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Monday 30 June, 2008
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A weblog by Albert. From my home in Yan Kedah. I reside here since 1992. See here to know where Yan is.

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Blog category: all categories. - June 2004
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 Sleigh riding without snow - by @lbert
  Posted:28/06/2004 - 18:59 - in category: Yan Kedah
Just took these pictures of my neighbours kids riding a daun pinang.
No snow needed!

Thats something you wont find in the city...
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 Haze GONE! - by @lbert
  Posted:27/06/2004 - 21:54 - in category: general
A whole day of rain, the sky has been washed!
All the smog is gone and we can see Gunung Jerai again.
No more caughing and sneezing.
What a relieve.........
Hope Indonesia will really start doing something about this yearly health pestering fenomena.
It all comes down to corruption in a country where the rot went to the roots.
Indonesia and tackling corruption is an uphill and almost impossible task.
| Permalink | 2 comments | Add Comment |

 Freedom of religion.... - by @lbert
  Posted:24/06/2004 - 12:31 - in category: politics Malaysia
Freedom of religion....

I know it is a 'hot and sensitive' topic in Malaysia, but i still will give a view on it.
Recently there was an item in the news about a few people who denounced their religion in this case Islam, and wanted this to be official.
They were given a run around.
I never heard someone having a problem when he was for sample a catholic and wanted to embrace Islam.
Do we have double standards here?
Then there was another case where the father abducted the children, after divorce and had them converted to Islam.
The mother was of a different faith and was having custody, the court said it was a syariah case.
Which is a disputable answer because the mother was of different faith and had custody!
This was the thing that moved me, now back to the beginning.

First of all probably 95%++ of people do not have a religion out of free will.
Their religion is because of the religion the parents have.
So where is the free will in this case?
Than there is the 'forced' changed of religion in some religions when marrying someone of a different faith.
It use to be standard that as a non catholic when you married a catholic, you embraced catholisism.
The same goes (in Malaysia) for Islam.

In catholisism this dogma has disappeared over the years, and there is no forced conversion anymore.
The same i noticed in Islam when i look in Indonesia, here and there there still is, but in general it is disappearing.
Only Malaysia insists on coversion.
This is really prohibitive to integration in this country where religion is and stays the biggest stumbling block to racial integration.

Now dont start telling me this is Malaysia we do it this way, that is is non-answer to a problem.
In other places attitudes/feelings change why cant they in Malaysia.
The same goes for denouncing of a religion.

If I was born a Catholic / Hindu / Lutherian / Muslim or whatever because my parents made the choice, and i feel afterwards that i have a problem with the religion forced on me, why cant i denounce it?
This is my right a human being with its own thoughts.
I think I have the right to choose my own religion, and dont let anyone tell me i cannot!

My thoughts about a probably difficult subject....
| Permalink | 3 comments | Add Comment |

 Haze again (4) - by @lbert
  Posted:23/06/2004 - 17:45 - in category: general
Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister S Sothinathan told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur:
information related to the haze must be relayed "with care" as it may affect tourism figures. Tourism is the country�s second-biggest money earner.


Well my comment to this:
Another brainless guy........
Let the tourist come, and let them find out first hand how terrible it is.
They will not come back forever thats for sure!

