Of hope and deliverance..

In spite Nosradamus' and other doomsday prophets' predictions of impending doom to the human race and human civilization, we as a race have managed to pull through thus far. Many economists have also forecast widespread famine and starvation by the end of the 19th century after looking at the exponentially world population growth versus the slow increase in food supply. And the holier-than-thou preachers of various religions of the world ostracized John Hunter and his medical team for finding a cure then for syphilis (which was considered as God's punishment for people indulging in unholy union of sexes) who predicted that the End was near for evil ruled the world which supposedly will cause God's wrath and annihilation of the human race.  

Houston, we have a problem!

We managed to dodge all these. When we are fed up and tired of reading and hearing of destruction and decadence, we occasionally hear of the undying fighting spirit of the human race. After the Apollo 13 rescue mission, this can be the next breaking news of drama in real life. The people of Chile collectively ought to be proud of their accomplishment.69days of 33 miners rescued in one piece! My No.1 candidate for Man of the year 2010. Chilean mine disaster rescue mission. Viva Chile!

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2025950,00.html

Lessons from the Chile Mine Rescue: What Underdogs Can Teach Us

By Tim Padgett / San José Mine Friday, Oct. 15, 2010

Trapped miner Luis Urzua (C) stands with Chile's 

President Sebastian Pinera after reaching the surface 

and emerging from the "Phoenix" rescue capsule to

 become the last to be rescued from the San Jose mine

in Copiapo. Hugo Infante / Reuters

Jimmy Sánchez, 19, the youngest miner, is a talented soccer forward, but he doesn't score all that many goals because his first (and fairly admirable) instinct when he senses an opposing counterattack is to drop back and help out on defense. Mario Gómez, 63, the oldest, has silicosis, a common lung ailment among miners, but he's kept at the job because he wants to augment the support of his seven grandchildren, the youngest of whom turned seven months the day before he was rescued. 

The first to emerge, Florencio Avalos, 31, is so shy he volunteered to be the cameraman to video-monitor the other miners' health for officials at the surface so he didn't have to be filmed himself. The last to emerge, Luis Urzúa, 54, is an avuncular foreman whose firm but calm discipline — not to mention his judicious rationing of paltry supplies of canned tuna and oily water — held his 32 crew members together during the two weeks before help arrived, even when it must have seemed to many of them that they were doomed to die 2,000 feet underground.

One of the quieter is Darío Segovia, 48, who's been mining since he was eight-years old and had already been through so many on-the-job accidents, his mother Margarita told me, that even during this ordeal he felt "like a cat who has at least three or four lives left." One of the more gregarious is Mario Sepúlveda, 40, who played the emcee on the first video of the miners sent up after they were discovered huddled in their 538-sq-ft subterranean shelter — and who joked with Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, even leading Piñera's cabinet members in rowdy cheers, as soon as he stepped out of the rescue capsule early Wednesday morning.

When books are written about the 70-day saga of the 33 miners who were all pulled alive from the bowels of Chile's collapsed San José Mine this past week — and six- if not seven-figure publishing deals are already being negotiated — they'll no doubt muse at length about what kind of character it takes to survive as extraordinarily as these ordinary men did. But as their profiles suggest, there is no easy answer to that question, and there may be no answer at all. The presence of the shy, steady Avalos helped keep things tranquil below; but the garrulous, cheerful Sepúlveda played just as important a role in keeping the group buoyed (and at times annoyed). Officials above designated both los más hábiles— the most able — and so brought them up in the ultra-claustrophic rescue capsule's first and riskiest ascents.That's why the world responded so passionately to Los 33: not because their heroism revealed itself via scripted type, but because it seemed as unexpected in them as it would in ourselves. And no one exulted more than Latin Americans, who see in the miners a hopeful reminder that their countries don't have to be defined by the corrupt egomaniacs who so often run them. The term for "underdogs" in Spanish is los de abajo — which literally means "those below" — and it's never sounded more gallant to this continent than it does now.
The question is whether the miners can summon the heroism they'll need going forward — namely, not succumbing to either the post-traumatic stress that psychologists say awaits them as surely as the first sunrises they're seeing since the Aug. 5 mine collapse, or to the corrosive effects of the money and fame already rising around their ankles. A Chilean tycoon has sent each of them checks for more than $10,000; Greek islands want them and their families to come luxuriate in the Aegean, and powerhouse European soccer clubs want them to stand on their sidelines. One of the miners, Elvis Presley fan Edison Peña, has been offered a lifetime pass to Graceland. A Chilean TV bombshell has even offered to give each miner a lapdance.

