Pelik… Rakyat Iraq kurang bekalan makanan tapi ‘Mufti ISIS’ terlalu gemuk

Disebabkan terlalu berat, seorang lelaki yang digelar “mufti ISIS” yang ditahan di Iraq terpaksa diangkut menggunakan trak.

Shifa al-Nima ditahan di Mosul oleh pihak berkuasa Iraq selepas dipercayai bersembunyi di situ.

Digelar “Jabba the Hutt” kerana mempunyai rupa seumpama watak filem Star Wars itu, dia dikatakan sering mengeluarkan fatwa yang menyebabkan beberapa ulamak ditahan selain pemusnahan beberapa kubur lama di bandar berkenaan.

Al-Nima yang mempunyai berat mencecah 136 kilogram itu dikatakan antara pemimpin ISIS yang dihormati.

Seorang tentera Britain yang berjuang menentang ISIS di Syria, Macer Gifford melalui hantaran di Twitter berkata, : “Saya gembira Jabba the Hut ISIS berjaya ditangkap. Dia bertanggungjawab terhadap penahanan lelaki, wanita dan kanak-kanak. Dia juga pernah merogol dan membunuh.”

Dalam pada itu ada juga di kalangan netizen mempersoalkan bagaimana dia boleh berkembang menjadi saiz yang begitu besar, sedangkan penduduk disana kekurangan bekalan makanan.

Malah ada netizen juga menyindir, “Tidak mungkin dia berpuasa pada bulan Ramadan.”

Anda ada berita menarik untuk dikongsi? Sila email ke fmtohsem@freemalaysiatoday.com

Calm and serene Sapi island beckons from Sabah

Sapi island is a 20 minute boat ride from Kota Kinabalu.

Sapi island is one of the most popular places in Sabah to swim, snorkel and relax as it is just a 20 minute boat ride away from Kota Kinabalu.

Sapi is one of the five islands making up the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, covering 50 sq kilometres of the islands and their surrounding reefs.

The five islands that make up the park are:

  • Pulau Gaya, the largest at 15 sq kilometres, has its highest point 300m above sea level. It is mostly thick with primary forest.

Tourists are largely confined to three luxury beach resorts or are restricted to organised walks on the 20 kilometres of marked trails.

Sapi island’s clear water beckons divers and snorkellers.
  • Pulau Manukan, the second biggest and most developed, houses the park headquarters.
  • Pulau Mamutik is reputed to have the best snorkeling sites and is a renowned dive spot for novice divers with its shallow water and gentle currents.
  • Pulau Sulug, the most unspoiled and remote island has a long sand spit and an extensive coral reef.
  • Pulau Sapi, so named because Sapi means “cow” and the island is said to be shaped like a cow’s head.
The pristine white beach on Sapi island.

Sapi island attractions

  • Swimming, as it has a pristine white beach and clear water.
  • Snorkeling, as the fish here are accustomed to being hand fed and will come to you. You can buy fish food on the island.
  • Picnicking, as shady spots with seating and tables are aplenty. However the island can get crowded, especially on weekends.
  • Diving, as there is a coral garden at the southeast tip of the island. Stingrays, cuttlefish and moray eels are among the marine life here.
  • Walking to Gaya island is possible at low tide across the connecting sand bar but do take care not to get cut off.
This nature trail skirts Sapi island.
  • Scuba-Doo Breathing Bubbles. Motorbike-style mini-submarines can be hired, enabling you to enjoy a scuba diving-like experience while breathing normally in a safe air bubble.
  • Nature Trail. There is a five kilometre trail which skirts the island and takes you up to its highest point.
  • Monitor Lizards are one of the island’s most popular attractions as the giant lizards scavenge from litter bins and are not afraid of humans.

These are wild creatures with sharp claws and a nasty bite so keep your distance when taking photos.

  • Macaque monkeys are cute to look at but are actually pests, especially if they steal your bag or camera. It is best not to feed them.
The Coral Flyer is a 250m zipline between islands.
  • Coral Flyer is the coolest attraction on Sapi Island as it claims to be the longest island-to-island zipline in the world. This flying fox (aerial ropeway) links Sapi to Gaya Island, a distance of 250m at speeds of up to 60 kph.

This is a professionally managed operation that prioritises safety. Trained and qualified personnel and strong harnesses and cables ensure a smooth trip.

The ticket cost includes a boat transfer to Gaya and a return journey by zipline. The ride is open from 10am to 3pm daily. You can buy tickets on arrival at the Sapi jetty.

  • Safety. There are always two or three armed policemen stationed on the beach for the protection of tourists.

There has not been any serious incident in this part of Sabah but being near the pirate and terrorist infested waters of the Sulu Sea, this is a sensible precaution.

There are many ferries and packages to choose from.

