Thursday, December 30, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Malaysian Batik no more??
It rather precarious that no local daily seem to pick up this news thread.
Are we just lost our national costume to the Indonesian? I hope both Najib and Anwar can say something about this.
Permalink: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/world/asia/15iht-batik.html
Are we just lost our national costume to the Indonesian? I hope both Najib and Anwar can say something about this.
Indonesia gets bragging rights — over Malaysia — to batik, the process of creating intricate patterns on textiles with wax-resistant dyes.
Permalink: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/world/asia/15iht-batik.html
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Remnants of the KLites (II)
More delicacies from Hon Kee Porridge! A part from the crunchy pork 'intestines', another classic from Hon Kee is the 'yu ping' porridge
Sunday, October 19, 2008
An "Awakening" Statement
It really refreshing to read what our PM had said as reported in The Star today. In fact I think this the most 'jantan' statement by our beloved PM on Dr. Mahathir! Keep up the good works, Pak Lah, leave us a legacy of Abdullah Badawi. I shall reproduce the Star article below.
Sunday October 19, 2008
Dr M creating disunity, says PM
KOTA KINABALU: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi does not rule out that an attempt is being made to push him out of office earlier than March and slammed his key critics Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
“Maybe,” was the Prime Minister’s reply at an unscheduled press conference here last night when he was asked whether statements by Dr Mahathir and Umno vice-president Muhyiddin reflected a move to push him out of office earlier than the date agreed upon by the Umno supreme council.
In slamming Dr Mahathir for creating hatred and disunity among party members, Abdullah said the former prime minister had no business in Umno as he had quit the party and should stop making such statements.
“He is just creating disunity and hatred and acting like a party director,” he said in explaining that when he decided not to contest the Umno presidency, it was to avoid disunity in the party.
On Dr Mahathir’s statement that Umno members should reject all of Abdullah’s supporters, the Prime Minister said there was nothing wrong for those who had worked with him to contest posts and receive support from the members.
On Muhyiddin’s alleged call to have an earlier transition of power in December instead of March, Abdullah said the transition was agreed upon and endorsed by the Umno supreme council where even Muhyiddin did not object to the plan.
He said the supreme council understood the reason why March was picked as Abdullah wanted to undertake the judicial and Anti Corruption Agency reforms in Parliament before leaving.
He also slammed Muhyiddin for claiming that there was a groundswell against Umno and Barisan Nasional which forced a change to the June 2010 transition plan.
Earlier in Kuala Lumpur, Bernama reported that Muhyiddin denied calling for an earlier transition of power between Abdullah and his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
He pointed out that what he had said was that the campaign period for the party elections was perceived to be too long.
“I did say that the duration was too long but I did not say that the date should be amended because I respect the decision of the (Umno) supreme council on the duration for the power transition. We (in the supreme council) have reached a consensus and the president has decided, and I respect that. The power transition still remains in March,” he told reporters at his Hari Raya open house yesterday.
“This is my statement on the campaign and it has nothing to do with the power transition. These are two different subjects. The campaign period is different, the power transition has been fixed. I don’t want to be branded as someone who is questioning (the power transition).”
New UM's VC.....
According to some well-informed sources, the next Naib Canselor Universiti Malaya has been identified, HE is going to replace Datuk Rafiah Salim, who we all know that is going to step down from the top post after October '08.
After the Rafiah debacle, of which the UM community strongly work against a paratrooper, the new VC will be most likely to be promoted from within, there is a strong likely-hood that one of the 4 TNCs will be picked to head the no-longer-premier university in this country. The prospective new VC had been known to be an old hand in UM administration, rising up the rank and file from all these year, from a Ketua Jabatan, then to head a Pejabat Dekan, going on to become a institute's Pengarah and finally become a Timbalan Naib Canselor! And all these feats took him more than 10 years to accomplished.
What more interesting is that, according to some sources, there is a official circular calling for application for the position of a particular portfolio of TNC, so is this guy going to lose his job or what?
