What are the similarities between rubber, palm oil and coffee in Southeast Asia? They were all smuggled here via South America, Africa and the Middle East by European agents from the 17th to 19th century. 1. Thanks to the British smugglers who smuggled rubber and palm oil seeds from Brazil and Africa to Malaya. It's because of them that Malaysia become one of the major producers of rubber and palm oil.  World War II would probably end up differently without Malayan rubber and Nutella would not taste as good as it is without the high quality Malaysian palm oil. 2. Thanks to the Dutch smugglers too, who smuggled coffee seeds from Yemen in the 17th century. Initially they tried to plant it in their home country, the Netherlands, but it didn't work out. So they brought it to Java.  And as they say the rest is history. Indonesia is the fourth largest coffee producer in the world today and producing one of the world's best coffee, and my favourite, Aceh Gayo (pic). Th...

" Who has the right to rule Malaya? by Inche Sulaiman bin Ahmad (SBA Publishing, 1946)". This is the oldest book in my collection. A very important question indeed especially if you consider the historical context. 1946: It was a year after the end of the Second World War. It was a year after the Japanese lost WW2 and left a huge power vacuum in Malaya for a brief period of time, before the British returned. The pro-Communist MPAJA (Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army) took advantage of the situation well and they came out from their jungle bases to occupy many small cities - mostly in the small towns such as Kuala Pilah, Batu Pahat, Temerloh etc - across the Malay peninsular. So for two bloody weeks, Malaya was ruled by the pro-Communist MPAJA guerrila forces. I cannot imagine the kind of disaster had they been able to rule for two years or even two months! Their terroristic revenge tactics in persecuting former Japanese sympathisers, who were mostly Ma...

Happy (Gregorian) New Year to all! In commemorating the new year ( 1.1.11 ) - which many have speculated to be an election year for Malaysia - I'd like to republish my opinion-article which was first published at Klik4Malaysia many moons ago. As widely anticipated, David Cameron, 43, has just been named as the new British Prime Minister with Nick Clegg (pic above) as the Deputy Prime Minister. If the English Premier League is the most-watched football event in Malaysia aside from the quadrennial football World Cup, then the UK General Elections could be one of the most closely watched elections. Dubbed as one of the most exciting and hotly-contested elections, the UK elections have inspired and captured the interest of many Malaysians, including myself. What made the 2010 contest even more interesting than previous elections was the advent of strong "third force" in the shape of Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats (also known as the Lib Dems) in British politics. The pheno...

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...