USA has a lot to learn from Sabah

The US Ambassador to Malaysia James R Keith is in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on official visit. This morning he gave a public lecture at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)on `US relations with Malaysia'.

He said the Americans have a lot to learn from Malaysia, especially Sabah, on issues relating to ethnic and religious harmony. He said that he's only been in Sabah for a day and he could see the mutual respect among the people here for each other despite their different ethnic and religion background.

"Americans can certainly learn from Sabah as a model in Malaysia for a multi-ethnic and multi-religion," he said.

Keith also said the US could acquire knowledge from the predominantly Muslim nation on a global issues.

"While the US is battling global perception that it does not respect religions, the Americans does support spiritual development around the world be it Christian, Islam or Buddhism, among others," he said.

He said that it has been this basis for a stronger relationship between the US and Malaysia.

My Say:

I am proud to be a Malaysian from Sabah.

Aerial View of Kota Kinabalu City

The City of Kota Kinabalu, Penampang District and surrounding areas, I found out just recently, can be viewed from a photograph posted in a website. It must had been taken recently as my house is also seen as well as the roads leading to all villages from Kota Kinabalu. The famous Kionsom Waterfall is also clearly marked in the photo. In fact the photograph cover a big area.

Feel free to visit or view the photograph by just tying `Kiapad Village' in the search box.

Will You Believe This?

My Say:

If I am to believe the content of this letter I reproduced below, I can be one of the richest man in Sabah. But as in previous cases, though the temptations is great, I am willing to say NO to this Omar Usman.

Omar usman
show details 4:31 AM (6 hours ago) Reply



Dear Friend,

I got your contact during my search for a reliable, trust worthy and Honest person to introduce this transfer project with. My name is Mr.Usman Omar. I am the manager of the Sg-ssb Bank Ghana, I am a Ghanaian married with two kids. I am writing to solicit your assistance in the noble transfer of US$ 5.200.000.00.

This fund is the excess of what my branch in which I am the manager made as profit during last year in my Head Office here in Accra and =they will never know of this Excess. I have since then, placed this amount of US$ 5.200.000.00 (Five Million two hundred Thousand United States Dollars) on a SUSPENSE ACCOUNT without a beneficiary.

As an officer of the bank, I cannot be directly connected to this money thus, I am impelled to request for your assistance to receive this money into your bank account. I intend to part 30% of this fund to you while 70% shall be for me. I do need to stress that there are practically no risk involved= in this.

It is going to be a bank-to-bank transfer to your nominated bank account anywhere you feel safer. All I need from you is to stand as the original depositor of this fund. If you accept this offer,
I will appreciate your timely response.

With regards,
Mr.Usman Omar.
ssb_omar@inMail24.com

IC/MyKad For Sale

A 43-year-old senior officer of the National Registration Department HQ in Kota Kinabalu was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Agency on Wednesday for involvement in a syndicate selling Malaysian identity cards (IC) to foreigners for RM18,000 each.

ACA also arrested three civilians, two men and woman, for allegedly being the NRD officer's runners.

State ACA director Latifah Md Yatim said the four were nabbed after been kept under surveillance for sometimes. Seized from them were piles of applications for MyKads (IC, 21 Mykads ready for collection.

This syndicate offer for sale MyKads to Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis and other illegal immigrants.

Yesterday the ACA obtained remand orders for all four to facilitate further investigations.

My Say:

The arrest of the NRD senior officer now confirmed that issuance of IC which are only and srictly mean for citizens of the country are being made possible by `inside job'.

NRD must enlighten the people the status of the MyKads issued to foreigners whether or not it can be revoked.

Gender segregation of students

The Daily Express today reported that a wife of a Minister from Unmo who is the Principal of SMK Tansau Penampang in Sabah had segregated students in her school eventhough it is a co educational school. Following complaints State Education director Normah Gagoh had written to the principal to stop it and return to normal in tandem with the National Educational Policy,

My Say:

The actions by the head of school was openly defying the directive of Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein that such move was not allowed. He had issued the directive when a school in Peninsula Malaysia did the same.

