Chow Kon Yeow: 曹观友

Remember Francis Ng Wai Kong and Victor Hoo Kim Swee? They are the two Malaysians who were stranded in Saudi Arabia since January this year. I highlighted the case in Parliament and wrote to Syed Hamid to intervene. The families worked very hard to secure their release. I was informed by Victor’s father last Friday that the duo were back in the country a day before.
Glad that the ordeal is finally over. Take care, Francis and Victor.Read here for my earlier posts. (more…)

Press Statement DAP Penang and MP for Tanjong Chow Kon Yeow on Thursday, 16 August 2007.

Call on Socso to accord rightful benefit to thousands of worker.

The DAP is concerned that thousand of Malaysian workers are missing out on medical treatment, compensation and possible disability occupational illness.

It is reported that about 60,000 workers may be deprive of such benefits.

Human Resources Minister Dato Seri Fong Chan Onn had expressed disappointment at he poor performance of doctors on the Socso paned and wanted them to accord workers their rightful benefits.

The DAP also call on the government to take immediate action to correct the situation.

The DAP is now collecting information on workers who are deprived of their rightful benefits for the matters to be raised in Parliament.

These interested are invited to a meeting at the Penang DAP HQ at no.14, Jalan Talipon on Wednesday, 22 August 2007 at 10;00am Contact person: Lau Keng Ee (04-2277068 or 012 4422511)

Opposition MPs welcomed the RM30,000 allocation they received each to organise events in their respective constituencies for Merdeka.

Tanjung MP Chow Kon Yeow said yesterday opposition MPs were happy that for the first time this year, they were given allocations to celebrate Merdeka with their consti-tuents.

He said the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry should make it an annual affair for opposition MPs to receive allocations for Merdeka celebrations.

The ministry allocated RM30,000 for each parliamentary constituency this year, including constituencies under the Opposition, in conjunction with the nation’s 50th anniversary.

“We hope that this won’t be the first and the last time we are receiving such an allocation.

“I also hope that we won’t have to wait for another 50 years for such an allocation to come our way,” he said at a press conference at the state DAP headquarters in Penang.

Chow said Merdeka Day is an auspicious occasion for Malaysians and celebrations were held with the aim of promoting unity.

“Merdeka Day celebrations are non-political functions and there should be no element of dividing the people according to their political affiliation,” he said.

Chow’s constituency would hold a multi-cultural show themed Malaysiaku Gemilang at the Gat Lebuh Macallum’s basketball court from 7pm to 11pm on Aug 25.

Local performers will be presenting patriotic songs, poetry reading and dances.

Wedding poem: Samy not responsible

E Sivabalan, the press secretary to the Minister of Works was forced to reply to “allegation” that Samy Vellu was a plagiarist. He issued the letter to Sin Chew Daily and China Press because both these newspaper gave prominent coverage to my posting in this blog.Sivabalan also sent this letter to Malaysiakini as the same issue was raised by two writers.

Sivabalan explained:

“I refer to the letter Samy Vellu plagiarised wedding poem and wish to make the following clarification.

The Minister for Works Dato’ Seri S Samy Vellu had asked me to issue a congratulatory message on his behalf to the prime minister on the occasion of the latter’s marriage on Saturday.

In the preparation of the message, I added a poem by way of dedication to reflect the happiness and joy of the occasion. I, however, inadvertently omitted to mention the authorship of the poems.

I regret the omission and for any inconvenience caused. ”

My intuition told me on that particular day that this would happened.

Samy has been quiet until now.

My posting on Samy Vellu piagiarising others’ poems was reported in the Sin Chew Daily and China Press today.

There are others who have either blog or written to the media on the matter. One of them Jason L had his letter in Malaysiakini.

I hope Samy Vellu will have the gut to admit that his “poem” to the Prime Minister was actually a cut and paste job.

But Samy Vellu must not resort to his standard reply, “IT’S AN ACT OF GOD!!!”

On another matter, DAP leaders must be shocked by a report in the Sin Chew Daily and Oriental Press that four Perak DAP wakil rakyats’ face had been superimposed on naked bodies.

Another cut and paste job.

I SMS Po Kuan to console her. “Jangan susah hati,” I told her.

She replied, “Tak susah pun”. Thanks goodness, she is taking it quite well.

Who could be behind this job and why? No reason for Jasin or Kinabatangan to take revenge over the bocor fiasco recently.

Yesterday I repost a blog about Samy Vellu penning a poem to congratulate Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on his wedding this Saturday.

This morning, I saw a response from KNS that the poem is plagiarized from “Blessing For A Marriage”. KNS provided the link, http://www.churchofancientways.org/spirituallove.html

I then went into Google Search to see what had Samy Vellu actually penned for this joyous occasion. I found it in Bernama but not Malaysiakini.

Eh.. I found that there is another part to Samy’s “poem”. If he could plagiarise the second part of his “poem”, then I thought he would also do likewise for the first part.

I went into Google Search again and bingo there it was found at http://www.wedding-references.com/poetry-on-marriage.htm

I also found out that someone else has already found out yesterday that Samy Vellu had indeed plagiarized his poem from parts of two poems as listed above.

What are you going to say, Samy Vellu?

An interesting post in a blog on foreign policy.

Imagine that First Lady Laura Bush had died in the fall of 2005. (I realize this is morbid, but stick with me.) Now imagine that U.S. President George W. Bush, a scant 19 months later, announced to the nation that he would be getting remarried—not to just anybody, but to the ex-wife of Laura’s younger brother. How would that play in the red states? Probably not well.

For the citizens of Malaysia, no imagination is necessary. The country’s widower prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has fallen in love again. He’ll soon wed Jeanne Abdullah, a longtime friend and, incidentally, the ex-wife of his late wife’s brother.

By all accounts, the Malaysian people are elated. Malaysian Minister of Works S. Samy Vellu has gone so far as to pen a poem in celebration of the happy couple. An excerpt follows:

A mountain needs a valley to be complete;
the valley does not make
the mountain less, but more;
and the valley is more a valley because
it has a mountain towering over it.