Nepal's Buddha Boy

A meditating teenage boy in south-central Nepal is drawing the attention of scientists after attracting huge crowds in the past six months and earning himself the name Buddha-reincarnate.They are mulling over how to examine him without disturbing his meditation. Ram Bahadur Bamjan's friends, relatives and managers say he has been meditating without drinking water for six months now and that he will carry on for another six years until he gains enlightenment.Siddartha Gautama, who Buddhists believe later attained Nirvana, was born in 560 BC. Grown weak Word spread quickly about the teenager and people around Ratanapuri village in Bara district began to visit Bamjan, 15, who has been sitting cross-legged in a traditional Buddha posture under a peepal tree.

Bamjan's eyes are closed and his body firm, encased in a whitish shawl. His hair has grown long and has almost covered his eyes. Villagers say he has grown weak. His picture has been appearing regularly in newspapers and people now look for updates on him. Many around Bara worship him as the reincarnation of the Buddha. The tree is festooned and the air has the smell of incense sticks. The dramatically increased movement of people has generated economic opportunities. Makeshift shops have sprung up and offerings in cash and kind are on the rise. "Almost 500,000 rupees ($7,000) have been deposited in the bank by devotees," says Prajapati Koirala, a senior government administrator in the area. That is apart from the donations visitors make on the spot. Local people have formed a committee to make sure Bamjan gets the right environment to meditate and to manage the influx of visitors and the offerings they make. The most frequently asked questions: Does he remain seated like that and meditate even at night? Does he not eat or drink at all? Some say he has eaten nothing since he began his meditation, others that he used to take a milk-like liquid from the roots of the peepal tree at the beginning. Challenge Most people can live without food for several weeks, with the body drawing on its fat and protein stores. But the average human can survive for only three to four days without water. Followers of holy men and ascetics have often ascribed extraordinary powers to them, but such powers are seldom subject to scientific inspection.

But the number of people seeking real evidence here is increasing. Under pressure, locals have asked the administration to find out the truth. "We have agreed to conduct a scientific examination on him," said the local administrator, Mr Koirala. The challenge is to do so without touching him. Mr Koirala said scientists from the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology were due to arrive to conduct the examination. It remains unclear how they will do it. "At least the scientists will be able to see whether he meditates the whole night or not," said Deekpal Chaudhary, who sells incense sticks to visitors. Monastery tour Bamjan's family members say they have no idea what is going on. His mother fainted when she found out her son had undertaken an indefinite meditation. "I sometimes go to see him but he does not talk to me," said Maya Devi Tamang. "I don't know what will happen to him but I know that god will help him." The name of Buddha's mother was also Maya Devi, a point Bamjan's devotees have stressed. The family said Bamjan was different from his four brothers. They said he did not speak much and stayed aloof. "He never touched alcohol," said his primary education teacher, Salden Lama. Relatives and neighbours said Bamjan undertook meditation when he returned from a tour of Lumbini, where Buddha was born, and monasteries in Pokhara in Nepal and Dehradun in India. Friend and cousin Prem Lama remembers Bamjan saying that he did not want people to call him Buddha as he had only reached primary enlightenment. Bamjan has spoken only a few times since he began the meditation, according to Prem Lama. He said the first time Bamjan spoke was when a snake bit him around a month ago. Bamjan took the incident as his second test, which he must overcome, Prem Lama said. In the first test he was also bitten by a snake - three months after he began the meditation. The second snake-bite episode led to increased curiosity. After being bitten, Bamjan was said to have asked his aides to put a curtain around him. "In less than a week he asked us to take the curtain away," Prem Lama said. Now another curtain is to be drawn around Bamjan - for the scientific examination. FROM AFP NEWS A young Nepalese boy reputed to have Buddha-like powers has reappeared in the south of the country to preach to thousands of supporters, witnesses said Tuesday. Eighteen-year-old Ram Bahadur Bomjam -- dubbed the "Buddha Boy" -- rose to fame in 2005 after his family claimed he could sit for months on end without sleep, food or water. In March 2007, Bomjam's supporters said he was planning to meditate for three years in an underground bunker, although he was spotted on two occasions. Now, Bomjam has appeared again to preach for around 45 minutes, and plans to continue addressing the public daily until November 18, said a local police official Bara district, 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Kathmandu. "The whole jungle area where he has appeared has turned into a festival and around 10,000 people came to see him Monday," the police officer said. Local volunteers have collected thousands of dollars from people who visited the Buddha Boy in the past, prompting accusations that the "Buddha Boy" was merely at the centre of a money-making scam. During the height of his fame, a French television journalist filmed him nibbling on fruit while supposedly starving himself. An AFP correspondent also found him curled up sound asleep while he was supposedly meditating in private.