Again

My apology to all visitors. My computer went kaput again and again I an to be blamed. I forgot to connect it to the lightning breaker, whatever it is called. It was raining and lightning strokes my CPU. I am sending it for repair today or may be buy a new one.

____________________________________________________________________________________
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900,000 new jobs in Sabah...

The Sabah Development Corridor (SDC), which will be launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Jan 29, will create more than 900,000 new employment opportunities over its three phases of 18-year implementation period.

SDC is also expected to increase Sabah's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) four folds from RM16 billion in 2006 to RM63.26 billion in 2025.

The sectors being promoted under the SDC initiative are agriculture, tourism and logistic services and manufacturing.

My Say:

If all the jobs opportunities are to be given to qualified Sabahans, there is no reason for the State to have unemployment problem by 2025.

Another RM15,000?

This morning there was a message in my prepaid mobile phone informing me that the my Celcom prepaid number had won RM15,000 from Petronas.

It says that the cash cheque is ready for collection and I was asked to call a number to arrange for collection. The number given was +628176853789. I decided not to believe and just ignore the message and forget about the RM15,000 waiting for collection.

The message read:

TAHNIAH! Prepaid Anda Memanangi hadiah Cek Tunai RM15,000 Dari `PETRONAS' Sila Hubungi Telefon Office PETRONAS +628176853789. Penghantar: PETRONAS

My Say:

Sometimes there are thing being told to us that are too good to be true.

All 60 seats says Bersekutu

Sabah-based opposition Parti Berisan Rakyat Sabah (Bersekutu) had decided to contest in all the 60 State seats in Sabah in the general elections.

President Berman Langkap said initially the party had wanted to cooperate with other opposition party on the aspect of seats allocation for each party to contest but the discussion held last Saturday changed that all.

He said a Kuala Lumpur-based opposition party ridiculed Bersekutu hence the decision to go alone in the election.

Berman said the Election Commission is scheduled to give an election briefing to Bersekutu on Sunday. All party's leaders will be attending.

Bersekutu's advisor is Datuk Haji Mohd Noor Mansoor, a former Finance Minister during the Datuk Harris Salleh's led Party Berjaya Government.

My Say:

Incidentally Datuk Harris Salleh was head of Bersekutu when it contested all the State seats in the 2004 election. All candidates lost, majority lost their election deposits too.

And I Won GBP 1 Million in UK Lotto

This letter dated Jan 7th, 2008 is another example of attractive `deal' which I received. I am sure I am not alone in this matter


Reference Number: PBL/CN/6654/CP
Dear Consolation Prize Winner,

CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNER NOTICE

Europe/ America private international e-games organizers and co- sponsors, POWERBALL LOTTO Group International, officially bring to your notice of the final draw result of the 6th of January , 2008.
POWERBALL LOTTO -wheel E-game which was conducted at our international corporate office complex in The UNITED KINGDOM.

We wish to congratulate and inform you on the selection of your email coupon number which was selected among the 6 lucky consolation prize winners Your email ID identified with Coupon Number: PBL2348974321 and was selected by our E-games Random Selection System (ERSS) with entries from the 50,000 different email addresses enrolled for the E- game. Your email ID was included among the 50,000 different email addresses submitted by our partner international email provider companies. You have won a consolation cash prize of GBP 1,000,000 (One Million Great Britain Pounds) only.

You are to contact the DPU Officer with the following details for the release of your

winnings.Claims Requirements:

1.Name in full:...
2.Home Address:....
3.Age:....
4.Occupation:....
5.Phone Number:....
6.Present Country:....
7.Sex:....

Contact Person: Mr. Mark Anderson
Contact E-mail: mark_anderson01@hotmail.com Tel Phone: +4470-4576-6947


Regards
Mrs. Stella Bryan
(Group Co-ordinator)
Send your response to: mark_anderson01@hotmail.com

A Widow in Need Of Assistance?

As an example in connection with of my earlier posting, reproduced below is one of the example of many letters I received in my emails seeking assistance. The letter is dated Jan 4, 2008

Dearest One,

With due respect and humility.I write this letter to you which I believe would be of a great interest to you.But before I proceed, I must be grateful to introduce myself.I am Mrs Gloria Lulu.A widow to late GEN Eddy Lulu, My late husband was former second in command in Sierra Leone Government.My late husband was in charge of purchasing arms and ammunitions for the rebel group because of his vast connections in abroad.

