Dealing with DEATH..

Dealing with death is a life experience that no one wants to face. Life can often seem like swimming in the ocean during high tide. Even if we know how to swim and jump over the big waves at just the right time, when we least expect it-wham!

We are broadsided, and find ourselves spinning and bouncing off the bottom of the ocean with a mouth full of sand. If we fight, it takes longer to get to the surface. But if we float with the current, we come right to the top. Floating when we are frightened is difficult. It takes trust and concentration. Dealing with the death of a loved one is similar. In order to cope, it takes trust.





Death is nearly always accompanied by questions - especially "why." Whether we are facing our own death, or the death of someone we love, we want answers. Why is this happening? What did I do to deserve this? Is there life after death? The sooner we learn to float - to trust - the easier it is to discover the answers we are seeking.



Dealing with Death - The True Position
When dealing with death, the solution is the same whether the death is our own or that of a loved one. As hard as it is to accept, we must understand that death is a part of life. As some have quipped, death is the only thing in life that comes with a 100% guarantee.







It is helpful to realized that while our bodies are mortal, all human beings are eternal - our soul and spirit will never die. Our spirits - the essence of who we are - will live forever!

The meaning of Love...

The Meaning of Love What exactly is love? Is there an absolute meaning to the word - love? Or is it purely subjective? The concept of true love is what we search for all our lives. Yet love is one of the most misunderstood concepts of all. What people really want more than anything else is to be loved unconditionally; to be accepted for who we are, and still be loved. Sometimes we will do some crazy things, in the name of love. Love is actually the choice one makes to put someone's wishes, desires and needs above our own. Many people confuse the word love with the meaning of the word want or desire.











For example, sometimes when a young man tells the woman of his dreams, I love you, when he means that he wants her because of his own selfish desires. He's the one that may feel all excited over her, but in reality he may want her because of her physical appearance, or because of her mentality or her ability to make him feel good or important. Notice his primary motive for pursuing her is based on himself and his desires; not on pleasing her, although he may choose to please her, but that's only based upon the fulfillment of his wants.



The same goes for a young woman, when she says to the man of her dreams, I love you, she in fact means that she wants him because of his physical appearance, status, mentality or his ability to make her feel good or important. This usage of the word love for the meaning of the word want is ever so present in the way we use and abuse it. Since we are selfish creatures, and our understanding of love is to first be pleased, look at how this word is overused. · I love Papa John's pizza. · I just love Gone with the Wind. · I loved Titanic. · I love Jazz Music. · I love Beethoven. · I love The Island of Dr. Moreau.


To better understand the concept of love, lets define the value of love. Love is the most valuable commodity in the world. We all need love just like a fish needs water. Without love, life would not be worth living. With love in our lives, we are empowered beyond belief. Without love in our lives we will shrivel up and die a slow, painful and lonely death. Love is the very essence and core of our being. It is the energy that sustains who and what we are. Everyone in life has a deep-rooted desire to love and be loved. Many times people only recognize love in its emotional form.




The acceptance of love also plays a role in better understanding the concept of love. Many times we give love to our partner the same way we would like to receive it. But loving a person this way might not be in their best interests. If our gift of love fails to promote the good in the other person, they might not like it and reject it. Other times we might expect to be loved by our partners in the same way we were loved as children by our parents. For example, if our parents made us feel loved by buying us things, we might associate loving actions especially in the form of gifts, jewelry, clothes and expensive toys. Our partner could be the most loving, supportive, compassionate, understanding and caring person in the world and it's possible we could overlook their loving intentions if they didn't come from a store. In conclusion, to love others takes effort, and in some cases this can be very hard work.


Ideally, we should also be able to love people who we don't particularly like or find attractive. This is not as unreasonable as it may sound, if we understand that love is not just a feeling, but it is expressed when we do something for another person that benefits their spiritual and emotional growth, which in turn helps them realize their full human potential.

Sajak:Surat Cinta..

