NUCC Full Press Release

NUCC PRESS RELEASE

The National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) held its first full council meeting today (Jan 6, 2014) to deliberate its priorities and task. The urgent task for the NUCC over the next six months is the drafting of the National Unity Blueprint which we have been mandated to complete by the Prime Minister.

Dialogue Perpaduan

We have decided today that we will undertake the formulation of the National Unity Blueprint by hosting a series of dialogues with the grassroots in town hall type of meetings throughout the country.

Seventeen towns have been identified and NUCC members will travel around the country to hear the views of the people in what they determine are issues and concerns and also the action n plan for the nation as a whole.

NUCC has secured the support of 20 academicians, who, since 2007, have the invaluable experience of having conducted the Ethnic Relation’s Module at our public universities under the leadership of Prof Shamsul Amri Baharuddin (UKM, Institute of Ethnic Studies), to assist the NUCC in documenting the detailed comments and suggestions as well as draft the National Unity Blueprint.

Working Committees

The Council also discussed the establishment of five working groups namely Law and Policies; Multiculturalism; Inclusive Development; Youth & National Unity and finally National Integration.

Religious Liberties

On a contemporary matter, the Council also deliberated on the recent issue pertaining to the use of the name Allah by Christians; the raid by Selangor religious authorities at the Bible Society of Malaysia and a number of demonstrations in Selangor pertaining to this matter.

After deliberation, the NUCC came to the following conclusions:

First, NUCC believes that all Malaysians must uphold racial and religious harmony. Any acts that causes disharmony should be deplored especially the politicization of race and religion.

Second, NUCC views that all parties must be mindful of the sensitivity of this matter and should refrain from making statements that can further undermine national unity.

Third, NUCC regrets the raid and confiscation of Bibles. This is a blatant disregard of the TEN POINT SOLUTION made by the Federal Government in April 2011 and reiterated by Prime Minister in Oct 2013.

Fourth, NUCC calls all parties to abide by the TEN POINT SOLUTION which is also accepted by the Christian Federation of Malaysia.

Fifth, NUCC calls on the Government to ensure compliance of the TEN POINT SOLUTION and to respond to challenges to national unity with a greater sense of urgency.

Sixth, NUCC calls on all Malaysians to respect all places of worship and not to hold any demonstrations outside any place of worship.  NUCC welcomes the decision of Selangor UMNO not to stage any demonstration outside churches on Sunday.

Seventh, NUCC urges all Malaysians to promote religious dialogue and harmony.

Eighth, NUCC’s working committee on Law & Policies and the working committee on Multiculturalism will host closed door discussions with the religious authorities, religious and community leaders to find a peaceful settlement. NUCC members will serve as Unity Bridge Builders in Malaysian society

Ninth, NUCC calls all parties to remain calm, respect the religious freedom of all as provided for in the Federal Constitution and in all their dealings to act with mutual respect, peace, compassion and moderation.

Tenth, we also call on all leaders from all political parties including Federal and State leaders to ensure that such acts are not repeated in order to eliminate religious or racial tensions. Furthermore these leaders must play a more proactive role in defusing religious or racial tensions as community moderators in building a peaceful and harmonious Malaysia.

Issued by

NUCC Members

National Unity Consultative Council

Jan 6, 2014

..........................................................

THE TEN POINT SOLUTION


PRIME MINISTER

MALAYSIA

11 April 2011                                                                                      JPM.PEMANDU,600-231112011 (2)

Bishop Ng Moon Hing

Chairman

Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM)

As we are all aware, the impounding of the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia has triggered concerns and tensions within the country which we have to address urgently to prevent these from escalating any further. Consequently, we have been in discussion with the Christian Federation of Malaysia and other Christian groups to resolve the Bahasa Malaysia/lndonesia Bible and also other religious issues. Taking into account the polarity of views of the different religious groups, including Christians and Muslims, the Government decided on a Ten Point Solution.

On 2nd April 2011 the Government announced a Ten Point Solution to address the Bible issue and other related issues. I wish to confirm that this is a collective decision by the Cabinet.

The Ten Point Solution is as follows:

1. Bibles in all languages can be imported into the country, including Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia.

2. These Bibles can also be printed locally in Peninsula Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. This is a new development which should be welcome by the Christian groups.

3. Bibles in indigenous languages of Sabah and Sarawak such as Iban, Kadazan¬Dusun and Lun Bawang can also be printed locally and imported.

