The NSW Law Society continues to ignore reports against its College Of Law's business in Malaysia; failed to inform Bar Council Malaysia about ongoing problems with its College of Law

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

As previously reported:

 The Malaysian investigation into the College Of Law Sydney's business in Malaysia has been escalated. Brought to public attention by a story in the investigative website New Malaysia Times, there is now an official investigation by a Malaysian government agency into the work of senior Malaysian judicial officers who dealt with the College and its officers.

The NSW Law Society is the founding member of the College Of Law, and it is more than aware of problems with its College Of Law's teaching programmes. As industry paper Justinian reported, the College Of Law lost market share in the PLT market, despite its NSW legal establishment antecedents. 

The  Bar Council Malaysia relies on the NSW Law Society to advise it about any issues concerning its members, and of course its related entities, that may harm the profession in Malaysia.

The NSW Law Society has not only failed to inform the Bar Council Malaysia, it has also failed to act against its own members who manage the College Of Law, despite the New Malaysia Times report being in the public domain since 2019.

 

TO BE READ WITH 

Sunday, November 29, 2020

Escalating investigation into the College Of Law Sydney's business in Malaysia calls for intervention by Cth AG Christian Porter : Cth intervention required given regulatory failures by NSW AG Speakman and his officers at the NSW LPAB

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

The Malaysian investigation into the College Of Law Sydney's business in Malaysia has been escalated. Brought to public attention by a story in the investigative website New Malaysia Times, there is now an official investigation by a Malaysian government agency into the work of senior Malaysian judicial officers who dealt with the College and its officers.

As reported last year on this blog the questions about the College's activities in Malaysia had been put by this writer to the two parties ultimately responsible for regulating the College's activities, the Attorney General NSW Mark Speakman and the Legal Professional Admission Board NSW.

The NSW LPAB and the AG Speakman had however chosen to not act on the information provided, and instead chose to accuse this writer of harassment, and  threatening and intimidating the AG and the College's management.

The NSW LPAB and the AG have gone so far as to object to the Attorney General Malaysia being informed about the  College's activities in Malaysia. 

They have also excluded from the LPAB's 2018 and earlier Annual Reports , which the AG tables in the NSW Parliament, complaints against the College and its management, and in particular statements on the official record that they have made in support of the College in response to the complaints.

NSW AG Speakman's ongoing attempts cover-up these matters despite the College's cavalier conduct overseas while relying on the NSW legal establishment's imprimatur  puts the Commonwealth Attorney General  Christian Porter  in a position where he must intervene in order to save the country  embarrassment. 

TO BE READ WITH 

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Malaysia will investigate NSW AG and LPAB oversight of the College Of Law: College's Malaysian business removes protective mantle; likely to further expose LPAB Annual report exclusions

by Ganesh Sahathevan

by Ganesh Sahathevan


The story below was published by the well connected Malaysian investigative new site New Malaysia Times. An investigation by all the relevant Malaysian authorities can be expected, and that will involve a forensic examination of the College Of Law Sydney.

Questions about the College's activities in Malaysia have been put by this writer to the two parties ultimately responsible for regulating the College's activities , the Attorney General NSW Mark Speakman and the Legal Professional Admission Board NSW.

The queries have been met with accusations, by the LPAB and the AG of harassment , threat and intimidation by this writer of the College's management.They have gone so far as to object to the Attorney General Malaysia being informed about the  College's activities in Malaysia
They have also excluded from the LPAB's 2018 and earlier Annual Reports , which the AG tables in the NSW Parliament complaints against the College and its management; and in particular statements on the official record that they have made in support of the College.

All the above is  now likely to be investigated in Malaysia.
END

Bar Council education ‘JV’ must be clarified

By Editor , in Scandal on July 19, 2019 . Tagged width: College of Law , Fareed Gafoor , Malaysian Bar

KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 – The Malaysian Bar Council launched its first education venture, a LLM in Malaysian Legal Practise (LLM), last year in collaboration with the College Of Law Australia.

The LLM does not seem to have the approval of Malaysia’s Legal Professional Qualifying Board (LPQB) but the website for the course, which is hosted in Australia, prominently displays the Bar Council crest.

The crest has not been used before to promote a course of study, and queries put to Bar Council President Fareed Gafoor about the use of the crest have been acknowledged but remain unanswered.

NMT has however sighted an email from Fareed dated Friday, May 24, 2019 with regards the LLM and the use of the crest where he states:

Dear Rajen,

We can’t remain silent on this.

