Freedom Of The Press

The Selangor state government is moving into the right direction to disseminate unbiased news to the people for assessment.

Be it the state or federal government, the secrecy laws especially OSA (Official Secret Act) should be obsolete because it is the breeding ground for corruption to infest.

Today, Malaysia ranks 31 in Asia Pacific and 143 global ranking which signify “not free” in the Freedom of the Press 2009 ranking.

Note:

1. Each country is ranked on a scale of 0 to 100. 0 is the best and 100 is the worst.

2. A combined score of 0 – 30 is Free, 31 – 60 is Partly Free, and 61 – 100 is Not Free.

When freedom of information is curbed, then transparency is missing. To be able to access to correct information is the basic right of the people. This will then be an avenue to gauge and evaluate to what extent the people could support the administration.

The state government of Selangor is leading by example by launching “tvselangor” on the 19 May 2009 at Dewan Sivik. An open government will always be the choice of the people.

Taniah and syabas to the Selangor State Government!

Arrival Of Selangor Mentri Besar

TELEVISION SELANGOR

The Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Dato' Abdul Khalid Ibrahim launched "tvselangor" at MPPJ Dewan Sevik on the 19 May 2009.

More reporting on the launch will follow with video clips.

Mystery - Stolen Childhood

These are the faces we should be seeing everyday no matter where we are in this world. Unfortunately, not all the children are that lucky to be able to put on their smiling faces.

In Asia alone, 22 % of children below 18 years are child workers. In Latin America 17 %, and 1% in US, Canada and Europe. In both these continents, only a tiny proportion of child workers are involved in the formal sector and the vast majority is for their families, in homes, in the fields or on the streets. – Unicef’s 1997 State of the World’s Children Report.

With a little luck, I managed to pick up this latest news.

Five assistant labour commissioners appointed under State Action Plan prepared by Labour and Employment Department

In A bid to eliminate child labour from Gujarat, the government has appointed five additional assistant labour sommissioners under the State Action Plan for Elimination of Child Labour prepared by the Labour and Employment Department. May 16, 2009

People cry for specific reason especially emotion related factors. Hunger does not make people cry, but the bondage of exploitation (physically, mentally and morally) will.

Child labour is often mistaken by its nature of work. Young children are seen in hawker centres or night markets helping their parents after school. This is not forced and bonded labour, but family obligation for survival.

But in different parts of Asia or the world, children live differently.

In the Indian subcontinent, which includes India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, there are people living on less than a dollar a day. Poverty drives the children out of home to look for cheap and exploited employment.

The prime cause of poverty derives from the pressure of rapid population growth. With high illiteracy rate, health care and birth control are beyond their understanding.

Caste discrimination still prevails, where weak governance and corruption are the added miseries to this marginalized group of people.

The emphasis on education is lost because to work for money to buy food to fill the stomachs is more important than going to school with empty stomachs.

However, to say that the exploitation for cheap labour is despicable is rather contentious because of the excess “manpower”. When there are more mouths to feed, more jobs are in demand, and to be able to hire more it means the wage to pay a single worker is used to pay for a few.

Is this call exploitation or opportunity given to those who are in the dire need to survive? The argument here does not lie in the exploitation of cheap labour, but good governance is missing which subjugated the people to such deplorable condition of living a decent life!

Blame it on corruption and the greed to remove the resources that people are much depended on.

Working for pittance has become a way of life for these unfortunate children. Such vicious cycle can only end when birth rate is controlled and proper education is emphasized by the government.

Such unfortunate children did not ask to be born and yet they are here to live a deprived life. Child labour will not end because the young girls will get married off and the production of the next generation of child labour will continue.

Such young girls will fall prey to child trafficking for sexual exploitation. When poverty and unemployment set in, the legal system provides little legal protection especially for these vulnerable young girls.

There must be a great stride in poverty reduction otherwise the fate of such children will end up like commodity to trade for their survival.

Illiteracy will not give anyone the voice of freedom. Beggars cannot be choosers so to speak. Any unwanted “crumbs” that are offered will be grabbed instantly, and that is the little luxury that makes the difference in their kind of life.

Why me? This is the question that is difficult to answer. Is it their karmic repercussion to be born into poverty or are they here for a purpose – a purpose to be in the league of stolen childhood of deprived children?

Skill And Experience

Contributed by : Estrelita.

Fun With Words

Somehow, we all play a game which is half-luck and half-skill that is sold in 121 countries round the world. It is called Scrabble.

Over 100 million sets of the game have been sold in 29 different languages making it easily the world's best selling word game.

The creator is Alfred Mosher Butts who envisioned the diversion when he invented it in 1931.

The name of the game is not solely depended on the power of vocabulary, but the ability to manipulate words and phrases which prove deadly in the game.

This unidentified person is just brilliant to be able to manipulate the alphabets of a word to another word(s) that makes sense as well.

DORMITORY: When you rearrange the letters:DIRTY ROOM

PRESBYTERIAN:When you rearrange the letters:BEST IN PRAYER

ASTRONOMER: When you rearrange the letters:MOON STARER

DESPERATION: When you rearrange the letters: A ROPE ENDS IT

THE EYES: When you rearrange the letters: THEY SEE

GEORGE BUSH: When you rearrange the letters: HE BUGS GORE

THE MORSE CODE: When you rearrange the letters: HERE COME DOTS

SLOT MACHINES: When you rearrange the letters: CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY: When you rearrange the letters: IS NO AMITY

ELECTION RESULTS: When you rearrange the letters: LIES - LET'S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS: When you rearrange the letters: ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S

A DECIMAL POINT: When you rearrange the letters: IM A DOT IN PLACE

THE EARTHQUAKES: When you rearrange the letters: THAT QUEER SHAKE.

AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE

MOTHER-IN-LAW: When you rearrange the letters: WOMAN HITLER

Contributed By : Angela Ooi.