If you have articles, information, thoughts you want to share just send it to me at ali.syedakbar@gmail.com. Please keep your articles brief, not more than 1000 words or just use bullet points. If you have pictures to go with the articles, that is even better. Towards an excellent Malaysia.
"Following a record sized herd, hundreds of sea lions have suddenly disappeared from San Francisco's Pier 39 and have been gone for a month. "It really was practically overnight," said Sheila Chandor who said she has never seen anything like it in her 24 years as Harbor Master of Pier 39. More than 1,500 sea lions inhabited Pier 39 around the third week of November, setting a new record, Chandor said. But they took off around Thanksgiving without a clue as to where they were going."
Sealions have been found in the winter months in the San Francisco Bay. But the sea lions suddenly moved to Pier 39 in San Francisco (Fisherman's Wharf) in 1989 after the 6.9 Loma Prieta Earthquake of October 17, 1989.
Two weeks ago, after the Mayon Volcano started erupting in the Phillipines I told my wife to look out for strange animal behaviour.
In December 2004, just before the Tsunami - a stray cat jumped into our dining room and meowed loudly and refused to leave the house. At that same time people who jogged around the Dam in Melawati saw squirrels jumping and running all over the place. The Tsunami hit on December 26th 2004.
Animals can detect natural disasters before they happen.
Here is some truncated news from yesterday and today. All this happened over just two days. You can click on the links to read the full story. The first one is from Pakistan. Its sad but it is very relevant. Just accept my word on this. This bombing happened two days ago on the Day of Ashoura. Ashoura is a religious celebration for the Shiahs on the 10th day of the New Year in the Arabic calendar. It is believed that Hassan and Hussein the sons of Ali the Fourth Caliph were massacred on this day - over 1400 years ago.
KARACHI, Pakistan – Authorities appealed for calm Tuesday after a bombing against a Shiite Muslim procession killed 43 in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi, setting off riots and igniting fears of sectarian unrest. Security was tight as thousands of people gathered in central Karachi for funerals of some of those killed in Monday's bombing of a Shiite procession marking the key holy day of Ashoura.
And here is a picture of the aftermath of this bomb blast.
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran on Tuesday accused Western countries of fomenting deadly anti-government protests in the capital this week and said it was summoning Britain's ambassador to file a complaint.
Iran has said as many as eight people were killed in Sunday's clashes in Tehran. There was no serious violence reported Tuesday, but opposition Web sites said several activists were arrested, including a prominent journalist and the sister of Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi.
Here is a picture of the street clashes in Teheran yesterday :
There is a lot of pent up anger throughout Iran. After 30 years of mullahism the country is pulling apart again. This is bound to happen. It is not a question of "if" but a question of when. For Pakistan and Iran, both their "when" moments are here. Just last week a friend introduced a Pakistani who is looking to relocate his family in Malaysia. Here is one more Islamic country that is in the news for the wrong reasons:
A year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency sent several of its top field operatives with counterterrorism experience to the country, according a former top agency official. At the same time, some of the most secretive Special Operations commandos have begun training Yemeni security forces in counterterrorism tactics, senior military officers said. . . The Pentagon is spending more than $70 million over the next 18 months, and using teams of Special Forces, to train and equip Yemeni military, Interior Ministry and coast guard forces, more than doubling previous military aid levels.
Outside of Afghanistan and Iraq, the US has the largest presence of spies, Special Operations Forces, Green Berets and CIA operatives in Yemen. Why ? This is a fourth rate country with camel poop all over the place. Why do the Americans focus so much attention on this desert rat hole? The answer lies across the border : Saudi Arabia.
Recently there were reports of the Saudis attacking and bombing a border region between Saudi Arabia and Yemen to oust some anti Government, anti Saudi but pro Shiah, pro Iran rebels. So they say. Wherever American Special Forces venture, there are always flare ups.
Here is a picture of Yemenis protesting yesterday:
The rest of the pictures here show the Shiah celebration of Ashoura which takes place on the 10th day of the month of Muharram, the first month in the New Year. I Blogged about this last year too. The common belief is that two famous characters were assassinated in history on this day. And every year since then the Shiahs have "lamented" the Day of Ashoura on the 10th of Muharram.
It is a day or remorse and lamentation and also a time of making vows. The vow is a religious vow and is simply a "never again will we allow this to happen" type of vow. Never again will the Shiahs allow themselves to be massacred by anyone. The bloodletting and flagellation is an expression of that commitment. These folks are prepared to die for their version of religious belief.