200,000 Year Old Statue Found On Moon

WASHINGTON, DC - A noted scientist has just produced proof that the lunar surface was inhabited by intelligent life: a 10-inch angel sculpture embedded in a moon rock.

Geologist Dr. Morris Charles revealed last week that NASA lab workers chipped the angel from one of the rocks brought to Earth by Apollo 11 astronauts 40 years ago, in 1969. Dr. Charles was a NASA scientist himself for 23 years but left the agency in 1987. He still maintains close ties to many of his former colleagues.
“The implications of this figurine are absolutely mind-boggling,” Dr. Charles told reporters. “It means that at one time the moon had an atmosphere conducive to life. And what’s more, it was once home to a sophisticated race of people with a highly refined sense of beauty.”
The angel - a humanoid female with wing-like appendages on her back and long flowing hair - is made of an iron compound found exclusively in the highlands of the moon.
This rules out the possibility that it was dropped by a race of aliens from another planet. It’s been hand polished to a silvery metallic sheen. Based on chemical analysis of the metal, geologists estimate the sculpture to be 200,000 years old which means it was made 170,000 years before the human species appeared on Earth.
It’s been examined by art experts who concur with Dr. Charles’ appraisal of the culture that produced it. “Clearly these beings had a sense of religion that parallels our Christianity. Perhaps they had a Jesus of their own, proving that the important spiritual principles are, in a very literal sense, universal,” said a Washington anthropologist.
Others are not so sure of its religious significance. Dr. Miles Fredericks of New York University countered, “This is just more Christian propaganda. The Sumerians told stories of the Annunaki, winged deities, as far back as 18th century BC. Maybe the Sumerians were visited by these moon beings, who merely modeled the statue after their own image.”
While many ponder the significance of the figure, others are curious about why it has remained a secret for so long. “The artifact has been common knowledge among NASA insiders for years,” said Dr. Charles. “But space agency higher-ups have kept the information highly classified, fearing world-wide panic. It was smuggled out to me by persons who must, for obvious reasons, remain anonymous.”
NASA officially denies Dr. Charles’ allegations. The statue was displayed to photographers and newsmen but is now being held for further study at an undisclosed location.
Astronauts of Antiquity - Zecharia Sitchin has already shown in The Twelfth Planet that the statues of gods and goddesses from Sumer present special helmets with protuberances on both sides (the Middle Ages’s illiteracy turned them into”devil horns”), which perfectly look like the pilots’ headphones; the statues were provided with the SHU.GAR.RA - a term that literally means”that which makes you go far into the Universe”.
Another image discovered in North Israel, dating back to the ninth millennium B.C., represents the sculpted head of a god with a helmet and safety glasses. Also a picture of the goddess Ishtar from her temple in Sumer…

All this suggests to us that the attire …was that of an aeronaut or an astronaut”…

Many drawings on the Sumerian plates show the gods with wings, which were not belonging to the body, but they were accessories of the flight suit, therfore the gods looked like eagles…This drawing on a Sumerian plate suggests that an Anunnaki / Elohim spaceship is connected to the base on Earth.”The central object … it is more mechanical, more manufactured than natural.Its (( wings )) looks almost exactly like the solar panels which American spacecraft are provided to convert the Sun’s energy to electricity. The two antennas cannot be mistaken. The circular craft … is located between Mars (the six - pointed star) and Earth and its Moon”(Z. Sitchin, The Twelfth Planet)…
cool

Monkey God Tree

The monkey tree phenomenon is a social phenomenon in Singapore, which began in September 2007. It arose from the discovery of a callus on a tree in Jurong West New Town, which, through the effects of pareidolia, appears monkey-like. The callus has initiated a minor social mania, drawing large crowds to look or pray at the tree.

Beginnings
The phenomenon started on 12 September 2007 when an unknown person put up a sign in Chinese on a tree on Jurong West Street 42. The sign read that a monkey had come to the tree three years ago to look for his father, the Monkey God. It added that a recent car accident had split the old bark of the tree open, releasing the Monkey God. One resident purported that the monkey image appeared around 3 September 2007.
The appearance of the sign and the monkey outline on the tree trunk were reported in the local English and Chinese-language newspapers such as The New Paper, The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao. Reports also quoted residents claiming how three car accidents had earlier happened at the spot, but none had been fatal, purportedly due to the tree's "magical" properties.
Since news broke on 13 September 2007, hundreds of people from all over Singapore have flocked to the usually quiet HDB neighbourhood to pay homage to the tree. By the afternoon of 13 September, the crowd visiting the tree had swelled to more than 30, with offerings occupying the grass patch surrounding the tree.

