Another Twist to the English Issue

What a laugh. We are at it again.

In an apparent response to the just concluded illegal demonstration by the SMK Sri Hartamas Parent-Teacher Association (PTA),DPM Muhyidden has added some Ajinomoto again to this continuing issue. Handing a laurel of peace, Muhyuddin says all students who began studying Mathematics and Science in English could continue to do so until they finished their secondary school education.

He said even his Cabinet colleagues are worried about this and assured all concerned parents that their children could continue to study in dual language until they complete their entire primary and secondary education.

“We have discussed the matter,” he told Malaysian journalists covering his five-day working visit to Perth which ended today.

Muhyiddin said that students who had started learning the two subjects in English would continue to be taught in English, and have the option and freedom of answering examination questions in either Bahasa Malaysia or English.

It's just one big merry-go-round

So its Malaysia Boleh lagi for English!

The Sun rise on RCE

RCE Capital Bhd is on the go again.

It posted 36% higher net profit of RM18.5mil for its first quarter to June 30 against the previous corresponding period, boosted by greater demand for personal financing in the credit cooperative market.

Revenue jumped 42.2% to RM66.98mil from a year ago. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, RCE Capital said the group’s net loans receivables grew from RM754.4mil to RM1bil, representing an increase of 32.7% compared with the previous corresponding period.

What does analysts say about the RCE results?

First, the earnings, together with revenue and loan portfolio growth were within their expectation. Net loan receivables showed robust growth, up 5% qoq and 33% yoy, to RM1bn. As expected, RCE's growth rate was very much in-line with Bank Rakyat's growth, which is also a loan provider to government servants via cooperatives. Annualising its 5% qoq loan growth, the expected full-year net loan receivables will grow possibly by 15-20%.

Secondly, there are many RCE shareholders out there who are not too happy with the recent private placement at 55sen,a 10% below the 5-day weighted average price of 61sen benefiting only the ones who took the shares. Their unhappiness could be myopic as in the MID to LONG TERM, it is good for them as it provides the necessary capital for RCE to fund its trajectory loan growth. Raising new loans, ie ABS, will be difficult and will take at least 6 months in the current credit environment. The placement price could definitely have been better. Anyway this placement price is a good 22% above its latest NTA of 45sen. With a high ROE of 20-25%, the new capital will be well deployed and earnings enhanced for all shareholders.

Thirdly, valuation is undemanding; RCE has a market cap of RM450m++ and with expected net profit of RM74-76m for FYE03/10, share price is valued at 6x. Share price could rally tomorrow based on this excellent set of results.

Let us see whether the market will respond positively tomorrow.

The Miss Universe Contest in the Bahamas

Let's have a respite here.

Look at the picture of these three pretty competitors for the Miss Universe contest in the Bahamas. The one on the left is Miss Puerto Rico and on the right is Miss Mexico. Miss USA is standing in the middle. Aren't they all heavenly creatures?


And there are some more here, on the beach and a few having a dip in the glassy sea.

Don't Say Sayonara!

A beautiful love story released in 1957, Sayonara is a classic film showcasing the clash of cultural values between Americans and the Japanese.The main theme of the film is the romantic liaisons between American servicemen on R&R and local native girls in post-war Japan.

In the midst of the continuing but subdued enmity between these two people, came Major Lloyd Gruver played by Marlon Brando and his love for the enigmatic Hana-Ogi,an adorable and charming entertainer performing for a Takarazuka-like theater company,played desirably by Miiko Taka.

The story starts on a strong footing. Kelly (Red Buttons),an enlisted man once under Gruver's command in Korea, marries a Japanese woman, Katsumi, in spite of the disapproval of the United States military, which will not recognize the marriage. The Air Force, including Gruver, was against the marriage. Gruver and Kelly had an argument where Gruver uses a racial slur to describe Kelly's fiancee, but Gruver apologized, then agreed later to be Kelly's Best Man at the wedding.He then meets the elusive Hana-Ogi through Kelly and Katsumi. Resolving any difference they had, it was then on, romance in the moonlight and shadows for the secret lovers.It was sublimal!


There is so much magic and bravado that you will root for the American servicemen and their spouses/girlfriends as they fight against the might of the American army psyche and bigotry which is dead-set against liaisons of any kind with native girls; much less anyone who has married them or intending to. The ruling at that time was no foreign Japanese wives could be brought back to the US if these servicemen get transferred back to Stateside. If they should go against such transfer order, they will be court-martialed. Kelly and Katsumi killed themselves in an honourable double suicide in a desperate way to end their impasse, not knowing that Congress was soon to pass a law allowing American servicemen to bring back their Japanese wives back to the States.

The suicide of Kely and Katsumi was to strengthen Major Gruver's resolve to marry his Japanese lover. He confronts Hana-Ogi in Tokyo and demanded that she make up her mind whether she wants to marry him or not. "I will be outside your door," he tells her.

In a parting scene before the credits roll,when asked by a Stars and Stripes reporter what will he say to both the "big brass" as well as the Japanese,if the rumours were true that he intends to marry Hana-Ogi, Major Gruver has this to say:"Tell them I said 'Sayonara.'

So the 64,000 dollar question will be: Will Hana-Ogi marry Gruver? That is for you to find out!

You will assuredly be entertained to such delightful music by the maestro, Irving Berlin and Sayonara under the masterful direction of Joshua Logan is magical. I did learn a lot from this movie,the looks of post-war Kobe and Tokyo and the Kabuki theatre. What a joy of a movie.

