Church of England bishop Christopher Hill says losing clergy or laity to Catholic Ordinariate will let CoE move on A Church of England bishop says congregations will breathe a “sigh of relief” this week when hundreds of worshippers defect to the Roman Catholic church, potentially drawing a line under the schism over the ordination of women. Up to 900 Anglicans, including 60 clergy, are preparing to be received into the Roman Catholic faith in special services during Holy Week. The Right Rev Christopher Hill said congregations losing clergy or laity to the Personal Ordinariate, a Vatican initiative allowing Anglicans to convert while keeping elements of their spiritual heritage, would allow the church to move on after being “racked” by the issue of women priests. Hill, who is the bishop of Guildford and chair of the Council of Christian Unity, said while there was sadness at congregations losing their clergy or co-worshippers – in some instances both – there was reason to be positive. “Where a decision has been made then those who go will have a bigger agenda, as do those who stay. They can leave this issue alone. It has racked these congregations. It has absorbed a lot of energy. Where a church has had such an exodus, there will be a sigh of relief that a decision has been made.” The Vatican created the Ordinariate in October 2009, following requests for help from traditionalist Anglicans in Australia and the US – disagreement about women in the Church of England’s priesthood has raged for decades. Uncertainty surrounding who and how many would take advantage of the papal offer has hung over some of the hundreds of parishes opposed to female clergy. For the congregation of St Barnabas, in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, the loss of a priest and 72 worshippers has caused personal and practical difficulties. All but two members of the parochial church council – the executive body of the parish – have left, and people with no prior involvement in the running of the church have been forced to help out. Christine Avery, a churchwarden who has been praying at St Barnabas for 20 years, said: “We have to make ends meet and it’s a big church. Everyone is doing jobs they never thought they could do. But there’s a great atmosphere and we want this church to stay open.” On Palm Sunday a reduced but resolute congregation threw themselves into a Sung Eucharist and a procession along the Camden Road. Avery, and others, say they have noticed that people who had stayed away from St Barnabas have returned, as have some who said they were leaving for the Ordinariate. The church is by no means united on women’s ordination, but one worshipper implied there were fewer divisions than before the 70 departures. Priests from the area – including a retiree – are covering services during Holy Week to ensure there are no gaps. “That has been a breath of fresh air,” says churchgoer Ruth Willis. She misses St Barnabas’ former priest, Father Ed Tomlinson, a friend she says has a “larger than life character and a beautiful voice”. “As a worshipper you follow your faith without getting involved in politics. Having heard about the Ordinariate and being weighed down with the pressures that Ed was under, it’s as if a pressure has been lifted. We come along and we have our worship. “The congregation is not as big as it was and what it’s meant is that we’ve all had to step into the breach. But everyone is very enthusiastic. It binds us together.” Willis, who describes herself as herself as “quite independent”, considered the option of leaving “very closely” and attended all the talks about the Ordinariate. “It’s very sad,” she said of the people who chose to go. “I understand why they left. They took on board all the problems Ed has been having. But there is a lot of loyalty to being Anglo-Catholic in the Church of England. It’s in a difficult area.” In the diocese of Chelmsford, Essex, where more than 100 people from three parishes have left for the Ordinariate, priests also expressed optimism. The diocesan bishop, the Right Rev Stephen Cottrell, has waived the parishes’ quota – an annual payment towards the central church “pot” – for a year while they adjust to their changed financial circumstances. The Rev Duncan Dalais is helping out at St Margaret’s, Leytonstone, in east London, which has lost 90 from its congregation of 120 and a priest. He said: “They seem to be quite resilient. They don’t feel left behind, they see it as a positive choice to stay. “The impression I got was that there was pressure on them to go, especially as most were going.” At St Margaret’s annual meeting, he noticed people asking questions and showing an interest in the life and running of the church. The subject of women’s ordination is not an all-consuming one for many parishes, even if they have passed resolutions opposing their leadership, he suggests. “Some parishes get locked into that issue and it’s the be-all and end-all. For St Margaret’s they won’t be worrying about whether there will be women bishops. For the immediate future it will be about mission and growth – things that the church should be doing. They are forward looking. They will look outside and see there is life. I think they will flourish.” The slow drip of Anglicans towards Catholicism may quicken but most traditionalists are waiting to see what happens next year – when a key piece of legislation returns before General Synod – to see what kind of provision there is for those opposed to the ordination of women as bishops. Last year in an acrimonious and protracted debate they, along with the conservative evangelicals, tried and failed to secure alternative leadership or extra dioceses that would protect them from female ministry. All that stands between them and a woman bishop is a code of practice – a guide on how to deal with traditionalists – which has yet to be written. However, Anglo-Catholics and conservative evangelicals remain convinced they can either influence the final vote in 2012 or that the House of Bishops will amend the legislation to give them the provision they demand. Anglicanism Catholicism Vatican Christianity Religion Riazat Butt guardian.co.uk
