Don't laugh, this is what our Bernama has to say :: "Malaysia is set to be Asia's premier training and referral centre for the war against graft with the setting up of the Anti-Corruption Academy."

Anti-Corruption Agency Director-General Datuk Zulkipli Mat Noor when presenting his paper entitled "Total War Against Corruption" (sic) at the 9th Public Service Conference at the National Institute of Administration, said ::

"This academy [The Anti-Corruption Academy] is important as it will be the first in the Asia Pacific region. At any one time, it will be able to host 200 to 300 trainees not only from the ACA but also officers from foreign anti-corruption enforcement agencies."
With regards to the academy teaching staff ::
"We may employ retirees...including foreign officers from Korea and Hong Kong who will be able to teach investigation techniques."
In order to enhance oour very own ACA capacity and capability ::
"We plan to add 70 enforcement officers this year". [The present ACA work force is 1,300]

It looks like we do have a thing or two to teach the foreigners about anti-corruption but then why are we thinking of hiring foreign retirees to do this. So again, it looks we need foreigners to teach us a thing or two. Maybe our ACA should heed the advice given recently by the former head of the Hong Kong-Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Bertrand de Speville. de Speville listed out four important criteria in battling corruption :: 1. political will, 2. a proper plan, 3. resources and 4. public involvement. So just beefing up the force in numbers and such a ridiculously small increment of 70 ie 5% of the personnel would lead nowhere. Our toothless ACA must firstly be answerable to the people ie via Parliament and not be beholden to the executive. It should be given the fangs to do its work ie it must be able to charge offenders on its own and not via the AG office. The political will must be there and not just when elections are impending and forgotten after the results are out.
Parliament must be kept abreast of the on-going investigations especially those of prominent cases. A time frame must be given for investigations to be carried out and completed and should not go on and on and on eg the Perwaja case. The ACA should not expect every complainant to take a long march in order to get investigations going. If no effective measures are taken our ACA can forget about its dream of Malaysia being Asia's Premier Anti-Corruption Centre, the answer is not just another ACA [Anti-Corruption Academy], there must be more. If not its dream would just remain an Impossible Dream.

If you are male you gotta read this article by Roger Dobson which can be found in the online versi of the Independent, if you are not but have a male spouse or partner, do also read it.

Masculinity, already said to be in crisis, has now been classed as a disease. A group of international researchers has concluded that men are so prone to illness and premature death that being male in itself is a major health risk. Oh my gosh and they say that woman is the weaker sex.

Men are twice as likely to die early as women, are more prone to cancer and are more liable to be killed by heart disease, strokes, infections and congenital conditions. Men are also more at risk of mental illness, skin, blood and digestive diseases; and more likely to be killed in accidents and car crashes, and to die by suicide. It's never too late to start those "Well Men Clinics"; Datuk Chua SL please take note, even though your MINIstry may be running out of money, remember you are at risk too. Start producing or training those "Man Specialists/Andrologists".

Academics from universities in Leeds, Vienna, and Ottawa and the World Health Organisation spent a year looking at data on nearly 200 million men in 17 countries across the developed world, including the UK. They concluded that, while most health screening is focused on women, it is men who should be the main concern as the sheer burden of ill-health suffered by men needs action. Ditto above mentioned action. Just like ladies have their "Klinik PayuDara" and have breast self-exam taught, Datuk Chua, please set up "Klinik Bola" [i don't mean the soccer variety] and teach men how to self-check their balls monthly.

The results, published in a new medical journal, JMHG[Journal of Men’s Health and Gender], shows big differences between men and women at all ages, from new-born babies to centenarians. There has been increasing concern about the health of men, but the sheer scale of the problem has not been addressed until now. Among men and women under 75, the risk of death among males was twice that of females. Take out a subscription for JMHG, if you are man enough.

The report suggests that there are a number of possible reasons for the differences. It says: "The greater problems with men's health compared with women might be attributable to biological differences; the nature of men's lifestyles, for example alcohol consumption and smoking, which lay them more open to risk, and men's delay in seeking help." So lay off those brain-numbing drinks and cancer sticks.

