'Wake me up when September ends.' It seems to me that such a thought might have crossed the minds of certain Malaysians, particularly those who have a peculiar phobia about the month of September.

They're not beyond selling their principles to the highest bidder, lying, cheating, treating the electorate with contempt, shitting on their colleagues, sleeping with the enemy (or anything else with a hole) and even pretending they care - yes they really do believe their own bullshit!

Mr Monkey reckons Councillors Iain Malcolm and I'll shag anything, David Potts fit the bill perfectly.

CLICK HERE to see what they really get up to. 

If you've enjoyed this week's Monkey Clip click here, here and here to view some of Mr Monkey's previous Monkey Clips.

It's easy to make a joke out of this, but it must have been an extraordinarily frightening experience.

Michael is one of the more colourful members of the Commons, as he proved at the last session of transport questions. Complaining about the danger to passengers on station platforms when a high-speed train rushes past, he unwisely referred to the danger of him "being sucked off".

Perhaps appropriate that he raised the issue at orals...

Ba-boom.

I've just signed the petition at oneseat.eu

Pakistan votes for new president

Asif Zardari - one of Pakistan's most controversial politicians

Voting has started in Pakistan to elect a successor to Pervez Musharraf, who resigned as president last month rather than risk impeachment.

The winner is expected to be Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Voting is being held in both the national and provincial assemblies.

The next president will have to tackle an Islamist insurgency and an economic crisis which are threatening the country's stability.

Controversy

Mr Zardari was thrust into the center of political power by the killing of Ms Bhutto last December after which he became head of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

WHO VOTES FOR PRESIDENT? Total votes: 702 National Assembly 342 votes Senate 100 votes Four provincial assemblies 65 votes each Winner needs simple majority of votes What Pakistanis think 'Master plan' to save Pakistan Q&A: Presidential poll Send us your comments

Mr Zardari is regarded by many as the de facto prime minister and he is now almost certain to become president.

Our correspondent says that in recent months Mr Zardari has shown skill by forging a large coalition and using it to peacefully unseat the former military ruler, President Musharraf.

Mr Zardari is one of Pakistan's most controversial politicians.

For years he has been hounded by allegations of massive corruption - although he has never been convicted.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took his PML-N party out of the governing coalition last week, accusing Mr Zardari of breaking key promises.

Many in Pakistan fear the country is facing a return to an old-style politics of confrontation at a time when urgent action is needed to improve the economy and deal with a raging Islamist insurgency.

Juggling demands

Mr Zardari is seen as pro-Western and supportive of Washington's self-declared war on terror.

Nawaz Sharif's coalition with Mr Zardari did not last long

If he becomes president, he will have to juggle the demands of the United States, Pakistan's powerful army, and strong anti-American sentiment in the country.

Our correspondent says Mr Musharraf tried to do that and failed. She adds that Pakistanis hope that Asif Zardari will have more success, but they see little in his past to encourage them.

The other candidates are Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, a former judge who has the backing of Mr Sharif, and Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who was nominated by the PML-Q party that supported Mr Musharraf.

In the Islamabad parliament, members of the upper house, the Senate, are voting first, followed by the lower house.

Voting is being held in a similar fashion in Pakistan's four provincial assemblies of Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier Province.

There is only one round of voting and whoever has most of the 702 votes wins. Results are expected late on Saturday.

BHUBANESWAR, September 5 (Compass Direct News) – Asserting that most area Hindus are tolerant and peaceable, victims of ongoing anti-Christian violence in the eastern state of Orissa blamed the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) and other extremist groups for the terror of the past two weeks.

“The mobs that attacked our parishes and institutions were largely composed of extremists from the VHP and its youth wing, Bajrang Dal,” said Bishop Sarat Chandra Nayak of the Behrampore Catholic diocese.

At least four parishes, a presbytery and a youth hostel were destroyed in Munniguda town in Rayagada district under the Behrampore diocese in the spate of violence that began following the killing of a VHP leader, Laxmanananda Saraswati, and four of his associates in Kandhamal district on August 23. Christian leaders say more than 100 lives have been lost and thousands of houses, churches and institutions damaged or destroyed in the violence.

The state government attributed the assassination of the VHP leader and his associates to Maoists who have since claimed responsibility for the murders, but the Hindu extremist groups continue to blame Christians.

Asked if he condemned the violence on Christians, VHP Orissa State President Gauri Prasad Rath told Compass that he categorically did not.

“You should ask me to condemn the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and his associates with AK-47s by Christians,” he said.

While the Global Council of Indian Christians says more than 100 people have been killed in the violence, the Kandhamal District Collector’s Office told Compass that the death toll is only 14 people. The office reports 22,685 people are in relief camps in Kandhamal. The same office has also reported that 2,400 buildings have been destroyed in the mayhem, though Christian leaders believe the total is much higher.

Hindus Protected Christians

Father Mathew Puthyadam, a Catholic priest in Phulbani town in Kandhamal district, told Compass that local Hindu families gave him shelter.

As mob of around 4,000 people was carrying the body of Saraswati in a procession outside his church on the night of August 24, he said, he first sought shelter with Christians.

“When the mob was destroying my parish [Christ the King Church], I went to the house of parish workers nearby and hid in a broken bathroom,” Fr. Puthyadam said. “The mob somehow came to know that the house belonged to Christians, and they launched an attack on it. They beat up the two boys who live there, but they managed to escape. Thankfully, they did not come to the bathroom.”

