A Merdeka Song

A Merdeka song:



There's good news from Kuantan. Five local residents made headway in their bid to stop Lynas Corp from firing up its controversial rare earth plant here after they got the High Court’s nod to challenge the science, technology and innovation minister’s decision to award a temporary operating licence (TOL) to the Australian miner. Thumbs up to Kuantan High Court judge Mariana Yahya for delivering the decision when their case was up for a judicial review last Tuesday.

Fellow Toastmaster Vince Tay texted me yesterday morning to request that I take up the Evaluator’s role at the MAICSA Toastmasters meeting. I agreed. The last time I was there was on March 15, 2012. Overall, it was a good meeting and I particularly enjoyed Leong Oi Wah’s superb attempt to deliver an Advanced speech in Malay. I would give this Thursday meeting at MidValley a score of a 6.5 over a 10.

Gabungan Janji @ Merdeka Square vicinity

Image credit: https://weehingthong.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/janji-bersih-on-merdeka-day-at-dataran-merdeka/

Image credit: http://johnshenlee.com/blog/tag/gabungan-janji/

Last night, more than five thousand Bersih supporters under the Gabungan Janji banner gathered near Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka Square to show their support for clean and fair elections and join other Malaysians to usher in Merdeka. PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu and PKR lawmakers Tian Chua and Fuziah Salleh were there. And not forgeting national laureate Samad Said who recited "Janji Demokrasi" which was composed for this year's independence day celebrations. The poet, who is also co-chairman of Bersih, was seen wiping away his tears during the recital.

The organizers distributed song sheets mocking the song chosen by the BN government for this year's theme "Janji Ditepati" and the mainly yellow-clad protestors were chanting and blowing vivuzelas as well as distributing yellow flowers before joining others to shout "Merdeka" at the stroke of midnight. [Sadly, Merdeka Square itself was cordoned off and Malaysians were once again prevented from accessing it].

I am so thrilled that for the first time Celtic has qualified for the group phase of the UEFA Champions League competition since the 2008-2009 season. It’s been four years in waiting and I can tell you it’s a great feeling to know we have qualified!

Celtic already had one foot in the tournament proper after last week’s 2-0 win over Sweden’s Helsingborg and they finished the job in style on Wednesday, with another victory by the same scoreline completing a 4-0 aggregate success.

In the second leg opener, Celtic waited only half an hour for Georgios Samaras to present a mis-hit Scott Brown shot into the path of Gary Hooper, who had the most simple of tasks to tap home from close range. Then Victor Wanyama sealed victory when he headed in a Kris Commons cross in the 88th minute.

The Cookie Monster Batman

This week, a new semester is just starting and I spent most of my time meeting SUBS students to advise them on the subjects to take as well as to ‘counsel’ students who did not do well in the last semester – the latter is referred to as the APRC (i.e. Academic Progress Review Committee) interview. This proved to be stressful to the students summoned to meet me as well as the Program Chair for the BBS course who chaired these sessions. So to de-stress, I had been watching the video clip below! I am also thankful that I had Dr Choy Tuck Yun to help me in these two days.

For those who didn’t know, Cookie Monster (left) is the philosophical, googly-eyed character from Sesame Street. A muppet who is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!", and "Om nom nom nom" (said through a mouth full of food). So the YouTube video shows him “impersonating” the Batman.

And yesterday, I was at the Palace of the Golden Horses to attend a Toastmasters meeting – this was only the second meeting for the Elite Toastmasters Club. The speeches were well-delivered but even more importantly the English used in this meeting was exhilarating. The Elite Toastmasters Club has made a very promising start to showcase “a quality Toastmasters meeting” that dares to challenge itself, every time and all the time. At this meeting, all it took was just twelve Toastmasters who were prepared to push self-limiting boundaries and eclipse exacting expectations in order that they can consummate a first class Toastmasters meeting. For sure, it was a successful effort and I am happy to give it an 8 out of a 10.

Robot Chef

I came across this cute video of a “robot chef”. Cui Runguan, a Beijing inventor and restaurateur, has created a "robot chef" for slicing noodles: it's basically an automated dough-shaving knife encased in a charming retro-robot shell with superfluous blinking eye-lights. I find it rather cute – an Ultraman lookalike.

It was also mentioned that the diners featured in the news segment seem to treat the noodles as "hand-cut by a mechanical person" and not as "sliced by an industrial machine." It gives a different connotation, doesn’t it? The power of words!

On Monday, I was at KL’s Cititel MidValley to attend the two hundredth meeting of the MidValley Toastmasters Club. More than forty Toastmasters came to show support – they were from a good number of clubs such as Money & You, Friendship, HELP University, ITC, Taman Indrahana, Faith, YSP, Sunway University and MIMKL. I was the General Evaluator by the way. The meeting started on time but it dragged on until nearly eleven PM – one glaring shortcoming was that the meeting agenda didn’t give all the details. Still it was a great evening and I am giving it a score of a 7 out of a 10.

Welcome to Raub

Image credit: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/207200

Raub residents who are members of the Ban Cyanide Action Committee have appointed Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai and Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen – two MCA lackeys as their 'ambassadors' for the 'Himpunan Hijau Raub' anti-cyanide demonstration planned for September 02, 2012.

On Sunday, they wore masks of the faces of Liow and Ng, carrying posters highlighting the betrayal of MCA on the Bukit Koman gold mine issue and collecting more than 2,000 signatures from members of the public. Liow and Ng were said to have pledged their support for the anti-cyanide movement before the 2008 general election – but later reneged on their promises and ignored the plight and complaints of the residents. Are Raub people so naïve that they didn’t know MCA must kowtow to UMNO? Who gave the approval for this gold mining activity if not UMNO?

The September 02 rally is to be the culmination of five years of protest against the use of cyanide in the gold mine. Protesting is not enough. Raub residents need to disown MCA too – they can do this by voting Ng Yen Yen out – she’s a three-term MP and it is time to expel her from Raub permanently!