UMNOs regime has done its best in imprinting our mind in paying more attention to our skin colours and has been quite successful so far. well, but how could you undo 53 years of wrong doings? 8th March is the beginning. Eradication of racism in Malaysia is impossible, its in our blood whether we like it or not although some would tend to be more tolerant than others. Racism and marginalizing the minorities go hand in hand in this country, the day when the UMNOs interpretation of bumiputra is erased is the day when all hopes of all races in this country uniting becomes 1 step closer to reality. Good to raise the issue of orang asal/asli, its so easy even for the chinese/Indians to overlook these ppl who have been robbed of their land/wealth/identity. Unfortunately, just like their fore fathers, most of us still live in the dark ages.. Bumiputeras = Orang asli. They should be given the privileges. But since you know, orang melayu masih jauh ketinggalan even after DEB was ...

Identical peas but worlds apart Malaysiakini Pemerhati: There are some similarities between Mahathir Mohamad and Lee Kuan Yew. Both were dictatorial, they suppressed the opposition by using and abusing the government agencies that they controlled and have exhibited their racism through their statements. Lee was criticised by a Malaysian Chinese writer in Aliran when he made a racist statement in the 1980s about the importance of maintaining the ethnic Chinese population at 80 percent in Singapore. But the similarity ends there. Malaysia under Mahathir became extremely corrupt and the top people stole hundreds of billion ringgit of the people's money and the important state institutions were destroyed. The people remain poor and get low quality service from the degraded institutions. Singapore, unlike Malaysia became squeaky clean, embraced meritocracy and treated all its citizens fairly and equally. The people get first class service from its excellent institutions manned by the be...

Ravages has added a photo to the pool: Also called Napier Bridge. Built over the Cooum, to give access to the the English inside Fort St. George, to the rest of Madras. Built in 1869 and now expanded, and lit up to almost defy the river that flows beneath. SOOC.

By Syahredzan Johan Suatu refleksi berkenaan hak untuk berhimpun dengan aman dan tanpa senjata dan penafian hak ini oleh pihak berkuasa. Apabila saya mendengar bahawa akan diadakan demonstrasi, saya dengan serta merta dapat menggambarkan apa yang akan berlaku. Demonstrasi itu tidak akan mempunyai permit polis. Polis akan memberi amaran kepada orang ramai supaya tidak menghadiri protes tersebut. Polis akan membuat sekatan jalanraya untuk menghalang pemprotes daripada turun memprotes. FRU akan dipanggil. Meriam air dan gas pemedih mata akan digunakan ke atas pemprotes. Kemudian, tangkapan akan dibuat. Apa yang berlaku adalah seperti yang dijangkakan. Ada yang mempersoalkan mengapa protes tersebut harus dilangsungkan. Menurut mereka, tujuan protes itu diadakan tidak mempunyai merit. Bagi saya, tujuan sesuatu protes, demonstrasi atau perhimpunan itu tidak penting dan tidak relevan. Apa yang saya pentingkan adalah hak untuk berbuat demikian....

Mahathir says power corrupts but in the same breath rejects change Written by Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad cast doubt on the ability of the new governments of Tunisia and Egypt to solve the nations troubles. He didnt believe that its new leaders would do better and blamed government incompetence for the underdevelopment of Muslim countries. He said, Should these revolutions succeed there would be new governments. But it is worthwhile to remember that change is not always for the better. With a hint of irony, he remarked This is because most leaders upon achieving power would change and would forget the struggles and sacrifices which enabled them to be in power. Power corrupts as we all know. Mahathirs remarks came as the new Tunisian unity government experienced a shaky start and violence marred the uprising ...

Protesters rally in front of the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur urging Washington to pressure Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down. (AP) By ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: Feb 4, 2011 12:05 Updated: Feb 4, 2011 12:58 KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysian police have fired water canon on protesters in Kuala Lumpur who were calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down. More than 1,000 people protested outside the US Embassy in the Muslim-majority countrys biggest city, Kuala Lumpur, on Friday. They called on the United States to pressure Mubarak to resign i...

