Dr Chua merasakan diri beliau tidak lagi berperanan dalam parti termasuk sebagai pengerusi Biro Pemantauan Dasar Kerajaan.
Shafie Harap Dr Chua Tidak Lompat Parti
Naib Presiden Umno Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal berharap Timbalan Presiden MCA Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek tidak meneruskan hasratnya untuk melompat parti dan menyertai pembangkang.
Beliau berkata apa yang penting sekarang ialah semua pemimpin parti komponen Barisan Nasional (BN) memberi tumpuan dan bekerja keras memperkuatkan BN bagi menghadapi pilihan raya umum akan datang.
"Saya berharap tidak akan berlaku keadaan itu (lompat parti), apa yang penting kepada kita, kita mempunyai masa yang singkat iaitu dua setengah tahun untuk membangunkan negara ini dan untuk mempertingkatkan kekuatan BN," katanya kepada pemberita di sini hari ini.
Mohd Shafie berkata demikian ketika diminta mengulas laporan akhbar hari ini mengenai kenyataan Dr Chua yang tidak menolak kemungkinan akan melompat parti dan menyertai pembangkang kerana mendakwa semakin tidak berperanan dalam parti termasuk sebagai pengerusi Biro Pemantauan Dasar Kerajaan.
Mengenai permintaan veteran Umno yang mahukan kelab itu diiktiraf sebagai sayap Umno, Mohd Shafie berkata perkara itu perlu dibincangkan dalam parti sebelum sebarang keputusan dibuat kerana Umno telah mempunyai banyak sayap.
Beliau berkata selama ini, veteran Umno telah banyak memberi sumbangan kepada parti dan ia perlu diteruskan.
BERNAMA
CHUA SOI LEK BERHASRAT SERTAI PAKATAN RAKYAT
PENGARAH PR PAS PUSAT TOLAK KEHENDAK PEMUDA MAHU BERTANDING DI PENANTI
PAS tertakluk kepada perjanjian yang telah dipersetujui dalam Pakatan Rakyat (PR). Semua parti dalam PR telah bersetuju, jika berlaku pilihan raya kecil, calon yang bertanding mestilah daripada parti yang bertanding pada pilihan raya umum sebelumnya.
PAS Pusat Tolak Kehendak Pemudanya Mahu PAS Bertanding Di Penanti
PAS Pusat menolak hasrat Pemuda PAS Pulau Pinang supaya PAS meletak calon untuk bertanding pada pilihan raya kecil kawasan Dewan 
Undangan Negeri (DUN) Penanti.
"Ini kerana PAS tertakluk kepada perjanjian yang telah dipersetujui dalam Pakatan Rakyat (PR). Semua parti dalam PR telah bersetuju, jika berlaku pilihan raya kecil, calon yang bertanding mestilah daripada parti yang bertanding pada pilihan raya umum sebelum itu," kata Pengarah Pilihan Raya PAS Pusat, Datuk Mustafa Ali (foto kanan atas).
Kerusi Penanti kosong berikutan peletakan jawatan penyandangnya dari Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin yang juga bekas Timbalan Ketua Menteri 1 Pulau Pinnag.
PKR telah mengumumkan calon mereka untuk bertanding di Penanti iaitu Timbalan Pengerusi Perhubungan PKR Pulau Pinang, Mansor Othman, 56.(foto kiri bawah)
Selain PKR, calon bebas, Aminah Abdullah, 56, (foto kiri atas) bekas Ketua Wanita PKR Pulau Pinang, turut menyatakan hasrat untuk bertanding.
Barisan Nasional (BN) belum menamakan calon mereka.
Bernama
COMMON SENSE SURVIVAL TIPS DURING FLU PANDEMICS
This CDC (right) photograph captured a sneeze in progress, revealing the plume of salivary droplets as they are expelled in a large cone-shaped array from this man's open mouth. The flu virus can spread in this manner and survive long enough on a doorknob or countertop to infect another person.
It dramatically illustrating the reason you should cover your mouth when sneezing or coughing to protect others from germ exposure, health officials say.
It’s also why you need to wash your hands a lot, on the assumptions others don’t always cover their sneezes. Credit: CDC/James Gathany
5 Essential Swine Flu Survival Tips (From Livescience)
Meanwhile, there are a slew of suggestions out there for what you should do. Often the tips don't include enough detail for you to do it right. For example, you probably don't wash your hands effectively or often enough. And did you know you could be infected and spreading the flu up to a full day before you feel symptoms and up to seven days after you get sick?
So while waiting for a vaccine and the next bout of bad news, here are the top five essential things you can do to avoid getting sick and, importantly, avoid infecting others. These critical tips are widely agreed upon by the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other health experts.
1. Wash your hands.
The best thing anyone could do right now to avoid swine flu, experts say, is to wash their hands. It sounds like a stupidly simple response to an overwhelming situation, but nearly compulsive hand-washing helps prevent the spread of this airborne respiratory disease. It's the droplets from coughing and sneezing that spread the disease. These get on our hands. And then everything we touch is infectious.
How you do it is important:
- Use warm or hot water if you can.
- Lather up and rub not just your fingers and palms but also under the fingernails, around the wrists and between the fingers for as long as it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice.
- Rinse well.
It is important to wash your hands before eating and after using the bathroom, but also after using a tissue or covering your mouth when you sneeze or cough, sick or not. So yes, that's a lot of hand-washing. Basically, think of how often you would wash your hands if you worked in an emergency room or operating room. Wash your hands that often and that thoroughly.
2. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.
"The way you spread influenza is with droplets that come out of your mouth or nose," said Dr. George T. DiFerdinando Jr., a physician, epidemiologist and professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Public Health. He recommends the classic shoulder or crook-of-the elbow sneeze.
"It's a whole lot better for those [droplets] to be on blouse or sleeve than spraying onto surfaces or other people," he said. Then ... you guessed it ... wash your hands.
Surgical face masks are an option for keeping your droplets to yourself, but they don't keep your hands clean and there is no consensus in the health care community on whether face masks are advisable for everyday use.
"If [the swine flu virus] is spreading throughout the community, it would not surprise me if people use [face masks] to good effect," DiFerdinando said.
3. Stay home.
If you're sick, stay home, DiFerdinando said. Try to muster the energy to wash your hands after you use tissues so you don't reinfect everything you touch afterward. This helps you recover, and protects your loved ones.
4. Don't touch your face.
Try, try, to keep your hands out of your mucous membranes — your eyes, nose and mouth — direct routes to the bloodstream that allow a virus to bypass the protective barrier of the skin. Few of us succeed at this fully.
"That's just human nature," DiFerdinando told LiveScience. "It's not something to moan about. In this circumstance you've got a very strong motivator to keep your hands clean. If you keep washing your hands, you decrease the dose [of flu virus] that you get when you put your hands in your mouth."
5. Avoid sick people
It's a good idea to avoid close contact with other people who are sick, DiFerdinando said, adding: "We won't even see air kisses." The flu virus tends not to float in the air. Instead, once dispersed, the liquid droplets tend to settle on objects that doctors call fomites — things that people touch that can pick up a virus. Examples include coins, hand rails, door knobs, common household and office objects. Smooth objects transmit microbes more than rough or porous ones. So, for instance, coins would allow one to pick up more virus than paper money.
Many of the US's cases currently are concentrated in New York City at two schools, which is not surprising to Dr. James Koopman, professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health.
"There is a lot of direct contact and touching of common things when children are in school," Koopman said. "They are in general more susceptible to these things."
FOR NAME SAKE............. SWINE, PORCINE, PIG,....SAME DNA/RNA PROFILES
For economic reasons, swine flu has to get a new name namely just flu.
Swine flu name change? Flu genes spell pig
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Thu Apr 30, 9:44 pm ET
WASHINGTON – No matter what you call it, leading experts say the virus that is scaring the world is pretty much all pig. So while the U.S. government and now the World Health Organization are taking the swine out of "swine flu," the experts who track the genetic heritage of the virus say this: If it is genetically mostly porcine and its parents are pig viruses, it smells like swine flu to them.
Six of the eight genetic segments of this virus strain are purely swine flu and the other two segments are bird and human, but have lived in swine for the past decade, says Dr. Raul Rabadan, a professor of computational biology at Columbia University.
A preliminary analysis shows that the closest genetic parents are swine flu strains from North America and Eurasia, Rabadan wrote in a scientific posting in a European surveillance network.
"Scientifically this is a swine virus," said top virologist Dr. Richard Webby, a researcher at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. Webby is director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza Viruses in Lower Animals and Birds. He documented the spread a decade ago of one of the parent viruses of this strain in scientific papers.
"It's clearly swine," said Henry Niman, president of Recombinomics, a Pittsburgh company that tracks how viruses evolve. "It's a flu virus from a swine, there's no other name to call it."
