Hungarian food is like Franz Liszt’s rhapsodies. The famous Hungarian composer (1811-1886) wrote 19 of them but only one stands out. This isn’t to say that Hungarian food isn’t good. All of Liszt’s rhapsodies are fantastic but his Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C# minor is the most famous; everyone who loves classical music knows it. So it is with the Hungarian goulash. Even those who have never eaten it, have heard of it.
Continue reading “Hungarian hunger”
Chau Tet On cut a demure figure. But his smiling face camouflaged 10 years or more of frustrations that his politics had come to nought. Few ethnic Chinese looked to his leadership despite he being the first among them to become a Sabah deputy chief minister in 1985 in Joseph Pairin Kitingan’s government. His Parti Bersatu Sabah had swept to power, defeating the unpopular Parti Berjaya in a state general election. Continue reading “Obituary: Chau Tet On, an ethnic Chinese leader who never was”
Parking fees in Kota Kinabalu are some of the lowest in the world. Motorists pay between 20 and 50 sen (6 and 14 cents) to park for 30 minutes or an hour in the city. Of course, depending on how busy the area is, the rate doubles or triples the longer they park. But parking here is still very cheap. Yet Kota Kinabalu City Hall has been unable to collect most of the money. It is saddled with outstanding parking fees and fines to a staggering RM58 million over the last 10 years, according to mayor Abidin Madingkir. An “amnesty” to allow defaulters to pay a fraction of what they owe has failed. And another attempt to make motorists pay upfront in a coupon system has irked them.
His resignation as an opposition Sabah lawmaker wasn’t just abrupt. It was unusual. But Roland Chia Ming Shen, a 44-year-old dentist, got the attention he wanted through a tweet yesterday. He said he was giving up his Inanam seat because of “health reasons”.
Officials of his Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party) quickly dismiss his resignation. Many suspect that it might be sinister at a time when his party de facto president Anwar Ibrahim is trying to stay out of prison on a second sodomy charge. Mr Anwar was freed by an appeals court of a five-year jail term handed to him by a high court. But prosecutors are asking Malaysia’s highest federal court to decide if Anwar should be rightly found guilty and jailed for sodomising his helper.
Sabah Insights 