So on the 3rd day of CNY this year.. which was like 4 months ago, we went for movie. Day 3 has always been a ‘movie outing day’ for our family lol
(These photos were taken using the Galaxy Nexus.. sucky camera under low light pfft)
So we started off our day with breakfast at Delifrance. Can you believe all these was only RM6?
Then we walked around MidValley and pose a bit with some CNY deco
Our movie tickets!
Lunch before the movie!
This was at Garden Cafe btw.
Enough about winning dream cars; how about winning a dream bike instead? Shell Malaysia is giving you a chance to win a Ducati Monster worth RM60,000. And to sweeten the deal, a VIP trip to watch the Spanish MotoGP in November 2012 is thrown into the mix as well.
So here’s how to win it. Buy a one-litre pack of Shell Advanced Ultra 4T, 4X7 4T, AX5 4T, VSX 2T or SX 2T motorcycle oil. You’ll find a nine-digit unique code inside the front label of each pack, which gives you one chance to enter the Shell Advance ‘Key to Freedom’ contest. Answer the simple question correctly via SMS, you could be one of the 10 will fly to Spain to watch the race and find out who wins the Ducati.
You can also increase your chance to go to Spain by using your unique code to vote for your favourite band featured on the Shell Advance ‘Battle of the Bands’ Youtube page.
For more information to both contests, visit your nearest Shell station, bike workshop and Shell’s webpage.
© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.
This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 03 Jun 12 23:07:14 +0000.
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Suaram menggesa kerajaan menjelaskan peranan Terasasi (Hong Kong) Sdn Bhd yang didakwa menjual rahsia negara kepada syarikat Perancis berhubung urusniaga RM4 bilion untuk membeli kapal selam Scorpene.
“Setakat ini, peranan Terasasi masih belum dijelaskan di Parlimen Malaysia.
“Kerajaan Malaysia perlu menjelaskan perkara ini dan peranan yang dimainkan Abdul Razak Baginda dalam transaksi (melibatkan kertas penilaian Scorpene),” kata pengarah Suaram Kua Kia Soong.
Abdul Razak dan bapanya merupakan pengarah Terasasi, sebuah syarikat yang muncul dalam siasatan Suaram ke atas syarikat pembina kapal Perancis, DCNS, dalam kes penjualan dua kapal selam Scorpene kepada Malaysia.
Terasasi didakwa menerima sejumlah 36 juta euro (RM142 juta) daripada DCNS – antara lainnya untuk ‘jualan’ laporan sulit melibatkan penilaian tentera laut Malaysia ke atas pesanan untuk kapal selam itu.
Kua dalam satu emel kepada Malaysiakini semalam berkata, satu inkuiri perlu dibuat ke atas dakwaan serius itu.
GEORGETOWN 3 Jun: Arahan diberikan kepada Gabenor Bank Negara, Tan Sri Jaafar Hussein untuk mengundurkan diri ekoran krisis kerugian RM30 bilion akibat urusniaga pertukaran asing pada 1992, kata Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Namun begitu, kata Anwar, Tun Mahathir Mohamad selaku perdana menteri ketika itu mempertahankan skandal berkenaan, meskipun ia menyebabkan negara menanggung kerugian.
“Setelah lebih 20 tahun isu kerugian wang yang amat besar ini tidak mendapat tindakan yang sewajarnya dari pihak pemerintah yang diterajui oleh Barisan Nasional.
“Mereka sentiasa berasa selesa walaupun negara mengalami kerugian dalam transaksi tersebut,” kata Anwar ketika menjadi panel dalam Forum Skandal Forex Bank Negara, anjuran Penang Institute, di Dewan Sri Pinang, semalam.
Anwar juga menegaskan bahawa individu utama dalam kes tersebut ialah bekas menteri kewangan, Tun Daim Zainuddin dan juga Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop yang mengetuai jabatan perdagangan mawatang di Bank Negara ketika itu.
