Political acumen notwithstanding, the Prime Minister Datuk Sri Najib Abdul Razak proved that he was also sleek when it came to comedy as he bantered with Forbes magazine CEO and editor-in-chief Steve Forbes in an open dialogue.
Forbes had kicked off the conversation by asking what is the prime minister's stand on Malaysian English versus American English.
"We speak English but we also understand American," replied Najib to much laughter and clapping.
Encouraged, Najib further warmed the crowd by cracking a joke.
"Three Malaysians were sitting down having a fireside chat like we are doing now. And one them was complaining about his wife not being able to have children," Najib started.
"The first Malaysian said: Your wife is inconceivable." Soft laughter from the audience.
"The second Malaysian said: You're wrong. You should say that his wife is impregnable." More chuckles.
"Then the third man said: Both of you are wrong. Actually, my wife is unbearable!" The audience roars.
"No reference to my wife," Najib added after the laughter died down.
Another joke however left the spectators dumbfounded when he was asked by one conference delegate what he was going to do to support an upcoming conference on the environment.
Najib replied:
"One of the first acts I did was create a Ministry of Green Technology. I've said before that technologically we must be green. Politically we must remain blue."
Ha..ha.. a politically correct joke thrown in at the wrong place. Green means PAS or the component parties in Pakatan Rakyat, blue is of course BN! In a jest what the PM meant was whatever it takes, blue politics must continue to prevail.
Does this also include sacrificing our political conscience, stability and sustainability?
Sharing info on CHEESE which is used most in our local food operators & bakery (melalui ceramah Ust Badrul Amin) last Sunday @ UIA :
Susu memerlukan sejenis bahan yg diperolehi dari perut mamalia (lembu & khinzir) utk membolehkan ianya 'beku' - separa 'beku' dipanggil keju manakala 'beku' jadi 'whey powder'. Both ingredients are used widely in our daily food intake - pizza(s), cheese cakes, tart cheese or anything with cheese, cookies etc. The big Q - even if bahan dari perut 'lembu' being used to make the cheese - how do we know 'lembu' tu disembelih mengikut syariah Islam? How do we know the same 'lembu' being used in our food intake?
Unless, we (muslim) produced our own cheese - is there any in our local market? Pls share.
Email #2
Talking about cheese, as said by ustaz, memang betullah untuk bekukan cheese tu, they need bahan dari perut khinzir atau lembu. Masa di States dulu, I studied Human Nutrition and my Jewish Prof. memang every now and then masa tu kept reminding me to check cheese yang I beli untuk class commercial food production, cos dia jewish pun tak makan khinzir, I mesti pastikan dari ingredients cheese tu yg bahan pembekunya must be pepsinogen [lembu] dan bukan rennet [khinzir]. Kalau di States, 70% cheese guna rennet.
This email has been making the rounds since 2006 (tenggelam dan timbul semula tahun lepas 2008 dan tahun ni 2009 dan akan timbul semula selepas ini). So I have decided to act on it by not forwarding it unscrupulously and by giving my little CHEESE of advice. I consider this fardh al kifayah.
Question: how to react to a chain email of this kind? think first before you go on a forwarding rampage: 1. This email is an unsigned letter, no attribution, no perawi. It's not even written in a proper write-up manner, jumble up Malay and English alternately as if the writer/s are sure the readers are among those who are gullible enough to go for this purported threat against their aqida (and then hit the forward button).
2. The 1st email tried to use Ust Badrul Amin as the source of the info the writer heard from (meaning he/she is attributing this info to Ust Badrul Amin, an ex-UIA ass. professor - how convenient). But that is all, no further clarification, where exactly and when the talk or ceramah was held. Anybody can claim I heard so-and-so professor said this or that at this or that university.
3. The 2nd email also tried to attribute the info the writer got from an ustaz (very convenient again). The writer went on to claim that he studied Human Nutrition at the States (US) and that his/her Jewish Prof reminded him/her to check the cheese he/she buys for its class commercial food production (sic) and that the ingredients from the cheese must be from pepsinogen - a milk-coagulating enzyme.
Pepsinogen my foot! If this 2nd writer really studied Human Nutrition from the US then he is wasting public money for trying to con us into believing that both pesinogen and rennet are from a different source. Both pepsinogen and rennet are a milk-coagulating enzyme and are usually made from the inner lining of either an adult bovine or a calf's stomach. All these are a part of the crude preparation known as rennet, which was commercially used to curdle milk in preparation for cheese manufacture (read here). But now, rennet from calves to make the enzymes that are used in commercial production of cheese are rarely used. The rennet used now to produce the enzymes are from microbes such as yeast or other genetically modified micro-organisms.
