Asterisk Resources

http://www.asterisk.org/ - Latest Source Code

http://www.digium.com/ - Asterisk TDM hardware

http://www.voip-info.org/ - General VoIP How-To Info

http://www.xten.com/ - Softphone

http://www.asterisk-vonage.com/ - Asterisk to Vonage connectivity

http://www.binary-systems.com/ - Asterisk Consulting & Training Services

Pengurusan Nilai - Rasional Disebalik Perlaksanaannya

Pengurusan Nilai bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti, menyediakan pilihan dan mengeluarkan komponen dan kos yang tidak menyumbang kepada nilai perkhidmatan, sistem dan projek tanpa menjejaskan objektif dan fungsi yang ditetapkan.

Pengurusan Nilai adalah pendekatan pelbagai disiplin yang sistematik dan inovatif yang mengkaji keperluan fungsi sesuatu reka bentuk, produk, perkhidmatan, projek, fasiliti dan sistem bagi mencapai nilai yang lebih baik dan kos yang optimum tanpa menjejaskan tahap prestasi program dan projek. Proses ini melibatkan semua stakeholder dan pakar yang berkaitan dengan projek, dengan memberi tumpuan kepada fungsi, kos dan kualiti.

Pengurusan Nilai dilaksanakan untuk menghasilkan keputusan yang efektif dengan :-

i. Meningkatkan tahap ketepatan andaian yang digunapakai semasa perancangan;

ii. Mengenalpasti keperluan sebenar bagi mencapai fungsi yang ditetapkan;

iii. Menggalak dan menjana idea kreatif;

iv. Mengoptimumkan penggunaan sumber;

v. Mempercepat proses membuat sesuatu keputusan;

vi. Memasti dan meningkatkan standard, kaedah, prosedur serta kriteria sesuatu projek supaya selaras dengan perkembangan dan keperluan semasa;

vii. Mempertingkat prestasi dan sinergi peserta yang terlibat dalam kerja kumpulan;

viii. Meminimumkan gold plating; dan

ix. Mengambil kira penggunaan Kos Kitaran Hayat (Life-cycle Cost –LCC)

VM bukanlah satu langkah untuk mengurangkan kos sahaja, malah terdapat beberapa contoh di mana VM telah mengambil kira keperluan terbaru seperti industrialised building system (IBS) dan kecekapan tenaga (energy efficiency) dalam projek Kerajaan. Penyiapan projek yang lebih

cepat juga dapat dicapai dengan adanya kaedah perhubungan yang lebih baik dalam proses VM

Selain itu, kajian VM juga memberikan faedah seperti:

i. menghasilkan projek yang memenuhi keperluan stakeholder dan diterima rakyat;

ii. membolehkan perancangan perbelanjaan peruntukan pembangunan yang efisien;

iii. memastikan fungsi dan kualiti projek tercapai; dan

iv. meningkatkan tahap ketelusan, ownership dan kefahaman peserta dalam pelaksanaan sesebuah projek.

8 Steps to Increasing Your Motivation - http://affirmyourlife.blogspot.com

What is this thing we call motivation? What is it we mean when we say we can’t get motivated? There are many different definitions of the word ‘motivation’, but to most people it can simply be defined as that something which propels us to take continued action towards a specific goal.


There are 8 important steps to creating motivation, all of which are necessary if motivation is to be achieved and sustained:

1. Motive (incentive, cause, stimulus, reason)
Motive can be seen as the first step in motivation. It is the original incentive behind the idea of considering a new goal.

2. Value – Importance, significance, interest
Value reflects how much importance we place on the goal itself. It is the prompter to proceed - helping us to go beyond the idea, and seriously consider how the results would affect our lives.

3. Commitment - intention, conviction, promise, decision
Commitment is the point at which we declare our intention to take action. It is our promise to begin the journey towards our goal.

4. Focus - purpose, objective, goal, direction, planning
Focus keeps our objective in constant sight. It strengthens our chances of success by providing purpose and direction to our actions.

5. Belief - faith, confidence, positive thinking, certainty
Belief gives us the faith that our goals can and will be reached. It gives us confidence in ourselves and keeps us thinking positively about the outcome.

6. Self-discipline - dedication, determination, willpower, tenacity, perseverance
Self-discipline provides us with the determination needed to stay on track. It keeps us going no matter what obstacles arise. It ensures that our goals are honoured everyday with appropriate action.

7. Enthusiasm - desire, passion, fire, excitement, eagerness

Enthusiasm gives passion to our focus. It turns our desire into a fire that is not easily extinguished.

8. Progress – acknowledgement, encouragement, reward
Progress makes the journey towards our goal more pleasurable. By acknowledging our progress along the way we maintain our enthusiasm and momentum.

Tizen - A New Mobile Operating System Based On Linux

Intel and Samsung have come together to develop Tizen - a brand new Linux OS geared to be used in mobile devices. Both these companies are working under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation and the LiMo foundation.

LiMo Foundation is an industry consortium dedicated to creating the first truly open, hardware-independent, Linux-based operating system for mobile devices.

Tizen will be a standards based Linux OS that is being designed to be run on tablets, smart phones, smart TVs, netbooks, and in-vehicle infotainment systems.

As the news filters in, Tizen will be supporting HTML5 in a big way especially in application programming interfaces. Tizen is slated to be released sometime in 2012.

