NYT: Malay provocation - Philip Bowring

2.

NYT: Malay provocation - Philip Bowring

Wed Jan 20, 2010 6:44 am (PST)

http://www.themalay sianinsider. com/index. php/opinion/ breaking- views/50156- malay-provocatio n--philip- bowring

Malay provocation - Philip Bowring

JAN 20 - One ought to be able to laugh at the absurdity of it. But the
message is one of ignorance, religious and racial prejudice and political
opportunism.

Last week, the Malaysian government declared that Christians in one part of
the country could use "Allah" as the word for God when speaking Malay, but
that those in most of the country could not.

This is the same government that is currently running a public relations
campaign called One Malaysia emphasizing the common identity of the nation's
racial and religious mix.

In reality, a government dominated by the United Malays National
Organization (UMNO) is using spurious religious/linguisti c arguments to
shore up its support among a majority Malay electorate, which has been fed
for years with preferences and privileges. Meanwhile, non-Malay money and
talent exits the country.

The government had earlier tried to stop the use of the word Allah by all
Christians. This was successfully challenged in the High Court.

But instead of letting the matter rest, the government declined to back
down, setting the scene for the fire bombing of churches. While these could
not be laid directly at the door of UMNO, hotheads in the party may well
have taken their cue from what non-Muslims see as a deliberate attempt to
stir up ethnic/religious issues for political gain.

Last year it was Hindus who were the target of Malay provocation.

UMNO political calculation demands that the organization sticks to its
demands about the use of the word Allah in peninsular Malaysia, where all
Malays are deemed Muslims and where Christians are ethnic Chinese or Indian,
but not in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak where there are large
communities of Malay-speaking Christians.

The UMNO-led coalition needs the support of the multi-ethnic parties in
those states.

The word Allah has always been used without Muslim objection by Christians
in the Arab world, as well as those in Malay-speaking Indonesia, where there
are 10 times as many Muslims as in Malaysia.

The word is itself derived from pre-Islamic Semitic language roots. Even
Malaysia's strictly Islamist opposition party, Parti Islam (PAS), agrees
that all Abrahamic faiths are entitled to use the word Allah.

But such facts are of little relevance to UMNO politicians determined to
drum up any issue that can be used to show their commitment to defending
Malay and Muslim privileges and thus retain the support of a Malay majority
against the appeal both of PAS and the multi-ethnic Keadilan party of the
former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

UMNO cannot claim to be a party of the pious. Half a century in power has
turned it into a vast patronage machine that enriches the Malay elite,
providing support for luxurious lifestyles.

Its insistence that all Malays are Muslims (and cannot convert) is an
attempt to give religious backing to the message of Malay racial preference.
That is barely in accord with the universalist notions of global Islam but
keeps the loyalty of many Malays otherwise resentful of growing income gaps.

However, the racial and religious divides among the opposition still make an
UMNO-led government seem a better choice than the alternatives - most likely
ones in which the fundamentalism of PAS would replace the opportunism of
UMNO.

So despite the deterioration of communal relations in peninsular Malaysia,
no major changes are in sight.

This carries two main dangers.

The first is the continuing large scale exodus of capital and of talented
non-Malays. Five years of generally good prices for its main commodity
exports, oil, gas and palm oil, have delivered huge trade surpluses and a
current account surplus of more than 10 percent of gross domestic product.

But economic growth has been slow due to very weak private investment, only
partly offset by large government deficit spending. Once a major recipient
of foreign capital, Malaysia is now a source of flight capital.

This is only sustainable while commodity prices remain at double levels of
five years ago and three times those in 2002.

A longer term danger, at least as perceived by some leading Malays, such as
the former Finance Minister Tunku Razaleigh, is that a combination of
religious intolerance and resentment of federal exploitation of their
natural resources will generate secessionism in the Borneo states.

They joined Malaysia in 1963 without much enthusiasm but as the best option
open to them as the British withdrew from empire. They do not want their
traditions of racial and religious diversity to be poisoned by peninsular
prejudices.

Their separate treatment on the Allah issue will have some immediate
benefits for Kuala Lumpur, but can only underscore just how different they
are.

In short, the episode is sad commentary on a nation whose mix of races, its
fine infrastructure and wealth of resources has held such promise. If only
there really were One Malaysia. - NYT

*This is the personal opinion of the writer or the newspaper. The Malaysian
Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.
____

http://thestar. com.my/news/ story.asp? file=/2010/ 1/20/nation/ 5507622
&sec=nation

Wednesday January 20, 2010
Groups divided over 'Allah' use

PETALING JAYA: Key Muslim groups are divided over whether to reject or
accept the High Court ruling on the use of the term "Allah" in the
Herald.

This is the scenario following a meeting hosted by PKR leader Datuk
Seri Anwar Ibrahim to discuss the issue on Monday night, which ended
without the consensus he had hoped for, with one side adamant that the
term is exclusive to Muslims and the other side advocating an open
mind.

PAS vice-president Salahuddin Ayob said some groups were very firm
that the Quran did not forbid non-Muslims from using the term.

He said the groups also saw the issue as an opportunity to better
explain Islam to non-Muslims.

Other groups, meanwhile, feared it would open the floodgates to
greater confusion among Muslims and were concerned that the term might
be misconstrued and used inappropriately by non-Muslims.

The groups, which attended the meeting that was held at Anwar's house,
included PKR, Jamaah Islah Malaysia, Persatuan Ulama Malay­sia, Muslim
Youth League Malaysia and Teras,

Teras president Mohd Azmi Abdul Aziz stressed the term was central to
the sensitivities of Muslims in the country.

"The Muslim NGOs are not against each other but we differ in our view
on the implication of the issue on the future of Muslims as well as
the co-existence of Mus­lims and non-Muslims in the country," said
Mohd Azmi.

Anwar, whose party stands with PAS in supporting the court decision,
had called the meeting to hear out the concerns of these groups.

The Muslim non-governmental organisations are quite powerful opinion
shapers and he is anxious to get them behind PKR and PAS on this
issue.

There was also a suggestion that polling agency Merdeka Centre be
asked to gauge opinions on the matter, but some felt a survey on such
a sensitive matter could lead to more controversy.

Merdeka Centre director Ibrahim Suffian, who was present, said the
split in opinion was "rooted in fundamental insecurities which Malay
leaders must come to terms with".

"The discussion served to demarcate the position of the various
groups, although it would have been quite different if the more
hardline personalities were invited.

"The polemic going on also underlines Malay concerns and insecurities
since the March 8 general election," said Ibrahim.

PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang could not make it because he was
overseas.
____

http://www.malaysia kini.com/ news/122384

Axing 'Herald' BM pullout 'not an option'
Yip Ai Tsin & Yoong Pui Shen | Jan 20, 10 4:13pm [extract]

Catholic weekly newspaper Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew said it
is "not possible" for the Bahasa Malaysia pullout to be restricted to
Sabah and Sarawak, as this is akin to "splitting a strand of hair".

"It is not possible. The permit includes all three pullouts as well,"
he said when met in his office yesterday.

He added that using other words to replace 'Allah' is "very wrong" as
"that would be changing scriptures which we have no right to change".

