January 2010 : The month of heartfelt sorrow.

The year 2010, has started off with tears shed by the whole of the nation. Many are distraught by the fact that four of our dearest and most brilliant leaders passed away so abruptly, one after the other. They have mould, shape and changed Malaysia to become what it is now, today. Their contributions to Malaysia are countless and yet, they did it for their loyalty and devotion and do not ask for anything in return, except for the political, educational and social advancement of our beloved country. They were indeed the shining gems of Malaysia.

Malaysia oh tanah airku.

On January 9th, we were surprised of the death of the dearly beloved, Tun Dr. Fatimah Hashim who was a Malaysian freedom fighter. She later served our country as a member of the Parliament and later as the Welfare Minister in the cabinet. Meanwhile her husband, Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Yusuf, was the Law minister. Her social contributions hits closely to my heart as she was the founder and the former president of Malaysia's National Council of Women's Organisations of 24 years. We have all benefit from her struggles in letting the voices of women heard and to ensure equality of all aspects. She created a foundation called The Tun Fatimah medal award for outstanding community work to mould female students in becoming excellent individuals both academically and socially. Her death was due to old age and was buried beside her husband’s in the Makam Pahlawan, a great honour.

On the 24th of January, a heartbreaking news was announced in the papers, radio, television and on the Internet. Tun Muhammad Ghazali Shafie had passed away in his house at precisely, 7.14 pm. He was the Home and Information Minister from 1973 till 1981 and later appointed as Foreign Minister till 1984. From this, he received his nickname as “King Ghaz” because of his flamboyant nature at the ASEAN’s diplomacy in respect of conflict in Cambodia. It was not the first time that his death was announced in the papers, as he was involved in a plane crash in which he was the pilot. He survived the mishap but unfortunately, the other passengers-inclusive of his bodyguard and co-pilot were killed. Now, he has really left us due to old age. He was 87 at the time of his death. Like Tun Fatimah, he was also buried at the Makam Pahlawan.

Perhaps the most shocking news to hit Malaysia in January of 2010 is the death of the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Mahmud Iskandar Al-Haj ibni Ismail Al-Khalidi or better known as Sultan Iskandar. He was sworn as Sultan on the 10th of May 1981, a day after the death of his father, Sultan Ibrahim. In his years of reign, he has shown great concern in the issues of his people and was known to be warm and generous to his loyal subjects. His legacies include the Institute Sultan Iskandar of Urban Habitat and Highrise, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and the Sultan Iskandar Complex, a customs, immigration and quarantine complex opened in December 2008.He was buried on the 23rd of January 2010, at the Royal Mausoleum in Johor Bahru. He was succeeded by his son, Tunku Ibrahim Ismail, who was named after his late grandfather.

Deviance arises during Thaipusam.

An alarming number of 30 civilians were arrested due to several offences done during the harmonious celebration of Thaipusam recently done in Batu Caves since Friday. Instead of enjoying the festivities, some were devising tactics based on deviant behaviour on this holy and religious event. It is such a shame. This further proves that some Malaysians simply do not care about being respectful towards religious occasions.

Early Saturday, two men were arrested as they were believed to be dangerous. Both men were armed with knives and are believed to be involved in a robbery, near to the temple of worship.

A tourist from Nepal was also caught red-handed on the account of snatching a bag of another woman. She had entered this country as a tourist and was apprehended at around 2am on the steps of the Batu Caves.

On an alarming note, the total of 27 people were detained for the charge up of parking fees to visitors of the temple. The illegal parking fees were charged from RM 10 - RM 15 for the visitors to park at the shoulder of the roads. They had received a warning from the local authorities before, but completely ignored it.

The police had also found a lorry left abandoned with an astounding amount of firecrackers and sparklers in Taman Ehsan Industrial Park at 4am on Saturday.

What is going on with this world of ours? Have these people no shame that they are committing felony in a religious event nearby a religious sanctuary? It is up to us, to save our country and to prove that some Malaysians are respectful towards all the different religions in this beautiful country of ours.

Heads of wild boars chopped and served to mosques.

Petaling Jaya , Jan 27 – Mosque officials found the heads of two wild boars wrapped in plastic rice sacks and surrounded by 1 Ringgit notes in the compounds of Masjid Jumhuriyah in Taman Dato Harun and Al Imam Al Tirmizi Mosque in Taman Sri Sentosa. The heads were found by congregants when going for their morning prayers at the respective mosques.

These are believed to be another series of attacks publicly displayed on places of worship following the ‘Allah’ controversy. To me, this was clearly constructed as boars were used as ammunition us as Muslims consider pigs to be unclean and unholy.

