After RAHMAN, now NAJIB?

After R.A.H.M.A.N., now look for N.A.J.I.B?

The self-fulfilling prophecy of Malaysian Prime Ministers having initials bearing the name of our first PM, Tengku Abdul RAHMAN came true recently with the appointment of Najib. So what is next, NAJIB?

Najib
Anwar
Jamaluddin (Khairy)
Izzah (Nurul), and
Badruddin!

Just a joke, especially the last one, and the wrong use of Malay names (Jamaluddin is actually Khairy's father), but reflecting a two-party system, alternating between BN and PR!

A quote from M Bakri Musa's latest critique (see blog roll):

"As it now stands, Najib is doomed to be the last UMNO Prime Minister. He will not be even a “one-termer.” He will go down in history as our shortest-serving Prime Minister. Worse, it will be recorded for posterity that he was the Malay leader who brought down a once glorious organization, UMNO, an institution his late father was so instrumental in setting up. All destroyed in just two generations; the first to build it, the second to destroy. Truly a very Malay story! "


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A Towering Malaysian, Indian Pride and a precocious black girl

This was forwarded to me, written by someone who felt the unfairness when it comes to a critic of the government.

Nevermind if they don’t publish in the papers…..lets circulate ……..
This Picture Made It To the Pages of India Times but not in our own papers!

The shame of it all that we should be so proud (and are) of our own Malaysian receiving an international award like this, but the Malaysian government and press don't see it as important enough to publish it in our local dailies! It was only published by THE SUN but rather small and hidden in the inner pages. WHY???..

Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama
12 Mar 2009, 0853 hrs IST

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama present, give away Secretary of State's Award for International Women of Courage to Malaysia 's Ambiga Sreenevasan at the State Department in Washington , DC . (AFP)

In an unrelated situation, in a lighter vein, is this joke about Indian Pride which I have transcribed from a PPS format:

Indian Pride

An American, an Italian, a Turk, and an Indian were talking about pride in general.

American: I am proud of our CIA! They know what problems are happening all over the world and they often know the problems even just before they occur!

Italian: I am proud of our women, they are most beautiful and most proud women in the world. They are not easy to be ‘had’.

Turk: I am proud of our carpets – they are works of art! No one in the world can manufacture carpets of such high quality.

All of them looked at the Indian guy and waited for his response.

The American asked, “So have you nothing to say? What are you proud of?”

The Indian guy replied: “I am proud of myself!

They were all astonished at the answer and asked him, “Why?”

He replied: Last week I made love to an Italian woman on a Turkish carpet and the CIA knew nothing about it! We are the greatest!

Meanwhile...

A stranger was seated next to a little black girl on the airplane when the stranger turned to her and said, "Let's talk. I've heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just opened her coloring book, closed it slowly and said to the stranger, "What would you like to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know," said the stranger. "Since you are a Negro, do you think that So-called President Elect Barack Obama is qualified for the job?" and he smiles.

"OK," she said. "That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?"

The stranger, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea."

To which the little girl replies,

"Do you really feel qualified to discuss President Barack Obama... when you don't know shit?"

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A lean and mean house...

with brilliant use of limited space.

My wife used to quote her ex-colleague dietitian, a snooty Mrs. P: “Those Wimpy houses? You can’t even swing cat in it!”

I have always fancied small houses, maybe because I used to wish that I could have a tree house as a child. Or, being realistic, that is probably what I can afford nowadays.

The Story Behind Toronto's Little House
It looks like a child's playhouse, but it's not. Believe it or not, fully grown people actually live there. My guess is that they aren't too tall and they don't weigh very much.

Built in 1912 by contractor Arthur Weeden, Toronto's Little House, as it's known, is only about 7′ wide, 47′ deep, with a total of less than 300 square feet of living space inside.

There's an e-mail circulating calling it the "Smallest House in Brooklyn," but after doing a little research, I found out that it is actually in Toronto. It has become a popular tourist attraction and even has its own webpage: Toronto's Little House.

It has a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bath. They even found room to tuck a washer and dryer in there. Talk about clever space planning! The home was sold for $135,000 at the beginning of 2007 to a couple who renovated it and put it back on the market for $179,900.

