Monday, July 28, 2008

Can't Ping at PPS

I tried many times to ping my previous post at PPS but failed. I don't really know what really happen. The most possible reason is my blog address was banned due to the unknown reason.

Now, i will try to ping another new post to make sure if my blog address was banned or not. If you all can see this link at PPS, it maybe a technical fault at the server. Thou i doubt it because i saw lots of post pinged without problem.

The post i can't ping is HERE

If i sitll cannot ping in the PPS, i guess i will use another alternative to promote my blog but it will not be as good as PPS can offer at the moment. For your information, i already sent an email to the admin and still waiting for the respond.

Update!: I can ping my link. I wonder why i can't ping my last post.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Youtube from Queen Rania of Jordan

YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips. Everyone can register a YouTube account and upload their video for sharing to other people and get an instant feedback. This interactive feedback among the video creator and reader is a good platform for many political and social activities.

I wrote an article of few youtuber previously and introduced some creative youtuber to keep watch. They utilized the full potential of this website to present their own thoughts and talent and get feedback from the viewers.

The internet culture revolution really attracted few well known people to use the internet as their official platform for their own works. In Malaysia, political godfather such as Lim Kit Siang, Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim personally using the internet platform to express their statement rather the old news paper media that believed easily to be manipulated by some groups.

Queen Rania of Jordan is the new buzz in the Youtube world. Her YouTube got a huge attention from people around the world because she is the wife of King Abdullah II of Jordan and among the high profile person. She can publicized in many ways but choose YouTube as her main platform to reach out to the people.



Her YouTube site caught a huge attention from international media such as BCC over the stereotype issue than the Arab people experience since the September 11 attacks. One can go to her YouTube site to participate and leave a video respond and comment about this issue.



Bias stereotype among the Arabs Muslim are spreading fast in the western community. South East Asia shared its own problem too when the radical Islamic group such as Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah creates unrest to the region. This also created lots of bias stereotype to the Islam community in non Islamic nation such as Philippine and Thailand.

With most of the political turmoil caused by religion differences, people around the world become very confused with the events happening around them. Political motivated bias in some news report add up more dissatisfaction encouraged the fear to a religion once not so controversial and has created a group of people such as Queen Rania of Jordan to clear out the misconception of the west and some wrong ideology belief that thought by religious extremist.

The creation of internet platform such as blog and YouTube gave new alternative and unbiased chances for individual people such as you and me to express their opinion about one issue and problem. Nevertheless, the free flow media platform can also used to spread a false concept of issues unless there are more people that care to straighten out and explain the truth. Today we lived in a world where everyone has the chances to express their opinion, interest and socialize in the world that without the political and religion boarder.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Datukship in Malaysia

"Datuk" brings the meaning of grandparent in Malay language. Datuk give a meaning of elderly and is the most top of a family hierarchy and should be respected because of the status. In Malaysia, there are malay title "Datukship" give to particular people that achieved some success and contribution to the people. So, whoever that received this title should be an important people that has contributed lots some to the country or achieved something that was recognized by the country.

"Datukship" even thou it is still an important title, was not look high by most people. Let me bring out two cases that support this mentality among the malaysian. The first is the Nicol David and the second on is Dr Sheikh Muszaphar.

If one read the description of both personalities, which one in should be given such high recognition from the title qualification? Let me make clear who this two personality are.

Nicol Ann David (born August 26, 1983 in Penang, Malaysia) is a Malaysian professional squash player. She is currently the World No. 1 in women's squash (she is the first Asian woman to be ranked World No. 1 in the sport). She captured the World Open title in 2005 and 2006, and the British Open title in 2005, 2006 and 2008.



Source: wikipedia


Sheikh Muszaphar and three other finalists were selected at the beginning of 2006 for the Malaysian Angkasawan spaceflight program. The program arose after Russia agreed to transport one Malaysian to the ISS as part of a multi-billion purchase of 18 Russian Sukhoi Su-30MKM fighter jets by Malaysia. After completing initial training at Star City in Russia, Sheikh Muszaphar and Faiz Khaleed were selected to undergo an 18-month training program in Russia, at the end of which Sheikh Muszaphar was chosen as the prime crew member, while Faiz Khaleed served as back-up. Following the final medical tests and training examinations, on September 17, it was announced that Sheikh Muzaphar would be flying on Soyuz 11.