Berjanjilah wahai rembulan..
Aku tetap kan memandangmu kala malam,
Kala engkau pergi..
mentari tetap disitu..
rindu menyambut kehadiranmu..
Aku bukan rembulan itu, bukan jua si mentari,
aku hanya watak kecil,
Hadir dalam indah kisah cinta orang,
pemerhati dari nun jauh awangan,
Meratap pada secangkir sekadar sehela cuma,
Andai kepergianmu menghentikan ombak,
Aku rela menjadi lautan,
Andai kejauhanmu meruntuhkan gunung,
Aku rela menjadi tanah,
Andai kesepian aku meruntuhkan awan,
Aku rela menjadi hujan..

Aku utus surat cinta..bukan utk hiasan,
Bukan pena yang mengalir dikertas jatuh begitu,
Bukan hanya dakwat pena kosong,
Ia lebih dari itu,
Lebih dari aku sendiri tak mengerti,
Jalan jauh aku jalan,
Surat itu aku sampaikan,
Pada alamat tiada nama,

Sekadar surat itu sepi,
Biar angin air mata hancurkan makna,
Cinta dalam surat itu sampah kecil,
Buang ia buang,
Jangan pernah ada lagi sisa-sisa semalam..

-Duta- 0014

PRU 13= I dont think so....

Sources taken from malaysia today news...

Politicians around the country has been skeptical on the possibility of snap elections to be called by the prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and some claimed that the recent briefing by Najib with some 105 lawmakers in BN (Barisan Nasional) showed signs that he is still not too confident to call for one in the near future. If it is even possible, it would only be sometime later this year, contrary to the speculations that it would be March or July or next year even.

One Member of Parliament from Pakatan Rakyat said "I think now is not yet the right time. Why do we want to rush into a general election? An election is generally only called when a leader faces problems within the party or if his position is not safe, but this is obviously not the case. Voters have given us five years (and we are now midway through our term). We still have a lot of programmes to be implemented (under the Economic Transformation Programme launched last year). As the ruling coalition, we are not in a rush. We should be at least 70-80 percent confident (of success) - even 60 percent is not safe."

Wan Junaidi Jaafar, the MP of Santubong from PBB, a component party of BN said “The BN meeting was about transformation plans like NKRA and NKEA. It is not likely (the election will be held) this year. If an election (is to be held soon), he would have indicated it to us." Abdul Rahamn Dahlan, the Kota Belud MP meanwhile said “It would be unusual to call a snap poll now when the term for elected representatives runs out in 2013. I don't think (it will be possible to hold polls in) March. There is no urgency, although there are some positive developments with the opposition in disarray. In any case, the BN machinery is fully prepared for the "final call from the general", if a snap poll is held alongside the Sarawak elections, which must be held before July.”


Liew Chin Tong, the Bukit Bendera MP from DAP said “The BN briefing suggests that Najib is not confident about calling for an election and that he wants to thoroughly assess the situation in each constituency.” While Dzulkefly Ahmad, the Kuala Selangor MP from PAS said "Najib always plays safe. We call this being 'risk averse' in investment terms. He must ensure everything is safe for him and he will do whatever to make sure of this. The election will not be held in March. If Najib has the courage, it will be in July together with Sarawak or in September.”

nonMuslim and Mosque...

Islam and politic is actually cannot be separated. It is because when we look on the history that the in the Prophet of Muhammad time, the Prophet did not separated between the politic and religion. It was continued by the other administrators like Muawiyyah, Abassiyah and also by TurkiyeUthmaniyah. i just want to critique what had actually happened on our country. Our political situation right now was colour and made by the late colonizations which is British. They had set up and made the law and rules which is not give the opportunity for the religion to be spread.

If we looked on the certain issue mostly after the general election of 12, when the largest and long term party UMNO-MCA_MIC had been defeated for me is very worse. it is because, the party which is Barisan Nasional had lost 5 states which is showed the result of the voters reformations. after that many of us have going through that many of issues that relate to Islam and Muslim be publicize and become ass the a big issue. Starting from the Saiful Bukhari sodomy`s issue, Hindraf of India, the using of word Allah by the other religion, the one of opposition DAP assembly entering the mosque by not in a proper attire.