Here's the house before it was renovated:

And after:


Even the front walkway was redone with tumbled stone, and a window was added for charming effect. Inside everything looks new. Here's the entry:
The living room:

The kitchen, which comes with a folding table and chairs so that they don't take up space when you're not using them:

Here's the fridge, tucked right in behind the washer and dryer:

And here's the small, but efficient, bath:

The bedroom, with Murphy Bed open (door leads to backyard):
And the bedroom with the Murphy Bed put up:

The back of the house and patio:

The official webpage explains that Toronto contractor Arthur Weeden noticed the unused space between the two larger homes and declared, "In order to use the land, I will build on it" (Toronto Sun Telegram, 1939). After completing the house, he and his wife lived in it for 20 years. After that a family with three children lived there for many years, which is is hard to imagine.

Father of one of my kids

Don’t ass-u-me...because you make an ass out of u and me - made famous by Benny Hill.

I THINK YOU'RE THE FATHER OF ONE OF MY KIDS...

A guy goes to the supermarket to get some groceries for his wife, and while strolling through the aisles he notices an attractive woman waving at him. He waves back, and continues filling up his cart.

A short while later, they are both in the same checkout queue. She smiles and says hello..

He's rather taken aback because, though she looks familiar, he can't place where he knows her from.

So he says, 'Excuse me, ma'am, but do I know you?'

To which she replies, 'Why yes, I think you're the father of one of my kids.'

He is shell-shocked! Now his mind races back to the only time he has ever been unfaithful to his wife and says, 'Oh my God, are you the stripper from my bachelor party that I made love to on the pool table with all my buddies watching, while your partner whipped my butt with wet celery???'

She looks into his eyes and says calmly, 'No, I'm your son's Kindergarten teacher.'
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The Nottingham connection

No, this is not about Robin Hood, nor is it a conspiracy story, nor anything to do with old boys’ networking.

I was once told when working in a client’s office in Worksop, in the Midlands, that the people used to greet each other, ‘Morning duck (pronounced dook)!’ Not sure if they still do, nor if they did that in Nottingham.

In Yorkshire, in the old days, people greeted each other ‘Ebagum!’ and this was pointed out when Mugabe first came into the international scene some 30 years ago. Notice that it was spelt backwards from Mugabe!

Few days ago, a congratulatory advertisement placed by The University of Nottingham caught my eyes. The Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and CEO Malaysia Campus… “are delighted that a distinguished alumnus of ours is now leading the nation.”

Another very high profile alumnus is our Sultan of Perak, who had been the Agong of Malaysia. The university is certainly well connected with the VVIPs of Malaysia, which explained their decision in setting up a campus here.

Under very normal circumstances, certainly not when discussing about the change in Perak government, if and when Sultan of Perak gets to chat with Najib, I am sure they have lots of things in common to talk about, being alumni of the University.

The university’s UK campus is often used by the Malaysian Students’ Department for various student societies’ events, like games and talks by visiting politicians. Coaches are provided to facilitate students from all over the UK to attend. Our then Sports Minister and Deputy Prime Minister were known to encourage such events, no expenses spared, to the extent of planning a sports complex in Brickendonbury!

I have fond memories of Nottingham because I used to write letters to my ex-classmate who would have been a contemporary of Najib, give or take a year.

I can still remember Florence Boot Hall, her hall of residence, because years later, I spent a few nights there taking part in a company in-house seminar. I presume Florence Boot was related to Boots, which has its headquarters in Nottingham.

My wife taught in a school in Nottingham for a year before taking up Dietetics in London. While in Nottingham she got to know my classmate better (before my time) and as fated, she was introduced to me just weeks after I arrived in Leeds in late 1973, when she was doing her six-month practical in St. James’s Hospital! 5 years later, our son was born in the same hospital!

(I am driven to write because some of the stories are meant for my children who would be reading them for the first time. Gone are the days when I could tell stories to them sitting in front me)

Hey, I almost forgot, my wife is an old pupil of Sultan Yussuf School, Batu Gajah, where our Sultan had his early education!
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