It adds: "The number of divorced or separated older men living alone has greatly increased over the last 20 years. Men who live alone have been shown to have poorer health than those who live with a partner. We need to consider if there are further elements at play, if men are more 'fragile' than women or if being a man is in itself a 'disease'," says the report. Go get a partner and tell him/her all your woes. You will be better and healthier for that.

Dr Alan White principal lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University, who led the study, said that, until now, there has been no comprehensive picture of men's health. "Being a man is like having a terminal disease that will prematurely end your life," he said. "Fifty per cent of men are dead by the time they are 75," he added. "But we should not see it as being hopeless. We need to make sure that there are changes so that men's health improves." There is still hope, just don't give up and don't take things lying down. At the end of the day, we, men, must start looking out for ourselves too or kaput day will be what is in store for us. We are not finished yet. What will happen to our wo-men without their men?

For starters, do check out the following links for advice and act, act, act ::

• Men's Health
  
• Men's Health Week HomePage
  
• Men's Health Forum
  
• Men's Health 4Woman
  
• Men's Health at NIH
  
• Men's Health Network
  
• Men's Health Mag
  
• Men's Health::Ask Noah
  
• Australian Men's Health Network
  
• Men's Health::The Stats
  
• Men's Health::Medical Library
  
• Men's Health Center::MayoClinic
  
• Men's Conditions::WebMD
  
• MenWeb
  
• Men's Health::ezyhealth.com
  

So YAHOO has done the sifting and panning and has come out with the gold mine of 100 Yahoo selected sites for MEN. If you are interested go here.

The list covers just about
everything of interest to the average man, from cars to bars and all points in-between, and the only criteria we've used is this: if it made us laugh, cry, rub our whiskery chins in thoughtful contemplation, drool or point out stuff to the bloke sitting next to us - without the involvement of naked women (you can find them for themselves) - it had a decent shot at making the list. ENJOY.

The PLKN was touted as a programme, among other things, to promote national unity and integration. Whatever good the youths who have participated in the PLKN recently may have obtained is going to be dissipated soon when they continue with the next stage of their journey in education and life. For a large number of these trainees who have just completed their PLKN training, reality will hit them when they find themselves streamed into matriculation and Form 6 classes for the next stage of their formal education or pre-university education.
Those who join the matriculation classes, [90% bumiputras and 10% non-bumiputras] will find themselves doing a one year course, take internal matriculation school tests, are graded on their course work and accumulate points throughout the one year from tutorials and quizzes by their internal testers. The next year, they get a shot at being selected for entry into universities to do their tertiary education.
Those who are not admitted to matriculation classes, [?90% non-bumiputras and ?10% bumiputras] will have to join the 6th Form for their pre-university education. This takes 18 months or two years if you like. At the end of that period, they take the STPM examination. This examination consists of 4 or for the more adventurous 5 subjects which are taken over a period of days at one go. The exam papers are standardised for all STPM candidates and their papers are marked by external examiners. By the time they get to be selected for university entry, their fellow PLKN comrades who went through matriculation, would have completed their 1st year in university and getting ready to start year two!
Would the sense of enhanced unity and integration gained during the three months spent together while undergoing the PLKN still be there or gone up in smoke? No money for making the correct guess. Post-PLKN training and while going through their pre-university education wouldn't keeping them in one single stream, whether matriculation or 6th Form or even better just call it pre-university allow for the youth to continue and further the interaction, bonding and integration started in their PLKN days.
Now the MINIstry of Education is hoping that the Vision Integrated Camping Programme would further promote unity among students prior to their PLKN days. Apparently this Camping Programme has been around since 1986. The programme this year would involve 61 schools nationwide [damn small number indeed] and would involve students from national schools, national-type Tamil primary schools and national-type Chinese primary schools at state and national levels. Already the Deputy Education MINIster has also indicated that the camping programme would serve as an orientation prequel to the PLKN for the students. Now wouldn't following up the PLKN with the suggested uniform pre-university classes be a sequel to further promotion of student unity and interactions. Best wishes to the MINIstry as far as its hopes and aspirations of further unity are concerned.