Con Job

Guess what dropped into my inbox LOL. Complete with a BBC news attachment kakaka... Mulau!

From:

Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 10:55 AM

To: aziz_katyayan1@rediffmail.com

Subject: Re: I am looking forward to hear from you

Bah, kalau ko buli hisap tontolou ko sendiri, barulah sia termakan tipu ko ni.

From: Aziz Katyayan

Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 7:44 AM

To: .

Subject: I am looking forward to hear from you

FROM THE DESK OF MR Aziz Katyayan

AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING MANAGER,

UNITED BANK OF AFRICA (U.B.A) OUAGADOUGOU-BURKINA FASO.

CONFIDENTIAL TRUST BUSINESS DEAL

I KNEW THIS MESSAGE WILL COME TO YOU AS A SURPRISE. I AM THE AUDITING MANAGER IN UNITED BANK OF AFRICA (U.B.A), OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO. I HOPED THAT YOU WILL NOT EXPOSE OR BETRAY THIS TRUST AND CONFIDENT THAT I AM ABOUT TO IMPOSE ON YOU FOR THE MUTUAL BENEFIT OF OUR FAMILIES.

I NEED YOUR URGENT ASSISCE IN TRANSFERRING THE SUM OF (USD$13.7) MILLION DOLLARS TO YOUR ACCOUNT WITHIN 7 BANKING DAYS. THIS MONEY HAS BEEN DORMANT FOR YEARS IN OUR BANK WITHOUT ANY BODY CLAIMING THE FUND.

I WANT THE BANK TO RELEASE THE MONEY TO YOU AS THE NEAREST PERSON TO OUR DECEASED CUSTOMER (THE OWNER OF THE ACCOUNT) BELONGS TO ONE OF OUR FOREIGN CUSTOMER (MR.HATEM KAMIL  FATAH WHOM UNFORTUNATELY LOST HIS LIFE BY SHOOTING FROM UNKNOW PEOPLE IN IRAQ, YOU MAY READ MORE ABOUT THE INCIDENT ON VISITING THIS BBC NEWS WEBSITE:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/3970619.stm http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=6979

I DON'T WANT THE MONEY TO GO INTO OUR BANK TREASURER ACCOUNT AS AN ABANDONED FUND. SO THIS IS THE REASON WHY I CONTACTED YOU SO THAT THE BANK CAN RELEASE THE MONEY TO YOU AS THE NEXT OF KIN TO THE DECEASED CUSTOMER. PLEASE I WOULD LIKE YOU TO KEEP THIS PROPOSAL AS A TOP SECRET AND DELETE IT IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED.

UPON RECEIPT OF YOUR REPLY, I WILL GIVE YOU FULL DETAILS ON HOW THE BUSINESS WILL BE EXECUTED AND ALSO NOTE THAT YOU WILL HAVE 30% OFTHE ABOVE MENTIONED SUM IF YOU AGREE TO HANDLE THIS BUSINESS WITH ME.

AND 10% WILL BE SET ASIDE FOR ANY EXPENSES THAT ARISES ON THE PROCESSBEFORE THE FUND GET INTO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT SUCH AS TELEPHONE CALLS BILLS (ETC).

REPLY VERY URGENT. BELOW IS MY CONTACT.

Email : aziz_katyayan1@rediffmail.com

Tel: 00226 75 64 71 11

THANKS

                 

MR Aziz Katyayan    

Blood Brothers : Eternal Bonds

At the outset of World War II, Sabah or North Borneo as it was known then, was truly on its own. While Sarawak which had oil fields then, had a battalion of Indian Army, a heavy gun battery from Hong Kong, some Royal Engineers and 1,500 strong Sarawak Rangers consisted of Iban and Dayak tribesmen; Sabah, in contrast, was deemed a non priority outpost. Hence, no reinforcement was despatched.

