Kopi Moment #1

"Malaysia — to whom does it belong? To Malaysians. But who are Malaysians? I hope I am, Mr Speaker, Sir. But sometimes, sitting in this chamber, I doubt whether I am allowed to be a Malaysian. This is the doubt that hangs over many minds, and ... [once] emotions are set in motion, and men pitted against men along these unspoken lines, you will have the kind of warfare that will split the nation from top to bottom and undo Malaysia."

- Lee Kuan Yew, at the Malaysian Parliament, 1965

First Shot Accepted

Finally, after many rejected attempts I got a shot accepted into Airliners.net here.

Weird thing is, I wouldn't have expected my first to be a military aircraft. But then again, an acceptance is an acceptance so I can't really complain. What a way to end 2006!

Your Thoughts?

Found this on Nik Nazmi's (a blogger whom I really admire) blog:

Sahabatku
Suatu bangsa merdeka yang kita impikan
terasa masih jauh dari kenyataan
kemarahanku menjadi kepedihan
bila kita dipisah-pisahkan
jarak itu semakin berjauhan
aku dapat gelaran ‘bumiputera’ dan
kau bukan

Bila kah kita dapat memadamkan
Perbezaan keturunan yang kian membakat kita
Dan membiarkan curaham minyak yang kian menyala
Oleh mereka yang sering bermuka dua ?
Bilakah kita dapat mempetaruhkan nasib anak anak kita yang tak berdosa
Dan generasi akan datang keturunan kita
Menjadi mangsa keturunan kita menjadi mangsa keturunan yang berbeza
Oleh mereka yang mementingkan laba dan kuasa?

Bilakah kita dapat menembusi jurang perbezaan
Kemiskinan dan kelaparan dengan kekayaan berlebihan
Antara dua golongan darjat masyarakat
Suatu janji dari erti kemerdekaan?

Bilakah semua wargenara mendapat hak
Layanan dan keadilan yang sama
Dikenal dengan satu rupa nama:
Bangsa Malaysia

Apparently it was written by the late Usman Awang for his friend Dr. M K Rajakumar. Certainly something to ponder about, if you ask me.

Taiping

Since most visitors to this blog are Unimasians (which by default means they come from Sarawak or out-of-Taiping) I thought I'd put up some pics of my hometown. Well, that and I wanted to test out the capabilities of my new toy (only Esther knows what it is!). So here goes - Taiping, brought to you in glorious black and white:

First up, my school - St George's Institution or SGI. Stormy days ahead. Especially with that headmistress...

Capturing the moment on a Sunday evening.

Inside. In case you didn't know, SGI is a pretty small school.

Boys will always be boys. Check out all the 'confessions' of love on this table...

Looking up from the front.

Then it's on to the rest of the town. Found this retro former gas station near the post office. Just thought it was snap-worthy.

The Pejabat Daerah dan Tanah Larut dan Matang (English: Land Office?) looking glorious in the evening sun.

Blue skies over the same building. Just couldn't resist putting up a colored one here.

At the museum grounds: a bronze statue of Robert Sandilands Frowd Walker, a respected guy back in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Still at the museum grounds. Retired RMAF F-86 Sabre. This was the Commonwealth version which only had two cannons as opposed to the American version which had six.

The entire museum.

The famous Taiping Lake Gardens.

With its famous almost century old (so I've been told) raintrees.

Looking across the main lake.

More raintrees.

A great place for the retired to enjoy their golden years of course.

Finally, the Taiping railway station, also the first in Malaysia.

Railway switches

The station sign. North (right) is to Kamunting and South (left) is to I-don't-know-where. The writing has peeled off...

Another inside view of the station

Final shot of the day. Sad to see historical structures like this being neglected.

That's all for today's crash tour of historical Taiping!

The Royal Malaysian Intervarsity Debating Competition 2006

Now that I'm back home, I guess it's time to post some pics of what happened during the 2 weeks or so that we were involved in the Royals:

28th Nov, arrival at Alamanda. First things first, set up DotA network.

Then it's discussions...

chilling...

...and of course, debating

Day 1 - the workshop, when we get to dress up like this...

And this...

...and this too

At UiTM Samarahan

Boring first day. Clowning comes naturally

First day of debate

In the briefing room

View from where we usually sat in the briefing room

With the KUTKM folks. Was a messy encounter no thanks to the Chair...
None of us got far. All teams were booted out during the prelims, but that didn't mean we shouldn't attend the final:

Middle row seats for the UIA vs UiTM clash

And there was a formal dinner too, where we get to dress up like this:

and where the transport of choice is this:

Sifu, flanked by his two bodyguards with jackets

And the others too:

Food for the night

with some photo ops with the other teams

and the signing of autograph books as well

All in all a satisfying experience. Yes, beware - 'The Weiyang' and 'The Waranator' will certainly be back next year...

And finally before I forget, the Unimas team for this year's Royals.
Rear (L-R): Me, Wei Kwang, Judith, Menaga, Pierina, Esther, Rohene, Elissa, Danny & Suren.
Front (L-R): Azril, Gary, Mahesh & Enzy
Masters (L-R): Mahesh, Danny & yours truly. A pity Praveenna wasn't there

Junior I (L-R): Suren, Gary, Pierina & Rohene

Junior II (L-R): Wei Kwang, Elissa, Esther & Azril

And not forgetting the Swing (L-R): Judith, Menaga & Enzy

Yes, we'll be back! All of us!