BTB

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: It’s an awfully small bird to have such a big name. The Black-throated Blue Warbler is maybe five inches long from the tip of its bill to the end of its tail. It weighs less than an ounce, even when it’s fattened up for its biggest journey of the year, which is happening right now. This warbler is on its way south, and by this date in late September, most of its kind have already headed to more southerly latitudes.

Birders and non-birders could be separated on the basis of their experience with warblers. Everyone has seen birds like geese, and everyone notices pelicans or eagles if they’re arround. But warblers are different: they mostly go unnoticed by most people, even while many birders regard them as favorites. North America has more than 50 kinds of warblers – small, active, colorful birds that flit among the leaves, feeding on insects. Most of them spend the winter in the tropics, coming north in a rush in spring, while birders rush out to look for them. Their southward migration in fall is not so celebrated, partly because many of them change into a duller fall plumage, making them harder to tell apart. But the male Black-throated Blue Warbler has a black throat and a blue back all year long.

Every species of warbler has its own distinct range. This male Black-throated Blue, which paused out behind the Black Swamp Bird Observatory in northern Ohio today, probably had come from somewhere in southern Canada, and it was almost certainly headed for wintering grounds somewhere in the Caribbean. Once when I was in Jamaica in winter I was amazed at how many Black-throated Blue Warblers I saw in the woods. These little migratory birds represent a shared treasure, to be enjoyed by citizens of several nations on their seasonal travels.

Gandhi is enemy of the Empire

Winston Churchill once called Mahatma Gandhi "a bad man and an enemy of the Empire" who should have been done away with.

The war-time prime minister of Britain told Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts of South Africa at a meeting of the war cabinet in London in the 1940s: "You are responsible for all our troubles in India - you had Gandhi for years and did not do away with him."

To which, Smuts replied: "When I put him in prison - three times - all Gandhi did was to make me a pair of bedroom slippers."

When the Mahatma went on a hunger strike during World War II, Churchill told the cabinet: "Gandhi should not be released on the account of a mere threat of fasting. We should be rid of a bad man and an enemy of the Empire if he died."

Churchill's behind-closed-door, candid observations at cabinet meetings about people and issues during the war were recorded for posterity by one of the war cabinet minute-takers, Lawrence Burgis.

At that time it was the law that all notes taken at cabinet meetings should be destroyed. However, Burgis apparently failed to destroy his notes which came to light six decades later when prominent British historian Andrew Roberts was recently going through the British cabinet archives for his forthcoming book Masters and Commanders.

Roberts came across several files of Burgis in which the then assistant to the deputy secretary to the War Cabinet between 1939 and 1945 kept verbatim notes of cabinet conversations.

"It was at that moment that I realised that Lawrence Burgis had broken the 1911 Official Secrets Act, and had kept his verbatim notes of Winston Churchill's War Cabinet," Roberts says.

He adds that the notes will also compel historians to reassess other famous British personalities of that time.

Views: Taken in by stalin

Churchill, whose antagonism towards Stalin is well recorded, was initially not so critical of the Soviet dictator. Roberts found in Burgis' notes how Churchill was taken in by Stalin: "Stalin about Poland said, 'Russia has committed many sins in Poland'. Stalin had a very good feeling with the two Western democracies and wants to work quite easily with us. My hopes lie in a single man, he will not embark on bad adventures."

Ustaz Muhammad Hussain Yee bin Abdullah

Today I met this guy, he seems to have certain things that interet me and a search on the net give me his info.

Ustaz Muhammad Hussain Yee bin Abdullah , President of Al-Khaadem, was born into a Chinese Buddhist family. He embraces Islam in 1968 at the age of 16. An ardent Islamic scholar, he majored in Hadith Studies at the Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia. After graduating in 1978, he continued at the University of Damascus in Syria for two years.

Upon returning to Malaysia, he joined the Muslim welfare organization ( Perkim ) which safeguards the welfare of new reverts. He also served internationally as advisor to the Cambodian refugee organisation in Paris and Director of the Islamic Center in Hong Kong before founding Al-Khaadem in 1984.

He has travelled on da'wah mission in the Asia-Pasific region (Brunei, Taiwan and Philippines), Oceania (including Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Australia and the USA (Detroit and New York). He has appeared on television in A-Ain (U.A.E), Bahrain and Kuwait. And also conducts summer camps in the U.K. and Europe at the invitation of local and international organizations.

He and Lina Joy are of similar circumstances, just that what Yee did what allowed by the law but not Lina. Both he and Lina are person of strong faith because I'm sure both of them face strong objection from their respective family.

I personally think that Lina Joy has stronger faith as she need to face the law as well.

Hero or Villian? Depends on everyone opinion.

Sabah Muslim marginalized during PBS reign?

I attended an UMNO ceramah in Sabah recently, this stupid idiot speakers talked about how Muslim are being marginalized in Sabah during Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) reign from 1985 to 1994.

What is this guy trying to do, please get the facts right idiot!

As my knowledge as a Sabahan, I never heard any Sabah Muslim being marginalized. Is this UMNO tactics to gain support from Sabah Muslim? Please get out of Sabah!

During PBS reign, 1/3 scholarship for Muslim bumi, 1/3 for Non-muslim bumi and 1/3 for non-bumi. But now, 75% for Muslim-bumi and 25% for Non-muslim bumi.

So who is being marginalized?

The most depressing facts is that most of the 75% Muslim-bumi scholarship are given to Bugis and Filipino whose parents has settled in Sabah sometime ago. Does that mean, the original Sabahan are being marginalized now?

The only religion related marginalization that happen in Sabah, were during Mustapha time. Anyone who is a Christian and live through the 60s and late 70s must remember the Muslim death squads roaming Sabah to kill Christian priest and anything not Muslim.

Anyone remember those days?

Mustapha had give out order to kill all Europe and Australia priests and evangelists who refuse to leave Sabah. Many priests and evangelist were killed because they insist of spreading Christianity but some were spare.

My mother in law born in 1953 and live in Penampang in those days told me these stories. Local Christians have to hide priests and western evangelists from the Muslim death squads. With her own eyes, my mother in law saw a priest from St.Micheal Penampang Church was brought roughly by soldier into a track.

True histories are hard to be accepted by everyone. I don't hate Muslim as I have personally receive kindness from Muslim relatives, friends and colleague. Locals call this time as "Zaman penindasan Mustapha". That's why when I mention Mustapha name with my wife’s side elders; they will stare at me because it's very terrible time for them.

In 60s-80s, Sabah was dominated by Christian believers mostly Roman Catholic. Mustapha has a mission to turn Sabah into Islamic state and that’s against the Sabah 20 points agreement.

Its believe that the Saudi King at that time wished to visit Sabah but he want to see every Sabah native being Muslim. So Saudi King supplied a lot of money to the government of Sabah to help convert every Sabah native to Islam.

With that money from Saudi, Mustapha paid a Christian family RM2000 to convert to Islam. During those times, RM2000 could buy you a brand new car and it’s even bigger for a rural family. (I do not believe the Saudi King part but I do believe families were paid to convert and that money comes from BALAK not Saudi.)

Driven by poverty, a lot of Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) from Ranau and Kundasang converts to Islam. They thought they can take the money and convert back to Christianity after that. But they don’t know the laws, that well and ended up trapped as Muslim and that affect their next generation as well.

