Curtin University Confers Honorary Doctor Of Letters On Rosmah

Did you know that Curtin University has conferred on PM's wife, Rosmah Mansor, the honorary Doctor of Letters degree in recognition of her efforts in the development of education, particularly children's education through the Permata Negara programme?

This is for real. I first read the news in Yahoo News and then in Malaysiakini and finally confirmed it is true in the official Bernama website AT THIS LINK.

CLICK HERE TO READ ALL ABOUT IT.

What You Did Not Know About QE I

I was truly stunned when I came across this article that said:

The England that the first Queen Elizabeth reigned over so gloriously for 45 years was obsessed with sex and awash with promiscuity. This unrestrained bawdiness was surprising for a nation that worshipped its head of state as an unblemished virgin.

By the standards of later ages — and even today — society then was especially open in its use of sexual language. Shakespeare’s plays are full of nudge-nudge references to rutting, scrambling, sluicing, ravening and lock-picking.

The playwright’s work mirrored and fed the erotic obsessions of the age. This was a land where prostitutes were known as Winchester geese because the Bishop of Winchester owned much of the property that housed London’s dens of vice.

CLICK HERE for the rest of the entry.

Disaster and Social Media Innovation

Here's a very interesting article that might have slipped through the cracks:

CLICK HERE to read  Japan disaster sparks social media innovation

Egypt, Tunisia and now Libya!

First it was Egypt followed by Tunisia. Breaking news - Reuters has reported that hundreds of people clashed with police and government supporters overnight in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, a witness and local media said, in a rare show of unrest in the oil exporting country.

Read more AT THIS LINK.

FAREWELL MARY TRAVERS :-(. I WILL MISS YOU

This evening, my heart sank when I read the news in New York Times HERE that Mary Travers of the famous 1960's trip Peter, Paul and Mary died at the age of 72 in Danbury Hospital in Connecticut. Their songs were very much a part of my childhood in the 1960's.

According to Wikipedia,

The group was created and managed by Albert Grossman, who sought to create a folk "supergroup" by bringing together "a tall blonde (Mary Travers), a funny guy (Paul Stookey), and a good looking guy (Peter Yarrow)". He launched the group in 1961, booking them into the The Bitter End, a coffee house and popular folk venue in New York City's Greenwich Village. They recorded their first album, Peter, Paul and Mary, the following year. It included "500 Miles", "Lemon Tree", and the Pete Seeger hit tunes "If I Had a Hammer" (subtitled "(The Hammer Song)") and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?". The album was listed on the Billboard Magazine Top Ten list for ten months and in the Top One Hundred for over three years.



The group made its television debut in either 1961 or 1962 on the PM East/PM West talk show hosted by Mike Wallace and Joyce Davidson, though neither audio nor video footage has yet been found. By 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary had recorded three albums. All three were in the Top ten the week of President Kennedy's assassination.

That year, the group also released "Puff the Magic Dragon", which Yarrow and fellow Cornell student Leonard Lipton had written in 1959, and performed "If I Had a Hammer" at the 1963 March on Washington, best remembered for Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. One of their biggest hit singles was the Bob Dylan song "Blowin' in the Wind. They also sang other Bob Dylan songs, such as: "The Times They Are a-Changin'"; "Don't Think Twice, it's Alright"; and "When the Ship Comes In".



"Leaving On A Jet Plane" became their only #1 hit (as well as their final Top 40 hit) in December 1969, and was written by John Denver (who already had some success with The Mitchell Trio [replacing Chad Mitchell]), and first appeared on their Album 1700 in 1967. "Day Is Done", a #21 hit in June 1969, was the last Hot 100 hit that the trio recorded.

The trio broke up in 1970 to pursue solo careers, but found little of the success which they had experienced as a group--although Stookey's "The Wedding Song (There is Love)" (written for Yarrow's marriage to Marybeth McCarthy, the niece of senator Eugene McCarthy) was a hit and has become a wedding standard since its 1971 release.


In 1978, they reunited for a concert to protest nuclear energy, and have recorded albums together and toured since. They currently play around 45 shows a year.[1]

The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

The trio became political activists for their commitment to peace in Central America and for supporting musically and personally the peace and social justice movement in America. They were awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience on September 1, 1990.



In 2004, Travers was diagnosed with leukemia, leading to the cancellation of the remaining tour dates for that year. She received a bone marrow transplant. She and the rest of the trio resumed their concert tour on December 9, 2005 with a holiday performance at Carnegie Hall.

Peter, Paul and Mary received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006.




The trio sang in Mitchell, South Dakota, for the George and Eleanor McGovern Library and Center for Leadership dedication concert on October 5, 2006.

The trio canceled several dates of their summer 2007 tour, as Mary took longer than expected to recover from back surgery and later had to undergo a second surgery, further postponing the tour.[1]

This LINK HERE is the official website of Peter, Paul and Mary.

This LINK OVER HERE will lead you to the New York Times write-up about her death and other tributes.

For YAHOO NEWS about her death, please CLICK HERE.