My late husband deposited a trunk box containing 19.8 million U.S Dollars with security Company for save keeping.Now our Government wanted to seize all that belong to me and my family since the death of my husband and they have put me under bondage and close monitor till they accomplish their desires. I want you to assist me to receive this money deposited with one privat security firm to your bank account before it will starched away from me by unknow person in the government.
Since your country is one of the good investor friendly nations in the world, I have decided to seek your assistance to transfer this funds to your bank account in your country and run business over there, for the mutual benefit of both of us and my entire family.I would therefore like you to help me in every possible way in securing this funds in your country.
Kindly contact me through my personal mail address for more information, (lulu_77_gg@she.com) for security reason in which you will be informed and get update about the current arrangement i have made so far on how to transfer the fund.
Be assured that you stand no risk of any kind as the fund belongs to me and my only son,I will give you supportive evidence to act on my behalf. I promise to compensate you adequately with 20% of the whole total money.I will give you more details when i hear from you.

Please try and negotiate for me some profitable blue chip investment opportunities
which is risk free which I can invest this money when it is transferred to your bank account,personally I am interested in estate management or a factory of Daily use items, such as Essential Comoduties for Export to other countries, please advice me.Thanks and God bless you.

Best Regards,
Mrs Gloria Lulu.

Beware Bogus China Land Deals

People never learned from past incidences of land deal scams. Despite of police repeated reminders to ignore deals over the Internets as well as unsolicited telephone calls, gullible people still got conned.

Just a while ago, I received a call from a friend of mine in Keningau asking me whether I knew about `China Land Deal'. He said there are people, some of them locals in Keningau soliciting members to participate in these so-called multi-million US$ deal.

The modus operandi: A businessman in China have millions US$ in a bank but was unable to withdraw it due to certain restriction by its government. So this man sought assistance from people in Malaysia to look for large land to develop/invest so as to enable him to take out the money.

A participant need to supply to the organisers of the plan here photostat copy of land titles, identity cards and are instructed to open account with bank. They are told the rest will be done by the organisers.

My friend told me that he was one of those approached and was told that should he participated, would easily get commission not less than RM1 million for assisting the China man.

My Say:

I told him that these kind of `deals' came in the dozens unsolictited to my emails everyday purportedly from widows, investors and also telling me that I had won millions of US$ lottery in US and UK. I told this friend to ignore the deal and also report the matter to the police.

Testing

Trying out mobile blogging

My Say:

Just in case, my computer goes kaput again, as a precaution, I had signed up to mobile blogging. This mean I will be able to post using my hand phone wherever I am, a lot more convenient than carrying a laptop. The posting above is sent from by hand phone and will be the beginning of many more to come.

Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

Ex-Sabah CM joining PKR?

Former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh (June 1976-April 1985) is being lured to join Opposition party Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

PKR Vice President Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan's political secretary Kanul Gindol said Sabah PKR head Haji Ansari Abdullah was in contact with the former the Chief Minister along with another Sabah veteran politician Datuk Haji Yahya Lampong.

Harris' former strongman in his now defunt Parti Berjaya Haji Datuk Halik Zaman and ex-Likas Umno head Hussien Wahid Daly are already in PKR.

My Say:

As the general elections is coming nearer, I expect more former ministers and veteran politicians to join PKR.

Proxies get the rap

An Umno youth leader of the Kinabatangan Division Azman Mastar revealed that some owners of entertainment outlets in Sabah, who are from Peninsula Malaysia and Sarawak, nominated proxies to manage their business in the State.

This is to evade prosecution when the authorities caught the outlets carrying out illegal activities, amongst others, employing illegally foreign women as guest relations officer (GRO) and as front for prostitution.

The proxies are the owners' driver who double up as the bosses in the outlets while the owners work as supervisors or managers. The proxies will be hauled up by the authorities to face the consequences of being fined hefty sum or go to jail while the owners goes unpunished.