That’s why my wife got a mix of Muslim and Non-Muslim relatives. They all live happily without conflicts and treat each other very well. No matter what religion they believe in, they all are from the same blood. In Sabah, Sabahan are much related in their beings and respected each other irrespective of their different in religious believes

I want to apologize for any of my statement that upset anyone. Especially my Muslim friends, I didn't mean to hurt Muslim but this is just sharing purpose. In fact, I believe Muslim learnt all these tactics from Christian during the Crusade Wars.

History is just history no matter how bad it is but just because it’s bad or it’s about Muslims does not mean we can't talk about it or we have to forget it. If it’s Christians who is doing it to Muslims, the government would have no problem "talking" about it and not making it sensitive.

UMNO, did you see any one beside me bringing up this old story?

Did the government apologized or doing anything about it?

NO! What Mustapha did shouldnt be called "Marginalize", its something much worst!

Lights around the world

O00000000ps Sandakan Tak ade Letrik!

Gorgeous women in sport

Hugh Hefner may be the luckiest man alive, but don't say that to the guy who gets to referee a women's beach volleyball gig featuring teams from Brazil and Italy during the Olympics in Beijing this month.

If there's one thing men love more than sport, it's watching the gorgeous women in it. And I mean this in a totally non-sexual way, mostly.

Unlike fashion models and the airheads in show business, these women are real - their medals a result of hours of getting down and dirty on the field.

Okay, so they are hot and sweaty and wear short, slinky outfits, but over the next eight pages you will learn that these women have gotten to wherever they are because of true grit, grace and perserverance.

The women in tennis lead the way. Long before Anna Kournikova sold the world sports bras telling us why "only the tennis ball should bounce on court", there was Gabriella Sabatini whose androgynous beauty endeared her to us and whose inability to get past Steffi Graf made us almost hate the German and mind you, she wasn't bad looking either.

The glamour angle in athletics was worked by Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner, who was quite a spectacle in the late 80s with her tousled hair and her one-legged leotards or 'athletic negligees' as she called them. But that was that.

However, the arrival of Kournikova in the 90s heralded a change in the way women in sport were viewed. Here was a blonde who was good looking enough to make people forget even today that she never won a single title of any repute.

And since then, it's been commonplace to see an athlete shed her kit for a glamour shoot; the latest is tennis player Ashley Harkerload who will jump out of the obscurity of her WTA ranking and on to the pages of Playboy this month.

And on that note and to celebrate the spirit of the summer Olympics this month, we present to you our round-up of the hottest women athletes today.

Daniela Hantuchova
Age: 25
Sport: Tennis
Why we picked her: She has the longest legs in the history of long legs. The waif-like Slovak bombshell was the first serious contender for Anna Kournikova's title as 'the prettiest face in tennis' when she burst on the scene with a WTA title in 2002.

Blessed with great timing and good groundstrokes, Daniela climbed her way to no. 5 on the WTA ranking before bad form saw her ranking slip away.

She has represented her country at the Olympics and helped her team win the Federation Cup in 2003. Keep an eye out for her at Beijing. She can speak six languages, is a classically-trained pianist and looks a million bucks. Enough said.
Yelena Isinbayeva
Age: 26
Sport: Athletics (pole vault)
Why we picked her: The brunette from Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) has 22 world records to her credit.

She is the first female pole vaulter to breach the 5m mark and has the grace and finesse of a gymnast thanks to her early years of gymnastics training.

Yelena is easily the most accomplished athlete of her generation, she won the pole vault gold at Athens and is the best bet for this year's gold at Beijing. And to top it all, she looks good enough to be in the movies.

Ana Ivanovic
Age: 20
Sport: Tennis
Why we picked her: We only remember three occasions in the history of women's tennis when the no. 1 ranking has been held by a gorgeous woman - Steffi Graf, Maria Sharapova and now Ana Ivanovic as we went to press.

The tall Serbian's girl-next-door charm and attitude has earned her a multitude of male fans.

With a Grand Slam victory at the French Open this year and a possible shot at an Olympic gold in Beijing, it's no surprise that her country has even put her pretty figure on Serbia's postage stamps.
Danica Patrick
Age: 26
Sport: Motor racing
Why we picked her: A good-looking woman in a tight jumpsuit behind the wheel of a fast car. Why wouldn't men love a woman like Danica Patrick?

This little petrolhead from Wisconsin was a karting champion when she was 10, moved up the motor racing chain as a teen before landing a drive in the famed IndyCar Series - she was the only woman in the league in 2005 and won Rookie of the Year.

In April this year, Danica became the first woman to win an IndyCar race,winning the Indy Japan 300 race. Her petite good looks and popularity has seen her sizzle on the pages of FHM and Sports Illustrated swimsuit special.

Anna Rawson
Age: 27
Sport: Golf
Why we picked her: Thank God for Anna Rawson. Every time they broadcast that sport for old fogies and social climbers on television, there's someone not changing channels hoping to get a glimpse of the woman they refer to as 'Sharapova of Golf'.

Originally from Adelaide, Australia, but now living in California, Anna was a model before she turned pro in 2004. What we really dig about the blue-eyed blonde is that she can step off the pages of Vogue and on to the greens of the LPGA Tour with equal ease.

Ranau MP & YAB

Ranau is my favorites place in Sabah for its cool breeze and beautiful sceneries. Ranau is represented by Datuk Siringan @ Gubat MP, Datuk Masidi Manjun @ Keranaan, Datuk Dr Ewon Ebin @ Paginatan, dan YB Dr Joachim Gunsalam @ Kundasang.

As the public know, Ranau had produced a lot of successful natives. Masidi Manjun (Datuk MM) was given the post of Tourism Minister and Datuk Ewon Ebin (Datuk EE) was given the post of Industrial Development Minister.

I wish to remind these YABs to take good care of Ranau. Datuk MM need to visit Ranau regularly as his name isn’t as loud as 2004. MM is still heard of making big noise about certain issue but its all “Big Talk with No Action”.

I don’t care if Datuk MM has a few wives as it’s his personal matters but People of Ranau still put their hope on him to deliver. Lately, he has only doing his own business. If he is too old to visit regularly like he used to, please resign!

Datuk EE is a good example of a responsible YAB, he visit Paginatan and Kundasang regularly. Maybe he has learn from his lose in 1999 by majority of 99 votes. He talks a lot about investment in Ranau and what I like most about him is the way he address the illegal immigrant’s issue. He objects thoroughly any aliens being given Permanent Resident (PR). I wish Datuk EE can continue his struggle in ensuring Sabahan are not being neglected.


About Dr Joachim, I really don’t know how he becomes a YAB. His face is rarer than snow on top of Mount Kinabalu. I suggest Dr Joachim shall resign from politics.

Datuk siringan isn’t a bad MP, but the way he gives speech sounds abit amateur. Siringan always seen with Datuk EE visiting Ranau area. He shall be more vocal in parliament.

If all this YABs don’t improve, we need a change.

Malay Youths Killed Chadian

http://www.mmail.com.my/Victims_of_hate.aspx

A HELP University College business studies undergraduate Abdel Aziz was murdered. He sustained stab wounds to the right abdomen and died in the ambulance on the way to Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

Sentul district police Chief Assistant Commissioner Zakaria Pagan told Malay Mail that initial investigations revealed that the attack stemmed from the uneasiness of the residents over the behaviour of the Africans.

First, please be specific of the YOUTHS involved, they are Malay youths, Okay!

Malay Youths!

“We believe the youths who attacked the Africans wanted to teach them a lesson to behave themselves in public.”

Second, we can’t afford to have a police chief making a statement like this. It’s stupid, racist and shows that the police are siding the Malay youths.