SUB KATEGORI: Halal haram barang gunaan Aduan : Saya menerima banyak e-mail tentang produk cheese dari jenama Chesdale. Dalam kandungannya terdapat bahan "rennet". Saya rasa curiga sama ada rennet itu adalah dari khindzir atau lembu. Kerana di pack tersebut terdapat logo halal oleh New Zealand Islamic processed food management. Saya cuma nak tahu berapa pastinya rennet itu adalah dari lembu. Saya berharap encik dapat menolong saya untuk memastikan yang semua produk cheese yang ada di pasaran Malaysia adalah benar benar halal. Tarikh Aduan : 07/09/2007 - 00:14:33
Jawapan : Salam, Rennet ialah enzim dari perut haiwan seperti lembu dan lain-lain yang digunakan dalam pembuatan keju dan hasilannya. JAKIM telah memastikan bahawa hanya sumber dan proses yang halal sahaja digunakan oleh semua pemegang sijil pengesahan halal JAKIM. Semua pemegang sijil pengesahan halal JAKIM telah menjalani pemeriksaan dan pemantauan yang ketat sebelum layak menerima sijil JAKIM. Cheesdale telah mendapat pengesahan halal dari Badan Islam Luar Negara yang diiktiraf JAKIM. Bagi mengetahui senarai Badan Islam Luar Negara yang mendapat pengiktirafan JAKIM, sila layari www.halal.gov.my Terima kasih dan harap maklum.
From: Mamot Wed Aug 19 2009, 05:24PM Registered Member #13086 Joined: Wed Aug 19 2009, 05:11PM Posts: 19 ASM, Saya rasa terpanggil untuk merungkaikan kekeliruan yang timbul berkaitan rennet dan babi. Untuk pengetahuan tuan, rennet adalah enzim protease yang dirembeskan oleh perut abomasum anak lembu yang sedang menyusu. Pada masa ini hampir 90% rennet untuk tujuan pembuatan keju di hasilkan melalui teknologi kejuruteraan genetik sejak 1989 lagi. Ringkasnya rennet tersebut bukan dihasilkan oleh anak lembu lagi, tetapi oleh mikrob seperti yeast dan mikroorganisma lain yang telah diubah genetiknya untuk mengeluarkan enzim pengental susu tersebut. Rennet sedemikian dipanggil microbial rennet atau chymosin. Sekiranya difikirkan secara logik, adalah tidak bijak untuk membunuh anak lembu yang sedang menyusu hanya kerana nak makan keju. Perlu diingat, haiwan dewasa (lembu dewasa atau babi dewasa) tidak mengeluarkan rennet di dalam abomasum.
Sekian dimaklumkan. School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology Faculty of Science and Technology Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 43600 UKM-Bangi SELANGOR Tel : 017-8703282
Now this is what I meant by a credible source. You want to sent in a statement in your mail (doesn't matter from whom the original sender is from) -- please include your name and/or the original sender's name, address and a contact number to prove that you or they are the person/s who wrote and sent the mail. This is to proof or clarify that you or they wrote the statement yourself/themselves if in case someone wants to know its validity or to have more info on it.
I rest my case for now.
My verdict: Non-credible, wasting other people's time and mine too!
Upon coming back from the UK last 2 months I was dumbstruck at the airport with the presence of 3 staff from the Ministry of Health checking on the arrival of passengers from the countries afflicted with H1N1 (which means worldwide) at the airport. On TV you heard campaign on the awareness of the pandemic being aired so often and scary facts were splashed on the headlines everyday, so does the incidences and the death toll. The flu-like infection received so much media attention, giving the impression that this was the No.1 virus killer by causing fatal infections. That was certainly different than how it was in the UK, where there was no panic at all. We were informed about the deaths and what precaution to take, warned of the symptoms, but you surely would not see anybody putting on surgical masks on the street!
H1N1 is no more fatal than SARS or dengue, for instance. In fact dengue fever killed more urban Malaysians than you care to think of. But dengue fever or chikungunya were yesterdays' news. While H1N1 is a sophisticated disease initially detected as being an association with the swine, so it just has to be highlighted to get some kind of (political) mileage. After all, fighting dengue fever is a long lost battle. You just could not raise people's awareness more than the level of what's hammered to you since before - the larvae, the adult Aedes aegypti, cleaning of your house, getting rid of empty cans properly, or the use of Abate.