One of the key factors in developing this new operating system is to lower device realization costs, increase flexibility, and improving time to market. And it is believed, Tizen will improve on all these points because of its adherence to open standards and its cross-category reach.

(Sources - http://smo.infinigraph.com)

One Million Classrooms Worldwide Connected By Skype?

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It’s a brand new world of education, and Skype is leading the way. No longer simply a software application that allows users to make free voice calls over the Internet, its goal is to sign up a million classrooms and bring them together to share exciting projects and ideas.

Communicating around the world via the Internet is not new. My son, who is now 27, was in sixth grade when he took part in MayaQuest, a program that connected teachers and students with an expedition team in Central America as they explored the mysterious collapse of the ancient Maya civilization. Every day for two weeks, my son and his classmates talked to the experts via email and watched them as they made their way on bikes.

Connecting Classrooms Via The Internet Is Not New

And there are numerous other examples of teachers using the Internet to connect with classrooms around the globe, bring in guest speakers without asking them to travel, and take virtual field trips.
So how is Skype in the Classroom different?

From mashable:

“Skype has been going on for many, many years, and teachers have been finding each other and they’ve been finding ways to use the power of Skype in the educational process for a long time,” said Skype CEO Tony Bates on Wednesday at the Social Good Summit. “We really felt that it was time to take this to the next level…moving from grassroots Skype in the classroom to an initiative driven by Skype.”

Skype Making Global Communication Easier

In other words, what has long been accomplished between teachers using Wikis and individual project websites is now getting some organizational help from Skype.

Using the platform, teachers can create profiles that describe their classes and teaching interests. They can also search a directory of teachers from all over the world by student age range, language and subject.

What is perhaps Skype in the Classroom’s most useful feature is a “project” tab that helps teachers find partner classrooms for projects and ideas. One teacher, for instance, used the platform to coordinate a “weather around the world” unit. A middle school in Massachusetts regularly chats with an Afghan youth peace volunteer group. Another was able to host a virtual visit from Barbara Bush.

More Than 16,000 Teachers Signed On So Far

These will be lucky students who get to take advantage of Skype’s initiative. Very cool!More than 16,000 teachers have signed up on Skype in the Classroom, since a beta version was launched in December. Not only does this sound way more engaging than reading from a thick textbook, it also opens infinite possibilities for global sharing and global understanding.

(Sources - http://www.care2.com)

Einstein the realist - Einstein's 'biggest blunder', his proposal that the universe is not static, was a step towards discovering dark matter.

It was recently discovered that the universe's expansion is accelerating, not slowing, as was previously thought. Light from distant exploding stars revealed that an unknown force (dubbed "dark energy") more than outweighs gravity on cosmological scales.

Unexpected by researchers, such a force had nevertheless been predicted in 1915 by a modification that Albert Einstein proposed to his own theory of gravity, the general theory of relativity. But he later dropped the modification, known as the "cosmological term", calling it the "biggest blunder" of his life.

So the headlines proclaim: "Einstein was right after all", as though scientists should be compared as one would clairvoyants: Who is distinguished from the common herd by knowing the unknowable - such as the outcome of experiments that have yet to be conceived, let alone conducted? Who, with hindsight, has prophesied correctly?

But science is not a competition between scientists; it is a contest of ideas - namely, explanations of what is out there in reality, how it behaves, and why. These explanations are initially tested not by experiment but by criteria of reason, logic, applicability, and uniqueness at solving the mysteries of nature that they address. Predictions are used to test only the tiny minority of explanations that survive these criteria.

The story of why Einstein proposed the cosmological term, why he dropped it, and why cosmologists today have reintroduced it illustrates this process. Einstein sought to avoid the implication of unmodified general relativity that the universe cannot be static - that it can expand (slowing down, against its own gravity), collapse, or be instantaneously at rest, but that it cannot hang unsupported.

This particular prediction cannot be tested (no observation could establish that the universe is at rest, even if it were), but it is impossible to change the equations of general relativity arbitrarily. They are tightly constrained by the explanatory substance of Einstein's theory, which holds that gravity is due to the curvature of spacetime, that light has the same speed for all observers, and so on.

The mystery of accelerating expansion

But Einstein realised that it is possible to add one particular term - the cosmological term - and adjust its magnitude to predict a static universe, without spoiling any other explanation. All other predictions based on the previous theory of gravity - that of Isaac Newton - that were testable at the time were good approximations to those of unmodified general relativity, with that single exception: Newton's space was an unmoving background against which objects move. There was no evidence yet, contradicting Newton's view - no mystery of expansion to explain. Moreover, anything beyond that traditional conception of space required a considerable conceptual leap, while the cosmological term made no measurable difference to other predictions. So Einstein added it.

Then, in 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is expanding, consistently (within the observational accuracy of the day) with unmodified general relativity. So Einstein dropped the cosmological term. His doing so had nothing to do with Hubble being less blunder-prone; nor was Einstein deferring to Hubble's superior prophetic abilities. It was just that the problem that the term was intended to solve no longer existed.

The new observations did not refute the existence of a cosmological term. They merely made it a bad explanation. Then, in 1998, came those new observations of a universe whose expansion is accelerating. As a result, the cosmological term that has been "reinstated" to account for the new observations is not quite the one that Einstein proposed and retracted. It is larger, for it now has to explain not just why the universe isn't collapsing, but why its expansion is accelerating.

