US Secretary of State's Award for International Women of Courage to Malaysia 's Ambiga Sreenevasan

Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama
12 Mar 2009, 0853 hrs IST

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama present give away Secretary of State's Award for International Women of Courage to Malaysia 's Ambiga Sreenevasan (Malaysian Bar Council) at the State Department in Washington , DC (AFP)

This is exactly one year old. I just read it from an email buried down in my inbox. Yes, I haven't got time to clear my inbox for a while.

Apparently it didn't made it as a big news in Malaysia (those who were in Malaysia this time last year can tell me if you knew this). So I think we should all be proud.

Here's the transcript of the event - transcript of remarks by Clinton and Ambiga Sreenevasan

Ambiga's speech is towards the end.

Malaysian taste in MasterChef Australia

I'm excited and proud to see Poh (Poh Ling Yeow), a chinese Malaysian who moved to Australia at the age of 9 getting the runner up in the first MasterChef Australia realisty tv show. The thing I admire about her is her passion to show the Australian community the food she grew up with, the century egg, roti prata, hainanese chicken rice, petai, sambal, curry.... She took great risk in choosing to cook those Malaysian dishes that are very unfamiliar to the food critics tastebuds. But she took those risk to give the show a real piece of her cultural heritage. I salute her for that be-true-to-yourself spirit.

Poh's bio
Malaysian dish Challenge

May 13 on a positive note

Yesterday is May 13, a date that has been stabbed into Malaysia history 40 years ago and demonised by politicians over and over.

However, I found this refreshing school of thoughts by zubedy to have a positive note on May 13.

I’d like to recolor May 13th. I would like to breathe new spirit into the date, to dilute and eventually erase the negative aspects and memories and replace them with positive meanings and values. I want our future generation to see this date with kind and loving recollections. We can always change things, if we so willed it.

The article is well written and touches my heart. I think every Malaysian should read it, maybe the book too.
A book to unite Malaysians

His company zubedy.com looks very interesting too.

Merdeka 51st

The last 3 weeks has been crazy for me, so busy I have no time to think.
There were several celebration for Merdeka, I submitted my thesis and I left Perth to Malaysia for 3 months holiday.
This post will concentrate on the Merdeka.

This year's Malaysia independence day celebration is the most enjoyable one for me so far. I met two new friends Siow Yong and Yia Shi, I was invited to the official reception for the Merdeka by the consulate and the Merdeka ball organised by AMWA was a big success!

I wrote a short post on AMWA's blog.

On 24 August, AMWA had its annual Merdeka Day Golf.


On 28 August, the Consulate General of Malaysia in Perth hosted an official merdeka reception at the Perth Town Hall.


The finale of Merdeka celebration was held last night at the Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre. With “Wonderful Colours of Malaysia”, AMWA hosted the 51st Merdeka celebration with Malaysian cuisine, cultural performances, a fantastic live band, groovy dances, happy snaps and a lot of fun!


I met Siow Yong because he ordered tickets to the Merdeka Ball from me. And after we started talking only I found out that works very close to UWA in an area I have a lot of interests in -- audio signal processing for hearing aids. And he also turns out to be very nice to talk to.
click here for a picture of Siowyong with the Vice CG Mr Tan.

Another really cool encounter is Yia Shi aka Ivy. I first met her at the Merdeka Golf. She is a budding journalist with Asia Business Times -- a new newspaper in Perth. She came with another journalist Angel and Joe.
After chitchatting for awhile we were pleasantly surprised to find out that she came from my mom's hometown where I spent a lot of my childhood at, and her mom came from my hometown. Ha! What a small world.
We sat at the same table during the golf lunch and had a good chat. Then Angel and Yia Shi came to cover the merdeka reception, so we met the second time there. And then the newspaper company had a table at the Merdeka ball, so I met their boss Mr Peh then as well. Mr Peh is really nice as well, and I met his son who's a table tennis state representative before at UWA. Small world again.