Verbal abuse, physical abuse, extortion and now killing those black students are the way to teach them to behave themselves in public. Are the police going to be the judge as well?

Indeed an expensive school fees to pay, their parents send their children to be educated not killed.

I used to take LRT to work from Wangsa Maju to KLCC some years back when I was working in KL.

TARC college students who stayed there were not spared the crime. Some even got killed by this youths, robbery, burglary and rapes happened back then and till now they aren’t much improvement in terms of safety.

Negarakuku lyrics

"My song, is just like the durian
Tough and spiky, only
To see if you dare to open it, to look at the truth inside
It can be very stinky, it can be very fragrant
It only depends on what kind of nostrils you have"

MALAYsian especially the Malays take the rapping of Negaraku by Namewee as an insult. You either see those “insults” as half full cup or a half empty cup. Every insults (or compliments depends on how you want to define it), is the truth, no lies or extravagant.

Please la, are you guys so great that you can’t take any criticisms?

Give and take la, you guys win so much already, the Scholarships, x-Freedom of Religion, Bumi-contracts and etc.

Give us a break and let us complain a bit la. What Namewee did was brave without considering the consequences but what he sang is what is in my mind as well.

Namewee isn’t RPK, Namewee suck-in his balls when the police come after him but that’s because he doesn’t has any political support.

Lot of peoples argues that we should respect the local cultures, but in the first place are we Chinese not the locals? My family has been here for four generation, that’s almost a century. We are here before the formation of Malaysia.

If we are not locals, who are the locals?

Those Bugis and Filipino whose parents are illegal immigrant?

Negarakuku

The police forces asked Namewee to translate his Negarakuku song from Chinese to Malay.

This tells me two things!

First, the Police forces do not have Chinese personnel, how can that happen we got 25% Chinese population in Malaysia. There must be something wrong with the recruitment of police personnel.

Second, asking a student who furthers his study in Taiwan to translate Chinese to Malays sounds really stupid because it’s very likely that he has very poor command of Malay. A test of his patriotism or they got nothing better for him to do?

Please don’t waste public money…

By the way, I supported fully Namewee opinions in Negarakuku, he didn’t mock the country and he is telling the truth.

Azan Subuh at 5am as morning call, that’s true and I tasted it during my Uni time in KL but luckily there is no such thing in Sabah. In Sabah this only happen in Malay populated areas not every Taman. LOL!

If they think by forcing me to hear this Azan will convert me to Muslim, they are really wrong. In fact I hate it more although I can sing it as well as they do or maybe better since I rented a really cheap room just next to a mosque, where not even the Muslim want to stay.

Ah... Wow... Weng... Well... Ah.. Wow... Weng... Bell... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Namewee isnt the first one who complains about this publicly. Remember Tony Cottee? The Ex-England international who played briefly for Selangor FA before quit as he cant stand The Malay Madness, the Morning Call that happen right beside his house.

Selangor said Cottee tak boleh pakai but Cottee go back English Premier League and played for few season still scoring.

They just left Tony Cottee of the hook; it is because he is English?

Double standard again, UMNO… wow!

Datuk Raymond Tan Kia Su

Datuk Raymond Tan Kia Su will remain as a Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Development despite Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) pulled out of the Barisan Nasional (BN).

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman, who is Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) Chairman, cannot make any decision as he has to wait for order from Semenajung.

Tan Kia-Su did hand in his letter of resignation to Musa last Monday in order to satisfy the public that he is not power crazy, maybe not power but money crazy indeed.

Datuk Raymond Tan and Au Kam Wah who quit SAPP should focus on serving the people in their constituents, instead of trying to break-up the party. They have become hostile towards the party since they quit, to the extent of dismantling the party's signboard.

Tan had been continuously attacking the party ever since it announced the motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Abdullah Badawi.

SAPP had long prepared for the worst since it declared no confidence in the Prime Minister, what more that now it is no longer a member of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Those holding ministerial post in the Government shall get their priorities right, to tackle issues that are affecting the nation and the people, instead of spending too much time on party politics.

That it's a norm in any organization or political party that "leaders come and go" but, what is important is that the party's spirit, political ideologies and directions remain intact.

DAP as a good example where despite the exodus of some of its former stalwarts and heavyweights like Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, Fung Ket Wing, Wee Choo Keong at one stage the party has remained intact until today.

The ultimate survival of a political party lies with its political struggles and the people's support, and not so much on its leaders.

Tan and Au Kam Wah do not have the support of the Sandakan public, if they made a new party that will only consist of their own family, friends and cronies. SAPP has become the most relevant party in Sabah.

Tan, Au and their followers that quit SAPP only purify the party; only those who stay deserved to be called warriors.

Namewee

So UMNO decided to interview Namewee (The Negarakuku Rapper) and not Ahmad Ismail, how pathetic!

An unknown rapper being interview for singing the national anthem his way but a UMNO’s politician, a public figure doesn’t get any stick from the police forces.

We really need the reincarnation of Justice Bao to right the wrong in Malaysia.

I sense that the UMNO are trying to stir up Chinese anger by arresting all those irrelevant Chinese figure (Teresa Kok, The Journalist & Namewee) but letting all those Malay culprit get away (Ahmad Ismail, Khir Toyo & numerous others).

Don’t fall for that Malaysian Chinese, stay calm and wait for rescue.

President Bush will do the World One More Good before he retire!

DATUK LEE BOLEH!!!

Chong Wei, in a telephone interview from Tokyo, said his preparations for the tournament wasn't good enough and that he was not fully fit. "The amount of training I had for the tournament was not sufficient. Also, the celebrations and special functions (after his silver medal in Beijing) disrupted my preparations," said Chong Wei, who added that he also lost a few days of training as he was down with a fever.

"I was struggling in this tournament and today (yesterday) Sony pushed me against the wall. I was tired and couldn't recover after several long rallies.

Errrr, is it only me, or there are really some 'voices' that attribute Sony's victory more to Chong Wei's injury rather than his hard effort?

If I remember correctly, it's stated that his hand is just slightly injured / painful.

Its normal things that when Malaysia player went down, sure got a lot of excuses.

Datuk Lee again performs ''superbly'' in the final. The result showing No.1 World Ranking Player's standard?

Or Datuk Lee is only capable to perform well until semi-final?

I can say that the result produced is lousy, as same in the Beijing Olympic Game.

**Or Datuk Lee dont want the title ''Tun''? (He might be conferred the title ''Tun'' if he win the Japan Open - Gold medalist)

Because of that he simply play?

What are Pemuda & Puteri Sabah up to?

Yesterday, I was driving back from KK; I stopped at a mile 32 restaurant to have my dinner. 10 minutes later, come a group of about 20 men and women. Since they just sat a table a way from me, I overheard their conversation.

Ops! They just finish a meeting of PEMUDA & PUTERI UMNO. When the waitress asked for their orders, there was a young man in that group proudly answered “we are waiting for our boss, big boss will spend us!”

5 minutes later, come a men wearing long sleeve with black sleeves, he went straight to that table and was greeted happily by that group. When he went pass my table, his style looks like a YAB, smiling and nod his head with me.

I thought this must be the Big Boss and my prediction was right.

15 minutes later, one of the men in that table came over a greeted me. He was my primary school classmates, so we talked about family and works. He told me that all those people in that table are those who contested in UMNO various post.

So I asked what post he contested for. He said “AJK UMNO only”.

I asked “Why UMNO? Why United Malay National Organization? Are you Malay? As I know he is a mix of Chinese and Dusun. If he follows his dad, he should be Dusun.