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Alassane Ouattara’s army takes on two separate militias resisting his control in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital of San Pedro Fresh fighting and splits in the coalition that brought Alassane Ouattara to power could derail Ivory Coast’s recovery. Gunfire and explosions returned to Abidjan this week as Ouattara’s army takes on two separate militias resisting his control in the country’s commercial capital. Reports of infighting in the port city of San Pedro, a polio outbreak and humanitarian emergency in the west indicate that the west African country’s return to normality will be far from smooth. The violence in Abidjan, the worst since defeated president Laurent Gbagbo was toppled last week, is concentrated in two pockets: the northern suburb of Abobo and the western district of Yopougon. Abobo is dominated by the “Invisible Commando”, a 5,000-strong force that took up arms against Gbagbo during the political stalemate. But now the militia’s renegade leader, Ibrahim “IB” Coulibaly, is demanding recognition of his role in overthrowing Gbagbo. His forces, seen during the conflict as men in balaclavas policing makeshift checkpoints, are accused of widespread looting of vehicles and from businesses during the past week – and of ignoring a deadline to join the Republican Forces, Ouattara’s national army. In response the national army has turned its guns on the former ally. Residents said Abobo shook with the sound of heavy machine-gun fire on Wednesday near Coulibaly’s headquarters. People scattered and ran to lock themselves into their homes. “The fighting continues and we can hear vehicles moving through the streets, but we can’t go outside to find out what’s going on,” Amara Touré told Reuters. Military sources said the Republican Forces’ attack on Coulibaly’s headquarters was met with resistance that lasted more than an hour. A fighter in Coulibaly’s militia, known as Capt Meyo Aka, told Associated Press that they drove government troops back and they left. Coulibaly had pledged allegiance on Sunday to Ouattara, saying he regards the former prime minister as a father. Coulibaly protected Ouattara’s wife from 1990 to 1993 when he was head of her bodyguard corps. The Invisible Commando and the northern New Forces, which were incorporated into the Republican Forces, have little in common beside their hatred of Gbagbo; disagreements between them have at times been violent. Coulibaly, who led a failed coup against Gbagbo in 2002, is a longtime rival of Ouattara’s prime minister and military commander, Guillaume Soro. Without an enemy to unite against, factionalism in the Ouattara camp is being exposed. Apollinaire Yapi, a spokesman for Soro, said last night: “Right from the beginning the Invisible Commando distinguished itself from the Republican Forces. Ouattara created the Republican Forces by decree to gather all groups of soldiers who were fighting in the field. “From that moment every soldier had to join the new army, but we noticed General ‘IB’ continued to claim the Invisible Commando are distinct from the Republican Forces. He was expected to join the Republican Forces but he did not do that. “The other day he said he was at the disposal of Mr Ouattara, but no one trusts him and that’s the problem. There’s a lack of confidence and I don’t know what is going to be done. It may need a military action again if they fail to solve it by negotiation.” Meanwhile, across the city in Yopougon, where the UN mission maintains 24-hour patrols, fighting also continues in an offensive to “mop up” pro-Gbagbo loyalists. Yapi added: “In Yopougon the militiamen and mercenaries loyal to Gbagbo are still operating. Three high-ranking pro-Gbagbo soldiers are still at large. We don’t know if they are planning anything.” He warned: “Militiamen loyal to Gbagbo had confided they could create a rebel group if Gbagbo was to be captured, but there are some measures being taken to prevent such a group being organised.” Infighting among Ouattara’s forces erupted in the southwestern cocoa port of San Pedro on Wednesday. One source said the shooting started when one group of soldiers tried to stop another from looting. UN peacekeepers intervened after Ivorian fighters started launching mortars and rockets downtown. The continued fighting has set back hopes of quickly restoring security and reviving the economy; the post-election struggle dragged on for more than four months. Richard Moncrieff, at the South African Institute for International Affairs, said Ouattara does not have command and control over troops who entered Abidjan to oust Gbagbo. “This could have serious repercussions for what is to come,” he told AP. A million people have fled Abidjan and another million are displaced in the country or have fled to neighbours. Thousands have been killed and wounded. The World Health Organisation said on Thursday that polio has broken out, with three cases confirmed in children. The UN agency warned that it may spread within Ivory Coast, where disease surveillance is poor, and to other parts of west Africa. “The outbreak response may be constrained by the current security situation in Côte d’Ivoire,” the WHO said. Médecins Sans Frontières has reported a “dire” situation in the west of the country, where divisions between communities are the deepest and some of the worst atrocities have taken place. Alassane Ouattara Ivory Coast David Smith guardian.co.uk