I'm writing this post in Malaysia. :)

Beijing Olympic and possibly first Gold for Malaysia

This is a bad time to be at the end of a PhD. I'm so tied up with writing and correction with the thesis that I hardly have time to watch the Olympic. Anyhow, I did watch the opening. It is just awesome! Telstra has this ads for Olympic that carries a song with this lyrics - "we are one, and we are many...." and I thought it's a very good reflection of the drummers, the Taichi performers and many others at the Beijing Olympic opening.

I also think that the concept of a painting 'drawn' by the dancers, the kids and all the athletes is just brilliant. However, the last minute change from the super-sweet -voice singer to the super-cute-looking singer by direction of high official is a bit of a shame.

Actually this post is about tonight man's badminton final between Lee Chong Wei (Msia) and Lin Dan (China). Malaysia had never won gold in Olympic and tonight may be the first time the national anthem of Malaysia being played in Olympic ceremony. Lee Chong Wei is in good form, so is Lin Dan. Actually Lin Dan is on fire and won all his games in this Olympic in straight 2 games. They played each other many times before and Lee always win when the game is in home ground.

It's sad that Australia TV doesn't broadcast it! Why did SBS broadcast woman's badminton final but not man's?

Anyhow, I hope Lee Chong Wei will win for Malaysia, like what he did for the Sudirman Cup 2007. Go Lee Chong Wei!!

Here In My Home - Malaysian Artistes For Unity

A song that truely warms my heart. I think it speaks the voice of many Malaysians, home or abroad.


Video, music, lyrics Downloads at their site. Spread the words fellow Malaysians. Sing along!

Update: Check here for the writer Pete Teo's interview, and Pete Teo unscripted video

Malaysian opposition slays govt giants in elections

This is the most exciting General Election of Malaysia I've ever witnessed!

People's anger and frustration finally translated into real seats and gave the ruling parties a big slap on the face! It has denied the ruling Barisan National's 2/3 majority in the parliament so the constitution can't be easily changed at its pleasure.
Five states have also fall into the opposition, given them a big challenge to show the people what good governance which they preach is really about! If they can pull it through then it will pave way to eventual balance of power in the parliament down the track. Otherwise, the opposition will be seriously attacked in the next general election.


Channel News Asia has the report at 0014hrs.
(Blogger.com and many webserver were not responding when I wanted to post this late last night.)

Malaysian opposition slays govt giants in elections
Posted: 09 March 2008 0014 hrs

Special Report
Malaysia GE 2008

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's opposition has claimed several high-profile scalps in Saturday's general elections, including the sole ethnic Indian minister who lost his seat, according to official data.

The daughter of opposition figurehead Anwar Ibrahim, 28-year-old Nurul Izzah Anwar, thrashed powerful incumbent Women, Family and Community Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil in her first ever tilt at parliament.

Manoharan Malayalam, an ethnic Indian activist who is being detained without trial after organising anti-discrimination protests, was elected from his jail cell -- beating the government incumbent in a state seat.

Manoharan, who represents the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP), won twice as many votes as the ethnic Chinese candidate, in a seat dominated by ethnic Chinese voters.

Indian Cabinet minister S. Samy Vellu lost his seat in central Perak state which he has held since 1974, state Bernama news agency reported.

Samy Vellu, a loyal supporter of the Malay-led government, has borne the brunt of anger from Malaysia's ethnic Indian minority who say they have suffered decades of discrimination.

The DAP has claimed victory in the island state of Penang, ousting the government for the first time since 1969 in a stunning outcome.

Unofficial results showed the opposition is close to claiming the northern state of Kedah with the Islamic hardliners PAS and former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim's party Keadilan securing 22 of the 36 state seats, Bernama reported.

The opposition is also in the lead in central Selangor state, traditionally a BN stronghold, it said.

The Election Commission's official tally showed Barisan Nasional ahead in the new 222-seat parliament, with 45 parliamentary seats in the bag, including eight that were uncontested.

The DAP has claimed six parliamentary seats, PAS currently has three and Keadilan has three. - AFP/ir

Malaysia Election Comedian Songs

Comedy Court made:

ELECTIONS Blah blah blah


Rough Little Indian Boys


The Family Tree


And more of other political and non-political videos on Comedy Court

Michael Backman on Malaysia General Election 08

Michael Backman - Malaysia needs a strong Opposition

Google eyeing operations in Malaysia

This will be nice if it is realised.