After the Rafiah debacle, of which the UM community strongly work against a paratrooper, the new VC will be most likely to be promoted from within, there is a strong likely-hood that one of the 4 TNCs will be picked to head the no-longer-premier university in this country. The prospective new VC had been known to be an old hand in UM administration, rising up the rank and file from all these year, from a Ketua Jabatan, then to head a Pejabat Dekan, going on to become a institute's Pengarah and finally become a Timbalan Naib Canselor! And all these feats took him more than 10 years to accomplished.
What more interesting is that, according to some sources, there is a official circular calling for application for the position of a particular portfolio of TNC, so is this guy going to lose his job or what?
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
University of Malaya(UM), notched up 16 places in the latest THES 2008 ranking, clinging the 230th spot, some 20 places ahead of its closest rival in the country, UKM. Malaysia's newly crowned Apex University, University Science Malaysia(USM), is nowhere near the them, in fact sliipped a few places to 313th.
Keep up the UM-bashing, guys, so that those folks in UM continue to work hard, I will be laughing if UM can inched another 16 places higher next year!
UP NEXT: Who is the next UM's Vice Chancellor?
UP NEXT: Who is the next UM's Vice Chancellor?
Friday, September 26, 2008
Shenzhou-7 神舟七号
People Republic of China inched closer to be a formidable player in the space industry by the successful launching of a Long March II-F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-7 spaceship at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Gansu Province at 9:10 p.m.(local time) on 25th of September, 2008. This current effort is following the success of 2 earlier manned spacecraft missions, and the 3 taikonauts are expected to perform a ExtraVehicular Activity(EVA) -- the space-walk, using the FeiTian spacesuit 飞天舱外航天服. If this is perform successfully, China will become the 3rd nation in the world, after USA and Soviet Union to achieve this feat.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Menjelang Kemerdekaan 2008
Menjelang hari Kemerdekaan kita yang ke-51 pada Ogos 31 ini, yang mempunyai makna berlainan bagi sesetengah orang, saya ingin mengatakan secebis pendapat saya terhadap pemimpin-pemimpin negara kita, khasnya beberapa Perdana Menteri kita, yang lalu dan yang kini.
Apabila kita sebut saja Bapa Kemerdekaan, kita ada Tunku Abdul Rahman,
Apabila kita sebut saja Bapa Pembangunan, kita ada Tun Abdul Razak,
Apabila kita sebut saja Bapa Perpaduan, kita ada Tun Hussein Onn,
Apabila kita sebut saja Bapa Pemodenan, kita ada Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammed,
Apa pula dengan PM kita kini, Dato' Seri Abdulah Badawi, saya rasa amat memadai kalau kita anugerahkan beliau gelaran Bapa Demokrasi, sebenarnya banyak perkara yang dilakukannya atau keputusan yang diambilnya, secara sengaja atau tidak, telah membuka ruang untuk perubahan drastik senario sosio-politik negara kita, hari ini rakyat Malaysia baru mengecapi rasa demokrasi yang sebenar.
Syabas diucapkan kepada Pak Lah kita.
Sedikit lagi ditokok tambah, jikalau Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim benar-benar menjadi PM, apakah gelaran yang paling sesuai kita anugerahkan?
Apakah lagi kalau bukan Bapa Reformasi?
Apabila kita sebut saja Bapa Kemerdekaan, kita ada Tunku Abdul Rahman,
Apabila kita sebut saja Bapa Pembangunan, kita ada Tun Abdul Razak,
Apabila kita sebut saja Bapa Perpaduan, kita ada Tun Hussein Onn,
Apabila kita sebut saja Bapa Pemodenan, kita ada Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammed,
Apa pula dengan PM kita kini, Dato' Seri Abdulah Badawi, saya rasa amat memadai kalau kita anugerahkan beliau gelaran Bapa Demokrasi, sebenarnya banyak perkara yang dilakukannya atau keputusan yang diambilnya, secara sengaja atau tidak, telah membuka ruang untuk perubahan drastik senario sosio-politik negara kita, hari ini rakyat Malaysia baru mengecapi rasa demokrasi yang sebenar.
Syabas diucapkan kepada Pak Lah kita.
Sedikit lagi ditokok tambah, jikalau Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim benar-benar menjadi PM, apakah gelaran yang paling sesuai kita anugerahkan?