And here is another version of the same Ashoura celebration. This one uses mud. Folks smear themselves with mud as a mark of shame that they were not there 1400 years ago to protect their heroes Hassan and Hussein from being massacred. It is a "never again" vow. Here are some pictures:
Even the Ninjas get into the act.
It is this type of blind fervour which eventually leads to the type of outcome potrayed in the news reports about Pakistan, Iran and Yemen above.
Folks the following may be of interest largely to Muslims.
However even if you think you are not a Muslim (which actually can be subject to much discussion) it may be worth your while to read it. I have lifted this article from the Blog Journey To God - Ke arah Mencariwhich is written by Jahamy.
You can read the full article here and it is not much longer than this. Here is an excerpt only.
You may comment if you wish but to the religious freaks please keep it in your pants ok. No need to be rude or nasty. I will not entertain even remotely seditious or obviously silly comments.
Are you rejecting the Prophet if you reject lies attributed to him?
I totally agree that to aspire to be a Muslim, one can take guidance primarily from the Quran and secondarily from the Sunnah of the prophet and thirdly, from the signs of God.
The Quran is in front of you and you can take all the steps necessary to verify whether the copy of the Quran that you have before you is authentic or not. This is easily done by comparing copies from various countries. Then, if you are like me and would like to explore whether the Quran is indeed the "word of God" and not that of human creation, you can also do it - though it takes much of your time, effort and thinking. My research has convinced me that it is indeed not the work of any mortal. For me, there are “no issues” as far as the Quran is concerned - It is from the Creator.
Now the Sunnah. The Sunnah is often understood as the conduct of the Prophet by the ulema of Hadith.To the ulema of hadith, “sunnah” refers to all that is narrated from the prophet, his acts, his sayings, whatever he has tacitly approved plus all the reports of his physical attributes and characters. Today, this “Sunnah” is in a written from often called the Hadith (on hadith later).In the Quran, the word “ Sunnah” has been used on 16 occasions and it has been used to imply an established practice or course of conduct.
Example (1): Quran 15:13: “That they should not believe in the (Message); but the ways (Sunna) of the ancients have passed away”.
Example (2): Quran 33:38 “There can be no difficulty to the Prophet in what Allah has indicated to him as a duty. It was the practice of Allah (sunnata Allahi ) amongst those of old that have passed away. And the command of Allah is a decree determined”.
Example (3): Quran 35:43 “On account of their arrogance in the land and their plotting of Evil, but the plotting of Evil will hem in only the authors thereof. Now are they but looking for the way the ancients (sunnata alawwaleena) were dealt with? But no change wilt thou find in Allah.s way (lisunnati Allahi)(of dealing): no turning off wilt thou find in Allah.s way (lisunnati Allahi) (of dealing)”.
Quran 35:43 is interesting that the word “sunna” in the first instance refers to the “practice/ways of the ancients” while in the second and third instance it refers to the “practice/ways of Allah”.
However, in all the instances the word “Sunnah” is used in the Quran, there is not a single instance where it is used in relation to the Prophet. In the Quran, however, you do have Allah referring to the Prophet as an excellent example of conduct in surah 33 verse 21 as follows:
"BEIJING (AFP) – China on Saturday unveiled what it billed as the fastest rail link in the world -- a train connecting the modern cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan at an average speed of 350 kilometres (217 miles) an hour. The super-high-speed train reduces the 1,069 kilometre journey to a three hour ride and cuts the previous journey time by more than seven and a half hours, the official Xinhua news agency said. By comparison, the average for high-speed trains in Japan was 243 kilometres per hour while in France it was 277 kilometres per hour. In September, officials said they planned to build 42 high-speed lines by 2012 in a massive system overhaul as part of efforts to spur economic growth amid the global downturn."
I am equally impressed by their train stations. Here are two more pictures:
Wow ! !
At 350 km per hour, we can travel from Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan in about 47 minutes. From Kuala Lumpur to Penang (385 km) will be slightly over one hour. It will be about the same travel time from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru or (horror of horrors) to Singapore. And Singapore to Penang will be slightly over 2 hours travel time.
But this will be "point to point" travel meaning from downtown city centre to city centre. No need to drive 70 kilometres to KLIA, two hours ahead of departure time etc. Then fly into Penang and then hire a taxi or car to drive another 30 minutes to wherever.
