Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It has been two years for the Ministry of Education, Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, and Health Ministry together with the help of non-governmental organisations, to come out with the sexual education guidelines.

Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussien said the National Sexuality Education Guideline would be presented to Cabinet at the latest by the first week of January along with the memorandum and targetted to be launched in February.

"We are faced with various forms of sexual crimes: Internet pornography, incest, pre-marital sex, sexual abuse and harassment, and paedophilia. The guidelines address all these."

"All parties are responsible now that the guidelines are out. All must take sex as a serious issue."

He too hopes that the guidelines are a good start as they would give everyone concerned some idea of the direction to follow.

“I hope that with the cooperation of everyone, the guidelines will help to reduce incidences of rape, child abuse, sexual deviancy and Internet porn, among other things. "

“Everyone should play their part, from parents to schools and the community at large, to educate the young on sexuality.”

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil meanwhile insists on the importance of a strong foundation to grow our young and future generation.

"It is hoped with the availability of methodology to educate them, they would be able to tackle the problems that they face. The foundation is important, this is what we are providing for, a stronger foundation for our young to face the challenges of the world."

For the time being, things look quite promising for Malaysia to project the country in a whole as a progressive and liberal state to introduce sexual education as part of the subjects taught in school.

It’s also right to say that through this methodology, sexuality will be brought into open in a comfortable manner to public, insteady of being locked in a closet. So to speak that, it’s irresponsible to deprive young people of essential information that they need to know.

However, lest not forgotten the real concern of most NGOS, where they believe teachers entrusted to handle sexual education should be properly trained, especially when teaching pre-schoolers and primary school pupils.

Now it’s your turn to say something. So, what say you? ;-)

It’s Dong Zhi (Winter Solstic Festival) today, the second most important festival of the Chinese calendar.

Celebrated on the longest night of the year, Dong Zhi is the day when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest. The coming of winter is celebrated by families and is traditionally the time when farmers and fishermen gather food in preparation for the coming cold season. It is also a time for family reunions.

In modern times, it is a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get togethers is the making and eating of Tang Yuan or balls of glutinuous rice, which symbolize reunion. Tang Yuan are made of glutinuous rice flour and sometimes brightly coloured. Every one in the family receives at least one large Tang Yuan and several small ones. The flour balls may be plain or stuffed. They are cooked in a sweet soup or savoury broth with both the ball and the soup/broth served in one bowl.

Too bad, it’s going to be another year without the Tang Yuan again.

But, still, Happy Dong Zhi to everyone who celebrate this festival.

Maxis SMS alert at 5.36pm.

Kedah MB Syed Razak Syed Zain will quit post tomorrow, Acting MB Mahadzir Khalid to take over leadership of state.

Coincidentally, Bernama plays the music in favor of Mahadzir.

A bless in disguise for him?

[UPDATED VERSION] On allegations of extravagance spending in Malaysia Airlines (MAS), Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi chose to pass the baton to the newly appointed managing director Idris Jala.

"If there is any information about the matter, it would be good to pass it on to Idris Jala."

For more context, read here.

* * *

Via Utusan Melayu:

Pembelian tiga buah lukisan bernilai RM1.55 juta untuk menghiasi pejabat Pengerusi Malaysia Airlines System Berhad (MAS) merupakan perbelanjaan semasa, bertujuan menjaga taraf premis tersebut.

Gaya mesti ada?

Related Links:
- Bernama | Paintings Worth RM1.55 Million As Current Expenditure
- The Star | RM1.5m paintings hot topic
- Business Times | MAS needs RM3b for restructuring
- New Straits Times | Paintings were necessary to enhance prestige of MAS building

Azam Aris of TheEdgeDaily confesses that he is always a big fan to the deceased of Manchester United legend George Best.

His excellent skills, natural gifted play on the field, moreover his hard work and and dedication and constant practice to turn natural talent into match-winning ability furthermore convince that Best will remain as his only sport idol.

"I would go out with 10 or 12 balls and practise kicking them into the goal — which was fine except that after a few minutes, I had to go and fish them all out of the net again. So I started practising kicking them against the crossbar (so that the balls bounced back) — from the penalty spot, then from 20 yards, then from 30 yards, and then from 40 yards. After I had mastered that, I started working on my weaker left foot," Best said.

"That’s one of the things that upsets me about the way the game is played today. All too often, you see a player get into scoring position and then failing to hit the target from 15, 12 and even eight yards. There is absolutely no excuse for that. They are professionals who earn their livelihood kicking a football and the paying public has an absolute right to expect them to be able to get a shot on target from those distances," he added.

The question is: Would present Malaysian footballers believe that the practice repertoire of one of the world’s more revered players was just hours of plain ball kicking?

Someone must be bold enough to ask Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), assuming this question always falling on deaf ears.

I really love Google, you know, the 2.5GB and still growing mailbox.

2 things about Gmail that I feel compelled to share with readers if you’ve missed any of them:

Via blogger LiewCF:

If you own more than one Gmail account, you may like to install the Gmail Manager, a Firefox extension that allows you to manage multiple gmail accounts.

Gmail Manager is a Firefox extension that allows you to manage multiple gmail accounts and receive new mail notifications. Displays account details including unread messages, saved drafts, spam messages, labels with new mail, space used, and new mail snippets.

Via Gmail Help Center: 

Gmail Mobile lets you access your Gmail account from your mobile phone. Just enter http://m.gmail.com in your phone’s web browser to log in to your account.

Gmail Mobile offers a number of cool features:

• The interface is automatically optimized for the phone you’re using
• You can access attachments, including photos, Microsoft Word documents, and .pdf files
• If you enter phone numbers in your Gmail Contacts list, you can reply to messages by call

How not I love Google?

Money factor can be evil, great enough to lure one’s into prostitution.

Instead of concentrating on studying, some students at a university indulge themselves into being call girl and earn around RM4000 per month.

The report said what lured her into the "profession" was seeing her friends wearing branded clothes, driving cars, having mobile phones and always having cash in hand.

"I was jealous of seeing them having all that. That was why I became a prostitute like them," she said.

I understand that money is a necessity and one can’t live without it.

However the question is, must one compels the mind and feeling extremely intense for the feel-good-look-good factors?

Think hard and share.

Bloggers for Perdana Global Peace Forum 2005 were interviewed by Malay Mail yesterday. MackZul has this to say on former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad.

He said the bloggers’ inclusion in the forum also reflected well on former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"He has been described by the foreign media as someone who is not receptive to criticism," said Zulkifli.

"However, blogs are basically an open platform where readers can send in their opinions as well, and more often than not, Internet readers can be more vociferous than others.

"I am sure he is well aware of this and it speaks volumes for his character."

As for this blogger, I appreciate the inclusion of bloggers as part of the forum.

"The inclusion of bloggers in the forum is indicative of a more open attitude towards criticism in the country, and has lent credibility to the blogging community," said Thew. […]

"It shows that the forum encompasses guests from every background, and in the case of this duo, countries which have often-criticised human rights records. The forum is not merely an exercise in venting out frustrations and anger," said Thew.

For more context, click here.

(From LEFT: SK, Yvonne Foong, TV Smith, Mack Zulkifli)