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| pledge to fight poverty in the Philppines | ||||||||||||||
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| Published: Oct.17.2007 @ 11:49 pm | ||||||||||||||
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| Loy Krathong | ||||||||||||||
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| Published: Sep.25.2007 @ 2:08 pm | Last edited: Sep.25.2007 @ 1:22 am | ||||||||||||||
November full moon shines Loy kratong, Loy Krathong And the water is high in the rivers and the khlongs Loy Loy Krathong, Loy Loy Krathong Loy Kratong is here And everybody is full of cheers We gather at the khlongs Each one with a krathong As we push away we pray We can see a better day
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| Let us go Esperanto | ||||||||||||||
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| Published: Sep.22.2007 @ 2:01 pm | ||||||||||||||
Well, does the technology help much or the leaders of the world should reconsider the common language and not depending on the machine. Still and strongly support a common language in a world. that is ESPERANTO. http://www.lernu.net
© Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2006 Privacy Policy Comments to: Webmaster Advertising enquiries to: Internet Marketing Printed display ad enquiries to: Display Ads Full contact details: Contact us |
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| Filipinas try breast-feed record | ||||||||||||||
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| Published: May.03.2007 @ 1:21 pm | ||||||||||||||
 Filipinas try breast-feed record Up to 4,000 mothers in the Philippines have taken part in a nationwide attempt to set a new world record for simultaneous breast-feeding. It is part of a campaign by Unicef, the UN's Children's Fund, and advocacy groups to highlight the benefits. Last year, at least 3,541 mothers set a record for breast-feeding their babies simultaneously at a single site in the capital, Manila. Unicef says too few Filipinas are aware of the benefits of breast over formula. A partial, unofficial count showed that at least 3,608 mothers took part in the record-breaking attempt nationwide, according to the event organisers and government officials. Only 16% of Philippine children between four and five months old are exclusively breast-fed while 13% of mothers do not breast-feed at all, believing they do not have enough milk, according to Unicef. "We need every possible way to get the message out that Philippine mothers should breast-feed exclusively for six months and then continue to breast-feed for two years and beyond with household foods," said Dale Rutstein, Unicef's spokesman. "Unfortunately, through advertising, most Philippine mothers now believe that artificial forms of foods for babies are actually better than breast milk," he said. Unicef says breast-feeding can help curb malnutrition in children and boost their immune system. It is also cheaper than bottle-feeding. |
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| Singapore: Make love, not work | ||||||||||||||
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| Published: Aug.26.2006 @ 10:23 am | ||||||||||||||
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SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120AP_Vietnam_Sex_Toys_Seized.html
Friday, August 25, 2006 · Last updated 1:44 p.m. PT
Chinese sex toys confiscated in Vietnam
HANOI, Vietnam -- Authorities in Vietnam's southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City seized one ton of Chinese-made sex toys, aphrodisiacs and other sexual stimulants, state-controlled media reported Friday.
Police and market inspectors Thursday confiscated the illegal shipment, which included more than 10,000 tablets of Viagra, sex toys and sexual stimulants in the form of tablets, powder and liquid hidden in a truckload of onions, the Laborer newspaper said.
The newspaper quoted a truck driver Mai Ngoc Hoang as saying he was hired to transport the goods from the northern province of Lang Son bordering China to Ho Chi Minh City.
Hoang was detained for questioning and police are investigating the case, the report said.
The Star Online > Nation
Monday August 21, 2006
Hsien Loong says Dr M-Abdullah row can affect Asean climate
SINGAPORE: The overall outlook of Asean remains favourable although some member countries are facing difficulties, a situation which could affect “the climate of Asean”, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.
In Malaysia, he said, the problem was the “deep political differences” between former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
“I think everyone hopes these will be resolved soon,” he said in his National Day Rally speech at the National University of Singapore's Cultural Centre last night.
Lee also made reference to several other Asean countries as he elaborated on the outlook and the challenges faced by the 10-member grouping which, he said, would indirectly affect Singapore.
On bilateral relations with Malaysia, he said: “Negotiations over the bridge, airspace and sand have ended. Still some other issues are outstanding (but) these are on the back burner for the time being.
“Meanwhile, we will work on the positive aspects of our relations.”
Lee also mentioned the problem in Thailand, saying that the country was going into another election but “serious political uncertainties are not yet over”.
In Indonesia, he said, the government had tackled difficult issues such as the cutting of fuel subsidies but many other critical reforms – such as tax, investment and labour laws, which were “politically very hard” to implement – were waiting.
“These regional problems affect the climate of Asean as a whole, and so will affect Singapore indirectly,” he said.
“If Asean cannot get its act together, then instead of taking off with China and India, we will be left behind.”
Singapore, he said, would therefore continue to work with its Asean partners to promote growth and stability in South-East Asia.