All those issue are actually need to be curb with very calm and no emotions. the problems nowadays is that many of us give the opinion based on the their idea and only by their political belief. When the fault is on BN, the opposition will said that it was bad. As same when there was on Opposition, the BN will also condemned the opposition as usual. But the main thing is, where is the last point on this issue? for example if we take one issue about the one of DAP`s member entering the mosque in order to giving the donation, I do not to talk that whether it is allowed or not because I am not sure about that. But what I am not satisfied with is the way we overcome this issue is very bad. it will tarnished the Islam.

In UMNO view it is bad. It is wrong. It is very wrong. However, in the PAS camp, it was allowed that the non-muslim can enter the mosque. In UTUSAN saying that it is so bad for non-Muslim not having proper attire to enter the mosque. But when I read the Harakah the view was not same. I just to ask whether we had taken into consideration how the non-Muslim perception on Islam if we as Muslim cannot curb this issue as well. it is very danger mostly when we use the religion as the political tools. BUT, I am not saying that the using the word Islam in politic is wrong. Actually it is very good. what is important is we know what are we doing. No one cannot deny when you involve in politic you will also give the bad example to the people. the important things is that we must controlled the problem with the proper way and do not
simply give an idea based on the our political belief. Go and look on the Al-Quran and hadits first. that is the better way rather that we argue which one is wrong or not.

china..what huge gigantic trade country..

In response to growing labour costs, China is increasingly turning to its neighbours to supply what it once produced locally - raw materials and intermediate goods, such as machine components and parts - to retain its international reputation as the ‘factory to the world’.

"With no strong growth in demand from the developed markets, the prescription for Asia is to stoke its own consumption," Simon Tay, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said. "China will be a huge part of that, with its growth, both overall and in the consumer market."

Expanding demand, fuelled by Beijing's strategic shift to reduce a costly component in its production line, offers other Asian countries a route to tap into China's growing dominance in global trade, say international trade and economic experts.

The mutual benefits from such expanding intraregional trade has not been lost on regional commentators taking stock of the continent's impact on the global economy as 2010 drew to a close.

"Economically, China is the hub for the region's future growth," wrote Tay in Thailand's ‘The Nation’ newspaper. Tay, who is also the author of ‘Asia Alone: The Dangerous Post-Crisis Divide From America’, says: "It is to Asia's credit that through the financial crisis and 2010, the region has continued to rise."

Pivotal to these deepening economic ties within the region in 2010 was China's economic engine shifting gears to import raw materials and intermediate goods and convert them into finished products for exports, says the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), a Bangkok - based UN body. "[It has helped] developing economies in the region [to post] double - digit growth for both exports and imports in 2010."

In 2010, developing countries in the region posted growth rates for exports and imports at 19.3 per cent and 20.2 per cent respectively, states ‘The Asia- Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2010’, an end-of-the-year annual review of the region's trade patterns by ESCAP.

ESCAP is quick to credit China's role in helping countries find new export markets at a time when export-driven economies in Asia were faced with less demand from traditional export markets in the US and Europe in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis.

"The strong performance of exports and trade in general is the result of a vibrant China, which imports intermediate goods from the rest of Asia and exports finished goods to the rest of the world," the report notes. "Intraregional trade has increased but remains largely focused on intermediate goods."

ESCAP researchers point to China as being the major driver of intraregional trade that also involves Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. They say that 82 per cent of intraregional exports "goes into further production and 17.5 per cent into final demand."

"The intermediate goods market in China is the shining star for 2010," Ravi Ratnayake, director of trade and investment at ESCAP said. "It has opened up new markets for Asian countries to export products and to diversify from only shipping finished goods to the US and European markets."

China's move toward importing and away from being the principle supplier of raw materials and intermediate goods to its factories in the electronics and textile sectors is rooted in the troubles that have been sweeping through the labour market in the country's industrial south-eastern coastal belt since 2009.

Some Chinese commentators have welcomed the rise in the labour costs and the government's decision to introduce a national minimum wage. "In the long term, the rise in labour costs will help China's economic and industrial structure reduce the economy's over dependence on low-value-added export products," wrote Shi Jianxun for the ‘People’s Daily’ in September in the wake of labour strikes and demand for better wages.

