<b>Malaysian</b> Appeals Court Lifts Ban on Two Zunar Books | Comic <b>...</b> - Blog Novel Malaysia |
- <b>Malaysian</b> Appeals Court Lifts Ban on Two Zunar Books | Comic <b>...</b>
- Nazi Goreng- a spunky pulp <b>novel</b> set in contemporary <b>Malaysia</b> <b>...</b>
- <b>Novel</b> analysis helped narrow <b>Malaysian</b> jet search | Nation & World <b>...</b>
| <b>Malaysian</b> Appeals Court Lifts Ban on Two Zunar Books | Comic <b>...</b> Posted: 16 Oct 2014 02:30 PM PDT  Photo © Drew Rougier-Chapman A Malaysian appeals court last week lifted a ban on two books by political cartoonist Zunar, who has been arrested and had his work seized by the government multiple times over the years. Although the unanimous ruling by three appeals court judges is undeniably a good sign for freedom of expression in Malaysia, it does come at the expense of the medium's dignity as the judges' opinion states that political cartoons do not need to be scrutinized at the same level as "serious and sober works of literature." All or most of Zunar's books have been banned in Malaysia at some point, but the two in question here were Perak Darul Kartun and 1 Funny Malaysia. The cartoonist and his publisher had appealed a lower court's 2011 dismissal of a request to reconsider the nationwide ban on the two books, which government authorities claimed to be seditious. The appeals court decision dismissed that justification in no uncertain terms, saying that "this is a case where the law of sedition is being used as a convenient peg to control freedom of expression." The judges did however point out that individuals targeted in the books could still sue for libel, as many of the cartoons were "admittedly rude, contemptuous and defamatory." In a statement on his website, Zunar welcomes civil charges from anyone who can prove he defamed them untruthfully:
He also points out that while this decision lifted a ban on two of his books, four more are still banned and another is currently under investigation for sedition. Finally, he asks the government to stop harassing and intimidating the printers and retailers involved in the production and sale of his books, and to return hundreds of copies confiscated from bookstores and his own office. The continued failure to do so, he concludes, means that the administration of Prime Minister Najib Razak is "merely a cartoon government." We need your help to keep fighting for the right to read! Help support CBLDF's important First Amendment work by visiting the Rewards Zone, making a donation, or becoming a member of CBLDF! Contributing Editor Maren Williams is a reference librarian who enjoys free speech and rescue dogs.  |
| Nazi Goreng- a spunky pulp <b>novel</b> set in contemporary <b>Malaysia</b> <b>...</b> Posted: 07 Nov 2013 08:00 AM PST A journey is made of milestones. It has to. Without milestones, we would not be able to ponder our experiences, to stop and wonder about what we have accomplished during all this while. One of the most shiny accomplishments of my 6 years stint on the road – on many roads, in many countries, with a particular deviancy for the shores of Southeast Asia – is to have become a published writer. And I would like to make it clear: I'm writing this post after I asked Rolf Potts whether or not he found such a display of self-promotion appropriate for Vagabonding. The answer was positive. Moreover, as my book's not traditionally about the art of travel, he thought best to let me talk about it, instead of wait for a traditional review.
