this is asterix.

I found a yet an interesting video about Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. I just want to share this with you. Although I personally think that his effort in this video is useless, not because I think it is a crap. But because I happen to be very sceptic about almost everything. A friend of mine told me that I tend to look at a glass as half empty rather than half full. Anyway, here is an interview of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad by newtvsat – a Lebanon satellite TV station. Thanks to Imran and The Caliph for this video. Ciao. P.S. In case you can’t play this video, try to get the latest version of Windows Media Player . There, free advertising for Microsoft .

What an unproductive weekend I had. Well, it was not unproductive at all. I gave birth to a new blog, I did some research on Kellogg’s and I prepared for a presentation on global car manufacturing industry. The only reason why I said this has been an unproductive weekend is because I did all that on Friday and Saturday morning. After that, I just spent the weekend watching movies, surfing the internet, chatting with my friends on IM, and listen to an award show in Malaysia. Come next Friday, I have a Maths test and on the 23rd March 2006, I have a Philosophy exam and I have not even prepared for it. Haha. But, don't worry because I will start to work on it starting from tomorrow. With exam and test coming, I will definitely be more motivated to do a lot of work. And this week, I am planning to get a new mobile phone! Let’s hope that I will be able to get the phone that I want and tariff that is affordable. This week has also been interesting because of the row between the White Hou...

I began to think that there will never be peace in this world at any one time. As I wrote this, curfew is being enforced in Iraq following the bombing of a shrine early this week. The Philippines declared a state of emergency following rumours about planned coup. In Nigeria, there is a religious riot that has been going on for about a week by now. In Australia, one of the cabinet ministers made a comment that was considered racist by many, especially the Muslims. Those are just some of what is happening all around us today. There are many other events around the world that I have not read about. Reading all these, one would’ve thought whether will there be peace in this world at any given time. It seems that there will always be something going on somewhere. There will always be stories about someone got shot, or this government got overthrown, or that building got blown up. I do understand that total world peace is just a dream, but surely everyone is entitled to dream. And total worl...

I started off my weekend with asterix! – photoblog edition . This photoblog is simply a way for me to share my newfound interest in photography. I am not a professional photographer, this is more like a hobby. I have posted two pictures to start with, hopefully there will be many more to come. As you would have notice by now, there is a diagonal strip at the top right-hand corner of this blog. The strip is part of my school’s emblem. If you click on the strip, it will take you straight to the old boys association website. Ciao ciao.  

What would you do if you suddenly became richer by $365m overnight? Well, you might have millions of things to do in your mind right now. But for a guy who are about to get that much of money says, “I didn’t know what to think. I still don’t know what to think.” He is Robert Stewart, one of the eight winners of Saturday Powerball lottery in Nebraska, US. The other winners are Quang Do, David Gehle, Alain Mabousso, Chasity Rutjens, Michael Tepstra, Dung Tran and Eric Zornes. Apparently they have to share the money among themselves. Still, each will end up with lots and lots of money, that’s for sure. What are you waiting for? Go out and buy a ticket now! Haha. Ciao ciao. P.S. Did you notice that the winners don’t have typical American names?

Something is seriously wrong with the current Malaysian administration. Why is that so? The government just has too many policies. When the new Prime Minister took office in 2003, he introduced National Agricultural Policy which I think might work to promote agricultural industry in Malaysia. Then after the row between former Prime Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry erupted due to flooding of imported cars in Malaysia, the Prime Minister announce that there would be a National Automotive Policy. Interesting about this policy is he never actually announced it anyway. At first, the Prime Minister said that the policy will be announced by July 2005 before postponing it to September 2005. A month after that, the government said that the policy will definitely be announced by November 2005 before again postponing it to the end of the year. And now in February 2006, Malaysians still have not heard anything from the government. Major automotive industry players like Toy...

Parker's Piece, Cambridge. King's College Cambridge. King's College Cambridge. Great Court, Trinity College Cambridge. Trinity College's Chapel. Trinity College's Chapel. St. Catharine's College Cambridge. These are the pictures from my Cambridge weekend break. I really love it there. Luckily for me because it wasn't raining when I was there. The sun was shining all day and my walk around Cambridge on Saturday afternoon was really nice. I visited Parker's Piece, Trinity College, King's College, Queens' College, and St. Catharine's College. I had a really great time there, all thanks to my host Yazid Jay. He is a Natural Science student of Trinity College Cambridge. I wish I could stay there for few more days, but I have to leave for London on Sunday morning. Ciao ciao.

