when did selangor have a japanese mentri besar

i remember the name khir johari. but khir toyo, mohd khir toyo, is the mentri besar of selangor. is he japanese? definitely not. only bumis can be a mentri besar. but never heard of a malay name like toyo before. toyo is definitely japanese, or at least sounds like toyota. a name can be misleading. or is there a misprint?

dr lee wai leng, the other side of...

everybody knows who lee wai leng is. i hope so. and many only see one side of her, the daughter of lky, a president scholar and a prominent doctor who pulled the plug on the malpractice of a foreign talent. not many know the other side of lee wai leng, the human side. she shares her view in a pretty long article today in the straits time forum on the choice of top schools. what came out from the article, apart from some sensible advices, is a very human and down to earth person, and it came out very genuine and sincere. in the same article we got to know an unknown lee wai leng, her thoughts and views and how she made some tough decisions as a young student. let me just quote a small paragraph of what she wrote. 'i learnt more valuable lessons such as empathy for the less academicaly inclined, that there were other aspects of the human mind such as integrity, honesty, courage, generosity and compassion that are just as if not more important than academic ability.'

people in high office must be thick skinned

this is the advice king bhumibol gave to thaksin. thaksin has been under intense criticism from another media tycoon, and his authority and integrity are being challenged. there are many ways to respond to such an attack. but thaksin chose to sue his opponents. wonder where he learnt such a tactic to hit back at his opponents? must be his training in the usa i supposed. the king also modestly told him that to err is human and that the king himself had erred in many occasions when he was young. the king also corrected the misconception that the king can do no wrong. and he finally told thaksin to drop his lawsuits against his opponent. this is the price to be paid for being in political office. there will be many criticisms. it is part of the job. some will take criticism as a motivation to come up on top of it, to prove that the criticism was unjustified. some may runaway from criticism. and of course, some will sue.

a dog park at east coast park

well, with $160 million to be spent, great ideas are aplenty. a letter to the today's forum from jessica chan asked for a big dog park with facilities like dog cafe, pet shops, place for dog shows, place for dog obedient classes etc. shoo, shoo, we need more space for dogs. excuse me?

melvyn tan's concert

the mistake made by melvyn tan is not to denounce his citizenship earlier, ie, before he is due for ns. if he had done so and taken up another citizenship then there will not be the need to call him up. he would not be a defaulter and he could return as a visitor or even live here as a pr. the irony is that his delay is probably due to his desire to retain his citizenship, continue to be a singaporean, and that is something he values. while on the other hand some will be quite decisive in giving up the singapore citizenship and prepared to cut off all ties here. as much as the country appreciates his talent and sincerity to return and contribute whatever he has, accepting melvyn tan has and will upset the whole ns system and all the ns men past, present and future. the $3,000 fine was a way of telling melvyn tan that he is welcomed home. but given the reaction to this reception, no one can really tell how bad this will turn out eventually. how could the nation answer to all the ns men to treat melvyn tan as an exception? how could the nation reconcile the return of a prodigal son? any leniency shown to defaulters will have to contend with the feelings of hundreds of thousand of ns men. there must be a way to accept our sons who have made a wrong decision when they were young or when their parents miscalculated. but whatever ways, it must not be seen as to encourage young men to abscond when they are called up for ns and think that the nation will welcome them with open arms, one day. perhaps allowing them to return as prs is not a bad idea. and melvyn tan could just do that if he had denounced his citizenship before he is callup. it is more a technical fault. could there be a formula to allow our sons to return and be singaporeans again without incurring the wrath of all ns men? it is a pity that melvyn tan has to cancel his concert.