Einstein's remark about having "blundered" is as misleading as the idea that he is "right after all." The cosmological term is not something that should never have been proposed. Its introduction represented progress in understanding reality - as did its abandonment in light of Hubble's discovery and its reinstatement in revised form to account for the new observations.

Likewise, the mid-twentieth century "Bohr-Einstein debate" about quantum theory is often misinterpreted as a personal clash between wizards. So counter-intuitive are quantum theory's predictions that, under the leadership of one of its pioneers, Neils Bohr, a myth grew that there is no underlying reality that explains them.

Particles get from A to B without passing through the intervening space, where they have insufficient energy to exist; they briefly "borrow" the energy, because we are "uncertain" about what their energy is. Information gets from A to B without anything passing in between - what Einstein called "spooky action at a distance". And so on.

Abandonment of realism

What these paradoxical interpretations have in common is that they abandon realism, the doctrine that a physical world, existing in reality, accounts for all of our experience. Anti-realism remains popular and appears in various guises in textbooks and popular accounts of quantum theory. But Einstein insisted that physical phenomena have explanations in terms of what he called "elements of reality".

Fortunately, a minority of physicists, myself included, likewise side unequivocally with realism, by adopting Hugh Everett's multiple-universes interpretation of quantum theory. According to this view, no particles exist where they have insufficient energy to be; it is simply that in some universes they have more energy than average, and in others, less. All alleged "paradoxes" of quantum theory are similarly resolved.

So, while most accounts say that Bohr won the debate, my view is that Einstein, as usual, was seeking an explanation of reality, while his rivals were advocating nonsense. Everett's interpretation doesn't make Einstein a demigod. But it does make him right.

David Deutsch is a visiting professor of physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation, the Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, and author of The Fabric of Reality and The Beginning of Infinity.

A version of this article was first published on the Project Syndicate.

Selidik kesilapan fakta sejarah - Pakar IPT diminta kaji persoalan kedatangan Islam di Kepulauan Melayu.

Prof Tan Sri Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas di dalam buku terbaru beliau bertajuk "Historical Fact and Fiction" mendedahkan bahawa berlaku kekeliruan fakta dalam sejarah tanah air. Sejarah yang ditulis hari ini banyak dipengaruhi oleh penulis barat yang menulis sejarah berdasarkan kepentingan mereka dengan menafikan fakta-fakta sejarah yang menjejaskan kepentingan mereka. Mereka hanya menulis sejarah untuk kepentingan mereka sahaja. Justeru, beliau menyarankan pakar sejarah negara melakukan kajian untuk membetulkan fakta sejarah terutamanya melibatkan kedatangan Islam ke Tanah Melayu.

Prof Tan Sri Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas menyarankan agar silibus sejarah atau kefahaman sejarah dinilai semula kerana banyak kesilapan fakta dan ia perlu diperbetulkan supaya generasi akan datang memahami sejarah sebenar kedatangan Islam ke Tanah Melayu.

Diantara penyelewengan sejarah ialah asal usul nama Melaka adalah daripada perkataan arab yang membawa makna pelabuhan atau pusat perdagangan BUKAN berkait dengan pohon Melaka. Parameswara adalah Raja Melayu yang berbangsa melayu dengan nama Islamnya Muhammad serta anak seorang Raja Palembang yang dikenali sebagai Sang Aji.

Beliau juga menjelaskan bahawa pelopor yang membawa dan menyebarkan Islam di alam melayu pada zaman awal dan kemudian adalah orang Arab keturunan Rasululah, iaitu salasilah Saidina Ali Abi Talib dan Saidina Fatimah bukannya orang barat.

Bukit Kepong: Mat Sabu pandai sandiwara, kata Kay Kim

September 09 2011 IPOH — Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Kim menyifatkan mana-mana pemimpin politik yang menyokong gerakan komunis pada masa sekarang sebagai pihak “cukup bodoh".

Dengan nada menyindir pakar sejarah ini menasihatkan semua pihak agar tidak menyalahkan Timbalan Presiden PAS Mohamad Sabu.

"Tapi dia Mohamad tidak bodoh, dia pandai bersandiwara. Jangan salahkan orang macam Mat Sabu, rakyat sendiri mesti guna akal jangan cepat percaya ” katanya pada “Wacana Peristiwa Bukit Kepong Siapa Wira Sebenar ” di Ipoh, Perak,

Mohamad mencetuskan kontroversi apabila mengiktiraf Mat Indera sebagai pejuang kemerdekaan walaupun beliau bersekongkol dengan Komunis melancarkan serangan di balai polis Bukit Kepong pada tahun 1950 dimana 25 orang terbunuh semasa pemberontakan tersebut.

Tegas Khoo sejarah kemerdekaan negara tidak boleh ditulis semula kerana ia berasaskan fakta dan peristiwa yang benar-benar berlaku.

“Sejarah mesti berasaskan fakta dan sejarah tidak boleh diubah, sejarah adalah perkara yang telah wujud atau yang sudah berlaku, sejarah adalah perkara yang sudah berlaku ” katanya di hadapan kira-kira 500 orang yang menghadiran seminar tersebut.

“Orang yang tidak faham sejarah Malaysia kerana mereka baca buku yang ditulis oleh mereka yang tidak faham, kalau tidak faham macam mana nak tulis sejarah ”

Tambahnya jelas beliau, mana-mana pihak termasuk PAS yang berniat mahu menulis semula sejarah Malaysia perlu tahu tentang sejarah.

