The Baha'is Too Use the Allah Word

Another group that is affected by the ban on the use of the "Allah" word is the minority religious community in Malaysia known as the Baha'i. Followers of the faith use the words "Allah-u-Abbha", which means "God the most glorious" when they meet each other.

 

It would seem that the "Allah" issue is unlikely to see an amicable resolution any time soon because communities are starting to draw battlelines.

 

It should be interesting to see if good sense can triumph and Malaysians come together to fix this “Allah” predicament. UMNO’s insidious politicking when it manipulates religion to keep the Malay vote within its clutches is tearing this country apart.

Do you know why Malaysians cannot trust UMNO? Check this out and you decide if you agree with me:

 

 

Last evening, I was at USJ 9/5Q in Subang Jaya to attend the Extol Toastmasters meeting. I was the General Evaluator, invocation presenter and also the speech evaluator for CC speech #4! But it was a good meeting with good speeches and good evaluations. My score: A 7 over 10.

 

 

MKT2024 Videos by 2nd Year SUBS Students

In March of last year, one of the subjects I had taught was MKT2024 Marketing Management. My second year SUN-U students were asked to undertake a group project and one of the requirements was to produce a commercial. Altogether, there were 22 pieces of work and I am (belatedly) showcasing my favorite 4:

Note: Please excuse some of the students if they murdered the English language! Blame it on the BN government for the sorry state of affairs with regard to the Malaysian education system.

 

One of the groups also did a print ad – I like it! – and you can find it below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And if you still cannot have enough of kangkung – check out these pics! Maybe better still, replace the giant gorilla with you-know-who!!!

 

Singing Happy Birthday to Kim Jong Un

Wednesday was North Korea’s Kim Jong Un’s birthday. And a former American basketball star Dennis Rodman (left) went to Pyongyang to visit his BFF and helped celebrate his birthday! For those who are not acquainted with BFF, it means Best Friend Forever – and he not only played basketball but better still, he sang "Happy Birthday" to his ‘beloved friend’!

One thing’s for sure. He cannot sing if his life depends on it. Still, the intention was good. And when he sang, he reminds me of me! I too cannot sing if my life depends on it. 

Anyway, he and other retired NBA players played an exhibition game against the North Koreans and of course, you know who won! Yup, the Americans let the North Koreans beat them. 

Rodman, 52, had visited North Korea three times previously in 2013. He had struck up a friendship with Kim last February, when he first traveled to North Korea with a team of Harlem Globetrotters for an exhibition game that was watched by Kim, a basketball fan. 

Since then, he has described his series of trips to North Korea as a "basketball diplomacy" project. US government officials have said that they have nothing to do with Rodman’s initiatives and that attention should be focused on the brutality of Kim's regime. 

The Philippine embassy in Bangkok has issued a travel advisory to Filipinos travelling to Thailand to shun red or yellow so as to avoid being caught up in the political unrest there. I wonder if the Malaysian embassy there is also issuing similar advice. 

I don’t think so because I came to know about the Philippine bulletin in a Malaysian newspaper (i.e. New Straits Times, January 11, 2013, p 24). I have to assume that the Malaysian embassy is keeping quiet on the matter – otherwise, I would have read about it. 

But anyway, the concern about the colors red and yellow reminds me of the colors yellow and black that could invite arrest in Malaysia at one point in time in 2012-13. 

Colors identify our political affiliation.

Penang to Host World Squash Tourney, 2013 Edition

The Penang Chief Minister (center) announces the state's hosting of the world class squash tourney in two months. Nicol David is on the second  right. The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, January 11, 2014. 

Penang will be hosting for the first time the 30th Women’s World Championship 2013 come March 14 to 21 of this year. Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng announced today the reinstatement of the tournament – which is the pinnacle of the annual Women’s Squash Association (WSA) World Tour – after it was cancelled last year due to two false starts. 

