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Friday, February 11, 2011

My View on Egypt's Mass Protests...

Picture taken from National Geographic. :)

The recent mass protests in Egypt lately has been the front cover of the World section of The Star paper. The question is, why are people suddenly protesting by the millions for the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak? In recorded history, tt is the largest pro-democracy mobilization Egypt has ever seen! Because they are tired over the current president who has been in power for the past 30 years.

The Muslim Brotherhood, who has been keeping a low profile after the Tunisian uprising, which happened also quite recently, has announced that they will join in future efforts in bringing the current president down from throne. The Muslim Brother fyi, is the strongest opposition party over there. But, let me just give you a thing or two for you to think about, from my perspective.

The Muslim Brotherhood goal, if you do not know, the goal is to instill the Quran and Sunnah as the sole reference point for ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community and state (according to The Muslim Brotherhood - Wikipedia). It doesn't sound very democratic to me. I mean to rule the state with the Quran and Sunnah as the sole reference point? How about the non-Muslims who are staying over there? Will they be under this rule? The Muslim Brotherhood is like a first cousin from the unpopular group of Al-Qaeda. They have almost similar goals like it's cousin and if it does fall into the rule of The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt may enter into a darker phase. This is what I personally feel... or maybe, I just do not fully understand the underline meanings of this goal that they stated.

So, where shall this peaceful demonstrations lead to? Will there be a change in the government for a greater good? Or shall the current president be adamant as he is now to not step down in power and do what it takes to keep him seated up there? Time will tell.

Next post, should leaders be given a term limit on how long they can be in power?

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Fun Fair! :D

There isn't always a funfair in town, especially for a small town of Sitiawan. Some more, during festive seasons! Strangely enough, this CNY, there were TWO fairs!

It was a small one though. I was watching the rides, and I felt that the rides weren't very safe to ride on. I mean, if you hear the rides making loud clanking sounds of chains moving and stuff, would YOU feel like riding on it?Or maybe it's just me feeling this. There were still LOADS of people getting on the rides. And did I mention that each ride costs two tokens, which translates to RM 4?

I was dragged to ride on the Ferries' Wheel to accompany my small cousins. Well, I suppose someone has to accompany them. And my, you should have seen how fast it went!
My cousins, by the time spinning for the third time, they were all screaming each time it descended. Me, I could literally feel the inertia of myself when it went down.
There were station games set up there too. Each game cost a whooping RM 4 (two tokens)!And this prizes awaited those lucky ones. I can tell you, the odds of winning have been counted so that few would be able to get these prizes. Sometimes, I wonder, how many of the grand prizes shown do actually get won. Most of the prizes I saw, looked rather battered down, as if it were there for a long time already.
This game main's objective is to roll 6 ping-pong balls into the wooden slits. Each slit has a number value. And the total sum of the numbers would determine which prize you won. For example, 6 balls into the slit with a number value of "1" would earn you the biggest teddy bear there, which is nearly IMPOSSIBLE!
This game, is called "Catching the ducks!". The purpose of the game is to fish a duck at random, and see what number is pasted below the duck. Certain numbers will get you the bigger prizes, others would just give you a small CHEAP toy. I think there were more than 100 ducks spinning, and among the 100, I think maybe about 5 or 6 ducks contain the numbers that is needed to win the bigger prizes?
This game, is called "Hoop Game". I guess the name itself tells it all. You have to hook the hoops into the a hook and that enables you to win a prize. Simple eh? I tried, and I got none into the hooks. =.=
Merry-Go-Round flying version.
Another ride, I guess this was the only ride that was worth the money. My cousin and sis screamed like crazy. It's the only ride I think they screamed! Because it was going round in circles very fast, and surprisingly many times.
You know these machines above you see in the supermarkets which can be ridden for just RM 1 or 2? You need RM 4 to ride it here! CRAZY isn't it? But many people are still seen riding on these rides.

Nothing can match up to
the standard of Genting Highlands' theme park yet! ... Or maybe Disneyland theme park will! Waiting for someone to sponsor me there! :D

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Chinese New Year's Eve Reunion Dinner! :)

Chinese New Year's eve! :)

The dawn of a new beginning... the Year of the Rabbit.
What I like about this year's CNY, is that my relatives came back from Singapore! :D It's a long time since they last did so. The last I can remember was when I was still in my primary school days (I think).
Only my aunt who is in Sabah didn't make it to this year's reunion. She had came back earlier during the Nov-Dec holidays. BUT, I certainly did enjoy their company. :)
Among all my cousins from both my father's and mother's side, I'm sadly the oldest. I mean, I don't mind being the oldest, but there is a BIG age gap between me and them, at least of 9 years!
Anyway, we had our reunion dinner @ Michelin Star, Sitiawan. Mind you, the service is POOR. But, you can't actually put the blame on them. They are inexperienced, this is their first time handling such a big crowd. This restaurant is not even a year old yet.
A fraction of food served. :)Cod fish! Among the 8 dishes, this was my fav! :)This dish, was, unusual. It's pumpkin paste dessert with coconut jelly. Coconut jelly in pumpkin paste?!? Surprisingly, it tasted okay.We had 2 dessert dishes! It's my first time having a pre-packaged dinner with two desserts. The sesame buns were AWESOME!

Although the service was bad, I think it's still worth going. The food served is good, the price is reasonable. Hopefully, they'll take this time's mistake as a lesson and improve on it the next time. :)

At midnight, the sky was lit up with floating lanterns and fireworks. Ah, this is 100 times better than the ones during New Year celebrations in KL.

Hope we have such a reunion again next year! :)

I'll publish a video of it soon, when youtube processes my video. It has been uploaded all morning, and it still hasn't processed finish the video YET. :@

So, how was YOUR new year?

Saturday, February 5, 2011

CNY! :)

CNY is here! :D

Ang pows! Come to papa! :D

Updates soon. :)A picture of fireworks being blasted into the sky in Sitiawan. Taken by me. :)