Thank you Mary Travers for the many years of music you gave to us. Thanks for singing with so much feeling, conviction and power. Rest in peace, dear Mary Travers.


The following version of "Where have all the flowers gone?" was sung 2 years ago and I can see that with the passing years, they sang with even more depth of emotion - so much that I was moved to tears the first time I heard it...The harmony is different and the accompaniment as magical as their voices - simple, melodious and purposeful plucking of the guitar strings, elegantly executed...Look at their eyes when they were singing this song - deep pools of feelings mirrored in the eyes of their fans who were just as awed by the meaning of the lyrics being sung in the hall and it was obvious that the crowd were just mesmerized by their vocals. Astounding performance with a moving response from the audience. I will miss you, Mary Travers.

DANCING AROUND AN ISSUE

Regarding the Malaysian use of the Balinese Pendet dance in a TV commercial, I have this to say:

The statement by the Tourism Ministry of Malaysia that the party responsible is a third party engaged by the ministry seems to me to be most disingenuous.

I say that because i used to work for a large ad agency and i know how ads are produced, at least in the agency i worked for.

The client had a lot of input into ads.

After all, the client is paying a lot of money for the ad and my agency has to satisfy the client.

The client would often sit in the studio with my colleagues and the client would say what they wanted in the ad, how the name of the product should be said, what sound effects or music should be used, etc.

Before the ad aired the client might return to the studio to do a final checking of the ad.

In short, the client knew exactly what the ad would be like, before the ad was aired.

That is why i think most probably the Tourism Ministry is lying.

I think the Tourism Ministry most probably knew exactly what dance was used in the ad.

It likely can be determined if the Tourism Ministry knew what dance was used, in advance of the ad airing.

The paperwork will show what was known and when it was known. My ad agency always had a written timeline for ads, how many seconds each element of the ad lasted, etc.

The billing of the client was thus detailed as well, so much per sound effect, so much for script, so much per minute, etc.

The client would agree to payment for the ad and agree to airing of the ad only when they were satisfied with all elements of the ad.

That is understandable, their brand, product, company, could very well be made or broken by the ad.

If the Tourism Ministry has lied about the ad, the Tourism Ministry should stop dancing around the issue, confess it lied and apologise to the Malaysian public and also of course apologise to Indonesia.

Written by PAKAC LUTEB

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For background information on this issue, please CLICK THIS LINK.

The following article written by Wayan Juniartha is taken from THIS LINK

PENDET, THE DANCE THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE

The Pendet is meant to be the dance that embraces. It is supposed to vanquish any barriers, cultural or otherwise, that lie between the host and the guest. This week, however, the Pendet became the very thing that triggered the creation of such barriers.

The Balinese have responded to the use of the Pendet in a TV spot for the Discovery Channel’s special series Enigmatic Malaysia with a mixed sense of anger and disbelief. The spot’s use of the ad implicitly claims that the dance is part of Malaysia’s cultural heritage.

Following a flurry of street protests, emergency meetings between local government officials and cultural historians, and rising demands that the government take a firmer diplomatic stance on the matter, both the Discovery Channel and the Malaysian firm that paid for the TV spots have reportedly offered their apologies to the Indonesian government.

It was also reported that the spots were pulled from Discovery Channel.

For the Balinese, there has never been any doubt that the dance belongs to this island. The word pendet itself has its root in the local language.

Balinese scholar I Ketut Sumarta says the word pendet shares the same roots as pendak and pundut, which respectively mean “to welcome a respected person” and “to carry a sacred object”.

“Pendet basically means to welcome. This word gave birth to mamendet, the act of welcoming,”

he says.

In ancient times, both pendet and pendak were reserved to illustrate the act of welcoming royalty or

benign deities.

Professor Dr. I Made Bandem, one of the most respected authorities on Balinese arts, adds the word is actually used to refer to a sacred temple dance.

“It was and still is a devotional dance, performed by both male and female dancers, including the temple’s priests,” he says.

“In this sacred form of the Pendet dance, the performers carry in their hands various ritual paraphernalia, including flower offerings and burning incense.”

The sacred dance is performed to welcome the gods and deities as they descend from their heavenly abode to the earthly site of the ritual.

Bandem, who penned the enduring Kaja and Kelod: Balinese Dance in Transition and the seminal Encyclopedia of Balinese Dance, says the Pendet differs from the other sacred temple dance of Rejang.

“The Rejang is performed by an all-female cast, mostly young girls, and the performers carry nothing in their hands,” he says.

“It’s an expression of purity, a host of angelic beings accompanied the gods and deities during their temporary stay in the temple.”

Noted Balinese choreographer Professor Dr. I Wayan Dibia points out the Pendet was the source of inspiration for two Balinese maestros, the late I Wayan Rindi and Ni Ketut Reneng, in creating the contemporary Pendet in the 1950s.

Rindi was an accomplished dancer from Lebah hamlet in East Denpasar, while Reneng was a well-known dancer from Kedaton hamlet.