Excellent movie. Unrivaled to this day.

"Great Train Robber" Biggs is Finally Released!

August 7 was a great day for Britain’s “Great Train Robber” Ronnie Biggs. He was officially released! Biggs stole the equivalent of $50 million (RM175 million), the biggest heist in those days, 46 years ago. He was freed early from prison on compassionate grounds as he lay in hospital gravely ill.

Biggs was a household name, a modern Robin Hood until his capture. He spent 35 years on the run, won notoriety and some popularity for his ingenuity in evading capture and for cheekily thumbing his nose at the law from sun-soaked beaches.

Biggs, frail and sick with pneumonia, will celebrate his 80th birthday on Saturday with friends and family – 46 years to the day since the heist.

With 11 other gang members, Biggs robbed a Glasgow-to-London mail train in 1963 and stole £2.6 million (RM15.2 million), which is about £30 million (RM175.3 million) in today’s money. The crime became known as “The Great Train Robbery”.

Train driver Jack Mills was hit with an iron bar by an unknown member of the gang and never fully recovered.

Biggs was caught and convicted the following year but escaped from prison after just 15 months using a rope ladder that dropped him on to the roof of a waiting van.

Following his escape, he spent decades as a fugitive, moving from Australia to Panama and Venezuela, before ending up in Brazil, where his playboy lifestyle and cocky defiance of the British authorities made him a criminal legend.

He was tracked down in 1974 by a British newspaper, but narrowly escaped extradition from Brazil because his girlfriend, stripper Raimunda de Castro, was pregnant.

Now 79, Biggs returned to Britain voluntarily in 2001 and has been in jail.

The government approved his release after being told he was unlikely to recover, reversing its decision last month to refuse him parole on the grounds that he had not shown remorse.

The Day They Had an Elephant Hanged

Angela Brown wrote this piece in the Associated Press in 1999.I have paraphrased to shortened her report on this bizarre event.

In a town called Erwin in Tennessee, a rogue circus elephant was hung in 1916.

Angela described the hanging.

"The railroad crane squeaked and strained as it slowly hoisted the 5-ton elephant. The chain around the animal’s neck tightened as the crane ascended, lifting first the front feet and then the back feet off the ground.

Moments later, with about 3,000 people watching, Mary the circus elephant was dead, her lifeless body hanging 6 feet in the air."

This bizarre tale has endured until this day though the people of Erwin would like to best forget about it.

As the story went,Mary was owned by Sparks World Famous Shows, a small traveling circus. She was featured prominently on advertisement posters: “Mary — the largest living land animal on Earth; 3 inches taller than Jumbo and weighing over 5 tons. A positive feature at each exhibition.”

Before the performance in Kingsport on Sept. 12, 1916, Mary and the other elephants walked through town in the circus parade. Walter “Red” Eldridge, a drifter who had joined the circus the day before in Virginia, was handling Mary.

When the elephant stopped to nibble on a watermelon rind, Eldridge hit her head with a stick. Suddenly Mary lifted him with her trunk and threw him into the side of a wooden stand. Then she walked over and stepped on his head.People ran screaming, but the elephant never charged the crowd. In fact, Mary quickly calmed down and the show — with her in it — went on that night.

The next day, the circus traveled about 40 miles to Erwin, and rumors about Mary’s attack began spreading. Some residents heard the governor had ordered Mary killed. Others claimed Kingsport residents were headed to Erwin with a cannon to blow her up.

The mayors in nearby Johnson City and Rogersville threatened to cancel circus shows in their towns if Mary kept performing.

Circus officials were reluctant to take action because Mary was such a valuable part of their show. But they knew they had to do something and apparently decided to kill her in spectacular fashion.

Circus workers wrapped a chain around Mary’s neck and attached it to a 100-ton derrick car, used for lifting and moving railroad cars. The chain broke during the first attempt. Witnesses said Mary broke her hip and did not squirm as much when she was hoisted the second and final time. She was buried near the track.

There were all kinds of stories on events before Mary was hanged.One strange and unbelievable account that remains popular had the townspeople of Erwin actually putting Mary on trial, convicting her of murder and sentencing her to death.

So believe it or not, they do hang even animals in days of yore!

Jokes with Funny Word Puns

1. Losing all your friends:
Man comes home and finds his wife with his friend in bed.
He shoots his friend and kills him. Wife says 'If you
behave like this, you will lose ALL your
friends.'

2. Brother wanted:
A small boy wrote to Santa Claus, 'Send me a
brother'....
Santa wrote back, 'SEND ME YOUR
MOTHER'....

3. Meaning of WIFE:
Husband asks, 'Do you know the meaning of WIFE? It
means 'Without Information Fighting
Every time'!'
Wife replies, 'No, it means 'With Idiot For
Ever'!!!'

4. Importance of a period:
Teacher: 'Do you know the importance of a period?'
Kid: 'Yeah, once my sister said she has missed one, my
mom fainted, dad got a heart attack & our driver ran
away.'

5. Confident vs. confidential:
A young boy asks his Dad, 'What is the difference
between confident and confidential?' Dad says, 'You
are my son, I'm confident about that. Your friend over
there is also my son, that's confidential! '

6. Anger management? :
Husband: 'When I get mad at you, you never fight back.
How do you control your anger?'
Wife: 'I clean the toilet.'
Husband: 'How does that help?'
Wife: 'I use your tooth-brush.'