Monkey outline
The tree with the monkey outline is a species of the African Mahogany. It is a common tree planted by the National Parks Board (NParks) to provide shade, particularly in parks and along major roads and expressways. It is a hearty tree that grows well under most soil conditions.
On the trunk of the tree in question is an outline of two monkeys — one larger than the other — with limbs, faces and bodies. They were formed on a surface that is smoother and of a slightly lighter colour than the rest of the trunk. Some people claimed to see three monkeys.
NParks gave a plausible explanation for how the monkey outline could have been formed: The tree was involved in several minor accidents over the years. The uneven bark surface at the base of the tree trunk was the result of callusing, a natural reaction in which the tree grows new bark over injured areas.
The department of biological sciences at the National University of Singapore explained that patterns formed by callusing are random and depend on the damage caused by the accidents. It added that the monkey outline on the smoother bark may disappear with time as the new tissue layers form under it and push this layer out. Subsequently, the smooth surface would get darker and rougher, like the rest of the tree bark.

Public mania
Devotees to the tree believed that the images are either a manifestation of the Monkey God, a deity from Chinese mythology, or Hanuman, the monkey deity in the Hindu pantheon, and that praying to them would bring them luck.
The crowd has been leaving bunches of bananas, packets of peanuts, oranges and chrysanthemum flowers, burning joss sticks, and praying for lucky 4-D numbers at the tree. People also started burning incense paper, prompting a resident to place a zinc barrel beside the tree so that the ashes could be scooped into the barrel. Some residents even won a bet on the 4-D draw held on 12 September. The winning number "4309" was obtained by combining the HDB block number near the tree (430) and the order of the monkey in the Chinese zodiac (ninth).
There were volunteers who helped to distribute the bananas and peanuts to people who drop by. Some of them have also put up signs telling people not to leave red packets filled with money beneath the tree. A visitor had left a tin can containing tiny rolls of paper at the tree.
Thousands of people have since visited the tree, and the crowd grew to over 200 at one point on the afternoon of 14 September. The crowd consisted of both men and women, mostly Chinese and Indians of all ages. The people wanted a peek of the monkey images, while many took pictures of the tree with their mobile phones. Images of the monkey tree were even sold at S$3 or S$10 a photograph near the tree.
The crowds were so large that residents started complaining of the noise, littering and traffic jams caused by vehicles parked illegally along the narrow road. This prompted the police to patrol the area.
Two nearby trees also started garnering offerings from 14 September — one for a supposed outline of Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, on its trunk, and another whose bark resembles the Hindu elephant god Ganesha.

Michael Jackson Forever!!! R.I.P.