An Indian Mamak will always be remembered as Mamak and not Malay - Mahathir, you are only half baked Malay when you married a Malay lady. That doesn't put you in place to bark like a Pariah dog.... and for Najib, please stop this political game at once or else you will be the last UMNO PM....... The purpose is to ensure that UMNO continues to exercise complete hegemony over the government and country. Mahathir advocates Ketuanan Melayu to hold onto the Malay votes and Najibs 1Malaysia to placate the nave and simple-minded Chinese, Indians and other non-Malays, who continue to live in denial. I thought I was alone with this line of thinking until I came across this February 04, 2011 article in The Malaysian Insider . The following passages capture the essence of the divisive politics as promoted by the Mahathir-Najib axis: Mahathirs rhetoric that this country belongs to the Malays i.e. others are less than equal as Malays are more equal than others, ensures Umno will endear a...

as a senior citizen who has seen the antics of may political leaders, i asked a question- does the former PM love malaysia n her people. why is he trying to provoke n pit one community against another. is this the real character this nation is now seeing? i thought as an elder statesman, he should be helping in nation building n advising the current leaders how best to progress the nation. instead he is showing signs of anger, bitterness n spewing hurting words to divide the nation.Malaysia is now as i see it a nation in despair. this song aptly described Malaysia condition- don't cry for me Argentina or rather Malaysia. You were the CEO n captain of the ship called Malaysia. you attempted to reach a particular destination say A. Now the ship ended up in port M. may i asked a simple question - whose fault is it. who is accountable? Sir - you studied medicine in UNIVERSITY and you graduated, Congratulation but if one failed the examination- who is responsible? Blamed the...

east med wanderer has added a photo to the pool: For more information see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranakpur

Mukul Banerjee (www.mukulbanerjee.com) has added a photo to the pool: Tara is a Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist goddess. Her name means "star", and she is associated with the North Star. In Buddhism she is the consort of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. She is also said to be his offspring or emanation, sprung from the tears that he shed out of sympathy for the sufferings of mankind. Tara plays an important role in Tantric worship, where she takes on a multitude of benign and fierce forms.

arashmi has added a photo to the pool:

'M'sia became corrupt, institutions were destroyed, the people are poor. S'pore became clean, embraced meritocracy, rich and the people get first class civil service.' Identical peas from divergent pods Pemerhati: There are some similarities between Mahathir Mohamad and Lee Kuan Yew. Both were dictatorial, they suppressed the opposition by using and abusing the government agencies that they controlled and have exhibited their racism through their statements. Lee was criticised by a Malaysian Chinese writer in Aliran when he made a racist statement in the 1980s about the importance of maintaining the ethnic Chinese population at 80 percent in Singapore. But the similarity ends there. Malaysia under Mahathir became extremely corrupt and the top people stole hundreds of billion ringgit of the people's money and the important state institutions were destroyed. The people remain poor and get low quality service from the degraded institutions. Singapore, un...

Written by Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle Are our professionals simply incompetent or are they part of a cover-up operation? During the trial into the death of 15 year-old Aminulrasyid Amzah, shot dead by policemen, the crime scene investigation officer Inspector Mazli Jusuh said that Aminulrasyids body had been moved before he arrived. Men from the Mobile Police Vehicle patrol unit moved the body, before the paramedics could examine the body. Teoh Beng Hock died in suspicious circumstances at the hands of the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission. Selangor police chief Deputy Commissioner Khalid Abu Bakar said that initial findings in the pathologists report on political secretary Teoh showed that he died of multiple injuries due to a fall from a height. The government pathologist who conducted the second post-mortem on Teoh disputed renowned Thai forensic pathologist Dr Pornthip...

Non-Malays unpatriotic for neglecting BM, says ex-editor By Shannon Teoh February 03, 2011 KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 A former newspaper editor has reignited the debate on language proficiency among Malaysians when he questioned today the patriotism of non-Malays, especially Chinese, who do not embrace the Malay language. Datuk Ahmad Rejal Arbee wrote in Umno-controlled Berita Harian today that after 53 years of independence, non-Malays should be proud of the national language if they were loyal citizens. They get so sensitive when their patriotism is doubted but make no effort to use and understand Malay, the former Berita Harian group editor said. What loyalty is there if they do not try to learn and use their own national language? he wrote, adding that what was learnt in Chinese vernacular schools was only to pass exams. Ahmad Rejal said that there were non-Malays that did not care about and deliberately belittled Malay despite calli...

Written by Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle PKR leaders decried the arrest of their colleague, Seri Muda seemblyman Shuhaimi Shafie, who has been released on bail but will be charged for sedition on Monday, advising Prime Minister Najib Razak to learn from Egypt's lesson that oppression was never the way to govern and injustice as overt as this would surely be answered by a people's uprising sooner or later. "The authorities can go on using oppressive laws to silence the opposition but as we have seen in Egypt, charging someone under the Sedition Act is a cowardly way to deal with opposition and dissent. There's always a limit and consequences," PKR director of legal affairs Latheefa Koya told Malaysia Chronicle. Regaining Selangor through all ways and means Police had arrested Shuhaimi on Thursday and charged him under section 4(1) C of the Sedition Act 19...