He said “You ah! Aiya I need to get some contact and contract la!”

Oh! Cari makan la, Ok la!

I asked again “when you go into villages what did you tell all those villages?”

He answered “we will think of that when election come la!”

I asked again “how about Sabah 20% oil royalty, do you have any plan?”

He answered “that, we’ll leave it to the boss to think.”

I asked again “what do you guys think about those civilian arrested under ISA?”

He seems puzzled “ Siapa? Which civilian?”

I was stunned by his ignorance; I wonder if he knows what is ISA? So I answered him “That Chinese journalist”

He answered “she fights the government, so she should be arrested!”

I smiled only, after 5minutes he returned to his gang.

500,000 women die in pregnancy, childbirth: UNICEF

More than half a million women still die each year in pregnancy and childbirth, often bleeding to death because no emergency obstetrical care is available.

Despite modest progress, particularly in Asia, the global maternal mortality toll remains stubbornly stable due to a lack of financial resources and political will.

More than 99 percent of the estimated 536,000 maternal deaths worldwide in 2005 occurred in developing countries, half of them in sub-Saharan Africa, it said in a report entitled 'Progress for Children: A Report Card on Maternal Maternity.

One of the critical bottlenecks has always been access to highly skilled health workers required to deliver emergency obstetrical care, particularly caesarian sections.

Around 50 million births in the developing world, or about 4 in 10 of all births worldwide, are not attended by trained personnel, according to the report.

Hemorrhaging is the leading cause of maternal death in Africa and Asia, causing one in three deaths, it said. Infections, hypertensive disorders, complications of abortion, obstructed labor or HIV/AIDS are other causes.

Such complications can be easily treated in a health system whose facilities are staffed with skilled personnel to handle emergencies around the clock, but disparities persist.

The lifetime risk of maternal death in the developing world as a whole is 1 in 76 compared with 1 in 8,000 in the industrialized world.

The riskiest place to give birth is Niger, where the risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth over the course of a woman's lifetime is one in seven. In Sierra Leone it is 1 in 8.

But developing countries including Sri Lanka and Mozambique have succeeded in reducing maternal mortality rates.

A combination of family planning, training skilled birth attendants, emergency obstetrical care and post-natal care is the key to reducing maternal mortality.

At the current average reduction rate of less than one per cent a year, the world will miss the goal of reducing maternal mortality rates by 75 percent between 1990 and 2015, to less than 150,000, one of the Millennium Development Goals.

The time is right. We now know exactly what to do for maternal mortality reduction to make this one of the next big issues in global health.

Programs to combat three major epidemics -- HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria -- now receive the required international attention and billions in funding.

But maternal mortality and child mortality does not yet receive the attention that the scale of the problem deserves. An additional $10 billion would be needed each year to combat both child and maternal mortality.

UNICEF said last week that more than 9 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2007, down slightly from a year before, but a huge gap remains between rich and poor countries.

Did you leave your car at home?

The chances are you probably walked to work today (Monday). Perhaps you jumped onto your bike and used pedal power or waited in line and got the bus. But whether you hopped, skipped or cart wheeled, let's hope you didn't drive, because today is World Car Free Day.

As amazing as it sounds to the auto-centric residents, this noble initiative is aimed at getting us out of our vehicles for one day a year (to start with). Started by the World Car free Network, they say they want to create a "showcase for just how our cities might look like, feel like, and sound like without cars".

Festivities and mass bike rides are planned, and some cities are taking it very seriously indeed. One region of Brussels is closing to all motorized transport from 9am until 7pm, for example.

But unless a minor miracle happens this morning, the roads in Sandakan will have been as usual.

Happy Car Free day. Hope you enjoyed it (or did you not notice).

UMNO's Islam or Islam?

I am not a muslim and I dont read the Quran. All my impression of Islam come from UMNO. UMNO is the most powerful organization and most, if not all of its members are muslim. I am not sure if they give the right impression of Islam but UMNO did give me a deep and unforgetable Islamic View! Like it or not everything UMNO did or do will make me (Non-muslim) think what Islam is all about!

Krissmudin... Keris...

Super Bully

Bar council forum

Saiful's swearing

Ahmad Ismail

But the News below changed my view on Islam.

Mosque official called up by cops over azan issue

KUALA LUMPUR: An official of the Al-Ehsan Mosque in Bandar Kinrara, Puchong, here was yesterday called up by the police to give a statement on a petition by residents about the azan issue.

Bahrudin Maskor, 47, the muezzin of the mosque, was seen entering the Dang Wangi district police headquarters at 1.30pm and completed giving his statement two hours later.

Bahrudin said he had been called up to give a statement to the police concerning the contents of the petition sent by 100 residents of the area several months ago.

"In the petition, the residents wanted the volume of the subuh azan to be reduced and the subuh ceramah on Saturday and Sunday not to use the loudspeaker. We complied with their requests."

However, he declined to comment on the person who initiated the petition.

Bahrudin said: "The petition was received by the nazir of the Bandar Kinrara mosque, Abdul Rahman Nasir. I don't know anything else ."

I never know they can be so understanding and for the first time I believe we have a future here in Malaysia. UMNO want us to divide and rule but Rakyat are getting closer and closer.

The most beautiful so far!

Cyber-Rempits?

I found that recently it has been a lot of Pro-UMNO posting comments and blogs all over the cyberspace! I sense the fakeness in all those posting, It got no SOUL!

These blogs and comments only come out recently about a month or less.

Could it be UMNO paying this cyber-rempits to do this, just like they paid those Mogok-ster to tunjuk perasan on the roadside?

I wonder who got higher paid, UMNO-cyber rempits or UMNO-mogokster?

I bet this Cyber-Rempits must be the idea of KJ, because he never thinks right. Those comments and blogs sounds so insincere. Its without SOUL!!!!

Salute Kickdefella

I’m scare le! Will they come after me, just like they came after RPK and recently Kickdefella?

I wish they don’t come after me but I also wish I am good enough for them to come after me. Very contradicting indeed, I want to be one of the best but afraid of the consequences. I won’t be among the elite unless I start exposing how those police forces “minum kopi”, MPs abusing power and etc.

I salute these guys with courage to put their real name, real photo, real address and real facts of cause in their blogs and start exposing UMNO flaws.

God bless them.

Yong Teck Lee The Fighting Frog

Musa Aman reaction towards SAPP withdrawal from BN:

"Of course, there are problems in every coalition-based government but within a family-like relationship in BN, these problems can be resolved together if we keep an open mind and adopt a give-and-take attitude. This is one of the core principles of the BN,"

True or not? Why the Mazu case in kudat was stopped by you although it has been approved by the Kudat Town Board? Taiko BN is UMNO@pilak, they forget easily, Malay forget easily, Sabah majority is Kadazan Duzun not Pilak@UMNO.

Get Lost UMNO!

SAPP do the right thing for the first time.

Datuk Yong Teck Lee You earns my highest Respect.

You are my truly Leader!

A truly leader of Sabahan!

You are sabahan's Fighting Frog, YEahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Dear my friends of Sabah,

Wake up now, Open your eye widely and heart to realize the circumstance happened in Sabah.

Let us stand for the sake of our generation in the future...

We are the new blood and young generation...

Let us fight for the justice.

Banana

Federer, Nadal, Williams, Sharapova, Ivanovic and Hantuchova all love bananas because I see them eat a lot of banana on TV. I love banana too and I eat them everyday. Banana rich with nutrition and it’s cheap as well.