25th of June 2009 will always be a date to be remembered. Michael Jackson is dead after suffering a cardiac arrest, sending shockwaves sweeping across the world and tributes pouring in Friday for the tortured music icon revered as the "King of Pop." Jackson, 50, collapsed at his rented mansion in the exclusive Los Angeles neighbourhood of Holmby Hills and was rushed to hospital by paramedics before being pronounced dead at 2:26 pm (2126 GMT) on Thursday.
One of the most influential figures in pop history whose career included the highest-selling album of all-time, "Thriller," Jackson had been preparing for a concert comeback in London next month he had dubbed "the final curtain."
News of his death triggered an outpouring of grief as shocked celebrities, foreign governments and devoted fans from Beijing to Beverly Hills paid tribute to the troubled star.
Lieutenant Fred Corral, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner's office, said an autopsy would likely be carried out on Friday and would not speculate on the exact cause of death.
Jackson's brother Jermaine, the family's official spokesman, later revealed physicians had battled for more than an hour to revive the star after his arrival at the UCLA Medical Centre before he was pronounced dead.
"Our family requests that the media please respect our privacy during this tough time," Jermaine Jackson said. "May Allah be with you, Michael, always."
As the sun began to sink over Los Angeles, a coroner's office helicopter bearing Jackson's body took off from the UCLA Medical Centre, where hundreds of media and fans had gathered throughout the day.
Meanwhile police motorcycle riders surrounded Jackson's gated mansion as crowds of tourists and fans congregated.
Pop diva Madonna was among dozens of celebrities who struggled to cope. "I can't stop crying over the sad news," the singer said in a statement. "The world has lost one of the greats, but his music will live on forever!"
The star's first wife Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley, said his death had left her speechless.
"I am so very sad and confused with every emotion possible. I am heartbroken for his children, who I know were everything to him, and for his family," Presley told MTV News in a statement.
Political figures also paid their tributes.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger lamented the loss of "one of the most influential and iconic figures in the music industry."
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also posted his thoughts on micro-blogging site Twitter. "Never has one soared so high and yet dived so low. RIP Michael," Miliband wrote.
But the most visible emotion came in spontaneous gatherings of fans here and across the world.
In Los Angeles Lana Brown, a 49-year-old tourist from Dallas, broke down in tears as she digested the news. "I can't believe we might have lost the best entertainer this world has ever seen," she told AFP.
In New York's Times Square, Chantal de Roy van Zuydewijn watched a giant screen broadcasting the news of Jackson's death with tears running down her cheeks.
"He is a legend. He is a genius," said the 28-year-old Dutch tourist, who had a ticket to the pop legend's scheduled comeback tour in July.
Jackson's death came as the singer prepared to make a keenly anticipated concert comeback in London, his first series of shows in more than a decade.
Jackson family attorney Brian Oxman said he had harboured concerns over the singer's condition, revealing that he had been taking prescription medication as he prepared for his comeback.
Oxman compared Jackson's fate to the overdose death of Playboy centerfold Anna-Nicole Smith, voicing concern over "enablers" in his entourage.
"The people who have surrounded him have been enabling him... if you think that the case of Anna-Nicole Smith was an abuse, it was nothing to what we have seen in Michael Jackson's life," Oxman told CNN.
While Jackson ruled the charts and dazzled audiences with electric dance moves like the backwards "moonwalk" in the 1980s, his once-stellar career was overshadowed by his colourful public behaviour, his startling physical transformation and multiple allegations of child abuse.
He lived as a virtual recluse following his 2005 acquittal on charges including child molestation and plotting to kidnap his young accuser.
Despite his acquittal, the trial was a body blow from which the pop music superstar, whonamed his ranch after Peter Pan's "Neverland" of perpetual childhood and furnished it with Disney-inspired rides, struggled to recover.
Born on August 29, 1958, Jackson made his show business debut with four of his elder brothers in the Jackson Five pop group, and went on to lead the stage clan with a piping soprano and dazzling dance moves.
In 1979, Quincy Jones produced Jackson's first solo album for Epic, "Off the Wall," a huge disco-oriented success that sold 10 million copies.
They teamed up again in 1982 for what would be Jackson's breakthrough album as a composer and co-producer, "Thriller," which became the top-selling album of all time, with sales exceeding 41 million.
Jones reacted with shock after being informed of Jackson's death Thursday.
"I'm absolutely devastated at this news," he said. "I just don't have the words. Divinity brought our souls together and allowed us to do what we could do through the '80s," Jones said.
Tommy Mottola, the former head of Sony Music who released Jackson's records for 16 years, said the singer had a place in the pantheon of American music icons, alongside Elvis and Frank Sinatra.
"It's one of the greatest losses," Mottola told the Los Angeles Times.
Crowds continued to throng near the UCLA Medical Centre and Jackson's home late Thursday, while street vendors selling hastily designed commemorative T-shirts for 25 dollars sought to cash in. Michael Jackson will always be remembered and there will never be a second Michael Jackson. He will remain to be the greatest artist of all time!

What A Strange & Wonderful Coincidences

Have you encountered any strange coincidences? I dont think I have. Anyway, life is always full of coincidences. Sometimes they are so strange you may think that it is a set up. Well, here are some of the strangest coincidences of all time.

15.Childhood Book

While American novelist Anne Parrish was browsing bookstores in Paris in the 1920s, she came upon a book that was one of her childhood favorites – Jack Frost and Other Stories. She picked up the old book and showed it to her husband, telling him of the book she fondly remembered as a child. Her husband took the book, opened it, and on the flyleaf found the inscription: “Anne Parrish, 209 N. Weber Street, Colorado Springs.” It was Anne’s very own book. Strange isn't it?

14.Lucky Poker

In 1858, Robert Fallon was shot dead, an act of vengeance by those with whom he was playing poker. Fallon, they claimed, had won the $600 pot through cheating. With Fallon’s seat empty and none of the other players willing to take the now-unlucky $600, they found a new player to take Fallon’s place and staked him with the dead man’s $600. By the time the police had arrived to investigate the killing, the new player had turned the $600 into $2,200 in winnings. The police demanded the original $600 to pass on to Fallon’s next of kin – only to discover that the new player turned out to be Fallon’s son, who had not seen his father in seven years!

