Basmi skim cepat kaya -- PM mahu rakyat tampil bantu dakwa pengelola pelaburan

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi melihat buku Satu Negara Satu Wawasan selepas melancarkan buku Bersama Menuju Satu Wawasan, kedua-duanya terbitan PNB pada majlis penutup Minggu Saham Amanah Malaysia di Kuantan, semalam sambil disaksikan Adnan Yaakob (kanan), Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid (dua dari kiri) dan Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman. – Gambar RUSHDI SALLEH.

Oleh NAZRULLAH ROSLI dan ARSHAD KHAN

KUANTAN 29 April – Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi meminta rakyat tampil membantu kerajaan membasmi skim cepat kaya di negara ini termasuk yang beroperasi melalui Internet.

Beliau menegaskan, kerajaan tidak berkompromi dalam isu itu dan tetap akan mengambil tindakan undang-undang terhadap pengelola-pengelola skim cepat kaya.

Menurut beliau, usaha membanteras skim cepat kaya hanya dapat dilakukan dengan efektif sekiranya rakyat membantu kerajaan.

Abdullah berkata, beliau kesal dan terkilan dengan sikap segelintir anggota masyarakat yang masih terpedaya dengan pelbagai bentuk instrumen kewangan yang kononnya berupaya menjana pulangan besar dalam masa yang singkat seperti pelaburan melalui Internet.

“Saya berharap saudara saudari tidak langsung memberi sokongan kepada bentuk pelaburan yang tidak diiktiraf seperti itu agar ia tidak berleluasa dan merugikan rakyat,” kata Perdana Menteri ketika berucap menutup program Majlis Saham Amanah Malaysia 2007 di Padang Majlis Perbandaran Kuantan 2 (MPK2) di sini hari ini.

Abdullah berkata, bagi membolehkan kerajaan mengambil tindakan undang-undang terhadap mereka yang mengelolakan skim cepat kaya, kerajaan mengharapkan sokongan rakyat.

Menurutnya, tidak ada satu bentuk pelaburan yang mampu memberikan jaminan pulangan lumayan kepada pelabur dalam jangka masa pendek.

“Pelaburan memerlukan jangka masa panjang untuk membuahkan hasil lumayan. Oleh yang demikian, pelabur perlu mempunyai kesabaran dan jangan diperdayakan oleh skim pelaburan jangka pendek yang tidak diketahui asal usulnya,” kata beliau.

Pelaburan dalam saham amanah seperti yang diperkenalkan oleh PNB, kata Perdana Menteri, adalah jauh lebih menguntungkan kerana ia mampu memberikan pulangan yang kompetitif setiap tahun.

Sehubungan itu, beliau menyarankan rakyat agar membuat pelaburan dalam satu atau dua dana amanah yang sesuai dengan profil risiko masing-masing seperti yang diuruskan oleh PNB.

Dalam ucapannya, Abdullah turut memuji kejayaan PNB yang didorong oleh sokongan rakyat serta profesionalisme pengurusan PNB yang menerajui PNB dan anak-anak syarikatnya dengan amanah, telus dan jujur.

Beliau mencadangkan PNB mengambil langkah seterusnya dengan memasuki pasaran kewangan antarabangsa seperti yang dilakukan oleh kebanyakan institusi pelaburan ulung dunia.

“Dengan arus globalisasi dan liberalisasi yang semakin dirasai, penglibatan lebih banyak institusi pelaburan domestik di pasaran antarabangsa merupakan tindakan yang wajar dalam konteks ini.

“Jika kita telah berjaya menempa nama dan membina jenama di negara sendiri, saya berpendapat penjenamaan di peringkat global bukanlah satu cabaran yang di luar kemampuan syarikat-syarikat kita,” katanya.

Beliau juga melontarkan cabaran agar warga PNB berusaha menyaingi prestasi yang telah ditunjukkan oleh syarikat-syarikat pengurusan pelaburan antarabangsa seperti Capital, Fidelity dan Vanguard yang mampu memberikan pulangan berpuluh-puluh kali ganda ke atas pelaburan pelabur-pelabur mereka.