Mantan Timbalan Gabenor Bank Negara, Dr.Rosli Yaakop, antara salah seorang panel dalam forum yang dikendalikan oleh Julian Candiah itu.
Anwar yang juga bekas Timbalan Perdana Menteri dan Menteri Kewangan berkata, kerajaan menyatakan kerugian itu berlaku ‘di atas kertas sahaja’ dan desakan supaya melantik sebuah Suruhanjaya Diraja juga tidak diendahkan.
“Ini mempamerkan wajah sebenar penyangak dan mereka yang korup dalam mengendalikan wang negara,” katanya yang menambah isu mengenai spekulasi mata wang Yen dan Dollar Amerika bermula sejak 1989 lagi.
“Akhirnya apabila kehilangan wang negara yang begitu besar berlaku, tiada pihak yang berani untuk membawa ke muka pengadilan spekulator yang bertanggungjawab,” kata beliau.
Yet another Chinese make sighted on test in Malaysia – this time it’s a Chery A3 sedan and it was snapped on the PLUS highway near Perak by Kevin Lee.
This car is known with many different names in the markets where it is available. It’s been known to called the Chery Tengo, the Chery Chance, the Chery Niche, the Chery Skin, the Chery Orinoco, or good old alphanumeric codes like the A3, the J3, or the M11.
It’s powered by a range of Chery’s own ACTECO four cylinder engines such as a 119hp/147Nm 1.6 litre, a 132hp/170Nm 1.8 litre and a 139hp/183Nm 2.0 litre. Judging from it’s 2,550mm wheelbase, it’s a B-segment compact sedan like the Honda City and the Toyota Vios.
Chery hasn’t been doing too badly in Malaysia – it’s Chery Eastar MPV seems quite popular and has been selling relatively well in comparison to other Chinese passenger marques that have been introduced in Malaysia.
© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.
This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 03 Jun 12 16:30:23 +0000.
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Reader Eddy Liau spotted this Chinese-branded sedan with trade plates near his house. After a brief Facebook conversation and some Googling, we managed to identify it as a Changan Alsvin, also called by its Chinese market name Changan Yue Xiang. It looks alot like the 1st gen Mazda 3 sedan. It’s powered by a 1.5 litre engine and has a 2,515mm wheelbase.
Changan is sold in Malaysia by a Berjaya Group company called Changan Berjaya Auto Sdn Bhd under the Chana Era name, and there are currently two passenger models available – the Chana Era CV6 which is a Changan Ben Ben, and the Chana Era CM8 which is a compact MPV. Looks like they might be adding a sedan to their model line-up?
© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.
This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 03 Jun 12 15:56:47 +0000.
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You have managed to snap a photo of the KL Petronas Twin Towers with one tower powered off and the other on. This happens when the synchronization is wonky and usually lasts a few seconds. You either got a lucky shot or have too much time on your hands.
The question of what should be done about President Bashar Assad and his brutal Syrian regime is not a new one. For over a year, his security forces and the violent shabiha gangs allied to his regime have carried out killings and abductions with impunity.
What has changed in the last week following the murder of more than 100 people in Houla, including dozens of children, is that a new urgency and disgust has been injected into an escalating crisis that has brought the country to the verge of civil war.
Outrage is the easiest part of responding to Assad’s crimes because what have not altered are the intractable complexities of confronting the issue. The challenges are both specific to Syria and its immediate neighbours. They also reflect a world that is more cautious after a decade of problematic, western-led, military interventions, founded on better and worse premises.
These have led to several hundred thousand civilian lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan primarily and, in Libya; they have resulted in the deaths of several thousand allied troops, and have cost trillions of dollars. The results of these interventions have been disappointing at the very least.
It is not unsurprising then that neither political elites nor their voters is clamouring for another war in a difficult neighbourhood bordered by fragile Lebanon on one side and Iran on the other, and one that would involve a modern army well equipped by its principal ally, Russia.
Indeed, when US secretary of state Hillary Clinton spoke on Syria during a visit to Denmark last week it was as much to stress the difficulties of intervening as to raise the prospect that it might happen.