Abdul Fareed Bin Abdul Gafoor

Sent from my iPad

It is understood that “Rajen” refers to  Rajen Devaraj, Chief Executive Officer of the Bar Council Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur.

The Bar has remained silent for nearly 2 months since.

Key person suddenly retired during extensive query

The College of Law used to be represented in Malaysia by its Director, Peter Tritt. Tritt have been queried extensively about the LLM and about the College’s business in Malaysia but has refused to provide answers. Tritt has been based in Kuala Lumpur since 2017 but announced on Friday that he had “retired” from the College on 30 June 2019.

It is understood that Tritt has forwarded queries sent him to his head office in Sydney and hence it appears that Tritt is under orders from his Chief Executive, Neville Carter, to remain silent.

Questionable advertising claims?

In advertising on the College’s website Carter has claimed that he had established a Professional Legal Training course for Malaysian Law students seeking admission to practise in Malaysia. There seems to be no evidence of such a course, or of any national level training course for the existing Certificate of Legal Practise.

Carter has also claimed to have produced the “inaugural” Handbook in Legal Practise for Malaysia, in the late 80s. A search of the main law libraries in Malaysia directed by the Chief Registrar, Federal Court Malaysia, has not found any such handbook.

He has also claimed to have, during that time to have identified and addressed “gaps” in Malaysian legal practise, but not even those in practice during that period and since have ever heard of him. Nor are senior practitioners aware of  “gaps” that needed that to be addressed by external consultants.

As CEO of the College Carter  has ultimate responsibility for the College’s Malaysian operation headed by Tritt and variously named the “College Of Law Asia Pacific” and the “College Of Law Asia”. A search by NMT has not revealed any entities registered under those names in Malaysia or in Australia, not even a foreign entities registered to conduct business in Malaysia.

Meanwhile the College, in collaboration with the Bar Council continues to sell its LLM and other courses in Malaysia, deriving a fee income from Malaysian courses.

-NMT

See also

AG NSW justifies exclusion of foreign regulatory risks from Dept of Justice annual reports on the basis that he was threatened, intimidated by the information:The matter of Top Group has implications for all regulators (including the NSW Law Soc)

Posted by Ganesh Sahathevan at 6:24 PM

Posted by Ganesh Sahathevan at 3:58 PM

China reports biggest daily COVID-19 case jump in over 5 months, but the ABC and Casey Briggs are still not reporting cases from China

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

The ABC has reported zero cases from China for a long time, despite the numbers out of China.

First see Casey Briggs global numbers reported on 11 January 2021

Compare that against Reuters, and note the absence of any numbers from China in the ABC reprt.

HEALTHCARE & PHARMACEUTICALS
JANUARY 11, 202111:44 AMUPDATED 2 DAYS AGO

China reports biggest daily COVID-19 case jump in over 5 months



By Reuters Staff


4 MIN READ


SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Mainland China saw its biggest daily increase in COVID-19 cases in over five months, the country’s health authority said on Monday, as new infections in Hebei province surrounding Beijing continued to rise.




People wearing face masks walk past a Chinese flag, following new cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country, in Beijing, China January 11, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

A county in northeastern Heilongjiang province on Monday moved into lockdown after reporting new coronavirus infections, state television also reported separately.

Hebei accounted for 82 of the 85 new local infections reported on Jan. 10, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement, with Liaoning province also reporting two new cases and Beijing reporting one new case. The country also saw 18 new imported infections from overseas.

The total number of new COVID-19 cases stood at 103, the highest since 127 cases were reported on July 30.

Though the recent case tallies remain a small fraction of what the country saw at the height of the outbreak in early 2020, authorities are moving aggressively to curb its spread to avoid another national wave of infections.

The surge comes as the World Health Organization’s team of investigators probing the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic are set to arrive in China on Thursday. The NHC, which announced their arrival date on Monday, declined to provide the team’s itinerary.


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China has been accused of initially covering up the outbreak that first emerged in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, which critics say delayed China’s initial response and allowed COVID-19 to spread globally.

Wuhan city said on Monday it had launched contact tracing work for two people -- among the 82 new local cases Hebei reported -- who had been to Wuhan. A restaurant, a business building and three markets visited by one of the two people were later closed.

The current wave of local cases first erupted in the port city of Dalian in Liaoning in mid-December. As winter advanced, other northern provinces - Heilongjiang, Hebei and Jilin - started to report more infections.

