Bintang.What a coincidence! Today marks the 1st anniversary of the 30sen fuel hike.
Why 'Sensintrovert'? Ramblings of a sensitive+introvert plus very sarcastic at most times; mostly about the happenings of his home yard.
Bintang.CNN: The Prime Minister kindly gave us more than an hour of his time recently at the Finance Ministry in Putrajaya. I began by asking him how far he is willing to go in his anti-corruption drive, without fear, and without favor?
PM: That’s what I promised everybody, without fear, without favor and that is the case. If that has to be brought to the court, well, we will bring it to the court. But I have always said that it’s important we must make sure that justice is at all time be maintained.
CNN: How will you follow up with this anti-corruption campaign?
PM: We continue to remind civil servants people. This is a subject that I always talk about, it is also a subject my other colleagues in the cabinet talk about. We have now recently launched the national integrity plan. We have also set up the national institute for ethics. This institute and also the implementation of the national integrity plan, that will certainly do the follow up that is necessary for this.
CNN: What would make you satisfied? What would be something that makes you happy?
PM: I will be happy with certainly when the corruption index improve.
CNN: By how much?
PM: As much as we can.
PM: I don’t know whether I was studious or not, I did study but did play around too. As a child, the paddy field was my playground. We go fish, we also catch fighting fish, looking for birds and it was for kampong people, the paddy field was our the play field for the children.
CNN: Prime Minister, you won a scholarship to read economics, yet you decided
to study Islamic studies?
PM: No, no, I tell you the truth. (CNN: okay, you tell me) I wanted to study economics but I failed my statistics paper. I fumbled my standard. The question was standard deviate, the paper was on statistics, I don’t know how I did it so bad, so I was not allowed to continue to do all my honors course in economics and I had to choose other subjects for which I was qualified. So I decided to choose Islamic Studies.
CNN: Why?
PM: Somehow at the time I was thinking of my grandfather. Because he has always wanted me to go for religious education, he wanted me to go to Mecca. Somehow at that time my father had another view, he said I must continue my English education, so that was what he wanted. My grandfather gave in, okay if that’s what you all want. So I went to English school, secondary English school, so forget going to Mecca for my religious education. So when I had to make a decision whether I would like to do honors degree course in Islamic studies and Malay studies too, so I thought Islamic studies would be good.
CNN: And how did you make such a come back and win the trust of former Prime Minister Mahathir?
PM: Well, there are other aspects, I still command very good support in the party. I always go down, maintain contact with them. I have an office right in the city, I still receive many people who come to see me. If not for anything, just chit-chatting. And then we have lunch somewhere, that’s all. That’s was what office was for.
AB: No, no no I don't think it's political suicide. He has been saying a lot of things, I have decided to keep quiet and to go on doing what I want to do. And people want me to do what I want to do. And I have, I still command majority support today.
CNN: I read that the two women in your life, your mother had said, correct me if I am wrong, you are very tight with money, you wife says if you lose your temper, it will snow in Malaysia, are these two ladies correct?
PM: Well, in a way. In a way they are right, but not too tight with money. I am quite a spendthrift but just being careful because my family was not rich, was not a rich family.
...We have very little to live on, I remember that, I cried because I wanted a new toy and my father couldn’t afford it. He didn’t say he didn’t have the money, but he persuaded me not to have it. But today perhaps my recollection is that maybe he didn’t have the money to buy the toys.
CNN: How old were you then?
PM: Big enough to remember. There are certain things that happen to you when you were small you still remember. And then there was another occasion that he took away my shoelace because his friend came to the house, somehow snap his shoelace. Naturally he need to buy shoelace, so my father conveniently took mine, give it to him.
CNN: And what did you say?!
PM: I didn’t say anything, I just cried!
CNN: As the world changes so fast, Prime Minister, what do you hope most for your children, your grandchildren and the next generations of Malaysians?
PM: I, talking about my children, of course I wanted them to succeed in life, they have to choose whatever job or occupation that they want, I will not try to influence. Religion has always been very important in our family, so I want them to be god fearing, I think it’s important.
Apabila warga Malaysia cukup umur 18 tahun, mereka telahpun melalui sistem sekolah rendah dan menengah yang cukup cemerlang dan sudah tahu, malah telah hafal, versi sejarah yang rasmi. Justeru itu, menonton dokumentari Apa Khabar Orang Kampung tidak akan memudaratkan mereka.
