Isu tudung: Turki bakal bergolak

ANKARA 7 Jun – Parti memerintah Turki yang mengadakan mesyuarat tergempar semalam menolak keputusan Mahkamah Perlembagaan yang membatalkan undang-undang membenarkan pemakaian tudung di universiti.

Mahkamah Perlembagaan pada Khamis lalu membatalkan undang-undang yang diluluskan oleh Parti Pembangunan dan Keadilan (AKP) bagi membenarkan pemakaian tudung di universiti dengan alasan ia bertentangan dengan sistem sekular negara.

Naib Presiden AKP, Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat berkata, keputusan mahkamah itu ‘mencabul’ pemisahan kuasa apabila mengetepikan undi majoriti di Parlimen yang meluluskan undang-undang itu.

“Keputusan ini akan mencetuskan debat berpanjangan,” katanya selepas mesyuarat parti memerintah selama enam jam.

Ekoran keputusan mahkamah itu, Perdana Menteri Recep Tayyip Eerdogan telah memendekkan lawatannya ke Istanbul dan kembali ke Ankara bagi mempengerusikan mesyuarat tersebut.

Menurut Dengir, Recep akan memberi taklimat kepada Ahli Parlimen AKP berhubung isu itu pada Selasa ini.

Recep turut membatalkan lawatan ke Switzerland untuk menyaksikan perlawanan pertama Turki menentang Portugal pada Euro 2008.

Menggunakan alasan AKP meluluskan undang-undang tersebut, Ketua Pendakwa Raya Turki telah meminta Mahkamah Perlembagaan pada Mac lalu mengharamkan parti berkenaan kerana cuba memperkenalkan pentadbiran Islam.

Laporan media menyatakan sebahagian anggota parti mahukan Recep membubarkan Parlimen bagi mengadakan pilihan raya mengejut berikutan keputusan mahkamah itu.

Keputusan mahkamah itu juga menjadi ancaman kerana ia menguatkan kedudukan pendakwa raya yang berhasrat mengharamkan AKP dan melarang 71 pegawai parti termasuk Recep dan Presiden Abdullah Gul daripada terbabit dalam politik.

Keputusan pembatalan AKP dan larangan tersebut dijangka ditentukan tahun ini.

“Disebabkan mahkamah melihat pindaan membabitkan tudung melanggar prinsip asas republik, ia akan memberikan hukuman teruk kepada parti yang bertanggungjawab memperkenalkan undang-undang itu.

“Keputusan untuk mengharamkan AKP tidak dapat dielak,” ulas akhbar harian Vatan.

– AFP

Obama meets privately with Clinton

Friday June 6, 2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Likely U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama met privately with former rival Hillary Clinton on Thursday night, an Obama campaign spokesman said.

"They did meet tonight," Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director, told reporters in response to media reports about the session.

US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) waves beside fellow candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) before the Democratic Presidential Debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia April 16, 2008. (REUTERS/Jae C. Hong/Pool)

Gibbs said reports they met at Clinton's home in Washington were incorrect. He declined to disclose the location or details of what they discussed.

He spoke on the Obama campaign plane traveling to Chicago. Obama had been scheduled to fly back to that city on Thursday evening after a rally in northern Virginia but stayed behind for the meeting with Clinton, shedding his campaign plane and the traveling press corps.

CNN reported the Obama-Clinton session was "a small meeting" with perhaps just the two senators and a few aides in attendance.

The New York Times said the meeting with Obama was initiated by Clinton after a daylong series of talks between their aides.

There is intense speculation Obama might pick Clinton as his running mate for November's presidential election against Republican John McCain.

Obama has said the process would take time. Clinton, who has expressed an interest in running as vice president, sought to distance herself on Thursday from efforts by supporters to convince Obama to pick her, saying the choice was up to him.

Obama, an Illinois senator, clinched the Democratic nomination on Tuesday. Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, did not immediately concede but told supporters in a letter she would formally back Obama on Saturday.

