ALFANG

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Predictions

China's 7.9 Earthquake predicted by Juseleeno (Jucelino) Nobulega Da Roose? Some of his predictions for 2008 include:

�� 2008
�� successful development of effective drugs for treatment of AIDS disease and Dengue fever
�� 18 of July: 8.1 earthquake in Philippines; thousands of people dead.
�� Sept: terrorist attacks at the New York Empire State Building
�� 13 of Sept: Super-strong 9.1 earthquake in China; epicenter in Nanning and Hainan Island; also results in over 30 meters of tsunami costing millions of lives; likely to devastate Japan as well.

Editor's note: 12th of May and 13th of Sept are only a few months apart; at least he got the year correct but the magnitude of the destruction has been scaled down. Or could it mean that there will be another more devastating earthquake in Sept in China? It is mentioned on a forum in Jan 2008 that although this huge 9.1 earthquake happens after the Olympics ends in August 2008, there will be a series of relatively 'smaller' earthquakes occurring in China before this huge earthquake. This suggests that the recent 7.9 mag Sichuan earthquake is only one of those 'smaller' earthquakes which precede the mega 9.1 mag earthquake in Sept 2008. Scary thought isn't it? Only time can tell...

Unusual 'Earthquake Clouds' reportedly observed in Shandong on 9th of May, more than 1400 km away from the epicenter of the 7.9 mag Sichuan earthquake. What are earthquake clouds?

Some of his predictions for 2009 include:
�� 2009
�� 25th of Jan: an 8.9 mag earthquake in Kobe and Osaka, hundreds of thousands of people will be killed.
�� Nov: another major earthquake will occur in Japan again, thousands of people dead.
�� Economic crisis causes delays in payment of pension and insurance funds in Brazil; city and prison riots rampant.
�� 24th of Aug: 8.9 mag earthquake in Istanbul of Turkey; the streets will be devastated.
�� 16th of Dec: Sumatra 7.8 mag earthquake in Indonesia's Sumatra Islands in the East; thousands of people dead.

�� 2010
�� average temperature of the African nations could be as high as 58 degrees Celsius; severe water shortages and droughts.
�� 15th of May: New York stock market collapses, the world's economy plunges into major crisis.

�� 2011
�� research into effective treatment of cancer successful, but a new disease will emerge. This deadly virus is named 'ALS'; if infected with the virus, one can die in as short as just four hours.
�� H5N1 strain of bird flu infects humans; pandemic causes more than 3 million humans to perish by 2013.

�� 2012
�� massive desertification occurs from 2015 to 2020, leading to disappearance of a large part of amazon.
�� from 6th Dec, the sky worldwide begins to turn gloomy: An ominous event which precedes dramatic earth changes and widespread and severe natural calamities.
�� dramatic spread of infectious diseases signifies beginning of human extinction.

�� 2013
�� research into effective treatment of cancers (other than brain tumour) successful.
�� violent eruption of volcano on Bahamas Island of the West Indies (islands near Caribbean Sea) from 1st to 25th of November, triggering unprecedented 150m high tsunami which travel rapidly to devastate large coastal areas of US, Brazil, etc. with about 80m high water waves. These huge killer waves will travel inland for about 20 km, causing tremendous loss of lives. Before the onset of the tsunami, sea level in the affected areas will drop by about 6 m and mass migration of birds will be observed.

�� 2014
�� scientists discover that the slowly approaching asteroid 2002 NT7 might be on a colliding course with the Earth; if so, will lead to an unprecedented castastrophe which threatens the existence of mankind.

�� 2015
�� Nov: the average temperature of the Earth could be as high as 59 degrees Celsius and the resulting heat waves will kill scores; world will become more chaotic after this.

�� 2016
�� mid April: powerful typhoon(s) strike China's metropolis; causing widespread damage and leaving about 1,000 people dead.
�� U.S. (Ex) President George W. Bush will be rushed to hospital and face life-threatening crisis.