Dr. Edwin D. Kilbourne, the father of the 1976 swine flu vaccine and a retired professor at New York Medical College in Valhalla, called the idea of changing the name an "absurd position."
The name swine flu has specific meaning when it comes to stimulating antibodies in the body and shouldn't be tinkered with, said Kilbourne, 88.
That's not what government health officials say.
"We have no idea where it came from," said Michael Shaw, associate director for laboratory science for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Everybody's calling it swine flu, but the better term is 'swine-like.' It's like viruses we have seen in pigs, it's not something we know was in pigs."
On Wednesday, U.S. officials not only started calling the virus 2009 H1N1 after two of its genetic markers, but Dr. Anthony Fauci the National Institutes of Health corrected reporters for calling it swine flu. Then on Thursday, the WHO said it would stop using the name swine flu because it was misleading and triggering the slaughter of pigs in some countries.
Another reason the U.S. government wants to ditch the swine label is that many people are afraid to eat pork, hurting the $97 billion U.S. pork industry. Even the experts who point to the swine genetic origins of the virus agree that people can't get the disease from food or handling pork, even raw.
"Calling this swine flu, when to date there has been no connection between animals and humans, has the potential to cause confusion," Chris Novak, chief executive officer of the National Pork Board, said in a news release.
One top flu expert, doesn't like the swine flu name either, but for a different reason. Traditional swine flu doesn't spread easily among people, although this one does now, said Dr. Paul Glezen, a flu epidemiologist at Baylor University.
Columbia's Rabadan said sometimes when he talks to other scientists, he uses the name "swine" or the name "Mexican flu." And that name only adds another case of political incorrectness.
Mexico Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said it's wrong to call it "North American flu" and flatly rejects the idea of calling it "Mexican flu." He pointed to WHO information that the swine genes in the virus are from Europe and Asia. Rabadan and others say four of the six pure swine genetic markers are North American.
"I don't think it's fair for someone to blame Mexico for this. You can't blame any country; you can't blame a person or an institution. The recombination of genes in the virus is something that happens naturally," Mexico's chief epidemiologist, Miguel Angel Lezana said Wednesday.
And while the U.S. government and WHO are dropping "swine flu" as the name, someone hasn't told their Webmasters.
On Thursday afternoon, the phrase "swine flu" was still in the Internet addresses for the WHO, Homeland Security and CDC pages on the disease and the question-and-answer page on the U.S. government's pandemic flu Web site.
___
Medical Writers Lauran Neergaard in Washington and Mike Stobbe in Atlanta and reporters Rita Beamish in San Mateo, Calif., and E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City contributed to this report.
RABADAN DNA STUDY ON H1N1
SUMBANGAN DAN PENGORBANAN PEKERJA DIIKTIRAF
Antara initiatif kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat Negeri Selangor dalam usaha membantu para pekerja serta kakaitangan awam:
1. Menaikkan garis kemiskinan daripada RM800 kepada RM1500 bagi setiap keluarga bagi tujuan memastikan golongan pekerja berpendapatan rendah dapat menikmati pelbagai program kebajikan dan bantuan.
2. Menambah kelayakan cuti bersalin daripada 60 hari pada 90 hari manakala suami yang isterinya bersalin dapat menikmati cuti sebanyak 14 hari.
3.Bagi isteri yang kematian suami dapat menikmati cuti kecemasan sehingga 30 hari dan bergaji penuh berbanding kelayakan cuti tiga hari sebelum ini.
4. Menubuhkan Jawatankuasa Menangani Masalah Pemberhentian Pekerja serta bantuan atas talian bagi tujuan pendaftaran dan pangkalan data.
MB Selangor kenang jasa pekerja
Sempena hari Pekerja, kerajaan negeri Selangor mengucapkan syabas dan Selamat Hari Pekerja kepada semua golongan pekerja khususnya di negeri Selangor kerana sumbangan mereka dalam pembinaan negeri selama ini.
Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim berkata, kerajaan negeri telah memperkenalkan dasar baharu bagi menambah baik syarat dan faedah dalam perkhidmatan pekerja bagi memastikan kebajikan mereka tidak diabaikan.
Menurut beliau, kerajaan negeri telah menaikkan garis kemiskinan daripada RM800 kepada RM1500 bagi setiap keluarga bagi tujuan memastikan golongan pekerja berpendapatan rendah dapat menikmati pelbagai program kebajikan dan bantuan.
Kerajaan negeri juga telah menambah kelayakan cuti bersalin daripada 60 hari pada 90 hari manakala suami yang isterinya bersalin dapat menikmati cuti sebanyak 14 hari.
"Bagi isteri yang kematian suami dapat menikmati cuti kecemasan sehingga 30 hari dan bergaji penuh berbanding kelayakan cuti tiga hari sebelum ini," katanya.
Beliau berharap rakan-rakan majikan dalam sektor swasta bersedia memberi pertimbangan dalam hal mengubah dasar sebagaimana yang kerajaan amalkan dimana dasar kerajaan negeri sekarang selari dengan amalan di negara maju.
Menurut beliau ekoran negara dilanda kemelesetan ekonomi mungkin akan memberi kesan kepada pasaran pekerjaan.
Bagaimanapun, katanya, negeri Selangor mampu mengharungi keadaan ekonomi ini lantaran asas ekonomi negeri Selangor masih kuat dan pentadbiran Pakatan Rakyat cepat memberikan tindak balas terhadap pelbagai cabaran menerusi Jawatankuasa Menangani Masalah Pemberhentian Pekerja.
Menurut beliau, selagi dunia menghadapi kemelesetan ekonomi kerajaan perlu meneruskan usaha-usaha membina kumpulan tenaga pekerja yang berdaya saing.
"Kita mesti sama-sama bekerja untuk memperkukuhkan kekuatan ekonomi negeri kita, dalam masa yang sama meningkatkan kemahiran tenaga pekerja, daya pengeluaran dan menyeimbangi ketahanan dalaman," tegasnya.
Beliau berkata, usaha seumpama itu penting dilakukan supaya negeri Selangor bukan sahaja dapat bertahan dalam keadaan kegawatan ekonomi tetapi terus kukuh semasa peningkatan ekonomi global kelak.
SH/harakahdaily
ULAMA' PERLU PEGANG JAWATAN NO SATU DAN DUA
Saf kepimpinan yang ada sekarang wajar dikekalkan tetapi bagi jawatan Naib Presiden dan seterusnya boleh diserahkan kepada pemimpin daripada kalangan profesional atau ulama" nasihat Ketua Dewan Ulama' PAS.
Presiden Dan Timbalan Presiden PAS Perlu Kalangan Ulama
Presiden dan Timbalan Presiden dalam PAS perlu dipilih daripada kalangan ulama demi masa depan parti itu, kata Ketua Dewan Ulama PAS Pusat Datuk Mohamad Daud.
"Kita mahu jawatan nombor satu dan dua dalam PAS kekal disandang oleh kalangan ulama," katanya kepada Bernama ketika diminta mengulas mengenai pencalonan beberapa pemimpin tertinggi PAS menjelang muktamar agung itu dan lebih menarik tawaran beberapa pemimpin bukan kalangan ulama menawarkan diri bertanding bagi jawatan Timbalan Presiden.
Antara mereka yang menawarkan diri untuk jawatan itu adalah Naib Presiden PAS, Datuk Husam Musa, Mohamad Sabu, Pesuruhjaya PAS Kedah Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak dan Pesuruhjaya PAS Selangor Datuk Dr Hassan Ali.
Mohamad berkata jika kedua-dua jawatan itu tidak diberikan kepada pemimpin bertaraf ulama, beliau khuatir keadaan itu akan merosakkan PAS pada masa depan.
Justeru, beliau tetap mempertahan kepimpinan ulama dalam barisan kepimpinan PAS pada pemilihan di muktamar agung parti itu di Shah Alam, Selangor, Jun ini.
Ditanya mengenai saf kepimpinan yang ada sekarang, Mohamad berkata kedudukan itu wajar dikekalkan tetapi bagi jawatan Naib Presiden dan seterusnya boleh diserahkan kepada pemimpin daripada kalangan profesional atau ulama.
BERNAMA
IMR JADI MAKMAL RUJUKAN SELESEMA KHINZIR DI MALAYSIA
IMR telah bersiap sedia untuk menerima spesimen kes selesema babi, sebagai makmal rujukan dan ini juga merupakan salah satu daripada langkah pencegahan dan kawalan. Langkah-langkah lain seperti di bawah. Untuk jenis ujian DIAGNOSTIK SILA lihat di bawah.
