‘Siapa kirim orang Sulu ke Lahad Datu’

Ini kerana, biaya untuk menyewa kapal feri demi mengirimkan
mereka tidak murah, kata Presiden Benigno Aquino.

MANILA: Filipina sedang sedang mencari siapa yang sebenarnya mengirimkan ratusan orang Sulu ke Lahad Datu, Sabah.

Ini kerana, biaya untuk menyewa kapal feri demi mengirimkan mereka tidak murah, kata Presiden Benigno Aquino.

“Kami diberitahu ada dana besar yang membiayai  mereka dari Tawi-Tawi ke Sabah. Dari mana dana itu? Dari siapa?” katanya seperti dilapor viva.co.id hari ini.

Beliau juga mempersoalkan kesahihan Jamalul Kiram III sebagai pewaris Kesultanan Sulu yang sah.

‘Invaders’ open to peaceful solution

Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram insists they would
not leave Sabah until the issue has been resolved.

MANILA: The brother of Sultan of Sulu said his group in Lahad Datu town in Sabah was open to negotiate with the Malaysian government just to have a “peaceful” solution to the Sabah standoff.

“…so long as our rights will not be taken away from us,” Raja Muda Agbimuddin Kiram told Radyo Inquirer 990AM on Wednesday when asked if they were open to negotiations.

“We have to renegotiate in a peaceful way,” said Raja Muda, brother of Jamalul Kiram III.

Raja Muda said the standoff could be resolved peacefully “so long as there is no betrayal, so long as they are sincere with the negotiation.”

HOW THE NATION IS SOLD BY MAHATHIR !

By: Nash Ar-Rawy  

Citizenship is not a game  to be played with as a mockery by the politicians , National Leadership and government servants such the Immigration Department, NRD  “ PDRM “ , “ SPRM” and EC.  

 

Because it involves the future of the country and national security. But Mahathir had sold out Malaysia just to win theGeneral Election in Sabah . He had also humiliated the Chinese and Indians in this country when he argued about the citizenship given by Tunku to the British Subjects in Malaysia.

 

Don't Be Blinded by BN's Sweets, says Dr. Jeffrey

KOTA KINABALU: The people of Sabah, especially the Chinese shouldn’t be unduly enticed by the sweets being handed out by the Barisan Nasional, said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan.

The Sabah STAR Chairman, made this call in his speech at the Chinese New Year grand dinner at Buhavan Square, Donggongon near here on February 22. He said that the BN government had failed to significantly improve the economy, leaving many poor people continuing to suffer in the villages.
 

Five tools to protect your privacy online

by SIMON BLACK on FEBRUARY 15, 2013

Reporting from the 6th Region, Central Chile
We’ve discussed many times before—hardly a month goes by without some major action against Internet users… from Obama’s ‘kill switch’, to ACTA, SOPA and PIPA, to stasi tactics against people like Kim Dotcom.
 
Online privacy is becoming more important by the day. And nobody is going to give it to you, you have to take steps yourself to secure it.
Below are five different tools and services that will get you started:

Our Police In Action: Only in Malaysia

NOTE the police could easily spot & stopped ONE boat with 3 Al Jazeera journalists sailing to Lahad Datu Sabah but not a FLOTILLA with over 300 (?)  armed men heading in the same direction- they apparently slipped in under their radar!

Also the UMNO Gov't had not problems to deport an unarmed Aussie politician who was a "security threat" and helpless in handling the real security threat by the armed men.

Source

When hundreds of armed foreigners "invaded" Sabah, our Police and Armed Forces pussy footed. Give water, hold negotiations, and even gentlemanly pleaded them to leave peacefully. Our Police treated them like VIPs.

Unarmed Bersih and Hindraf protesters (only armed with salt and water bottles ) are tear gassed and shot with chemically laced water cannons and some even attacked indiscriminately by dozens of policemen injuring dozens.

Sabah for Sabahans?