Rising costs have also seen more factories moving inland, away from the Pearl River Delta, where Shenzhen, the vibrant symbol of modern, rapidly industrialising China, is located. Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, began its ascent as a boomtown after it was declared a special economic zone in 1979.

China's shifting production model reflects a commitment to "move up in the industry value chain," says Ganeshan Wignaraja, principal economist at the Office of Regional Economic Integration at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). "China is becoming the giant of all types of industry."

The country has also gone from being the "centre for the parts and components trade in the 1990s to doing everything - parts and components, raw material and finished products - since the financial crisis," Wignaraja said during a telephone interview from Manila, where the ADB is based.

China's industrial sectors - ranging from steel, petroleum, metals, and foodstuffs to electric items and textiles - have helped boost its trade figures three decades after reformist leader Deng Xiaoping opened the communist state's economy in 1979.

In 1978, China's value of goods exported was $10 bn, or 0.6 per cent of world trade, a number dwarfed by the current value - $1.7 tn, or 8.5 per cent of world trade, according to ADB.

The country's high tech industries accounted for 11 per cent of the $1.7 tn export figure, while medium tech industries accounted for 15 per cent. Automobile components rank among the top exports among the high tech industries, accounting for 28 per cent, while plastic products account for 37 per cent of the medium tech products.

In 1985, by contrast, the total high and medium tech exports totalled 17 per cent, according to the regional financial institution.

mY Palestine..my second country..

It is dismaying that during this dark anniversary period two years after the launch of the deadly attacks on the people of Gaza - code-named Operation Cast Lead by the Israelis - that there should be warnings of a new massive attack on the beleaguered people of Gaza.

The influential Israeli journalist, Ron Ren-Yishai, writes on December 29, 2010, of the likely prospect of a new major IDF attack, quoting senior Israeli military officers as saying "It's not a question of if, but rather of when," a view that that is shared, according to Ren-Yishai, by "government ministers, Knesset members and municipal heads in the Gaza region".

The bloody-minded Israeli Chief of Staff, Lt. General Gabi Ashkenazi, reinforces this expectation by his recent assertion that, "as long as Gilad Shalit is still in captivity, the mission is not complete". He adds with unconscious irony, "we have not lost our right of self-defence".

More accurate would be the assertion, "we have not given up our right to wage aggressive war or to commit crimes against humanity".

And what of the more than 10,000 Palestinians, including children under the age of 10, being held in Israeli prisons throughout occupied Palestine?

Against this background, the escalation of violence along the Gaza/Israel border should set off alarm bells around the world and at the United Nations.

Israel in recent days has been launching severe air strikes against targets within the Gaza Strip, including near the civilian-crowded refugee camp of Khan Younis, killing several Palestinians and wounding others.

Supposedly, these attacks are in retaliation for nine mortar shells that fell on open territory, causing neither damage nor injury. Israel also had been using lethal force against children from Gaza, who were collecting gravel from the buffer zone for the repair of their homes.

As usual, the Israeli security pretext lacks credibility. As if ever there was an occasion for firing warning shots in the air, it was here, especially as the border has been essentially quiet in the last couple of years, and what occasional harmless rockets or mortar shells have been fired, has taken place in defiance of the Hamas effort to prevent providing Israel with any grounds for the use of force.

Revealingly, in typical distortion, the Gaza situation is portrayed by Ashkenazi as presenting a pre-war scenario: "We will not allow a situation in which they fire rockets at our citizens and towns from 'safe havens' amid [their] civilians."

With Orwellian precision, the reality is quite the reverse: Israel from its safe haven continuously attacks with an intent to kill a defenceless, entrapped Gazan civilian population.

Perhaps, worse in some respects than this Israeli war-mongering, is the stunning silence of the governments of the world, and of the United Nations.

World public opinion was briefly shocked by the spectacle of a one-sided war that marked Operation Cast Lead as a massive crime against humanity, but it has taken no notice of this recent unspeakable escalation of threats and provocations seemingly designed to set the stage for a new Israeli attack on the hapless Gazan population.