On Jan 5, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin had called for a
'compromise' suggesting that only Herald's edition in Sabah and
Sarawak be allowed to use 'Allah' and not the peninsula publication.
[...]
____

http://www.malaysia kini.com/ letters/122397

LETTERS: 'Ridhuan Tee has committed a seditious act'
Hai Hiung | Jan 20, 10 5:14pm

I refer to the letter The 'Chinese ethnic Islamic scholar' is his own worst
enemy.
http://www.malaysia kini.com/ letters/120787

Dr Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah is at it again and this time he has managed to
shame all us Malaysians with his ultra-racist article on his blog. He
claimed that his argument is intellectual and of high moral, yet he labeled
all those who disagree with him as 'ultra-kiasu' .
http://ertee. blogspot. com/2009/ 12/accused- as-criminals- better-than- being.html

So, if I disagree with his view, I'm an 'ultra-kiasu' according to his
logic. Such hypocrisy. If he is sound in his argument, he would not be
resorting to labelling people who disagree with him with a label -
'ultra-kiasu' .

I feel ashamed to share the same nationality with this PhD holder. Giving
credit to his academic achievements I presume in his article has
intentionally omitted at least three facts:

Fact 1: Catholic Christians in Sabah and Sarawak have been using the term
'Allah' long before Malaysia was formed.

The Catholic Church has in their possession hard copy evidence - a
Malay-Latin dictionary published in 1631 which shows the translation for
'Allah' plus a Catholic prayer book published in 1894 brought over from Hong
Kong to prove that they have been using the term 'Allah' as the name of God
since four hundred years ago.
http://www.heraldma laysia.com/ news/storydetail s.php/3283- 1-0-Christians- here-called- God-Allah- four-centuries- ago

Fact 2: It is impossible to 'confuse' Muslims here for it is illegal to
distribute any pamphlet, letter, magazine or articles on religious matters
to a Muslim unless it is about Islam. The law has dictated that the Catholic
weekly 'Herald' can only be circulated amongst the non-Muslims and therefore
it would never fall into the hands of a Muslim.

So if Muslims would never get the chance to even hold a copy of this weekly
newspaper, how are Muslims going to get 'confused' by it?

Fact 3: Christians in the Middle East have been using the term 'Allah' as
God's name before the advent of Islam.

This Tee plays up racial sentiments and disguises himself as championing
Islam. The oft-repeated words used in his article is the 'tolerant' Malay
and the 'ultra-kiasu' Chinese.

This itself is evidence enough that the intention of his article is to stir
racial sentiments. Ridhuan Tee has committed a seditious act.
____

No shortage of fatwas on Allah word
http://www.mysinche w.com/node/ 34263?tid= 14

Nazri’s Offer of a Way Out: A Commentary - NH Chan
http://loyarburok. com/the-system/ bolehland/ nazris-offer- of-a-way- out-a-commentary /

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
The Berita Malaysia / bmalaysia mailing lists

a layman's perspective of the word 'Allah'

1.

hartalmsm: Why I use 'Allah' - a layman's perspective

Wed Jan 20, 2010 6:35 am (PST)

http://hartalmsm. wordpress. com/2010/ 01/20/why- i-use-allah- a-laymans- perspective/

Why I use 'Allah' - a layman's perspective
January 20, 2010

By Pastor Eu Hong Seng

In the current ongoing debate, some are of the opinion that Christians
should just give in and forego the use of the word "Allah" so that the
threats and attacks on churches will stop and Malaysia can continue to
enjoy her peace and move on unhindered to developed nation status.

Now, more than ever the country needs clear-minded Malaysians and not
"confused" citizens, Christians included.

There are ten salient facts and reasons and I would like to address
these to the ordinary man in the street and lay people in the Church.
(1)

1. The use of "Allah" predates Islam

"Allah" is the Arabic name for God, and it indeed pre-dates Islam and
even Christianity. The pagan Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula called God
"Allah," even though they worshipped hundreds of idols in addition.

Christians all across the Arab World today use the word "Allah" for
God, and if one were to read an Arabic Bible, he would find that God
is indeed called "Allah."

"Allah" is also the name that Jesus Christ called God. "Allah" is the
Arabic equivalent of "Elohim," which is Hebrew for God. The "im" is a
plural appendage of respect, and so the word is "Eloh," which is very
similar to "Allah."

In addition, the Aramaic word for God is "Alaha," and Aramaic was the
language which Jesus himself spoke.

Moreover, the word "Allah" is found in the English version of the
Bible which we read today.

In Matthew 27:46 we read: "About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a
loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? ' - which means, 'My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?'" The word "Eloi" is the Aramaic form
of the Arabic "Allah." (2)

It is important to know the fact that Christians in Malaysia didn't
start using "Allah" only recently, as some contends.

2. It is used all over the world by Christians.

The Arabic word is commonly used by Christians to describe God in such
countries as Egypt, Syria and Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim
nation.

So it is not just a Malaysian word, for the Malaysian context only.
One cannot just decide to copyright an "international" word and hope
to escape ridicule.

And anybody in Malaysia can tell you that it is more than just one
word that can be involved. The focus now may be on one word,
thereafter the contention will be expanded to include other words, and
at a later stage any other word or words that the "authorities" may so
decide.

3 "Allah" was used by East Malaysians before they joined Malaya

The SIB church was formed in Sarawak state in 1928, nearly 30 years
before Malaysia's independence, and were already using "Allah" in
their worship and literature.

And some of them don't even speak BM or English, only their own mother
tongue and in their mother tongue, the word used is "Allah." So it's
not only the Alkitab, the BM Bible. The other Scriptures which use
"Allah" are the Kalibatand Lunbawang Bible.

Daniel Raut, a senior leader of SIB Church - the largest
Malay-speaking congregation in the country - said it will not drop the
use of the word "Allah," even though Christians fear for their safety.

"Since our forefathers become Christians in the 1920s, we have been
using Allah even in our mother tongue," said Raut, who is from the
Lunbawang tribe in eastern Sarawak state.

Furthermore, how does one propose that its use be restricted to East
Malaysians only? What happens when they come to work in West Malaysia?
What about the thousands who are already in West Malaysia? What about
our existing West Malaysia Bahasa Malaysia churches? What happens when
an East Malaysian crosses over to Labuan (a Federal Territory) for the
weekend?

Some proponents of the "East Malaysia only" concept take it a step
further and suggest (to those of us in West Malaysia), "when in Rome,
do as the Romans do." The Malay equivalent is "Masuk kandang lembu,
menguak. Masuk kandang kambing mengembek" (When entering the cattle
pen, moo. When entering the goat pen, bleat). [That] Perhaps it is
time the new minority, moo and bleat with the majority.

Though debatable, the new political landscape has all the major
political parties, including the key partners of the Barisan, not
aligned with Caeser, on this issue.

4. The success of our National Language education policy

Since the introduction of the National Language policy, our emerging
generation has become more proficient in Bahasa Malaysia. And with the
continued emphasis, the next two generations can be expected to be not
only proficient but dependent on the Bahasa Malaysia as the lingua
franca in our nation.

Alongside the Allah contention, there are clear intentions to further
impose restrictions on other words like "Injil" (Gospel) and
"firman" (faith). (3)

So the logical question we all are asking is "how would this pan out?"

Any strategists will tell you that in winning the generational war,
ignore the "old diehards" and focus on the future generations.

Our grandchildren and great grand-children, will find themselves
reluctant to read Scriptures in a language they are less proficient
and also not be able to access the Alkitab, and also, perhaps be the
first generation who have never heard of "firman" and "Injil?"