Sabah only had the 650 strong North Borneo Armed Constabulary, which hardly could offer any resistance albeit being paramilitary. The Constabulary was backed or perhaps complemented by the North Borneo Volunteer Defence Force (NBVDF) which was essentially a part-time outfit, insufficently trained for combat and made up of men with day jobs. The only real fighting men were the Policemen in the Constabulary. One of the more famous and outrageously brave policeman was Lance Corporal Korom Bin Andaur (Policeman 142), a Murut whom I had blogged about. His exploits during the war were detailed by author Lynette Ramsay Silver in her book Blood Brothers : Sabah And Australia 1942 – 1945. Her choice of a title for her book is apt because by the time I came to the last page, I could see how the natives, the Chinese, the Indians/Sikhs, the Filipino expatriates, the Australian POWs, our colonial masters and even some Americans stood together. They looked out for each other and risked all by doing so. An eternal bond was forged among these people by the spilling of their blood and sacrifices made for the preservation of others, most of the time for people of not their own kind but in those days of trial, there was not any kind, no race, only brethren fighting oppression and evil!

What?! Dusuns have to pay MORE??

I'm pretty miffed! No, No, miffed would be an understatement. I'm incensed at how the KDM, the Dusuns particularly, are being trampled on and exploited in their own land. Mount Kinabalu is a sacred mountain to the Dusuns. The Dusuns used to have full access to the mountain and its jungle. They go to the jungle to hunt, collect rattans and jungle products for their livelihood. The mountain which they used to refer to as Gayo Ngaran (the big name) was also the final resting place for the souls of the departed Dusuns. 

How many more of the KDM's traditional rights and inheritance are going to be stripped before they awake and reclaim what are rightfully theirs to begin with? In 1962, the Dusuns in Kiulu and Bundu Tuhan agreed to "give up" their sacred mountain to the British government so that Kinabalu Park could be gazetted. The Dusuns then probably were not sophisticated enough in their negotiation with the British officials. They thought they would still have access to their beloved mountain and continue their way of live. They must had felt like they got the shorter end of the stick when they were told that collecting rattans, hunting and gathering jungle produce were strictly prohibited from thereon.

Last night I was the Ketua Kampung

Wow! Last night was so surreal to me! I'm kinda having that "maybe it was not necessary for me to get involved" moment right now. Haiz....

Around 9 to 10pm last night, our dogs and my neighbour's dogs were barking incessantly. At first I paid no attention to it as I was writing my latest post for this blog which is now saved as draft, by the way but then I got curious when the barking wouldn't stop. So I went to the window and looked out, my eyes scanning through the darkness to see whether I could pick up anything. I saw my neighbour's wife standing at their verandah, also looking at the darkness. I looked for my neighbour's Storm (Mitsubishi 4x4 wheel drive) and it was not there, suggesting that his wife and his kids were on their own. The wife was talking on her handphone and from her tone, she sounded concerned. Hmmm.. I got curious even more. This was apparently no normal barking, not some animal like skunks or pangolins that the dogs saw. 

Post kasih lepas Girigitan

Warning, post may contain inappropriate words and may be unsettling for some people. Read at your own risk. 

By clicking, more at the bottom, you are irrefutably confirming that you are above 18 years of age and waive any legal recourse towards the author should the contain of this post cause you mental distress, anxiety and whatever mental condition there is.    

Tale from Borneo - Sedihrela : Part 1

Please note that this is a fiction based loosely on Dusun customs and folklores. The author, that is me, reserves all intellectual copyright.

Sedihrela was a happy child. Despite growing without a mother, whom passed away while giving birth to her, she was happy. Of course occasionally, she would ask her father, Setipun, about her mother. How she looked like, whether she would have loved her if she hadn't died. Setipun loved his daughter and it's not just because he promised his dying wife that he would cherish, love and protect their child, it was also because Sedihrela was a reminder of his wife and their love that brought Sedihrela to the world. 

Sedihrela's was not an easy birth. There were complications. The Bobolian (priestess) told Setipun that one of the seven spirits that are the guardian of North Borneo was unhappy with him because he had forgotten to offer thanksgiving sacrifice to Dia (HimHer - the spirit has no gender). For it was Dia who intervened and helped them to conceive after years of trying. Dia said that Tulun (people/human) must never forget that it was at the spirits' mercy and grace that the Tuluns are blessed with good fortune. Hence, Dia required sogit (restitution) less misfortune would befallen to the Tuluns. "Choose!" Dia said. "Should we spare your wife and child and curse all Tulun wth misfortune for a hundred years or should we spare the Tulun but take one that you love dearest!". 