About an hour after the mob left, Fr. Puthyadam came out to the street to see if it was safe for him to leave.

“A Hindu lady told me some extremists were still roaming around,” he said. “She asked me to hide in her kitchen and gave me food to eat.”

Later, Fr. Puthyadam fled to a forest, and finally came to the Archbishop’s House in the state capital, Bhubaneswar.

“Many among the mob were goons and thieves who were seemingly led by extremist groups,” he recalled, saying he felt he had gotten a “second life” as he could have been killed.

Another priest who managed to reach Bhubaneswar after a seven-day journey from Onjamundi village in Kandhamal district praised local Hindu families for protecting him.

“On the evening of August 25, a mob of 300 people who were armed with pistols, chisels and sticks, started burning houses and churches,” said Father Laxmikant Pradhan, a Catholic priest. “We could see thick smoke rising from all around. But Hindu families in the village asked Fr. Prabodha Kumar, my associate, and I to hide in their homes.”

Ravindranath Pradhan, a 45-year-old former soldier of the Indian Army, told Compass that VHP supporters attacked Christian houses in his village of Gadragaon in the Rupagaon area of Kandhamal.

“We know the attackers – they are from the VHP,” he said. “We have named them in our police complaint.”

Pradhan and 113 others reached Bhubaneswar on August 28 after walking for four days from Gadragaon. The homeless Christians were given shelter in a YMCA center in the capital city.

Creating a Rift

Some Orissa locals believe the extremists meant to create a rift between Christian missionaries and lower-caste tribal peoples known as “Other Backward Classes” (OBCs).

Prabhu Kalyan Mahapatra, a local Hindu and freelance journalist, told Compass that he did not think the violence was the result of what media are portraying as a Hindu-Christian “clash.”

In Kandhamal, there are OBCs who are lower castes but not “outcasts,” Mahapatra said, noting that the OBCs were mainly traders, while Dalits and tribal peoples were laborers and the poorest of the poor. He said the OBCs exploited Dalit and tribal people.

“However, Christian missionaries provided education to Dalits and tribals, which was not liked by the OBCs for obvious reasons,” he said, pointing out that several people from Dalit and tribal backgrounds had risen to become bureaucrats and members of parliament because of education provided by Christian institutions. “And the VHP took advantage of the situation and created a rift between OBCs and Christian missionaries.”

Mahapatra said that locals’ tolerance for Christian converts made Hindu-Christian conflict an unlikely reason for the violence. A Christian convert, Madhusudan Das, was recognized by the people of all local communities as the “father of modern Orissa,” he said.

Das, a lawyer, social reformer and patriot, worked for the political, social and economical uplift of people of eastern India, especially Orissa, and contributed numerous articles and poems both in Oriya and English.

“If the people of these communities respect a convert [Das], how can you say the Hindus of Orissa are not tolerant?” he asked.

Mahapatra explained how the VHP extended Saraswati’s funeral procession to incite violence.

“The funeral was taken from Saraswati’s ashram [religious center] in Jalespeta to his other ashram in Chakapada in Kandhamal, covering around 134 kilometers, when the distance between the two ashrams is merely 70 kilometers,” he said.

The attacks on Christians began during the funeral procession, he added.

New Tensions Feared

The Orissa government yesterday put a ban on rally planned by the VHP to take the ashes of Saraswati in another public procession throughout Orissa villages beginning on Sunday (September 7), according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

The ban was announced by the state government in hearing of a petition filed by Archbishop Raphael Cheenath from Orissa in the Supreme Court of India. The state government, however, fears fresh trouble on Sunday, as it is believed that the VHP may still go ahead with the processions.

“The state government has decided to rush additional force to the riot-affected areas in view of VHP’s proposed ‘kalas puja’ [worship of the remains of a deceased] of slain Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati,” reported The Indian Express newspaper today.

According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India, mobs led by extremist groups are “roaming in Kandhamal and threatening the Christians to ‘reconvert’ or face death.”

Christians from various denominations will fast and pray for the Christians in Orissa on Sunday.

The VHP and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, a partner of the ruling government led by the Biju Janata Dal party, continue to blame Christians for the killing of Saraswati and four others in spite of the Maoist claim of responsibility for the assassination.

Saraswati allegedly incited the attacks on Christians and their property in Kandhamal during last Christmas season. The violence lasted for more than a week beginning December 24, and killed at least four Christians and burned 730 houses and 95 churches.

The 2007 attacks were allegedly carried out mainly by VHP extremists under the pretext of avenging an alleged attack on Saraswati by local Christians. Hundreds of Christians were displaced by the violence in Kandhamal, and many are still in various relief camps set up by the state government.

Christians make up 2.4 percent of Orissa’s population, or 897,861 of the total 3.7 million people.

Report from Compass Direct News

ISTANBUL, September 4 (Compass Direct News) – Four Pakistani Muslims killed an elderly woman with an axe over a dispute with her husband, who has been unable to prosecute them due to his low social status as a Christian.

Case workers said the alleged culprits targeted the couple for theft and later murder because they believed Pakistan’s legal system would not prosecute them for murdering Christians. The suspects’ connections to mafia and national politicians further emboldened them, they said.

“The Muslims assume the Christians are sheep and don’t have any weight,” said Sohail Johnson, case worker and chief coordinator of Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan (SLMP), a Non-Governmental Organization that supports Christian prisoners throughout the Punjab province. “The culprits thought, ‘[The Christians] have no voice. Nothing will happen if we do something,’” he said.

