu memberi kesan kepada nilai tanah yang dibangunkannya.

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Muslim Extremists In Sudan Threaten To Target Christians In Jihad

Kuching
Monday, 19th Sep 2011

If the threats are real, the christian world should unite and deploy missionary armies to not only Sudan but also to the other parts of the world where the Christians are being massacared by the extremist muslims.

Sudan: Extremist Muslims Threaten to Attack Christians

Khartoum, Sudan, Sep 15, 2011 (Catholic Online) -- Muslim extremists have sent text messages to at least 10 church leaders in Khartoum saying they are planning to target Christian leaders, buildings and institutions, Christian sources in Khartoum said.

"We want this country to be purely an Islamic state, so we must kill the infidels and destroy their churches all over Sudan," said one text message circulating in Khartoum last month. The text messages were sent in July and August.

Church leaders here said they fear more persecution as they and their flocks become targets of local Islamists. In addition, Muslim extremists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh arrive in Sudan every two weeks to undergo training in secret camps in Khartoum before they are sent to various parts of Sudan to preach Islam and demolish church buildings, according to a Christian source in Khartoum.

One of the Church damaged by Muslim attack: Why cant the christian countries unite and deploy troops to the countries where christians were being massacared?

On July 18, a group of Muslim extremists attacked the home of Anglican Church of Sudan Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail in an attempt to kill him and two other pastors, Luka Bulus and Thomas Youhana, who all happened to be out of the house at the time, sources said. No one was hurt, but the assailants left a threatening letter warning them of similar attacks.

Bulus is a supporter of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement, a southern Sudan militant group long locked in battle with northern government forces, further making him a target of Islamic extremists. Bishop Elnail, whose church building the Sudanese military burned in June in war-torn Kadugli of South Kordofan region, oversees Nuba Mountain Episcopal churches as head of the Kadugli Episcopal Diocese.

Bulus confirmed the July 18 house attack, which took place in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, at around 7 p.m., by telephone from his hiding place. Muslim extremists are still searching for him, the sources said.

"We are aware of your anti-Islamic activities," the letter left in Bishop Elnail's home states. "We have been monitoring the evangelization that you carry out these days, and therefore we declare Jihad against you."

The letter left on the gate of the bishop's house asserts that Sudan is an Islamic land, and that the authors secretly plan to carry out a series of attacks to destroy church buildings across "Sudan," which denotes the north following the secession of South Sudan on July 9.

“We declare Jihad against you in order to protect Muslims from your infidel influence, because you are the enemy of Islam," it states.

Christian sources in Khartoum said they take the threats seriously.

"These people are not joking - they can kill any Christian," said a church leader who requested anonymity for security reasons.

Elnail of the Kadugli Episcopal Diocese told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Africa on Aug. 4 that he was not sure he would be alive if he had not been called to Washington, D.C. to testify.

"I am told that armed men went house to house, searching for me, calling my name," Elnail reportedly told the congressional representatives.

In an incident on June 28, Muslim extremists burned down a church building belonging to the Lutheran Evangelical Church of the Sudan at 7:38 p.m. in Omdurman. Christian sources said two people were seen running out of the church building as it went up in flames.

"The Muslims are targeting our church in fear that many Muslims will leave Islam for Christianity," says a Lutheran Evangelical Church of the Sudan letter, written in Arabic, that was circulated to churches in Khartoum.

The destroyed Evangelical Lutheran Church building was opposite the Ansar Al Suna Mosque, where preachers publicly insult Christianity every Friday, a Christian source said.

Hostilities toward Christians by the Islamic government in Khartoum began to increase last year following a statement by President Omar al-Bashir, when he asserted that his second republic would be based on sharia (Islamic law) and Islamic culture, with Arabic as the official language.

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Bomb And Shooting Attack Of two Mosques in Pakistan Atleast 80 Ahmadi's Muslims Killed

Islamabad, Pakistan
Saturday, 29th May 2010

 Attacks with bombs and firearms in Pakistan, targeting houses of worship for a persecuted religious minority, killed at least 80 people Friday, a senior government official said, CNN reported and published on it's website.

The strikes took place at two mosques in Lahore belonging to the Ahmadi religious group, police and rescue officials said.

At the Baitul Noor place of worship in the Model Town region, two attackers on motorbikes fired at the entrance of the building and tossed hand grenades, a rescue official told CNN. Police said one of the attackers was critically injured. The other, clad in a suicide jacket, was detained.

At a mosque in the Garhi Shahu neighborhood, one witness told CNN he saw two attackers armed with AK-47s, and another witness said he saw at least four gunmen. Sajjad Bhutta, the senior official, said the heads of three suicide bombers were discovered there.

Bhutta said more than 70 people were injured in the violence.