(Writing by JoAnne Allen; Additional reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Copyright © 2008 Reuters

Obama looks to unify Democrats after historic win

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama turned on Wednesday to unifying a fractured party for a historic five-month battle for the White House against Republican John McCain, but Hillary Clinton offered no hints of her future plans.

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) speaks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington June 4, 2008. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)

Obama rocketed from political obscurity to become the first black presidential nominee of a major U.S. party on Tuesday when he locked up the 2,118 delegates he needs for victory at the August convention.

Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady who entered the race 17 months ago as a heavy favorite, did not concede and said she would consult party leaders and supporters about her next move.

Obama will be crowned the Democratic nominee at the convention in August and faces McCain in November to choose a successor to President George W. Bush.

The Illinois senator tried to ease relations with Clinton on Wednesday, calling her an "extraordinary candidate and extraordinary public servant" during a speech to a pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington.

During the speech, he reaffirmed his strong support for Israel and promised to do "everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. That starts with aggressive, principled diplomacy without self-defeating preconditions."

In a separate appearance before the group later on Wednesday, Clinton said "I know that Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel."

She told New York members of Congress she would be open to becoming Obama's vice presidential running mate, and her backers turned up the pressure on Obama to pick her as his No. 2.

Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, said he wrote to the Congressional Black Caucus urging members to push Obama to choose Clinton.

The victory by Obama, son of a black Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas, marked a milestone in U.S. history. It came 45 years after the height of the civil rights movement and followed one of the closest and longest nomination fights in recent U.S. political history.

Obama clinched the win after a wave of uncommitted delegates announced their support on Tuesday, pushing his total to 2,156, according to an MSNBC count. Clinton, who would have been the first woman nominee in U.S. political history, won more than 1,900 delegates.

HISTORIC JOURNEY

"Tonight, we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another," Obama said at a victory celebration in St. Paul, Minnesota, the site of the Republican National Convention in September.

"Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States," he told 17,000 cheering supporters. Another 15,000 gathered outside.

Five months of state-by-state delegate selection concluded on Tuesday with Obama winning Montana and Clinton capturing South Dakota.

More party leaders and uncommitted officials are expected to back Obama on Wednesday. Democratic leaders urged uncommitted delegates to announce a decision by Friday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, party chairman Howard Dean and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin issued a joint statement saying Democrats must stand united against McCain.

"I am committed to uniting our party so we can move forward stronger and more ready than ever to take back the White House in November," Clinton told a cheering crowd of supporters in New York City on Tuesday night. But she made no public overtures to Obama.

The two are expected to meet soon to discuss Clinton's role in the looming election campaign. Clinton's campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, told CBS, "What she has always said was, 'I will do anything to help win in the fall.'"

The two rivals talked early on Wednesday, and Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama told her he would like to "sit down when it makes sense for you." But no meeting was scheduled.

McCain, an Arizona senator, also was looking forward to the general election battle with Obama.

The 71-year-old former Vietnam prisoner of war kicked off his race against Obama with a rally in Louisiana on Tuesday where he sought to distance himself from Bush and questioned Obama's judgment.

"If I am going to win this election, the key to winning this election will be independent voters and Democrats as well," McCain told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday.

Obama, 46, is serving his first term in the U.S. Senate and would be the fifth-youngest president. He was an Illinois state senator when he burst on the national scene with a well received keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic convention.

(Additional reporting by Donna Smith, Caren Bohan, Thomas Ferraro, Ellen Wulfhorst)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)

Copyright © 2008 Reuters

Too many have failed PM on the farm front

2008/05/10

By : JOHAN JAAFFAR

A global shortage of rice has led to riots and a steep rise in prices.

THERE is a lyric in a popular folk song from Pahang, Setitik darah jatuh ke darat, semusim padi tak menjadi. It tells a story of great warriors of yore who were blessed with supernatural powers to subdue their nemesis.