When Setipun heard Dia's condition, his face turned ashen and he fell to the ground on his knees begging for forgiveness and mercy. Setipun turned to the Bobolian, "Please! Please! Please tell my Lord to take my life instead. I would gladly die for my wife and child and for our people! Don't punish them for my sin! PLEASE!". 

From Dudley Colliery to Borneo - by Marshall Creswell

I found an interesting journal written by one Marshall Creswell who traveled to Sarawak sometime in 1856. The document is freely circulating in the internet, so I'm going to reproduce it here and I will highlight parts that I found interesting. For your information, I downloaded the document from www.scribd.com. 

So, join me for a trip to Sarawak of old -

Credit of course to the original author and to Mr Martin Laverty who transcribed and annotated this piece. Annotation at the bottom of page.  

New Sabahan

The other day I was having my breakfast at my former classmate's restaurant. As I was waiting for my favourite 'Bee Hoon Goreng Basah' to be served to me, I beckoned one of the girls that usually serves me, to my table.


She came over to my table, I told her to have a seat and then we had the following conversation :

Me : So, the other day, you told me that you are a Visaya? It’s Visaya right? Not Bisaya?

Girl : Yes, Visaya.

Me : So you are from the Philippines? Bisaya and Visaya are actually the same people right? Only that here, the Bisayas are Muslims and the Visaya in the Philippines are predominantly Christians.

Girl : Yes, they are the same. My parents are from the Philippines but I was born here.

Me : So you're a Christian?

Girl : My parents and I were Christian but we converted to Islam.

Me : I see. So do you have a Mykad?

Girl : Yes, I have a Mykad (she smiled sheepishly).

Me : Urh.. Don't you find it..urm..uncomfortable working in a Chinese restaurant and having to serve pork to customers?

Girl : Not at all! I only serve them and I don't touch the food.

Me : So where do you live?

Girl : Kampung Bingkul. I stay with my relatives.

Me : Where are your parents?

Girl : They are back in the Philippines but they will come for Raya soon.

Kampung Bingkul, by the way,  is hometown to our illustrious Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Aman and Foreign Minister Dato' Anifah Aman. Or at least they have relatives there. That kampung produced two ministers! Cool neighbourhood the girl live in.

Homemade Bokashi Part 2

Ok, an update to my little experiment. My first attempt to propagate beneficial microbes was a FAIL because the rice wash that I used contained chlorine!

Take note of the protein, carbohydrate & fat residues floating at the surface & the bottom  indicated by the arrows. The circle is where the liquid is. 

In my first attempt, the protein, carbohydrate and fat (PCF) just became lumpy residues. In my second attempt, I took a cup of rice and then mixed it with 2 cups of rain water. That was on 4 July 2011. On 12 July 2011, I mixed 200 ml of the rice wash with 2 ltr of milk and look what I found the next day 13 July 2011. Not even 24 hours had passed. 

LOOK AT THAT! Look at the difference. A layer of PCF cake about 2 inches thick floating at the surface and it looked dry! I guess there really is something in the water.

If you're asking why I let the container sit on water, the reason is I don't want ants to come feeding on the milk.

This is another experiment I'm trying suggested by a fellow farmer, Abang Mat. This liquid is molasses mixed with a bottle of Vitagen which contained Lactobacillus Acidophilus. I'm propagating the bacteria, the molasses is food for the bacteria. 

As suggested by Abang Mat, I invested on a RM9/- aquarium air pump and aerated the molasses. More update coming soon.

Dusun Tatana Wedding Dowry?

It's hot during the day to work and having nothing better to do, I decided to rummage through my mom's stuff hehehe.. Yeah, I'm an Indiana Jones of sort but for good reason. You see, I'm collecting whatever family history I could before my mother forgot about them. Her mind is not as sharp as it used to be and these days, she's becoming more and more absent minded. Gosh, she's not going senile! Why did you even think of that! Just her internal processor slowed down a bit. This one cannot upgrade, hardware too obsolete for the new processor out there these days. 