In a related-development, a housemother of Bukit Harapan, a charity home in Kota Kinabalu, Mama Anne had also exposed that foreign women were being smuggled into Sabah by vice syndicates under the guise of visitors to avoid detection by the authorities.

These women are placed in private home and the syndicates solicit clients on `on call' basis. Hotels are said to be the popular `drop-points' for these women to meet their clients.

My Say:

Is this a new issue? I rest my case.

Why higher poverty level in Sabah?

Due to the people of Sabah having to share Government's allocation with the illegal immigrant population, according to Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) Vice-President Tan Sri Simon Sipaun.

He told a dialogue in Kota Kinabalu Tuesday that a high ranking Federal officer had disclosed that the allocation of Federal Government funds for the Malaysia Plans did not take into account the actual number of people in Sabah.

"They only take into consideration the number of Malaysian citizens residing in Sabah," he said.

As an example, Sipaun said last year there were 3.5 million people in Sabah and only 1.5 million were Malaysians, which would mean that the fund for 1.5 million people had to be shared by the entire population.

He also said that the illegal immigrant population in Sabah would grow.

"There could be as many foreigners and possibly more than there are Malaysians in Sabah" he said.

He cited example of the Kinabatangan district in 2004 which then had a population of 85,000 of which only 25,000 were Malaysians. Fire razed Kampung Icebox in Tawau whose population was 5,000 which was later found out that only 500 were Malaysians.

My Say:

I take Sipaun's words the whole truth nothing but the truth. He is an authority, having been one of Sabah's `son of the soil' who had held high ranking posts in the State and Federal Governments. He retired several years ago as Sabah's State Secretary.

Sabah - Labuan Bridge

Sabah-based political party Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) had established its own `think-tank' and top of its agenda is to push for the construction of a bridge linking Sabah mainland to the Federal Territory of Labuan.

Progressive Institute of Public Policy Analysis headed by Datuk Tham Nyip Shen said the bridge would be about eight kilometres from Klias in Sabah to Labuan Island, across the South China Sea.

SAPP president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said the party came up with the idea at the time the proposed second Johore-Singapore bridge encountered problem.

Yong, a former Sabah Chief Minister, said the party would present the proposal to the State Government for consideration.

My Say:

I hope I will still be around when the bridge is built.

Tuhan for non-Muslims

Browsing through the foreign wire services this afternoon, I came across an AFP reports related to my earlier posting of a BBC reports. The AFP reports is reproduced below.


Malaysia orders Catholic paper not to use world `Allah'

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4, 2008 (AFP) - Malaysian authorities on Friday reminded a Catholic paper not to use the world `Allah' after is printing permit was renewed but the editor said it would press a lawsuit over the ban.
Deputy Security Minister Mohamad Johari Baharum told AFP that The Herald should comply with the government order.
"We approved the permit. Now the weekly should comply with the government decision not to use the world Allah," he said.
Authorities on Sunday allowed the Herald to continue to print, after earlier threatening to revoke its licence in a row over the use of the word `Allah'.
The publishers then assumed that they could used the word Allah, or God, which is used by church leaders when they deliver sermons in Malay or in the Malay language articles section of the 28-pages newspaper.
Editor Father Lawrence Andrew told AFP Friday that the paper would still press ahead with its lawsuit filed last month to challenge the state order banning it from using the world Allah.
"We will not withdraw the lawsuit," he said.
Andrew also said that the newspaper used the word Allah in its first issue for 2008 dated January 6.
Abdullah Mohammad Zain, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department said the Cabinet at its meetings of October 18 and November 1, 2007 decided that the word Allah could only be sued by Muslims to avoid confusion.
Abdullah said non-Muslims should use the word God (`Tuhan' in Malay) instead, although the word Allah has been used in the Malay-language Bible for centuries.
"The use of the word Allah by other religions may arouse sensitivity and create confusion among Muslims," he was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper Friday.
The Herald, a tabloid-sized newspaper, is circulated among the country's 850,000 Catholics with articles written in English, Chinese,Tamil and Malay.

