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Citizens group to monitor election media coverage, launches weblog- Malaysiakini

Beh Lih Yi
2:39pm Wed Feb 18th, 2004

A social reform group has launched the first election media monitoring weblog in the run-up to the general election to keep track of news coverage and media ethics.

"As citizens of this country, Malaysians have every right to demand fair media coverage so that voters can make informed choices when casting their ballot.

"It is therefore crucial that we investigate whether each of the contesting political parties gets a fair hearing in the mass media," said the project’s joint coordinators Dr Mustafa K Anuar and Anil Netto in a statement today.

The weblog known as ‘Malaysian Election Media Monitors’ was launched yesterday by the Penang-based movement, Charter 2000-Aliran.

Charter 2000-Aliran is a citizens’ media initiative based on a press freedom manifesto endorsed by 39 civil sociey and media groups.

Public awareness

Contacted later, Mustafa (photo) said the monitoring team comprises about 20 volunteers nationwide and they expect more to join.

The volunteers are tasked to monitor the conduct of the mass media on a daily basis and post their observations on the webog for public feedback.

"All of us are on voluntary basis, we receive no funding," he said.

Mustafa, who is also a mass communication lecturer with a local university, said he and his colleagues were inspired to create the weblog due to the unfair news coverage during the 1999 general election.

"Some news were distorted (and there was) lack of coverage for certain political parties. We feel there is a need to highlight this," he said.

Public awareness

He stressed that the weblog could help raise public awareness and provide a platform for public scrutiny pertaining to election coverage.

Apart from monitoring news coverage, the weblog will also scrutinise political advertisements that serve the interests of Barisan Nasional (BN) parties and disparage others.

It will also be on guard for any attempt by the BN to use the media to create fear of potential social disorder should the opposition be voted into power.

Another area of focus, is the announcement of subsidies and funds for schools and other institutions during the campaign period, which Aliran said amounts to bribery.

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1000 orang?



Keadilan dijangka berkubur tidak lama lagi
Photos by Aksi
Free Anwar Campaign Photos

Tahniah Skuad Piala Uber Malaysia!

Skuad negara yang dikepalai oleh pemenang pingat emas Sukan Sea Vietnam mencipta kejutan apabila berjaya menewaskan pasukan Hong Kong 3-2. Dengan kemenangan ini, harapan Malaysia untuk layak ke pusingan akhr Piala Uber yang akan diadakan di Indonesia Mei ini secara merit buat pertama kalinya semakin cerah.

Untuk pengetahuan, Malaysia pernah beraksi di pusingan akhir sebanyak empat kali dan kesemua penyertaan itu adalah disebabkan kita menjadi tuan rumah. Walaupun begitu, pasukan negara perlu meneruskan aksi menyakinkan dan jika boleh memastikan kemenangan ketika bertemu satu lagi pasukan pilihan, Jepun yang seterusnya akan memastikan tempat ke Jakarta.

Peningkatan aksi yang ditunjukkan oleh skuad wanita ini sememangnya sangat menggembirakan setelah sekian lama mereka tersisih. Petanda awal akan kebangkitan skuad wanita ini dapat dilihat semasa berlangsungnya Sukan Sea 2001 di KL dan diikuti dengan persembahan cemerlang di Sukan Komanwel Manchester.

Tahniah skuad wanita Malaysia!

Yeah! Siti menang lagi!



Seperti yang sudah dijangka, Cik Siti kita telah mencipta kemenangan hatrick di Anugerah MTV Asia yang berlangsung gilang gemilang di Stadium tertutup Singapura malam semalam. Di Malaysia, siaran tertunda anugerah ini boleh ditonton di Astro melalui saluran Chanel 71.

Kemenangan kali ketiga berturut-turut Siti ini telah menyerlahkan kehebatan dan tahap populariti yang dimiliki beliau amatlah sukar ditandingi oleh mana-mana artis mainstream yang lain. Apa yang jelas, artis-artis lain hanya memiliki tempat kedua untuk direbut.

Populariti yang diraih oeh Misha Omar, Siti Sarah dan juga Waheeda gagal untuk menarik sokongan peminat dari pelbagai lapisan masyarakat untuk menyokong mereka secara jitu dan konsisten. Ketika ini, hanya Siti sahaja yang dirasakan memiliki kewibawaan dan karisma untuk mendapat sokongan yang mantap walaupun beliau pernah pada satu ketika dibenci oleh penyokong dan simpatisan parti pembangkang apabila beliau secara terbuka menyokong dan ingin menjadi antara teraju utama puteri UMNO.