�� 2018
�� leaders and scientists of the world largest countries in heated disputes amidst discussions on ways to avert the 'colliding asteroid' disaster. (Note: Jucelino had already, in 2000, foreseen the forthcoming disaster and had warned the NASA of the existence of this asteroid. NASA had confirmed its existence and had named the asteroid '2002 NT7' on 31st June 2002. From news on the web,

'On July 9, 2002, the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research Project (an MIT Lincoln Laboratory program funded by the United States Air Force and NASA) in New Mexico detected a 1.2-mile-wide (2 km) asteroid. It has an orbit around our sun of 837 days, and early calculations indicate there is a small chance that this asteroid will collide with Earth on February 1, 2019 ... Asteroid 2002 NT7 has the potential to strike the Earth at over 64,000 mph and delivering and explosive force of 1.2 million megatons of TNT. The result of an impact by 2002 NT7 would be destruction of 'biblical proportions'.'

�� 2019
�� scientists may develop an ingenious way to avert the asteriod catastrophe; but if a collision results, one-third of the world population will perish. Jucelino predicted a probability of about 60 percent.
�� major quake (more powerful than the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake) on eastern coast of Japan, leading to widespread destruction.

Posted by Power of Dream at 11:47 PM

Unit trust switching graph -records (08/07/2008)

Unit trust daily chart for :

- OSK Emerging Opp Fund
- Public Mutual Smallcap Fund

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Stat Dec: Najib knew Altantuya, dinner in Paris

from elizabeth wong by elizabethwong

STATUTORY DECLARATION

I, Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal (NRIC NO: 600928-08-6235) a Malaysian Citizen of full age and residing at No. 32, Jalan Pelangi 1, Taman Pelangi, Rawang, Selangor do solemly and sincerely declare as follows :-

1. I have been a police officer with the Royal Malaysian Police Force having jointed as a constable in 1981 attached to the Police Field Force. I was then promoted to the rank of lance Corporal and finally resigned from the Police Force in 1998 when I was with the Special Branch.

2. I have been working as a free lance Private Investigator since I left the Police Force.

3. Sometime in June or July 2006, I was employed by Abdul Razak Baginda for a period of 10 days to look after him at his office at the Bangunan Getah Asli, Jalan Ampang between the hours of 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m each working day as apparently he was experiencing disturbances from a third party.

4. I resigned from this job after 2 ½ days as I was not receiving any proper instructions.

5. I was however re-employed by Abdul Razak Baginda on the 05-10-2006 as he had apparently received a harassing phone call from a Chinese man calling himself ASP Tan who had threatened him to pay his debts. I later found out this gentleman was in fact a private investigator called Ang who was employed by a Mongolian woman called Altantuya Shaaribuu.

6. Abdul Razak Baginda was concerned that a person by the name of Altantuya Shaaribuu, a Mongolian woman, was behind this threat and that she would be arriving in Malaysia very soon to try and contact him.

7. Abdul Razak Baginda informed me that he was concerned by this as he had been advised that Altantuya Shaaribuu had been given some powers by a Mongolian ‘bomoh’ and that he could never look her in the face because of this.

8. When I enquired as to who this Mongolian woman was, Abdul Razak Baginda informed me that she was a friend of his who had been introduced to him by a VIP and who asked him to look after her financially.

9. I advised him to lodge a police report concerning the threatening phone call he had received from the Chinese man known as ASP Tan but he refused to do so as he informed me there were some high profile people involved.

10. Abdul Razak Baginda further told me that Altantuya Shaaribuu was a great liar and good in convincing people. She was supposed to have been very demanding financially and that he had even financed a property for her in Mongolia.

11. Abdul Razak Baginda then let me listen to some voice messages on his handphone asking him to pay what was due otherwise he would be harmed and his daughter harassed.

12. I was therefore supposed to protect his daughter Rowena as well.

13. On the 09.10.2006 I received a phone call from Abdul Razak Baginda at about 9.30 a.m. informing me that Altantuya was in his office and he wanted me there immediately. As I was in the midst of a surveillance, I sent my assistant Suras to Abdul Razak Baginda’s office and I followed a little later. Suras managed to control the situation and had persuaded Altantuya and her two friends to leave the premises. However Altantuya left a note written on some Hotel Malaya note paper, in English, asking Abdul Razak Baginda to call her on her handphone (number given) and wrote down her room number as well.