Black & White

The real coloured people…

This poem was nominated by UN as the best poem of 2006, Written by an African Kid

When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in Sun, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die, I still black
And you white fellow
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you gray
And you calling me coloured?"

BBC NEWS

I reproduced a BBC reports below for visitors who might had been too busy to read the newspapers last month

Malaysia reverses Allah paper ban
By Robin Brant
BBC News, Kuala Lumpur

Religious freedom is guaranteed under Malaysian law. The Malaysian government has reversed a decision to ban a Christian newspaper using the word Allah to refer to God.
The government had threatened to refuse to give the Weekly Herald a publishing permit if it continued to use the word.
The paper's editor said the word had long been used by Christians to refer to God in the Malay language.
The ruling was immediately condemned by civil rights and Christian groups in Malaysia, who said it infringed their right to practice their religion.
But Malaysia's internal security department demanded the word be removed, saying only Muslims could use it.
Now the government has back-tracked.
In a fax to the Herald's editor, the government says it will get its 2008 permit, with no conditions attached.
Father Andrew Lawrence told the BBC he was delighted, saying prayers had been answered.
He blamed politics and a general election expected here in 2008 year for what he said were the actions of a few over-zealous ministers in the Muslim-dominated Malay government.
Religious issues are highly sensitive in Malaysia, which has a 60% Muslim population.
Religious freedom is guaranteed in the law but minority groups have accused the Muslim Malay majority of trying to increase the role of Islam in the country"

Noah's Ark

Lessons From Noah's ARK

I get so many junk in my e-mail that it's almost a chore to clean up the nonsense I'm receiving. Yet even as I rummage through the junk in my mailbox, I sometimes discover gems waiting to be discovered and share in its beauty. And it so blessed my heart that I received something from a friend about Noah's Ark. So this dawn of a new year, I would like to pass on this wonderful lesson so apt that it will remind us of our tasks ahead for 2008.

Noah's Ark....everything I need to know to succeed in life.

1. Don't miss the Boat.
2. Remember, we're all in the same Boat.
3. Plan Ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
4. Stay fit and alert. When we are 60 years old, someone may ask us to do something really big and important.
5. Don't give in to critics. Just get on with the job that needs to be done.
6. Build our future on high ground.
7. For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
8. Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails made it on board with the cheetahs.
9. When stressed, float for a while.
10. Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
11. No matter the storm, when you're with GOD, there's always a rainbow waiting.
And I remember a friend saying this to me. When you receive something precious, don't just get it, give it. Many people will come in and out of our lives, but special people, friends, good books, they leave footprints in our hearts.
I leave this wonderful lesson from Noah's Ark I received from a friend and pass it on to you."

Sex scandal and politics

Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek's case was not the first sex scandal that was exposed to public involving politicians in Malaysia. In Sabah, too, in the 1980s similar exposure was made that involved an Assistant Minister.

While Dr Chua's scandal was exposed in a video recording, this Assistant Minister was accused by a woman of having sexs with a promise to marry her. Yesterday Dr Chua resigned as Health Minister and MP as well as all other party's posts. In the Sabah's case, the man stay put a politician.

The woman went to the Syariah Court accusing that Assistant Minister had sexs with her in a cheap hotel in Kota Kinabalu. It was the story and talks of the people for several months.

At first when the story went into print in the local and national newspapers, there was no name mentioned which resulted into wild speculation among the Government of the day's male Assistant Ministers.

Later the man was named and the case went into trial in open court of which I covered for the New Straits Times. There was a lot of drama in the hearing, one of which, the accused Assistant Minister in the dock greeting the girl at the other box `Hello Sayang'.

The Assistant Minister denied the charges (not once but several times alleged by the girl)saying that he was visiting his constituency at the time, day and year as framed in the charges against him. He told the court that he could bring the villagers as his witnesses.

But he was convicted and of course he filed an appeal. At the appeal stage, he was cleared, not because of his alibi but the court ruled and held that there was no witness when he and the girl were having sex.

Nevertheless, he quit as Assistant Minister but stayed on as an Assemblyman. He went on to retain his seat and was made a full minister.

The rest is history.

My Say:

I purposely did not mention any names as the man had since passed away and the woman happily married.