Ahmadis regard themselves as Muslim. But the government says they aren't, and many Muslim extremists have targeted them. Sunni and Shiite Muslims do not regard followers of the religion as Muslims because they do not regard Mohammed as the last prophet sent by God.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a non-governmental organization, deplored the attacks and said it has warned the Punjab provincial government about threats to the Ahmadi community center in Model Town for more than a year. Lahore is the capital of Punjab province.
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"An HRCP delegation had held meetings with Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif to apprise him of the situation and had demanded enhanced security measures to protect the vulnerable minority and its worship places. HRCP is of the view that though the Punjab government apparently took some steps to bolster the security ... they were not enough to face the well-coordinated and well-planned terrorist attack as witnessed on Friday," it said.

It urged the government "to provide foolproof security and protection to the Ahmadi community."

The movement was founded in 1889. Its followers believe that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) was sent by God as a prophet "to end religious wars, condemn bloodshed and reinstitute morality, justice and peace," the worldwide Ahmadi group says.

The group, which is thought to number between 3 million and 4 million people in the country, endures "the most severe legal restrictions and officially sanctioned discrimination" among Pakistan's religious minorities, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The religious freedom commission, an independent, bipartisan U.S. government body, said in its latest annual report that "Ahmadis may not call their places of worship 'mosques,' worship in non-Ahmadi mosques or public prayer rooms which are otherwise open to all Muslims, perform the Muslim call to prayer, use the traditional Islamic greeting in public, publicly quote from the Koran, or display the basic affirmation of the Muslim faith."

The agency says it's illegal for the group to preach publicly, pursue converts or pass out religious material, and adherents are restricted from holding public conferences and traveling to Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage.

While the greatest number of its followers are in Pakistan and India, it has a presence in many European countries, such as Britain, where the religion's fifth and current spiritual head, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, resides.

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Gong Xi Fa Chai

On this wonderful occassion, I would like to wish my Chinese readers, A Happy Chinese New Year

"GONG XI FA CHAI"

  

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Muhyiddin Statements Could Instigate Racial Tension

KUALA LUMPUR
Saturday, 13th February 2010

Today is the day Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should learn former US president, Ronald Reagan’s favourite phrase: “Trust, but Verify”.

If he had learnt the phrase before today, the deputy prime minister would not look silly for castigating the Penang government which he alleged had cancelled the annual Maulidur Rasul procession.
He accused the Pakatan Rakyat government led by Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng of not supporting the aspirations of Muslims.
All this based on a report by the Umno-owned newspaper Utusan Malaysia.

The moment when I heard Najib appointed this man as the DPM, I knew that this will mark the fall of UMNO. How could UMNO nominated someone who is racist to assist the PM to lead this multi-racial nation. As long as this man is remained as DPM, PR aim to wrest federal power from BN will soon becoming reality...Bukittunggal.com

In other words, Muhyiddin appeared irresponsible for stoking racial and religious tension when talking about the apparent cancellation of the Maulidur Rasul procession in Penang, where Malays have been complaining about being sidelined.
The responsible thing to do would have been to double check with the Penang state government and not rely on what is reported by Utusan Malaysia, which has stretched its credibility in the past when reporting about Umno’s political foes.
To paraphrase Reagan, trust, but verify.
It is no good to parrot what Utusan said without checking. Then it becomes a game of Chinese whispers, which has been an ongoing past-time in Penang where even the lawful enforcement against illegal hawkers is turned into a racial issue.
After all, Muhyiddin is a national leader, not a petty politician trying to break into the big time by grabbing attention where possible. Even former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a Penang son himself, weighed in on the matter based on the erroneous Utusan report.
National leaders have to be statesmen and above the fray. They have to carefully consider what they say or do because even an involuntary nod of the head or the wave of hand could signify something to their followers. All the more so when it comes to matters of faith in a country treading gingerly over the ‘Allah’ ruling.
Someone who wants to lead Malaysia one day must avoid the temptation of playing the race or religious card, be it behind closed doors or out in the open, especially in issues which Umno leaders have always deemed ‘sensitive’.
Muhyiddin must know this.

His words and actions, even when slamming his political foes based on an unverified Utusan Malaysia report, will add credence to cynics who wonder if Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia has the full support of his own administration.

Trust, but verify. Reagan practised it well and was a popular US president. Muhyiddin would be wise to follow the dictum.