4. For Sabah and Sarawak, in recognition of the large Christian community in these states, there are no conditions attached to the importation and local printing of the Bibles in all languages, including Bahasa Malaysia/ Indonesia and indigenous languages. There is no requirement for any stamp or serial number.

5. Taking into account the interest of the larger Muslim community, for Peninsula Malaysia, Bibles in Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia, imported or printed, must have the words “Christian Publication” and the cross sign printed on the front covers.

6. In the spirit of 1Malaysia and recognising that many people travel between Sabah and Sarawak and Peninsula Malaysia, there should be no prohibitions and restrictions for people who bring along their bibles and Christian materials on such travel.

7. A directive on the Bible has been issued by the Ketua Setiausaha (KSU) of the Home Ministry to ensure proper implementation of this cabinet decision. Failure to comply will subject the officers to disciplinary action under the General Orders. A comprehensive briefing by top officials, including the Attorney General (AG), will be given to all relevant civil servants to ensure good understanding and proper implementation of the directive.

8. For the impounded Bibles in Kuching, Gideon, the importer can collect all the 30,000 Bibles free of charge. We undertake to ensure the parties involved are reimbursed. The same offer remains available for the importer of the 5,100 Bibles in Port Kiang, which have already been collected by the Bible Society Malaysia (BSM) last week.

9. Beyond the Bible issue, the Government wishes to reiterate its commitment to work with the Christian groups and all the different religious groups in order to address interreligious issues and work towards the fulfilment of all religious aspirations in accordance with the constitution, taking into account the other relevant laws of the country. In order to bring urgency to this work, in my capacity as the Prime Minister, I will meet the representatives of the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) soon to discuss the way forward.

10. The Christian Ministers in the cabinet will meet on a regular basis with representatives of the various Christian groups in order to discuss their issues and work with the relevant Ministries and myself in order to resolve them. As the leader of this country, I wish to reiterate the Government’s commitment in solving any religious issues in this country. There is a need to manage polarities that exist in our society to achieve peace and harmony. I believe the best way to achieve this is through respect, tolerance, forgiveness and reconciliation.

Yours sincerely,

DATO’ SRI MOHD NAJIB

(Prime Minister of Malaysia)

The Wello Water Wheel Story : Cynthia Koenig at TEDxGateway

When Cynthia Koenig, a young social entrepreneur from New York, learned that millions of girls and women around the world spend hours each day collecting water from distant sources, she decided to create a new way to help people in poor communities transport water and it's called the WaterWheel. Koenig's WaterWheel allows people to roll water in a 50-liter container versus carrying it in 5 gallon (19 liter) jugs. Koenig estimates that the WaterWheel can save women 35 hours per week in water transport time, as well as prevent the physical strain that comes from balancing 40 pounds of water on top of their heads for hours each day.

Every day around the world, over 200 million hours are spent each day fetching water, often from water sources miles from home, and this task usually falls to women and girls. By freeing up valuable time, the WaterWheel allows women to spend time on income-generating activities that can help pull her family out of poverty. The time savings also means that there is a greater likelihood that girls will be allowed to stay in school, further reducing the rate of intergenerational poverty.

After receiving a $100,000 Grand Challenges Canada prize to develop the WaterWheel, Koenig founded a social enterprise company, Wello. The company is in an early stage of development and has been piloting the WaterWheel in rural communities in India. Koenig also plans on continuing to make the WaterWheel itself more useful by adding in filtration, drip irrigation kits, even a cell phone charger that uses the rotation of the wheel to charge the battery of the cell phone and give people more access to essentials like communication and education.

click here to watch the video

Why Don't You Try This?

World Renown Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease

We physicians with all our training, knowledge and authority often acquire a 

rather large ego that tends to make it difficult to admit we are wrong. So, here 

it is. I freely admit to being wrong.. 

As a heart surgeon with 25 years experience, having performed over 5,000 

open-heart surgeries,today is my day to right the wrong with medical 

and scientific fact.

I trained for many years with other prominent physicians labelled “opinion 

makers.” Bombarded with scientific literature, continually attending education 

seminars, we opinion makers insisted heart disease resulted from the simple 

fact of elevated blood cholesterol.

The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol 

and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter of course we insisted 

would lower cholesterol and heart disease. Deviations from these 

recommendations were considered heresy and could quite possibly result in 

malpractice.

It Is Not Working!

These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The 

discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real 

cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart 

disease and other chronic ailments will be treated. The long-established 

dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, 

the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, 

human suffering and dire economic consequences.

