jelas.info

ps- Just a super late point to this very kind review of Where is Justice? done by A Bookaholic. I was inspired by the small effect the book managed to have, and this really makes it worth it for me and John.. Thank you! If you haven’t yet, check out how you can get a copy!

Just a quick note about the nonsense exposed at the Kugan trial. Can’t write long right now, but observe:

We have top cops saying the safety of detainees is not their responsibility, we have cops saying they witnessed beatings but did little to stop it & claiming Kugan had ‘no complaints’, and we have cops giving conflicting and confusing testimony.

All to find out whether just one cop was guilty or not.

I think these are all symptoms of a cover-up. If the case really was uncovering the truth, then I doubt we would see such confusion and inconsistencies.

If we do not get justice for Kugan in the courts, I hope we will at least transform the institutions that are empowered to reform those courts.

Oh, I had quite a fun time :) I enjoy sketch comedy as much as I find it hard to both write it and/or write about it.

I think suffice to say I nearly fell off my chair laughing :) Lotsa current events are satired and satired well (I think there was one joke about Najib that literally only I got – I laughed really loudly a few seconds after the joke, and everyone was staring at me :P :) and the whole thing was just really entertaining.

There were awesome ‘products’ (like Bangladeshis) for sale, S&M, rapping durian planters, crazy Arabs, etc etc. Be forewarned, lotsa raunchy bits and good looking people (which arguably go well together :P ) – the sketch with the three ladies in kebaya *may* have gotten me a little hot and bothered :| ahaha..

Anyway, go watchLAH!

(do note the dates have been extended to the 14th)

Dates and Time
April 8th – 14th 2010 @ 8.30 pm

Tickets
RM23 flat for all showdays

Step aside SNL, Little Britain and MADtv! indicinelive! (in-DEE-see-nee-live-!) is klpacs brand new sketch comedy premise, parodying the oftentimes crazy society that we live in. Featuring an ensemble of serious comic writers and players every episode, indicinelive! will play at klpacs indicine with a line-up of familiar characters in even more familiar situations, and a few musical numbers thrown in too! indicinelive! is, essentially, a generous serving of who we are in fun-sized pieces.

Presenting indicinelive! – EPISODE ONE with FOUR SHOWS ONLY!

Featuring the Player Ensemble of Shirin Jauhari, Uihua, Oliver ‘Ollie’ Peters, Nabihan Yaacob, Claudia Low, Hana Nadira and Marvin Wong. Written by Kevin Larken, Patrick Lee, Adriana Nordin Manan, Amir Yunos and Shern Chong. Directed by Kelvin Wong.

Call or Walk in: klpac @ Sentul Park (03 4047 9000) &
The Actors Studio @ Lot 10 (03 2142 2009 / 2143 2009)
Walk-in only: Axcess @ main office (Jln. Semangat), 1-Utama & Alamanda Putrajaya
Online purchases via the klpac.org website

Be a Fan of indicinelive! on Facebook!

Oh, and just for kicks :) -

I think with the dropping of MAFREL as independent election-observers by the EC, we are looking at some hard core cheating by BN down at Hulu Selangor.

This moves reminds me most vividly of BN’s actions just before March 8th, where they cancelled the use of indelible ink to prevent repeat/phantom voters.

I think in that case, it signalled a clear sign of desperation, given the feedback they must have gotten from the ground (think SB) about voter inclinations and trends leading into the last few days.

Thus, I take this as a good sign – one which may very well mean the winds are on our backs!

Of course, it also means we have to work doubly hard to prevent and compensate for massive cheating on the part of BN and the EC!

*

On another semi-interesting note, observe the language at the BN Selangor convention:

“BN cannot stick to narrow racial ideology. BN cannot use old methodology to address new problems,” convention chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Zin Mohamed declared to some 1,500 BN grassroots leaders from across the Pakatan Rakyat-controlled (PR) state.

“Umno for example must not only talk about the Malays and Islam but must also fight for the Chinese, Indians and others; it’s the same with MCA, MIC, Gerakan and PPP. we have to be ahead of the times,” said Mohd Zin who is also the Sepang Umno division chief.

“If we continue to fan racial sentiment, we will not be able to recapture Selangor,” said Mohd Zin.

“The people will continue to doubt us if BN keeps rejecting reality, and is slow in reforming,” said Mohd Zin.

Once again, this is the benefit of true political competition.

It’s good that some in BN can see the writing on the wall, but as I wrote last: are they too trapped to really change?

I for one found the backdrop to this picture really funny:

I think it is less “BN Mampu Berubah” than it is “BN terpaksa berubah kerana Pakatan” :P :)

Sorry it comes a bit late, but Happy Easter :)

I think we may be on to something big here. I suggest you start with Tian’s 2 articles, here and here.

As what will hopefully be part of a multi-part series (sorry in advance if you get sick of it), let me start with the Shin Bet connection.

Shin Bet = Shabak = Israel Security Agency (ISA, ironically) = the Israeli internal spying agency = Israel’s Special Branch (but if you can imagine, even worse).

I think I too must add the obligatory “this is not anti-Semitic” preamble. Like many of us who studied in the US, we have tons of great Jewish friends, and have long learnt to differentiate between Jew and Zionist.