Dalian on Monday blamed its outbreak on contaminated foreign vessels, saying the gene-sequencing information of the virus was different from that in previous outbreaks.

Most of the infected were dock workers handling cargoes from one ship from Russia, a Dalian official told reporters.


Slideshow ( 4 images )
NEW LOCAL INFECTIONS

Shijiazhuang, Hebei’s capital and the epicentre of the new outbreak in the province, is in lockdown. People and vehicles are being barred from leaving Shijiazhuang, while public transport in the city has also been halted.

Shijiazhuang accounted for 77 of the 82 new COVID-19 cases and all of the 49 new asymptomatic cases reported in Hebei province on Jan. 10.

Wangkui county, under the jurisdiction of Suihua city in Heilongjiang, reported eight new asymptomatic cases and on Monday closed all non-essential businesses, banned people from leaving the city and blocked all non-essential traffic, state television also reported.

Changchun, capital of Jilin, reported four new asymptomatic cases on Monday - the province’s first local infections since July 26. The infected persons had all travelled from Wangkui county recently via train, Jilin health authorities said.


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The residential compounds of the infected were under lockdown, with people and vehicles not allowed to leave the premises, the Changchun health authority said.

Hebei said on Monday that several sections of highways in the province have been closed, and vehicles registered to Shijiazhuang and Xingtai will be asked to go back. The latter city has also reported COVID-19 cases in recent days. The NHC reported 76 new asymptomatic cases for all of mainland China, up from 27 a day earlier. China does not count individuals who have tested positive for the coronavirus but are not showing symptoms as confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The new asymptomatic cases in Jilin are not part of the NHC’s daily case tally published on Monday and will be reflected on Tuesday.

Mainland China’s total number of infections to date now stands at 87,536, while the death toll is unchanged at 4,634.


Reporting by Jing Wang and Josh Horwitz in Shanghai, Gabriel Crossley, Lusha Zhang and Roxanne Liu in Beijing; Writing by Se Young Lee and Ryan Woo; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Michael Perry, Gerry Doyle, Ana Nicolaci da Costa/William Maclean


Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Pope Francis' "Trump Bad/China OK" politics is as shaky as his theology ;and then there are his problems with simple corporate governance

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

Readers will recall that Pope Francis refused to meet with Secretary  Of State Mike Pompeo  prior to the finalisation of the Vatican's still secret deal with the Communist Party Of China. 

On the other hand the Pope has been happy to criticise President Donald Trump, that Tweet above being the latest in a series that began in 2016: 

Meanwhile the Pope's theology has alarmed Catholics: 

Theologians accuse pope of heresy

And then there are his seeming incapacity to deal with simple issues of corporate governance. 

SEE ALSO 

Monday, December 14, 2020

Pope's partner in reforming capitalism Mastercard has unanswered 1MDB questions : The Pope has welcomed Mastercard as a "Guardian for Inclusive Capitalism "

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

The Pope has displayed questionable  judgement in a number of issues, including the Vatican's relations with China



Pope Francis has decided to back something called The Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican. In its press statement the Council said:

The Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican ("the Council"), a historic new partnership between some of the world's largest investment and business leaders and the Vatican, launched today. It signifies the urgency of joining moral and market imperatives to reform capitalism into a powerful force for the good of humanity. Under the moral guidance of His Holiness Pope Francis and His Eminence Cardinal Peter Turkson, who leads the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development at the Vatican, and inspired by the moral imperative of all faiths, the Council invites companies of all sizes to harness the potential of the private sector to build a fairer, more inclusive, and sustainable economic foundation for the world.The Council is led by a core group of global leaders, known as Guardians for Inclusive Capitalism, who meet annually with Pope Francis and Cardinal Turkson.

Ajay Banga, President and CEO of Mastercard is among the The Guardians. Banga has refused to respond to issues in the public domain which concern the. conduct of his chairman, Richard Haythornthwaite. It is important to remember that it is Mastercard, and not Ajay in his personal capacity, that is part of the Pope's initiative.

In 2015 the investigative website Sarawak Report produced evidence of Richard Haythornthwaite's involvement in Malaysia's 1MDB scandal. Correspondence from Haythornthwaite to Sarawak Report's Clare Rewcastle is far from what one would expect from a Guardian: 

If I knew I wouldn’t tell Sarawak Report

Given the mounds of evidence uncovered about the collusion of PetroSaudi in the 1MDB heist masterminded by Jho Low and now this latest proof from Good Star’s own incorporation records, Sarawak Report wrote last week to the company’s President, the prominent British businessman Rick Haythornthwaite.

