Hari Raya Aidilfitri has been fixed on Saturday, 13 October 2007 in all states and federal territories in Malaysia. The date is announced by the Keeper of the Rulers Seal, Engku Tan Sri Ibrahim Engku Ngah over radio and television tonight.

Face to Face
A reason for discourse with Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob

Raja Petra Kamarudin, dubbed the ‘Asian Reformist’, is changing the way Malaysians look at themselves. Sometimes seemingly shy, but never backing down from confrontation with the powers-that-be, he is somewhat of an enigma. Face to Face talks to the man behind Malaysia Today and uncovers this reformist.

1. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: Malaysia Today has been hugely successful. Into its 3rd Anniversary, would you do anything different in terms of the stated objectives and direction of Malaysia Today?

Raja Petra: I suppose if I died and was born again I would still live my life exactly the same way I am living it now. I know this sounds blasphemous coming from a Muslim considering that Islam does not believe in reincarnation. But I am of course speaking figure-of-speech-wise. In that same spirit I would not do things any differently as far as Malaysia Today is concerned.

2. Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob: Malaysia Today seems to be down or inaccessible more often these days. Is this the result of attacks from Umno cyber-troopers as you alleged? It appears that they are close to shutting Malaysia Today down completely.

Raja Petra: Initially the problem was bandwidth. I had to increase our bandwidth multi-fold and bandwidth costs money. That is why I sometimes whack those who post ‘junk’ in the blogs. They are using up valuable bandwidth and this would deny the other more genuine readers access to Malaysia Today, especially those who do not have Broadband access and have to depend on dialup.

Anyway, I have resolved the bandwidth problem. All you need is money to buy more bandwidth, that’s all. And as a ‘pensioner’, so to speak, I am surviving on my pension. Therefore I do not have income or bottomless pockets and it was certainly painful to have to increase my expenditure on the website. Since I started Malaysia Today three years ago my expenses have increased ten-fold. I also have about half a dozen staff to pay and some of them are on fixed monthly salaries.

The current problem we are facing has nothing to do with money or bandwidth. We have been attacked many times, sometimes two days in a row, with DOS (denial of service) attacks. On Monday last week we were shut down for seven hours and the following day for six hours. I have since beefed up our security. Again, all it takes is money…..sigh…..

But we are not the only one getting hit. Screenshots and Harakah too were attacked. I believe they are attacking all ‘anti-government’ websites. Yes, they might finally try to close us down for good. But I don’t know how they are going to do it. Maybe they will find something to charge me with and lock me away. I really don’t know and I can’t be bothered. In fact, I challenge them to do their worst.
[Read full article...]

Bernama

SINGAPORE, Oct 11 (Bernama) — Some 10 years after remarking that Singapore might rejoin Malaysia if the island state’s economy faltered and if Malaysia pursued meritocracy, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has again spoken on the subject.

“They have got all the resources. If they would just educate the Chinese and Indians, use them and treat them as their citizens, they can equal us and even do better than us and we would be happy to rejoin them,” Lee said.

Lee made the remark in an interview on Sept 27 with syndicated columnist Tom Plate of the UCLA Media Center and new-media expert Jeffrey Cole of the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future.

The transcript of the interview is available online on the UCLA Asia Institute website.

In June 1996, Lee spoke about the possibility of Singapore rejoining Malaysia, raising a storm on both sides of the Causeway with then Malaysian prime minister Datuk Seri (now Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamad saying that he did not think that the time had come for that yet.

Dr Mahathir had also described the remark as just a means “to jolt Singaporeans” into their senses.

The latest remarks by the Singapore founding father came after he was asked about Singapore’s “sense of endangerment” and why the island state was worried about survivability in the long run.

Lee replied: “Where are we? Are we in the Caribbean? Are we next to America like the Bahamas? Are we in the Mediterranean, like Malta, next to Italy? Are we like Hong Kong, next to China and therefore, will become part of China?

“We are in Southeast Asia, in the midst of a turbulent, volatile, unsettled region. Singapore is a superstructure built on what? On 700 square kilometres and a lot of smart ideas that have worked so far — but the whole thing could come undone very quickly”.