Filem ini boleh sahaja dimulakan oleh perkataan yang tertera di skrin, contohnya “Amaran Oleh Kerajaan Malaysia: Fahaman Komunisme Dilarang Dan Anda Ditegah Daripada Meniru Ideologi Merbahaya Ini!’ Ayat ini boleh terbit dalam saiz font yang amat besar. Ayat ini juga boleh berkelip-kelip seperti lampu neon supaya lebih jelas. Kalau tak cukup satu tanda seru boleh guna lima atau sepuluh.
Kita boleh sahaja anggap Jerman sebagai negara maju, tapi bukankah Malaysia juga bercita-cita untuk menjadi negara maju dalam masa hanya 13 tahun lagi
Pengharaman filem ini tampaknya bercanggah dengan beberapa prinsip yang terkandung dalam Wawasan 2020 yang menjadi pegangan kita, seperti “berjiwa bebas”, “masyarakat demokratik yang matang”, “progresif” serta “masyarakat liberal dan bertolak ansur.”
Filem ini besar kemungkinan akan lulus untuk tayangan di Singapura seperti Lelaki Komunis Terakhir tahun lepas. Tidakkah kita berasa sedikit kaget dan jengkel bahawa rakyat Singapura (yang berkongsi sejarah Darurat dengan kita) sudah dianggap cukup matang sedangkan kita belum?
Filem ini boleh juga ditayang kepada mereka yang telah membuat ikrar ‘Akujanji’ sebelum dan usai menontonnya. Ikrar ‘Akujanji’ ini boleh disamakan dengan proses yang harus dilalui oleh mahasiswa, pensyarah dan kakitangan kerajaan. Tapi kali ini mereka harus ‘berjanji’ untuk tidak sekali-kali amalkan fahaman komunisme, biarpun dalam mimpi.
Picture from Walski.
Communists' role recognised: Historian
Hwa Yue-Yi
PETALING JAYA (Feb 27, 2007): The communists' role in fighting for independence has been recognised by no less than first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, a historian said.
Two former deputy prime ministers - Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman and Tun Ghafar Baba - have also publicly acknowledged the contributions of the left wing movement towards nationhood, former Universiti Sains Malaysia history professor Dr Cheah Boon Kheng said today.
RM800,000 spent, but no sign of sports centre works
R. Nadeswaran and Terence Fernandez
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26, 2007): Not a blade of grass has been cut, nor a single pile driven for the proposed Malaysian High Performance Sports Training Centre in Brickendonbury in Hertfordshire, UK, but almost RM1 million of public funds has already been spent.
On top of that, the supposed plan for the national under-16 football team to train at the Arsenal Football Club may not materialise.
The bulk of the money has been paid to St. Albans-based architect and town planner, David Lane Associates, which has sent two invoices -- one for RM350,000 and another for RM450,000 -- for "work done" to apparently transform part of the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) into a mini-sports complex.
Aksyen mesti mau, umum dulu, nanti malu tak apa!

PM Challenges Local Researchers To Develop Leading-edge Applications
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today challenged local researchers, scientists and engineers to demonstrate to the world that Malaysians are able to develop leading-edge applications and solutions based on the advanced technology available today.
The prime minister said that only by being a creator of technology could Malaysia move up the economic value chain and take its place among the developed nations.
"I have said this so many times ... that we must create our own technology and not just become efficient users," he said when launching the Malaysia Microchip Project (MM Chip Project), here.
The MM Chip Project utilises the latest `Radio Frequency Identification' (RFID) technology, where Malaysia aims to become a leading contributor to its development.
Having started in 2004 using Japanese technology, Malaysia has succeeded in producing the smallest RFID chip with built-in antenna receptive to three bands of radio frequency.
Stressing on this achievement, Abdullah, who is also the chairman of the MM Chip Project Committee, said he hoped that the MM chip-based application and solutions would be adopted not just by local agencies and companies but also by organisations all around the world.
"There are significant gains to be made in this field, provided that the right applications are commercialised," he said, adding that the government had a structured commercialisation plan in place for the project.
Abdullah said the government, through the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT), had created a wholly-owned company -- Senstech Sdn Bhd -- to spearhead the development of applications for commercialisation purposes.
"Nevertheless, I would also like to urge the private sector, in particular technology-based SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), to work closely with MIGHT and Senstech Sdn Bhd in order to develop innovative products and solutions utilising the MM chips," he said.