Noban Bibi, 65, was killed on July 2 in Pakistan’s eastern Kasur province in the village of Khraper.

The dispute that led to her murder started in January, when two men stole money and gold items from the couple.

According to a First Instance Report, Yaqoob Shareef and Hadayat Ali broke into the house of Dara Masih, 85, while his wife was away in Lahore. They stole gold ornaments and 15,000 Pakistan rupees (US$200).

Masih demanded they return the stolen goods or he would prosecute them. The alleged culprits then began threatening to kill him.

On July 2 at 2:30 a.m. Shareef, Ali, and two unknown persons entered their house and killed Bibi with a pickaxe.

An autopsy obtained by Compass said Bibi had multiple lacerations on her head, some nearly four inches long.

Johnson of SLMP said the alleged culprits believed they wouldn’t be prosecuted due to their connections to politicians and mafia.

Shareef, 36, and Ali, in his late 20s, are members of a criminal organization and have connections with local and national politicians that they are using to leverage the criminal justice system, said Shazhad Kamran, an SLMP case worker.

“In Pakistan, politicians always need criminals to assert their power in an area,” Kamran said. “They always depend on criminals, and criminals depend on politicians to save them.”

Bribery and ‘Dissimulation’

Masih nevertheless registered the murder with the local police. He could not convince local police officer Muhammad Akram to arrest Shareef and Ali, according to an SLMP report, because Akram received a bribe requiring him to threaten Masih to drop charges against them.

Masih then took the case to a district police officer in Kasur, who arrested Ali and Sharif. The two suspects, however, have not been formally prosecuted.

When the SLMP’s Johnson and Kamran approached Sub-Inspector Aslam Pistooly and Investigation Officer Malik Mansab Ali on Aug. 2, Pistooly claimed the two suspects were not guilty. To prove this, he said the accused would swear an oath of innocence in front of prominent Muslims at a mosque, the report said.

Johnson and Kamran refused the offer for the suspects to do so, stating that swearing an oath at a mosque is not a part of Pakistani criminal investigation proceedings.

Pistooly then became angry and told Johnson and Kamran, “If you are not satisfied that Muslims will go into the mosque and swear they are innocent, then if you can go into the church, put your hand on the Bible, and swear they are guilty, then I will make legal action against him,” according to Johnson.

Speaking by telephone from Kasum, Investigation Officer Ali, who was at the Aug. 2 meeting, said swearing an oath in a mosque as proof of innocence is illegal under Pakistani criminal law. Asked if Pistooly had asked the culprits to testify in a mosque, he told Compass he could not confirm it.

“I have not compelled any person to swear an oath in a mosque, and Pakistani law does not permit it,” he said through a translator.

The SLMP case workers said the Muslim suspects wanted to swear an oath at the mosque to take advantage of an Islamic tradition that allows accused men to give false testimony when under threat.

Known as Al Taqiyya (dissimulation), this concept allows Muslims to conceal the truth at a time of danger to save themselves from physical or mental injury. In some traditions, Al Taqiyya can only be used when one is wrongfully accused.

On Aug. 4 Punjab Minister for Human Rights and Minority Affairs Kamran Michael transferred the case from the district police office to the Karsur superintendent of police.

The SLMP case workers met with Kasur Superintendent of Police Rana Shahid Ahmed on Aug. 18. In their first meeting he was uncooperative and pressured Masih to drop all charges against the two suspects, the report said.

Johnson said he believes justice will not come easily for Masih because the case has become an issue of pride for local Muslims. Members of Parliament are supporting the alleged criminals and putting pressure on police to find them innocent, he said, “just to save the skin of Muslims.”

The SLMP is now trying to move the investigation to the Criminal Investigation Agency. It will first file a complaint in a lower criminal court against the alleged culprits and police for not registering the case.

Kasur is an agricultural city located in the Punjab province with a long Islamic history. The area contains radical conservative Muslim elements, such as members of Jamaat-Ud-Dawa, a Pakistani charity that the U.S. State Department designated a terrorist organization in 2006.

In recent years Christians in Kasur have faced charges of blasphemy against Islam, torture and forced conversion.

In July 2007 Catholic prisoner Dil Awaiz was tortured, barred from teaching Bible classes to fellow Christian prisoners and placed in solitary confinement. He was released in April this year.

Human Rights and Minority Affairs Minister Michael spoke to Christians in Kanganpur, 50 kilometers (31 miles) southeast of Kasur, on Friday (Aug. 29). He said the government was taking every step to protect minority rights, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.  

Report from Compass Direct News

Yet another oldie, "Leaving on a jet plane", sung by Peter, Paul and Mary, reminds me of the planned trip by the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BNBBC) to a hitherto undisclosed destination to supposedly study 'the latest technology in agriculture and high-tech food production'.

In other words, these elected BN politicians will be taking this all-expenses-paid trip to 'go agro'.

This sudden thirst for (technological) knowledge is indeed noteworthy especially when it involves a bunch of backbench BN politicians.

It is hoped that this two-week study trip would eventually enhance the agricultural sector in terms of productivity and its contribution to the overall economic growth of the country.

Farmers and cultivators across the country would surely be waiting for their return with bated breath. They may be looking forward to an advanced technique that relates to cross-breeding or cross-fertilisation.