Haythornthwaite – perturbed over “campaigning” journalism, but not about his company’s activities

Haythornthwaite is, among other things, also the Chairman of the UK energy giant Centrica and MasterCard Worldwide.  We asked if he knew of PetroSaudi’s letter claiming that it owns Good Star and if he had authorised the company to make such a claim?

Replying personally, Haythornthwaite expressed “considerable concern” about “questionable” activities.

However, it turned out that it was not the irregularities connected to his own company which were causing his concerns, but rather his opinion that Sarawak Report is a “blogger” “rather than an objective journalist with a desire to understand the full facts behind the matter”.

It was Sarawak Report’s activities which he chose to describe as questionable, rather than PetroSaudi’s:

“Therefore, even if I were to be in possession of information relevant to your query, I would be unwilling to assist you in your questionable activities” Mr Haythornthwaite concluded.

The above and related issues were brought to Banga's attention by this writer. There was no response, and Haythornthwaite remains 1MDB's chairman. 

END 

TO BE READ WITH 

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Mastercard's chairman and PetroSaudi-Two letters complicate matters,as do disclosures in Mastercard SEC announcements

by Ganesh Sahathevan


It was reported earlier this week on this blog and the TerrorFinance Blog that Richard Haythornthwaite, the chairman of Mastercard, has been implicated in the money laundering scheme involving Prince Turki Al-Saud's Petrosaudi. As reported on the Terror Finance Blog, UK regulators are trying hard to look away, in what appears to be an attempt to save Prince Turki.

Meanwhile, Haythornthwaite's Petrosaudi appears to have further implicated itself in the matter by issuing a letter explicitly confirming its ownership of a company named Good Star Ltd,which is an integral part of the theft and money laundering allegations.




Click to Enlarge 


Clare Rewcastle-Brown's Sarawak Report has provided evidence to show that in this letter Haythornthwaite's Petrosaudi has made a claim that is false, and designed to conceal the involvement of the Malaysian businessman Jho Low.
The letter is also contradicted by this commission agreement between Good Star and Tarek Obaid, PetroSaudi's CEO ,published by Sarawak Report, where Obaid is promised a commission for directing investments to Malaysia.


Clearly, Petrosaudi has no interest in paying its CEO a commission for directing investment into Malaysia.
As reported earlier (see story below), Haythornthwaite has denied if not attempted to distance himself from Petrosaudi, at least to Sarawak Report. As shown, that attempt was curious given that his PetroSaudi involvement is disclosed in theNetwork Rail Infrastructure Limited 2012 Annual Report. Now it can be shown that it is also disclosed in a Mastercard SEC disclosure.
The acronym PSI UK Ltd has been used instead of the full form , PetroSaudi International (UK) Ltd, as is the case in the Network Rail annual report.








Mr. Haythornthwaite is Non-Executive Chairman of Centrica PLC, a position he has held since January 2014. He is Chairman of the Operating Businesses of PSI UK Ltd and Chair of the World Wide Web Foundation. From 2006 until 2008, Mr. Haythornthwaite was a partner of Star Capital Partners Limited. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Haythornthwaite served as Chief Executive Officer and Director for Invensys plc and, from 1997 to 2001, he served as Chief Executive, Europe and Asia and then as Group Chief Executive for Blue Circle Industries plc (acquired by Lafarge SA in 2001). His prior positions included serving as a Director of Premier Oil plc, President of BP Venezuela, and General Manager, Magnus Oilfield, BP Exploration. Mr. Haythornthwaite is Chairman of Southbank Centre Board. Within the last five years, he also served as Non-Executive Chairman of Network Rail and as a director of Land Securities Group plc



The 1 MDB issue has now spread toa number of jurisdictions, given that there have been 
questionable transactions involving 1 MDB and PetroSaudi in the UK, Malaysia , the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore. Subsequently there are investigations under way in a number of jurisdictions, which directly or indirectly concern these transactions.
In the latest of these the Federal Court Of Australia has ordered the winding up of fund manager reported to have been entrusted with some USD 2 billion of 1 MDB money,being the proceeds of some business dealings with PetroSaudi.

This cannot be a good look for any company in the business of providing transaction services, let alone one with the worldwide reach of Mastercard. The company needs to provide shareholders and the public an explanation ,quickly.

