Tommy Thomas meets Chin Peng face-to-face

Malaysia's leading expert on constitutional law Tommy Thomas (right) also met CPM veteran Chin Peng (left) in Bangkok for three days last week. The one-hour explorations on modern history between Tommy Thomas and Chin Peng was taped by independent film -maker, Julian Shori. Chin Peng recalled, among other episodes in his very eventful life, that he frequented the Rex Cinema in downtown Ipoh in the late 1930s and his most favorite movie star was Charlie Spencer Chaplin.

Raja Aziz Addruse meets Chin Peng for a chat

Raja Aziz Addruse meets Chin Peng for a chat

CPM veteran Chin Peng ( left) met former president of the Malaysian Bar Council and prominent lawyer Raja Aziz Addruse ( right) for three days last week in Bangkok. They freely exchanged thoughts for hours.

Afghanistan poses difficult choices for Obama

America's military commanders on the grounds for the still no-end-in-sight war in Afghanistan has indicated that they need more troops "to do the job". Obama, the President as well as Commander-in-Chief of the American armed forces, is being confronted with " tough choices" as even Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff, has to admit that domestic support for the war has dropped.

Future of Afghanistan & Iraq still very gloomy

Future of Afghanistan & Iraq still very gloomy

Although democratic elections have been held, the security situations in Afghanistan and Iraq are still very serious in the assessment of the Chairman of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen. Given the fact that many Americans now face economic and financial difficulties, how long could the public opinion at home be realistically expected to support the increasingly costly campaign in Afghanistan ? But, the real concern for Afghanistan is that any withdrawal of troops on the part of America would be construed by its enemies as a defeat and the war-ravaged country would then become breeding grounds for extremely anti-American elements and forces again like in the 1990s.

Al Qaeda still passionately hostile to America

President Obama to visit Singapore and China

USA president Obama is reportedly visiting China in November. He is also going to participate in the APEC Summit to be held in Singapore on Nov. 14 and 15. Malaysia has also invited the American president for an official visit, but there is no schedule known to the media yet.

USA & its foreign relations from 1989 to 2001

Best wishes for Ramadhan from James' family

James dan keluarganya ingin mengucapkan Selamat Berpuasa kepada kawan- kawan dan jiran-jiran pelbagai bangsa yang beragama Islam.

Oneness of humanity part of CNY celebration

Chinese translation of Cherie Blair' s memoirs

Cherie Blair' s autobiography Speaking For Myself has been translated into the Chinese language, and it is also being promoted in mainland China. Cherie Blair, a Queen' s Counsel on her own intellectual merit, is the wife of UK' s ex- PM Tony Blair, who served from 1997 to 2007.

John Yettaw defends his mission in Myanmar

John Yettaw, the very controversial American once jailed in Myanmar and whose release was recently secured by US senator Jim Webb, has defended his actions to forewarn his heroine of an assassination plot. Yettaw is now a free man in US after being flown back from Bangkok.

Media debates Jim Webb' s Myanmar 'success'

Media debates Jim Webb' s Myanmar 'success'

The recent trip by US senator Jim Webb to Myanmar and his ' success' of securing the release of fellow American John Yettaw has opened up debates in the Western media on some aspects of US diplomacy. The tour of Jim Webb also covers Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Myanmar postpones Aung San Suu Kyi verdict

More balanced perspective on ICT Revolution

In spite of some dark spots, there are also many brighter sides of the revolution in information and communication technology. So, there is always a need for us to manage the truly revolutionary process of ICT transformations with a more balanced perspective premised upon the articulation of freedom and order as well as of change and continuity.

Critical observations on ICT Revolution in UK

Critical observations on ICT Revolution in UK

Even in the UK, the motherland of Mr. Eric Arthur Blair, there are also widespread concerns on the social as well as psychological impacts of the Revolution in Information and Communication Technology (RICT), especially on kids and teenagers. The concerns cut across ethnicities, religions, cultures, languages, ideologies and political systems. Mass media in the UK, as we can see, publishes views on both the positive and negative sides of the ICT Revolution which affects, like it or not, the full spectrum of the society and not just ICT-centerd libertarians. Moreover, among other democratic countries, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark have enacted laws to put in place ISP-based filters blocking sites with child pornography. For socially responsible people, doing something not that effective is still better than doing nothing at all in the face of a threat to society.

Secure safe environment for children & teens

Secure safe environment for children & teens

Even though the BN government has reportedly committed to keep all the cyberspatial contents unfiltered, it is still imperative for the civil society to promote public awareness on the real harms of some of the pornographic materials in the cyberspace, which endangers the social environments for children as well as teens, of all ethnic communities, to grow up safely with a civilised set of values on human relationship. We must not trumpet, for political expediency, only the virtues of the ICT Revolution but cover up the vices to people who are not that ICT-literate, particularly less well-off grandparents, parents and teachers.

