It's a straight fight between UMNO and PAS for Bagan Pinang

So, finally it is confirmed. The Bagan Pinang by-election will be a straight fight between Mohd Isa Samad of UMNO and Zulkefly Mohd Omar of PAS. Ex-PKR and ndependent candidate Shahruddin Abdul Hamid has failed to submit his nomination papers after being told that his seconder was not a local Bagan Pinang resident. Two interesting things that stood out in the video below is that a group of Indians dressed up in HINDRAF colour. So are these fellas impersonating HINDRAF to confuse the Indian voters or are they really HINDRAF supporters ? The other one is playcard slogan carried by one PAS supporter, "Hancur ISA". Did he mean "ISA" the Internal Security Act or ISA the UMNO candidate. Food for thought, eh?

Anyway all the best to the two candidates and although I fear that PAS may not win this round, but it will interesting to know what plans the PR may have in store to wrestle the seat from UMNO [see second video below].

Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn

This video was shot in Singapore and has since became world famous of sorts. How could a man just stand there and let a woman, presumably girlfriend or wife, hitting him left, right and centre and I mean centre like groin, testicles and penis. So what's the reason behind that age old saying of hell hath no fury like a woman scorn as far as this female is concerned? Did the guy stood her up the previous night for nine hours without bothering to call her? Did he forget (if he is married) his mother-in-law's birthday? Worse, did he forget HER birthday? She was whacking him with a shoe. So did she find out that it was a cheap pair of shoes the he bought for her, bearing in mind she is driving a Lexus. Or did she find out that he kena VD (no wonder she went for his private parts to show her displeasure)? Be as it may, I am glad I am not that guy being whacked in public by a female. Aiyoh-yoh, what is happening to the macho-ness in Singaporean males these days. Well at least she did not do a Bobbit on him. Like Bob Dyland would say, the times they are a-changin'.

DAP second all Malay branch

After the Lembah Kinrara branch, a second all Malay branch of the DAP was opened, this time in Ampang. However, this came at a price for our sassy MP, Teresa Kok, who received a life threatening message on her blog. A police report has since been made, and with the IP address having been identified, we hope the culprit will soon be apprehended.

It is heartening to note that when making the police report, Malay members from both branches were there in persons to render support for Teresa.

You can read more news here and here.

Top Asian Universities 2009

The top 30 Asian Universities 2009. Where are the Malaysian universities?

1 University of HONG KONG Hong Kong
2 The CHINESE University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
3 University of TOKYO Japan
4 HONG KONG University of Science and Technology Hong Kong
5 KYOTO University Japan
6 OSAKA University Japan
7 Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology South Korea
8 SEOUL National University South Korea
9 TOKYO Institute of Technology Japan
10 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore
10 PEKING University Japan
12 NAGOYA University Japan
13 TOHOKU University Japan
14 Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore
15 KYUSHU University Japan
15 TSINGHUA University China
17 Pohang University of Science and Technology South Korea
18 CITY University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
19 University of TSUKUBA Japan
20 HOKKAIDO University Japan
20 KEIO University Japan
22 National TAIWAN University Taiwan
23 KOBE University Japan
24 University of Science and Technology of China China
25 YONSEI University South Korea
26 FUDAN University China
27 NANJING University China
28 HIROSHIMA University Japan
29 SHANGHAI JIAO TONG University China
30 Indian Institute of Technology Bombay India
30 MAHIDOL University Thailand
Malaysian universities have failed to crack the top rankings of Asian universities, where do they actually stand? University of Malaya appears at No. 39; Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia at No. 51; Universiti Sains Malaysia at No. 69; Universiti Teknologi Mara (UTM) at No. 82; Universiti Putra Malaysia at No. 90 and Multimedia University appears at no. 171

Clearly, there’s nothing to be proud of in terms of how the academic world assesses our public universities. In fact, we should be concerned that our rankings continue to lag behind even when compared with universities only from this region.

What are the main factors determining the poor performance of our universities and what can be done about it? From my own experience as a former Professor in the University of Malaya and also drawing on the analyses of other professionals, scholars and academics who have studied the topic, the main reason standing in the way of improving our public universities is the government’s insistence on persisting with the NEP racially biased approach to running the universities in all its key aspects: leadership, staffing, promotion, student enrolment, etc. In fact, this race-oriented approach should have ended in 1990.

[Source: Malaysian Indians]

The passing of Lucy O'Donnell

I wonder how many of you, especially the local Beatles fan, still remember that psychedelic album, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band? The cover design was an art of the period and whoever possesses that album, hang on to it for it may be worth a fortune in the years to come. Quite frankly, they don't make album cover designs like that anymore.

