Malaysia Opposition Make Unity Pledge
December 20, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s opposition alliance pledged not to let infighting thwart its ambition of seizing federal power within the next few years.
More than 1,500 opposition officials endorsed a document that spelled out their common goals late Saturday after a daylong convention aimed at patching up rifts that have plagued the three-party alliance since it made unprecedented inroads in March 2008 general elections.
“The three parties made a sincere effort to find common ground, to craft an agenda and policies that will menace the government,” said opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Other opposition figures gave speeches declaring confidence in winning the next general elections, due in 2013. Some political observers speculate that Prime Minister Najib Razak may call snap polls in 2011 if he sees signs of recovering support for his ruling coalition, which lost control of several states to the opposition last year.
The opposition’s gains were attributed to widespread anger over the government’s handling of problems such as graft, racial inequality and public sector inefficiency. However, the barely 2-year-old opposition alliance fears that persistent bickering over how to administer the states it won have eroded its popularity.
The spats stem largely from ideological differences among the three opposition parties: a conservative Islamic group that caters to the Malay Muslim majority; a secular, left-leaning party whose members are mostly from the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities; and Anwar’s multiracial party, considered the bridge between the other two partners.
Disputes have included criticism by ethnic Chinese officials of an Islamic party lawmaker who proposed that the sale of alcohol be severely curtailed in parts of a central state. In another opposition-controlled state, officials battled over plans to demolish a pig slaughterhouse.
The joint policy statement did not provide specific strategies to prevent such problems. It mainly reiterated pledges to scrap a law that allows detention without trial, reform state contract procedures to curb corruption and expand affirmative action policies to include the poor of all races instead of mainly Malays.
Anwar said the document should help dispel claims by Najib’s National Front — which has governed Malaysia since 1957 — that the opposition was a fragile alliance that shared no clear direction. Other opposition leaders played down their spats as troubles that would naturally affect any coalition.
Malaysia Opposition Make Unity Pledge was first posted on December 20, 2009 at 1:46 pm.
Amisha Patel Takes Ill
MUMBAI : Her lazy lamhe act was the flavor of the season a few months back.Amisha Patel Takes Ill was first posted on December 8, 2009 at 6:46 pm.
©2009 “India News“.
Radio Movie Review
Cast: Himesh Reshammiya, Shehnaz Treasurywalla, Sonal Sehgal
Direction: Ishan Trivedi
He has, not one, but two emotionally attached women, fawning all over him at the same time. The three of them shop and dine together. One’s the wife, who’s just divorced him, but reminisces, “Vivaan, I miss your sense of humour.”
Vivaan’s a jock; on radio, that is. Slouched from the shoulders, slight tummy, hair cropped, with a long sideburn, he whispers in a slightly croaky voice; walks with a certain swagger, and moves his arms across to make his point.
Himesh Reshammiya is the perfect face for Radio, the film (of course).
He has, what he himself calls, “fultue attitood”. Dudes from across Mumbai want his take on love: “Hey Vivaan, what’s the meaning of true love, man?” His old love-interest is a choreographer who’s devastated because her favourite star praised another dance-director on Page 3. He attends to her late in the night.
His other tight-squeeze seduces him over a call-in show. Their relationship becomes stuff of chart-busting reality radio. But he is off relationships, you see. As they say on online social networks: “It’s complicated.”
The title track sounds inspired from the ethnic-electronica Deep Forest, and the sorts. He uploads songs on the Internet, plays around with crazy consoles. His girlfriend is an addict on Facebook; we’re not sure if they’re “buddies buddies, or **** buddies!” The lighting in the rooms is slick. The script is coolly chapterised. You can see the hero vastly expanding his fan-base beyond Bhandup.
Only once in a while, the dialogue writer misses a beat, or reveals his true self. The actor suddenly goes, “Chirkoot,” (no reference to some networking site) or, “Bahut danger ladki hai!”
Himesh, the icon of NRI Gujarat, started out as the maestro of auto-rickshaw music across the country. Suits at T Series had rightly thought then that if movies were a medium to sell music, why not make a star out of a hit music composer. He would compose tracks only for films he starred in. The songs could punctuate his robotics. Music stations would play his videos. Few watch films anyway.
Himesh has done two movies already. This laugh-riot is his third. There are a few more to come, I hear. Together, the anthology will make the hero the ‘Joginder’ of our times. He gives everyman a leading man’s dream; never mind the film.
When nothing works, the hero’s ex-wife finally tells him, “Vivaan, you sing really well.” Hmmm…
Radio Movie Review was first posted on December 8, 2009 at 6:50 pm.
©2009 “India News“.