By Erna Mahyuni who blogs at ernamahyuni.com when she's not subbing for TMI. A slave to Bioware, Bethesda and her mini-zoo of two cats and a rabbit.

February 20, 2013

Before you send me to Kamunting, realise I am not advocating Sabah leaving Malaysia.

But I think it is high time Sabahans have a good, long think about the status quo.

As it is, things cannot stand.

Last I checked, Sabah is still the poorest state in Malaysia. Nabawan in Sabah is the poorest town in the country, with a 70-per-cent poverty rate.

On top of that, a small private army has landed in Lahad Datu intent on claiming Sabah as its own.

Welcome to the Philippines 81st province

People should be able to place their trust in the prime minister to head the elected government; some prime ministers achieve greatness, others are best forgotten. Many are mediocre, others gain international acclaim.

The future of one Malaysian prime minister might well lie in a cell. His crime? When he was in power, he did not act in the interests of the country, but was consumed by a passion to further his own political interests. He was prepared to sell his country to foreign nationals.

Last week, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad admitted in a press conference that he had authorised the provision of ICs to Filipinos. The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Sabah revealed that between 1970 and 1984, around 73,000 Filipino refugees had been allowed to settle permanently in Sabah. Pundits claim that today, there may be around 1.75 million Filipinos.

Dirtiest election to come: Sex scandals will entertain Malaysians

Controversial businessman Deepak Jaikishan has turned the heat on Prime Minister Najib Razak. Stripping off the gloves, the 40-year-old former confidante of Najib's wife Rosmah Mansor has just unleashed a fresh barrage of allegations that could submerge the political fortunes of the Malaysian PM and his Umno party.

Flora Ong is now the name on the lips of many followers of the Altantuya Shaaribuu-Scorpene submarines saga, even though she is not directly linked to the murder and corruption case that Deepak has accused the first couple of having a hand in.

Orang Asal, Native and Bumiputera are not one and the same thing

By Joe Fernandez

Reader Chong Tet Loi claims in “Never let extremists have their way” (Sunday Forum 24 Feb, 2013 Daily Express) that MANY (people?) were amused by my take in “Both These Sultans Never Owned Sabah” (Sunday Forum 17 Feb, 2013).

No doubt he conducted an instant Sabah-wide survey after my letter to conclude that “MANY” were “amused” by it and probably he would have liked to add that quite a few even died from laughter.
 

Who Is Laughing? Silly Suspicious Sabah Sulu Standoff!

By Ramon Tulfo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

If Malaysia is clumsy about handling the Sabah standoff, it will have the same problem the Philippine government had when it fought a Muslim rebellion in the South in the 1970s up to the 1980s.

Malaysia is in a no-win situation as a result of the standoff in Sabah.

If it uses deadly force on a small group of armed Filipino Muslims now holed up in the village of Tanduo in Lahad Datu town in Sabah, members of the fiercest of Philippine Moro tribe, the Tausogs of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, will retaliate.

If, on the other hand, Malaysia compromises with the armed group purportedly belonging to the Sultanate of Sulu, it will be perceived as a weakling by its neighbors.

163 SPF members join STAR, 18,400 to follow suit

Sabah STAR Chairman with former SPF leaders and members

KOTA KINABALU:  State Reform Party (STAR) reaped a bounty yesterday (Sunday) when 163 leaders and members of the now defunct Sabah People’s Front (SPF) at a luncheon at Mayflower restaurant along Jalan Bundusan here.

In welcoming their entry, Sabah STAR Chairman, Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, said that the members of SPF were very disappointed for having been played out to the point that they lost their political platform when it was taken over by other people. SPF was somehow taken over by a Sarawak group and its name was changed to Sarawak Workers’ Party.
 

WHAT WENT BEFORE: Sultan of Sulu’s 9 principal heirs

MANILA, Philippines—In 1939, a decision issued by the high court of North Borneo named the nine principal heirs of the last sultan of Sulu, whose descendants had been pressing their claim to Sabah.