“Kalau nak tulis pasal sejarah kita mesti tahu siapa yang nak tulis semula sejarah Malaysia,orang itu perlu tahu tentang masyarakat, sejarah orang Melayu, sejarah orang Cina dan sejarah orang. saya hendak beritahu BAHAWA British tidak pernah menjajah negara kita mereka hanya mengadakan perjanjian untuk jalankan pentadbiran tapi kedaulatan tetap ada pada raja-raja Melayu sebab itu selepas 1957 Tanah Melayu ada sembilan orang raja saya tahu ramai yang tidak tahu mengapa ” katanya.

Menyentuh soal Ahmad Indera yang disanjung pemimpin nombor dua PAS itu Khoo berkata pemimpin komunis Melayu itu tidak layak untuk digelar pejuang kemerdekaan kerana tindakannya dalam tragedi Bukit Kepong bertentangan dengan undang-undang negara “Perlembagaan adalah undang-undang tertinggi negara ini tidak boleh diubah negara kita mahu orang yang patuh pada undang-undang atau tidak Orang yang melanggar undang-undang negara tidak boleh dianggap sebagai wira ” katanya.

PECIPTA 2011 pamer 450 hasil R&D IPT

BUAT julung kalinya, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) menganjurkan Persidangan dan Ekspo Ciptaan Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Antarabangsa 2011 (PECIPTA 2011), yang bakal mempamerkan 450 hasil penyelidikan dan pembangunan (R&D) institusi pengajian tinggi (IPT) tempatan.

Program tiga hari anjuran bersama Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi dan institut pengajian tinggi awam (IPTA), dijadual berlangsung di Pusat Konvensyen Kuala Lumpur, bermula 13 September ini.

Bertemakan `Menyemarak Inovasi Bersama Model Baru Ekonomi', PECIPTA 2011 bukan saja menjadi medan mempamerkan produk R&D, bahkan muncul sebagai lokasi strategik antara pengamal industri dan produk ciptaan berkualiti daripada penyelidik tempatan.

Naib Canselor UiTM, Prof Datuk Dr Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar, berkata aktiviti adalah satu pelan tindakan yang terkandung dalam Pelan Strategik Pendidikan Negara.

Katanya, ia selaras teras kedua Agenda Pembangunan Negara yang direncanakan dan Model Baru Ekonomi (MBE) yang diumumkan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak dalam usaha menjadikan Malaysia negara berpendapatan tinggi melalui produk inovasi.

"Kita bukan saja menumpukan kepada pameran produk inovasi IPT, bahkan membuka ruang pembabitan peserta dari sekolah menengah. PECIPTA 2011 juga menyediakan ruang kepada pihak industri dan penyelidik melalui sesi Pemadanan Perniagaan," katanya pada sidang media di UiTM, Shah Alam, baru-baru ini.

Hadir sama, Pengarah Bahagian Perancangan Kecemerlangan IPT Jabatan Pengajian Tinggi, Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi, Dr Mohd Jailani Mohd Nor dan Timbalan Naib Canselor (Pendidikan dan Inovasi) UiTM, Prof Dr Zaini Abdullah.

Sahol Hamid berkata, sebanyak 25 IPTA dan 15 sekolah sudah menyatakan persetujuan untuk menyertai pameran kali ini. Katanya, UiTM akan memperkenalkan satu kategori baru pada persidangan kali ini iaitu Newly Marketed Product (NM). "Ia akan menjadi wadah kepada penyelidik untuk mempamerkan hasil ciptaan mereka yang telah dikomersialkan di dalam pasaran tempatan atau luar negara. Syarat untuk kategori ini ialah produk terbabit mesti telah berada di pasaran tidak lebih dua tahun," katanya.

Selain pertandingan dan pameran, katanya, simposium bertajuk `Mencari Ekosistem Utuh Untuk Inovasi' membabitkan panel pakar dari Amerika Syarikat, United Kingdom, Singapura dan Malaysia juga akan diadakan. Pameran dwi tahunan itu turut mendapat pelbagai penajaan daripada beberapa badan korporat seperti Bank Islam dan Pusat Pembangunan Reka Bentuk (DDEC).

UiTM among top 600 varsities worldwide

PETALING JAYA: Universiti Malaya (UM) is the only Malaysian institution that has made it to the top 200 of the QS World University Rankings 2011/12.

It moved up 40 places to 167 this year compared to 207 in 2010.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) have all slid down the rankings (see table).

UKM is ranked 279 this year compared to 263 in 2010; USM at 335 (309), UPM 358 (319) and UTM at between 401 and 450 (365).

For the first time, the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) were included in the rankings at 451-500 and 601+ respectively.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordincongratulated UM on its improvement, saying it was a reflection of the hard work put in by the university staff.

“I am also happy that two more of our institutions, IIUM and UiTM, have made it to the QS World University Rankings,” he said.

However, he said rankings were not the ministry's main objective as it was important to ensure universities contribute to the development process of the country.

QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) Ltd Intelligence Unit head Ben Sowter said QS conducts and compiles the annual World University Rankings, which is an annual league table of the top universities in the world.

The rankings are based on data gathered and measured in academic peer review, employer reputation review, international faculty ratio, international student ratio, student faculty ratio, and citations per faculty.

On UM's improvement, Sowter said it was the only Malaysian institution to have improved in its academic, employer scores and international aspects this year.