It is a recognition that while it is easy to demand that “something must be done” in response to the latest horrific bloodletting in Syria, what that something should be is much harder to articulate.
Echoing Clinton, Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, set out conditions for any US-led intervention that might follow the now expected collapse of the Annan plan – notably the agreement of Russia and China on a UN Security Council for military action – which make such an expedition highly unlikely in the present circumstances.
Military sources too have been at pains to point out the differences between Libya – where a western-led coalition did intervene in an air campaign – and Syria. The reality is that in Libya the opposition, which had seized heavy weapons in the first days of the uprising, had quickly secured large areas of territory from which to operate.
An intervention in Syria would be much more difficult. Much of the conflict during the last year has not been in open desert but in large population centres in a state in which the geography of conflict is much more tightly enmeshed. As Israel discovered during its protracted adventure in Lebanon, with its complex sectarian rivalries, which mirror Syria’s to a degree, it is an easy neighbourhood in which to become intractably bogged down.
They are rivalries that feed into wider regional tensions and competitions, not least those involving Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, a factor that makes many of the west’s leaders even more wary.
If a full-scale military intervention either to topple Assad or protect civilians with ground troops seems off the menu of options for now, a second option – the wholesale training and arming of Syria’s rebels – seems equally problematic. Syria’s opposition is divided and fractious, with the body prosecuting most of the fighting – the Free Syrian Army – at odds with a barely representative and fissiparous Syrian National Council.
The suspicion of the presence of some fighters related to al-Qaida can only reinforce that caution. Indeed, the weapons that would make a significant difference are not small arms, but armour and sophisticated anti-armour weapons.
Another suggestion has been the creation of “safe zones” along the country’s borders, protected by air power. On paper at least, it is an attractive option that would provide safe havens for those fleeing the fighting. But, as the experience of the archipelagos of refugee camps that sprang up in Afghanistan during the first rule of the Taliban and elsewhere has demonstrated, such places can persist for years, creating their own problems. These include the risk of destabilisation of the host state if the existence of such cross-border havens draws neighbours into an expanding war.
Any solution requires the agreement of Moscow without whom there can be no intervention. As Lord Ashdown wrote recently, the west’s history of diplomatic mis-steps in its relationship with Moscow, far from making it harder for Russia to say “no” to a proposed solution, has made it easier.
None of which is to say that perhaps in the future, as occurred in Bosnia after the tipping point of Srebrenica, events might dictate a military intervention.
We are not at that stage and unlikely to reach it while Syrian opposition remains an intractable part of the problem. A mechanism needs to be created for an entity to replace the Syrian National Council that would see the quick departure of its deeply divisive chairman, Burhan Ghalioun, to create a representative and transparent body with direct political responsibility for opposition fighters.
As Lord Ashdown has suggested, international diplomacy needs to become more purposeful, building an effective consensus that includes both Russia and regional players, stripped of moral posturing. That must include an insistence that Russia and other regional players with an influence take on a greater role in the search for an end to the violence, rather than fuelling it.
In this light, the decision to discuss the crisis before the UN’s General Assembly, thereby widening the scope of the debate, is to be welcomed, not least if it leads to even more punitive sanctions against the Syrian regime and a widening of the threat of prosecution to all and any involved in war crimes.
With the growing threat of regional conflagration, a cessation of hostilities and exit strategy will cost fewer lives in the long run than a chaotic slip to an ever-wider war. What is certain is that a rush to military intervention, without an exit strategy or any notion of what might replace the present regime, will kill more children than those who died in Houla last week. For that is the nature of military interventions and why sometimes the most moral solution is the most complex.
POPCRAP 1
Went for a jog this morning at Bkt Jalil park with my new Puma Faas 300. Felt great after the run. Had nasi lemak after that. Fat. lol
POPCRAP 2
Had roasted milk tea and mango mille crepe at midnight yesterday. Fat again. lol
POPCRAP 3
Just few days ago, some of us went dinner at Paradigm Mall. Awesome night with friends. 