“The Penang state government felt it was a real shame that Penang’s very own world squash queen will not be able to add to her already impressive collection of seven world titles,” he said at a press conference, referring to reigning world champion Nicol David. 

“For this reason, the Penang state government decided to step in to allow the 2013 championship to continue as well as give our Penangites a unique opportunity to see our very own squash queen in action, and hopefully live up to expectations by winning the world title again,” he added. 

Plans to hold the 2013 edition of the women’s world championship were scuttled after prospective hosts Hong Kong and Egypt rejected proposals to organize the event. 

Lim said the WSA’s nod to Penang – which will host the tournament at its PISA Stadium – is recognition of the state’s status having the right facilities, amenities and infrastructure befitting a world-class sports venue.

A great initiative by Penang! 

I like this poo cartoon; enjoy:

Brave Starts Here

I recommend you to check it out:

The timing was almost perfect. Somebody posted the above video recording and I watched and I listened. And tears rolled down on one side of my cheek. 

It was timely. And it was not a coincidence. Yesterday, I delivered my CC speech #10 titled “I Am Angry” at the One World Toastmasters meeting and the speech was about me being angry, always angry with myself because I deemed I am “not good enough”. It’s not about making speeches only. It’s more than that – in everything that I do, I didn’t think what I did was good enough. And there were times too when I wanted to just give up. 

I am only human. I have more than my share of frailties, weaknesses and vulnerabilities. And I am glad that I was introduced to Lizzie Velasquez.

This beautiful person was once labeled ‘The World’s Ugliest Woman’ and she gave me a hard knock on the head. She asks the question “What defines you?” And she makes me think. And think. And think. 

You know the answer if you have viewed the speech in the said clip! As she says, “Brave starts here”! 

Victor Ong is not about to give up. And I have become braver.

I am thankful to One World Toastmasters for giving me a speaking slot and so, I was able to complete my twelfth round of the Competent Communication manual. I have already started on my thirteenth and very soon, I will also begin on my fourteenth and fifteenth rounds. 

Certainly, I intend to speak, speak and speak. Fluently, facilely and fluidly. This means I have to practice, practice and practice. Practice is everything! 

But my idea of practice is in front of a live audience. I agree with Vince Lombardi that “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect”. What better way to aim for perfect practice when the audience judges me every time I come up to speak! 

Coming back to the Toastmasters meeting at KL’s Jalan Genting Klang, it was, as always, a good meeting. I have made a total of four visits (two meetings, i.e. September 27 and November 22, 2012, one meeting on November 14, 2013 and so far, one meeting in 2014) to this club and every time I went there, I enjoyed myself greatly. 

Yesterday was no different. I would give this meeting a score of 8 over 10. 

The Big American Freeze

The polar vortex that gave rise to ‘The Big Freeze’ and responsible for breaking temperature records gripped North America over the weekend.

This severe cold spell, according to meteorologists, is not unusual. The dip in the wave which is the jet stream – a fast flowing ribbon of meandering air stretching the circumference of the globe, miles up in the atmosphere – has allowed extremely cold air to sink in from the North Pole. This is known as a polar vortex – a word we're hearing more of.

Image credit: http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/polar-vortex-in-pictures-best-photos-of-american-big-freeze-9046052.html

 










The Chicago skyline is seen beyond the arctic sea mists rising off Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois. Image by Jim Young/Reuters

Image credit: http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/polar-vortex-in-pictures-best-photos-of-american-big-freeze-9046052.html

Ice from the breath of Gail Davis forming around her face as she exercises by walking outside in Minneapolis. Reuters pic, January 09, 2014.

Image credit: https://twitter.com/GoogleEarthPics/status/420299550780174337/photo/1

The US of A – all 50 states – saw freezing temperatures at some icy point on Tuesday. That included Hawaii, where it was 18 degrees atop Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano. Southerners were not spared either – they had to dig out winter coats, hats and gloves they almost never have to use.