Especially after researching the Shin Bet however, I think there is even less doubt as to some of the repressive tendencies of the Israeli government.

First, let us establish the Shin Bet connection to APCO (APCO’s involvement w/the government, we must note, has been established beyond doubt).

It starts here, with a member of APCO’s Advisory Board, a man named Doron Bergerbest-Eilon:

Doron Bergerbest-Eilon is the former head of the protection and security division and the senior ranking security official of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), a position equivalent to the rank of major general. Mr. Bergerbest-Eilon is the founder, president and CEO of ASERO Worldwide, where he advises clients on strategic and tactical security challenges and provides assistance to both governments and corporations to prepare, mitigate and recover from threats of terrorism and other hazards; and to protect lives and critical assets and ensure continuity of operations.

Someone with the connections of an ex-Major General of the Israeli Defense Forces? And CEO of which company again? ASERO? Back to Tian:

Apco’s involvement in various intelligence and security-related projects is done through its strategic partner and sister company Asero Worldwide. While Apco’s expertise is in the field of communications, Asero specialises in homeland security and risk management consultancy.

Apco and Asero have many overlapping consultants and management members. For example, Doron Bergerbest-Eilon who sits on Apco’s International Advisory Council was also founder and president of Asero Worldwide.

Mara Hedgecoth, the daughter of Apco CEO and President Margery Kraus also sits in Asero as Vice President. At the same time, Mara Hedgecoth also serves as Vice President and Director in Apco Worldwide.

The connection between APCO and ASERO is fully public. The only other company mentioned on ASERO’s About Us page:

ASERO is a partner company with APCO Worldwide, an independent, majority employee-owned global communication consultancy.

Let’s leave most of the details about ASERO for another post – suffice to say that they are clearly being run by the same people; practically part of the same holding company / mafia. Let’s just start very simply with ASERO’s Management Team.

David Harel
Managing Director and Vice President, Israel
Former head of international relations for the protection and security division of the Israeli Security Agency

Oded Raz
Vice President
Former senior ranking security official of the Israeli Security Agency

Gadi Kalai
Director
Former regional security manager (RSO) of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA)’s north region

That’s a company run by four top ranking Shin Bet officials. I think it’s time we hear a bit about Shin Bet, aka Shabak. To Wikipedia:

Shabak also extracts information by interrogating suspects. In 1987, after complaints about excessive use of violence in interrogations of Palestinian prisoners, the Landau Committee (headed by a former Supreme Court Justice Moshe Landau) prepared a two-part report on Shabak’s interrogation methods. Only one part was made public. It revealed that the Shabak regularly used violent methods of interrogation and that Shabak agents were tutored to lie in court about how evidence was uncovered. The committee report also gave guidelines for future interrogations, but most of the details were in the secret part of the report. The open part revealed that the guidelines allowed Shabak to apply “moderate physical pressure” in the case of “necessity”. In 1994, State Comptroller Miriam Ben-Porat, in a report not made public until February 2000, found that during 1988–1992, “Violation of the Landau Commission and the GSS regulations continued to be widespread in the interrogation facility in Gaza and, to some extent, in other facilities.… Veteran and senior investigators in the Gaza facility carried out severe and systematic violations. Senior GSS commanders did not prevent these violations.”^[2]

In 1999, the Israeli Supreme Court heard several petitions against Shabak methods. It found that these included: (1) “forceful and repeated shaking of the suspect’s upper torso, in a manner which causes the neck and head to swing rapidly,” (2) manacling of the suspect in a painful “Shabach position” for a long period of time, (3) the “frog crouch” consisting of “consecutive, periodical crouches on the tips of one’s toes,” and other methods. The Court ruled that Shabak did not have the authority, even under the defense of “necessity,” to employ such methods.^[3]

In the Justice Ministry, the Department For Special Roles, there is a senior investigator who checks complaints about Shabak interrogations.^{[citation needed]} Shabak claims that it is now basing its interrogations only on psychological means^{[citation needed]}. However, organizations such as B’Tselem and Amnesty International still accuse Shabak of employing physical methods that amount to torture under international conventions.^[4][5]

Harassment and detentions

Salah Haj Yihyeh, an Israeli who runs mobile clinics for Physicians for Human Rights, was detained for questioning by the Shin Bet. In the questioning, Yihyeh answered questions about the activities of the organization, its budget, the identity of its donors, and details about others employed by PHR. The board of Physicians for Human Rights, in a letter to Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, rejected the “crossing of a red line in a democracy.” The letter argued that since the only cause for calling an employee of the group was to scare him, the tactics were unacceptable and illegal.^[13]

Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer was detained in July 2008 by Shin Bet. Having arrived on a flight from London, Omer says that he was taken aside by a Shin Bet official. According to Democracy Now! Omer was later questioned, strip-searched, and then beaten by eight armed Shin Bet officers. Injuries from the ordeal allegedly left Mohammed Omer in the hospital for a week.^[14]

Whoa. What kind of monsters are we dealing with here? (and this is just people linked to APCO. we haven’t started talking about APCO’s list of clients yet).

*

For a government that loves nothing more to slam Zionists and Israelis, we sure are getting cosy with a lot of them.

Next on APCO – the dubious clientele they serve.