Source: wikipedia


Both Nicol and Sheikh Muszaphar will be conferred the title of Datukship. Nicole received the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri (DSPN) award which carries the title Datuk from the state of Penang. Sheikh Muzaphar will be bestowed the Darjah Setia Negeri Sembilan (DSNS) award which carries the title "Datuk" by the Yang Di-Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan Tuanku Ja'afar.

Some may argue that both personalities had achieved something extraordinary from their work. It might be true but the difference was "Datukship" given to Nicol David was not expected by many. Sheik Muzaphar was long time predicted to get his goodies of present. Nicol who today a number one ranking squash player in the world for a period duration time has achieved an extraordinary feat that not everyone can do. In sports, lots of achievement was presented in the world level but little recognition was given by the people who should honor the credibility of the title itself. I don't want to speculate what really happen as many already knew it.

I feel a bit ashamed by the "Datukship" given to Sheikh Muzaphar as he didn't contribute anything to the country or doing any significant feat that different him to all the world or even to the malaysian. I feel like malaysian government sent a test monkey and sat him at the space rocket and blast him to the space to press some button that configured it easy as possible at zero gravity condition at the space. The worst thing is that he didn't spend any cent on his side. Now, we even gave him a title.

When the Russian open the space travel to the public, it was a huge buzz to people that has the resource and time to experience the journey of the life time. Malaysia having to run out of resource chooses to spent more money from tax payer money buying few jets from Russia, to get freebies that cost equal to a medical and educational incentive policy. To make it worse, they planned to have a second space trip and luckily was rejected.

Penang Government lead by Barisan Rakyat did walk the talk by giving the title to people who qualified and deserved to the title. Even thou this is not a significant event, it present us the changes that we long time awaited. At the moment, I don't really see any different make by Barisan Rakyat state government. It such a sad thing to read in news that some issue between the coalition still on discussion and unsolved.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Forum: Category of Photographer

I got this idea and want to write it for a long time. Here are the thread i wrote and posted in Borneo Shutter for reading and discussion in the forum.

The first category is the Beginner.

Beginner photographers are people who don't have much experience about taking photo and the camera they use. Simply saying, it just like looking our parents aged 50 years plus old handling your high tech camera hand phone that they don't even realized there is a camera in the hand phone. Beginner photographer started to do photography because of friend and peers influences or self inspiration after looking at some other photographer's photo in action.

Beginner level photographer most likely started with a full automatic point and shoot camera. The idea of having automatic point and shoot camera is because of the need of getting use to holding a camera and pointing it to take a photo. Taking advantage of the full automatic function of the point and shoot give chances to the person to spent more time on doing photography creatively without having fear of the technical things such exposure and low light environment.

Beginner photographer can also use a full DSLR no matter it is an entry level or professional gear. The problem with having an expensive gear in such early stage is time that was spent on getting used to the equipment that other manual setting and function that was not used wasted. Having a point and shoot at the beginning can give the person a little taste of how to point your camera to right angle and perspective rather than being confused with all the extra button and function that you might not need to use yet.

The second category is the Amateur and Hobbyist.

Amateur and hobbyist photographer evolved from the beginner photographer. In this level, most of the photographers were already has more time and experience on pointing the camera and took lots of photo as eyes seen fits randomly. Hobbyist photographer will consider on taking similar photo that only can be done with DSLR setting camera. This was the time when point and shoot camera lost out to the semi professional and professional camera. Hobbyist photographer will spend more time on taking photo and in additional on the setting and function that available not just the DSLR but on the point and shoot also.

Hobbyist photographer started to learn about the basic fundamental of photography such as the aperture, shuttle speed, ISO setting as well as the composition, depth of field and the rule of third when doing photography. The limitation of point and shoot really shown in here where some of the lens effect can’t be done and this is when the semi pro and professional gear come in handy. Beside just photographing around with what our eyes seen fits randomly, the photographer started to have its own idea on how he want the photo to look like after that.