Malaysiakini
Oleh Amin Iskandar
Insiden ganas di Lembah Pantai baru-baru ini membimbangkan. Dalam sebuah ceramah anjuran PKR, Lembah Pantai, seorang lelaki tua dan anak kecil cedera akibat daripada dilempar dengan objek keras.
Ketua Cabang Lembah Pantai, Nurul Izzah Anwar turut dilempar dengan objek ketika sedang berceramah.
Ceramah yang bertentang antara dua parti politik yang berlawan tidak seharusnya dibenarkan kerana ia mengundang pergaduhan, kata bekas ketua polis negara, Tan Sri Musa Hassan.
“Ini tidak seharusnya dibenarkan, Untuk saya ini seperti percubaan untuk bergaduh. Jangan buat berdekatan, jika buat juga, pergaduhan pasti terjadi,” kata beliau dalam wawancara khas dengan Malaysiakini sebelum ini.
Kejadian di Lembah Pantai bukanlah yang pertama. Bulan lalu saja ada beberapa insiden. Datuk S Ambiga sewaktu berceramah di Melaka turut mengalami nasib sama.
Trend ini amat membimbangkan apatah lagi dalam keadaan politik Malaysia yang bergelora kini.
Apa akan berlaku semasa p’raya?
Dari perbincangan dengan rakan-rakan penganalisis politik, jika trend keganasan politik ini tidak dibendung dengan segera oleh polis, ia akan melarat sehingga hari pilihan raya.
Ertinya, sewaktu hari mengundi pada pilihan raya ke-13 nanti, berkemungkinan besar kita akan saksikan keganasan berlaku antara penyokong dua blok politik yang bertentangan.
Insiden di Lembah Pantai tidak akan berlaku jika polis mengambil langkah pencegahan yang lebih awal.
Ini terbukti boleh dilakukan. Polis seringkali mengambil perintah dari mahkamah untuk menghalang sesuatu demonstrasi dengan alasan menjaga keselamatan negara.
Jika dicegah dengan lebih awal seperti memindahkan lokasi ceramah salah satu parti pada malam tersebut, insiden keganasan ini pasti dapat dihentikan.
“Kita tidak mahu satu hari nanti polis perlu mengawal ceramah…. Macam mana nak kata negara kita aman jika ceramah pun perlukan kawalan polis?” kata Musa Hassan lagi.
Berpolitik secara jantan
Apabila bertanding dalam pilihan raya, seseorang calon atau parti politik mempunyai cita-cita untuk menang.
Ini perkara biasa. Itulah cita-cita sesiapa sahaja yang mansuh ke kancah politik pilihan raya.
Akan tetapi, apa yang perlu difikirkan juga pada calon atau parti politik adalah fikiran tentang kemungkinan untuk kalah. Ini lebih penting agar calon atau parti politik belajar menerima kekalahan.
Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud, mantan presiden Kongres Kesatuan Sekerja Malaysia (MTUC) sering berkata kepada saya:
“Dalam berpolitik, kita harus mempunyai semangat kesukanan yang tinggi. Kita akan mudah berlapang dada jika kalah dalam sesuatu pertandingan.”
Lihat sendiri sejarah perjuangan Syed Shahir dalam MTUC. Sebelum menang pada tahun 2004, beliau telah kalah berkali-kali. Malahan dalam pemilihan lalu, beliau kalah kepada Khalid Atan.
Namun ini tidak melemahkan semangat anak kelahiran Raub (Syed Shahir) untuk terus membela nasib pekerja.
Semangat ini jika dipegang akan menyebabkan Malaysia aman dan makmur. Ertinya, jika kalah sekalipun dalam pilihan raya, tidaklah menjadi punca kepada berlakunya kekacauan.
Akan tetapi, proses pilihan raya itu perlulah adil dan saksama. Padang yang sama rata. Jika padang tidak sama rata, tidak salah bagi yang kalah dan ditipu bangkit untuk menuntut keadilan.
