Latest NGO's News Dated on January 25th,2012

Three NGOs kiss good-bye
Three non-governmental organisations have been de-registered by the Registrar of Societies.

They include the Committee of Citizens, Leadership Environment and Development Southern Africa and the Evangelical Youth Alliance International.

Chief Registrar of Societies Clement Andeleki has confirmed the development in a press statement issued to ZNBC News on Tuesday.

Mr Andeleki has explained that the three organisations have been operating illegally, failed to pay annual returns and failed to comply with their terms of registration.

He has also reminded political parties, clubs, charity organisations and churches to pay their annual returns by 31st March, 2012.

But Committee of Citizens Executive Director Gregory Chifire has maintained that his organisation is still a legal entity.

Mr Chifire has challenged the Registrar of Societies to check his records and tell the nation the truth.

He says the action has not surprised him, describing it as a political gimick by the PF government.
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Dying to Live: Urgent Need to Increase Organ Donation Awareness
Thousands of people die every year waiting for someone to donate an organ that is so vitally important and could have kept them alive. Very few seem to care. Frequent campaigns are needed to sensitize the Indian public on urgent need to step up organ donations and save precious lives. In the case of deceased organ donation, organs and tissues harvested from a person declared 'brain dead' can be used to save as many as nine lives or more.

One such initiative was the Organ donation rally organized at the Marina Beach, Chennai, South India on Sunday by MOHAN Foundation (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network), a not-for-profit organization promoting deceased organ donation. The rally which was flagged off by Mr. Saidai S. Duraisamy, Mayor, Corporation of Chennai, at the Triumph of Labour statue and reached the Gandhi statue where a unique sand sculpture depicting organs that can be donated to save lives was etched on the sands of Marina beach.

Speaking on the occasion, the Mayor observed, "Organ donation is one donation that doesn't require a person to have material wealth in order to be able to give away something to another. It just requires the willingness to pledge one's organs after death for another's use, getting a donor card and informing the nearest kith and kin about the intention to donate." The Mayor said he would explore ways to step up infrastructure to speed up availability of organs for transplant and assured the gathering that the Corporation of Chennai would help facilitate venues for awareness campaigns and rallies to take the organ donation movement forward.

Mr. Sharad Sharma, Chief General Manager, State Bank of India was pained to note that even 17 years after the Transplantation of Human Organ Act was passed in India, there was severe lack of awareness on organ donation among the Indian population and there were very few NGOs promoting organ donation awareness in India. Mr. Sharma informed the audience that SBI had donated a public education van to MOHAN Foundation in order to spread the message of organ donation to a wide spectrum of people.

Mr. Anantha Padmanabhan, NAC Jewellers said that the best way to take the movement forward was for every person to pledge to donate his or her organs and be a role model to others. He said, following his example about 60 or more of his family and friends had signed a Donor Card.

Welcoming the gathering, Dr. Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee of MOHAN Foundation said, "Tamil Nadu is at the forefront of the deceased organ donation programme in India. The latest statistics show that there have been 230 organ donors in the state from October 2008 till date. As a result 1318 organs and tissues have been donated saving many lives. Events such as this help people realize the importance of this cause and build positive public will about organ donation."

Dr. V. Kanagasabai, Dean, MMC & RGGGH, Dr. M. Panchanathan, JD (MEDL), DMRHS, Dr. N. Muthurajan, Dy. Director of Medical Education, and Dr. V. Palani, Medical Superintendent, participated in the rally which also had enthusiastic corporate people and students from colleges like Loyola College, Agrasen College, Quaid-e-Milleth, Sindhi College, and SDNB Vaishnav College marching to promote awareness on organ donation carrying banners with slogans such as, "Give Life a Second Chance", "Don't take your organs to heaven. God knows it's needed here." MCC students effectively presented the theme of organ donation through a vibrant street theatre performance. The Mayor distributed medals to the sand sculptors from Government College of Fine Arts

MOHAN Foundation a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation was started to promote deceased organ donation. It is a registered NGO with Income Tax exemption under Section 80G and 35AC and has offices in Chennai, Hyderabad,Bangalore, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Delhi, Visakhapatnam and USA.

About Medindia

Medindia.com (or .net) is a premier health website providing a range of services to both healthcare consumers and the medical professionals. Medindia has a net presence of over 10 years and was started with a social mission to improve the health of people by providing important authentic and validated health information that is easily understandable. Over the years it has evolved into Asian regions most comprehensive portal in the health sector in terms of content, viewer-ship, technology leadership and domain expertise.

The initiative is headed and sustained by eminent doctors with a team of editors, programmers and designers. The popular areas include health calculators, inter-actives, animation, slides, news, Health Info, health directories, electronic medical records and medical education related information. The search directories have over 200,000 entries of Doctors, Dentists, Hospitals, Medical colleges, Chemists, Surgical suppliers and Pharmaceuticals from all over India.The content and medical expertise for the site is provided by Medindia Health Network Pvt Ltd. The site is affiliated to Medical Computer Society of India and contributes part of its income in promoting medical informatics to improve patient care.
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Rahul Singh says he can make humanitarian disaster relief faster, better, and cheaper

It’s two and a half days since the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. The Adventist Hospital, an enormous white building in a formerly leafy suburb of Port-au-Prince, now looks more like a war zone. Thousands of people are camped around the hospital in need of urgent medical care—mangled limbs, bleeding head wounds, shattered bones. Every few minutes a pickup truck emerges from the dust and rubbish to deposit yet another injured body onto the hospital grounds.

In the midst of this bloody chaos stands Rahul Singh, a Toronto paramedic who rushed to the Haitian capital within hours of hearing the catastrophic news. A big, charismatic bear of a man, Singh becomes the natural centre of gravity of most rooms he walks into, and in the swirling chaos of the hospital, he’s the eye of the storm, someone people can’t help but look to for leadership. He doesn’t keep them waiting. Singh quickly sets to work with four paramedics, a general surgeon, and a water technician, all people he brought with him on a few hours’ notice.

The medical team begins to set fractures and amputate gangrenous limbs while Singh searches the surrounding area for a place to set up the water purification unit. He discovers a swimming pool that’s fed by a creek on the adjoining university campus. There are thousands of litres of water in the pool that they can purify. The creek will refill the pool, providing a continuous supply of water. He concentrates on the task at hand, blocking out the chaos around him. Later, he’ll describe it as a “Zen moment” in which time stands still. Within a few minutes, clean water is flowing from the tap. Singh and his team have only been in Haiti for a few hours, but they’re up and running.