Despite the fact that 25% of the population takes expensive statin 

medications and despite the fact we have reduced the fat content of our diets, 

more Americans will die this year of heart disease than ever before. Statistics 

from the American Heart Association show that 75 million Americans currently 

suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million have pre-

diabetes. These disorders are affecting younger and younger people in greater 

numbers every year.

Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way

 that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause

 heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move 

freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes 

cholesterol to become trapped.

Inflammation is not complicated -- it is quite simply your body's natural defence 

to a foreign invader such as a bacteria, toxin or virus. The cycle of inflammation

is perfect in how it protects your body from these bacterial and viral invaders. 

However, if we chronically expose the body to injury by toxins or foods the 

human body was never designed to process,a condition occurs called 

chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is just as harmful as acute 

inflammation is beneficial.

What thoughtful person would willfully expose himself repeatedly to foods or 

other substances that are known to cause injury to the body? Well,smokers 

perhaps, but at least they made that choice willfully. The rest of us have simply

 followed the recommended mainstream dietthat is low in fat and high in 

polyunsaturated fats and carbohydrates, not knowing we were causing repeated

injury to our blood vessels. This repeated injury creates chronic inflammation

leading to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity.

Let me repeat that: The injury and inflammation in our blood vessels is 

caused by the low fat diet recommended for years by mainstream medicine.

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The 7 Things I Did To Lose 220 Pounds Without Dieting BY Jon Gabriel

Back in 2001 I weighed more than 400 pounds. I tried every diet I could think of to lose weight. I even worked face to face with the late Dr. Atkins for two months, and after charging me thousands of dollars, the best he could do was yell at me for being so fat.

Every diet I tried ended up the same way. There would be a whole list of foods I wasn’t allowed to eat. I’d follow the diet to the letter. I’d lose a little weight through sheer brute force and willpower. Then there would come an inevitable point when I couldn’t take it anymore and I’d have a huge binge. Whatever weight I had lost on the diet would come back in a matter of days, and a week later I’d be 5 pounds heavier than when I started the diet. This pattern of losing 10 pounds and gaining 15 pounds started in 1990, until by September 2001 I reached my peak of 409 pounds.

Then I had turning point. On September 11, I narrowly missed being on UAL flight 93. That experience left me feeling like I was living on borrowed time. Here I was, killing myself working in a high-stress Wall Street job that I hated, and the universe had just given me a second chance.

So I decided to get off of the dieting roller coaster once and for all, and I resolved never to diet again. Instead I was going to try to figure out why my body seemed to be forcing me to gain so much weight. I decided to find out what I could do to get it to want to be thin again. Armed with a solid background in biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, I spent 12 hours a day researching everything I could about the hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters and chemical massagers that cause weight gain.

I learned that losing weight sustainably isn't about counting calories, but about creating the proper hormonal environment in your body that’s conducive to weight loss. Since stress and emotional issues can cause an unfavorable hormonal environment, the issue needs to be addressed from a mind-body perspective. We need to take a holistic approach that looks at our psychological and emotional life, as much as what and when we eat.

Over a two-and-half-year period I lost 220 pounds, without dieting. I’ve been the same weight now for over 10 years and I still don’t diet. I eat whatever I want, whenever I want.

These were the keys to my transformation:

1. I stopped dieting and started nourishing my body.

I learned through my research that my body was chronically starved for certain key nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, live foods and high-quality proteins. I made sure I gave myself as much really high-quality nutrients as possible. If I wanted junk foods like candy, chips or pizza, I would eat them whenever I wanted, without hesitation. Eventually I lost my taste for all junk food as my body learned to prefer high-quality, nutrient-dense foods.

2. I healed my digestion.

I discovered that one of the reasons why I was so badly starving for nutrients is that my digestive processes were compromised, so I was unable to effectively extract the nutrients from the foods I was eating. Digestion problems can also cause inflammation and the inflammatory hormones put our bodies into fat storage mode. I started eating lots of fermented and cultured foods, and taking probiotics and digestive enzymes in order to normalize my digestion.

3. I got a CPAP machine for my sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a condition that affects many overweight people. It creates a hormonal environment in the body that encourages weight gain by causing elevated cortisol levels, which leads to junk food cravings and insulin resistance. Sleep apnea is easily treated with a CPAP machine. The machine blows air into your nose and mouth to keep your windpipe open, so you can sleep through the night without problems.

Most people who have sleep apnea don’t even know that they have it, although the people they live with would know, because people with sleep apnea snore very loudly. It turns out I had one of the worst cases of sleep apnea that my sleep study technicians had ever seen. From the moment I got the CPAP machine I started having more energy and less junk food cravings. And the weight started to melt away for good.