What more can anyone do, what else could make newspapers headlines than those facts? News of dengue deaths were not publicised for various (political?) reasons i.e not to cause panic or keep visitors away from the country (may be?).
Now we know deaths from road traffic accidents are the leading cause of death in this country. From Ops Sikap I to XX, we do not see a decremental pattern, instead the number increases exponentially every year. For sure the 73 fatalities from H1N1, first detected about 3 months ago till now is a sorry number compared to deaths occuring at the perimeter of this coming Hari Raya celebrations. By the time the celebration ends, you do not need to be a mathematical genius to count the casualties.
Various government agencies; Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Works, Road Traffic Department, Royal Malaysian Police, MIROS, etc have been enforcing many programmes to curtail road traffic accidents and implementing strategies to improve road safety, but where do we go wrong? have all the efforts gone astray?
From my personal observation, I noticed all the contributing physical factors: 1) poor road maintenance i.e potholes, uneven roads, narrow roads 2) poor risk signages i.e dangerous curves, road constructions, 3) improper locations of traffic lights, turns, junctions, 4) poor lighting 5) inadequate motorcycle lane/pedestrian crossing, etc.
But we must not forget that the main reason for accidents are due to drivers' attitude. I would not dwell on the subject further here, because to figure out Malaysian drivers' attitude and psyche, that in itself is a long dissertation. Motorcycle-related deaths numbered the top position among other vehicles. Have we found a solution to this? Does setting a lower cost to getting a license help? How about the minimum age limit? I must admit while I was in UK, I could very rarely see a motorcyclist, most people use public transport which are readily available, dependable, reliable and cheap. Acquiring tickets are easy, being just at the tips of your fingers (online). Because the system was so competent, there was no hassle, no touts servicing and leeching, no people conning you at every corners!
In addition, the roads were properly maintained, all construction works were well gated and signages put up where they were clearly seen and all information regarding road closure and changes of route, were informed beforehand and notices put up on the buses and online. The "NO CAR LANES" signages indicated that cars were not allowed to use the lanes, this was especially evident in the most busy areas of the town. And enforcement was always around to warn off traffic offenders, the police/RTD officers were always equipped with a digital camera to take snapshots of your offences and as evidence for the summons.
There is so much work need to be done to alleviate people's suffering from deaths due to accidents, or severe/fatal viral infections, or from diabetes and other diseases with high morbidity and mortality in this country. Please.... it's imperative that the "powers" be sincere about matters pertaining to life and death.
Bakiah: Feels disgusted about the abuse of media to promote an individual(s) rise to a "celebrity status"over health issues.
"Chocolate" is the latest video by the late Yasmin Ahmad, released post-humously as a tribute to the acclaimed controversial director. The tribute to Yasmin Ahmad was not only associated with the surrounding issues concerning her "dark" past, again her crafts were much talked about after her passing.
More so than ever when all around, you would hear people shouting "Satu Malaysia", like some kind of mystical chants, whether they understand its meaning or otherwise (which is more like it).
This short video was casted with her regular actress, Sharifah Amani who played a demure, tudung-clad Malay girl, next to Hon Kah Hoe who played the racist character in the movie "Talentime". Tan Mei Ling loaned her voice over in the background as the shop owner, mother of the boy. It playacted racist sentiments from beginning till the end, the director didn't even conceal the theme in undertones. It was blatant observations of life in an urban multi racial (Malay+Chinese) society.
Several facts that Yasmin shared with us in her latest contribution: 1). Chinese shop owners having the upperhand and has the favour over the underhanded Malay buyers (shown here when the boy would not tolerate the 5 cents less of the price of a cadbury milk chocolate) 2) Chinese parent(s) are inculcating the racial sentiments to make the children aware of their fate in this country 3) The issues regarding education and job opportunities are 2 subjects that are considered still not favouring the other races 4) Love/Infatuation does not recognize "colours" 5) But in the end, racial sentiments still wins over passion/infatuation
Yasmin Ahmad presented again the facet of multiracial community life and risked the censure by the Malay viewers who still championed the cause of the "priviledged Malays". The fresh outlook which was always present in her films were the issues that were bared open instead of being swept under the carpet.
Closer to home, I must admit racial polarisation is very much evident in IPTAs although having gone through 5 years of medical school where 90% of students were Malays, I was fortunate not to suffer so much from it. May be I was spared, but I was the selected few. However, to a lesser degree, I could feel the resentment from my Chinese colleagues who had to go through 2 years of hardship at Form Six level while we Malays breezed through our Matriculation course. The Chinese "A" students were so bright and brilliant that when they joined us in our 2nd year of Matriculation, they went through it so painlessly.