Apakah lagi kalau bukan Bapa Reformasi?
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Debate on Land Issues
Picture by The StarAfter watching the extraordinary debate between the past and present Chief Minister of Pulau Pinang last night, I must say that it is outright clear that, the losing side is YAB LGE.
His insistence on punishment should be leashed out by the past BN on the erronous official spoilt his show. In fact, this gave his opponent many chances to clarify on the issue, of which Tan Sri KTK elegantly did. LGE keep on harping that there is elements of corruption(rasuah) in the so-called 'land scam', yet he is unable put forward concrete description of the crime committed.
On the other hand, KTK had ample of opportunities and space, courtesy of the un-wise tactics of his opponent, to explain the whole picture of the issue, right from historical background more than 40 years ago, up until the actions he took personally which include investigations by the ACA at least twice, which found no elements of crime and the past state government on-going litigation with the parties concerned.One thing KTK made very clear that his government never conceded defeat in the on-going court case, whilst his successor seem to harbour the idea of dishing out the RM 40 million compensation.
KTK later took charge on LGE's attitude of 'Semak Sebelum Tembak' and the latter inclination of sensationalsing every issue that crop up and not putting focused attention in solving the issues at hand. What a good lesson a past CM gave to the present CM.
He also lamented about the 'half true' approach by the present government in the those so-called exposes. I think KTK fell short of calling LGE a liar.
Overall, I think KTK did put up a good show, despite the language flow that at time crampy. He did took this opportunities to make clear a few issues that bugging the BN, putting up by the PR government.
On LGE, he is so stick to his prepared strategy on criminalsing the whole issue, abeit some clever maneuvres by KTK to dodge his attack, that make him a joker at end stage of the debate, he fails to hit the home base despite numerous futile attacks. He failed to categorically listed out the criminal elements of its, although he alleged time over time of 'rasuah'. This gave KTK a chance of fighting back by explaining that it is merely documentation mistakes that happened more than 40 years ago coupled with some careless clerical mistakes 40 years later.
Frankly speaking, I don't know who should be blamed for all this mistakes, but surely I don't see nobody deserved to thrown into jail.
I think LGE should start put his effort in managing the state, and show results to Penangites, what he had done in 'memajukan Pulau Pinang'?
As KTK put it in the beginning of the debate, LGE seem to be more fond of being the 'Pembangkang'.
I start to miss the old days when KTK is helming the state.
Maybe it can never take a Malaccan to appreciate the flavours of Penang.
Can a Malaccan truly loves Penang? Or Penang is just part of the bounties of his war-chest?
His insistence on punishment should be leashed out by the past BN on the erronous official spoilt his show. In fact, this gave his opponent many chances to clarify on the issue, of which Tan Sri KTK elegantly did. LGE keep on harping that there is elements of corruption(rasuah) in the so-called 'land scam', yet he is unable put forward concrete description of the crime committed.
On the other hand, KTK had ample of opportunities and space, courtesy of the un-wise tactics of his opponent, to explain the whole picture of the issue, right from historical background more than 40 years ago, up until the actions he took personally which include investigations by the ACA at least twice, which found no elements of crime and the past state government on-going litigation with the parties concerned.One thing KTK made very clear that his government never conceded defeat in the on-going court case, whilst his successor seem to harbour the idea of dishing out the RM 40 million compensation.
KTK later took charge on LGE's attitude of 'Semak Sebelum Tembak' and the latter inclination of sensationalsing every issue that crop up and not putting focused attention in solving the issues at hand. What a good lesson a past CM gave to the present CM.
He also lamented about the 'half true' approach by the present government in the those so-called exposes. I think KTK fell short of calling LGE a liar.
Overall, I think KTK did put up a good show, despite the language flow that at time crampy. He did took this opportunities to make clear a few issues that bugging the BN, putting up by the PR government.