This silence in the face of the accumulating evidence that Israel plans to launch Operation Cast Lead 2 is a devastating form of criminal complicity at the highest governmental levels, especially on the part of countries that have been closely aligned with Israel, and also exhibits the moral bankruptcy of the United Nations system.

We have witnessed the carnage of 'preemptive war' and 'preventive war' in Iraq, but we have yet to explore the moral and political imperatives of 'preemptive peace' and 'preventive peace.' How long must the peoples of the world wait?

It might be well to recall the words of one anonymous Gazan that were uttered in reaction to the attacks of two years ago: "While Israeli armed forces were bombing my neighbourhood, the UN, the EU, and the Arab League and the international community remained silent in the face of atrocities. Hundreds of corpses of children and women failed to convince them to intervene."

International liberal public opinion enthuses about the new global norm of 'responsibility to protect,' but not a hint that if such an idea is to have any credibility it should be applied to Gaza with a sense of urgency where the population has been living under a cruel blockade for more than three years and is now facing new grave dangers.

And even after the commission of the atrocities of 2008-09 have been authenticated over and over by the Goldstone Report, by an exhaustive report issued by the Arab League, by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, there is no expectation of Israeli accountability, and the United States effectively uses its diplomatic muscle to bury the issue, encouraging forgetfulness in collaboration with the media.

Truths

It is only civil society that has offered responses appropriate to the moral, legal, and political situation. Whether these responses can achieve their goals, only the future will tell.

The Free Gaza Movement and the Freedom Flotilla have challenged the blockade more effectively than the UN or governments, leading Israel to retreat, at least rhetorically, claiming to lift the blockade with respect to the entry of humanitarian goods and reconstruction materials.

Of course, the behavioural truth contradicts the Israeli rhetoric: sufficient supplies of basic necessities are still not being allowed to enter Gaza; the water and sewage systems are seriously crippled; there is not enough fuel available to maintain adequate electric power; and the damage from Operation Cast Lead remains, causing a desperate housing crisis (more than 100,000 units are needed just to move people from tents).

Also, most students are not allowed to leave Gaza to take advantage of foreign educational opportunities, and the population lives in a locked-in space that is constantly being threatened with violence, night and day.

This portrayal of Gaza is hardly a welcoming prospect for the year 2011. At the same time the spirit of the people living in Gaza should not be underestimated.

I have met Gazans, especially young people, who could be weighed down by the suffering their lives have brought them and their families since their birth, and yet they possess a positive sense of life and its potential, and make every use of any opportunity that comes their way, minimising their problems and expressing warmth toward more fortunate others and enthusiasm about their hopes for their future.

I have found such contact inspirational, and it strengthen my resolve and sense of responsibility: these proud people must be liberated from the oppressive circumstances that constantly imprisons, threatens, impoverishes, sickens, traumatises, maims, kills.

Until this happens, none of us should sleep too comfortably!

what happened to Perak?? Harakah Daily..

There's something about Perak

Selena Tay

As a drunk man was staggering home, he thought of an ingenious way to conceal his condition from his wife: he will sit in his study and read a book; who ever heard of a drunken person reading a book? When his wife demanded to know what he was doing there in the corner of his study, he replied cheerfully, "reading, my dear". "You're drunk!" said his wife, "Shut that suitcase and come down to dinner." The above story from the late Father Anthony de Mello, S.J. reminded me of the Barisan Nasional-led Perak state government which is trying very hard to conceal the fact that all is not well in the Silver State since the infamous power grab by BN on February 5, 2009. Due to this unprecedented, dark, dastardly and diabolical deed, Perak is now in a sad and sorry state. It has surely lost its silver shine and although BN tries to put up a facade, it has been found out through its own faults, follies, foibles and fluffed-ups. Perak was starting to prosper again under the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state administration but since reverting to BN, it has become a total shambles. The BN Perak government is rudderless, has no clear direction and lack focus. It is as if it is bungling in the dark tunnel of oblivion. My mother's side has her roots in Perak and although she is now staying in KL, we always want to hear news of the state. But now everything seems to be unclear. In Bahasa Malaysia, the word most apt to describe this sad situation is 'samar-samar'. The English translation is 'blurry', not the translation, but the Perak situation, that is.