Chinese Santa

Move over, Santa! 

Here's the Chinese version and he's merrily sprinkling joy with an extra, extra dose of “nián nián yǒu yú” (年年有余), a popular Chinese New Year blessing meaning "May you have abundance year after year"! 😆😆😆

The "Chinese Santa" is a character based on the Qing dynasty military figure Oboi (鳌拜) and portrayed by actor Xu Jinjiang, who appeared at a tourist resort in Zhanjiang, China this month. The exact date was around mid-December, as the story went viral on social media around December 10-20, 2025. 

The character's appearance was part of a festive Christmas event at the Chikan Guangdong Overseas Chinese International Tourism Resort. 

Oboi, known for his thick white beard and imposing presence, was featured sitting in a sleigh and waving to visitors, creating a unique, local version of Santa Claus that became a pop culture phenomenon online.

My Sunday's post "1MDB Verdict: Najib Razak Is Guilty" pertains. In his verdict on December 26, judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah delivered a damning rejection of the former prime minister's narrative that billions in his account were from an Arab donor. 

At the height of the 1MDB scandal a decade ago, however, this story had many other proponents – some of whom are still holding office in senior government positions. 

Among them is Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. In 2015, Zahid told delegates at an UMNO divisional meeting that he had personally met the chief investment officer and wealth trustee of the Arab royal family allegedly behind the RM2.6 billion donation in Najib’s personal account. 

“When I asked them why they donated $700 million to Malaysia, they said, ‘Malaysia is not the only country we are channelling our money to. There are many more friendly Muslim countries to which we are donating’. They want UMNO and BN to continue ruling the country”. He even claimed to have seen the original documents of the transfer. 

The MACC similarly described the funds as a donation, not from 1MDB. Moreover, Azam Baki told reporters on December 07 that year that their investigators had met with the supposed donor. The MACC chief commissioner at the time was Abu Kassim Mohamed, while Azam was the investigation director at the time and has since taken over the top position. 

The stance was echoed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said, who told Parliament in 2016 that the MACC confirmed that the money came from a donation. 

“In the RM2.6 billion case investigation, MACC had confirmed that the funds given to the prime minister personally indeed came from the Saudi royal family, based on testimonies by witnesses and supporting documents. Based on the overall facts and testimonies, the attorney-general was happy that there was no element of crime in these cases”, she said in a written reply. 

Another proponent was former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin. As the UMNO Youth chief at the time, he had argued that the “political donation” into Najib’s account is not a crime and rallied party members to come to Najib’s defence. 

Shouldn't these people be hauled up?!?! 

FYI, the court had dismissed the Arab donation letters presented by Najib’s defence team in his 1MDB trial as “forgeries”. 

“(The) Arab donation narrative is not meritorious. The Arab donation letters were forgeries, and the evidence pointed unmistakably to the fact that the money was, in fact, derived from 1MDB funds. This court has found the Arab donation defence to be incapable of belief and has not succeeded in rebutting the presumption of gratification under Section 23 of the MACC Act”, the judge said in delivering his guilty verdict.

NASA Say China's Zero-G Oven Is A Cool Upgrade

NASA's newly confirmed administrator Jared Isaacman on December 19 held an agency-wide town hall to answer questions from the workforce. During the event, he even responded to a question referencing China's installation of an air fryer on its Tiangong space station. [Refer my November 23 post "China Installs Zero-G Oven in Tiangong Space Station"].

He was asked whether this should prompt a reassessment of some long-standing and "somewhat outdated" NASA requirements. 

Acknowledging the comparison, Isaacman (right) remarked that he had eaten cold pizza in space, describing the air fryer as "an upgrade" and thought it is cool. He used the example to underscore the importance of continuously challenging practices that may have been rigid in the past as the agency move toward a new phase of technological and commercial development. 

Isaacman said the air fryer was merely an example, adding that there were many areas NASA had historically not prioritized or had considered higher risk that should now be re-evaluated, and that this approach should apply across the agency's entire portfolio of responsibilities. 

As per the town hall transcript generated on NASA's official YouTube channel. The above aside, the town hall focused on the new administrator's vision for accelerating NASA's space agenda, including returning astronauts to the Moon, expanding cooperation with commercial partners, and pushing the agency to rethink long-standing practices amid growing global competition in space. 

Yesterday, Liverpool go fourth on 32 points after they defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 in a nervy Premier League match.

Ryan Gravenberch broke the deadlock in the 41st minute when he finished from Jeremie Frimpong's ball. A minute later, Florian Wirtz got on the end of Hugo Ektike's delivery and scored his first Liverpool goal.

Wolves only managed to pull one back in the 51st minute and the Reds held firm to make it seven games unbeaten in all competitions.

Next, Liverpool host Leeds at Anfield on New Year's Day.

1MDB Verdict: Najib Razak Is Guilty

Malaysia’s High Court found former prime minister Najib Razak guilty of four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving nearly RM2.2 billion on December 26 in the biggest trial yet in the multibillion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal. 

Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah, the Federal Court judge who previously presided over the trial at the High Court, delivered his judgment after finding that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt. 

Najib’s conviction comes after the court delivered a lengthy judgment, taking nearly four and a half hours to read, following a High Court trial that lasted over 300 days across more than six years. 

Under the four charges of abuse of power, Najib is accused of using his three positions — as prime minister, finance minister and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers — to obtain financial benefits totalling RM2.22 billion for himself. 

Sequerah also convicted Najib on 21 counts related to the alleged laundering of illicit funds through the latter’s personal AmIslamic Bank account. 