Incidentally, the rakyat by now can be quite convinced that the timing of the trip, i.e. nearing the 'tensed' Sept. 16, is purely coincidental.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Parliament passed resolutions Thursday condemning an American-led attack in Pakistani territory after the government summoned the U.S. ambassador to protest the unusually bold raid that officials say killed at least 15 people.

The criticism grew two days before Asif Ali Zardari is expected to be chosen as president in a vote by legislators. A spokesman said Zardari condemned Wednesday's pre-dawn assault in the South Waziristan tribal region - the first known foreign ground assault in Pakistan against a Taliban haven. But Zardari also said Pakistan stands with the U.S. against international terrorism.

Zardari, widower of former premier Benazir Bhutto, is expected to pursue a pro-U.S. policy similar to that of former President Pervez Musharraf and continue to go after Islamic militants accused of crossing into Afghanistan to attack the U.S.-led international security force there.

An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of cross-border operations, confirmed to The Associated Press that U.S. troops conducted the raid about a mile from the Afghan border.

It was unclear whether any extremist leader was killed or captured. Pakistan's border region is considered a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi condemned the attack, saying ``no important terrorist or high-value target'' was killed.

``Innocent citizens, including women and children, have been targeted,'' Qureshi said. The ministry's spokesman said officials had no indication that U.S. forces had captured anyone.

Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, citing witness and intelligence reports, said troops flew in on at least one big CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, blasted their way into several houses and gunned down men they found there.

Army and intelligence officials as well as residents said 15 people died, while the provincial governor said 20 civilians, including women and children, were killed.

Pakistan's Senate and National Assembly passed resolutions Thursday condemning the attack.

In the past, similar protests over suspected U.S. missile attacks in Pakistani territory have led to little tangible effect on America's relationship with Pakistan, which has received billions of dollars from Washington for its aid in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

Still, the operation in South Waziristan's Angoor Ada area threatened to complicate an already difficult relationship.

Continued . . .

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani legislators are set to elect as president the late Benazir Bhutto's controversial widower Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday, making a choice many Pakistanis see leading to a fresh phase of political instability.

His wife's assassination last December and the victory of her grieving party in a February election has catapulted Zardari to the top in Pakistan's switch to civilian-led democracy after nine years under former army chief and president, Pervez Musharraf.

The presidential vote is a three-way contest, but Zardari's party and its allies have a clear majority among lawmakers in the two-chamber parliament and four provincial legislatures that make up the electoral college.

Desperate for stability in a nuclear-armed Muslim state whose cooperation is key to victory over al Qaeda and the success of the West's mission in Afghanistan, the United States is counting on Zardari to keep Pakistan committed to the war on terrorism.

"I will work to defeat the domestic Taliban insurgency and to ensure that Pakistan territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on our neighbours or on NATO forces in Afghanistan," Zardari said in an article in the Washington Post on Thursday.

The United States doesn't trust his chief rival Nawaz Sharif, fearing he could pander to Islamists.

The dangers that lie ahead were underscored on Wednesday by an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, a Zardari nominee, that the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for.

IMAGE PROBLEMS

Zardari's been called a crook, a liar, and held in widespread disdain, and there have even been doubts raised about his mental fitness after the rigours of 11 years spent in jail.

Loyalists say the allegations were politically motivated and powerful media groups were smearing Zardari's image, while favouring Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew in 1999.

"No one challenges his democratic credentials as head of an elected party, but the personal credibility of Mr. Zardari has become a serious issue," wrote Shaheen Sehbai, editor of the Jang Group of Newspapers, Pakistan's largest newspaper group, in The News daily last week.

Zardari's hesitancy to bring back judges Musharraf dismissed because of fears they could revive corruption cases against him, has not built confidence.

Zardari, who was investment minister in the second government of his slain wife, was released after an eight-year stretch in 2004, but he has never been convicted.

Charges against him and Bhutto were dropped last year under an amnesty introduced by Musharraf for politicians and civil servants as part of an attempt to cut a deal with Bhutto.

Continued  . . .

In the New Zealand parliament however, a whole range of far more advanced strategies is often employed, such as:

1. Change riders.                       
2. Buy a stronger whip.
3. Do nothing because there is nothing wrong with dead horses and this is the way we have always ridden them.
4. Visit other countries to see how they ride dead horses.
5. Perform a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance.
6. Hire a contractor to ride the dead horse.
7. Harness several dead horses together in an attempt to increase speed.
8. Provide additional funding and or training to increase the dead horse’s performance.
9. Appoint a committee to study the horse and assess how dead it actually is.
10. Re-classify the dead horse as living impaired.
11. Develop a strategic plan for the management of dead horses.
12. Rewrite the expected performance requirements for all dead horses 
13. Modify existing standards to include dead horses 
14. Declare that as a dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower over heads and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line than many other horses.
15. Promote the dead horse to a supervisory or management position.
16. Declare the horse isn't dead, but if it was it would be because it was being ridden by amateurs.
17. Hire an expensive lawyer to prove the horse isn’t dead.
18. Take all responsibilities away from the dead horse but leave it in its stable and continue to feed it. 

Recently Robyn and I were in Victoria visiting friends and I have always enjoyed trying to get a decent shot of the building without some crazy tourist walking in front of my camera. The photo does look better in Adobe Lightroom than it does here but perhaps it was one of my export settings as the above photo is not as colourful as it is in Lightroom.

By NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Parliament passed resolutions Thursday condemning an American-led attack in Pakistani territory after the government summoned the U.S. ambassador to protest the unusually bold raid that officials say killed at least 15 people.

