Ukiyo-e Exhibition at the Penang Museum

Ukiyo-e (浮世絵) “pictures of the floating world”, is general term for a genre of Japanese woodblock prints produced between the 17th and the 20th century, featuring motifs of landscapes, the theatre and pleasure quarters. Ukiyo, meaning floating world, refers to the impetuous young culture that bloomed in the urban centers of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), Osaka and Kyoto that were a world unto themselves. It is an ironic allusion to the homophone term “sorrowful world”, the earthly plane of death and rebirth from which Buddhists sought release.


The famous "Big Wave" by Hokusai

This Ukiyo-e set consists of 75 works by distinguished 7 artists such as Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige, Tosyusai Syaraku and Kitagawa Utamaro. Ukiyo-e prints by artists like Tosyusai Syaraku and Kitagawa Utamaro were in fact posters, advertising theater performances and brothels, or idol portraits of popular actors and beautiful teahouse girls.

This exhibition started in August 1 and will end on September 25.

Check Penang Museum opening hours here

Malaysians now realize many of them are gay!

Education Ministry releases guide on how to know if you are gay

The Education Ministry recently held a seminar in Penang to help educators identify gay students. The event, billed as “Parenting in addressing the issue of LGBTs (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders)”, was officiated by Deputy Education Minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi.



Malaysians today suddenly realize that half the population now must be gay if the following guidelines by our esteemed Education Minister (who recently launched the Education Blueprint) are to be believed:

For men you are gay if:

1. You have a muscular body and a fondness for showing off the body by wearing clothing, such as by wearing V-necks and sleeveless tops

2. A preference for tight and bright coloured clothes

3. An inclination to be attracted to men

4. A tendency to carry big handbags, similar to the kinds used by women



And you must be a lesbian if:

1. You are showing attraction to women

2. Distancing yourselves from men besides your girlfriends

3. You like to hang out, sleep and dine with other women

4. No feelings for men

Read more

Reuters: Malaysia offers "spot-the-gay-kid" seminars

The Guardian: Malaysian politicians gone bonkers

"For a long time I thought I was gay, but now I know I am straight as I don't wear V-neck and definitely do not carry any handbags!" - Reader

Will & Kate slated to view Sabah's illegal logging activities

Sabah to showcase the state's money laundering activities

It was to be a highlight of their official Diamond Jubilee tour on behalf of the Queen, a trip deep into the heart of Borneo to see one of its last areas of virgin rainforest.

In doing so, however, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, whose nine-day tour of Asia and the South Pacific starts today, are being propelled into the first diplomatic row of their fledging royal careers.

A week ago the politician ‘hosting’ their visit, the chief minister of Sabah, was implicated by Swiss authorities in a criminal investigation into alleged laundering of $100million (£62million) in profits from illegal logging.

Environmental groups had alleged that Swiss bank UBS handled vast sums for the region’s top politician, Musa Aman. The chief minister has been instrumental in helping to arrange William and Kate’s trip and he is almost certain to welcome them on Friday.

The issue over Mr Musa is headline news in Malaysia and last week prompted a demonstration outside St James’s Palace calling on the couple to boycott the meeting. UBS is co-operating with investigators, but insists it has operated within the law, which requires it to report any money it suspects comes from criminal origins.

Opposition politicians called on the royals to reconsider the meeting. One, Jeffrey Kitingan, said: ‘We urge William and Catherine to avoid meeting Musa as it will give the wrong message to the world.’

Sarawak Report: Sabah's wheeling and dealing CM

Daily Mail: Will & Kate's illegal logging tour

Guardian: Will & Kate's to learn about corruption in Malaysia

EPF to the rescue!

Finance 101: How to make use of the public's money

The Employers Provident Fund (EPF) has been accumulating shares of Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH) even as shares of the plantation giant sank to a new low yesterday, closing at RM4.68 a share or just 13 sen above its issuing price.



According to filings with Bursa Malaysia, the country's largest pension fund's stake in FGVH have increased 5.4 per cent since September 3, the day before FGVH plunged below the RM5 mark.

The pension fund also recently spent RM2.4 billion to take over the Rubber Research Institute (RRI) land in Sungai Buloh that will be turned into a township. It is mandatory for private sector workers to contribute to the fund, which is managed by representatives from the government and unions.

The Edge: Someone is making a huge profit on Bursa with the help of EPF

Malaysiakini: Who is losing money on FGVH?

Malaysian Insider: Who is buying FGVH shares and also losing money?

The Edge: Who is propping up KLSE and who is benefiting?

SakmongkolAK47: A Tsunami heading for FELDA

Dr Dzul: Learn "how to buy high and sell low" from EPF (in Malay)

Even UMNO is fed up of Najib

DPM Muhyiddin ready to challenge Najib

Cracks are showing in UMNO as DPM Muhyiddin is now openly challenging PM Najib who was never officially elected as the president. Posters of Muhyiddin as the next PM is being openly displayed in his home state Johor as PM Najib comes under increasing attack from UMNO for foolishly delaying the general election. It is an open secret now that Muhyiddin is even hoping to replace Najib even before the elections begin.