So far they're handling the daylight circus with the same aplomb they displayed in their shadowy tomb. They've agreed to profit from their miraculous story collectively and as evenly as possible. And most of them — like Goómez, whose most important wish at this point is to give his wife Liliana next month the formal church wedding they never had — seem to be focusing less on the lucre ahead of them than on the human riches they ached for underground. (Although for some even that will be a complicated challenge — especially Yonni Barrios, 50, who escaped the mine this week only to fall into a thorny love triangle between him, his wife and his mistress, who turned out to be the woman waiting for him when he emerged.)

This weekend, most if not all the remarkably healthy miners will leave the hospital in Copiapó where they've been under observation. Their families, along with the international media horde, will dismantle Camp Hope, the dusty tent city that grew up alongside the San José mine in the northern Chilean desert during the two-month vigil. It was a symbol of both the religious innocence and carnival cynicism that surrounded this drama, and which promise to follow the miners for months if not years. The best the rest of us can do is embrace the traits that helped them survive — which, as they proved, aren't much more "heroic" than the simple qualities that make us good people — long after the last tent at Camp Hope has been carried away.

The forgotten anniversary

The man who fought for justice

Aliran, on 14 October 2010

Share

0digg

When D R Seenivasagam passed away in 1969, some 150,000 people lined the streets of Ipoh to bid him a touching final farewell. Who was this man? Andrew Lin explains.

Passion for justice: D R Seenivasagam remembered - Photo credit: ipohworld.org

15 March 2010 was the 41st anniversary of the passing of D R Seeni-vasagam, or DR as he was affectionately known, a great and illustrious son of Ipoh. Sadly, the day passed by without any mention of the event in the obituary pages of our local newspapers.

To old-timers of Ipoh, Darma Raja Seenivasagam needs no introduction at all. He was the President of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), one of the earliest political parties formed in pre-independent Malaya. Under his leadership, the PPP captured control of the Ipoh Town Council — the forerunner to the Ipoh Municipal Council and later the Ipoh City Council — in 1958 and provided efficient local government for the people of Ipoh.

DR’s charisma and extraordinary ability to articulate the aspirations of the masses endeared him to all who came in contact with him – from the towkay to the coolie. It is a well known fact that his most loyal supporters were the downtrodden of society namely the hawkers, petty traders, trishaw peddlers, labourers and others of the working class like the now-forgotten dulang washers. These people remained faithful to DR to the end.

Unfortunately, those born after 1969 have grown up with little or no knowledge of the man who, as the opposition Member of Parliament for Ipoh, was a constant thorn in the side of the then ruling Alliance government. DR was also an outstanding criminal lawyer in the country. On several occasions, his brilliance and skill in the legal profession spared many on the wrong side of the law from the gallows.

As a mark of remembrance for this towering personality, I, a humble retired senior citizen from Kuala Lumpur and a one-time resident here, invite you, good readers, to join me in a trip down memory lane and together reminisce our impressions and thoughts of DR – the man who fought for justice. Please share your insights with me so that the memory of this beloved leader who had done so much for Ipoh and its citizens will be perpetuated for our future generations.

This commentary is my own personal recollections and may contain inaccuracies of fact due to the passage of time, for which I sincerely apologise. Feel free to correct any discrepancies, where necessary. Some of the road names mentioned have since been changed and may be unfamiliar to some of us.

Remembering D R Seenivasagam
I did not know DR personally, neither have I spoken to him. But like most people of my generation, I have tremendous respect and admiration for the man. That has not wavered over the years. Despite his wealth and fame, DR chose to take on the role as champion of the poor and a fighter against all forms of injustice in the country.

In the glory days of the PPP, DR’s name was a household word. His name was frequently mentioned in the newspapers, the market place, the coffee shops or almost any place where people gathered for a casual chat. Practically every adult and even school children in Ipoh knew who DR was, and many had sought his assistance and services at one time or another.

My earliest recollection of DR was watching him with his group of friends and party colleagues from the upstairs of our shop-house along Panglima Street in Ipoh’s Old Town way back in 1961. They were walking to the famous Leech Street coffee shops. DR’s law firm of S Seenivasagam & Sons, which also acted as the headquarters of the PPP, was located at 7 Hale Street, a stone’s throw away from where I lived.

