Clark Little

From my brother...Malaysia: Refugees for Sale

Unreported World reveals shocking evidence that Burmese refugees fleeing the country's brutal military regime are being detained and then allegedly sold by Malaysian immigration officials to Thai human traffickers.

Reporter Aidan Hartley and Director George Waldrum travel to Kuala Lumpur to highlight how the refugees are forced to exchange one hellish existence for another. Living in complete fear of the state, the refugees claim they are being rounded up and subjected to bloody whippings and indefinite imprisonment in overcrowded detention camps. As Unreported World reveals, for some this is just the beginning of a horrific journey into the trafficking network, where men, women and children disappear into a world of slavery and prostitution.

Malaysia pays no regard to Burmese refugees' right of asylum, since the country refuses to sign up to international conventions. And it's not just the state that acts harshly. Hartley and Waldrum join a night-time city raid by volunteers of the RELA militia to chase down and arrest construction site workers without valid papers. Millions of illegal migrants, many of whom are refugees, fill the building sites and factories, providing cheap labour and doing the jobs Malaysians don't want to do. Despite this, RELA, which has 500,000 members, claims to be cleaning up what they see as an immigrant threat to law, order and health.

On the other side of the city, the team finds a Burmese refugee ghetto where the inhabitants are living in terror, crammed into squalid apartments with dozens of tenants to each floor. One family claims RELA had smashed their way into their home and arrested and beat them. A woman claims the police routinely prey on their vulnerable status, demanding bribes and their belongings, or they will be taken into detention.

A human rights lawyer helping illegal immigrants and refugees tells Hartley how there is little popular opposition to the government's harsh treatment of illegal foreigners. Reunka describes how 'illegals' who carry no papers on them might be sentenced to a maximum of six strokes of the rotan, a thick cane that can leave victims with scars for life.

So afraid are the refugees that some of them try to live beyond the reach of the authorities. In the jungle on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, the team finds one shanty camp where refugee workers are hiding out. Too scared to live downtown, they are part of an estimated two million illegal workers. One of them claims that he was passed into the hands of Thai human traffickers. However, he was one of the lucky ones as he had friends who could pay a ransom. He claims those who can't pay disappear into slavery.

The finds some who've managed to escape a life of slavery. In a secret location, Rahima, together with her small children, tells the story of how they were sold by Malaysian immigration officials to gangsters on the Thailand frontier. Rahima breaks down when she recounts how the Thai gangsters suffocated one of her children to death after he wouldn't stop crying. She says both she and her children were sold into slavery and worked in a fish factory for six months before they were able to escape.

In another location, Abu Bashar and his teenage son Syedul describe how the mother of the family together with two toddler children were arrested by Malaysia's immigration, sold to gangsters in Thailand and then ransomed. Two months ago, Abu got a phone call from his wife in which she said that unless he paid the ransom it would be her last call; since then there has been silence and he doesn't know the whereabouts of his family.

The response of Malaysia's Immigration Director General is to dismiss the allegations of Burmese refugees, but he does admit that one immigration official has been charged in connection with trafficking claims. He says there are no plans for an inquiry into the immigration department's methods, or allegations of systematic corruption, trafficking and slavery.

-http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/episode-guide/series-2009/episode-19

From facebook: Taylor Lautner was in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl.. Thats why he was so familiar...

He was 13. looks way younger than us at that age right? (i'm adressing ppl who are the same age as me)

Like Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee before him, Taylor Lautner came to be an actor after a top-ranking career in martial arts. He was encouraged to try his hand at acting after establishing himself as a karate champion at age nine, and his martial arts skills immediately came in handy for his feature debut as a tween superhero in Robert Rodriguez’s “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D” (2005). More roles in family films like “Cheaper by the Dozen 2” (2004) followed, and while Lautner’s TV career seemed cursed with failed series, it did not hinder the young actor from evolving into a heartthrob with the teen set. In 2008, Lautner was launched to stardom after landing a supporting role in “Twilight” (2008), the pop culture phenomenon based on the teen vampire romance book series by Stephanie Meyers. Due to the overwhelming popularity of the film, Lautner reprised his role as shapeshifter Jacob Black in the sequels “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” (2009) and “Eclipse” (2010), vying for the love of human Bella (Kristen Stewart) with an adventurous spirit that earned the actor increasing interest from film directors looking for a new young adult star who could both woo the girls with his intensity and impress the boys with his rugged agility.