To a question on who would come after Singapore, Lee replied: “When (Malaysia) kicked us out (in 1965), the expectation was that we would fail and we will go back on their terms, not on the terms we agreed with them under the British.

“Our problems are not just between states, this is a problem between races and religions and civilizations.

“We are a standing indictment of all the things that they can be doing differently. They have got all the resources. If they would just educate the Chinese and Indians, use them and treat them as their citizens, they can equal us and even do better than us and we would be happy to rejoin them,” he said.

Analysts here do not see any possibility of a Malaysia-Singapore merger.

“The chances of a re-merger in 1996 and in 2007 are the same — zero,” said Dr Ooi Kee Beng, coordinator of the Malaysia study programme at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and best-selling author of “The Reluctant Politician: Tun Dr Ismail and His Time”.

“The very idea of a re-merger on Singapore’s terms is appalling to most Malays (in Malaysia) and any move in that direction would be political suicide for a Malaysian politician to take,” Dr Ooi told Today newspaper.

The Star

BAIKONUR (Kazakhstan): At exactly 9.22pm (Malaysian time), the Soyuz -FG rocket launcher blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The rocket launcher, carrying the Soyuz TMA-II spacecraft with Malaysian cosmonaut Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and crew members on board, lit up the clear night sky.

Also on the spacecraft were Nasa’s commander Peggy Whitson – the first female International Space Station (ISS) commander – and Russian Yuri Malechencko.

After the blast-off, the cosmonauts experienced a gravity pull of 4G. The rocket shot up at a speed of 4,000km per hour to reach orbit in two minutes.

Two minutes into launch, the four lateral boosters were jettisoned, and the gravity pull was reduced to 1.5G. When the core stage engine fired at full thrust, gravity force climbed to 3G.

Third-stage separation occurred at 8.48 seconds into launch, when the space capsule was fully separated.

It took about nine minutes for Soyuz to enter zero gravity, after which it will orbit the Earth for two days before docking with the ISS, a process that will take two to three hours. Prior to docking, the cosmonauts will be strapped to their seats during the docking procedure.

Once in orbit, the mission was taken over by the Mission Control Centre in Moscow.

Viewers who were 7km away from the launch pad felt the ground vibrate from the enormous thrust of the launcher.

VIPs and guests who witnessed the launch included Dr Sheikh Muszaphar’s parents Datuk Sheikh Mustapha Shukor and Datin Zuraida Sheikh Ahmad.

Some two hours before the launch, all communication systems (telephone lines, mobile telephone lines and TV) were cut off in the launch pad area to block the airwaves and ensure contact with the crew was not disrupted in any way. Blackout was also experienced as the power supply was drained by the launch.

During the launch, road and rail traffic were also halted as a safety measure.

The crew’s big day began when they walked out of the Cosmonaut Hotel, which is not a guest hotel but actually part of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre where they were quarantined, and boarded a bus that took them to the launch pad, seven hours prior to the launch.

On the bus, they watched a 10-minute video of their friends and families wishing them bon voyage.

The bus stopped midway for a ritual that has been performed by cosmonauts since the time of Yuri Gagarin – the men urinated on the bus tyres.

At the launch pad, they made their “last walk”, which was the last chance for family members and people to see them from a distance.

The three put on their custom-made Sukol space suit before they went through a formal military ceremony and shook hands with important guests, including the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Russian Federal Space Agency chief Perminov Anatoli Nikolaevich, Kazakh Space Agency chief Musabaev Talgat Amangeldievish and Malaysian Ambassador to Russia Datuk Mohamad Khalis Ali Hassan.

About four hours to the launch, the crew were hoisted to the capsule via an elevator. They were strapped to their seats and went through system checks.

Forty-five minutes to the launch, the rocket’s service gantry was removed, the flight programme loaded and the crew’s space suits were checked for air tightness.

Unlike a shuttle launch, the Soyuz rocket launch has no countdown – blastoff occurs when everything is in place and set to go.

The rocket’s four lateral boosters were started 29 seconds to launch.

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar will return on Oct 21.