Known as the 1939 Macaskie Judgment, the nine principal heirs of Sultan Jamalul Kiram II were Datu Punjungan Kiram, Datu Esmail Kiram, Dayang Dayang Piandao Kiram, Dayang Dayang Sitti Rada Kiram, Princess Tarhata Kiram, Princess Sakinur-In Kiram, Dayang Dayang Putli Jahara Kiram, Dayang Dayang Sitti Mariam Kiram and Mora Napsa.

Jamalul II’s father, Sultan Jamalul Ahlam, leased Sabah in 1878 to British North Borneo Co. Under the agreement, the company would pay 5,300 Mexican gold pieces a year to the Kingdom of Sulu. It continued to do so until 1936, when Jamalul II died.

God, as opposed to religion

Okay, back to the issue of Prophet Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha when she was said to be just 6 years old or 9 years old or whatever. Of the many stories in Islam this appears to be the single most-favourite story that non-Muslims will raise to mock the Prophet and call him a paedophile, child rapist, pervert, criminal who would be sent to jail if he did that today, and so on.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Agnostic (noun)

1. A person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause and that the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.

2. A person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study.

3. A person who holds neither of two opposing positions on a topic.

**************************************************

Police escorts a danger to motorists

Why must a VIP get right of way at the expense
of law abiding rakyat who are oftentimes
rough-housed to the side of road? asks an activist

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA KINABALU: Police, especially traffic police, escorting VIPs on Sabah roads are being accused of endangering other road users when conducting their duties. A social activist said he recently almost met with an accident when overzealous police escorts forced him to the verge of the road to give way to a VIP speeding towards him

Donny Yapp, a director of UK-based NGO, Borneo Rights International (BRI), said the policemen simply “bulldozed” their way through the traffic and confused other motorists on a highway by waving their hands and pointing their fingers at them to get off the road.

Yapp said he was shocked earlier this week when a police outrider suddenly appeared alongside his vehicle frantically waving and pointing to one side of the road and the divider.

A case of scratching each other’s back?

By Jude Wang

In 1985, Tun Mustapha said perhaps the federal government
wanted to use Manila's claim on Sabah against its people as
a bargaining chip to make them behave.

KOTA KINABALU: With the 13th General Election drawing near, it seems to be a fishy coincidence that the Sultan of Sulu and his family have suddenly decided to revive their claim to Sabah as part of their ancestral right.

In an interview with the Philippines’ Daily Inquirer, Crown Prince Rajah Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram, reportedly said that they will have to pursue the Sabah claim on their own since the Philippines government appeared to have ignored their demand to include their claim to Sabah as an “integral and essential” aspect of the peace agreement involving “any armed group in Mindanao”.

What really made Pope Benedict XVI resigns ?

Did a Cross-Dressing Priest Sex Ring
Bring Down Benedict XVI?

Of all the rumors floating around about just why Pope Benedict XVI is hanging up his camauro, one has taken on a life of its own. According to several well-placed vaticanisti—or Vatican experts—in Rome, Benedict is resigning after being handed a secret red-covered dossier that included details about a network of gay priests who work inside the Vatican, but who play in secular Rome. The priests, it seems, are allegedly being blackmailed by a network of male prostitutes who worked at a sauna in Rome’s Quarto Miglio district, a health spa in the city center, and a private residence once entrusted to a prominent archbishop. The evidence reportedly includes compromising photos and videos of the prelates—sometimes caught on film in drag, and, in some cases, caught “in the act.”

NGO: Mengapa rakyat Sulu mudah masuk Sabah?

PETALING JAYA: Presiden Gabungan NGO Sabah, Androd Sadian berkata, rakyat Sabah tidak gembira dengan pencerobohan `tentera’ Sulu ke atas wilayah negeri itu.