I remember DR was always in a jovial mood and had a hearty laugh to go with his raised voice. People on the street greeted him spontaneously. DR reciprocated with his usual charm and extended his hands to them in friendship. Such rapport with the people on the street by a so-called ‘big shot’ was fairly uncommon those days and was something to behold. DR was truly a man of the masses.

Unlike most politicians of that time, DR was genuinely approachable and accessible to any one who needed his help. He was known to give free legal services to those who could not afford to pay. Many poor people sought his assistance to find employment as labourers in the various local councils in and around Ipoh. So did the people who enlisted his help to obtain hawkers’ licences.

Road side hawkers implored his intervention to resolve problems caused by the high-handed action of over-zealous enforcement officers. Illiterate trishaw pedallers and errant taxi drivers who flouted traffic laws and those involved in other minor offences were often let off with a stiff warning by the police out of respect for DR, who would invariably intercede on their behalf. A telephone call to the relevant authorities or a press statement by DR was all it needed to settle the issue at hand. Such was the level of esteem and respect that DR commanded.

Thus the hawkers and other petty traders were able to conduct their businesses with the comforting thought that DR was always there for them so long as they adhered to the municipal by-laws, which were implemented in a most humane fashion.

DR inspired a generation of youths by his unusual talents both as a lawyer and as a politician. I know of at least three youths of my time who were staunch admirers of DR and who in later years became successful members of parliament themselves. One of them won DR’s old seat of Ipoh in the 1986 General Elections.

DR’s fiery oratory and his willingness to help the underdog were traits that caught the attention of people of all ages. During my time in school, excerpts of DR’s parliamentary speeches and other press releases were often quoted by participants during elocution contests and debates held at class or inter-school levels.

As a politician, DR did his very best for the people of Ipoh, irrespective of their colour or creed, despite his hectic schedule. He had many assistants and volunteers to attend to the people who thronged his office every day of the week, many of whom had come from far away places to seek his help.

In the days when public rallies were allowed to take place, the children’s playground along Brewster Road (where the Umno Building is presently located) was the favourite venue for most of the PPP rallies. According to my contemporaries, this was DR’s battle-ground, where he met his friends and fought his enemies. Huge crowds gathered to listen to PPP leaders as they explained their stand on the current issues of the day.

DR was always the star-speaker at such rallies and would invariably be the last to address the crowd. DR spoke in English and a smattering of colloquial Malay to the multi-racial crowd. He had a very versatile interpreter named Mak Fei Hoong to help him along for the benefit of his Chinese-speaking audience. Mak, as most old-timers would testify, was not conversant in oral English but understood the language and could give the verbatim Cantonese translation flawlessly, often with a touch of humour too! No wonder then that PPP rallies attracted such mammoth crowds.

Outspoken and courageous

One of DR’s most notable achievements in his short parliamentary career spanning less than 12 years, was his courageous expose of corruption involving a cabinet minister by the name of Abdul Rahman Talib, then Education Minister. When challenged by the minister to repeat the allegation outside Parliament, DR wasted no time in complying.

At the historical Chinese Assembly Hall along Birch Road (now Jalan Maharaja Lela) in Kuala Lumpur, DR did the needful before a packed audience and was taken to court for libel and slander. This celebrated case ended in DR’s favour in December 1964. The minister appealed the decision the following year but was again unsuccessful. Needless to say, DR’s stature as a fearless parliamentarian grew further from then.

DR’s eloquence in debating the contentious issues of the day like education, language and human rights won him grudging respect and admiration from his political opponents in Parliament , including the then Prime Minister, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman.

DR was a London-trained lawyer and specialised in criminal law. He first came into public prominence as the lawyer who defended a young Chinese girl named Lee Meng for alleged militant communist activities during the Emergency. Although DR did not win this case, his reputation as an able and courageous lawyer grew by leaps and bounds.

DR was involved in a number of high-profile criminal cases, and his superb performance as the defence counsel was given wide publicity in the media. Despite his fiery disposition, DR conducted himself in the best traditions of the Bar. He was never over-domineering and was known to extend his utmost courtesy to his less experienced colleagues in court.

He fought all his cases, big or small to the best of his ability, using his tremendous power of persuasion and argument to the full, much to the chagrin of the opposing public prosecutor. Indeed, DR’s brilliant performance was a source of inspiration for many young budding lawyers of the day.