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With 1000 dead and a further 3000 injured, the two-month-old war has taken its toll on the people of the city The graves outside the shrine are packed tightly together, thick stripes of cement with small concrete blocks poking out of the earth at either end. Some of the graves are about six feet apart, like those marking the remains of Khalid Abushahma, the first protester to be shot dead by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in this Libyan port city on 20 February, and of Ali al-Hadi, who died just two days ago. Other graves barely span two feet. Ibrahim Omran, a baby buried on 7 April. Amina Abdullah, a small girl, two weeks before. Sanad Aduraat, a toddler killed by a bullet on 6 March. Carved into the cement next to Aduraat’s name, next to all the names, is the word al-shaheed , meaning martyr. “Gaddafi is the reason for all this,” said Abdullah Almohandis, an old man in a brown hooded cloak who oversees the cemetery. Heavy explosions boomed in the distance, as they do here for many hours of each day and night. Almohandis held his open hands to the sky, shaking with rage. The war in Misrata is now two months old. The graveyards are filling up and the hospitals are overflowing. In their attempt to end the uprising, Gaddafi’s forces have killed at least 1,000 people. Around 90% are civilians who have died because of indiscriminate shelling or shooting, doctors here say. Fighting has been so heavy that parts of the city centre are now almost completely destroyed. Buildings, homes and mosques are pockmarked with bullet holes. Walls have been completely blown away, or are blackened by fire. Entire suburbs near the front lines are empty of families, who have crammed into other parts of the city, closer to the sea. Communications have been completely cut. Burnt-out cars and tanks litter the streets, alongside effigies of the dictator who has ruled Libya for 42 years. The resistance from the rebels – from all the people in Misrata – seems remarkable given their limited armoury and experience. That they have managed to keep Gaddafi’s forces to one side of the city seems a miracle, or at least a masterclass in guerrilla warfare. But this is a siege, and while the rebels can defend their lines, they do not have the means to fight their way out, or to send their families to safety. And despite significant losses, Gaddafi remains determined to fight his way in. The cost is huge. Besides the dead, more than 3,000 people in this city have been injured since the conflict began. Many have been hit by shrapnel from indiscriminate shelling by Gaddafi’s forces. Others have been picked off by snipers, including Mohamed Hassan, 10, who was hit in the head when he opened his front door last Saturday. He now lies in Misrata’s hospital, screaming for his father and uncle or jabbering incomprehensibly. His mother, Zeinab, touches his forehead. Her tears have run dry. She tries to speak but then shakes her head and looks down. Nobody here in Libya’s third largest city expected a war. A few dozen people went out to protest on 17 February, in sympathy with people in Benghazi, where the main uprising began. Police arrested the protesters, sparking bigger demonstrations. Then security forces opened fire. About 70 people were killed in a matter of days. The city rose up in anger. “We kicked out all of Gaddafi’s people, who fled to Tripoli,” said Mohamed Karwad, a 23-year-old graphic designer, who was one of the first protesters to be arrested. “At that time we had nothing but rocks and Molotov cocktails.” When Gaddafi’s forces returned two weeks later it was with tanks and armoured vehicles. The rebels still had few proper weapons, but they had taken measures to prevent the city from falling. They blocked the main streets with shipping containers full of sand and metal, preventing the tanks from passing though. They laid down blankets soaked in diesel that became caught in the tanks’ tracks. A Molotov cocktail heaved from a sidestreet would then set the tank alight. Mosques played recordings of “God is Great” over and over to inspire the rebel fighters, infuriating Gaddafi’s forces. Many mosques have since been hit by shells. Fighting was fierce and bloody. Many rebels died, but so did many of Gaddafi’s men, and each time the rebels took their weapons. Some were welded on the backs of pickups, which were then reinforced with giant steel plates on the front and back. Despite repeated attempts, the tanks have been unable to penetrate the city centre. But by sending snipers into abandoned buildings Gaddafi’s forces have managed to stop the rebels taking ground quickly. It’s a slow and deadly fight, street by street. The rebels appear to have no central leadership, but are divided into cells around the neatly laid-out city, commanded by men with noms de guerre such as Lion of the Desert, or Big Deer. Roadblocks appear every few hundred metres, some made of giant mounds of sea-sand, others of concrete pipes or ladders or chairs. Many of the fighters manning them – the Shabab, as they are known – are young. Mohamed Mustafa, 19, was studying first-year medicine when the revolution began and missing his parents, who are living in Nottingham, where his father is pursuing a PhD. He was clutching an AK-47, with a checked scarf wrapped around his head. Every day he spends six hours at the checkpoint near Benghazi Street, a scene of fierce fighting in recent weeks, searching cars and passengers for unauthorised weapons or satellite phones. “At the start I saw how people were dying for the cause of freedom,” he said. “So I decided to join the troops and defend my people and my home from the devil that is Gaddafi.” Across Benghazi Street, close to the vegetable market now used as a base by Gaddafi’s forces, the rebels have punched