GO FOR SINGLE SCHOOL SYSTEM..

Nazri against single stream school system

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 29, 2009): Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz says he is against the proposal for single stream school system as "we cannot force other (non-Malay) races to sacrifice their characteristics and become Malays (Malaynised)".

What is more, he said, the 1Malaysia concept allows the non-Malays to use and preserve their languages."What we want is a united people and country, not forcing all races to become Malays (Malaynised).

"Chinese and Tamil primary schools can continue to to exist, as long as these schools teach Bahasa Malaysia as it is the national language with which (Malaysians of) various races communicate and interact with one another to promote unity."

Nazri, who is currently overseas, told Sin Chew Daily that Chinese and Tamil schools are not meant for only the Chinese and Indians respectively, the Malays can also enter these schools. Malay parents should encourage their children to study in Chinese schools to learn an additional language, he said.

"To acquire another language, be it Chinese, Tamil, Arabic, Japanese etc is to gain an advantage. "I am now in Chengdu, China, and because I don't speak Mandarin I feel I am at a disadvantage. "We should regard language as a subject and there are benefits to gain from learning additional languages. Education should not be racialised."

On writer/poet Eddin Khoo's remark that he missed the chance to learn Chinese because his father, historian Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Khoo Kay Kim who raised the ire of many with his single stream school remark recently, was too patriotic, Nazri said such thinking be discarded.

Nazri said the government cannot compel all the races to learn only Bahasa Malaysia, forcing the non-Malays to give up their own languages. "Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country where the various races enjoy the right to learn their own languages. Multi-culture and multi-lingual are the strong points of Malaysia, something which cannot be denied," he added.

tHE sUN 30/12/2009.

# WE SHALL ADOPT TO SINGLE SCHOOL SYSTEM AS TRUE 1MALAYSIA IDENTITY.
LET'S ALL CHILDREN GET THE SPIRIT OF MALAYSIA NATION BUILDINGS.
THOSE WHO AGAINST IT HAD A SHORT-SIGHTED MIND..
WHEN COME TO MONEY AND ECONOMY THEY PRAISE 1MALAYSIA FOR FAIRNESS,
WHEN COME TO EDUCATION THEY DISOWN 1MALAYSIA FOR OWN RACE SURVIVAL... NO WAY MEN.. YOUR PLACE IS NOT HERE IN TANAH MELAYU...

Stop Misleading Muslim... Folks!!!

JAKIM: BAK KUT TEH HALAL TAK BOLEH DIANGGAP HALAL

PETALING JAYA, Dis 22 — Penggunaan istilah bak kut teh halal boleh mengelirukan umat Islam di samping bertentangan hukum syarak kerana bercanggah dengan kaedah fiqah yang ditetapkan oleh Islam.

Ketua Penolong Pengarah Jabatan Kemajuan Agama Islam Malaysia (Jakim) Lokman Abdul Rahman berkata, bak kut teh tidak boleh dianggap halal kerana ia masih mengekalkan penggunaan nama yang haram mengikut hukum Islam.

Sehubungan itu, beliau menegaskan, makanan itu tidak akan mendapat sijil halal berdasarkan prosedur yang ditetapkan oleh Jakim.

“Walaupun mereka mungkin akan membuat permohonan, Jakim tidak akan meluluskan makanan bak kut teh halal itu kerana sudah jelas ia tidak mengikut hukum yang telah ditetapkan di dalam Islam,” katanya.

Tegas beliau Jakim bimbang masyarakat Islam akan salah faham dengan membuat tanggapan bahawa makanan itu sudah halal dimakan jika Jakim memberi pengiktirafan halal.

more news at >>
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/bahasa/47297-jakim-bak-kut-teh-halal-tak-boleh-dianggap-halal

ALERT: POTENTIAL TOYOTA CAR THEFT

HOW TO STEAL A TOYOTA

Submitted by pekwan on Friday, December 18th, 2009

Just Google, and you can break into one with a RM300 device

PETALING JAYA: It doesn't take that much to steal a Toyota, surprisingly. All one needs to do is to Google and you are on your way to "owning" one.

 

A probe by The Malay Mail revealed that one particular device — known as the Toyota Key Maker (TKM) — can be easily purchased online.

 

The device, believed to be used by car thieves to whisk away cars of that popular Japanese make, is a legal device to duplicate keys for Toyota cars.
 
Other than online, you can even buy it at some workshops, authorised or otherwise, to neutralise the car's computer system that controls the alarm and ignition.
 
Police sources told The Paper That Cares that the device was among the assortment of car theft paraphernalia they seized from syndicates targetting Toyota cars.
 
read more here >>> http://www.mmail.com.my/content/22283-how-steal-toyota
 
Muzliza Mustafa
Friday, December 18th, 2009 09:39:00

# BEWARE IF YOU ARE OWNERS OF TOYOTA CAR.. 1575 UNITS STOLEN UP TO OCT09. THE HOT ONE ARE CAMRY, HILUX AND FORTUNER....

Another Unresolved Problems..

