ASTRO!! OH.. ASTRO!!

I can say that I am one of Astro's loyal customers. I have been a subscriber since I started working way back then, but it frustrates me sometimes.

Question 1: How long have Astro been in operation? It was launched in 1996.. that is 16 years!!

Question 2: How often does it rain in Malaysia? Everyday!!

(Ok.. maybe not EVERY-day, but about 15 days a month.. sounds about right?)

If you still have to ask what is the relation between my Question 1 and Question 2 - then I am guessing that you are not an Astro subscriber. So, let me point out that Astro signal gets interrupted EVERY time it rains!

Can you believe that even after almost 2 decade in operation, Astro still could not guarantee an uninterrupted service for their paying customers??

Yes, customers paid for the subscription.. for the service.

Astro is very quick to bar the subscription for those customers who neglected to pay their subscription bill. Well, I have nothing against that. 

But what happen when the customer frequently get interrupted service? Perhaps, Astro should start giving rebate to their customers every time they suffer interrupted service.. How about that?

I think that's fair!!

TIBAI - What A Catchy Name!

Election fever is definitely in the air now.

Actually, I never intended for my blog to be a political one. However, the latest news in the political front really caught my attention - that is the establishment of an organization called 'TIBAI', which if we translate it into English means 'Bash Up'. Hehe.... 

TIBAI is actually an acronym made up from Malay words:

'Tolak Individu Bernama Anwar Ibrahim',

Translated in English as 'Denounce That Individual Named Anwar Ibrahim'.

And that individual being referred to in the acronym is none other than Anwar Ibrahim, the current opposition leader in the Malaysian politics.

The ironic thing about this is - TIBAI is not formed by Anwar's political enemies, but it is actually formed by people who used to be strong supporters of Anwar Ibrahim. Some of them have gone through hardship and have even been arrested for the violence they participated in support of Anwar Ibrahim before. 

Well, of course NOW they can consider themselves as Anwar's political enemies.

Big names in the leadership of TIBAI includes... 

Zaid Md Arip 

(Ex-PKR member and a strong reformist since the 'Reformasi' era in 1998)

Senator Ezam Mohd Noor 

(Ex-PKR Youth Chief and one of the founder of PKR)

YB Zulkifli Nordin 

(Kulim-Bandar Baru MP, who is also one of the lawyer who defended Anwar Ibrahim in his sodomy case in 1998)

Datuk S Nalakaruppan 

(Long time friend to Anwar Ibrahim)

YB Wee Chong Keong 

(Wangsa Maju MP) 

Anuar Shaari 

(Ex-PKR member and former Private Secretary to Anwar Ibrahim)

Ruslan Kassim 

(Ex-PKR Information Chief)

Aminah Abdullah 

(Ex-PKR Woman Chief in Penang)

Rahimi Osman 

(Former assistance to Anwar Ibrahim)

Actually, for political observers in Malaysia, the formation of TIBAI news did not really come as a big surprise. But the name is very catchy indeed!

It is a known fact that the opposition, especially PKR, has been hit with leadership crisis since a few years ago, which saw many of their top guns abandoning the party.

Anwar's personal problems like the sodomy case and the video (purportedly) showing him having sex with a Chinese prostitute, be it politically-motivated or not, did not help the worsening situation of his party.

Anwar Ibrahim is indeed a public figure in Malaysia, who needs very little introduction. His rebellious nature is well-known to friends and foes since the 70s, where he often led his fellow university students to protest against the government. 

But his stand against the government later changed drasticcally when the then Education Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir (now Tun) took a bold move to invite Anwar into UMNO. Mahathir's move raised eye brows among friends and foes alike. And Anwar's decision to accept Dr Mahathir's invitation shocked them even more. Overnight, Anwar's protest against the government has suddenly changed to being a strong support.

Anwar's support for Dr Mahathir and  the BN government was so strong that his political rivals at that time, who are members of PAS and DAP, labelled him as Ultra-Malay! And  Anwar in return labelled PAS and DAP as extremist!

When Dr Mahathir became the 4th Prime Minister, Anwar was also making his way up the ranks of UMNO and eventually landed himself in the Deputy Premier seat after his controversial victory against the late Tun Ghaffar Baba.