The criticism grew two days before Asif Ali Zardari is expected to be chosen as president in a vote by legislators. A spokesman said Zardari condemned Wednesday's pre-dawn assault in the South Waziristan tribal region — the first known foreign ground assault in Pakistan against a Taliban haven. But Zardari also said Pakistan stands with the U.S. against international terrorism.

Zardari, widower of former premier Benazir Bhutto, is expected to pursue a pro-U.S. policy similar to that of former President Pervez Musharraf and continue to go after Islamic militants accused of crossing into Afghanistan to attack the U.S.-led international security force there.

An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of cross-border operations, confirmed to The Associated Press that U.S. troops conducted the raid about a mile from the Afghan border.

It was unclear whether any extremist leader was killed or captured. Pakistan's border region is considered a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi condemned the attack, saying "no important terrorist or high-value target" was killed.

Related:
15 reportedly killed in US-led Pakistan attack

Read the rest:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904/ap_on_re_as/pakistan;_
ylt=AvJ4h5GjMODnvEO2etBNhjWs0NUE

NEW DELHI, September 1 (Compass Direct News) – A Maoist group today claimed responsibility for killing Hindu extremist leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his disciples in Orissa state on August 23, saying that fanatical Hindus’ claims that Christians murdered him were “lies.”

The violence that has claimed the lives of least 36 people, most of them Christians, and destroyed hundreds of churches and homes continued over the weekend as Hindu extremists continued to blame Christians for the killing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) leader.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, an extreme Marxist group banned by the Indian government, released a statement today saying that Sangh Parivar, the family of Hindu extremist groups led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, have deliberately misled people about Saraswati’s death.

“The Sangh Parivar leaders like Praveen Togadia have been trying to divert the people by uttering lies that it is not the Maoists but Christian organizations that had carried out the attack on the VHP leader,” the Marxist group stated.

The statement said Saraswati was a “rabid anti-Christian ideologue and persecutor of innocent Christians who was responsible for the burning down of over 400 churches in Kandhamal district alone.”

Saraswati, who had run a campaign against Christian missionaries for several decades in Orissa, was allegedly behind a spate of anti-Christian attacks in Kandhamal district last Christmas season. The violence lasted for more than a week beginning December 24, and killed at least four Christians and burned 730 houses and 95 churches.

The Maoist statement warned the VHP of “more such punishments if it continued violence against religious minorities in the country” and called for a ban on groups linked to the Sangh Parivar, such as the VHP, its youth wing Bajrang Dal, right-wing Hindu political party Shiv Sena and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

On August 30 private news channel NDTV 24X7 quoted unnamed government sources as saying that their assessment was that Christians had no role in the killing of Saraswati, and that the probe was leading to Maoist culprits.

Christian leaders said that as a result of the violence more tha 50,000 Christians are living as refugees in jungles.

Fresh Attacks

According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), today at least two churches and a motorbike were burned and a pastor was beaten in Koraput district.

The Orissa Missionary Movement Church and the Bible Mission Church were set ablaze by mobs in Jeypore town, according to EFI, and also in Jeypore a pastor of the Blessing Youth Mission was attacked.

The state government today said 543 houses had been burned in Kandhamal alone thus far, IANS reported.

Although the number of incidents has come down compared with last week, fresh attacks were reported yesterday. Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported today that the violence had spread to three more districts of Orissa.

“Security forces had been deployed in nine districts [of Orissa] since August 23, but policemen are now being deployed in an additional three districts,” Inspector General of Police Pradeep Kapur told IANS.

Security forces had been deployed in the districts of Bolangir, Bargarh, Kandhamal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Koraput, Rayagada, Bhadrak and Kendrapada. Kapur, however, refused to tell the three additional districts where police personnel had been deployed.

Yesterday several churches and houses were burned in Bataguda and Parampanga areas of Kandhamal district, Boriguma area of Koraput district and in parts of Rayagada district, according to IANS.

The Hindu newspaper reported that eight prayer houses were damaged in Kundra area of Koraput district on Sunday.

“Violence erupted in the district following a clash between two groups in Jeypore town on Saturday and five churches were damaged,” the newspaper reported, adding that a curfew was still in force.

Although the violence began more than a week ago, police are still saying they are not able to reach interior villages of Kandhamal. The state government has now reportedly asked for additional central paramilitary forces to control the violence.

While many parts of Orissa remained under curfew today, over 13,000 people were reportedly living in relief centers set up by the state government in seven places in Kandhamal.

‘Reconversions’

With violence continuing with little or no police protection, Christian leaders said many fearful believers have been forcibly “reconverted” to Hinduism.

According to The Indian Express, more than a hundred Christians “reconverted” to Hinduism in Kandhamal on Friday and Saturday (Aug. 29-30).

“I have heard that reconversions are taking place and I am looking into it,” Kandhamal Revenue Divisional Commissioner Satyabarat Sahoo told the newspaper.

A number of reconversions have reportedly taken place in Raikia, Baliguda, Barakhama and others areas of Kandhamal, the newspaper reported.

Dr. Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of India Christians, told Compass that Hindu extremist groups are “reconverting” Christians by force.

“We have collected evidence and given it to authorities,” he said. “However, the police and other state government authorities are not doing anything.”

George led a sit-in protest with local Christians in front of the state legislative assembly building in state capital Bhubaneswar, and submitted a memorandum to the state governor on Saturday (Aug. 30).

