Malaysia massacre 'under review'
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
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I came across this article by BBC News UK but I'm lost as what actually is this thing all about. A massacre in Batang Kali? This is news man! And Downing Street better answer fast to this matter. Is it related to Hindraf's claims?

Evidence about a 1948 massacre of unarmed Malaysian villagers by British troops is to be reviewed by the UK government, the BBC understands.
Government lawyers have written to survivors asking for evidence and testimony about the killing of 24 villagers in Batang Kali.
The Scots Guards raid, near the capital Kuala Lumpur, was meant to target communist insurgents.
In January, the UK rejected activists' call for an inquiry into the massacre....

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Champion's League Results

Man U 1 Arsenal 0. This time around, it was lucky Arsenal. Man United could have buried Arsenal alived at Old Trafford. John O'Shes scored the goals in the first half. Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo colud have got the goals as well. Arsenal should thanked their goalkeeper for all the saves that he made. Arsenal still has a chance at Stadium of Emirates but they must go back to their style of playing. Surely not the way they played last nite ( or rather, morning). Long through balls are desperates moves and has no class. Teams employing such tactics do not deserve to be Champion's League champion. Arsene Wenger must bring back the 'Arsenal' style. Fabrigas and not Nasri should be manning the midfield together with Song. Anyway, we'll wait for the return leg in London. Possible Man United against Barcelone for final?

Champion League Results

Barcelona 0 Chelsea 0. But with due respect to Chelsea, they were lucky to have kept a clean sheet. Of course there were not many chances but Samuel Eto’o, Bojan and Alex Hleb had the greatest of chance to settle the event. Petr Cech did well enough to block Eto' o attempt and Bojan miscalculated his timing for a headed goal and Hleb lost his balance which otherwise could have smashed the ball into Chelsea's net. Chelsea resorted to long balls and after they took out Lampard had agreat opportunity to score through Malouda but Valdes was too quick to intercept and blocked the attempt. They'll meet again in London for the return leg but the way Barcelona was playing in Nou Camp, as if they had two extra players, meant that Chelsea has to dig really dig for ways to exploit Barca weakest point which so far is none. But one thing for sure, stop the long balls please Chelsea. Chelsea were lucky in Nou Camp. Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto’o, who had rattled in 90 goals between them since September, suddenly forgot where the net was.

Walimatulurus

Over the weekend, there will be a wedding reception by Abdul Halim Daud. He has invited all STAR Batch of '73 for the occassion. Hope to see a few of them whom I have not met since Form 5 (almost 36 years!!). Details of the reception:

Date: 25 April 2009
Time: 12.00 - 4.00 pm
Venue: Dewan Sri Siantan
Kompleks Renang Selayang Bharu
(Jalan Batu Caves ke Sungai Tua)
opposite Klinik Kesihatan Selayang Bharu.

Take 5, Bro!

Take 5

Champion League Results.

Man United 1 Porto FC 0. Arsenal 3 Villareal 0. Having taken an early lead in the 6th. minutes thru Ronaldo, Man United gave such a lethargic performance. They seemed to be lacking of ideas and keep on playing high thru balls which Porto players seemed delighted to contend with. They lacked command in midfield. The combination of Giggs, Ronaldo, Anderson and Carrick in midfield seemed lost and not functioning. Thus they resorted to long thru balls. Only Wayne Rooney worth mentioning and he was the only one that Porto had to keep at bay which they did.

Meanwhile, Arsenal joined Chelsea and did London proud by beating Villareal thru goals from Walcott, Adebayor and Van Persie (penalty). That penalty won by Arsenal when Walcott seemed to be fouled by Eguren was rather harsh. Nonetherless, Arsenal deserved to go thru to the semi final. Their engine in midfield, manning by Fabregas and Song kept Arsenal game going and a pleasure to watch. They are no longer boring to be watched but rather it was 'Boring.., Boring man United!'.

Forget Man United. Forget about Chelsea. Based on the current form and style of playing, I think the final is between Barca and Arsenal.