DR’s private life was equally interesting. A chain smoker, DR was always seen with a cigarette in his mouth, both in public or in his office. His addiction to tobacco from an early age resulted in his smoking more than 80 sticks a day.

DR came from a wealthy Ceylonese (now Sri Lankan) family. His late father was an eminent lawyer himself prior to the Japanese occupation of Malaya. The Seenivasagam family owned several landed properties in Ipoh but over the years, most of these were disposed of to finance the PPP’s expansion and activities in the Kinta Valley and in other parts of the country.

DR’s affluence as a successful lawyer was manifested in the fleet of expensive cars that he had. He was the proud owner of an American convertible, the Lincoln Continental, and a Jaguar. In later years, a bright red Cadillac bearing the easily-recognisable registration plate, AJ 6666 was his regular companion on the road.

His fondness for life, dancing, good food and the companionship of Chinese lady friends was an open secret. He was often seen in night-clubs in the company of close friends and associates. Drinking was also one of his other indulgences.

DR remained a bachelor all his life. He lived with his elder brother, Dato S.P. Seenivasagam, at the latter’s official residence of the President of the Ipoh Municipal Council along Tiger Lane, together with Datin Seenivasagam and his two unmarried sisters.

DR died of a massive heart attack at the age of 48, barely two months before the country’s general election. Till today, many still believe that the funeral procession of DR was the grandest and most touching ever seen by the people of Ipoh.

Rest in peace, dear DR.

Source: ipohworld.org

Reel masala action

Sometimes some of my non-Indian friends used to ask me, in my childhood days, why were Indian movies so melodramatic with songs being sung at every occasion, be it happy, sad, desperate or devotional scenes? The answer is simple. That is their brand. Just like you have music and movies of different genre, this is what you get from India. The heavenly Greek Gods-like beautiful dancing actors with Kashmiri backdrop from Bollywood  and charismatic not so dashing but swashbuckling stars with lower budget films from the south. Why is their storyline so convoluted and lasting almost 3 hours and just Indian curry is a potpourri of comedy, suspense, action, preaching of good Indian values, tragedy, triumph all in one often ending in a fairy tale like fashion with good prevailing over evil and everybody living happily forever and ever . In the words of a Chennai import who happened to be a Vijay (Ilaya Thalapathi) die-hard fan, whom I had the pleasure to talk to, "We already have enough sadness around us in Chennai, why do want to pay money to feel sad after a movie?"
Actually, besides the masala movie that we are often exposed to, Indian movie industry also produces many artistic true to life critically acclaimed movies (e.g. 36 Chowrangi Lane which I viewed in USM during a filmfest in 1981). Sadly, there is not where the money is, so nobody wants to go there.

Legacy Lost?

Early this morning, Mr S, our local pious man, (vegetarian, bearded and forever donning a kurtha, a practical Indian wear) dropped at our gates to request for a place to host the Navarathri prayers at our house. I politely declined as it was a last minute request and the house was raging with exam fever!
Since we started living in this Taman more than 10 years ago, a bhajan group comprising some adults but mostly school children equipped with musical instruments and percussions, under the auspices of S's father (Masterji, as he known as he taught sangeetham [classical Indian singing] and could speak Hindi, as well), went from selected house to house singing devotional song on the 9 days of Navarathri (the 9 auspicious days to worship the Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati). Coincidentally, the Chinese people have a similar 9-day celebration for Goddess Kwan Ying, the Goddess of Mercy! The reception for 'caroling' group used to be so overwhelming that the sessions used to go on till past midnight. That was then... Masterji and his right hand man, NS, passed on a couple of years ago. And the Navarathri bhajan group has come to this. All dressed up and nowhere to go!
What happened? Has S failed in continuing his father's legacy or have people changed their priorities? Have achieving good results and enjoying worldly comfort superseded the need to improve our karma standings in the afterlife?
We have to remember that Masterji was a retired man with time in his hands. S had a full time job to attend to and a young and growing family to be fed and educated. Charity and divine deeds start at home first!
Talking about continuing the old man's legacy, I just remembered my old barber, Lingam who succumbed to heart attack 3 or 4 years ago. When he was alive, he ran a small barber shop near our Taman. He was a mild mannered man who had only nice things to say about everything. This is a stark anomaly to most of the Indian barbers that we are accustomed to, who are strongly opinionated and you tend to agree with them as they would holding a blade at your jugular! In fact I would writing about them soon. (in midst of drafting)

