"Ceko" checking out ...

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In about 30 hours from now, "Ceko", the vegetables market under the long horizontal olive-colored roof will be vacated. The stall owners are second generation small traders from parents who together have served Kuching citizens for some 7 decades or so.

The thought touches and tugs on some heart strings. Many people have passed through there, passengers of the sampans seen in the picture. Many events have been woven by lives fabric that have bound and nurtured them. The present Tun Abdul Rahman Yaacub used the sampans; Tan Sri Abdul Taib mahmud, the present Chief Minister of Sarawak did, too, long ago!

Come Sunday 15th, in about 30 hours, the DBKU, Kuching North City Council, will move the traders to another place some 5 miles out of Kuching. To begin anew and forerun the next generation of traders.

I have a full 24 hours tomorrow to capture the rest of the scenes there. Yeah, maybe capture the night scenes of trading there, too!

It's Goodbye "Ceko"! You have been part of our lives. But some things need to pass on and I'm glad we were part of it!

This will replace the "Ceko", this, the sparkling New Sanctuary Hotel by the Kuching Waterfront.

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UPDATE:
More pix ...checking in.


"Ceko" - A.D. 1935 | Image hosting - imageshak.us

...more will stream in.

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UPDATE: (2)

"Ceko" - Deafening silence

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A deafening silence seems to engulf the trading area under the olive-colored roof.

A glance at the soul in the left of the picture, one leg up, sitting on his heel, speaks chronicles best left unintruded. I shuffled away, did not ask, lest I make myself an ass, crass.

Give him his moments, while I sift through the shots I took the night before and today. Perhaps, among the jumble, one in time will save me nine!

...more streams in.

Pakatan Rakyat? Perhaps?

When is this going-ons and wooing-ons going to end? The Sabah MPs last heard have crossed the line. Sarawak MPs apparently are heavy footed! Can't we put the matter to bed now or in 12 weeks?

Some people I've met have bitten their nails off!

We can't continue with this, perhaps! perhaps! perhaps!

Footing a biggie

To sensationalize, media glitze sound acceptable and would justify things you do for an honest day's work. That's all empty spins. Well, lies ...

Bigfoot came to a small town in Sarawak, Daro. This one must have been the same Johore one and swam the South China to Sarawak to leave his marks. Well, just two footprints. Maybe bigfootie did not swim to Sarawak. He could have taken one big leap and landed in Daro. Then leapt back, I guess. There were only two footprints, his left and right.

Is this how Azlina and Sulaiman Taib do their work? If not them, probably their kakis. Well, OK! So they didn't! They damn well would not come out and expose the scam, I'll bet!

But perhaps some smallfooties want to scram out of Sarawak BN and make it big in Pakatan Rakyat!

Perhaps! Perhaps! Perhaps!

Biggie Scammie's footprint - poor guy has bad corns or warts behind his small toes!


The Borneo Post

World Finance - Bad news keep coming

BIS Warns Of Great Depression

06-11-2008
Banking Times


The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the organisation that fosters cooperation between central banks, has warned that the credit crisis could lead world economies into a crash on a scale not seen since the 1930s.

In its latest quarterly report, the body points out that the Great Depression of the 1930s was not foreseen and that commentators on the financial turmoil, instigated by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, may not have grasped the level of exposure that lies at its heart.

According to the BIS, complex credit instruments, a strong appetite for risk, rising levels of household debt and long-term imbalances in the world currency system, all form part of the loose monetarist policy that could result in another Great Depression.

The report points out that between March and May of this year, interbank lending continued to show signs of extreme stress and that this could be set to continue well into the future.

It also raises concerns about the Chinese economy and questions whether China may be repeating mistakes made by Japan, with its so called bubble economy of the late 1980s.


www.roguegovernment.com

Thanks to Sarawak Tall II for the headsup!

Dead men walking

"The Unknown Citizen"
W. H. Auden
(To JS/07/M/378)
This Marble Monumeht Is Erected by the State)

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.

Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was Popular with his mates and liked to drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a Paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured
And his Health-card shows he was once in a hospital but left it cured,
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.

Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace he was for peace when there was war he went.
He was married and and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation,
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he Happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

Aerobics and aeration

So you feel sluggish and heavy and drowsy!

When you have plenty workers this can get really infectious. Do what the Public Service does - get plenty fresh air and do aerobics.

