[Free] W. H. Treacher – British Borneo (1891)

Written by the first Governor of British North Borneo (1881-1887).

The full text is available on Gutenberg.

[Free] E. Alexander Powell – Where the Strange Trails Go Down (1921)

Another must read book on Sabah (North Borneo) and surrounding areas, which is covered in chapters I to III – the last of which is particularly eye-opening.

The full text (and even some photos) is available on Gutenberg.

E. Alexander Powell (1879 – 1957) was an American war correspondent during World War I and author. After the Great War, he had a successful career as an adventure and travel writer, traveling widely across the globe and publishing some 20 books between 1920 and 1954.”

The good paediatrician was born in Taiping and died in Kuala Lumpur.

Obituary published in the Adelaidean:

Dr Sam Abraham decided early on to remain in government medical service rather than set up a private practice. He did this for two reasons: first, he felt the need to serve the community and wanted to ensure that he gave something back to the people of Malaysia; and second, he knew that in a government practice he would come into contact with a wide variety of cases, the likes of which he would not see in private work. This added to his depth of experience, and further opened his eyes to the state of the nation’s health. He subsequently worked in the government medical service for 30 years.

The article in full.

Updated 16 September 2012

After Sabah, Wills and Kate went to the Solomon Islands. Based on newsreports, my observations/comparisons:

- Almost the entire population of the capital of the Solomon Islands (70,000) turned up to line the 8 km route between the airport and the city centre. Kids jumped and screamed from car roofs; the rows of people sometimes went 20 deep. Back in KK, how was the reception from the locals?

- The cathedral, St Barnabas, didn’t look much bigger than Tamparuli’s old church.

As a Sabahan/Malaysian, I was bracing for tabloid reports of things that went wrong during the Royal Couple’s visit here. The fact that I could find none, even in the usually merciless reader comments section, is testament to our level of professionalism.

In the Solomon Islands, the western papers almost gleefully reported that:

- The hosts apparently didn’t prepare a mobile aircon, for Kate was “fanning herself madly” during the church service.

- The power went out 4 times during the church service: 3 times during the Archbishop’s sermon (by his reaction, it’s apparent that this is a common thing).

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14 September 2012

Before visiting Sabah, a photo which I’ll call The Pinnacle of Protocol in Malaysia

At least by members of the House of Windsor, which was founded by King George V on 17th July 1917, and whose most prominent member is its head, Queen Elizabeth II. Note: The accuracy of the following list is subject to verification.

1959/1960: The Queen and the Duke visited then-Jesselton.

1965: Prince Philip visited the east coast during the Konfrantasi, 1965
1970: The Duchess of Kent visited Sandakan in 1970
1972: The Queen + Prince Philip visited in Feb or March 1972
2001: Prince Andrew (Duke of York) visited KK on 16th May 2001, and Labuan the day after

So the current visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would be the sixth – they touched down at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (Terminal 2) around 10 minutes before 8pm greeted by the Chief Minister and two of his Deputies, then proceed to Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort (STAR) where they spent 30 minutes mingling before calling it a night. STAR was chosen probably because of its proximity to the airport.

Photos of the moment they arrived at STAR.

The next day, they flew by helicopter to Danum Valley.

On Sunday the 16th September, which incidentally is Malaysia Day, they were given a red carpet send-off around 7am by the CM, 2 DCMs and the SKN, amongst others. They left for the Solomon Islands & Tuvalu.

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Goodness knows what went through their minds as they arrived in Sabah:
[1] they only found out about the French tabloid controversy during breakfast in Kuala Lumpur that morning. The topless photos were apparently taken the week before where they went for a short holiday before embarking on their present Far East tour.
[2] the plane apparently had to circle KKIA twice before managing to land due to strong winds

I wonder if anybody discreetly told them as they arrived at STAR: “Your Highness, you’re staying at the same hotel as did the guy who was responsible for the collapse of your country’s oldest investment bank 17 years ago”.

Some more observations:
[1] They must be masters in exchanging pleasantries / polite smalltalk
[2] I wonder how much luggage of clothes the Duchess brought – or do those travel separately and managed by an entire team?

The nearest I ever got to a member of the British Royal Family was when Anne, the Princess Royal (sister of Prince Charles, auntie of Prince William) visited my school in 1989. We all lined up in front of the school as her helicopter landed and she was greeted by the Headmaster and the Head Prefect.

Othoe resigned from Suria FM in June 2011. He was there since sometime in 2008.

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16 August 2010

Perhaps, apart from RTM’s own channels, the most popular Sabah-themed radio station is the DJ Othoe-helmed SuriaFM.

Then of course there are the independent internet-based radio stations like Sabahan.FM.

Now there’s KKFM, operating at 91.1 Mhz which was launched early July 2010 with the tagline “Bukan Sekadar Muzik” (Not Just Music).

It’s run by an educational institution, so it won’t be surprising if they sell textbooks online next.

One of its 4 permanent DJs is Felix Agus, of Akademi Fantasia 3 fame.

It can be heard at Telipok, Sepanggar, Menggatal, Inanam, Kota Kinabalu, Penampang, Kinarut and Beringgis, Papar daily between 6am and 8pm. Language used is Bahasa Malaysia and English.