BN tumbang?
Menurut seorang penulis blog Umno, Anuar Mohd Nor, satu laporan dari perisikan tentera telah dihantar kepada Majlis Tertinggi Umno mengenai kekalahan BN dalam PRU 13.
Dalam blognya, Umno Reform, Anuar mencoretkan tentang berita yang beliau perolehi mengenai satu laporan yang dihantar kepada Majlis Tertinggi Umno tentang kemungkinan tumpasnya BN.
Apakah laporan ini punca keganasan berlaku dengan berleluasa?
Jika sesebuah parti politik itu matang dan berjiwa besar, mereka akan bekerja keras untuk memenangi hati rakyat agar laporan BN tumbang tidak menjadi kenyataan.
Bedah siasat harus dilakukan tentang mengapa Pakatan Rakyat lebih popular. Jika kalah sekalipun dalam pilihan raya, apa masalahnya? Apakah dunia berakhir selepas itu?
Bukankah masih ada pilihan raya ke-14? Tidak ada yang kekal selama-lamanya. Manusia saja pasti akan berhadapan dengan mati. Hanya masa yang menentukan. Begitu juga dengan kuasa.
Empayar Islam Turki Uthmaniah yang bermula pada tahun 1299, akhirnya tumbang pada tahun 1923. Apakah dunia berakhir selepas tahun 1923? Tidak, terbukti dunia masih lagi tegak berdiri sehingga hari ini.
Kalah pilihan raya bukan pengakhiran kepada segala-galanya. Hidup ini bukan hanya kuasa dan pilihan raya. Ada lebih banyak lagi sisi-sisi indah yang mungkin tidak sempat dirasa kerana terlalu sibuk mengejar kuasa.
A bombshell was dropped at the Suaram’s press conference in Bangkok on the Scorpene case which is on trial in Paris, France.
French lawyer Joseph Breham, who is acting on behalf of human rights NGO Suaram, revealed that the company paid 36 million euro (RM142 million) to Terasasi (Hong Kong) Ltd, ostensibly for “commercial engineering” works. However, the company was paid for selling top secret military intelligence on the Scorpene submarines to the French company.
Breham, who based his expose on the French prosecution papers, said the act of “selling” top secret papers to a foreign country such as this is considered treason.
In France, he stressed, it would be absolutely illegal to sell such reports as it could either be considered a breach of defence secrets or high treason.
“It’s treason because you are selling to a competitor or a foreign country what you think about a specific weapon, and your plan on how to use this specific weapon,” replied Breham, when asked by a journalist if it was legal for an individual to sell such reports.
“In France, if you release them (secret documents), you can be punished with up to 10 years in jail,” said Breham
Hong Kong-based Terasasi had been accused of funneling money through its accounts to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as “commissions” for the sale of the submarines.
Two Terasasi directors are Najib’s close ally Abdul Razak Baginda and his father Abdul Malim Baginda.
Reform credentials
If the report is true, it is going to shatter Najib’s reforms credentials which have been weakened by several questionable decisions and lack of action to curb abuse of power, corrupt practices, growing politics related violence and poor governance.
These allegations, that Najib and his party had profited from the corrupt proceeds, pose serious challenge to his leadership and personal credibility.
Silence is not a good choice for the embattled premier. He must stand up and speak up to clear the doubts.
His ex-advisor, Abdul Razak Baginda, must be summoned back to answer to these allegations. Otherwise, it would appear to be very difficult for Najib to continue to claim the moral high ground with his 1Malaysia: People First, Performance Now agenda.
It is unprecedented that a serving Malaysian premier is caught in such quagmire and controversy rising from an abuse of direct public procurement. The government has ignored repeated calls for more transparency in its procurement system and to stop using direct negotiations.
Price inflated by ‘middleman’
Now, the premier must answer why we should pay more than RM500 million on commission to a middleman?
Where does the money ended up?
Why aren’t our MACC springing into action and investigate those personalities mentioned in the Paris trial?
