Some quotable quotes from our Bapa Kemerdekaan, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj . Lest we forget. I would like to remind you that the first Malay ruler who made an agreement with the British Government was my own grandfather. He ceded Penang to the British under a lease and they are still paying for the lease today. Now God has decreed that his grandson shall take back not only Penang but the whole of Malaya. - Padang Merdeka, Malacca, 20th Feb 1956 On Malayan youth; "..To the youth of this country I have a message. You have a wonderful future ahead of you. Unlike us, you have a country free from any domination. You grow up with your heads held high as masters in your own country... The future of this country rests on you: Whether our star rises or falls, it will be due to you solely. Therefore be ready to serve her, to build her up and to give your life in her defence. You and I must be determine to make Malaya a place which we shall all be proud to call our home.." - Kuala...

What has this Indonesian textbook got anything to do with me?? Read on.. Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial - Kurnia Nandar Wati, Ratih Hurriyati (Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, 2009) Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial, page 28 (original source: fotopages ) Today I found out that one of my favourite pictures was being used in an Indonesia textbook (above). So, I'd like to thank the Pusat Perbukuan Departemen Pendidikan Nasional or the (Indonesian) National Education Department for crediting my photo and adding my name in the textbook. However, to my surprise I later observed that the entire pictures in the textbook were sourced from the Internet (!) - including blog sites such as Blogger and Wordpress; Wikipedia and Flickr. And I thought to myself, what a cheap way of sourcing images for publication! I mean, it's understandable if it was meant for desktop publication, or publication for private purposes, but sourcing images off the Internet for a school textbook? Now, that is something new. I have...

Anti-Zionist Jews campaign for a Free Palestine (credit: ectomorfo) While world attention has been heavily focused on efforts to break the siege of Gaza, Palestinians in the West Bank are pursuing a series of new, nonviolent, strategies challenging the Israeli occupation. What they are primarily seeking, and what the Israeli government is desperately trying to avoid, is clarity about the status of the occupied territories. Palestinians are insisting that Israel cannot continue to treat the territories occupied in 1967 in a selective manner, regarding settlers and settlements as unambiguously "Israeli" but the Palestinian population as fundamentally alien and outside Israel. The new Palestinian strategies are pressing the uncomfortable but unavoidable question: are these territories part of Israel, or not? Throughout its policies in the occupied territories, Israel picks and chooses according to its convenience, maintaining an untenable ambiguity regarding the legal and polit...

I must say I am very much impressed with the statesman-like Deputy Prime Minister of the UK and leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg. It's not about trying to be different from some others who supports either Labour or the Tories, by endorsing the third force, the Lib Dems, but perhaps I was one of the few who were caught up by the much-hyped " Cleggmania " during the UK election campaign. Also read his inspirational first opening speech as Deputy Prime Minister on constitutional reform and "New Politics". New Politics: Nick Clegg's speech on constitutional reform Below are some excerpts from the Lib Dems mailing list. Dear Shahnon, It's just over a week since I accepted the position of Deputy Prime Minister - and already we have achieved real change. Changes that the Liberal Democrats have spent months campaigning for, are about to happen. There will be no ID cards, no third runway at Heathrow, no more fingerprinting in schools without parents’ c...

Canon Laser LBP2900 driver for Windows 7 (x64) is now available! Finally! I have been waiting for this damn bloody driver for almost 5 months now. Thanks Canon! http://support-my.canon-asia.com/contents/MY/EN/0100278201.html

Last Wednesday I was fortunate to have the opportunity to listen to Nora Eggen, a Norwegian Muslim presently a guest researcher at IAIS, who gave an informative talk on the Muslim community in Norway. Below is an excerpts from my article in Klik4Malaysia . ...Historically, Eggen revealed that the interaction between the Norwegian and the Muslim world started as early as in the 13th century, when an envoy from a Muslim sultanate in the Middle East was sent to Norway. She also relates another occasion when the King of Sweden, King Karl XII was given refuge in Istanbul by Sultan Ahmed III (Sultan of the Ottoman Empire), after losing a battle against the Russians. As a result of Karl XII's long stay in Ottoman land, he has brought along new beverages such as coffee into the Scandinavian lands. Also, several Ottoman-Turkish words were introduced into the Norwegian language through Karl XII's encounter with the Ottomans. However, it was not until the late second half of the 20th cent...

My take on the Hulu Selangor by-election result. Hulu Selangor - An Expected and Surprising Win for Barisan Nasional