Multi-racial lions, oh my!

Them politicians need to take a page out of their book. From The Star: Multi-racial lion dance troupe turns heads:

IPOH: Lion dance troupes have long been a mainstay of the Chinese community, but the Muhibbah Lion Dance Group is taking a different route with its multi-cultural approach.

The group has 40 members made up of various races. According to team leader A. James Vijeypala, the troupe also has two women - a Malay and an Indian.

The 48-year-old Vijeypala, who has been a lion dance performer for 32 years, said the group has performed all over the country since its formation in Kuala Lumpur in 1985. They have even danced in Bahrain.

Vijeypala said the troupe, which started with only 15 members, had captured the attention of many people with its multi-racial mix. The youngest member is 15 years old and the oldest 59.

Of course, this press release is suspiciously short for a human interest piece, and I don't think multi-racial lion dance troupes are actually all that rare in Malaysia, but never you mind. The gist is there.

Should I ... ?

Humorous Outtakes

I love Reuters' Oddly Enough section. From Reuters: Man drowns in election publicity stunt:

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A publicity stunt by an underdog in the race to be governor of Bangkok went badly wrong when her campaign manager drowned as they bathed in a canal to highlight the plight of residents who have no access to clean water.

From Reuters: Saturday night thiever says sorry to victims:

BERLIN (Reuters) - A thief in Germany, plagued by guilt after robbing a kiosk, went back days later to deliver a note of apology and pay compensation to the victims.

From Reuters: Muslim sentenced for religious ceremony "cruelty":

LONDON (Reuters) - A Muslim, convicted of child cruelty after encouraging two boys to flail themselves during a religious ceremony, was given a 26-week suspended jail term on Wednesday.

Syed Mustafa Zaidi, 44, of Eccles, Manchester, had pushed the boys into whipping themselves with chains fitted with curved blades at the ends during an annual Shia Muslim ceremony.

Zaidi was found guilty of two counts of child cruelty at Manchester Crown Court in August. He was given a 26-week prison sentence suspended for a year, the Press Association reported.

Zaidi was also banned from allowing or encouraging anyone under the age of 16 to beat themselves during the next 12 months.

P.S. self harm is haram, people!

Malaysians? Abusing visas? Heavens, no!

Someone please show this to Archat. From The Star: Malaysians the top Britain visa abusers:

LONDON: Malaysia is in the top five countries whose citizens are consistently being denied entry into Britain.

If that is not bad enough, Malaysians are also among the top 10 nationalities who overstay and in the top 20 for overall immigration abuses.

Revealing these statistics, Malaysian High Commissioner to Britain Datuk Abdul Aziz Mohamad said most Malaysians who overstayed were from Johor, Perak, Penang and Selangor.

He said Malaysians had been in Britain’s bad books over visa abuses, with about 1,500 of them refused entry last year.

Aziz said Malaysian passports were often abused by nationals from China, Sri Lanka and India to gain illegal entry into Britain.

“And Malaysians are frequently reported as acting as facilitators to arrange for other nationals to enter Britain,” he said when briefing the Malaysian community here on the proposed visa ruling for Malaysians travelling to Britain.

Aziz said the Home Office’s third and last stage of its visa-waiver test for Malaysia and 10 other countries was expected to run until January or February next year.

He said British authorities would probably decide around March whether Malaysia would fall under the visa regime.

On whether Malaysia would retaliate if Britain imposed the visa, the High Comm-issioner said it would have to weigh the situation in Malaysia’s best interests.

Saying Malaysians abuse visas is like saying, "Hey look. The sky's blue." We're the people who used RM1 coins in lieu of AU$1 coins in Australia. Come on, world. Catch on!

Corporate Social Responsibiility?

So I was reading this company's annual report, right, just because I can, and I stumble across this piece of gold in the Chairman's Statement:

I love what they call Corporate Social Responsibility. "Adequate medical benefit as well as hospitalization for deserving staff". How do you decide who's "deserving"? Maybe only the staff who look really sick? Or maybe the ones who give the boss a hamper for CNY?