Proton Concept Car for Geneva Revealed! [Updated!]
Filed under Automotive, Malaysia
This is the first released image of the hybrid Proton Concept Car, designed by the Italdesign Giugiaro studio, and is said to preview a production model, placed below the Savvy.
For now, there is no official name for the car yet, it’s simply called as “Proton Concept Car”. Our beloved ex-PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be in Geneva to launch the car.
According to Paultan.org, here are the released details so far:
* The concept car will have 5 doors and will seat 4.
* It is 3,550 mm in length, which is approximately a good half a meter longer than the Toyota iQ but shorter than the Proton Savvy.
* The four seats will be independently adjustable and slideable.
* The car will use a series hybrid drive. A combustion engine will be mounted at the front and will be used only to recharge lithium ion batteries.
* The lithium ion batteries will drive the motor that moves the car.
* It uses a special chassis with a raise floor that allows installation of the regular combustion engine at the front and batteries in the rear
* According to Italdesign chairman Giorgetto Giugiaro, the car was designed to offer interior spaciousness of a D-segment car with the exterior dimensions of an A-segment car.
* The hip point is designed to be at just the right natural and ergonomic height – you do not get down into the car like a short sedan or “climb” up into the car like an SUV.
Updates!
New pictures:
Tags: Geneva 2010, Italdesign Giugiaro, Proton, Proton 2010, Proton Concept Car, Proton Italdesign Giugiaro
Happy Lunar New Year!
Filed under General, Malaysia, People, World
To all my Chinese friends and readers from around the world, have a nice and prosperous Lunar New Year 2010!
Regards,
Raghuram S.
Tags: Happy Chinese New Year, Happy Lunar New Year
New Proton Sedan Looks Good!
Filed under Automotive, Malaysia
This poster here (ignore the competition), for internal staffs only, reveals a silhouette-like sketch of the upcoming new Proton Sedan, rumoured to replace the outgoing and aging Waja.
And I think, it does look very good. Alas, it’s still too soon to say anything; the final product may just be the opposite. So, let’s just wait a few more weeks for the release!
Tags: new Proton sedan, Proton
R.I.P. the Sultan of Johore, Sultan Iskandar Ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail
Filed under Malaysia
The Sultan of Johore, Sultan Iskandar Ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail, passed away at the Puteri Specialist Hospital here at 7.08pm. May his soul rest in peace.
He was a very strict, yet soft-hearted person, worthy of remembrance; thanks to his leadership through the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
Conversion in Malaysia Still a Problem
Filed under Malaysia, People, Religion
Interesting article on the hurdles of religious conversion in our country:
Despite cabinet announcements about conversions to Islam and proposed legal amendments to allow a Muslim convert to divorce in the civil court, other scenarios arising from conversions are not being addressed.
As a result, numerous conversion cases are not being resolved and beg the question of how effective the state’s response has been to the complex issue of conversion to Islam in Malaysia.
For example, proposed amendments to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 to allow a Muslim convert to end a civil law marriage in the civil court only addresses this one scenario.
***
February 2008: A teenaged Indian Malaysian boy from Tapah was converted to Islam by school friends who took him to the religious department where he recited the syahada (proclamation of faith) and received a conversion certificate. He was subsequently given a MyKad which stated “Islam” as his religion.
His family only discovered his conversion two months later when a sister found his MyKad in a pocket. The boy, now 19, has resumed performing Hindu prayers and wants to leave Islam. But the family, whose father is a prominent businessperson, is not keen to pursue it in court for fear the publicity will damage their name and standing in the Indian Malaysian society.
“They fear that even the chances of marriage for the boy’s sisters will be affected,” Sivanesan said.
bullet Early 2008: An Indian Malaysian female student at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kajang, was converted by university mates. Her father, a teacher, and mother, a homemaker, only learnt of her conversion in her final year of studies.
The family had wanted to seek legal recourse after her final year exams but the girl “disappeared” with friends for a few days. In the end, the family decided that it was best for her to leave the country. She now works in Singapore.
Read more on The Nut Graph
Thanks for the tip, Ugen.
Kuala Lumpur: Day and Night
Filed under Interest, Malaysia, Visual Graphics & Images
This is a quickpost. I initially wanted to do a slide of transitions from day to night of the KL cityscape from my house balcony, but then again, I didn’t have the time. So I’m just posting the two most important images, of extreme timing; day and night. If you superimpose them, they’ll fit up to 90% accuracy, and of course, the original images are several times bigger.