In the immediate days after the quake, this was no small feat. The death toll was already estimated at 200,000 victims, and thousands more lay trapped or dead in the rubble. Non-governmental agencies tried to mobilize but faced complications because the country was in shambles without electricity or phone service. Wreckage, dead bodies, fires and homeless people blocked most roads. Schools, government buildings, and hospitals had collapsed, and even a prison was destroyed, leaving 4,000 inmates at large. Yet over an eight-week period, Rahul Singh and his small group of colleagues from the international aid NGO he founded, Global Medic, provided medical assistance to more than 7,000 people and distributed 15 million litres of clean water. Even more remarkable is that they did it on a budget of $400,000—miniscule by the measure of any humanitarian operation.

Global Medic’s work in Haiti earned Singh a place on TIME magazine’s “2010 TIME 100” list of the world’s most influential people, putting him in the company of Barack Obama, Lady Gaga, and Steve Jobs. The Globe and Mail named him one of Canada’s “Top 40 under 40” in 2009. Though the recognition is a recent development, he’s been doing his unorthodox humanitarian work for a long time: for the past 13 years Singh and his team have provided life-saving assistance in more than 40 countries suffering in the aftermath of tsunamis, earthquakes, cyclones, floods,landslides, and other disasters. However, despite his numerous awards and considerable experience, Singh remains an outsider in Canadian international disaster aid.

Singh is naturally gregarious, with a natural everyman charm. Whether it’s chatting up Taylor Swift’s backing band in a New York elevator (they were also attending the TIME 100 awards in 2010, and he offered to share a cab) or addressing the Global Competitiveness Forum in Riyadh, he draws people in. Colleagues describe him as larger than life—the kind of person that can walk into a room and instantly captivate everyone’s attention. He brushes off any suggestion, however, that his rising-star status means he has any special talents. “I just work hard,” he says. “That’s all I’ve got. I see talented people around me and I can put them in a position to deliver.”

Born in 1970, Singh grew up as an only child with a single mother in Verdun, a former working class neighbourhood on the island of Montreal. “I was a poor kid. I was also an English kid in a French community and a brown kid in a white community,” he says. After his rough and tumble youth, Singh ended up in law enforcement and made his way to Hamilton, Ontario where he took a job with the Niagara Regional Police Service. He later moved to Toronto to work as a community patrol officer with Toronto Community Housing. The stress of working in a milieu of drugs, guns, and violence began to take a toll on Singh’s marriage, among other factors. He decided to leave law enforcement and become a paramedic instead, graduating from college in 1989.

The switch to working ambulances was a better fit for Singh, but it failed to save his marriage. At the age of 27, he was divorced, balding, and grumpy. Deciding that he needed to change things up, he took off travelling the world, and eventually wound up in Nepal where he worked with an organization that was training local medics. When a mudslide wiped out a nearby village, Singh was sent on his first humanitarian mission.

He slept in a hammock that was not at all designed for a man of his bulky frame; most nights it sagged so low that he ended up sitting in floodwater. Among the few comforts he enjoyed were cheese rations and listening to Marvin Gaye’s “Trouble Man” on his Walkman. But despite the deprivations of the job, Singh found he was enjoying himself: “I discovered that I’m good at this. I’m thinking, ‘it’s the bomb!’” But the project soon ran out of money and was forced to close down. Singh’s dedication to the mission had not gone unnoticed, however, and he was invited to a meeting in Kathmandu to meet the director of the aid agency. When Singh arrived, he found the director staying in a five-star hotel. “There’s people dying and he’s eating a $21 pepper steak,” Singh says, shaking his head in disbelief. “I couldn’t swallow it, so I told him off.”

That experience was the catalyst for the development of Global Medic. Singh wanted to create an aid NGO that would do away with the executive salaries, bureaucracy, equipment overhead, and the other expensive trappings of aid delivery that he saw as wasteful. He started the David McAntony Gibson Foundation (named after his best friend, who had died in 1998), of which Global Medic would be the operational arm. He raised $8,500 in the foundation’s first year as a charity. And he rounded up his dirty dozen, 13 fellow Canadian paramedics. They set off on their first international mission in 2003, assisting anti-landmine personnel in Cambodia.

Global Medic has now worked on more than 60 missions and their 2010/2011 budget topped out at $1.4 million. Yet Singh takes no paycheque; he still works full-time as a paramedic with the Toronto Emergency Service. He and his full roster of paramedics, firefighters, and police officers all volunteer for missions by taking vacation time or unpaid leave. “I think we’ve got more credibility when we are unpaid,” Singh says, “and more importantly, it’s pretty hard to question our motivations.”

It’s remarkable that Singh has amassed a team of volunteers to call upon at a moment’s notice. The model best suits shift workers who can take time off without losing their jobs. Julie Colgan, a London, Ontario paramedic who has served three missions with Global Medic, says she enjoys the experience of seeing firsthand the difference she can make in a community, but she also appreciates the opportunity to work with Singh because of his “no bullshit, get out of my way because I’m coming in’ attitude.”

It’s precisely that approach—Singh calls it “pigheaded,” and says it’s typical of the paramedic mentality necessary to cope with the job—that has enabled Global Medic to grow exponentially in such a short period of time. Singh’s persuasive skills mean money and supplies seem to multiply in his care. He asks companies to donate generators, medicine, tents, water purification tablets and food to supply the warehouse outside Toronto. The team goes to Costco to stock up on food, PowerBars, bandages, and gauze before a mission. “Store clerks ask us why we’re buying so much stuff, and when I explain that we’re taking it to earthquake victims in Japan they give it to us for free,” he says. He often persuades airline and helicopter companies to fly in personnel and supplies at no cost. He also donates his speaking fees—up to $10,000 per talk—to Global Medic. One of Singh’s signature maneuvers is to tell speaking sponsors that he donates his fee, then ask them to double it. They usually do.

All this chutzpah hasn’t won Singh many friends among government officials at home. Singh is one of the few NGO directors in Canada willing to openly criticize the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). He becomes livid when describing how long it takes for the agency to make funding decisions following a disaster. “They tell me they’re doing a good job but they’re sitting behind a desk,” he says, pounding a fist on the table. “I’ve just been in Haiti watching nine-year-old girls getting their legs chopped off, so don’t tell me you’re doing a good job, because you’re not.”

As a paramedic, Singh knows that time is of the essence when it comes to saving lives. It’s his primary focus—get into a country as fast as possible with life saving assistance—much like a 911 call—and then get out of the way so that longer-term agencies can take over. He believes Canada should have a prepackaged program like his, complete with inflatable hospitals and portable water units, ready to go at all times. “We get Canadian supplies, innovation, and boots on the ground within the first 24 hours of a disaster,” he says.

