MIRI: Blogging has becoming a craze among politicians in this country since the last general elections, for it has been found that it could make or break their election results.

ENGROSSED: A section of the workshop participants. Lee is at right and Chia second right.

“There is increasing interest among politicians to take a serious look into this new phenomenon,” says Assistant Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communication Lee Kim Shin who was one of participants of a workshop on ‘New Media’ that was held at the Curtin University of Technology campus here yesterday.

Australian Journalism Review reports a staggering 60 million blogs as of May this year, with Malaysia alone contributing to nearly a million, of which nearly 60 per cent are political blogs.

“It means that over half a million views are circulating among millions of readers in the country and the world. It is no wonder that blogs had significant impact on the last elections,” he added.

Lee said with this rise in number comes the rise in audience size and political influence, and with this rise, comes the issue of responsibility and accountability of bloggers towards the law, the country and the people.

Pointing out that the phenomenon was both exciting and worrisome, Lee who is also Senadin assemblyman, said blogging was akin to a speedway where people tended to be reactionary and expressive.

Therefore, the responsibilities that come with the thrill to freely express can’t be ignored, said Lee.

Bloggers must therefore be responsible in saying the truth and projecting rational opinion for the good of the nation.

They must also be responsible to mobilise the public to think critically and act intelligently, and to shun personal attack.

They were also reminded not to incite the public for petty self-satisfaction and to respect democratic and interactive nature of blog.

“Empirical studies have shown that when people express themselves freely, and publicise their opinions, they do not always unite,” says Lee, adding that the strength of blog was its uncensored and unrestricted nature, which was also its greatest weakness.

Lee together with Pujut assemblyman Andy Chia and political secretary to Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Sebastian Ting were among participants of the

workshop, which was conducted by Sean Ang - programme manager for SEACEM and the Earth247.tv, and Rachel Chan - programme administrator and web editor of SEACEM.

Both trainers have conducted workshops for Malaysiakini.tv, Mindanews, Earth247.tv, Amnesty International, Bernama News International, Centre for Policy Initiative, Sisters in Islam, Tenaganita and Mizzima TV.

KUCHING: MASwings is offering ‘Groovy Online Offers’, a one-way ticket from Bintulu, Sibu, Kota Kinabalu or Labuan to Miri at RM39 each in conjunction with the Miri International Jazz Festival on May 9-10.

Minister of Urban Development and Tourism Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh who announced this yesterday said the offer represented about 80 per cent discount of the normal fare.

“The special fare is available for online purchase at MASwings website. Also, the first 50 customers will be given free entry passes to the Miri International Jazz Festival,” he told a news conference at Baitul Makmur in Petra Jaya yesterday.

Wong, who is also Second Finance Minister, was confident that the close cooperation between MASwings and Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) would help better promote the festival among locals and foreigners.

“The jazz festival is becoming popular as this is the third consecutive year it is being held. It brings in both local and international jazz groups to perform here,” he said, adding that the festival would gradually receive overwhelming response like Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF).

Citing RWMF as an example, he said its debut 11 years ago only managed to attract 600 spectators, with half of the passes given free.

“Today, the number of RWMF revellers has reached 24,000. About 60 per cent of them are foreigners. It is thus hoped that the jazz festival would follow suit and become a major festival in Miri.”

Wong said Miri, with room occupancy of at least 3,000 would be able to meet the accommodation need of about 6,000 visitors expected during the two-day festival.

Earlier, MASwings managing director Dr Amin Khan said the wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) took pride in collaborating with STB to promote the jazz festival as a leading tourism-driven musical festival in the region.

“This is in line with MASwings’ objective to revitalise the economy and tourism industry of Sarawak and Sabah.”

Amin also said the involvement of MASwings in the festival was also meant to keep up with its aspiration to contribute towards the quality of life of the local communities.

“Through the jazz festival, with the presence of regionally and internationally recognised jazz musicians, we hope to increase the experience and appreciation of performing arts among the local community,” he said.

He pledged that MASwings would go all out to boost tourist arrivals in the state.

On ‘Groovy Online Offers’, he said that 500 seats had been allocated for the discounted fares, and that online booking could be made until May 2.

Asked why Kuching was excluded from the offer, Amin said: “MASwings has no Kuching-Miri direct flight yet. It will however offer three flights each for the Sibu-Miri and Kota Kinabalu-Miri sectors, two Miri-Bintulu, and four Miri-Labuan flights during the two-day festival.”