Brahmachari Shankar Chaitanya, successor of the slain Saraswati, asserted that the conversions were “purely voluntary.”

“If misguided people want to come back to Hinduism they will do so, and it is our duty to extend all necessary help and embrace them,” Chaitanya told The Indian Express.

‘Punish the Killers’

Christians noted that the violence by VHP extremists is in a state ruled by a coalition of Biju Janata Dal party and the BJP.

A delegation comprising a noted filmmaker and Christians from various denominations today submitted a memorandum to the Indian President Pratibha Patil demanding action against the VHP and other groups for leading mobs to kill and attack Christians.

The delegation urged the president to invoke Article 355 of the constitution, which states that the federal government has a duty to protect states against external aggression and internal disturbance.

The delegation included film director Mahesh Bhatt; Dr. Abraham Mathai, vice chairman of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission; Dr. John Dayal, member of the National Integration Council of India; Mehmood Madani, member of Parliament; Archbishop Raphael Cheenath from Orissa; Delhi Archbishop Vincent Concessao; the Rev. Dr. Babu Joseph, spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India; Joseph Dias from the Catholic Secular Front; the Rev. Madhu Chandra of the All India Christian Council, and Jenis Francis of the Federation of Catholic Associations.

“More than 50,000 Christians are living as refugees following the violence in Orissa,” Mathai told reporters. “All the political parties are sitting as mute spectators.”

Christians make up 2.4 percent of the state’s population, or 897,861 of the 36.7 million people.  

Report from Compass Direct News

To make such comparisons is to invite derision. Why? Because we're told, by the government itself, that "England is . . . the dominant partner" in the United Kingdom (see previous post); that MPs from English constituencies represent over 85% of the UK population; and that "English interests are fully represented" in the UK parliament. But what the government and critics of English nationalism do not acknowledge is that England is a nation without any political representation as such; that England is not merely a 'part' of the UK, albeit the largest part - and, in any event, size does not  equate to political power; and that the English are not only 85% of the UK population but are a people: a nation that demands political status and representation. In this sense, the current nation-less condition of England within the UK is indeed akin to that of the Palestinians: dwelling in a country - a territory - they know as Palestine (England) but which is subsumed within the state of Isreal (Britain / UK) that accords them no nation status.

The injustices inflicted on the English people by the British state are clearly less glaring and violent than those suffered by the Palestinians at the hands of the state of Israel. However, structurally, the wrong is the same: denial to a people of their ancestral rights of ownership of their land, which is what makes the land and its people together a nation. Instead, the land is officially the possession of an alien state: England is not a nation but just a part of the UK; the English are not a nation but just a part - albeit the largest - of the UK population.

As a compendium of the injustices involved in denying England the political, constitutional, legal and cultural status of a nation, you need go no further than the Campaign for an English Parliament's submission to the Calman Commission (the UK commission currently looking into the issues surrounding a possible extension of the devolved powers of the Scottish Parliament), or its shorter version. This document is a clear, comprehensive and at times impassioned setting out of the argument in favour of an English parliament, with the full range of issues concerning the political and cultural suppression of England being explained. The case for an EP ultimately comes down to a plea for equal treatment: "Equality of treatment was . . . a fundamental part of the 1707 Act of Union. We look to a future of equal nations in equality of relationship to each other and to the UK government. Only in that way can the Union be maintained".

Perhaps it is out of this sort of deference - whether real or tactical - to the Union that generally, throughout the CEP's submission, England tends to be referred to as a 'country' rather than as a 'nation' - the passage quoted above being the honourable exception. This is so even at critical points in the CEP's argument where it would be more logical and forceful to say 'nation'. For example, when talking about the disparity in the treatment of England (which has no national political institutions) with that of Scotland and Wales (which do now have such national bodies), the CEP document states: "Since the Devolution Acts, 12 out of 14 polls . . . have consistently shown that the people of England are dissatisfied with the status quo and wish for their country to be treated as a whole in equality with Scotland and Wales and to have some form of national self government [my emphases]".

And again, later in the same page (page 5, for reference), it says: "The powers of home rule that were allocated to Scotland and Wales were on the basis of their nationhood. However, England was disregarded, politically marginalised and has subsequently been referred to by the UK Government not by name, as would be fitting for a country united for over 1000 years, but as the 'regions' of Britain [my emphases]".

Why refer to England as a 'country', and to Scotland and Wales as having asserted and obtained 'nationhood', when that same right to nationhood is being demanded for England? Calling England a 'country' in this context appears to be conceding that it is only a country within the UK: a territorial subdivision of that state. This is the kind of language the government uses about England: calling it a 'country within the country' of the UK; or one of the four 'constituent countries' or 'constituent parts' of the UK, alongside the three other recognised 'countries' of the UK. As the Office for National Statistics (ONS) drily puts it: "In the context of the UK, each of the 4 main subdivisions (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) is referred to as a country".

The CEP statement appears to be using the term 'country' to denote the geographical territory of a nation, whereas it uses 'nation' to refer to a "collection[s] of people with the same culture and history" that inhabits that territory. In which case, it's logically consistent at least (as in the above examples) to refer to England as a  'country', and to Scotland and Wales as 'nations', as this expresses the disparity in these 'countries'' present political status. However, the validity of this distinction breaks down when the CEP goes on to discuss the much-hated government reference to the "nations and regions of Britain":

"In the first place nations are collections of people with the same culture and history and regions are geographical areas. There is no logical comparison between the two. However what we are to understand is that the countries of Scotland and Wales are inhabited by nations. So what is meant by regions in the
plural? What we must now understand is that England may no longer be regarded as a distinct country but as a collection of regions".

