As the day gets colder, we are preparing ourselves to consume more warm food. Eng learned and prepared this Dutch dish for our lunch today - Kale with Mashed Potatoes and Sausages. I love the taste of kale, it somehow smells a bit like presevered salted vege (ham choy/kiam chai). Some says the kale is the Chinese vege “kai lan” but it’s not quite right. They don’t taste the same at all or probably there are just from the same group but different species. Today is also the day we adjust our clock an hour earlier due to the end of daylight saving. So it’s now 8 hours time difference with Malaysia.

Our church organized a Malaysian Night yesterday; intention was to introduce some Malaysian culture to the locals as well as to strengthen the bond between church members. There are only 4 Malaysians (including 2 of us) in the church. We wanted to play some Malaysian games but it was rather challenging to think of any good and non-childish games that would involve a group of more than 20 people. When I was a kid, I’d played "masak-masak", 5 stones, AEIOU haha …absolutely too kiddish. Congkak would have been fun but it only involves 2 players and furthermore, we do not have a congkak set. So we figured out that the food has to be good then. We Malaysians prepared a few dishes for a pax of 30. Our friends prepared sate, beef curry, vege dhal curry, stir fry greens and fried mee-hoon. We contributed chicken curry and my own Kampung style fried rice. It was an enjoyable night….felt so much like home - mel.

I almost felt off my chair when reading this news. What our country has become? Now you have Religious enforcement officers going after non-muslims and worse … Kwai Low?

What is Khalwat? See the excerpt from the Women right website :

The conditions for Khalwat is provided under the Syariah Criminal Provisions Act, and the circumstances differ from state to state. Generally, as provided by the Syariah Criminal Provisions Act (Federal Territories), Section 27, it entails:
"Any man who is found together with one or more women, not being his wife or mahram; or any woman who is found together with one or more men, not being her husband or mahram, in any secluded place or in a house or room under circumstances which may give rise to suspicion that they were engaged in immoral acts shall be guilty for an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding three thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both."
This means that if you are with a man or woman who is not your legal spouse in a secluded area or confined place, being engaged in "immoral" activity, you can be caught for Khalwat. If convicted, you can be subjected to a fine, or be imprisoned or both. This only applies if you are a Muslim. In the case of Siti, if she and her boyfriend are caught for Khalwat her boyfriend will be released, as he is not subjected to the Syariah Law…
**Siti’s bf is a non-muslim.

The American couple is obviously not subjected to the Syariah Law. But why were they targeted?

Do we have to get to the point of giving crash course to all foreigners upon arriving in the country of what they should / should not do, their right and etc …

I.E. they should not kiss nor hold hands in public, understand they are not under Syariah law therefore Khalwat doesn’t applies…
All of these just because our enforcement officers are out of their mind?

While our Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan has the tendency to slam the media for playing up issues affecting the tourism in the country (snatch thieves, haze …), why can’t he turns to his fellow comrades in the Cabinet to stop generating new headlines!

Now, if our country is so bad in getting these officers to do their duty right, what do you feel about the recent recruitment of more Rela members? -eng

I read the transcripts from Mahathir on his recent face to face private meeting with Abdullah. If that is genuine, then I would have thought that Abdullah is not sincere in addressing those issues but merely for the sake of listening for publicity purposes. Most of the replies from Abdullah are either ‘denied’, ‘disagree’ or ‘I’ll look into it’ style of typical tai-chi reply; no dates have been set to answer these issues.
So, as an experienced prominent leader for 22 years, having to have met so many different leaders from all over the world, do you think Mahathir will not smell the sincerity of a person? Or do you think Mahathir will leave the meeting with a big smile and thinking that issues are in good hands and will be resolved?
Personally, I don’t agree to everything that Mahathir has said neither I am big supporter of him, but his criticism has helped the country especially in time of majority ruling structure in the current administration. He is outspoken, sarcastic and persistent (like trying to remove a chewing gum on Rafidah’s sole). Unfortunately we don’t have many people like him in the country, his fame and X-PM status is the only reason why his complaints are gaining publicity, also the reason why the Ministers are taking them slightly more seriously. Who else will make a similar impact? Those in UMNO will not whine a word or will they receive a memo, same for those in MCA and MIC, oppositions are so used to whining and they are lot less effective and filtered by media – also no one in BN are allowed to agree to issues raised by Opposition anyway (that’s BN’s golden rule), and any attempts by public to stage protest will easily end in bloody tragedy (ie the fuel increase protest KLCC ended by force). So we don’t have much choice, do we?
Just a day after Mahathir aired his dissatisfaction over the meeting, few ministers has spoken and mostly labelled Mahathir as the bad guy, impatient and etc. Read here. Some of the comments are so weak that it would have been better to keep quiet.

