Kamran Brohi's Blog

I am writing this blog for the information and guidance of those Pakistani who are here in Malaysia. I have checked the website of the Pakistani High Commission in Kuala Lumpur but they don’t provide any kind of information/instructions to Pakistanis regarding the non-automatic conversion of their Pakistani Driving License to Malaysia Driving License and I think this is the main reason why many Pakistanis who come here are not aware of this facility in the beginning, unless they are told by someone else.

So basically I am going to explain the procedure here for the non-automatic conversion of Pakistani Driving License to Malaysian Driving License. As there are two main categories for the conversion of Driving License – Automatic and Non Automatic so there are two separate lists (Category A and B) for this purpose and the name of Pakistan is in the list of non-automatic conversion (Category B). I don’t understand the reason for putting the name of Pakistan in category B. If you look at the requirements for the both categories, you will find that there is only one document – Letter from Pakistan High Commission, which is an extra requirement for category B, otherwise the rest of the requirements are almost the same.

So if you have valid and computerized driving license from Pakistan you can apply for the conversion of your Driving License to Malaysian Driving License. However, this facility is only provided to those Pakistanis who are Malaysia Citizen / Permanent Resident, Employment Pass Holders (Professional Only), Student Pass Holders(PhD only) and Participants of Malaysia My Second Home Programme (MM2H). They will give you a full Malaysian Driving License, if your previous (Pakistani) Driving License has been issued more than two years earlier, otherwise you will get a Probationary License. The following documents are required at the time of application

1. MyKad or Passport
2. Visa document – Validity should not less than 1 year
3. Valid Domestic Foreign (Pakistani) Driving License
4. Translation of Foreign Domestic driving License from embassy/ High Commission in Malaysia (if not in English)
5. Completed Lampiran B2 form

You will find detailed instructions here in this document.

Pakistan has very good bilateral relations with Malaysian. Pakistan also has strong brotherly relations with Malaysia. Both are members of Organization of Islamic Conference (O.I.C) and the Commonwealth of Nations. I think the Pakistani High Commission in Kuala Lumpur should play its role and negotiate with the Malaysian authorizes to put the name of Pakistan in category A and allow the automatic driving license conversion to all the people from Pakistan or at least to those who are Malaysia Citizen / Permanent Resident, Employment Pass Holders (Professional Only), Student Pass Holders(PhD only) and Participants of Malaysia My Second Home Programme (MM2H).

As I discussed earlier that the only difference of requirements, for conversion of driving license in category A and B (for Pakistanis), is getting a Driving License Attestation Letter from Pakistani High Commission (although this requirement is not listed on the website of the Road Transport Department). So if the High Commission of Pakistan in Kuala Lumpur negotiates with the concerned Road Transport Department in Malaysia and cooperates with them to validate the Pakistani Driving Licenses of those who apply for this purpose, then it should be no problem for them (Malaysian) to allow the automatic conversion of the driving license to Pakistanis. This will help the people from Pakistan, who are here in different parts of Malaysia, to save their time, money and energy. Because now they have to travel to Kuala Lumpur to get this Driving License Letter first from Pakistan High Commission, before applying for the non-automatic conversion of their driving license.

Source: Daily Jang

I was astonished to read a recent report, published in daily DAWN, that some 70,000 quacks with bogus degrees are operating throughout the country. This figure is given for those who are operating with bogus degrees. I wonder how many more are there, who don’t even bother to use the fake degrees and operating without such degrees or licenses, with the patronage of the local authorities. Due to these quacks, my wife lost her sister last year, who was a mother of 3 children and was a healthy and lively woman. People have blind faith in these ruthless quacks, which are operating freely not only in small towns and villages but cities as well across the country.  Some poor people are visiting them because they charge much lesser than the genuine practitioners.  Most of them are even providing their own prepared medicines to their patients, which have no labels or formula of any kind printed on them. I personally know one dispenser in my local town, who pretends to be a doctor and has been successfully running a clinic since last 15 years and more. However, once when authorities started an operation for cracking these quacks, he hired a doctor and placed his nameplate outside his clinic, which had no name in the past.

These quacks are able to operate without any fear because people have adopted the behavior of ignoring them for unknown reasons, in spite of the fact they are endangering the lives of innocent people and kids. No one bothers to check if the doctor one is visiting is displaying the license of the PMDC in the clinic or not and whether the license is genuine or fake? PM&DC is a statutory regulatory authority established under Pakistan Medical & Dental Council Ordinance 1962 as a body corporate which apart from its various functions and duties, maintains the Register of Medical & Dental Practitioners.