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Let God in any names it call be God

Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Wednesday, 27th January 2010

Last November the Malaysian government refused to release 10,000 Bibles it had seized because they contained the word Allah to refer to God. The Herald, a publication of the Roman Catholic Church in Malaysia, challenged the government's decision to ban for non-Muslims the use of the word Allah to refer to God. In December, a Malaysian court ruled that such a ban was unconstitutional. The court's decision provoked anger among some Muslims. The Times reported a speaker in a Kuala Lumpur mosque as saying, "We will not allow the word Allah to be inscribed in your churches. Heresy arises from words wrongly used. Allah is only for us." A few Muslims unfortunately went further and attacked churches, badly damaging some of them. Such actions are condemnable as they contradict normative Islam.

Many Muslims erroneously believe they have monopoly over the use of the word Allah, asserting that the Christian God is different from the Muslim God. And yet, normative Islam insists that there is "No God but God," meaning there cannot be a God for Christians and a different God for Muslims.

One of the church that was badly damaged after it was attacked by extremist muslims in Malaysia

Attempts by Malaysian officials to explain the logic behind the initial ban and why the government is now opposing the high court's ruling have been far from convincing. The best analyses point out this unusual move by the ruling UNMO government had less to do with theology and more to do with the ruling political coalition keeping control. The fact that politicians were fanning the flames of passion is hardly news. But it does point to a troubling underlying fact that many Muslims erroneously believe they have monopoly over the use of the word Allah - in essence, asserting that the Christian God is different from the Muslim God. This is oxymoronic because normative Islam insists that there is no God but God, meaning there cannot be a God for Christians and a different God for Muslims.

In A Common Word Between Us and You: An Open Letter and Call from Muslim Religious Leaders, issued in October 2007 to "Leaders of Christian Churches, everywhere," acknowledges that the theologies of Christianity and Islam differ from each other on key points. Yet, when this Muslim-authored document speaks of "God", the word denotes the subject and object of Christian worship, too. This pan-Muslim call for dialogue and cooperation is predicated on the notion that the ground shared by Muslims and Christians is located in our respective scriptural mandates to love God and neighbor. Five distinguished Malaysian scholars and government officials were among the original signatories of A Common Word.

While, in the American context, we don't have legislatures reserving vocabulary for the exclusive use of one religion, we certainly have had occasions of suspicion-casting over matters of God-Talk. It finds its way regularly into political campaigns. Each of us have encountered it in venues where we have been asked to speak about Christian-Muslim relations. Both of us have had to deal with Christians who say of Muslims, "They worship a different god;" or, "there is some question as whether their god is the same as ours." Much of the internet back-and-forth about this reveals considerable ignorance (about the writer's own religion, let alone the religion she or he is criticizing).

To our way of thinking, however, discussions as to whether Christians and Muslim "worship the same God" are, even when well-articulated, based on an ill-founded premise. To ask whether another group "worship the same God as we" is to imply that there are indeed at least two gods. The technical term for such a stance is henotheism - i.e., the notion that there may be more than one god, but only one of them works for me (or, for my group). On the other hand, Muslims and Christians (and Jews, Sikhs, Bahá'ís, Zoroastrians) all claim to be monotheists; and, the logical corollary of monotheism, "belief that there is but one God", is that, no matter who is praying, only one Possibility is listening, whichever way that Ultimate Listener is named or described.

The vast majority of religions do operate from a presumption that there is an Ultimate-a single Source. Most Americans, regardless of their religion, are happy to employ the English word God when referring to this. However, each theistic religion has its own theology-its own way of describing God and God's relationship to the physical and spiritual realms. God may have many names, and concepts of the spiritual realm may be quite complex. Yet God is God; Allah is God; God is Allah. For the love of neighbor, may we be willing to affirm that - whatever language we use?

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The above article which has been published in http://www.altmuslim.com/ on 27th January 2010 was written by Professor Parvez Ahmed, a U.S. Fulbright Scholar. He is Associate Professor of Finance at the University of North Florida. Dr. Lucinda Mosher, is a consultant and educator on inter-religious matters. She is the author of the book series Faith in the Neighborhood.

Buklittunggal.com would like to ask for sincere apology from Professor Parvez for publshing the article without his prior approval.

1Malaysian is Achieveable if ONLY...

Simple Way How Malaysians can achieve 1Malaysia

1Malaysia concept as introduce by PM Najib is a concept that requires us to stand, think and taking action as one Malaysian.

All Malaysians irrespective of races and religions must work together in order to achieve 1Malaysia. If we want to achieve PM's 1Malaysia, we must emulate the behaviour of these animals.....

Dominant Protect the inferior!

Superior and subordinate working alongside each other

Irrespective of species..animal love each others..For malaysian irrespective of races and religions, must love and respect each other...

Mix well with each others!

Never look down at others!

Willing to share!

Live together in harmony!

Try to understand each other

Live peacefully with each other!

Enjoy Each other Company!

Enjoy each other company

 

1Malaysia is as easy as ABC if all Malaysians can emulate the behaviour shown by the animals above.

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