Nazi Goreng talks about Malaysia in a way you never read before: it's a fictional transposition of the racial tensions that one can only find in a country made up by different ethnic groups, where prayers are spelt to the sky in three languages, followed by wafts of sandalwood-scented smoke. It's a dark assemblage of truths and fictional accounts based on my perplexing discovery of kuasa melayu (Malay power), a neo-Nazi group made up of brown skinned people. And most importantly, it's a novel that doesn't talk about the British or Japanese occupation of the country, a theme too often coupled with Malayan-based historical fiction. On the contrary, this book is the result of years of real-life observations, friendships, time spent scouring the dark halls of local underground music venues, trying to decipher the different habits and ways of thinking of three of the most diverse races of greater Asia who, somehow, had come to share the same turf. And I care to precise, mine are modern day observations. They are a patchwork of the fantastic and terrible experience that living in a country like Malaysia can be. It's the apex of a personal trip to the inside of a particular Asian society, sung to the best of my mongrel minstrel's abilities. It's a way to keep myself sane after being on the road, on and off motion, for six long years. I don't want to give away any spoilers, and if you are keen, some more information can be found here. What I would like to communicate is really quite simple: I believe that we must use travel to open up our minds in creative ways. We must elaborate on what we have seen, smelt, touched, experienced, otherwise the sense is lost. We must find that unique angle which is ours, and ours only, and just functions as an extension of our own selves. I believe that it is only in such a case that a voyage be well worth setting a milestone. It serves to remember a particular turning point, and grow to a different level. Truth be told, I don't even know if I am a 'traveler' anymore. I feel more like I had dug up a hole in a tropical island, and had slowly covered myself under a mound of sand. But it is from the security of this new shelter, buried deep into the secrecy of another culture who seems less foreign every passing day, that I have chiseled my milestone. If you are interested in admiring its fine carvings, and see how much passion I reversed into the craft, please click here. And if you like what you see, consider giving some peanuts to the monkey, for it might keep the typewriter well oiled and always functional. |
| <b>Novel</b> analysis helped narrow <b>Malaysian</b> jet search | Nation & World <b>...</b> Posted: 25 Mar 2014 05:57 AM PDT Originally published March 25, 2014 at 5:45 AM | Page modified March 25, 2014 at 5:55 PM HONG KONG — Investigators are closer to solving an international aviation mystery thanks to a British communications satellite and classroom physics. An analysis of faint signals sent from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to an Inmarsat satellite led officials to conclude the plane crashed in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean. More precise information about the plane's position when it sent the last signals is helping authorities refine the search being undertaken by planes and ships in seas 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth, Australia. Investigators had little to examine otherwise because other communications were lost early in the flight March 8. THE TIMING Even with other communications shut down, the plane sent an automatic signal -- a "ping" or a "handshake" -- every hour to an Inmarsat satellite. Flight 370 completed six pings, and the time each took to be sent by the plane and received by the satellite showed the plane's range from the satellite, according to the U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch. This initial analysis showed the last ping came from a position along one of two vast arcs north and south from the Malaysian Peninsula. DOPPLER EFFECT Think of a horn being honked in a passing car. To an observer, the sound is high pitched as the car approaches and is lower after the car passes. On approach, each successive sound wave is sent from a slightly closer position to the observer. The sound waves get compressed, resulting in a higher frequency. The opposite happens as the car moves away. It's called the Doppler effect for Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who put forward the theory in 1842. The same effect applies to the pings, which would arrive to the satellite at a higher frequency if the plane was moving toward the satellite and decrease in frequency when moving away. For the analysis that led to Monday's conclusion the plane had crashed, Inmarsat studied the satellite communications made while the plane was on the ground at Kuala Lumpur airport and early in its flight. It considered aircraft performance, the satellite's fixed location and other known factors. By knowing how the Doppler effect would apply to the satellite communications, Inmarsat could calculate the possible positions, direction of travel and speed of the plane. The company then compared its predictions to six other Boeing 777 aircraft that flew the same day, and found good agreement, according to Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein. Inmarsat did not respond to repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press. "By analyzing that you can determine speed and direction," said Joseph Bermudez Jr., chief analytics officer and co-founder of AllSource Analysis, a commercial satellite intelligence firm. And by determining the area from which the last signal was sent, then estimating fuel left, it "could give you an approximate area of where the aircraft impacted." MORE ANALYSIS Inmarsat sent its data to investigators days after the plane went missing. But it continued to run its own analysis to see if it could wring out any more clues. The company's engineers were dealing with a "totally new area," Chris McLaughlin, senior vice president of external affairs at Inmarsat, told the BBC. "This really was a bit of a shot in the dark." However, the latest information could only go so far in pinpointing the jet's location. "We can't help you with any closer data," he said. Gregory D. Durgin, a professor who teaches satellite communications at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said that because Inmarsat was using a different kind of satellite in a novel way, he expects it would locate the last ping from the Malaysia Airlines lane within "around 100 miles (161 kilometers) of precision." THE COMPANY Inmarsat Plc started out in 1979 as an intergovernmental organization with the aim of helping ships communicate while at sea. It became a private company in 1999 and listed its shares in London in 2005. Customers now include governments, airlines, broadcast media, oil and gas companies, aid agencies as well as merchant shipping. They use hand-held satellite phones, laptop size Internet devices and antennas linked to the company's 10 satellites to communicate. _____________________ Pritchard reported from Los Angeles. Cassandra Vinograd in London and Holbrook Mohr in Jackson, Mississippi, also contributed to this report.  Want unlimited access to seattletimes.com? Subscribe now! |
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