KAUM MELAYU SINGAPURA

1. Tan Malaka yang namanya amat terkenal di zaman Sukarno mendakwa Melayu Singapura lebih disiplin (daripada Melayu Malaysia). Ini memang benar. Bahkan rakyat Singapura tanpa mengira bangsa juga amat disiplin.

2. Sebagai contoh mereka tidak akan buang sampah di jalan. Dengan itu jalan-jalan di Singapura amat bersih.

3. Tetapi apabila mereka menyeberang ke tanah besar Malaysia mereka akan buang sampah dari kereta mereka dalam perjalanan.

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MEDIUM OF TEACHING

1. In an interview by Nanyang Siang Pau, I pointed out that there is no country in the world, except Malaysia where the Government allows and pays for schools which use a foreign language for teaching in schools meant for a community whose ancestors came from a foreign country.

2. A NSP reader claims that I was wrong because in many countries the Chinese language is taught and are spoken.

3. May I point out that there is a difference between teaching in a foreign language and learning (and speaking) a foreign language. I was referring to teaching (medium of instruction) in a foreign language not learning a foreign language. Learning a foreign language is usually not only permissible but encouraged.

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CENSORSHIP

1. Governments have often been accused of censoring unpleasant reports or books about them. Obviously this practice is not regarded highly by democrats everywhere. People believe that there must be some truth in the censored articles or publications, otherwise why should they be censored or banned.

2. Now we are seeing individuals, organisations and governments which have no power to censor also indulging in censoring unfavourable reports about them.

3. This they do by threatening to sue or suing the whistle blowers. The threat is intended to deter not only the particular individual but others also from uttering or reporting the same allegation. If the threat fails, then the matter is made a subject of libel action. Whether it becomes sub-judice or not the person is deterred from repeating the statements as it may prejudice the courts.

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SOUND BYTES – BERSARA

1. Saya setuju saya patut bersara dan serah segala-galanya kepada generasi muda. Tetapi saya sering menasihat kawan-kawan yang bersara supaya terus aktif kerana jika tidak mereka akan tua lebih cepat dan akan pergi lebih awal.

2. Saya juga cuba supaya tidak pergi lebih awal dengan mengaktifkan diri saya. Harap kawan-kawan saya membenarkan orang tua ini terus aktif. Akan sampai masanya yang saya tidak lagi boleh aktif walaupun saya ingin aktif. Pada masa itu saya akan terima apa yang ditakdirkan bagi saya oleh Allah subhanawata’ala.

3. Selagi Allaw s.w.t. memberi kesihatan dan tenaga kepada saya, saya tidak akan membazirkan kurniaan Tuhan ini.

KAMPUNG BARU, KUALA LUMPUR

1. Di antara kegagalan saya semasa menjadi Perdana Menteri ialah pemulihan dan pembangunan Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur.

2. Setelah mengumumkan rancangan Kerajaan untuk membangunkan Kampung Baru KL, beberapa masalah timbul berkenaan dengan pemilikan tanah dan harga tanah.

3. Ramai penduduk Kampung Baru yang asal telah pun pindah dari situ kerana mereka setelah mencapai kemajuan mendapati Kampung Baru sudah tidak lagi selesa bagi mereka.

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ADVERTS


1. The advertising business in Malaysia must be doing very well. You cannot see buildings or trees or even the pylons supporting the monorail tracks because they are all covered with adverts or hidden by huge signboards on monopole. Sometimes whole buildings are wrapped in adverts. Buses and trains are similarly enveloped in advertisements.

2. I remember feeling great when the first monopole signboards made their appearance on the road to Subang airport. They made Kuala Lumpur look like the great cities of the world. I thought we were making progress.

3. The growth in the number of the huge monopole boards was rapid. New companies have been set up and are busy covering road bridges across streets and roads with huge adverts. There are also giant TV screens with moving pictures.

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MALAYSIAN FOOTBALL

1. It’s not too late I hope, for me to congratulate the Malaysian football team for winning the AFF Suzuki Cup.

2. Although I am not much of a football fan, I do follow the progress of the national football teams. For a long time, our football teams have been in the doldrums.

3. I am proud of this young team’s achievement. They have restored the pride of “Harimau Malaya”.

4. I hope they will continue to achieve success. I hope too that they will not be spoilt by the riches their success brings and would maintain the discipline and hardworking nature that brought them this far.

MUMBAI BRIDGE

1. I spent my annual holiday in India. After three days in Delhi I flew to Mumbai. The population of the city is 20 million spread over seven islands linked by bridges to each other and to the mainland.

2. From my window in the Taj Lands End Hotel I can see a bridge across the sea to the City Centre.

3. The bridge is curved forming a half circle from end to end. The centre part is cable-stayed with two supporting pylons. The rest, both the eastern and the western ends are supported by concrete pillars.

4. The haze is bad but the whole curved bridge can be clearly seen in the evening.

5. I wonder whether the Mumbaians protested about being curved and not straight.

THE FUTILITY OF WAR


**Saya mengucapkan Selamat Tahun Baru 2011 kepada semua rakyat Malaysia terutamanya kepada pembaca blog ini**


1. President Barack Obama of the greatest and most powerful nation in the world slipped secretly into Afghanistan in the darkness of the night. Hardly a triumphant entry for a conqueror. The world only got to know it after the event (read here).

2. And why was the great leader there? It is to find ways of getting out of a country which the US had spent a trillion dollars to conquer.

3. After killing a few thousands of America’s youths not to mention maybe a hundred thousand Afghanistans to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban and to bring about democracy, the US finds itself accepting a possible Taliban coalition with the Karzai Government. I suspect it is not going to be very democratic.

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