The report published in daily DAWN also suggests many measures to government to nab these quacks who are operating in Government and Private Hospitals or running their own clinics. It also reads that “Not many people perhaps know that the PMDC’s website allows the general public to check if their doctors are registered with the council and are thus licensed to practice medicine. The PMDC and the health authorities should encourage the general public, through advertisements and posters, to be involved in exposing fake doctors in this manner”

I think all of us should not just sit and watch like spectators and let these bogus doctors play with the lives of innocent, as no one is safe from these bogus doctors and sooner or later they might hurt us or our beloved ones, so we should also get ourselves involved in this struggle by trying to find out which bogus doctors and nurses are operating in our areas and should report this to police and other authorities such as PMDC. The easiest way to do it is using the following facility, which is available on the website of PMDC.

http://dev.plexushosting.com/PMDC/SearchPractitioner/tabid/153/Default.aspx

The website of the PMDC is available on the following URL:

http://www.pmdc.org.pk/

Point to Ponder:

ظالم ہیں مظلوم بھی ہم ،ہر شر سے منسوب ہیں ہم

ایسا حال ہوا کیوں اپنا، میں بھی سوچوں تُو بھی سوچ

Source: http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/sep2009-daily/24-09-2009/col8.htm

Introduction

Thirty-five percent of adults would like to know 25 stupid things about you. Actually, that’s an overstatement, but 35 percent of your peers are actually using the sort of sites where that nonsense occurs.

That’s right, Pew Internet Research tells us 35 percent of grown-ups (defined as anyone between the ages of 18 and dead) are now using social networking sites. Of course that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily on Facebook. They might be on LinkedIn (a business social networking site) or MySpace (for musicians and goth tweens), or maybe they’re on Friendster. (Just kidding; no one’s on Friendster.)

Still, the fastest growing group on Facebook is infamously the 35-54-year-old segment. And since grown-ups have quadrupled their likelihood of using these sites in the last four years, you might find this orientation guide to Facebook useful.

So, uh, what is it?

Facebook is what we’re calling a “social networking site,” which means they don’t have to create content, just post what your friends write. That, however, is not actually as bad as it sounds.

What it really means is they let you create a profile, invite some “friends” to view it, and post countless precious updates so people know you’re alive and doing junk. You can also use it to send e-mail-like messages or to raise your blood pressure while trying to use their simply awful IM.

Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook to let college students find each other after parties. Then he saw a bazillion monetizable eyeballs outside and decided to throw the doors open. Now with all those eyeballs, a cadre of advertisers using his system to reach them, and a percentage off the top, all he has to do is tart it up to look like Twitter (apparently).

Anyway, it’s fun! The two tricks to getting along well on Facebook are, don’t trust anything, and if you want to remain hip, don’t try so hard. Preserve that hard-won dignity you earned by surviving puberty, the prom, and possibly parenthood.

Getting started: Your picture

When you set up a profile, Facebook suggests you choose a picture to represent yourself. As with anything, your choices here can reveal some truths you would have preferred stayed hidden.

For instance, if you’re not an actor or model, use a glamour shot at your own peril. You don’t look reflective, brooding or perky. You look like a narcissistic jerk. Sincerity is (always) hipper than hair gel, you smug peacock.

Second, college is over and no one’s buying it! You got fatter; hair migrated; and drinking caught up. What do you think happened to us for crying out loud? Let it go. Time forces what we might euphemistically call “the mantle of wisdom” upon us all; How gracefully you accept it is up to you. In short, don’t lead with a picture of yourself that’s older than Facebook.

Your picture, again

Since you’ve probably already screwed this up – there being so many ways to do so – your best bet is just to get a snapshot Simpsonized or Obama-ated and go with that.

Listen, your kids are adorable, and while we’re at it, let’s extend the fiction to say we’re glad you finally got someone to marry you.

Nevertheless, those crowning achievements do not belong in your profile picture. Nor, by the way, does a picture of a dog (unless, that is, you really are a dog, in which case, congrats on getting online. That’s impressive! Good dog!)

Here are the rules: Kiddie pics go in your gallery (we love to see them) and spouse pics go in the gallery or on their own Facebook accounts. If your spouse isn’t on Facebook, maybe he or she just isn’t that into you and your annoying friends. Just saying.

Accepting ‘friends’
Welcome to the firing line! People who have been on Facebook for over a month inevitably find themselves asking, “who are all these ‘friends,’ and, what on Earth was I thinking?”

The moment you sign up, people will find you and ask you to be “friends.” They want to pester you with fake flowers for a garden you don’t actually have. Scientists will puzzle over this for decades to come. If these potential “friends” aren’t, you know, actual friends you might want to talk to on the phone, you should probably pass.