“But taking the situation as a whole, the outlook is favourable. (We) just have to be ready in case the dangers materialise,” he said.
Lee said other challenges facing the region were the high prices of energy due to the tension in the Middle East.
Although there was a ceasefire in Lebanon, the problems in Iran, Iraq, Israel and Palestine were far from over, he said.
“If there is a blow-up, energy prices will spike, causing a global recession.” – Bernama
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Houses of worship are an important topic of discussion for many people, as the recent debate over them showed. The impression was that people put more importance on the buildings themselves than on practicing the good deeds taught inside them. The heated debate revolved around drawing up new rules on church or mosque construction to replace an antiquated joint ministerial decree. If any issue reflects the nation's progress, it is this one. After 61 years as a free nation we are still fighting over rudimentary matters of religion. Reality is following close on the heels of the debate. In Jakarta, some housing developments are being tailored to a particular religious group, an upsetting trend. Already our schools are strongly divided along religious lines. Wealthy schools in the cities further divide the rich students from the poor. Our penchant for symbolism and intellectual banality has never waned. Ceremonies play an important part in our lives, while statements in bad taste by certain segments of the elite are rampant. We are fond of surface values, of appearances rather than substance. A recent study by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) finds that people are less tolerant of a neighbour with a different faith, simply because of the religious difference. This is especially so when one religious group dominates a residential area. People don't bother to find out what kind of person their neighbour is. There is also relatively high opposition to the construction of houses of worship of different faiths, according to the study. It is a sign that an attitude of "holier than thou" and "us versus them" prevails. The institute also finds that the Muslim majority disapproves of efforts by minority groups to defend their rights by, for example, holding rallies. LSI rightly states that this hinders democracy. Our gender bias is equally disturbing. According to the survey, we tend to resent homosexuals and transvestites even more than people of different faiths. But LSI is too polite in airing some of its findings. It should have been more explicit in pointing out the rise of religious conservatism. This is clear from the higher rate of support among the 1,200 respondents in all 33 provinces for such groups as the Front Pembela Islam (Islam Defender Front) and the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (Indonesia Mujahidin Council), which are often perceived as radical, than for the more moderate Jaringan Islam Liberal (Liberal Islam Network). The greatest enmity, according to the study, is focused on those formerly imprisoned as communists. This is a disturbing reminder that the mystery of the 1965 putsch, blamed on the communists, has yet to be unravelled. Thousands of communist detainees, jailed for years in the late 1960s under inhumane conditions and often without trial, are now free. Yet they still face discrimination. The recent Ahmadiyah case reminds us that foes can be found even within one religion. Ahmadiyah members, regarded as heretics by mainstream Muslims, are being beaten and evicted. Thousands live as refugees in their own country. Some are applying for asylum overseas. This low tolerance toward our compatriots reflects our failure to create a nation where people can live peacefully. It is tragic and deeply saddening that seeking differences among us appears to be almost second nature, even at the cost of weakening ourselves. We divide ourselves not only along lines of political ideology, religion, race, ethnicity, gender, and region of origin, but also by kampong or village of origin and by the universities we attend. People seem to have excessive energy for finding differences, for dividing and weakening themselves, eroding social trust until it almost disappears. We seem to lack the urge to seek a common ground where synergy can take place. The many religions people practice, the hundreds of ethnic groups, the rich culture and languages adorning our nation appear to be more of a liability than an asset. This has to change, once and for all, because it subverts the character of our country and would have seemed like a nightmare to our founding fathers when they envisioned this nation 61 years ago. Time is short but we have impeccable social capital in our hands. We believe that the tradition of tolerance and respect for each other's faith is still the underlying foundation of our social and political culture. It is a gem that has stood the test of time throughout the archipelago. It explains the nation's resilience in the face of many past crises. It will take strong and inspirational leadership, however, to revive this tradition amid ongoing economic crises. We must do it, lest our precious treasure slip quietly from our hands.
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The history of Indonesia.
http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukarno
http://www.indonesia.go.id/en/
http://home.swipnet.se/~w-15266/indons/acronym/acropq.htm
http://www.jawapalace.org/pancasila.htm
From Sanskrit: panca (five) and sila (principle).