Malaysiakini: Muhyiddin posters up in Johor

UMNO Johor: Muhyiddin will make a better PM

Nazri: Najib is stupid to propose elections in November

FMT: BN is losing the battle the longer Najib waits

Latest: Muhyiddin is planning Najib's exit

Is Pakatan already ruling Malaysia? Mahathir calls for CHANGE

Pakatan dictating the terms for a weakened Najib

Recent reports on the mainstream media would have given the public the perception that Pakatan is already ruling Malaysia. First it was the call for the RCI on Sabah which was immediately accepted by Najib and then followed by the call to reduce taxes on cars which was also immediately "copied" by BN. Najib has been totally left out of the loop like used fodder as Rosmah (Najib's advisor) runs out of ideas (or was it ran away to do her shopping?) and Najib himself runs out of favor with Dr M.

This has even led to Dr M refering to Najib as the "devil" and pleading for Malaysians to CHANGE and to elect the "angel" Anwar instead! Of course, none of Najib's lieutenants were of much help, particularly his home minister Hishamuddin whom recently declared that for the first time (since Independence) he has just realised that he was supposed to be in charge of reducing crime in Malaysia! Poor sod didn't even realise that he had been fed with manipulated crime data to make him feel good since the day he was elected!

Even The Star was not optimistic of a BN win anymore with Joceline Tan gushing about how unassailable DAP's position is in Penang. Of course BN was not without their usual childish pranks e.g. coming out with their "own version" of Lim Guan Eng's book, which unsurprisingly made its "bastardized" debut in Johor, the home state of MCA's first porn actor cum president. And that was after getting an unknown imam to declare DAP as "haram" for a RM 2 million donation and using FB to declare Malaysia as a Christian nation!

Dr M: Najib is the "devil" and Malaysians are better of with the "angel" Anwar

Hishamuddin: Crime is bad only if you think it is, it's all in your perception (nothing bad has ever happened to me before)

Hishamuddin: Don't blame me, I didn't know the data was fake

MC: Dr M is already preparing his exit strategy

Vote Pakatan For Cheaper Cars

Malaysians now have a chance to kill off the blood sucking, BN enriching Proton

Pakatan Rakyat has pledged to the people that they will abolish excise duty on cars to reduce household debt and increase disposable income for Malaysians.

Malaysians are now prematurely rejoicing after having suffered for years after Dr M started his Proton project to impoverish the nation by introducing additional taxes for all cars (except Proton) to satisfy his egotistical ambitions and to enrich his cronies at the same time.

Rafizi: Pakatan pledges to slash car prices in Malaysia

KJ (Oxford graduate, and back from the dead): Proton will die!! Hooray!!

FMT: Pakatan will help Proton gain its international status after years of mismanagement under BN (in Malay)

MCA clueless on how to win votes

DPM Muhyiddin advises "uneducated" MCA to read "Art of War"

DPM Muhyiddin can't really be blamed if he has no more respect for MCA. After a dismal performance by Chua Soi Lek during his debate with Lim Guan Eng and the embarrassing "exposes" by Chua Jr which only managed to espose MCA 's own failings, Muhyiddin is now convinced MCA does not even understand their Chinese voters (which MCA allegedly represents) anymore.

"Sun Tzu, who??"

And if that is not enough dirt on them, Dr M has even come out to say that MCA's TAR college diplomas are worthless and that the college is just for MCA to win votes.

The Star: MCA must start educating themselves by reading basic Sun-Tzu

Dr M: MCA's TAR college is only good for getting MCA votes

(Ouch!! The truth hurts!)

Muhyiddin: MCA needs to understand the Malaysian Chinese

(Learn from DAP!)

MC: Will MCA and MIC quit "half-dead BN" or will they chicken out?

(How long can they stand being a slave to UMNO?)

MCA truly dead after Debate 2.0

DAP's Lim Guan Eng vs MCA's Chua Soi Lek leaves MCA lifeless

There was no surprise that LGE could speak well, definitely much better than the mumbling CSL but many did not expect LGE to deliver the killer blow to MCA, and in public as well. MCA should be somewhat consoled by the fact that the debate was not transmitted "live" to all Malaysians as it would be thoroughly embarrassing to watch MCA in its weakest moments before it was disposed of by mere words from LGE.

The killer blow:

"MCA is not qualified to be here to discuss about policies because MCA does not decide, it is UMNO that decides. MCA claims to speak only for the Chinese, and yet only the Chinese in the Peninsula, and not the Chinese in Sabah and Sarawak. This is different from the DAP, that wants to speak for all Malaysians. DAP mahu bersuara untuk semua orang Malaysia: Melayu, Cina, India, Kadazan dan Iban, kerana kita semua rakyat Malaysia, bukan macam MCA, yang kononnya mahu mewakili orang Cina sahaja."