I can understand the zeal of the government to Islamize the nation,
(4) but I pray that they can do so with honesty and integrity. "Bring
all to the table" and aim for the hearts. Malaysians will respect you
for that.

But no coercion, no bullying, no media misrepresentation, no
scrambling the minds of our children and no re-writing of Scriptures!

But I also pray that by the same token and in the true spirit of
religious freedom, the day will soon come, when others, if they so
desire be allowed to share their respective faiths with our Muslim
friends as is fully acceptable and permissible in Indonesia, the
largest Muslim country in the world.

Surely, Indonesia is a great example to us on what freedom of religion
is all about. Sharing one's faith with another should not be narrowly
interpreted as with 'intent to convert'. Understanding one another's
faith is surely an excellent way of promoting goodwill, peace and
harmony among the multi religious population in this lovely country of
ours.

Under the present circumstances, the many proposed "inter faith
dialogues" and formation of councils to facilitate such dialogues will
be nothing but a monologue, as the other faiths are "gagged" in the
name of the constitution.

5. Used by others as well

The Sikhs use "Allah" in their Scriptures. Do we stop them next?

What about Hindus, who also refer to one of their gods as "Allah?"

Rigveda is the most sacred scripture of the Hindus, and one of the
attributes given to God Almighty in Book no 2 Hymn no I verse II, is
'Ila' which if pronounced properly is the same as Allah. (5)

So it is not a Christian issue alone.

What the Christians are asked to do, the Sikhs and the Hindus will be
asked to do, eventually.

6. Constitutional right to "manage" our own religion

This right must include how we address our God.

Over enthusiastic bureaucrats, consequentially are interfering with
the worship & education of Christians - CDs have been confiscated,
Sunday School materials are held up by customs, besides the
confiscations of the Alkitab.

According to Prof. Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi (6), the Malaysian
Constitution provides that Islam is the religion of the federation.
But all other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony: Article
3(1).

In respect of religion, every person has the right to three things:

1. To profess
2. To practice
3. And, subject to Article 11(4), to propagate his religion: Article 11(1).

Every religious group has the right to:

1. Manage its own affairs
2. Establish and maintain institutions for religious purposes.
3. Acquire and own property and administer it: Article 11(3).
4. Establish and maintain institutions for religious education:
Article 12(2). (7)

Our constitutional right, to manage our own affairs, to practice
religion freely has been increasing under threat particularly over the
past two decades.

7. Dictating what should be in the Scriptures of a major religion in the
world

This suggestion that another word be used is perhaps "the biggest joke."

Whether one agrees or not about the word is not the main issue.

The basic issue, lest we forget the obvious, is that each and every
religious Scriptures is the sacred book - of Christians (including the
Kalibat and Lunbawang), the Sikhs and the Hindus.

We are not talking about some supplementary textbooks or a "pseudo
scripture" just written recently.

Are those who argue for a substitute word suggesting that all these
Holy Books be re-written to accommodate a few?

If it is suggested by adherents of the respective faiths, this could
perhaps be more acceptable. But when followers of one faith, suggest
(and insist) that believers of another faith, re-write their
Scriptures to pander to their"unsubstantiat ed convictions" then we are
not too far from the "height of arrogance."

I know Malaysia is "boleh-land" but this move to "force" the other
religious groups to rewrite their Scriptures is preposterous.

8. Prominent scholars of Islam and Muslim organizations have supported
the use of "Allah" by Christians

In Malaysiakini dated 13th Jan 2010, Constitutional Law expert Abdul
Aziz Bari contends that it is pretty clear that the use of Allah by
Christians has some basis in the Quran.

This is strengthened by the exposition of eminent scholars, including
Egyptian scholar Shaykh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi (Maal Hijrah award recipient
2009) who said that Christians, as part of the Abrahamic faiths
together with the Jews and Muslims, can use the word 'Allah'. (8)

Earlier on, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) on 4th Jan
2010, also issued a statement viz -

"With regards to actual and historical practices, Christian Arabs have
been using the word "Allah" to refer to God in their religious sources
since the inception of Islam, and have never been challenged by
private Muslims or Muslim governments on this ground. Islamic law is
clear that followers of the Christian faith have the right to practice
their religion according to their own religious teachings.

[Malaysia has long been a good example of Islamic tolerance and] We
call on the Malaysian government to uphold the religious freedom of
Christians and to let the court ruling stand. We also urge Muslim NGOs
to respect Islamic teachings and long-held Islamic traditions, and to
withdraw their opposition to the use of the word "Allah" by their
Christian compatriots. " (9)

We would like to hear from our government a more coherent and
intelligent response to these prominent voices than simply quote "this
is Malaysia."

9. Our State Anthems will take on a new meaning.

How does one sing the state anthems of Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Pahang,
Johor, Kelantan and Trengganu now, since there are references to
"Allah" in these songs, as it is now implied to refer to the Muslim
God only?

In schools, about 30 years ago, we were told we were singing to "God."
Now are our children to sing only to one particular God?

[See appendix below for list of affected State Anthems]

Unless, of course, one is liberal and don't mind singing to all gods
or any god or just the Muslim god.

10. We need to keep in mind that there was "good harmony" in the first
30 years after Merdeka, with freedom to use "Allah."

It never was an issue until enthusiastic politicians promulgated the
infamous ISA gazette in 1982, referring to the Alkitab as a document
"prejudicial to the national interest and security of the Federation."
The rest is history.

What an insult!

But the Christian community has always been a peace loving people. For
the sake of harmony, Christians engaged in closed door meetings in the
past, to negotiate "restricted use" of the word rather than to bring
it to the courts. And we were always assured by the government that we
could use our Alkitab.

But today, they are saying we cannot use the word and the various
government agencies started confiscating various Christian materials,
not just the Alkitab.

And the claim is we "used to accept it" - but that's because we have
been tricked into negotiating behind closed doors in the name of the
Malaysian culture of "talk and resolve quietly."

So because "nobody" heard from us, now they (even rulers) take
advantage and say, we accepted it all these while.

This is absolutely not true.

Christians have been moaning, complaining, objecting and writing to
the government for years.

Should we concede for the sake of peace alone?

Friends, perhaps the time of closed door meetings - where our views
are deliberately misrepresented (10) and compromised - where the
minority is always bullied and threatened into submission for the sake
of harmony and in the name of sensitivity, is over?

It is indeed sad, that after 52 years of independence, the country is
still not ready for mature dialogue, and is still struggling to hear
the voice of reason.

We disagree with this view, as the leaders of the Christian Federation
of Malaysia (CFM), the component members being the Roman Catholic, the
Council Churches of Malaysia and the National Evangelical Christian
Fellowship of Malaysia, have met on several occasions over the last
few years and have repeatedly affirmed the wishes of the Christians,
both in East and West Malaysia, ie we would not compromise on the use
of the word "Allah."

The dissenting voice is a very small minority and is obviously being
used to portray a misleading view.

I would urge all Christians to refer to the "Kuching Declaration"
dated Sept 1989, where the Roman Catholics, the CCM and the NECF came
together to formally adopt a united stand to use the word "Allah."

[See -
http://www.necf. org.my/newsmaste r.cfm?&action= view&menuid= 154&retrieveid= 976]

This is not a race issue, this is not a Malay supremacy issue, this is
not even a religious issue. And this is definitely not an East-West
Malaysia issue. (11)

Before us are simply constitutional and "human rights" issues, a call
to respect the spiritual convictions and Scriptures of other faiths.
This is simply a call to exercise common sense and to respect
boundaries - i.e. no rewriting Scriptures!