The power was simply too potent, a drop of their blood could render a season of failed harvest. The warning is, no harvest means no rice.

The world of the Malays centre around rice -- beras. Their worldview is determined by it. Padi the grain and beras the food are used as symbol, metaphor and reference to almost everything. Malay pantun, peribahasa and folk songs refer to padi and beras respectfully. To their leaders and wise men, a peribahasa reminds them to emulate the rice stalk, ikut resmi padi, semakin tunduk semakin berisi. The plant bows with the weight of the bulging rice grains. Lots of humility to be learnt there.

And now the simple padi is causing misery to millions of humans.

Cyclone Nargis or not, the Myanmar people have been ravaged by the threat of a diminishing rice supply. In many poor Asian nations, the possibility of political and social instability looms large as rice disappears.
Riots are happening. Had Myanmar not been under a military junta, Nargis could have created enough turmoil to threaten the ruling elite. Rice after all is the staple food of billions of Asians.

I was horrified to find that my favourite rice variety is now retailing at RM39 for a 10kg pack.

It was just RM26 not long ago. The cheapest rice on sale is RM19.90 at a hypermarket. That is almost RM2 a kilo. I did the right thing, I changed to a different brand.

Malaysians have to change not only the brand of rice they buy, but adjust their consumption.

For the time being they will have to forego taste, smell and starchiness -- the three determining factors to evaluate the quality of the grain.

Forget the advice of rice connoisseurs and taxonomists -- those who can name, classify and grade rice -- for now.

What is important is to make sure there is rice on the dinner table.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for most people to ensure that happens.

The price of rice is escalating beyond anyone's imagination. Despite assurances by the authorities, market forces are at work.

Grain is fast becoming the white gold of the 21st century. Considering the world's stock of grain has fallen to hardly 45 days of consumption, the lowest in recent memory, we are in for trouble.

Malaysia, we were told, has enough stocks of rice to last six months, which is not at all comforting.

It is easy for politicians to advise the rakyat to be thrifty, eat at home, grow your own vegetables, change your lifestyle, change your eating habits, eat less outside, cut rice consumption, and the list goes on.

Such knee-jerk reactions irk thousands of food operators all over the country. They rely on people eating out.

They make their living from government and private sector workers and ordinary folks eating at their warung and shops. Livelihoods are centred around small businesses catering for the needs of the lower income group.

Okay, there are people who wouldn't mind paying RM45 for a nasi lemak at a posh hotel or spending RM80++ a head for a buffet. But millions have to visit Warung Rus, Jalil, Ah Chai Ipoh Chicken Rice and Rama Tosai joint.

These are the true-blue businessmen who do not have the benefit of good connections nor bestowed with lucrative contracts. They have to earn a living.

It is better for politicians to help sort out the mess, which they helped create in the first place.

If only we had been more prudent in our development plans. We are so enamoured with all things massive and mega, we almost forget that people have to eat. And agriculture is the backbone of any civilisation, not to mention successful economies.

We are still groping in the dark in so far as our agricultural policies are concerned. We have some ideas, but that's about it.

Those lofty and grand-sounding pronouncements are never supported by a holistic strategy and workable solutions. The prime minister wanted to rejuvenate the agriculture sector. But he was alone.

The support system is not there to help him materialise his ambitions. The real farmers on the ground are left without research and development support and, worst, very few financial incentives.

Even the much-talked-about Fund For Food (3F) is not readily available to farmers.

Financing in food-related agriculture is the most difficult to get.

Some segments of the agriculture sector are unrealistically regulated, others are left alone.

Some sectors are heavily subsidised, others ignored. Very few dare to venture into food production these days for obvious reasons.

The promise of billions to open new padi fields raised eyebrows for a very simple reason. Good intentions alone don't work in agriculture. More often than not, funds are meant for the chosen, not the needy.