Simply put, the more “friends” you have, the more nonsense will scud up your inbox. If you don’t care about the jerky details of Jerkwad’s summer “vacay,” don’t make Jerkwad a friend. Besides, you don’t have to accept or reject “friend requests” as soon as you get them. Wait until the requester does something useful like hit the lotto.

Nothing stays in Vegas – nothing!

You’ll probably end up being Facebook friends with real friends, people you dislike, workmates who can’t take a hint, and God only knows who else. As this dude dressed as a fairy found out, the hard way, some of your “friends” are “friends” with people you are hiding stuff from.

If your jackass freshman roommate somehow got to be buds with your boss and put up a picture of you at a party when you were supposed to be home sick, you’re hosed.

Worse yet, if said ex-roomie goes ahead and uploads that picture of you and the mule from spring break ’98, and then tags you in it (for the love of Pete), all your friends get a look. Why did you make that dude a friend anyway? We talked about this.

It’s theoretically possible to set your privacy settings up so none of this happens, but honestly, you’re probably not smart enough.

Updates: Stay classy, San Diego
You don’t have to simply suffer other people’s inane updates. (Bob loves pie? Thanks for the breaking news, Bob. I’m going to write that down for future reference.) No, you can also tell your friends all the dull stuff in your own life.

Some might find your updates offensive. The cautionary tale here is one about a guy who stabbed his wife to death when she changed her status to “single.” Facebook takes unfair blame for this, though. It’s like blaming Nokia after calling your boss between the third and fourth rounds of shooters to tell him where he can shove his snooty attitude. Still, if your friends are crackerjack insane, don’t provoke them. P.S., that’s true offline as well.

Meanwhile, some announcements aren’t really fit for a broadcast medium. Are you getting divorced? Should some of your acquaintances visit a public clinic soonish? If so, that’s news you take door-to-door before putting it on Facebook. Your sainted Grandma never threw wide the shutters and bellowed, “What up haters? I’m pregnant!” to the assembled townfolk, now did she? Use some judgment — it’s the Internet, not a barnyard.

Comments

Mostly comments are fun. You or a friend posts a status update and people crack wise or express sympathy or whatever. Community ensues and everybody avoids doing any work for another couple of minutes.

However, be aware that some people have way too many friends. Commenting on their status, means you’ll be alerted whenever their friends comment after you.

While that would be okay if your friends have chosen their friends on the basis of wit and insight, they most likely have not. In a sufficiently large population, 50 percent of everyone is below average. And now you have to listen to them sound off.

Applications
There is nothing funny to say about Facebook applications.

Applications are part and parcel of the platform that Mark Zuckerberg put at the disposal of his ad-men friends. Anyone can build a tiny program that operates on the Facebook platform, and so they have.

Some allow you to do soundly important stuff like play a fakey stock market, or challenge friends to games of Scrabble. Others let you tend pretend gardens, take endless quizzes about the 80s, or give each other fake beers. Now you’ve got a fake beer with a real craving chaser. Yay! Nobody wins!

Most importantly though, applications provide value to their creators in direct proportion to how many people use them. Consequently, they’ll do their best to trick you into inviting all your friends to install them. And when you install them, there’s a good chance they’ll steal your saleable data, so that’s nice.

To recap: Applications are irritating; you get them from your friends. And they’re easy to spread inadvertently. This is how venereal diseases roll, too. So there’s that.

Groups

Groups are some advanced Facebooking material and you should probably just forget about using them. Like anything, they can be useful if used well. In practice though, they generally suck. If you are fanatical about stuff like chalupas or Marilyn Manson’s inexcusable absence from “Guitar Hero,” or if the strength of your conviction that cancer is bad is enough to make you click a button, then groups may be for you.

However, unless you POSITIVELY KNOW that your friends feel the same way, leave us out of it.

Don’t presume just because a digital Teddy bear was enough to get you interested in curing malaria that we’re equally shallow. Or maybe a unicorn already cajoled us into raising awareness of Type 1 Diabetes and we’ve got scant time left for your fluffy bear and its impositions concerning our favorite diseases.

Contributor Daniel Harrison thanks Facebook pros Michael Thomas and Emma Patrash for aid in helping him avoid embarrassing himself here, like he’s doing right now on Twitter.

Source : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29555198/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets?pg=1#Tech_FacebookGrownups

Hijab in Europe- 8 minute short film

A Spanish short film by Xavi Sala about Hijab in Europe and the discrimination young Muslim women face in a so-called “free” Europe where everything but religion is tolerated in the name of freedom…

The recent tragic incident, in which six Christians brunt alive this weekend, in southern Punjab in Pakistan, on allegations of having desecrated the holy Quran, is very sad and condemnable, which certainly violates the basic principles of pluralism and tolerance. Such incidents, are only due to non tolerance and unawareness of the basic principles of pluralism.