But banana are very expensive in western country including Australia, I went to Australia last year and found that Bananas were locked inside a supermarket cupboard for the fear of being stolen. Bananas in UK is expensive as well, I bought a banana for a pound sterling two years ago.

I love my Sandakan Banana.

It’s cheap

It’s organic

And its taste very good

Chimney Swift

From Home Base, Kim Writes: Chimney Swifts have always captivated me. When visible, they are constantly in motion, making it impossible to learn anything about the way the bird really looks. When I first got interested in birds, the fact that the illustration of the bird in my field guide was absolutely atrocious only added to the intrigue.

A few years ago, I was working at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory's songbird banding station when we captured a Chimney Swift; a rare occurrence to say the least, since the birds tend to keep to the air and not drop down into the range of a 12 foot high mist net. We believe the bird may have been roosting in a large dead cottonwood tree near the mist net it was captured in.

On the wing, the bird is 100% mystery in motion, never pausing to allow study of any detail. In the hand, the bird is one of the most unusual creatures I have ever encountered. I have banded thousands of warblers, vireos, thrushes, et cetera, and have spent, what I'm sure by now, amounts to hours with my mouth hanging open in all-out awe of the up-close beauty of birds like Blackburnian Warbler, Cedar Waxwing, and Marsh Wren. But, I have to tell you that, for me, nothing has come close to that little Chimney Swift.

The bird is so perfectly constructed for its life style. Gracefully, beautifully long wings, that even with the bird held still in my hand, seemed to imply motion. Its face is lovely, yet almost reptilian in appearance. Large eyes in a smallish head, with a bill that is so tiny as to almost be unnecessary. But, when that bill opens….Yowza! What a pie hole this bird displays. Perfectly designed for sucking up insects out of the air. Out of the bird’s tail, sprouted the sharpest, needle-like spines that any porcupine would surely have been jealous of! Not just bizarre and cool, these spines have a purpose. The bird uses them to prop itself against the inside of its nest cavity.

But, most surprising and delightful for me, was the color of the bird’s plumage. What a total shock. Not a single field guide does this bird justice, and, while I understand the rationale behind it -- shown from a birder's perspective, since that’s the way its typically seen -- it seems a shame not to at least give a teasing glimpse into the real story here. The Kaufman guide comes close, showing a bird perched on the side of a tree, but in the hand, in the right light, WOW…What a gorgeous little bird this is. Appearing solid sisterhood-gray in the sky, up close, the color is a shocking blend of purples, greens, blues, and grays, all stirred together in the most striking color combination that I’m sure is next to impossible to blend on even the most skilled artist’s palette.

What a spectacular little creature.

The 30 years contract of Sabah in Malaysia

The 30 years contract of Sabah in Malaysia

Sabah was supposed to stay in Malaysia for 30 years than be an independent country by then. The reason for joining Malaysia in 1963 was because Sabah was weak military wise and to prevent the Philippines from invading Sabah.

At that time, Tanah Melayu need the population of Sabah and Sarawak native to outnumber the Chinese in Peninsular. So it’s a symbiosis but because there those lawyers that sign the agreement of formation of Malaysia on behalf of Sabahan did agreed on “no state can leave the federation of Malaysia” thus Sabah remain till today.

Not sure if this is just a rumor but if it’s true, this fact is hard to be proven.

If Sabah is a country, we must be as rich as Brunei, LOL!
Development shall be very rapid, thus we have a few states of our own; Penampang State, Kinabalu State, Tawau State, Kudat State and Sandakan State.

I might be a millionaire, not working like a cow now.
I might need to use passport to go Sarawk.
I might have graduated from University of Sabah instead of UPM.
I might be born in Kim Fung Town, Sandakan State, LOL!

If Sabah is a country, I’m sure we will be richer than Singapore as we got all the resources in the world.

Sabah is at a good strategic location, it’ll be a better port than Penang, Klang and Pasir Gudang. Our international airport should be better than KLIA. USA-China or malaysia or Singapore, South America –CHINA and Australia- China, Japan, Korea.

There are will among Sabahan to be independent but there is no great leader to take the initiative. Definitely not Musa, LOL!

100 Steps

Repair works has began for the Hundred Steps, a Sandakan Heritage site which is popular with joggers. Not sure how much the government is spending on this repair works, I hope it won’t be like the Agnes Keith’s House which a million Ringgit budget was allocated but I would have done it for 100k. I’m neither historian nor an antics specialist; maybe an old structure’s repair works cost ten times of a normal house. It is furnished with colonial styled furniture and antiques, maybe that’s the reason it cost a million for restoration cost.

I hope a New Malaysia happened today but I know it'll be hard, definately harder than climbing this 100steps!

Kick Alienz with IC out of Sabah

If 916 become reality, the first thing Sabah need is to flush out those Alienz with IC. All this Malaysianised Bumipuitra of PTI origin must be identify and executed.

No point catching those without document if Alienz with IC already close to a million in Sabah. Sabah indigenous people are the one who will suffer the most from this Alienz with IC!

Scholarships for Bumi, Land for Bumi and other benefits for bumi with be taken by Alienz with IC.

No wonder, there are lot of Native still living in squatters.

Malaysia’s measure implemented to minimize the boat people from Vietnam seemed to be very effective as we don’t have any significant number of Vietnamese immigrants in Malaysia nowadays. Could this be adopted in Sabah in order to minimize the illegal immigrants from the Philippines and Sulawesi?

To counter Philippines refusal to take back their own people as these Alienz lack the immigration paper and this is partly due to their refusal to set up consulates in Sabah.

Parallel to this, we should be prepared to be criticized by the international community on humanity reasons. However, desperate situation requires desperate measure. The creation of another “Pulau Bidong” in Sabah could act as a measure to attract international attention and perhaps participation as well. The residents of Pulau Bidong have been granted asylum in western countries especially Australia within reasonably short time span should be a testification for its success!

A remote island could be chosen to function as a half way house for deportation. This must be implemented on a long term basis and funded by the Fed Govt. Without a doubt, by drawing from the experience gained from running Pulau Bidong, Malaysia has what it takes to run another similar “Puala Bidong” in Sabah including countering potential international criticism, and securing international aid and participation (which hopefully includes granting of asylum to stateless children).

From all the posting that I have read, the emphasis is on PTI with no Valid Docs. Are we not concern with those Malaysianised Bumiputra of PTI Origin.

These bumi parachuted into Sabah are enjoying all the benefits of Bumiputra. What more their children. They are taking away the benefits for most of the Original Bumis like scholarship, NT Lands you name it whatever the bumi are enjoying, this parachuted Bumis would clean sweep it all anytime......

So To Our BN Goment, PTI with no valid documents maybe in 10 of thousands but MALAYSIANISED BUMIPUTRA OF PTI ORIGIN COULD EASILY BE 2 MILLION, are you not afraid and our population is only 3 million (slightly exaggerated) ?????????

Over to you my Fellow Sabahan.... Kitaurang misiti sep sabah

Mindanao Politician's Army

Politicians in Mindanao are taking advantage of the current situation in the south to build their own private armed groups without the knowledge of the government.

Philippine National Police Director-General Avelino Razon bared this development in an interview aired over a Manila-based radio station on Sunday.

He said authorities would not allow such build up of private armed groups as that could further deteriorate the volatile situation in Mindanao.

"We have received such reports. And we will not allow indiscriminate arming of civilians," he told dzBB.