On LGE, he is so stick to his prepared strategy on criminalsing the whole issue, abeit some clever maneuvres by KTK to dodge his attack, that make him a joker at end stage of the debate, he fails to hit the home base despite numerous futile attacks. He failed to categorically listed out the criminal elements of its, although he alleged time over time of 'rasuah'. This gave KTK a chance of fighting back by explaining that it is merely documentation mistakes that happened more than 40 years ago coupled with some careless clerical mistakes 40 years later.
Frankly speaking, I don't know who should be blamed for all this mistakes, but surely I don't see nobody deserved to thrown into jail.
I think LGE should start put his effort in managing the state, and show results to Penangites, what he had done in 'memajukan Pulau Pinang'?
As KTK put it in the beginning of the debate, LGE seem to be more fond of being the 'Pembangkang'.
I start to miss the old days when KTK is helming the state.
Maybe it can never take a Malaccan to appreciate the flavours of Penang.
Can a Malaccan truly loves Penang? Or Penang is just part of the bounties of his war-chest?
Monday, August 11, 2008
08.08.08 - Ushering a New Era of Chinese Dominance
The fantastic opening of Beijing 2008 Olympics, witnessing the awakening a giant dragon who had been put under spell too long a time.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Remnant of the Old KLites
Before Kuala Lumpur become a metropolitan as in today, it was influxed by a large majority of Chinese immigrants whom soon become loyally contributing citizens of a new nation -- Malaya. Petaling Street being the hub for the early Chinese settlers, has a lot of reminiscent of a Chinese township in Hong Kong, or for that matter, Shanghai of the olden days. Often, Petaling Street is also dubbed as the China Town of Kuala Lumpur, well, I stand to protest, the whole Klang Valley is full of Chinese, we don't have 'china town' in Malaysia!
Times pass by, and today changes start to crept in Petaling Street. Before it is too late, I try to capture some of the traditional delicacies still being served in Petaling Street before it fade away in memories. Well, as the saying goes, life is transient, indeed, my fellow Malaysian.
汉记猪肠粥
中华巷猪肠粉
四眼仔鸭脚包
[hopefully, I shall be able to furbise picture of their respective store in near future, let's shall see]
Times pass by, and today changes start to crept in Petaling Street. Before it is too late, I try to capture some of the traditional delicacies still being served in Petaling Street before it fade away in memories. Well, as the saying goes, life is transient, indeed, my fellow Malaysian.
汉记猪肠粥
中华巷猪肠粉
四眼仔鸭脚包[hopefully, I shall be able to furbise picture of their respective store in near future, let's shall see]
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Will earthquake rattles Malay Peninsula?
This the question playing in the mind of lot of Malaysians, after witnessing the devastating jolt in Sichuan Province, China.
We used to be taught in school and sometimes in the media that Malaysia is free from earthquake. Is this true? The answer is yes and no. Yes, traditionally Malaysia had never be the victim of earthquake, but this does not mean that we will not have one in the future. After all, earthquake is, as the saying goes, act of god.
The fact that Malay Peninsula very existence was due to the tectonics action between two continent sub-plate, the Sibumasa terrane and the Indochina terrane make earthquake something that we cannot take it lightly. Bukit Tinggi, a small town of Pahang, situated near the Pahang-Selangor border and accessible by Karak Highway had been reporting many instances of minor quake and tremors lately. Following are the more recent news of Bukit Tinggi quakes.
21 gegaran di Bukit Tinggi cetus tanda tanya
One who is familiar to the geology of Malay Peninsula knows that, Bukit Tinggi is located at the famous Raub-Bentong suture, a fault zone. (refer to the map above) This region had been fairly stable as far as history can go, but we have to reckon that we are now experiencing extremely frequent seismic activities across the whole Asia, the magnitude 9 earthquake of Sumatra that triggered the South Asia Tsunami on Boxing Day of 2004 and the recent magnitude 8 of Sichuan may add much uncertainties to the stability of the Raub-Bentong suture.
I strongly urge that local geology experts should intensify their efforts to monitor the various fault zones in Malay Peninsula and establishing some form of early warning system to minimize damages to our population and economic, in the event of The Big One occur in Malay Peninsula.
For more information on Raub-Bentong suture, I managed tho find this journal article.
Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
Volume 18, Issue 6, December 2000, Pages 691-712
Here I excerpted its abstract,
Western, Central and Eastern “Belts” of Peninsular Malaysia and distribution of suture zone rocks (oceanic ribbon-bedded cherts, argillites, mélange, serpentinites) and ribbon-bedded cherts, argillites and turbidites of the Semanggol Formation. Radiolarian localities and ages are also shown (after Metcalfe et al., 1999). Inset map shows the distribution of principal continental terranes and sutures of East and Southeast Asia. WB=West Burma, SWB=South West Borneo, S=Semitau Terrane, HT=Hainan Island terranes, L=Lhasa Terrane, QI=Qiangtang Terrane, QS=Qamdo-Simao Terrane, SI=Simao Terrane, SG=Songpan Ganzi accretionary complex, KL=Kunlun Terrane, QD=Qaidam Terrane, AL=Ala Shan Terrane (after Metcalfe, 1998). [Taken from Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, Volume 18, Issue 6, December 2000, Pages 691-712]
We used to be taught in school and sometimes in the media that Malaysia is free from earthquake. Is this true? The answer is yes and no. Yes, traditionally Malaysia had never be the victim of earthquake, but this does not mean that we will not have one in the future. After all, earthquake is, as the saying goes, act of god.
The fact that Malay Peninsula very existence was due to the tectonics action between two continent sub-plate, the Sibumasa terrane and the Indochina terrane make earthquake something that we cannot take it lightly. Bukit Tinggi, a small town of Pahang, situated near the Pahang-Selangor border and accessible by Karak Highway had been reporting many instances of minor quake and tremors lately. Following are the more recent news of Bukit Tinggi quakes.
21 gegaran di Bukit Tinggi cetus tanda tanya
KUALA LUMPUR 25 Mei – Kejadian gempa bumi kecil yang telah menggegarkan kawasan Bukit Tinggi, Pahang sebanyak 21 kali sejak November tahun lalu menimbulkan tanda tanya terutama di kalangan penduduk yang tinggal di kawasan sekitarnya.
Bukit Tinggi terletak dalam zon sesar bumi
KUALA LUMPUR 26 Mei – Kawasan Bukit Tinggi di Pahang yang terletak dalam zon sesar di mana lapisan bumi bergeser antara satu sama lain menjadi punca kejadian gempa kecil kerap berlaku di kawasan itu termasuk pagi semalam.
Pensyarah Jabatan Geologi, Universiti Malaya (UM), Prof. Madya Datuk Dr. Mohamad Ali Hasan berkata, lokasi itu menyebabkan Bukit Tinggi mudah menerima kesan daripada gempa bumi di negara jiran.
“Walaupun kawasan Bukit Tinggi terletak jauh dari China dan Indonesia, tetapi ia masih boleh menerima gegaran kuat di daratan berbanding kawasan lain di Malaysia.
“Ia juga boleh dikaitkan dengan tekanan persekitaran yang kuat di Asia Pasifik,” katanya kepada Utusan Malaysia hari ini.
One who is familiar to the geology of Malay Peninsula knows that, Bukit Tinggi is located at the famous Raub-Bentong suture, a fault zone. (refer to the map above) This region had been fairly stable as far as history can go, but we have to reckon that we are now experiencing extremely frequent seismic activities across the whole Asia, the magnitude 9 earthquake of Sumatra that triggered the South Asia Tsunami on Boxing Day of 2004 and the recent magnitude 8 of Sichuan may add much uncertainties to the stability of the Raub-Bentong suture.
I strongly urge that local geology experts should intensify their efforts to monitor the various fault zones in Malay Peninsula and establishing some form of early warning system to minimize damages to our population and economic, in the event of The Big One occur in Malay Peninsula.
For more information on Raub-Bentong suture, I managed tho find this journal article.
