The 7th MOF Sports Carnival 2010 saw the following results for JPKN:

Badminton: bronze. Was a one day event, held 30th October. Had to play 4 matches in one day, but still not as crazy as in 2006 when we had to play FIVE. 1st round: won both matches 3-2; the first team I forgot, 2nd team was Borneo Housing. Semifinals: lost 0-3 to eventual, and perennial champions MOF. 3rd & 4th placing: defeated JBN 3-1. Hence, we repeated 2008′s achievement. Congrats all. For the record, in 1993 and 2006 we got silver. Anybody remember other years’ results?

Volleyball (mixed): gold
Darts: gold
Carrom: 1st round
Basketball: 4th

I observed that sporting spirit of all participants is still high like before, even if one would only earn a medal rather than bigger prizes, like kitchen blinds for the house.

UPDATE 30th October 2010

Terengganu Health, Unity and Consumerism deputy committee chairman Datuk Din Adam was quoted to have said that all the previous happenings were pure hogwash, and that Siti probably has schizophrenia, and needs to see a psychiatrist rather than a bomoh.

He did not believe that Siti Balqis would simply disappear into thin air.

But he did not explain how the purported precious stones dropped from the sky:

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UPDATE 28th October 2010

On the same day as The Star’s report, Bernama reported that she had been found, but not at the top of Gunung Jerai as she claimed, but even further away (600km) at a friend’s house in Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan. Besut police said her SMS to her mother was made from Negeri Sembilan and not Gunung Jerai, Kedah as claimed. So is she playing tricks, or was this the job of demons again? She was believed to not have vanished in thin air and engaged in warp-speed teleportation from Terengganu to Negeri Sembilan, but via a more normal route: taken a bus via Shah Alam.

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The Star reported on 28th October 2010 that family members reported that she’s missing again since 24th October, and claimed that she was kidnapped by some “orang bunian” (supernatural beings) at the top of a mountain: Gunung Jerai, 300km from her home and in Kedah, a different state. An uncle, Derawai Said, 43, said he received an SMS from his niece on Tuesday informing him of this, and that she’s being guarded by 2 orang bunian princesses named Maisrah and Mastura. In addition, Siti Balqis allegedly also sent other SMSes, where she talked about her encounter with the orang bunian, how she struggled to free herself from them and how she was being treated for her wounds by the two princesses.

The uncle said on 24th October, with the whole family in the kitchen, there was the sound of a falling object in the living room, which made all of them go there. The object was a crystal marble the size of a 20
sen coin, which then rolled past Siti, who then inexplicably ran from the house.

Then the story took on an even stranger turn: a neighbour claimed the girl was driven away in her mother’s Perodua Kancil, with Siti Balqis in the passenger seat; yet the uncle claimed that during that time the
car was locked and still at the house, its keys held by the girl’s mother.

Last week, the Malay media reported that seven precious stones, including a ruby, had fallen from the ceiling of her house.

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UPDATE 10th October

- A team of two traditional healers claimed to have caught the 9 spirits which were allegedly responsible for her disapperances, which they then kept in a container to prevent the critters from escaping. Hundreds of villagers swarmed on the house to take photos of the alleged creatures. The bomohs said the spirits must be gotten rid of at sea.
- Siti Balqis said as a result, she had not disappeared in 48 hours.
- Before that day, 15 traditional healers (bomoh) have tried to fix the problem, to no avail.

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Earlier:

- Siti Balqis Mohd Noor, 22, of Jertih, Terengganu is one for whom agents at wholesaleinsurance.net term life insurance or anywhere else would find next to impossible to obtain a policy.
- mysterious happenings started August 2010
- first reported in media 5th October 2010
- will vanish right in front of your eyes every day at dusk or midnight, then, a few hours later, or at most 2 days, will reappear on treetops, cemeteries, above her house’s ceiling, abandoned houses, and even inside a cement mixer!!
- most of the places at which she reappeared would be nearby, yet in one case, the cementery at which she was found was 10 km away!
- she would not be able to remember what happened or how she ended up in those places.
- Sometimes she’d be able to see her family next to her, looking for her. She’d shout and try to touch them, but she’d be invisible and can’t be heard by her family.
- Her gadgets apparently could “travel with her.” When she found herself sitting on a grave, she saw that her handphone was with her, thus able to tell her family members her location.
- all this apparently happened even when her family members and neighbours kept vigil

I think the following have strong cases:

Lim Keng Liat

Probably Malaysia’s most successful swimmer ever:

- He was the first Malaysian to win a gold medal at an Asian Games (?); he won a gold and a silver medal in the 100m and 200m backstroke at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.