Turut hadir pada majlis itu ialah Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, Pengerusi Permodalan Nasional Bhd. (PNB), Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid serta Presiden dan Ketua Eksekutif PNB, Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman. [Utusan]

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Isnin, April 30, 2007 | 0 ulasan

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Selasa, April 24, 2007 | 0 ulasan

Killer's Note: 'You Caused Me to Do This'

<== Law enforcement officials have provided this official photo of Cho Seung-hui, the man they identify as the killer at Virginia Tech. Cho was a 23-year-old student of Korean descent who lived on campus. Sources tell ABC News he was carrying a backpack with a receipt for the purchase of a 9 mm handgun.

Seung-Hui Cho, 23-Year-Old Shooter, Wrote 'Disturbing' Note and Violent Plays
By NED POTTER, DAVID SCHOETZ, RICHARD ESPOSITO, PIERRE THOMAS and the staff of ABC News

April 17, 2007 — - Watch a special hour-long edition of "World News With Charles Gibson," and an ABC News Special Report at 10 p.m. EDT

Seung-Hui Cho, the student who killed 32 people and then himself yesterday, left a long and "disturbing" note in his dorm room at Virginia Tech, say law enforcement sources.

He also wrote at least two violent plays for an English course that worried his professor and several classmates.

Sources described the note, which runs several pages, as beginning in the present tense and then shifting to the past. It contains rhetoric explaining Cho's actions and says, "You caused me to do this," the sources told ABC News.

Sources say Cho, 23, killed two people in a dorm room, returned to his own dorm room where he re-armed and left the note, then went to a classroom building on the other side of campus. There, he killed 30 more people in four classrooms before shooting himself in the head.

Watch an ABC News Special Report at 10 p.m. EDT

Witnesses say he was stone-faced as he opened fire. Law-enforcement sources say he may have had a romantic interest in a young woman who was found dead after the first shootings.

Violent Plays

Lucinda Roy, a co-director of the creative writing program at Virginia Tech, taught Cho in a poetry class in fall of 2005 and later worked with him one-on-one after she became concerned about his behavior and themes in his writings.

Roy spoke outside her home Tuesday afternoon, saying that there was nothing explicit in Cho's writings, but that threats were there under the surface.

Roy told ABC News that Cho seemed "extraordinarily lonely--the loneliest person I have ever met in my life." She said he wore sunglasses indoors, with a cap pulled low over his eyes. He whispered, took 20 seconds to answer questions, and took cellphone pictures of her in class. Roy said she was concerned for her safety when she met with him.

She said she notified authorities about Cho, but said she was told that there would be too many legal hurdles to intervene. She said she asked him to go to counseling, but he never did.

One play attributed to him, called "Richard McBeef," describes a 13-year-old boy who accuses his stepfather of pedophilia, and ends with the boy's death.

In another, called "Mr. Brownstone," three high-school students face an abusive teacher.

"I wanna kill him," says one character.

"I wanna watch him bleed like the way he made us kids bleed," says another.

The two plays were posted on AOL after a staffer named Ian MacFarlane, a December 2006 graduate of Virginia Tech, brought them to his editors' attention.

MacFarlane said he was in a class with Cho in which students were required to post their plays online for peer review and comment.

AOL editors verified the authenticity of Cho's works before posting them, according to Alysia Lew of AOL Corporate Communications.

At a late-afternoon news conference, police said they had searched Cho's dorm room. "There were considerable writings that were reviewed," said Col. Steven Flaherty, Superintendent of the Virginia State Police.

A 'Troubled' Young Man

Some news accounts have suggested that Cho had a history of antidepressant use, but senior federal officials tell ABC News that they can find no record of such medication in the government's files. This does not completely rule out prescription drug use, including samples from a physician, drugs obtained through illegal Internet sources, or a gap in the federal database, but the sources say theirs is a reasonably complete search.

Cho, born in South Korea, was a legal resident alien of the United States. He was a senior at Virginia Tech, majoring in English.

Sources tell ABC News Cho bought his first gun, a Glock 9 millimeter handgun, on March 13; they say he bought his second, a Walther .22 caliber pistol, within the last week. The serial numbers on both guns had been filed off, they said.

Authorities found the receipt for the 9 millimeter handgun in Cho's backpack. They say the bag also contained two knives and additional ammunition for the two guns.

Legal permanent resident aliens may purchase firearms in the state of Virginia. A resident alien must, however, provide additional identification to prove he or she is a resident of the state.