Mujurlah beliau tidak meneruskan langkahnya itu walaupun mungkin beliau tetap penyokong parti pemerintah. Itu tidak menjadi masalah kerana ia adalah hak peribadi. Walau apapun, Cik Siti Nurhaliza ini tetap diminati dan digilai oleh segenap lapisan masyarakat, malah tidak menjadi rahsia lagi bahawa ramai penyokong-penyokong parti PAS juga merupakan peminat setia Cik Siti kita.

Berdamping dan bercerita panjang dengan kelompok peminat Melayu yang meminati dan mengikuti secara serius segala cerita tentang dunia hiburan arus perdana negara ini memperlihatkan terdapat dua kelompok utama yang bertentang pendapat. Satu pihak amat menggilai Siti dan satu pihak lagi membenci Siti, kelompok tengah tersangat kurang dan jika adapun, suaranya kurang didengari.

Apa yang merungsingkan dan kekadang membuatkan aku menyampah adalah hujah kebanyakan kelompok yang membenci Siti adalah kerana beliau tersangat popular dan terlalu banyak memenangi itu dan ini. Walaubagaimanapun aku tidaklah berasa terlalu hairan kerana aku mempunyai pandangan bahawa kelompok ini kurang memberi perhatian kepada aspek muzik yang ditonjolkan seseorang artis itu. Golongan ini lebih menitikberatkan isu-isu peribadi seseorang artis seperti yang selalu disiarkan di media hiburan tempatan.

Walaubagaimanapun, satu fakta menarik adalah kemenangan Siti Nurhaliza juga mencatatkan rekod di Anugerah MTV Asia ini iaitu menjadikan Malaysia adalah salah satu daripada tiga buah negara di mana pemenangnya dimenangi oleh artis yang sama selama tiga tahun berturut-turut. Negara lain adalah Singapura melalui Stefanie Sun dan Hong Kong melaui Sammi Cheng. Sama ada ia memberi indikasi yang baik atau buruk kepada industri hiburan di ketiga-tiga buah negara itu seharusnya dibahaskan oleh industri.

10 Favourite Music Artist Awards from Asia:

Favourite Artist Mainland China - Pu Shu
Favourite Artist Hong Kong - Sammi Cheng
Favourite Artist India - Abhijeet
Favourite Artist Indonesia - Audy
Favourite Artist Korea - BoA
Favourite Artist Malaysia - Siti Nurhaliza
Favourite Artist Philippines - Parokya Ni Edgar
Favourite Artist Singapore - Stefanie Sun
Favourite Artist Taiwan - A*Mei
Favourite Artist Thailand - "Bird" Thongchai McIntyre

International Music Awards:

Favourite Male Artist - Gareth Gates
Favourite Female Artist - Christina Aguilera
Favourite Pop Act - Blue
Favourite Rock Act- Linkin Park
Favourite Video - Linkin Park
Favourite Breakthrough Artist - t.A.T.u

The Asian Film Award - Michelle Yeoh
The Inspiration Award - Anita

I'm really like BoA!!! Her perfomance yesterday is very outstanding! I love you BoA! Btw, still waiting for another Korean singer such as Jang Nara, Lee Jung Hyun, Lena Park and Lee Soo Young to perform in MTV Asia Awards!!

BoA And Linkin Park Bag Two Cupids Each At The MTV Asia Awards 2004
Anita Mui honoured at MTV Asia Awards
Siti Nurhaliza menang anugerah Artis Pilihan Malaysia MTV Asia

Fatih Akin’s "Head On" Wins Golden Bear

Golden Bear for best film: ``Head-On'' (Gegen die Wand) by Fatih Akin (Germany/Turkey)
Jury Grand Priz Silver Bear: ``Lost Embrace'' (El Abrazo Partido) by Daniel Burman (Argentina)
Silver Bear for best actress: jointly to Charlize Theron in ``Monster'' (US) and Catalina Sandino Moreno in ``Maria Full of Grace'' (US/Colombia)
Silver Bear for best actor: Daniel Hendler in ``Lost Embrace'' (Argentina)
Silver Bear for best director: Kim Ki-Duk for ``Samaritan Girl'' (Samaria) from South Korea
Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution: the entire ensemble of ``Daybreak'' (Om Jag Vaender Mig Om) from Sweden
Silver Bear for best film music: Banda Osiris for the music in ``First Love'' (Primo Amore) from Italy
Blue Angel Award for best European film: ``Daybreak'' (Sweden)
Alfred Bauer Prize for work of particular innovation: ``Maria Full of Grace'' (US/Colombia)
Ecumenical Jury prize: ``Ae Fond Kiss'' by Ken Loach (Britain)
Peace Film Award: ``Witness'' (Svjedoci) by Vinko Bresan (Croatia)
TEDDY for best film with gay or lesbian context: ``Wild Side'' by Sebastian Lifshitz (France)
International Films Critics Association award for best film in competition: ``Head-on'' by Fatih Akin (Germany/Turkey)
Panorama Audience Award: ``Addicted to Acting'' (Die Spielwuetigen) by Andrea Veiel (Germany)
Prize of the Guild of German art house cinemas: ``Ae Fond Kiss'' by Ken Loach (Britain)

