Part of touring Singapore usually involves taking one of those boats pictured above for a ride up Singapore River. I went into tourist mode and went for a walk down the river snapping up pictures on the way. Here are some, the rest can be seen on my flickr account.
Have a nice weekend!
the Sun ran a news report where the PM revealed that the current laws restricting the freedom of press are unlikely to be repealed. We can read that as ‘not going to be repealed.’
Tough media laws to stay: PM
R. Manirajan
KUALA LUMPUR (June 28, 2007): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today intimated that the tough media laws that are in place are unlikely ever going to be repealed or withdrawn.He said even if the reasons for their existence no longer exist it does not mean that they should be done away with.(emphasis mine)
The bogeyman here is of course errant news reports and articles that threaten national harmony; blogs that put a slur on government’s efforts to build a ‘peaceful and tolerant’ society. ‘Biased’ news reporting.
But AAB goes on to say, “Malaysian media have been very responsible or we would have been torn apart a long time ago”. Oh how heartening.
If freedom is to be earned, then the Malaysian media certainly qualifies by his own admission. Otherwise, if press freedom is corollary and prerequisite of a democratic society, there never is reason enough to restrict it. So which one is it Mr. PM sir?
Neither, he would say.
” Abdullah said media owners, including group editors, should be more responsible, and not play up stories or issues just to get a page one story out, but take into consideration the harmony among the races in the country. “
As it stands, if national unity is so fragile that a simple page one story can cause a riot, who is it that makes the greatest reaction when controversial articles makes the news? When Muslim groups gather to protest Lina Joy, they are exercising their democratic right, but when private broadcasters give space to opposition viewpoints, it threatens national harmony.
So who is the one playing up issues, the protesting Muslim on the street making his viewpoint heard far and wide or Lim Kit Siang running a blog? If the government wasn’t so concerned with green flags waved in the air and chants of “God is Great!”, why is AAB so scared of analysis that dissect the same incident-written by the very press that is made accountable to government.
It like being scared of your own shadow. You control it’s shape, but you’re still scared of it.
Some newspapers and periodicals have been testing the limits of his tolerance by using one critical report after another, he said.
“There have been some articles, commentaries, human interest stories written giving an impression that it was the general opinion and views of everyone, when it was actually an individual’s independent view on the matter,” he said.
First of all, which of these articles is he talking about? Such generalities should be backed up some examples. Malaysian ministers nowadays have that bad habit which does not speak a lot about their intelligence. And it stands I can find none in the mainstream media. I wouldn’t expect to find a $50 note in a rubbish dump, would I?
But never mind that true reporting about the very people who are dissatisfied with AAB’s premiership is testing his patience, what matters is that the PM only hears what is nice about Malaysia. No, the pimples on my face doesn’t matter, he says, just don’t bring me to a mirror-it’s just the mirror’s independent view on the matter.
There is a reason for highlighting and underlining the statement in the news clip earlier in this post. To me, saying things like this show how low the PM has descended. The statement is incoherent ( if you maintain a regulation, there are reasons for doing so, right!?) at best, and spoken with impunity (I don’t need a reason for having laws) at worst.
Here a challenge. If anyone still believes AAB is fit to run a second term, tell me why in the comments box.
You know that feeling don’t you. You get to know a girl, and you start to hang out with each other. Friends at first, but soon you know that you have fallen for her. But you keep it cool. The lunch dates get a little more frequent. You become more thoughtful towards her. Sending her home after work becomes almost a routine. That awkwardness and anticipation. Watching her every reply, eye contact and body language. Going through every conversation in your mind before turning into bed with a silly smile pasted all over your face. You have to pop the question, all you need is the perfect moment.
So you get a table at a decent restaurant. Surprise her with flowers and she asks, “What’s this all about?” Stuttering through the shyness and blushes, you blurt out the inevitable and wait for her reply. Your heart is beating in your eardrums and your fingers in a waltz, unsure of when to stop fidgeting. And she says,
“I’m sorry, we can only be friends.”
Transformers (2007) – Megan Fox, Shia LaBeouf
That’s how it felt watching Michael Bay’s latest direct. Produced by Steven Spielberg, Transformers is not short on action, comic humour and terrific camera work. It started well, building to a nice curve up to the point when Section 7 gets introduced. Then things start to go downhill from there. Not gradually, but with a big thud.
From then on, unnecessary scenes cost the movie considerably. Unresolved plot threads and the patchy camera work during final battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron spoiled the ending. Not withstanding that Amaury Nolasco (Fernando Sucre of Prison Break fame) just had to be ‘injured’ and cut out from the rest of the movie. He deserved better.
Transformers sort of redeemed the summer blockbuster season for me, but didn’t do just well enough. 3.5/5
A very interesting site listing comparison statistics between girls and guys.
Excerpts:
For every 100 girls diagnosed with a special education disability 217 boys are diagnosed with a special education disability.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
For every 100 girls diagnosed with a learning disability 276 boys are diagnosed with a learning disability.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
For every 100 girls diagnosed with emotional disturbance 324 boys are diagnosed with emotional disturbance
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
For every 100 girls diagnosed with a speech impairment 147 boys are similarly diagnosed.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
For every 100 girls diagnosed with mental retardation 138 boys are diagnosed as mentally retarded.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
For every 100 girls diagnosed with visual impairment 125 boys are visually impaired.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
For every 100 girls diagnosed with hearing impairment 108 boys are diagnosed as hearing impaired.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
For every 100 girls diagnosed with deafness 120 boys have deafness.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
For every 100 girls with orthopedic impairment 118 boys have orthopedic impairment.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
For every 100 girls with other health impairment 127 boys have other health impairment.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
For every 100 girls with multiple disabilities 189 boys have multiple disabilities.
http://www.iteachilearn.com/uh/meisgeier/statsgov20gender.htm
There’s about a 1:3 ratio of girls to boys with an emotional disturbance. So who says that boys are the less emotional ones?