CIRI-CIRI selesema khinzir
Hidung berair atau tersumbat
Sakit tekak
batuk dan demam
sakit-sakit tubuh badan
Sakit kepala
Seram sejuk atau mengigil apabila terkena air, kelesuan, cirit atau muntah
IMR Makmal Rujukan Selesema Babi
Mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Teknikal Influenza Pandemik melibatkan pelbagai agensi kerajaan yang bermesyuarat semalam telah mengiktiraf Institut Penyelidikan Perubatan (IMR) sebagai makmal rujukan bagi selesema babi.
"Langkah mengenal pasti IMR, yang bersiap sedia menerima spesimen kes selesema babi, sebagai makmal rujukan merupakan satu daripada langkah pencegahan dan kawalan yang dilakukan kerajaan," kata Ketua Pengarah Kesihatan Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican (foto) dalam kenyataan Khamis.
Pandemik yang menular di sembilan negara termasuk United Kingdom, Amerika Syarikat dan Kanada, telah ditingkatkan dari Fasa 4 ke Fasa 5 oleh Pertubuhan Kesihatan Sedunia (WHO) semalam.
"Pengisytiharan Fasa 5 adalah isyarat jelas bahawa virus yang mengancam nyawa ini berkemungkinan besar menyebabkan pandemik pada bila-bila masa sahaja dan masa yang masih ada untuk melengkapkan persediaan daripada segi organisasi, komunikasi dan perlaksanaan pelan tindakan pengurangan risiko adalah sangat singkat," katanya.
Beliau berkata Bahagian Kawalan Penyakit Kementerian Kesihatan dan Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri telah mengaktifkan Bilik Gerakan untuk memantau situasi wabak dengan WHO bagi memastikan tindakan proaktif diambil untuk melindungi penduduk Malaysia.
Antara langkah lain yang akan dilakukan ialah meningkatkan tahap waspada semua jabatan kesihatan kerajaan dan swasta; pemberian vaksin influenza bermusim kepada anggota bertugas di barisan hadapan;
Yang turut ditingkatkan tahap kewaspadaan dan persediaan ialah 28 hospital yang dikenal pasti untuk menerima kes selesema babi, memastikan proses penghantaran vaksin di sembilan pusat simpanan stok antiviral di seluruh negara berjalan lancar;
Saringan kesihatan di semua pintu masuk antarabangsa; kerjasama Kementerian Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan dan Kementerian Kesihatan; dan peningkatan pemantauan Jabatan Perkhidmatan Haiwan di ladang ternakan babi termasuk menyuntik vaksin.
Setakat ini tiada kes selesema babi dilaporkan di negara ini.
Seorang pesakit yang disyaki menghidap jangkitan itu telah diperiksa oleh IMR semalam dan laporan kesihatan menunjukkannya negatif daripada wabak itu, kata Dr Mohd Ismail.
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What Is the Clinical Presentation of Swine Flu?
Persons infected with swine flu may appear similar to those with seasonal influenza, presenting with symptoms of acute respiratory illness. Symptoms include at least 2 of the following:
Rhinorrhea or nasal congestion;
Sore throat;
Cough; and
Fever.
In addition, persons with swine flu may have other typical symptoms of influenza, including body aches, headache, chills, fatigue, and possibly diarrhea and vomiting.
Who Is Most at Risk for Swine Flu?
The CDC recommends that clinicians particularly consider the possibility of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection in patients with fevers and respiratory symptoms who:
Live in areas in the United States with confirmed human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection. (To find the most up-to-date information on areas with confirmed swine influenza cases, go to http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/index.htm)
Traveled recently to Mexico or were in contact with persons who had febrile respiratory illness and were in areas of the United States with confirmed swine influenza cases or Mexico in the 7 days preceding illness onset.
In addition, a person with an acute respiratory illness who has a recent history of contact with an animal with confirmed swine influenza should also be suspected (http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/recommendations.htm). What Is the Range of Illness Severity Seen With Swine Flu?
Many cases of swine flu may be mild or even asymptomatic. In the past, cases were identified by chance as part of regular seasonal influenza surveillance. Most of the recent cases seen in the United States thus far have been mild as well. However, in Mexico, many patients' illnesses have been much more severe, have presented in young adults, and have included pneumonia, respiratory failure, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Illness-related fatalities have been recorded in Mexico. At this time, it is not clear why such differences in illness severity have been seen. Early in epidemics it is difficult to gauge severity because the overall denominator of people infected is unknown.
How Should Swine Flu Be Diagnosed?
Preferred specimens. If swine flu is suspected, clinicians should obtain a respiratory specimen for analysis. In an ideal situation, the best method is via nasal pharyngeal aspirate or nasal wash aspirate into viral culture media; however, some experts are recommending the use of Dacron nasal swabs to decrease aerosolization of the virus. If these specimens cannot be collected, a combined nasal swab with an oropharyngeal swab is also acceptable and will be feasible in most settings. (Ideally, swab specimens should be collected using swabs with a synthetic tip and an aluminum or plastic shaft. Swabs with cotton tips and wooden shafts are not recommended. Specimens collected with swabs made of calcium alginate are not acceptable.)
The specimen should be placed in a 4°C refrigerator (not a freezer) or immediately placed on ice or cold packs for transport to the laboratory. Once collected, make contact with the state or local health department to facilitate transport and timely diagnosis at a state public health laboratory.
Recommended tests. The CDC currently recommends "real-time RT-PCR for influenza A, B, H1, H3 conducted at a State Health Department Laboratory. Currently, swine influenza A (H1N1) virus will test positive for influenza A and negative for H1 and H3 by real-time RT-PCR. If reactivity of real-time RT-PCR for influenza A is strong (e.g., Ct ≤ 30) it is more suggestive of a novel influenza A virus." Confirmation as swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is now performed at the CDC but may be available in state public health laboratories soon.
Rapid influenza testing. Rapid testing for swine flu likely is similar to that for seasonal flu, meaning that sensitivities range between 50% and 70% of cases (no better than using fever and cough as a marker in a patient during influenza season), depending on the manufacturer. Therefore, negative rapid tests should not indicate a lack of influenza. (For general guidance on rapid influenza testing, see http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/diagnosis/rapidlab.htm)
Rapid tests can distinguish between influenza A and B viruses. A patient with a positive rapid test for influenza A may meet criteria for a probable case of swine flu, but again, a negative rapid test could be a false negative and should not be assumed a final diagnostic test for swine influenza infection.
Other tests.
Immunofluorescence (DFA or IFA) tests can distinguish between influenza A and B viruses. A patient who is positive for influenza A by immunofluorescence may meet criteria for a probable case of swine influenza. However, a negative immunofluorescence could be a false negative and should not be assumed a final diagnostic test for swine influenza infection.
Isolation of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus by viral culture is also diagnostic of infection but may not yield timely results for clinical management. A negative viral culture does not exclude infection with swine influenza A (H1N1) virus.
To stay up-to-date on the latest recommendations for testing, check regularly at: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/specimencollection.htm
PERGERAKAN PEMUDA UMNO NEGERI DAPAT HAYAT BARU
Dua misi utama segara dan penting Pergerakan Pemuda ialah (1) untuk mengeratkan kerjasama dan perpaduan di kalangan ahli-ahli Pemuda UMNO dari segenap lapisan masyarakat.
(2) memastikan usaha mengembalikan sokongan orang Melayu khususnya golongan muda kepada UMNO dan BN menjadi kenyataan.
Kesemua Muka Baru Terajui Pemuda Umno Negeri
Pergerakan Pemuda Umno Malaysia Khamis mengumumkan pelantikan Ketua Pergerakan Pemuda Umno Negeri bagi sesi 2008-2011.
Kesemua mereka merupakan muka-muka baru.
Turut dilantik ialah empat muka baru dan seorang muka lama sebagai Exco Lantikan Pemuda Umno Malaysia, kata Setiausaha Pemuda Umno Malaysia, Megat Firdouz Tan Sri Megat Junid.
Senarai Ketua Pemuda Umno Negeri ialah:-
Mohsin Mohd Yusoff (Perlis) (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Padang Besar)
Badrol Hisham Hashim (Kedah) (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Padang Terap)
Norman Zahalan (Pulau Pinang) (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Bayan Baru)
Maslin Sham Razman (Perak) (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Kuala Kangsar)
Suhaimi Mohd Ghazali (Selangor) Ketua Pemuda bahagian Sepang)
Rizalman Datuk Mokhtar (Wilayah Persekutuan) (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Bandar Tun Razak)
Mohd Helmi Din (Negeri Sembilan). (Ketua Pemuda bahgian Rasah)
Karim Yaacob (Melaka) (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Bukit Katil)
Mohd Fadil Muskon (Johor) (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Air Hitam)
Abu Jimi Samat (Pahang) (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Lipis)
Bahri Baharuddin (Terengganu) (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Marang)
Anuar Safian (Kelantan) (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Kubang Kerian)
Azman Ruslan (Sabah). (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Keningau)
Senarai Exco Lantikan:-
Abdul Razak Abd Rahman (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Kota Melaka)
Khairul Azwan Datuk Harun (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Pasir Salak)
Badrol Hisham Zakaria (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Kuala Terengganu)
Mohd Faizal Ramli (Ketua Pemuda bahagian Teluk Kemang)
Anis Hisham Abdul Aziz (muka lama) (Pemuda Umno bahagian Kuala Selangor)
BERNAMA
Exco Pemuda UMNO Malaysia SINI
KETUA SERTA TIMBALAN DEWAN ULAMA' PUSAT TARIK DIRI
Ketua Dewan Ulamak PAS Pusat serta Timbalannya mengambil keputusan untuk berundur dan tidak akan mempertahankan jawatan mereka pada muktamar PAS nanti.