Berlin International Film Festival official website

Reopen previous probes


Source, Malaysiakini

Food Not Bombs Kuala Lumpur

Our Mission - Basic Goals & Principles

The mission of Food Not Bombs (FNB) is two-fold. Food Not Bombs serves free meals to the homeless community in order to raise public awareness to the reality of the situation, the hunger problem that is involved, and the unnecessary existence of hunger.

As you may or may not know, we recycle food by obtaining and serving mostly the food that would normally be thrown away. We try to educate people (about poverty, hunger and our massive wastage) and at the same time recycle food, and at the same time feed hungry people!

Our Principles
We base ourselves upon the principles of non-violence, equality, and do-it-yourself methods.

You can see these fundamentals in our operation: our passive form of protest, our non-authoritarian group, our community building and our method of raising money and obtaining food.

How We Work
Our group is a small number of people, working D.I.Y. (Do-It-Yourself); working together to help others, to create community and create change. We are all volunteers, and meet once weekly for meetings and once weekly for our food share.

For our food share, we collect food from various wet markets (recycle sponsors), willing to donate to us their ‘waste’ which we then sort through and salvage. Every week, we cook this food and use it to prepare a healthy meal to eat on the street.

Sometimes food cannot be obtained by donation, or by recycle sponsors, and thus, we must buy our food for that week. In this case, we use money generated through fundraiser events, art sales, and our reselling of 2nd hand, redesigned t-shirts.

We also distribute fliers to share details of our meal days and times, as well as literature such as this one, that is made available at fundraiser events and our food share.

Contact Us
You can email us at free_foods@yahoo.com for any further information.

Include your name and contact number so we can respond to your inquiry.


FAQs

The Name
Protests the large amount of money spent on war machinery (and also mega-projects, especially here in Malaysia) when ordinary, innocent people are denied access to basic needs.

Food Recycling
Most of our food is recycled from supermarket "waste". It is considered un-sellable due to cosmetic blemishes, yet remains perfectly edible. We know that scarcity is a lie, there is more than enough food for everyone and that poor food distribution is the problem.

Veggie Power
We are not meat prejudiced, if we are given fresh meat as a donation, or can asure the safety of the food. Because of the use of recycled food, guaranteeing the safety of meat products is impossible and controlling the quality of plant produce is much easier. Vegetarian food is very healthy and full of nutritious vitamins, and minerals.

Acknowledgement
We claim solidarity in the fight against poverty. All people deserve equal respect regardless of their social and/or economic situation. The existence of poverty must be addressed publicly and not hidden out of sight.

Non-Violence
Poverty, hunger, and homelessness are violence caused by skewed government priorities.

We protest resources spent on war and armament when people are denied their basic rights to food and shelter.

We use serving and sharing food, literature distribution and fun to share our message and form our protest.

Consensus
FNB has no structure or hierarchy; all volunteers are equal members with equal say. A conscious effort is made to include everyone in decision making.

Non-profit
Little or no money is involved; food is donated. No paid staff - we are all volunteers.

Politics
Members of Food Not Bombs have a diverse range of political ideologies and backgrounds, and independent thinking is encouraged. There are no authorities in the group. Everyone is equal! Volunteers can become involved for any reason; we just all want to help!

The Food Not Bombs Story
Food Not Bombs Malaysia E-group
Seven Steps to Organizing a Local Food Not Bombs

EU Presidency Declaration on Anwar Ibrahim
European Union 10 February 2004



The European Union, which has continued to monitor closely the case, notes the decision of the Malaysian Court of Appeal not to reconsider its upholding of the conviction and sentence on 8th August 2000 against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. The European Union also notes the Court of Appeal's decision to deny a request for bail.

The European Union recalls its earlier statements voicing deep concern about the fairness of the legal proceedings and expresses its disappointment at the Court of Appeal's decisions.