We should work together to promote the basic teachings of Islam and basic ideas and principles of our country, which are inspired and adopted from the concept of pluralism. I found this article very informative, in this regard and sharing it for the benefit of all citizens of our country irrespective of race, creed or faith.

I have felt a great unrest among my christian friends, who are feeling very insecure after such incidents and some of them, who are very dis-hearted, are even denying being the part of this country. Pakistan is already facing the worst crises of extremism and terrorism and can’t afford another crises like this.  I think all of us, should play our part in this regard and come up with positive suggestions, ideas, contributions and remedies on how to prevent such tragic incidents, in the future.

There is a pervasive view in the media today that Islam does not support pluralism. Sadly, we often hear how difficult it is for non-Muslim minorities to live in peace and harmony in Muslim countries. Violent extremists who misuse Islamic theology to justify terrorist attacks have exacerbated prejudices against Muslims and today many people think that Muslims do not believe in pluralism and diversity.

By contrast, history reveals that Islam – as preached in the Koran and exemplified by the life of the Prophet Muohammad and his companions – actually accepts, celebrates and even encourages diversity.

It should be noted that the term “minority” has no place in Islamic law. It has no place in Sharia (or law based on Islamic principles) and jurists have never used the term. Rather, it emerged from Western societies, which use it to distinguish between ethnic groups.

According to Islamic principles, everyone who lives in a Muslim state is entitled to enjoy the same rights of citizenship, despite the differences they may have in their religion or population size.

In 622, when the Prophet Mohammad migrated from Mecca to Medina in the Arabian Peninsula and started to build the first Muslim state, he ensured that its Muslim and non-Muslim inhabitants could coexist in harmony. There was a substantial Jewish community in Medina, and the Prophet proposed an agreement of cooperation – between Muslims and the 11 Jewish tribes – called the Constitution of Medina, which Muslim historians and scholars generally accept as the first written state constitution.

This constitution spelled out the rights of Jews as non-Muslim citizens in the Muslim state. As a result, the Prophet managed to establish a multi-faith political community in Medina based on a set of universal principles. The rules set out in the constitution were meant to maintain peace and cooperation, protect life and property, prevent injustice and ensure freedom of religion and movement for all inhabitants – regardless of tribal or religious affiliation. Allegiance to the community superseded religious identity, as spelled out in the rules for joint defense: “[E]ach must help the other against anyone who attacks the people of this document.”

The Prophet’s treatment of the “People of the Book,” in this case Jews, showed religious tolerance as well as prudence. The constitution established the pattern for the future relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims, specifying non-Muslim citizens as equal partners with Muslim inhabitants.

Almost 15 years when Muslims conquered Jerusalem from the Byzantines, Caliph Omar Ibn al-Khattab granted its people, who were mainly Christians, safety for their persons, property and churches. As well-known British historian Karen Armstrong writes, “[Omar] was faithful to the Islamic inclusive vision. Unlike Jews and Christians, Muslims did not attempt to exclude others from Jerusalem’s holiness.”

Omar’s assurance of safety to the people of Jerusalem stands as an important example for leaders in multi-faith societies today, and history has proven that when these examples were put into practice, non-Muslims were were treated kindly and justly.

These examples of Muslim and non-Muslim coexistence are not confined to a specific time or place, but are meant to be applied in all times and places. Today, for example, Jordan’s Constitution guarantees freedom of religious belief. Christians in Jordan, who form the majority of non-Muslims, enjoy by law nearly 10 percent of the seats in Parliament and have similar quotas at every level of government and society. Their holy sites, property and religious practices are protected from any kind of interference by the state.

Cultural and social realities in many Muslim-majority societies have led to violations of the rights of non-Muslims in contemporary times. Islamic history, however, demonstrates that the path towards mutual understanding and tolerance does not deviate from the essence of Islam. On the contrary, to revive the spirit of inclusivity, Muslim societies should look to the Koran, and emulate the model it lays out.

An inclusive vision is, and always will be, the only safe haven for followers of other religions in an Islamic society.

Maher Y. Abu-Munshar is a lecturer in Islamic Jerusalem studies, ALMI, University of Aberdeen and author of “Islamic Jerusalem and Its Christians: A History of Tolerance and Tensions” (IB Tauris, 2007).