The prime minister must seriously evaluate agriculture not by a panel of consultants who have never toiled in the fields, but those who have endured unsympathetic bankers and irrational agriculture officers breathing over their necks.

He must set up a truly independent panel of advisers to look at food production requirements.Too many people and institutions have failed him on the agriculture front.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi mentioned the need to look at agriculture from a different angle.

On the ground, however, nothing much has changed. Little wonder we are saddled with a staggering RM12 billion worth of food imports a year.

There is a danger of rice scarcity in the near future. It sounds scary, but that is the truth. Do something please, and fast.

Zulkifli: Why are we supporting pensioners?

TWO advisers to the Prime Minister – Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil on women and social development affairs and Tan Sri Dr Abdul Hamid Othman on religious matters – and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is adviser to Petronas, earn a combined RM1.134mil annually, said Zulkifli Noordin (PKR – Kulim Bandar Baru) at a press conference at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

He said that in a written reply to his question from the Prime Minister, it was revealed that Tun Dr Mahathir was paid RM15,000 a month.

He added that the written reply also revealed that Shahrizat earned RM33,727.20 a month or RM404,726.40, including allowances, annually, while religious affairs adviser Tan Sri Dr Abdul Hamid received RM27,163 a month.

“Another RM18,643.25 is spent on Hamid’s supporting staff, bringing the annual total of Hamid’s office to RM549,675 annually,” he said.

Zulkifli said that it was redundant to have the advisers as there was the Petronas board to advise the Prime Minister and ministers in the right portfolios to advise Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on matters relating to religion, and women and social development affairs.

“Why are we supporting pensioners who are jobless?” he asked.

Earlier, he had raised this issue during the debate on the motion of thanks on the royal address by Ahmad Maslan (BN - Pontian), who was then speaking on hardcore poverty in the country.

“Isn’t it better to just give the money to the poor?” said Zulkifli.

THE LAST WORD: ‘We Are Not Rooted In Religion’

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan talks to Owen Matthews about Islam, modernity and Turkey's role in Israel-Syria communications

Alessandra Benedetti / Corbis

Erdogan: Because of our good relations with Syria and Israel, we were asked by both of them to effect better communication

By Owen Matthews | NEWSWEEK

May 12, 2008 Issue

Despite a landslide election win last summer, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, is fighting for his political life. Turkey's Constitutional Court is considering an indictment accusing Erdogan and 70 other figures from his party, the AKP, of "seeking to undermine the secular state." Prosecutors demand that the accused be banned from politics for five years and the AKP closed down. The morning that the party submitted its defense to the court, Erdogan spoke to NEWSWEEK's Owen Matthews in Ankara. Excerpts:

Matthews: Can Islam and modernity coexist?
Erdogan: Turkey has achieved what people said could never be achieved—a balance between Islam, democracy, secularism and modernity. [Our government] demonstrates that a religious person can protect the idea of secularism. In the West the AKP is always portrayed as being "rooted in religion." This is not true. The AKP is not a party just for religiously observant people—we are the party of the average Turk. We are absolutely against ethnic nationalism, regional nationalism and religious chauvinism. Turkey, with its democracy, is a source of inspiration to the rest of the Islamic world.

You have made speeches calling for new thinking in Islam.
We as politicians cannot enter into debates about modernizing Islam. As politicians we do not have the right. Nor do Islamic scholars. But we can speak about the place of Muslims in modern society and their contribution to a modern way of life. We can speak about the place of women. For example, in Turkey today the AKP is the best way for women to take an active part in political life. We have the largest number of female M.P.s.

If you have such a liberal vision, why is it that you are being prosecuted for allegedly being too Islamist?
I cannot comment while the case is still being considered by the court.