The few Chinese students made up a minority (no doubt just fulfilling the sorry quota), among the sea of Malay medic students that they often walled up in their own small community - sharing lecture notes, past year questions, photostated "bible" text books, and other gems of medical curriculum. We were often confronted with blank looks when we asked for loans of these study materials, at best they shut us off with Chinese language as a clear indication that there would be no sharing there.
Yasmin has done her share by potraying the disease, symptoms and the repercussions of racism, favouritism and polarisation. I'm sure all of us have experienced the ugly facet of racism. Who benefits from this? NO ONE, we all lose in the long run if we allow this to continue. How long are we going to remain "sepet" to these issues? Have we become so myopic and keep turning a blind eye to these rising issues and let this fester like bushfire until it has done its irreversible damage?
Bakiah: is worried when her children keep referring to the next door neighbour as "Chinese sebelah rumah tu..."
The new post by Izaham on the advertisement posted in the most recent issue of Berita Kampus, has resurrected some of the fondest memories i had during my schooling days. The first day i stepped on the ground of Sekolah Seri Puteri, Jalan Kolam Ayer, i was amazed with the kind of sophistication that most of my seniors carried with them, like it was their second skin. The jargon the teenagers would now use would be "glam". Yes, they were born with the style and flair which make them looked so good with the current hair styles and dressing. The same was in their mannerism and the way they talked. It was classy and demure at the same time.
The most noticeable thing was they spoke and told jokes in a smooth English language. This was my greatest envy because I, on the other hand, my English was not only broken, i spoke haltingly and every word was a pain, which needed to be thought of and every sentence composed in the mind before any words could be uttered. I was among the few who was fortunate enough to join the rank amidst all the daughters of the diplomats, heads of ministries, and other professionals. Some were lucky to have parents who were the school alumni. Most of my friends had English as their first language.
My first introduction to the English curriculum was the Cloze Test. we were streamed into the different classes based on the results of the cloze test. Surprisingly, i was put in the Set "A" class, albeit my marks were among rock bottom ones.
Then I was made to understand that each class will get its own library box and maintained a log book. In this box I was introduced to the Prisoner of Zenda, Anna Karenina, Wuthering Heights, Les Miserables, Pride and Prejudice, The Good Earth, Little House on the Prairie, Animal Farm, and had my first journey into the world of Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, George Orwell, Pearl S. Buck, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, and many other world-acclaimed writers.
Needless to say, my friends and I were crazy about the library box. You would always see us having a book handy, and I was seldom without a Danielle Steel or Sidney Sheldon in my bag. The books were my best companions while going through the rigorous boarding school highly disciplined upbringing.
The English curriculum also included aural exercises, this was another aspect of English language that was so foreign to me. In this class, you got to listen to songs and the teacher would pass the lyrics where you need to put in your answers in the blanks. There was also the regular 5 words a day where you needed to find out the meaning, used them in sentences and this needed to be passed up every week to the English class teacher.
The ultimate excitement would of course be the video/TV shows which were incorporated in the curriculum, i guess unofficially. This was like a treat to us. That era was famous of the alien "V" series, MacGyver, Fame, and the hype was so much over Duran Duran, AHA, and the latinos boys, The Menudo. We just went crazy over John Taylor, Nick Kershaw, Simon Le Bon and you have such names out of a figment of imagination written everywhere i.e Freida Le Bon, Nita Taylor, Shaz Kershaw, etc.
We had challenging times producing class drama out of famous English Literature e.g Alice in the Wonderland, Shakespeare's "As You Like It", "Romeo and Juliet"and "Lady MacBeth". we had tremendous fun during the English Week when heavy fines were imposed at 10 cents a word for every Malay word used during the week. For Author's Week we were overjoyed with decorating the class to the theme of the selected author you picked out and the scenes you acted out of a chapter of their books.
That was how I learnt English, as how a language should be learned - in the class room, and out. I was among the English-handicapped, how I struggled to learn the language but thanks to my teachers, their dedication and spirit were what made me prevailed.
Bakiah: Often wonder how is the English language currently being taught? Does it still bring enjoyment to the learners? Do the students answer to the challenge and take pride when they succeed?
Political acumen notwithstanding, the Prime Minister Datuk Sri Najib Abdul Razak proved that he was also sleek when it came to comedy as he bantered with Forbes magazine CEO and editor-in-chief Steve Forbes in an open dialogue.