He said UKM lost ground in the employer reputation review and citations per faculty but improved in academic reputation.

“IIUM entered directly into the top 500, which is an excellent result for a new entry, while UiTM is lower down but deserves inclusion,” he said.

He said 2,919 institutions were considered for the rankings this year.

UM vice-chancellor Prof Tan Sri Dr Ghauth Jasmon said the policy to have academics and postgraduate students improved their quality of research and to have their output published in the Thomson Institute for Scientific Information indexed journals was paying off.

“This is a key policy that will continue under my administration so the promise of getting UM into the Top 100 in the QS World University Rankings will be achieved by 2015,” he said.

Cambridge University topped the QS World University Rankings this year followed by Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Oxford University and Imperial College London.

The highest ranked Asian universities are University of Hong Kong at 22, University of Tokyo (25) and the National University of Singapore (28).

(Sources - http://thestar.com.my)

Iceland says it was 'bullied' over bank debt

REYKJAVIK (Sept 4, 2011): Iceland's president accused European countries on Sunday of having bullied it into agreeing to guarantee repayment of the debts of a failed bank, reviving a dispute with Britain and the Netherlands whose citizens are owed billions.

When Iceland's banking sector collapsed in the 2008 global financial crisis, accounts were frozen at the bank Landsbanki, which had accepted deposits from British and Dutch savers through online funds called Icesave.

Iceland says the estate of the failed bank will be enough to repay about US$5 billion (RM15 billion) of debt to the British and the Dutch. The two countries had wanted the government in Reykjavik to give a state guarantee to the repayment.

In a referendum earlier this year, Icelanders rejected for a second time giving a guarantee.

"People (in the government) bowed to the bullying of the Europeans ...," President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson told RUV public radio. He said the British and Dutch demand that the government guarantee the debt had been "absurd".

"So, what is happening now is proving that if the issue had been handled sensibly here from the beginning, it would have been totally unnecessary to put the people of Iceland and our cooperation with Europe into this straightjacket," he said.

"The EU should investigate and face up to how in the world it was possible that EU member states agreed to support this absurd claim against Iceland," he said.

The British and Dutch, with the support of other EU nations, had also persuaded the International Monetary Fund to pressure Iceland, Grimsson said, adding that former IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told him in January 2010 he was unhappy that the Fund was being used as a "fist" against Iceland.

Since the 2008 global financial crisis, Iceland had to accept a bailout led by the IMF, accompanied by a programme of economic reforms which have just been completed.

The administrators of Landsbanki have said the estate of the bank can more than repay the British and Dutch. They have said the payments can begin later this year after final domestic legal action is out of the way. – Reuters

(Sources - http://www.thesundaily.my)

MENDEPANI TRANSFORMASI KETIGA DEMOKRASI

Posted on 7 July, 2011 04:35 by Saifuddin Abdullah in The Malaysian Insider

6 JULAI — Perkembangan politik mutakhir, sama ada di tanah air ataupun di seberang laut, menimbulkan beberapa persoalan tentang demokrasi. Ada yang mengungkapkan fenomena defisit demokrasi, iaitu perihal terhadnya partisipasi rakyat. Ada yang mengatakan dunia berada di zaman pasca-demokrasi, iaitu natijah daripada kecanggihan masyarakat moden. Manakala ada yang menyifatkannya sebagai krisis politik egalitarian.

Adakah zaman keemasan demokrasi telah berakhir, iaitu akibat arus globalisasi dan terhakisnya fungsi negara-bangsa?

Demokrasi masih sistem politik yang terbaik. Tetapi, untuk menambahkan kekuatannya dan mengurangkan kelemahannya, maka, kita perlu melakukan pemikiran-semula tentang demokrasi, iaitu cara kita berfikir dan berbuat atas nama demokrasi, malahan, tentang gagasan demokrasi itu sendiri.

Dalam konteks ini, saya telah menyarankan agar kita melakukan sesuatu untuk mematangkan demokrasi negara ini. Ia selaras dengan salah satu daripada cabaran Wawasan 2020, iaitu mewujudkan masyarakat demokratik yang matang.

Saya telah mencadangkan pendekatan politik baru, yang antara lain, meliputi ‘kerangka governans baru’ dan ‘inovasi demokrasi’. Kedua-duanya merujuk kepentingan untuk meningkatkan partisipasi rakyat dalam struktur dan proses membuat keputusan.

Pada masa yang sama, sebenarnya, kita sedang berhadapan dengan ‘transformasi ketiga demokrasi’, iaitu frasa yang digunakan Robert Dahl (1994), dalam tulisannya, “A Democratic Dilemma: Systems Effectiveness vs Citizen Participation”.

Menurut Dahl, ‘transformasi pertama demokrasi’ telah berlaku pada separuh pertama abad kelima sebelum Masehi, di Greece, di mana wilayah-wilayah yang tidak mengamalkan demokrasi, iaitu mengamalkan aristokrasi, oligarki, monarki, atau campuran antara ketiga-tiganya, telah berubah lalu mengamalkan demokrasi.

Demokrasi dilaksanakan dalam ruang lingkup negara-kota yang kecil. Institusi demokrasi yang utama ialah dewan perhimpunan di mana semua rakyat dapat berpartisipasi secara langsung. Ini dapat dilakukan kerana jumlah rakyatnya kecil sahaja.