- He was the first Malaysian to win a medal in swimming at a Commonwealth Games (?); won a silver and a bronze medal in the 50m and 100m backstroke respectively at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

- He was the first Malaysian to reach the semifinals at an Olympics (?); reached the semi-finals of the 100m backstroke in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

- He was the first Malaysian to qualify for a World Championship swimming final; he qualified for a world championship 100m backstroke final in Barcelona in 2003 and there scored a new national record of 54.77, a time to far ahead of other Malaysians’ that it’s unlikely to be broken for some time.

Michelle Koh

In 1994, she placed 5th in kata at the World Karate Championships.

Aricco Jumitih

In 2010, he became the first Sabahan ever to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. His performance would’ve earned him 11th place at the 2008 Olympics and 14th place at the 2010 World Weightlifting Championships.

At the time of writing, they’re all still so young that they might still need that face wash for acne…

Updated 14 Nov 2011

Aricco participated at the 2011 World Weightlifting Championships, also in the bantamweight category (62 kg) which took place 5 & 6th November 2011 at Disneyland Paris in France.

He came in 22nd place with a total lift of 269 kg (119 + 150), which was 7kg less than his Commonwealth Games performance.

Had he equalled his CG performance, he would’ve placed around 19th.

The winner is Zhang Jie of China, 24 the current world record holder, who lifted a total of 321kg (145 + 176). His world record stands at 326kg.

Indonesian Eko Yuli Irawan, 22 placed 3rd with 310 kg (139 + 171).

Source

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22 Oct 2010

Without a doubt, Aricco Jumitih, 20, who on 5th October 2010 won the gold medal in weightlifting in the 62kg category of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, is the greatest Sabahan weightlifter ever, and perhaps even the best Malaysian weightlifter ever.

Lifting a total of 276kg, he bettered his personal best of 273kg, and eclipsed Matin Guntali’s silver achievement at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.

At state level, he is probably only second to Lim Keng Liat as Sabah’s greatest ever sportsperson.

Even more remarkable, he had never even taken part in the South East Asian (SEA) Games, the top regional sporting event.

But how does his achievement compare if he’d competed at top competitions like the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 World Weightlifting Championships?

This is not to discredit his achievement, rather to spur him to go for greater heights.

His CG performance would only earn him 11th placing at the 2008 Olympics, which was won by Zhang Xiangxiang of China with 319kg. The 10th placer was Henadzy Makhveyenia of Belarus who lifted 278kg.

At the Worlds, he would’ve placed 14th. That event was won by North Korea’s Kim Un Guk, who lifted 320kg. The 13th placer was Damian Wisniewski of Poland, with 278kg.

The world record in the 62kg category is held by Zhang Jie (China), with 326kg, which was set in April 2008. The Olympic record is held by Nikolay Pechalov (Croatia), with 325kg, set at the 2000 Olympics.

That means Aricco is a hefty 50 kilograms away from the world record itself.

Even the lightest category record, i.e. 56kg recorded heavier weights. The legendary Halil Mutlu of Turkey, holds the world record at 305kg!

In fact, at the SEA Games, it’d be unlikely he’ll win gold, since in his category, several Indonesians are world class, like Triyatno, the Olympic bronze medalist and Eko Yuli Irawan, who finished 4th at the Worlds.

On the bright side, at least Aricco would not need to read up onhow to reduce belly fat for a long long time to come.

Ref:
Weightlifting Olympic records
Weightlifting World records
Results of the 2010 World Weightlifting Championships, men’s 62kg category
Results of the 2008 Olympic Games, men’s weighlifting, 62 kg category

Place: Magellan Sutera, Kota Kinabalu.