Anwar was seen as the political son to Dr Mahathir and Anwar was set to take over the premiership from his 'father' to become the next Prime Minister, when the un-thinkable happened - Rumors of Anwar's sexual orientation surfaced!!

The rumors started from among the oppositions when PAS member, Mat Sabu, called Anwar as 'Anwar Al-Juburi' in one of his ceramah. This was then echoed by other opposition leaders like Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh. They demanded for Anwar's removal from the Malaysian cabinet.

The rumors grew stronger by the day and it finally penetrated into UMNO. This led to a historical event in Malaysian politics, when Dr Mahathir sacked Anwar in 1998 as the Deputy Prime Minister and removed him from the cabinet and UMNO as well.

Everyone remembered how irony that episode was -- Anwar was sacked by the very person who invited him into UMNO and helped him up the rank -- his very own political father -- Dr Mahathir.

It reminded everyone of the ever popular film "Anakku Sazali", by the lagendary P Ramlee.

That marked another turning point in Anwar political life. And like before, within overnight, his stand on the government changes drastically once again. PAS and DAP leaders, who used to label him as 'Anwar Al-Juburi' and who started the whole rumors about Anwar's sexual orientation, has now become his political ally.

While his former friends and allies, who have been with him throughout the many changes in his political life has now formed TIBAI, which aims to expose the 'Real Anwar' to Malaysian and the world.

Let's see what they have got hidden in the closet......

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT????

Last night, I had the shock of my life!! Here's what happened... 

Let me start from the beginning.

I work in an outsourcing company which supports clients in the US. My work hours has to also follow the US hours, which in Malaysia will start at night and ends just before the sun comes out. So, driving at 3 or 4 in the morning is a norm for me.

Yesterday at around 3 in the morning, one of my colleague, Mirza, invited me to go for a drink at a nearby mamak shop. So, we drove off in my car to Padang Kota Corner in Kota Damansara. I just had 'teh tarik', while Mirza helped himself to 'mee goreng mamak' and a glass of 'teh tarik'.

Shortly after, a few other colleagues from the office also joined us - Sachein, Kavitha, Edgar, Sri, Mansor, Shargunan and Mahen. They order food and drink - it is our 'lunch time' anyway. After a while, Mirza and I excused ourselves as our break time is almost over. 

We were driving back from the mamak shop going back to the office along Persiaran Tropicana, when suddenly something caught my eye - I saw a huge WHITE FIGURE among the trees just in front of us.

I slowed down my car...

"What in the world is that!!!???" I exclaimed, with eyes wide opened. 

"Mirza, are you seeing what I am seeing??", I asked.

"Yes, I think so...", replied Mirza with a bit of a trempling voice.

"What is that??" Mirza asked.

Well, before I continue, let me share with you that Persiaran Tropicana road is often regarded as the 'back road' that connects Kota Damansara and Bandar Utama. At 4am, there weren't a lot of cars or people around. In fact, there were none at that time.

Panic starts to kick in!

But weirdly, instead of driving off - I braved myself, took out my camera and started taking pictures.

  

While I was taking pictures, suddenly Mirza said to me "Look! there's another one!"

We saw another white figure on another tree nearby. In fact, we spotted a few more after that.

It did not move, just wavering in the same spot in the tree. We decided to get down from the car, and started walking towards the figure.

After closer inspection, we discovered that the 'white figures' were actually wrapping plastics from a nearby contruction site that got stuck on the trees................

PHEW!! : )

NOTE :

Hehehe... actually, I already knew those were wrapping plastics as I already saw it earlier during the day. I just decided to add some "suspense" in my writing for your reading pleasure : ) : )

If I really saw an unknown white figure in the trees at 4 in the morning, do you really think I would stop and take pictures?? I DON'T THINK SOOOOOO...

But jokes aside, if someone who did not know that those were wrapping plastics and suddenly happens to pass by this road at 4 in the morning... Seeing those "white figure among the trees" could easily give them a heart attack, don't you agree?

So, the next time you happen to drive along Persiaran Tropicana road -- be careful!!


READ ALSO:
STORY OF A WHITE FIGURE

STORY OF A HAUNTED HILL
STORY OF A TWISTED DEATH

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!