Palace of Justice remain mute All the Chief Justice (CJ) and the judges in the Palace of Justice have managed t o make a mockery they have made of the law, farce run by those who are legal and intellectual frauds or what he has called imposters!They can no longer mask their hyperbole judgments with unintelligible garbage. Fools on the bench Malaysians are stunned by the ignorance of our judges of the highest court in the land, a Some judges cannot understand plain English They are inconsistent and dishonest and those ignoramuses were talking utter nonsense. Those inane judges cannot even understand plain English! do not know justice from injustice They do not know justice from injustice, and that such lowly individuals should never be allowed to sit on the seat of Justice(and) to be judges at all. And yet there are so many of them in the judiciary today ever since the rot begun. Our country does not need impostors, who pose as judges, to deceive the common peopl...

MELBOURNE: Indian national Gursewak Dhillon, who accidentally knocked down three-year-old Gurshan Singh Channa last year, was on Wednesday jailed for five years by an Australian court, which also ordered his deportation. Victorian Supreme Court judge Justice Lex Lasry sentenced Dhillon and said he had put his own welfare before the toddler who could have survived. The judge said 25-year-old Dhillon was concerned he would be blamed for injuring the child and he would be deported from Australia. Last March, Dhillon accidentally knocked the head of Gurshan as he opened the front door of a home he shared with the child's parents in Melbourne's north. He then panicked, placed the child in the boot of his car and drove away before dumping the body several kilometres away.

Shubh M Singh has added a photo to the pool: XuanZang passed through Sanghol many centuries ago. Then it was known as Satadaru. This and another stupa is all that remains and is obvious. Going through the town I found a few large bricks that are typical of Buddhist stupas.

All citizens owe their loyalty to king and country that includes civil servants. Civil servants are expected to serve the government of the day faithfully, irrespective of whichever party that forms the government. They shouldnt align themselves to any political party whether it is the ruling parties or the opposition parties. They should remain above politics and stay faithful to their vocation. Their dedication should be to their profession and their commitment to serve and discharge their duties should not be wanting in any way. This is how they preserve their integrity and safeguard their professionalism. However this simple thing was not understood by the Johor State Director of Education, Markom Giran. He despicably attempted to force teachers to play a partisan political role. He was trying to corrupt the civil service. He forgets that he is a civil servant himself. He forgets his code to serve in an exemplary manner. He forgets that he should remain above politi...

Dr Ms Tanah Melayu remarks old-fashioned, say analysts By Yow Hong Chieh February 02, 2011 Dr Mahathir had been forced to repress his true colours when he was PM, said one analyst. file pic KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamads call for non-Malays to accept and integrate into the dominant Malay culture has been called outdated by political analysts, who added it would not have much impact among Malaysians. Monash Universitys Dr James Chin said such thinking was old-fashioned as more developed nations like Australia, Britain and the US have adopted a more inclusive definition of multiculturalism one which allowed their citizens to profess more than one identity. He added that while first-generation non-Malays might have had links with their country of origin, non-Malays born in Malaysia no longer have such ties. Whatever ties they have is skin deep, he told The Malaysian Insider. Chin also said Dr Mahathirs latest ultra-Mala...

Ali Rustams fixation on sex is an anti-climax Written by Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle On the last leg of the Tenang campaign trail, Ali Rustam tried to shore support for Umno by appealing to the Malay voters in the Felda settlements, and talk about his favourite subject which was sex. Alis sexist remarks about Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching and Selangor exco Elizabeth Wong just shows that this man, who calls himself a Chief Minister, has simply no morals and is bankrupt of ideas to promote his party. He simply lacks integrity. This is the man who legalised child marriages in his state. He might as well as have put an advert in every travel magazine saying that Paedophiles wanted for marriage, no parental consent necessary, state will give blessing. This is also the man who shamelessly proclaimed himself the Chief Minister of a developed state and spent hundreds of thou...

Seeing no difference between Pakatan and BN with regard to the Indian community, P Uthayakumar says a decision has been made to stay out of the contest. GEORGE TOWN: The Human Rights Party (HRP) Hindraf Makkal Sakti political axis will take a neutral stand in next months Merlimau state by-election. HRP pro-tem secretary-general and Hindraf legal adviser P Uthayakumar said the stance was adopted due to the indifferent attitude shown by Pakatan Rakyat towards the Indian community. We will not participate in the campaign to woo Indians for Pakatan. So long as we are not there, Pakatan will never secure the majority Indian votes, he told FMT, adding that HRP-Hindraf would never back Barisan Nasional either. The Election Commission fixed nomination day for the Merlimau by-election in Malacca on Feb 26 and polling on March 6. The seat fell vacant after the death of its BN assemblyman Mohamad Hidhir Abu Hasaan, 54, on Jan 20. In the 2008 general election Hidhir defeated PAS c...