The police chief said some of these private armies were employed on a retainer basis by local politicians and businessmen who fear that armed Moro groups would take over their land.

Razon did not identify whether the politicians were Christians or Muslims.

916

Tomorrow is 916 the day that Anwar want to take over the government, for us Sabahan, 916 is the date Malaysia was made but why do we still celebrate Merdeka on the 31 August?

The date Sabah join Malaysia isn’t that important?

Based on history, Sept 16, 1963 should be considered as Malaysia Day as it was the real date for the birth of Malaysia.

I know of course that there was no Malaysia before Sept 16, 1963.

But history is history, it has pass, what I want is a New Malaysia on the September 16, 2008.

Darul Islam Sabah

Sabah’s Darul Islam is an underground militant network, which cooperated with Indonesian militants. Darul Islam Sabah’s objective is to establish a regional Islamic state comprising Indonesia, Malaysia and southern Philippines through militant activities.

The role of Darul Islam Sabah was to help Indonesian militants transit to the southern Philippines, smuggle weapons from the southern Philippines to Indonesia and obtain military training in the southern Philippines.

Darul Islam helped seven Indonesian militant suspects - including Umar Patek and Dul Matin, who were believed to be involved in the 2002 bombings on Indonesia’s Bali Island - slip between the southern Philippines and Indonesia between 2003 and March 2006.

Meanwhile Antara reports that one of the Indonesian militants arrested in Malaysia was trained by Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda movement in Afghanistan.

The Indonesian man was trained to handle arms and make bombs and is believed to have conducted similar training for other members of the extremist group in Indonesia and the southern Philippines. Intelligence sources were quoted as saying that the man was a major influence on the other members of Darul Islam.

Darul Islam was an Islamic group in Indonesia that is considered to be more closely related to extremists than to Jemaah Islamiyah. It was started in 1942 by a group of Muslim militias, coordinated by a charismatic radical Muslim politician, Kartosuwiryo.

The group recognized no legislation but the Shari'a. Rebellious movements in provinces such as Aceh and South Sulawesi joined the Darul Islam Movement. The movement was an alternative government to the Republic until 1962, when the leaders were captured or killed.

However, despite the group being dismantled, underground networks may have persisted. In the 1970s and 1980s, there were occurrences of 'Islamic' terrorism attributed to a group known as Komando Jihad. The leaders arrested from this group were found to be Darul Islam veterans.

Contrary with public opinion about Darul Islam, former participants say that all terrorist acts were committed by the Republic of Indonesia. They claim that Darul Islam would have made their responsibility clear if they were to have attacked Republic of Indonesia territory. Darul Islam participants feel that they have right to claim the territory that was colonized by the Republic of Indonesia. According to an inside opinion, komando jihad, known as qiyadatul jihad, is a product of Republic of Indonesia itself.

Tan Hoon Cheng

Sin Chew Daily journalist Tan Hoon Cheng has been arrested today under the Internal Security Act at 8.30pm at her home in Bukit Mertajam, Penang.

Tan was the first journalist who reported that local Umno chieftain Ahmad Ismail had allegedly said that Chinese Malaysians are “squatters” in the country.

I didnt see this coming, not in my wildest dream did I see this one coming. Ahmad Ismail is free but Tan Hoon Cheng being arrested? That's really out of logic!

Malaysia Police better set their priority right and if this is UMNO last effort to stop Anwar from becoming PM. UMNO is really making a big mistake!

I was 50-50 to support Anwar of forming the government through the undemocratic way but now I'm 100% sure I want to see...

ANWAR IBRAHIM BECOME OUR PRIME MINISTER IN THE SHORTEST TIME POSSIBLE, ANY MEANT POSSIBLE!!!

ARMY COME COME COME!

AGONG COME COME COME!

RPK detained under 1SA

http://malaysiakini.com/news/89544

according to Malaysiakini, RPK was arrested under ISA!

No wonder, they unblocked the Malaysia-Today website as UMNO is going to get the HERO!

RPK My Hero... my heart and prayer will follow you to ISA!

They can locked you up but they can never lock your spirit up! Your Spirit will live on forever!

Imam Ramlang transferred

Saudara Ramlang Porigi my hometown mates has been transferred from front desk to back of house job. Is it pure coincident that he become entangled in the Saif00l dilemma?

UMN0 think that Ramlang is the biggest culprit for Anwar big win in Permatang Pauh. Ramlang from Sandakan should have just stick with his story instead of giving personal opinion about Saif00l sincerity in the Sumpah thing.

Ramlang said that saif00l looks cheerful and not like someone who are going to take an oath with God. That Ramlang’s statement alone killed all UMN0 efforts to sensationalize Saif00l’s a88hole.

Bees Farming Sabah

Wild Honey is considered alternative medicine in certain societies and they believed, it has 1001 cures or corrective medicinal values. For instance it can improve certain "thing" in man if it is taken regularly mixed with raw eggs and ginger. Which to some is preferable than taking "Tongkat Ali" which is so bitter tasting, it is amazing how any man can take that thing on a daily basis to improve something. But there are few things you might like to know before you go crashing into the wild, to get one.

Recently I was invited to visit The Sabah Bee for Honey project near Kudat operated by the Rural Development Corporation. This is one of their programs to help the hardcore poor. The federal government allocation for Sabah Bee Project is about RM13 millions.

The best thing about bee keeping is that it can be carried out on a part time basis and the participant can do other things as well. From the state government statistic, Sabah produced 20 tonnes of honey last year. The market rates for honey are around the region of RM6 per kilogram depends on quality. That’s a very good rates but honey cant be produce in mass like oil palm.

There's a collective bee farming in a village called Kampong Gombizou in Matunggung, a subdistrict in Kudat, about 2 hours drive from Kota Kinabalu. You pay RM3 for entrance fee and someone will take you to its hive yard. That person, usually armed with a smoke generating canister as seen in the photo, will take you.

Do stay close to her as both of you approach a hive. She usually picks the hive that has a swirling clouds of agitated bees, buzzing it. No fear. Normally bees don't sting if you don't upset them, but are known to buzz and hover/land on tourist whose perfume has pheromone in it. You might like to check your perfume's chemical content before you go traipsing into a bee farm. You wouldn't want to compete with the real Queen Bee, which is the other female in the vicinity, wearing that pheromone thing.

At the hive, she takes out and smoke a frame of honeycomb as in the photo. She does this to show you where the honey is and how the honeycomb looks like. Her assistant then hands her a knife, for her to cut a small bitesize honeycombs for you to try.

Honey dripping from its honeycomb is light golden in color and its sweetness is gentle and mellow with a fragrance or bouquet, suggesting warm summer morning.

3, 30 or 300 years doesnt matter

It doesn’t matter if Ahmad Ismail is suspended for 3 or 30 years or maybe 300 years if he lives long enough for that. What matter most is his undying will to stir up racial politics in Malaysia from Bukit Bendera.

Aside from his supporters, there isn’t anyone that supports his ultra-Malay ideology. Ahmad is in his fifty and with his current strength in UMNO its unlikely he will ever hold any minister post in the future that’s why he has to gamble with the Ultra-Malay ideology in order to rocket himself to the top.

Politician are really asshole, they will do anything to gain power.

5erena Williams

No player had gone so long between stints at No1 in women's tennis. All those pin-up girls can forget about winning any major for the time being, as long as the Williams stay interest in tennis.

More than five years after she last held the top ranking, Serena Williams officially regained the distinction on Monday hours after winning the US Open for the third time.