END

First published at Terror Finance Blog

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Richard Haythornthwaite, the chairman of Mastercard,  has been implicated in the money
laundering scheme involving Prince Turki Al-Saud previously reported here. As reported,
that scheme has involved the apparent theft of billions of dollars from
the Malaysian sovereign fund,1 MDB Bhd.

The investigate news site Sarawak Report in its latest edition of an ongoing investigation
into Turki's Petrosaudi has reported:

If I knew I wouldn’t tell Sarawak Report

Given the mounds of evidence now apparent about the collusion of PetroSaudi in the 
1MDB heist masterminded by Jho Low and this latest proof from Good Star’s own incorporation 
records, Sarawak Report wrote last week to the company’s President, the prominent British 
businessman Rick Haythornthwaite.

Haythornthwaite is also the Chairman of the UK energy giant Centrica.  We asked if he knew of 
PetroSaudi’s letter claiming that it owns Good Star and if he had authorised the company to make 
such a claim?

In his response to Sarawak Report 's editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown Haythornthwaite said among
other things:

Dear Mrs Rewcastle

Having now done some research into your background, it is clear that you are an active
campaigning blogger rather than an objective journalist with a desire to understand the true
facts behind this matter.
That your email to me contains fundamental factual errors – not least suggesting 
that I am, or have ever been, chairman of PetroSaudi International – reinforces my 
concerns about your credibility.

Therefore, even if I were to be in possession of information relevant to your query, 
I would be unwilling to assist you in your questionable activities.

Haythornthwaite's apparent denial is interesting  given this disclosure of his CV in  the
 Network Rail Infrastructure Limited  2012 Annual Report :

Rick Haythornthwaite Chairman

 Rick Haythornthwaite, 55, has been the Company’s Non-Executive Chairman since July 2009
 having joined the Board in March 2009 as a Non-Executive Director. He was Chief Executive of
Invensys plc, from 2001 to 2005. He was also previously Group Chief Executive of Blue Circle
Industries and spent 18 years with BP in various senior roles. He is currently
Non-Executive Chairman of MasterCard Inc, a Senior Advisor to STAR Capital Partners and 
President of PetroSaudi International (UK) Ltd. His previous non-executive roles
included Board membership of ICI, Land Securities and Lafarge. In the voluntary sector,
he is Chairman of the Southbank Centre and Chairman of the World Wide Web Foundation.
Rick will retire from the Board at the Company’s annual general meeting (AGM) on 19 July 2012.
Appointed 23 March 2009

While Haythornthwaite might get away with saying "  even if I were to be in 
possession of information relevant to your query, I would be unwilling to assist you
 in your questionable activities" to Rewcastle-Brown's Sarawak Report, it is not a 
position he can maintain with regards Mastercard, its shareholders, and the relevant 
authorities, in the US, UK and other jurisdictions that are investigating the 1 MDB matter.

END 

See also « Malaysia's Deputy PM Implicates Wells Fargo In a Money Dirtying Scheme | Main

Posted by Ganesh Sahathevan at 9:14 PM 

State owned Australian Broadcasting Corp says it is " still very much in the dark as to where this (COVID19) virus started spreading...we may never know": ABC denies the science, easily proven by simple GIS methods

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

The state owned Australian Broadcasting Corp declared this morning on its ABC News program:

" We are still very much in the dark as to where this (WuhanCovid) virus started spreading.....we may never know"

The report is available at the link below until 19 January 2021:

https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NU2113H008S00

The except from the relevant part of the news report has been extracted and provided above.

The WuhanCovid virus is delivered by the ABC's virus specialist Casey Briggs. As one can see from Briggs presentation, China is not even among the country's in which WuhanCovid has been detected. This is despite the fact of recent outbreaks, and lockdowns in China. As reported by AP:

More than 360 people have tested positive in a growing coronavirus outbreak south of Beijing in neighboring Hebei province.

China’s National Health Commission reported Sunday that 69 new cases had been confirmed in the latest 24-hour period, including 46 in Hebei.

The outbreak has raised particular concern because of Hebei’s proximity to the nation’s capital. Travel between the two has been restricted, with workers from Hebei having to show proof of employment in Beijing to enter the city.

Hebei has recorded 183 confirmed cases and an additional 181 asymptomatic cases over the last eight days. China does not include those who test positive but do not show symptoms in its official case count.