Reuters: Google eyeing operations in Malaysia

Maaf Zahir Batin

It's the end of Ramadan today and the celebration starts. In Malaysia, we call it the Hari Raya Puasa or Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

I take this opportunity to learn a bit more about this festival and its meaning. I found this article that explains the meaning of Maaf Zahir Batin, which means "forgive my physical and emotional (wrongdoings)".

I seek your forgiveness for things that I have done wrong in the past. If I have offended you in anyway, that was never my intention.

Selamat Hari Raya Puasa.

And then I'm thinking about Ketupat and Rendang

Images from Wikipedia.

Meeting with my minister

Last Friday I was invited by Somun the student coordinator of AMBC to attend a meeting with the minister of International Trade and Industry of my country - the YB Rafidah Aziz. She and her team of representatives are on a trade mission to Australia and Perth is their last stop.



She speaks well, with a sense of humour and a no-nonsense kind of attitude. Her directness is quite funny at one time when she was directing the delegates' attention to one of the information CD and here's what happened - she took out the CD, looked at it and said "What is this CD about? I can't even read the title, the title is too small! Who prepared this?" and she looked at her subordinates, "These people just played with graphics, what's the point of putting the twin tower, fireworks so big and you can't even read the words!"


The lunch was great! Well, it's at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.


And it's a courtesy of the Malaysian government. I felt a bit uneasy about that so I made it a point to make some contribution out of my attendance.

Over lunch I got a chance to talk to the director of a software company in Malaysia that just signed a partnership contract with an Aussie company. They might be able to get me a job when I get back. I also got in contact with the treasurer of MASCA WA, Everlyn, a nice young curtin student, I also caught up with Kay Sen, ISS liaison officer at UWA.
(ya, it's more natural to look at the LCD instead of the lens)

After the lunch, that's the student meeting with minister and 4 members of parliament who came along with the trip. The minister seems down to earth during the dialog, she made it very safe for us to ask questions and express our concerns, by asking us to address her as Auntie Rafidah and treat her like an elderly relative. That worked quite well and many Q&A was exchanged. One student got a smack on the hand by addressing her straight as Rafidah. One asked her about the state of Proton and why the import tax for cars is still so high and she shared some interesting stories about the past managements which I won't reproduced here.
Another student touched on the education system that focuses more on paper than practical and she answered as it's a culture that is ingrained and needs to be changed.

I got my guts up and ask her opinion on the concern that I have which I think is shared by many young non-Malay professionals who are currently overseas, ie I'm going back (or some are thinking about going back) to serve the country but am deterred and frightened by the many racist remarks of ministers and unfair racist incidents towards the non-Malays. Her answer was along the line of - "for god's sake, please do not ever look at any issue as Chinese or Malay or Indian! We are all Malaysian! There are some idiots who said something inconsiderate and that does not represent the mass of the parliament and the government's view." I hope it's the true words and not just lips service.

Then another student raised the issue that they don't have a venue to organise event for Malaysian students, the Consul General briefed that there's a plan of Malaysia House under AMWA to accommodate this need. With much hesitation, then being pressed by the minister, the student expressed that AMWA members are mainly Chinese... And "Auntie Rafidah" straight away told off the student right on the face that "Do not ever think of going down that path!". And she reiterated that Malaysian is Malaysian, not Malay or Indian or Chinese! If there's to be a Malaysia Hall, it will be for all Malaysians.

Seems like we still have a long way to go for the nation building, but I'm glad that the minister took the strong view of "all Malaysians" and taught the student a lesson! The director of the Malaysian Student Department from Sydney also reiterated that its department is there to help all Malaysian students, not just the government sponsored ones.
Also, a new officer to look after Malaysian students here in Perth was requested as Perth has about 4000 Malaysian students, the second largest in Australia, and the minister was supportive about it, and it may just happen next year.

At the end, we took some happy snaps. Overall, it was a great meeting.