Sections of chain similar to those used to lock the main doors at Norris Hall, the site of the second shooting that left 31 dead, were also found inside a Virginia Tech dormitory, sources confirmed to ABC News.

President Bush and the first lady addressed the Virginia Tech community at a convocation Tuesday afternoon.

"Yesterday began like any other day. Students woke up and they grabbed their backpacks and they headed for class," Bush said. "And soon the day took a dark turn, with students and faculty barricading themselves in classrooms and dormitories."

"For many of you here today, it was the worst day in your lives," Bush said.

Positive Fingerprint Match

Cho's identity has been confirmed by matching fingerprints on his guns with his immigration records.

"Lab results confirm that one of the two weapons seized in Norris Hall was used in both shootings," Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said at a press conference Tuesday morning.

Cho, according to law enforcement officials, had entered the country through Detroit with his family in 1992, at the age of eight. He last renewed his green card in 2003. As of yesterday, his home address was listed as Centreville, Va., and the university reported he was living in a campus dormitory, Harper Hall.

Cho's parents live in a townhouse development in Centreville, a suburb of Washington. They own a dry-cleaning shop nearby.

His older sister, Sun-Kyung, graduated from Princeton University in 2004. A source, who asked to be identified as a senior Administration official, said she works for McNeil Technologies, a firm contracted by the State Department to manage reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

Police searched the family home last night. On Tuesday, no one was answering their door.

One neighbor, Marshall Main, describes Cho's parents as quiet and polite. Neither Main nor another neighbor recalled seeing the son in recent years.

Cho graduated from Westfield High School, a Fairfax County public school, in 2003. The school system says two of the dead yesterday at Virginia Tech had graduated from Westfield in 2006; they would have been freshmen when Cho was a senior.

Two-Hour Gap Between Shootings

Police say Cho killed two people in West Ambler Johnston Hall, a dormitory near his own, shortly after 7:00 a.m. Monday. Then, two hours later, he opened fire in Norris Hall, a classroom building across campus.

Reporters continued to ask today why administrators did not cancel classes after the first shooting, and why it took more than two hours to inform the university community via e-mail about the first incident. The first e-mail notifying students of the dorm shooting was not sent by the school until 9:24 a.m -- by which time the second shooting was already over.

According to President Charles Steger, the administration locked down West Ambler Johnston Hall dormitory after the first shooting. But he said classes weren't canceled because the shooting was believed to be tied to a domestic dispute and campus police believed the shooter had left the campus.

"The second shooting, no one predicted that was also going to happen that morning," Steger said. "So if you're talking about locking it down, what is it you're going to lock down? It's like closing a city. It doesn't happen simultaneously."

By Monday night, investigators had ruled out the possibility of a murder-suicide in the first dormitory shooting. Ryan "Stack" Clark, a member of the school's marching band, the Marching Virginians, and a student resident assistant, was killed there by a shot in the neck. His next-door neighbor, freshman Emily Hilscher, was also found dead.

At Norris Hall, the gunman left a trail of bloodshed, which Flinchum, the Virginia Tech police chief, called "one of the worst things I've seen in my life."

Cho apparently shot himself in the head after the killings; part of his face was missing when his body was found.

Questions About Earlier Bomb Threats

Police documents today showed authorities suspected Cho may have been the source of two bomb threats last week targeting Virginia Tech engineering buildings.

The first of the two threats was directed at Torgersen Hall, a classroom and laboratory building, while the second was directed at multiple engineering buildings. Students and staff were evacuated, and the university sent out e-mails across campus, offering a $5,000 reward for information about the threats.

Virginia Tech -- formally known as Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University -- is located in the western end of the state near the borders of West Virginia and Tennessee. It has more than 25,000 full-time students. Its campus, which spreads over 2,600 acres, has more than 100 buildings.

The number of dead is almost twice as high as the previous record for a mass shooting on an American college campus. That took place at the University of Texas at Austin on Aug. 1, 1966, when a gunman named Charles Whitman opened fire from the 28th floor of a campus tower. Whitman killed 16 and injured 31.