It had been even longer since her last Open championship - six years. And though it was her ninth Grand Slam title, it was just her second since capturing the Australian Open in early 2005.

Williams thrashed No 2 Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 7-5 in the final and didn't drop a set the entire tournament. She believes many doubted that she'd ever climb back on top of the tennis world as her ranking plummeted all the way to No139.

Oh, yeah my favourite tennis player is back. I always felt that she could be No1 if she really put in the effort. Nobody come close, I mean absolutely nobody!

Serena replaced Ana Ivanovic atop the rankings. Ivanovic dropped to No 3 after losing in the second round, while Jankovic remained at No2.

It's been almost a decade since Serena won her first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 1999. Her goals at the time, she recalled, were to win the other three majors and to ascend to No1.

She accomplished all of them, but there was no doubt as she hopped up and down in celebration on Sunday that she still finds joy in achieving even more.

Siang Dipendam Malam Balas Dendam

Who is Ahmad Ismail?

For me Ahmad Ismail is a nobody, irrelevant! Before he made his milestone speech about Chinese are squatters in Malaysia, Avril Lavinge gets more headline than him. All Ahmad Ismail ever wanted is ATTENTION, just like a little kid who want his mama attention. I bet Ahmad Ismail’s mother never breast feed him as he seems lack of family love and dying for attention now.

"Mommy, come here and see this picture."
"It's very nice, Ahmad."
"I can't find the blue crayon."
"It's right here."
"I can't find the green one."
"Here it is."
"I don't want to color. I want to tear the photo."
"I'll get your Koh’s photo."
"Will you tear this photo for me, Mommy?"

It's normal for children to need attention and approval. However, attention-seeking becomes a problem when it happens all the time. Even charming attention-seeking can become controlling. Many children make tragedies out of trivial concerns to get your sympathy. Excessive attention-seeking results in a situation where your child commands your life.

Many children misbehave to get attention. The most notorious reason for misbehavior in young children, this can be the seed for discipline problems in later childhood and adolescence.

Do not let your children's need for attention turn into demands for attention. When children do not get enough attention, they resort to outbursts, tantrums, nagging, teasing, and other annoying behaviors. They think, "If I can't get attention by being good, then I'll misbehave to get Mom's attention."

What is the easiest way to capture your attention-sitting quietly or misbehaving? When children do not receive attention in a positive way, they will get your attention any way they can. Do not pay attention to misbehaviors. Pay attention to good behavior. Avoid this scenario:

Ignoring does not mean ignoring the problem. It means ignoring demands for negative attention. There is much misbehavior that you should not ignore. Some misbehavior should be punished. Deciding when to ignore or when to punish is not easy, and there are no exact rules. It takes timing and judgment. When your child misbehaves to get attention, ignore it. If your child does not stop in two or three minutes, give him a reminder. Tell your child, "I do not respond to whining. When you stop, we'll talk." Wait another minute or two. If he still does not stop, then tell your child to stop or he will be punished: "Stop now or you will go to time-out."

If you get angry or let your child push your buttons, you lose. If you must use a punishment, dispense the punishment without anger. If you get angry, then your child has succeeded in getting the negative attention that he was after. If you feel yourself getting angry, walk away. Cool off. If you give in, you will be providing your child with an attention payoff. You will be rewarding misbehavior.

Tw0 Kota Kinabalu City Hall Personnel Beaten Up by Alienz

Two City Hall enforcement personnel were hospitalized after they were beaten up by a group of 20 men during their daily rounds near KK Plaza. City hall enforcement personnel are seen regularly catching illegal immigrants and release them after some being paid or if the illegal immigrant cant pay, usually those personnel will “rob” away their stuff usually cigarettes.

Last Saturday incident, the two personnel detained a 21-year old woman for peddling smuggled cigarettes and start harassing her for money or face the law. I’m not a champion for aliens but the way the police and other government personnel robbed this aliens are simply unacceptable.

Can’t imagine how low these personnel will go? Even Rm10 is good enough for this so called law enforcement personnel to let go an aliens. They are never for the purpose of maintaining peace and order but always after “duit kopi”!

The story of aliens beating up law enforcement officers are not new and usually not highlighted because these officers acted on their own behalf. These aliens are smart, they can tell a rat if they see one, after all they have been rob of RM10, 20 and even few cents by this Law Enforcement Officers.

Everyone in Sabah knows that it’s dangerous to disturb the livelihood of the aliens. They have nothing to lose and will not hesitate to hurt you. What these personnel did what extreme courage to up hold the law by themselves. What a joke? Robin Hood?

There are no small scale operation on aliens because you’ll be outnumber, just like these TWO brave personnel facing TWENTY aliens.

I say this two deserve it and I believe this isn’t the first time they try to “catch” aliens. Aliens are getting tired for having to pay protection money everyday. We need a stop to this!

Kurup The Mighty Frog

The Pensiangan parliamentary seat, “won” by Barisan Nasional's Joseph Kurup has been declared vacant by the Kota Kinabalu Election Court. This could pave way for a by-election for this constituency which was won uncontested by Kurup. However, Kurup can appeal the decision at the Federal Court.

The petition was filed by PKR's Danny Anthony Andipai a candidate for the seat. He had named Kurup, returning officer Bubudan OT Majalu and the Election Commission as respondents.

Kurup won the seat uncontested on Feb 24 nomination day after Andipai and another candidate Saimeh Usau candidacy was rejected after they had submitted their nomination papers after the 10am deadline. They have been blocked on their way to the nomination centre.

Kurup is the president of the Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah president and was subsequently appointed Deputy Rural Development Minister after the general election. He is also a former Sabah deputy chief minister.

Kurup brought back those good old days of gangster politics, where opposition candidates would be stop on the way to nomination through rough means. This kind of tactics has been lose for decades and only recently brought back by the evergreen Kurup.

For Kurup innovativeness, he was punched as he declares himself winner after there is no other contestant. Kurup is the first MPs that shall be thrown out because he is those kind of fucked up MPs that are only crazy for Money and Power.

Kurup don’t stand a chance to win in any part of Sabah because he once betrayed Pairin, the unofficial King of Kadazan-Dusun. Kadazan-Dusun hates him, Chinese wont vote for him and Malay definitely not going to vote a Joseph. Kurup, Dompok and Yong Teck Lee are the three great frogs of sabah! How can anyone forget?

He thought by going to the most interior part of Sabah (Pensiangan), he could go shopping spree with a lower budget but initial reaction before the nomination day shows that he wasn’t popular at all so he got to use the gangster tactics.

On the dark side, the timing of this rolling shows that UMN0 is trying to prevent Kurup from jumping.

Palin not Pairin

John McCain, the 72-year-old presumptive Republican candidate in the US presidential elections, made a maverick political move last Thursday by placing a woman almost half his age on the vice presidential ticket.

Pretty, sassy, 44-year-old Sarah Palin, it is hoped, will weave her magic to divert female voters, especially the ones that voted for Hillary Clinton in the democratic primaries.

No one really knows if that will happen until the elections are over and a winning party is announced. Until then of course the very private family life of Sarah Palin is going to be fair game and her dirty laundry not just washed in public but torn to shreds.

Palin, a mother of five children, is currently under the microscope because her unmarried 17-year-old daughter Bristol is five months pregnant. The one common question is naturally: If she can’t handle her children how is she going to look after the interests of the nation?

A typical question, I say, because she is a woman. Had the VP nominee been a man it would never have come up – or his wife would be blamed for being a bad mother.

Quite a few of my younger female colleagues also pointed out that, "Young people do stupid things. Should parents really be punished for the sins of their children?"

