Posted: 03 May 2010 09:09 AM PDT

Jim Watson's life has always been all about community.

The Papatoetoe pensioner - a former engineer, farmer and stock-branding contractor - has spent most of his 83 years helping others.

He had 40 years in the Boys Brigade and has been a lay preacher at the Wesley Methodist Church on Kolmar Rd for 50. He has run Bible classes, and now organises the renting of the church hall for private functions - a task that can be a balancing act.

"You can't be having noisy acts against quieter ones."

He has built homes for people through his role with Habitat for Humanity, and has opened his own home to those needing accommodation.

"I have been a Christian since I was 13 or 14 and I see the benefits in my own life. I want to instil the same things in the youth. While I am fit and well, it keeps me occupied."

But it's not all church work. Once a month, Mr Watson takes cancer patients from their homes - or hospices - for treatment at Middlemore Hospital.

While he's there, he may push patients in chairs or hospital beds to services in the chapel.

Mr Watson has been nominated for the Herald Unsung Heroes series by his friend Lisa Gunanayagam, who reckons he embodies all the attributes of a good neighbour.

The series recognises the work people do in their communities. Five nominees will be chosen at the end of the series to go on a P&O cruise.

"Jim is always willing to help no matter what the problem or how late the hour," Ms Gunanayagam said.

"His goodwill and strength as a vital part of our church have overflowed into the community as he continues to make a difference in whatever way he can."

Mr Watson had to be talked into participating in this story.

There is already a gold plaque - a tribute usually reserved for people who have died - in his honour at his church, and he is happy with that.

By David Eames | Email David

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Bring back the heroes - The Malaysian Insider

Posted: 04 May 2010 02:41 AM PDT

MAY 3 — My mother used to scold me when I was young for watching too many cop shows on television. She didn't understand why I wasted my time watching them and devoted less time on my studies.

The cop shows were exciting and taught me many of life's lessons I would not have gathered at home.

Later, I figured that the main reason why I like watching cop shows was because it provided me with an infusion of real-world good values through the heroic characters on the shows.

Many in my generation would remember the series called "Serpico" , the story about a brave New York City cop who risked his career, life and limbs to expose rampant corruption in the local police force in the seventies.

His actions forced the New York City Mayor to reform the local police force.

Coincidentally, the effort to clean the police force was done internally and did not require the formation of a special anti corruption department like the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) here.

The reforms were executed by clearing the force of tainted officers and appointing fresh personnel with impeccable integrity.

There was no need to establish another layer of potentially corruptible bureaucracy like the MACC to investigate the police force.

Many of us would also remember the fictional character of Detective James "Popeye" Doyle who braved death every single day to expose the European and US drug trade. This, too, was in the 1970s.

Both these men preferred to use their wisdom to overcome obstacles and hated violence, especially in the use of firearms.

They were well respected and feared by their foes, and the public felt safer as a result. They were true heroes to the public.

Back to Malaysia, our policemen in the 1970s were like Frank Serpico and "Popeye" Doyle.

They went to work every day with the knowledge that they might not return home alive later in the evening. They had to contend with the threat of being assassinated by the communists and gangsters who bred fear in the public at that time.

The police force at that time was racially diverse and every officer, regardless of race, would risk his life in the line of duty. Their leaders were fearless and the courage of some dedicated officers ended with the assassination of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and a couple of state police chiefs.

They were our real life heroes and the police force gained the greatest respect from the public.

The late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, who was the prime minister then, decided to embark on radical change of the force even though there was no obvious need at that time.

He decided to rejuvenate the police force and provide for its leadership needs of the next generation.

Tun Abdul Razak had appointed a junior officer, the 35-year-old Haniff Omar, later Tun, as the Inspector-General of Police in 1974 to change the police force when his predecessor died in a hail of bullets

Tun Haniff was one of the few university graduates serving as officers in the force at that time.

Under Tun Haniff's leadership as IGP, the communist threat was finally eliminated. He also went after the gangsters who were running riot and threatened national security at that time. His men's efforts resulted in the capture of the infamous Botak Chin in 1976.

The present day police force is a pale shadow of its heroic predecessors. They are now perceived as an incompetent and easily corruptible.

They are less feared by the petty and small time criminals, who continue to roam the streets and commit opportunistic crimes.

The professionalism and experience of the police force has declined as the officers prefer to be behind their desks than on the streets connecting with the people at large.

Their professionalism has further declined with the increased intake of supporting police officers in response to the demands from the public for increased police presence on the street.

This has resulted in burgeoning numbers of a young generation of police officers who only applied to join the force as a last resort. Thus, the new recruits lack dedication and integrity, and look at their responsibility as just another job.

They prefer to spend most of their time setting up mindless roadblocks all over Kuala Lumpur while petty thieves roam the streets around them brazenly.

They are no longer fearless as their predecessors and fear death now.

The killing of 14-year-old Aminulrasyid Amzah has exposed the mindless drone that poses as the typical officer of the Royal Malaysian Police today.

I am suspicious on the quality of job training given to the new generation of police officers. I would expect them to be trained to exercise greater wisdom when faced with potential dangers at roadblocks which are under their control.

I would expect them to be trained to use firearms in limited circumstances, and not be trigger happy and discharge their guns without a clear threat on their lives.

The shooting of Aminulrasyid clearly demonstrates the failure of the training programme of the police force.

Fact is, I don't expect the Police Internal Inquiry Board tasked to investigate the case to find any wrongdoing and punish the perpetrators. These outcomes will increase distrust among the public in the police force.