The rest of the world does not think like Malaysians.
And the DOE data will appear somewhere anyhow.
So... wanne have the result, look at CNN they already issue a warning for travelling to Malaysia.
Be straight! Tel the truth and not the half truth that is what people respect.
If the situation is bad, sorry it is bad.
If it improves or is good its good.
But dont issue a half truth or hide the truth, just tell it as it is!
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 Haze again (3) - by @lbert
  Posted:23/06/2004 - 10:13 - in category: general
Wow finally, when you could cut the fog with a knife and there was no denying Putra Jaya woke up.
Allthough with some useless reactions.
No open burning of farmers (should be forbidden anyway).
Still, the DOE has no plans to release precise figures! HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE, do they really think people are that dumm?
And a stupid statement that Indonesia did not ratify the agreement on fog from burning.
Isn't that ashame all Asian countries signed except the culprit.
Than put political pressure on Indonesia, and if nothing happens by next year, throw them out of Asian.
Indonesia is a country that absolutely does NOT want any progress, they are to busy bickering on politics. Every action by the Indonesian goverment shows clearly that the are more interested in the status quo than improvement.
And here we suffer, damn you Indonesia!
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 Haze again (2) - by @lbert
  Posted:21/06/2004 - 17:21 - in category: general
Early this morning it was TERRIBLE.
I woke up at around 5 because i could not breath properly.
Than around 7 when it got light i noticed that we had NO view at all.
Everything surrounded in stincking breathing prohibiting smog.
Not even 500 meters view, why is everybody totally mum on this.
HEY FELLOWS IN PUTRA JAYA WAKE UP OR ARE YOU PEOPLE BLIND!
And to the Indonesian goverment i can say:
DAMN YOU INDONESIA.
This is now the 5th year or so that we are suffocating.
That you kill your own citizens is your problem, but dont export your rubish.
How many times have you promissed to clean up your act??
What happened? Nothing because your politicians are to busy pocketing their corruption money, and have no to time for ruling a country! I pitty the poor people of Pekan Baru and other places, they must be 3/4 dead by now.
Come to Indonesia pay $35 for your visa a get a free poisening on behalf of Megawati & Co!
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 Haze......again - by @lbert
  Posted:20/06/2004 - 15:53 - in category: general
The haze is back and on grand scale.
Sight op here is less than a few 1000 meters!
It stinks and is slowly getting sickening.
The goverment keeps mum as usual and does not give a damn where the people in this country are suffocation.
Of course it is a souvernir from Indonesia, bit in the Asean spirit you dont complain with your neighbours. Wow Megawati might think it is interference in internal affairs.
But it is high time that the international community stands up against Indonesia.
There they give a damn and do nothing.
They are burning down their nature reserves and no one cares. It is high time that Indonesia gets a proper warning, and if they do nothing again... impose sanctions!
Now it is already for how many years that we are suffocating on a yearly basis.
And combine that with a goverment that gives a damn, nice combination.
Welcome to Malaysia tourists, come to Malaysia and inhale some fresh Indonesian smoke, all fresh burned down forest.
Enjoy your ugh ugh ugh holiday
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 Fruits, fruits - by @lbert
  Posted:16/06/2004 - 20:07 - in category: Yan Kedah
This year it is all in abundance! Manggis so many that my neighbour and friend all enjoyed them.
Rambutan are now getting ripe and they are great, and again to much to finish alone.
I got the sweet sauer type that tastes a lot better than the rambutan kahwin.
Than rambai so many...... but the tree is so high, and to thick to shake.
Durian? me this year none, but outside cheap enough they went as low as 15 for RM 10-.
So nice with icecream, a crazy westerner, probably. But durian icecream tastes to me better than pullut durian, or durian cake.

Even watermelon was RM 3- for a 4 or 5 kg fruit that makes nice juice.
This year really all in abundance, only my all time favourite did not last long.
Lychee, i saw them around (affordable) only for 1 week and than it was already over.
So bad, now have to buy tins again.

Well lets hope for the same flood of fruit the next season!
| Permalink | one comment | Add Comment |

 New Shit TImes aka NST - by @lbert
  Posted:16/06/2004 - 17:00 - in category: general
The story below really pissed me off completely.
i quote from Jeff Ooi's Weblog:
An editor in The New Straits Times sent me this email. I have deleted the sender's identity for obvious reasons:


From: [ Hidden by Jeff Ooi ]
To: [email protected]
Cc:
Subject: Kalimullah blocks Jeff Ooi Website at NST
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 10:01:47 +0100 (BST)

My dear Jeff,

I am an editor of the New Straits Times. This is to inform you that the Group Editor-in-Chief of the NST, Datuk Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan has ordered the computer technicians at NST to block your website so that NST staff cannot gain access to it.

The computer technicians have now installed a firewall which prevents us from reading your articles.

So much for Press freedom, freedom of speech, transparency, fairness etc etc that Kalimullah has been preaching!

The fact is your articles which criticised him on his supporting for Astro and Khairy Jamaluddin, were a bit too true and too accurate that he could not take it anymore. [...]

Bravo Jeff! We support you all the way. Let the truth prevail.

Thank you.
[ Hidden by Jeff Ooi ]



This kind of 'news' papers represents the pressfreedom in Malaysia.
What a bootlicker this Kalimullah, and this person carries a Datuk title.
Did he buy 5 kg of rice and get the title for free?
And than say that there is freedom of information.... dont make me laugh!
Yet another example of Malaysia TIDAK boleh!

PS...
Kali-Mullah did you block Malaysiakini as well??
Otherwise they read Jeff through their ip.....
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 Great job Tun M - by @lbert
  Posted:11/06/2004 - 16:11 - in category: politics Malaysia
The former premier says there is nothing wrong with promoting Malaysian timber by giving the Zimbabwean president logs for his lavish 25-bedroom mansion.