For each of the four power abuse charges, Sequerah sentenced Najib to 15 years’ imprisonment and imposed the minimum statutory fine of five times the gratification amount, totalling RM11,387,888,067.05. 

But this does not mean that Najib will have to serve a total of 60 years in jail, as Sequerah said the jail sentences will run concurrently, or at the same time. Meaning, Najib needs to spend only 15 years in prison. 

And should he fail to pay the fine, Sequerah also imposed an additional 10 years’ imprisonment in default for each power abuse charge.

The Friday decision will not affect Najib’s current imprisonment. This is because he is currently serving a jail sentence in a separate case involving the misappropriation of RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd. 

Bersih have cautioned that the guilty verdict against Najib should not mark the end of the fight against kleptocracy and corruption.  

In a statement on Friday, the Bersih steering committee said the High Court decision, as well as an earlier guilty verdict in the SRC case, will mean little if the government fail to act to prevent the emergence of new kleptocrats.

Don't Shop at Lush Unless You Support Gaza

Mark Constantine, co-founder of Lush – a UK cosmetics company known for making and selling fresh, handmade beauty products (like bath bombs, soaps, shampoos) with a strong ethical stance, focusing on natural ingredients, fighting animal testing, and reducing packaging (selling products "naked") – stated that individuals who disagree with his views, particularly on issues like Gaza, should not purchase products from his stores. 

He explained that he uses company profits to further his causes and believes in being kind, sympathetic, and compassionate, suggesting those who are 'unkind to others' would not get along with him. 

Earlier this year, Lush shut all their UK stores and closed their website for a day in solidarity with people in Gaza, displaying messages like "Stop starving Gaza, we are closed in solidarity". 

Constantine affirmed that customers should indeed avoid shopping at Lush if they oppose his stance, as their money would support his actions.

There is a huge appetite for Malaysian durians in China!

On December 18, a 1,500kg shipment of Malaysian durians sold out in just one hour at a supermarket in Hainan province. 

The sale launched at 12:00 PM at Wanghao Supermarket in Haikou’s Longhua District attracting hundreds of shoppers who had queued for hours. All varieties including Musang King, Black Thorn, Red Prawn, D101, and D13 all were sold out by 01:00 PM. According to a report from HAINAN.NET, some customers waited in lines spanning tens of meters for up to two hours. 

This event coincided with the first day of the Hainan Free Trade Port’s full customs clearance, which now permits duty-free imports. These durians were harvested in Malaysia and flown overnight from Kuala Lumpur to Haikou to ensure freshness. 

Due to the zero-tariff policy, prices were approximately half the usual market rate, ranging from ¥78 to ¥98 (approximately RM45-RM56) per 500g.

3rd Visit to Ebright Toastmasters

On Wednesday, I attended my third Ebright Toastmasters meeting. Again, as the General Evaluator. 

This time around, I gave an unvarnished assessment of the entire meeting and I even called out deficiencies and shortcomings as I saw it. Notwithstanding, I did enjoy the meeting. There was more energy, more exuberance, more vibrancy as compared to my previous meetings there.

And yes, I sold one Diamond book to the only other guest, who's from the Cyberjaya Community Toastmasters Club. He was a good speech evaluator, if I might add.

Donald Trump Renews Push for Greenland

US President Donald Trump has stepped up his campaign to take over Greenland, declaring the Danish territory essential to Washington’s national security and appointing a special envoy he said would “lead the charge”. 

Trump’s comments on Monday came as the leaders of Denmark and Greenland protested against remarks by the new envoy, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (right), who said he would make the Arctic territory “a part of the US”. 

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen issued a joint statement asserting that “Greenland belongs to Greenlanders”.

They reiterated: “You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security. The US shall not take over Greenland”.

Show the Greenlanders you mean business, Trump! Send in the Marines!

Persuasive Speaking for Teens

We had another 2-day session "Persuasive Speaking for Teens" at The Thinking Space, KL on 22-23 December. As always, we are sure to encounter a challenge or two – it comes with the territory – but all's well that ends well!

Photos of the said public speaking workshop:

Book Data Reveals Most Readers Quit Almost Immediately

In 2014, US mathematician Jordan Ellenberg invented a way to quantify something publishers and authors had long suspected: most people don't finish the books they buy. 

He called it the Hawking Index, named after Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" (1988), a global bestseller and a landmark in science writing that made complex cosmology accessible to the general public. And yet, it is famously dubbed "the most unread book of all time". 

Ellenberg's method exploited Amazon Kindle's "popular highlights" feature, which showed the five most-highlighted passages in any book. If those highlights were spread throughout the text, readers were actually finishing. If they clustered at the beginning, people were giving up early. The resulting percentage indicates roughly how far the average reader gets. 

The results were brutal. Hillary Clinton's "Hard Choices" scored 1.9% – meaning most readers bailed almost immediately. Thomas Piketty's economics tome "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" managed only 2.4%. David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" hit 6.4%, and Hawking's own "Brief History of Time" came in at 6.6%. 

Some books fared better. "Fifty Shades of Grey" reached 25.9%, "The Great Gatsby" hit 28.3%, and "Catching Fire" scored 43.4%. 

The winner? Donna Tartt's "The Goldfinch" (2013) at 98.5% – people who started it actually finished. 

The spoilsports at Amazon have since restricted popular highlights data to people who actually buy the books, making the index harder to calculate. 

But Ellenberg proved his point. Those impressive-looking hardcovers on your shelf? Statistically, you probably stopped reading them around chapter two.