In the current system, the bulk of Canada’s humanitarian funding goes to the multinational organizations such as CARE, Oxfam and Save the Children. It frustrates Singh to see funding for immediate disaster response go to agencies that he says are better suited to long-term development. Trying to crack into that closed circle has put Singh at loggerheads with the bigger agencies, which—perhaps understandably—don’t agree with Singh’s assessment. “I get a real push back, ‘stay down young man’ type of vibe from them,” he says.

Agencies such as CARE and Oxfam have developed their mandate for disaster response in a way that takes into account their long term relief goals and advocacy work. They maintain the view that it’s important not just to get in fast after a disaster but also to get it right. “There are moments in which an organization that is first on the scene can appear to be more efficient,” says Kevin McCort, president and CEO of Care Canada. “In the long run, though, it makes sense for the community to benefit from a group that can stay there and provide value for a long time, rather than the person who gets their first with whatever they happen to have.”

Faster isn’t necessarily better, McCort says. He describes how the Canadian Medical Assistance Teams, a small NGO based in Brantford, Ontario, immediately got on planes to fly to Tokyo after the 2011 earthquake in Japan. However, once they landed they realized they weren’t prepared to deal with the radiation crisis, so they had to come home. The focus on getting into a country first is also not entirely altruistic. “There’s a macho component among aid groups,” says Susan MacGregor, professor of international development at Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning. “Part of it is bragging rights to a certain extent. All the NGOs want to be first on the ground.”

In theory, getting into a country for the initial life saving response following a disaster should be simple. “It’s easy in the sense that the needs are clear,” says MacGregor. “When people don’t have water, you give them water. That is much more clear than trying to give somebody a livelihood, or trying to improve somebody’s life expectancy.” Yet providing these basic necessities becomes extremely difficult in the midst of chaotic conditions. The result is that disaster aid—an estimated $15 billion a year industry with more than 250,000 employees worldwide—has become a circus.

The size of the circus has gotten bigger in recent years as instantaneous news reports with images of suffering create awareness around the need for help. That prompts a flood of well-intentioned—but not necessarily competent—do-gooders into high-profile locations. While there is logic to having more players on the ground, it hasn’t yet resulted in a more effective response.

Many experienced organizations have become increasingly frustrated at the bottleneck of aid that occurs. Médecins Sans Frontières had their planes bumped off schedule in Haiti because flights for celebrities such as John Travolta and Sean Penn took precedence. Involvement of state actors such as military and government compounds the problem and seems to be an increasing trend. Add to that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of church groups and small NGOs with varying degrees of professionalism, capability, and contextual understanding and you have an atmosphere not unlike the Wild West. “There is a difference between ‘able to do’ and ‘has the capacity to do’ and those are important distinctions,” says Michael Fark, operations manager with MSF.

MacGregor describes a situation in which a group called Mothers Without Borders came to Indonesia after the earthquake and tsunami in 2004. The group of women from Arkansas wanted to get to Banda Aceh to care for orphaned babies, but they arrived in the country without tents, water bottles, or food. “They came with a few thousand dollars in cash and had absolutely no idea how to get north in the country. It’s these types that are a huge drain on the system,” she says.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tries to coordinate the work of various agencies through a cluster system, which splits relief efforts into sectors such as shelter, food, water, and education. However, many small NGOs don’t know about it. Others, such as Global Medic, don’t have full-time personnel to attend meetings, and don’t consider the system useful to them anyway.

Singh prefers to find his own local partners to work with. “The meetings don’t even happen until a week after a disaster and by that time it’s too late,” Singh says. Outsider groups such as Global Medic are branded “cowboys” in the aid world by the larger NGOs. While OCHA is clearly still a work in progress, the UN believes the effort is worthwhile because lack of coordination results in duplicated efforts and wasted resources.

“It’s not that we want to have somebody sitting in a meeting all day,” says Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam. “But we recognize that if we don’t, we’re operating on partial information and we’re likely to be complicating, rather than helping the situation.” Yet even the UN system has its limitations. “It’s difficult to coordinate 50 agencies,” says Fox. “ It’s impossible to coordinate 5,000.”

Global Medic has now joined Policy Action Group on Emergency Response, a network that promotes coordination between aid agencies. It’s a signal to others in the industry that Singh is willing to play along—up to a point. It’s an acknowledgement that Global Medic may ultimately have to temper Singh’s shoot-first bravado in order to grow. Singh wants access to CIDA funds, which means courting the very agency Singh has spent more than a decade antagonizing.

There have already been some tangible results of this new, more congenial approach: CIDA provided $535,000 to Global Medic to assist with relief following the 2010 flooding in Pakistan. Still, Singh is impatient as ever: “It’s like pulling teeth,” he says. “They’re taking their time to warm up to us, and I’m like, ‘let’s get into bed.’”

For now, however, Global Medic continues to depend on private and corporate donations. “Our donors are different. They don’t want to see pictures of crying babies,” Singh says. He recounts how a law firm in Toronto called up after the earthquake in Haiti and wanted to donate $50,000. When they asked him what he would do with the money, Singh told them “we’ll put another hospital and water unit in, and we can do it tomorrow.” It’s that straight-shooter response and apparent financial transparency that make Global Medic popular with a public that is increasingly aware that there is a gap in what NGOs claim they accomplish and what they can actually do.

Sitting in his office, surrounded by hundreds of framed press clippings, Singh sips tea and reflects on whether he can change the way disaster response is currently delivered. The TIME award has opened doors and in some ways leveled the playing field, but Singh is up-front about his limitations. “We need a CEO here. We need somebody that can wear a tie and go talk to government and speak the language and schmooze—because that’s just not me,” he says. It hasn’t escaped Singh’s attention that often he is the lowest-paid and least-educated person in the room. He shrugs it off. “It’s funny, this life that I lead, because I’m a blue-collar grunt. I’m not a caviar-and-Perrier kind of guy.”

Nevertheless, Singh is determined to change the way Canadian humanitarian aid is delivered, whether the caviar-and-Perrier set—or anyone else—likes it or not. “We’ll get there eventually,” he says. “But will the government open their arms and welcome me?” He throws back his head and a huge bellow of laughter fills the room. “Hell no!”
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Police are custodians of the law, not Umno

YOURSAY ‘I implore the police. Please be seen to be fair so that the rakyat's confidence in you can be restored.'

Cops in cahoots with rowdy mob, alleges ABU

Trumpet Call: The police must act. Not only must they profess to be the custodians of the law, they must be seen to be so. If they just stand by and do nothing to investigate and apprehend the hooligans at Saturday's ‘Anything But Umno' event, all hell can break loose.