| http://www.atimes.com |
| Southeast Asia |
| Islam, Indonesian style By Richard S Ehrlich JAKARTA - Washington has linked al-Qaeda to the bomb attacks on Bali and the JW Marriott Hotel, but Muslim extremists' demands for a strict Islamic society are not popular in Indonesia. Many Indonesian Muslims prefer to meld religious tradition with modern lifestyles and have overwhelmingly rejected fundamentalist candidates in local and national elections. Suicide Muslim bombers also do not enjoy much support. "I hate the terrorists. The fanatics are crazy," said a Muslim office worker as he studied photographs published by police of two men wanted in connection with the car bomb blast on August 5 in front of the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta. The explosion killed 11 people, including the bomb-packed van's alleged driver Asmar Latin Sani, 28, whose bloodied severed head was thrown by the blast on to the Marriott Hotel's fifth floor. Police spent Tuesday searching for the two men who earlier bought the vehicle second-hand after it was advertised in a newspaper. "Indonesia is 90 percent Muslim, but we have many styles, many different groups of Muslims, and I think we should all live together, not just one fanatic style. We also want to live with the Christians and Buddhists and others," the office worker, in his 20s, said. "Indonesia is not the same as Saudi Arabia," he added. Proof of Indonesia's Islamic tolerance and forward-looking style are displayed in the strangest places. Behind him, for example, a muted television beamed a local broadcast of MTV, highlighting an Indonesian teenage girl wearing a traditional Islamic head-cover, which cloaked her hair, ears and neck - allowing only her oval face to appear. She mischievously grinned and introduced to Indonesia's avid MTV audience the latest steamy video by Britney Spears' ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake. On the street, meanwhile, a ramshackle bookshop offered tiny bumper stickers for sale, including several stating: "I Love Islam" and "Islam is the Best". The shop, trying to be trendy, also sold stickers illustrated with a hip icon - the yellow smiley face - wearing a flat, college graduation cap and proudly captioned: "Muslim Intellectual". Serious Islamic items also appear on sale throughout Indonesia, often liberally displayed near Christian, Buddhist and animist images and statues. Such mixing of religions and respect is commonplace, and is being updated to a globalized 21st century. In a typical middle-class department store, one-third of an upper floor sells Islamic clothing, prayer carpets and embossed holy Koran books under a big wooden sign that says: "Muslim Corner". The women's Islamic clothes are modest but label-conscious, separated on racks under the names of local dress designers. "On sale" signs try to tempt customers. Each portable prayer carpet comes with a large, sewn-in plastic compass that tells the direction to Mecca when the rug is plunked on the ground, because Muslims must bow toward that holy Saudi Arabian city when praying. While the devout ponder a purchase, they can hear saucy hip-hop songs by Missy Elliot and other American singers pumping through the department store's public sound system. Outdoors, five times a day, countless Muslim mosques broadcast their muezzins' lilting, Arabic call to prayer through electric loudspeakers that echo throughout this muggy, urbanized capital above the din of traffic. The mosques are crowded. Muslims are allowed to take a break from work each time the muezzins call, even while working in hospitals or other emergency services. But many other Muslims attend only once a week, on Fridays. Across Indonesia, however, thousands of Muslim men and women have openly demanded an Islamic regime with harsh sharia laws drawn from the Koran and rooted in their ideal of a society more than 1,300 years ago. "We have made up our minds not to stray from our ultimate goal of establishing Islamic law in the country," Irfan S Awwas, executive chairman of the influential Mujahideen Council of Indonesia, recently told reporters. The council, also known as MMI, is led Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, currently in prison while on trial for alleged involvement in a string of Christmas Eve church bombings in 2000 that killed 19 people and for attempting to assassinate President Megawati Sukarnoputri when she was vice president. "I say do not be afraid of being labeled as trying to overthrow [the government], or as terrorists, when you are carrying out Islamic sharia in full," Ba'asyir said in a speech relayed from prison and read out to 3,000 enthusiastic followers on Sunday at the start of a three-day MMI rally. Washington insists Ba'asyir is a leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a "foreign terrorist organization" in Southeast Asia linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and the Bali and JW Marriott Hotel bombings. Ba'asyir insists Jemaah Islamiyah does not exist and he claims to be innocent of all wrongdoing. He blames the US Central Intelligence Agency for inventing Jemaah Islamiyah to stoke anti-Muslim propaganda and persecute the faithful. Amid the rhetoric, violence, fear and confusion, many Indonesians have become leery and resentful of Ba'asyir and other Islamic hardliners, especially after the bombings killed fellow Indonesians who lived and worked at the targeted sites. For many Indonesians, the Marriott Hotel attack was especially galling because 10 Indonesians - most of them taxi drivers - and one foreigner died when the car bomb gutted the hotel's entrance. In Bali, 202 people died in blast last October 12 and while most of them were Australian and other foreign tourists, many of the dead included working-class Indonesians. Meanwhile, the beat of goes on for moderate, modernizing Muslims. Boosting people's spirits at a recent televised dance, broadcast nationwide, a popular singer named Zwesty mangled the lyrics to "Say a Little Prayer" - but her song was not religious. It was made famous by American soul singer Aretha Franklin. While Zwesty crooned, Indonesian adults in suits and other formal attire danced in cocktail-lounge ambiance, including a few mature women wearing Islamic head-coverings who did their best to boogie. |
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