www.wansaiful.com

I never fully realised the significance of the Iskandar Development Region until this evening, when I had a good chat with Dato Ikmal Hijaz Hashim, CEO of IRDA. He was in London for business but had the chance to belanja minum teh at Sheraton Park Lane. 800,000 skilled jobs. Doubling the income per capita. Attracting a very significant amount of foreign investments. Building huge new infrastructure.

Massive project.

Tonight I had dinner with Stephen Timms MP (Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform) and Dianne Abbott MP.

We had a good almost 3 hour discussion on a wide range of topics, but the main one was around ethnic minority unemployment because that was the issue that Stephen raised and he brought with him some very interesting statistics.

Yasmin Alibhai Brown (Journalist, The Independent) and Yasmin Qureshi (Labour parliamentary candidate) arrived a bit late but their contributions were superb.

With Dianne Abbott MP after dinner

22 – 24 AUGUST 2008.
HOTEL RESIDENCE, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA.

Anda mahukan kedaulatan undang-undang? Anda bimbang jika pasaran bebas akan melahirkan ketidakadilan sosial? Pernahkah anda terfikir apa maksud sebenar kebebasan? Adakah anda mahukan negara anda mempunyai institusi-institusi liberal demokratik yang benar-benar kukuh? Jika ya, marilah menyertai siri Akademi Merdeka untuk meneroka persoalan-persoalan ini dengan lebih mendalam.

Kami menjemput warga Malaysia, Singapura, Indonesia dan Brunei untuk meyertai Akademi Merdeka kali pertama yang akan diadakan pada 22 – 24 Ogos 2008 (Jumaat – Ahad) di Hotel Residence, UNITEN, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
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22 – 24 AUGUST 2008.
HOTEL RESIDENCE, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA.

Do you value the rule of law? Do you wonder if the free market is socially just? Have you ever wondered what freedom and liberty really means? Do you want strong liberal democratic institutions in your country? If so, come to the Freedom Academy series to explore some of these issues.

University students, graduates, and young professionals from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei are invited to attend the first Freedom Academy which will be held on 22 – 24 August 2008 (Friday – Sunday) at Residence Hotel, UNITEN, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.

We are particularly looking for those sympathetic to, or are curious about, libertarian and classical liberal ideas.

For more information, click here.

I am hosting YB Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, PAS MP for Kuala Selangor, in London from tonight to Monday. If you want to listen to him, come to the Political Islam seminar at Islam Expo on Saturday afternoon. Note that the organiser got the title wrong on their website. Dr Dzulkefly will be speaking on Islamist in Malaysia (not Pakistan).

We will have several other meetings on Sunday and Monday.

On Monday (7 July) evening, I will be speaking at an event organised by ICMG UK, which is the UK branch of the Turkish Milli Gorus movement.

The topic will about recent developments in Malaysian politics.

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Apparently the guy who accused Anwar of sodomy met one of Najib’s aide. Above is the pic taken from Malaysiakini. The Najib’s aide in question is Khairil Anas Jusoh, my senior at Alam Shah. sigh….

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Yes…. ok…. I know …. Anwar has been accused of sodomy again. But so many people is commenting on it, I thought I better blog about something else.

This caught my eyes today - GERAMM

GERAMM says that they are “a pakatan generasi muda yang membentuk solidariti untuk menyatakan bantahan ke atas kenaikan mendadak harga minyak yang diumumkan oleh kerajaan pada awal Jun lepas.” Their “About Us” page starts by saying: “Kempen berterusan dan himpunan-himpunan rakyat secara teratur untuk membantah kenaikan harga minyak perlu diadakan.”

GERAMM stands for Gerakan Rakyat Anti Manipulasi Minyak. The naming shows their confusion. If they are against price manipulation, then they should be supporting the abolition of subsidies. Price manipulation is when the state intervenes to artificially distort fuel price with subsidies.
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Wan Mohd Firdaus and I was interviewed live on Islam Channel’s Politics and Media show earlier today (broadcasted 19.00pm).

The repeat can be watched on www.islamchannel.tv or Sky Channel 813 at 08.00am GMT (15.00pm in Malaysia), Tuesday 24 June, or Thursday 26 June at 16.00pm GMT (23.00pm Malaysia)

(Sorry about the slouching - I had to sit in the middle of the couch…)

The Star reported today:

Johor Sultan unhappy with DAP’s Gwee
By MEERA VIJAYAN

JOHOR BARU: The Sultan of Johor Sultan Iskandar Ismail has expressed his displeasure at a DAP state assemblyman for not wearing the official attire at the State Assembly sitting.

He also challenged Bentayan state assemblyman Gwee Tong Hiang to come forward and seek an audience with him.

“Ada yang kat sini, yang semalam atau yang hari kelmarin, yang menunjuk-nunjuk jaguh, yang tak mahu pakai senonoh, kalau hendak, ini jam keluar kat sini (There are people here, who yesterday or the day before, tried to be heroes by not dressing decently … come out now here),” he said during his speech to officially launch the district of Kulai Jaya on Sunday.

Gwee was not present at the function.

The controversy began when the state DAP assemblymen did not know whether to wear the songkok or not at the first State Assembly sitting.

A decision was made by the DAP state committee for all four DAP assemblymen to wear the full attire.

However, Gwee chose to dress in a Western-style suit and was thrown out of the assembly by Speaker Datuk Ali Hassan about an hour before Sultan Iskandar arrived on Friday.

Meanwhile, after the function Sunday, Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said that henceforth, all those attending the Sultan’s functions would be required to abide by the regulations.

He said Malay men had to be dressed in Baju Melayu Johor Teluk Belanga and songkok (headgear), while Malay women had to wear the Baju Kurung Johor Teluk Belanga with tudung (headscarf).

“Non-Malay men must be dressed in suits with songkok, while non-Malay women must wear the Baju Kurung Johor Teluk Belanga.

“Non-Malay women must wear the tudung if they are in the Sultan’s palace,” he said.

When contacted, Gwee declined to comment.

Even non-Malay women have to wear the headscarf when in the Sultan’s palace. Yeah, right! Somenone needs to have a word with the Sultanah. Or does Her Royal Highness boycott all the Sultan’s functions in protest of such policy?