I hope and pray that the above facts and reasons would help Christians
understand that we are not insisting on using "Allah" to "irritate"
the "easily confused people" of the land.

We continue to pray for peace and seek a reasoned solution, so that
Malaysia can indeed shine as a land so affectionately known as "truly
Asia."

Appendix - State Anthems

Selangor
Duli Yang Maha Mulia
Selamat di atas takhta
Allah lanjutkan usia Tuanku
Rakyat mohon restu bawah Duli Tuanku
Bahagia selama-lamanya
Aman dan sentosa
Duli Yang Maha Mulia

Kedah
Allah selamatkan Sultan Mahkota
Berpanjangan usia diatas Takhta
Memelihara agama Nabi kita
Negeri Kedah serata-rata

Perak
Dilanjutkan Allah usianya Sultan
Adil dan murah memerintah watan
Ditaati rakyat kiri dan kanan
Iman yang soleh Allah kurniakan
Allah berkati Perak Ridzuan
Allah selamatkan Negeri dan Sultan.

Johor
Allah peliharakan Sultan
'Nugrahkan dia segala kehormatan
Sihat dan ria, kekal dan makmur
Luaskan kuasa, menaungkan kami
Rakyat dipimpini berzaman lagi
Dengan Merdeka bersatu hati
Allah berkati Johor
Allah selamatkan Sultan

Pahang
Ya Allah Yang Masa Kuasa,
Lanjutkan Usia Duli Yang Maha Mulia,
Dirgahayu, Darul Makmur,
Aman dan Bahagia Sentiasa,
Ya Allah Selamatkan Duli Tuanku Raja Kami

Trengganu
Allah daulatkan Tuanku Sultan,
Terengganu Darul Iman,
Allah peliharakan Tuanku Sultan,
Sejahtera sepanjang zaman,
Allah rahmatkan Tuanku Sultan,
Memerintah rakyat aman.

Kelantan
Lanjutka usia Al-Sultan kami
Sultan Kelantan raja ikrami
Aman sentosa Tuhan sirami
Kekal memerintah kami
Kasih dan taat setia disembahkan
Keriangan diucapkan
Segala kebesaran Allah cucurkan
Bertambah kemuliaan

Footnotes:

(1)
This article is in response to the many requests for clarification from
lay people in churches.

(2)
Hesham A. Hassaballa is a physician and writer living in Chicago.
He is co-author of The Beliefnet Guide to Islam (Doubleday).

http://www.middle- east-online. com/English/ ?id=36608

(3)
See the Pahang enactment

(4)
I believe every true and faithful follower will want to share their faith,
and Muslims are no exception.

(5)
Other references to use of Allah :

BOOK 2 - HYMN 1 Verse 11 - Thou, God, art Aditi to him who offers gifts:
thou, Hotra, Bharati, art strengthened by the song.

Thou art the hundred-wintered I?a to give strength, Lord of Wealth!

V?tra-slayer and Sarasvati.

BOOK 3 - HYMN XXIII Verse 4 He set thee in the earth's most lovely
station, in I?a's place, in days of fair bright weather.

On man, on Apaya, Agni! on the rivers D??advati, Sarasvati, shine richly.

(6)
Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi is a Malaysian Senior
Professor of law who has served Universiti Teknologi MARA in Shah Alam,
Selangor in various capacities from 1971 onwards. He served as the Head of
the Diploma in Law program (1979 - 1984), as Assistant Rector (1996-1999),
Assistant Vice Chancellor

(1999 - 2001) and Legal Advisor (1996 - 2006).

He has also served on the faculties of law at the International
Islamic University Malaysia, part time at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and
a visiting professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia

(7)
The Federal Constitution and the Social Contract by Prof. Dr. Shad
Saleem Faruqi -
http://74.125. 153.132/search? q=cache:VoCPy4Nb 85sJ:cpps. org.my/resource_ centre/Prof. %2520
Dr.%2520Shad% 2520Saleem% 2520Faruqi. ppt+Malaysia+ constitutional+ Article+11& cd
=7&hl=en
&ct=clnk&gl= my&client= firefox-a

(8)
http://national- express-malaysia .blogspot. com/2010/ 01/allah- decree-does- sultan-have-
power.html

(9)
http://www.isna. net/articles/ News/ISNA- Commends- Malaysian- Court-Ruling-
that-Affirms- Religious- Freedom-of- Christians. aspx

(10)
Muhyiddin said he had been receiving quite a number of messages from
non-Muslim friends in Sabah and Sarawak who said there were Christians
who felt that things would not have happened in the first place - if we,
the Christians, would just not use the word 'Allah' - Bernama 14th
Jan 2010

(11)
Just because a few Christians in West or East Malaysia, don't understand
the issue and voice their ignorance, this does not mean the whole of West
or the whole of the East Malaysian communities are against the use of the
word. We need to be aware of the sinister aims to make both the West and
East Malaysian Christians misunderstand each other. By all means, "share"
and educate each other. But beware of answering and correcting in the cyber
space and give the impression, that the West or the East Malaysian
Christians
are ignorant, naïve or disunited - we would not want to fall prey to the
schemes
of the "dark side." The "Kuching Declaration" clearly shows the Christians
in both West and East Malaysia are united. And today, we remain resolute and
unyielding in our stand.

-00000-

HartalMSM: Please note the Prime Minister attended and officiated
the opening of an UPKO convention on 8th November 2009 during which a
speech by the UPKO president clearly outlined the concerns of the christian
bumiputras in East Malaysia.

Read the news report by Herald Malaysia Online (here).
http://go2.wordpres s.com/?id= 725X1342& site=hartalmsm. wordpress. com&url=http% 3A%2F%2Fwww. heraldmalaysia. com%2Fnews% 2Fstorydetails. php%2FDaring- speech-by- Tan-Sri-Bernard- Dompok%2F3346- 2-1
____

Daring speech by Tan Sri Bernard Dompok
Published On November 20 , 2009
http://www.heraldma laysia.com/ news/storydetail s.php/Daring- speech-by-
Tan-Sri-Bernard- Dompok/3346- 2-1

Are You Happy???

Hello Kitty: The Funny, The Weird, And The Horrifying

Source: Hello Kitty: The Funny, The Weird, And The Horrifying

Thanks to the marketing skills of Japanese company Sanrio, Hello Kitty’s cute-cat character has been going strong for 35 years and has become an internationally-recognized brand. One of the most diverse and unpredictable places in the entire universe, the world of Hello Kitty encompasses a vast collection of strange products that dazzle the mind and serve as material for an extensive list of noteworthy weirdness.

Since there are thousands of Hello Kitty products in just about every category imaginable, it’s difficult to find the weirdest of the weird. Furthermore, many Hello Kitty pictures floating around the Internet are actually photoshopped fakes, so it takes some time to figure out what’s real and what’s not.

Still, I managed to scrape together this list of examples that appear to be legitimate products. So, hold on to your seats and get ready to be entertained, disturbed, and maybe even sexually abused by one of the world’s most famous felines!

Guns.
Did you think Hello Kitty was too cute for violence? Think again, because with a little effort you could be the proud owner of an assault rifle just like this one.

Anti-virus programs.
Looks like the Hello Kitty brand has been exploited to market someone’s anti-virus program. Personally, I wouldn’t trust my computer’s health and well-being with something like this.