How to get to Sapi island

There is a ferry terminal at Jesselton Point Waterfront in Kota Kinabalu with numerous operators providing speed boat return trips to the islands of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park at fixed prices.

The ferries start at 7:30am and the last trip departs at 4pm. Only buy tickets from the ferry terminal counter and avoid the unauthorised touts.

Ferry packages

The ferry operators have various packages including snorkeling gear and a packed lunch but you can just opt for a straightforward return speed boat ticket. In addition to the ferry fare, all passengers must pay a Terminal Fee.

Conservation fee

The National Park charges a small conservation fee when you arrive. You only pay once even if you are island hopping.

There is no accommodation on Sapi Island but camping is permitted with prior permission from the Park Warden.

This article first appeared in Malaysia Traveller.

PM hopes Year of the Metal Rat will boost Malaysia-China friendship


Tourists take pictures at the River of Life waterfront, covered with mist effects, where the Gombak River joins the Klang River near Masjid Jamek in Kuala Lumpur January 6, 2020. — AFP pic
Tourists take pictures at the River of Life waterfront, covered with mist effects, where the Gombak River joins the Klang River near Masjid Jamek in Kuala Lumpur January 6, 2020. — AFP pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad voiced his hopes that 2020, which is the ‘Year of Culture and Tourism’ between Malaysia and China, will further boost the ties and friendship between both nations significantly.

He noted that the relationship between both nations had roots from the 15th century during the golden era of the Malacca Sultanate and the Ming dynasty, and had flourished ever since.

In fact, he said Malaysia and China were the first nations in the region to establish diplomatic ties that bloomed into a relationship that was based on respect and trust.

“In 2018, Premier Li Keqiang and myself were of the opinion that it was a good time to celebrate the close relations enjoyed by the two nations and to focus on people-to-people exchanges via culture and tourism,” he said in his address during the Malaysia-China Year of Culture and Tourism 2020 opening ceremony, here yesterday.

The prime minister’s speech was read by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi.

Dr Mahathir said just as the cultures of both nations are tied, so are their economies.

“For the record, in 1974, Malaysia-China trade was recorded at US$159 million. This rose by almost 700 times to US$108 billion in 2018,” he said, adding that both nations would continue to work together for the benefit of its peoples.

The prime minister was also pleased to note that the culture and tourism initiative launched yesterday, coincides with the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign, making it more significant and meaningful.

He also shared with the audience, the multiracial aspect of Malaysia which made the country a melting pot of cultures, stating:

“I am also sure our guests from China will be able to relate to the numerous practices, foods, customs and cultures and will probably be able to trace them to specific provinces in China.

“Of course, other cultures, from India and indigenous groups from Sabah and Sarawak have significant influence on the cultures in the peninsula and vice-versa. We are proud of our diversity and we believe that what we have is a significant display of multi-culturalism which has worked and helped us flourish”.

Dr Mahathir also took the opportunity to wish the people of both countries abundant prosperity, health, wealth and everlasting happiness, in conjunction with the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration.

“May the Year of the Metal Rat symbolise the reaffirmation of Malaysia-China friendship and cooperation as well as the beginning of new and firm strides ahead,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang expressed the hope that the Malaysia-China Year of Culture and Tourism 2020 will serve as a platform for both countries to further expand cultural exchanges and tourism cooperation, and encourage more people-to-people visits.

“We hope we can carry on our traditional friendship based on increased mutual understanding and lay a solid social foundation for a China-Malaysia comprehensive, strategic partnership,” he said in his speech read out by the China Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism, Zhang Xu. — Bernama

Study suggests Pakatan’s answer to income inequality could be based on faulty markers


The study’s authors argued that LIS — a key inequality indicator, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) — could be misleading, particularly in the case of Malaysia. — Picture by Hari Anggara
The study’s authors argued that LIS — a key inequality indicator, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) — could be misleading, particularly in the case of Malaysia. — Picture by Hari Anggara

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) policies to narrow the country’s income gap may be based on flawed assumptions that could hamper the goal, according to Khazanah Research Institute.

The criticism was outlined in a study titled “Income Inequality in Malaysia: Examining the Labour Income Links”, which analysed the coalition’s income redistribution policies.

Authors of the study, Christopher Choong, Alyssa Farha Jasmin and Adam Firouz, believe that the ruling coalition’s goals were built around a marker — labour income share (LIS) — that could mask true inequality through statistics, increasing the likelihood of a wrong policy response.

LIS is the share of a country’s total income that accrues to labour. It is seen as a key inequality indicator, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), but the study’s authors argued that it can also be misleading, particularly in the case of Malaysia.

“Available evidence shows that anchoring inequality on a higher labour income share may be at odds with Malaysia’s ambitions of technological upgrading and moving towards higher productivity, capital-intensive modes of production,” the paper said.