Kals Pics has added a photo to the pool: Copyrights Kals Pics - 2011. All Rights Reserved.

HYDERABAD: The Indian students duped by a fake university in the US face an uncertain future as their appeal is not likely to be heard in a court there before September. The 1,555 students, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, feel they are being subjected to inhuman treatment by the US authorities for no fault of theirs. They want the Indian government to immediately come to their rescue and help them transfer to other US universities. The families of the students are worried as the US authorities have tied radio monitors to their ankles and may deport them for violation of visa rules. The dreams of the students to pursue higher education in the US came crashing last week after the Tri-Valley University in California was raided for helping foreigners to illegally obtain student visas. The students' families said they not only lost huge amounts of money but now also face a bleak future. With their appeal not likely to come up for hearing in a US court before September, the students ma...

Is Malaysia a nation of cowards, who only sit and moan at what is going on around them? Its only January and I foresee an exciting year ahead, for me personally and for the bigger world at large. In light of everything going on now, I am transported back to the 1979 revolution in Iran that overthrew the dictatorship of a monarch but which unfortunately instated a new form of quasi democratic theocratic dictatorship. While I am not claiming that theocracy has to be undemocratic, the complexity of syariahs history and other forms of religion codified-laws makes it difficult to negotiate the hermeneutics of these laws within the parameters of Enlightenment democracy. Of course, many countries have undergone many revolutions, some beginning as a fight for sovereignty before transforming into resistance against cruel rulers. What would Tunisias fate be? There are talks in the media about how suppressed Islamist groups are becoming a force to be reckoned with. They overthrew a ...

east med wanderer has added a photo to the pool: Betwa river in front for more information on Orchha see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchha

royaldrummer has added a photo to the pool: The fine carvings of Mukteswar temple, Bhubaneswar Orissa (india). The color comes from the red sandstone.

Masood Hussain has added a photo to the pool: Best viewed large..

DUBAI: An Indian teenager died after accidentally falling from the window of a high rise building in Abu Dhabi, according to a news report. Thirteen-year-old Asma Abdul Rasakh, an eight class student of Indian High School, was fixing a curtain hook at her residence on Saturday when the chair she was standing on slipped and threw her out of the window and she died on the spot, according to eyewitnesses. "On Saturday around noon, we heard a loud sound. It's only a little later we learnt that a girl had fallen from the 11th floor window. Immediately a lot of people assembled and Abu Dhabi Police soon cordoned off the area. We don't know how the accident happened, but two of the windows of the 11th floor flat remain open," said an eyewitness. Family members said the body is kept at the Central Hospital morgue and would be cremated in Abu Dhabi once the formalities are complete. The family hails from Perla, Kasargodu district of Kerala. She is survived by two brothe...

Here is an initial analysis of the Indian votes in Tenang: 20082011 Total Indians voted1104694 Indian votes for BN550555 Indians voted for PR554144 This analysis is very telling. 1) What BN got in 2008, it was able to defend in 2011. 2) PR lost support of almost 400 Indian voters 2008- 2011. 3) But that did not mean BN got those lost votes. These Indian voters very smartly just abstained from voting either PR or BN they just stayed home on a rainy day. The rains make more difference to them than either BN or PR. Now, playing HRP and HINDRAF into this Tenang election could produce a picture like this 1) 90%,of the Indians would have come out to vote if HRP/Hindraf were a factor in this election- in spite of the rain. 2) That will be 1500 voters who would have voted. 3) All those who abstained would very likely have voted HRP/HINDRAF. 4) That is already about 950 voters. 5) Then add about half those who voted BN vote for HRP, that will be another 275. 6) That makes for a total of 1...

The real issue here is ketuanan Melayu, ketuanan Islam: that Malays and Islam are superior to others, so you all keep your mouths shut. Only their sensitivities are allowed to be expressed. Others just keep quiet and accept your plight. That is what it is all about. Unfortunately, what is so ketuanan about Muslims and Islam? The moment Malays mention this, then the Malays must be prepared to be challenged. They cannot practise ketuanan and expect other races/religions to keep quiet, especially when the Malays/Islam have nothing superior. Dr M has raised the question as to why Chinese/Indians dont embrace Islam out of love. The reason is obvious. There is nothing that attracts me. The way it is practised makes me wonder whether they are allowed to think. Malays must do something to themselves so that they can be ketuanan. At the moment they are kosongan. I have read the book. It is full of geographical, cultural errors which do not reflect a National Literature Laureate. I a...