Friday, September 20, 2013

Australian foreign policy stupidity on display: High Commissioner to Malaysia honours Feisal Rauf, controversial imam accused of embezzlement

The pictures , with links for further information, and the stories that follow should be enough to embarrass any government, but then Australia's Department Of Foreign Affairs And Trade is not known for its sophistication. 
Incidents of this type arise when one tries impress without actually having any understanding of the matters at hand.


High Commissioner Miles Kupa presents a gift to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Chairman of Cordoba Institute.
High Commissioner Mr Miles Kupa (left) presents a gift to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Chairman of Cordoba Initiative (Photo taken 24 July , 2013)
(http://www.malaysia.highcommission.gov.au/klpr/media_iftar.html)


Just before the above, in February 2013:

Accused nonprofit embezzler imam Feisal Abdul Rauf steals away with wife amid claims he swindled $3 million in donations

The controversial Rauf made headlines following 9/11 after announcing plans to build a mosque at 51 Park Place, less than three blocks from Ground Zero. Rauf is alleged to have rerouted cash given to the Cordoba Initiative and the American Society for Muslim Advancement to line his pockets.

Updated: Thursday, February 7, 2013, 1:00 AM
Daisy Khan, co-founder of the Cordoba Initiative, speaks during a news interview in reaction to a speech by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a dinner in observance of Iftar at Gracie Mansion Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010  in New York. Bloomberg said not allowing the mosque to be built two blocks from ground zero would be "compromising our commitment to fighting terror with freedom."  (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, Pool)

Frank Franklin II/AP

Daisy Khan, co-founder of the Cordoba Initiative, is noted in a $20 million lawsuit alleging her husband, imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, pilfered $3 million from two nonprofits — including her own.

The took separate vacations — and cars.
Former “Ground Zero” imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife bolted their New Jersey home about 20 minutes apart Wednesday without addressing the pending $20 million lawsuit against him.
The ski-capped Rauf, 64, climbed into a waiting Lincoln Town Car, with his chauffeur and quickly zipped away from the two-story North Bergen house.
Spouse Daisy Khan fled earlier in her four-door sedan, pulling out of the long driveway past a Daily News reporter. Neither said a word before heading off.
RELATED: 'GROUND ZERO' MOSQUE SCAM
Rauf leaving his North Bergen home and getting into a limousine Wednesday morning. He's under fire for allegedly stealing from Muslim nonprofits.

Richard Harbus/for NY Daily News

Rauf leaving his North Bergen home and getting into a limousine Wednesday morning. He's under fire for allegedly stealing from Muslim nonprofits.

The blinds in their house were drawn tight one day after a Westchester County couple accused Rauf of redirecting more than $3 million in donations to a pair of nonprofits into his pockets.
According to the Manhattan lawsuit, Rauf used the ill-gotten cash to splurge on gifts and luxury vacations with a Jersey gal pal.
The imam, who became a polarizing national figure in the debate over the planned mosque near the World Trade Center site, also spent money on a sports car, real estate and other unspecified entertainment, the suit charged.
Daisy Khan told The News she had never gone on vacation with Rauf, who relaxed abroad with his purported girlfriend Evelyn Adorno, said a lawyer for plaintiffs Robert Deak and wife, Moshira Soliman.
RELATED: GONZALEZ: COURT FIGHT WITH 'GROUND ZERO' IMAM TAINTS BOTH SIDES
The imam slipped past a Daily News reporter Wednesday morning, refusing to acknowledge the lawsuit.

Richard Harbus /for NY Daily News

The imam slipped past a Daily News reporter Wednesday morning, refusing to acknowledge the lawsuit.

Khan and Rauf were both deeply involved with the allegedly looted nonprofits, the Cordoba Initiative and the American Society for Muslim Advancement.
The two groups were created to battle anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.
An attorney for Khan said the charges against her husband were bogus, adding they planned a “vigorous defense.”
The Internal Revenue Service, citing agency policy, declined comment Wednesday on the lawsuit’s allegation that Rauf lied on his nonprofits’ income tax returns in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
RELATED: IMAM FEISAL ABDUL RAUF OUT AS LEADER OF PLANNED MOSQUE NEAR GROUND ZERO: OFFICIALS
An artist rendering of the proposed Park51 community center and mosque, a project which has struggled to raise money.

AP

An artist rendering of the proposed Park51 community center and mosque, a project which has struggled to raise money.