Brigg' reports give the impression that they are data driven. However they ignore the data, and lack even simple  analysis of the type presented below. Little wonder that the ABC is " still very much in the dark as to where this (COVID19) virus started spreading".

TO BE READ WITH 

Modelling and mapping of the COVID-19 trajectory and pandemic paths at global scale: A geographer’s perspective

Abstract: 
In December 2019, the virus SARS-CoV-2 responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The virus started to spread from China and dispersed over the rest of the world. In March 2020, WHO (World Health Organization) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The transmission path of the pandemic was accelerated by different types of transportation. With complete analysis of spatial data, population density, types of traffic networks, and their properties, the spatial distribution of COVID-19 was estimated. GIS (Geographical Information System), numerical methods, and software for network analysis were used in this research to model scenarios of virus distribution on a global scale. The analyzed data included air, railway, marine, and road traffic. In the pandemic research, numerous models of possible trajectory of viruses can be created. Many have a stochastic character. This study includes all countries in the world affected by the COVID19 up to date. In this study, GIS methods such as buffer, interpolations, and numerical analysis were used in order to estimate and visualize ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation. According to the availability of new data, trajectory of virus paths was estimated. On the other hand, sparsely populated areas with poorly developed and small traffic networks (and isolated island territories) tend to be less or not affected as shown by the model. This low-cost approach can be used in order to define important measures that need to be addressed and implemented in order to successfully mitigate the implications of COVID-19 not only on global, but local and regional scales as well.

Asian & Arab leaders condemning Trump for the Capitol Hill siege better advised to study Obama & his roots in Saul Alinsky's Rules For Radicals ,and recall Hosni Mobarak & Obama's Arab Spring: Capitol Hill rioters simply a reflection of tactics popularised by Obama, likely to be part of the Biden-Harris-Obama2 presidency

 by Ganesh Sahathevan

Little known in Asia but the subject of much discussion in the West are the methods of Saul Alinsky., contained in his 1971 book, "Rules For Radicals".

The Rules

1. “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” Power is derived from 2 main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood.
2. “Never go outside the expertise of your people.” It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.
3. “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.
4. “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
5. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
6. “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.
7. “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” Don’t become old news.
8. “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
9. “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.
10. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.” It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign.
11. “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.
12. “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.” Never let the enemy score points because you’re caught without a solution to the problem.
13. “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.

The "Rules", especially the thirteenth, can be used to justify and then incite violence, as seen during the US BLM riots. It could also be seen in Obama's prosecution of the Arab Spring revolution in Egypt which caused former Egyptian President Hosni Mobarak to declare: 

"You don't understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now."

Readers, especially leaders, ought to reflect carefully on his words, and understand that Obama is a student of Alinsky. As reported by Reuters in one of its "fact checks:

In the 1980s, Barack Obama was a community organizer in Chicago where he received training from the Industrial Areas Foundation, an organization founded by Alinsky in the 1940s ( here ; bit.ly/2VumcpS ). In 1990, an essay by Obama on community organizing was compiled into a collection called “After Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois”. ( here ).

Alex Cohen, Alinsky’s biographer, has argued that Obama’s grass-roots campaign strategy during the 2008 presidential election drew greatly from Alinsky’s teachings ( here ).

There is little doubt anywhere that the Biden-Harris presidency is about restoring and preserving the Obama legacy. 

END 

Australia has permitted the Communist Party Of China to establish and operate a 55,000 strong nationwide Rukun Tetangga type organisation in Australian towns and cities -Australian Police assisted in the project

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

This week out of Australia: 

.........the Australian Emergency Assistance Association Incorporated (AEAAI), acts as a middleman in police incidents and legal cases involving Chinese speakers.

The association has promoted itself as a grassroots community platform to its more than 55,000 members from the Chinese diaspora in Australia on the Chinese social media platform WeChat.

It has more than 1,000 volunteers who promise to race to the scene of incidents across Australia in a matter of minutes.

According to confidential documents obtained by the ABC, the AEAAI was promised funding from the consulate and agreed to report back on criminal incidents, emergencies, accidents and "security risks" involving Chinese citizens deemed to require consular assistance.

The AEAAI was promoted publicly by (Federal Member Of Parliament)  Gladys Liu (no relation), who has close links to Mr Liu.

Ms Liu helped the 52-year-old develop a relationship with Victoria Police and, by Haha Liu's account, translated for him at events with MPs and business leaders.

