Ghost of 666 yet to be buried

By Philip Golingai

Peter Mojuntin, the then Sabah Local and Housing Minister, was a living legend. Even today, 36 years after his death, his name is spoken with reverence.

HERE’S my recollection of the “Triple Six” tragedy which struck Sabah on June 6, 1976. That year, I was nine years old. It was a Sunday and I was at a wooden house that was my family’s weekend getaway in Kampung Pogunon, Penampang.

News – probably from the radio – trickled through that a Nomad aircraft had crashed in Sembulan, about 16km from my village, as it was about to land at Kota Kinabalu airport at around 3.30pm.

There was talk that some Sabah ministers were onboard the aircraft and they had been rushed to hospital.

Prayer answered

A man worked in a post office. His job was to process all mail that had illegible addresses.
One day a letter came to his desk, addressed in a shaky handwriting to God. He thought,
"I better open this one and see what it's all about." 

So he opened it and it read:

"Dear God, I am an 83 year old widow living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse.
It had a hundred dollars in it which was all the money I had until my next pension check." "Next Sunday is Easter,

Star: Opposition manifestos must match expectations

KOTA KINABALU: The manifesto revealed by the Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) on Sun in the Sabah capital, to cite an example, leaves a lot to be desired since its conveys the impression that “the party leaders continue to be in a state of denial and are sitting on another planet and making plans for the state”.

This is the dismissive note, albeit reluctantly, from the State Reform Party (Star) on the Sapp Manifesto unveiled amidst much fanfare. The party hopes that others in the opposition will take heed of the lessons and do a better job on their respective manifestos “while Sapp goes back to the drawing board”.

" Bah! Tunggu apa lagi!" Slogan SAPP PRU-13

Oleh: GONOD SUNDA
KONGRESS SAPP 2012 yang dihadiri perwakilan dan pemerhati hampir 3,000 bertempat di Star City pada Ahad telah merintis jalan baru parti itu apabila 17 Perkara Manifesto yang diumumkan parti itu sebagai janjinya kepada rakyat untuk ditunaikan sekiranya SAPP membentuk kerajaan selepas PRU-13, menandakan keseriusan kepimpinan SAPP merubah wajah kesuraman Sabah ke era baru.

Antara perkara yang diberi tumpuan terkandung didalam Manifesto itu ialah pengwujudan Kad Pengenalan Sabah (Sabah IC) sebagai usahanya membasmi keraguan kerakyatan dan pemberian Kad Pengenalan secara songsang yang meletakkan jumlah kependudukkan Sabah mencecah kepadatan penduduk yang luar biasa berbanding negeri negeri lain yang tidak ada PTI seperti Sarawak.

Selain itu, Manifesto tersebut turut meletakkan pembangunan sosial sebagai agenda terpenting kerajaan baru SAPP , terutamanya masa depan belia beliawanis dan keperluan tenaga kerja untuk diperkasakan dan diperbetulkan supaya tidak akan berlaku penghijrahan belia belia Sabah ke Semenanjong untuk mencari pekerjaan.

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”.