Worker woes may hit palm oil earnings.


Malaysia could lose billions of ringgit in palm oil export earnings if a serious labour shortage in Sabah continues, industry officials say.

The plantation sector in Sabah, Malaysia's most productive palm oil producer, has seen its workforce fall by a fifth recently, Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) chief executive Datuk Mamat Salleh said.

Checks with plantation companies revealed that more than 10 sizeable oil palm estates in the state did not have enough workers because those who had gone home to Indonesia for the Hari Raya Puasa and Haji holidays did not come back.

The main reason was that estates in Kalimantan were paying the same wages offered in Sabah, Mamat said. "If foreign workers, comprising half of the 600,000 workforce in the palm oil industry, are reduced by 30 per cent, our country's palm oil export earnings could shrink as much as RM10 billion a year," he told Business Times in an interview.

Sabah produces seven million tonnes of palm oil a year, or 40 per cent of the national output. The palm oil industry earned a record RM65 billion in export earnings last year, thanks to high prices.

Two months ago, East Malaysia Planters' Association (Empa) chairman Othman Walat reportedly said that oil palm planters in Sabah and Sarawak might recruit workers from China, Bangladesh and the Philippines to make up for the shortage of Indonesian workers.

However, industry officials felt that it was easier said than done as other nationals did not prefer working on the estates, while Malaysians were under the mistaken assumption that the job did not pay well. "But plantations these days are offering productivity-based salaries. A harvester, for instance, can earn between RM1,500 and RM2,000 a month, depending on the quantity and quality of fruit bunches he harvests.

"A family of three working together can earn up to RM3,000," Othman said. Furthermore, the job offers housing, uninterrupted supply of electricity and piped water, medical, schooling and recreation facilities free of charge by the estate owners. These are now enjoyed by the foreign workers.

While, the MPOA understands and fully supports the government policy to employ more locals and enhance mechanised harvesting on the estates, the reality is far from expectations. Mamat said that young locals entering the labour market were just not interested in menial jobs like the harvesting of oil palm fruits.

"We do not want to be too dependent on foreign labour, but do we have any other feasible and practical alternatives?" he questioned.

Biztimes, wednesday 16/12/2009

* Most people work in plantation knows
that this sector is the lowest paid in the country.
So what answer they want..?
Just raise the salary...dudes.
1000's will jump to plantation within days..

I dont want to talk to machine. idiot!!

IMAGINE yourself being the 27th caller in a queue waiting to talk to a customer relations or call centre representative for a service you want changed or cancelled. How would you react?

Lina (not her real name) could not believe her ears when told she was the 27th caller waiting. She just hung up, went online and changed her entertainment package.
It was not a smooth transaction online as the website was not customer-friendly but it was far better than waiting her turn on her mobile phone.
In another incident, Yap moaned and groaned while dialling 30 times to reach his bank over a 45-minute period before he eventually spoke to a customer care rep to sort out details of his credit card.

Thangam went ballistic and dialled a travel agent instead after six tries to an airline. “I was disgusted as this message – ‘your call is in the queue ...it is important to us...’” – repeated over and over. Can’t the person come online; why keep me waiting?” she asked.

These are just be a few incidents of disgruntled people that were trying to reach some organisations to air their grouses but getting your problems heard these days can be an unfruitful traipse around the mulberry bush.

Most often your challenge will be to get the organisation to answer, then you may have to press a dozen numbers and hold until someone is free to attend to your call. This can take a while if there are too few call reps and too many calls.

For companies that have opted for automated self-help transactions, the issue is having to press many numbers and should you hit a wrong number, you have to repeat the whole process. Besides the cost of making the calls, the customer suffers the loss of precious time while his patience is tested.

Is the automated world rendering it difficult to reach a human being who can attend to your query or handle your problem? While automated messages are good for simple transactions, you simply get irritated if you have to listen to “press 1 to ...10” to get to the right section and then press a sequence of a dozen or so other numbers to activate the self-help transaction.

Big words about customer care don’t mean a thing if the organisation has no time to listen and pushes customers to an automated self-serve system.

Outsourcing to call centres allows companies to save money and time and that’s fine if the service is up to the mark but not all transactions should be automated.

Companies should have more reliable platforms for consumers to air their grouses and minimise waiting time. In some cases, humans should replace automated systems for the personal touch as people like to talk to people, not machines.

Train the workforce as a rude rep can easily damage the image of a company as the rep is often the first touch point for any company.Most importantly, if companies want to have automated, self-serve transactions, make them simple. Devise a way for people to get connected faster and reach the point sooner than going a circuitous route.

Make customers wait once too often and you will succeed in driving them away.