ABC News' Amy Thomas and Jason Ryan contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

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Rabu, April 18, 2007 | 0 ulasan

Kanak-kanak Melayu-Irish tujuh tahun lulus Kimia O-Level

<== Ainan Celeste Cawley
SINGAPURA 15 April – Pada Januari lalu, Ainan Celeste Cawley, 7, menduduki peperiksaan mata pelajaran Kimia peringkat O-Level sebagai calon persendirian dan mengejutkan empat remaja yang mengambil peperiksaan itu bersamanya.

Keputusan empat calon lain itu tidak diketahui, namun Ainan baru-baru ini mendapat tahu yang dia lulus dalam peperiksaan tersebut.

Ainan yang berdarah Melayu-Irish dipercayai satu-satunya kanak-kanak yang memiliki kebolehan luar biasa ini, pelajar kimia cemerlang paling muda yang pernah direkodkan.

Ibunya, Syahidah Osman Cawley berkata, anak lelaki sulung kepada tiga beradik itu langsung tidak menyentuh buku teks O-Level sehingga 18 Julai lalu.

‘‘Ainan menduduki peperiksaan mata pelajaran Kimia O-Level pada 18 Januari lalu iaitu enam bulan kemudian di British Council sebagai calon persendirian,’’ katanya kepada Bernama, baru-baru ini.

Syahidah berkata, sejak kecil, Ainan - cucu kepada Sabariah Abdul Wahab, 50, dari Parit Yaani, Johor - akan mencari buku-buku sains di perpustakaan, jelas menunjukkan minatnya pada buku-buku tebal, yang penuh dengan gambar-gambar mengenai sains kimia kompleks.

‘‘Semua ini akan direnungi dan difahaminya terlebih dahulu sebelum dia membuat komen mengenainya kemudian,’’ katanya.

Bapa Ainan, Valentine Muhammad Cawley, 39, bekas ahli fizik, bagaimanapun tidak terkejut dengan minat Ainan terhadap sains itu.

“Ainan suka membaca buku sains dan selepas membacanya, dia menggunakan Internet untuk melakukan penyelidikan lebih lanjut,’’ kata Cawley yang merupakan Ketua Jabatan Bahasa Inggeris di Linguaphone Education, Singapura.

Semasa berumur tiga tahun, Ainan meminati bentuk-bentuk hyper-dimensional dan kemudiannya berkembang kepada minat terhadap struktur molekul semasa dia diperkenalkan kepada bidang kimia di Internet.

‘‘Dia hanya diberi buku pengajian kimia pada usia enam tahun untuk dibaca. Dia terus duduk, membaca teks itu dan memberitahu yang dia faham kandungannya,’’ kata Syahidah.

Cawley berkata, langkah selanjutnya buat Ainan ialah membuat persiapan menghadapi peperiksaan peringkat A-Level tahun ini.

Perkembangan kemajuan Ainan, serta dua saudaranya - Fintan, 3, dan Tiarnan, 15 bulan, - kini direkodkan dalam blog http://www.scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com. – Bernama

Pautan:

• Is Six Year Old Child Prodigy, Ainan Celeste Cawley, The World's Youngest Science Teacher?
• How Is A Child Prodigy Made? Valentine Cawley's Blog Reveals The Secrets Of The Art and Science Of Baby Genius.

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Isnin, April 16, 2007 | 0 ulasan

Pelaburan saham melalui Internet haram – Majlis Fatwa

Oleh NOR AZIAH JAAFAR, RUHAIDINI ABD KADIR dan RAMLI ABDUL KARIM



KUALA LUMPUR 12 April – Ketika wujud gelombang besar penyertaan orang ramai dalam skim-skim pelaburan Internet yang menjanjikan pulangan berlipat ganda, aktiviti itu hari ini difatwakan sebagai haram di sisi Islam.

Keputusan Mesyuarat Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan Ke-77 di Kuala Terengganu itu sudah pasti memberi kesan kepada aktiviti pelaburan melibatkan tidak kurang 500,000 orang Islam termasuk golongan kenamaan dan profesional berpangkat Tan Sri dan Datuk.

Majlis berkenaan membuat keputusan itu terhadap semua bentuk pelaburan Internet termasuk skim cepat kaya SwissCash yang kononnya diuruskan Swiss Mutual Fund kerana skim-skim itu secara jelas mengandungi unsur riba.