Condoms.
After researching and writing an article about weird Asian condoms, I can’t believe I missed this one. I mean, it’s so natural to expect Hello Kitty on a condom package, right?

Condom holders.
Buy yourself one of those Hello Kitty condoms, and you’ll probably have to spring for one of these lovely condom holders as well.

Tooth caps.
Any votes for this precious little innovation of orthodontics? Why yes thank you, I’d simply love to have Hello Kitty’s face implanted permanently in my mouth!

Urinal targets.
I am not making this up. Even if you’re a Hello Kitty fan, why would this be appealing? On the other hand, if you don’t care too much for her, the whole experience of relieving yourself could be very gratifying.

Toilet seats.
Girls, please don’t feel left out after seeing that last product. To guarantee your complete urination experience, Hello Kitty also adorns toilet seats.

Electronic toilet paper dispensers.
Here’s yet another one for the bathroom. Talk about an invasion of privacy. Is there nowhere Hello Kitty won’t go? (For those of you who are wondering, yes, Hello Kitty toilet paper is also available.)

Sausage links.
This is just bizarre. Who really wants to see that dancing around on their meat tubes?

Jets.
Taiwanese Eva Air has a Hello Kitty airplane that flies between Taiwan and Japan. The interior decoration is Hello Kitty-themed, of course.

Contacts.
This is similar to those creepy cat-eye contacts people wear during the Halloween season. Although these don’t grab your attention as quickly, once you realize what’s going on, it’s pretty strange.

Wedding dresses.
You’ve got to have a serious crush on Hello Kitty to get married in one of these. What do you think, guys? Sexy, or maybe not so much?

Fake fingernails.
Put these on and spread the Hello Kitty love to everyone around you. It’s like the famous Midas touch, except nothing turns into gold. Instead, people just stare at you with undisguised perplexity.

Bongs.
If I’m reading the right sources, this is apparently a Hello Kitty coin bank that has been modified for smoking pot. As far as I know, it’s not technically a real product, but hey, it’s pretty hilarious!

Tampons and pads.
Is there a “bodily fluids” theme going on here, or am I just crazy? Boldly going where few cartoon characters dare to go, Hello Kitty.

Douches.
Someone please tell me this is a fake, or just go ahead and kill me right now. I have no idea why something like Hello Kitty should ever be associated with douches.

Vibrators.
Let’s not get into the details here, but you really have to be in love with Hello Kitty to want this one. Also available in black, red, and lavender.

Floggers.
Okay, maybe the vibrators can be tolerated. But floggers? Please excuse me for a moment while I stare in utter horror at my computer screen. I think I’ve finally reached a point where words no longer serve any purpose whatsoever.

House.
What better way to store all your weird and crazy Hello Kitty stuff, than in your Hello Kitty House…

A few of our Twitter followers had the following to share as well:

Becks Beer
Thanks to @Munkitude for this one.

Corsets
Thanks to @rabelrouser for this one.

So there you have it. Welcome to the weird world of Hello Kitty!

(links 1 2 3)

By Brandt on 14-09-2009

SEC bungled Madoff probes, agency watchdog says

SEC badly bungled probes of Madoff scheme, agency watchdog says -- incompetence, not corruption

• By Marcy Gordon, AP Business Writer
• On Wednesday September 2, 2009, 9:34 pm EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pushing past years of "red flags," investigators at the Securities and Exchange Commission bungled their probes of Bernard Madoff so badly that his multibillion-dollar fraud not only flourished but he used the exams to suck in new investors, an agency watchdog declared Wednesday.

The report by the SEC inspector general shows that no smoking gun of corruption was found in the agency's conduct toward the disgraced financier. Instead it painted a grim picture of an agency hobbled by incompetence -- failing to pursue the most obvious leads -- that cleared the way for Madoff to continue what could be the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history for more than a decade.

One of the most striking points in the report is that the investigations actually may have made things worse.

"Madoff proactively informed potential investors that the SEC had examined his operations" and found nothing amiss, it says. The fact that three SEC inspections and two investigations failed to detect the fraud gave credibility to Madoff's operations and encouraged more people to give him their money.

The report by inspector general David Kotz cites no evidence of improper ties between agency officials and Madoff, nor of senior SEC officials trying to influence the agency's probes of his business. Speculation had raged in December, when Madoff confessed to the scheme, that the financier's influence and ties to the SEC as a prominent Wall Street figure had prompted agency officials to pull their punches in investigations of his business.

The SEC enforcement staff "almost immediately caught (him) in lies and misrepresentations but failed to follow up on inconsistencies" and rejected whistleblowers' offers to provide additional evidence, the report says.

"The fact that for 16 years (the SEC) had on blinders and earmuffs is mind-numbing," said Jacob Frenkel, a former SEC enforcement attorney and federal prosecutor now in private law practice.

Four high-ranking SEC officials who were lambasted over the Madoff affair at a congressional hearing in February -- including the enforcement director and the head of the inspections office -- have left the agency.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, appointed by President Barack Obama, took the helm in January. Enforcement efforts have been strengthened, and the agency has started a number of initiatives meant to protect investors in the wake of the financial crisis, officials say.

Madoff, who pleaded guilty in March, has begun serving a 150-year sentence in federal prison in North Carolina for a pyramid scheme that destroyed thousands of people's life savings, wrecked charities and gave the financial system yet another big jolt. The legions of investors who lost money included Hollywood celebrities, ordinary people and famous names in business and sports -- as well as big hedge funds, international banks and charitable foundations worldwide.

Revelations in December of the SEC's failure to uncover Madoff's massive scheme over more than a decade touched off one of the most painful scandals in the agency's 75-year history.

The inspector general plans to issue separate audits that will include recommendations for changes in the agency's enforcement and inspection operations.

His report "makes clear that the agency missed numerous opportunities to discover the fraud," new chairman Schapiro said in a statement. "It is a failure that we continue to regret, and one that has led us to reform in many ways how we regulate markets and protect investors."

Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said the panel has scheduled a hearing for Sept. 10 on Kotz's report, at which the inspector general is expected to testify. The testimony will "guide us as we continue our work on a bill to modernize financial regulations," Dodd said.

Between June 1992 and last December, the SEC received six "substantive complaints that raised significant red flags" regarding Madoff's operations. But "a thorough and competent investigation or examination was never performed," the Kotz's report says.

For example, Harry Markopolos, a fraud investigator who had worked in the securities industry, brought his allegations to the SEC about improprieties in Madoff's business starting in 2000 after determining there was no way Madoff could have been making the consistent returns he claimed. Markopolos and his investigators raised 29 specific warnings regarding Madoff's operations to SEC staff members in Boston, New York and Washington.

The agency also received complaints from a number of other sources, all containing specific information that called for a thorough examination of Madoff's business, the report says.

Many of the SEC staff members who conducted the investigations were "inexperienced," according to the report.

It cites examinations of Madoff's business done in 2004 and 2005 by the agency's inspections office. In both exams, the staff "made the surprising discovery" that Madoff's mysterious investment business was making far more money than his well-known wholesale brokerage operation. "However, no one identified this revelation as a cause for concern," the report says.

Madoff himself, who was once chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market and had sat on SEC advisory committees, had boasted of his ties to the agency.

The inspector general's investigation found no evidence, though, that any SEC staff who worked on the exams or investigations of Madoff's business had financial or other improper connections with him that influenced the probes.