He also watched from the public gallery in the House of Representatives as Ms Liu delivered her maiden speech in July 2019 as MP for the federal seat of Chisholm in Melbourne's east.

Malaysians and Indonesians  will recognise the Australian Emergency Assistance Association Incorporated as a form of their very own Rukun Tetangga neighbourhood watch schemes. No such scheme run by a foreign government, let alone the Communist Party Of China, is known to exist anywhere else in this region. Australia is fast becoming the country most infiltrated by the Communist Party Of China in this region. That makes it a regional threat The current political leadership, and leadership of the defence and security agencies, seem to have forgotten that Australian troops were called upon to defend Malaya from the Communist Party China backed Malayan Communist Party during the Malayan Emergency, which only ended in the 1980s. 

END 

SEE ALSO 

WeChat app brings neighbourhood watch to Chinese community

By Anna Hartley
Posted TueTuesday 22 OctOctober 2019 at 6:49am, updated TueTuesday 22 OctOctober 2019 at 12:01pm

The SOS-AUS group on the popular Chinese social media app WeChat has about 50,000 members.(ABC News: Anna Hartley)
Share




阅读中文版本

For most people in Australia triple-0 is their first and only point of call in an emergency, but tens of thousands of Chinese-speaking residents are using social media groups to get help when they fear for their safety.
Key points:
Police have urged WeChat users to contact the proper authorities in an emergency
Liaison officers in Sunnybank have their own WeChat account
Police say WeChat has benefitted police investigations

It has prompted one expert to warn people against taking the law into their own hands.

Chinese social media app WeChat — used by 2.5 million Australians — has allowed some groups to take the concept of neighbourhood watch online.

When Brisbane woman Layla Chen was woken in the middle of the night by a loud bang and thought there was an intruder downstairs, she called police.

She also posted the emergency on her local 2,500-strong WeChat neighbourhood group — Queensland Danger-Rescue Neighbourhood Watch.

"I just called my mum straight away because she was in another bedroom, and she said she heard it as well, so we just kept quiet," she said.

"I was no nervous because my daughter was beside me, I was just so worried."
Layla Chen and Johnson Zhang were strangers when he helped her through their local WeChat group.(ABC News: Anna Hartley)

Johnson Zhang lived nearby, saw the message and got to the Kuraby home within minutes.


"After she opened the door I said, 'you stay in the bedroom and I will check around your home to see if anyone is hiding somewhere'," he said.

Mr Zhang didn't find anyone inside, but his search helped Ms Chen feel better.

"He checked around the house as well, so I felt very secure," she said.

The police said they also checked outside the home and found no sign of forced entry.
Expert warns against vigilante behaviour

Dr Suzanna Lay from the University of Queensland is an expert on crime, immigration, and neighbourhood action and said while social media groups could be beneficial, people should not take the law into their own hands.

"It is great the leaders [of WeChat groups] are saying 'we don't encourage people to do put themselves in danger or act as vigilantes', but reality is sometimes social media takes a life of its own if it's not put in check," she said.
Jun Yu runs a Queensland-based 2,500 people strong WeChat support group.(ABC News: Anna Hartley)

"One of the things social media group founders can do is make sure community chats or Facebook pages have good admins who ensure people in the community are moderated to make sure things don't get out of hand."

Police have also warned against reporting crimes on social media.

Dr Lay said there was a growing trend of neighbourhood watch groups moving to a digital space, whether that be on WeChat, Facebook or other social media platforms.


"We used to have a lot of physical neighbourhood watch groups and a lot of that is now online, it's not just WeChat there's a range of social media pages," she said.

"When they are used in communities to support someone in trouble that's a good thing, but if we are reporting a crime that results in vigilantism where people go out and try to take action on their own, that's concerning.
Senior Sergeant Simon Mortimer and Senior PLO Ken Rong in Sunnybank Plaza engaging with the local Chinese community.(ABC News: Anna Hartley)

"I've seen this on some Facebook groups, people jump to conclusions on who the perpetrator of a crime is and it's not always true, what that means is it runs a risk of isolating or excluding individuals within that community," Dr Lay said.

"These groups can be helpful for communities that are linguistically isolated and that is important. It's not realistic or beneficial to say 'stay away from these social media groups completely'.

"Let's understand the benefits and risks and try to mitigate those risks."
A type of online 'neighbourhood watch'

Tens of thousands of people have joined similar WeChat groups around Australia in recent years.