There is quite a confusion here in the way the terms 'nation', 'country' and 'region' are being used. Surely, 'nation' is normally used to refer both to a country - geographical territory - and to 'its' people, who are both identified with that land and the 'owners' of it: exercising proprietary rights over that land and people through self-rule.  By contrast, 'country' and 'region' here more logically refer to a geographical territory, with regions being subdivisions of countries. The point about Britain being described as composed of nations and regions, then, is that nationhood is attributed to Scotland (and the Scots) and Wales (and the Welsh); whereas England is not only denied its traditional status as a nation but the 'country' of England (defined as the largest constituent part of the UK) is further subdivided into meaningless regions. So England is seen as moving in the opposite direction from Scotland and Wales, which have gone from 'country' to 'nation' status; whereas England disappears off the map altogether becoming a mere collection of regions.

But surely, this complete dismemberment of England should have been described not in the terms used by the CEP ("England may no longer be regarded as a distinct country but as a collection of regions") but: "England is not only denied the nationhood accorded to Scotland and Wales but ceases to be a country at all and is broken up into a number of regions of comparable size - but not political status - to Scotland and Wales". In other words, the grievance is double: primarily, the denial that England is a nation of equivalent status to Scotland and Wales - which is officially a new status resulting from devolution.  But not only that, the lesser status as a 'country' that England previously shared with Scotland and Wales is also denied (or at least an attempt is made at denying it) to England, the territory of which is broken up into a number of British regions. Scotland and Wales are 'promoted'; while England is not only 'relegated' but disbanded.

Of course, it's worth remembering that, in the event, the government did not succeed (or has not yet succeeded) in realising its blueprint for a new Britain without England; but, in effect, that's still what we have. The consequence of devolution has been to render the 'country' status of England meaningless. Prior to devolution the four 'countries' of the UK were what you could call 'virtual nations': viewed as nations by their inhabitants, and with many of the trappings of nationhood, such as separate legal and educational systems for Scotland; a separate system of governance and distinct political / sectarian traditions in Northern Ireland; proud national traditions and a language of its own in Wales; and England providing the dominant culture and political direction for the 'country' (the UK) as a whole, with many of the cultural characteristics and institutions which today are referred to in PC speak as 'British' being proud to call themselves 'English' - which is what they were - albeit unofficially. Now, with the three other 'countries' of the UK having acquired an elevated legal status as 'nations' - at least, with government institutions that are unashamedly and overtly national in character - England's status as a 'country' appears worthless, in legal terms at least: a country with no separate, formal national political institutions and government, and no constitutional status.

If such a country, by asserting itself as a nation, would threaten the very existence of the state or 'nation' within which it is subsumed, then there's only one way that larger state is going to react, and that is to negate the idea that that country is a nation at all. Hence the way England's distinct political traditions, history, identity and culture are suppressed by the present government, in the ways that the CEP document details so well. From being a 'virtual nation' whose culture and influential role was respected and proudly expressed, England has in effect become just the name for that part - or, rather, 'those parts' and 'those regions' - of the UK that do not (yet) have any devolved system of governance.

This 'extension' of devolution for 'England' is thought of as regional by virtue of two related changes that have taken place even though the political regionalisation that was intended to follow has not (yet) occurred: 1) 'Britain' / the UK takes over the status as the 'nation' for England only, i.e. England's nationhood is transferred to it - hence the way everything is British now (for England only); and, under a regional system, the English people's 'nation' would indeed (have) be(en) Britain; 2) 'England' does in effect cease to have any status or role within the 'governance of Britain', as no actual institutions or bodies with any real power are English as such: England now - not only under any putative regional system - is merely the 'part' of the UK that is still governed in a unitary fashion by the Westminster government. As I discussed elsewhere, what devolution in effect means is that all of the laws enacted by the UK parliament apply to England completely, and to the 'other' nations of the UK only to a variable degree. England has in effect fully merged into the UK and, in political terms, is the UK: completely indistinguishable from it.

This non-existent status of England is one of the reasons why the government simply won't recognise the validity of the West Lothian Question and the English Question, as described in the CEP's statement. If England, technically, is just (part of) the UK, then there is nothing invalid about the idea of elected representatives from (other parts of) the UK voting on government legislation for England or having executive power in English matters, especially as - under devolution - those 'other' parts of the UK, like England, have no formal status as nations distinct from the UK. So the terms in which the WLQ and the EQ are framed are themselves viewed as invalid: there are no 'Scottish' and 'Welsh' MPs deciding on matters for 'England' to which they are not accountable; only UK MPs, elected in UK elections, administering the UK. Ultimately, the West Lothian and English Questions are dismissed because England does not exist, other than as a convenient name for the 'parts' of the UK that are without any form of devolution.

This is the kind of thing we're up against. The situation is in some ways much graver and blacker than the CEP's statement appears to countenance. The CEP very reasonably thinks that, as an established 'country' within the UK, it is only fair that England should have the same level of democratic control over its own affairs as do the other UK countries. The CEP is proceeding on the basis of a model whereby Britain / the UK remains the state and, in international affairs at least, preserves its present status as effectively the 'nation'; while England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland can all comfortably co-exist as equal countries-nations within the state-nation.

