Keningau Idol

Hello everybody, I am new here.

OK, to answer your very eager question... well, see for yourself.

Now, my Chinese name shall be...

孔祥恩

Which combination do you think is best?

A. Hoong Siang Ern

B. Hoong Siang En

C. Hoong Xiang Ern

D. Hoong Xiang En

And which will go best with my name?

1. Ryan

2. Bryan

3. Harold

4. Howard

5. others (some suggestions received: Macquin, Ferrari, Porsche, Nathan, Schumacher?!)

SMS your votes to Keningau Idol at 019-8110189. Voting begins today and ends in 48 hours (hey, need to register myself la...). Standard charges apply.

Want to see more of me? Come HERE.

The bean is out

Guess what's under the blanket?

Surprise!

More to come. Watch this space.

Camera down

My digital camera has gone back to the Canon workshop. There is some problem with the lens motor mechanism, which causes it to jam a bit when retracting from the extended position. And the E18 error, which seems to be a popular problem with Canon compact cameras.

No camera to use liao.

Don't know if it's due to too much wear and tear. Hopefully, just need a bit of oiling here and there.

Whose court is it?

What happens when even judges do not uphold the constitution to protect the civil rights of non-Muslim citizens anymore?

Hence, the civil court's decisions thus far in Subashini's case is highly problematic. By allowing the converted spouse to have his civil marriage dissolved and to obtain custody of his son in the syariah court, the civil court is, in fact, turning its back on the non-Muslim spouse.

What's more, the Court of Appeal's majority decision that a non-Muslim spouse must seek remedy in the syariah court, is unconstitutional.

Schedule 9, List II (1) of the Constitution stipulates clearly that the syariah courts, which are constitutionally subordinate to the civil courts, only have jurisdiction over "persons professing the religion of Islam".

How then can Subashini seek recourse in the syariah courts? And why isn't the civil court upholding her constitutional and civil rights?

Source: The Federal Constitution is the highest law of the land

Pubic response: Bar Council: Syariah Court only for Muslims

We seem to living in a country where many important institutions are losing public confidence. First it's the police, then the ACA, and now the courts?

Quick question: what's the easiest way for a husband to grab full costody of the children, and leave the wife without having to pay her a single sen, and still appear legally and morally right? Answer: change to that religion. And the children... they never had a choice. They're stuck for the rest of their lives.

Gosh, where is this country heading to? What can we do about it?

Amok in Keningau

Fancy a kampung of people running amok in Keningau? Well, there's a village named like that.

I don't like the word "amok". It reminds me of the greedy racists and their keris-wielding leader, and the Amok assembly, which I wrote about HERE. It reminds me of the leader who warned that his ethnic group is very prone to running amok, which is actually true according to Wikipedia HERE.

Anyway, that Amok Village signboard is such an eyesore that makes me feel irritated whenever I pass that street. I had to do something.

I wrote to the press...

Dear sir/madam,

I would like to draw your attention to the Jalan Kg Amok in Keningau.

Obviously, it is a vandalised road sign. The amazing thing is, the above roadsign is situated at a roundabout along the main road into Keningau. Such central is its location, that within walking distance is the Keningau Old Hospital, the Jabatan Air, the Sessions Court, the Local Government Building, the Federal Building, the district Stadium and the Hotel Perkasa. Nobody coming from KK into Keningau can miss this signboard.

And yet, for the past many months that I can remember, nobody has bothered to do something to rectify the roadsign which has turned into an eyesore. Nothing has been done, despite the roundabout being used by the many civil servants, department heads, and politicians who enter Keningau.

Therefore, I hope you can pass on this complain to the relevant department so that remedial action can be done.

Thank you.

Walla! As of today, I have silenced the amok in Keningau and restored peace and harmony. Hehehe... that's a joke. Now the village is full of mosquitoes.

Not sure whether they published my letter. I do not buy that newspaper.

Moral of the story is: instead of wasting your time complaining, as everybody else is very capable of doing; better to put that energy into working out a solution.

Kueh-chap

I am not talking about cakes. I am talking about this:

I tried a google to see if anybody has made an entry for kueh chap into Wikipedia. There was none. But there were many links leading to various locations of this exotic delicacy.

My medic coursemates used to call Bak-Kut-Teh the food-for-brain (we had BKT twice a week when in Klang). They probably haven't tried the Kueh-Chap.

The "kueh" is refers to flat rice noodles, a bit like kueh-teow, but much broader, shorter and smoother. The "chap" means mix, pig-mix in this case. So they throw in whatever they could harvest from that multi-purpose khinzir... fat meat, lean meat, ears, lungs, stomach, intestines, liver, tendons... stretch your imagination. All these cooked with a dark and delicious concoction of Chinese herbs, put in a few pieces of taufoo-pok to balance the taste and texture.

Credits to Uncle and Auntie Liz for bringing me to try out this really cool stuff. The shop is in Inanam, Kota Kinabalu.

Should have more of it before I need to worry about my uric acid and cholesterol levels. Anybody wanna join?

Auntie Liz, the Menggatal Ngau-Chap is next, remember?

Oolong tea

Uncle Kit is offering a refreshing cup of Oolong tea HERE.

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

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Need a joke

Have been going through a bit of tiring and stressful times.

Definitely could do with a bit of joke, like something HERE.

The Tourism Ministry blundered by starting construction work on a RM3.4 million tour jetty complex at Sungai Pinang in Jelutong in 2005.

The project under the Eighth Malaysia Plan, if completed, could have been the joke of the century because the Drainage and Irrigation Department had classified Sungai Pinang as Level 5 river or "dead river". Sungai Pinang is one of the most polluted river in Asia.

And the reply from the minister:

The planners made a mistake when deciding to construct the tour jetty without taking a look at what really is available at the site. They just plan to construct the jetty without even going to the river just because they have the money to do it...

I am no civil engineer, ... does it mean to say a jetty is built away from the river? Who employed and supervised such smart planners?

And the best part is, nobody needs to be accountable for it. There goes your taxpayer's money... down the river.