There is a distinct possibility that the incident can spark a wider racial conflict. The video evidence is there for all to see. I implore the police, please be seen to be fair so that the rakyat's confidence in you can be restored.

Up2U: So what else is new about these very senior police officers? Their promotion, good posting and other fringe benefits depend on Umno leaders, thus it is only natural and logical for them to follow their instructions and protect their interests.

Just imagine what these senior officers will be capable of when Umno-BN lose in the next general election.

Ashoka PJ: Now you know why the Indian Malaysians need Hindraf - nobody else cares about them, especially the police who use them as punching bags.

Way Forward: Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and the Polis Di-Raja Malaysia (PDRM), why the double standards?

Students at a peaceful gathering like the university sit-in, you came in full gear and force to disperse and arrest them, but these rowdy pro-Umno scums who had caused much havoc, you did not even raise a finger and your officers even supported them.

Hah Thiam Khean: Our government says Malaysia is not mature enough. If you have open discourse it will lead to violence. Therefore the country needs ‘strong' laws and enforcement to keep peace and protect us.

I agree. We need strong laws and enforcement to deal with violent people who disrupt peaceful gatherings.

There are indeed Malaysians who are not mature enough. When there is open discourse that they do not like, they resort to violence and provocation. The country needs strong law enforcement to immediately arrest, try and jail these violent and immature people.

Dear government, please show you mean business and deal swiftly with these violent people. Please do this even if some police officers and Umno members who committed the violence need to be jailed. Let them make their case in court if they claim to be innocent.

I await your strong enforcement actions to protect all peacefully assembled citizens of Malaysia. Please show me you mean what you say.

CiViC: It's no surprise. It's getting boring to see and read all these. Police? What? They are gangsters for Umno-BN.

Anoymous: The statement Selangor police chief Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah makes on this incident is an insult to all Malaysians.

Look at the video - it doesn't look like anything that Tun Hisan said and it really painted a bad image for Prime Minister Najib Razak. Tell me where is justice, or is there law in our nation?

Louis: This is not the first time that a meeting or conference organised by NGOs or opposition has been interrupted by thugs. It happened so many times before that the police should have by now taken precautions to prevent it.

But surprisingly the police did not learn. Or maybe they are aware of it, but prefer to remain indifferent. Do not tell us that the police did not know or get wind of such impending disturbance.

During the Emergency, our police force had one of the best intelligence services in the region. Has that branch of service deteriorated to such an extent that it cannot even foresee disturbances at this particular function?

Fariez: I was wondering why the Selangor CPO Tun Hisan was actually talking like a defence counsel for the protesters, rather than like a cop.

Even before any investigation was started, he lost no time in claiming that there was no violence, only some shouting and shoving.

He also said that the protesters were actually local kampung folk who had to protest the presence of Malays in the gathering.

I don't think they are kampung folk, they are probably rowdies who got organised somewhere with some NGO backing and came to disrupt the session.

Luckily, as seen on video footage, the ceramah crowd did not retaliate, although the protesters were armed with sticks and started throwing and kicking chairs and pamphlets with impunity, perhaps confident of immunity.

We do not want this culture of violence to take root in Malaysia and police inaction may result more violence in Malaysian politics.

Police, please keep the peace, for that is your job. Let not this happen again. Take stern action against the protesters.

Kamalappans: The mastermind behind the scene could be that ambitious bulldog who wants to be the next MB.

Mr Pringles: The mob is from an Islamic radical group called Waris Malaya. The last time they were seen was at a ceramah called ‘Ayuh Bersatu Mempertabatkan Aqidah Ummah', organised by Hasan Ali, who has since been sacked by PAS.

Pants on Fire: This message is to the IGP (inspector-general of police) - if the police do not arrest anyone despite their faces clearly recorded on video, you are nothing but one of the thugs who were openly defying the laws and taking the law into their own hands.

PB Win: From the video clip, the police should be able to identify each and every ‘monkey' who caused trouble and was charging with batons in their hands, and also those stupid ‘chimpanzees' on motorcycles causing havoc and potential injury by accident.

Did anyone notice a couple standing there with a child, who appeared to be puzzled and not know where to go? Let's see how many of them will be caught...

A tip for the police force: catch the fat monkey and you can catch each and every other monkey.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.
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NGOs slam ‘anti-Semitic’ US think tank comments
"Think tanks are entitled to their political viewpoints – but they’re not free to slander with impunity," AJC says of CAP.

The American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League weighed in last week on the mushrooming anti-Israel scandal surrounding a group of bloggers working for the US think tank Center for American Progress (CAP).

Jason Isaacson, the AJC’s director of government and international affairs, told The Jerusalem Post by e-mail on Friday that “think tanks are entitled to their political viewpoints – but they’re not free to slander with impunity. References to Israeli ‘apartheid’ or ‘Israel-firsters’ are so false and hateful they reveal an ugly bias no serious policy center can countenance.”

He called on CAP to “disavow them and put a stop to them.”

CAP, which has an estimated annual budget of $38 million, formulates policy suggestions about the Middle East for the Democratic party and politicians.

Zaid Jilani wrote on Twitter, where he is identified as a blogger for CAP website ThinkProgress, “So DC ‘liberals’ are going to spend a lot of time defending Obama against the charge that he’s not supportive enough of Israeli apartheid.”

In an earlier Twitter item, Jilani termed US supporters of the Jewish state “Israel- Firsters.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center and NGO Monitor in Jerusalem blasted Jilani and CAP for stoking hatred of Jews.

In addition to these “dualloyalty” accusations, Ali Gharib, a CAP blogger, suggested in a Twitter item that US Senator Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) was more loyal to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) than to the United States. Gharib asserted that Kirk represented the pro- Israel organization in Congress.

After the Post reported last week on Gharib’s comment, he wrote that “one [of] my tweets several months ago, a crude characterization of a senator, is being seized upon by critics branding me as an anti-Semite.

While the accusations are completely false and contemptible, I do apologize for the crudeness of the flippant tweet in question.”

The ADL, meanwhile, issued an e-mail statement to the Post last week citing two expressions of anti-Semitism at CAP.

One was the “Israel Firsters” comment, which the ADL said was “playing into the old anti- Semitic notion that Jews are more loyal to some foreign entity than to their own country.”

However, the ADL acknowledged that Jilani had “later tweeted that he didn’t realize the implication of this term, apologized for it, and indicated he would be more careful about his language.”

The second example it cited was “an accusation in a blog that the Israel lobby was marching America to war against Iran as it did with regard to Iraq.” The ADL expressed “strong disagreements” with the way CAP addressed issues relating to Israel, American-Israeli relations and US policy in the Middle East.