13. Twin Death

On 2002, Seventy-year-old twin brothers have died within hours of one another after separate accidents on the same road in northern Finland. The first of the twins died when he was hit by a lorry while riding his bike in Raahe, 600 kilometres north of the capital, Helsinki. He died just 1.5km from the spot where his brother was killed. “This is simply a historic coincidence. Although the road is a busy one, accidents don’t occur every day,” police officer Marja-Leena Huhtala told Reuters. “It made my hair stand on end when I heard the two were brothers, and identical twins at that. It came to mind that perhaps someone from upstairs had a say in this,” she said.

12.Poe Coincidence

In the 19th century, the famous horror writer, Egdar Allan Poe, wrote a book called ‘The narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym’. It was about four survivors of a shipwreck who were in an open boat for many days before they decided to kill and eat the cabin boy whose name was Richard Parker. Some years later, in 1884, the yawl, Mignonette, foundered, with only four survivors, who were in an open boat for many days. Eventully the three senior members of the crew, killed and ate the cabin boy. The name of the cabin boy was Richard Parker.

11. Royal Coincidence

In Monza, Italy, King Umberto I, went to a small restaurant for dinner, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, General Emilio Ponzia- Vaglia. When the owner took King Umberto’s order, the King noticed that he and the restaurant owner were virtual doubles, in face and in build. Both men began discussing the striking resemblances between each other and found many more similarities.
1. Both men were born on the same day, of the same year, (March 14th, 1844).2. Both men had been born in the same town.3. Both men married a woman with same name, Margherita.4. The restauranteur opened his restaurant on the same day that King Umberto was crowned King of Italy.5. On the 29th July 1900, King Umberto was informed that the restauranteur had died that day in a mysterious shooting accident, and as he expressed his regret, he was then assassinated by an anarchist in the crowd.

10.Falling Baby

In 1930s Detroit, a man named Joseph Figlock was to become an amazing figure in a young (and, apparently, incredibly careless) mother’s life. As Figlock was walking down the street, the mother’s baby fell from a high window onto Figlock. The baby’s fall was broken and Figlock and the baby were unharmed. A year later, the selfsame baby fell from the selfsame window, again falling onto Mr. Figlock as he was passing beneath. Once again, both of them survived the event.

9.Mystery Monk

In 19th century Austria, a near-famous painter named Joseph Aigner attempted suicide on several occasions. During his first attempt to hang himself at the age of 18, Aigner was interrupted by a mysterious Capuchin monk. And again at age 22, he was prevented from hanging himself by the very same monk. Eight years later, he was sentenced to the gallows for his political activities. But again, his life was saved by the intervention of the same monk. At age 68, Joseph Aigner finally succeeded in suicide, using a pistol to shoot himself. Not surprisingly, his funeral ceremony was conducted by the very same Capuchin monk – a man whose name Aiger never even knew.

8.Photograpic Coincidence

German mother who photographed her infant son in 1914 left the film to be developed at a store in Strasbourg. In those days some film plates were sold individually. World War I broke out and unable to return to Strasbourg, the woman gave up the picture for lost. Two years later she bought a film plate in Frankfurt, over 100 miles away, to take a picture of her newborn daughter. When developed the film turned out to be a double exposure, with the picture of her daughter superimposed on the earlier picture of her son. Through some incredible twist of fate, her original film, never developed, had been mislabeled as unused, and had eventually been resold to her.

7.Book Find

In 1973, actor Anthony Hopkins agreed to appear in “The Girl From Petrovka”, based on a novel by George Feifer. Unable to find a copy of the book anywhere in London, Hopkins was surprised to discover one lying on a bench in a train station. It turned out to be George Feifer’s own annotated (personal) copy, which Feifer had lent to a friend, and which had been stolen from his friend’s car.

6.Twins

The twin brothers, Jim Lewis and Jim Springer, were separated at birth, adopted by different families. Unknown to each other, both families named the boys James. Both James grew up not knowing of the other, yet both sought law-enforcement training, both had abilities in mechanical drawing and carpentry, and each had married women named Linda. Both had sons, one of whom was named James Alan and the other named James Allan. The twin brothers also divorced their wives and married other women – both named Betty. And they both owned dogs which they named Toy.

5.Revenge Killing

In 1883, Henry Ziegland broke off a relationship with his girlfriend who, out of distress, committed suicide. The girl’s enraged brother hunted down Ziegland and shot him. Believing he had killed Ziegland, the brother then took his own life. In fact, however, Ziegland had not been killed. The bullet had only grazed his face, lodging into a tree. It was a narrow escape. Years later, Ziegland decided to cut down the same tree, which still had the bullet in it. The huge tree seemed so formidable that he decided to blow it up with dynamite. The explosion propelled the bullet into Ziegland’s head, killing him.