Like this :


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All that and all things kampung

Image posted bytsalak | Image hosted by Image.shack on 2008-06-10

The Malaysian Exodus, that crazy time when you scramble for home for Raya, Fatt Choy, Gawai, Thaipusam is encultrated steadfastly into present day urban life. There are estimated to be more than half of the population in cities and towns in Malaysia. If just half of that scrams out, the roads and rivers, and airports, will be crowded by some 7 million people.

Imagine ...all that people!

Each in his head a picture of home, of mom, dad, hugs, kisses and perhaps a little tear or two; genuinely unabated exhiliration---hardly croc tears.

Well, all that and all things kampung.

It's also about business. 14 millions cans of drinks of Coke and Ali Coked drunk. Just about anything else edible munched. Garbage that needs to be disposed. Fuel to feed trains, cars, boats and planes. Bank LCs for the crude oil and gas, la-di-da-di-da!

But no business is good business unless there is decent politics. Each year in the nation's capital there'll be screwups on busing, trains and even planes. You don't hear much about the boat crowds on the rivers. The MSM never thought that important enough, anyway. And of course there'll be wastes---energy, time, money when the system all too often crashes.

The late Sudirman, Malaysia's great performing artist captured some of this in his music in the song Balik Kampung. If you're an artist emneshed in your work, these things are relevant. And Sudirman captured it. He'll be immortal in some ways and with fond memories.

For some, balik kampung is much treasured experience. These are dads, moms, abangs adiks whose work dictates lonliness and separation. For these, it will be time for friendly slaughter. You bring back goodies and presents embellishing love and affection. It will not be conditional. But life's not always all that and uplifting: there'll be debts to pay. For such it'll be like real executions.

But also the heartbreaking sadness, regrets, retributions when you become ayam balik kampung ... into the pot for some!

All that and all things kampung! Where the heart lies.

Bila ayam mula balik kampung

Is the chicken coming home to roost ...?

High Court judge makes explosive judicial disclosures

Posted By rajlira On 10th June 2008 @ 10:00 In Local
The Borneo Post Online


SIBU: A High Court judge here yesterday made some startling revelations at the commencement of the proceedings of the election petition filed by the DAP candidate for the Sarikei parliamentary seat, Wong Hus She, to declare the result of the March 8 general election for the seat void.

The Barisan Nasional candidate, Ding Kuong Hing, won the seat with a slim majority of 51 votes.

Justice Datuk H C Ian Chin informed the parties in open court that he had certain disclosures to make at the start of the proceedings, saying he was doing so to forestall any complaints that might be made by the parties later.

He said complaints had been made against him in an earlier case that he had failed to disclose the detention of his father and brother during the time of the Mustapha regime in Sabah in late 1969 and the early 1970.

Chin then proceeded to make his disclosure the contents of which could only be described as explosive, coming hot on the heels of the findings of the Royal Commission in the Lingam video tape.

He started by saying that “it is better to err on caution that I take this step to shortly disclose what the parties and counsel may not be aware but which they may later complain that I should have disclosed”.

“I take this course also because I am smarting over the complaint that the detention of my father and brother during the time of the Mustapha regime in Sabah in late 1969 and the early 1970 should have been but not disclosed. (See Sabah Foundation & 2 Ors vs Datuk Syed Kechik & Anor, Kota Kinabalu High Court at http://kkhighcourt.com/Completed Civil Matters/SabahFoundation.doc)

“What I am going to disclose relate to what happened after two of my judgements were handed down. One was the judgment in a libel case which I handed down on February 5 1997 (see Raveychandran v Lai Su Chon & Ors at http://kkhighcourt.com/Completed Civil Trials/RaveychandranNST.pdf) by which I distinguished MGG Pillai V Tan Sri Dato Vincent Tan Chee Yioun & Other Appeals (1995) 2 MLJ 493 and refused to give what I consider to be astronomical award for damage to reputation in libel cases,” he said.

Chin said the other was the judgement handed down on Feb 13 1997 in respect of an election petition (Donald Lawan v Abang Wahed bin Abang & Ors [Sri Aman High Court]) by which he set aside the election of Mong Dagang.

“Shortly after those two judgements, the Judges Conference was held from April 24 1997.

The then prime minister was scheduled to have a dialogue with the judges on that date. What was termed a dialogue and later reported as one was anything but a dialogue.

“The then prime minister went there to issue a thinly veiled threat to remove judges by referring to the tribunal that was set up before and stating that though it may be difficult to do so, it was still done. He said all that after he had expressed his unhappiness with what he termed ‘the Borneo Case’ and after he had asked whether the judge who decided that case was present or not.”