The disclosure in December of the agency's failure in the Madoff affair, coming after the financial crisis struck last fall, buttressed the mounting criticism from lawmakers and investor advocates that Wall Street and regulators in Washington had grown too close.

Christopher Cox, then the SEC chairman, responded by delivering a stunning rebuke to his own career staff, blaming them for the failure to uncover Madoff's wrongdoing. Cox's critics said targeting the staff was his attempt to salvage his own reputation.

Invasion of the botnets: Cyberattacks on the rise

Invasion of the botnets: Cyberattacks on the rise

The types of cyberattacks aren't new, but the speed and number of them are on the rise

• By William Jackson
• Aug 28, 2009

For the past year, the cyber threat landscape has been dominated not by new vulnerabilities and exploits so much as by the sheer number of attacks against information technology systems and the growing professionalization of the bad guys behind them.

---

In this report:

New threats emerge from once-trusted protocols and services

---

“The sexiness of the threat has not increased,” said one industry observer who met with a multiagency task force on intrusion. “But the exposure in terms of the number of exploits is growing exponentially.”

The numbers are sobering.

“Malware is at the highest point we’ve ever seen it,” said Dave Marcus, director of security research at McAfee Avert Labs. “2008 was the biggest year so far. The first half of 2009 has eclipsed all of 2008,” with 8,000 new variants appearing each day. “It’s easier to create new malware than ever before.”

Symantec reports similar activity. The company created 1.6 million new threat signatures in 2008, or about one new signature every 20 seconds. It has created 2 million signatures in the first half of this year, or about one every eight seconds.

The most visible results of this epidemic of malware are the periodic distributed denial-of-service attacks that generate a lot of attention. The most high-profile recent example was the July 4 outbreak that apparently originated in North Korea and targeted government and commercial Web sites in the United States and South Korea. Smaller outbreaks have targeted popular social-networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook.

Such attacks have become a part of online life, observers say. Because of the prevalence of denial-of-service attacks and the volume of transactions now conducted online, some experts rate the attacks as a greater threat than compromises inside a system that can be used for the remote execution of malicious code or theft of information. But most experts agree that in the long run, a successful exploit that executes code inside a system is more likely to do significant damage.

“I see them happening more and more,” George Schu, vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton, said of denial-of-service attacks. “But in general, they aren’t a very serious problem.”

Denial-of-service attacks can disrupt business and online availability of resources but do little or no long-term damage. Organizations need to be prepared to identify and recover from such attacks, but in the end, “you still are going to be attacked,” Schu said.

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer of Finjan, agrees. “There is nothing much you can do about it,” he said.

One difficulty in responding to online attacks, whether they are denials of service or intrusions, is determining their source. Because botnets that launch denial-of-service attacks can be global, the immediate source of the malicious traffic offers little information about the ultimate source of the attack or its motive. Last month’s so-called North Korean attacks appear to have been controlled from a server in the United Kingdom. Reports of infiltrations of U.S. government and power grid systems by Chinese hackers also could be only speculation.

“Just because it is located in China doesn’t mean that a Chinese [person] is behind it,” said Patrick Peterson, a Cisco fellow and security researcher.

Although denial-of-service attacks can be mitigated, the availability of large-scale botnets — global networks of compromised computers under remote control — as a platform for delivering the malicious traffic makes the attacks difficult if not impossible to prevent. It’s hard to say just how big botnets are. McAfee reports as many as 3 million to 4 million new infections a month, but the lifespan of a botnet can be short, sometimes only a day or two before an infection is discovered and removed. However, some machines also are reinfected regularly.

“You have to be updating and scanning regularly” to avoid becoming part of a botnet, Marcus said.

The spread of malware

These highly distributed malicious networks are created and kept available by the proliferation of malware to infect computers and recruit more zombies.

“The explosion of new malware variants is what keeps me up at night,” said Zulfikar Ramzan, technical director of Symantec Security Response.

Attackers are getting around signature-based anti-malware tools by changing the code just enough to sneak it past the filters. Not every variant works, but enough of them are successful to keep signature writers busy.

“The model is shifting from a massive distribution of a few threats to the microdistribution of a large number of different threats,” Ramzan said. “There can be a unique variant of a threat for every person who downloads it.”

This mass production of variants is being enabled by automated tools and services available to hackers and criminals, a commercialization of malware that Peterson calls “infection as a service.”

“Capitalism is a big motivator,” Peterson said. “A lot of the things they do, they need to do at scale. Twelve or 24 months ago, a lot of criminals were doing everything themselves.”

Underground developers now are specializing in providing professional tools and services to their community at a profit, such as online services with a tool to run new malware variants against the most popular antivirus engines to identify ones that can make it through undetected.

“What we’re seeing is that there is a lot of collaboration going on in the development of malicious code,” said Eddie Schwartz, chief security officer of NetWitness. Collaboration and specialization facilitate the rapid production of designer malware that can target specific groups, types of systems and data.

Growing specialization coupled with the persistence of known vulnerabilities in IT infrastructure is a dangerous combination. Old vulnerabilities persist partially because the infrastructure and user base are so large and complex. For example, old versions of software and hardware are unlikely to be completely replaced over any short period of time and are so embedded that they often are overlooked in patching, Schwartz said.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to get to the point where we can throw out certain vulnerabilities,” he said. That base of vulnerabilities, coupled with more sophisticated exploit delivery tools, “enables malware writers to throw the kitchen sink at people.”

The ability to throw multiple exploits against a system is another growing threat. Automated toolkits allow attackers to bundle exploits in a single package so that a computer or system can be searched for many vulnerabilities. Often, a successful cyberattack does not require a zero-day exploit, just a toolkit of tried-and-true exploits. The attacker needs to find only one unpatched flaw in the system to take advantage of.

Turning pro

Exploits and attacks are becoming not only more automated but also more professional, said Roger Thornton, chief technology officer of Fortify Software. The most serious attacks can go unnoticed because they are difficult to detect.

“Some of the attacks are brilliant in finding a system and compromising it,” Thornton said. “But the system wasn’t even the target.” The compromised system is used to plant code somewhere else in the network, where it gathers data and then leaves while covering its tracks. “Man, these guys are good,” he said.

Bad guys also are getting better at defense, he said. The wide-spreading Conficker worm uses cryptography to protect its command and control communications. When weaknesses were found in a hashing algorithm used by Conficker, it was upgraded to a new algorithm.

“They fix security vulnerabilities,” Thornton said. “These adversaries are doing security better than us.”

Compromised computers also can provide computing power and bases of operation for the criminals controlling them. Thornton described one case in which a financial services company was infected.

“The hackers had uploaded much more data than they had downloaded,” he said. It appeared that the objective had been to upload stolen credit card numbers. The hackers then used this database of numbers to test personal identification numbers used to validate them for transactions.

Trying to find the four-digit PIN for a given card could take 10,000 tries, which would be time-consuming and would tip off the service validating the card after too many repeated failures. But testing one PIN against a database of hundreds of thousands of card numbers is almost certain to be successful. This method creates no suspicious number of failed attempts on any one card, and the traffic it generated was not noticed on the company’s network.

The criminals also covered their tracks well, Thornton said. “All of their logs were encrypted, and encrypted well. There were no artifacts left behind.”

Targeting social media

Another threat trend is the speed with which these rapidly evolving tools are used against new targets, especially social-networking sites. One example is the widely used Twitter microblogging service. Within a month of its appearance, phishers were targeting Twitter, Marcus said.