14. Altantuya had introduced herself to Suras as ‘Aminah’ and had informed Suras she was there to see her boyfriend Abdul Razak Baginda.

15. These 3 Mongolian girls however returned to Abdul Razak Baginda’s office at the Bangunan Getah Asli, Jalan Ampang again, the next day at about 12.00 noon. They did not enter the building but again informed Suras that they wanted to meet Aminah’s boyfriend, Abdul Razak Baginda.

16. On the 11.10.2006, Aminah returned to Abdul Razak Baginda’s office on her own and gave me a note to pass to him, which I did. Abdul Razak Baginda showed me the note which basically asked him to call her urgently.

17. I suggested to Abdul Razak Baginda that perhaps it may be wise to arrange for Aminah to be arrested if she harassed him further, but he declined as he felt she would have to return to Mongolia as soon as her cash ran out.

18. In the meantime I had arranged for Suras to perform surveillance on Hotel Malaya to monitor the movements of these 3 Mongolian girls, but they recognized him. Apparently they become friends with Suras after that and he ended up spending a few nights in their hotel room.

19. When Abdul Razak Baginda discovered Suras was becoming close to Aminah he asked me to pull him out from Hotel Malaya.

20. On the 14.10.2006, Aminah turned up at Abdul Razak Baginda’s house in Damansara Heights when I was not there. Abdul Razak Baginda called me on my handphone to inform me of this so I rushed back to his house. As I arrived, I noticed Aminah outside the front gates shouting “Razak, bastard, come out from the house”. I tried to calm her down but couldn’t so I called the police who arrived in 2 patrol cars. I explained the situation to the police, who took her away to the Brickfields police station.

21. I followed the patrol cars to Brickfields police station in a taxi. I called Abdul Razak Baginda and his lawyer Dirren to lodge a police report but they refused.

22. When I was at the Brickfields police station, Aminah’s own Private Investigator, one Mr. Ang arrived and we had a discussion. I was told to deliver a demand to Abdul Razak Baginda for USD$500,000.00 and 3 tickets to Mongolia, apparently as commission owed to Aminah from a deal in Paris.

23. As Aminah had calmed down at this stage, a policewoman at the Brickfields police station advised me to leave and settle the matter amicably.

24. I duly informed Abdul Razak Baginda of the demands Aminah had made and told him I was disappointed that no one wanted to back me up in lodging a police report. We had a long discussion about the situation when I expressed a desire to pull out of this assignment.

25. During this discussion and in an attempt to persuade me to continue my employment with him, Abdul Razak Baginda informed me that :-

25.1 He had been introduced to Aminah by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at a diamond exhibition in Singapore.

25.2 Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak informed Abdul Razak Baginda that he had a sexual relationship with Aminah and that she was susceptible to anal intercourse.

25.3 Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak wanted Abdul Razak Baginda to look after Aminah as he did not want her to harass him since he was now the Deputy Prime Minister.

25.4 Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Abdul Razak Baginda and Aminah had all been together at a dinner in Paris.

25.5 Aminah wanted money from him as she felt she was entitled to a USD$500,000.00 commission on a submarine deal she assisted with in Paris.

26. On the 19.10.2006, I arrived at Abdul Razak Baginda’s house in Damansara Heights to begin my night duty. I had parked my car outside as usual. I saw a yellow proton perdana taxi pass by with 3 ladies inside, one of whom was Aminah. The taxi did a U-turn and stopped in front of the house where these ladies rolled down the window and wished me ‘Happy Deepavali’. The taxi then left.

27. About 20 minutes later the taxi returned with only Aminah in it. She got out of the taxi and walked towards me and started talking to me. I sent an SMS to Abdul Razak Baginda informing him “Aminah was here”. I received an SMS from Razak instructing me “To delay her until my man comes”.

28. Whist I was talking to Aminah, she informed me of the following :-

28.1 That she met Abdul Razak Baginda in Singapore with Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

28.2 That she had also met Abdul Razak Baginda and Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at a dinner in Paris.