holes in the walls of some houses to create new roads that offer more protection from sniper fire. There were few signs of life, apart from a few unfortunate chickens, until we reached a house whose garage was filled with fighters. “Revolutionaries having breakfast,” shouted one of them, holding up a bread roll filled with tuna. Aiman al-Hadad, a 25-year-old engineer, clutched a sniper’s rifle that had been captured from Gaddafi’s forces. Growing up, he had shot birds, he said, so it was natural to become a sharpshooter when the war began. He had killed seven of Gaddafi’s men, he said proudly. Mohamed Elfituri, a young pharmacist, was more modest, saying that they were making gains, but that Gaddafi’s snipers remained a threat. His fiancee was in Tripoli, he said, and he had not been able to reach her for two months. Might it be possible to send an email on his behalf? Their commander had been killed the previous day, so Mohamed Shinisheh was now in charge. Solidly built, and the only one of his men wearing a beret and uniform, he had been working in Malta as a builder before the uprising. He rushed to Benghazi, the rebel headquarters in the east, received three weeks’ training and took a boat to Misrata. “In the day, in the night, we fight,” he said. “We are defending our positions. Gadaffi’s troops are just 50 metres away.” He moved up the road with a few of his men, running quickly across open patches of road, and pointing out where the snipers had hit water tanks and electricity lines to make life more difficult for the rebels. At a corner a tattered green flag erected by Gaddafi’s troops during a brief occupation hung above a house that had since been taken by the rebels. A shop was on fire, hit by an incoming shell an hour before. A short drive away, close to Tripoli Street, which Gaddafi’s forces have been trying to capture since the battle began, Mohamed Swesi, 42, who fought in Chad for the Libyan army in the 1980s, was showing off an IED he had made using two landmines, a dozen bullets and an ammunition case. Three members of his family had been killed by Gaddafi’s army. He was not afraid to die. “My heart is big,” he said. “Give me good weapons and I’ll be in Tripoli in three days.” Dozens of young fighters sat quietly on the side street, each clutching a weapon. They were waiting for Gaddafi’s snipers, who they say are now cut off from the rest of their forces, to show themselves in the pockmarked buildings that line Tripoli Street. Many of the marksmen had been killed but a significant number remained. In front of one house was pool of fresh blood. A 12-year-old boy from a family that had refused to leave their home had been hit as he stepped outside to play. He died immediately. An ambulance passed. The doctor, Mohamed Bashir, said they had already picked up three dead people that morning. More than 20 had been injured. “We will stay here and fight Gaddafi until the last blood spills.” Blood is spilling too from those who do not want to fight – women, children and elderly people – thanks to the indiscriminate shelling by Gaddafi’s forces. In the private clinic that now serves as Misrata’s main hospital, Mokhtar Naria, 37, and his 10-year-old nephew, Mortaz, both had bandages around their heads. The Narias had left their home to cram in with four other families in an area that was meant to be safer. But earlier this week, as they were preparing to pray, a shell burst through the roof. Six people were injured, including Naria’s grandfather, who lost a finger. Naria had a damaged skull. He could walk, but seemed dazed. “The boy does not even know about Gaddafi,” said his father. “He just knows he is afraid.” Upstairs, Dr Fathi Mohamed was doing his rounds in the surgery ward. Before the revolution began, he had seen two gunshot wounds in six years. Now he has seen hundreds, and many more shrapnel injuries. He sent 36 wounded people by boat to Benghazi on Wednesday night, but still has 19 people in his ward alone. “The oldest we have treated was 92 years old. He had chest injuries but did not die. The youngest was one year old.” An ambulance arrived. It was carrying a rebel fighter – a man who until eight weeks ago had been a civilian deeply fearful of Gaddafi and who had now been killed by government forces. Tomorrow the name Osama Manita will be written in concrete somewhere in Misrata, perhaps near the shrine. One more martyr. Libya Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg announced yesterday that her campaign has requested a statewide recount of the ballots cast in the April 6, 2011 election. Roll Call : “With a margin this small,” Kloppenburg said, “the importance of every vote is magnified and doubts about each vote are magnified as well.” Kloppenburg also called for the Government Accountability Board to appoint a special investigator to examine the actions of Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus. Kloppenburg’s initial slim lead was erased after Nickolaus discovered a counting error in the Waukesha tally, resulting in a gain of more than 7,000 votes for Prosser two days after the election. Kloppenburg said that a recount is necessary in light of the irregularities in Waukesha and other counties. Because the margin is so close between the candidates, a recount will be done at the state’s expense. But the more important request may be that special investigator to look into Kathy Nickolaus, who is either the most incompetent county clerk on the planet, or else something else more nefarious. Blue Cheddar has video of the press conference and a chronology of events leading to this. The Prosser campaign has already vowed to fight any recount effort . Good luck with that.
Continue reading …The sweet little old folks of the Tea Parties seem to have a lot of extremism and bigotry bubbling up around them. Hmmmmmm.
