Britain stops to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee with river pageant

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip watch the flotilla fromthe royal barge during the Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the
River Thames in London. Source: AP

THE BOATS appeared, scores of them stretched across the river from bank to bank, and as they did a monochrome world turned into a blaze of colour.

A Thames murky and brown, a sky drab and grey, all transformed in the space of a few moments into a Canaletto for the 21st century.

Pope criticizes profit-seeking, says his image of heaven is his childhood in Bavaria

By Colleen Barry of Associated Press

MILAN - Pope Benedict XVI celebrated an open-air Mass on Sunday for a million followers, capping three days of activities in Milan aimed at showing support for the family.

Fitting his theme of strengthening the institution, the pope recalled the night before his own childhood in Germany in a house filled with music, big Sunday lunches and shared liturgical readings to strengthen the family faith.

"To tell the truth," the pope said, responding to a question about his youth from a young Vietnamese girl during a meeting with families Saturday night, "if I try to imagine a little how it will be in heaven, it seems to be the time of my youth, of my childhood."

PM told to explain Terasasi's role in Scorpene deal

The government must explain the role of Terasasi (Hong Kong) Sdn Bhd that has allegedly sold Malaysian state secrets to a French company in the RM4 billion Scorpene deal, said Suaram.

"So far, the role of Terasasi has not been explained in the Malaysian Parliament.

"The Malaysian government must explain this and the role played by Abdul Razak Baginda in this transaction (related to the Scorpene evaluation papers)," said Suaram director Kua Kia Soong (right).

Abdul Razak and his father are directors of Terasasi, a company whose name has surfaced in a French corruption investigation filed by Suaram against Paris-based shipbuilder DCNS into its sale of two Scorpene submarines to Malaysia.

Star wants Harris to ‘redeem’ himself in time

By Daniel John Jambun
KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh has been advised to stand up for Sabah, if not for Sarawak as well, and thereby redeem himself in time finally in the eyes of the people instead of continuing to defend Putrajaya, for no rhyme or reason, “in defiance of the longterm interest of the state”.

This is the best advice that the State Reform Party (Star) can give Harris “who appears determined to commit political suicide a second time, the first being in 1985”.

Claimants to defunct Sulu sultanate have hidden agenda

By Joe Fernandez
The only reason Muslim Sultans in southeast Asia claim to be royals is because they were previously Hindu rajahs. Example: Parameswara in Malacca.

In Islam itself, a Sultan is not royal but was democratically elected by the local ummah to be their spiritual head. These democratic elections in the Middle East were subsequently stopped somewhere along the way and/or partly by western intervention and colonialism which wanted puppet rulers.

Anyone who claims to be the Sultan of Sulu is the Father of All Liars ... Even if any claimant produces a DNA report to trace direct descent as heir to the so-called "throne", the "territorial" claim is sheer nonsense under international law. It's also a distortion of history, the concept of democracy, the rule of law and sovereignty.

Popular RFS deejay John Jaban ‘abducted’

KUCHING: Radio Free Sarawak (RFS) deejay Peter John Jaban managed to “escape” police at the Miri International Airport this morning, but was “abducted” by unidentified plainclothes individuals believed to be linked to the Special Branch.

Jaban, 48, had earlier been detained, photographed and his documents photocopied by Kota Kinabalu police while waiting to board his flight to Miri to join his family for the Gawai celebrations.

In a text message to FMT, sent via a friend, Jaban said he was “ready to be arrested by Special Branch in Sarawak”.

Although he was met on arrival by a group of policemen no arrest was made as they were “still awaiting instruction from the top”.

Isu Perjawatan Awam Di Sabah

Saudara Pengarang,

DI SINI saya ingin mengutarakan fakta isu perjawatan awam sekali lagi walaupun telah banyak blog, individu atau kumpulan yang sudah pernah menyuarakan perkara ini di dalam internet.

Tujuan saya supaya kita sedar dan semakin matang ke arah perubahan, lebih-lebih lagi menjelang PRU 13 ini. Saya juga tidak berniat untuk menguris hati kaum-kaum yang lain cuma saya ingin menegakkan hak kami kaum bumiputera dan Anak Negeri Sabah.
Di Sabah, lebih kurang 60 peratus demografi kumpulan etnik adalah terdiri daripada kaum bumiputra dan anak negeri sabah seperti berikut:

June 10 ‘victory’ for Lajim-Anwar?

By Luke Rintod of FMT 

KOTA KINABALU: Lajim Ukin, the influential Umno warlord in the south-interior of Sabah, is said to be “definitely” ditching the party to join not the Sabah People’s Front (SPF) as rumoured, but PKR.

Reliable insiders claimed that the Umno supreme council member and MP for Beaufort is preparing for a June 10 exit and that Pakatan Rakyat coalition de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim himself would fly to Sabah to receive not only Lajim but also scores of other Sabah Umno and United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation leaders.

Only Muslims can be PM: Why would other faiths want to be Malaysians then?

By Joe Fernandez

Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz is not the last word on the Constitution or Islam, a religion which invariably gets a bad press for no rhyme or reason. Blame all the Nik Aziz in the world!

Is it any wonder therefore that a US Army training manual recently -- surely it went through the usual screening process! -- spoke of destroying Mecca and Medina and reducing the religion to a sub-culture, presumably for no other reason than the insane fact that it can be done, or must be done, in the wake of various justifications bordering on paranoia.

Star: Forget internal colonization, self-determination the way out

By Daniel John Jambun

KOTA KINABALU: The polemics on Putrajaya’s internal colonization policies in Sabah and Sarawak appears to be getting increasingly shrill and out of hand and needs to be brought to a swift end and buried for good. Instead, it’s felt that it’s best to let bygones be bygones and “focus on regaining self-determination along the lines of 31 Aug 1963” for Sabah and Sarawak.

Self-determination in this form for Sabah and Sarawak would be “the best way forward and out from internal colonization”. Self-determination, in international law, “has come to mean the free choice of one's own acts without external compulsion”.