Alasan: sebab kesihatan serta dalam Dewan Ulamak sudah ada ramai pemimpin pelapis.
Ustaz Mat Iraq hasrat undur ketuai Dewan Ulamak Pusat
Ketua Dewan Ulamak PAS Pusat, Dato' Mohamed Daud memberitahu tidak akan mempertahankan jawatannya pada muktamar yang akan diadakan Jun depan.
Difahamkan Timbalan Ketua Dewan Ulamak PAS Pusat, Ustaz Hashim Jasin juga bakal mengambil langkah serupa.
"Kami menarik diri daripada jawatan yang disandang pada muktamar tidak lama lagi. Keputusan itu dibuat pada mesyuarat jawatankuasa Dewan Ulamak PAS Pusat di Perak baru-baru ini atas alasan kesihatan.
"Lagi pun dalam Dewan Ulamak sudah ada ramai pemimpin pelapis," katanya ketika ditemui di rumahnya hari ini.
Bagaimanapun beliau berkata, pengganti yang akan mengisi tempat tersebut sudah ada sekiranya tiada pertandingan dalam muktamar nanti.
Kebiasaannya kata beliau tiada pertandingan jawatan tertinggi Dewan Ulamak sebelum ini.
Menurutnya juga bagi jawatan Ketua Dewan Ulamak PAS Kelantan beliau sedia mempertimbangkan sekiranya masih lagi diberi kepercayaan.
"Ini kerana kalau sekadar di Kelantan saya lebih mudah bergerak berbanding terpaksa turun ke negeri-negeri lain. Eloklah orang muda yang lebih bertenaga mengganti saya di pusat," ujarnya.
Mohamed mengetuai Dewan Ulamak PAS Pusat menggantikan Dato' Harun Taib yang tidak mempertahankan jawatannya pada muktamar dua tahun lepas.
mj/Salmah Mat Husain/harakahdaily
KETUA DEWAN ULAMA PAS PUSAT MEMBUAT TEGURAN
Blog merupakan satu wadah atau alat yang boleh digunakan sama ada bertujuan kebaikan atau sebaliknya. Penulis blog mampu merubah fikrah dan persepsi masyarakat tentang sesuatu isu.
Penulisan dalam sesuatu blog mudah dipanjangkan, diolah semula atau dikutip oleh mana-mana individu disebabkan kemudahan "copy and paste" hinggakan ada akhbar dan majalah yang mencari idea penulisan dengan melawat blog-blog yang wujud di alam maya terlebih dahulu sebelum mereka menulis atau membawa sesuatu berita.
Henti guna blog perlekeh pemimpin lain - Dewan Ulamak
Selepas beberapa hari media harian yang dekat dengan Umno menggamatkan isu dicetuskan Timbalan Ketua Dewan Pemuda PAS Kelantan, Ustaz Nik Abdul Nik Abdul Aziz, hari ini Dewan Ulamak PAS Pusat tampil meminta dihentikan polemik tersebut.
Ketuanya, Dato' Mohamed Daud berkata, amat tidak wajar sekali sekiranya laman blog digunakan untuk kebaikan parti menjadi medan mendedahkan keburukan orang lain.
"Perbuatan itu jelas merugikan parti sendiri. Kami berharap semua pihak menghentikan pelbagai spekulasi serta andaian peribadi berhubung kerajaan perpaduan dalam blog masing-masing.
"Anggota parti juga diingatkan tidak menyerang atau cuba menonjolkan orang tertentu yang diminatinya kerana ia akan mewujudkan kesan yang negatif," katanya ketika ditemui di rumahnya di sini.
Baru-baru ini Nik Abduh yang juga anak kepada Mursyidul Am PAS menulis dalam blognya menghentam pembantu bapanya berkaitan isu kerajaan perpaduan yang pernah dicadangkan Presiden PAS, Dato' Seri Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang.
Ekoran itu media berjaya mencipta fenomena baru bagi memburukkan PAS menjelang muktamar tahunan yang akan diadakan Jun depan di Shah Alam.
Mohamed yang lebih dikenali sebagai Ustaz Mat Iraqi berkata individu tidak boleh mengeluarkan kenyataan secara terbuka berkenaan cadangan kerajaan perpaduan memandangkan ia telah disepakati akan diputuskan pada muktamar nanti.
Menurutnya sebelum ini mesyuarat Lajnah Politik PAS Pusat, Majlis Syura Ulamak, Jawatankuasa PAS Pusat telah membuat ketetapan isu kerajaan perpaduan akan diputuskan dalam muktamar Jun ini.
"Maka orang perseorangan tidak boleh membuat sebarang kenyataan terbuka mengenai perkara itu kerana ia akan menggelirukan orang ramai.
"Bukan itu sahaja ia juga akan memberikan ruang kepada pihak musuh untuk mempermainkan isu terbabit seperti yang berlaku sekarang," ujarnya.
Beliau turut mengingatkan anggota parti tidak mengunakan blog untuk mendedahkan perkara negatif mengenai orang lain kerana ia akan menguntungkan pihak musuh.
"Kita sebagai sebuah parti Islam dan tentunya perjuangan dan cara kita juga tidak sama dengan pihak lawan," ujarnya.
Ditanya mengenai ada kawasan yang mahu jawatan tertinggi parti dipertandingkan katanya, sewajarnya jawatan utama tidak dipertanding dan terus diterajui kepimpinan ulama.
Bagaimanapun beliau berpendapat bagi jawatan naib presiden dan anggota jawatankuasa perlu ada gandingan di antara profesional dan ulama.
Ditanya lanjut mengenai kerajaan perpaduan beliau berkata, Dewan Ulamak tiada masalah untuk menyokong cadangan itu sekiranya perundangan negara dan ekonomi berjalan mengikut lunas-lunas Islam.
"Namun persoalannya adakah pihak lain boleh menerima kerajaan perpaduan itu bergerak mengikut acuan Islam," katanya.
mj/Salmah Mat Husain/harakahdaily
MAKLUMAT TERKINI BERKENAAN SELESEMA KHINZIR
Untuk maklumat terkini berkenaan selesema khinzir sila layari 3 laman web di bawah. Terima kasih
1.Center For Disease Control (CDC) & Prevention website HERE
2.WHO website HERE
3.Medscape website HERE
PERPUSTKAAN NEGARA MALAYSIA PERKENAL PERKHIDMATAN BARU
Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia (PNM) melangkah beberapa tapak lagi ke hadapan dengan memperkenalkan beberapa perkhidmatan terbaru seperti Video on Demand, Audio on Demand, e-Books, Score A Programme, dan pelbagai pangkalan data seperti Current Law Journal, Sirimlink dan Bernama Library and Infolink Services (BLIS). Tahniah dan syabas.
Perpustakaan Negara Promosi Perkhidmatan Elektronik
Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia (PNM) kini giat mempromosikan perkhidmatan elektronik dan digitalnya bagi meningkatkan lagi pembudayaan literasi melalui teknologi maklumat.
Ketua Pengarah PNM Raslin Abu Bakar (foto)berkata bidang teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT) kini amat penting untuk dikuasai dan merupakan pemangkin kepada kemajuan sesebuah negara.
"Saya harap PNM dapat dijadikan sebagai sumber rujukan utama yang sahih dan tepat," katanya kepada pemberita sempena majlis pelancaran Program e-Teroka@pnm di sini, Khamis.
Raslin berkata selain mempromosi perkhidmatan elektronik dan digital, program itu juga dapat membantu meningkatkan kesedaran pengetahuan dan kemahiran pengguna dalam teknik dan strategi pencarian maklumat yang lebih tepat dan berkesan terutamanya kepada golongan kanak-kanak.
Antara perkhidmatan secara online yang disediakan oleh PNM kini ialah Video on Demand, Audio on Demand, e-Books, Score A Programme, dan pelbagai pangkalan data seperti Current Law Journal, Sirimlink dan Bernama Library and Infolink Services (BLIS).