April 21, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media I got quite a kick out of how the Breitbart crowd and the Fox talkers devoted so much energy this week to portraying the anti-Tea Party protesters at Tea Party gatherings like those in Wisconsin as incredibly vicious. Of course, these folks have made a cottage industry out of denying the realities of Tea Partiers’ nasty and frequently bigoted rhetoric , so it’s only natural that they’d play the grotesque hypocrite in one swell foop. Meanwhile, here’s some footage you won’t see on The O’Reilly Factor or over at Big Ego. This comes from Channel 12′s reportage on this weekend’s ugly Tea Party event in Phoenix : TEA PARTIER: That’s why you don’t have a higher standard of living than Mexico! The United States has a higher standard of living than Mexico because it’s populated by white people. Mexico is a [BLEEP]! And then, of course, there was the nice little old lady Tea Partier in California who just thought that Obama-as-a-chimp Photoshop was just too cute not to forward to all her fellow Republican committeemen. She did manage to make an actual apology — after a coupla tries : Shortly after sending the email, Davenport said in a follow up that she was sorry if she had offended anyone with the image. She denied the implication that the depiction was racist. “I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth,” she wrote in an email. “In no way did I even consider the fact he’s half black when I sent out the email.” “In fact, the thought never entered my mind until one or two other people tried to make this about race,” she added. “I received plenty of emails about [former president] George Bush that I didn’t particularly like yet there was no ‘cry’ in the media about them.” But in a subsequent email, sent to the Orange County Republican Central Committee late Monday night, Davenport apologized more strongly. She asked for forgiveness for her “unwise behavior” and noted that she “didn’t stop to think about the historic implications and other examples of how this could be offensive.” “To my fellow Americans and to everyone else who has seen this email I forwarded and was offended by my action, I humbly apologize and ask for your forgiveness of my unwise behavior. I say unwise because at the time I received and forwarded the email, I didn’t stop to think about the historic implications and other examples of how this could be offensive,” Davenport’s apology read. The reality, as we’ve said many times, is that no matter how hard the Tea Partiers and their right-wing-media apologists try, they’ll never be able to paper over their very real and deep extremist base . They’ll never be able to keep all the nutcases they’ve gathered in one place under a lid forever. This was driven home by a superb piece of reporting from Devin Burghart at the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights: “Tea Time With the Posse: Inside an Idaho Tea Party Patriots Conference” . Burghart revisited Idaho Tea Party leader Pam Stout, who we discussed back when she was profiled in the New York Times . While she appeared shortly after that on the David Letterman Show and convincingly sold the image of the Tea Parties as rational folks concerned about TARP and health-care reform, Burghart found that was no longer the case: Little talk of repealing “Obamacare” or of modifying objectionable provisions of healthcare legislation took place at Stout’s “Patriots Unite” event, held March 26. The impending possibility of a government shutdown due to an impasse over the budget was hardly mentioned. Nary a word was spoken about bailouts or taxes. Instead, speakers at this Tea Party event gave the crowd a heavy dose of racist “birther” attacks on President Obama, discussions of the conspiracy behind the problem facing America (complete with anti-Semitic illustration), Christian nationalism, anti-environmentalism, and serious calls for legislation promoting states’ rights and “nullification.” Stout, the Idaho state coordinator for Tea Party Patriots attracted around seventy Tea Party activists from Idaho, Montana, and Washington to the Coeur D’Alene Inn for the conference. The goal: to bring isolated Tea Party groups together. Originally scheduled as a two-day conference, Stout noted that the event was shortened because, “our workshop presenters are still in Wisconsin” presumably engaged in Tea Party anti-union organizing efforts. Much of what he found was similar to what I experienced in Montana attending a very similar kind of gathering. Burghart observed a Spokane Valley legislator named Matt Shea ( whose activities we’ve previously discussed ) explaining state nullification schemes of the kind promoted by Glenn Beck and now working their way through various state legislatures where the Tea Partiers have complete control, such as Montana’s . He also describes how regional leaders from the John Birch Society hold forth at length about their many commonalities with the Tea Partiers, and they manage along the way to win quite a few new friends. But the really disturbing talk comes from a Birther radio talk-show host from Elk, Washington, named Laurie Roth. If you need any convincing of the toxicity of the Birther beliefs — and where they’re headed — then this excerpt will do the job: She also expressed the urgency of the birther fight, stopping in the middle of her talk to engage an audience member in a discussion about whether impeachment, arresting president Obama, or a military coup would be the best solution. Roth: “We have to, we can’t try, we have to get him out in 2012″ Audience member: “why wait? …He’s an illegal president now.” Roth: “he should be impeached.” The audience member replied, he can’t be impeached, he’s not a citizen.” Roth: “how would you get him out?” Audience member: “By having the authority of five governors, five senators, march on the Supreme Court, who have abdicated their power and authority to simply render that he is not a legal president. And send the US Marshals to arrest him.” Roth: I couldn’t agree more. What we need is a move like Zelaya in Honduras. We need the military, we need somebody to do that, or impeachment, or something like you said. We need something more than we’ve had. Ah, but all the conversation the past week has been about nasty left-wingers. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
