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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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 Who the heck is Santa Claus - by @lbert
  Posted:12/12/2003 - 10:05 - in category: general
Before i go an explanation on a funny Xmas habbit. Giving gifts.....

Santa Claus started with a real person, Saint Nicholas, a minor saint from the fourth century:

According to tradition, he was born in the ancient Lycian seaport city of Patara, and, when young, he traveled to Palestine and Egypt. He became bishop of Myra soon after returning to Lycia. He was imprisoned during the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians but was released under the rule of Emperor Constantine the Great and attended the first Council (325) of Nicaea. After his death he was buried in his church at Myra, and by the sixth century his shrine there had become well known. In 1087, Italian sailors or merchants stole his alleged remains from Myra and took them to Bari, Italy; this removal greatly increased the saint's popularity in Europe, and Bari became one of the most crowded of all pilgrimage centres. Nicholas' relics remain enshrined in the 11th-century basilica of San Nicola, Bari.
Nicholas' reputation for generosity and kindness gave rise to legends of miracles he performed for the poor and unhappy. He was reputed to have given marriage dowries of gold to three girls whom poverty would otherwise have forced into lives of prostitution, and he restored to life three children who had been chopped up by a butcher and put in a brine tub. In the Middle Ages, devotion to Nicholas extended to all parts of Europe. He became the patron saint of Russia and Greece; of charitable fraternities and guilds; of children, sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, and pawnbrokers; and of such cities as Fribourg, Switz., and Moscow. Thousands of European churches were dedicated to him, one as early as the sixth century, built by the Roman emperor Justinian I, at Constantinople (now Istanbul). Nicholas' miracles were a favourite subject for medieval artists and liturgical plays, and his traditional feast day was the occasion for the ceremonies of the Boy Bishop, a widespread European custom in which a boy was elected bishop and reigned until Holy Innocents' Day (December 28).

After the Reformation, Nicholas' cult disappeared in all the Protestant countries of Europe except Holland and parts of Belgium, where his legend persisted as Sinterklaas (a Dutch variant of the name Saint Nicholas).
The yearly arrival of Sinterklaas is celebrated in Holland, he arrives on a steamer end november. Accompanied by his black peters.
In Holland the birthday of Sinterklaas is the 5th of december, and on that day children get gifts accompanied with rhyms and quite often packed in a funny way.

Dutch colonists took this tradition with them to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in the American colonies in the 17th century. Sinterklaas was adopted by the country's English-speaking majority under the name Santa Claus, and his legend of a kindly old man was united with old Nordic folktales of a magician who punished naughty children and rewarded good children with presents.
So...now you know where your present comes from...
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 Equality - by @lbert
  Posted:11/12/2003 - 17:27 - in category: politics Malaysia
In this country everybody is supposed to be equal.
This leaves me with a bunch of questions.
Why has almost every goverment form the question:
bangsa..... and agama.....
If i have to fill out a form where they ask for race, i fill it with 'world-citizen'.
If they ask for religion i fill it with 'human' or put every religion i can imagine.
These questions are so racist!
Than the stereotype racist remarks on a daily base here and there:
A dead Malay sudah meningal (passed away), but a Chinese sudah mampus. (is dead where 'mampus' more like perish).
A malay man marries a chinese woman, they have children.
The IC of the children states Malay, but they might 100% look like chinese.
Laughable, yes, but true....
Why do i have to state my race when i open a bank account, or want a driving license?
Let alone asking to fill in your religion....
I had almost a riot at the bank when i refused to fill the question.
In indonesia now the word pribumi is totally banned from all documents even ic's. I think it is high time the same happens in malaysia.
This as only orang asli deserve the title bumiputra.
If the country wants to be a nation, you need united citizens, citizens are all equal whether red, green, black or purple.
And i noticed that the younger generation of any descend nowadays proudly call themselves Malaysian.
So something is changing for the good among the people, just the goverment is a bit (very) slow.
That is also why to my idea, all the separate schools in this country are doing more harm than good.
Chinese to a chinese school, Malays to a sekolah agama, Indian to a tamil school.
This will never integrate anything especially in the kampung.
In the cities there are plenty of goverment school with a mixed population, and chinese schools are also flocked by Malay and Indian children.
But in the kampung the segregation is still almost 100%.
And who's going to change that?

Last night i watched a part of a discussion on TV1.
One of the panel members had the guts to call all non-muslims kafir several times.
Have those so called 'educated people' any education?? I doubt.
The discussions anyway have no depth at all.
A kafir is a non believer and i do not wish to be called a kafir by a some one who is a non christian, non budist and non hindu.
I do not call him a heithen either. And dont give me crap like this is general language and so on, it is an offence.

When do they learn to polish their words a bit?

It is close to 2004.....any thoughts for change in 2004?

I take a 2 weeks brake because i have to go to Indonesia.
But wishes everybody a merry christmas!

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 Minister GO! - by @lbert
  Posted:09/12/2003 - 15:22 - in category: politics Malaysia
The Minister of Entrepreneur Development thinks he only has to answer to the PM.
Wow is this guy way out of line....
Who voted him in? Yes the people....
To whome he has to answer? Yes the people.
Maybe after 22 years of authoritarian rule some ministers think they are above the law.
It is time the whole system learns again that they have to answer to parliament, and not the whimps of the pm.
And Mohd. Nazri would you please publish your assets openly (not for the PM only)
If the ACA can grab a minister, dont hesitate to do so, and revoke all those taxi permits!
Than finally it might become Amanah dan BERSIH.
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 Philosophy - by @lbert
  Posted:07/12/2003 - 20:53 - in category: general
Found this on the web.......
Philosophy

Singapore and Malaysia have a different philosophies of life. This becomes apparent when we compare the two countries' Rules of Simple Living.