The Bentong–Raub Suture Zone by I. Metcalfe
Volume 18, Issue 6, December 2000, Pages 691-712
Here I excerpted its abstract,
"It is proposed that the Bentong–Raub Suture Zone represents a segment of the main Devonian to Middle Triassic Palaeo-Tethys ocean, and forms the boundary between the Gondwana-derived Sibumasu and Indochina terranes. Palaeo-Tethyan oceanic ribbon-bedded cherts preserved in the suture zone range in age from Middle Devonian to Middle Permian, and mélange includes chert and limestone clasts that range in age from Lower Carboniferous to Lower Permian. This indicates that the Palaeo-Tethys opened in the Devonian, when Indochina and other Chinese blocks separated from Gondwana, and closed in the Late Triassic (Peninsular Malaysia segment). The suture zone is the result of northwards subduction of the Palaeo-Tethys ocean beneath Indochina in the Late Palaeozoic and the Triassic collision of the Sibumasu terrane with, and the underthrusting of, Indochina....."
Monday, May 19, 2008
Dr. M quits UMNO
It was reported on some news portal and prominent blogsites that Tun Dr. Mahathir has announced that he is quitting UMNO. What is the real motives behind this move? Some speculate that it may be a self defence mode, or could it be another master-stroke of Mahathir to route Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi? Let's shall see! Anyway, this is really a very surprising move, indeed!
Here are some links to the related story, on Rocky's Bru and on The Scribe. This news also appeared on news portal of MalaysiaKini and The Star.
Here are some links to the related story, on Rocky's Bru and on The Scribe. This news also appeared on news portal of MalaysiaKini and The Star.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Whether is he sincere or not?
It is ever sickening to read in newspaper on various delays of Penang's important development projects. I can't help but wonder, Chief Minister Lim is truthfully sincere in bringing betterment for the Penangites. Instead of try to implement those project skillfully, he seem, to me, more enthuastic in creating causes for delay.
As in today Star, he seem to be indulge in delaying the Penang's Monorail project, firstly he want the monorail to be scrapped and replaced by a underground rail system, which eventually get rebuffed for excessive cost concern, now he is proposing to overhaul the monorail's network to cover Seberang Prai area, citing mainland resident should enjoy the spill over effect of the state development.
“It will not be fair for the people on the mainland if they don’t get the spillover effects of the development implemented in the state. They too should enjoy the monorail project. We want to ensure everyone benefited from this, not just the islanders,” he is reported to be said.
But do he realised that, by bringing the monorail's project back to drawing board, it is as good as scrapping it because, later on, the cost of project will escalated to a point the Federal government will not be able to fund it anymore.
Could it be that certain parties are not happy with the members of monorail consortium?
In the same newspaper report, he is having a different tone, as compare to the time of election campaign, on the issue of of job opportunities.
“Workers who were retrenched were being absorbed into other factories that required skilled workers,” he said. “It is not right to say the manufacturing sector is facing a hard time based on a few retrenchment cases.”
As in today Star, he seem to be indulge in delaying the Penang's Monorail project, firstly he want the monorail to be scrapped and replaced by a underground rail system, which eventually get rebuffed for excessive cost concern, now he is proposing to overhaul the monorail's network to cover Seberang Prai area, citing mainland resident should enjoy the spill over effect of the state development.
“It will not be fair for the people on the mainland if they don’t get the spillover effects of the development implemented in the state. They too should enjoy the monorail project. We want to ensure everyone benefited from this, not just the islanders,” he is reported to be said.
But do he realised that, by bringing the monorail's project back to drawing board, it is as good as scrapping it because, later on, the cost of project will escalated to a point the Federal government will not be able to fund it anymore.
Could it be that certain parties are not happy with the members of monorail consortium?
In the same newspaper report, he is having a different tone, as compare to the time of election campaign, on the issue of of job opportunities.
“Workers who were retrenched were being absorbed into other factories that required skilled workers,” he said. “It is not right to say the manufacturing sector is facing a hard time based on a few retrenchment cases.”
“The fact that many jobs were being advertised in the newspapers reflected that the economic situation was good,” he said.
Why are he and blogger Jeff restlessly attacking Koh Tsu Koon on the same issue during the GE12 campaign, and yet now he is sound so BN-rish?
Monday, April 21, 2008
421: Olympics Torch Relay, Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur, the proud host for Beijing 2008 Olympics Torch Relay 13th leg.
Friday, March 28, 2008
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