I have been waiting for this weekend since January. It’s my weekend getaway! After planning it for about a month, I managed to find a place to spend my weekend away from Wye. Where am I going? I am going to Cambridge. I am so happy and cannot wait to see the famous Cambridge University. I am so excited! Well, I think that’s all I want to say. I hope I will have a very great time there. Ciao ciao.

Johor Darul Takzim is one of the states in Malaysia. It is situated at the most southern part of Peninsular Malaysia. This strategic location, coupled with its easy access to Singapore has made Johor one of the most developed states in Malaysia after Selangor and Penang. However, Johor is also popular with its Lost-City that was never proven exist and the big and fury Big-foot that was again never proven exist. And only last month, they claim to have their own Bermuda Triangle along Johor’s east coast. I wonder what the next discovery is.  Ciao ciao. P.S. I am from Johor. Muar, to be precise.

An issue has erupted in Hyderabad, India. K Keshav Rao of the Congress Party performed a trick at a magicians gathering in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. During that gathering, he took out a 100-rupee note and signed it before burning it in front of the audience. Few seconds later, he took out the same note with his signature on it from someone else’s pocket. MV Mysoora Reddy of Telugu Desam Party demanded Mr. Rao to be arrested because apparently, burning a banknote is considered offensive in India. I never knew about this until I read this report on BBCNEWS.co.uk . What can we learn from this? We have to bear in mind that different cultures have different beliefs and there is no harm in respecting it. Ciao ciao.

Let’s review what have happened in the last 24 hours. Malaysian Prime Minister announced his first cabinet reshuffle after taking office. Surprisingly, it was not a total reshuffle, just patching up here and there. Public are expecting a very major reshuffle but hey, he is the Prime Minister, I am sure he knows what he is doing. Next is Volkswagen, who has just announced that they have appointed Autostadt Asia as the sole importer for Volkswagen cars in Malaysia. Well, nothing is wrong about that since any foreign car company can appoint any local company to be their sole importer. Yes, nothing is wrong with that except Autostadt Asia is co-owned by Ms. Annie Tajul Arus. Who is this Ms. Annie? She is Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz’s niece. I wish my auntie were the Minister of International Trade and Industry. At another part of the world, Italian Minister Roberto Calderoli made this remark, “I’ve had T-shirts made with the cartoons that have upset Islam, and I shall start wearing it today.” ...

When Denmark Foreign Minister made a phone call to Malaysia Foreign Minister asking Malaysia to calm down the Muslims last week, I thought Malaysia would do something about it almost immediately. I mean, Malaysia is the current Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) chairman. However, when asked by reporters about it, Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that they have to wait for an official letter from the Danish government before proceeding with appropriate actions. And yesterday, the Danish government has sent an official letter to Malaysian government. So, what is so interesting about this? Well, I cannot stop to think that no matter how far we go with technology and spreading slogans of paperless this and paperless that, a simple paper letter is still very much important in everyday transactions. I mean, while some of us think that it is important to do everything electronically, there are things that are better to be done in old-fashion ways. And Ma...

The Malaysian government decided to suspend The Sarawak Tribune newspaper’s publication permit. This action was taken after the newspaper re-published the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. It seems that the cabinet unanimously agreed this decision this week. The Sarawak Tribune editorial advisor expressed their regrets of what has happened and at the same time maintains that they totally understand why such actions are taken against them. Today, The Sarawak Tribune is history following their announcement to close down the newspaper. Although their permit was suspended indefinitely, it seems logical to them to close down since there is no point of continuing operation when they cannot publish anything. And without realizing it or not, the real victim here is the employees of The Sarawak Tribune. They have been working with the newspaper for 20-30 years and they could be in their mid-40s by now. Once they lose their job with the newspaper, will it be easy for them to find another job? Thi...

I had three sleepless nights since Monday. I just couldn’t sleep, that’s all. And this week has been a hell of a week and the only good thing in this week is the sun. Yes, it’s because we had sun for two consecutive days here in Wye. Well, sun may not be a very big thing back where I came from but it is a big deal here in the UK. OK, I don’t want to talk about the sun, I mean, sun is a very self-explanatory thing. What else should I say about it, right? Anyway, here’s the deal. Tengku Mahaleel, former CEO of PROTON filed complaints about his termination as CEO to Industrial Relations Department (IRD). If I am not mistaken, the reason or rather the term that PROTON used was “non-renewable” of contract. Hence, it will make it pointless for Tengku Mahaleel to report this case. However, the most interesting bit is, PROTON are willing to settle this matter outside the court. Why is it interesting? Well, if Tengku Mahaleel was a legitimate removal, why wouldn’t PROTON wants to take it to the...