How have religious attitudes changed in Turkey during your lifetime?
The rules of religion stay the same, but people's attitudes towards religion have changed. The urbanization of the country has brought increased wealth and a different understanding of life. In the past, people had no alternatives. Now we have given people freedom of choice. We have also enhanced the rights and freedoms of non-Muslims. For instance we have made changes to the building codes so that they do not refer to "mosque" but to "place of religious worship." We put government money into restoring the Armenian church on Lake Van. And we have changed the law to help religious foundations [regain property confiscated by the state].

But you haven't reopened the Orthodox seminary on Halki island [near Istanbul].
That is an educational problem, not a religious problem. We have to overcome some mutual problems with Greece, such as questions about the education of ethnic Turks in western Thrace. We hope to overcome these issues soon.

What is Turkey's role in facilitating recent negotiations between Israel and Syria?
For 40 years Turkey had no diplomatic relations with Syria. When [the AKP] came to power we decided to normalize these relations. Our policy is to win friends, and not to make enemies. Because of our good relations with both Syria and Israel we were asked by both of them to effect better communications. We've been speaking to the leaders of both countries. It's important for us to try to gain some ground—if we can help achieve peace in the Middle East, that will have a major positive impact on the region.

Is it your belief that Israel wishes to attack Iran?
For a politician to speak about other countries' intentions is a big mistake. But I don't want to see anything like that happen. If it did, I cannot comprehend what will happen in the Middle East. We shouldn't even think about this. My biggest hope [for peace] is that Israel stops its excessive use of force in the West Bank. Civilians are being killed in Gaza; children and old people. We have to be just—we cannot say that it's right if one side [uses force] but condemn the other side for doing the same.

© 2008

Malaysia opposition appeals for youth protest vote

Malaysian opposition parties appealed to the youth vote on Monday, betting that rising discontent among young voters could weaken the ruling coalition's 50-year-old grip on power at an election next month.

Voters aged under 35 years account for almost half of the electorate and are generally apathetic, but they can sting the establishment when motivated to vote, such as in 1999 when they turned against the government of then premier Mahathir Mohamad.

'We are optimistic that we will see a swing in the youth vote in our favour in the coming election,' said Salahuddin Ayub, head of the youth wing of Islamist opposition party PAS.

He was speaking at the launch of a youth election manifesto by PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the opposition party of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, ahead of the March 8 poll.

'We believe there will be a repeat of the opposition swing in the youth vote in the coming elections,' added Salahuddin, referring to a 1999 protest vote that cost the coalition 14 seats and the loss of a key oil-producing state to PAS control.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi faces a tough campaign because of racial tensions, rising prices and anger over street crime, but has opted to call the election 15 months early because the climate is unlikely to improve, political analysts say.

Abdullah is considered certain to win but is unlikely to match his 2004 victory, when the Barisan Nasional coalition won 90 percent of parliamentary seats, partly because young voters embraced his pledge to tackle corruption and open up government.

This time, there are signs young voters are unhappy with the pace of reform. Angry youth formed the bulk of street protests in the capital last year, including two of the biggest in a decade on the issues of electoral reform and race relations.

The PAS-Keadilan manifesto calls for free education through to the end of university, financial help for young entrepreneurs and for repeal of a law banning students from active politics.

But a quick poll of attitudes on the street revealed that some young Malaysians were still not motivated to vote, resigned to the inevitability of yet another win for the coalition that has ruled Malaysia in various forms since independence in 1957.

'I have not registered, but it doesn't make a difference because everyone will vote for Barisan Nasional,' said Irwan Zaili Ariffin, 25, a motorcycle despatch rider, smoking a cigarette with his friends on a pavement in the capital.

'Who is going to care so much about my vote?'

Johann Hashim, 27, a smartly dressed events coordinator working on a laptop at a Starbucks cafe, said Barisan Nasional could be doing better and cited last November's crackdown on a rally by more than 10,000 ethnic Indians in Kuala Lumpur.

But he said the opposition offered no alternative.

'I don't trust the opposition parties with doing a better job because they have no experience,' Johann said.