Mar
05

Selamat jalan - have a safe journey

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Come, let’s learn some malay:

Selamat datang means “welcome” (Used as a greeting).

Selamat jalan mean “have a safe journey” (equivalent to “goodbye”, used by the party staying).

Selamat tinggal means “goodbye” (Lit translation: “Good stay”, used by the party going).

Selamat pagi means “good morning”.

Selamat petang means “Good afternoon or good evening” (note that ‘Selamat petang’ must not be used at night as in English. For a general greeting, use ‘Selamat sejahtera’).

Selamat sejahtera means formal greetings.

Selamat malam means “good night”.

Okay okay… Enough already. Selamat malam everyone. (More on Wikipedia)

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Aug
06

Joke: Where Singapore’s food come from?

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I received the following from a friend through email. It’s a terrible joke yes, but it seems to keep Singaporeans busy forwarding this. Malaysians probably have jokes laughing at Singaporeans. If you do have such jokes, please tell me about it.

A Singaporean was on holiday in Malaysia. He was having his coffee, croissants, bread, butter & jam at the hotel’s coffee house. A Malaysian man who was chewing gum, sat down next to him and started a casual conversation.

Malaysian: “You Singaporeans eat the whole bread?”

Singaporean: “Of course.”

Malaysian: “We don’t. In Malaysia , we only eat what’s inside. The crusts we collect in a container, recycle it, transform them into croissants & sell them across to Singapore.”

The Malaysian then had a smirk on his face while the Singaporean listened in silence…

Malaysian: “Do you eat the jam with the bread?”

Singaporean: “Of course.”

Malaysian (chuckling): “We don’t. In Malaysia , we eat fresh fruit for breakfast, then we put all the peels, seeds & other left-overs in a container, recycle them, transform them into jam, before we sell it across to
Singapore.”

This time, the Singaporean retorted: “Do you have sex in Malaysia?”

Malaysian: “Why, of course we do.”

Singaporean: “Do you wear protection?”

Malaysian: “Of course! We wear condoms.”

Singaporean: “And what do you do with the condoms once you’ve used them?”

Malaysian: “Stupid question! Of course we throw them away.”

Singaporean: “We don’t. In Singapore, the government secretly puts them in a container, recycle them, melt them down into chewing gum & sell them across to Malaysia, and that’s the real reason why we banned chewing gum in Singapore!”

End. Okay, you supposed to laugh.

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May
12

Singapore to host F1 Grand Prix next year

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Singapore will host its debut Formula One Grand Prix on a street circuit next year and the race may be the first held at night, officials announced on Friday. We never hosted F1 before, I didn’t even know we had a racing track. We have go-karts track somewhere though, doubt they’re using that.

Singapore to host F1 Grand Prix next year

SINGAPORE : Singapore will host its debut Formula One Grand Prix on a street circuit next year and the race may be the first held at night, officials announced on Friday.

The Republic will organise the first of five Grand Prix in either September or early October 2008, with an option to extend to 2017, Trade and Industry Minister S. Iswaran told a briefing.

Iswaran said hosting an F1 race will bring Singapore closer to its ambition of becoming a “vibrant, global city,” adding that the race is estimated to generate about S$100 million (US$66 million) a year in incremental receipts.

The regional financial centre with a somewhat staid reputation is set to open its first integrated resort being built by Las Vegas Sands in 2009.

Iswaran said the Grand Prix, around the downtown Marina Bay district, could “potentially” be held at night if safety can be assured.

…Singapore Tourism Board had evaluated the event and deemed it “worthy” of the government’s support. (more…)

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Mar
27

Muar Chinese 麻坡的華語ž (NSFW)

Entertain Me

Warning: The video below consists of vulgarities and slight racism. A Malaysian man from Johor sings about the styles of being a Muar Chinese, gangster rap way.

麻坡的華語ž Muar Chinese

Just in case you can’t see the video.