Rakyat Sabah, katanya mahu pihak berkuasa menyiasat mengapa pengikut Raja Kesultanan Sulu begitu mudah masuk ke Lahad Datu serta beberapa kawasan lain di sekitarnya.

“Apa yang menyebabkan mereka berani masuk ke Sabah dengan jumlah yang besar dan dari mana mereka mendapat senjata api.

Pencerobohan Lahad Datu, apa kata penduduk...

Credit to  Facebook 1 Suara Sabah

Sejurus selepas berita mengenai pencerobohan orang asing yang bersenjata di kawasan Pantai Tanduo berdekatan Felda Sahabat 17 tersebar, suasana di bandar Lahad Datu bertukar menjadi sibuk dengan aktiviti-aktiviti pihak berkuasa.

Menurut sumber dari penduduk Lahad Datu, ekoran daripada kejadian itu, banyak trak-trak tentera kelihatan bergerak ke arah Jalan Silabukan menuju ke lokasi kejadian.

Di samping itu, tentera bersenjata turut dilihat berjalan kaki membuat rondaan bandar. Rondaan helikopter polis juga dilihat dibuat berterusan. Pemeriksaan polis turut dilakukan di beberapa kawasan bandar terutamanya Jalan Silabukan.

Don’t Harm Sultan’s Men, Nur Warns Malaysia

By Edd K. Usman

MANILA, Philippines — Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding Chairman Nur Misuari yesterday appealed to Malaysia to settle the Sabah standoff peacefully and warned that his group will come to the aid of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III’s followers if blood spills.

“I hope they will not harm them. They (Kiram’s followers) are our brothers. If one drop of their blood is spilled, we might be forced to come to their aid,” Misuari said.

“Please don’t touch them, give them a friendly and brotherly treatment,” Misuari appealed.

Re-imagining a World Beyond Capitalism and Communism

by Arundhati Roy   

Here in India, even in the midst of all the violence and greed, there is still hope. If anyone can do it, we can. We still have a population that has not yet been completely colonized by that consumerist dream.

We have a living tradition of those who have struggled for Gandhi's vision of sustainability and self-reliance, for socialist ideas of egalitarianism and social justice. We have Ambedkar's vision, which challenges the Gandhians as well as the socialists in serious ways. We have the most spectacular coalition of resistance movements, with their experience, understanding and vision.

‘Flag-burning sultan’ says Sulu army fake

If the authorities allow the armed intruders in Lahad Datu
to leave peacefully, it only shows that the government is
 involved in this drama.

LAHAD DATU: A claimant to the North Borneo Sulu Sultanate is opposing the claim of the Sulu armed group that Sabah is their ancestral homeland.

“My family is the rightful owner to the throne,” said the 45-year-old Lahad Datu businessman Abdul Rajak Aliuddin who has proclaimed himself as the Sixth Sultan of North Borneo.

The controversial Rajak, who was once detained and charged for burning the Sabah flag and raising the North Borneo Sultanate flag with the red lion symbol, said based on history the Sulu armed group led by Raja Muda Azzimudie Kiram has no rights to Sabah or North Borneo.

Isu di Lahad Datu tak ubah seperti kes Sauk: Mat Zain

Seorang bekas pegawai tinggi polis berkata rakyat sepatutnya menuntut agar kumpulan warga asing bersenjata yang dikepung pihak berkuasa di Lahad Datu, Sabah ditangani dengan keras seperti tindakan ke atas kumpulan al-Maunah dalam insiden tahun 2000 di Sauk, Perak.

Bekas Pengarah Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Kuala Lumpur Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim memberi alasan, situasi yang berlaku di Kampung Tandou, Lahad Datu itu tidak banyak berbeza dengan peristiwa di Bukit Jenalik itu.

Sulu sultan rejects MILF peace deal

Reuters
Posted at 02/20/2013 3:16 PM | Updated as of 02/20/2013 8:40 PM

MANILA, Philippines - The sultan of Sulu region on Wednesday rejected the peace deal between the Philippines and Muslim rebels, and said he will not ask his men to pull out from Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah.

