I received some requests from mylongkang readers to make a video on how to make grasshoppers from coconut leaves. It is not a perfect video as I have much to learn about making videos 
but I hope you find it useful and try it on your own.
Imagine a procession of hundreds of monks in saffron robes with their supporters and marching along streets with nine elephants. A tourist spectacle? No, it is for a higher purpose. To attract attention to their cause: Buddhism to be declared the national religion for Thailand in the new post-coup constitution. They might just get what they want from last September’s coup leaders. Perhaps they might have already got it and this procession is just window-dressing for the people.
But I fear if the wish is granted, it could inflame tensions in the Muslim-majority deep south. The three-year Islamic insurgency down south has killed more than 2,000 people. The divide will be even deeper as the people down south seethe with resentment the ‘heavy muscling’ of their Buddhist brothers.
As long as everything is still fuzzy in the constitution, there is still hope to salvage peace for the kingdom. Now is not the right time to amend the constitution.
Related reads:
Bangkok Post
DYMM Seri Paduka Yang Dipertuan Agung Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin ibni Almarhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah.
Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, the Sultan of Terengganu, will officially ascend to the throne as the 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong tomorrow in an installation ceremony steeped in tradition.
Daulat Tuanku.Daulat Tuanku.Daulat Tuanku.Daulat Tuanku.Daulat Tuanku.
Bengbeng: Been a long time since I met you, Sir.
Mr Money Mint: Oh, I have been busy. I just didn’t feel comfortable any more. Each time I come, I am always suspicious of people hanging around me asking for favours or donations or asking me to buy things. It got to the stage where I just had to stop. I came to worship , not to set up a temporary welfare office here. Don’t get me wrong. For most of the requests, I have no problems at all. It is not a matter of money. I have enough but I feel discriminated against just because of my hard-earned gains. I have become weary now of people coming close to me. People whom I like avoid me respectfully because some feel they are not equal socially and some feel they cannot afford to live in my circles.Then, there are those who do everything they can to gain every advantage from me or my family.
The final straw came when I was sick and did not attend for three months. Not a single person called or visited to find out why.
Mr Money-Mint has a point. People like him are targetted everywhere they go for their success and wealth. People try to benefit from association with them but few actually feel for them. That basically, they are just fellow human beings. Or that in the end, they have to go, just like every one else.
VATICAN CITY through Archbishop Angelo Amato, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has made clear its stand on gay marriage and abortion. In a no-holds-barred statement he denounced gay marriage as evil and abortion as terrorism with a human face. The statement is probably a reaction to a highly controversial law that would give unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples some form of legal recognition as Italy considers giving more rights to gays. He called abortion clinics “slaughterhouses of human beings”.
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This distinguished gentleman, Mr Melancholy looked at us with a straight gaze and announced, “Men die at 74 and women die at 78. I am 69 years old so I have 5 more years to live.” This sudden pronouncement took us all by surprise. The situation was getting tense. How to react to the sudden change in atmosphere?
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Marriages between borders sound romantic but one should tread the path with caution. The problem is the different cultures, norms and values.
Case 1
I met a woman today. She is a grandmother but misses her grandchildren. She last saw them last Harvest Festival ( Gawai Dayak ) or June last year when the youngest was two months old.
What happened? Her son met a pretty Indonesian woman. They fell in love and got married despite parental protests. She was a worker in a factory and bore him two sons. The problem was she had to leave the country every now and then because of visa problems and this caused extreme financial hardship to the husband. The children were beautiful.
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This pic caused quite a stir today in Sibu when it was published in the See Hua Daily news. It is hard for me to say if it is photoshopped or anything but some believe it to be a true story. I welcome computer experts to give their views on this pic. This Iban man had no idea he was not alone when he had this photograph taken.
When the photograph was developed, he was as shocked as anybody else. The matter didn’t end there. He got sick and the bomoh ( local shaman or witch doctor ) couldn’t exorcise the ghost. The bomoh said that the female ghost wanted the young man and wouldn’t leave him. It could be another April fool prank except that local villagers say that the guy is really sick.
The guy is from Engsurai.
Update: 24/04/07
According to the latest rumour, the guy is still sick. Some Ibans have suggested slaughtering a big pig to appease the spirit and coax it to leave the man.
Operations to capture and after that quarantine the crocodile that killed a 24 year-old man on Wednesday evening are ubderway. The team will be armed with 10 fishing rods and eight spears, The license to hunt down the reptile was issued on Friday. Fresh chicken will be used as bait.
The crocodiles are ferocious animals. I remember last time I watched a neighbour trap its cousin, the local biawak or called by the Chinese si ka chua or alligator. It was only six feet long. He tied hooks similar to that used by butchers to hang meat from at the market and attached them to thick green ropes. For bait we used pig skin as it was tough and wouldnt break off so easily. The reptile had cost my neighbour dearly in terms of chickens and ducks.
Anyway, after catching it, somehow or other he managed to quarantine it inside a chicken coop. Its tail was so powerful that within minutes it had damaged the thick netting around the coop, brought down the clumsy wooden structure and would have escaped if not for the hook still stuck in its mouth.
After that, my friend slung it over a tree trunk and killed it after it had exhausted itself. He then made a slit in the skin right in the centre from the neck to the tail and then removed the skin. Slowly he disentangled the skin from the rest of the body with a fine knife. Then in a second, he pulled it down just like pulling down a man’s trousers. He sold the skin.
He wanted to sell the meat for RM4.00 a kg but there were few buyers as it was an old reptile and its meat was tough so he made curry for his family and friends.
In the meantime the crocodile that ate a nine-year old child, Liu in Beijing has been shot. Liu and three other boys had climbed over the fence and tormented the reptiles. They pelted the animals with sticks and rocks. One crocodile caught hold of a boy’s clothes and dragged him into the water. Altogether eleven crocodiles fed on him. The incident took place at the Yintan resort in Beihai.
I shudder to think how the adults responsible for the resort through their negligence could have allowed this horrifying incident to happen. The manager and the keeper were being held by police.
For this week’s theme I have chosen, this steps from an Iban longhouse. It is a plank with steps nailed in. Notice the chicken underneath the steps. It came because it saw me and was probably hoping for food. Notice also the water container. It is for washing the feet before ascending the steps.
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