WISHING ALL SABAHANS A MEMORABLE INDEPENDENCE DAY ON 31 AUGUST (NOT THE OTHER MERDEKA DAY!)

By Anonymous

If there is anything to commemorate it is the short 16 bitter sweet days of real freedom.

Sabah since 1761 (when Dalrymple got it as trading post from the Brunei Sultanate) has basically been traded like a piece of real estate by Brunei, the Dutch, Spanish, USA, Austrians, Britain and then Malaya. (The latest trade off were the 2 blocks of offshore oilfields for Brunei dropping its claim on Limbang).

If we were to take 1865 (leased by the USA) as the starting point of the foreign colonization of North Borneo/Sabah, the poor country is still a colony after nearly 150 years!

STAR: Not False Hopes if 20-Points Enforced or Complied With

STAR's Sabah Chairman, Dr Jeffrey Kitingan

“The reason advanced by Keningau Umno Youth regarding the struggle for the 20-Points is creating “false hopes” for the people especially the bumiputra communities in Sabah clearly reinforce STAR Sabah’s stand that outside parties like Umno cannot best defend Sabah’s rights” said Dr. Nicholas James Guntobon, Deputy Chairman of STAR Sabah and chief of the Interior Zone in response to the statement by Keningau Youth Chief in the papers yesterday.

Sabah Founding Forefathers Visionary

17 Afghans beheaded by muslim Taliban for dancing

By HEIDI VOGT and MIRWAIS KHAN of Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents beheaded 17 civilians in a Taliban-controlled area of southern Afghanistan, apparently because they attended a dance party that flouted the extreme brand of Islam embraced by the militants, officials said Monday.

The killings, in a district where U.S. Marines have battled the Taliban for years, were a reminder of how much power the insurgent group still wields in the south — particularly as international forces draw down and hand areas over to Afghan forces.

Something to lean from socialist Venezuela

Susan Spronk and Jeffery R. Webber (SS and JRW): Can you tell us about your political history?

Susan Spronk and Roland Denis.

Roland Denis (RD): My story starts in the mid-1970s. By chance I happened to be in Nicaragua at the end of the 1970s during the Sandinista Revolution. I learned a lot of different things there. From there I began to identify with the cause of the poor. When I returned to Venezuela at the beginning of the 1980s, I started to become active on the left; the situation was radicalizing quickly and there was a lot of violence [due to political persecution of the left]. I was a survivor, but many compañeros lost their lives in the struggle. That guy over there [pointing to one of his friends of about the same age], for example, is also a survivor; he was a leader in the student movement in Mérida.

African Roulette

The ambassador of a small African nation chanced to visit Russia, and was entertained by his opposite number, the Russian ambassador. For three days, the African ambassador was wined, dined, and generally treated to the best hospitality that Russia had to offer.

On the final day of his visit, the Russian ambassador said, "As your stay is coming to an end, it is time for you to play our traditional game, Russian roulette. One of the six chambers of this gun is loaded. You spin the cylinder, point the gun at your head, and pull the trigger."