‘Umno information chief Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib pointed out that Abdullah was answerable to more than 20 million Malaysians and not just one man. ‘

>> Well, we are still waiting for answer about setting up Independent Police investigation task force for almost a year already! Also, the government owes us explanations on Bumi Equity ownership statistics. And we are still waiting…

‘International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said: ”Give the Prime Minister a chance to lead the country the way he needs to. In any case, the public will be the judge of his performance just like how they judged Dr Mahathir.” 

>> Abdullah has been given the chance when he was appointed PM and it was only last year Mahathir started the criticsm due to AP and Proton issues. There is no question about Abdullah has not been given a chance.

Rafidah added: ”I have explained the AP issue in Parliament and proved that there was no misappropriation going on.” ‘

>> If there wasn’t misappropriation, why Cabinet had to withdraw the issuing of new AP from your department after the investigation?

‘On Tun’s accusation that Khairy Jamaluddin had an easy path to the Umno Youth deputy chief post, Hishamuddin said it was odd that it has been two years since that day and he still has to comment on that issue. ‘

>>Rephrase the question: Why can’t Mahathir be like any other Malaysians who have short memory on the wrongs that have been done by the Government? I.e. mishandling of AP by Rafidah, mismanagement of Hospitals, highway projects by Sami, racist remarks from Kairy, Klang local council became Zakaria’s family business and many more. In general, Malaysians understand the issues, comment the people involved and forget, then in next general election vote the same people again. As a result the same ministers get to clinch to the same rotten chair and same shit different day on and on -eng.

It’s Deepavali in Malaysia and oh how I miss the yummy Indian food on this day! My neighbours back in Cheras used to invite us for luncheons during this occasion and boy, Mrs Rajah’s and Mrs Karuna’s mutton curries, wild boar curries and biryani rice are scrumptious. Since we miss the food so much, Eng and I decided to ‘celebrate’ it on our own. We made Lamb Biryani rice and it turned out pretty well - rice was translucent as we used Basmati and the lamb was tasty and tender though the colour was a bit light. Although it is a time consuming dish but it was worth the effort. Btw, it’s called Diwali in UK and also in India, so don’t ask me why it’s called Deepavali in Malaysia and I’m not sure which is the right term. Anyway, Happy Deepavali aka Diwali to all our Indian friends out there! - mel

A thumbs-up for KS with a very informative blog explaining the latest row on Bumi’s equity. I guess all my questions have been answered. IMHO, as a responsible Malaysian, you should at least have a read of his blog to try to understand the flaws riddled statistics used by current administrations for the past 50 years and it is still being used today. I am not DAP supporter but I appreciate his Facts and efforts of putting them together.

It is understood that the Government statistic doesn’t include Bumi’s savings in bank, foreign properties and land ownerships. My question to the Government is, how can they decide that Bumis are still behind in terms of country economy standpoint by just looking at equity ownership (mainly company ownership)?

One good point mentioned by KS is that if the Bumis apply for IPO, pocket the profit by selling them and repeat the process again and again, subsequently invest in foreign investments, we will never achieve the NEP target of 30%. **remember that Bumis have a higher allocation of IPO so the chances of them getting through in IPO application are higher compare to non-Bumis**. This hit-and-run practise is just one of the money-generator-mechanisms mentioned in the Blog. This also means that the non Bumis will have to work much harder under ‘unfair policies’ set out in NEP to fuel Bumis wealth empire (ie foreign investment) which may have been deliberately left out of Government statistics !

*I have to be clear that reason I said ‘un-fair policies’ in NEP is because as far as the NEP target is concerned, it has been achieved, and therefore we should now look to dismantle these measures and build a balanced policy benefit all races. If the Government continue to mock up statistics so that the NEP policies can be maintained to endless date, then it is very unfair for other races.

