Once Upon A Time....In My Life

The Interior of An Old Penang House

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Its that time of the year again ie the durian season has begun. Guess what? I made a fantastic discovery on my way back from Temerloh today, that there were still durians being harvested from durian trees of over a 100 hundred years old. Apparently the saplings from such trees fetch an exhorbitant price if you are lucky enough to be sold one. This I was told by one of the proprietors of the numerous road side stalls at the KL-Karak Highway, near the Bentong junction.

The cost of such a durian is RM12 per kilo, more than double the price of the durian kampung (translation : village durian ie durians of the wild & natural variety).

Of course there are the hybrid durians (durian kacuk or durian kahwin) with fanciful names like Mau San Wong (Musang King) or XO. Hybrid durians have been bred to taste good and to be fleshy for a better bang for the buck but I would highly advise you to avoid them. Shoot me a message if you are keen to know why.

Anyway, what's the verdict on 'hundred year old' durians? F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C. It was like eating sugar and it had the thinnest of seeds giving a lot of flesh per fruit. Would I buy it again? Hell Yeah!!

Leverage Combat Academy Barbeque

Short Family Holiday to Krabi, Thailand

 The 8 pictures above were all taken in Railay Beach. Picture postcard perfect beach

 Ao Nang beach

View from my balcony

I took a short break with the family to Krabi. It's our first time there although we've been to the neighbouring island of Phuket several times. The weather held up fine and I was able to snap several hundred pics with the trusted Nokia N8. Hope to go back there again soon since it's virtually in our backyard. Food was cheap and the people friendly. What more can you ask for really.

Deepavali Kolam 2011

 Shot taken from the floor above the kolam

 Also from the floor above

 Close-up shot 1

  Close-up shot 2

  Close-up shot 3 : can you see the coloured rice grain?

iSad

Chinese Glass Sculpture

This Tittot sculpture has a hefty price tag of RM25,000. That's the price of beauty.

Pre-Islamic Hindu Statue Excavated From Bujang Valley

On The Way to Ipoh

Sometimes when I am on the road, there are scenery that scream out to be recorded. This was one that I captured on the way up to Ipoh at around 8 a.m. The sun was out, the mountain mist was about to drift away and I was sleepy. It took all of 5 seconds.

Imagine that shortly before this at about 7 a.m. it was like this :

September Rain

Today's trip to Muar was hazardous to say the least. I took a morning drive down to Muar to attend to some work matters. On the way back to KL it rained pigs and dogs. Saw 2 fender-benders and a flipped-over car. Oh well.

Gelugor

Tree of Light

Balik Pulau

Balik Pulau Town Center

Main Street

Church of the Holy Name of Jesus

A Sample of a pre-World War 2 shophouse

A Fruit Vendor

The famous Penang Assam Laksa

Assam Laksa Fresh Ingredients

Hardware store

Kaki 5

Over the Hari Raya break I managed to squeeze in a short break to Penang, the missus' hometown and 1 of the places of interest we stopped by was Balik Pulau ('the other side of the island'), which among other things is famous for its durian plantations. As the pictures will attest, it's a really small town with the Main Street running through it.

Here's also a short video of the preparation of the Penang Assam Laksa which incidently  was voted 7th out of 50 most delicious food in the world in a CNN global poll.

A Typical Government Chinese Minister In Malaysia

This Is So Fucking Embarassing

"On July 9, 20,000 Malaysians gathered in Kuala Lumpur to demand more transparency in electoral laws in connection with next year's national elections.

Police unleashed tear gas and chemical-laced water on the demonstrators and temporarily detained nearly 1,700 of them. According to reports, authorities also detained six opposition activists without trial and accused them of trying to use the rally to spread communism. Police said they found T-shirts and other materials linked to communist figures.

Apparently, these measures didn't suffice for some of Malaysia's nervous ruling elite. The editors of Utusan Malaysia, owned by Prime Minister Najib Razak's United Malays National Organization ruling party (UMNO), defaulted to a time-tested maneuver: When in doubt, blame the Jews!

The Jews? Most citizens of the overwhelmingly Asian economic giant have never and will likely never meet a Jew in their lifetime. And yet the folks at Utusan Malaysia, which is influential among Muslims in rural areas who rely on government-linked media to shape their worldview, are apparently confident warnings about a "Jewish plot" would resonate in a land without Jews.

To understand why, you need only look at the track record of the man who dominated his nation for a quarter of a century, Malaysia's fourth prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir was credited with engineering Malaysia's rapid modernization and spectacular economic growth. He was a dominant political figure, winning five consecutive general elections. He also used his political clout and controversial laws to detain activists and political opponents.

And Mahathir is an anti-Semite.

Back in 1970, in his treatise on Malay identity, "The Malay Dilemma," he wrote: "The Jews are not only hooked-nosed ... but understand money instinctively. ... Jewish stinginess and financial wizardry gained them the economic control of Europe and provoked antisemitism which waxed and waned throughout Europe through the ages."

In August 1984, a visit by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra was canceled when his Information Minister demanded that music by composer Ernst Bloch be deleted from the program. His crime? He was a Jew and the selection chosen was based on Hebrew melodies.