28.3 That she was promised a sum of USD$500,000.00 as commission for assisting in a Submarine deal in Paris.

28.4 That Abdul Razak Baginda had bought her a house in Mongolia but her brother had refinanced it and she needed money to redeem it.

28.5 That her mother was ill and she needed money to pay for her treatment.

28.6 That Abdul Razak Baginda had married her in Korea as her mother is Korean whilst her father was a Mongolian/Chinese mix.

28.7 That if I wouldn’t allow her to see Abdul Razak Baginda, would I be able to arrange for her to see Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

29. After talking to Aminah for about 15 minutes, a red proton aeroback arrived with a woman and two men. I now know the woman to be Lance Corporal Rohaniza and the men, Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azahar. They were all in plain clothes. Azilah walked towards me while the other two stayed in the car.

30. Azilah asked me whether the woman was Aminah and I said ‘Yes’. He then walked off and made a few calls on his handphone. After 10 minutes another vehicle, a blue proton saga, driven by a Malay man, passed by slowly. The drivers window had been wound down and the driver was looking at us.

31. Azilah then informed me they would be taking Aminah away. I informed Aminah they were arresting her. The other two persons then got out of the red proton and exchanged seats so that Lance Corporal Rohaniza and Aminah were in the back while the two men were in the front. They drove off and that is the last I ever saw of Aminah.

32. Abdul Razak Baginda was not at home when all this occurred.

33. After the 19.10.2006, I continued to work for Abdul Razak Baginda at his house in Damansara Heights from 7.00 p.m. to 8.00 a.m. the next morning, as he had been receiving threatening text messages from a woman called ‘Amy’ who was apparently ‘Aminah’s’ cousin in Mongolia.

34. On the night of the 20.10.2006, both of Aminah’s girl friends turned up at Abdul Razak Baginda’s house enquiring where Aminah was. I informed them she had been arrested the night before.

35. A couple of nights later, these two Mongolian girls, Mr. Ang and another Mongolian girl called ‘Amy’ turned up at Abdul Razak Baginda’s house looking for Aminah as they appeared to be convinced she was being held in the house.

36. A commotion began so I called the police who arrived shortly thereafter in a patrol car. Another patrol car arrived a short while later in which was the investigating officer from the Dang Wangi Police Station who was in charge of the missing persons report lodged by one of the Mongolians girls, I believe was Amy.

37. I called Abdul Razak Baginda who was at home to inform him of the events taking place at his front gate. He then called DSP Musa Safri and called me back informing me that Musa Safri would be calling handphone and I was to pass the phone to the Inspector from Dang Wangi Police Station.

38. I then received a call on my handphone from Musa Safri and duly handed the phone to the Dang Wangi Inspector. The conversation lasted 3 – 4 minutes after which he told the girls to disperse and to go to see him the next day.

39. On or about the 24.10.2006, Abdul Razak Baginda instructed me to accompany him to the Brickfields police station as he had been advised to lodge a police report about the harassment he was receiving from these Mongolian girls.

40. Before this, Amy had sent me an SMS informing me she was going to Thailand to lodge a report with the Mongolian consulate there regarding Aminah’s disappearance. Apparently she had sent the same SMS to Abdul Razak Baginda. This is why he told me he had been advised to lodge a police report.

41. Abdul Razak Baginda informed me that DPS Musa Safri had introduced him to one DSP Idris, the head of the Criminal division, Brickfields police station, and that Idris had referred him to ASP Tonny.

42. When Abdul Razak Baginda had lodged his police report at Brickfields police station, in front of ASP Tonny, he was asked to make a statement but he refused as he said he was leaving for overseas. He did however promise to prepare a statement and hand ASP Tonny a thumb drive. I know that this was not done as ASP Tonny told me.

43. However ASP Tonny asked me the next day to provide my statement instead and so I did.

44. I stopped working for Abdul Razak Baginda on the 26.10.2006 as this was the day he left for Hong Kong on his own.

45. In mid November 2006, I received a phone call from ASP Tonny from the IPK Jalan Hang Tuah asking me to see him regarding Aminah’s case. When I arrived there I was immediately arrested under S.506 of the Penal Code for Criminal intimidation.