Hobbyist photographer must has the basic rules in photography because not all the photo taken due to our skills and experience. Beginner photographer can take a very impressive and good photo randomly without any experience and skills. One such thing I can see on this situation is in landscape photography such as sunset and sunrise photo. The outer factor such as beautiful scenery and less challenging light environment give good opportunity to such few people that happen to be on the right time and right place.

Hobbyist photographers mostly prefer to buy a DSLR camera with at least one lens at disposal. DSLR camera now sold with one so called kits lens in one price range around 2 thousand to 3 thousand ringgit depends to what type of lens offered. The best kits lens that a hobbyist photographer use is the 18-55mm or 18-70mm lens. The add on feature such as auto focus lens and vibration reduction in Nikon lens and Image Stabilizer for Canon lens add extra cost to the lens. External flash can be consider a necessity due to the limited power and usage of the camera flash producing better result in night or low light photography. Additional accessories and lens can be obtained if money is not a problem.

The third category is the Part Timer

Part timer photographer is people who work on a day job and part time in taking photo. The different compared to the hobbyist is they charge money for the photography activities offered. Part time photographer still has their own financial income from their full time job, but they don’t mind doing some extra part time to earn some extra income to support their expensive activities and hobby.

Part time photographer should have a basic requirement of equipment and gear before offering their services and charging money. Part time photographers tend to choose an expensive piece of DSLR camera that cost around 4 to 5 thousand ringgit in range minus the accessories and lenses that can fetch up over 10 thousand ringgit. The advantage between a cheaper DSLR camera body and the cheaper one is the quality of the photo, button range for short cut and convenience, ISO range and the speed of the camera shot frame per second.

Reliable equipments needed to make sure the photography activities will not having a problem that will make the photographer himself looks bad. Additional lens such as wide angle 12-24mm, zoom lens 70-300mm and bigger aperture up to f1.4 with multiple range cost fortune to buy. Some photographer also invest in the indoor studio equipments such as a wireless flash system, high end computer that managed to process large size of photo and interconnected backup, portable and wireless system to take photo outdoor.

There are no different in term of skills level and experience between the hobbyist and part time photographers. Slightly different is the specialty of the photography activities they do. Part time photographer can mostly be seen in low budget events and function because they offered a lower rate than the professional full time. I estimated their price range is around half of the market range offered compared to the full time depends to their experience and work profile.

The fourth categories is the Professional Full Timer

Full time professional not mean the photographer photography skill better than a part time or hobbyist photographer. Professional full time give a meaning of hours of time spend in photography activities by the photographer. Professional full time charges more than the part time. Full time spent more time on the photography activities and their skills and experience supposed to be better than the part time by rights. Professional full time photographer charges can be expensive depend to the photography they do. Most can easily reach above 10 thousand and exceed to 100 thousand in commercial photography.

The equipments that used by the professional full time was mostly high end professional gear. The high demand in quality and skills and the high expectation from the client make the full time photographer to invest more on the reliability and the high end result and effect that most of the conventional mid range photography gear cannot give. Photographer in this category can spend around 100 thousand to 1 million ringgit of equipment depend to his income and investment capability.

This range of equipments can be compared to small and medium business standard where the passion is not merely to earn money but to create a masterpiece that well worth up to the competition that give a high quality result in a high expectation demand in a real competitive market. Some still choose to the old technique equipments that still cost a fortune to buy but a little bit adaptation to the new digital post processing to get the better result to compensate the limitation only electronic can do at the moment.

The different that make among the professional full time photographer is the experience and the photography art work they produce. Professional full timer photographer challenge is to make sure their art work stand out among all many photo exhibited in specific genre and field such as commercial, art and journalism. Photographer that has a very detail insight and observation on finding details that stand out among many photos will excel to success and recognition that will earn him/her as a Master in Photography.

Link:
Borneo Shutter: Category of Photographer

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Sultanate of Sulu & North Borneo (Sabah)



It was few month ago my attention in some news article about the Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo who claim his sovereign over Sabah. I started to do some googling (internet search) information about this issue that has been hovering for month over the daily news. I came up first with wikipedia define the Sultan of Sulu as quote,

The Sultanate of Sulu was a Muslim state that ruled over many of the islands of the Sulu Sea, in the southern Philippines. The sultanate was founded in 1450, but other sources place the date earlier. Muslim historians believe that it had existed centuries earlier in the time of Raja Baguinda Ali.