Joni Mitchell

Lingam's had a small following of loyal customers who actually sang praises of his simpleton way of life and his cordialness in a letter to the editor of  'The Star', our national newspaper. As always, all good things came to an end. Like Joni Mitchell sang in Big Yellow Taxi..."Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone...They paved paradise, And put up a parking lot...." Lingam died after his first fatal attack at the age of 54. (What do you know, you cannot have a second fatal attack, can you? You only live once. He had been a diabetic but kept himself trim. His morbidly over-sized chronically lethargic wife with a plethora of diseases have outlived him thus far. Perhaps, God wanted Lingam to be by his side to meet to the his tonsorial needs up in heaven!
Lingam sudden demise caught the family by surprise. His heir was a 17 year old teenager who had bigger plans on his mind - undergraduate and law studies and so forth. So, the widow hired some young punks to continue the business. After some disagreement, she got  an elderly man to run the show. After a few no-shows by the replacement barber, the premises is now permanently shut. And all the loyal followers have moved on to other barbers around there. Life goes on...another legacy lost!
I suppose that is why many renowned figures around the world are grooming their young to take over their legacy. Lee Kuan Yew groomed Lee Hsien Loong; Mahathir Mohamed and Mukhriz; Ling Liong Sik and son; Gnanalingam and Ruben; Samy Vello and Vel Paari; Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng; Anuar and Nurul Izzah; Kim Jon-Il and Kim Jr and the list goes on...

Robot and Rajnikanth a winning duo

INDIA DIARY
By COOMI KAPOOR


That the trilingual Robot is now running to full houses in all big metros, including Hindi-centric Delhi, has raised questions whether northern audiences are, at last, ready to accept a Tamilian film star.

IT IS a strange phenomenon, really. Over the years, Bollywood has warmly embraced Southern heroines, making them numero uno stars in Hindi cinema, but when it comes to their male counterparts mainstream box-office has invariably spurned them.

Some of the legendary stars of Tamil and Telugu cinema, from M. G. Ramachandran to N. T. Ramarao, never really tried their luck in Hindi cinema, fearful that audiences in the Hindi belt might find them unacceptable.

In sharp contrast to the failure of the male stars from the South to break into the Hindi cinema, female actors have had little or no difficulty in making a mark in Bollywood, with the likes of Hema Malini, Rekha, Jaya Prada, and a whole host of others from down South who played the female lead against mainly North Indian heroes in a large number of Hindi films.

Indeed, these heroines were far more successful in Bollywood than in the Southern cinema, though most of them had landed in Bombay after getting a break either in Tamil or Telugu films.

Lest you assume that the audiences in the Hindi belt were biased against southern male stars, it ought to be clear that aside from language, the mannerisms and looks of heroes from Chennai and Hyderabad posed a problem to Bollywood, which was obsessed with typical Greek god looks.

For instance, a handsome hulk of a man from Punjab, Dharmendra, undoubtedly Hindi cinema’s lone He-Man, was difficult for the southern cinema to duplicate.

Now, this is not to suggest that there are no handsome heroes in the South. They are, but their looks are of a different kind that do not go down well with north Indian audiences.

For instance, Kamal Hassan is easily one of the greatest actors in Tamil cinema, his histrionic skills having been duly acknowledged by many national and international juries. Yet, barring a Hindi film or two, Kamal has found little success in Bollywood.

In the above backdrop, the phenomenal success of Rajnikanth in the Hindi belt, along with the rest of the country, has raised questions whether northern audiences are, at last, ready to accept a Tamilian film star.

The super-duper hero of Tamil cinema has hit the jackpot even in the North and the West with his latest offering. The trilingual Robot – in Tamil and Telugu versions, Enthiran – is now running to full houses in all big metros, including Hindi-centric Delhi.

Billed as the costliest film ever made in India in any language, the sci-fi film took three years and over US$35mil (RM108.95mil) to make. More than one-third of the cost was on account of special effects and the creation of a robot of a Rajni look-alike.

Finest Hollywood sci-fi technicians – who had earlier worked for Jurassic Park and assisted in the making of Spiderman and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – were hired by S. Shankar, the director, and story- and screenplay-writer of Robot.