I agree with PKR vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah that states that he will not be surprised if the same group who planned the attack on the churches are behind these attacks as they might have clear political motivations to intensify the racial tension in our country.

In an effort to reduce the tension, The Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan urges the Muslims and non-Muslims to not panic or speculate as the authorities are doing their best to nab the culprits responsible. We all should follow his advice in order to create a harmonious setting in our country. Tan Sri Musa also added that extra patrols will be conducted in the places of worship.

These attacks have got to stop, as more attacks are rising up to disturb the harmonious balance that our ancestors had achieved a long time ago. Their constant struggles before simply seem like nothing to the generation nowadays. It is definitely hoped that the police will nab these culprits for disturbing the peace in the country.

U P D A T E

>> Jan 30 - Local authorities believed that the heads of the wild boars found in the compound of two mosques were not from the wild. Instead, the boars were believed to be reared or farmed. This conclusion is certified by the amount of fat sampled from the two heads. This is because boars from the wild do not usually have as many amount of fat in their heads as opposed to those that were farmed or reared.

The Police are currently working with the state Wildlife Department or PERHILITAN to further investigate the source of the heads and nab the deviant criminals.

Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin urges that stern action should be taken against the perpetrators irrespective of whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims. We cannot compromise on those who are out to undermine public safety, peace and harmony in our country, more so if it is due to religion.

Why does man become less civilized in the icrease of technology?

As everyone knows, man is the greatest creation made by God. Even though we are made from the soils of the Earth beneath our feet, we are given something much more powerful than the rest of His other creations. We are given the ability to think and make wise judgments in order to create a harmonial balance in this world of ours.

In Islam, man are considered God's khalifah or His' apprentice. These apprentices are designed to help make this world a better place to live in for all of his creations. But why does now, in this era of vast and constant technology, man has become much less than what they were before? At this age of time, people expect that we will be more civilized than before, but unfortunately these cases proved otherwise.

Technology has evolved in ways that we cannot imagined possible. From the first creation of the radio, then the ever-popular television, to the creation of mobile phones and the Internet. In the early days, technology were only used by the milltary and the government for the purpose of war. Technology were indeed useful then and was developed to further help mankind in every way possible. Now we can see, even children are using technology in their daily lives. Even myself, when i was just a 10-year-old, I had a mobile phone of my own. This was for the purpose of my safety.

The question is now: Does this extensive amount of technology made man less than what they have become? The answer is yes and no. man has indeed benefit from the creation of technology, but unfortunately they have gotten the disadvantages of the electronics as well.

In the news written by The Star Online (25th January 2010), there has been a hate-page dedicated solely toward the Malaysian actress, Fasha Sandha. This site which has been created on the social-networking site-Facebook, has over 40, 000 followers and wishes to acquire one million followers. These people have used technology to defame and destroy a reputation of a person instead than for the purpose of good.

In other cases, people are more and more addicted to their electronics. In a household there would be a dad that will spend every minute possible with his phone calls, a daughter would spend hours on social-networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook, mothers sticking their noses in the paperbacks of tabloid journalim and a son that would spend countless of hours on his Xbox. Somehow now, technology is used to incorporate our guilty-pleasures.

Technology also has incoporate plenty of violence and sex in the Internet, games and even into the television content. This is because they know that these genre sells to the public. What they do not know is how much it is affecting the mind-building of children and students around the globe. Therefore you would see students up to criminal acts and violent behaviour just becaused they misused technology.

Man has forgotten their purpose being on this beautiful planet of ours. Some even have forgotten their responsibilities towards their family,their firends and especially, their respective Gods. The more modern technology gets, the more people are sucked into it. This is not the fault of technology but the fault of man's own.

Technology can benefit us in so many ways and can help us broaden our minds to the world, to accept ones culture and their ways of behaviour. But we must always take a step back and realize of what is important and what is not. If we don’t, then the world might just be destroyed by technology itself.

An Introduction.

Welcome readers to my new blog "From Where I'm Standing". This blog will feature plenty of current news and updates of the ever-changing world. I chose this as the name of this blog as the news and information written or reported would be told from my perspective, of how I see things from this side of the world but do not fear as I will be as objective as I possibly can. I am never biased.

To me news is an important thing. Everybody should know and understand the world that they live in. Therefore, the media existed and acts as a medium to the people. The beautiful thing about technology is that even students-like myself, can convey my understanding of the world using blogs such as this.

By reading other blogs, I can learn even more and maybe change my opinion or view toward certain issues. Therefore lets hope that by accomplishing this, we would all immediately learn more about our world and even more about ourselves.