4. I started using mind-body practices to reduce stress.

Just like sleep apnea, stress causes elevated levels of cortisol and inflammatory hormones. These hormones lead to constant cravings and put your body into chronic fat storage mode. Many people don’t realize how important it is to learn how to reduce stress. I began meditating and visualizing every morning, which I found to be extremely effective for reducing stress.

5. I created a much more sustainable life.

I also lowered my expenses, moved to a more affordable house and started growing some of my own foods. My life felt much more sustainable and I felt calmer and more supported. I loved knowing that anytime I was hungry I could go into the back yard and eat something fresh and full of vitality. The stress hormones where no longer coursing through my system, wreaking havoc and turning my body into a fat storage machine.

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Confiscation Of Bahasa Bibles, The 10 Point Solution And Faith by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar

The confiscation of more than 300 copies of the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia and another 10 copies of the Bible in the Iban language by Enforcement Officers from the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (JAIS) on 2nd January 2014 is a clear transgression of the 10-point Solution arrived at between the Federal Government and the Christian community on 2nd April 2011. The Solution was further reiterated in an official letter from the Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato Sri Mohd Najib, to Bishop Ng Moon Hing, Chairman of the Christian Federation of Malaysia on 11th April 2011.

Point number 5 in the 10-point Solution reads as follows. “Taking into account the interest of the larger Muslim community, for Peninsular Malaysia, Bibles in Bahasa Malaysia/ Indonesia, imported or printed, must have the words “Christian Publication” and the cross sign printed on the front covers.” The confiscated Bahasa Bibles fulfilled those two conditions.

Likewise, Point number 7 in the Solution notes that, “A directive on the Bible has been issued by the Ketua Setiausaha (KSU) of the Home Ministry to ensure the proper implementation of this Cabinet decision. Failure to comply will subject the officers to disciplinary action under the General Orders. A comprehensive briefing by top officials including the Attorney-General will be given to all relevant civil servants to ensure good understanding and proper implementation of the directive.”

If this briefing has already been done --- it is now two years and eight months since the Solution was announced --- were JAIS officials, and indeed, officials in all the other religious departments throughout the country given maximum exposure to the Solution? If they were fully informed, would they be guilty of “failure to comply” and would they be subjected to “disciplinary action” for confiscating the Bibles?

More than complying with the 10-point Solution, the JAIS officials had also failed to live up to the letter and the spirit of the Malaysian Constitution. A number of the points in the Solution such as those that deal with the printing and importation of the Bahasa Bible and their accessibility to Christians in both Sabah and Sarawak and the Malaysian Peninsula, are in harmony with the principle of the Freedom of Religion embodied in Article 11 of the Constitution. At the same time, the conditions stipulated for the distribution of the Bahasa Bible which I have referred to are in line with Article 11(4) of the Constitution which suggests that “State law, and in respect of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putra Jaya, federal law, may control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam.”

Indeed, it is this fear among many Muslims that some Christian groups through the manipulation of Islamic terminologies may try to undermine their faith and convert them to Christianity which is partly responsible for their insistence upon their exclusive right to use “Allah” and other related nomenclature. Their apprehension is in a sense understandable, given the attempts by some Christian missionaries during the colonial epoch to impose their religion upon Muslims and people of other faiths. Even in the post-colonial period this has continued albeit in different forms and through different channels.

Apart from the fact that the constitutional provision on propagation of other religious doctrines among Muslims affords a degree of protection, we would do well to remember that it is the depth of our own faith and our knowledge and understanding of Islam which is our most invincible shield. It is our duty and our responsibility to develop our inner strength and resilience.

And indeed, history has proven over and over again that Muslims by and large are not easily persuaded to abandon their religion. Though most of the Muslim world was colonised and was under Christian tutelage of sorts at one time, it is an irrefutable truth that very, very few Muslims embraced the religion of their masters. 

This has been observed by a number of Western thinkers themselves. That Muslim fidelity to the Oneness of God --- Tawhid --- is unshakeable has been demonstrated yet again in recent times in the utter failure of Christian evangelists to convert Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq, in spite of the covert support they had received from the conquering powers.

Maison garage: old parking as tiny home in Bordeaux, France

Jérémie Buchholtz wanted an affordable apartment in Bordeaux (he’s a photographer who splits his time between Paris and Bordeaux so his budget was limited), but he wasn’t finding anything he liked. Then he stumbled upon a listing for a garage that at 80,000 euros was less than half the price of a similarly-sized home. 

