Bird's nest soup and the Bird Flu scare - Pt 2

I wrote about this back in September 2005.

It was the second posting I made on my maiden blog journey and written in response to the Bird Flu High Alert being declared in Indonesia after the first reported fatality in July 2005.

Until today, nothing is being done by our government to address the concerns of citizens who have been forced to live with the presence of these birds being reared close to the living and working environment.

Yesterday, blogger Carboncopy posted this letter he received via e-mail. I hope you will join us in raising awareness of this issue to the higher authorities.

Dear fellow bloggers,

I am asking for a favour from all of you ‘big’ bloggers, to get the word out about the hazards of the swiftlets that are flying around.

The bird droppings, the increase in the numbers of flies, and the potential H5N1 influenza, commonly known as ‘bird flu’. I know that there are a lot of shop-lots which are converted in ’swiftlet hotels’, and lots more are being built, in areas where people walk, eat, and even sleep.

How come there is no enforcement of the local by-laws prohibiting the building of such commercial ventures in residential areas??? And even if they are built in commercial areas, they are still too close to where people are living.

If this state of affairs continues ad infinitum, bird flu is bound to rip through our towns with a speed which will leave the authorities helpless.

Please let anyone know who has the ear of someone influential, because that is the only way things work here and we could get some light thrown on this very serious issue.

I am doing this to protect my family. I am not instigating trouble but my husband and I will fight to protect ourselves and our children. It is simply too dangerous to let this issue go unnoticed. –

Just Me,
Chiwi

Thank you.

RM10 for a good cause

Do you have RM10 to help Encik Saeden bin Wateh? All that is needed is to do an online transfer or direct deposit into your nearest Maybank branch ATM machine. Raja Petra has the details.

Blogger Alvin Yap in hospital

I received a disturbing e-mail from Bob Kee on the 16th which unfortunately I only managed to read just now.

He mentioned that one of our fellow bloggers, Alvin Yap was admitted into Hospital Kuala Lumpur on the 15th for observation. He had chest pains and this was soon after he had an angioplasty the week before.

Apparently, Bob had spoken to him earlier that evening and Alvin indicated that he's okay but is facing a lot of challenges in terms of fear and anxiety. Bob added this in his e-mail: "Do remember to intercede for him and those of you who have his number, give him a call just to say hi and tell him that you're praying for him. He will appreciate that."

It's three days since the mail came in.

I wonder how Alvin is doing now. I certainly hope his health has improved and that he is on the road to full recovery.

By the way, I do not know Alvin personally. I can only assume that he is the same Alvin who used to blog at http://alvinyv.org (the URL however is no longer working). I used to interact with him at his blog and he had generously reciprocated by linking to me. He is actually one of the first few bloggers who linked to me when I was a relative newbie, at about the same time as I first got to know carboncopy, who has also now taken a backseat in the blogging world.

Alvin has not blogged for quite some time. Occasionally, I received news of him courtesy of Bob's mailing list.

I can't be too sure whether they are the same person. But nevertheless, I offer my prayers and well-wishes to Alvin Yap. I hope everything turns out well for you soon. God Bless.

Blogcom service #1 - Article 11, Federal Constitution of Malaysia

This is not exactly my first blogger community service message but I think from now on, it is appropriate to publicly offer my support to fellow Malaysian bloggers who wish to disseminate community messages via my blog.

This blogcom service no. 1 is in support of an e-mail I received from Lucia Lai on the matter pertaining to Article 11 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.

Many fellow Malaysian bloggers as well as on-line publications like Malaysiakini and Malaysia-today have written and commented extensively about this subject, which is why I shall not repeat it here. In fact, Lucia is actively pursuing it in her blog and you can get much information there on the current status of the matter.

I am re-producing below the message which I have been asked to spread. You can read the rest of it here.

********************

(Last Update as at 27 July 2006 : Next Update will have materials from JB Forum)

Press Statement : Kenyataan Akhbar 26 July 2006 by Article 11 Press Statement 26 July 2006 by HAKAM President : Malik Imtiaz Press Statements 24 & 26 July by Centre for Public Policy Studies Chairman : Tan Sri Ramon Ravaratnam 26 July 2006 Front Page Star and Page 2 NST x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Star 23rd July 2006 NST 23rd July 2006 x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x HEADLINE NEWS Week: 15-21 May 2006 You may wish to contact us at feedback@article11.org

Have you seen this boy?

"From: Denny Hoo Hui Chang
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 5:40 pm
Subject: FW: missing school boy
Importance: High
Should you have any further enquiry, please don’t hesitate to contact me, thanks.
Have a nice day.
Regards,Denny Hoo
Network Administrator
DID : 607 – 597 8451
H/P : 012 – 771 7776"

I am helping my blog friend H J Angus to spread the above message that a 13 year-old schoolboy from Batu Pahat, Johor has been missing since 19/10/2005 and his parents are desperately looking for news of his whereabouts. If anyone saw him please contact : 012 723 5120. More details can be had at http://malaysiawatch.blogspot.com. Thanks!