ET phone Mazlan, says UN

The United Nations is set to appoint Malaysian astrophysicist Datuk Dr Mazlan Othman to act as Earth’’s first contact for any aliens that may come visiting.


Mazlan, the head of the UN’s little-known Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), is to describe her potential new role next week at a scientific conference at the Royal Society’s Kavli conference centre in Buckinghamshire, according to the www.news.com.au website.


It reported that she is scheduled to tell delegates that the recent discovery of hundreds of planets around other stars has made thedetection of extraterrestrial life more likely than ever before — and that means the UN must be ready to coordinate humanity’s response to any “first contact”.

She recently gave a talk to fellow scientists, saying: “The continued search for extraterrestrial communication, by several entities, sustains the hope that some day humankind will receive signals from extraterrestrials.

“When we do, we should have in place a coordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject. The UN is a ready-made mechanism for such coordination.”

Professor Richard Crowther, an expert in space law and governance at the UK Space Agency and who leads British delegations to the UN on such matters, said: “Othman is absolutely the nearest thing we have to a ‘take me to your leader’ person.”

However, he thinks humanity’s first encounter with any intelligent aliens is more likely to be via radio or light signals from a distant planet than by beings arriving on Earth. And, he suggests, even if we do encounter aliens in the flesh, they are more likely to be microbes than anything intelligent.

Mazlan attended the University of Otago in 1975 earning a Bachelor of Science (honours) and returned to Malaysia as the country’s first astrophysicist, and worked to create a curriculum in astrophysics at the national university, as well as to build public awareness and understanding of astronomy and space issues.

Her interest in public education was rewarded in 1990 when then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad put her in charge of the Planetarium Division of the Prime Minister’s Department, overseeing development of Planetarium Negara, Malaysia’s national planetarium in Kuala Lumpur.

After the planetarium opened in 1993, Othman was made Director General of the government’s new Space Science Studies Division, where she launched a microsatellite development programme. She received a full professorship the following year, according to her wikipedia entry.

In November 1999, then United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan named Mazlan as Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in Vienna but she returned to Malaysia in July 2002 on the request of Dr Mahathir o serve for five years as the founding Director General of Angkasa, the Malaysian National Space Agency, where her work led to the launch of the first Malaysian astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor.

She was reappointed as UNOOSA director in 2007 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and left Angkasa to return to the post that December

At UNOOSA she deals with issues of international cooperation in space, prevention of collisions and space debris, use of space-based remote sensing platforms for sustainable development, coordination of space law between countries, and the risks posed by near-earth asteroids, among other topics.

Kenya seizes tonnes of illegal elephant tusks bound for Malaysia

Kenyan authorities have intercepted more than two tonnes of elephant tusks and rhino horns disguised as fruit destined for export to Malaysia.

Most of the tusks seemed to have been collected from natural deaths of about 150 elephants and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said it was yet to determine their origin.

“The cargo, which was falsely declared as containing only fresh avocado fruits, was packed in 12 wooden boxes, which raised a red flag due to its mode of package, weight and destination,” KWS said in a statement today.

Inside, it found 317 elephant tusks and five rhino horns.

This year alone, authorities have intercepted wildlife contraband in Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong, KWS said.

A Kenya Wildlife Service officer stands guard near the shipment of elephant tusks and rhino horns intercepted at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the capital Nairobi today, August 23, 2010





“In the recent times, cases of illegal trafficking of wildlife products through Kenya’s ports to the Middle and Far East destinations has been a matter of concern,” KWS said.

KWS said rhino and elephant poaching was on the increase.

Elephant poaching more than doubled to 204 illegal killings in 2009 from 94 in the previous year and 47 in 2007, according to KWS figures. Rhino killings nearly tripled to 13 deaths in 2009 from five in the previous year.

Kenya loses about 200-300 elephants to natural causes annually.

The east African safari destination has been opposed to the lifting of a nine-year ban against ivory sales agreed in 2007 under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species.