The Star Friday...
Deputy news editor B.K. Sidhu believes that talking to people, rather than machines, makes all the difference.

Beware of Cheap Fish...

Think twice before ordering cheap fish 'n chips? Be careful when you buy fish and chips.

It is called Sutchi and I saw many housewives snatching up the fish at supermarkets as they are really reasonably priced. ?The fish looks good but read the article and you will be shocked.

My colleague who deals with seafood confirmed that this is true. ?This product is from Vietnam and unless you know the right supplier which most of us won't, so be safe!

Sutch! i is sold in Singapore supermarkets and I've got a stinking feeling its the same thing!
To be 100% sure that we're not eating Pangas, better not order fish n chips when eating out!!

Do you eat this frozen fish called Pangas ?
( Pangasius, Vietnamese River Cobbler, White Catfish, Gray Sole ) ?

Industrially farmed in Vietnam along the Mekong River , Pangas or whatever they're calling it, has only been recently introduced to the French market. However, in a very short amount of time, it has grown in popularity in France . The French are slurping up Pangas like it's their last meal of soup noodles.

They are very, very affordable (cheap), are sold in filets with no bones and they have a neutral (bland) flavor and texture; many would compare it to cod and sole, only much cheaper. But as tasty as some people may find it, there's, in fact, something hugely unsavory about it. I hope the information provided here will serve as very important information for you and your future choices. Here's why I think it is better left in the shops (and not on your dinner plates):

1. Pangas are teeming with high levels of poisons and bacteria. ( industrial effluents, arsenic, and toxic and hazardous by-products of the growing industrial sector, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT and its metabolites (DDTs), metal contaminants, chlordane-related compounds (CHLs), hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (HCHs), and hexachlorobenzene (HCB).

The reasons are that the Mekong River is one of the most polluted rivers on the planet and this is where pangas are farmed and industries along the river dump chemicals and industrial waste directly into it. To Note: a friend lab tests these fish and tells us to avoid eating them due to high amounts of contamination. Regardless of the reports and recommendations against selling them, the supermarkets still sell them to the general public knowing they are contaminated.

2. They freeze Pangas in contaminated river water..

3. Pangas are not environmentally sustainable, a most unsustainable food you could possibly eat - 'Buy local' means creating the least amount of environmental harm as possible. This is the very opposite end of the spectrum of sustainable consumerism. Pangas are raised in Vietnam . Pangas are fed food that comes from Peru ( more on that below ), their hormones ( which are injected into the female Pangas ) come from China . ( More about that below ) and finally, they are transported from Vietnam to France . That's not just a giant carbon foot print, that's a carbon continent of a foot print.

4. There's nothing natural about Pangas - They're fed dead fish remnants and bones, dried and ground into a flour, from South America , manioc ( cassava ) and residue from soy and grains. This kind of nourishment doesn't even remotely resemble what they eat in nature. But what it does resemble is the method of feeding mad cows ( cows were fed cows, remember? ). What they feed pangas is completely unregulated so there are most likely other dangerous substances and hormones thrown into the mix. The pangas grow at a speed light ( practically! ) : 4 times faster than in nature…so it makes you wonder what exactly is in their food? Your guess is as good as mine.

5. Pangas are Injected with Hormones Derived from Urine - I don't know how someone came up with this one out but they've discovered that if they inject female Pangas with hormones made from the dehydrated urine of pregnant women, the female Pangas grow much quicker and produce eggs faster ( one Panga can lay approximately 500,000 eggs at one time ). Essentially, they're injecting fish with hormones ( they come all of the way from a pharmaceutical company in China ) to speed up the process of growth and reproduction. That isn't good. Some of you might not mind eating fish injected with dehydrated pee, so if you don't, good for you, but just consider the rest of the reasons to NOT eat it..

6. You get what you pay for - and then some. Don't be lured in by insanely cheap price of Pangas. Is it worth risking your health and the health of your family?

7. Buying Pangas supports unscrupulous, greedy evil corporations and food conglomerates that don't care about the health and well-being of human beings. They only are concerned about selling as many pangas as possible to unsuspecting consumers. These corporations only care about selling and making more money at whatever cost to the public..

8. Pangas will make you sick - If ( for reasons in #1 above ) you don't get immediately ill with vomiting, diarrhea and effects from severe food poisoning, congratulations, you have an iron stomach! But you're still ingesting POISON not poisson.

Final important note: Because of the prodigious amount of availability of Pangas, be warned that they will certainly find their way into other foods: surimi ( those pressed fish things, imitation crab sticks ), fish sticks, fish terrines, and probably in some pet foods. ( Warn your dogs and cats and hamsters and gerbils and even your pet fish! )

So, when you do your next round of shopping of frozen fish or eating out at cafes / food stalls by choosing fish-&-chips, think twice !!

You have been warned !!!