4.Golden Scarab

From The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche: “A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window-pane from outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to the golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer (Cetonia aurata) which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment. I must admit that nothing like it ever happened to me before or since, and that the dream of the patient has remained unique in my experience.” – Carl Jung

3.Taxi

In 1975, while riding a moped in Bermuda, a man was accidentally struck and killed by a taxi. One year later, this man’s bother was killed in the very same way. In fact, he was riding the very same moped. And to stretch the odds even further, he was struck by the very same taxi driven by the same driver – and even carrying the very same passenger!

2.Hotel Discovery

In 1953, television reporter Irv Kupcinet was in London to cover the coronation of Ellizabeth II. In one of the drawers in his room at the Savoy he found found some items that, by their identification, belonged to a man named Harry Hannin. Coincidentally, Harry Hannin – a basketball star with the famed Harlem Globetrotters – was a good friend of Kupcinet’s. But the story has yet another twist. Just two days later, and before he could tell Hannin of his lucky discovery, Kupcinet received a letter from Hannin. In the letter, Hannin told Kucinet that while staying at the Hotel Meurice in Paris, he found in a drawer a tie – with Kupcinet’s name on it.

1.Historical Coincidence

The lives of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two of America’s founders. Jefferson crafted the Declaration of Independence, showing drafts of it to Adams, who (with Benjamin Franklin) helped to edit and hone it.The document was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Surprisingly, both Jefferson and Adams died on the same day, July 4, 1826 – exactly 50 years from the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Mahathir bin Mohamad

Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Mahathir bin Mohamad's signature

Hi!

This is an assignment of my English lesson in school and I have decided to choose the title "Mahathir bin Mohamad". He is a great former leader whom I respect very much. Speaking of the name Dr.Mahathir Mohamad, many would said he was the 4th prime minister of our country, Malaysia. But many do not know him in details nor what he has done for Malaysia. So, to know more about him, I read books about him and also did some research through the Internet. And guess what? Words cannot descibe the admiration and respect I had for him after that. If only people know how much he has sacrificed and done for Malaysia, perhaps they too would admire and respect him like I do. Well, this is the story of him.

Mahathir was born on 20 December 1925, in Alor Star, the capital of the northern state of Kedah, the youngest of nine children of a schoolteacher and a housewife. His father, Mohamad Iskandar, was of half-Indian origin, being the son of a Malayalee Muslim (who migrated from Kerala) and a Malay mother, while Mahathir's own mother, Wan Tampawan, was Malay.
During World War II, he sold pisang goreng (banana fritters) and other snacks to supplement his family income during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. Mahathir attended a Malay vernacular school before continuing his education at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College in Alor Star. Mahathir then attended the King Edward VII Medical College (the predecessor of present-day National University of Singapore) in Singapore, where he edited a medical student magazine called The Cauldron; he also contributed to the The Straits Times newspaper anonymously under the nickname "Che Det". Mahathir was also President of the Muslim Society in the college. Upon graduation in 1953, Mahathir joined the then Malayan government service as a medical officer. He married Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali—a fellow doctor and former classmate in college—on 5 August 1956, and left government service in 1957 to set up his own private practice in Alor Star. Mahathir thrived in private practice, and allowed him to own by 1959 a Pontiac Catalina and employ an ethnic Chinese chauffeur (at the time, almost all chauffeurs in Malaysia were Malays, owing to the economic dominance of the ethnic Chinese). Some critics have suggested this foreshadowed a later hallmark of Mahathir's politics, which focused on the "cultivation of such emblems of power".
From his marriage with Siti Hasmah binti Haji Mohamad Ali, they have five children, three sons and two daughters. Both Mukhriz and Mokhzani Mahathir are involved in business as well as in politics while their eldest daughter Marina Mahathir is a prominent local writer and AIDS activist. He successfully underwent a heart bypass operation in 1989 at age 63.

Mahathir became the Prime Minister of Malaysia on 16 July 1981 when Tun Hussein Onn stepped down due to health reasons. He was the nation's first Prime Minister that came from a modest social background, whereas the first three prime ministers were members of the royal or elite families.
After 22 years in office, Mahathir retired on 31 October 2003, making him one of Asia's longest-serving political leaders. Upon his retirement on 31 October 2003, Mahathir was awarded a "Tun"-ship, Malaysia's highest civilian honour.