At present, the MM chips are utilised in the B Certificate for films approved by the Film Censorship Board, and a university in Melaka will introduce a RFID-enabled attendance system to monitor its students.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, who co-chairs the committee with Abdullah, said that for the time being they were concentrating on the local market.
"We want the government agencies to use this first, our own microchips with the latest technology, before we go abroad," he said.
In explaining the "beauty" of the technology in layman's terms, Mohd Radzi said the chip was so small it could be used in paper and certificates, hence the ministry's plan to use it in marriage certificates as well as passports, among others.
"Today we have too many forgery cases, so we hope by using this technology we can manage it. That's why we want our government agencies to use it," he said, adding however that the government had no plan to enforce its use.
Asked on the cost of the project, Mohd Radzi said that since its establishment in 2004, the government had spent more than US$50 million (US$1 = RM3.50) on research and development alone.
However, he said, the government was confident that with its vast potential the MM chip could put Malaysia on the world map as a leader in such technology as well as being competitive in the market.
At present, the chip is manufactured in Japan but the government has plans to shift manufacturing to the Kulim Hi-Tech Park soon, said Mohd Radzi.
-- BERNAMA
Data can be moved in and out of the chip at speeds of up to 10 megabits per second - far faster than is possible with other short-range radio systems such as Bluetooth or Radio Frequency ID tags.Hat-tip to Sonofusion, here's a even smaller RFID microchip.
RFID Powder Developed By Hitachi
From Pink Tentacle
Hitachi researchers have developed a new micro-miniaturized radio frequency identification (RFID) chip that is 64 times smaller than their currently available 0.4 x 0.4 mm mu-chips.
At 5 microns thick, the RFID chips can more easily be embedded in sheets of paper, meaning they can be used in paper currency, gift certificates and identification
Malaysia at a Crossroads
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007 By HANNAH BEECH
A HOUSE DIVIDED: The battle over the true spiritual beliefs of Kaliammal's late husband reflects Malaysia?s widening religious fault linesHow well do you know your husband? For Kaliammal Sinnasamy, a Hindu married to a member of the first Malaysian team to scale Mt. Everest, the answer, she thought, was obvious. "I married a Hindu man, lived with him as a Hindu, bore him a Hindu child and watched him die as a Hindu," says the now 32-year-old office cleaner. But when Kaliammal went to the hospital in December 2005 to claim her spouse's body after he died of a protracted illness, she received another shock. Her husband, Maniam Moorthy, had secretly converted to Islam before his death, said Islamic authorities. According to Islamic law, he would be buried in a Muslim cemetery. No, insisted Kaliammal, he would undergo Hindu rites. Both sides headed to court. But Malaysia—a multiethnic nation composed largely of Muslim Malays, Hindu Indians and Buddhist and Christian Chinese—employs a dual legal system. Muslims are subject to Shari'a law for issues such as marriage, property and death, while non-Muslims use civil courts. First, the Shari'a court ruled that Kaliammal's husband was a Muslim. Then, the civil court refused to intervene. "This court cannot undo, vary or overrule any decisions made by the Islamic Shari'a court," said Judge Raus Shariff to a packed courtroom. "We have absolutely no jurisdiction over Islam."
Kaliammal's case, along with several other high-profile legal challenges, are roiling a nation that has struggled to strike a balance between the aspirations of its Muslim majority and significant minority populations. As Malaysia celebrates a half-century of independence this year, faith-based politics is further dividing the nation's ethnicities. The new mood was on display at the November party conference of Malaysia's ruling political party, the United Malays National Organization, during which one delegate spoke of his willingness to bathe in blood to defend the Malay race and religion. By December, the atmosphere was so tense that Malaysia's usually understated Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called race relations "brittle"—even though a few weeks before he had defended his nation's reputation, telling TIME: "At the end of the day, Malaysia is still well regarded internationally as an advanced Muslim country." Indeed, earlier in the year, Abdullah appeared so confident about his homeland's spiritual diversity that he rejected a plea by the non-Muslim members of his Cabinet to more strenuously protect religious freedoms. "We are at a crossroads as a nation," says Tian Chua, spokesman for the opposition National Justice Party. "The extreme religious rhetoric is threatening what we worked so hard for 50 years to accomplish."