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Champion League Results

What an evening in London. Chelsea drew 4 all with Liverpool and scrapped thru to the semi final of the Champion League. But Chelsea fans had to endure a heart stomping first half when Liverpool scored twice. First it was a blunder or rather a clumsy mistake and misjudgement by Peter Czech who lets in a simple goal thru a freekick taken by Aurelio. Then Ivanovic (the first-leg hero in Liverpool) gave away a penalty - he was penalised for a fouled on Alonso. Alonso converted from the spot.

2nd half, Chelsea came back. Drogba equalised from a rather unexpected low squared crossed by Anelka. Reina who had an easy first half made a schoolboy error (Czech-like) for mishandling the shot that went acrossed the line. Then Chelsea won a freekick and taken up by Drogba but was wide. When Chelsea won another freekick courtesy of a foul by Carragher, it was taken by Alex who slammed the ball past Reina. The score then was 2 - 2. Ballack should have settled the evening for Chelsea but his shot off a square pass by Drogba was picked up easily by Reina. Then Lampard scored from a pass by Anelka. 3 - 2 and Chelsea was leading 6 -3 on aggregate. Liverpool mounted the pressure and Lucas put in another goal, deflected thru Essiene. Pressure was mounting on Chelsea and the defenders were all over the place when Kuyt headed past Czech to put Liverpool 4 - 3 ahead. And they needed another goal, enough to put them through on an away goal advantage. But the night was not supposed to be Liverpool's when Lampard scored in what seemed to be a destined night for Chelsea. Liverpool made a last onslaught and could have got another one from Kuyt but Essien was on the line to head the ball into safety. Final results, Chelsea won 7 - 5 on aggregate!. What a game. What a results. Imagine if both Terry and Gerrard had been on the field last night. I think that game was football at its very best. Thank you Chelsea. Thank you Liverpool. "It has has been a hard days nite!!'

The other quarter final of little significant. Barca drew 1 all with Bayern Munich.

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The goal scored by Aurelio reminded me of the one I scored when the school under-16 team played against Sekolah Izuddin Shah. But mine was on the left side of the field, slightly nearer and the goalie was busy preparing and instructing his defenders when I slotted in the ball passed the galie. Was he surprised!! Yezz!

spurs won

Premier League results: Spurs 1 West Ham 0. Thanks to Roman Pavlyuchenko's who scored a gem goal in the 65th. minutes to keep alive Spurs hunt to play in Euro next season. The win ensure Spurs of top flight football in the Premier League next season.

Other results - Liverpool 4 Blackburn 0, Chelsea 4 Bolton 3, Middlesbro 3 Hull City 1, Arsenal 4 Wigan 1,Portsmouth 2 West Brom 2, Stoke City 1 Newcastle 1, Man United 2 Sunderland 1.

The title chase is still on. Liverpool still has a chance of lifting the title. Liverpool was in tremendous form last nite with Torres 'torturing' the Blackburn's defense. Man United was lucky to come up with 3 points having had to contend with Sunderland's attacking play. Man United had to thank their lucky star - 'Macheda' (Kiko) who deflected a shot that turned into a goal.

Take 5

ASEAN Summit Called Off

Thailand was forced to cancel a summit of Asian leaders in the seaside resort of Pattaya today after protesters stormed the conference centre.

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(Let's hope DS Najib is OK, safe and sound).

Picture from Guardian Unlimited, UK

Down Memory Lane

The date was 21 Mac and the place was Precint 9 Community Hall. The occassion was a wedding ceremony hosted by Hassan Ahmad (batch of '70). Attended the occassion with Mohammad Saleh and Rustam Wahiddin. Mohammad came all the way from JB to grace the occassion via Kuantan after visiting his in-law at the Kuantan's hospital. The invitation I received from Hassan was accidental actually. Two weeks earlier, I was in Pasir Gudang, JB attending Mohammad's invitation on his daughter wedding's ceremony. Went there with Che' Wan, Rahim Osman and Rashid Gong. At the wedding met Tumiran, Omar Dollah and Syed Hamid Basha. We have not met each other after almost 35 years!! Waited for Wak Khairuddin but because of time factor, was not able to see him. Others met in JB were Ghani Abdullah (junior), Saleh (he joined STAR after form 4) and Yusof Osman (batch '72). And of course Hassan and thus the invitation.