He was ousted in January 2011 from the proposed $100 million Park51 community center. Around the same time, Rauf’s feud with his friends-turned-plaintiffs began.
Deak accused Rauf of blowing $167,000 from their donations, along with another $3 million given by the Malaysian government. The Malaysian Embassy had no comment Wednesday on the alleged scam.
Fund-raising at Park51 remains stalled as the group seeks an application for tax-exempt status and continues a court fight with Con Ed over back rent on the property.
Park51 developer Sharif El-Gamal, for a second straight day, did not return phone calls about Rauf.
But Mayor Bloomberg, once a backer of the planned mosque, didn’t give the mosque and cultural center much of a chance.
“Their plans were to raise $100 million. (They raised) $18,000,” the mayor said Wednesday. “I think . . . that’s enough of a story line.”
With Erin Durkin and Richard Harbus

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mosque-bandit-steals-wife-pilfering-allegations-article-1.1257309#ixzz2fUVomeD6




Monday, September 2, 2013

Can Therese Rein survive a politically dead Kevin?

 Therese Rein had this to say on Twitter last night:

Thérèse Rein @Therese_Rein


RT @macuser2323: @KRuddMP you were bloody brilliant tonight Kevin. You in my opinion definitely deserve another term.

 The real question: Can Therese Rein survive once Kevin is completely and utterly without influence, and prospects, as he is likely to be come the evening of 7 September 2013?

The following which I raised 5 years ago remains unanswered:

Sunday, April 27, 2008


Who guaranteed Therese Rein and Kevin Rudd's loan facilities?

In May 2007 the Sun Herald reported, in a story about Therese Rein and Kevin Rudd's business interest:

....she borrowed AUD 7800 against their Brisbane home and set up Therese Rein and Associates, trading as WorkDirections Australia.

"Well, we've struggled with our mortgage and this has been a long journey," she says. "What my parents gave me was a good education and the belief that you can do anything. They didn't give me money. When we started the business, we had a mortgage and we borrowed against the equity in the house. That only stopped ... a few years ago now." (Source:Rein & shine,By Peter Wilmoth
27 May 2007,Sun Herald)

However ,an ASIC search obtained at that time showed Rein's company was subject to a charge -fixed and floating -in favour of Westpac since 1990.That loan appears to have been refinanced since then , most recently with HSBC.
In other words, Rudd-Rein's business was not financed by a mere mortgage over the family home-other loans were also required,and these were secured over the business , NOT the family home.

Then, on 28 April 2008, Glen Milne of the Sunday Telegraph reported:
A COMPANY controlled by Kevin Rudd's wife Therese Rein took out a AUD 75million overdraft while the Prime Minister's office claimed the business was inactive.
It emerged two weeks ago that Mr Rudd had not declared the activities of one of his wife's companies -- Invisage Australia -- on a Parliamentary pecuniary interests register....The documents show that on March 30 of that year the company co-signed a bank loan facility -- essentially an overdraft -- with the HSBC bank for AUD 75 million.

This was in addition to an earlier loan taken out with Westpac on May 15, 2003 for AUD 120 million. The first loan was discharged on March 29, 2007.
The PM claimed that the company, which was in receipt of Federal Government funding over four years worth AUD 160,000, had been ``inactive'' since 2006.

But documents obtained by The Sunday Telegraph show that Invisage Australia, owned by the holding company Ingeus that is controlled by Mr Rudd's wife, was still active in 2007.

(Rudd, Rein and $75m
GLENN MILNE,27 April 2008
Sunday Telegraph)


I have previously written on Invisage on this blog:
http://gsahathevan.blogspot.com/2008/04/therese-reins-invisage-throws-light-on.html
I showed from their own website (now in Archives) that the company was a provider of training services. Hence it is not likely to have had assets sufficient to secure an AUD 120 million loan, or an AUD 85 million overdraft facility. In addition, Rudd himself said the company was inactive. If these financing facilities were required for the expansion of Ingeus, the parent company, the facilities would have been in the name of Ingeus which MAY have had the resources on which to secure the above facilities.

The entire Ingeus Group is said to have "global revenue topping $170 million".
(http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/rudds-wife-to-run-the-empire--her-own/2007/04/23/1177180569463.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1)
Hence, it could be argued that Westpac and HSBC were prepared to advance hundreds of millions in loans against the company's revenue. Service providers such as Ingeus are not likely to have much in assets-hence the company's revenue would have had to be the main source of security for the loans.
However, it is likely that the banks would have required further security, probably in the form of some type of guarantee from a party external to the business. Unless the Rudd's have some other asset base they are not telling us about, the guarantees would have to be provided by some party or parties friendly to the Rudds.

