Law Minister K Shanmugam revealed on Monday in a Ministerial Statement in Parliament that he was harboured by his own family, before escaping to Malaysia.

Three family members have since been convicted in court and jailed.

He said Mas Selamat had made his way to his brother Asmom’s home in Tampines, a busy neighbourhood in the eastern part of Singapore.

He was greeted by his grown-up niece Nur Aini Asmom, who then persuaded her mother Aisah to allow Mas Selamat into their flat.

Mas Selamat subsequently stayed one night at his brother’s home.

For harbouring the terrorist after his escape, Mas Selamat’s brother, the brother’s wife and their daughter, have been jailed between three and 18 months.

His niece, Nur Aini, who was a Malay language teacher, was sentenced to 18 months jail.

His brother, Asmom was given 12 months while his sister-in-law Aisah, three months’ jail.

The three were arrested and charged last Wednesday, on November 10.

They were convicted of the charge and sentenced on November 18.

Mas Selamat’s nephew, Mahadir, who had a lesser role in the matter, has been served a stern warning in lieu of prosecution.

These details were revealed in a Ministerial statement in Parliament by Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.

He said Mas Selamat made his way to his brother’s home in Tampines on February 29, 2008, two days after he escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre (WRDC).

He wanted to seek shelter and help from his niece, Nur Aini.

Mr Shanmugam said Mas Selamat thought that Nur Aini was living alone.

The Minister added that Nur Aini persuaded her mother to allow Mas Selamat to enter the flat.

She gave him use of her bedroom, provided him food and water, and also assisted him by destroying the clothing he wore to the flat, which included his WRDC-issued attire.

Nur Aini helped Mas Selamat disguise himself as a woman to evade detection and recapture.

She also gave him several items, including a map of Singapore that showed part of Malaysia.

Asmom gave him S$100 and RM100 to facilitate his escape from Singapore to Malaysia.

Asmom’s wife Aisah gave Mas Selamat an EZ-link card and hair-net which he wore as part of his disguise, and some paracetamol.

Mr Shanmugam said the three had knowingly harboured Mas Selamat, an escaped prisoner of the State, who they knew was the subject of a massive manhunt.

They deliberately withheld information when they were interviewed by the authorities on March 3, 2008.

It was only in October this year, after being confronted with the facts, that they admitted to what had happened.

Mr Shanmugam said Asmom and his family’s decision to harbour Mas Selamat and provide him with material support that enabled him to escape to Malaysia was very wrong, illegal, and had grave security implications.

Mr Shanmugam said Singaporeans will be understandably disappointed that Asmom and his family had helped Mas Selamat in his escape.

But he added that their actions are not a reflection on the wider Malay-Muslim community who had disapproved of Mas Selamat’s deeds, and participated in the manhunt for him in 2008.

Mr Shanmugam said Singaporeans should not allow this episode to affect the trust and goodwill that has been built up over the years between the different communities.

Instead, he said this should reinforce how important it is for every Singaporean to unite and assist the security agencies to overcome the threat of terrorism.

As to how Mas Selamat made his way to his brother’s flat and how he subsequently made his way to Malaysia, Mr Shanmugam said the account given by Mas Selamat is still subject to verification.

-CNA/wk/fa

What does this mean?  We can benefit from the competition by motivating ourselves to improve our skills in that field with more training.  Another way of benefitting from the competition is raising the awareness and acceptance level of the industry as a whole.  This is especially fitting for an industry like metaphysics which is not a widely accepted industry nor has high demand for its services because it is not part of the basic necessities for human’s daily subsistence.

Benefit not from our competitor is as simple as not engaging in both covert and overt manoeuvres to oust your competitor.  Such manoeuvres include criticism, bad-mouthing, espionage, lobbying and more.  Skpetics may think that removing a competitor is the surest way to boost your own bottomline.  From a big picture perspective, competitors help to raise the profile, avoid legislation for anti-competition, achieve economies of scale for the same industry.  Remember the best markets in the world are competitive or at best oligopolistic but never a true monopoly. 

We still need our competitors by our side!  Without competitors, Michael Jordan will be just another nice-to-watch sportsman with nothing to show for in terms of titles and achievements.  An astute person sees a competitor as an opportunity; a myopic person sees a competitor as a threat.

(Photo credits to Ms Ladyred)

It is a known fact that all people have an inertia against or resistance towards change. In the study of psychology, there have been many reasons put forward for such resistance to change.  The single most important consideration would be the risk of change is greater than the risk of staying put.  This is because while current practices have been tried and simulated on historical cases, a new practice requires one to venture into uncharted territories as there are no models for the new practice.  Even if we are not concerned about the probability of success, any criticisms of current practices are likely more muted than those levied on new practices because the former have precedent cases to fall back on.

Emotionally, people also feel connected to the older people who are identified with the current and past practices.  That is often the case when we see people quoting ancient Feng Shui classics to cite the relevance of their existing Feng Shui practice.  Another manifestation of this comes from people who quotes renowned but demised Feng Shui greats or claims to belong to lineage of these Feng Shui greats.