In attendance:
- Datuk Masidi Manjun, State Minister of Tourism, Culture & Environment, representing the Chief Minister; who later uttered a quotable quote: “The best Malaysians are Sabahans.”
- Datuk Borhanuddin Osman, Executive Director, Airtime Management & Programming Sdn. Bhd. (AMP) Radio Network

It was definitely an honour for Papier Mache to be one of the very few local musicians invited to play at a relatively big-budget launching of probably the first 24-hour radio station of a giant company focusing exclusively on Sabahan music.

It started operations 31st August 2010.

Hence, it was the first time Papier Mache had the opportunity to play in front of Astro bigwigs.

They started their final tuneup on 3rd October & had the soundcheck on 7th October (the day before the launching).

Had planned to play 5 songs:
Nung Olingan Oku Dia + Stream (medley)
Matai-Patai Do Masi
Ini Bukan
Growing In The Light
for encore, a John Gaisah song.

There were 11 tables at the event.

3 DJs, all Sabahans were introduced: Jamie Roscom, Yuriz Abdul Rahman & Rydiana Abdul Rahim. Jamie seemed the best & most confident of the lot.

Other artistes who performed were Marcellus Gatisi & Sound of Borneo (a fusion band), with some members of Goyang 72 joining as percussionists.

Papier Mache played 2 songs:

Nung Olingan Oku Dia (with false ending)

Matai-Patai Do Masi (blues version)

Some photos, if you think they’re worth color printing, go right ahead.

A few months ago I noticed that 2 dogs at the house have strange front legs – both of them bent forwards in an L-shape. As far as I know they have not been involved in any accident which could’ve caused their legs to be bent.

When they are sitting / lying down the legs look normal:

But when they stand up it looks like:

Another photo:

The dogs do not seem to have any problems with it: they run around with apparent ease, no difference whatsoever with other dogs. I have googled, and failed to find any references / similar cases to this.

And yes, they like to bark and chase people passing by too, making the poor souls walk much faster or even run. Since that happens every day, I suppose being chased by dogs can be considered one of the best fat burners available around the house!

Several months ago, while waiting for my usual fried mee at the famed Wun Chiap in Tamparuli town, I noticed something strange.

There’s hardly anybody there:

The lull didn’t last long – a few minutes later it was business as usual – full to the brim.

That confirms the fact that if there’s one eatery in Tamparuli that makes for a good test for the efficiency of one’s weight loss diet pill, it’s Restoran Wun Chiap.

Perhaps this is equivalent to a guaranteed guide on how to lose weight super fast becoming reality.

Someone has beaten an odds of 1 in 40,475,358 – probably the luckiest Malaysian who ever lived. Hence, according to the Book of Odds, the following is more likely:
- being elected the US president (1 in 10 million);
- being canonized i.e. have Saint in front of your name (1 in 20 million);
- becoming an astronaut (1 in 13 million);

…rather than win the 6/58, although thankfully it’s still less likely that a meteor will land on my house (a 1 in 182 trillion chance).

The October 2008 (was it in December?) record of RM20 million has been broken by more than 100%.

A comparison of the two lucky guys:

On 22nd October 2008, a “40-year-old food vendor in Petaling Jaya” won RM20 million at Sports Toto’s Mega TOTO 6/52 with 17, 19, 20, 32, 39, 41. Reaction: the man and his wife slapped each other, probably to make sure they were not dreaming.

On 28th September 2010, a “50-something businessman in Selangor” won RM47.82mil at Sports Toto’s Supreme TOTO 6/58 with 8, 11, 19, 22, 54, 55. Reaction: “dumbfounded for several seconds before getting his wife to verify his win repeatedly, after which they [understandably] couldn’t sleep.”

He was quoted to have said that he regularly bet RM20 on the game since its launch on 20th March 2010 – that means he’s spent less than RM2,000 and won 24,000 times as much!

Of course, for most people it won’t sound so rosy, like the Johor Bahru guy who spent RM30,000 per week on lotteries yet never won more than RM50,000; and of course that August 2010 tragic case of a Mr Khoo from Sarawak who won RM750,000 5 years earlier, attempted to strike it big again by spending up to RM1,800 per bet and ended up losing everything, culminating in self-immolation.

The couple “wants to help people around them, especially their siblings who are financially unstable, and people who are in desperate need of financial assistance.” Well, I am sure they’d have no problems whatsoever to get people coming to them, in fact they’d have to get an office and staff to manage the long queue!

Source
The Star, 30th Sept 2010