“It suggests a disconcerting trade-off between the country’s growth and distribution objectives.” 

KRI’s study followed the first-term PH administration’s plan to raise labour income share as a way to narrow the widening wage gap. LIS is one of two components that form national income. The other is income derived from capital.

Under the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 (SPV2030), the coalition broadened discourse on inequality by drawing attention to LIS as a measure of the inequality between labour and capital.  

Compensation of employees (CE) in Malaysia also remains low compared to its more developed peers, Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali said when unveiling the 10 year plan. 

Wage inequality

For the next decade, the government aims to raise CE share to 48 per cent. It was 35.7cent in 2018. 

But this approach can be problematic in two ways, the KRI study suggested. First, analysis of LIS from 2005 to 2016 revealed an underlying trend of deindustrialisation. 

A 2019 working paper that aimed to explain the increase in labour income share within that period found that while income share may have increased, it was attributed to the growth in low- to medium-skilled industries that tend to rely on low technology solutions and a large labour pool. 

Secondly, KRI argued that LIS is neither a good indicator of income inequality nor a good driver to reduce it. The reasons given to explain the second point are more technical, involving sample tests and statistical calculation. 

When LIS data was subject to a modelling technique called the regression analysis, the Gini coefficient — a statistical measure used especially for income inequality — responded negatively. 

This meant the link between wage share and inequality was tenuous.

So the researchers suggested that a third component could provide answers to some of the lingering questions about income inequality in Malaysia that LIS could not: labour income dispersion (LID), a measure of wage disparity across or within a particular economic sector.

This premise was based on several reasons, among it a KRI study that found wider disparity among paid workers and the self-employed compared to overall income inequality. 

Wage or salary is one of several types of labour income, and is the largest share of personal income followed by earnings from self-employment, according to official data. 

By scrutinising the salary gap and including the data as a component to calculate the Gini coefficient, the study’s authors concluded that LID provided a more accurate picture of household well-being.

Wage inequality trends over the years also appeared to be in line with other analyses that measured overall inequality, which strengthens the case for LID as a key component to explain the country’s income problem, Choong, Alyssa and Adam argued.

Structural issues

By calculating data from a 2019 study of wage disparity based on the Salaries and Wages Survey (SWS) between 2010 and 2017, the researchers produced a Gini coefficient score that matched the official income inequality score.

“Examining the relationship between the dispersion ratio and structural features of the economy can shed more light on the sectoral forces driving wage inequality over time,” the authors concluded. 

Malaysia’s Gini coefficient score in 2016 was 0.399, which is considered to be in the moderately high bracket. The PH government aims to improve its Gini coefficient to 0.340 by 2030.

Under SPV2030, the PH administration will look to industrialisation to drive growth but with priority given to equitable policies that aim to lift the population’s economic status with high skills. 

But achieving these targets will require the right policies and tools especially concerning income inequality, Choong, Alyssa and Adam said.

“To drive technological upgrading, there should be a shift away from targeting factor income (income accrued to factors of production like workers, machines etc.) shares to understanding the parameters that shape them,” the study said.

Mexican troops block Honduran migrant caravan

MEXICAN troops blocked some 1,500 Central American migrants from entering the country from Guatemala, scuffling with them and thwarting their hoped-for trek to the US and a better life.

One National Guard soldier standing guard at a bridge that is a major crossing point and speaking over a bullhorn told the travellers they could not enter without a visa or migration document, and that sneaking in was dangerous.

Countdown to death: Trump details Soleimani’s end

President Trump acknowledges the US strike ‘shook up the world’ but says Soleimani ‘deserved to be hit hard’. (AP pic)

WASHINGTON: Cameras “miles in the sky”, a countdown and then “boom”: US President Donald Trump has recounted the final moments of Iran’s powerful General Qasem Soleimani in an American drone strike.

Trump delivered the account Friday night to Republican Party donors gathered at his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago for a fundraising dinner, US media said.

CNN on Saturday broadcast an audio recording in which the president gave new details about the Jan 3 strike at the airport in Baghdad.

It killed the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force commander and members of Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary force with close ties to Iran.

“He was supposed to be invincible,” Trump said.

Democrats and other critics have questioned the timing of the strike, the month before Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, and the administration’s shifting reasons for launching it.

In the audio released by CNN, Trump did not refer to an “imminent” attack which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said Soleimani was planning. Nor was there a reference to “four embassies” which Trump later alleged were being targeted.

“He was saying bad things about our country. He was saying like, ‘We’re going to attack your country. We’re going to kill your people.’ I said ‘Look, how much of this shit do we have to listen to?’,” Trump told his guests.

He then described the scene, relaying the words of the military officers giving live updates to him in Washington.