In other words these high speed trains will greatly increase the efficiency of China.
The Chinese are not worried about putting the short haul airline routes between Guangzhou and Wuhan or Shanghai and Beijing out of business. Whichever is more efficient and is financially sustainable should determine the choice.
Unfortunately here in Malaysia there was resistance that if we put up a high speed link between KL and Singapore (and maybe extending up to Penang) it will put MAS' or the Son In Law's profitable short haul airline routes - between these cities - out of business.
That's not the way to do business (or develop a country).
The plan to bring in new trains that can travel from Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh in two hours (starting in April 2010?) is a start but I think it is a half brained job. We should plan ahead.
In Malaysia our railway tracks are the old British Colony metre gauge (the tracks are 1000 mm or 39 and 3/8 inches apart). This is also called the 'narrow gauge'. Narrow gauge tracks have speed limitations. You cannot run a 350 km/hr train on narrow gauge tracks. The train will derail.
In contrast all high speed trains (including YTL's ERL which runs to KLIA) run on standard gauge tracks. These are 4ft 8 ins. apart. They are sufficiently wide. Most countries in the world (Japan, China, India, US, Europe) have standard gauge tracks.
We should have just built the wide gauge track from Kuala Lumpur to KLIA and then down to Singapore. And we should have stretched it up north all the way to Penang. We may not run 350 km/hr trains but even YTL's ERL is capable of over 240 km/hr. 240 km/hr is now "old" technology.
Even at 240 km/hr, travel time from Singapore to Penang will be about 3 hrs 15 minutes - point to point. No need for check ins, leaving early to the airport and other time wasting activity. Yes we have to think out side the box lah.
If we build wide gauge high speed train links, there will be new development all along the railway tracks. Even Ipoh will be about 50 minutes from KL and Penang. I could live in Ipoh where I was born (where RM250,000 can get you a bungalow house) and use the money saved on a monthly train pass to commute to KL. The Japanese have been doing this between Nagoya and Osaka for over 40 years now. Of course it will push up property values in the smaller cities but it will also take off pressure from the larger urban centres.
Well I heard it from ex-journo sources yesterday that in a far away country in the tropics the Press has been told to only print pictures of a certain person from the chest up. No more full length photographs.
Apparently this person's waistline is now approaching the girth of the Great Wall of China. So from now onwards you may only be able to see pictures of this person from the chest up.
I checked with another Editor in the far away country in the tropics who said he does not know of any such thing. He also added that it does not matter to him anyway because his paper never runs any pictures of the certain person.
If the autonomous consumption does not stop or slow down, maybe the Press will soon be told to only print pictures from the chin up.
And if that does not hide the blubber, there is always the Cousin It option - from The Adams Family.
Now two F5E engines are known to have been stolen. And other parts of the plane may also be missing. The Ejection Seat perhaps?But the reports are conflicting. The New Straits Times says this :
Stolen jet engines: Top RMAF man under probe
KUALA LUMPUR: A high-ranking Royal Malaysian Air Force officer is being investigated by police for possible involvement in the theft of two jet-fighter engines.
“The high-ranking officer may give police the lead to bigger players in the case and help recover the stolen engines,” the source told the New Straits Times yesterday.
Senior officials who were in charge when the jet engines went missing and those involved with the perpetrators will not go unpunished.
Meanwhile, Federal Commercial Crime Investigation deputy director I Datuk Nooryah Mat Anvarsaid they had received the i nve s t i g at i o n paper for the case from the Attor ney-General’s Chamber. . . She said police would comply with the new directives from Tan Sri Gani Patail and conduct a thorough investigation.
But The Star reports Zahid as saying:
Zahid: We’ll get the traitors
KUALA LUMPUR: (Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said) investigations had so far revealed that low-ranking officers were involved in the crime.“Those directly involved in the case were enlisted men with the rank of sergeant and below.
“I do not want bloggers to try to distort any facts with all sorts of speculation and analysis on the matter.
I say “Dr”Zahid, I dont think it is the Bloggers who are distorting anything lah. The Star quotes you as saying only low ranking officers, rank of sergeant and below are involved.
The NST says a Top RMAF man is under probe. The NST says ‘biggger players’ may be involvedand ‘senior officials’ who are involved will also be punished.
Just for your information, to avoid confusion between low ranking and top ranking, here is the insignia for a sergeant and a Brigadier General.
