Najib is going to the fullest to market 1Malaysia brand name. The most qualified person to do the job is none other than the marketing genius Tony Fernandes. Najib is a genius of sort himself by roping in all the best-in-class people to run market the concept of 1Malaysia. I wish him all the best.

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Malaysia’s own F1 team

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will have its own team in Formula One next year.

A Lotus-powered racing team, to be called the 1Malaysia F1 team, will take on giants like Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes and Renault in the premier motorsports event next year.

The team will join Force India-Mercedes as Asia’s representatives in F1, along with old-timers like Toyota.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) has accepted Malaysia’s bid to enter the 2010 and future Formula One World Championships, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced yesterday.

F1 foray: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak receiving a model of the Malaysian F1 car at the Finance Ministry in Putrajaya.

The 1Malaysia F1 team will be a partnership between the Govern-ment and the private sector, including investors led by Datuk Kamarudin Meranun (AirAsia Deputy CEO), Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes (AirAsia CEO) and SM Nasaruddin SM Nasimuddin (Naza Group CEO).

The Malaysian-owned team will also mark the return of Proton-owned Lotus, the prestigious constructors who left F1 in 1994.

Najib, who made the announcement at the Ministry of Finance yesterday, said the team would be based at the Sepang International Circuit, making it the first to be located outside Europe.

“This is where the cars will be designed, manufactured and tested. It will be ‘Made-in-Malaysia, by Malaysians’ and of course, the pit-stops will be run by Malay-sians,” he said.

“This is a meaningful development and I hope that it will further raise our country’s profile on the world stage.”

The team will have a Malaysian technical and pit crew, totalling some 200 people, to be managed by former Renault technical director Mike Gascoyne.

Najib added that the team hoped to announce its two drivers by Oct 31.

“Currently, six local and international drivers have been shortlisted for evaluation,” he said.

“Our F1 team will also have technical experts from outside Malaysia to ensure that we are ready to compete on the world’s most prestigious racing stage.”

Malaysia hosted its first F1 race in 1999 at the Sepang F1 Circuit and Alex Yoong was the first Malaysian to race in the championships in 2001 and 2002 for Minardi.

The Prime Minister had earlier launched the exchange programme between employees from the government and government-linked companies (GLCs) as part of the Government-GLCs Cross-Fertilisation Programme.

He handed letters-of-trust to 47 government and GLC staff taking part in the programme. -- The Star

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KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 – The Syariah court judge who sentenced Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno to be caned for drinking beer has served up a similar punishment on an Indonesian man for consuming alcohol, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The New Straits Times said that Nazarudin Kamaruddin, 46, had become the first person to be caned for consuming alcohol in Pahang state in central Malaysia.

Judge Abdul Rahman Mohd Yunos triggered criticism from rights groups and concerns over the growing influence of tough Islamic punishments in Malaysia when he sentenced Kartika, a 32-year-old mother of two, to caning for consuming beer.

“The sentence meted out to him (Nazarudin) is not meant as punishment but to serve as a lesson,” Rahman said, according to the paper.

Kartika’s case is being reviewed by an Islamic appeals court judge and her caning could be carried out once the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan is over.

Pahang is the home state of Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, who has pledged to modernise the economy of this country of 27 million people and to win new foreign investment. – Reuters

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When I read about this news article, the first thing that came to my mind was, "how did she do it?". How did she manage to convince all those people to marry her? Judging from what the article says, one thing for sure, she does not have the look nor the wealth.

So, there must be something about her. Something about Tok Wook that is strong enough to make those people fell for her and eventually married here.

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107-year-old wants 23rd hubby

KUALA BERANG: Afraid that her current husband might leave her after completing his drug rehabilitation programme, centenarian Mek Wok Kundor is looking to marry again - for the 23rd time.

The 107-year-old, who married Mohd Noor Che Musa, 37, in 2005, said they lived blissfully until he volunteered to treat his drug habit in Kuala Lumpur in July.

Tok Wook, as she is fondly known, now believes her husband might leave her after his programme ends and settle down in Kuala Lumpur besides marrying a woman younger than her.

Still going strong: The centenarian’s wish for a husband is so that she can fill her ‘forlornness and nothing more than that’.

“Lately, there is this kind of insecurity in me,” she said.

Tok Wook, who lives in Kampung Bukit TokBat here, said she planned to visit Mohd Noor on the second day of Hari Raya if her neighbours were willing to drive her to Kuala Lumpur.

“I want to express my feelings and tell him that I am lonely without him and if he reciprocates, I will wait for him without thinking of another marriage,” she added

She said she felt lonely without a companion during Ramadan.

“I am not searching for a man as handsome as our Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak), but someone to accompany me in my twilight years,” she said.

“I realise that I am an aged woman. I don’t have the body nor am I a young woman who can attract anyone.

“My intention to remarry is to fill my forlornness and nothing more than that.”

She, however, declined to talk about her past marriages and the number of children she has.

All she said about her kids was that they were old and dependent on their children.

While she spent her last Hari Raya with Mohd Noor’s family in Bachok Kelantan, Tok Wook will celebrate it this year with her neighbours.

“I will wear a baju kurung that was given as gift by my husband in January,” she said.

Source

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