i’m saimatkong

New to the Web: Screen capture of Dr Mahathir’s blog taken yesterday, the day it was launched. The blog received more than 10,000 visitors by 5pm Thursday.

KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is now a blogger.

He is blogging through his website www.chedet.com, which is named after the pseudonym he used when he wrote articles for the newspapers.

In his profile, Dr Mahathir lists himself simply as the “Prime Minister of Malaysia 1981 – 2003″.

Dr Mahathir wrote that the site was dedicated to publishing his writings as and when he was able to pen his thoughts and opinions.

He added that interested parties, including the media, were allowed to reproduce or quote materials published in his site but to credit them to chedet.com.

Comments and feedbacks accompanied by names or pseudonyms were welcome, while anonymous ones and those containing profanities and obscenities would be rejected, he wrote.

His first article, posted at 1.27am yesterday, was on the appointment of judges, in which he posed a few questions on the setup of the proposed commission on the appointment of judges, and how recommendations would be made.

Dr Mahathir wrote that it would be interesting to know the full details of the procedures especially with regard to the role of the Prime Minister in the appointment of judges.

He pointed out that any changes to the appointment of judges required the Constitution to be amended and, as the Government did not have two-thirds majority in Parliament, it needed votes from the Opposition.

“Is the Government proposing to work with the Opposition on these issues, and so display its weakness? Will there be a quid pro quo, a bargain with the Opposition? It would be interesting to see how the PM proposes to deal with this,” he wrote.

Dr Mahathir’s blog received more than 10,000 visitors by 5pm yesterday. Many commentators welcomed the former prime minister to the blogosphere and said they had been waiting for him to start blogging.

Many said they were eager to hear his thoughts on various issues and welcomed the fact that they could interact with him through the blog.

Some who left comments on his first posting disagreed that it would be a weakness on part of the Government to work with the Opposition to reform the judiciary. They felt that national interest should prevail over partisan politics.

One commentator also asked Dr Mahathir if he thought that the ex-gratia payment for the judges affected in the 1988 judicial crisis was tantamount to contempt of court.

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Ex PM Mahathir also blog! This proves that anyone can blog! It’s interesting reading his post and there’s plenty of responses to this post (more than 230 comments). Check it out yourself for the latest post “A Weak Government is not good for Multi-racial Malaysia“

PETALING JAYA: It’s confirmed. Nine badminton players will represent Malaysia at the Olympic Games in August.

Although smaller in quantity compared to the squad that featured at the 2004 Athens Games, national chief coach Yap Kim Hock feels that the current batch had the quality to challenge for medals.

Yesterday, it was confirmed that men’s singles players Lee Chong Wei (world No. 2) and Wong Choong Hann (14th) had qualified after making the top 16 in the world rankings.

The May 1 rankings will be used to determine the qualifiers for the Olympics.

Malaysia will not have any representatives in the mixed doubles as their current best pair of Tan Wee Kiong-Woon Khe Wei are only ranked 35th in the world.

Kim Hock said that Malaysia could expect a good fight in every event – the men’s and women’s singles and doubles events.

“This time we have depth in our Olympic squad. There is a chance in the men’s event and, for the first time, we can also hope for something in the women’s event,” said Kim Hock.

Women’s shuttler Wong Mew Choo and doubles pair Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty will represent Malaysia.

However, both will not be seeded at the Games as they are only ranked 10th in the world.

Malaysia have returned home empty-handed from two previous Olympic Games – in Athens and Sydney. So far, only badminton has contributed medals in the Olympics at the first two editions – bronze (Razif-Jalani Sidek) in Barcelona 1992 and a silver (Cheah Soon Kit-Soo Beng Kiang) and bronze (Rashid Sidek) in Atlanta 1996.

The Qualifiers

Men’s singles: Lee Chong Wei, Wong Choong Hann.

Men’s doubles: Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah, Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong.

Women’s singles: Wong Mew Choo.

Women’s doubles: Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty.

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It’s really good news and hope Malaysia Boleh and they would bring back gold medals for Malaysia. Besides that, they will be playing in Thomas Cup Jakarta 11-18. All the best.