Singapore:
1 - One Wife
2 - Two Children
3 - Three Bedroom Condo
4 - Four Wheels
5 - Five Figure Salary

And indeed, that is why 'Singapore is solid'!

Malaysia? Well, Malaysia's Rules of Simple Living are the
following:
5 - Five Children
4 - Four Wives
3 - Three Figure Salary
2 - Two Wheels
1 - One-Storey Link House...

How far is the truth???
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 Party talk...... - by @lbert
  Posted:03/12/2003 - 20:17 - in category: politics Malaysia
Malaysian party politics are almost a chinese opera.
What do i say.... almost, no it is a chinese opera.
You would drop dead of laughing if things were not so serious.
Every top post holder is clinging on to his position like glued on it with 2 seconds glue.
Look at the pathetic Sammy Vellu, whatever and wherever he went he made a mess and still he is a minister.
Still proclaiming people want him.
Labour union leaders roll fighting on the street in their power struggle.
DAP fires people, but isn't it so that representatives in a party should be elected by their members?
But Lim Kit Siang also does not want to let go and keep it in the family.
In MCA a lawyer can be health minister and one after the other does not want to make room for another generation.
Gerakan? The same pathetic situation, all cling on to their posts and the money it brings.
UMNO? Well as long as menteri's besar can walk in and out of the country with millions in a suit case and go free, what party are we dealing with?
Ministers can amass themselves a furtune.
Why is every high ranking party member a millionaire?
Why don't they have to declare their assets?
Why can they warm their seats for 20 years?
Why do they all keep on talking about things they even dont understand?
Why is none of their family members poor?
Well because it is a chinese opera, only the cost to maintain the performing troup is bloody expensive.

And representatives in the dewan represent their constituency. They are voted in by the people, so they have to represent them.
So if the party goes against the voters, why dont they have the right to vote against the party?
That is democraty, forced voting is hypocrit and belongs in the comunist party.

The present PM is trying to get things moving, but it will only start moving if plenty of heads roll.

And they have to be high ranking heads, otherwise in the lower ranks nothing changes.
Grab a few, set a sample and really impoverish them!
Corruption and greed starts from the top and has to be cleared from the top.
Then on top of that they make the former PM an 'adviser' to Petronas.
Thats the biggest ploy ever, Petronas the cash cow of the country has been plundered by Mahatir for years for all his prestigeous projects.
Now they make him advisor to give him a chance to cover up??
Draw your own conclusions..... oh dont forget the advisors salary of xxx thousand ringgit a year and use of the petronas plane.
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 Buy a house and get nothing..... - by @lbert
  Posted:02/12/2003 - 13:06 - in category: general
A friend who wanted to buy a new house in Sungai Petani asked to come a long and have a look at several options.
I was shocked by the prices and the terrible quality of what they provide for the money.
He at the end bought a house of roughly 180K.
The house is now ready and i am even more shocked with what they dare to give you for the money.
A 180K house contains a RM 25- kitchen, just an aluminium sink!
Disgusting.
Tiles are all of the cheapest quality. Doors are flimsy plywood doors already bended.
Aluminium windows/doors are so flimsy that you can open them with bare hands.
Interior is not even made according to specs, as far as they are provided.
After some calculation i must say that the profit the developer (in this case OSK properties) is making on this 180K house is probaly around 80-90K per house.
Every efford is taken to maximize profits. All materials used are the cheapest available.
They even dont use bricks, all is cement panelling.
All efforts are taken to maximize profits.
I find it unbelievable that this shoddy way of doing business is accepted by Malaysians.
The goverment really should step in and set rules for project developers which should be very strict!
They should provide among others:
A proper plan of the property (ALL measurements given, not just outer dimensions)
A proper bill of materials to be used should be provided, and not some vague descriptions.
A developer should hand over a house CLEAN, and not like a mess.
Compounds must be clean!

Buyers have the right to refuse hand over of keys (and the payments involved) if the property deviates from the specs.

Sky high penalties should be set on cheating on the above.
Cheating developers should be bankrubted by these penalties.

A tribunal should be created like the consumer tribunal, where buyers can go with there grouses.
Verdicts should be binding to developers, and again sky high penalties for not adhereing.

It is totally crazy that house buyers have to start renovating on the moment they accept a house.

The above story applies to probably 9 out of 10 developments, at least all those i have seen in Sungai Petani.
All are shit in one word, and actually a scandal.
So far i have not seen a development where you say, wow this is really nice and you can move in straight away.

Why dont they provide proper kitchen?
Why is there no provision against burglars, if you can walk in through a closed window or door?
Why do they provide hardly any sockets for electricity?
People nowadays have plenty of equipment.
And a kitchen or what they call kitchen with 1 (yes one) socket is rediculous!
This is all high way robbery first class, they should be ashamed.

You buy 180K-250K property, what do you get?? An extended rumah murah nothing else.
Malaysian developers shame on you!
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