During his term in office, Mahathir turned Malaysia into a regional high-tech manufacturing, financial, and telecommunications hub through his economic policies based on corporate nationalism, known as the various "Malaysia Plans" which set out the government middle-term objectives. These policies with strong Keynesian tendency remained in effect almost to the end of his tenure in office.
His pet projects have included Perwaja Steel, an attempt to emulate South Korea and Japan, the Proton car company, and Astro, a satellite television service.
Mahathir is credited with spearheading the phenomenal growth of the Malaysian economy, now one of the largest in South East Asia. Growth between 1988 and 1997 averaged over ten percent and living standards rose twentyfold, with poverty relatively almost eradicated and social indicators such as literacy levels and infant mortality rates becoming almost on par with developed countries.
During this period, Mahathir embarked on various large scale national projects, such as the North-South Expressway, Multimedia Super Corridor, the planned capital city of Putrajaya, Johor's Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the Bakun Dam in Sarawak, and the Petronas Towers.
While such projects have their benefits, corresponding high costs have made some Malaysians reluctant to engage in more of such ventures, believing that the money can be better spent on other areas of development. On the other hand, Mahathir has always argued that such projects yield a direct return to the economy, apart from just serving the national pride, as government spendings in turn create jobs along with other multiplier effects. Mahathir has also been criticised for the failures and inefficiency of some of his pet projects. Perwaja Steel eventually failed and had to be rescued by a corporate white knight. Its chairman, Eric Chia, faced charges of corruption in 2004. Proton eventually had to be bought by Petronas when its parent DRB-HICOM found itself over-extended, and is still currently fighting to become profitable. Astro enjoyed a monopoly on pay television services in Malaysia until 2005 when it ended with the granting of a licence to a rival MiTV
The Bakun Dam project was to be managed by a local construction firm, Ekran Berhad. It issued a 1-for-1 on time rights issue which was 63% undersubscribed (the first time in Malaysia for an event of this magnitude). Ekran's chairman, Ting Pek King, had to purchase all unsubscribed shares at a cost of $500 million ringgit due to his agreement with the underwriters. Subsequently the dam project was taken back by the government which was obliged to pay Ekran for the work already completed.

In 1974, Mahathir was appointed Minister of Education. He had always believed in the need for "education for the masses", with greater emphasis on maths and science, at high school level, in order to achieve his dream of a developed Malaysia. He continued to strongly promote his agenda of quantity-and-quality higher education during his term as prime minister.
In those days, English, Chinese and Tamil-medium schools were fully run by private and missionary organizations. Students from these school sat for the respective overseas examinations set by the board of school committees and associations. For instance, Overseas Cambridge School Certificate (OSC) was set for English schools. Under the former Prime Minister's order, he drafted the KBSM syllabus in order to make Malay a compulsory subject to be taught in all subjects in these schools. Overseas examinations were subsequently abolished one after another throughout the years. Schools which converted to the national type received heavy fundings from the government. Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Rendah Pelajaran (SRP) were fully introduced as national examinations.
In order to cater for the lower income indigenous population, boarding schools were promoted and constructed. Through government scholarships, tens of thousands of students were sent yearly to universities in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia—western-type countries that Mahathir aspired to achieve par development with. Middle- and higher-income groups from non-Bumiputera Malaysians who were unable to get a place in the local universities, due to the restrictive quota system and limited government scholarships, also independently sent their children to these universities. This has led Malaysia to have the third largest number of students going to western-type countries to pursue higher education, after China and India.

In 1980, education quota was introduced as part of the National Economic Policy. Mahathir who became the acting prime minister, introduced the quota system to all economic sectors in Malaysia including the education system, whereby a designated percentage of undergraduate seats of higher institutions were reserved for Bumiputra citizens.
Towards his later years, Mahathir promoted the liberalization of university start-ups, leading to branch campuses being built or the formation of permanent tie-ups with some of the most prestigious universities in the world. Amongst others, these led to the construction of the University of Nottingham in Malaysia (in partnership with the University of Nottingham, U.K.), Malaysia University of Science and Technology (M.U.S.T.), in partnership with M.I.T. (U.S.) and Motorola) , Monash University Malaysia (in partnership with Monash University, Australia) and Curtin University of Technology, Sarawak Campus (in partnership with Curtin University of Technology, Australia)
Private companies with a long running history in Malaysia like Intel and AMD were also encouraged to set up, and run partnerships and/or higher education centres and centres of excellence.
In the year before his retirement, he announced that Mathematics and Science subjects must be taught in English in all primary and secondary schools with aim to increase competitiveness of Malaysian student.