About 100 armed men have occupied a village in Sabah in the stand-off with police.

Security analysts had warned that the historic peace deal signed by the Philippine government and Muslim rebels last October to end 40 years of conflict in the Philippine south risked stirring instability by alienating powerful clan leaders.

Social activist Azlan injured in brutal attack

LATEST ATTACK: A wounded Azlan lies
on the ground surrounded by members of
 the public and police. Part of the broken
bat can be seen next to him.

KUCHING: Self-proclaimed social activist Azlan Abdullah sustained suspected multiple fractures when he was attacked by men armed with baseball bats yesterday.

The attack occurred around noon in front of a serviced apartment at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, where the 53-year-old resides, and the incident comes nearly a year after he was badly wounded in a similar incident.

This time around, witnesses reported that three men -each carrying a bat– rushed out of a black Toyota Hilux parked by the roadside and attacked Azlan as he was standing by the front steps of the apartment.

“It looked as if it was planned as the men rushed out the moment they saw him,” said a male witness who asked not to be named.

Sulu Sultan heirs to ask US help on Sabah

Malaysia won’t compromise sovereignty in standoff with armed Filipinos

The heirs of the Sultan of Sulu are considering asking the help of the United States in the ongoing standoff between government forces and armed Filipinos in a Sabah village, over which Malaysia says it won’t compromise its sovereignty.

“The American government has a record of always protecting the rights of its citizens, unlike our government here,” former senator Santanina Rasul, one of the heirs who lays claim over Sabah, which is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo, said.

 

The Sabah standoff from Phillippines media's point

There is more to the ongoing standoff between Malaysian forces and some 300 armed men holed up in a coastal village in Sabah than meets the eye.  The latter are Filipino nationals, though they identify themselves as members of the “Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo.”  They have announced that they sailed to Sabah to reclaim their rightful homeland.  Heaven forbid that any harm should befall them.  For, that will play right into the hands of those who, for some reason or other, wish to derail the current peace effort in Mindanao and foment a rift between Malaysia and the Philippines.

Jeffrey Asks if Lahad Datu Standoff a Charade to Scare Voters

Does the government led by BN trying to divert voters attention?

By Junior Fendi 
KOTA KINABALU: The State Reform Party suspects that the Barisan Nasional government is trying to gain political mileage from the Lahad Datu standoff, using it to scare the people into voting for the BN in the coming general elections.

 

“It is even possible that this is an elaborate BN military strategy choreographed to achieve that purpose,” its state chairman, Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan said in a statement. “This new form of fear mongering makes sense knowing BN’s desperation in wanting to hold on to power in the light of the ruling coalition’s lowest level of popularity and support at the moment.”

 

Where’s the logic, Hisham?

If the current soft 'handling' of the incursions by armed Filipinos
into Lahad Datu is any measure, then it is clear that Sabahans'
safety is inconsequential to the federal government.

It is an irony how promptly Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein ordered the arrest and deportation of Australian Senator Nick Xenophon while 100 armed Filipinos in military fatigue were being handled with kid gloves by the police and Special Branch officers because they had “links” in Sabah.

Xenophon arrived solo and unarmed but was considered a security threat. But in Lahad Datu, some 100 “soldiers” from the alleged Royal Sultanate of Sulu Army who were armed with “M-14, M-16, M203 and Armalite assault rifles” were considered friendly, “not militants” and “not a threat”.

‘Don’t harm my followers in Sabah’

A supposed heir to the Sulu sultanate wants the Malaysian
government not to harm his followers and wants the
Philippine president to peacefully settle their claims to Sabah.

ZAMBOANGA CITY: A supposed heir to the throne of the sultanate of Sulu province has called on Malaysia not to harm the sultanate’s followers holed out in Lahad Datu.

