Category Archives: Transhuman News

The proposal of a new coalition government post-BN and post-PR with a new Prime Minister to Save Malaysia has drawn interest, support and encouragement from MPs from both BN and PR divide, former Ministers and public intellectuals.

For instance, this is one of the messages of support and encouragement which I have received for the idea of a new coalition government post-BN and post PR:

I read your five fundamental principles for a new government. I fully support them. You might also need an agenda to address inequalities and opportunities for all. All the best.

I fully agree.

I first broached the idea of a new coalition government post-BN and post-PR with a new Prime Minister to Save Malaysia at the Bukit Bintang DAP Branch anniversary dinner four days ago last Sunday.

This path-breaking political initiative can only come about if the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak deviated from the stand of the first five Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah and the bedrock UMNO/Barisan Nasional nation-building principle and policy that hudud law is against Malaysian Constitution, the 1963 Malaysia Agreement and not suitable for a multi-racial and multi-religious nation like Malaysia either by going against this principle or not daring to reiterate and reaffirm this core nation-building principle.

The ball as to whether Malaysians should seriously explore the idea of a new coalition government post-BN and post-PR with a new Prime Minister to Save Malaysia is now in Najibs court.

Apart from the five fundamental principles of such a new coalition government post-BN and post-PR which I have outlined, the new coalition government post-BN and post-PR must also fulfil two other criteria if it is to be a viable and sustainable government.

These two criteria are:

Firstly, it must be fully inclusive of all Malaysian races, religions and regions, in other words, a multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-regional new Malaysian coalition government comprising Muslims and non-Muslims, Malays and non-Malays, and Malaysians from Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah.

Link:
Comment on Proposal of a new coalition government post-BN and post-PR with new Prime Minister to Save Malaysia has ...

The United Nations' top human rights body agreed on Thursday to appoint a special investigator to probe digital spying and violations of online privacy. Brazil and Germany spearheaded the resolution, which voiced deep concern over electronic surveillance and the interception of digital communications, as well as data collection by governments and private companies. Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified documents two years ago that exposed mass surveillance of private emails and phone data across the world. Brazil's government fell out with Washington at the time over revelations that the NSA had eavesdropped on President Dilma Rousseff. Snowden has said the U.S. also carried out large-scale electronic espionage in Germany. "States must respect international human rights obligations regarding the right to privacy when they intercept digital communication of individuals and/or collect personal data," Brazil's ambassador Regina Dunlop told the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The Geneva forum, whose 47 members include the United States, adopted the text unanimously. U.S. ambassador Keith Harper said Washington had backed the call for an investigator because it has long championed human rights domestically and internationally. The U.N. council said the special rapporteur, who has not yet been selected, would have three years to document violations and urged all states to cooperate with the new mandate.

Eileen Donahoe, a former U.S. human rights ambassador now with Human Rights Watch, said the New York-based activist group hoped the move "marks the beginning of a serious global reckoning with mass surveillance and its effects." ACLU Human Rights Program Director Jamil Dakwar called the announcement "a big victory for privacy and human rights." He added: "It comes at critical time when people around the world are looking for robust safeguards against privacy abuses by governments."

First published March 26 2015, 3:06 PM

The rest is here:
New U.N. Investigator to Probe Digital Spying

Libyan human rights defenders under attack UN report

GENEVA (25 March 2015) A UN human rights report released on Wednesday reveals a catalogue of violent attacks and threats against Libyan rights defenders, across Libya and in some cases even after they are forced to leave the country.

Attacks, including killings, abductions, torture and other ill-treatment, unlawful deprivation of liberty and death threats by phone and on social media since the escalation of fighting in May 2014 have been documented in the joint report by the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the UN Human Rights Office. Armed groups across the country have targeted human rights defenders seeking to shed light on and address human rights violations and abuses.

Most recently, prominent civil society activist Entissar al-Hassaeri was shot dead last month in Tripoli. Her body and that of her aunt were found in the trunk of her car on 23 February. Two members of the National Commission for Human Rights-Libya, a human rights NGO, were abducted on 13 and 14 February in central Tripoli. Both have since been released, but other human rights defenders and members of civil society remain missing or have gone into hiding.

Given the increasing risks, the killings of prominent human rights defenders and repeated threats, many have fled the country, fallen silent, or have been forced to work in secret at great risk to themselves and their loved ones, the report notes.

Those who managed to flee abroad face a plethora of problems linked to their residency status, expiration of passports with no possibility of extension at some local Libyan consulates, loss of income, and other financial difficulties. Some human rights defenders who have fled have explained that they continued to receive death threats on their mobile phones and social media pages. In at least two cases human rights defenders were physically assaulted in Tunisia, apparently by Libyans.

In one such case, a media professional and womens rights defender from Benghazi, left the country in late 2014 after numerous threats, including a text message threatening abduction of her son. Her car was struck, apparently deliberately, by another vehicle and a factory she owned was set on fire. She has continued to be outspoken and has continued to be threatened after moving abroad.

On 19 October 2014, as she was walking to the train station, she was stopped by a car with Libyan license plates, the report says. The passenger threw a cup of coffee at her warning: youactivist and journalistnext time it will be acid.

Another journalist and human rights defender received threats, including of sexual violence, on her Facebook page. We will come to your house and break your honour, read one post. After fleeing Libya in August 2014, she continued to receive threats via Viber and text messages.

Another human rights defender left Tripoli in September 2014 after being repeatedly subjected to physical assaults, short-term detentions and abduction threats directed at his family.

See more here:
Libyan human rights defenders under attack UN report