Apparently, MPs in Parliament has so much time as to debate the difference between a bikini and hot pants.
One of them, Datuk Hasni Mohamad (BN-Pontian), who had submitted a question on the matter in the Dewan Rakyat, asked how the ministry could have overlooked such a thing.
“How can such a thing be overlooked by the ministry because these girls were paraded not only in Kuala Lumpur but also nationwide?” he said when raising a supplementary question.
And another
The other backbencher, Datuk Mohamad Aziz (BN-Sri Gading), asked why no action was taken in the matter when the country had pertinent legislation.
“We have the legislation and we say there will be enforcement but when someone violates the law we do not act, more so when the offender is a foreigner,” he said, adding that the authorities were either afraid or embarrassed to be candid with offenders and thus remain silent.
To which the reply from the Sports Ministry was:
Parliamentary Secretary to the Youth and Sports Ministry S. Vigneswaran, when replying to the questions, said the models did not wear swim suits but were attired in hot pants.
First of all, Mr. Vigneswaran can’t tell the difference between a bikini and hot pants. These are hot pants:
So Mr. Parliamentary Secretary sir, the GT ladies are wearing bikinis okay.
And to the two BN MPs, stop looking okay-if you can’t prevent yourself from getting a nosebleed. Instead of wasting time debating about these trivial matters-why not turn your attention to more pertinent issues?
Last night’s PCM was great!
We had a really fruitful (and long) time of discussing a familiar verse: The one where Jesus calms the storm.
So one of us looked at the passage and came up with an alternative reading (different from the one about having faith that Jesus can calm the ’storms’ in your life)
What if the disciples were not pleading for their life when they woke Jesus during the storm? It’s a mixture of desperation and frustration and anger with Jesus for sleeping soundly while the rest were working hard to keep the boat afloat. Waking him up, the retort was more a sarcastic request than any genuine plea for their lives.
“..And He got up and (C)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm…” (NASB)
Nice one, the disciples now knew they had unleashed a beast, so to speak. Jesus was no longer some respectable rabbi and amazing miracle worker. He was more than that.
“…And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? (D)Do you still have no faith?…” (NASB)
We could interpret this as Jesus claim to divinity. Not so much faith in what he could do, but faith in who he was. At first they were afraid that they would die, now the were really afraid of who stood before them. He was God.
They say familiarity breed contempt. Nothing highlights it clearer than this account, and the response that Jesus gives to such attitudes.
And after that sharing, the entire PCM was quiet for a whole 2 minutes.
Just a little two cents worth of theological musings.
Been wondering of the REAL meaning behind our beloved verse, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
In what has come to characterize the quasi-rationalism of the 21st century, a non-Christian would say, “Who made Christ our saviour? I didn’t ask to be saved, I don’t need to be saved and I damn well didn’t vote for Christ to save me.”
That is a hard hitting way to put it, but for a the past 4 years, we have been slurping the damning media coverage of a botched US attempt to “bring democracy to Iraq.” Can’t blame anyone for taking the anti-salvation stance.
For the past 4 years, conscientious Malaysians have watched in dismay as basic local governance, security and national unity get torn to shreds under the administration of a PM who had promised to bring a new leaf to Malaysia under his banner of Islam Hadhari. Religion has done little to change things; one wonders whether Christ would fare any better.
Whether outside our borders or within, we are being told (daily) that religion breeds disaster. And that the old fashion way of cleaning up the cesspit we got ourselves into is to roll up our sleeves and…start scrubbing.
(To be continued in a next post…)
All of us long for that perfect picture of sunset. But capturing this image is still reserved for the select few.
This view of Earth’s horizon as the sunsets over the Pacific Ocean was taken by an Expedition 7 crewmember onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Anvil tops of thunderclouds are also visible. Link.
What a wonderful world we live in. 
Once you manage to get past the numerous trash that Youtube offers, gems like this can be found within this video sharing site.
Via: Images that shook the world.
Watch it, if only to remind ourselves that we should never take life for granted.
This is shameful.
Talk about ‘not ready’ or ’sensitive’ is flatly contradicted by this successful event organized by DAP recently. Photos clearly show Malaysian’s of ALL races sit (some stood) in common to hear panelists from all parties.
But then again, someone whose vocabulary is limited to “Bodoh, bodoh, bodoh” can’t be expected to say anything intelligent right.
With replies like the above, you can’t blame me for saying that Nazri should be given the middle finger lest we get the idea that Badawi is a double minded man-without any integrity-saying anything that he likes whenever the situation suits him. It’s like saying that because Badawi has no power during an official visit to Saudi Arabia, that he is free to insult Christianity because ‘the matter of sensitivity does not arise abroad’.
Nice one Nazri.
There are many unconscious assumptions about power that Nazri is making that it scares me just to think about it. It scares me to think that the office of PM in Malaysia is so ‘powerful’, that one cannot be honest, saying what is true and noble because one might incite a riot.
What delicious irony here.
Should I cry, shout, curse or be indifferent?
Born and bred in KL, Malaysia. Now studying for his Phd in Singapore. Learning to walk one fall at a time.
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