I learned the existence of the Sultan of Sulu and their claim of sovereign but i never thought they really put the name North Borneo or Sabah in their title reign. Since that, few people claim the title of Sultan of North Borneo or Sabah that i found it a bit over too much.

Currently the issue of who would be the legitimate Sultan of Sulu is disputed by several branches of the Royal Family, although the line of succession fell on the Kiram branch of the royal family from 1823 up to the death of the last sovereign sultan in 1936.


I found it a bit confused to find that a Royalty that cease to exist since 1936 come rise again to claim that seem to be impossible in current political term. The Sultan of Sulu even doesn’t have the grip of his main of state in Philippine picking on Malaysia to acknowledge his authority and give Sabah back to them. Now, the Philippine government raised the issue in behalf of Sultan of Sulu to claim back Sabah but i doubt they will give the rule of power to the sultan in their mind.

In 1906 and in 1920, the United States formally reminded Great Britain that North Borneo did not belong to the Crown and was still part of the Sultanate of Sulu. However, the British did turn Sabah into a Crown leased Colony.

The Philippine Constitution of 1941 states that the national territory of the Philippines included, among other things, "all other areas which belong to the Philippines on the basis of historical rights or legal claims." Malaysia was federated in 16 September 1963. Even before Sabah was incorporated into Malaysia, the Philippines sent delegations to London reminding the British Crown that Sabah belonged to the Philippines.


It was to believe that Sabah supposed to belong to Sultan of Sulu but the existence of the Royalty not relevant to the current condition. I doubt that Sabah people will allow this to be happen as having a Royalty not really good thing as they not really relevant to the benefits of the general population but groups’ interest of people that well connected to the beneficiary. Thanks to the United Nation sanction, Sabah not part of the Sulu Region.

Today, the issue was raised again and i was shocked that the Sulu Heir was given such amount of money as a lease to the land of Sabah on 2003 and 2002.





I was not known the legality and the purpose of this letter will affect the claim of Sulu Royalty on Sabah. The historical information on this issue still not knows and researched in detailed. Most of the information only available on Wikipedia and Royal Sulu Offical Website.

It was well known that Sabahan are really easy to persuade and manipulated. I believe the lease was paid to the heir of Sulu Royal due to the fear of rebellion on Moro flown in to Sabah. The influx of the Sulu illegal into Sabah for 2 generation really become main problem raised by the Sabahan politician especially by Yong Teck Lee from SAPP.

With the unstable political balance growing on to the Federal level, uncertainty again the future of the claim will be handle. Sabahan lived in dilemma in which a double edge sword. Independent as a North Borneo Sovereign not the option as it has lots of natural resource such as oil and forest that no nation want to let go. Philippine and Malaysia Government in badly need this well resource land for their exploitation and manipulation. I believe those day when arm conflict happen if the negotiation failed.

Link:
Royal Sulu
Wikipedia: Sulu Sultanate, Sabah Dispute

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Most Impressive About Me

It has been so long i read and write blog. A blog is a personal space for individual or group to write anything they want without any restriction. From personal, art all the way to political issue blog find its place towards the reader. Personally, there is nothing interesting about it.

What really makes me interested is what we can see in all the blog. It is "About Me" column. I read a very interesting "About Me" that only few blogger in the world can write the statement.



Yes, this "About Me" belong to our former PM Malaysia. If one of you all ever be a Prime Minister or a President of a state, it would definitely a very impressive "About Me" for a blog.

Notice

I discovered that some one is using my name to write a comment at another people's blog. I don't know what is the intention to do it but i believe it is not a good one.

Please be notice:

1. I never write comment into chat box. I only gave comment at post comment.
2. Please check out with me via my contact email before accusing me making a bad mark on your site. If i find my comment was not true, i will apologize publicly.
3. Police report will be made and investigation will be done to find the culprit. The owner site will be able to track the IP address of the culprits.
4. I will personally take court action against any person who ever trying to spread false impression about me or my business.

***

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