“Most of their blogs come from a perspective of blaming Israel for the lack of progress in Israeli-Palestinian affairs and minimizing or rationalizing the Iranian threat,” the statement read.

Critics also accuse CAP blogger Eli Clifton of ignoring indications that Iran is working on a nuclear device and of pushing a biased agenda against the Jewish state.

The ADL wrote that it had “raised our concerns directly with CAP about the preponderance of articles critical of Israel.”

In response to the Jewish groups’ criticism, CAP spokeswoman Andrea Purse told the Post on Saturday that “hundreds of articles and policy papers from the Center for American Progress and ThinkProgress demonstrate our longstanding support for Israel and the two-state solution to Middle East Peace Process as being in the moral and national security interests of the United States.”

She stressed her organization’s abhorrence of anti-Semitism, noting that CAP had “written about its continuing undercurrents and takes any allegation of anti-Semitism extremely seriously. A handful...

of tweets on the personal accounts of ThinkProgress staff were inappropriate, and the authors have publicly apologized for using objectionable language. That language never appeared in any CAP or ThinkProgress publication and never will.”

The spokeswoman added, however, that the think tank would also not tolerate “attempts to ascribe to CAP or ThinkProgress views we clearly do not hold or attack us by association with individuals and groups we have no connection with whatsoever.”

She refused to comment on whether CAP agreed with Matthew Duss, the director of the think tank’s Middle East Progress department, who has compared Israel’s policies to racism in America’s “segregated South.”

Duss declined to answer repeated queries regarding these statements.

Multiple attempts to reach CAP president John Podesta, who was former president Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, were also unsuccessful.

CAP staffers’ remarks on the Jewish state have attracted growing concern from Demcoratic and Republican congressional officials.

“I think what we’re seeing play out is a power struggle inside the Democratic Party over the very nature of the USIsrael relationship,” a senior Republican Senate aide told the Post. “There are some forces on the far-Left who insist on perpetuating anti-Semitic stereotypes as a way to achieve their political goals and to change US policy toward Israel. And then you have individuals in the Center-Left, like a Josh Block [the former Clinton administration and AIPAC spokesman who first brought the CAP bloggers’ comments to the attention of Washington news site Politico in December], who are pushing back and saying enough is enough.”
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President attacks NGOs over commenting on West Papua
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has reprimanded non-government organisations that often criticise how the Indonesian Military (TNI) handles security in West Papua, saying that they imply that the law should not be enforced in the country’s easternmost island.

“Papua is part of Indonesia. It doesn’t make sense that NGOs say something that implies that we can’t enforce the law in Papua,” he said at the TNI and National Police leaders meeting in Jakarta.

The President said the military presence in Papua was not without reason.
“They are there because there is still an armed separatist movement, which we should be aware of,” he said, emphasising that there was only a small military presence that did not conduct aggressive military operations.

The President stressed that the government was eager to improve people’s welfare on the island by implementing programs to accelerate Papua’s economic development.

‘No tip service’
“That is not just lip service – the average development expenditure per capita in Papua is the highest in the country,” the President said.

He added that he had conveyed the government’s policy on Papua to his counterparts across the globe as news regarding military activities in Papua spread quickly to world leaders.

“Many have asked me about what happened in Papua. I should explain that the military presence in Papua was not without justification,” he said as quoted by kompas.com.
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Human rights violations escalate despite 2011 uprising
CAIRO: In December, member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) Major General Mokhtar El-Molla criticized in a meeting with foreign journalists the media's focus on the cases of detained bloggers like Alaa Abdel-Fattah and Maikel Nabil.

"Nabil and Abdel-Fattah are Egyptians and we are very keen to protect all Egyptians. But we are talking about one citizen out of 85 million," he said.

In a letter from inside his dark, narrow prison cell, Nabil wrote about one such citizen.

"The military believes that one citizen is a useless, marginalized thing, but their minds cannot understand that only one citizen put an end to Mubarak’s rule: the citizen Khaled Mohamed Saeid."

Nabil described this ‘one citizen’ theory as a fascist ideology where the rights of one can be compromised to protect the well-being of an entire society, forgetting that sacrificing the freedom of one leads to the enslavement of all.

One year after Egypt’s popular revolt toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak, the state of human rights has worsened as thousands of civilians were referred to military trials, reports of violations and torture against prisoners increased, and protesters were killed and injured.

After Mubarak's ouster, SCAF’s sugarcoated statements about "protecting the revolution" heightened aspirations of democracy for millions of Egyptians.

SCAF dissolved the parliament and disbanded the State Security apparatus known for its flagrant violations of human rights under Mubarak, but immediately formed "Homeland Security," which many saw as a mere change in name.

"The SCAF has fallen short of satisfying the hopes and aspirations that were at the heart of the uprising," Amnesty International said in its first major report about the Arab Spring titled "Year of Rebellion: The State of Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa."

Military tribunals

In one year, around 12,000 civilians were subjected to military tribunals, a move justified by SCAF as a way to preserve order after police forces withdrew from the streets on Jan. 28.

This claim was, however, disproved by rights activists who said that military trials continued even after police returned in full force.

"SCAF has tried over 12,000 civilians in military courts in seven months, while ousted president Hosni Mubarak used military trials for silencing only 2,000 civilian political opponents in 30 years," lawyer and executive director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center (HMLC), Ahmed Ragheb, said in a press conference in September.

The abhorrent practices discovered to be associated with military tribunals included, according to rights activists, beatings during arrest, torture and maltreatment inside military prison, and the lack of basic rights in courts where lawyers faced many violations while defending clients. In numerous cases, defendants were handed down prison sentences in the absence of their lawyers.

Forced virginity checks performed on seven female protesters arrested during a violent crackdown on a Tahrir sit-in last March was one of the most flagrant violations by military police.

Samira Ibrahim, one of those protesters, was the first to take her case to court, winning a verdict by the Administrative Court to end the practice of virginity checks in military prison.

Ibrahim filed two other lawsuits, one before the Administrative Court against referring her to a military trial — where she received one-year suspended sentence — and another before a military court against those who performed the virginity checks.

Ibrahim is yet to see justice. The military court has charged the doctor who performed the checks with public indecency but her lawyers are struggling to change the charge to sexual assault.

"Military trials for civilians are a continuation of Mubarak's selective justice used to oppress opponents. Trying civilians before military courts on the pretext of the deteriorating security situation is a typical pre-revolution policy," said Ragheb.

"Military trials are expanding, not only in terms of the number of civilians tried, but geographically as well; citizens in Suez, Alexandria, Ismailia, Qena, Assuit and Gharbeya are tried in military courts."