I am very delighted today when I opened my blog and I realized that my blog have hit 1,000 pageviews today, which is less than a month since I started. This number may not seem very big as compared to the likes of celebrities blogs, but every visit means a lot to me and I would want to make your visit as meaningful as possible. I thank you for your support! :)

I started my blog less than a month ago on 21 March, simply out of interest to put my thoughts into written words. My tag line is "capturing the moments on matters that matters to me..". Hence the reason I name my blog as MY WORLD. 

My first entry was 'Entering the Blogging world' (To read that entry, click here)

And I have been writing ever since. But I noticed that a few of my entries received more visitors than others. Some popular ones includes:

• The news about the death of the Prince of Perak (click here)

• My own experience of being part of a passerby effect (click here)

• A friend's nightmare of being accused of someone else's crime (click here)

As I browse through other blogs, I realized that many bloggers has their own blog identity and they write about topics that relates to that identity - be it about family, social, politics, education, news or entertainment. 


But I have to admit that I am yet to find my true identity in this blogging world. So, I continue to write about topics that comes to my mind - randomly. If you have any suggestion on what you think I should write about - simply drop me a line.


Once again thank you for your support. 

REVISITED: SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD

Have you heard of the "Seven Wonders of the World"? Do you know that there is an ANCIENT list and a NEW list of the Seven Wonders of the world?

Well, I have heard of the original (now known as ancient) list since I was a child. It is compiled in the middle ages and it listed seven most remarkable natural wonders and man-made structures in the world. The original members of this list are...

1. Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt
2. Hanging Garden of Babylon
3. Statue of Zeus in Olympia
4. Temple of Artemis in Ephesus
5. Mausoleum of Maussollos at Harlicarnassus
6. Colossus of Rhodes
7. Lighthouse of Alexandria.

However, from the seven members in the list, only the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt survived until today. Others in the list no longer in existence. 

In 2001, and initiative was carried out to re-visit the list and identify wonders in the world that still exist. After a worldwide survey and after much deliberation, a new list was finally announced in 2007.

From there, the earlier (original) list is now known as "The Seven Wonders of The ANCIENT World". While the new list announced in 2007 is known as "The NEW Seven Wonders of the World".

Ironically, the new list of seven wonders -- has eight members!!

Here are the NEW Seven Wonders of the World:

1. The Great Wall of China in China -- is a series of fortification walls, generally built along the east-to-west line across the historical northern border of China to protect the Chinese Empire from any intrusion. It is famously built between 220-206 BC by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.

2. Petra in Jordan -- is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduit system. It is establish during the 6th century BC as the capital city of Nabataens. It is located in the slopes of Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Wadi Araba. The BBC has named Petra as one of 'the 40 places you have to see before you die'.

3. Christ the Redeemer in Brazil -- Is a statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The statue is located at the peak of the 700-meter Corcovado mountain of Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. It was constructed between 1922 - 1931 and has become a well-known icon for Rio de Janeiro.

  

4. Machu Picchu in Peru -- is a pre-Columbian 15th Century Inca site, located in the Cusco region of Peru. Most archaeologist believe that Machu Picchu was build as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438 - 1472). It is often regarded as the 'Lost City of the Incas'. The site remains 'lost' to the outside world until 1911. and it has been a great tourist attraction ever since.

5. Chichen Itza in Mexico -- is located in the eastern portion of Yucatan state in Mexico. It is believed to have been built between 700AD and 900AD. It is a focal point in the northern Maya lowlands from the Late Classic era (c. 600AD - 900AD) to the Early Postclassic era (c. 900AD - 1200AD). Chichen Itza is likely to have been one of the mystical great cities, or Tollans.

6. Colosseum in Italy -- Is regarded as one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering. Its constructions begin in 72AD during the rule of emperor Vespasian, and completed in 80AD under the rule of Titus. The Colosseum can host about 50,000 spectators and was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunt, execution and dramas.   

7. Taj Mahal in India -- is a white marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan between 1632 - 1653, in memory of his 3rd wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal is widely recognized as  "the jewel of Muslim art in India" and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage.

8. The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt -- needs little introduction and is regarded as an honorary member to the NEW list as it is the only surviving member of the original list (now known as the ANCIENT list). It was built between 2560BC - 2540BC as a tomb for the fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Kufu. The Great Pyramid of Giza remains as the tallest man-made structure in the world for 3,800 years, before modernization came by with its sky-scraper buildings.