BERNAMA
DR RIDZWAN MOGARAJAH KESEORANGAN
Dr Muhammad Ridzwan Mogarajah, 41, seorang pakar Bius (Foto) dan Shamala Sathiaseelan telah mendirikan rumah tangga pada tahun 1998. Pada tahun 2004, Mogarajah telah diberi hidayah dan memeluk Islam manakala isterinya tidak.
Mereka dikurniakan dua orang anak lelaki Saktiswaran, 9 tahun dan Theiviswaran, 7 tahun (foto kiri) Kini, pasangan ini masih sah suami isteri mengikut undang-undang sivil.
Namun kedua-dua orang anak Dr Ridwan telah dilarikan oleh Shamala ke Australia dan sejak 2004, beliau tidak dapat berjumpa dengan anak-anak beliau.
Dr Ridwan diberi hadhanah (hak penjagaan) oleh Mahkamah Syariah pada tahun 2003 tetapi hak penjagaan bersama telah diberi kepada ibu dan ayah pada 2004. Sebenarnya isu dan masalah yang timbul sungguh menyayat hati serta membingungkan.
Shamala mendapat sokongan Women’s Aid Organisation, Sisters in Islam dan Women’s Centre for Change (Penang) tetapi DR Ridwan keseorangan, tiada siapa yang terang-terang menyokong beliau.
He has not seen his two sons since they were six and four. She has since fled the country to escape him and a law she does not accept.
Both relied on the laws they believed to be theirs. He relied on Islamic jurisprudence when their marriage failed while she stuck to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 under which they were married in 1998.
Under the different systems of law, both were granted custody over the two boys born of their 11-year-old marriage. He was given the Hardanah order while she was given the right to raise her sons under civil law.
Yet, seven years on, neither Dr Jeyaganesh C Mogarajah, who is now known as Muhammad Ridzwan Mogarajah, nor Shamala Sathiaseelan have gotten the closure or legal remedy they need to proceed with their lives.
Once villified for converting their sons, then four and two, to Islam without the prior consent of his wife, Dr Ridzwan now cuts a forlorn figure in court.
Sitting alone at the back of the courtroom yesterday, the anaesthetist was overwhelmed by the number of supporters his wife had, through women’s rights groups like Women’s Aid Organisation, Sisters in Islam and Women’s Centre for Change (Penang).
He was in the Court of Appeal to listen to the five appeals that his and Shamala’s lawyers have filed.
Besides objections against certain jurisdictions of the Islamic and civil courts in their case, both parties are also appealing the warrants of arrest or contempt of court proceedings, resulting from their actions.
While Shamala is seeking to nullify the High Court’s refusal to reverse the conversion of her sons, Dr Ridzwan is appealing against the court’s decision to grant full custody to his wife.
Shamala was also appealing against the court’s order for her not to influence her children to the Hindu faith.
Although Shamala was not in court to listen to her lawyers’ submissions, the number of people sympathetic to her plight far outweighed his.
Dr Ridzwan, nevertheless, seems more reconcilable than the time when he “sprung” his Hardanah order on Shamala on May 25, 2003 after taking his sons away for the weekend. Using the custody order given to him by the Syariah Court, he informed her that he was not returning their sons.
Today, the 41-year-old accepts that it is Shamala who has the upper hand and is willing to talk about shared custody.
“That would be the best for now. A decision for joint custody was made in 2004 and we should stick to that,” said Dr Ridzwan during the lunch break.
When asked if he will assure her that he will not take away Saktiswaran, now nine, and Theiviswaran, seven, if he is allowed to visit them, Dr Ridzwan said: “I think she has proven that she is the one who has taken away the children. If you read her affidavits, she left me, I didn’t leave her. Even up to the time I converted, I didn’t leave her.”
But he is now willing to accept her terms, if only he knew where she and their sons are. “I think all that has been done five years ago, still waiting for a reply. We’ve spoken to their lawyers but there has been no reply,” he said.
Although, the remarried medical worker agreed with the cabinet’s decision that children of parents where one of them opted to convert must be raised in the common religion at the time of marriage, he believed that more needs to be done.
“The only thing I don’t agree is the thing about practising of the common religion. Which should the children follow if the parents themselves were marginal Christians, Hindus or Muslims before the problem arose?
“The government needs to fine-tune a lot of things. The announcement sounds nice but there are still a lot of loose ends. It doesn’t resolve anything,” said Dr Ridzwan who has a son and daughter from his second marriage in 2006.
Citing the similar case of Indra Ghandhi who claimed that her husband K Patmanathan or Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah had also converted their three children without her consent, Dr Ridzwan said he had read reports that Patmanathan did not have to obey the cabinet decision.
Although the two older children are with the mother now, the youngest child is with Patmanathan, who has since gone missing.
Dr Ridzwan and Shamala remain legally married as neither has sought divorce under the civil law they were married under, as are Indra and Patmanathan.
If the law does not move quickly to give remedy to the likes of Shamala and Dr Ridzwan or Indra and Patmanathan, the good intentions of last week’s cabinet announcement will amount to nothing. Couples in similar plight will resort to either lawsuits, or worse, absconding with their children.
by Chan Kok Leong /Chu Juck Seng/The Edge
Laporan Mahkamah
Read More “DR RIDZWAN MOGARAJAH KESEORANGAN” »»
PENGANUT ISLAM SEMAKIN JAHIL TENTANG ISLAM SEBENAR
AHMADIYYAH DILARANG BUAT SOLAT JUMAAT
FATWA YANG MENGISYTIHAR AHMADDIYYAH SATU AJARAN SESAT TELAH DIKELUARKAN PADA TAHUN 1975 OLEH MAJLIS FATWA SELANGOR. OLEH KERANA SEKADAR FATWA TETAPI TIADA TINDAKAN TEGAS DIAMBIL, KINI AHLI KUMPULAN AJARAN SESAT INI TELAH BERKEMBANG BIAK SEHINGGA MAHU MENGADAKAN SOLAT JUMAAT.
In 1975, the Selangor Fatwa Council issued a fatwa declaring the Ahmadiyya sect non-Muslim AND IF " do not repent and return to the true teachings of Islam, they should be killed by the Imam which is the King".
Acknowledging, however, that this was not legally possible, the fatwa then recommended that the Ahmadiyya be stripped of all special Malay privileges.
MAIS forbids Ahmadiyya worship
The Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) has forbidden the Ahmadiyya Muslim sect to perform Friday prayers at their mosque with immediate effect.
In a letter to the Ahmadiyya dated 24 Apr 2009 made available to The Nut Graph, MAIS said, "If [the Ahmadiyya] fail to comply with, defy or neglect the directive, the council will take legal action without any notice."
In a statement, Ahmadiyya spokesperson Ainul Yakin Muhd Zain said, "We ... feel deeply hurt and aggrieved at this unjust action to deny us our right to perform our religious obligations."
MAIS issued its directive on the grounds that the Ahmadiyya mosque did not get the council's approval first.
In December 2008, Selangor religious exco Datuk Dr Hassan Ali said that he was willing to negotiate with the Ahmadiyya community over seizure of land which they used for their mosque.
Khalid Samad PAS Shah Alam chief and Member of Parliament Khalid Samad elaborated to The Nut Graph over the phone: "We should engage and discuss with the Ahmadiyya to understand their perspective."
According to Ainul, however, no such dialogue has taken place between Hassan and the Ahmadiyya community.
"Besides, he is only willing to talk about the issue of land, not the issue of our aqidah (belief system)," Ainul said in a phone interview today.
"The way the Pakatan Rakyat government is treating us is the same as how the Barisan Nasional treated us," Ainul added.
The Nut Graph was unable to reach Hassan, but Khalid said it was important to clarify the Ahmadiyya sect's status.
"There are 1,001 religions in the world, so if they declare themselves non-Muslim, then the solution is easy for us," he said.
"The problem is if they insist that they are still Muslims," he noted.
However, Ainul said, "It is ... incomprehensible to us that we are subjected to this kind of treatment, as firstly we have been declared non-Muslims."
In 1975, the Selangor Fatwa Council issued a fatwa declaring the Ahmadiyya sect non-Muslim.
The fatwa also said that ideally, if the Ahmadiyya did not "repent and return to the true teachings of Islam, they should be killed by the Imam which is the King".
Acknowledging, however, that this was not legally possible, the fatwa then recommended that the Ahmadiyya be stripped of all special Malay privileges.
To believe or not
According to constitutional law expert Prof Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi, however, such declarations that someone is a non-Muslim have massive consequences.
"Every religion has its own jurisdiction to 'excommunicate' deviant followers, but in this case it should be a matter of last resort since the implications are devastating," he said in a phone interview.
Shad said that an official declaration that someone is Muslim or not has implications on the status of marriage, guardianship of children, and inheritance.