During that period, the tourism industry boom had just begun and hotels in Denpasar and Sanur were organizing traditional dances and musical performances on a regular basis.

“Back then, both Rindi and Reneng realized they needed a new piece to perform at the opening of such shows,” Dibia says.

“And that’s how the contemporary Pendet was born.”

Their Pendet was performed by four female dancers, each carrying a shallow bowl filled with flower petals. The seven-minute performance begins with the dancers entering the stage, bowing and clasping their hands in a traditional sign of respect to the guests before starting the dance. At the end of the performance, they circle the stage while showering the guests with flower petals.

“The main difference between the sacred Pendet and the contemporary one lies in the sign of respect,” Dibia explains.

“In the sacred Pendet, the dancers clasp their hands above their heads, as a sign of respect to a divine being, while in the contemporary dance they clasp their hand in front of their chests — a sign of respect toward fellow humans.”

Arini Alit, 67, a senior dancer, remembers well her first Pendet performance in 1955 at an event in

the Rivolli movie theater in West Denpasar. She was just 6 years old at that time.

The Pendet’s golden age was in 1962, when then president Sukarno requested the dance be performed at the opening of the 4th Asian Games in Jakarta. Rindi and another Bali maestro, I Wayan Berata, prepared the mass performance.

At the opening of the sporting event, more than 3,000 Balinese girls performed the Pendet before 1,460 athletes from 16 countries. Sukarno’s face beamed with joy and pride, Arini recalls.

“I was there, in the first row, and behind me were rows upon rows of Balinese girls, all dancing for our president and our country,” she says.

“It was a jubilant moment for me.”

“Rindi and Berata recruited female students from across the island to join the performance,” Dibia adds.

“After months of rigorous rehearsals, they boarded a large ship and went to Jakarta.”

Several years later, the popularity of the Pendet had waned gradually. A new welcoming dance, the Gabor, had taken its place.

Yet the Pendet remained the primary source of inspiration for the numerous welcoming dances

to come, including the Puspa Wresti, first choreographed by Dibia in 1982.

It was performed during the inauguration ceremony of the Denpasar-Gilimanuk highway.

“The Puspa Wresti was clearly inspired by the Pendet,” Dibia says.

“The new element in Puspa Wresti was the presence of male warriors in the dance.”

The influence of the Pendet can also be seen in the Panyembrahma and the Sekar Jagat, both

arguably the most popular Balinese welcoming dances of the present day.

JAYA SUPERMARKET COLLAPSES IN PJ

Various online news portals reported the collapse of the Jaya Supermarket building in Section 14, Petaling Jaya. The building was being torn down for redevelopment, collapsed this evening when demolition operations went awry this afternoon injuring an unspecified number of people in the busy commercial district.

According to reporters on the scene, the building is now teetering dangerously with bits and pieces still falling off. A twitter flash update from Malaysian Insider at about 7.30pm said that at least four are dead and another 50 workers are believed to be still trapped inside. The Nut Graph reported that there are five excavators found among the rubble and police dogs are being used to search the wreckage. It also reported that all the workers at the site are Indonesians.




Photos taken from THIS LINK

The STAR reported that Fire and Rescue Department personnel managed to pull out two workers and rushed them to Universiti Hospital. Both are reportedly in stable condition. Other workers are being examined by several medics on the scene.
i

Picture above shows rescue workers within security cordon at the site of the collapse. Taken from THIS LINK.

Witnesses said that they saw ambulances have been rushing the injured to the nearby Universiti Hospital.

The Malaysian Insider reported that a worker who got out safely thinks as many as four people may have been killed and a further 50 or so may be trapped in the rubble.

While rescue workers are busy at the scene, the police have mounted a security cordon to keep away curious onlookers.

Ironically, the swaying building is located in an area close to a residential area. The police and the Fire and Rescue Deparment are currently ascertaining whether residents need to be vacated.

Built in 1974, the building was originally called the Jaya Shopping Centre. In fact, it was one of the first supermarkets in Petaling Jaya that survived the many facets of development until now.

Before the introduction of bigger shopping malls in the Klang Valley, Jaya Shopping Centre was one of the few lifestyle centres in Petaling Jaya Across the road, there are several new developments that have also taken up former tenants who moved out last year when it was closed down for redevelopment.

In the early 1990's, this building was embroiled in a controversy when it built a 10-storey car park extension, four storeys higher than allowed by the building plans approved by the then Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ).

The building has four storeys of retail units plus a tower block of office units and a multi-level car park.

Search and rescue operations are still being carried out to locate missing personnel trapped in the building.
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*The latest update by Nut Graph at 8.30p.m. says that two workers have been rescued, one died and six are still trapped in the rubble.

*Another update by The Malaysian Insider at 10.15p.m. confirmed that two workers were killed and five others are still trapped in the rubble.

Visiting the scene, Housing And Local Government Deputy Minister, Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin said the building might have collapsed because it was overloaded, adding that there were eight excavators inside, one of which still had its engine still running. (Extracted from The Malaysian Insider)