46. I was then placed in the lock up and remanded for 5 days. On the third day I was released on police bail.

47. At the end of November 2006, the D9 department of the IPK sent a detective to my house to escort me to the IPK Jalan Hang Tuah. When I arrived, I was told I was being arrested under S.302 of the Penal Code for murder. I was put in the lock up and remanded for 7 days.

48. I was transported to Bukit Aman where I was interrogated and questioned about an SMS I had received from Abdul Razak Baginda on the 19.10.2006 which read “delay her until my man arrives”. They had apparently retrieved this message from Abdul Razak Baginda’s handphone.

49. They then proceeded to record my statement from 8.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. everyday for 7 consecutive days. I told them all I knew including everything Abdul Razak Baginda and Aminah had told me about their relationships with Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak but when I came to sign my statement, these details had been left out.

50. I have given evidence in the trial of Azilah, Sirul and Abdul Razak Baginda at the Shah Alam High Court. The prosecutor did not ask me any questions in respect of Aminah’s relationship with Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak or of the phone call I received from DSP Musa Safri, whom I believe was the ADC for Datuk Seri Najib Razak and/or his wife.

51. On the day Abdul Razak Baginda was arrested, I was with him at his lawyers office at 6.30 a.m. Abdul Razak Baginda informed us that he had sent Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak an SMS the evening before as he refused to believe he was to be arrested, but had not received a response.

52. Shortly thereafter, at about 7.30 a.m., Abdul Razak Baginda received an SMS from Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and showed, this message to both myself and his lawyer. This message read as follows :- “ I am seeing IGP at 11.00 a.m. today …… matter will be solved … be cool”.

53. I have been made to understand that Abdul Razak Baginda was arrested the same morning at his office in the Bangunan Getah Asli, Jalan Ampang.

54. The purpose of this Statutory declaration is to :-

54.1 State my disappointment at the standard of investigations conducted by the authorities into the circumstances surrounding the murder of Altantuya Shaaribuu.

54.2 Bring to the notice of the relevant authorities the strong possibility that there are individuals other than the 3 accused who must have played a role in the murder of Altantuya Shaaribuu.

54.3 Persuade the relevant authorities to reopen their investigations into this case immediately so that any fresh evidence may be presented to the Court prior to submissions at the end of the prosecutions case.

54.4 Emphasize the fact that having been a member of the Royal Malaysian Police Force for 17 years I am absolutely certain no police officer would shoot someone in the head and blow up their body without receiving specific instructions from their superiors first.

54.5. Express my concern that should the defence not be called in the said murder trial, the accused, Azilah and Sirul will not have to swear on oath and testify as to the instructions they received and from whom they were given.

55. And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same be true and by virtue of the provisions of the Statutory Declaration Act 1960.

SUBCRIBED and solemnly )

declared by the abovenamed )

Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal ]

this day of 2008 )

Before me,

………………………………….
Commissioner for Oath
Kuala Lumpur

Friday, May 16, 2008

10 World’s Top Engineering Schools 2007

By SKORCAREER • May 16th, 2008 •

Followings are the list of world’s 10 top universities for the field of engineering and technology produced by Times Higher Education. As of today, this is the latest list as the 2008 ranking is yet to come out.

A student wishing to get the best of exposure, knowledge, learning curve, and create one hell of engineer, these are the institutions you should aim to get in. Whether you’re sitting for SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia), STPM (Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia) enrolling in foundation studies (e.g. A-Levels, Matriculation), sitting for TOEFL & SAT and filling up your UCAS form, now is the time to start aiming.

1. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), US

MIT Engineering Campus MIT was founded in 1861 which combined polytechnic models in Europe, especially German and French. In World War II (WWII), MIT played a key role as a research and development center for defense-related technologies which included radar, missile guidance and military computer application.

Later, it evolved to provide other field of courses that encompass economics, linguistic, political science and management. However, technology and engineering remain as the university’s strongest legacy. The founder of JobStreet.com, Malaysia’s largest online recruitment website, Mark Chang went to this school.