In most armed services, the sergeants usually have three stripes. A Brigadier General has one star.
But what I find most interesting is the name Datuk Nooryah Anvar. Remember this person? Once upon a time, during the very bad old days of Slumberjack, she was made the Head of the Traffic Police – for a very short time only.
The Mat Rempits came to the fore during her watch.The patron saint of the Mat Rempits in those bad old days wasone weird fellow from within the Pemuda who was acrony of the Son In Law. Do you all remember this?The Mat Rempit Boss was going around saying that the Mat Rempits were actually Mat Cemerlang. It was really the Dark Ages.
Luckily Nooryah Anvar would have nothing of that nonsense.She found a provision under the Law whereby the Traffic Cops could confiscate the motorbikes of the Mat Rempits. Soon Police were picking off the Mat Rempit bikes.The Mat Rempits quickly disappeared.
But they did not go quietly. Because soon after that it was Nooryah Anvar who disappeared. For some reason she was removed as Head of the Traffic Copsafter just being appointed to the post. The Mat Rempits could thankEspiritu Santo Santa Claus for that.
Just when she was coming down hard on the Mat Rempits, this no nonsense Policewoman was removed as the Head of the Traffic Cops. Well its good to read that she was appointed “Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Deputy Director I.”Cool. What a mouthful too. Maybe it was a cold storage job but now it looks like she will be investigating this F5E Caper.
I hope she goes after these culprits with even more grit than she did going after the Mat Rempits.I hope this time around there will be no interference in her workfrom any Mat Rempit Bosses or others.
Folks this is from Dr Mahathir's Blog. Way to go Tun. Now lets see the macho-pondans rise to the challenge.
Dr Mahathir has clearly given the green light. He is no more in power. He is just one man. And he has challenged anyone to set up a Royal Commission to investigate his 22 years in power.
And also to investigate what happened to the RM270.0 Billion of Petronas funds that was earned during the regime of Slumberjack. Where did the money go?
I like point No. 12. "Depending upon the result of the commission, I reserve the right to sue Barry Wain, Lim Kit Siang and Malaysiakini.com for libel for a sum to be disclosed later."
To us the die hard Mahathirists, I think Tun Dr Mahathir will come out on top. No worries there.
Mahathir is willing to be scrutinised by a Royal Commission. I have a much more simpler request. Can anyone get Mahaliwat to declare his assets? When is he going to declare his assets? Mana dia dapat duit buat rumah besar, kereta besar, fly here, fly there. Can the macho-pondans go and ask him? We will wait.
Anyway here is Dr Mahathir's statement in full. Hidup Mahathir.
FORM ROYAL PROBE ON DR M'S SQUANDERING
1. I welcome Lim Kit Siang's proposal for Najib to set up a royal commission on whether I burned RM100 billion on grandiose projects and corruption during my 22-year reign.
2. Such a commission should not be made up of Government nominees but should have as members impeccable people including foreigners and members of Transparency International.
3. The commission should not confine to one Prime Minister only but to Tun Abdullah Badawi's regime.
4. It should include how RM270 billion of Petronas money paid during Abdullah's five-year term was spent; what projects were financed by this huge fund and the cost of all these projects.
5. It should include how much money was lost due to the cancellation of the crooked bridge and the Johore Baru to Padang Besar railway.
6. What is the cost over-run in the construction of the Bakun Hydroelectric project.
7. The financing of the second Penang Bridge and the procedure followed when giving out this contract.
8. I also agree with Lim Kit Siang that the investigation would reflect Najib's commitment to "combating corruption".
9. In order that the enquiry by the commission would be successful, Government must give the undertaking to give full access to the commission of all the documents and accounts of the Government over the period 1981-2009. There should be no cover-up of any kind.
10. Barry Wain must provide documentary proof of any sum that he alleged I had burned.
11. I will co-operate fully with the commission.
12. Depending upon the result of the commission, I reserve the right to sue Barry Wain, Lim Kit Siang and Malaysiakini.com for libel for a sum to be disclosed later.
13. If the Government is witholding the book: "Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times", I would request that the book be released forthwith. I am not in need of Government protection.
Before we go any further can the Navy please check if all its ships are in port or on the high seas on patrol? And are all the Army’s T72 Tanks parked safely in the Base. I though I saw a couple hiding behind the Museum in KL recently. Maybe for the Merdeka Day Parade.
