Anwar Is In Trouble?

Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and current de-facto leader of opposition party Parti Keadilan Rakyat Anwar Ibrahim found himself faced with:

1. Another sodomy charge after his aide reported such to the police.
2. And a death threat that caused him to holdup in the Turkish Embassy.

Here is a chronology of these events by Star Online:

Saturday, June 28

5.45pm PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s 23-year-old assistant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan lodges a police report against him for sodomy at the Travers police station in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.

10PM About 1,000 Anwar supporters gather at Quality Hotel in Shah Alam after news spreads about the sodomy allegation.

Sunday, June 29

1.20AM PKR vice-president Sivarasa Rasiah holds an emergency press conference to refute the allegation. He reads out a statement by Anwar. Anwar was not present to meet the press, although he was still in the hotel where PKR was holding a supreme council meeting.

2.15AM PKR information chief Tian Chua says Pakatan Rakyat is fully behind Anwar.

5AM ADILnews sends out a statement via SMS that Anwar is in possession of new documents implicating Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan and Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Patail of fabricating evidence in court cases involving Anwar in 1998. PKR claimed there was an attempt to arrest Anwar.

8AM PKR’s supreme council meeting starts with two police cars parked in front of the hotel. An officer reportedly told PKR supporters they were there to prevent any untoward incident.

11AM Anwar is believed to have left the hotel and headed for the Turkish Embassy in Ampang. He has not left the building since.

1PM PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali conducts a press conference without Anwar or PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is Anwar’s wife. Halfway through, Wan Azizah turns up with her daughters, including Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah, to take over the press conference.

3PM Reporters get wind that Anwar has gone to the Turkish Embassy and head there. However, they fail to meet with Anwar or Turkish Ambassador to Malaysia Barlas Ozener.

6PM Several PKR leaders are seen outside the embassy. Reporters are told that Anwar was meeting his lawyers inside.

"Pixar's" First Animated Short

This is Pixar's first animated short film, done in 1984, while the crew were still in Lucasfilm:

Mighty impressive even by today's standards, don't you think?

From Experience Project via Digg.

New Friends

Added a new link to "My Friends" section. Fellow ex-university mate with the blog called Lajau Pajau Plot 18.

New Kind of Theft?

The recent petrol price increase (here in Malaysia we commonly term it as petrol... in some parts of the world, I believe it is referred to as gas, gasoline or fuel) seems to have created a new kind of crime - stealing petrol off cars parked along the streets of housing estates. According to the "Thieves siphon off petrol" by Star Online, residents in Klang saw a man behind a car with a tank underneath a car, presumably to siphon off the petrol, while his accomplice waited in a motorcycle.

A comment from a resident: "A big patch of petrol stain was seen underneath my car and the nut of the petrol tank was on top of the bonnet."

I've not heard of something quite like this before where the petrol is stolen while other valuables remain in the car but I am sure this is not something too new. Has anyone have or heard of such experience even before the price hike?

A Different World #8 - Part I

Started drawing #8 a little over a month ago, abandoned it for awhile, procrastinated even more but with the intention to finish and publish this online before a certain movie was released. Oh well... finally, here is the first part:

World's Most Expensive Burgerrrrrrrrrrr

Called The Burger, this burger from Burger King cost US$185 and was sold for two days from last Wednesday (in South Kensington, some where in London). It contained massaged Japanese Wagyu beef (no idea what this is) and other ingredients from seven countries. It was spiced with organic white wine and pink Himalayan rock salt.

Proceeds from these expensive burgers will be donated to Help a London Child charity, which helps children experiencing abuse and poverty.

Source: Forbes.com "The World's Priciest Burger: $185"

Thanks to Andrewk for pointing out that I had a missing "r" in "Burger" in my blog title. Since it was published for some hours now, I have added a few more "r"s to compensate for the mistake.

CIO vs. CTO vs. CIO vs. CTO vs...

Can you distinguish the differences between Chief Information Officer and Chief Technical Officer? This never came into my mind till I read this (source: TechRepublic's Tech Sanity Check):

CIO
* Serves as the company’s top technology infrastructure manager
* Runs the organization’s internal IT operations
* Works to streamline business processes with technology
* Focuses on internal customers (users and business units)
* Collaborates and manages vendors that supply infrastructure solutions
* Aligns the company’s IT infrastructure with business priorities
* Developers strategies to increase the company’s bottom line (profitability)
* Has to be a skilled and organized manager to be successful

CTO
* Serves as the company’s top technology architect
* Runs the organization’s engineering group
* Uses technology to enhance the company’s product offerings
* Focuses on external customers (buyers)
* Collaborates and manages vendors that supply solutions to enhance the company’s product(s)
* Aligns the company’s product architecture with business priorities
* Develops strategies to increase the company’s top line (revenue)
* Has to be a creative and innovative technologist to be successful

Ladybird Sunday

Ah, a ladybird. Am always fond of these insects and here is one taken from Earth Shots:

Earth Shots

Photo of the Day: 22 Jun 08

Selangor For Zero Plastic Bags

Earlier this month, I had a post about China's ban on the usage of certain plastic bags and was wondering when Malaysia will follow suit. Still not yet, but according to this article from Star Online, Selangor, led by the new state government, is aiming for zero plastic bags, starting with its 12 municipal and city councils. Staff will banned from bringing plastic bags and styrofoam to the office. They are encouraged to use recyclable alternatives such as paper bags instead.