Shad also said that the fatwa itself seems to contradict Section 6 of the Selangor Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment, which says that it is illegal to declare any Muslim non-Muslim.
According to Shad, the authorities' treatment of the Ahmadiyya stands in direct contrast with its treatment of cases such as Lina Joy's, in which a Muslim sought to publicly renounce Islam.
"We are effectively saying that an individual's affirmation of faith is not enough for them to follow the religion of their choice," he said.
MAIS billboard outside the Ahmadiyya headquarters in Batu Caves
(Pic courtesy of Ainul Yakin Muhd Zain)
"In Lina Joy's case, she is being prevented from leaving Islam, while the Ahmadiyya are being forcefully kicked out and yet are still liable to punishment by the Islamic authorities," he said.
Shad said that as far as the law was concerned, the Ahmadiyya should enjoy constitutional protection for their freedom of religion if they are considered non-Muslims.
"But if they want to declare themselves Muslim and follow their version of the faith, then the superior courts will defer to the syariah courts," he said.
The Ahmadiyya movement was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India, in 1889. They are sometimes inaccurately referred to as Qadianis.
Although Ahmadiyya consider themselves Muslim, mainstream Muslims reject this because the Ahmadiyya believe that Ahmad was the metaphorical second coming of Jesus.
The sect has its headquarters in the United Kingdom, and Ahmadiyya are persecuted by religious authorities in Muslim-majority countries such as Pakistan and Indonesia.
According to Ainul, there are approximately 1,500 Ahmadiyya followers in Malaysia, with the majority in Sabah.
Most Ahmadiyya Malaysians are ethnic Malays, and the movement was founded in Malaya in the 1930s.
By Shanon Shah
shanonshah@thenutgraph.com
SULTAN SELANGOR AKAN JALANI PEMBEDAHAN JANTUNG DI USA
Sultan Selangor akan menjalani pembedahan jantung di Stanford University Medical Centre, Palo Alto, San Fransisco, California pada 2 mei 2009.
Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor telah diarahkan agar mendapatkan kerjasama daripada jawatankuasa masjid dan surau-surau di seluruh negeri Selangor bagi mengadakan bacaan Yassin dan doa selamat pada hari Khamis malam Jumaat.
Seterusnya didirikan Solat Hajat selepas Solat Jumaat di masjid-masjid seluruh Selangor sepanjang tempoh rawatan baginda di hospital selama 3 minggu.
Sultan Selangor Ke Amerika Syarikat Jalani Pembedahan Jantung
Sultan Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah hari ini berangkat ke Amerika Syarikat bagi menjalani pembedahan jantung di Stanford University Medical Centre, Palo Alto, San Fransisco, California.
Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri Selangor Datuk Ramli Mahmud berkata baginda dijangka menjalani pembedahan itu pada 2 Mei dan akan menerima rawatan di hospital berkenaan selama tiga minggu.
"Semalam baginda berlepas ke Singapura dan pukul 9 pagi ini baginda berangkat ke San Fransisco dari Singapura dengan menaiki Singapore Airlines.
"Doktor yang bertanggungjawab di Stanford University Medical Centre ialah Cardiothoracic Surgery, Profesor Dr Alan Yeung dan Mitral Valve Specialist, Profesor Dr Craig Miller," katanya pada sidang akhbar yang turut dihadiri Setiausaha Sulit kepada Sultan Selangor Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani.
Ramli berkata keberangkatan baginda ke Amerika Syarikat diiringi adinda baginda, Tengku Indera Setia Selangor Tengku Ahmad Shah, doktor pakar dari Sime Darby Medical Centre Subang Jaya Datuk Dr Anuar Masduki, Ahli Dewan di-Raja Selangor Tan Sri Syed Mohd Yusof Tun Syed Nasir, Datuk Pengelola Bijaya Diraja kepada baginda Datuk Zakaria Abd. Rahman dan dua sahabat baginda.
Beliau berkata pembedahan itu adalah yang pertama dilakukan baginda dan ia dijangka mengambil masa kira-kira enam jam.
Justeru, katanya baginda meminta supaya rakyat Selangor khususnya tidak berasa bimbang dan mendoakan agar pembedahan baginda berjalan lancar dan berjaya seterusnya dapat menjalankan tugas-tugas baginda seperti biasa.
"Saya turut meminta pihak Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor supaya mendapatkan kerjasama daripada jawatankuasa masjid dan surau-surau di seluruh negeri Selangor agar dapat mengadakan bacaan Yassin dan doa selamat pada hari Khamis malam Jumaat seterusnya mengadakan Solat Hajat selepas Solat Jumaat di masjid-masjid seluruh Selangor sepanjang tempoh rawatan baginda di hospital," katanya.
Ditanya samada terdapat wakil yang akan mengambil alih tugas baginda sepanjang ketiadaan baginda, Ramli berkata: "Tidak perlu kerana pelantikan regent (pemangku raja) hanya dibuat apabila baginda berada di luar negara lebih dari 30 hari".
BERNAMA
JOHAN JAAFAR JADI RAJA MEDIA ERA NAJIB
TAHNIAH DATUK. JANGAN LUPA TANGGUNGAN DAN JAWAPAN DI SANA KELAK.
Johan Jaffar dilantik Pengerusi Eksekutif Media Prima
Pengerusi Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), Datuk Johan Jaffar, dilantik sebagai Pengerusi Eksekutif baru Kumpulan Media Prima, berkuatkuasa Khamis ini.
Johan menggantikan Datuk Abdul Mutalib Razak yang bersara hari ini.
Pengumuman pelantikan itu dibuat Media Prima dalam kenyataan kepada Bursa Malaysia hari ini.
Media Prima memiliki NSTP yang menerbitkan akhbar New Straits Times, Berita Harian dan Harian Metro.
Ia juga memiliki empat stesen televisyen swasta, TV3, 8TV, TV9 dan NTV7 serta dua stesen radio iaitu Hot FM dan Fly FM.
Media Prima Bhd has announced the appointment of Datuk Johan Jaaffar, a veteran of Malaysia’s news industry, as the group’s executive chairman, effective Thursday.
Johan, who is now Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka chairman, is taking over from retiring Media Prima non-executive chairman Datuk Abdul Mutalib Razak.
He will also assume all board posts vacated by Abdul Mutalib, including the chairmanship of TV3 and other Media Prima subsidiaries.
“The Board of Directors is confident that under his leadership, Media Prima Group will continue its strong track record of delivering shareholders value,” Media Prima said in a statement.
Abdul Mutalib has led the integrated media group for five years, the period of the group’s aggressive expansion that saw the consolidation of the free-to-air television business, namely TV3, 8tv, ntv7 and TV9, as well as the entry into new media platforms like radio and outdoor advertising.
During his tenure, Media Prima more than doubled its net profit to RM117.4 million last year, breaching the RM100 million-mark for the first time.
Abdul Mutalib was also instrumental in leading the group’s international expansion, which resulted in the collaboration of news content-gathering, joint production, exchange of documentaries and dramas as well as provision of training and consultancy services in Oman, Pakistan and the Maldives.
The incoming Johan, meanwhile, is no stranger to the media business, having been Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd group chief editor and executive director between November 1992 and July 1998.
During his tenure at the Malay language media group, Johan was responsible for the daily and weekly papers, as well as 13 other magazines and journals published by the group.
During that period, he served as a board member of national news agency Bernama and a member of Malaysian Business Council and Multimedia Development Corp.
Besides being a columnist for the New Straits Times and Berita Minggu, Johan is also Ikatan Setiakawan Wartawan Malaysia-Indonesia chairman. He had also hosted the weekly “Debat Perdana” television programme for eight seasons.
He is currently executive director of public relations company Alpha Platform, chairman of private school Sekolah Sri Nobel and a board member of Sindora Bhd.
Bernama
PONDOK PANAS BANYAK FUNGSINYA, KINI DINAFIKAN KEWUJUDANNYA
Pondok atau Bangsal Panas mempunyai banyak fungsi, antaranya sebagai tempat berteduh dari hujan dan panas bukan hanya kepada para petugas parti malah kepada para pengundi.
Para petugas disediakan air untuk membasah tekak yang kering akibat banyak bercakap.
Biasanya di pondok panas, pengundi berpeluang untuk menyemak sama ada nama mereka tersenarai dalam buku daftar pemilih untuk membuang undi di tempat yang telah dimaklumkan serta saluran yang telah ditetapkan.
Video SPR larang Pondok Panas
Banyak lagi peranan yang dimainkan oleh pondok panas, mungkin sebab kedudukannya hanya 50 meter dari tempat mengundi maka tidak dapat dinafikan ia kekadang menjadi sangat panas suhunya apabila perayu undi dari parti-parti yang bertanding melakukan sesuatu atau berteriak sesuatu yang tidak "sedap" didengar atau dilihat.