Military tribunals have not only targeted Tahrir protesters, but also ordinary citizens who were sometimes accused of violating the curfew, or were involved in minor scuffles with neighbors.

Nabil and Abdel-Fattah were the first to reject being interrogated by the military prosecution. Nabil received a two-year prison sentence, but Abdel Fattah was eventually referred to a civilian investigating judge in the Maspero case, and was released pending investigations.

Nabil received a pardon this week, and was released on Tuesday evening.

The two were not the only political activists targeted by the military judiciary. Prominent activist and former member of the April 6 Youth Movement, Asmaa Mahfouz was referred to military prosecution after posting a critical opinion of SCAF and was accused of incitement to violence using her Twitter account, but she was quickly pardoned because her interrogation drew a wave of criticism by political powers and rights groups.

In 2011, SCAF repeatedly promised to lift the decades-long state of emergency, but instead widened the scope of the Emergency Law in September when angry protesters stormed the Israeli Embassy to protest the killing of six Egyptian soldiers on the border.

SCAF promised later to lift the emergency law before parliamentary elections.

Head of the military judiciary General Adel El-Morsy said that military trials for civilians would not end until the emergency law is lifted.

In a speech on Jan. 24, Tantawi said the emergency state will be lifted on the morning of the first anniversary of the Jan. 25 uprising. The law would still apply in cases of “thuggery,” he said.

Right to speak

In the meantime, freedom of expression has suffered. Following a brief period in which the future of media looked promising, former information minister Osama Heikel declared that no more licenses will be given to satellite channels.

"Words and opinions are still more powerful than live bullets," lawyer Negad El-Borai said in a press conference in January.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) slammed in a statement in January the crackdown on freedom of expression when four members of the April 6 Youth Movement were arrested for "hanging anti-SCAF posters," as well as the continuous attacks on the "3askar Kazeboon" (Military Liars) campaign that aims to expose violations of army forces through film screenings in neighborhoods around the country.

"The SCAF is using the same tactics and the same oppression [of Mubarak] by using the general prosecution to restrict freedom of expression. This time they used organized groups from the remnants of the old regime to clash with anti-SCAF campaigns," ANHRI said.

"SCAF presents this as a scuffle between two [groups] of the citizens, as if the revolution is a point of view, as if democracy is a subject of conflict between two sides."

Executive Director of ANHRI, lawyer Gamal Eid recounted the crackdown on media and freedom of expression since February.

"We expected [a bit of] confusion in the political performance of SCAF because military institutions are undemocratic by nature, but the crackdown on free speech definitely betrays bad intentions," Eid said.

"SCAF should have given more space to free media and free speech as a sign of goodwill. Enabling media to criticize SCAF will help them perform better," he said.

Stains of blood

The killing and injuring of peaceful protesters were the most flagrant of human rights violations in 2011, bringing to mind the bloody crackdown of the Mubarak regime on Jan. 25 protesters, which left over 800 killed and thousands injured.

The bloody crackdowns on a mostly Coptic protest in October left 27 dead and hundreds injured; on Tahrir protesters in Mohamed Mahmoud Street in November that left over 45 dead; and on protesters camped outside the Cabinet building in December left 19 dead — heightening abuses to a frightening level.

In Maspero, 14 of the 27 victims were run over by Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs), in Mohamed Mahmoud excessive amounts of teargas were used, and in the Cabinet clashes women were targeted by army forces. In all three incidents, protesters were killed with live bullets.

No serious investigations were launched in these three incidents or any of the violations before them, according to rights groups.

"These violations come in an atmosphere of averting punishment and lack of accountability as many of the complaints [against violations] are ignored by the Prosecutor General," ANHRI said.

Targeting

A group of foreign and local non-profit organizations (NGOs) were raided by army forces and prosecutors in December and had their equipment and documents confiscated.

Minister of Justice Adel Abdel Hameed said in a press conference earlier in December that investigations into illegal foreign funding were based on the results of a probe conducted by a fact-finding committee affiliated to the ministry.

"The probe examined the legality of the work of 300 NGOs and the direct foreign funding they received from foreign governments and organizations," the minister said.

"The investigations revealed that a number of Egyptian and foreign organizations received foreign funding and worked illegally inside Egypt. Investigations are ongoing as other state monitoring institutions are compiling reports about these organizations," he added.

Rights organizations slammed this escalation, describing it as a move to silence voices of dissent.

"This serious step marks the beginning of a security campaign that is expected to affect dozens of advocacy groups, and is part of a broader campaign launched by the SCAF to smear and stigmatize all rights activists and numerous forces involved in the January 25 revolution," the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said in a statement in December.

"The aim of this unprecedented campaign is to cover up SCAF’s failures in the transitional period and harass political groups, activists, and rights advocates who have dared criticize its policies, expose the shameful abuses that have taken place under its administration, and in some cases successfully pursued legal action against military violations before the courts," EIPR added in a joint statement with other rights groups, titled "Crisis of Human Rights in Egypt: The Bitter Results of Ten Months in the Grip of the Military.”

Observers believe that human rights violations against pro-democracy advocates are a continuation of Mubarak’s oppressive tactics and a sign of a decaying tyranny exerting all efforts to survive a revolution.
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US NGO tells DNE 'We applied for license in 2005'
CAIRO: Refuting accusations by the Egyptian government, US NGOs Freedom House and the National Democratic Institute told Daily News Egypt they had applied for proper licensing from the country's foreign ministry and were awaiting responses.

"We have been working without a license, but at the same time we did not have an office or a location," said a Freedom House employee, who wished to remain anonymous.

"However, after January 25, we attempted to apply for a license at the foreign ministry and they actually asked us to open up an office and file the proper paperwork in order to do so."

He stressed that the organization was told that they must open the office before they could apply for a license.

"We followed the procedure, opened an office and filed the proper documents with the foreign ministry; they replied with an official letter stating that they received our paperwork and they would respond to our request within 60 days," he added.

The organization received this letter just one day before their office was raided by police officers last Thursday.

Responding to allegations that Freedom House has received and disseminated funds illegally, the source said that the organization does not even have a local bank account.

“All financial transactions are coordinated with the Washington office, we simply review the procedures here, we do not deal with any funds as the government has alleged," the Freedom House employee said.

Two ministers insisted on Sunday that the state acted “within the law” as part of an investigation on alleged illegal funding of select local and foreign human rights organizations.

Fayza Aboul Naga, Egypt's minister of international cooperation and planning pointed out at a press conference Sunday, that after the January 25 uprising many of the organizations under inspection "suddenly" began to open up offices all over Cairo "behind the government's back."

“Our ministry is responsible for monitoring such cases," she said. “The organizations in question are not operating within the permitted fields and some are operating without the proper licensing from the foreign ministry.”