Just when I am typing this blog… I came across Effendi divorce news.

‘Under the settlement agreement, Effendi consented to give Farida, his wife of over 20 years, a gift of 25 lots of land, two houses in Malaysia, a townhouse in Britain and his shares in Encorp Utility Sdn Bhd. Both parties signed the settlement agreement on Jan 28 last year. ‘

From the Government statistics, Only the share in Encorp Utility Sdn Bhd is considered Effendi’s wealth, and worse still the value is calculated with Par Value of the company’s share. Government completely ignore the rest including the townhouse in Britain which is very eye catching.

Oh, maybe i should ask the Government this question: the Court (Effendi’s divorce case) recognizes all these elements (above) as a person’s Wealth, why not the Government ?

Also, can you recall what was the settlement package for Siti’s husband’s X-wife ? - Massive deal involved couple of houses.

How do you expect me to believe that Bumis are so poor and only taking up 18.9% of the nation’s wealth ? -eng

While we always hear about snatch thieves and Government problems in Malaysia’s News, in UK it is not uncommon to hear news about child murder, child sex assault and robberies target on elderly.
Just to give you an idea of what have happened in March this yr.
Joe Geeling (11) was lured to a house, he was beaten repeatedly with a frying pan, which left him with multiple bruises to the head and fractured eye socket. Then he was stabbed 16 times with two kitchen knives. His body was being put in a wheelie bin and hid in a park. The murderer is his senior age 14 yr old.
Complete story here
Others I could remember are a black boy was stabbed due to some racist reason in Liverpool last year, another boy was killed by group of kids as a result bullying in London school, a school girl was stabbed in her eye with a scissor by her mate (another girl) in school just because the attacker didn’t like her favourite music. It’s mad, isn’t it?
Obviously, first world countries have their own problems. -eng

Since many friends said I didn’t look any different from my original figure, here it is to satisfy their curiosity! A comparison of 4 weeks and my latest sexy look  And don’t freak out, those are maternity jeans.

I think it’s about time to update the world regarding Malaysia weather. While most countries away from the Equator have 3 to 4 seasons, Malaysia (along with other countries in the region) now have 2 seasons: Clear Summer from Nov-Jul and Hazy Summer in Aug-Oct.

This has happened without fail over the years. During the second season, these are the common events that will take place

-You get haze, a lot of it, everyday and come with burning smell!

-Pollution index will be on the front page and talk of the town

-Patients flooding to clinics with respiratory problem

-Few Ministers will say ‘will bring this up with Indonesia authorities’, ya whatever…

-While, Indonesia will reply ‘do everything they can to keep it under control’, so what?

-School threaten to close

-Cloud seeding in action in the sky

-People praying for rain, sometimes you get Bomohs too!!

-Often the tourism Minister will claim that the media is playing up the issue which affecting tourism industry

-and etc etc…

To be honest, if a person made a mistake first time around, he is forgive-able. But if the same mistake is happening again and again and worse around the same time every year, wouldn’t that send you thinking: What the F is this fella doing!? I am bored of the same excuse every year already!

However something new this year. These are the comments from Indonesia Ministers in response to memorandum submitted by Malaysian to Indonesia embassy.

‘If you can guarantee the wind will not blow (in this direction), then I can guarantee it (haze) will not happen again.” […]’ “When we export oxygen, you don’t say anything; when we export haze, you complain.”

Excerpt from the JeffOoi blog.

A very childish response from country representatives.

Now, I have a neighbour who plays good music during the day and blast Metalica after dark every day. Will the neighbour expect me to ‘sit tight’ and enjoy since they’ve supplied the good music during the day? No way I am gonna to do that.

While Malaysia Government was showing the united front to demand apology from Harry Lee over remarks about Chinese ethics being marginalized, we will see if they got the balls to bark at Indonesia this time around.-eng

It’s been a busy and tiring week. Anyway, this was something we tried @Manchester early this week during my business trip. A typical Mongolian feast which was quite good. Well, maybe because we got all the right ingredients..yeah you need to mix your choice of fish, meat, vege, sauces and spices. The chef just set the dish on the grill…no sweat huh? - mel.