Why is the so-called independent anti-corruption commission choose to ignore such huge controversy and allegations against some of the biggest personalities in Malaysia?
Malaysia’s image is surely going to take a harsh beating if the ones connected to the investigation do not cooperate and come clean on the allegations.
Let me set the scene for you. I am at the Sepang International Circuit and, very thankfully, the day is not as hot as I thought it would be in spite the sun blazing at the 2 o’clock position in the sky. In front of me are the two generations of Camry, the 2.4 litre XV40 and the 2.5 litre XV50. If you need to know the price, the essential stats and the specifications of the XV50, please read Anthony’s post about the Camry’s launch first. I’ll be focusing on the drive experience itself.
In drives like this, it is always helpful to refresh one’s memory of how the old one felt like. I get into the XV40, hit the accelerator and peel away from the pit area.
It is as exactly as I remembered. On the straights, the XV40 gives the impression that the tarmac is as comfortable as a mattress and the noise does not intrude too much into the cabin. The steering has no pulse, which is fine because the XV40 does not favour spirited cornering. Having a lively steering and a soft suspension would almost definitely dissatisfy all but the most insensitive of drivers.
Of course a corner will eventually happen and the XV40 completes the gauntlet with a series of body rolls that upsets the car’s balance. The chassis and suspension is clearly setup for comfort because the sedan becomes stable the second the steering is pointed forward.
As for power, well, the 2.4 litre can still hold its own although it was first launched so many moons ago. That said, the power does not transfer immediately due to that lag that all conventional automatics are plagued with.
The drive down memory lane, which is SIC’s North Track, took no longer than seven minutes. Now that I have established my baseline, I quickly jump into the XV50.
I take a brief look at the cockpit and find it to be very similar to the XV40, it still blunders in being exciting. As for its level of quality, Toyota managed to extract the same levels that is found in the old and transplants it to the new.
The engine stayed warm from the previous drive session and I set off. Hold on, the suspension is stiffer in this one. Sensations from the tyres treading on the cement portion of the pit area start to creep up through the seat. The feeling persisted even as I put the car on the tarmac proper.
More alarming, the steering now registers a pulse although it is an EPS-type steering, which is usually stillborn. Don’t get me wrong, the difference in feedback between the XV40 and the XV50 is not day and night but enough to feel more of the road at the wheel.
Yet, the handling, while it is better than the XV40, is not quick in its execution. And neither it is sharp and direct enough to tell me if I need to feed more steering to make it through. Once up to speed, the steering braces automatically and becomes more weighted, putting over more control into my hands.
The same set of corner happens again and the XV50 slips through with a noticeable lack of body roll; the car staying relatively perpendicular to the road. And importantly, it remained stable throughout. There’s an underlying sense of confidence coming from the chassis of the car that makes it a nice drive. Yes, I have to admit this Camry is not the Camry we know.
As for acceleration, the 2.5 litre was never made for sprints or high-speed catch-ups. But there is enough fire in the engine to burn away the ‘underpowered’ tag. Gearshifts from the six-speed auto are smooth and the power is transferred with a barely noticeable delay. No, I did not try the 2.0 litre version because it was prepared for the event.
There are two more things that I must mention. The first is the legroom in the XV50 has been expanded. And second, the Camry has its NVH improved. The engine noise is muffled and there’s practically no sound from the outside. When everything is taken into consideration, the 2.5 litre XV50 Camry is an ocean of improvement over the 2.4 litre XV40, aside from the design, which I am not a big fan of. Sorry, it’s just too angular for my liking. But let not its looks undermine the improved vehicle dynamics, which makes the XV50 a sportier offering than the XV40.
However, this is only half of the story. You see, all of this is done on a racetrack where the roads are paved with a special kind of tarmac and the corners are properly cambered. The full picture will come when the Camry is put to the test on public road in daily conditions. Which, fingers crossed, will come soon.
© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.
This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Fri, 01 Jun 12 16:55:45 +0000.
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