Pakatan Rakyat disagrees with ban on pondok panas
The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) disagrees with the Election Commission's (EC) decision to ban the setting up of pondok panas outside the polling centres.
In a joint press conference today, PAS election director Datuk Mustafa Ali said the PR had explained to the EC last week that the supporters did not create any big problems during the past by-elections and that the EC also agreed the by-elections were conducted smoothly.
"We have given our explanation and the EC seemed to have accepted it but we do not understand why it still imposed such a ban," he said.
"The statement by the EC was not reasonable and we will make another appointment with the commission on Thursday or next week to sort the issue out."
On Monday, EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof announced the ban on the pondok panas, or voter reference stations, and warned of severe action against those who ignore the election regulations.
PKR vice-president R. Sivarasa said the decision "has gone against the law" because the Election Offences Act 1954 allows for the setting up such stations 50m away from the polling centres.
"Under the Act, we are also allowed to canvas for votes 50m away from the polling centres but not house-to-house campaigning or ceramah on the polling day," he said.
"We are also allowed to use the pondok panas to help voters check their status and verify the identity of the voters under Section 26(1)(e) of the act.
Sivarasa said placing uniformed policemen at appropriate places around the polling centres will help defuse the tension among the supporters "but not the Federal Reserve Unit as its presence would create fear".
On the statement by Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) that the political parties had breached the campaign moratorium, Sivarasa said the authorities may act on the political parties if their supporters had done so "but we will ensure that our supporters will not do it".
MCA information and communication bureau chief Lee Wei Keat said the party supported the ban by the EC because it will eliminate tension caused by the party supporters.
"I believe the voters would have made up their minds when they go to cast their votes but the EC must be more efficient in conducting the polling process so that the voters can check their status easily," he told theSun.
He said the ban will also help the political parties to save the cost for setting up the stations.
sun2surf
PERAK CRISIS: BETWEEN HIGH COURT AND FEDERAL COURT WHICH ONE RIGHT?
The five-men bench headed by Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff unanimously held that there were disputed facts in this case relating to two affidavits affirmed by Nizar and Perak Legal Adviser Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid.
Nizar's request for a nine man-bench to hear the case was turned down.
Federal Court Sends Zambry-Nizar Suit Back To High Court
The Federal Court Tuesday ruled that the dispute between Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin on who is the rightful Perak Menteri Besar will be heard and determined by the High Court.
The five-men bench headed by Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff unanimously held that there were disputed facts in this case relating to two affidavits affirmed by Nizar and Perak Legal Adviser Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid.
The proceedings to examine Kamal's affidavit will be heard before High Court Judge Datuk Abdul Aziz Abd Rahim on Monday.
This is the second time the case was remitted back to the High Court.
The first was on March 23 when the Federal Court ruled that issues involving the interpretation of Article 16(6) of the Perak Constitution must be heard and decided at the High Court, and could only be brought to the Federal Court by way of appeal.
Alauddin, Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Ariffin Zakaria and Federal Court justices Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin, Datuk Wira Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusuf and Datuk James Foong were today supposed to hear Zambry's application, filed on April 21, to seek a declaration that he is the rightful Menteri Besar.
With the sitting of the five-man panel, Nizar's request for a nine man-bench to hear the case was turned down.
Earlier in the proceedings today, Nizar's counsel Sulaiman Abdullah objected to Zambry's application on the ground that there were disputed facts on the dissolution of the Perak State Legislative Assembly which was scheduled to be heard at the High Court next week.
He said there was material contradiction between what was affirmed by Kamal in his affidavit with what actually had happened in the meeting between Nizar and the Sultan Azlan Shah on Perak on Feb 4.
"I affirm that when I had an audience with His Royal Highness (H.R.H) the Sultan, I never stated and did not inform, and never suggested to H.R.H. the Sultan that there was loss of confidence in me as Menteri Besar by the majority of the State Legislative Assembly. I also never recommended to H.R.H. the Sultan to dissolve the State Legislative Assembly in accordance with Article 16(6) of the Perak Government Constitution.
"Referring to the legal adviser's affidavit, I state that Datuk Ahmad Kamal's version on what had happened was wrong and inaccurate," said Sulaiman, reading out the affidavit affirmed by Nizar.
He also submitted that Kamal had represented Zambry when the case was called for mention before Judicial Commissioner Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof on Feb 18. "Datuk Kamal had appeared for Zambry and clearly showed that he was not neutral," said Sulaiman.
He also said that on the principle of "res judicata" (a matter already judged) the application should not be heard by the Federal Court as the same application on the same issue had been determined by the same court on March 23.
Counsel Datuk Cecil Abraham for Zambry said in reply that there was documentary evidence based on two letters written by Nizar to the Sultan of Perak on Feb 4 and 5 to show that there were no disputed facts as claimed by the respondent.
He also said that the principle of res judicata was not applicable because the issue of Article 63 did not arise at the hearing before the Federal Court on March 23.
Present during the proceedings were Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail as the intervener, counsel Mohd Reza Hassan who holds a watching brief for Barisan Nasional and assistant Perak legal adviser Zulqarnain Hassan.
Outside the courtroom, Nizar told reporters that today's decision was a sign that the Perak political crisis could reach a final settlement.
"I hope the State Legislative Assembly sitting on May 7 will be postponed until the dispute is settled at the High Court. No need for us to be hasty because many facts are being disputed here," he said.
BERNAMA
KEPIMPINAN ULAMA SENTIASA TERBUKA - HARON DIN
Kepimpinan ulama dalam PAS yang telah pun menjangkau 25 tahun sejak mula diperkenalkan sewaktu Muktamar PAS ke 23 di Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka pada 23 Oktober 1982 bersamaan 6 Muharram 1403.
Untuk memperingati tarikh tersebut, sambutan Jubli Perak Kepimpinan Ulamak akan diadakan pada 23 Mei 2009 bertempat di dewan Dato' Fadzil Noor Markaz Tarbiyah PAS, taman Melewar.
Gabung-jalin antara ulama dengan golongan profesional dalam PAS dapat memastikan hala tuju parti tercapai seterusnya memantapkan kecemerlangan perjuangan Islam sepanjang masa.
Kepimpinan ulama sentiasa terbuka, pastikan PAS mantap - Haron Din
"Kepimpinan Ulama hanyalah satu arah tuju yang dilihat sebagai pengemudi parti. Ulama laksana juruterbang yang membawa kapal terbang atau nahkoda bagi sebuah kapal. Namun itu bukan kerja dia seorang tetapi beserta kakitangannya. Hal ehwal penumpang, kebajikan, keselamatan diuruskan oleh yang bukan 'pilot'. Kesinambungan itu yang membuatkan sesuatu perjalanan menjadi lancar."
Demikian antara petikan kata Timbalan Mursyidul Am PAS Dato' Dr Haron Din ketika diminta memberi pandangan berhubung kepimpinan ulama dalam PAS yang telah pun menjangkau 25 tahun sejak mula diperkenalkan sewaktu Muktamar PAS pada tahun 1983.
Kata Haron Din walaupun kepimpinan ulama baru melintasi suku abad, namun pelbagai kejayaan telah dikecapi silih berganti menandakan keberkesanan ulama memimpin PAS menjadikannya sebuah parti yang dihormati, disegani dan semakin mendapat sokongan sekaligus memikat hati rakyat. Image
Tanpa kecuali beliau menyatakan peri pentingnya gabung-jalin antara ulama dengan golongan profesional dalam PAS demi memastikan hala tuju parti tercapai seterusnya memantapkan kecemerlangan perjuangan Islam sepanjang masa.
"Dalam PAS itu masing-masing ada kelebihannya dan saling tampung-menampung. Oleh itu kelangsungan kepimpinan ulama mestilah diteruskan. Gandingan dengan tenaga profesional harus terus dimantapkan.
"Untuk berdepan dan menyaingi mereka (parti lawan), kita perlukan bukan sahaja ulama tetapi juga tenaga dan buah fikiran golongan profesional untuk memantapkan parti dan bergerak memastikan kejayaan perjuangan Islam ini," katanya dalam temubual eksklusif Harakah di kediaman semalam
Sementara itu, ditanya berhubung salah faham, kelemahan dan kritikan terhadap kedua-dua golongan ini di dalam PAS, beliau menjelaskan isu itu sewajarnya diperbaiki sebaiknya dan bukan untuk diperbesarkan Image
"Begitu juga dengan hal peperangan, Nabi Muhammad s.a.w sentiasa menerima pandangan daripada sahabat yang arif berperang. Itu bukan kesilapan tetapi petunjuk ringkas daripada Rasullulah bahawa pemimpin boleh ditegur, dibantu dan diberi pandangan.