One of the largest nation-wide online neighbourhood watch groups is SOS-AUS, known as AEAAI, founded by Melbourne man Huifeng Liu in 2016.

It has 50,000 members and Mr Liu said he expects that figure to double in the next three years.

"A lot of people who have just arrived in Australia as migrants don't know the country well, have difficulties with language, don't have friends or family nearby so it's important to help those people, especially when crime happens," he said.
In 2016 Melbourne man Huifeng Liu founded one of the largest nation-wide online neighbourhood watch groups.(ABC News: Jarrod Fankhauser)

"Initially the group was started because we thought the concept of neighbourhood watch was good, but it's a bit out-of-date so we decided to put it online for the Chinese community.

"This organisation is an online neighbourhood watch to help people report crime and communicate with the appropriate authorities like police."

Mr Liu said SOS-AUS and other similar WeChat groups did not encourage vigilantism.

"Safety is our top priority," he said.


"In situations of serious crime, we advise volunteers not to go onto the site but be a witness to tell the police what happened."

From missing relatives and burglaries to car crashes or scams, those in trouble post their emergency and location in their relevant WeChat neighbourhood watch group and other members nearby come to help.

"Generally speaking volunteers will be able to reach any person in 10 minutes," Mr Liu said.

Gold Coast woman Vivian Zhang has been a member of SOS-AUS since it started in Queensland.

Last year she helped a man who was bitten by a tick and didn't know what to do.
Senior Police Liaison Officer Ken Rong said WeChat had also benefitted police investigations.(ABC News: Anna Hartley)

"He needed medical attention because the insect was still on his skin and was drilling in, he felt very scared," she said.

"After I received this notification I rushed him to the Griffith University Hospital. I was happy to help."
Police urge users to call authorities in emergency

RMIT researcher Dr Haiqing Yu, who is studying Chinese digital media in Australia, said the WeChat neighbourhood watch concept had grown rapidly over recent years.

"This is the main platform where people share information about emergency situations, seek help when they are in trouble and volunteers will also organise patrols on the streets," she said.

Dr Yu said more authorities should embrace the platform.

"The volunteers of SOS-AUS have been community members for a long time so that trust is ingrained," she said.

"[Police] having a public account and constantly updating information to connect with the Chinese community is great but they also need foot soldiers in other WeChat groups to repost whatever they have done, that would increase the impact."
Queensland police have their own WeChat account.(ABC News)

Police said while the support groups could be useful for preventive messaging and post-crime support, they urged people to contact proper authorities to report any crime or emergency.

In the Brisbane suburb of Sunnybank, where more than one third of people speak Mandarin or Cantonese, Chinese-speaking police liaison officers have started their own WeChat account.

Senior Police Liaison Officer Ken Rong said their WeChat presence had also benefitted police, with an increase in witness reports following crimes in the Sunnybank area.

"The feedback has been very positive," he said.

"I think it's a great project and we hope more people subscribe to get accurate information."

Read The Story In Chinese: 阅读中文版本
Posted 22 OctOctober 2019, updated 22 OctOctober 2019

Malaysia can claim all of the South China Sea: 17th century British map of the Chinese Empire extends the Indian Ocean into the area now known as the South China Sea and beyond; map probably based on East India Company control over Indian sphere of influence which included South East Asia

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

The  British map  above of the Chinese Empire was produced in the late 17th century. As with all maps, it represents the information gathered from sources available to the mapmakers at that point of time. 

It clearly shows the Indian Ocean stretching well past modern day Thailand. Thailand and the rest of South East Asia were of course at various times part of the Indian sphere of influence. 

The East India Company on behalf of the British  took over and expanded the administration of the Indian sphere of influence, via treaties  with local chieftains , or by the use of arms. Penang,  and Manila are examples that come to mind.  

It follows then that the British Government would consider all of South East Asia to be part of the Indian sphere of influence, and the Indian Ocean to extend well past Thailand. The British Government were opposed in their expansion by the Dutch, but never the Chinese. In other words, the Chinese never sought to assert  their sovereignty  over  the South Chin Sea , over which they claim historical rights. 

Malaysia is the successor state to that part of South East Asia that was formerly part of the British Empire, bounded by the Malay Peninsula and the island of Borneo, but for Brunei and Kalimantan which is part of Indonesia. The South China Sea lies between those two limits. and hence Malaysia's sovereignty over the South China Sea, which was once considered part of the Indian Ocean.  China, as noted above, has only laid claim to the area in the mid 20th century. 

END