Just so you know, these images were taken a month apart.
Day
Night
[Click on images to enlarge]
Lotus Five Star Mahkota Parade
Filed under Entertainment, Malaysia
As all of you would have known (MMU-ians in reference), the GSC Mahkota Parade ceased it operations a few months back, and now is about return as Lotus Five Star, completely renewed and refurbished.
Word has it that it should be opening in a day or two, and that free shows for the public has been running for a week now, just so you’d know.
No other information has been thus far released. I just thought of posting this because of the memories I had on this cinema, especially being the only good one before GSC Dataran came about (please don’t mention MBO – it’s a piece of BS as many would know).
[Image is of MBO]
Winter Storm in KL on Nov 20? [Updated]
Filed under Environment, Malaysia, Science
I don’t know to what extent i can believe this or even dismiss it; but then again, it’s always better to be prepared before anything bad actually occurs, right? So here goes the news, I mean rumour. To me, sounds more like a marketing for 2012 or some famous upcoming event, LOL.
Apparently, a freak winter storm will hit KL at 7pm on Friday, 20th of November. Rumours of this have been spreading all over the place in the past week, but no one managed to dig out the source or more info.
However, Siti Aizza Sarmani of the Malaysian Meteorological Department has clarified that a winter storm in the country would be not possible. She however isn’t able to confirm at this point in time the possible weather conditions that are expected on the 20th:
Thank you for writing to Malaysian Meteorological Department. We have received few emails from the public regarding the Winter Storm. For your information, our country’s location which is near to equator make no possible for us to experience winter season/winter snow like the northern countries. Malaysia experiences tropical weather condition which is hot and humid. During rainy season (normally during November until February), we will periodically experience the cold surge (cold and dry winds from Siberian High area). This cold surge does not cause ‘winter storm’ like the public thought, only influencing the weather condition of our country, in terms of an increase in precipitation or wetter weather condition. This is the reason’s why November to February is known as ‘rainy season’.
For the cold surge to occur on November 20, 2009; we are unable to predict it yet, since our global weather model is only able to predict daily weather condition of at least 7 days before the date of occurrence (the weather forecast for November 20, could be obtained as early as on November 13). However, the long range weather pattern/weather outlook of the country could be predicted as early as 6 months.
We would like to advise public to not to take rumours seriously especially through ‘sms’. Malaysian Meteorological Department is always monitoring the weather of our country closely, and any effects due to the extreme weather condition, we will issue official press statement from the department to inform the public and will distribute it to the trustworthy channel such as government’s tv, radios and major newspapers.
The funny part is, I just discovered that our Meteorological Dept can’t even predict weather on day-to-day basis!
Update: Nothing of that sort happened. I was walking back from office around that time, at 7.20pm, and all that happened was a little drizzle!
Source: Lowyat.net
Digi Goes 3G
Filed under Internet, Malaysia, Tech
Not like we didn’t know this was coming, it was all part of the plan anyway. Digi’s 3G service is finally official; and at this moment the normal 3G is available in some parts of Klang Valley (and KL of course), while the high-speed Turbo 3G (14.4Mbps) is only available in Penang and KK.
Check out more on Digi
Malaysian F1 team? Possible…
Peter Sauber, the founder and 20 per cent owner of the Hinwil based formula one team, has this week been in Malaysia for a discussion over a new F1 team.
On Thursday, it was reported all over the media that our government, already involved with BMW-Sauber through its 35m euro per year sponsorship by the state owned oil company Petronas, might be interested in forming a national formula one team.
Through the involvement of a Malaysian consortium, it was suggested that the bid could involve either taking over Sauber in the wake of BMW’s impending withdrawal, or joining forces with Lotus, Litespeed and Mike Gascoyne in a separate start-up operation.
The new speculation is a combination of the two possibilities: a BMW-Sauber takeover with the involvement of the F3 team Litespeed, as well as the well-known F1 engineer Gascoyne and Lotus’ new CEO Dany Bahar.
Coinciding with the rumours was the confirmation that Bahar, who like Peter Sauber is Swiss, has left Ferrari and will start his new role as Lotus CEO in October.
Sounds like a good progress for Malaysia in terms of motorsports, but in this time of economy? It however looks very skeptical unfortunately.
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