Chin said no one had any doubt that he was referring to the election case though he (then prime minister) did not mention it specifically which he decided on Feb 13, 1997.

Added the High Court judge: “After he was done with issuing that threat, he then proceeded to express his view that people should pay heavily for libel.

“He managed to get a single response from a Court of Appeal judge who asked whether he would be happy with a sum of RM1 million as damages for libel.

“He approved of it and he later on made known his satisfaction by promoting this judge (since deceased) to the Federal Court over many others who were senior to him when a vacancy arose.

“I was devastated after hearing all that but help came immediately after the “dialogue” was over when Federal Court judges came to my side and asked me to ignore him. Equally comforting were the words of my brother High Court judge who later told me that the then Prime Minister was too much.

“It will be recalled that the then prime minister not long after he assumed office had said, in a much publicised campaign against corruption, that he will put the fear of God in man but this apparently, given his diatribe in that conference, changed to instilling a fear of him if any judgment is to his dislike.”

Chin went on to say that to commemorate his “dialogue” with the judges a group picture was taken (which can be viewed by going to http://www/kkhighcourt.com/ JudgesnMahathir.htm.

To rub it in, he said, Bernama circulated a press release with one appearing in a Sabah newspaper (The Daily Express May 25 1997) which “was far from stating the truth”. A month later, Chin said he was packed off to a boot camp from May 26-30 together with selected judges and judicial officers.

He said that the boot camp was without any doubt “an attempt to indoctrinate those attending the boot camp to hold the view that the government interest as being more important than all else when we are considering our judgement”.

“Stating this devilish notion was by no less a person than the President of the Court of Appeal. Everyone was quiet during the question sessions. Also invited to the boot camp was a lecturer from a university who berated the election case and the bright spot in this episode was that a judicial officer, during question time, told the lecturer that she had no question but only a statement to make which was that the lecturer was in contempt of court.

“The then prime minister was scheduled to talk but he did not turn up and instead sent his then deputy who instead of talking invited questions and the one question I remembered being asked was — Are politicians looking for girls when they are often seen loitering at posh hotel lobbies?

“The perversion of justice did not stop there. My brother judge Kamil Awang was one morning looking for me after clocking in; we were both then serving in Kuching, Sarawak. When I met up with him in his chambers he was distraught and he told me that he had last night received a telephone call from the then Chief Justice asking him to dismiss the election petition that he was going to hear in Kota Kinabalu.

“He sought my opinion as to what to do with the telephone call.

“We went into the possibility of making a police report or of writing to the Chief Justice a letter to record what he had said over the telephone but in the end he decided against it since it will be his words against that of the Chief Justice,” he said.

Chin told the court that he was happy to later on learn that Kamil did not bow to the pressure by the Chief Justice and went on to hear the petition and thereafter making a decision based on the law and evidence.

The High Court judge said he had twice stood unsuccessfully as a Barisan Nasional candidate for a parliamentary and later for a state seat in Sabah in the 1980s and in one of those elections he was defeated by a DAP candidate.

He said he had also heard other election petitions, namely Yusuf Abdul Rahman v Abdul Ajis & Ors and Lee Hie Kui v Song Swee Guan & Darrell Tsen.

“Now, though no longer the prime minister and so no longer able to carry out his threat to remove judges which should therefore dispel any fear which any judge may have of him, if ever there was such fear, nevertheless the coalition party that he led is still around and the second respondent won on a ticket of that coalition party and it may cross someone’s mind that I may have an axe to grind against the party concerned or any member thereof.

“The petitioner in this case may also have similar view with regard to my defeat by a candidate standing on the ticket of a party to which he belongs.

” So I wish to hear from the parties as to whether they (counsel or parties) in this case entertain any such notion and whether they wish to apply for my recusal so that, if any, I can make a decision thereon.

“After this disclosure, litigants who were affected by the hundreds of judgment that I had handed down since those infamous days may justifiably worry as to whether any of my judgments were in any way influenced by this attempt to hang the Sword of Damocles over my head.

“No amount of words from me would assuage you of your worry; you will have to read my judgments as to whether they are according to the evidence and the law or whether they were influenced by threat.”

Chin then adjourned for half an hour to let the parties digest what he had said and to consider whether they wished to make any application for his recusal.

However, they expressed their full confidence in him in presiding over the hearing of the case.

URL to article:
http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=36672

*** The contextual news URL item references are broken links.

Mahathir replies H E R E !

Fuel hikes and rotan bikes

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This would have been a move very bold for biking. They're not really false hopes and rotten bikes. Just go easy on the gas.

Or walk!