But this is no longer the starting base from which a resolution of the English Question can be found. We have in effect already moved to the situation I've described: Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland have become semi-autonomous nations within the (would-be) nation-state that is Britain, which also includes the territory formerly known as England, which has now become a 'country' only in the territorial and administrative sense, not in the sense of a 'nation'. The UK government won't - can't - hear calls for a 'national' English parliament because, in its view, such a notion is a non-sequitur: England is not a nation; the nation is Britain; and an 'English' parliament would add a superfluous layer of governance, creating two competing 'national' jurisdictions. Better to just devolve power to the 'British' regions, making the abrogation of England's nationhood by and to Britain complete.

In this context, we're never going to get anywhere until the UK government is forced to recognise the status of England as a nation: no national representation for England until England is a nation, which it isn't at present. And in order to achieve this, we have first to believe in the nation status of England ourselves. The CEP talks as if England were a "proud, historic nation" (as the CEP document quotes Tony Blair speaking about Scotland) only really in a historical sense: in the 1,000 years or so of English history before the Union. But there is only any validity in pursuing the English national cause if England has remained to this day a proud, historic nation that is asserting its right to govern itself. By contrast, the way the CEP refers to England as merely a 'country' within a renewed Union seems to embody the view that England can no longer aspire to the status as a full nation but must always in some sense be subordinate to the UK, albeit in restored parity with the 'other nations' of the UK.

But we've gone beyond this nice English state of affairs. The 'other' nations of Britain are no longer interested in this subordinate-nation status as 'countries': they legitimately want to be (re-)established as true nations. Meanwhile, the British state knows that if England asserts its national prerogatives, it is finished as a would-be nation. You can't have both a British and an English nation as such. You could have an English nation within a much revised British state that had no pretensions to be a nation. But at the moment, Britain and England are locked in an endgame, whereby the future of Britain as a nation is dependent on the English people transferring their national identity and allegiances to Britain.

So if we want England to govern itself, we have first to demand that its existence as a nation be restored by obtaining recognition as a nation from a UK government that views it merely as a part of its territory. But to make this demand with the force and authority that might get it listened to, we have to speak as English men and women first, and not as loyal British citizen-subjects. We have to believe in England; we have to hold it as 'our nation' and see ourselves as English - and, if necessary, as English to the exclusion of British. It's only in this way that our voices can actually be those of the sovereign English people: a real nation that is standing up and speaking out for its rights with total conviction in the justice of its claim.

In other words, if we want English-national sovereignty, we have to believe in it and not keep deferring to the sovereignty of a UK parliament that currently denies the existence of England.

We'll never obtain national self-rule until we're English in our hearts as well as our minds. Then only will we speak and be the Nation of England; and worthy to govern ourselves once again as the proud, historic nation that we are.

Ukraine in snap election warning

Mr Yushchenko said he would call a poll unless a new coalition was formed

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has threatened to dissolve parliament and call elections after the collapse of the country's ruling coalition.

Mr Yushchenko's supporters walked out in protest following new laws trimming the president's powers.

The laws were introduced by the pro-Russian opposition and backed by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's party.

Former allies, the prime minister and president are now at odds despite sharing pro-Western political goals.

All but one of 12 ministers from Mr Yushchenko's party boycotted Wednesday's cabinet meeting.

"A political and constitutional coup d'etat has started in the parliament," Mr Yushchenko said in a televised speech.

"I will use my right to dissolve parliament and decree early elections if a new coalition is not formed within 30 days," he said.

'Irresponsible behaviour'

But Ms Tymoshenko blamed her rival for the chaos, vowing that the Ukrainian cabinet would continue its work despite the break-up of the coalition.

"I am sorry that the president behaves irresponsibly," she said at a cabinet meeting. "The coalition was destroyed under his instruction."

Mr Yushchenko's popularity is at rock bottom at the moment with opinion polls giving him single-digit levels of support.

The prime minister and president are believed to be jockeying for position before next year's presidential election, though our correspondent says Mr Yushchenko's chances of winning with current popularity levels would be slim.

The crisis follows mounting tension between the president and prime minister with Mr Yushchenko accusing Ms Tymoshenko of treason for allegedly siding with Moscow over the conflict in Georgia.

Mr Yushchenko has been a vociferous supporter of Georgia during the conflict but the prime minister's party on Tuesday blocked a parliamentary resolution condemning Moscow.

The flare-up comes a day before a planned visit to the country by US Vice-President Dick Cheney.

The trip is part of a tour of former Soviet states which the US sees as key allies.

PARTI KEADILAN RAKYAT MALAYSIA 2009 NATIONAL BUDGET AND ECONOMIC POLICY BRIEF

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (KeADILan) recognises that for millions of Malaysian citizens the economic climate has become a troublesome one. Malaysians today face ongoing reduction in their purchasing power, job insecurities, increased fuel prices, low wages, and a high gap between the rich and poor. KeADILan believes that Malaysia can no longer afford to stand on the sidelines and allow the BN government to pursue a "too-little-too-late approach" to adressing these issues. That is why, on this day, KeADILan is pushing forward one more step its positions on the Malaysian Economic Agenda, to relieve the burden on Malaysians struggling with record high inflation levels and dwindling economic prospects. Whereas the current government has failed to adequately assess or address these issues, KeADILan will pursue the policies critical to reasserting Malaysia's quality of life, economic strength and competitiveness in the global economy.

ANWAR facing the PRESS (sila klik di bawah dan download fail untuk mendengar sidang media Anwar /please click below and download file to listen):