In short; Rein can no longer expect us to believe that has grown her company on the back of AUD 7,800 loan secured on a second mortgage over the family home.
posted by ganesh sahathevan @ 4:40 PM

Sunday, June 23, 2013

West Australia Police Commissioner Promises To Monitor ALL Emails for Anti-Muslim content

WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan is believed to have  promised the Islamic Council of WA that his technology crime division will monitor all emails sent and received in WA for anti-Muslim content.  Given the nature of the Internet that would include emails from any part of the world.

The WA Police website contains an extensive list of what it considers to be cyber-bullying (see below) but the Commissioner seems now determined to extend police powers to include all email communications, and not merely those sent the victim.

Western Australian law imposes criminal but not civil sanctions against racial vilification. In Western Australia, the Criminal Code was amended in 1989 to criminalise the possession, publication and display of written or pictorial material that is threatening or abusive with the intention of inciting racial hatred or of harassing a racial group. 

While Muslims are a religious rather than racial group it may not be difficult to deem acts of religious discrimination as acts of racial discrimination given that the majority of Muslims in Australia are to be found in ethnic minorities.
The Australian Human Rights Commission's "Unlocking Doors: Muslim communities and police tackling racial and religious discrimination together" project is but one example where race and religion are treated as one.



The undertaking was reported  by an eye-witness who has chosen to remain anonymous, to have been provided at a  recent meeting with members of the Council who had complained that Muslims were being abused.
The Commissioner has been asked  to explain the nature and extent of the monitoring he is said  to have  promised but has refused to do so on the grounds that he cannot comment on "police operational activities".

END

Cyber-bullying

What does cyber-bullying look like?

Cyber-bullying might occur over the Internet, in instant messaging (IM) applications, chat rooms, social networking sites, blogs or gaming sites. It can also occur over the phone, by SMS or MMS, or other technologies. Most cyber-bullying can be organised into eight different categories:
  1. Flaming – what might start off as a fight between two people then spreads, like flames, to include a number of other people.
  2. Trolling – deliberately posting provocative messages to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument which may lead to frustration and emotional distress for the people being targeted.
  3. Harassment – tormenting someone with hateful and hurtful text messages, emails, posts and IMs that offend, humiliate or intimidate them.
  4. Denigration – putting someone down or ruining their reputation; making others think less of them.
  5. Impersonation – by you pretending to be another person online you could make someone tell you things they wouldn’t normally talk to you about. Lying hurts.
  6. Outing and Trickery – tricking others into believing that you are someone else, and then revealing that someone else is a homosexual is cyber-bullying. This might be done through a fake website, profile, or by editing someone’s profile.
  7. Exclusion – not letting someone participate in an online group, or excluding them from other activities because they haven’t been online.
  8. Cyber-stalking – following someone through cyberspace. Moving with them to different sites and applications; posting where they post.


Why do people cyber-bully?

There are a number of reasons why people might cyber-bully someone else, including:
  • They think that it is amusing.
  • They don’t like the person.
  • They don’t consider it to be a big deal.
  • They don’t believe there are any consequences.
  • They think they are anonymous.
None of these reasons, or any others, can ever justify cyber-bullying.


What are the effects of cyber-bullying?

Things that happen on the Internet, or on your mobile phone, have real-world consequences. Some of the effects of cyber-bullying are:
  • Anger
  • Embarrassment
  • Fear
  • Poor performance at school
  • Loss of confidence and self esteem
  • Revenge cyber-bullying
  • Self-harm, even suicide
Cyber-bullying hurts people. It can ruin lives.


What can you do about cyber-bullying?

Don’t start it! Cyber-bullying is never acceptable. Think before you post something mean, or send someone a hurtful message.
Don’t be a part of it! As a bystander, you are part of the problem. If someone tries to involve you in cyber-bullying, say NO.
Don’t let it get out of control! You need to tell someone if you are being cyber-bullied so they can help you to make it stop.


You can stay in control by:

  • Learning how to block communications from cyber-bullies.
  • Finding out your school’s policy in relation to cyber-bullying.
  • Researching what policies your internet service provider (ISP) and any online applications you are using have on cyber-bullying.
  • Telling someone – you should talk to a parent, teacher, or trusted friend.

Note: If you believe you may be a victim of online stalking or cyber bullying please report full details of the incident to Technology Crime and an officer will contact you to discuss the matter.