2. University of California, Berkeley, US

University of California Berkeley Engineering Course The university, often referred as ‘Berkeley’ or ‘Cal’ was established about 140 years ago as a result of a merger between 2 private colleges. Similar to MIT, Berkeley also produced some smart engineers who were involved in the World War II and developed the atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs. The Berkeley students are not only good academically but they also have reputation to produce excellent sportsmen and competitive athletes. To date, their athletes have won an astounding figure of more than 100 medals in Olympic Games.

Malaysian top-notch swimmer, Alex Lim received his sports degree in Berkeley. In 2002, Alex became agonizingly close to winning a 50 meter back-stoke in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, United Kingdom, losing by 0.02 second to the world champion and multiple-record holder, Ian Thorpe, or popularly nick named ‘The Torpedo’.

Former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin also graduated from the University of California, in the field of law.

3. Stanford University, US

Stanford Engineering Field and Courses Another American institution, which was interesting enough, built on a horse farm. It was formed by a California Governor, Leland Stanford and his wife, in tribute to their son, who died of typhoid at a tender age of 18. In the earlier years, the number of female students were capped with certain quota, as Stanford’s wife felt that large number of female students would violate the honor to their son’s tribute.

Technically, Stanford University is considered to have the world’s largest campus, as it occupies the largest land area. The institution enrolls between 14,000 to 18,000 students at one time.

In 1997, Stanford accepted enrollment of a 14-year old Malaysian by the name of Lim Huat Chye, who graduated with a Degree in Computer Science 4 years later, at 18. He went on to work with the world’s biggest online bookstore, Amazon.com. Among other prominent Malaysians with educational background from Stanford are Tan Sri Dr Wan Mohd Zahid Noordin, former Director of Education and Guthrie Chairman, as well as Tan Sri Awang Had Salleh, Vice Chancellor of UPSI and Chairman of a number of private tertiary institutes.

4. California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), US

California Technology Engineering Field California Institute of Technology or more popularly known as Caltech is a private institution with strong reputation in engineering and natural sciences. It even houses a NASA laboratory in the campus which oversees the design work and operation of unmanned space probes. The size of the students is considered relatively small, with only over 2000 students occupying the university at one time, but this small number is a bunch of talented students. The institution is also known to have produced many Nobel winning researchers and professors.

Caltech admitted its youngest ever graduate about 15 years ago and the student was a Malaysian by the name of Chiang Ti Ming. Ti Ming was barely 15 when enrolled into the university, and after 4 years graduated among the top 5% of the class. Unfortunately the prodigy died in his hometown, Negeri Sembilan in 2007 at the age of 31.

5. University of Cambridge, UK

Cambridge University Engineering The best engineering school in England and United Kingdom. Often, Cambridge and Oxford Universities compete head to head on general reputation but when it comes to technical field, Cambridge is always ahead of its rival.

Ironically, Cambridge was formed by a group of scholars who left Oxford University, after a dispute with local town folks. Every year, the institution accepts between approximately 5-10 Malaysians for enrollment in various courses and colleges, with many of them eventually become the country’s think tanks and corporate hotshots.

The most well-known one is arguably the late Dr Liew Boon Horng, who was crushed to death in his BMW after a block of concrete fell down in the infamous Plaza Damas incident in 2006. Dr Liew was a former McKinsey & Co stalwart before he left and co-founded Ethos Consulting, which is a consulting firm for many government linked companies (GLCs).

6. Imperial College, UK

Imperial College of Engineering, Science and Medicine Imperial College officially goes by the long name of Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, and is located near the heart of one of the world’s most expensive cities, London, and to be exact, South Kensington. It used to belong to the University of London constituent before but today it is no longer the case.

The college also houses the prominent Royal Albert Hall, where the country’s top singer, Siti Nurhaliza, used to perform. The hall is used for the graduation ceremony of students. Imperial is known to be one of the most selective universities in the world, having recorded a consistent acceptance rate of well below 20%.

The present President and CEO of Ranhill Berhad, Tan Sri Hamdan Mohamad, received his masters from Imperial College, while former HEP Vice Chancellor of UTM, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Kamal Idris obtained his PhD in the same institute.