As much as people will loathe to admit, their inertia to change has also been subconsciously driven by their fear of lack of competence to change.  Who would not want to be the pilot of a new and successful venture?   But to go for the new venture and then expose one’s own incompetence is more embarrassing than staying status quo.  To follow someone who took the lead to a change also means he downgraded to the status of follower, so he will naturally want to stay as an opponent to the change rather than be a follower to the change.  It is also emotionally unappealing to forsake something they have a higher chance of success because they are familiar with it for something they have a lower chance of succeeding because it requires them to venture into uncharted territory.

What is the relevance of psychology to Feng Shui?  While psychology may not be part of Feng Shui, it remains very relevant to this practice because Feng Shui clients typically look to their Feng Shui Master for solution to a myriad of problems some of which requires counselling and motivation.  In any case, Feng Shui practitioners themselves should scrutinize themselves for the penchance to resist change because society has evolved such that the context behind this ancient art may have become irrelevant.

(Photo credits to Kristupa Saragih Photography )

Let me begin with a story. King Wu, the founder of the Zhou dynasty (1122-220BC) has just defeated Chou Hsin, the last emperor of the Shang dynasty(1700-1112BC) with the help of his strategist Jiang Ziya (Taigong Wang). One day,  King Wu was at the countryside with his followers when they passed by the rice fields.

Strategist Jiang Ziya then asked the King to follow the poor peasant by ploughing the field for the poor man! ‘What? How can you ask the King to plough the field for such a lowly man?’ exclaimed all the generals. However, the King remained calm and respecting the wisdom of his beloved strategist, came down and set his hands to the plough. All the King ’s followers yelled and protested as the King, splattered with mud, panted through his task. The King was tired but he struggled on despite the generals urging him to stop.

After some time, the King was too tired to continue. Strategist Jiang asked the King, ‘Your Highness, how many steps have you taken?’ King Wu took a look and said,’ Nine hundred steps in all.’ Strategist Jiang then prophesied that the Zhou dynasty would last as many years as the number of steps King Wu has taken. Susprised and alarmed, the King wanted to return to the field and plough further so that his dynasty could last longer. But he was stopped by Jiang.’ It is destiny, my Highness.’

True enough, the Zhou dynasty went on to last over nine hundred years. It was infact one of the longest era in the dynastic history of China. King Zhou and his descendants continued to remain humble and treat their people with care and concern. The chinese word Shou Hsing which means longevity actually incoporated the sub-character of ‘plough’ according to this legend.

We can learn from this story. To be successful, it is not good enough to have wisdom and bravery. We need the power of benevolence for the people around us. Only when leaders care for their people or those below them that they will gain their support. The most powerful tool to weather any crisis is the unity born out of care and concern between leaders and followers!

With that, I wish everyone a Happy Year 2009!

Geng metal is a symbol of toughness and strength and hence, it is often associated with the image of swords or mineral ore. Hence, Geng daymaster are people who are observant, direct and very determined. They will never admit defeat easily without giving a good fight! Hence, in order to win, they will always give their best and does not believe in wasting time.

This might not always be a good thing because Geng people can be prone to carelessness since they often charge into matter without giving a good thought and therefore might get themselves into trouble.As knives and swords tend to be sharp and have destructive nature, Geng daymaster are oftn people who very direct and have no qualm about talking out loud and been direct in their critism of others.

Yet, despite all the flaws of a Geng daymaster, they are extremely loyal to friends and will stand up to injustice. In this modern day, we can say that Geng daymasters are people with  unique characteristic and personality!

Having

And if you want to learn how to handle people, chinese metaphysics can be a great help! The art of chinese face reading can be a great aid! Why? Because, by reading the face of a person, you can understand his /her characteristics. And in different situations, you would need to react to it by understanding the personality of the person .

The ability to handle or deal with people is actually the service and public relationship factors when coming to doing business. It will improve your sales if you can read a person’ s character. That ’s for sure !

Well, we have come to the end of the Euro 2008 and I must say,’ IT HAS BEEN A FANTASTIC TOURNAMENT!’

We have seen the likes of Arashvain, Torres, Ballack and many others making their mark on the tournment. Wait a minute! Did someone mentioned about a certain Ronaldo? Haha, Christiano Ronaldo might have been the best EPL player this season but he has shown that he is not of international standard yet. He will shine in the future of course. (According to my prediction using Zi Wei Dou Shu of course !)

Hey, you must be thinking that what has chinese astrology got to do with a football game? If you still do not understand the power of using chinese metaphysics, then you must have miss out some important tips for the whole tournmanet! Congration to all those who have bet on Spain .You would have done so if you have read our forum post on Euro 2008 and amazingly, Master Ken was right to analyse and predict that Spain will be the eventual champion! For those of you who are still lost, here’ s the link Click Here!

Saw the post? Stop hitting you chest if you have placed all your saving on Germany. Like  I always said, ‘life is just like a game.’ And if you want to do well in life, you need to understand what is it all about? You need a game guide and Zi Wei Dou Shu or Bazi is such a ‘guidebook’ for life.

Oh, I need to go and collect my winning bet, catch you guys another day…did I hear someone asking about English Premier League? Ask Master Ken la!

P.S If you haven register youself at the forum, you must have been missing out alot of the fun! Sign up Here!