SUPPORT:
For assistance and counselling services please go to ScamNet - Help for Victims. If you need to speak to someone urgently call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Malaysia's rent to the Sultan of Sulu-A foolish strategy that has backfired spectacularly


The following is an excerpt from a monograph by Kevin YL Tan of the Centre For International Law, NUS:



The Philippines claimed sovereignty over Sabah on the basis 
that it had sovereignty over Sulu and was thus successor in title 
to all possessions of the Sulu Sultanate. On 12 September 1962, 
during President Diosdado Macapagal’s administration, a series 
of instruments were executed by the alleged heirs of the Sultan 
of Sulu to transfer all sovereignty, rights and interest they may 
have had in Sabah to the Philippines Government (Ref to footnote 54)



Footnote 54 states:

These instruments were: (a) Instrument dated 24 Apr 1962 under which 
five heirs transferred their claim to North Borneo to the Philippine 
Government; (b) Resolution of Ruma Bechara of Sulu authorizing 
the Sultan in Council to transfer his title of sovereignty over North 
Borneo to the Philippines dated 29 Aug 1962; (c) Document signed 
by the Philippine President authorizing Vice-President Emmanuel 
Palaez to accept an instrument of cession of rights over Sabah from 
one of the heirs dated 11 Sep 1962; and (d) Instrument of cession of 
North Borneo by Sultan Mohammed Esmail Kiram, Sultan of Sulu, 
dated 12 Sep 1962. See Jayakumar, ibid, at 308 n14.



Given the above, it appears that in assuming the UK  Government's payments to the Sultan of Sulu the Malaysian Government sought by deed and action to signal their disregard
for  the 1962 instruments entered into between the Government of the  Philippines and the heirs of the Sultan 
of Sulu . Put in another way, the Malaysian Government was in effect recognising the Sultan's sovereignty 
over Sabah in opposition to the very agreements , norms and conventions of international law that gave the Federation of Malaysia  sovereignty  over Sabah.

It seems that in the minds of Malaysia's leadership  politics. religion, ,culture, tradition took precedence over basic concepts of  the common and international law. As recent events have shown, one cannot seek the shelter of the law that one has spurned. Having taken a path outside its boundaries, one is left to resolve matters by the norms of ones culture,tradition and religion.
END  

Friday, March 30, 2012

Forgive me Father but I will not sin: Why a devout Catholic makes a poor choice of ambassador to the Vatican

Forgive me Father but I will not sin: Why a devout Catholic makes a poor choice of ambassador to the Vatican.

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr has appointed his long time friend John McCarthy QC ambassador to The Holy See. McCarthy has been a life-long barrister, and an adviser to the Australian Labour Party , in particular the ALP in the State of New South Wales of which Carr was premier.
He is also a devout Catholic ,and a friend and adviser to Sydney Archbishop George Cardinal Pell. MCarthy’s son is a priest, who himself spent a number of years in Rome. According to the Sydney Morning Herald McCarthy “has been involved in international Catholic organisations, and received a papal knighthood in 2006 for services to the Catholic Church in Australia and the Australian community.”
All this may make him seem the ideal candidate for the post, but however, he is being sent to the Vatican as a diplomat, not missionary.
Indeed , as a diplomat representing Australian interests he may well have to act against the interest of the Vatican. It is unlikely that Australian interests and that of the Vatican will always coincide. The Iraq War (or Gulf War 2) is one such example. While the Vatican and then Pope John Paul II opposed the war, the Australian Government decided that it was in Australia’s national interest to support the US led invasion . If Australia had an ambassador at the Vatican at that point of time he or she would have needed to gather intelligence from within the Vatican to determine the motivations for the Vatican’s position, and then used that information to either change if not undermine that stance. It is hard to see McCarthy doing anything of that sort.
Indeed , it is difficult to see how this life long barrister would even begin to appreciate what is required of him in the post he is to assume. A Vatican posting can serve many purposes. For instance it serves as an important centre for the exchange of information which career diplomats would instinctively identify and seek, but which a barrister whose work has been confined to the State of NSW is unlikely to be aware of.
Then, while having the honorific “Your Excellency” before one’s name may seem a logical extension to having the words “Queen’s Counsel” after, the role of diplomat and senior barrister require very different skills and temperament.Unlike barristers, particularly QCs , who are encouraged and indeed treasure a sense of aloofness from the rest of humanity, diplomats are expected to get themselves dirty in the furtherance of the national interest. For example, the Vatican has an extensive and unique network of diplomats, all of whom are priests , who are stationed in many parts of the world. Gaining an understanding of what they know would be very useful to Australian interests and it should be the task of the ambassador whoever he or she is to gain insight into that information by whatever means. That may require being less than honest with diplomat priesththys ,cardinals and the Pope himself.
It is hard to see a devout Catholic doing anything of that sort. Some may think this assessment unfair given that the McCarthy’s predecessor Tim Fischer is also Catholic. However. Fishcer had been amongst other things a minister for trade and a politician of many years experience. It is hard to see that he would have let his faith get in the way of his work.
END
Disclosure: The writer is himself of the Catholic faith but understands the distinction between the Pope as head of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Australia's Influence In South East Asia-A Wet Dream