Like Indonesia, Malaysia is struggling to determine how Muslim to be. Unlike Indonesia, which is governed by a secular constitution, Malaysia already counts Islam as its official faith—although the constitution also guarantees freedom of religion. Each state has a fatwa committee that makes religious decrees applicable to Malaysian Muslims, most of whom are Sunni. In Kelantan state, Muslim women must wear headscarves in public, while several states have made forsaking Islam a crime that can result in prison time. "We should not limit Islam to a few rituals," says Sulaiman Abdullah, former president of the Malaysian Bar Council. "Malaysia would be better served if it were under Shari'a law."
But what happens when the state's definition of Islam differs from its citizens'? The Islamic Development Department, which governs Muslim practices on a federal level, deems Shia and Baha'i interpretations of Islam deviant faiths worthy of forced "rehabilitation." Controversy also surrounds Malays who wish to convert to another religion, thus defying the constitutional clause specifying that all Malays must be Muslims. That issue is being tested by the case of Lina Joy, a Malay who has been barred from converting to Christianity by Shari'a courts. Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, a lawyer who has received death threats for representing Joy, hopes the case will be heard by the Supreme Court in the next few months. "How can we say there is freedom of religion in Malaysia," says Malik, "if a person who has practiced Christianity for years is not allowed by the state to make that personal choice?"
As for Kaliammal, her husband's ultimate choice will never be known for certain. He was buried as a Muslim, but she wants to move the remains to a Hindu grave. Kaliammal's appeal, one of several involving alleged conversions to Islam, is pending before a higher court, though no date has been fixed for judgment. "My husband never once told me he had secretly converted to Islam," says Kaliammal, showing off a wall in her apartment dedicated to her husband's mountaineering achievements for the glory of the Malaysian nation. "He was always a Hindu and drank alcohol and ate pork right up to the time he died." His final resting place, though, will depend upon what the court decides—yet one more challenge for a country caught between mosque and state.
With reporting by Baradan Kuppusamy/Kuala Lumpur
[Click on image to find out what S.W.A.T. stands for]
There are certain people who speak with an ordinary tone. Samy Vellu (Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu), for instance, speaks in a tough manner as if he wants to fight with someone. Others like Mustapa (Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed) who speaks normally without a high tone. What is important is not to differentiate from the substance aspect. I reprimanded some of them (tegur). Just read the papers. I give them a call and tell them that things should be rectified and asked them what were they talking about and told them to fix it.
Scomi Engineering's Q4 Net Profit Jumps Up 60 Pct
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 (Bernama) -- Scomi Engineering Bhd, a subsidiary of Scomi Group Bhd, posted a net profit of RM10.7 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2006, a 60 percent increase from the RM6.7 million posted in the third quarter of 2006.
In a statement here Wednesday, the company said the increase in net profit resulted from a 57 percent increase in turnover of RM133.6 million in the quarter under review as compared to the preceding quarter's turnover of RM85.1 million.
For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2006, Scomi Engineering recorded a net profit after tax of RM30.2 million on a turnover of RM323.9 million.
The major turnover contributions for the quarter under review continued to be from the machine shop business which earned 54 percent of total turnover and the logistics engineering business which made up for 44 percent of the total turnover.
The machine shop business continue to show consistent growth on the back of recurrent overseas orders, in particular from its customers in West Asia, it said.
For the quarter under review, the machine shop's turnover increased by 38 percent as compared to the preceding quarter.
Scomi Engineering plans to set up new machine shop facility in West Asia is in progress and expected to positively impact the company's financial results in 2007.
Once this facility is operational, Scomi Engineering said it would be well-positioned to provide better support to its customers in the region.
The prospects for this business continue to be positive by the planned expansion of the Labuan and Singapore machine shops that will provide new capacity to fulfil demand for the machine shop services, it said.
This facility will reduce the dependence on the Singapore machine shop and reduce costs of shipping and storage to support orders for the country.
The company said the logistics engineering business was also expected to provide more significant contributions to the group results for 2007 due to the proposed acquisition of the additional 40 percent equity interest in MTrans Transportation Systems Sdn Bhd.
Upon completion of the proposed acquisition, Scomi Engineering, with a 91 percent ownership of MTrans, will further benefit from the consolidation of bigger turnover and profits.
Commenting on the acquisition, its chief executive officer Shah Hakim Zain said "our monorail unit is one of the few players in the world that offers urban monorail transit technology.
"The acquisition underscores our global outlook in seeking business opportunities and our emphasis on technology in delivering solutions that meet international standards," he said.
-- BERNAMA











[Source: the_earthinc]