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Kuala Lumpur government announces new strategy to try and retain its brightest sons and daughters from emigrating Sheng Cai Lim is a skilled and experienced IT professional, an asset to a country that aspires to grow into a fully developed nation by the end of the decade. There’s only one problem. Lim, 29, isn’t sure he wants to stay in Malaysia. Lim says it’s 50/50 that he’ll leave. “I’ll likely go to Singapore for a few years, and then after that maybe Canada or New Zealand,” he said. He’s on a six-month sabbatical from work and recently registered with head hunters who place candidates abroad. “My friends overseas wonder why I’m still in Malaysia. They say there are better opportunities abroad,” he said. If Lim does make the move, he’ll join the 1.5m Malaysians, or 5.3% of the population, who live and work outside of the country, according to the World Bank. By moving to countries such as Singapore, Australia and the UK, these migrants are creating a considerable brain drain that threatens the country’s economic progress. “Brain drain is hurting the country’s drive to move up the value chain,” said Dr Ooi Kee Beng, senior fellow at the Institute of South-east Asian Studies in Singapore. “The fact that Malaysians fill many of the top and middle management posts in the region, from Shanghai to Singapore, tells us that the country is bleeding talent.” The problem has been getting worse in recent years. More than 300,000 Malaysians left the country between March 2008 and August 2009, compared to nearly 140,000 in 2007, the deputy foreign affairs minister, Tuan A Kohilan Pillay told parliament. Many work in key sectors such as finance, technology and engineering. Two factors are driving the exodus, said Tony Pua, MP and member of the opposition committee on the ministry of higher education. “First, there’s simple economics. You can make more money overseas,” he said. The other cause is the country’s race-based affirmative action policies, Pua said, which favour ethnic-majority bumiputra, or sons of the soil, over minority Chinese and Indians, who make up 24% and 7% of the population, respectively. “The two problems exacerbate each other. The economy has not been growing, and there’s an increasing demand for a bigger piece of the pie among bumiputra. As a result, the government is more prone to implement policies that favour them, and minorities feel excluded. It’s a vicious cycle,” Pua said. Malaysian law provides bumiputra benefits such as rebates on property prices, quotas for university enrolment and civil-service jobs, and preferential treatment for government contracts, among other advantages. The laws, which were enacted in 1971 in an attempt to redistribute wealth in the wake of race riots in 1969, distinguish Malaysia from other Asian countries with brain-drain problems, such as the Philippines. In interviews with Malaysians living in Kuala Lumpur and overseas, frustration with these laws and worries about rising racial tension and Islamic conservatism have led many to reconsider their futures in their country of birth. “Malaysia is a very controlled and fanatic country,” said Janath Anantha Vass, 29, an ethnic Indian accountant in Kuala Lumpur who plans to move to Australia. “Melbourne suits my lifestyle the best, and I feel that’s the place for me.” The Malaysian government is attempting to respond to the problem with an array of programmes, including 1Malaysia, a campaign designed to ease racial tensions. In January, Prime Minister Najib Razak launched the Talent Corporation, which seeks to lure back skilled Malaysians. But many are sceptical that these programmes will address the systemic problems driving brain drain. “I’m not sure how effective Talent Corporation will be. Past programmes like this have not worked, and I’m not sure how this one is different,” said Evelyn Wong, an ethnic Chinese economics student at Scripps College in California, who blogs about brain drain. But Dr Kim Leng Yeah, an economist at Ram Holdings in Kuala Lumpur, said Talent Corporation did at least demonstrate the government’s willingness to address the issue. “There has been a lot of public scepticism,” he said. “But it is a proactive move.” Representatives at Talent Corporation declined to comment. As Lim, who is ethnic Chinese, considers his future, he has spent time thinking about his place in multicultural Malaysia. “I do realise that I am a minority in this country,” he said. “My family is encouraging me to leave. They say, ‘Malaysia doesn’t want us anymore, so why stay?’” And while he hasn’t given up on eventually returning, he would have to see significant changes before doing so. “It doesn’t feel like the country is mature enough to tackle its problems right now. When we are ready to face our problems, I’ll be ready to come back,” he said. Malaysia Global economy guardian.co.uk
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Deputy prime minister launches his strongest attack yet on electoral system ‘that props up tired establishment politics’ Nick Clegg has denounced defenders of the first-past-the-post electoral system as dinosaurs who were propping up a tired system of establishment politics that had failed Britain. In his strongest attack yet in the referendum campaign, the deputy prime minister did not mention the Tories or David Cameron but said those defending the current voting system were desperate, thinking they might lose their grip on power – which they no longer deserved. He claimed critics of the yes campaign feared any change to pluralist politics, and he cited reports that they were openly praising their use of gutter politics. In a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Clegg defended coalition politics, arguing that compromise did not equate to a broken promise. His allies have been angered at the way in which Cameron has allowed the Tory-funded no campaign to target him as a man who systematically breaks promises. Clegg said: “When the vested interests of the old, tired, establishment of politics and the media are so opposed to a reform – turning so personal about it – you know there is something worth fighting for. It is a desperate attempt to defend the