Born Taylor Daniel Lautner in Grand Rapids, MI on Feb. 11, 1992, he was studying martial arts at the age of six and earning first place trophies in competition only a year later. Under the guidance of seven-time world champion and actor Mike Chat, he received such a degree of proficiency that he was asked to represent the United States in the 12 and under division at the World Karate Association. There, he took home three gold medals and earned the title of Junior Forms and Weapons champion. At the advice of Chat, he also began auditioning for acting roles at nine. After flying to Los Angeles to try out for a television commercial, he found this new pursuit to his liking and began auditioning on a regular basis. Eventually, the constant flights proved wearying enough for Lautner and his family – as well as detrimental to his school work and training – that they relocated permanently to Los Angeles in 2002.

Lautner continued to compete regularly on the martial arts circuit, which yielded top honors at the World Karate Association in 2001 and a first-place ranking in the world for several disciplines in 2003. He also broadened his interests to include jazz and hip-hop dance; even finding time to play on his school’s football and baseball teams. Despite an extra-curricular schedule that would overpower most children his age, Lautner still found time to audition for film and television roles, which he began to land with some regularity in 2001.

He made his television debut in the 2001 TV-movie “Shadow Fury,” and soon logged appearances on episodes of “The Bernie Mac Show” (Fox, 2001-06) and “Summerland” (The WB, 2004-05). In 2003, director Robert Rodriguez was won over by Lautner’s abundant self-confidence and cast him as Sharkboy, a young hero raised by sharks, in his CG-driven kids’ fantasy “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D.” Rodriguez was apparently unaware of Lautner’s extensive martial arts training prior to hiring him for the role, and later asked him to choreograph all of his fight scenes in the film.

After completing filming on “Sharkboy” in 2004, Lautner transitioned to another larger-than-life character – the highly competitive son of Eugene Levy in “Cheaper by the Dozen 2” (2004). The role, which afforded him some exceptionally mild moments of romance with pre-teen actress and dancer Alyson Stoner, helped to elevate him to heartthrob status among girls twelve and under. Lautner also added voice-over work to his growing resume by playing Youngblood, the malevolent, hook-handed ghost of a young boy on the animated series “Danny Phantom” (Nickelodeon, 2004-2007). By this point, Lautner had officially retired from martial arts competition to focus solely on acting.

More voice-over work preceded his first turn as a semi-regular character on a TV series with the short-lived “Love, Inc.” (UPN, 2005-06). The sitcom fell victim to the merger of UPN and the WB, but Lautner was back on television in 2008 with the highly touted “My Own Worst Enemy” as the son of amnesiac secret agent, Christian Slater. Unfortunately, it was also pulled shortly after its debut due to low ratings. Lautner’s up-and-down fortunes on television were soon eclipsed by the whirlwind of excitement surrounding his next feature, an adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s extraordinarily popular Gothic romance “Twilight” (2008). Lautner was cast as Jacob Black, a young Native American and the descendent of a long line of werewolves. Though the character was relatively minor in the original novel the character proved exceptionally popular with readers, leading Meyer to develop his character in subsequent books.

In the films, Black provided both romantic interest and essential information to the female lead, Bella (Kristen Stewart) about the vampire population in her hometown. His key scene – shirtless, of course – helped to make him a second-tier crush object for the book’s abundant teenaged fans. Over the hype and huge box office numbers of the sequels, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” (2009) and “Eclipse” (2010), Black began to be considered for adult roles outside the franchise. Garry Marshall gave him his first shot when he cast him in the romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day” (2010) alongside some of the hottest young names including Emma Roberts, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Biel.