“I don’t remember anything else that was attacked that quickly,” he said.

Twitter is not alone. Popular networking services, such as Facebook and the YouTube video service, often face attacks that attempt to use them as vectors for delivering malware. They also are subjects of phishing attacks that lure users into visiting inappropriate sites and surrendering personal information.

Despite the innovations, the attacks being delivered through these new sites are often the same types that most people have learned to avoid in e-mail. “A lot of the new technology tends to get exploited in all the old tried-and-true ways,” Marcus said. “Whatever the new technology is, you are probably going to see spam, phishing and password stealing.”

The nature of social networking helps to enable the use of social engineering in malicious attacks, Symantec’s Ramzan said. Social engineering involves crafting an attack with specific information to calm a victim’s fears and convince him or her that a communication is genuine.

“The idea of social engineering has been around for years,” he said. “But with social-networking sites, information that used to be private is now public, so it can make it easier for attackers to inject social context into an attack.”

All of which means that administrators and users need to constantly re-evaluate how they defend their systems, experts say. People need to be as suspicious of tweets and videos as they are of e-mails, and administrators need to think offensively and understand the attacks being used against them when protecting their systems.

Security vendors also need to constantly upgrade their tools and products. For some time, static defenses, such as firewalls and signature-based antivirus and intrusion detection, have been inadequate by themselves. Ben-Itzhak, whose company does content analysis, said real-time content analysis is the critical to defending systems. Organizations should scan incoming code to determine its intent before it is allowed in.

“You can read the code like a book and see what it does,” he said.

Vendors of traditional signature-based tools such as Symantec and McAfee are adding new tools to their products because the rapid proliferation of malware is making signatures inadequate. They are using heuristic and behavior-based detection in addition to signatures and are moving to reputation-based security by monitoring suspect traffic on millions of machines to determine the sources of malicious traffic that should be blocked.

However, no one recommends doing away with signature-based defenses. Because so many known exploits still work and are in circulation, antivirus companies update their signature files as quickly as possible to provide an efficient first line of defense.

“These kinds of threats are still best handled by signatures,” Ramzan said.

No matter how good tools get at warding off the wave of rapidly morphing malware, they are not likely to remain adequate for long.

“In a year or two years from now, there will be another way to attack that will get around these,” Ben-Itzhak said. “Security is dynamic.”

About the Author

William Jackson is a senior writer for GCN.

New threats emerge from once-trusted protocols and services

New threats emerge from once-trusted protocols and services

Vulnerabilities in services such as DNS and SSL open new avenues of attack

• By William Jackson
• Aug 28, 2009

The rapid morphing and bundling of exploits for known vulnerabilities could be the biggest concern for security experts, but that doesn’t mean that new threats are not emerging. Two of the most troubling are in the Domain Name System and Secure Sockets Layer, services users have trusted for years.

---

In this report:

Invasion of the botnets: Cyberattacks on the rise

---

A zero-day exploit emerged last month for a vulnerability in one of the most commonly used DNS servers, forcing many users to update the software that helps to direct Internet traffic.

“Pretty much any BIND 9 server can be brought down with this script,” said Branko Miskov, product manager director at BlueCat Networks. “Our development team was quite surprised at how simple this was.”

Also last month, researchers demonstrated exploits using fraudulent X.509 certificates against SSL, the Web protocol for securing sessions between servers and clients. SSL is an almost transparent scheme that underlies many financial and other secure transactions via the Internet.

“That was a system that worked very well and has given us a sense of security for years,” said Booz Allen Hamilton Vice President George Schu. Recent developments “indicate that these guys are getting really clever and looking for new ways to do harm.”

DNS is a protocol for associating domain names, such as gcn.com, with the numerical IP addresses that are used to direct Internet traffic. DNS underlies almost all Internet activity. BIND — originally the Berkeley Internet Name Domain — is a widely used open-source DNS software that likely is being used on more than half of the world’s public DNS servers. The Internet Systems Consortium, which maintains BIND, announced in July that an exploit already was in wide circulation for a vulnerability, which can cause servers running release 9 of the software to crash.

According to ISC, when most versions of BIND 9 — the current release of the software — are configured as a master server, the receipt of a specially crafted dynamic update message can cause the server to crash. “Testing indicates that the attack packet has to be formulated against a zone for which that machine is a master,” ISC’s alert states. “Launching the attack against slave zones does not trigger” the crash. “This vulnerability affects all servers that are masters for one or more zones — it is not limited to those that are configured to allow dynamic updates.”

In many ways, crashing a DNS server is a less serious attack than cache poisoning, which can redirect traffic to malicious sites. A flaw in the DNS protocols that could allow cache poisoning was announced last summer.

However, the current BIND flaw is serious because it is easy to exploit. ISC rated this vulnerability at high severity, largely because of the existence of a zero-day exploit. The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Vulnerability Database rates it at medium severity, with a low rating for its impact but a high rating for its exploitability.

Problems with the X.509 digital certificate standard were discussed by two researchers at last month’s Black Hat Briefings. Because the X.509 standard is not specific enough and vendors implement it differently in their products, it is possible to fool Web browsers and other clients into accepting certificates that are invalid or are not for the server to which the client is being directed. In separate presentations at the computer security conference, Dan Kaminsky, director of penetration testing at IOActive, and hacker and yachtsman Moxie Marlinspike, of Thoughtcrime.org, demonstrated similar exploits against SSL.

Kaminsky has been working with vendors who implement the technology, such as Open SSL, Netscape and Microsoft, to patch the problems until a more permanent solution can be put into place. He would like to see X.509 replaced with a scheme built on a Domain Name System using the DNS Security Extensions.

Mozilla already has incorporated the fix in Version 3.5 of its Firefox browser.

About the Author

William Jackson is a senior writer for GCN.

Uncouth Facebook postings closing doors for job candidates

Source: Uncouth Facebook postings closing doors for job candidates

More employers than ever are researching job candidates on sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter in order to find out more about their activities and character. And, it turns out, many candidates are doing a great job of showing their potential bosses poor communication skills, inappropriate pictures, and even how many workplace secrets they can leak.

By Jacqui Cheng | Last updated August 20, 2009 3:02 PM CT

Some of us had the luck of doing stupid things online before most employers knew what social networking was. (I'll admit it: in my early working days, I said some not-nice things online about some of the people I worked with.) These days, however, those looking for jobs have had many years to build up an unsavory history across the Internet, and employers now know how to do their homework. In fact, nearly half of the employers in the US now search for job candidates on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, according to survey results from CareerBuilder. The job-finding firm said that the numbers reflect a twofold increase over those who reported doing so in last year—45 percent in 2009 versus 22 percent in 2008—and cautioned that many employers choose not to hire based on information they find online.

Facebook was the most popular site for researching job candidates this year—no surprise there, since Facebook has exploded in popularity as of late. "Professional" networking site LinkedIn came in second at 26 percent, MySpace came in third at 21 percent, 11 percent read blogs, and seven percent followed candidates' updates on Twitter. Paranoid yet about any of your recent tweets?

If you're looking for a job, you probably should be. More than a third of survey respondents said that they found info that caused them not to hire the person applying for the job, including "provocative or inappropriate photographs," content related to drinking or using drugs, and finding postings that badmouthed previous employers, coworkers, or clients. Other candidates showed poor communication skills on their social networking profiles, made discriminatory comments, lied about their qualifications, or shared confidential information from a previous employer. The one that made us cringe? "16 percent dismissed a candidate for using text language such as GR8 (great) in an e-mail or job application."