7. Carnegie Mellon University, US

Carnegie Mellon Engineering Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon was founded by Andrew Carnegie, the famous industrialist and philanthropist in 1900. For many years, the university has been consistently ranked among the top 20 universities in the world. On approximation, about 70% of the students admitted to the university are in the top 10% of their high school classes, while their engineering and computer science courses are considered the best in its class.

In 2006, Carnegie Mellon collaborated with Universiti Malaya (UM) to provide master’s degree program in Information Technology Management.

8. Georgia Institute of Technology, US

Georgia Tech Engineering Courses Georgia Institute, or more commonly known as Georgia Tech, is one of the few public universities in the top list. From only 2 buildings during its formation, the university has grown into providing hundreds of courses to close to 20,000 graduate and undergraduate students, as well as becoming a well-known center with very active research activities.

As a matter of fact, many start up companies have been born out of research works initiated by Georgia Tech, with many of them went on to produce many patented technologies.

Unfortunately, the university is also notoriously known as ‘one of the toughest universities’ in the United States, and produce many ‘unhappy students’ due to tough academic life.

9. University of Tokyo, Japan

University of Tokyo belongs to a ring of a so-called the Seven Universities, which refers to seven top public institutions of higher education in Japan. Uni of Tokyo tops the rank, with Kyoto University considered its biggest rival.

University of Tokyo is one of the only two Asian universities in the world’s top 10 rank in the field of engineering and technology. At the moment, more than 30,000 students are enrolled in the campus, with less than 10% of them foreigners, including Malaysians.

10. National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore

National University of Singapore Engineering While Malaysia embarrassingly does not have any of its university even in the top 200 list of world’s best university, the neighboring Singaporeans can jump in joy and delight.

Ranked in 10th means National University of Singapore, the oldest and largest university in the country, gets the better of Oxford, Princeton, Harvard, Cornell and so on.

Apart from its main campus, NUS also have colleges in Philadelphia, Silicon Valley, Shanghai, Stockholm and Bangalore.

Technorati Tags: top colleges, us university ranking

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Bible - History of the Malay translation

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Not too many people realize that long before Bible translations in Chinese, Tamil or Tagalog became available, Matthew's Gospel had already been translated into Malay by a Dutch tradesman named Albert Cornelisz Ruyl. The text was completed in 1612, only a year after the English King James Version was released, and was printed in 1629. It is fascinating that this Matthew's Gospel in Malay is the very first non-European translation of a Bible portion. An original copy of this Malay translation of Matthew's Gospel entitled: Iang Testamentum Baharu: Evangelium Mulkadus Bersuratnja Kepada Mattheum is now found at the Public Library of Stuttgard, Germany.

Ruyl continued his Malay translation with the assistance of Jan van Hasel and Justus Heurnius and their edition of the Four Gospels and Acts was printed in 1651. This was followed a year later by the printing of the Psalms in Malay, prepared by the latter two authors. After the translation of Genesis, printed in 1662, the Rev. Daniel Brouwerious went on to produce the first complete Malay translation of the New Testament in 1668; unfortunately this translation suffers from the excessive use of Portuguese loan words.

Melchior Leijdecker, a Dutch medical doctor with theological training, gave us the very first complete Bible in Malay in 1733. He translated the New Testament (printed 1731) and then the whole Bible while based in Batavia (now Jakarta) with the assistance of a review committee. The publication entitled: Elkitab, Ija itu segala Surat Perdjandjian Lama dan Baharuw was printed in Amsterdam in Roman script. Twenty-five years later a five-volume Malay Bible in Jawi script was published in 1758. Leijdecker's Malay Bible provided an important beginning and his work was extensively revised during the 19th century by a series of translators who were based both in what is now called Indonesia and Peninsular Malaysia.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, a Dutch Mennonite missionary, named Hillebrandus Cornelius Klinkert printed the Malay Four Gospels in 1861 and the New Testament in 1863, in the low Malay of Semarang, Central Java. He was assisted by Encik Mumin in the Riau Islands off Sumatra. They translated the Gospel according to Matthew in 1868, the New Testament in 1870, and then the full Malay Bible
translation in 1879. Thus, this represents the second major effort in translating the sixty-six books of the Bible into Malay.