Some African countries with growing elephant populations want the trade to resume but Kenya maintains it would threaten its 38,000-strong elephant population.

East Africa is still recovering from extensive poaching in the 1960s and 1970s before the global ban. In 1989, poaching had reduced populations to about 17,000 elephants.

Demonstrators throw faeces at Malaysian embassy in Jakarta

Police arrested three men today after a group of demonstrators threw human faeces at the Malaysian Embassy here.

The rally, by the group who called themselves the Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (Bendera), lasted for an hour during which they also stomped on Malaysian flags and smeared it with faeces.






The demonstration was in protest of “the arrest of three Indonesian fisheries officials” by the Malaysian police and also against President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for not taking a hard stand on the issue.

They also threatened carry out an operation “to sweep” Malaysians from Jalan Diponegoro, in Menteng, here if police refused to release their comrades.

In the incident over a week ago, Indonesian maritime and fisheries officers arrested seven Malaysian who were accused of encroaching into the Indonesian waters while the Malaysian police arrested three of the officers for encroaching into the Malaysian waters.

All were freed on August 17

Find a Job Dating Wine E-Editions Feedback My Stories Saturday, Feb 20 2010 6AM -2°C 9AM 1°C 5-Day Forecast 'We deserved our punishment': What three Muslim Malaysian women said after being caned for having sex outside marriage

Three Muslim women who were the first in Malaysia to be caned for having sex outside marraige this morning claimed the punishment was an opportunity for them to repent.

Prison authorities caned the women last week after an Islamic Shariah court issued the penalty.

The caning has outraged rights groups and revived speculation that conservative Islamists, who advocate harsh punishment, are gaining influence in the country.

The three women, aged 17-25, said they turned themselves in after feeling guilty for sleeping with their boyfriends before marriage and getting pregnant.
The 17-year-old told reporters that she surrendered to Islamic authorities after her prematurely born child died.

She is now serving a six-month prison sentence.

'I know I have sinned, and I have to be punished. Strangely however, I felt that the caning was not a form of punishment but was an opportunity for me to repent and return to the right path,' she said.

She has already married her boyfriend, who has also been caned and jailed over the offence.

The other women, who have one young child each, are planning to marry their partners after they are released.

The men were also caned for having sex.

One woman, aged 25, said she was scared before the caning but knew she deserved the punishment.

All three women called on others not to make the same mistake and abstain from sex before marriage.
A Prison Department official confirmed the women's comments, made at a news conference at the women's prison outside Kuala Lumpur to local, government-linked media under the watch of authorities.

He said they were reluctant to speak to other media.

It could not be confirmed whether they were speaking voluntarily.

A request with the department for interviews is pending.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin defended the caning this morning, saying it was 'far lighter' than what some people might imagine.

'The punishment is legitimate and in accordance with the law,' Muhyiddin said.

Human rights groups have slammed the caning, saying it is a cruel and degrading punishment and discriminates against Muslim women because Malaysian civil law - which applies to non-Muslims - bans the caning of women.

The women, who were fully clothed and sitting on a stool, received between four and six strokes with a thin rattan stick on the back, lasting a few minutes.

Another woman, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, is still waiting to be caned for drinking beer in public.

Her case received international attention last year when she became the first woman slated to receive a caning penalty.

But the punishment was deferred indefinitely amid a public outcry.

Caning of men for such offenses as rape, drug smuggling and staying illegally in the country is common.

It is administered with a thick rattan stick on bare buttocks, causing severe pain and leaving scars.

Malaysia has a two-tier justice system.

Shariah courts deal with personal matters for Muslims, who account for about two-thirds of the country's 28 million people, while non-Muslims - many of whom are ethnic Chinese and Indians - go to civil courts.




Malaysian justice: Prison staff demonstrate to the media how the caning process was done at the Kajang prison outside Kuala Lumpur

Journalists interview three women who were caned for having sex out of wedlock, at a prison in Kajang . They are first to be caned under the country's Islamic laws