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

Talking about the upcoming Hulu Selangor by-election, I can't help but reminiscing my childhood days where my dad would always bring the whole family 'balik kampung' to Hulu Bernam on weekends to pay a visit to my late grandmother and other family members. Hulu Bernam is only about 50 minutes drive from Subang Jaya or about one and a half hour via the old trunk road. [Don't get confuse between the small Hulu Bernam kampung and the Hulu Bernam state seat, under the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat, which encompasses other nearby kampungs such as Kampung Gedangsa, Felda Soeharto and few others.] Anyways, the most exciting part was of course visiting my family's durian orchard and bathing at the Bernam River, even though I can't stand the smell of durian and didn't know how to swim back then. I used to joke with my friends how I could swim from "Selangor to Perak" when I was younger. Ha ha. For those not in the know, the Bernam River (picture) is the...

I'll be leaving for Batam tomorrow for a three days visit. So hopefully it's going to be a worthwhile trip though I don't expect Batam to be as colourful and vibrant as Jogjakarta or Bali. In case you don't where the heck Batam Island is; it is situated to the south of Singapore about 20km away. History has it that Hang Nadim, the boy of great wisdom of the classic "Singapura Dilanggar Todak" fame had once set foot on the island of Batam, hence the reason why the international airport in Batam (Hang Nadim International Airport) is named after him. Off.

1Malaysia hi-tea with PM Najib's Facebook friends at the his official residence, Seri Perdana 1Malaysia kuih-muih On the 9 of March, unexpectedly I received an email (below) from the Prime Minister inviting me to his tea party at the prime minister's official residence, Seri Perdana, Putrajaya! Of course, I wouldn't expect the PM himself to email me. Email aside, Najib confessed during the hi-tea that most of the time he would personally update his Facebook and Twitter himself, and only on certain occasions he would get his staff to do the postings on his behalf. Najib should perhaps give some advice to his Information Minister, Rais Yatim about Facebook or Twitter. Rais's recent statement on Facebook shows how ignorant and out of touch he is with the Internet and the "social media culture". And this is the man who is supposed to be in charge of the Internet and broadband. Should Najib plans to have a cabinet reshuffle, I would urge him to place Rais somewhere...

Four in five people around the world believe that web access is a fundamental human right, according to a new survey. The poll, which collated the answers from more than 27,000 people across 26 countries and was conducted on behalf of the BBC World Service, found that 87 per cent of interne t users felt that web access should be a basic right. More than 70 per cent of non-users felt they should have access to the net. In Japan, Mexico and Russia, nearly 75 per cent of respondents said they could not cope without their internet connection. Ninety per cent of those polled in Turkey believed web access was a fundamental human right, making it the strongest supporter of the widely held sentiment. "The right to communicate cannot be ignored," Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), told BBC News. "The internet is the most powerful potential source of enlightenment ever created." He said that governments must "regard t...

Yes, Shahnon.com is back with a new hosting and lots of new plans ahead! So, hopefully all's gonna be well, insyaAllah.

Bobby Sands was an Irish volunteer for the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while in HM Prison Maze (Wikipedia) Read all the Western media headlines below. Not a single Western media outlet has mentioned the religion of the perpetrators. But imagine if similar event were to happen in the Middle East. For sure the media would mention the religion of the perpetrators and label them with names such as "Muslim terrorist" or "Islamic terrorist". It is never my intention to see the media headlines mentioning the religion of the people behind the latest bombing in Northern Ireland, but only to show how blatantly bias the Western media is, in their reporting. Insurgency Rises in Northern Ireland - Wall Street Journal A bomb that was just a blast from the past - Independent Clinton condemns 'cowardly' N.Ireland car bombing British PM condemns N. Ireland bombing - CNN Northern Ireland car bomb bla...