Between 1880 and 1929, the Singapore branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) expanded major efforts in translating the Bible into Malay.

The most prominent of these was the LMS missionary William Girdlestone Shellabear who gave us the first Malay Bible translation specifically in the Malay of what is now called Peninsular Malaysia. In this version Jesus was rendered Isa al-Maseh.

Shellabear is also remembered for the New Testament in Baba Malay.

In 1929, the Netherlands Bible Society, BFBS and the National Bible Society of Scotland combined their effort in producing a Malay Bible translation that could meet the need's of both Indonesia and Peninsular Malaysia. This new translation was intended to replace the previous Bible translations made by Leijdecker (1733), Klinkert (1879) and Shellabear (1912). For this purpose, a German missionary named Werner August Bode, working in Tomohon, Minahasa, produced a Malay New Testament (1938), and several Old Testament books such as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Psalms.

In order to meet the needs of Indonesian Christians in an independent Indonesia, the Indonesian Bible Society, which was founded in 1954, printed the so-called Terjemahan Lama "Old Translation" in 1958, as a stop gap measure until a fully Indonesian Bible translation became available. This comprised Klinkert's Old Testament (1879) and Bode's New Testament (1938). Meanwhile, Fr. J. Bouma of the Roman Catholic Church in Indonesia came up with a new Indonesian translation of the New Testament published by Arnoldus in Ende, Flores in 1964. Dr. Cletus Groenen worked on a translation of the Old Testament until 1968 when the Roman Catholic Church decided to stop its own translation project and join the Bible translation programme of the Indonesian Bible Society.

In 1952 a team headed by Dutch Dr. J.L. Swellengrebel (1952-59) initiated the work on a truly Indonesian Bible translation. Beginning in 1962 an Indonesian, Dr. J.L. Abineno, headed this team until the completion of the project. The New Testament was printed in 1971, and the full Bible was published in 1974. It also included the Deuterocanonical edition. This version called the Terjemahan Baru "New Translation" (INT) was the first truly ecumenical Bible translation in Indonesian. The translation approach taken with this and most earlier translations was based on the 'formal equivalence' translation method, which as far as possible, attempts to retain the form of the original biblical languages.

It is helpful to point out that in October 1997, the Indonesian Bible Society launched the newly revised New Testament of the INT called Perjanjian Baru Terjemahan Baru edisi ke-2 "New Testament: New Translation, Second Edition" (INT97). This was prepared by a team of biblical scholars who are experts in biblical Greek. Furthermore, in the final stage of the revision effort, numerous biblical scholars and heads of churches from all over Indonesia gathered in Cipayung, West Java, to discuss the revision before the text was finalized.

Although the INT was being used in Malaysian churches, it was eventually realized that a truly Malaysian Bible translation was needed to communicate the Good News accurately, without confusion and misunderstanding brought about by the subtle differences between Indonesian and Malay.

Consequently, the Bible Society of Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia (BSSBM) printed the first Malay Common Language New Testament Perjanjian Baru: Berita Baik Untuk Manusia Moden "New Testament: Good News for Modern Man" in 1974. It was mainly the labour of love of a West Malaysian pastor of Indonesian background named Rev. Elkanah T. Suwito. The full Malay Bible Alkitab: Berita Baik Untuk Manusia Moden "Bible: Good News for Modern Man" (TMV) was published by BSSBM in 1987. This particular translation was based on the new translation method called 'Dynamic/Functional Equivalence' that emphasizes the transfer of the meaning and function of the original biblical languages rather than retaining the form.

Applying this new translation method, a new Indonesian Bible version was prepared by a team of translators. As a result, Today's Indonesian New Testament was published by the Indonesian Bible Society in 1977. Thus, Alkitab Kabar Baik Dalam Bahasa Indonesia Sehari-hari "Good News Bible in Indonesian Everyday Language" (TIV) was published in 1985, and the Deuterocanonical edition was published in 1988. This Indonesian dynamic Bible translation is also being used by some churches in Malaysia.