Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right and forget about the ones who don’t.
Monday, July 25, 2016
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Turkey’s failed coup: What we know
ANKARA, July 20 — Some 9,300 people have been detained in Turkey and almost 9,000 officials sacked after a failed coup at the weekend which has stunned the country.
Here is what we know so far about the dramatic events of Friday night and how the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has responded.
Who’s targeted in wake of coup?
After a massive crackdown on the military, police and judiciary, Turkish authorities on Tuesday set their sights on the media and education sectors.
Licences for several radio and television stations were cancelled because the broadcasters are suspected of having links to an exiled Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who stands accused of orchestrating the coup.
The government also suspended more than 15,000 state education employees allegedly linked to the “Fethullah Terrorist Organisation” — its name for Gulen’s network.
Turkey’s education board also demanded the resignation of almost 1,600 deans from private and state universities.
Already, around 9,000 people including police and government officials have been sacked and at least 9,300 people detained including more than 100 generals and admirals accused of masterminding the plot.
Suspects are being charged with membership of an “armed terrorist organisation” and attempting to overthrow the government by force, the Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Will plotters be executed?
Turkey fully abolished the death penalty in 2004 and no executions have taken place in the country since 1984.
This week Erdogan suggested capital punishment could be reinstated if parliament approved such a move.
But this would rule out any chance Turkey has of joining the EU and could see it thrown out of the Council of Europe.
How did the coup attempt unfold?
Soldiers shut down two of the bridges spanning the Bosphorus in Istanbul at around 7.30pm (1630 GMT) on Friday and shortly after, military jets were heard flying low in the capital Ankara.
Some four hours later, a group within the military announced it had seized control of Turkey and that the country was now under martial law. Troops appeared on the streets of Istanbul and Ankara.
Erdogan, addressing the nation via a FaceTime call to the CNN Turk television channel, urged people to take to the streets and resist the coup, which they did in their thousands.
Soldiers in Istanbul opened fire on protesters and fighting erupted in Ankara, with planes bombing the parliament building.
Erdogan flew into Istanbul early Saturday where he was greeted by a sea of supporters, and shortly after the government announced it had regained control and that the coup had failed.
More than 290 people were killed, according to official figures, including over 100 putschists.
Have the clashes stopped?
Security forces and putschists briefly clashed at an air base in the central city of Konya on Sunday.
There was also an incident Sunday evening at Istanbul’s second airport Sabiha Gokcen, where police fired warning shots at putschists who were resisting arrest. They eventually surrendered.
Who was behind the coup bid?
It remains unclear who exactly was behind the attempted power grab. The coup was declared by a group within the army calling itself the Council for Peace in the Homeland, saying it was intervening “to ensure and restore constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms.”
Erdogan has furiously pointed blame at his arch-foe Gulen, a US-based Islamic preacher whose Hizmet movement has a powerful presence in Turkish society, including the media, police and judiciary.
Gulen has categorically denied any involvement in the plot and has suggested it could have been staged by Erdogan himself to cement his grip on power, a theory that has been raised by other critics and some analysts, but dismissed as “nonsensical” by the president’s spokesman.
What are world powers saying?
World powers rallied behind Erdogan on the night of the coup attempt, with key strategic partners including the United States and European Union offering support for Turkey’s elected authorities.
But there has been international concern over the mass arrests with US President Barack Obama urging Ankara to “act within the rule of law” in the aftermath of the failed putsch. — AFP
Saturday, July 16, 2016
Rampasan Kuasa di Turki
ISTANBUL: Turkey’s military said on Friday (Jul 15) it had seized power, but the prime minister said the attempted coup would be put down.
Soldiers were seen on the streets in Istanbul and Ankara as jets flew low overhead, while ordinary citizens rushed for the safety of their homes after witnessing the coup attempt.
If successful, the overthrow of President Tayyip Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey since 2003, would amount to one of the biggest shifts in power in the Middle East in years.
“We will overcome this,” Erdogan said, speaking by mobile phone to the Turkish sister station of CNN. “I certainly believe that coup plotters will not succeed. I urge the Turkish people to convene at public squares and airports. I never believed in a power higher than the power of the people.”
Erdogan said he was still president and Turkey’s commander in chief, promising that plotters would pay a “very heavy price.”
📹 #BREAKING Another tank trying to run over citizens. Utterly shocking scenes in #TurkeyCoup pic.twitter.com/q4BwIyCyJB
An official said Erdogan was speaking from Marmaris on the Turkish coast where he was on holiday. Erdogan said he would swiftly return to Ankara.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and other senior officials said the elected government remained in office. Yildirim called the coup attempt a terrorist act by gangs and illegal formations.
Television images showed scores of people, someving Turkish flags, gathered in major squares in main city Istanbul and capital Ankara to show support for the elected government. Gunfire broke out in both cities.
Supporters of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, protest in front of soldiers in Istanbul’s Taksim square on Jul 16, 2016 (Photo: AP/Emrah Gurel)
Warplanes and helicopters roared over Ankara and explosions could be heard there. Reuters reporters saw a helicopter open fire. State-run news agency Anadolu said military helicopters had fired on the headquarters of the intelligence agency.