Anyway, back to the wedding in Putrajaya, a few guys from Hassan's batch were there as well. There was Wan Mohammad, Syed Ba, Zainal Md Isa, Abu Samah Mahat, Bad, Md Arif, Basri Omar, Wan Nasharuddin, Hassan Mahmud, Pak Ngah Alias and Saaduddin (Jack) to name a few, those that I can recalled of. Jack was very good at playing guitar those days but he has changed a lot. He is more of an 'ustaz' now instead of a 'rocker'. Well, he has changed for the better! Managed to capture a few shots. For ol' time sake!.

Guano mu!!

What transpired in Kota Bharu last week during FAM football match between Negeri Sembilan and Kelantan was beyond belief. Just could not belief my eyes that they can actually do that. Even worst was the daring action of toppling and burning the police truck. Whatever the reason that Kelantanese may claimed, referree biased or the goal was uncounted or Negeri players 'curi ayam' or there was a pushing going on (was it the reason why Halim Napi was so bloody angry with Aidil Safuan!! Gosh!!) or ' whatever it was, their acts were uncalled for. FAM better act fast and remedy the situation.

I strongly belief that if we were to uplift our standard of living, then sport is the sector and avenue that we can relly on, the one that we must focus and concentrate upon. Kanu (formerly of Arsenal), Eissien, Eto'o and other African players came of age and became millionaires thru football. A lot of efforts is currently being done by the African government thru their football association to train more African kids to take up football seriously, to prepare them to be soccer players and to feed the European football clubs. Wake up Malaysians, Malaysia Boleh!!

Champion's League Results

Chelsea 3 Liverpool 1. Barcelona 4 Bayern Munich 0. Phew!! Wow! What a nite. What a results. Messy is really 'messing' around. Barca scored all 4 goals in the first half at the Nou Camp. Messi hit first , Eto'o got he second. Messi again and finally by Thierry Henry.

Liverpool is beaten at last!. Master minded by Guus Hiddink. They recovered after Torres had put Liverpool ahead. Ivanovic got the equaliser and then scored the 2nd before Drogba finally nailed the coffin on Liverpool with his goal coutersy of Malouda. Chelsea Chelsea!!

Down memory lane

Got the picture whilst browsing the internet. It was an old picture of STAR Rugby Team. Cobratasha!! Yeah! Taken way back in 1965!! Talking about rugby, reminded me of how we used thrashed and 'lanyak' the other teams in Ipoh - Anderson n St. Michael (other schools such as Raja Chulan (we called them Chuniks then) or Izzuddin even TI, tak ada team... or tak berani buat team).

There was a story then of how, during one weekend, 3 boys managed to get a lift to town from the Headmaster of Anderson School ( a Mat Saleh) who by chance came to the school for a meeting. He asked the boys what was the secret behind STAR successful rugby team, how STAR managed to produce good rugby players. (We frequently hit above the century when we played Anderson (then!)). One of the boys answered... the secret lies on the eggs, sir. STAR rugby players were given extra two eggs every morning for breakfast and we eat them with kicap!! We were so naive then! It was actually the diet!. Anyway, the match against our greatest enemy - Malay College alias MCKK alias Mengkekek. The game has always been difficult but interesting. Very intense rivalry. Made it even difficult if you have your siblings studying in either schools. It happened to me and it happened to Rahim Ahmadi as well. Rahim's case was the most classic. That year (1969, I think), the annual game was played in KK. In one intense moments during the game, there was a scuffled near the touch line where STAR supporters were, when one of MCKK's player, who was very offended with our 'singing', cheering and 'abusing' retorted back to us (supporters) in his growling voice ..., 'this is not your ground!' The player was Rahim's older brother. Ever since that incidence, Rahim has to contend with that remark everytime we feel like teasing him.

Anyway, rugby to us STARIANs was something that we cherished most. You must paly the game in order to admire and appreciate it. Patah is a common scene then. We startes playing rugby very early - when we were in the 'Remove Class'!!. STAR has had great players in rugby even at national levels. Arshad Ahmad, Jalil Yaakop, Mamat Taib just to name a few. For my batch, we had arwah Radhi Majid (Black Power). arwah Kutik (Kamaruddin Arshad), Linggam Sibi, Hassan Said, Wak Khairuddin, Omar Suhaimi, (Tan Sri) Annuar Musa (our one year junior). But then, almost every one in STAR is hooked on rugby. Cobratasha, cobratasha, cobratasha, shine and shine .... STARRRR!

