Lao Zha Bor (老查某) never cease to amaze me. This time, she raps on the YouTube (with English sub-titles).

[…] Who says old folks can’t catch up?

Let me tell you now!

I’m a genius with computer

I use webcam while chatting

I’m an expert in LAN gaming

I update myself daily […]

Like her or not, I hope someone at her age will be inspired by her willingness to do things that are normally perceived to be as unlikely or merely an impossible act. Not only she defied the general perception, she blogs and raps too! Honestly, I don’t even dare to rap, let alone getting your voice being published on the internet.

Once again, hats off to you, Lao Zha Bor.

Recently, local major dailies reported that Tun Mahathir apologized to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for accusing him of owning a house in Perth, Australia, in which the exact owner of the house is Equine Capital’s Patrick Lim Soon Kit’s wife Wong Mun Yee.

Via The Star:

Dr Mahathir also apologised to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for accusing him of owning a house in Perth, Australia.

He said he got carried away when he mentioned it at a talk in Kulai, Johor, on March 29 recently and added it was based on a rumour.

Via Bernama:

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Wednesday apologised to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for having alleged that the latter owned a mansion in Australia.

Yesterday, in a letter published by The Star, Tun’s political secretary Sufi Yusoff clarified that Tun had apologised for the factual errors that he had made, no more no less.

He might be old, but not senile. The next time when he apologized again, read beyond words and lines.

Meanwhile, Tun renewed his criticism when he slammed the Government’s indecision over a multi-billion-dollar rail project, which was shelved in 2003 and revived this year.

"At one time, they say mega projects are a waste of money. Now they are going for mega projects — very, very mega — so this is flip-flopping," Mahathir told reporters after his speech.

And the "very, very mega" costs us 26 times more than the RM14.45 billion mega project.

Even before the start of the Ijok’s by-election, the war has begun, albeit a physical one.

First, you see this.

(SOURCE: Screentshots, 19 April 2007)

(SOURCE: Screenshots, 21 April 2007)

So there goes the Ijok’s by-election nomination.

I always wanted to be part of the crowd and it’s really bad that I’ve no other option but to miss out once again. Even in the recently concluded Machap’s by-election, blogger Tony Pua did ask me to be there, to be part of the campaign and to experience the atmosphere.

"It’s going to be extremely exciting," he said.

Unfortunately, I didn’t make it or well, I just can’t make it. I haven’t been in town for quite some times and even if I do, I didn’t get to stay long enough to attend gathering, just like the setting up National Alliance of Bloggers (NAB). And now, it’s very likely that I’m going to miss the coming Bloggers United Malaysia Gathering 2007 too. Well, damn it.

Back to this Ijok by-election. It’s a confirmed battle between Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s Khalid Ibrahim and Barisan Nasional’s K. Parthiban. Khalid is a renowned corporate man, who once led Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and Guthrie Group while Parthiban is merely a former Education officer, an Indian in a Malay-majority constituency.

"I have built townships such as Bukit Jelutong and I would like to bring progress to Ijok and its people," Khalid said.

His records speak for himself, worth much more than the million dollar promise and appearance of big shots only when there is a by-election, together with the son-in-law and the semuanya ok spokeperson. So enthusiastic.

Next Saturday, 28 April 2007 is the best chance for 12,272 eligible voters to express your voice and make the right choice. Afterwards, you don’t have to feel guilty to enjoy the RM36 millions worth of gifts courtesy of Khir Toyo, but to consider yourself lucky to reap the benefit of having a rare by-election right at your doorstep. Quote:

In any case, by-elections are good for the people. They can get almost anything their hearts desire in record time. What takes years to complete or provide is done in days. […]

It just shows that those empowered and obligated to carry out their duties for the people, can in fact do so minus the bureaucracy — it’s just the case of having the will.

If there’s an election, there’s a will. How nice if this country has elections week in week out.

Starting from yesterday, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) allows passengers to check in via e-Ticketing, which will eventually simplify traveling experience, offering customers a number of check-in options including via the internet and self-service kiosks located at the airport.

By Sept 21, MAS will be fully e-Ticketing capabled, a move that will bring many benefits and savings to MAS by replacing paper tickets in accordance with requirements set by International Air Transport Association (IATA) for all airlines to go e-ticketing by Dec 31.

Popular airlines operators within South East Asia region like Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways has been practicing e-ticketing since April 2005 and July 2006 respectively.

I’m sure MAS’s frequent travellers are enthusiastic of this paperless initiative. 100-percent e-Ticketing throughout the international aviation industry will eliminate unnecessary costs for the airlines and add more convenience and value for the customer. Simplifying the process in response to the customer’s need while and at the same time ensuring commercial viability for the airlines.

Meanwhile, the Transport Ministry is still looking into the proposal by Fly Asian Xpress (FAX) to hand over the rural air service in Sabah and Sarawak to FireFly and the result will be made known to the public soon. Minister Chan Kong Choy can’t be wrong this time, the Business Turnaround Plan is at stake!

Hehehe, it’s Works Minister S Samy Vellu again.

This time, he instructed the Putrajaya Public Works Department (PWD) director Abdul Rahim Ahmad to shut the f**k up.
 
"As a director, he is supposed to take direction from us and not make press statements. All of this is cakap-cakap sahaja (empty talk)," he said.

What is Cakap-cakap sahaja? Let me provide you a few examples.

October 2005, Samy reversed his stop-work order on Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya highway merely hours after he made a decision to stop construction work. Not good enough to quality itself as cakap-cakap sahaja?

