1. The Star（http://thestar.com.my）
RM50,000 annual grant for Penang's inter-religious council, 7 January 2012
GEORGE TOWN: The state government will give a RM50,000 annual grant to the Penang Chapter of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) to promote inter-religious harmony.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng made the announcement after meeting 15 representatives from the council on Friday. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy and state executive councillors Phee Boon Poh and Wong Hon Wai at Komtar.
"The state government will also extend the yearly educational school funding to Punjabi schools.
"We will also be working with the Penang Hindu Endowment Board to find a suitable site where Hindu final rites can be performed on the seafront, both on the island and mainland,” said Lim, who heads the non-Muslim Religious Affairs department.
He added that the government would also organised a Wesak Day open house.
The council's Penang Chapter chairman Bishop Anthony Selvanayagam expressed his gratitude to the state government for its support.
On a separate matter, Lim said he was happy with Penang's non-revenue water (NRW) record in 2009 and 2010.
“It is good to see that the state has recorded the lowest volume of NRW in Malaysia for the past two years which is between 18 to 19%,” he said.
The NRW is water which is “lost” either through leaks, thefts or metering inaccuracies before reaching the customer. The industry is believed to have lost almost RM5bil due to these reasons between 2008 and 2010.
2. New Straits Times （http://www.nst.com.my）
Resolve for a better Malaysia , 8 January 2012
by Paddy Bowie
Do we have any aspiration for the New Year? Yes. Peace and joy
MALAYSIA, as I’ve often observed, has more festivals and, therefore, more public holidays than anywhere I know — each distinct and individual in its own right — but shared.
A blessing that comes with and despite its great diversity. However, two yearly celebrations are universal from the start — the truly 1Malaysia events — National Day and New Year.
The lusty countdown to midnight Dec 31, 2011, is still ringing in my ears, echoed throughout the land. The sky over the whole of Kuala Lumpur was exploding with fireworks heralding the New Year — a fresh start, a rekindling of all our hopes. And the annual message —
“Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Men”. Peace and joy — the greatest blessings to which mankind can aspire.
This year, there looms what threatens to be the very opposite. The skeptics and the pessimists are busy proclaiming the gloom and doom prophecies of Nostradamus, Leonardo da Vinci and the Mayan calendar, all of whom predicted this year, Dec 21 to be precise, would bring Armageddon, the end of the world.
I must outright reject this, however learned its authors. It doesn’t matter to me personally. I’ve had my life with all its ups and downs. But my three young grandchildren deserve to have theirs.
Please don’t write me off as an incurable optimist. I’m well aware of all the cataclysmic events last year, putting us in dire straits today (I don’t mean the Malacca Straits).
Be it nature’s fury wreaking its destruction on planet Earth — Japan’s initial earthquake, the fourth largest in history, followed by a tsunami that triggered a nuclear meltdown, the region still plagued with earthquakes, New Zealand being the latest victim, and Indonesia almost specialising in them along with volcanic eruptions, Australia which endured biblical floods with no Noah’s Ark in sight.
But the spirit of man is not to be deterred. To take but a couple of examples near home. Indonesia, for all its tribulations, is flourishing economically, politically and socially. Whilst the Japanese have to be the most resilient people in the world.
And one important observation I must make at this point is that we in Malaysia are relatively spared. Once again!
Do we have any aspiration for the New Year? Yes. Peace and joy
We wish to be “at peace”. We wish this for our lost loved ones (rest in peace). And peace and joy are the theme I have chosen for this New Year message. It is a topic that goes back centuries. Peace, the beacon of civilisation.
The word “peace” equates with the biblical “pax”. The British people will know this. When they set up the empire on which the sun was never supposed to set, they imposed a “Pax Brittanica” on their Commonwealth and colonies.
Elsewhere, the word “peace” as a greeting equates with the Arabic “salam” and the Hawaiian “aloha”. Ours is “Assalamualaikum”, or “peace be unto you”.
Peace, even more pertinently, is a tenet of religion, whatever faith or creed. The word “Islam” literally translates as “peace” and is a way of life to attain peace. Buddhism “seeks peace when all sufferings will end”. In Christianity, Jesus to his followers was “the Prince of
Peace” and he came to earth to establish “the Kingdom of Peace”.
At the individual level, man seeks an “inner peace” — a state of mind where one is mentally and spiritually content. Among countries, peace bestows harmony, is a unifying force — defined politically as “pacifism”.
For all the Hitlers and Mussolinis, Genghis Khans or Alexander the Greats, there have been champions of peace who have also gone down in history.
Gandhi led the way with his concept of passive resistance and Alfred Nobel, who gave us the Nobel Peace Prize, playing an inspirational role.
In our day also, we had “flower power” in the US — young idealists who were anti-war and promoted peace. The greatest proponent was John Lennon, who rejoiced (prematurely) that war was once and for all over. Another irony. This passionate advocate of non-violence was himself shot down by an assassin.
But there are more heartening stories, like that of the wartime Christmas football games. In World Wars 1 and 2, Northern France, Britain and Germany were engaged in a bloody conflict. But on Christmas Day, both sides spontaneously called a truce, climbed out of their trenches and had a friendly kickabout.
In modern times, we came close to a sustained peace when the Arab Spring was born of a “peaceful revolution”. All previous revolutions have been anything but.
The French version heavily featured the guillotine. The Cromwellian one in the United Kingdom executed Charles I. The present Arabic one began with a quest for “democracy and freedom”, but has since succumbed to violent protest.
One heartening thought — Malaysia had had democracy and freedom even before Independence.
This incidentally, was a bloodless affair achieved by negotiation, not by force. It gave us 51 good years of peaceful coexistence unimaginable given our multiracial, multi-religious, multilingual and multicultural diversity.
Thank God 2011 is over — a year of almost unrelenting misery. For this year, we crave the opposite — joy. The latter will be the subject of my next article.
I would like to wish my readers peace and joy for 2012. May it bring all that you would wish for and fulfil whatever hopes you have for the New Year and the new opportunity.
（End）
