Seorang bekas pemimpin berceloteh mengenai kenaikan harga minyak yang dia anggap tersangatlah munasabah dan sungguh masuk akal. Antara lain, dia berhujah dengan hujah yang sudah lapuk lagi mual iaitu harga minyak di Malaysia masih lagi terendah jika dibandingkan dengan negara-negara lain. Dia memberi contoh, di Britain harga minyak lebih kurang dalam RM7 seliter, jauh lebih tinggi, berlipat kali ganda daripada harga di Malaysia.

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i assault
by niesa c.

Participate!

My back is killing me. My slightly injured throat annoys me. Yet I love every bits of it. Nothing gives me more pleasure than touring with my band, performing lives in front of great new and old friends, sharing the laughter and the pain of getting moshpit’s typical minor injuries. After loads of hours spent on practicing; standing on the stage, screaming and waving a fist along to the blasting reefs and pedals feels like having a great orgasms.

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Hitting it where it really hurts
Usman Bawang

Whenever SYNOVATE or AC NIELSEN phone you up or knock on your door and ask you about your media habits, you know what to tell them.

Hurt their readership numbers (which is a different thing from sales) really badly and they can kiss their advertising revenue goodbye. Jalan Riong may argue about sampling bias and dispute this. Well, we can argue that they have had a reporting bias for so long.

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Making a mundane noisy show a threat again…
oleh Faizal Tajuddin

A threat to whom? Harian Metro’s legal department maybe. That is if the 300 plus kids and mamak stall patrons who were arrested on new year’s eve with no charges for the arrests doesn’t take it all lying down like they were expected to, get themselves legally represented and line up enough class action suits to clog up the police’s and Harian Metro’s legal department for the whole year.

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Media Boycott
by Usman Bawang

The traditional BN-owned mainstream media has been going too far in its crusades against the people.

So we thought that post Mahathir the walls would fall down and leashes released.

No, the media has turned to populism and sensationalism as a tool of the Government to divide the people.

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BALIKLAH WOK… SAMBUT RAYA KAT KAMPUNG
by Ibrahim Mohd Taib of Ajil, Ulu Terengganu

Sayup mengelor anok dok balik
Menyembah sujud pada Mung
Seakang zaman doktong sudah sapok
Seakan zaman gelekek habih doh
Mung duk jauh Mok panggil dekat
Mung duk dekat Mok panggil rapat
Mung duk rapat Mok sendal
Takmboh bui gogeh

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HUMAN RIGHTS DECLARATION
by Antares

There are two very basic human rights that are often overlooked. These very basic rights have far-reaching implications affecting the way we look at reality.

THE RIGHT TO LIVE

This right has historically been completely disregarded when those who wield hereditary power have decided to wage war. The military solution to economic, political or ideological conflicts is very rarely justified. Warmongering is an infringement of humanity’s right to live by its highest ideals. All those involved in war activities - which includes the development and manufacture of death-dealing devices - must be regarded as potential killers. Their thought-patterns and behaviour can be classified as pathological. I would extend this classification to those engaged in commercial and industrial activities that have deleterious long-term effects on the environment - because the right to live implies the right to a healthy natural environment.

The Death Penalty is a vestige of moral barbarism and I urge that it be abolished throughout the world.

THE RIGHT TO DIE

Now let’s look at another basic human right: the right to die. All forms of drug addiction may be regarded as subtle ways to commit suicide. And although we do what we can to discourage people from terminating their lives prematurely, the final prerogative belongs to the individual. We must respect the right of others to die, if they no longer wish to live. Therefore, I propose that all forms of drug addiction be decriminalized, and that drug addicts be regarded as potential suicides - and since the suicidal tendency is essentially a pathological condition, treatment or therapy must be freely provided to those who seek it.

I would like to see Malaysia’s mandatory death penalty for drug offences abolished. Stringent drug laws only serve to make the illicit drug trade more lucrative for criminal syndicates. Supply will drop dramatically – and, most likely, so will the demand - when addictive substances are available over the counter at regulated prices with the same quality controls as other consumer products.

Drug addiction may not disappear completely, but decriminalizing it will definitely relocate the problem where it belongs - in the medical, sociological and psycho-spiritual context.

NOTE: This declaration was drafted in 1988 to be read aloud at a Human Rights Event organized by the students and faculty of the University of Malaysia. To my great disappointment, I was disallowed from doing so after a faculty member of the organizing committee read it.

- Antares