I had rough days since Monday. I couldn’t sleep for the past two nights. Why? I don’t know I just feel like there is big black cloud hovering above me. It is hard enough to muster fake smiles everyday but I have to do it anyway. I guess it is normal for a person to fall into this big hole occasionally. I mean, there will always be this one time where you will suddenly feel that you are hitting the rock bottom of your life and this is what I am having now. Don’t worry, I am not going to do stupid things. It is just that, at this time you feel like you really want to have someone to talk with, a friend, or a family member. Sigh. I wish my sister were with me right now. Well, that is it then. I am going to sleep early today and hopefully this moment will be over when I wake up tomorrow morning. I will not stop hoping for better days ahead of me because that is what everyone wants, right? I guess so, but obviously you cannot have everything in life and there are times where you just have t...

I would like to offer my condolences to those families who were affected when A-Salam Boccaccio sunk in Red Sea last Thursday. This is tragic event for both Saudi Arabia and Egypt. At this time, more than 400 passengers have been rescued while others were dead and still missing. Though there are many speculations as to why this event happened, what is more important now is for all survivors to be rescued as quickly as possible. It has been more than a week since the tragedy and yet the fate of at least 800 of them is still unknown. I pray and hope the rescue mission will save as many survivors as possible. And at this time, it is very important for both governments to work hand in hand to search for the survivors. Ciao.

What I fear most has happened. This morning, Danish Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon was torched by demonstrators. This cannot be happening. As much as I am offended by the cartoon as Muslims, I condemn these people for breaking into the embassy and torch it with fire. This is seriously unacceptable. No matter what happened in any country, no one can break into any embassy and let alone burning it. And how come the Lebanon government just let this happened? I want to repeat my stand from my last post. Yes I am offended by the cartoon but that does not give me the rights to go and burn any embassy. I have the freedom of speech to say that I don’t like the publication, but freedom of speech cannot be used as an excuse to break into a building and burn it down. It is not only against the civil law, it is also against Islamic teaching. What will happen next? They want to kidnap Danish ambassador and threaten to behead him? I just cannot believe that this is really happening. The Lebanese have br...

The last post was titled as 'Hot of the Press'. Well, it should be 'Hot Off the Press', and I have changed that. Another thing about last post is, Jyllands-Posten published the cartoon in September and not 'Few days ago' like I wrote in the last post. So, those were the glaring mistakes. And I have seen the cartoon and I must say the cartoon is offensive in a way. And I welcome Jyllands-Posten apology for the cartoon. And I personally think that even if they didn't apologize, it still doesn't matter because they might not realize the cartoon can be so offensive. But, the provoking acts by other European newspaper are absolutely unacceptable because they know that it is going to be offensive and yet they still publish it anyway. I do support Freedom of Speech, but with freedom comes responsibilities. I don't want to elaborate more on that because I think everyone knows that already. And I also don't support any violence acts by certain Muslim quar...

Few days ago Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten showed a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. While the Danish are laughing at the caricature, apparently it is not that funny to the Muslims, where any depiction of the Prophets is prohibited. Libyan Government closed down their embassy in Copenhagen so did Saudi Arabia. 17 other Muslim countries are about to do the same if Danish Government did not apologize to the Muslims on behalf of the newspaper. The newspaper did apologize, but maintained that they have the rights to practise freedom of speech. Today, France Soir, Germany’s Die Welt, La Stampa in Italy and El Periodico in Spain all showed the caricature in support of Jyllands-Posten in Denmark. As if the situation now is not bad enough, their actions just add more anger to the Muslim world. Why is this happening? It is because they want to show that they have every right to do so under the banner of ‘Freedom of the Press’. I just cannot believe how...

Suddenly I have this urges to find my birthdates. Well, after much surfing the internet. Here are some of my birthdates according to different calendar. It is fun actually to see how different your birthdates are if you have different believed. OMG! I just wasted half hour of my life finding this thing rather than doing my Marketing assignment. But hey, it’s fun to know. Like my friend, Amir always say, “We learn something new everyday.” Some of these calendar, I don’t even know what they means. Take the Chinese Lunar Calendar for example. But, I’m not here to understand anything. I just want to have fun my way. Haha. Gregorian Calendar: 15 July 1985 Hijri Calendar: 26 Shawal 1405 (2006=1427) Jewish Calendar: 26 Tamuz 5745 (2006=5766) Chinese Lunar Calendar: 28th day of the 5th month in Ox year (I don’t know what these mean, care to volunteer any information? 2006 is Dog Year). Julian Calendar: 2 July 1985 (Julian calendar was used up to 1582). Persian Calendar: 24 Tir 1364 (2006=1385)...