mamakk!!!

via theStar:

Lim questioned why Nazri, who was in charge of legal affairs, could not say anything about the investigations. Nazri said he could not reply on behalf of the Attorney-General because that would be seen as trying to usurp his powers.

“Malaysia cannot become a successful and developed country if such people (Lim) are in the House. Why are you so bodoh (stupid). Sit down, Sit down!” Nazri shouted at Lim and several AP MPs who began to stand up to argue with him.”

At this point, shouts of bodoh flew between both sides of the floor.

Wow, is that the most intelligent sentence our ministers can come out with?

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More from other blogs:

John wrote:

Malaysians have an annoying inferiority complex when it comes to Singapore. Most Malaysians fall into two fallacious categories; they either believe that we should emulate Singapore as much as possible, or that we should avoid emulating it to the greatest extent.

This petty childishness of course has many root causes. But one cause, sad to say, seems to be that Singapore does everything better.

Of course, the “patriotic” Malaysians are up in arms now. “What?!” they indignantly ask. “How dare he say that Singapore does everything better than we do!”

But it’s an unfortunate fact of life. The Singaporeans outdo Malaysians in virtually every arena. No matter where you look, Singapore is, in everyday parlance, kicking Malaysia’s ass.

Probably more for the non-bumis. Must-read.

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via Lim Kit Siang’s blog:

I’m a former student from a famous high school in Bukit Mertajam. Each year, my school ‘produced’ many excellent students and intellectuals such as doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc, for the community and nation.

This year also the same. My school achieved most satisfactory results in both SPM and STPM. But sadly, among those ‘good’ students, more than half will pursue their studies at private colleges, such as Inti, Nilai.

Most of them have done the same thing after receiving their results. Guess what? Yup, they applied for Singapore’s universities. I guess about 15 people got the offer from Singapore. I think all of them will accept the offer, no doubt. What is so surprising about the small number of 15 students?? All of them are top students in my school!! According to the Singapore government’s policy, they will be bonded for 3 years. As they will receive attractive salaries and stable permanent jobs in Singapore, few of them will come back to develop their career in Malaysia.

We hear this every year, the stories are all about the same and they are sad in a way BUT honestly speaking, do TOP students guarantee Malaysia continued economic growth and more jobs for the people? Excuse my pessimism, but do our public universities even have the capability to nurture these students into a great engineer, scientist, economist or what not?

So what happens if the government starts offering scholarships to these top students but send them to some universities in the world which couldn’t even make it to the world’s top 100? Is that more prestigious than NUS or even UM? Do the students themselves even want these scholarships or would they think Singapore offers a better education (NUS at 19th place surely says something about their quality isn’t it)?

Ultimately, think for yourself: does Malaysia owe you anything?

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via AP:

The number of cancer cases in Asia is set to rise dramatically by 2020 due largely to longer life spans and changing lifestyles, threatening a health crisis as poorer countries in the region struggle to afford care.

A fast-growing population coupled with people living longer and undergoing extreme changes to diet and lifestyle will place a major burden on developing countries that cannot afford screening, vaccines and expensive treatment, experts said at the start of a two-day conference in Singapore.

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via UNESCAP’s report on Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2007 :

The economic and social costs of gender discrimination are huge. Discrimination obstructs women’s participation, reduces their productivity and diverts resources. Barriers to female employment raise labour costs and lower international competitiveness, preventing women from entering the market at competitive wages.

Higher female participation and the (assumed) increase in employment would raise output and output growth in the region (table 3.1). If the increase is absorbed to generate productive employment, per capita GDP will rise even if wages and productivity remain the same. Both supply and demand effects play a role. Increased employment could boost production, especially in labour-intensive sectors. Higher income from new employment could also stimulate consumption and domestic demand.

Did I miss this or did the local newspaper didn’t report this and instead chose to report on the postive side of the report: “Asian nations vulnerable to currency crisis, leaves Malaysia out”. Seriously, the article’s worth a read, download the full report below.

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