Dalam ‘transformasi kedua demokrasi’, demokrasi telah bertukar daripada negara-kota yang kecil kepada peringkat negara-bangsa yang lebih besar. Partisipasi semua rakyat secara langsung tidak lagi praktikal kerana jumlahnya sudah besar. Apa yang menyebabkan transformasi kedua ini berjaya ialah idea dan amalan yang kini dianggap amat penting bagi demokrasi, iaitu perwakilan.

Akibat transformasi yang meliputi saiz dan bentuk demokrasi ini, maka, wujudlah institusi-institusi dan amalan-amalan demokrasi yang sedang kita laksanakan hari ini, seperti pilihan raya dan parlimen. Rakyat berpartisipasi dalam pilihan raya dengan memilih wakilnya untuk berhimpun di parlimen.

Kini, ‘transformasi ketiga demokrasi’ sedang berjalan. Modelnya belum begitu jelas. Tetapi, apa yang jelas ialah dua perkara. Pertama, rakyat, termasuk belia/mahasiswa dan wanita, mahu partisipasinya ditingkatkan dan diluaskan. Ini memerlukan inovasi demokrasi. Dan kedua, kerajaan tidak boleh lagi menggunakan kerangka lama, iaitu memerintah, tetapi perlu menggunakan kerangka baru, iaitu governans. Ini memerlukan kerangka governans baru.

Untuk membicarakan transformasi ketiga ini, Hubert Heinelt (2010) menulis buku Governing Modern Societies: Towards participatory governance. Ia menyorot keperluan diwujudkan sistem dan amalan demokrasi yang melampaui struktur kerajaan yang sedia ada. Ia menekankan soal governans yang bersifat partisipatori.

Heinelt mengemukakan lima perspektif. Pertama, governans bersifat partisipatori beroperasi dalam satu model yang terdiri daripada dunia-dunia demokrasi yang berbeza-beza, iaitu yang pelbagai norma governans dan makna demokrasinya.

Kedua, governans beroperasi di tengah-tengah sektor-sektor kepentingan yang berbeza-beza dan saling lengkap melengkapi, yang memerlukan legitimasi yang berbeza-beza juga, iaitu mengikut keperluan masing-masing sektor.

Ketiga, perlu digalakkan banyak diskusi dan debat tentang reformasi, inovasi dan transformasi demokrasi dan governans, iaitu berhubung soal legitimasi, keberkesanan, akauntabiliti dan sebagainya. Kita tidak sepatutnya menonjolkan perbezaan-perbezaan dalam perbincangan dan pendekatan tersebut atau menolaknya semata-mata kerana ketiadaan kata sepakat. Sebaliknya, kita patut menggunakan apa-apa yang baik dalam setiap perbincangan dan pendekatan tersebut sebagai saling lengkap melengkapi.

Keempat, perlu diwujudkan model baru geometri politik yang anjal. Mengikut model ini, struktur governans yang vertikal diapit oleh peranan masyarakat sivil yang diiktiraf. Ini menambahkan peluang yang luas untuk menyelesaikan masalah dengan berkesan dan meningkatkan partisipasi rakyat di pelbagai peringkat melalui pelbagai amalan demokrasi.

Dan kelima, walaupun untuk mencapai matlamat bermasyarakat, beberapa peraturan dan norma diperlukan, tetapi, kewujudan kepelbagaian dan perbezaan perlu diraikan dan keseragaman politik dalam semua hal perlu dipersoalkan. Ini kerana matlamat dan keberhasilan politik ditentukan sendiri oleh mereka yang berpartisipasi dalamnya dan oleh orang lain yang menerima kesan daripadanya, manakala keputusan boleh berubah mengikut ruang dan masa yang bergantung pada konteksnya yang khusus.

Kesimpulannya, sistem-sistem demokrasi perlu dilihat sebagai bentuk-bentuk artikulasi, intermediasi dan pembuatan keputusan yang kompleks dan pelbagai.

Untuk menilai sejauhmana sesebuah kerajaan mengamalkan governans bersifat partisipatori, lima elemen perlu diambil kira, iaitu: keterbukaan dan mudah akses; mutu perbincangan yang diadakan; keberkesanan mencapai objektif yang dibincang bersama; saluran dengan ruang awam; dan kebersamaan dalam membuat dan melaksanakan keputusan dan tindakan.

Proses pembentukan model demokrasi terkini hasil daripada transformasi ketiga ini kelihatan bergerak dengan pantas. Sebahagian daripada kepantasannya itu disebabkan oleh faktor yang berada di luar domain demokrasi, tetapi memberikan dampak besar yang saling lengkap melengkapi, iaitu teknologi media baru.

Menurut Leah A. Lierouw (2011) dalam bukunya, Alternative and Activist New Media, media baru ditandai oleh tiga komponen utama, iaitu ‘artifak’ atau peralatan yang membolehkan dan memanjangkan kapasiti rakyat untuk berkomunikasi dan berkongsi; ‘amalan’ dan aktiviti komunikasi yang dilakukan rakyat dengan menggunakan artifak itu; dan ‘aturan’ sosial dan organisasi yang lebih luas yang bentuk oleh rakyat dengan mengoptimumkan artifak dan amalan tersebut.

Apabila aktivis demokrasi menggunakan media baru, terutamanya dengan mengintegrasikan artifak, amalan dan aturan itu hingga menjadi ‘gelanggang’ baru, seperti e-demokrasi, maka kepantasan transformasi ini menjadi semakin memuncak.