• Also Credited As:
  Taylor Daniel Lautner
• Born:
  Taylor Daniel Lautner on February 11, 1992 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
• Job Titles:
  Actor

Family

• Father: Dan Lautner.
• Mother: Deborah Lautner.
• Sister: Makena Lautner.

Significant Others

• Companion: Selena Gomez. Reportedly dated in 2009; no longer together
• Companion: Taylor Swift. Met when they starred together in the movie, Valentine s Day ; rumored to be dating as of October 2009

Education

• Valencia High School, Valencia, CA, 2008

Milestones

• 2001 Made acting debut in the Japanese film, Shadow Fury
• 2004 First TV appearance was a bit part on the WB s Summerland
• 2005 Cast in the role of Shark Boy in the Robert Rodriguez film, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D
• 2005 Lent his voice to the Cartoon Network series, What s New, Scooby-Doo?
• 2005 Played the son of Eugene Levy and Carmen Electra in Cheaper by the Dozen 2(i didn't know this)
  
• 2005 Voiced the recurring role of Youngblood on the Nickelodeon series, Danny Phantom
• 2006 Voiced the Bully in the ABC special, He s a Bully, Charlie Brown
• 2008 Played Christian Slater s son in the short-lived NBC series, My Own Worst Enemy
• 2008 Played Native American character Jacob Black in Twilight, the movie adaptation of Stephenie Meyer s novel
• 2009 Reprised the role of Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga: New Moon
• Will star in Garry Marshall s ensemble romantic comedy, Valentine s Day

And i'm not obssesed with him. Just happen to stumble across this info and finds this interesting.

To everyone who reads house of night!!!

The new book entitled "Tempted" out!!!!! Its a bout her finding out her connection with A-ya. and I think she's gonna end up with stark....

Just got it today. whee. didn't know there was a next book..

Watch if you're too bored from studying. =D

The following is from Carmen Chin's Blog. Since her blog is private, I'm posting her longer and more complete version of our outing. =D

This Is It! This Is REALLY It!!!

I did plan to write yesterday when I returned from tuition but I was too exhausted and my eyes half-closed. I hope after 9 hours of sleep, I could still recall what happen yesterday. I will break my post into several sub-topics which are:

1. First time driving to Gurney
2. The ladies who borrowed I-Lyn’s popular card
3. This Is It!
4. The two baboons.
5. Going home

1. This is my first time ever driving to Gurney and I would consider myself unlucky because I-Lyn and Angeline both prefer Gurney. I would personally prefer Queensbay! (because I know the route to Queensbay!) Lol. However, I sort of remember a bit on the route to Gurney as I went there with my family a few weeks ago and I took the initiative to analyse the roads. =D Or else, I would just sit and enjoy myself in the car. Lol. The part that I am most concern of is my parking. I am just a 1month plus driver and I still need to improve on my parking skills. I fetched I-Lyn there and we took quite some time to find a spot which is easy to park. You know me…=D We went through a ‘pintu rintangan’ to get into the mall. I was surprised that we were not the only students who were there. We brought clothes to change but other students actually walked with their school uniforms on. Oh well…

2. After changing, Angeline informed us that she would be reaching late and so we decided to go to Popular Bookstore as I-Lyn wanted to buy some books. I-Lyn was having a hard time choosing and couldn’t decide on which book to buy because all of them does not have much difference actually. However, she still managed to take… I guess 3 books? I couldn’t remember. As we were walking towards the counter, there were two Adventist hospital nurses who asked whether we could lend them the popular membership card. No offences but their acting were really bad when the counter lady told them that they were not supposed to borrow membership cards from people. Their reason is so lame saying that they brought us to Gurney during their lunch time and now they are rushing back to work as their time is almost over. My foot! We saw them outside Cold Storage half an hour later. =.=” I was telling myself that they wouldn’t have to act also if they just let I-Lyn pay everything together.

