Unconventional World Records

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It was nice to see KK being featured on “the amazing race” on axn 23-12-2003 2300-0000

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Is Tariz Aziz, ex-deputy to Saddam Hussein a Christian?

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Commentary: Saddam’s loyal ‘Christian’
By Uwe Siemon-Netto
UPI Religion Editor
Published 2/17/2003 5:38 PM

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (UPI) — If the times weren’t so serious, one would be tempted to laugh at Tariq Aziz’s Roman road show. Here was Saddam Hussein’s token “Christian” paying the pope a visit, but not kissing his ring. Here he was — a “Christian,” remember? — refusing to answer an Israeli reporter’s question at a press conference, for which he earned hisses from the other journalists. Bless them!

And then we saw Iraq’s deputy prime minister, accompanied by Franciscan friars, getting on his knees in Assisi to pray for peace. Would you believe it? The most loyal servant of the genocidal Saddam Hussein presents himself as a faithful man of peace!

Well now, is Tariq Aziz actually a Christian? It’s a matter of interpretation. According to bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim, first ordinary of the Chaldean Catholic Church in the United States, he is a Christian “because he was baptized.”

In fact, he was baptized Michael Yohanna some 66 years ago in the village of Telkaz, near the town of Mosul in northern Iraq. So why does he call himself Tariq Aziz? Because he thought this would make him more acceptable in the eyes of the Muslim majority in Iraq, exiled Iraqis told United Press International on Monday.

Is he still a Christian, then?

“Well,” said bishop Ibrahim, “his wife is very faithful. She attends mass every day.”

What about Tariq Aziz, though? “No,” allowed the bishop, “but I did see him at his mother’s and his brother’s funerals.”

But that doesn’t make him a practicing Christian?

“No,” admitted the bishop, “a practicing Christian he is not.”

Aha, but now he has himself filmed on his knees in Assisi.

“He’s just using religion to serve Saddam Hussein’s purposes,” said Mowfaq Fattohi, a Prague-based member of the opposition Iraqi National Congress’s central council, and himself a Chaldean Catholic.

Albert Yelda, the INC’s highest-ranking Christian, reported that Tariq Aziz is the one man Christians in his homeland hate the most.

“They found he was not friend. He supported Saddam Hussein’s decision that Christians must learn the Koran. He stood behind the government when it denied all basic human and cultural rights to the Assyrians,” the ancient minority that has been Christian since the 2nd century A.D.

“Tariq Aziz a Christian? That’s laughable,” agreed Mohammed Mohammed Ali, a top Shiite Muslim scholar in the INC. “He’s an atheist. We all know it. He participated in the repression of all sorts of religious leaders — Muslim, Jewish and Christian. He was there when many of them were hanged in Baghdad’s Albab al-Sharqi Square back in 1969.”

“Perhaps ‘atheist’ is too strong a term,” cautioned bishop Ibrahim. “Tariq Aziz is a Baathist.” Now, the Baathists are pan-Arab socialists with a strong Socialist bent.

“Well, call him ‘laic’ in the French sense of the word.” Ah, Tariq Aziz, a former English teacher and editor-in-chief of two socialist newspapers is something like a French “instituteur” (elementary school teacher) — the proverbial antagonist of the Catholic Church.

That may be about right — but then can you imagine a French “instituteur” on his knees in Assisi?

Most likely, Tariq Aziz is what he is: Just a loyal minion of another Baath Party “laic” and hedonist who nevertheless found it expedient recently to have the entire Koran written in his own blood — Saddam Hussein.

Issue of Malaysian Muslims converting to other religions

http://www.geocities.com/murtad_malaysia/

Seems like the most high profile cases involve Nor’Aishah Bokhari (1997-8) and Helena/Hasnah Brudges, an alleged Malaysian student who allegedly embraced Christianity while a student in the US and whose story given wide coverage on the web.

SEA Games XXII, Dec 2003, Hanoi

http://english.seagames22.com.vn

Now, let’s see if our SUKMA IX 2002 ICT app is still better than this one! At first glance our SUKMA web is better, this one’s English section is riddled with spelling and and grammatical errors. Some of the results could’ve been more detailed. Eg, badminton team final results. They should’ve listed the detailed results of individual matches instead of simply the final score.

It’s apparently built by a local company, www.fpt.vn

2 years ago, at home, Malaysia finished with 111 golds, our best ever show. This time we only got 44. In contrast, hosts Vietnam got a massive 158. But even that pales in comparison to Indonesia’s haul of 194 and 185 when they were hosts some years ago.

worthy of reporting

sepak takraw
We failed yet again to get the better of arch-rivals Thailand. Mr Phunsueb should really be enticed to become a Malaysian citizen, after all these years we still can’t figure out a way to beat this guy.
Team final: Thailand beat Malaysia 3-0 (21-18, 21-16, then 21-17, 21-18, 3rd match abandoned)
Inter-regu final: Thailand beat Malaysia’s best 2-0
We didnt take part in circle competition?