Transformasi ketiga demokrasi bergerak umpama sebuah keretapi laju. Kita ada empat pilihan. Pilihan pertama, ialah segera menaikinya dan mengemudinya ke arah dan dengan kelajuan yang kita ingini. Pilihan kedua, ialah lambat menaikinya lalu hanya sempat sekadar menjadi penumpang sahaja. Pilihan ketiga, ialah terlalu lambat menaikinya hingga ditinggalkannya. Dan pilihan keempat, ialah menghalangnya lalu mati dilanggarnya.

* Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah is deputy minister for higher education and Umno supreme council member.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/mendepani-transformasi-ketiga-demokrasi-saifuddin-abdullah/

Harapan tinggi kepada UiTM

Oleh MUZDALIFAH MUSTAPHA
pengarang@utusan.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR 2 Sept. - Kerajaan meletakkan harapan tinggi kepada Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) untuk membantu meningkatkan keupayaan pelajar bumiputera menerusi pendidikan dan seterusnya berjaya dalam kerjaya.

Menteri Pengajian Tinggi, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin berkata, UiTM kini menjadi satu-satunya institusi yang menyediakan tempat kepada 200,000 pelajar untuk mengikuti pelbagai program yang ditawarkan.

Kata beliau, harapan kementerian itu adalah selaras dengan hasrat negara untuk melahirkan modal insan berpengetahuan tinggi selain berkemahiran tinggi.

"Kita sekarang mengharapkan UiTM dapat melaksanakan peranan itu untuk membantu memajukan orang Melayu bagi membolehkan mereka menguasai ilmu dan pengetahuan.

"Kerajaan percaya UiTM mampu mencapai matlamat itu berikutan kedudukan dan lokasi kampus UiTM terletak di seluruh negara berbanding universiti lain," katanya kepada Utusan Malaysia di sini hari ini.

Dalam usaha mengangkat peranan UiTM lebih tinggi, Mohamed Khaled berkata, universiti berkenaan telah menyediakan 'Program Destini Anak Bangsa' iaitu pelajar lemah diberi peluang membangunkan keupayaan masing-masing untuk mendapat peluang kedua.

Selain itu, beliau berkata, UiTM juga diminta memberi tumpuan terhadap pembangunan bagi melahirkan tenaga teknikal di kalangan pelajar kerana antara lain ia selari dengan matlamat kerajaan mengarusperdanakan Institut Pendidikan Teknikal dan Latihan Vokasional (TEVT).

Katanya, kerajaan kini memberi tumpuan untuk melahirkan tenaga profesional dan separa profesional dalam kemahiran teknikal kerana semua teknologi yang diwujudkan dalam negara perlu digerakkan oleh kalangan mereka yang terlibat secara langsung dalam teknikal.

"Pada masa ini, negara-negara maju juga telah menetapkan 60 nisbah 40 iaitu tenaga teknikal 60 dan bukan teknikal 40," kata beliau

(Sumber - http://www.utusan.com.my)

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Saya ingin mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri dan Maaf Zahir Batin kepada semua Muslimin dan Muslimat. Semoga kita mengambil peluang hari raya fitrah ini untuk memohon kemaafan dan merapatkan silaturrahim sesama kita.

Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO



It was just announced that Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple and...well you know who he is, is stepping down from that position, presumably due to health concerns. Stock trading for the company has been halted pending the news and Tim Cook has taken over as CEO.

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

We're certain the board will keep him on and he'll still serve in some capacity at Apple. Say what you will of the man, he has certainly earned his place in history, making Apple one of the most profitiable and influential companies iin the world. We wish him the best of luck and good health.

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Libyan rebels in Tripoli's central square

Celebrations in Tripoli as Gaddafi's defences collapse and two of his sons, including Saif al-Islam, are captured.

Euphoric Libyan rebels have moved into the centre of the capital, Tripoli, as Muammar Gaddafi's defenders melted away and thousands of jubilant civilians rushed out of their homes to cheer the long convoys of pickup trucks packed with fighters shooting in the air.

The rebels' surprising and speedy leap forward, after six months of largely deadlocked civil war, was packed into just a few dramatic hours. By nightfall on Sunday, they had advanced more than 32km to Tripoli.

Zeina Khodr, Al Jazeera's correspondent, said from the Green Square: "There's a party in the Libyan capital tonight. The people are in charge of the city. They've decided the square is now called Martyrs' Square, the original name. They're shouting 'We're free' and shooting at a poster of Gaddafi."

Abdul Hakim Belhaj, the Tripoli battalion commander of the Libyan National Transistion Council said, "we want to thank God for this victory, we call on the residents to protect the city, we call on remaining parts of the regime to surrender and join the opposition."

Belhaj stressed the importance of protecting Tripoli and called on the residents of Tripoli to maintain and protect the capital.

Green Square which has now been renamed Martyrs Square by the rebels had been the site of night rallies by Gaddafi supporters throughout the uprising.

Our correspondent said the rebels met little resistance as they moved from the western outskirts into the capital.

"Hundreds are on the street, and most of them are armed. Most of these are fighters who came down from the mountains in western areas of Libya. They entered the capital a few hours ago and with the opposition inside the capital, have managed to liberate the city from the government's control," our correspondent said.

"People are worried about sleeper cells but cleaning up operations are under way to make sure there are no snipers in the buildings nearby. People are confident that the government has fallen and they are in control."