Julia Hughes, country director of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), told Daily News Egypt that their organization had applied for a license back in November 2005 and were still awaiting approval from Egypt's foreign ministry.

According to Article 6 of the NGOs Law 84 of 2002, the ministry is under obligation to enter a summary statement of the association’s statute into the relevant register within sixty days from the date of submission by the application by the founders. “Should sixty days elapse without being made registration shall be deemed effective under the law.”

Yet Aboul Naga said that the investigation involving these “select” organizations was brought to the Cairo Court of Appeals' attention by her ministry because they are operating without the proper permits and are allegedly receiving aid without approval, knowledge or oversight from the state.

After the January uprising, which ousted former president Hosni Mubarak, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces accused pro-democracy protesters, including the April 6 Youth Movement widely credited for spearheading the protests, of illegally acquiring foreign funds in a bid to “destroy” Egypt.

In response to allegations that SCAF may have been behind the investigations, Aboul Naga stressed that last week's raid did not involve any members of the armed forces “whatsoever” and that the police was simply asked to secure the inspection and the area surrounding the offices.

“This was not a move to destroy human rights organizations as some have portrayed it to be,” Justice Minister Adel Abdel Hamid told a group of journalists at the press conference.

“Egypt is careful to provide support to facilitate the work of human rights organizations, both foreign and local,” he added. “But after January 25, Egypt has vowed to be a country that fully complies with a fair and just legal system.”

She added that the organizations under question have political affiliations and are receiving funding from other nations and global institutions. This, under Egyptian law, is illegal, Aboul Naga stressed.

According to Law 84 NGOs need approval from the Ministry of Social Solidarity before receiving foreign funds.

Article 11 of that law bans NGOs from pursuing activities that “threaten national unity, violate public order or morality” or “practice any political or trade union activity exclusively restricted to political parties and trade unions.”

Rights activist have consistently criticized these vague stipulations, accusing the governments to abusing them to stifle dissent.

Abdel Hamid reiterated that the state has the power to block funding and employees of the organizations could face imprisonment and a fine if found guilty of operating and accepting funds illegally.

“We have more than 35,000 non-profit organizations which work in social development, women’s rights, and other initiatives, and we commend them because they are able to provide assistance to communities that the government is unable to reach,” said Aboul Naga.

Both Aboul Naga and Abdel Hamid stressed that the investigations were "not an attack" on civil society organizations, as portrayed by the media.

Youssef Mohamed, manager of Initiatives and Campaigns at the Egyptian Democratic Academy told DNE that if the government will move to shut down organizations that work in development or political awareness for receiving funds or donations, then the state must provide alternative support or encourage local businesses to donate.

"If they really believe in providing support for these organizations, then they must do this," he said. "These movements are creating political and social awareness and this is a problem for the government, Fayza Aboul Naga was a minister under the Mubarak regime, she is still a minister now and apparently she thinks she is in the pre-January 25 era… such violations are no longer acceptable."

The press conference comes a day after the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations strongly condemned last week's raid on the 17 offices of 10 pro-democracy and human rights groups in Egypt.

The raid on the civil society organizations also triggered threats to halt the US’ $1.5 million in military aid to Egypt, said reports.

On Friday, the UN human rights body called for an end to “heavy-handed tactics.”

“The reactions to these investigations are based on void beliefs, this was not an attack or crackdown, it is an investigation and this must be made clear inside and outside Egypt,” said Aboul Naga.
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Underhand move against SL

People from all walks of life yesterday expressed their dissatisfaction over a scheduled protest today by a handful of persons posing as journalists, whose agenda it is to tarnish the country’s image.

They said that these elements with vested interests are trying to disrupt the day- to- day life of the people by launching these protests to achieve their sinister agendas.

They also said that these elements were trying to harm the country’s image by launching this type of protest at a time when Lanka has won accolades internationally for eliminating the scourge of terrorism.

According to S M Sirinivasa, a businessman from Kegalle, the government has ensured the freedom of the people in all parts of the country by eliminating terrorism which plagued the country for more than 30 years.

He said that these elements in connivance with their collaborators in foreign countries are engaged in a futile attempt to tarnish the country’s image. Sirinivasa was of the view that the objectives of the LTTE rump in foreign countries and group of persons who are trying to incite the people in the South and North are the same and thatthey want to destabilise the country.

Sirinivasa said the country has seen massive development in the aftermath of the war and these elements want to reverse this progressive march towards development and prosperity.

Peradeniya University, Sociology Department, Senior Lecturer Dr Vijitha Nanayakkara said that the government took many steps to protect media freedom as soon it came to the power. “The government took great efforts to strengthen the civil society and protect media freedom in the post- conflict period despite various obstacles. Some groups and persons allege that there is no media freedom at present.

We can recall how these groups and persons were engaged in media suppression in the past. It is obvious they are doing so to achieve their own objectives,” Dr Nanayakkara said.

“A free but more responsible media are essential for conflict-sensitive reporting. All media personnel have a responsibility to engage in fair and balanced reporting. They should uphold media ethics and moral values. It is only then that we can create a truly humane society,” he said.

He said that the aim of this so called protest and agitation is to place the government in difficulty. “The government is engaged in rebuilding Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the 30 year war.

It is the responsibility of all Sri Lankans to help and strengthen the government to achieve targeted economic and social goals”. The Free Media Movement is organizing a protest against the government by claiming that there is media suppression in Sri Lanka.

Ven Watinapaha Somanada Thera commenting on this said that there is no truth in the claim that the media was suppressed. “The fact is some media organizations are trying to take unnecessary advantage over media freedom. This is an attempt to mislead the people. Media organizations should do a service for the betterment of the country as well as people and act with responsibility. Media organizations should be well disciplined when reporting incidents,” said Ven Somananda.

“The ‘Black January’ declared by certain media groups against the government is part of a conspiracy being adopted by some NGOs and it is the new version of Neocolonialism, Lakbima News Chief Editor Attorney-At-Law Rajpal Abeynayaka said.

“It is true that during the war, there were some restrictions on the media ,but that situation no longer prevails in Sri Lanka.

“These situations occur during times of war.

That is a common feature anywhere in the world. Great Britain also controlled the role of the media during the IRA conflict, he pointed out. “These fake journalists run on money and have been hired to carry out the western agendas.

“Certain NGOs found it difficult once the war ended. They lived on weapons dealings and armed sales and would never like to see a peaceful environment in the country. “If the country is rife with turmoil, it will be easy to sustain their livelihoods depending on the money pumped in to their organizations. After the war ended,their funds were limited and their luxurious lives were dealt a severe blow.