3. After having lunch at Wong Kok Kitchen, we went up to the cinema floor to get ready for the show. Since we were still a few minutes early, we went to the washroom first. When we were done, we proceed into our cinema hall and get our seats. It was really a big hall. If I am not mistaken I think that was my 1st time into such huge cinema hall. I was like…(Wow!) Hahaha!!! Angeline wanted to sit in the middle so me and I-Lyn each sat beside her. All I can say about the show is, Michael Jackson is fantastic, fabulous and tremendously great!!! I mean although it seemed to be just a rehearsal where we all would understand that he might not give all his best during practices but by watching how he planned and managed his stage, his dancers, his musics and etc., I can really imagine how grand his concert would be if he would have made it. During his rehearsal, it was shown that he put his whole heart and soul in perfecting every single small details during his concert. He wanted everything to be perfect, special, extraordinary and to look amazing in front of his fans from all over the world. If I were to make any comeback comparisons of Michael Jackson’s and other artistes, I would strongly say that his comeback will be the best among all. =D There were some funny parts throughout his work with his people also. It’s difficult to describe here in words about how superb his show was until really watched it, then you’ll probably understand. Even though he’s already 50 years old, it surprised me that he could still move and dance like how he did during his 30s to 40s. Of course his movements were not as much as last time but let’s think, how many 50 year old people can do what he’s doing? The important part is his energy is still there. His ‘semangat’. He was doing really great and it doesn’t seem as if he was a sick and was about to die. He still looked so healthy but thin. What can I say more? ‘This Is It!’ is really IT!

4. During the whole show, the three of us were so annoyed by some Chinese guys who were so uncivilized, as I would say to sing and shout throughout the show. I mean, don’t they have respect for other people? Everyone in the cinema hall came to watch and listen to Michael Jackson sing, NOT THEM or HIM!!! That bloody guy and his friend were so rude and treat the whole thing as a sing-a-long show, like some baboons that accidentally escaped from the zoo. Thank God I wasn’t sitting beside those baboons but I felt sorry for I-Lyn. Her blood was boiling throughout the whole show I bet. Right I-Lyn? Lol. We were complaining so much after the movie and I-Lyn said she should forgive them since those baboons were MJ’s fans and they love his so much. Oh, please! For me, I won’t forgive them. Because of them, I can’t get my 100% satisfaction of the show. They spoil my mood! Idiot dumbos! I mean, if it’s like in a public area, they wanna sing, go ahead. I might even sing along too. But I paid to watch the show, obviously I wouldn’t want to listen to their voices. Like shit only. I thought that was the worst part and it’s gonna be over soon when the show ended. Guess what? They stayed until the end and they sang even louder. Really like maniacs! They jumped right to the back and sing the other three songs played after the show. Some people might find their actions funny but to me, it was stupid, disturbing and disrespectful. If they were in love with MJ, why don’t they just go to red box and sing all they want? Heard they say maybe wanna rewatch the show in the next slot. *sigh* I pity the group of people there if he was really insane to watch it again at that particular day.

5. It was almost 5pm when we watch until the last bit of the show. For an RM 10 Michael Jackson movie, and since its MICHAEL JACKSON, I will make sure my ticket was worth watching! Lol. Before heading home, I bought some food for my sis in Mcd. There were so many empty parking spaces available when we were leaving. Under that condition, I was able get out of my lot easily. =D I fetch Angeline back to school and from there, her grandfather then fetched her home. Later, I dropped I-Lyn at Mcd in Greenlane for her dinner and she asked Ze Yin to fetch her at 7pm and they would go to tuition together. After that, I drove home alone. I was so sleepy yesterday. Maybe I wasn’t used to driving so much in a day. Hahaha!!!

Lastly, I would like to thank:
Angeline- for getting the tickets for us, paying for the car park ticket (make me feel so paiseh)

I-Lyn- assisting me on the way to Gurney and back to school, paying for the car park ticket (make me feel so paiseh)
* but I paid RM 0.40! Lol

Michael Jackson- for the great show he put on for us, his fans. Although he didn’t have the chance to make it but somehow, we still managed to see it and I truly appreciated everything that he had done.

Thank you, Michael Jackson!