Well done Mahatir, give one of the worst dictators in Africa free wood for a mansion he build with money plundered from the nation.
And than have the guts to say its promotion.
Like the PM palace in PJaya or is that one having 26 bedrooms, afterall that must be the biggest PM mansion in the world........

Moral is gone......down the drain.
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 Freedom? What freedom.... - by @lbert
  Posted:09/06/2004 - 14:51 - in category: politics Malaysia
If i interprete the comment with the remark made by the Minister in teh PM's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz:
The judiciary is not independent as "the concept of separation of powers and is too idealistic to be implemented in this country.

Well this is a clear statement by the goverment that the judiciary stinks and is not independent!
So where did justice go? Right into the drain.
As far as there was justice (every case takes at least 5 years or so) it is for sure gone now.

Our bow tie minister (Information Minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir) said that there is press freedom in this country, but you cannot print anything that is against a code of ethics.
Well who defines this code of ethics?? And than any critic on the goverment in charge obviously is against the code of ethics.
Why otherwise need a code of ethics, and a permit for a news paper?

The way murder cases are spelled out in newspapers dont have much ethics...
Furthermore how can you publish photographs of people who 'might' have committed the crime?
According to the law everybody is innocent unless proven guilty
So i really hope someone will sue all the newspapers once together with all the TV channels in a multi million suit for publishing foto's of innocent people.
I think a Finnish guy filed a case for a giant sum for publishing his photo. He was proven innocent.

Than a remark from the Internal Security Ministry,
Malaysiakini probably (read guaranteed) will not get a printing permit because:
because of fears that the publication will be "prejudicial and jeopardise national security and public order".

Thats the next proof, any critic on the goverment in charge is not tollerated and called jeopardising national security.
So much for press and judicial freedom.
Malaysia boleh!
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 Poor Mountain.... - by @lbert
  Posted:08/06/2004 - 11:31 - in category: Yan Kedah
Its all in the name of progress as usual....

But the onslaught on Gunung Jerai is going on. And nobody speaks up as usual!
Yan: Plantation encroaching on the slopes of the mountain.
New road from Titi Hayun to Batu hampar.
Titi Hayun is a rubish dump, the same goes for Batu Hampar.
Rubish thrown around everywhere by tons.
Accessroad to Batu Hampar, pot holes and pot holes. 1 more year and it is inaccessible.

Semerling/Bedong A total ecological disaster in the construction of the new MIC university.
The whole area turned into a desert.
Highrise construction an eye sore. So much space and than have to construct high rise?
Giant dump where Sungai Petani is just dumping its rubish, without any sorting whats however.
Who knows poison, paint furniture all goes into the dump.
Good for the ground water. This is waiting for a future disaster.

Singkir Logging on grand scale tons of wood have been removed.
A quary on a high spot, waiting for half the mountain to come down with heavy rain.
Furthermore an eye sore from a distance.

Gurun Same as Yan encroaching on the slopes of the mountain.
Slash forest to make more plantation.
Gurun has a nice waterfall for swimming if you know how to get there....

Gunung Jerai is such a nice place, the summit is cool and nice for a walk.
Only the resort on the top is a NONO management place.
I dont know who is presently running it but it is detoriating very fast.
It used to have a beautiful garden, now....rubish
They had a nice terrace which already years ago was turned into a Mc D style establishment.
Even they windows are closed...no fresh air!
A deer farm with i think 2 deer left. And a ridiculous surau as big as a palace which is an eye sore.
No one uses it. The same for the sports hall, all a giant waste of money.
Tangga Kenari inaccessible unless you bring an axe and chainsaw to clear fallen trees.

Did you know that Gung Jerai has quit a big mushroom farm?
If you go at the right time, you might be able to buy cheap mushrooms.
Pitty enough the area near the transmission towers are restricted.
Why?? Nobody knows... it used to be accessible, now you cannot enjoy the view from there anymore.
And it was really a great view towards Yan-Besar, Tj Dawai, Penang.

The camping near the forest museum is another malaysian rubish dump.
Rubish everywhere, the swimming pool to dirty to swim, the water an other rubish dump.
All run by the Kedah goverment as far as i know.
Well a job well done Mr Syed!

In other words the whole mountain + surrounding is really
turned into a sample of Malaysia Boleh!