There was no house, it was just an abandoned garage for sale. “My friends said, it's impossible you will do nothing with that,” explained Buchholtz, “there is no light, there is nothing.”

The garage definitely looked like a garage; it had big metal doors that blocked out any sunlight and inside it was being used more as a junk room. So Buchholtz called his friend and architect Matthieu de Marien who specializes in converting stores, offices and other spaces into homes.

De Marien took one look at the historic street and recognized it as something special. Passage Buhan is a private passageway where the owners each own half of the road so life extends into the street. And the history here is rich: a couple centuries ago, the laneway housed horses and their riders en route to the then city of Bordeaux and the old stable still sits on the street.

Buchholtz bought the property and De Marien quickly cut into the old garage to create more light and ventilation. The roof is historic and couldn’t be touched so he carved a 12 square meter (129 square foot) patio out of the small space, leaving only 41 square meters of living space (441 square feet).

In order to make the space feel larger, De Marien created a “house within a house”: one large piece of furniture that includes the bathroom, bedroom, office, closet, a sofa bed and all of the home’s storage. With everything contained in this large furniture box, the rest of the home was given more breathing room.

In this video, we visit Bordeaux’s left bank and the picturesque Passage Buhan where De Marien and Buchholtz show us how life in a garage can be quite beautiful and even stylish.

click here for the video

The Global Climate Change Debate - The Facts

Study of the orbital mechanics of the solar system in the 1970s led Russians to believe the Earth was about to cool and we should prepare quickly because it will be catastrophic. Their arguments were lost in the rush to warming group-think in the 1990s, but the arguments for impending cold are well founded and still believed by many good scientists. As the sun goes even quieter and January, 2008 saw the greatest year to year temperature drop ever (128 years of NASA GISS data) and thru the end of 2008 remains relatively cool, it is clear cooling needs to be considered as a very plausible future.  This is highlighted by 2 papers published in March 2008. Scafetta and West showed that up to 69% of observed warming is from the sun and remind us that the sun is projected to cool and Ramanathan and Carmichael show that soot has 60% of the warming power of CO2. Both papers state that these factors are underappreciated by IPCC. The soot may well explain the Arctic melting, as it has recently for Asian glaciers. Many scientists believe the temperature changes are more dependent on the sun than CO2, similar to the relationship in your home with your furnace.   With the Sun's face nearly quiet, the monthly patterns over the last 12 months are most similar to those of 1797 preceding the Dalton Minimum of 1798-1823 during the little ice age (Timo Niroma).

The southern hemisphere has been cooling over the last 10 years, just about as much as the north has been warming. There is no proof within observational data of warming outside of natural variation.  When 3 of the highest 5 or 6 years in the temperature record (since 1890) occurred over 70 years ago and 1900 was warmer than recent years in the USA (where the best data are), we are nowhere near statistical proof, nor even evidence of warming. Modelers are still unable to include important variables and no one is able to predict the future. At least Hadley Centre have tried (below). While CO2 continues to rise, the temperature has stabilized at a warm level, but not unusually so. Which way will it go? The world seems to be betting on warming. However, the probability of cooling may be equally valid and we must be prepared for both. Cooling presents the real danger. Things that go up and down only go so high. It has always been this way. Image of current northern sea ice (latest).  Check the S. hemisphere sea ice (latest).

Virtually all scientists agree that the Earth has warmed a small amount since the year 1000 or, if you choose, since 1850, when instrumented temperature records became reasonably accurate and distributed in key areas of the world. An alternative view, is that the Earth has been cooling since the 1930s when we had 3 of the 5 warmest years since 1860 in the US, and probably globally if the world environmental data base were cleaned up as is happening in the US. This site will be developed to show the science and the impacts related to global cooling, a very scary event compared to warming. It corresponds in the opposite way to the thousands of global warming sites.  An unbiased view is at our sister-site: Climate Change Facts. The Editor started his interest in climate change in the 1970s, charged with helping industry adapt to the certainty of global cooling. Tim Ball has documented the cooling trend and its implications. 

Ice creates chaos in China (Winter 2010)

Heavy snow and unusually cold weather have swept across most parts of China this winter, causing travel chaos on roads and on the sea, with forecasters predicting worse to come. Huludao is facing the worst sea ice in three decades and the sea froze a month earlier than usual.

"The sea ice is about 60 nautical miles (110 km) off the coast of Liaodong Bay," Liu Yu, the station's chief forecaster reported.

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