indefensible – the old politics of tribalism backed by dinosaurs on all sides of the political spectrum. It is the attack on people working together for the national good that is so dismal.” He also defended himself from the charge of broken promises, saying compromise was inherent in coalition politics and in itself perfectly acceptable in politics as it was in everyday life. But some Labour supporters backing the alternative vote system accused Clegg of making a political error in attacking Labour, when the priority of the yes campaign, according to polling, was to galvanise wavering party support behind the yes campaign. One section of Clegg’s speech included a condemnation of Labour’s “refusal to deal with the deficit”. He said Labour was treating people like fools. Will Straw, an associate at the IPPR and pro-AV supporter, tweeted: “Spectacularly badly judged speech by Clegg. Since Labour voters are swing voters he would have done far better to reach out.” Other Liberal Democrats, including the party’s president, Tim Farron, want to make the yes campaign an open pitch to unite progressive forces on the left against conservatism. Clegg also said: “If we want a different kind of politics, one in which parties can work together in the national interest, we all have to grow up a bit. Compromise is not betrayal. I know it’s unfashionable for politicians to admit the limits of their electoral success, but the fact is the Liberal Democrats came third at the general election. “In the meantime, I will continue to make what are sometimes difficult compromises, but ones which are always shaped as best I can by the Liberal values I hold dear. “Coalition government is a new concept in modern Britain, but it works on the basis of very British values. It means discussion, debate, compromise and the search for common ground, regardless of your political starting point. it means putting aside dogma and tribalism and searching for a way forward that most people can accept. Who doesn’t, in their daily lives, find themselves working together with people they disagree with?” Alternative vote AV referendum Nick Clegg Electoral reform Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Warning follows ozone and pollution readings, while holidaymakers leave for cooler Europe during spring break The first shadow has been cast over the UK’s sunlit spring by a smog warning for central London. The government alert was triggered by monitors on the traffic-choked Marylebone Road, whose readings breached European limits on ozone and pollutant particles linked to respiratory and other health problems. The move came as the first of an estimated 2 million holidaymakers left the UK for supposed hotspots, many of which are currently cooler than southern England’s daily highs of 24C (71F). Pullovers were evident on flights to Barcelona and Corfu, where the temperature was 16C (61F) and 17C (63F), while relatives seeing travellers off were in T-shirts. Another 5 million people are expected to take breaks in the UK with at least one overnight stay during the bonus extended break offered by the succession of Easter, the royal wedding and May Day weekend. Roads and railways are already feeling the strain, despite reassuring bulletins from the Met Office that warm, dry and calm conditions will continue into next week, lending no urgency to getaway plans. Accidents and the jam of early starters caused major delays on the M25 near Dartford, the A1M in county Durham, the A38 near Derby and the A2 in Kent. The Highways Agency announced the suspension of roadworks at many major sites to help holiday traffic flow, although essential repairs will continue on parts of the M1 and M25. The fire-damaged stretch of the M1 between junctions one and four in London has fully reopened. Network Rail is optimistic about smoother journeys than last Easter, with less engineering work over the holiday and an estimated 18% more trains running. There will be disruption, however, on the West Coast line in north-west England, the Great Western line and at Liverpool Street station in London, where essential repairs and modernisation need the quieter holiday period to get work done. The closure of 1,100 miles of track at various stages during the break was criticised by Labour’s shadow transport secretary, Maria Eagle, who called for compensation discounts. She said: “Christmas was ruined for many families thanks to the government’s failure to cope with the winter weather. Now families face a real struggle to get together for Easter because so much of the rail network will be out of action.” Others on the move include bats, which have taken to using canals as a seasonal corridor in the warmth according to a report from British Waterways, and thousands of Browntail moth caterpillars, which have spun sticky canopies of cocoons on Canvey Island in Essex, to pupate earlier than usual. In London, the mayor, Boris Johnson, did his best to persuade capital-dwellers to stay put by opening a temporary ‘beach’ on the Thames south bank, near the London Eye. Funfairs, candy floss and 70 metres (230ft) of sand are on offer, polluted air or not, although paddling in the river is not part of the deal.There is expected to be a huge influx of overseas visitors in the run-up to the Royal wedding, with bookings 244% up on last year, compared with a 104% rise in travellers going overseas, thought to be swollen by “wedding refugees”. British Airways planes will ferry more than 250,000 visitors to the UK before the wedding, with the six busiest routes all from the United States. New York is the favourite long-haul destination for British holidaymakers, with Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris and Rome the top European destinations. National Express is predicting a triple bank holiday bonanza for its coaches, with services between London and 67 other centres laid on for the royal wedding. Anyone bored at the UK seaside, meanwhile, might like to help remedy statistics released by the Marine Conservation Society which show that litter on beaches increased by 3% last year. Weather Pollution London Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk
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Just one man convicted of assault on Mukhtaran Mai, after her nine-year struggle for justice Human rights groups have expressed outrage after most of those accused of the gang rape of Mukhtaran Mai, who was assaulted on the orders of a village council, were freed by Pakistan’s supreme court. Nine years after the gang rape, Mai’s struggle for justice ended with the court ordering five of the six accused to be freed. A distraught Mai, who has won international acclaim for her bravery in a deeply chauvinistic society, said that the release of the men had put her life in danger. Originally 14 had been accused of taking part in the rape, which was ordered in 2002 by village elders sitting as a traditional tribal court after Mai’s brother was accused of having illicit relations with a woman from a rival clan. The court judgment acknowledged that Mai had been raped, by upholding the sentence against one of the accused, Abdul Khaliq, but the outcome means that just one of the 14 men she believes were involved has been found guilty. Khaliq’s original death sentence had already been commuted to life in prison by a lower court. “I am scared these 13 people will come back to my village and harm me and my family,” Mai said, in her remote home in the south of Punjab province. “I have lost faith in the courts and now I am leaving my case to the court of God. I am sure God will punish those who molested me.” Mai has started a school for girls and a non-governmental organisation that promotes women’s education. She vowed that she would not flee her village, and would continue with her work. The supreme court was heavily criticised by human rights groups for the verdict, which they said put the safety of all Pakistani women at risk. Rape, “honour killings” and other crimes against women in Pakistan are routinely poorly investigated by police and go unpunished by the courts. “Mukhtaran Mai has had the courage to fight for so many years. This [verdict] shows that you can commit any crime, even in front of 100 people, and get away with it,” said Fouzia Saeed, a women’s rights activist, speaking outside the supreme court in Islamabad. “Every day something like this is happening in Pakistan. Jirgas [village courts] are still doing this. The jirgas will be encouraged by this verdict.” The court, under activist chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, has taken on authority relentlessly, ordering high officials to answer before it and the re-investigation of cases where the police and prosecution fail to present a competent case. But the court is accused of pandering to the country’s Islamist right wing, especially when it comes to cases involving women and religious minorities, and also of failing to convict virtually anyone of terrorist offences in recent years despite raging jihadist violence across the country. “The court is proactive when it appears to have a political axe to grind, where it is in direct confrontation with the government,” said Ali Dayan Hasan, a Pakistan-based senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. “But it appears that when there are vulnerable groups involved and questions of fundamental rights, the court is playing to the rightwing gallery.” Mai’s ordeal began after her 13-year-old brother was accused by a more powerful clan of having sex with one of their young women. He was then sodomised in a sugar cane field by the woman’s brother, Abdul Khaliq, and two other men. There appears to be no basis for the original accusation. A tribal council was assembled from Khaliq’s clan, which ordered that Mai be punished for her brother’s illicit sex by being raped, on the basis of eye-for-an-eye justice. Mai was forced at gunpoint by Khaliq into a stable, where he and other clan members raped her. She was then paraded naked around the village. Tradition dictated that Mai commit suicide, as the shame supposedly fell on her, but she decided to fight her tormentors. A district court in 2002 found six men guilty of rape and sentenced them to death but freed the other eight accused. Then in 2005, the Lahore high court, the top provincial court, ruled that there was insufficient evidence against five of the men. The case then went to the supreme court, which on Thursday upheld the 2005 judgment. The cruelty of Mai’s case is repeated in the treatment of women across the country, with tribal councils regularly ordering young girls to be handed over in compensation for crimes committed by other family members, and women to be killed for “honour”. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent organisation, recorded 791 honour killings of women in 2010; at least 26 of the women were raped or gang raped before being killed. Rape is rarely reported but at least 2,903 women did come forward with rape complaints last year, according to the commission. Pakistan Rape Saeed Shah guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …After Tom Coburn says no to tax hikes, why are Republicans being taken seriously on the Debt?
April 21, 2011 No CommentTom Coburn says again what we already know. No new taxes to be included in any compromise from the Gang of Six. The Hill The bipartisan group of senators working on a long-term fiscal plan won’t call for any significant tax hikes, one of its Republican members said Thursday. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a member of the Gang of Six group that is working on a plan to reduce the federal deficit, said that the group’s three GOP members wouldn’t sign on to an agreement that would raise taxes in a substantial way. “There’s no plan to have a significant tax hike on anyone,” Coburn said on conservative talker Laura Ingraham’s radio show. “I don’t think there’s any of the three of us who will embrace tax hikes.” Aren’t gangs supposed to be a bad thing for society? This ‘Gang of Six’ will rob the American people as well as the Crips, Bloods or Gambinos ever did. Five Conservatives and one Liberal, who has sold out the base to make this compromise is not a melding of the minds. It’s a scam. How can no tax increases be part of a deal to lower the debt? You can’t cut your way out of deficits. It’s impossible and destructive. Dick Durbin should be ashamed of himself for becoming the hatchet man that they use to attack the left with. (Please don’t forget about our C&L fundraiser)
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