The Acceding Countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia, the Candidate Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this declaration.

Eric Chia dibenar ikat jamin, mengapa tidak Anwar?

Bekas Pengarah Urusan Perwaja Steel Sdn Bhd, Tan Sri Eric Chia Eng Hock telah dihadapkan ke Mahkamah Sesyen di sini atas tuduhan melakukan pecah amanah jenayah ke atas dana syarikat tersebut membabitkan wang berjumlah RM76.4 juta.Dan beliau telah dibenarkan untuk diikat jamin M2 juta selepas beliau tidak mengaku bersalah atas dakwaan tersebut.

Tidak dapat dinafikan, hak untuk diikat jamin adalah hak beliau. Namun di sini timbul persoalan bagaimana tertuduh yang menghadapi dakwaan pecah amanah wang yang sangat banyak itu dibenar untuk ikat jamin sedangkan Anwar tidak pula mendapat hak yang sama. Keliru, resah, marah dan segala macam perasaan wujud di tika ini. Mungkin inilah semangat Malaysia boleh!

Kesediaan Pak Lah untuk melakukan politicall will ini harus dipuji dan diharap Pak Lah juga dapat melakukan tindakan yang sama di dalam kes Anwar.

Komuniti Seni Jalan Telawi (KSJT)

KSJT, yang menganjurkan Acara Baca Puisi Keliling (APUKe) sejak awal tahun 2003 terdiri daripada kalangan karyawan muda yang selalu berkumpul di Jalan Telawi. Mereka membaca sajak, menulis rencana dan lain-lain kegiatan penulisan. Berkumpul sejak akhir tahun lalu, juga menjadi kelompok awal mendirikan majalah SIASAH.

MATLAMAT APUKe – Membuka ruang kebebasan ekspresi yang sebenar. Tidak terkongkong kepada birokrasi atau mana-mana ideology serta fahaman politik.

Didokong oleh Sastrawan Negara, Datuk A. Samad Said, penulis Fathi Aris Omar (Malaysiakini.com) Hishamuddin Rais, Hasmi Hashim, Tengku Elida Bustamam (bekas persionaliti TV3), penulis muda Rahmat Haron dan ramai lagi pengiat-pengiat muda.

Selain daripada menganjurkan APUKe, KSJT juga bekerjasama dengan sekretariat penulis muda Persatuan Penulis Nasional (PENA) untuk diskusi bulanan (setiap Sabtu minggu ketiga) di Rumah PENA, belakang retoran Tupai-Tupai, berdekatan dengan Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka.

Dan mulai bulan Februari ini, KSJT dengan kerjasama IKD akan menganjurkan pelbagai aktiviti yang mencerahkan di Studio Kurusatre , 48 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar (Atas Pejabat POS Bangsar), kesemua program bermula pukul 8.30 malam.

1) Kelas falsafah – Oleh Khalid Jaafar
(setiap rabu kelas bermula pada 11 Februari 20040

Kelas ini akan menjelaskan beberapa karya asal oleh ahli falsafah daripada pelbagai bidang dan bangsa

2) Kelas Pencerahan – Oleh Fathi dan Penceramah Jemputan
(setiap sabtu * kelas Pertama 8 Februari 2004 (Ahad) – 5.00 ptg)

Kelas ini akan memberikan gambaran awal proses pencerahan di Eropah serta beberapa perkara penting yang menjadi
asas proses pencerahan di Malaysia.

3) Diskusi Bulanan [ Randai Telawi] – Khasi Buat Perogol Hukuman Lapok
(Tarikh – 20 Februari 2004 – Jumaat)

Diskusi bulanan ini akan menjemput beberapa tokoh tua dan muda untuk memberikan pandangan mereka tentang
topik yang dipilih. Bagi Februari topik perbincangan ialah isu rogol yang menjadi perbualan hangat dewasa ini.

4) Diskusi Filem [Bedah Filem] - Bersama U Wei Shari
(Tarikh – 27 Februari 2004 – Jumaat )

Bedah Filem akan diadakan sekali sebulan denagn menjemput seorang panel untuk membahaskan dari sudut seni
dan konsep yang terdapat dalam filem yang ditayangkan. Bagi bedah filem akan menayangkan 2 jenis filem iaitu filem
klasik dan kotemporari. Bagi Februari bedah filem akan bersama U Wei Shari.

Maklumat lanjut hubungi:
Amir Sari
Telefon: 03 2283 2858/ 019 391 7406
E mail: Amirsari2003@yahoo.com