By arrangement with the Common Ground News Service (www.commongroundnews.org)
URL: http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1588

“I think there is need of conducting a similar survey, in the urban areas of Pakistan, to assess and evaluate the usage of computers, internet and social networking sites because there is no doubt that computer availability in most of the families, living in urban areas, has increased rapidly in the past couple of years. However, this survey can show the actual trends and activities of the youth, and suggest remedies, if it shows negative results.”

MUMBAI — A striking 71% of students in Indian metropolitan areas say they use personal computers, according to a new survey by information technology giant Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.

And 66 % of students in the southern city of Bangalore said they were active on blogging and social networking sites, compared with 39% nationally, the same survey found.

The survey of nearly 14,000 kids studying in English-language schools in 12 major cities in India shows schoolchildren here have embraced technology and the Internet, with Google and Wikipedia overtaking the library as the most trusted source of information.

The survey “confirms that today’s students are shifting their academic and social life online and embracing the digital world as true digital natives,” said S. Ramadorai, chief executive officer and managing director of Tata Consultancy.

Conducted in 2008 and 2009, the survey is the outgrowth of a quiz show that Tata Consultancy launched a decade ago in English schools across India to create an interest in technology. Through the survey, Tata Consultancy hopes to connect with potential employees by gaining a better understanding of how young people use technology to work, play and think, company officials said.

Rising incomes among India’s middle class have meant that more families are likely to own a personal computer.

Among the many significant findings of the survey was the fact that the highest percentage of users of personal computers were in Bangalore and Delhi — at 77%.

Some 63% of children surveyed said they spent more than an hour each day on the Internet; 41% of school children surveyed chose Google as a source of information, while 46% said they use online sources to access news.

Far fewer children reported using the library. Cochin in Kerala ranked the highest in library usage, at 14%.

Blogging and social networking also appear to be gaining ground. Higher education abroad remains a common goal among students. The U.S. remains the most popular study destination with nearly 40% preferring to study there, the survey found. However, when it comes to their careers, 49% said they would like to stay in India.

Laptops and Ipod players do not appear to have reached many homes, according the survey. Mumbai had the highest laptop penetration, at 38%, compared to the national average of 19%. Tata Consultancy is one of India’s largest information technology players, with 48,000 employees in India, 95% of whom are 25 years old or younger.

By SONYA MISQUITTA

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124903647946896557.html#printMode

Microsoft Makes Windows 7 Minimum Requirements Official

posted by Thom Holwerda on Fri 1st May 2009 13:27 UTC

Along with the release of the Windows 7 release candidate came new system requirements for Microsoft’s next operating system. Thisupdated set of requirements has been declared final, making them the official system requirements for Windows 7 final. Seeing Microsoft’s rather… Dubious past dealings with minimum system requirements, let’s take a look at Windows 7′s.

The updated requirements have changed little since the Windows 7 beta, and they are almost identical to those of Windows Vista – but when Windows 7 is released, we will be three years down the road. Without further ado:

• 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
  
• 1 GB of RAM (32-bit); 2 GB of RAM (64-bit)
  
• 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit); 20 GB of available disk space (64-bit)
  
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
  

Sadly, I don’t own a machine close to these minimum specifications to give you guys a hint as to what that would be like. My AMD Phenom X4 quad-core (4×2.2Ghz), with on-board Radeon HD3200 graphics and 4GB of Geil RAM obviously runs Windows 7 RC (32bit) blazingly fast. My much older, but still relatively powerful Pentium 4 2.8Ghz HT machine with a GeForce 6200 and 2GB of RAM also has no problems whatsoever with the Windows 7RC.

The only machine where it could’ve gotten interesting is my Aspire One netbook, which has the well-known Atom 1.6Ghz processor with an on-board Intel-something video chip and 1.5GB of RAM. Sorry to disappoint some of you, but this netbook has no problems running Windows 7 RC either.

Then again, none of these three machines had any troubles running Windows Vista anyway (I never ran Vista on the quad-core though) so to me, there’s really no surprise there. I have already accepted that my apartment is a magical Windows-problem-free zone inhabited by fairies who keep my machines tidy and clean at night while taking sips out of my Martini bottles.

Anyway, looking back upon the increases in system requirements for Windows, here’s a nice little table I made of all the official minimum specifications as listed by Microsoft.

Minimum system requirements for Windows home-oriented releases as listed by Microsoft.

As you can see, this is the first time that Microsoft has actually managed to keep their minimum requirements flat. However, knowing that Windows 7 actually runs a lot better on the same hardware than Windows Vista, you could technically say that the minimum requirements have been decreased, fairly unique in the software world (Apple managed to do the same with Mac OS X a few times).