Muar (also referred to as Bandar Maharani) is a town in northwestern Johor, Malaysia. The name “Muar” is also used for the name of its district, which is further sub-divided between the Town of Muar and the sub-district of Tangkak. Muar district borders Malacca on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. However, both administrative regions are still collectively called Muar by their residents. You can find out more information about Muar with Wikipedia.

I included a rough English translation for the Mandarin rap, I can only translate it roughly. There’re a few Mandarin words that I don’t understand. Only a portion of the rap has been translated. Please forgive any mistranslations and feel free to correct my translation. I don’t know what is “mangkali”, I heard the term before but I don’t know how to use it, perhaps someone can tell me what it means. (more…)

0

Feb
08

Scary image when I log into my web mail

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This is what I get when I log into Windows Live Mail:

Malaysian Thaipusam festival

This kinda scared me for a while. I didn’t know Thaipusam festival is here. My set of news is more regionalized I guess.

2

Jan
30

Abdullah slams ’stories’ by bloggers

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Across the causeway, couple of bloggers got into trouble by falsely criticizing Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, or so claims the Prime Minister himself. I would disagree to lawsuits to individuals, it almost seem like a bullying technique and if you’re that good a person, no one can actually defame you with just a bunch of unbased stories.

News article - Abdullah slams stories by bloggers

Abdullah slams ’stories’ by bloggers

KUALA LUMPUR — Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has accused his critics of unfairly smearing his reputation, but pledged not to let them distract him from working to boost Malaysia’s economic progress, The New Sunday Times said yesterday.

“I know there are people who are trying their best to ridicule me,” Mr Abdullah said in an interview with the newspaper. “They make a mountain out of a molehill. They just want to rubbish me.”

Mr Abdullah did not specifically identify his critics, but said bloggers and other people were using websites “to create stories” that underscore how online freedom has been manipulated.

“Lies after lies are being told,” Mr Abdullah was quoted as saying. “They feel they are free, they cannot be disturbed and they can say whatever they wish to say.”

Mr Abdullah’s comments came after the pro-government New Straits Times (NST) sued two bloggers for defamation this month in Malaysia’s first lawsuits involving online journals. Both blogs feature commentaries that criticised the government and NST coverage. Mr Abdullah has backed the NST’s right to sue the bloggers, saying that blogs are not above the law. — AP

If you do defaming materials in a blog, the first thing you really should do is to contact the blogger to request the removal of the objected content. You don’t sue or get your lawyers to send cease-and-desist letter immediately. That’s just over reacting.

I think that blogs are a good way for youngsters to express themselves. I do not know what the objected material is about but if someone is actually blogging about politics in your country. It’s kind of a good thing. In Singapore, our government says the younger generation are not interested in politics. I think our government is an older generation and they forgot to check the internet.

[Note that Singapore has very strong libel laws, unlike in the US due to First Amendment giving protection to the freedom to express yourself.]

0

Jun
14

first//overseas

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I’m going for a vacation! And this time to another country. It’s quite exciting for me; believe it or not, I never been to another country before!

Okay, this is a picture of Sentosa in the evening, resized, original resolution 2700 x 1442, merged photograph.

(Okay, this is a picture of Sentosa in the evening, resized, original resolution 2700 x 1442, merged photograph.)

I’m like the only one around who has yet to leave Singapore and I’m like 4 months to 21 years old. I look forward to this trip badly actually. It would be a much needed vacation for me. I am mentally exhausted and, at times, lost my purpose of working. I hate to work in my camp.

Anyway, I’ll be going to Johor, Malaysia. Just right next to Singapore only. It’s so near that it’d just take an hour and a half to reach the resort. I’ll be checking in with my church mates.

Yes! It’s a church camp but I am not going there for the sermons. Sure I’ll listen to one or two but I have plans to visit around and buy some things. I scanned through the schedule and we only have like 3 hours on 2 of the days to go around Malaysia. It’s such a tight scheduled camp.

Well, I’ll be away on Wednesday and would return on coming Saturday evening. Till then I won’t be around. I don’t plan to touch the computer there at all!

Hope you guys enjoy your weekdays too!

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