The public will now have to add the police force as another threat, in addition to the thieves and crooks, to contend with in their everyday lives.

The policemen the public used to look up to as heroes are today zeroes in their eyes.

Maybe Tun Razak's radical moves to change the police force has run its course and needs a new direction.

It is ironic that the person who needs to make the politically-painful overhaul is his son Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

I have high hopes that he will make the changes. The burning question, however, is will he be able to find Serpico or "Popeye" Doyle or another Tun Haniff Omar among the leadership of the police force today?

But he has to. For the sake of the people, and the country.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

...
written by Fi-sha, May 03, 2010

Dear Mr Politician

May I remind you of a saying, "If there's a will, there is a way". There's no political will from the ruling party to set this deplorable state of our Men in Blue right. So far, backwardism of these Men inh Blue is to the advantage of people like you, so it seem.

May I share with you another saying that "The fish rots from its head". You purposely skipped the infamous 'crook' that gave DSAI the famous black eye in 1998. If I were their employer (well hey we, the citizens of malaysia are), I would fire all those top management and bring in capable people to set their people straight.

How it is so see how performance of our Men in Blue slid down the doldrums for the past 30 years and how it reflects the kind of ruling party we have during these tumultous time. Yes, we don't need MACC, all we direly need now is the new Government!

Grow up Mr. Politician. You miss heroes like Popeye yet you act like Brutus all the time.

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Inspire: Ordinary Heroes: I Was Blind, But Now I See - Catholic Online

Posted: 03 May 2010 02:45 PM PDT

By Michael Brandon
5/3/2010
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

As our young people embrace the Faith of our Fathers, the Church will be in good hands, very good hands indeed.

TUCSON, AZ (Catholic Online) - Yesterday morning, I met my friend Fernando Cuevas at morning mass, and told him that as My Dear Wife and I had to leave for Canada in a few days, we would like to get together with them so that I could complete the articles that I was writing about them for this series on Ordinary Heroes. A couple of hours later, we decided to have lunch together and 9 hours after that, life might never be the same.

Fernando and his wife Virginia came by our motor home to pick us up for lunch, and off we went. During lunch I asked them the questions that I had to complete the articles that I was writing about them, and slowly discovered more than I had imagined about their journey of faith, but you will have to wait for that story.

Near the end of lunch, Fernando and Virginia had a little tête-à-tête, and then Virginia asked us how busy we were for the afternoon. As we were flexible, an adventure began. About 3 hours later, we found ourselves at Our Lady of the Sierras Shrine in Sierra Vista, AZ. Virginia´s excitement to come and see her "Mommy" as she calls Our Blessed Mother was infectious, and we were immediately struck by the spiritual beauty of the place. We spent an hour there as the sun was preparing to set, visiting the chapel, praying the Stations of the Cross, and admiring the statues of Mary, the Cross there, and the beautiful view of the area.

As we prepared to leave, Virginia suggested that we go over to the Diocesan retreat house, La Purisima Retreat Center, nearby, where the youth of Our Lady of Fatima were on retreat to prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation. We arrived there after dinner was completed and the youth were moving on to their activities. We were warmly welcomed at the kitchen door, by the adults who were there to assist with feeding the youth. Fernando and Virginia had helped out often with these retreats, which are run by their son Antony and daughter-in-law Deanna.

We were invited to eat dinner with these folks, and as we were about to sit down and eat, Virginia spotted a young woman, she had not seen in 3 ½ years, who she embraced warmly, and who then joined us. At that moment, everything changed. Although there were about a dozen people in the room, I have no recollection of there being anyone present but My Dear Wife, Fernando and Virginia, and Sister Chiara Linker.

Ruth Linker, now Sister Chiara, had known our friends since her teen years; she is now 24. She had been raised in Three Points AZ, a short hop west from Tucson, had gone to school there and had felt a calling in her heart to something more. She thought she would get married and have a family. She was active in her school, dating young men, enjoying life, but there was more. Eventually, she stopped dating so that she could be more attentive to something that was calling inside of her. After high school, this young woman who had seldom been out of the county she was raised in, was drawn to take a trip to Franciscan University of Steubenville.

After arriving, she was introduced to a particular young woman, and soon in her heart, she knew that she needed to talk to her. So like so many of us, she resisted this urging for several days. Finally, the die was cast and she could no longer sit back. As they spoke, this young woman´s story of her search for her vocation mirrored Ruth´s own story up to that time.

This young woman was on her way with a car load of friends to visit the Capuchin Sisters of Nazareth at their monastery near Scranton, Pennsylvania. Ruth felt that she needed to join them, but the car was already full, and so she resolved that it was not to be. But, as the group was preparing to leave, and as she was starting to think about returning to her home in Arizona, one young woman had to pull out for personal reasons. Suddenly, there was a spot in the car for her, and off she went.

She fell in love with the place, and the people there, and above all, even deeper in love with the Lord. Not too long after that Ruth returned home to Arizona, got ready and then entered the Novitiate at the monastery.

She was given the name Sister Chiara, which is Italian for Clare, the actual name of St Clare, the compatriot of St. Francis. She spent the next 3 ½ years at the monastery, and is preparing for her first vows in another year or so. She hopes that her final vows will come a few years after that. But yesterday, she was back in Arizona, visiting for a while and praying, and helping out in the kitchen at the Parish retreat for the young people.

As she shared her faith journey with some candour, and much enthusiasm, she glowed with the love of Christ that was in her. I looked over at Fernando, Virginia and My Dear Wife, ...