Reuters journalists saw tanks open fire near the parliament building in Ankara, which they had surrounded.
A Turkish F-16 fighter jet shot down a military helicopter being used by a military faction attempting the coup over the capital Ankara early on Saturday, broadcaster NTV said.
Anadolu meanwhile said 17 police officers had been killed in an attack on their offices in the city.
Airports were shut, access to Internet social media sites was cut off, and troops sealed off the two bridges over the Bosphorus in Istanbul, one of which was still lit up red, white and blue in solidarity with victims of the Bastille Day truck attack in France a day earlier.
Turkey’s top general Hulusi Akar was taken hostage at the military headquarters in the capital Ankara after the attempt to bring down the government, Anadolu reported.
State broadcaster TRT, which later went off the air, said the military had declared martial law and a curfew, in a statement signed by a group calling itself the “Council for Peace in the Homeland”.
“The power in the country has been seized in its entirety,” said a military statement quoted by Turkish media.
It said the move had been made “in order to ensure and restore constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms and let the supremacy law in the country prevail, to restore order which was disrupted.”
“All our international agreements and commitments retain their validity. We hope our good relations will continue with all countries in the world.”
The country would be run by a “peace council” that would ensure the safety of the population, the statement said.
Turkish security officers detain Turkish police officers (in black). (Photo: AFP/Bulent Kilic)
Yildirim denounced what he said was an “illegal attempt” by elements in the military, and said security forces have been called in to “do what is necessary”.
“We are working on the possibility of an attempt. We will not allow this attempt,” Yildirim said in comments broadcast by private channel NTV.
“Some people illegally undertook an illegal action outside of the chain of command. The government elected by the people remains in charge. This government will only go when the people say so.”
“Those who are in this illegal act will pay the highest price,” he added, saying it would not be correct to describe the move as a “coup”.
US President Barack Obama has been briefed, with US National Security Council spokesman Ned Price saying: “The president’s national security team has apprised him of the unfolding situation in Turkey.”
The EU called for “restraint and respect for democratic institutions” in Turkey. Neighbouring Greece said it was following the situation closely.
Turkish soldiers block Istanbul’s iconic Bosporus Bridge on Jul 15, 2016. (Photo: AP/Emrah Gurel)
NOT A TINPOT COUP
Turkey, a NATO member with the second biggest military in the Western alliance, is one of the most important allies of the United States in the fight against Islamic State.
It is a principal backer of opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that country’s civil war, and host to 2 million Syrian refugees.
Celebratory gunfire erupted in Syria’s capital Damascus as word got out that Erdogan had been toppled, and people took the streets to celebrate there and in the government-held section of the divided city of Aleppo.
Turkey has been at war with Kurdish separatists, and has suffered numerous bombing and shooting attacks this year, including an attack two weeks ago by extremists at Istanbul’s main airport that killed more than 40 people.
A senior EU source monitoring the situation said: “It looks like a relatively well orchestrated coup by a significant body of the military, not just a few colonels. They’ve got control of the airports and are expecting control over the TV station imminently. They control several strategic points in Istanbul.
"Given the scale of the operation, it is difficult to imagine they will stop short of prevailing. It’s not just a few colonels,” the source repeated.
One European diplomat was dining with the Turkish ambassador to a European capital when guests were interrupted by the pinging of urgent news on their mobile phones.
“This is clearly not some tinpot little coup. The Turkish ambassador was clearly shocked and is taking it very seriously,” the diplomat told Reuters as the dinner party broke up. “However it looks in the morning, this will have massive implications for Turkey. This has not come out of nowhere.”
Turkish military stand guard in the Taksim Square. (Photo: REUTERS/Murad Sezer)
HISTORY OF COUPS
After serving as prime minister from 2003, Erdogan was elected president in 2014 with plans to alter the constitution to give the previously ceremonial presidency far greater executive powers.
Çekilen bir videoda, insanların üzerine ateş açıldığı görülüyor. [pic.twitter.com/d7LfagPsRc](https://t.co/d7LfagPsRc)
— 140journos (@140journos) [July 15, 2016](https://twitter.com/140journos/status/754088306204225536)
His AK Party, with roots in Islamism, has long had a strained relationship with the military and nationalists in a state that was founded on secularist principles after World War One, and which has a history of military coups.
AFP correspondents said that Istanbul had been turned into a ghost town after the events, with people who had been outside for a Friday night rushing home for safety.
But some on the streets were hailing news of the coup.
“Now things are changing - Turks are on fire,” Fethi Karabas, a 27-year-old tour guide in Taksim Square, told AFP. “We have hope now,” he added. “Turkey has been in a very polarised state for almost 15 years now … This is the manifestation of all that anger.”
Rojhat Dogru, a Turkish Kurd on holiday in Istanbul, added: “I am very happy. Erdogan is a murderer but now he is dead.”