“Sri Lanka has been named as one of the best countries for tourism. This situation will be further strengthened in the future. Therefore, these elements began to tarnish the good image acquired by a terrorism free Sri Lanka. This move clearly bares the conspiracy;, he added.
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Bar Council says homosexuals free to speak up
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 — The Malaysian Bar Council refuted today Utusan Malaysia’s claims that it supports homosexuality but backed the freedom of expression “minorities who face discrimination, abuse and persecution for their sexual identity.

An Utusan Malaysia bureau chief’s column in the Malay daily questioned why the Bar Council “supported” homosexuality among Malaysians, calling it part of a “deviant wave” that is fast gaining acceptance throughout the world.

But Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee (picture) told The Malaysian Insider “Utusan’s claims are irrelevant.”

“We would not support same-sex marriage but we support freedom of expression, even for (Perkasa president Datuk) Ibrahim Ali despite not agreeing with him,” he said, referring to the leader of the right-wing Malay rights NGO.

Lim said section 377 of the Penal Code bars both anal and oral sex without any distinction with regards to sexuality.

“Penetration is sufficient to constitute the sexual connection necessary to the offence described in this section. What is clear is that this provision does not draw a distinction between homosexual and heterosexual activity,” he said.

He added that the Bar Council “supports the freedom of expression and assembly by a group of minorities who face discrimination, abuse and persecution for their sexual and gender identity.”

Section 377 provides that “any person who has sexual connection with another person by the introduction of the penis into the anus or mouth of the other person is said to commit carnal intercourse against the order of nature.”

Lim said that as heterosexual adults engage in oral and anal sex, such a law presented a “moral hypocrisy.”

Noraini Razak, who was a news editor at the Malay daily until last month, accused the lawyers today of supporting gays, lesbians and transgendered people despite Malaysia being among 70 out of a total of 195 countries which banned homosexuality.

“It is honestly very strange when this deviant wave, which is being defended by this group (Seksualiti Merdeka) as a human right, gets the direct and indirect support from many local NGOs, including the Bar Council,” she wrote in her column.

Umno’s Utusan Malaysia also recently accused Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of supporting homosexuality during an interview with BBC.

In the interview, the BBC reporter had reportedly asked Anwar whether he was prepared to push for the idea of anti-discrimination as far as gay rights were concerned, to which he had allegedly said “we will have to review some of our archaic laws.”

“We Muslims and non-Muslims in Malaysia generally believe and are committed to support the sanctity of marriage between men and women, but we should not be seen to be punitive and consider the archaic law as relevant,” Anwar had told BBC.

But he had also pointed out that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) did not support homosexuality, an excerpt of the interview which Utusan Malaysia did not include.

Anwar is now demanding a total of RM150 million in damages from the Umno daily for allegedly tarnishing his reputation in an article accusing him of being a gay rights proponent.
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Almost 70% of British public distrust red-top tabloids
Survey in wake of phone-hacking scandal finds only 14% of respondents trust red-tops 'to do what is right'

Polly Curtis: Why has trust in the media increased?

Almost 70% of the British public distrust red-top tabloids in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, according to a new survey.

In a study of 2,100 UK adults in January, 68% of respondents said they did not trust red-tops – including the Daily Star, the Daily Mirror and the Sun – "to do what is right".

However, faith in the UK media overall actually rose 15% last year among a separate group of 5,600 adults who described themselves as university-educated people who regularly follow the news.

The Edelman Trust Barometer, published on Tuesday, is an annual survey that measures Britons' trust in the government, business, media and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). US firm Edelman is one of the biggest global PR and communications groups.

This is the first time that Edelman has asked a representative sample of UK adults about how much they trust the media, so year-on-year comparisons are unavailable.

Ed Williams, chief executive of Edelman UK, said the survey shows "a separation between TV and radio, serious news including broadsheet newspapers, and social media and tabloid papers at the other end of the scale".

He added: "Those who said their trust in media had decreased cited 'phone-[hacking] stories', 'scandal' and 'politics' – those were the trends."

Just 14% of the group of 2,100 adults trust red-top newspapers "to do what is right", according to the survey, as trust in quality titles and TV news also suffered a decline.

The huge fall leaves red-tops trailing behind social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, as information sources that the public trust in this way.

Edelman's study suggests that broadcasters including the BBC and Sky News are among the most trusted media organisations, ahead of quality titles such as the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph.

Almost 58% of those surveyed said they trust the broadcasters, compared with 47% for quality titles and 39% for "online news sources", such as the Huffington Post.

Only 26% of respondents said they trust mid-market newspapers, including the Daily Mail and Daily Express, while 45% said they distrust them.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
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Fund misappropriation probe against Bedi on: Police

Probe against former IPS officer Kiran Bedi for allegedly misappropriating funds meant for her NGOs and inflated air tickets are in progress and efforts are on to finalise the investigation at the earliest, the Delhi Police told a court in New Delhi.

In a status report police said the investigation has revealed that Microsoft had provided Rs 48 lakh to Bedi's NGO, India Vision Foundation (IVF), besides 62 laptops and two desktop computers for promoting computer education.

It stated Vedanta Foundation informed the police that IVF was assigned by it to impart computer education among police authorities and 70% of its expenses were to be borne by Vedanta as donation.

The probe was carried by Delhi Police's Crime Branch on the FIR lodged against Bedi on directions of the court on November 26, last year.

"The investigation is in progress and efforts are being made to finalise the investigation at the earliest," the police said in its status report submitted before additional chief metropolitan magistrate Amit Bansal.

The report stated that several documents have been received in response to summons to produce document issued to both Microsoft and Vedanta Foundation several documents.

The police stated that summons were issued to Fly Well Travels for production of documents and details of air tickets purchased by Bedi, but it(the travels) sought more time to provide the details.

The report said, "Fly Well Travels has been located and notice under section 191 CrPC has been served upon it to produce the details of air tickets procured by Kiran Bedi either in her individual capacity or as chief of IVF.

"They were also asked to provide the details of tickets purchased with concession of gallantry medal. They have sought some time to prove the details."

It said Ravi Venkatesan, the then chairman of Microsoft and Jay Motwani, its then manager accounts, have been located as residing in Bangalore and Hyderabad respectively.

"Both have been located and contacted over phone. They will be examined in due course," it said.

It further stated "the CEO of Vedanta Foundation T Ravi Krishnan is in Mumbai who has been requested to join the investigation and will be examined in due course of investigation".

It further said a television news channel has provided the VCD of news broadcasted on November 18, 2011, however, the channel's reply on details of students who had complained against the Bedi-run Navjyoti Community College are still awaited.