weightlifting
upto 94kg
Jerry Nonong failed miserably, finishing last (5th). It was compatriot Demund Yeo who at least got a medal (Bronze) with 140-185-325. Winner is Narongsak Panyaake (Tha) with 152.5-190-342.5. Jerry could only manage 130-180-310.
World records:
SNATCH 188.0kg KAKHIASVILIS Akakios 1969 GRE 27.11.99 Athens
C&JERK 232.5kg KOLECKI Szymon 1981 POL 29.04.00 Sofia
TOTAL 417.5kg World Standard 01.01.98
Look, even the world record at 69kg class is better than Narongsak’s performance!
SNATCH 165.0kg MARKOV Georgi 1978 BUL 20.09.00 Sydney
C&JERK 197.5kg ZHANG Guozheng 1974 CHN 11.09.03 Qinhuangdao
TOTAL 357.5kg BOEVSKI Galabin 1974 BUL 24.11.99 Athens
ref: www.iwf.net

shooting
debacle of the shooting team

athletics
Nazmizan ends 36 year wait for 100m gold, grabs 100-200 double with unimpressive times of 10.47 (WR 9.78) and 21.05 (WR 19.32). At least he succeeded where Rabuan and Watson failed.

Swimming
Blue riband events are always the freestyles

50m freestyle: Allen Ong (23.69) finished 2nd behind Arwut Chinnapasaen of Thailand (23.33). Venerable Richard Sam Bera, 32 (Indon) finished 3rd at 23.73. Compare those times with the current world record held by the great Alexander Popov at 21.64, set 3 yrs ago at Moscow.
Inge de Bruijn’s women’s world record of 24.13 set in 2000 would be better than the 4th placed male, 30 year old Leslie Kwok of Singapore who clocked 24.19!

100m freestyle: Allen Ong, 24 grabs gold at 51.57. That’s almost 4 seconds slower than the current world record by the great Pieter van den Hoogenband at 47.84 set 2000 Olympics. van den Hoogenband’s 100m world record 50m split of 23.16 is FASTER than Arwut Chinnapasaen’s 50m sprint winning time!!!!!!!
Also Inge de Bruijn’s women’s world record of 53.77 would be good enough for 5th place.

200m free:
winner: MIGUEL MOLINA PHI 26.97 55.54 1:23.81 1:52.89
wr: Ian Thorpe AUS 24.81 51.45 1:18.26 1:44.06 July 25, 2001

400m free:
winner: CHARNVUDTH SAENGSRI THA 3:59.91 (16 yrs old)
wr: Ian Thorpe AUS 3:40.08 July 30, 2002

800m free:
Ian Thorpe AUS 7:39.16 July 24, 2001 Fukuoka, JPN
0:55.02
1:52.93
2:51.65
3:50.54
4:49.43
5:48.66
6:45.93

1500m free:
winner: MIGUEL MENDOZA PHI 1:01.44 2:05.04 3:08.54 4:12.09
5:15.62 6:18.92 7:22.86 8:26.60
9:30.91 10:34.93 11:39.29 12:43.54
13:47.63 14:49.89 15:49.55 (21 yrs old)

wr: Grant Hackett AUS 54.19 1.52.45 2:51.29 3:50.18
4:48.82 5:47.45 6:45.96 7:44.47
8:43.05 9:41.78 10:40.56 11:39.51
12:38.51 13:37.89 14:34.56 July 29, 2001

100m backstroke: How about the great Alex Lim, 23 ranked 8th in the world in backstroke? He won by more than 2 seconds at 57.51 (27.63). In contrast, Lenny Krayzelburg’s record is 53.60, 4 seconds faster than Alex.

200m backstroke: Alex Lim won by almost 4 seconds.
Splits: 28.05 58.54 1:31.03 2:04.11
compare that to Aaron Peirsol’s world rec set in 2002.
splits: 27.75 56.60 1:26.05 1:55.15 (that’s about 9 seconds faster!!!!!!!!

100m butterfly: Alex Lim won in 55.04, WR by Ian Crocker 50.98

200m butterfly: Donny Utomo’s winning time of 2:04.17 is no match for the great Michael Phelps’ record of 1:53.93 set 5 months ago.

200m IM: RATAPONG SIRISANONT, 27 won at 27.46 59.51 1:34.06 2:03.54
Alex Lim started promisingly, leading until 100m, when he faded badly to finish last
splits: 26.50 56.75 1:38.63 2:10.85
World record by Michael Phelps - 1:55.94 set 4 months ago!

ref for world swimming records: www.fina.org

badminton
The ladies finally got gold in singles thru mew choo, 1st since Sylvia Ong in 1977
The men were a disappointment, only doubles brought gold thru Lee Wan Wah/Choong Tan Fook.
Roslin dethroned as SEA Games Champ in singles, then lost to Simon Santoso easily in team final.
Choon Hann suffered double heartbreak, losing twice to Sonny Dwi Kuncoro, first in singles final, then in team final. And all in straight sets, 10, 7 and 8, 5.

soccer
Hotly fancied soccer team falls 3-4 to Vietnam in thrilling semis, coming back from 2 goal deficit; is this the same Vietnam team who beat South Korea recently? Then in bronze medal playoff, we drew 1-1 with Myanmar, then winning 4-2 in the penalty shootout. In final, Thailand beat Vietnam 2-1 in extra time (1-1 full time).