“They said, ‘Sir, and this is from, you know, cameras that are miles in the sky. They are together sir. Sir, they have two minutes and 11 seconds. No bullshit. They have two minutes and 11 seconds to live, sir.

“‘They’re in the car. They’re in an armoured vehicle going. Sir, they have approximately one minute to live, sir… 30 seconds, 10, nine, eight… then all of a sudden boom. They’re gone, sir.’”

Trump acknowledged that the US strike “shook up the world” but said Soleimani “deserved to be hit hard” because he was responsible for killing “thousands of Americans” – a figure which contrasted with one he gave on Jan 8.

At that time, Trump said the Iranian “wounded and murdered thousands of US troops”.

Iran vowed revenge for the US strike, raising fears of war, and later launched missiles at bases in Iraq housing US troops. None were killed.

Tear gas, arrests in French anti-pension protest

FRENCH police fired tear gas under a rain of projectiles and arrested dozens of people yesterday as thousands of “yellow vest” anti-government protesters returned to the streets of Paris.

Demonstrators shouted slogans denouncing the police, President Emmanuel Macron and his pension reforms that have triggered the longest transport strike in decades.

Tear gas, arrests in new anti-Macron demo in Paris

Demonstrators accuse Macron of ruling on behalf of an urban elite while ignoring people in the provinces. (AP pic)

PARIS: French police fired tear gas under a rain of projectiles and arrested dozens of people on Saturday as thousands of “yellow vest” anti-government protesters returned to the streets of Paris.

Demonstrators shouted slogans denouncing the police, President Emmanuel Macron and his pension reforms that have triggered the longest French transport strike in decades.

The night before Macron and his wife Brigitte had to be rushed briefly from a Paris theatre after protesters tried to burst in and disrupt the performance.

With sirens wailing, riot police drove across the French capital in dozens of vans Saturday to the route where thousands of protesters marched.

The police said 59 people had been arrested by the early afternoon.

There were further allegations of police violence after video footage shot by AFPTV and others showed a young man, his face covered in blood, being arrested and beaten.

Young people wearing masks shouted “revolution” as tear gas drifted by the Bastille, the square where the French revolution erupted in 1789.

“The street is ours,” some protesters chanted. “Macron, we’re going to come for you, in your home.”

Saturday’s clashes came on the 45th day of a strike that has hit train and metro traffic and caused misery for millions of commuters in and around Paris in particular.

Trains are becoming more frequent however, and Paris’s metro drivers voted to suspend their action from Monday, their union Unsa announced Saturday.

The protests were also the latest of the weekly demonstrations held every Saturday by the yellow vest movement since November 2018, and which have been boosted by those opposed to the pension reforms.

Long live the strike

“We’re suffocating with this government who wants to put us on our knees,” said Annie Moukam, a 58-year-old teacher among the protesters.

“It’s out of the question that he (Macron) touches our pensions. We have worked all our lives to be able to leave with a dignified retirement,” she added.

Macron’s reforms aim to forge a single pensions system from the country’s 42 separate regimes.

The various systems currently in place offer early retirement and other benefits to some public-sector workers as well as lawyers, physical therapists and even Paris Opera employees.

Critics say the reforms will effectively force millions of people to work longer for a smaller pension.

The transport unions have joined forces with the yellow vests, who accuse Macron of ruling on behalf of an urban elite while ignoring people in the provinces and the countryside, many of whom struggle to make ends meet.

The unions are looking for a second wind as their movement starts to flag, with the proportion of striking workers at national railway operator SNCF falling to less than 5% on Friday.

The Louvre in Paris, the world’s most visited museum, reopened on Saturday after being shut down by workers opposed to the pension overhaul.

There was no sign of an end to the strike at the Paris Opera, which has lost €14 million with the cancellation of 67 performances.

The Paris Opera orchestra on Saturday gave renditions of Carmen and other works to Parisians and tourists on the steps of the Palais Garnier to show support for the strike.

Under a stream of confetti, they finished with “La Marseillaise,” the national anthem. Supporters chanted “Long live the strike”.

The Fly

Macron’s staff said the president and his wife were able to return to the play, “The Fly,” when police prevented protesters entering the renowned theatre Bouffes du Nord.

But authorities kept in custody overnight Friday Taha Bouhafs, the journalist who tipped off protesters about the presence of the Macrons at the theatre, a judicial source said.

Bouhafs, who was watching the same play, was detained on charges of “participating in a group formed to commit violence or cause damage,” the source said.

However he was released late Saturday night without being charged, a judge giving him the status of “assisted witnesses,” his lawyer told AFP.

“This is an unprecedented violation of freedom of information and the rights of journalists, at the request of the Elysee Palace,” said lawyer Me Alimi.

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