Malaysian dilemma in world of ICT revolution

Malaysian dilemma in world of ICT revolution

Our country is indeed being confronted with a great dilemma: on one hand, there is a very pressing call to protect the civilised order of the society from being imperceptibly corroded by online computer games that glorify individualistic and criminal violence as well as those truly wicked pornographic materials which normalise some anti-social acts of sexual relations such as rape, pedophilia, incestous intercourse or bestiality; on the other, there is also the great need to guard against the abuse of any net filtering system by racial extremists or religious fanatics with powers to establish their hegemony in the cybersphere.

Access to wicked porn sites not human rights

Access to wicked porn sites not human rights

I have checked the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and other associated documents. I do not think the access to pornography which normalises rape, pedophilia, incestous intercourse or bestiality is a provision of 'human rights'. I also do not think anyone can cite or quote a sentence or paragraph from Adam Smith' s Wealth of Nations to rationalise those wicked porn sites as an institution of 'free trade'. As the precedents in Europe, Australia and New Zealand have already shown, restricting those sites would not lead any society to 'selfdom'. On the contrary, the good intention of some libertarians who oppose net filtering in toto may pave the roads that would lead us all to 'hell'.

Moral responsibility now shifts to libertarians

Moral responsibility now shifts to libertarians

Now that the BN government has promised not to impose any Internet filters even on sites with violent and/or pornographic contents, those who have succeeded in their opposition campaign should also suggest alternative ways and means to keep kids away from on-line computer games that glorify individualistic and criminal violence and also those pornographic materials that normalise some anti-social acts of sexual relations such as rape, pedophilia, incestous intercourse or bestiality. These websites are quietly mushrooming in the borderless cyberspace and imperceptibly challenging the human civilisation to the very core. Libertarians' good intention may pave the roads leading us all to 'hell'.

Battling child porn as antisocial phenomenon

Battling child porn as antisocial phenomenon

The spread of child pornography in the cyberspace has become a very serious social concern even in developed countries, like Australia and New Zealand. Ways and means have also been discussed and adopted down there to combat the antisocial phenomenon and to protect kids. With or without net censorship on such materials, there must at least be public consciousness and popular awareness of the phenomenon in the world of ICT Revolution, particularly among parents and teachers who may not be as ICT-literate as their curious children and students.

No objection to censorship of antisocial webs

No objection to censorship of antisocial webs

I seriously do not think any socially responsible men and women would oppose for the sake of opposition to the net censorship of (a.) online computer games that glorify individualistic and criminal violence and (b.) pornography which normalises rapes, paedophilia and also incest. What is being questioned is whether the BN Government would make use of the parental and social concerns to muzzle voices of legitimate dissents in the cyberspace like the opposition to some policies or law.

Paradox in worldwide Third Wave revolution

Paradox in worldwide Third Wave revolution

The best reflection on the accelerating revolution in information and communication in the past fifteen years comes from my friend, Beng Ching. In Beng Ching's observation, the anxiety and fear of being left behind time has driven many people in the cybersphere to talk faster than they think, or write more than they actually know. He added, as a result, the quantity of speech increases while the quality decreases.

Positive & negative impacts of ICT revolution

Positive & negative impacts of ICT revolution

As a user of the Internet for the past 15 years or so, I think we must also listen to critics of certain negative dimensions of the cyberspace and not to simply dismiss them as "conservative" and "authoritarian". Some parental concerns, like their children' s "addiction" to computer games, especially the violent type, are legitimate and well -grounded. There are positive as well as negative impacts of the ICT Revolution.

Human touch still very important in RICT age

Human touch still very important in RICT age

Although we can now obtain all sorts of information in the cyberspace without meeting and talking to real people at all, it is, in my personal opinion, still important to keep ourselves engaged in real -life human relations for the minds to stay socially normal in the age of revolution in information and communication technology that could disorientate.

'Old' forms of books & libraries remains useful

'Old' forms of books & libraries remains useful

In the mid-1990s, it was often hyped that books and libraries in their traditional forms would soon disappear as the result of the revolution in information and communication technology. But, it is quite evident that many books are still being published everywhere in the world and many people still find 'old-fashion ' libraries useful for many purposes. A very large stock of knowledge is still being exclusively preserved in traditional books and conventional libraries outside the ICT 'territory'.

Forms vary but essence still indispensable ...

Forms vary but essence still indispensable ...

Dictionaries have always been indispensable tools for learning written languages, and their forms have changed and diversified in sync with the revolution in information and communication technology. As it is widely known, there are now electronic as well as on-line dictionaries. It seems to me that dictionaries in the iconic form are still well-liked.

Self-improvement spirit in more open society

Self-improvement spirit in more open society

Besides the increases of both the 'old' and ' new' media in the country, many more books and publications are also easily accessible now. The environment and infrastructure for self-improvement are better. The question is whether we possess the spirit of self-improvement or not.

Sociability important to mastery of languages

Prediction in 1980 now becomes daily reality

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, many of us suffered from a lack of information. Now, we suffer from information explosion that could be confusing and disorientating, as predicted by futurist Alvin Toffler as early as 1980 when his masterpiece The Third Wave was first printed.
Many of us have suddenly realised that we still have so much to learn. The Third Wave is certainly still a stimulating book although it is 'old'.