What about the Army’s rifles? Are all the rifles in the Armoury? Make sure none are being used for illicit purposes on Bukit Jenalek or some place like that.
Here is the news from Malay Mail (trunc)
PETALING JAYA: The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) possibly ended up buying parts and components from a jet engine that went missing from its base two years ago and was subsequently sold abroad.
Local defence industry sources told The Malay Mail the General Electric J85-GE-21 engine had most likely been dismantled into smaller components when it was reportedly "sold" to a South American arms dealer.
This is balloney. I doubt the engine ever left the country. I doubt there were any “South American” arms dealers too. This sounds like a local job by some clever get rich quick “kampong boy” operation inside the RMAF.
These components, the sources added, could have been sold back to the RMAF by government-appointed panel companies.
. . . the locals involved in stealing the engine would have been paid less than RM1 million for their trouble.. . . the engine would not have been worth more than RM10 million
This is more plausible.Probably the RM1.0 milion was shared by 30 or 40 fellows (looks like the whole squadron probably knew about it or was involved).
The disappearance of the engine, one of two which powers the RMAF F5 fleet, was discovered in late 2007.
If it was discovered in 2007, why is it hitting the fan only now in late 2009, a few days before the year is over ? If the theft had been made public in 2007, wouldn’t it have been easier to track down the bad guys? Now who knows where they are? They have all been given sufficient time to make tracks.
It was discovered missing when RMAF was informed by its service provider that it had not received the engine for a scheduled overhaul.
Service provider?Hmm....Smells fishy too.
Its like this. The engine was stolen. According to the Malay Mail,the engine was then stripped of its parts which were then resold to the RMAF.
Resold by whom? It could not have been resold byArumugam theBesi Buruk dealer in Sungei Besi. Certainly the RMAF buys aircraft parts onlyfrom its panel of registered suppliers. So whoever “resold” these parts to the RMAF from the stolen engine was dealing in stolen goods. Or they themselves were involved in the scam to steal and resell the engine.
There is no rocket science here.Usually military suppliers are big guns.Usually they are politically well connected. So nak tangkap ke tak nak tangkap?
* Here is an update. Talk is that this is an old practise. Apparently the situation is so bad that 'insiders' just call up their 'friendly suppliers' and ask them to shoot an invoice for spare parts. Barang no need to send. They will recycle old parts from existing equipment, just like in this F5E scam. Then the 'friendly supplier' gets paid from tax payers money for an "empty" invoice. If this is true - and from what has come out in the Press so far there is little reason to doubt this - it means everyone from the Receiving Sargent, the Quartermaster, the Logistics Captain are all in the scam.
...RMAF personnel told investigators the engine was sent overseas for overhaul and it was quickly found out that the claim was just a ruse to cover for its disappearance. . .
As I said the stolen engine never left the country. Maybe the stolen engine never even left the air base. This appears to be a squadron wide conspiracy. The logistics personnel were instrumental in the cover up. There must have been others also involved.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said action had been taken against several senior officers as well as junior personnel but declined to say what action was taken.
Senior officers too? So let me correct myself. This was not just a squadron level conspiracy to defraud the Air Force. This seems like an RMAF wide conspiracy. Sounds like there is a well established “spare parts mafia” going on in the RMAF.
The inventory fellow, the logistics guys, the mechanics, the senior officers, the junior officers etc are all in the act. I find it hard to believe that these many “senior officers” and “junior officers” came together for just one act of ‘jom kita curi injin F5E’.
I think this is an old scam going on. There must be a serious audit of the entire Armed Forces. We dont want some clever beggars stealing submarine parts from the Scorpene and reselling it back to the Navy as spare parts.
And usually when stuff like this is exposed, (for example long after the engine was stolen in 2007) it is usually because of some money disagreement. Maybe some one did not get their share of the cut. So they squealed about it to the Press. No honour among thieves.
Ahmad Zahid said there was a strong demand for components and spare parts for first generation supersonic fighter aircraft, especially among countries that were still using it.
I think the last statement by Zahid is balloney. The F5E is outdated. The only country that still flies them operationally is Iran (and maybe one or two others – mostly for training). In Malaysia the F5Es were last used for photo reconnaisance and combat training. We also have FA-18 Hornets, Sukhois and MIG-29s fighters.
There is little demand for the F5E engine parts overseas. It is also too small an operation (just one F5E engine) to involve foreign countries.I dont know on what basis Zahid would make such a statement.