Sarah Palin is a former beauty queen and may appear to be a light-weight foil to John McCain.

Those in the know however, are telling us that she is a true political savant. She is a former mayor, a former governor, a former chief of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Disgusted with the old boys network and the back scratching that went on between them she took them on with a savage competitiveness and won. She knows how to appeal to the voting public and she knows how to win. That harmless little girl look is simply a mask.

All in all, the coming election is going to be very interesting. It won’t matter if the Republicans or the Democrats win.

That will be decided by the voting American public.

There will, however, be quite a few firsts – the oldest president, the youngest vice-president, the first African-American president, the first woman vice-president and that will make watching it closely very worthwhile.

Malaysia & Corruption

Whatever amount, you bet it is COLLOSSAL! In Time Asia magazine issue on March 15 2004, South East Asian economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore Daniel Lian, figures "that the country may have lost as much as U$$100 billion (RM320 billion) since the early 1980s to corruption." Mind you, this is only corruption and it does not include wastages and mismanagements which could be higher!

If the above list (which represent moneys saved) is added to the nation's coffer and together with Petronas profits, palm oil profits and profits from rubber, tin, agriculture produce, aquaculture produce, electronic and hardware exports, etc, for the past 5 decades, we can all agree on one thing - our country could be wealthier than Venezuela who has little resources except for oil. The petrol in Venezuela is RM0.16 per litre! .

The article below is a comment made by a Malaysiatoday reader name ez42get as a response to my article "Despite knowing, the BN did nothing except remove oil subsidy" which is published by MalaysiaToday. ( Thank you Malaysiatoday).

I believe the summary is concise and easy for anyone to understand. Enjoy

Ez42get writes:

Looking at the list below, it looks like the BN government are more determined to help themselves rather than the citizens.

And this list below is not even barely exhaustive as these are the ones uncovered – the tip of the ice-berg, if you might want to put it! What lies beneath could be much larger:-

1. The Bank Bumiputra twin scandals in the early 1980s saw US$1 billion (RM3.2 billion in 2008 ringgit)

2. The Maminco attempt to corner the world tin market in the 1980s is believed to have cost some US$500 million. (RM1.6 billion)

3. Betting in foreign exchange futures cost Bank Negara Malaysia RM30 billion in the 1990s.

4. Perwaja Steel resulted in losses of US$800 million (RM2.56 billion). Eric Chia, was charged with corruption for allegedly steering US$20 million (RM64 million) to a Hong Kong-based company

5. Use of RM10 billion public funds in the Valuecap Sdn. Bhd. operation to shore up the stock market

6. Banking scandal of RM700 million losses in Bank Islam

7. The sale of M.V. Agusta by Proton for one Euro making a loss of €75.99 million (RM 348 million)

8. Wang Ehsan from oil royalty on Terengganu RM7.4 billion from 2004 – 2007

9. For the past 10 years since Philharmonic Orchestra was established, this orchestra has swallowed a total of RM500 million

10. In Advisors Fees, Mahathir was paid RM180,000, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (women and social development affairs) RM404,726 and Abdul Hamid Othman (religious) RM549,675 per annum

11. The government has spent a total of RM3.2 billion in teaching Maths and Science in English over the past five years. Out of the amount, the government paid a whopping RM2.21 billion for the purchase of information and computer technology (ICT) equipments which it is unable to give a breakdown.

12. The commission paid for purchase of jets and submarines to two private companies Perimeker Sdn Bhd and IMT Defence Sdn Bhd amounted to RM910 million.

13. RM300 million to compensate Gerbang Perdana for the RM1.1 billion "Crooked Scenic Half-Bridge"

14. RM1.3 billion have been wasted building the white elephant Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facilities on cancellation of the Malaysia-Singapore scenic bridge

15. RM 100 million on renovation of Parliament building and leaks

16. National Astronaut Programme - RM 40 million

17. National Service Training Programme - yearly an estimate of RM 500 million

18. Eye on Malaysia - RM 30 million and another RM5.7 million of free ticket

19. RM 4.63 billion, 'soft-loan' to PKFZ

20. RM 2.4 million on indelible ink

21. Samy announced in September 2006 that the government paid compensation amounting to RM 38.5 billion to 20 highway companies. RM 380 million windfalls for 9 toll concessionaires earned solely from the toll hike in 2008 alone.

22. RM32 million timber export kickbacks involving companies connected to Sarawak Chief Minister and his family

Bailouts –
23. Two bailouts of Malaysia Airline System RM7.9 billion. At a time when MAS incurring losses every year, RM1.55 million used to buy three paintings to decorate its chairman's (Munir) office.

24. Putra transport system bailout which cost RM4.486 billion

25. STAR-LRT bailout costing RM3.256 billion

26. National Sewerage System bailout costing RM192.54 million

27. Seremban-Port Dickson Highway bailout costing RM142 million

28. Kuching Prison bailout costing RM135 million

29. Kajian Makanan dan Gunaan Orang Islam bailout costing RM8.3 million

30. Le Tour de Langkawi bailout costing RM 3.5 Million

31. Wholesale distribution of tens of millions of shares in Bursa Malaysia under guise of NEP to cronies, children and relatives of BN leaders and Ministers worth billions of ringgits.

32. APs scandal had been going on year-after-year going back for more than three decades, involving a total mind-boggling sum of tens of billions of ringgits

33. Alienation of tens of thousands of hectares of commercial lands and forestry concessions to children and relatives of BN leaders and Ministers worth tens of billions of ringgits

34. Travel around Malaysia and see for yourself how many white elephants like majestic arches, roads paved with fanciful bricks, designer lamp posts, clock towers, Municipal Council buildings that looks more like Istanas, extravagant places of worship, refurbishment of residences of VIPs, abandoned or under-utilised government sports complexes and buildings, etc! Combined they could easily amount to the hundreds of billions of ringgits!

35. Since 1997, Petronas has handed out a staggering 30 billion ringgit in natural gas subsidies to IPPs who were making huge profits. In addition, there were much wastages and forward trading of Petronas oil in the 1990s based on the low price of oil then. Since the accounts of Petronas are for the eyes of Prime Minister only, we have absolutely no idea of the amount.

Whatever amount, you bet it is COLLOSSAL! In Time Asia magazine issue on March 15 2004, South East Asian economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore Daniel Lian, figures "that the country may have lost as much as U$$100 billion (RM320 billion) since the early 1980s to corruption." Mind you, this is only corruption and it does not include wastages and mismanagements which could be higher!

If the above list (which represent moneys saved) is added to the nation's coffer and together with Petronas profits, palm oil profits and profits from rubber, tin, agriculture produce, aquaculture produce, electronic and hardware exports, etc, for the past 5 decades, we can all agree on one thing - our country could be wealthier than Venezuela who has little resources except for oil. The petrol in Venezuela is RM0.16 per litre!.

ex-Child Stars

Country with the Most Billionaire

I got the oppurtunity to visit Zimbabwe with UN peace watchdog group. It was an eye opener in this world *richest* country! No doubt, they got the most Billionaire in the world!

500 millions is the minimum amount needed for an everyday lunch! Is worth about USD 2 only!
Zimbabwe hold the world record for the single most valuaed note!
Daily necessities are sold in millions!
6,000 for an egg! Unbelievable

This much to buy a beer....
A month salary for Zimbabwean
School pocket money!
Money are weight... not count!

LV, Gucci, Prada... all ran out of business because they capacity is too small!