For large swathes of the country, the weather map has begun to look like an algebra worksheet with lots of small, negative numbers. It is said that 149 million people – about half the US population – were gripped by the phenomenon!

Many cities came to a virtual standstill. New York City's Central Park broke a 118-year-old record when the temperature dropped to -15C, according to Fox News and escaped inmate Robert Vick handed himself back into custody in Kentucky when the chill became too much. Even a polar bear was forced to retreat inside in the face of weather colder than in some parts of the Antarctic.

In one small town in Michigan – that goes by the name of Hell – the snow was so deep a snow plough got stuck. The 600-plus residents had to endure temperatures of minus 20 degrees. Indeed, “Hell has literally frozen over”!

Airlines were hit hard. On Tuesday itself, more than 2,500 flights were cancelled and more than 6,000 were delayed, FlightAware.com statistics show.

In fact, the lowest temperature so far recorded was on January 07 in the town of Embarrass in Minnesota at a numbing minus 37 Celsius. It was as low as the Antarctic coast in winter and much colder than the inside of a domestic freezer.

Thankfully, a reprieve is expected soon. Anyway, the cost of the cold snap to the country's economy could be a cool $5 billion , if not more! 

Putrajaya's Version of Hard Rock Cafe

There has been much talk about Hard Rock Café setting up shop in Putrajaya – in addition to outlets in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Kota Kinabalu and Malacca. I am looking forward to this because this establishment will be very different from the Hard Rock Cafés I am familiar with. 

Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, the federal territories minister is not objecting to HRC in the country’s administrative capital as long as it is alcohol- and sleaze-free. 

He brought me to my senses. I realize now that I have sinned. All this while whenever I drop in at a HRC, I have been guzzling beers and rocking to loud music that the minister referred to “as indecent and provocative performances”. 

I must return to being virtuous. I must be good. And therefore, I agree with Tengku Adnan that HRC stop serving alcohol and have Nasyid (Islamic) groups stage live performances instead. 

It is time to abandon my Mephistophelian lifestyle and turn over a new leaf. No more wine, beers, and liquor. Drink only coffee and tea. No more deafening music that seduces me and makes me stray from the path of righteousness. Listen only to devotional songs. 

And while we are at it, why not have the other HRCs to similarly provide “clean entertainment”? But I wonder if entertainment and hospitality mogul Syed Yusof will get upset since he owns the business interests in the Hard Rock Café franchise in this country. 

Anyway, Putrajaya Corporation (PPj) has decided that there will not be a Hard Rock Café in Putrajaya – so what to do? I will have to continue my wicked ways! Sigh!

I was in Brickfields for the MIA Toastmasters meeting yesterday evening. I delivered my CC speech titled “Batman and the Hulk”. I was also the Table Topics Evaluator. A good meeting even if attendance was sparse. I would give this meeting a score of 6.5 over 10. 

Chasing a Dream

Hollywood can be full of surprises. Really! 

20th Century Fox gave American viral video guru Casey Neistat $25,000 to make a trailer for the Ben Stiller flick, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. His brief was short and sweet – make a trailer about chasing your dreams. 

Neistat instead chased one of his own: helping Super Typhoon Haiyan victims in the Philippines. He organized a relief expedition to Tacloban and went out to help the people in need! 

Amazingly, 20th Century Fox actually agreed to let him spend the entire promotional video budget! Check out what he did:

Isn’t this great? 

I wish to share two good news that I have received. 

First, the Open University Malaysia module (i.e. BMMS5103 Strategic Marketing) that I wrote back in 2008-9 has had three prints: First printing – August 2009; second printing – April 2010; third printing – December 2010. 

Second, the paper I presented at the 23rd International Business Research Conference on November 18, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia had won the Best Paper Award for Marketing – Paper 510: “Understanding Consumers’ Intention in Socially Responsible Purchasing in Malaysia Using the Theory of Reasoned Action”.