Sultan Raja Mohammad Ghamar Mamay Hasan Abdurajak said that Sabah rightfully belongs to the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo and he wants President Benigno Aquino to peacefully their claims.

He also said that those who were rounded up by Malaysian security forces are natives of the sultanate and should be accorded their rights to the oil-rich Malaysian state near the Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi.

Lahad Datu – a dangerous game

Source

Why haven't the Sabah police acted against rumoured
disturbances within the state following the 'siege' by
militants in Lahad Datu?

LAHAD DATU: The current drama in Lahad Datu following the incursion of armed men from the Philippines and the government’s “gentle” approach to the situation could backfire on the Barisan Nasional leadership if it is indeed a tactical strategy to scare Sabahans into voting for the ruling coalition.

“If this is the BN game, then it is a dangerous strategy,” said State Reform Party (STAR) chief Jeffrey Kitingan.

“It [the strategy] is a double-edged sword because it can backfire and cause the people to vote against the BN for its obvious failure in flexing the [government's] military muscle for the sake of national dignity and sovereignty.

Lahad Datu stand-off: 3 Al-Jazeera journalists detained for 7 hrs

Source

LAHAD DATU: Three Al-Jazeera journalists covering the stand-off with the Sulu gunmen were detained for nearly seven hours by the police and released.

They were detained at about 8am on Wednesday in a boat near Tanjung Labian not far from the seaside village of Kg Tanduo and taken to the Cenderawasih police station for questioning.

Detained together with them was a boatman and three locals.

Is Lahad Datu siege a Umno-BN plan?

The government's 'unconvincing actions' via negotiations
had 'legitimised' the Sulu army's demands and made us
a laughing stock, said STAR chief Jeffrey Kitingan.

By Raymond Tombung

KOTA KINABALU: Is the incursion of more than 100 armed Filipino men from the alleged royal Sulu army an elaborate federal level Umno strategy to scare Sabahans into voting back the Barisan Nasional in the 13th general election?

Is that why the federal government and its top leaders – Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak included – seem unperturbed by the threats and demands of the Manila-acknowledged Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III and his men led by brother Raja Muda Abimuddin who are holed up in Lahad Datu since Feb 9?

Isn’t it possible that Putrajaya and Manila are in cahoots? After all, it has been reported in the Philippine media that President Benigno Aquino was “informed of the incursions from Day One”. Also noteworthy is that Malaysia took credit as peacemaker in the long-drawn insurgency in the southern Philippines.

Anwar Accused of Bible Burning

By Tuhun Tavakas
KOTA KINABALU- The latest hot gossip to erupt the coffee shop tables is that of PKR leader Datuk Sri Anwar Ibrahim burning the Holy Bible. The leakage spread from KDM servants inside JPM (Jabatan Perdana Menteri) that Datuk Sri Anwar once burnt the Holy Bible and has never atoned for this heinous act has enraged many a KDM voter. But checks on You-Tube however failed to find any evidence of Datuk Anwar Ibrahim actually burning the Holy Bible. This insensitive tactic to lure the KDM voters back to BN by JPM insiders just goes toi show to us how desperate a mere 9% Christian population the BN needs to hold on and remain in power. So far PKR and Datuk Anwar have not commented on this rumour.

Pairin, Dompok, Kurup in rare show of unity

Against simmering anti-BN sentiments amongst the
Kadazan Dusun Murut communities, PBS, Upko
and PBRS leaders came together in the name of religion.

KOTA KINABALU: Three Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) leaders offered each other the hand of unity last night in a long awaited encounter, symbolising their resolve to help Barisan Nasional (BN) win the 13th general election.

Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Joseph Pairin Kitingan, United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) president Bernard Dompok, and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) president Joseph Kurup shook hands at a ceremony to hand over RM4.5 million worth of goods to heads of churches in Sabah, here.

In what is seen as a show of solidarity, they are bent on working together to ensure victory for BN led by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

Kah Kiat now in PKR camp?