In 2002 a tearful Mahathir announced his resignation to a surprised UMNO General Assembly. He was persuaded to stay on for a further eighteen months, in a carefully planned handover that ended in October 2003. On his retirement, he was granted Malaysia's highest honour, which entitles him to the title Tun from his original Datuk Seri. Since retirement, he has been serving as an advisor to the Malaysian national oil company Petronas and the Malaysian national car company Proton, an original core national project initiated by Mahathir during his premiership. He is also the head of the Perdana Leadership Foundation, a foundation whose aim is to preserve, develop and spread materials regarding or written by previous Malaysian Prime Ministers. While he has retired from all political offices, he remains very outspoken regarding national policies.
In 2005 Mahathir brought up the issue of excessive awarding of Approved Permits (APs) to import cars, stating that they were creating too much competition for Proton, causing friction between him and Rafidah Aziz, the Minister for International Trade and Industry, who oversaw the awarding of APs. His successor, Abdullah, then announced that a National Automotive Policy (NAP) would be created to appropriately handle the issue. Later, when touching on the issue, Mahathir lamented the government's majority in Parliament, saying, "I believe that the country should have a strong government but not too strong. A two-thirds majority like I enjoyed when I was prime minister is sufficient but a 90% majority is too strong....We need an opposition to remind us if we are making mistakes. When you are not opposed you think everything you do is right".
Mahathir has also ventured into a bakery business with a Japanese partner. Together they established a Japanese-style bakery and bistro outlet called "The Loaf". As of October 2007, there are two outlets in Malaysia, one in Langkawi and one in Kuala Lumpur. They are planning expand their business into other countries in Southeast Asia. In May 2008, Mahathir started a blog under his old pseudonym, which reached a million visitors within the span of one month

Mahathir started to weblog since May 2008. The site is intended to publish all his writings as when he is able to pen his thoughts and opinions. The weblog address is http://www.chedet.cc//

Mahathir was featured on the facade of Telekom Tower in Kuala Lumpur during the national day celebrations in 2004.

Mahathir at the 50th Hari Merdeka Parade(Independence Day) celebrations.

Growing Up Life

Hi,

My English teacher asked me to do a homework by blogging on the net. It's an assignment. I don't exactly know what to write about. I was wondering, why is my life so busy. There is homework, tuition, reading....a lot more. My head hurts just thinking about it.

Life was simple for me about 10 years ago for me. No tuition, homework...nothing. All I do was play and read simple books like 'Peter & Jane'. It's fun back then in the kindergarten. There were friends, games, swimming pool and also good foods. I still remember one of my favourite. It was the plain but nice porridge.

Malaysian parents nowadays want their children to be the best of the best. But they didn't realize that they are actually giving more pressure to them. It's not good to study under pressure. Besides, I sometimes think that adults are weird.

It is said that parents spent two or three years of their children's life trying to make them talk and walk. They will make the babies say something like daddy and mommy. The best part of being a baby is that no matter what they do, people will praise them and say "so cute" even if the baby vomit or poop in the diaper. And for the next 15 years, parents will make you sit and shut up because you talk too much on the phone. I was wandering, why will adult encourage you and discourage you later? I don't really know the answer.

When we were young, we got potty training from our parents. They were proud when we poop in the right way. Some parents were so proud that they took a photo of the poop. Once we mastered 'The Art Of Toilet', we are prohibited from saying the word poop again because it's vulgar.

Being a baby is also wonderful for the ego...because even though you look more like a potato than a human, people still think you are cute. But it's not all fun and games. People expect you to entertain them constantly. Luckily adults are very simple-minded creatures, so all you have to do is gurgle and dribble and they go all glassy-eyed with exitement. By far the worst thing is all the morons(relatives) who stand around talking to you in weird baby phrases such as "Want some Yum Yum and Goochie-Goochie-Goo".

Then the tuition life began in primary school after pre-school. Kids have to live out their parent's dream. If parents had their way, you would be a qualified neuro-surgeon by 10 and have written three PHD thesis by 12. They have a whole career mapped out for you before you even know what a 'career, is, let alone an ulcer.

Then life gets harder in secondary school. There are no girls(except Form 6) and we have to listen to the headmistress's long speech almost every monday.Plus, there are tons of stress. It's awful. To think about it, time really flies. Every year is another year older which means more homework and tuition. Unlike 10 years ago, now life is very hard. Eveything is increasing, the homework, food price and economy crisis.

Although life is hard, it must go on. Growing up is all about responsibility which can sometimes makes you wonder why you always wanted to grow up so very quickly. Sometimes you might even want to be 10 years younger just to get away from a busy life . Life is life and growing up is growing up and I decided to write what I think about life as my assignment topic. I named it 'Growing Up Life'.

Strictly for 2009 english assignment. Tan Wee Boon. 4 SN 1.