A real NO-NO tourist spot to advice to anyone who wants to go there.
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 All is well.... - by @lbert
  Posted:04/06/2004 - 10:10 - in category: politics Malaysia
Well all is well with Malaysia they say, but the Tun's legacy is finally showing.
After years of the biggest, widest, highest and you name it, it proves that the coffers are empty.
The first start is there....
11 hospitals scrapped from the planning list.
This saves 3.8 billion.
Wait and see because this is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
Expect a lot more to follow.
This figure of 3.8 billion will probably rise to 50 or 60 billion at least in the near future.

The only 'ong' at the moment is the high oil prices, so the goverment can milk Petronas a bit more in order to find shelter. But this will effect exports, so it will be partially undone.
But at the end, the Tun's bills of extravagancy have to be paid.
Poor Malaysia.......
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 Third world thinking....yak - by @lbert
  Posted:02/06/2004 - 12:03 - in category: general
Have you ever tried to buy a fridge in Malaysia that opens to the left?
Well probably you won't find one.
In europe this is common good, even the cheapest fridge can have the door changed to open left or right.

Well i was one of those people who insisted on having one because i do not wish to be dictated by importers where my fridge is placed in the kitchen.
After a long search i found one where the hinges could be changed (made in Korea).
But in order to make a few buck extra the agent in Malaysia ordered the doors without holes for left side mounting.
So i called up the agent, and asked how or what.
The answer:
Well in Malaysia people dont ask for fridges like that.

Well how stupid can you be, because you don't offer, you can say no one askes.
What a dumb third world way of thinking.

After quit a fight and a vist by 4 techisian to my place they noticed that the holes for hinges were there, but the door lacked the holes.
Well finally they provided the plastic pieces that go in the holes (maybe 10 sen each) and i changed all myself.

And this country wants to be developped by 2020 (Kedah already 2010!!)
Don't make me laugh.
This is not the only story, i can give you several where you ask for common things but you get a third world answer.

Another sample, try to buy a shower curtain.
Well you can find them BUT they are 1.75 cm high.
Have they ever heard of the fact that there are plenty of people (even in Malaysia) who are over 175 cm tall??
The curtains are produced!! even 200 cm, but the agent does not import them.
Answer.... no one askes for it, you are the first one.
How stupid can you be.

These are maybe small things but they are very very irritating, and wasting a lot of time and effort.
And I can give plenty more samples. Consumers in Malaysia should do what the agents demand, no complaints and shut up.
Once you surrender your money, you can go to hell.

These were some more samples of 'Malaysia langsung tak boleh'.
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 Education on Education - by @lbert
  Posted:01/06/2004 - 11:38 - in category: politics Malaysia
I read a letter by a reader in Malaysiakini.
I quote:
Ethnicity, race and religion should never be a factor when it comes to university entrance. At the same time, examination results should also not be the only consideration.

To ensure justice and equal access to universities and institutions of higher learning, other socio-economic factors must be also considered. Hence the simplistic call for �meritocracy� or a common university entrance exam is not the answer.

The last sentence disturbs me a lot.
Should because of the manipulated lousy education system, the universities be manipulated as well?
Haven't they been manipulated enough?
If because of a bad pre university education some might not make it into the university, well let it be so.
Did the writer ever think about the cost of ONE student in university that drops out?
Probably 50.000 or so if he drops out in the first year.
Or should he be pulled through for the sake of the race and downgrade the whole university.
Come on.... The pre university education in Malaysia stinks all around, to much emphasis on useless things, and education you only get in Malaysia if you go to 'tuition classes'.
This countries education system has gone nuts.
There is no country in the world where every student has to go to tuition in order to pass with color. This is only filling up the pockets of lazy teachers who want extra income!
And in Malaysia it has been turned into fashion.
Outside Malaysia already people spit on degree's from Malaysia, and not to long ago they were highly respected!
The difference in quality between general schools and chinese schools is tremendous.
But on the other hand it is totaly ridiculous that a country has more or less a dual education system. (Better dont talk about tamil schools).
The thing needs a overhaul very soon, but an overhaul without race, it should be an overhaul on quality.
Drop useless subjects, make it efficient and properly planned. If necessairy sack the old guard AND the new once as well who are sabotaging the system for their own sake.
If it goes on like this, in a few years, NO student with a foreign degree will work in Malaysia, and NO Malaysian degree can work outside Malaysia.
Education should be based on EDUCATION / LEARNING and not on religion or race.
If they want education on religion go to the Taliban schools in Pakistan or wherever.
Of course there are values in live. But you make a living on your education + capacities, not on your religion!
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