Dengan nilai pelaburan mencecah RM1 bilion termasuk kira-kira RM200 juta yang dilaburkan oleh 50,000 pelabur dalam skim SwissCash, tidak kurang 50 jenis pelaburan Internet kini giat melobi orang ramai melabur dengan janji pulangan sehingga 300 peratus.

Selepas SwissCash dan beberapa lain malap, skim terbaru yang mendapat sambutan hebat ketika ini ialah I Love You Forever menerusi laman web www.iluf.biz yang menjanjikan pulangan sehingga RM21,000 bagi pelaburan pokok RM800 untuk tempoh 12 bulan dan www.ugifund.com yang dilancarkan hari ini.

Pengerusi Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan, Profesor Datuk Dr. Abdul Shukor Husin yang ditemui pemberita selepas mesyuarat itu memberitahu, sebarang pelaburan yang menjamin keuntungan secara tetap seperti ditawarkan SwissCash adalah haram.

Menurutnya, atas alasan itu, Islam tidak membenarkan umatnya melabur dalam segala bentuk pelaburan seumpama itu.

‘‘Ada banyak pelaburan alternatif disediakan kepada pelabur yang berlandaskan Islam dan boleh disertai oleh umat Islam,’’ katanya.

Berdasarkan siasatan Utusan Malaysia, pelaburan Internet pilihan rakyat Malaysia ialah skim yang mendakwa menjana wang dalam pasaran hadapan komoditi seperti minyak, gas, perladangan dan emas.

Terdapat pelaburan Internet seperti SwissCash yang mendakwa kononnya aktiviti mereka ialah pelaburan offshore yang tidak tertakluk dalam bidang kuasa perundangan termasuk Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

Jenis pelaburan lain yang didakwa sebagai asas aktiviti skim pelaburan Internet ialah perniagaan mata wang asing selain melabur dalam pasaran-pasaran saham luar negara.

Sebelum ini, media mendedahkan pelaburan skim cepat kaya SwissCash yang tampil dengan pelan pelaburan tanpa had dan jaminan keuntungan lebih meyakinkan yang setakat ini sudah menelan kira-kira RM190 juta wang daripada lebih 50,000 pelabur Malaysia.

Kutipan wang deposit awam secara haram itu beroperasi dengan modus operandi berasaskan transaksi Telegraphic Transfer (TT) di bank-bank tempatan dan urusan pelaburan menerusi Internet.

Ekoran itu, BNM membuat kenyataan bahawa skim SwissCash adalah menyalahi undang-undang negara kerana mengambil deposit secara haram.

Teknologi

Selain SwissCash, terdapat lebih 50 skim cepat kaya menggunakan kemudahan teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT) didalangi beberapa sindiket yang menawarkan pelbagai bentuk pelan pelaburan menerusi alam maya Internet.

Antara skim berkenaan ialah www.ABFund.biz; www.WinliFund.com; www.empay.com; www.buyebarrel.us; www.eaindex.com; www.fical.us; www.GlobalForex.us; www.Arabic.com; www.eracapital.com; www.e-investpro.com; www.GG-trade.com dan www.smartindex.net.

Dengan membuka laman web www.jutawan.com, pelayar boleh mendapatkan senarai keseluruhan skim-skim pelaburan Internet atau istilah globalnya dikenali sebagai High Yield Investment Programme (HYIP).

Modal pelaburan dikira berasaskan nilai mata wang Amerika Syarikat (ASD) berdasarkan 3.80 bagi setiap Ringgit Malaysia.

Dengan pelaburan serendah AS$20 (RM76), skim-skim itu menjanjikan pulangan lumayan minimum dua peratus sehari atau 60 peratus sebulan yang dibayar kepada para pelabur selama 100 hari.

Pulangan itu jauh lebih besar dan terlalu tinggi jika dibandingkan dengan kadar pulangan yang ditawarkan institusi perbankan iaitu tiga peratus sebulan bagi deposit tetap atau lapan peratus bagi pasaran modal.

Dengan pelan pelaburan yang menarik menggunakan laman web yang berpusat di Amerika Syarikat (AS), penganjur yang sebenarnya didalangi orang tempatan berjaya mengabui mata para pelabur. [Utusan]

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Jumaat, April 13, 2007 | 0 ulasan