The state local government committee chairman Ronnie Liu said that this campaign will gradually be extended to the consumer level. Plastic bags amounted to 14.3% of the waste in the state.

Selangor aims to be a Zero Plastic Bag Zone in a year's time. Achievable? I want to believe...

Crash!

My car was backed into by someone on Sunday and here is the result:

Sichuan Earthquake Pandas Victims Facing Bamboo Shortage

Update 18 June 2008: National Geographic News reported that at least 80% of wild panda habitat was destroyed during the 12 May earthquake.

In a follow-up to the previous post of the earthquake, pandas in the province have only about 5 months of bamboo left as a result of damage done by the quake. Pandas already face the possibility of starvation due to bamboo going through a 60 year cycle of flowering and dying before regenerating. Coupled with this catastrophe, their existence is once again in danger. Watch the video from National Geographic here.

Panda Mao Mao Crushed In Sichuan Earthquake

Initially, the researchers at the Woolong Nature Reserve thought all the pandas in the sanctuary were safe from the Sichuan earthquake last month. Then it was discovered that 3 were missing. Later, 2 of the missing ones found their way home and were since moved to a safer location along with the others within Woolong.

Then, National Geographic News brought really bad news on 10 June 2008 when the article "China Holds Funeral for Panda Killed by Earthquake" was released. Mao Mao, a 9-year old mother panda, never returned and was instead found crushed in her enclosure. She had had 5 cubs.

Firefox Mobile Concept

Check out below the very early concept of Mozilla's Firefox Mobile. As noted in the video, this is just conceptual and the final product might be totally different, but the page arrangements look pretty cool. Maybe this could be the alternative to my PDA's really lousy Internet Explorer. That one really sucks! YUCKS!

Firefox Mobile Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Source: Mozilla Labs

Petrol Price Increase Side Orders

Here are some other information from Star Online (you can also view the complete official really long government announcement here):

Petrol to cost RM2.70 from midnight (updated)

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Wednesday announced price hikes for petrol, diesel and electricity.

He said the new price for petrol is RM2.70 a litre, effective midnight tonight. The price goes up by 78sen from the current RM1.92, a hike of 40%.

Abdullah also announced that the price of diesel would be increased by RM1 from RM1.58 to RM2.58.

He also said that Tenaga Nasional Bhd would be raising electricity rates by 18% for homes and 26% for business users.

The announcements are part of the new fuel subsidy plan.

Abdullah also announced a RM625 annual cash rebate per vehicle, for owners of private vehicles with engine capacities of up to 2,000cc, as well as pickup trucks and jeeps with engine capacities of up to 2,500cc.

Owners of private motorcycles with engine capacities of up to 250cc will receive RM150.

Payment will be made via Money Order upon renewal of road tax, from July 1.

For owners of private vehicles with engine capacities exceeding 2000cc, road tax will be reduced by RM200.

Owners of private motorcycles with engine capacities above 250 cc will get RM50 reduction in road tax.

Petrol Price Increase In Malaysia

Update: The price increase announcement couldn't come at a worse time. On my way home, I encountered massive jam whenever a petrol station is nearby. I was just around the corner of my house and I was stuck there for almost 10 minutes because of this. I wonder if it would be smarter if the government would have announced the price hike at a time close to 12am, just enough time for the petrol stations to change the pricing. My father commented that it might also be better if the government would announce it a few days earlier from the actual date.

Another thought that my father planted was how many of these petrol stations will close earlier or announce that they are out of petrol but with the motive of selling at the higher price tomorrow.

Been blogging about crude oil price increase for months and now it is time to blog about the petrol price increase here in my own country, Malaysia. The NST Online just published a breaking news about price increase of petrol from RM1.92 to RM2.70 from 12:00am afterwards. This is courtesy of my friend Juddy for bringing this news to me.

Reuters Photos of the Sichuan Earthquake

Reuters offer a small glimpse of the disaster earlier last month and its aftermath. You can view the photos here.

China's Plastic Bag Ban Begins

Lets start June with a post about the environment, shall we? Great news. China, a country that produces over a trillion plastic bags with 37 million barrels of crude oil, started to ban plastic bags which are 0.025mm or thinner. I suppose these are the most used in the country. Those still providing the bags to customers face fines and may have their goods confiscated.

Source: Reuters "China kicks off drive to kick plastic bag habit"

I wonder when something like this will happen here in Malaysia. Probably we have more pressing matters like if we will get a new government in September.