My condolences to the families of the 6 crew members of the Nuri helicopter who died in the crash near Genting Sempah last Friday (July 13).
I don’t have the expertise to determine if it is still safe to use the Nuri helicopters that has been in service since 1968. The fact that over 70 lives are claimed all these years in numerous Nuri’s crashes should convince most people not to board on one of these helicopters.
Our soldiers have no options though. One of the deceased members, Captain Nor Azlan Termuzi, had voiced his concerns about flying with Nuri, fearing the safety of the aging helicopters. [LKS]
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The Tengku Mahkota of Pahang, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, has resigned as deputy president of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) with immediate effect.
Tengku Abdullah did not give any reason for his resignation; Bernama thinks that his decision to quit from all posts in FAM is seen as his reaction to fulfil the requests of football fans that the present FAM leadership make way for new blood who could bring changes to the local football scene. [Bernama]
I actually think that Tengku Abdullah should resign much earlier; his reign at FAM was not working well obviously. I don’t really blame him though… he is not solely responsible for the slump of our nation football. In fact his apology to the fans on Wednesday after the China defeat has earned some respect from me.
The troubling thing with Malaysian football these days is that nobody has a real clue on what is happening and what can be done to turn back the tide. The fans and critics could only slam the players and the management for the poor performances, but nobody seems capable to come out with a solid plan to revitalise Malaysian soccer.
I can only hope that a real capable person with the right vision and capability will take over Tengku Abdullah’s position.
The government is making a real mess in Nathaniel’s Tan arrest. I don’t know Nat personally, and I am not sure if he did (or did not) violate any laws, so I am not going to jump on the bandwagon and call for his release just yet.
What concerned me though, is on how he was arrested (I am not going into the arrest details, you can read it from Tian Chua instead) and the reason for his arrest…
Mohd Johari Baharom’s involvement
Nat was arrested on Friday afternoon (July 13) under Official Secret Act (OSA) and is remanded for 4 days under Section 8 of the Official Secret Act (OSA) over allegation of possession of documents pertaining to Johari Baharum’s alleged involvement in corruption. [Jeff Ooi]
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I went to watch the Asian Cup game between Malaysia and China in (we lost 1-5) at Bukit Jalil. Here are some of my thoughts after the match…
Publicity
I have read an article from a foreign journalist about his (I assumed) experience in KL… he mentioned that he saw lots of billboards everywhere in the city, but saw nothing about the Asian Cup; he had a feeling that he was at the wrong city for the games… I guess some Malaysians shared the same sentiment too, I know I do.
I can’t recall the organizer taking aggressive methods in pulling the crowd and selling the tickets, or to promote the event. I felt that the Malaysian organizers are taking the event too lightly… for goodness sake, it is one of the largest sporting event in Asia, the world (or at least lots of Asians) are watching the competition; it is a good chance to show how good we are in hosting a major sporting event, or how bad instead.
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The AFC Asian Cup 2007 has kicked off! This is probably the first ever major sporting event around the world to be co-hosted by 4 countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam)… the first match in Malaysia will be held on Tuesday (July 10) at Bukit Jalil Stadium, with Malaysia playing against China.
I felt that the publicity for the event is quite poor in Malaysia; I don’t see many banners around the city, and I don’t see many advertisements about the tournament on TV or newspapers. Hopefully the stadium won’t be too empty during the matches.
Below is the schedule of the matches (in Malaysia)…
July 10 (2035) - Malaysia vs China (Bukit Jalil)
July 11 (1820) - Iran vs Uzbekistan (Bukit Jalil)
July 14 (1820) - Malaysia vs Uzbekistan (Bukit Jalil)
July 15 (1820) - China vs Iran (Bukit Jalil)
July 18 (2035) - Malaysia vs Iran (Bukit Jalil)
July 18 (2035) - China vs Uzbekistan (Shah Alam)
July 22 (1820) - Quarter final (Bukit Jalil)
July 25 (1820) - Semi final (Bukit Jalil)
Try going for a game a two if possible and show some support for our team and to show our hospitality as a host for the game.
PKR information chief Tian Chua is in turmoil for his French Dinner doctored photo that poked fun at Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
I am not sure what Tian Chua was trying to show… awareness, humour or whatever… he failed miserably regardless.
The picture in question
What Chua did was stupid, but what caught my attention is the amount of criticism he received for his act… I somehow felt that the criticism he received could be more than the condemnations for the Altantuya’s murderer or any other crimes that have been rising recently.
BN leaders in particular have been critical about this photo but rather quiet in voicing about Altantuya’s murder case… it’s a pathetic situation.
Besides, it’s very obvious that the picture is being doctored; it’s so blatantly fake that people need to be really stupid to believe that it is something real… and the sad thing is, some Malaysians are that stupid indeed.
Update - A Muslim friend told me that in Islamic teaching, defamation is more sinful than murder (in his exact Malay words… “Fitnah dosanya lebih besar daripada membunuh”)… and that’s probably why Tian Chua has received those harsh criticisms.
I won’t go against any religious teaching, but the words reminded me of ISA where people are arrested without trail… and some of them might be innocent. Aren’t those wrongful accusations by ISA being counted as “fitnah” as well?