One of the tracks in the album is "Lucy in the sky with diamonds" which has remained very popular till today. Because of the initials, "LSD", the conservatives said it was drug related song. Others said it represented "pound, shilling and pence" due to the devaluation of the sterling currency during that period. Whatever the case maybe, sad to say the person who inspired The Beatles to write the song has passed away. Her name was Lucy O'Donnell.

Beatles' 'Lucy in the sky' dies aged 46

The woman who inspired The Beatles' legendary song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds has died aged 46 from an autoimmune disease, the charity that supported her announced on Monday.

Lucy O'Donnell was at school with John Lennon's son, Julian, when she was three and it was his picture of her in 1966 that inspired the classic song.

According to various biographies of The Beatles and O'Donnell herself, the young Julian took the picture home to his father and explained: "It's Lucy in the sky with diamonds."

The song, which featured on the Fab Four's 1967 album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, caused huge controversy at the time because of its psychedelic theme and supposed reference to the drug LSD though its initials, a charge always denied as pure coincidence by the songwriter Lennon.

Julian Lennon and O'Donnell - who became Lucy Vodden after her marriage - resumed their friendship in recent months after she became ill with lupus, the disease of the immune system that led to her death last Tuesday.

"Everyone at the Louise Coote Lupus Unit was dreadfully shocked by the death of Lucy," said Angie Davidson, campaign director of the St Thomas Lupus Trust that helped Vodden during her illness.

"She was a great supporter of ours and a real fighter. It's so sad that she has finally lost the battle she fought so bravely for so long."

The trust added that Lennon and his mother Cynthia were "shocked and saddened".

Footnote: If you have The Beatles white album, hold on to that too.

Another feather in the cap for Tan Sri Khalid and his team

Despite the fact that the following news was reported in Bernama, it has yet to appear in the msm.

SELANGOR GIVES OWNERSHIP TO STATE LAND HOLDERS

Temporary Occupation Licence (TOL) holders who have occupied state land for more than 20 years will be given rightful ownership, Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said today.

However, he said the exercise would only benefit owners of residential lots with TOL status and not owners of agriculture land schemes.

"TOL landowners can apply to the state to alienate the land to them for a number of years.

"The state then charges a premium for each year the land is occupied and at the end of the lease period, it (state) can decide whether it wants to continue leasing out the land or take it back," he told reporters after officiating a seminar on land administration in Selangor at the state secretariat building.

Khalid said holders of TOL in Selangor did not have absolute rights on the land they were occupying as the plot was still the property of the state government.

"There are up to 40,000 families in some districts in Selangor, namely Sabak Bernam, Sungai Besar and Tanjong Karang, who had stayed in one area for more than 20 to 30 years but the land still has TOL status," he said, adding that there were no such cases in Petaling Jaya.

Khalid said the state government would improve the land management system to make the people feel comfortable when dealing with the land office.

TOL issued by the state government was only for a temporary period and holders of the licence must comply with the conditions stipulated by the government as stated in the National Land Code 1965 (Act 56/1965).

- Bernama

Monday Humour II

Ah, British papers are so interesting. If you are unable to read the prints, please click on the images to enlarge.

Monday Humour

Reasons why I never visit my rich friend

Once while visiting a very rich friend, the maid

approached me and.........

Question : "What would you like to have... Fruit juice, Soda, Tea, Chocolate, Capuccino, Frapuccino, or Coffee?"

Answer: "Tea please"

Question : "Ceylon tea, Indian tea, Herbal tea, Bush tea, Honey bush tea,
Iced tea or green tea ?"

Answer : "Ceylon tea"

Question : "How would you like it ? black or white ?

Answer: "white"

Question: "Milk, or fresh cream?

Answer: "With milk"

Question: "Goat's milk, or cow's milk"

Answer: "With cow's milk please."

Question: "Freezeland cow or Afrikaner cow?"

Answer: " Um, I'll just take it black."

Question: "Would you like it with sweetener, sugar or

honey?"

Answer: "With sugar"

Question: "Beet sugar or cane sugar?"

Answer: "Cane sugar"

Question: "White, brown or yellow sugar?"

Answer: "Forget about the tea, just give me a glass of water
instead."

Question: "Mineral water, tap water or distilled water? "

Answer: "Mineral water"

Question: "Flavored or non-flavored ?"

Answer: "I think I'll just die of thirst "

Hopefully, this will finally put an end to the Kg Buah Pala issue

Some residents of Kampung Buah Pala called for a press conference at the Chief Minister's office to express their gratitude to the current state government for helping them through the land crisis.

A resident said that Indians in Malaysia should not throw, what he called, baseless accusations on the Penang Pakatan state government.

The residents are being compensated with double-storey houses through negotiation between the state government and Nusmetro. Each house is said to cost RM600,000.