Many in Canberra and indeed among the Australian "intelligentsia" believe that the key to Australian engagement with South East Asia is identification with the culture of the region.Ability in the regions'languages,marriage into any of the region's main ethnic groups,or better still being their ethnicity, are all thought to be assets that will only enhance Australia's relations with South East Asia.

The reality has proven otherwise.

Zuli Chudori,the Indonesian born and raised wife of the current Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia, Miles Kupa, has been reduced to pretending to be a journalist on Linkedin in what appears to be part of an effort to build a network of local contacts. Chudori is herself a senior executive of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,and formerly in charge of the Malaysia Desk.

Michael Wise,High Commissioner circa 2003, despite being married to an Indian from Goa was so ignorant of goings-on in Kuala Lumpur that it took Australian media reports brought to the specific attention of his office for him to realise that a USD 8 billion Al-Qaeda linked fund based in Melbourne operated a bank in Labuan.

His predecessor Peter Varghese ,being of Indian descent, was best known as the High Commissioner who knew nothing.His pronouncements about the region when later appointed head of the Office Of National Assessments,prove the point.

Now there is the attempt to burnish the credentials of the Foreign Minister designate, Bob Carr,whose Malaysian born-wife Helena Carr is said to have provided him "a wealth of contacts" in South East Asia. Unfortunately , no one who is anyone in Malaysian business circles can recall even having met her.

Carr's predecessor, the Mandarin speaking Kevin Rudd's Asia-Pacific Community proposal was rejected by even Singapore which has a specific policy encouraging the speaking of Mandarin.

Despite this history, Canberra continues to believe that it has some role to play in regional security, together with China and the United States. While the Five Power Defence Agreement remains in force, the governments of the region realise that they need to prepare their own defences.The Butterworth RAAF base, for example,is not considered a serious deterrent to any transgressing force.
Carr himself, has spoken of a sharing of power between the three countries.
If only he and Canberra stopped to listen, and stopped pretending that they know anything, it would be obvious that arrangements favouring a larger US presence, with no Chinese presence whatsoever in the Strait of Malacca,and limited to the northern section of the South China Sea, are already in place.
END

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Sydney University condemned by the Chinese: A case study of how to fail in business in Asia

In October 2011 the Vice-Chancellor , University of Sydney, The Rev Dr Michael Spence, announced that the University will accept for entry into the University grades achieved in China's National College Entrance Examination(or Gaokao in Pinyin).

On February 21 2012, the Chinese state owned English publication, China Daily, reported:
Compared with the admission cut-offs set by Chinese universities, the entry score set by theUniversity of Sydney is very low, according to the guide to academic entry requirements for Chinese students applying to undergraduate programs at the university in 2012.
The entry score is listed by China's municipality or province. In Shanghai, for instance, students with a minimum gaokao score of 468 can apply for the university, which is more than 100 points less than the score needed to enter China's top universities, such as Peking University orTsinghua University.

The publication is state owned and serves to disseminate the views of the Chinese leadership.


That the Daily has chosen to describe the University's cut-off mark as "very low", and then compared it unfavourably to Peking and Tsinghua universities should be of concern to Sydney University for the words convey a lack , if not a loss of regard for the University's standing.The reasons are unclear, but regardless of what the reasons might be, the University obviously does not enjoy the confidence of the Chinese leadership.
While their motives are not known, what is clear is that the above has followed the Reverend's decision to accept NCEE marks for admission. While he might have felt he was doing poor Chinese students and their families a favour, the Chinese reaction is that he has been motivated by money. As another state owned if not controlled publication , the Shenzhen Daily put it:
A growing number of Australian universities are preparing to lower the enrollment requirements for Chinese students in the hope of enrolling more high school graduates from the country.

This is an opinion shared by younger Chinese as well, who have made their opinions known on the website OffBeatChina
In that sense, the reaction of the Chinese leadership is easily understood as a simple taking of an advantage when the opportunity to do so is offered.The Reverend offered the opportunity by showing the University as being willing to lower standards to gain more fee paying students, the Chinese leadership took advantage of that opening to publicly demonstrate the superiority of Chinese institutions.
Any Asian would have seen that coming.

END