By Luke Rintod of FMT

If rumours are any indication, the end is near for
Liberal Democratic Party – Sabah BN's local
Chinese arm.

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah political grapevine is abuzz with rumours that former Sabah chief minister and ex-Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president Chong Kah Kiat has joined PKR.

Word is that Chong, along with two other eminent former state Barisan Nasional assemblymen, joined opposition PKR in a secret meeting with PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim who was here last week.

Chong, who was once a federal minister, was also the former assemblyman for Tanjung Kapur.

The other two are Yapin Gimpoton who once held Kadamaian and Ahmadshah Tambakau, a former Bingkor representative. Ahmadshah, a ex-federal deputy minister, was also once Keningau MP.

Rare mass rally in Singapore demands immigration curbs

More than 1,000 Singaporeans attended the city-state's biggest protest rally in recent memory Saturday, amid growing public indignation over predictions of a surging foreign population.

The peaceful rally, held at an officially designated protest zone, was staged by a civic group after the government said foreigners could account for nearly half of the densely packed island's population in less than 20 years.

Organisers estimated the crowd at 3,000, but AFP reporters on the scene said between 1,000 and 1,500 people had taken part despite afternoon downpours, making it the biggest protest in Singapore in recent years.

Tax fizzy drinks and ban junk food ads, say doctors

By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

Fizzy drinks should be heavily taxed and junk food adverts banished until after the watershed, doctors have said, in a call for action over obesity.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which represents nearly every doctor in the UK, said ballooning waistlines already constituted a "huge crisis".

Its report said current measures were failing and called for unhealthy foods to be treated more like cigarettes.

Mahathir enters fray as Malaysia braces for poll

KUALA LUMPUR: As Malaysia approaches its tightest election in half a century, the opposition activist Ambiga Sreenevasan has shrugged off calls for her to be stripped of her Malaysian citizenship.

''This will be the dirtiest election ever because it is the most closely fought … Cheating and fraud could be the deciding factor,'' Ms Ambiga, who heads Bersih, a group campaigning for free and fair polling, said.

"This will be the dirtiest election ever because it is the most closely fought."

Migrants in politics and the Borneo Xenophobia

By Nilakrisna James

Xenophobia is a morbid fear of foreigners. At the heart of Sabah and Sarawak lies a deep distrust of foreign people, foreign cultures and foreign intrusion. It has formed the backdrop of our policies and Federal-State relations the past half a century; a crippling phobia that may never end and which may mar the judgments of all present and future political representatives that we send to parliament. This will be the downfall of the Borneo states.

It is this deep distrust of foreigners that made us afraid of Malaya in the first place but when it came to the White People (“Orang Putih”), we treated them as rajahs or masters. Yet, one of the same colour and stock can never be our superior and to this day the descendants of head hunters and migrants refuse to bow to a brown authority.

Will the Malays trust Anwar Ibrahim?

By Jey San

I don’t think so. Anwar Ibrahim as the de facto leader of the opposition appears to be just another politican who continues to maneuver to ensure that his own ambition to be the Prime Minster of Malaysia is fulfilled.

Most of Malay community felt sorry for him during his incarceration in 1998 when he had ambitiously tried to overthrow Mahathir, similar to how he had toppled Ghafar Baba for the deputy president’s post in Umno with his American-style campaign within the Umno faction.

10 reasons why we must vote in GE 13

We are into the final lap of what must be the most hotly contested general elections in our nation’s 56-year history and one that many would consider to be a pivotal one.

To many, the contest is between the incumbent ruling coalition, the Barisan Nasional (BN) and the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat (PR). To some the choice is between Najib and Anwar whilst to others it is between maintaining the status quo or change.

But I want to put it to you that this election is not about BN or PR. Why? For usually in any contest, the winner is the one with the better skills, strategy, funds and luck even. But in an election, the winner or loser is decided not by the contending parties but by the audience or in this case the voters.