Pockets of fighters who are still loyal to Gaddafi still control parts of the city - including the areas around Gaddafi's Bab al-Azizia compound.

The chairman of the rebel National Transitional Council Mustafa Mohammed Abdul Jalil said early on Monday: "I warn you, there are still pockets of resistance in and around Tripoli."

NATO's chief spokeswoman, Oana Lungescu, said there was no formal co-ordination between the military alliance, which has waged a months-long air campaign against Gaddafi, and the rebels on the ground.

"What we're seeing tonight is the regime crumbling," Lungescu told AFP news agency.

Saif al-Islam arrested

Earlier, the rebel leadership said that Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, had been arrested in a tourist village in western Tripoli.

There was no word on the whereabouts of Gaddafi himself. Gaddafi has delivered a series of angry and defiant audio messages in recent days, vowing not to surrender. In the latest one, he acknowledged that opposition forces were moving into Tripoli and warned the city would be turned into another Baghdad.

"How come you allow Tripoli, the capital, to be under occupation once again?" he said. "The traitors are paving the way for the occupation forces to be deployed in Tripoli."

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, confirmed Saif al-Islam had been detained and said the ICC would speak to the rebel National Transitional Council about his transfer to The Hague where the court is based.

Saif al-Islam, his father and Libya's intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, were indicted earlier this year for allegedly ordering, planning and participating in illegal attacks on civilians in the early days of the violent crackdown on anti-regime protesters.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi's eldest son, Mohammed, surrendered to rebel forces and spoke to Al Jazeera shortly afterwards.

Click here for more of Al Jazeera's special coverage

In the interview, he took an apologetic tone and said it was a lack of wisdom that caused the revolution and crisis in Libya.

"I've never been a government or security official, however I can tell you the absence of wisdom and foresight is what brought us to here today. Our differences could have been solved easily," he said.

As he spoke though, his house was attacked and shot at and the interview ended with the sound of gunfire.

"I'm being attacked right now," he said. "This is gunfire inside my house, they're inside my house. There is no God but Allah - no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger."

However, the head of the National Transitional Council later told Al Jazeera that Mohammed was not hurt.

"Neither Mohamed Muammar Gaddafi nor any one of his family was harmed," Mustafa Abdel Jalil said. "He will remain in his house, and I guarantee his safety."

There were no confirmed reports about the whereabouts of other members of the Gaddafi family.

'Relinquish power'

US President Barak Obama said Gaddafi must "acknowledge the reality that he no longer controls Libya. He needs to relinquish power once and for all".

In a statement issued from Martha's Vineyard, where is on holiday, Obama said: "The future of Libya is now in the hands of the Libyan people." He promised to work in close co-ordination with the rebels and said the US would "continue to insist that the basic rights of the Libyan people are respected."

Rebels in the west have taken numerous towns in the past month.

There were unconfirmed reports that two South African air force planes were spotted at Tripoli airport.

Speculation was rife that the planes were there to ferry Gaddafi out of Libya, but Mahmoud Shamam, of the NTC told Al Jazeera that it was unlikely the planes were meant for that purpose as the airport was under rebel control. He added that he did not believe that Gaddafi is in Tripoli.

Mohammed Dangor, South Africa's ambassador to Libya, speaking from Johannesburg, told Al Jazeera he had no knowledge of any of his country's planes in Tripoli.

"I have no knowledge of any South African planes in Tripoli ... but Nato should know, since they control the airport and no plane can land without their permission," he said.

Jalil said the rebels would halt their offensive if Col Gaddafi announced his departure.

"We will give Colonel Gaddafi and his sons a safe pasage out of the country," said Jalil.

(Sources - http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/08/201182122425905430.html)

Skype acquires Microsoft BizSpark partner GroupMe

By Mary Jo Foley | August 21, 2011, 5:04pm PDT

Summary: GroupMe — a startup that has built a cross-phone-platform messaging and conference-call service — is going to be part of Skype… which is going to be part of Microsoft.

Skype — a company which is in the midst of being acquired by Microsoft — announced on August 21 that it is acquiring GroupMe.

I met some of the principals with GroupMe just a couple of months ago. GroupMe, a New-York-based startup, is one of Microsoft’s BizSpark partners. BizSpark is a Microsoft promotional program aimed at startups, which provides selected companies with free software, services and marketing/coaching to help them get their fledgling business off the ground.

GroupMe offers a messaging and conference call service, which it launched about a year ago. GroupMe officials referred to the service as “your real-life network,” and offers users a private chat room on their phones. GroupMe enables users to chat within their groups while circumventing SMS (and thus, not deducting from users’ SMS balances).

GroupMe allows users to have multiple “disposable” groups, and works on a variety of phones, including iPhones, Blackberries, Android phones and feature phones. When I talked with company backers a couple of months ago, they were porting their application to Windows Phones, and had big plans for the “Mango” Windows Phone release (allowing users to pin groups to their start menus and obtain real-time notifications).

GroupMe, to me, sounds rather similar to the just-announced Bing “We’re In” application, which also allows users to create disposable groups.

Skype and GroupMe are not disclosing terms of the deal, but estimates have the deal valued at more than $50 million.

Microsoft announced its intention in May to buy Skype for $8.5 billion. That purchase has received U.S. antitrust-regulator approval, but has not yet gotten the OK from international regulators.

(Reference - http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/skype-acquires-microsoft-bizspark-partner-groupme/10390)