The film’s story itself is rather simple. Rajni plays a scientist who has been engaged in creating a robot for use by the armed forces in frontline combat.

His invention is capable of human emotions, though it is also able to do superhuman feats such as toppling flying helicopters, crushing enemy soldiers with his bare hands, and talking disease-bearing mosquitoes out of spreading dengue.

But the twist in the story is provided by the villain, played by Bollywood’s Danny Denzangpa. Unknown to its inventor, Rajni, he fiddles with the brain of the robot, named Chitti, and makes it fall in love with the girl (Aishwarya Rai) Rajni is in love with.

From here on it is a mad scramble between Rajni the scientist and his creation, the robot. Audiences get their money’s worth in hilarious and astounding situations which only the superstar Rajni alone can pull off.

So what explains the success of Robot in the Hindi heartland? Of course, the fast-paced action is a main draw. Robot is full of typical Rajni one-liners that draw whistles of approval from the front stalls.

Admittedly, Rajni has done a number of Hindi films earlier, but has not found much success, even when he had his co-star in none other than Amitabh Bachchan. How come, then, Robot has swept the Hindi box office ?

One explanation is that the real hero is the Rajni clone robot who displays such feats, including human emotions, that everyone is left marveling at his versatility.

Maybe the presence of Hindi cinema’s most beautiful heroine, Aishwarya Rai, and one- time favourite villain, Danny, too served as an attraction for North Indian audiences.

Days before the release of Robot, earlier this month, there was a strong buzz about the greatest sci-fi film in the history of Indian cinema.

Probably, the 60-plus Rajni, the only film star to appear in public as his natural self – that is, completely bald, grey moustaches, ordinary features – banked on his vast army of fans in Tamil Nadu to give Robot the initial push.

Thanks to the buzz, nearly 2,000 prints of Robot were released in theatres across the country. In Rajni-crazy Tamil Nadu, some theatres began the first show of Robot at 4am, while the more sensible theatre owners in Chennai held the first show at 5am or 6am.

For Robot, Rajni was reportedly paid US$3mil (RM9.34mil) plus a share in the profits from the box office receipts.

Not bad, considering that the director of the film, S. Shankar and the robot, too, played stellar roles in the success of Enthiran.

Delhi 2010

I just cannot help myself from giving my 2-sens' worth of opinion on the ongoing Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. No, I am not going to say that we should boycott the Games which only rekindles the ugly past of our colonial masters' antics of squandering from its subjects and milking it dry to fill up the coffers of British East India Company and its Empire till the sun finally had to set.
I am rather going to confine myself to the opening ceremony which I happened to browse while waiting to see how my favourite English football club, Liverpool, got run all over by the BPL minnows, Blackpool. Anyway, I have no intentions and patience of staying glued to tellie to keep track on the medal tally and so forth.
In spite of the rather dismal pre-opening ceremonoy reviews that the press all over the world gave, India had managed to stage a rather impressive and extravagant showcase of its culture to the rest of 'civilized' world with no glaring faux paus!
One cannot help but to compare this performance to the one put up by another giant who had also just sprung up from a long slumber, China, in the Beijing Olympics 2008. Without a shadow of a doubt, in my humble opinion, Delhi 2010 (opening) was a pale comparison to the latter. Beijing set the gold standards in how any major event should be organised. In the brilliantly choreographed and mind boggling props and colour camouflaging, the Chinese managed to illustrate and narrate their whole civilization and achievements with no words. Every participant of the ceremony did his part exceptionally well to tell the world, "Watch out world, here we come!"
We have been told that numerous steps have been taken by the Indian authorities to ensure adequate security and to sanitize Delhi and its surroundings. At the best to them...
For those who had missed the Commonwealth 2010 opening ceremony. here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRgjWufabjY (Delhi 2010)
And those who want to view the Beijing Olympics opening again...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_M23M6xyYg (Beijing 2008)
For those who want to know what these two civilizations have contributed to the world at large... Be amazed!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_inventions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_inventions
Free Website Traffic!

Penang under HK scrutiny

Now that Penang had been instrumental in the turn of events during the 2008 political tsunami, Penangites should also listen to what a TVB documentary made in Hong Kong has to say about LGE. It is an old production when Pak Lah was still PM. Beware, the world is watching!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HA5HRSlYcY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmNwjX9TnGE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaAvEFRQkqM&feature=related