Anyway, I found the only thing that she inherited or claimed as her right(being the eldest) from my late maternal grandmother Mary Motto(cool surname right)! She's half suluk by the way or at least that is what family story says so. They say her father got shipwrecked and stranded in Kuala Penyu. His name was Disman and he was called the Laksamana by the people of Kuala Penyu and he was from the Philippines. Name me one seafaring people from the Philippines who often either raided or traded with the natives of North Borneo? The Sulu or Suluk comes to mind. You should see her brother's(my late Ingkung or granduncle) descendants, they have sharp facial features! High nose bridge, not very common in Dusun people. Macam ang moh! And what do we at this side of the family get? Typical Dusun noses LOL. *fist in the air* Damn you gene! [I'm not mentioning names here to protect the privacy of my beautiful relatives :P]

Pesta Rumbia 2011 - Kuala Penyu

Seeing that Pesta Rumbia will be celebrated from today till 10 July 2011 in Kuala Penyu, I thought I dedicate the following video to all the Dusun Tatana out there and also in honour of my Dusun Tatana heritage.

Take special notice of the Tatana's traditional war dance called Bakanjar.

Record Breaking and it's in Borneo!

Breaking news and I'm honored to be one of the few to have the privilege to break this news to the WORLD! Borneo, the third largest island in the world has many bragging rights.

One of the Oldest Tropical Rainforest in the World 

It's rainforest is 130 million years old! 

Unique Flora and Fauna

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangutan

Orang Utans are found only in Borneo and Sumatra. 

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Cat

The Bay Cat or Borneo Cat is only found in of course Borneo!

Source : http://www.familyadventuretravelworks.com/tag/rafflesia

World's biggest flower. Well, we can't claim to be the only place to have this flower but hey, we're famous for it!

Yady yada.... You get the point. Now.........(drum roll)....... Another "fauna" from Borneo has made us proud! THE LONGEST LIVING HUMAN BEING IN THE WORLD!

Homemade Bokashi Brew explained.

I didn't expect my post about Homemade Bokashi to receive so much interest. Comments/questions made by Abang Mat, Lee and my Aunt Tina got me thinking about the whole workings of the process. I got the recipe for the concoction over the internet but said instruction did not explain the reason behind the process. So I decided to look under the hood. If I am going to be a successful modern farmer, then I would have to understand the process and the scientific aspects of farming. Therefore today, I put away my pitch fork, my straw hat and dived in to my research.  

One particular farmer/scientist who hails from the Philippines has been particularly helpful. In fact, I think the recipe came from him but others (and soon myself) started spreading the love around but always gave credit to him. His name is Gil Carandang. 

Perasan - Femoos konon :P

Few days ago Borneo Colours contacted me via my Facebook account and said that they wanted to feature me and asked whether I was okay with it. I was of course, pleasantly surprised and happily agreed to it. 

So today my face is plastered on their website as a featured blogger :P. Click here Perasan to read my interview :P. The reason I'm posting this here is partly because I'm vain but for the most part, I just want to say that I'm humbled by the appreciation. My blog is nothing to hoot about, I'm a newcomer to blogsphere and there are tons of better blogs out there who have thousands of hits. Mine, baru 15,000 :P. 

I'm just happy that there are people who actually appreciate the stuff that I write and actually recommend my blog to their readers. To these folks, I thank you for your generous endorsement.

Among the few that I "noticed" to have referred my blog:

Bubut on Tumblr 

Bubut on Facebook

Si Bei Song ah! hehehe

Now if only my Nuffnang commission starts moving. It has been at RM1.25 since 3 months ago :(. 

Operation Lady Gaga - The Bitch

Lady Gaga or Lady, our bitch (yes, she's a bitch) gave birth to 8 puppies yesterday! It's her first pregnancy and she was impregnated by a neighbor's dog.

Unfortunately for Lady, her mother Nini, didn't appreciate being replaced as the baby making bitch in our household. Lady was in labor in the wee morning of yesterday and as she was delivering, Nini beat her! My aunt, whom we affectionately called Meg(Gyver) because she's like a human swiss army knife, had to intervene. 

In the afternoon yesterday, when our maid Lucia went to do a headcount, she counted 7 puppies! What happened to 1 of the puppies? We suspected Nini had committed infanticide. Evil grandmother that Nini. 