"Begitu juga dalam PAS. Kelemahan kepimpinan ulama bukan untuk diperbesarkan tetapi diperbetulkan. Kita kena ingat, semua orang mempunyai kelemahan dan sewajarnya ditampung bersama. Adakah dengan menukar kepimpinan maka kelemahan dan kesilapan tidak akan wujud sama sekali?" kata Haron Din lagi.
Beliau menasihati pihak media, blog dan internet sepatutnya berlaku adil kepada kepimpinan ulama jika berlaku kelemahan ataupun salah faham dengan membuat pertemuan dan mengadakan perbincangan sebelum membuat sebarang ulasan ataupun kesimpulan.
"Saya lihat keterbukaan kepimpinan ulama tidak mempunyai sebarang halangan untuk bersua dan mendapatkan penjelasan. Mereka sedia bertemu dan berbincang demi untuk kukuhkan parti sekaligus memantapkan perjuangan Islam yang menjadi dasar dan teras PAS selama ini," katanya.
azmAzamin Amin/Wan Zahari Wan Salle/harakahdaily
NEGARA MEXICO DITIMPA BALA WABAK PENYAKIT DAN GEMPA BUMI
Negara Mexico kini ditimpa bala satu demi satu.
Setelah digegarkan dengan berita wabak selsema khinzir yang telah meragut lebih 100 nyawa ( Cases: The country's health minister says 103 deaths are thought to have been caused by swine flu. An additional 1,614 cases have been reported in the country.)
Ibukota Mexico digegarkan dengan gempa bumi berskala 6.0 Richter. Inna lillahi wainna ilaihi raaji'uun.
SWINE FLU H1N1 VS AVIAN FLU H5N1(sars)
Infection control experts are scrambling to respond to outbreaks of swine flu in Mexico and the US, and suspected cases elsewhere.
What is swine flu?
Swine flu is a respiratory disease which infects pigs.
Caused by influenza type A, there are regular outbreaks among herds of pigs, where the disease causes high levels of illness but is rarely fatal.
It tends to spread in autumn and winter but can circulate all year round.
There are many different types of swine flu and like human flu, the infection is constantly changing.
Can humans catch swine flu?
Swine flu does not normally infect humans, although sporadic cases do occur - usually in people who have had close contact with pigs.
There have also been rare documented cases of humans passing the infection to other humans.
Human-to-human transmission of swine flu is thought to spread in the same way as seasonal flu - through coughing and sneezing.
In the latest outbreak it is clear that the disease is being passed from person to person.
Symptom of swine flu in humans appear to be similar to those produced by standard, seasonal flu.
Is this a new type of swine flu?
The World Health Organization has confirmed that at least some of the cases are a never-before-seen version of the H1N1 strain of influenza type A.
H1N1 is the same strain which causes seasonal outbreaks of flu in humans on a regular basis.
But this latest version of H1N1 is different: it contains genetic material that is typically found in strains of the virus that affect humans, birds and swine.
Flu viruses have the ability to swap genetic components with each other, and it seems likely that the new version of H1N1 resulted from a mixing of different versions of the virus, which may usually affect different species, in the same animal host.
Is it safe to eat pig meat?
Yes. There is no evidence that swine flu can be transmitted through eating meat from infected animals.
However, it is essential to cook meat properly. A temperature of 70C (158F) would be sure to kill the virus.
How worried should people be?
When any new strain of flu emerges that acquires the ability to pass from person to person, it is monitored very closely in case it has the potential to spark a pandemic.
FLU PANDEMICS
1918: The Spanish flu pandemic remains the most devastating outbreak of modern times. Caused by a form of the H1N1 strain of flu, it is estimated that up to 40% of the world's population were infected, and more than 50 million people died, with young adults particularly badly affected
1957: Asian flu killed two million people. Caused by a human form of the virus, H2N2, combining with a mutated strain found in wild ducks. The impact of the pandemic was minimised by rapid action by health authorities, who identified the virus, and made vaccine available speedily. The elderly were particularly vulnerable
1968: An outbreak first detected in Hong Kong, and caused by a strain known as H3N2, killed up to one million people globally, with those over 65 most likely to die
The World Health Organization has warned that taken together the Mexican and US cases could potentially trigger a global pandemic, and stress that the situation is serious.
However, it is stressed that it is still too early to accurately assess the situation fully.
Currently, they say the world is closer to a flu pandemic than at any point since 1968 - rating the threat at three on a six-point scale.
Nobody knows the full potential impact of the pandemic, but experts have warned that it could cost millions of lives worldwide. The Spanish flu pandemic, which began in 1918, and was also caused by an H1N1 strain, killed millions of people.
The fact that all the cases in the US have so far produced mild symptoms is encouraging. It suggests that the severity of the Mexican outbreak may be due to an unusual geographically-specific factor - possibly a second unrelated virus circulating in the community - which would be unlikely to come into play in the rest of the world.
However, the fact that many of the victims are young does point to something unusual. Normal, seasonal flu tends to affect the elderly disproportionately.
What about treatments and vaccines?
The US authorities say that two drugs commonly used to treat flu, Tamiflu and Relenza, seem to be effective at treating cases that have occurred there so far.
It is unclear how effective currently available flu vaccines would be at offering protection against the new strain, as it is genetically distinct from other flu strains.
US scientists are already developing a bespoke new vaccine, but it may take some time to perfect it, and manufacture enough supplies to meet what could be huge demand.
What about bird flu?
The strain of bird flu which has caused scores of human deaths in South East Asia in recent years is a different strain to that responsible for the current outbreak of swine flu.
The latest form of swine flu is a new type of the H1N1 strain, while bird, or avian flu, is H5N1.
Experts fear H5N1 hold the potential to trigger a pandemic because of its ability to mutate rapidly. However, up until now it has remained very much a disease of birds. Those humans who have been infected have, without exception, worked closely with birds, and cases of human-to-human transmission are extremely rare - there is no suggestion that H5N1 has gained the ability to pass easily from person to person.
UK monitoring swine flu outbreak
Dr John Watson, Health Protection Agency: 'The UK must be prepared'
Health officials in the UK say they are monitoring closely a deadly outbreak of swine flu in Mexico, amid fears of a potential pandemic.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said it was working with the government to assess any threat posed to the public.
It described the outbreak as "unusual" and warranting "further investigation and vigilance" by other countries.
Northwick Park Hospital said a BA worker who arrived from Mexico City and fell ill does not have swine flu.
At least 81 people in Mexico are now thought to have died after contracting a new strain of flu being linked to an outbreak of swine flu in the US.
There have been no confirmed cases so far in Europe.
1. Is this a flu pandemic?
The influenza virus is constantly mutating. That's why we can't get full immunity to the flu, the way we can to diseases like chicken pox, because there are multiple strains of the flu virus and they change from year to year. However, even though the virus makes us sick, our immune systems can usually muster enough of a response so that the flu is rarely fatal for healthy people.
But every once in awhile, the virus shifts its genetic structure so much that our immune systems offer no protection whatsoever. (This usually happens when a flu virus found in animals — like the avian flu still circulating in Asia — swaps genes with other viruses in a process called reassortment, and jumps to human beings.) A flu pandemic occurs when a new flu virus emerges for which humans have little or no immunity and then spreads easily from person to person around the world. In the 20th century we had two mild flu pandemics, in 1968 and 1957, and the severe "Spanish flu" pandemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 40 to 50 million people worldwide.
The WHO has the responsibility of declaring when a new flu pandemic is underway, and to simplify the process, the U.N. body has established six pandemic phases. Thanks to H5N1 avian flu, which has killed 257 people since 2003 but doesn't spread very well from one human to another, we're currently at phase 3. If the WHO upgraded that status to phase 4, which is marked by a new virus that begins to pass easily enough from person to person that we can detect community-sized outbreaks, such a move would effectively mean that we've got a pandemic on our hands.
The H1N1 swine flu virus has already been identified as a new virus, with genes from human and avian flus as well as the swine variety. And since it is apparently causing large-scale outbreaks in Mexico, along with separate confirmed cases in the U.S. and Canada and suspected cases in other countries, it would seem that we've already met the criteria for phase 4. But though an emergency committee met on April 25 to evaluate the situation, the WHO hasn't made the pandemic declaration yet. Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's interim assistant director-general for health, security and environment, said on Sunday that its experts "would like a little bit more information and a little bit more time to consider this." The committee is set to meet again by April 28 at the latest.
As health officials have repeatedly emphasized, with good reason, the swine flu situation is evolving rapidly, and more lab tests are needed to ascertain exactly what is going on in Mexico and elsewhere. "We want to make sure we're on solid ground," said Fukuda, a highly respected former CDC official and flu expert.
Swine Flu: 5 Things You Need to Know About the Outbreak {HERE }
The Truth About SARS