It is not surprising that after the debate CSL was left to fend himself off by spamming tweets for hours, Ng Yen Yen came hopping mad (from Australia) and Liow Tiong Lai had to put off the burning flames at TAR College.

Sad, pathetic, but you have just watched the death of MCA.

Read what the people think of the debate

Read what people think of MCA nowadays

Rafizi Ramli - The New Hero of Malaysia

And also UMNO's Enemy No.1

He has single-handedly exposed the NFC scandal and showed Shahrizat the door and now he is doing his best to expose Najib's Ampang LRT scandal. Malaysians everywhere are supporting him and providing him the moral support while Najib is trying his best to close everything up including using the police and MACC to shut him up.

Even MCA is trying "to do a Rafizi" on Selangor PKR but has admitted they are not smart enough. Dr M is also wishing he has the likes of Rafizi in UMNO while admitting UMNO does not have the brains anymore and will therefore use racial issues and Perkasa to fan the flames of racism to garner whatever scraps of support there is left out there for UMNO.

BN has ultimately failed to realise that Malaysians are now smart enough to see through their gutter politics and their lack of intelligence in almost everything as in how they blundered the NFC cash cow project, made a mega screwup on the Talam issue and how they unashamedly tried to pit Guan Eng against his wife.

Everything is quiet now on the BN front as Najib tries to wrangle himself out of the LRT pit he constructed for himself while MCA tries to find someone "more educated" and MIC is still trying to grab the last few university places for their community. UMNO? Well they will just let Perkasa do their dirty work for them since Dr M has already mentioned they have no brains left.

Latest: Is a BN breakup imminent? Better to part then to "kena telur"

MCA's pathetic accusations

Malaysians of Chinese origin utterly disgusted by MCA's latest antics

What do you do when you don't know what else to do to drum up support for your sinking party? Why, accuse everyone else of having problems too! This is what MCA is up to recently as it can't find anything else to get Chinese support and is under immense pressure from BN to do so. Well if anything, MCA has shown that they can be as good in gutter politics as UMNO after learning very well from their UMNO masters. And they definitely have HIGH moral standards as can be seen on their president's infamous video.


"Aiyaa why must you be ashamed? I got video some more you know?"

Chua Jr (trying to be the next Rafizi): "I think Selangor MB is corrupt but I am not sure..."

Chua Sr: "I don't know why everyone doesn't like me"

MCA's Gan: "I think you are cheating on your wife but I am not sure..."

Lim Guan Eng: "I don't think I can act like Chua Soi Lek"

Chua Sr to LGE: "Your action not as good as mine..."

MCA Youth: "Last time UMNO tried to implicate his son, now we implicate his wife lo..."

MCA's Tan Cheng Liang: "Aiyaaa, why Penang DAP so smart one... Nothing to complain so I complain about CM's photos - la..."

Latest: Selangor government to sue Chua Tee Yong

Latest: Did UMNO use MCA (and dumb Chua Jr) as a sacrifial lamb?

Najib hit by another bombshell

Government documents shows Najib's hand in RM 1 billion tender award

After having been hit by a Scorpene's "torpedoe", Najib who hasn't even recovered yet is now being hit by another bombshell. PKR's strategy director Rafizi Ramli has today released government documents proving Najib has interfered in the award of the RM1 billion Ampang Line LRT extension project.

It looks like BN has no choice now but to find a a new leader for the impending general election as otherwise Najib will drag the whole BN into a Titanic scale sinking. Don't expect Najib to answer these accusations though - he still hasn't figured out how to cover up for his good friend Razak Baginda and he has a lot to answer for the Malaysian public.

Read the first episode

Watch the video

Najib plays deaf and dumb amidst accusations

Good news for a good friend - George Kent

Asia Sentinel: Najib's Scorpene scandal could not have happened without Dr M knowing

The 133 official documents uploaded onto Asia Sentinel are from the Directorate-General of the French National Police and the Judicial Police Directorate’s anti-organized and financial crimes unit. They were presented to a French anti-corruption court in May and June of 2011. Taken together, they present –in French – the clearest picture to date of the two-decade campaign by the French state-owned defense manufacturer DCN and its subsidiaries to sell Scorpene submarines to the Malaysian Ministry of Defense.

Read the damning documents from Asia Sentinel

Defence Minister's pathetic reply on scandal begets more questions

Najib's minister calls for Ambiga to hang for creating problems for Najib

Deputy PM Muhyiddin trying hard to destabilize Najib

Channel News Asia: Uncovering Najib's cover up


False democrat Najib inducted into international rogues gallery

Dr M : Yes, we are a false democracy

Najib surrounded by inept and corrupt officials

Latest: Is Dr M calling the shots in UMNO now?