In 1986, Mahathir charged "Zionists" and Jews with attempting to destabilize the country through allegedly Jewish-controlled media. He subsequently banned The Asia Wall Street Journal for three months describing the publication as "Jewish owned." In the 1990s, Mahathir used the Malaysian news agency, Bernama, to accuse Australian Jewry of conspiring to topple him.

Mahathir, who made Islam a central component of Malaysian identity, made this chilling charge in 1997: "We are Moslems, and the Jews are not happy to see Moslems progress."

Perhaps that would help explain the resounding ovation which greeted his screed at a Islamic Leadership Conference in 2003: "The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million ... but today, the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them."

And just last year the elder statesman of anti-Semites said this at a conference: "Jews had always been a problem in European countries. They had been confined in ghettos and periodically massacred. But they still remained and still thrived and held whole governments to ransom. ... Even after their massacre by the Nazis in Germany, they survived to be a source of even greater problems to the world."

All this may help explain why Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and the infamous "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" are on prominent display at the Malaysian capital's International Airport.

But there are some signs that in 2011 not everyone is drinking Mahathir's toxic Kool-Aid. Maria Chin Abdullah, one of the organizers of the mass rally that sought to prevent electoral fraud, charged that Utusan Malaysia's warning of an alleged Jewish conspiracy was "nonsense that is being spread in very bad taste," adding, "To rely on this claim of Jewish support is to insult the people's good intentions of seeking important reforms."

Perhaps Kuala Lumpur hasn't paid much attention to the Arab Spring. Maybe its time they did, especially since it was inspired by Muslims demanding more freedom and democracy. It isn't world Jewry that is driving members of minorities to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, but the failure of a democratic government to provide equal rights and opportunities to all their citizens. It's time for Malaysian leaders to grow up. Relying on big-lie Jewish conspiracies is no substitute for honest and transparent governance".

Original post can be found here.

I hate to say this but a vast majority of Malaysians of the Muslim faith IN MALAYSIA are full blown anti-semites. I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise with all the indoctrination they've been subjected to at their homes and/or religious schools. I think they should free their minds and get rid of the hate. Jews are the easy targets here as there are no Jews in Malaysia to defend themselves. Unfortunately, Christians are also their favourite target of discrimination. This is too damn depressing, I can't go on. Give me a holler if you want to discuss this.

A United Malaysia

It has been a long time coming and with prevalent electoral fraud, the people of Malaysia decided to do something about it. The Bersih 2.0 movement organised a peaceful rally and was met with the full force of the state machinery which was bent on stopping the rally.

All roads leading into Kuala Lumpur were blocked but as you can see thousands of Malaysians braved the odds to attend the rally.



The organizers estimate that approximately 50,000 people had participated, supporting its cause for clean and fair elections.

Tear gas were used to disperse the peaceful rally and there were also evidence of police brutality

The following is the official statement from Steering Committee
Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0)

Bersih 2.0 is proud that in spite of all the obstacles and hindrances that we were forced to face, Malaysians of all walks of life overcame the oppressive acts of the police to come out peacefully and in incredibly large numbers to show their love for their country and for the principles of justice,” said the movement in a statement about a

We are nonetheless horrified that several hundred people have been detained, many of them without any justification whatsoever. We particularly condemn the arrests of Datuk Ambiga Sreenevesan and Maria Chin Abdullah, two members of the Bersih 2.0 Steering Committee.

The only violence witnessed was perpetrated by the police, who unleashed immense amounts of tear gas and chemical laced water on innocent members of the public. Police also baton charged those who gathered, injuring many and some very seriously.

In one of the worst acts of violence, police fired tear gas into the compound of Tung Shin Hospital, severely jeopardising the health not only of the rakyat who had sought refuge there, but the patients there as well.

This was one of only various acts of totally unwarranted violence by the police against a rakyat who had exercised their constitutional right to gather peacefully.

We are especially proud of the great discipline and peacefulness shown by all the brave Malaysian who dared to stand up today for what was right.

Today's gathering is not the end, it is but one more step in the long walk for clean and fair elections in Malaysia. The campaign continues, to work for electoral reform, the release of all detainees, and an end to harassment by the authorities. The struggle continues in the courts of law, the corridors of power, and the hearts of all the rakyat.

Althought our attempt to submit a memorandum to DYMM SPB YDP Agong did not take place today, we will make appropriate arrangements to deliver the memorandum when the police have calmed down.

In the meantime, we call on all Malaysians to continue to work to peacefully achieve clean and fair electoral process in our country. Inspired by their bravery and steadfast commitment, we will never rest in our efforts to work together as one people to bring about a better Malaysia.

Malaysia of Yesteryear (In Videos)

2011 Pan Asian Jiu Jitsu international.

Just a short note here. About 12 of us from the academy found ourselves in Manila on June 18-19, for the 2011 Pan Asian Jiu Jitsu international competition. At the ripe old age of 40 I competed against some younger guys. I only had 2 matches : won the 1st one and lost the 2nd one.

The team performed beyond expectations with a total haul of 15 medals including 4 Golds. Team work and camaraderie was excellent and played a huge role in the team's success. A word of thanks also goes out to our coach Marcos Escobar for cornering all of us during our fights (and for enduring our silly mistakes during the fights) AND to the other team members who although did not join us in Manila, gave us their time in helping us prepare.