Focus Pacific

Understanding Malaysia’s Pivotal General Election

Posted by Focus Pacific on August 25th, 2024

Understanding Malaysia’s Pivotal General Election

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak dismissed the two hundred twenty two positions in parliament in order to make it easier for the country to implement the general election. Taking part actively in the election campaign has been in a state of extreme excitement for many months and even powerful for the upcoming weeks.

In year 1959, Malaysia had their first vote and the alliance, Barisan Nasional (BN or National Front) had a great influence in the election system that made them won the election without difficulty.

However, the 2008 general election signified a change in the state of mind of the voters. The BN didn’t keep the two-thirds of the parliamentary which had a great number in the national legislature and this led its power to make minor changes in the constitution as well as five of thirteen national elections. The unexpected accomplishment in the vote of the competitor, the alliance of Pakatan Rakyat (PR or People’s Alliance), gave a new strength and vitality to their politics and helped them voiced out their concerns to the present administration.

Both alliances have raised up their election campaigns for what could lead to a vital moment in the history of Malaysia’s election.

Prime Minister Najib Razak is very consistent on his acceptance rating which is above sixty percent. On the other hand, the alliance of BN is very low which has a rating of forty five percent and it is the focus of many accusation of corruption and appointing friends and associates to position in authority without considering their qualifications. It is also expected that the rank of Malaysia in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index is not changing for many years since 1995 until now.

V. Nehru

Airport security boosted nationwide

Posted by Focus Pacific on August 24th, 2024

Airport security boosted nationwide

Airports across the country have advances steps of airport security on travellers and their luggage to prepare them for the incoming events to mark the 70th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

Other airlines have made public statements to recommend passengers to arrive two hours before their departure time for a domestic flight and three hours before international flight.

Airport security have been constricted in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where all the hand carry luggage should be opened and all travellers should take off their shoes and belts during the security check.

In other provincial capitals like Wuhan in Hubei province, not less than half of the hand carry luggage were opened for security checks and one in three passengers are compulsory to take off their shoes and belts for security checks according to the report of Changjiang Daily.

Lighters and matches are totally prohibited from being taken inside the plane and confirmed portable chargers are only permitted in hand carry luggage based on the announcement through the website of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

According to the security officer from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, if a portable charger is discovered in a passenger’s luggage, officers will open the luggage immediately to check and control it for video supervision.

Z. Wenting

The Right To Say No

Posted by Focus Pacific on August 22nd, 2024

Our world is filled with all sorts of cruel human being. They would even go as far as violating human rights by the means of human trafficking. Human trafficking is a big infraction of human rights. People who falls into the hand of the traffickers are being forced to do labors or services, to be a slave and to be a prostitute.

Being forced to do things you don’t want to do is such an awful feeling. Waking up in the morning and wishing everything will just end because you can’t take it anymore. And the pain is abominable and you just feel like wanting to die. These people probably had their whole life ahead of them. And in just a matter of seconds, it was destroyed. They have the right to say no but, their pleas for help is ignored. Just one mistake and that mistake is that they got deceived. And because of that, their whole life suddenly came tumbling down.

For one mistake, the penalty shouldn’t be this big. Big enough to destroy and traumatize someone throughout their whole life. During this period, they may be free from the chains of cruelness but, they won’t ever forget it. They would constantly have hallucinations that they are still in the hands of the traffickers. They would have nightmares and it may even take a lifetime for them to trust and have contact with other people.

(Source: http://www.themorningsidepost.com/2012/12/04/great-debate-human-trafficking/)

And this is all happening mostly for the sake of money. These traffickers would sell or trade their earn for something beneficial. They are selling lives and as long as they have the money, no care is given to those are sold. They are most likely sold to equally cruel and heartless people who makes them do things they don’t want at all. As long as the cruel people has a hold to their lives, they won’t be free to do anything they desire.

As long as these cruel people are around, nothing is assured and safe. Authorities have been trying their very best to possibly stop this. But there has been a lot of cases of missing person which the reason as to why they are disappearing could be human trafficking. Human trafficking should be put to a complete stop. Human rights should prevail for we all have the right to say no.

Danielle Ster

The hindrances of hiding: A play review on Herlyn Alegre’s Imbisibol

Posted by Focus Pacific on August 22nd, 2024

The hindrances of hiding:

A play review on Herlyn Alegre’s Imbisibol

Myna Herra

We all have something to hide—may it be a long-kept family secret, or a love letter from an old fling. But for four Filipinos living in modern-day Tokyo, it is the fact that they are illegal settlers in a foreign land.

The play opens with a Filipino woman (who became a Japanese citizen after marrying her Japanese husband), Linda, scurrying about inside her home—leafing through letters she received for the tenants she keeps in her building. Later, two of her Filipino friends (who are illegal settlers, changing jobs and locations to avoid being deported by the immigration office) come to visit her and they sit and have a happy lunch together. That is, until one of her tenants—another Filipino named Rodel, comes in and declares that he had just killed a man.

It’s a wonderfully written play—opening with a calm atmosphere, then shifting into a happy one in the middle—then drastically changing into a tense, thrilling one during the climax. It ends the way it started, calm—yet the atmosphere of tension still remains.

Though it is a work of fiction, it is sadly happening everywhere—not just with Filipinos but with other people as well, applying in different jobs just to avoid deportation. It’s more of a slice of life—peppered with the elements of Drama.

Imbisibol (Invisible) was first shown at the 9^th Virgin Labfest—a festival of untried and unstaged plays at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on June 26, 2013.

Img source: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/files/2013/06/t0622totel-labfest_feat3_1.jpg

For Sale!

Posted by Focus Pacific on August 9th, 2024

Sarah Te

Anything we have or see is just temporarily ours. All in this world belongs to God. He just let us borrow it. Even our own bodies belong to him. We must not put tattoos or piercing in different parts of our bodies. Once is accepted. But having three or more can already be considered a sin. You may say, “I can do whatever I want. This is my body.” Well you’re wrong. It’s not yours.

Last year, 2012 to be specific. Terrifying news spread out in Manila, Philippines. It’s about a group of men who are said to ‘steal’ children. You heard it right. They get children and some says the reason of the group is to sell the body parts such as the kidney, liver, eyes and even the heart. They choose to take children because they think children’s fleshes are still fresh. They also take young women. Parents become aware. They took double security to their children. Some parents didn’t even let their children out. But months and weeks passed, the group faded. That calmed the city, all back to normal.

(source: http://www.toxel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/meat02.jpg)

Witnesses said the group takes children who are roaming around without a guardian with a white and green van. They also mentioned plate numbers and warnings trough social media. But the latest victim is different. First week of April, 2013, a boy is said to be missing. I heard it on the TV news. The next day, the boy was found incomplete—his feet are missing. His heart, kidney, liver, intestine and such parts are removed. His neck has a deep cut and his belly. The boy is taken by a man and put him in a tricycle. Drove off and poof! Returned the boy the following day, DEAD. May the soul of that boy rest with God.

“Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.”

Leviticus 19:28

Understanding Malaysia’s Pivotal General Election

Airport security boosted nationwide

The Right To Say No

The hindrances of hiding: A play review on Herlyn Alegre’s Imbisibol

For Sale!

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Understanding Malaysia’s Pivotal General Election

Airport security boosted nationwide

The Right To Say No

The hindrances of hiding: A play review on Herlyn Alegre’s Imbisibol

For Sale!

WRITE WITH US

FEATURE VIDEO

CLOUD

ABOUT