Yesterday as we were watching TV, we heard Lady crying downstairs. Nini was at it again so my Aunt MegGyver intervened again. It was dark and it was raining. Note that the following pictures were lit only by my camera's flash. 

Majabut 2.0 :P

Ahh.. I was watching The Effing Show just now and was reminded of an embarrassing interview by Al Jazeera with our former Minister of Information not so long ago. Seriously, how could I have forgotten about that interview. I mean, that infamous interview only managed to make Malaysia looked like a nincompoop! Maybe I blocked that memory. That's it, I've blocked, that's why I've forgotten about it. 

Do you still remember that interview? If you haven't seen it, click on the video below. As the former minister vehemently denied that the government was cracking down on a peaceful protest, the reporter professionally told him that she was watching a live stream of protesters being sprayed by chemical. He said he's watching the live stream too and insisted that the government response was not violent. *triple facepalm* LOL. As if embarrassing himself was not enough, he also "insulted" Pakistan and Myanmar by insinuating that only the government of these countries treat their citizens badly. 

Anyway, as we know it, the Rakyat punished this guy in 2008 and he's no longer holding that office.

Bunga Raja

My mom showed me the most peculiar flower today. She said it is called Bunga Raja, literally means "King Flower". Apparently it only bloom at midnight and once bloomed, it would just wither away. 

So last night, she and a relative of mine staked out and waited for the flower to bloom. She observed that around 10 pm, it started blooming and by 12 midnight, it bloomed fully. Then they pluck it and put it in the refrigerator. She observe that it stayed bloomed longer in the refrigerator than if she had left it on the plant. 

Started to wither. I didn't think of taking a picture when it was in full bloom

I had a whiff of it and it smelled really nice! According to that relative of mine, this flower has medicinal property. They will be cooking this flower in a soup, supposedly it is good for people who has heart problem. 

Here's another picture of the flower I "borrowed" from http://mtfworld.blogspot.com/2010/01/bunga-raja-flower-king.html :

Strange and beautiful flower you are. Why do you bloom at night when no one would be able to appreciate you.

Homemade Bokashi Part 1

I found this "recipe" for Bokashi online and decided to try/experiment with it. I have started to propagate other vegetables and fruits at my farm. Therefore, if I can make my own fertilizers, that would certainly bring down my operating cost.

The things that were required according to the "recipe" are rice, non-chlorinated water, milk and molasses. I put the rice into the water and washed them. Then I remove the rice and kept the water in a cool and dark place for five days. I did not cover the lit of the container that I used to store the water. 

When I checked the water on the 5th day, I noticed that there were bubbles on the surface of the water and that the water itself was whitish in colour. I guess the fermenting process was working. I wonder whether there are any beneficial microbes in the water? Too bad I don't have a microscope.

I bought 2 litres of milk for the first stage. 

Pour them into this container.

The ratio for water and milk is 1 part water and 10 parts milk. So in this case, I have 2 litres of milk. Hence, I mixed 200 mililitres of rice water or water. 

200 ml of rice water. Noticed the whitish colour of the water.

Mixed milk with rice water and store them in a cool and dark place. 

I didn't tighten the lid, just placed it on top of the bottle. My mushroom house finally has its use.

Now all I have to do is just checked it again on 7 July 2011. Let's see what monster will grow in them.

The Police and Your Rights

The Malaysian Bar Council has come up with a handbook dubbed Red Book detailing what the police can do and can't do and your rights when it comes to dealing with the police. I thought I share them with you here as I think not a lot of people are aware of its existence.

Let me qualify that this post is not about "civilians versus the police". The Police is an important organ of our society. They are peacekeepers and they put their lives on the line so that we could sleep well at night. 

Unfortunately, in this imperfect world, there are undoubtedly rogue element(s) in the force and I think the Police themselves would readily admit this. There's always a bad apple in a group. One of the ways we could help the Police clean themselves of bad apples is by having knowledge. If you know your rights, these rogue cops would be less likely be inclined to do wrongdoings on you. So go ahead, play your part, get knowledgeable. You can download the Red Book here. Be generous and spread it among your friends and family.