Here's a famous quote from Charles Jones; "You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read." I don't mean to brag but for the sake of keeping an online record for myself or whoever that might be interested - like I have always been doing for many years - here's my list of books read in 2010 . My personal favourites are in bold . In total, I read an average of 2.25 books a month. The list below does not take into account tonnes of other reading materials i.e. academic journals, textbooks and magazines. 1. What Your Teacher Didn't Tell You - Farish Noor 2. Malaya's First Year at the United Nations - Tawfik and Ooi 3. Malaysia: The Road to Independence - Tunku Abdul Rahman 4. Raden Saleh: Anak Belanda, Mooi Indie & Nasionalisme - Harsja Bachtiar, Peter Carey & Onghokham ( Indonesian ) 5. A Short History of the Revivalist Movement in Islam - Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi 6. Pengembaraan k...

According to Adoimagazine.com , Facebook has beaten Google to become the number 1 most popular website in Malaysia! And it is slightly comforting to know that Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia are ranked higher than Kosmo and Harian Metro on the Internet. For those not in the know, Malay tabloid, Metro, is currently the number 1 most popular Malay daily - which to my view is such a disgrace if the trend were to represent the level of intelligence and thinking of the Malay society at large, if you get what I mean. Below are the top 20 websites, taken from AdoiMagazine.com . 1. Facebook 16. Wordpress.com 2. Google Sites 17. Kosmo.com.my 3. Yahoo Sites 18. Maybank2u.com.my 4. Mudah.my 19. Cari.com.my 5. Youtube.com 20. Hmetro.com.my 6. Blogspot.com 21. Lelong.com.my 7. MSN Sites 22. Fooyoh.com 8. Thestar.com.my 23. Themalaysianinsider.com 9. Lowyat.net 24. Mobile88 10. Malaysiakini.com 25. Biz.thestar.com.my 11. Mylaunchpa...

So the New York Times reported that Israeli Prime Minister has agreed to push for settlement freeze in the Palestinian territories. Whoa, did I hear that right? Read on.. WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has agreed to push his cabinet to freeze most construction on settlements in the West Bank for 90 days to break an impasse in peace negotiations with the Palestinians, an official briefed on talks between the United States and Israel said Saturday evening. Ah, so Prime Minister Netanyahu only agreed to freeze MOST of their illegal settlements in West Bank. How many settlements are there in the pipeline? Only god knows. Secondly, there is no mention at all about the existing illegal Jewish settlements which has been in existence for decades in West Bank. And in order for America to get the Israeli regime to stop encroaching more Palestinian lands, in return "..the Obama administration has offered Israel a package of security incentives and fighter jets wo...

PM Najib's tea party, Sri Perdana (13 March 2010) Ah, no wonder I have been getting strange web traffic these few days. I just found out that my blog appeared on Prime Minister Najib's website, 1Malaysia.com.my ! Ha ha.. Here's the link http://www.1malaysia.com.my/1malaysia-events/past-events/tea-with-online-friends

'People's wishes and needs for democracy and freedom are irresistible,' Wen Jiabao says. ( full report ) Unbelievable! China for democracy?? The Chinese premier's statement has got to be one of the most, if not the most, revolutionary statements in the history of communism since the fall of the Soviet communist regime. Would we be witnessing Wen Jiabao to follow in the footsteps of former Soviet Russia's Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika & glasnost policy of openness, transparency and economic reform (which subsequently resulted in the collapse of the Soviet regime)? This is certainly good news for the people in East Turkestan (Chinese Turkestan), Tibet and maybe Taiwan too. Though I do not foresee the secession of the conflicting provinces from the state of China, at the very least there will be a greater political autonomy ala Aceh in Indonesia in post-tsunami 2005 and better respect for human rights. Politicians of the world must realise and seriously tak...

Ten people were charged with public order and other offences today over clashes with police after the English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism held protests in Leicester yesterday. Supporters had arrived by the coachload since the early morning and were allowed to gather in four police-monitored pubs ahead of the protests in Hotel Street. Many wore EDL-branded hooded tops and some chanted "EDL, EDL''. Others carried banners bearing slogans such as "Sharia laws will destroy Britain and all our British values" . [ read more ] It's amazing to see that there is actually an anti-sharia movement in the United Kingdom even when the Muslims form only 3% of the population. So the fear of sharia being implemented in the UK is just mathematically absurd. I think any sane citizen can easily comprehend that, but no, not the peoples of the English Defence League and its supporters. It appears that far-right extremists spreading anti-Islam ideology is fast creepin...

At a time where it appears as though Najib is caught between a rock and a hard place to openly state his views on Perkasa, he has instead shown that there is more to the issue than just being forced by some parties to choose between 'endorsing' or 'opposing' the vocal Malay rights group. In a somewhat carefully delivered response, Najib made clear that extremists would not be tolerated, but fell short of naming any particular NGO or individual. To quote off TheMalaysianInsider ; “No, we do not want to be in conflict with any NGO,” he firmly said. Najib went further to play down Perkasa’s significance as a pressure group, pointing out that as far as Umno was concerned, Perkasa was just like any other NGO. “It is just like any other NGO. We have so many NGOs. There are times we can agree, and there are times we cannot agree,” he said. No doubt it's a political statement. But I think Najib has learnt something from Obama, or it could well just be a coincidence. Remembe...