The MiG-29 is a world-renowned jet fighter aircraft designed in the former Soviet Union. Some would say it’s the world’s greatest dogfighting plane. Pilots are subjected to 5G forces or worse.

It was reported in the papers at the end of March 2010 that Patricia Yapp, 32 of Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia is the world’s first qualified female pilot of that machine.

That is quite an achievement: I wonder why Soviet ladies back then, or of other communist nations didn’t achieve the feat first?

Major Yapp drives the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) MiGs since 2006.

And she wants more: to drive the even more advanced craft, the Sukhoi SU-30MKM.

Don’t say she’s stopping there: long term, she also wants to be the nation’s first female astronaut: make sure nobody can say “space tourist” this time.

Ms Yapp certainly seems like someone with boundless enthusiasim for life and all its challenges. Potential suitors would need to undergo energy auditing first, to ensure they can catch up!

Source
EasyCOmesEasyGoes

The legend of Mahsuri is well known in Malaysia.

She was a young woman who lived on the island of Langkawi in the early 19th century, the most beautiful woman on that island. She was married to Wan Darus, a warrior. One day, he had to go away on military duties and she was left alone. During that time, she became an acquaintance of Deraman, a young man. Later Mahsuri was accused of committing adultery, tied to a tree and stabbed to death. It’s then that the story took on a paranormal tone. Instead of red blood, white blood supposedly flowed out – proving her innocence. Before she died, she cursed Langkawi bad luck lasting seven generations.

A portrait of Mahsuri

And did bad luck befall Langkawi – the Siamese invaded the island in 1821 and crops failed for decades.

The curse apparently ended at the tail-end of the 20th century when Langkawi prospered as a tourist attraction – that includes her tomb (Makan Mahsuri) of course.

The first seventh-generation descendant of Mahsuri, and certainly the most famous, is Sirintra Yayee (Wan Aishah Wan Nawawi), born 1985, who’s said to have inherited Mahsuri’s legendary beauty.

In fact there are some rival claimants to the title of “the first seventh-generation descendant of Mahsuri” that one could make slideshows out of all of them.

Sirintra lives in Phuket and is a Thai citizen.

She visited Kedah (where Langkawi is) in May 2000 to mark the lifting of the curse.

She got married to Alee Tongyun in April 2010

The Star reported on 23rd April 2010 that according to The World Wildlife Fund, in its report entitled Borneo’s New World: Newly Discovered Species in the Heart of Borneo, there are 123 new species discovered since the Heart of Borneo (HoB) conservation plan started in February 2007.

Jointly implemented by the governments of Malaysia, Brunei & Indonesia, it covers an area of 220,000 square kilometers of tropical rainforest spanning the said 3 countries.

Amongst the most interesting species discovered are:

The lungless frog (Barbourula kalimantanensis)

The 7cm-long Bornean Flat-headed Frog was discovered in 2008 and is the world’s first frog without any lungs. Instead of lungs, it breathes through its skin. Other organs occupy the space where the lungs are expected to be, hence making it appear flatter the other frogs.

The ninja slug (Ibycus rachelae)

This colourful long-tailed slug was discovered on leaves at altitudes of up to 1,900m on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah. The tail is 3 times longer than it’s head. Total length is 4cm. This unusual animal uses harpoon-like “love darts” made of calcium carbonate during courtship, which sticks to and injects a hormone into a chosen mate.

The world’s longest insect (Phobaeticus chani)

That looks dangerously close to the guy’s eyes – still, whatever shoots out of the thing’s mouth is probably better than the best anti wrinkle eye cream the western world could offer…

This was found near Kinabalu Park, Sabah and is 56.7cm long. Only 3 specimens have ever been found.

In the HoB, there can be found 10 primate species, 350+ birds, 150+ reptiles and amphibians and more than 10,000 endemic plants. And the numbers keep growing: 3 new species are found every month.

Update 17th June 2009

It’s been pointed out to me that the larger dog is Coca-Cola and the smaller one, its daughter, is Pepsi-Cola.

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It became infamous when it was paraded by its owner at KDCA Hall at the height of the Kaamatan celebrations (end of May 2005) dressed in what looked like Kadazan/Dusun traditional attire. In local culture, that is taboo.

The incident was furiously debated in a top local newspaper for some time.

Someone took a video of it then:

Click here to see the video

Rather than grouping people together via (mostly) social connections, Acobay in contrast connects people with “things” they have in common.

The “things” can be cars, mobile phones, games, televisions, camcorders, portable media players, tourist sites visited, film; you get the idea, it’s basically anything!

Having established the connection of common interest, they can then take it to a higher level, for example by discussing in more depth about their gadgets in order to get more out of it.

Hence, you can say it’s a consumer network site.

Hint: you can even use it as a tool to promote your own blog as you share more information and write more reviews.

Holiday frames, in conjunction with the upcoming holiday season, are now being offered by Zenni Optical on its website (online catalogue).

There is a big number of glasses’ frames available there. Hence, glasses frame shoppers are more than likely to find one that best suits their requirements.

The materials used include plastic, metal alloy, stainless steel and pure titanium.

There are detailed descriptions (with of course photos) of each one, with information on dimensions of lens (width, height & bridge), frame (width, height & bridge), temple arm length, weight, index lens and colour choices.

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