Meanwhile, STB corporate manager Benedict Jimbau disclosed that 1,500 tickets for May 9 and 1,800 tickets for May 10 had been sold out as of April 18.

“We are expecting some 3,000 spectators each night,” he said, adding that the festival received 4,000 visitors last year.

KUCHING: A school teacher has brought a civil suit against her husband claiming for a few million ringgit damages over the loss of her virginity.

The plaintiff, about 30 years old, from Kuching, is bringing an action against her businessman husband (the first defendant), father-in-law (second defendant), and the mother-in-law (third defendant), all from Serian.

It was said that the writ of summons as well as the statement of claims had been served on all three defendants.

She made a claim (from the husband) for the loss of her virginity, ‘loss of damage for humiliation’ and mental torture including harm suffered.

In addition, she was also asking for the Kancil car given to her as a gift (out of a promise) to be returned.

It was reported that the vehicle, which was registered under the name of another woman, was taken back by the defendant.

Represented by Counsel Ernest Chua, the claimant is also seeking for any other reliefs as the court deems fit and proper to the suit.

She was still a university student when sometime in 2006 she met a man (now her husband) slightly younger than her.

After a few months of courtship, they decided to become husband and wife in the future.

It was said that they had spent a night together at a hotel here.

The plaintiff claimed that it was her first sexual experience with a man and she had surrendered her virginity to him that night upon the promise that the first defendant would be responsible for his act and marry her.

She even disclosed to the first defendant before he registered their marriage that due to a surgical operation before she would not be able to conceive a child.

The man allegedly broke his promise a few months ago (despite the fact that they had registered as husband and wife at the end of last year but without going through the Chinese ceremony).

It was also claimed that problems began to arise since the end of last year because the husband’s parents had interfered with the relationship.

The plaintiff was told by the parents that she would not be accepted as part of the family.

According to the plaintiff, the parents had also made baseless accusations against her.

Feeling that she had been deceived and misrepresented, she filed her case in the High Court.

It was learned that apart from the civil suit, there is a possibility of criminal proceeding against the first defendant.

KOTA KINABALU: The declining number of East Malaysians in the Federal Cabinet is a cause of concern as this could have detrimental effects on the Barisan Nasional (BN).

National Central Youth MCA Committee member cum MCA Sabah Deputy Youth chief Wilfred Yong yesterday pointed out that the number of East Malaysians holding senior ministerial portfolios in the Federal government had declined since the 12th general election.

Yong, who stated this in a statement yesterday, was commenting on a statement made by State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Majun.

“Whilst not wishing to add to the Prime Minister’s woes, I have to endorse and add to the comments made by Datuk Masidi Manjun Masidi,” he said.

According to Yong, Masidi’s remarks was on the paucity of representation of Sabah BN at the highest level of government but pointed out that the same comment applied to the whole of East Malaysia.

He said it was a fact that the number of East Malaysians appointed to senior ministerial portfolios had actually declined since the election.

“In Sabah and Sarawak, the people supporting BN candidates showed a strength of force on March 8 and in many cases, the majorities garnered by the candidates in these two states increased substantially compared with their counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia, where there were disturbing losses of support,” he said.

Yong lamented that even on a pro rata basis, Sabah had lost out in the “reward” of senior posts, especially when put alongside Umno’s home state of Johor.

“Even though I accept that when drawing up his Cabinet, the Prime Minister had a difficult task to create an effective balance, but I have to humbly express that he is running a serious risk of alienating loyal BN East Malaysians,” he stressed.

Many workers from all the BN component parties had put in incredible efforts prior to the election and Sabah, particularly, had received scant reward of recognition for their work or loyalty.

“By any measure East Malaysia is now the national bastion of BN and neither Umno nor any of the other parties should, by default, squander the vital 24 parliamentary seats.

“Perhaps it is time the BN leadership break out from their KL-centric mindset and show by their actions that East Malaysians are really fully paid-up members and citizens of equal paramount of the nation.

“Therefore, I call upon the central leadership to address this issue urgently and to really consider the well-being of Sabahans since it has become one of the poorest states in the country. I fear that failure to do so may result not only in a disillusioned electorate but an eventual catastrophe far worse than the March 8 general election,” Yong said.