On the other hand, some candidates are doing a good job of presenting their professional side when posting online. Half of those who screened candidates via their social networking profiles said that they got a good feel for the person's personality and fit within the organization. Other employers said that they found the profiles supported the candidates' professional qualifications or that they discovered how creative the candidate was. Solid communication skills, evidence of well-roundedness, and other people's good references (we assume this one came from LinkedIn) helped boost people's credentials, too.

For most of us, it seems like common sense not to talk trash on your Facebook wall or post drunk pictures where potential employers can see them, but people are still catching up to the idea that their future bosses are on the same sites as they are. Anecdotally, I have worked at many an office that has casually looked up interns and new employees online, only to find sides of them that were less than flattering (one intern publicly declared that our company's parent company could "f-ing suck it!" immediately after we offered her the job).

Some may argue that employers shouldn't use information they found through a little bit of online stalking (something we've heard in our forums)—after all, what someone does after hours is his or her own business. At the same time, it's hard to deny that discovering truly alarming information—such as leaked workplace secrets—would be good cause for choosing another candidate. These days, everyone hunting for a job needs to exercise some judgment on what to post online and who they let access it if they want to stay in future employers' good graces.

Definition of "MISTAKE "

MISTAKE

What they actually mean

If a barber makes a mistake,
It's a

New Style

If a driver makes a mistake,
It is a

New path

If a engineer makes a mistake,
It is a

New Venture

If parents makes a mistake,
It is a

New Generation

If a politician makes a mistake,
It is a

New Law


If a scientist makes a mistake,
It is a

New Invention

If a tailor makes a mistake,
It is a

New Fashion

If a teacher makes a mistake ,
It is a

New Theory

If our boss makes a mistake,
It is a

New idea

If an employee makes a mistake,
It is a
'Mistake'

long piak! (a.k.a. banging against the wall)

10 Safety Hazards You Should Check Your Car for -- Now

10 Commonly Overlooked Auto Safety Issues

by Bobbi Dempsey
Wednesday, July 1, 2009provided by

As the weather gets nicer, people tend to spend more time in their cars and start to plan road trips or family getaways. You may have already done the routine springtime vehicle maintenance tasks, such as removing the snow tires. Perhaps you've even waxed the car thoroughly, replacing that grimy sludge and salt of winter with a glossy shine.

However, you may not necessarily be ready to hit the road just yet: You may be overlooking important safety issues. These issues can be costly -- not to mention dangerous -- if you don't take care of them immediately.

Here are our top 10 overlooked auto safety issues:

Missing air bags. A new report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, finds that nearly one in five fatal accidents involves cars with missing air bags. This is something that should concern anyone who has bought a previously owned car. Don't assume you're in the clear just because there are no signs of crash-related damage or repair work -- air bags can deploy as a result of low-speed collisions that may cause little or no damage. Check the vehicle's history using a service such as Carfax, or ask your mechanic to check for signs of prior air-bag deployment.

Compromised bumpers. If you've had any type of bump or collision, including a minor fender bender, or if you own a used car with an unknown past, this may be a concern. Even if bumpers look fine, they may not be OK. Joe Wiesenfelder, senior editor of Cars.com, says, "If your car has been rear-ended lightly or the bumpers were otherwise struck, have a mechanic or body shop check it out. Nowadays, most bumpers use a dense foam material to absorb impact, but they only work once. Even if they show no signs from the outside, the underlying structure may be compressed, which means the next mishap could cause greater injury and/or damage than the first one did."

Damaged or rusted brake lines. Brake lines can be vulnerable to rust and breakage. This is especially true if you live in an area with rough winters -- many of the chemicals used to treat roads contain corrosive chemicals that can damage brake lines. Unlike some other brake problems, damaged brake lines don't give telltale signs such as squealing or grinding. When checking your brake lines, look for puddles of leaking brake fluid. If you spot any holes or signs of rust damage, chances are there are other weak points, so it's probably best to replace the entire brake line.

"I would recommend a complete underbody inspection," says Marcus Simmons, president of the Motown Automotive Professionals nonprofit, a group that trains high school students for auto repair. "You want to be sure that the winter snow and ice have not caused any damage."

But this isn't just a winter problem. Brake lines and other undercar parts can rust or crack from exposure to rain or damp conditions, such as wet grass. Ask your mechanic about new types of brake lines that are said to be more resistant to chemicals and the elements.

Damaged headlight lenses. This can reduce your visibility, creating a hazard when you are driving at night or in bad weather. "Scars and scratches on plastic headlight lenses can be caused by slush, road salt, stones, etc.," says John Voelcker, a frequent contributor on auto topics for major magazines and a blogger on GreenCarReports.com. "Check for gouges, cracks or moisture inside the headlight that would indicate the seal has failed, which can make your light less bright and shorten the life of that (expensive) bulb inside."

Steering and suspension problems. Like brake lines, these parts are susceptible to corrosion and weather-related damage. Carchex spokesman and "MotorWeek" co-host Pat Goss says, "Make sure to check critical steering and suspension parts because harmful winter chemicals can migrate past seals and cause damage. Rough, pothole-ridden roads don't help, either."

Dying or damaged batteries. Seasonal changes can be a death sentence for weak batteries. Goss says, "Lots of drivers are conscious of checking car batteries in the fall, but it's also important to check them in the spring because any temperature extreme can push a weak battery over the edge."

Animal damage. During the winter, animals like to seek shelter from the elements, and you might be surprised to learn that the engine area of your car is a pretty inviting place. If your car has been sitting for an extended period of time, animals may have been hiding or nesting there for quite a while, without you even realizing it. Squirrels are the most common culprits, but any type of animal can cause problems. Look for stashes of leaves, twigs or nuts under your hood or near your car. This might be a red flag that animals have set up a winter home near your engine. If you discover this, you need to examine the wiring, hoses and other engine parts for signs of chewing or other animal damage.

Underinflated tires. Tires that aren't properly inflated are prone to blowouts and can also make the car harder to control. "Properly inflated tires can help improve gas mileage by 3 (percent) to 4 percent," says Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood.

Wiesenfelder agrees. "Tires can be underinflated even though they look fine, so be sure to check the pressure regularly. The recommended tire pressure will be listed on the driver's doorjamb, not on the tire itself. The tire pressure listed on the tire is (the) maximum pressure the tire can hold, not (the) recommended pressure. Be sure to follow the recommended pressure and to check the tires when cold," he says.

Cooling system problems. Unlike the air-conditioning system, which is mainly designed for passenger comfort, the cooling system is responsible for keeping your car's engine cool. That's important because an overheated engine can leave you stranded on the side of the road. "A properly functioning cooling system is critical to engine operation," says a Subaru of America spokesman. "It is recommended that the cooling system and hose connections be checked frequently for leaks, damage or loose connections."

Damaged drive belts/serpentine belts. These are parts you tend to forget about -- until they get your attention in a big way. "If the belt snaps, you could lose power steering, which results in a hard-to-steer vehicle; a water pump, resulting in overheating; or a nonfunctioning alternator that could stall the engine," says Wiesenfelder. "Have the belts inspected at the recommended intervals. When you go in for an oil change, the technician will typically look at these anyway, but be sure they are checked, especially on higher-mileage vehicles."

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source: 10 Safety Hazards You Should Check Your Car for -- Now