Feb 2006, Samy said he was ready to accept complaint on his mobile phone and public can call him even at 1am as according to him, "No Problem."

The next day, his assistant said the response was too overwhelming and he was was too busy to attend to those calls. Immediate cease of service. Isn’t this cakap-cakap sahaja?

Then, when we have a cracked bridge, Samy blamed it on weather. Not cakap-cakap sahaja? Doesn’t matter, no matter how serious you’re, the rakyat can’t believe it more than the cakap-cakap sahaja standard.

Recently, when certain quarters threatened to lodge police report against Samy for alleged discrepancies in the project, he said: "Go to hell". Cakap-cakap sahaja? No?

How can you expect your staff to take instruction from you even when you yourself also cakap-cakap sahaja, Samy?

How do you define a successful politician?

From my perspective, it’s about knowing how to say the absolutely right thing at the extremely right time, must be flexible enough to cover your big boss anytime anywhere due to the fact that you’ve a huge wound to cover.

By the way, general election is really coming soon, please exercise your democracy right and do the right thing, people.

Let the picture and words tell the story.

(SOURCE: NST, 15 April 2007)

An upset national doubles coach Rexy Mainaky took Kien Keat to task and told him to behave more professionally and respect the opponents.

"I’m unhappy with Kien Keat’s performance and I’ve told him to forget about (winning) the World Championships or the Beijing Olympics if this is his attitude," said Rexy.

"Koo was over confident and it happened at the wrong time. We won the second game because the opponents made mistakes or else Kien Keat-Boon Heong would have packed their bags and headed home.

"Koo needs to be more professional and he must not look down on his opponents just because he has won big tournaments.

"Their training has also been disrupted by plenty of functions. I plead to everyone involved to spare the boys from these activities. Let’s work together so that they can be focused on their Olympic target."

Well, MCA Youth chief Liow Tiong Lai, who is also the Deputy Youth and Sports Minister needs an Indonesia’s coach Rexy Mainaky to remind us of the diamond in the making and not to spoil them? Didn’t Rexy tell you the similar thing when you both met at the homecoming party at the airport?

I’ve to confess that we Malaysians owe Liow a very BIG thank you, thank you for promoting badminton at Machap by-election when the new champion was too indulged in over-celebration. Can’t you be a little bit smarter in choosing a better place and a better time to showcase the champion-in-the-making, say after they win the World Championship or a gold medal at Olympics Games 2008, if you’re so eager to showcase your political power?

Once again, thank you, our dear Deputy Youth and Sports Minister.

For more context, read here, here and here.

The day I arrived at Mumbai, I was overwhelmed by news coverage of NASDAQ-listed Infosys Techologies Ltd.

Infosys Technologies, a company founded by seven engineers in 1981, which has come to represent India’s IT industry, announced a 70% increase in fourth-quarter profit and a new CEO, the third founder to occupy the CEO’s slot in a company has only has three CEO’s since its inception in 1981.

Personally, what makes Infosys so interesting is due to its system-driven and very institutionalized succession planning via leadership strategies firmly in place at all levels, with the top management focused on creating the next line of successors.

Education and Research (E&R) and the Infosys Leadership Institute (ILI) train employees in technology, business, management and leadership, where a series of workshops under the Leaders Teach Series has been designed to train 220 high potential employees every year to meet the challenges of a changing environment.

However, it’s interesting to note that, any family members of the founders will not get a chance to be employed by Infosys.

The values and business ethics practiced by them is also line with their philanthropic style, by giving back to the society through various initiatives such as providing medical facilities and setting up of educational facilities at rural areas.

Why think flat? This is because Infosys understands the impact of level playing field in this flattening world. Hence, when one of the world’s largest IT corporation in the world’s largest democracy asks whether are you prepared, you know the time has come for you and me to think twice.

In 2005, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced his vision of promoting Islam Hadhari or "Civilization Islam" as a moderate brand of the religion that stresses technological and economic competitiveness, moderation, tolerance and social justice.

Since then, critics of the concept accused Abdullah of mockefing the teaching of Islam and seeking to introduce a new sect of the faith and entrench Islam into Malaysia’s multi-ethnic fabric, in which he denied later by explaining that the concept aims at managing the multi-racial country in a just and fair manner.

As one of the staunch critic of Islam Hadhari concept, Tun Mahathir didn’t minced his words and openly renounced the concept of "Civilization Islam" over an interview in 2006. For himself, there is only one Islam, which is the original Islam since the time of Prophet Muhammad SAW, and will remain true to being an Islamic fundamentalist who reveres the Al-Quran, the Hadis and the Prophet.

Coincidentally yesterday, the well-respected Emeritus Professor of History Dr. Khoo Kay Kim questioned the existence of Islam Hadhari by saying that what is needed in Malaysia is not Islam Hadhari but Muslim Hadhari, progressive Muslims who reach out to non-Muslims and explain their religion.

"Islam in Malaysia has never really been given the opportunity to cross over to the non-Muslims because they (the Muslims) have been told not to," he said.

The question is, if Islam Hadhari is aimed at managing the multi-racial country in a just and fair manner as mentioned, why is it there is so much of misunderstanding between Muslims and non-Muslims in this country? Is it because the young are not being taught of the fundamentals of Islam properly? Is it the boundless ignorance among non-Muslims in trying to gain better understanding of Muslims friends? Or is it merely another concept that isn’t fit into the society afterall?