Reactions were swiftly pouring in from around the world, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calling on Turkey to avoid all “bloodshed”.
“Problems in Turkey need to be resolved in accordance with the constitution,” Lavrov said, speaking in Moscow at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
The US diplomat said he hoped for “peace and continuity” in Turkey, while a Greek government source said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had been “briefed by the head of secret services” about the developments.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed for calm in Turkey as the world body sought to clarify the situation in the country, said a UN spokesman.
- AFP/Reuters/ec
- CNA
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Disaat UMNO diharamkan pada April 1987
(Malaysia Today) ANINA AND DR M’S SHAMELESS TWISTING OF THE 1987 EVENTS
LSS
This is why I think Anina Saadudin is one of the least brightest PakaTun and that she has little clue of what is happening politically.
Today she wrote that Najib is Mahafiraun, completely missing the point that the “Maha” was commonly used as a play on the Mahathir name — Maha meaning biggest (hence Mahaguru; or even Mahafiraun, Mahazalim, etc.).
And worse! She proudly claimed that Mahathir, while Umno president, had “allowed himself to be challenged through internal party elections” referring to Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s challenge in 1987.
The truth is this. In the 1987 UMNO elections, Kuli and gang challenged Mahathir for the president post and lost by a very narrow 46 votes.
Thus a bunch of UMNO people collectively known as the “UMNO 11” challenged the results and said there was phantom branches and voters.
The UMNO 11 people were able to prove that these branches and delegates were illegal and wanted to declare the results invalid and to call for fresh elections.
But instead of challenging, Mahathir’s lawyers used the kamikaze defence to tell the judge that if there was indeed phantom branches then the entire UMNO should be ruled as an illegal party and must be deregistered — which is exactly what the Judge ruled.
The UMNO 11 and their lawyers were utterly shocked and said in court that this was a “kamikaze defence” — which was what was reported in the local newspapers then.
And when the UMNO 11 tried to appeal that judge ruling to declare UMNO illegal, Mahathir then engineered the sacking of the Supreme Court lord president and all the other judges — hence forever destroying the independence of our judiciary on the excuse that the late Agong then was unhappy that the Lord President complained that the Agong’s palace was noisy (I kid you not!).
It was Mahathir that wanted UMNO to be deregistered as they could not fight the “phantom branches” claim and afraid of fresh elections knowing they will lose. The UMNO 11 never wanted UMNO to be deregistered and only wanted fresh elections.
After this, Mahathir happily allowed the UMNO to be deregistered, very quickly registered a new party (ROS was under the Home Ministry and he was Home Minister), made himself member number 001, disallowed the Ku Lu to join and happily continued as PM.
Eventually, Mahathir would call UMNO party as “my party” – as what Barry Wain wrote in his book (see picture below).
In fact, this devious incident engineered by Mahathir himself was used by him in his recent interview with Al-Jazeera to proudly and very shamelessly claim that the courts have also ruled against him before
And in his UMNO Baru, to prevent anyone else from being able to challenge him, he implemented insane rules of “bonus votes” and quota system (and even “no contest for number one and two”) that made it impossible for anyone to get enough nominations to challenge him as party president — hence he was never challenged again.
Such shameless people this Anina and Mahathir are trying to manipulate the 1987 episode of shame to their advantage.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Mangkaq! Pandu kereta di lorong motosikal Jambatan Kedua Pulau Pinang sejauh 20km!
MPV driver clocks up 20km on bridge’s motorcycle lane
GEORGE TOWN: The driver of a Honda Stream drove more than 20km from Batu Maung on the island to Batu Kawan on the mainland using the dedicated motorcycle lane on the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Bridge.
This is believed to be the second incident in less than a year.
Jambatan Kedua Sdn Bhd corporate communications manager Azizi Azizan said the incident happened at about 7.20pm on Saturday.
“The driver drove all the way from Batu Maung to the interchange exit, before the Bandar Cassia toll plaza.
“The mainland-bound motorcycle lane is wide enough for cars because it also functions as an emergency lane,” he said yesterday.
Azizi was not sure if the driver had mistakenly entered the motorcycle lane.
A photo of the car appeared on the Penang Kini Facebook page, drawing comments from hundreds of people.
“We have signboards informing road users of the motorcycle lane,” he said.
He said cars would not be able to enter the island-bound motorcycle lane because of the toll plaza.
Azizi added that the first incident happened at the end of last year.
“In the first incident, the driver of a car drove on the motorcycle lane for about one kilometre before reversing his car to the right lane,” he said.
Azizi would bring the matter up to the management today to discuss a solution.
He advised road users to be alert by observing signboards and to use the correct lane.
Penang traffic police chief Deputy Supt Tan Boon Hooi said he would check on the matter.
Friday, June 10, 2016
Hijrah
Rasanya, mungkin dah tiba masa untuk aku berhijrah. Untuk terus berdaya saing dan memenuhi keperluan serta kehendak seharian harus terus berani menongkah arus. Duduk di tempat yang terlalu selesa akan buat diri kita leka. Wallahualam.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)