Champion's League

Results. Man U 2 Porto 2. Arsenal also drew with Villareal 1 all. Didnt watch the game though. 230 in the morning! Wednesday got some important matter to be cleared. Anyway, hardluck Man United. Rooney and Teves scored for Man United whilst Adebayor had one for Arsenal. Man United players are tired. I think it is showing now - the likes of Gigs, Schole , Neville and Van Der Sar - they are too old for the game. 'Lutut' already longgar. Movement 'ikan sembilang' dah tak da lagi. Easily beaten. I wont comment on Arsenal. Not a fan of Arsenal and will never be. Tomorrow morning Chelsea will be playing Liverpool.

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As we wait for the results of the 3 Bye-Elections, a reminder.., applicable not only to UMNO members but Malaysians as well.

Oh no!.. Not again!!

Spurs lost again. Defeated by Blackburn Rovers 1 - 2. I'm pretty nervy and sick of Spurs back four. Woodgate is too old, his movement is very slow and sluggish, King is slowly sin-king and finding it hard to reestablished himself as one of the best stopper in English football, Gomez the keeper., is the joker of the pack, clumsy and showing off (typical of Brazilian soccer stars!), Corluka is 'bleeding' most of the time and Assou-Ekotto, is 'kelam kabut' and unsure most of the time and is the''weakest link" in the Spurs defence. I just wonder how he managed to convinced Redknap that he deserved to be in the team. Gosh!! Premier league table, Spurs is currentlty at no. 11, next will be a home game against West Ham. Good luck then!!.

Stevie G ... the Best?!

Fernando Torres claimed Steven Gerrard is the best football player in the world right now. Well, cant blame Torres for thinking so. Of course, Gerrard has been usefull in feeding Torres, week in week out, the goals that Torres was supposed to supply to the club, in chasing for the glory of Liverpool's yesteryears. But, Stevie G the best, for now?? No. No. I dont think so. Gerrard failed to shine everytime he put on his England jersey. When he played for England, he was just another of the 'Lost Boys' of English soccer. If you are good, really good, then you should be like Maradona, (even getting your 'hands; to help you winning goals!). Of course Gerrard has scored some beautiful goals before, but I think to get those goals thru diving and unsporting acts, do not deserved the attention and claimed to be the best player stature!! No. Not from me.

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Man U 3 Villa 2

Watched the game last nite. I thought the results was a bit cruel, to Villa's fans especially. Villa played rather well. They deserved to get if not 3 points at least a draw would be a fair results. United was struggling. Tevez tried hard may be trying to impress the Gaffer that he deserved to get the extension for ihs contract. I hate to see Ronaldo and Nani's style of playing. They acted and played as if to show off. C'me on man, this is not the Royal Circuss of England.!! But, to no justice, Ronaldo got two of United's goals. Second one was a bit lucky (he had no choice). The was no power in it. Pure lucky! But salute to Macheda or Kiko. He desrved the credit judging by the fact that he is only 17 and was on the field for less than 17 minutes. The goal was a gem. LUCKY UNITED. Damn U-nited!

Congrats

I'm sure ramai rakyat Malaysia yang excited today. Waiting for the moment when DS Najib will be sworn in as Malaysia's 6th. Prime Minister. Despite the huhus and gagas, atas kehendak dan takdir Allah swt, DS Najib will be there at the helm to lead us during this trying time - economic turmoil, retrenchment, bla bla... Anyway, congrats to him but I'm not that overly excited as compared to waiting on the outcome of tomorrow's Premier League results, or Once In A Million elimination tonite, or the Akademi Fantasia's results, or even the 2 Bukits and one Batang bye-elections outcome. A few of my colleague will be going there to witnessed the ceremony. I've got to clear my desk and I've a Policy Paper to prepare for Tuesday's meeting. Anyway, all the best DS and may Allah bless Malaysia.