More photos are on AMWA photo gallery, which I maintain.
http://www.amwa.org.au/gallery/

Prime Minister of Malaysia Re-marry

From Malaysiakini:

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will marry Jeanne Abdullah, 53, in a private ceremony at his official residence Sri Perdana in Putrajaya on Saturday.

The official announcement in Malay is here.

Congratulations Pak Lah! I wish you and Jeanne a fulfilling relationship.
And may the marriage provide you extra strength and will to lead Malaysia to the future you envisioned and inspired us.

See photo of Jeanne on JeffOoi.
Abdullah's wife Endon passed away in Oct 2005.

Malaysiakini exclusive interview with Dr Mahathir

Three parts video on Malaysiakini:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Masak masak - Food on Malaysia

I stumbled upon this blog about Food in Malaysia from sabahan.com.

And there is a recently post about 福州光饼 Foochow kongpiah (plain bread) in my hometown.

Photo with my prime minister

Abdullah Badawi was in Perth again last Saturday. Fiza from the Malaysia consulate called me on Thursday to invite me to the Hari Raya Haji celebration with Abdullah Badawi as the guest of honour. I was delighted.

The event was at Puteri Nasi Kandar at Victoria Park, just couple of shops away from Makan2. That street will be a great gathering place for Malaysians, if it hasn't already been. I got there at 12pm, sat down with a table of other AMWA committee. Badawi arrived at about 1pm+, I took some good photos. He gave a short speech wishing all Malaysians to do well here in Perth. Then the lunch started.

I got to know several young Malaysians there during lunch, including an English editor of a new newspaper ASIA TIMES. The Malaysian food is not bad too.

And I caught this photo with Badawi when he was walking out.


Delighted and honoured as I am to see my PM, I'm not quite so satisfied with the team and the state of governance in Malaysia. This accusation that "many ministers (esp. of Johor) are on holiday overseas while some 80000 flood victims of Johor state hit by the worst flood in 37 years are needing help" was chewing the back of my mind. How many politicians really care more about the people and the integrity of the country than their career? Also, it's funny that the Australians newspaper has a full page interview with Tun Mahathir on that day.

There are more photos on AMWA photo gallery.

Bosnia pyramid search

I came across this possible pyramid awhile ago when it was first discovered. Now Malaysian has role in the Bosnian pyramid find! And as I follow the link to the official website www.piramidasunca.ba, I found more interesting video and coverage about this exciting discovery.

Personally, I think it's very possible that there is a pyramid there. And hope that the discovery work won't destroy the energy pattern and the very reason why it is there. I'm sure ShihChing will be very excited to know it's progress as well.

And under the Daily News tab of the website, the team is now in Malaysia meeting many prominent Malaysians there.

Sad truth about Malaysia

My fellow Malaysia countrymen should read this:
While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry
by Michael Backman. Thanks Albert for pointing it to me.

Bank bale outs, a formula one racing track, an entire new capital city — Petronas has paid for them all. It's been an orgy of nonsense that Malaysia can ill afford.

Why? Because Malaysia's oil will run out in about 19 years. As it is, Malaysia will become a net oil importer in 2011 — that's just five years away.

So it's in this context that the latest debate about race and wealth is so sad.

It is time to move on, time to prepare the economy for life after oil. But, like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the Malaysian Government is more interested in stunts like sending a Malaysian into space when Malaysia's inadequate schools could have done with the cash, and arguing about wealth distribution using transparently ridiculous statistics.

That's not Malaysia "boleh", that's Malaysia "bodoh" (stupid).

Update: Michael Backman had a follow up that gives a bit more of context of where he was coming from.
Read here

Wikimapia

Danno pointed this out to me. It's really cool! Now the map really comes alive!

And I'm delighted that my search on my hometown Yong Peng returned the correct place. And I quickly added some places I can make out from that birds-eye resolution.

Fantastico!

Google Alert picks up Malaysian in Perth

Google Alert is cool. I started using it a while ago and it picks up some new things about Malaysia+Perth
on the internet which I won't search regularly myself. Here's one of them.

Flight 720 - Malaysia - Brindha Sithambarnathan :: ABC Perth