IPOH revisited

Aerial view of the town of Ipoh shows the town padang, with the broad length of Brewster Road running up to it. In the bottom right hand corner, the Supreme Court. Next to it, the town council offices. Bottom left : Ipoh's town library. (taken from http://www.perak.info/)

Ipoh is a charming town, not because a few of my loved ones live there, but because it's got character. The old buildings stand tall and whisper volumes of history. The old converge with the new. I once had the opportunity to enjoy the night breeze at Padang MBI or affectionately known as "Ipoh Padang". Bad grammar, but MBI seems to like it. That was when I imagine I was back in its heydays when Ipoh was bustling tin mining town. My brother in law told me that Ipoh used to have the most number of millionaires in Malaysia! Okay back to my imagination : usually my vision would turn into black and white but that time my vision of old Ipoh was colourful albeit in sepia tone - you know that tint of "oldness" in the 70's colour photos? That's what I'm talking about. Sigh, I wished I could go back in time and see how Ipoh was like. Enough visualizing and let's get back to the present.

Another two reasons why I really like Ipoh are the cheaper, lovelier food and tyre alignment is just RM12! Yes, RM12 for all FOUR tyres!

Hahaha yes I shall tell you about this absolutely luverly makan place along Anderson Road @ Jalan Raja Muda called Ipoh Hainan Chicken Rice. I think you have not lived until you have tasted its Ambra juice or humbly known among the Malays as air kedondong. I've never eaten kedondong before, mainly because of its name - kedondong - which is less glamorous than apple, pear, dragonfruit and what-have-you. But my first visit to the restaurant in early May was indeed a revelation!

Ambra juice with sour plum a.k.a. Air Kedondong Asamboi

The ambra juice is fibrous, slightly "kelat" and spiked with asamboi. It was love at first sip! I ended up enjoying two glasses of this exotic drink. The food is lovely - very nice hainanese chicken rice with kerabu mangga and lemon chicken. My sister said I should have the Thai chicken for my next visit. And so I shall!

After that lovely meal I went to get my tyres changed especially because Goodyear tyres in Ipoh are RM30 cheaper each than Klang Valley's pricing. Wah! Bak kata Kamdar "Memang Berbaloi"! And yes alignment of all FOUR tyres for a mere RM12, done by a "see foo" to boot. This see foo apparently gets a cut of each alignment charge and he smiles his way to the bank at the beginning of each month, according to a reliable source. Mr See foo is also very quick with his work despite doing alignment MANUALLY (yup, no fancy schmancy computers like other tyre shops) - he did my car in just 10 minutes! And he does some 20-30 cars in a day. Cayalah!!!

The very camera shy SeeFoo

There are many other reasons why I like Ipoh but I shall let you discover Ipoh for yourself (like how Ang Lee did when he decided to shoot a Tony Leung film in Ipoh, think it's called "Lust, Caution").

VIVE IPOH!

Nizar is rightful MB: High Court -- The Star

Alhamdulillah, Allah is JUST!
I'm glad and happy for Perakians! ^_^

Published: Monday May 11, 2009 MYT 3:46:00 PM
Updated: Monday May 11, 2009 MYT 4:10:48 PM

Nizar is rightful MB: High Court
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here ruled rule on Monday that Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin is the rightful Perak Mentri Besar, and not Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.
In an immediate response, Zambry said he would apply for a stay pending appeal. This was rejected by the court.
Nizar immediately left the courtroom immediately after a press conference to travel to Ipoh where he will seek an audience with the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, to get his consent to dissolve the Assembly and call for fresh state elections.
In his ruling Monday, Justice Abdul Aziz Abd Rahim said that a new mentri besar could not be appointed as the office had not been vacated.
He said a mentri besar can only be dismissed by a vote of no confidence, and upheld the Stephen Kalong Ningkan ruling.
He noted that the Perak State Legislative did not hold a vote of no confidence.
In 1966, Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Stephen Kalong Ningkan was ousted when the state governor showed him a letter of no confidence issued by 21 out of 42 legislators and asked Ningkan to resign.
Ningkan refused, saying the letters were not tantamount to a vote of no confidence in the state legislative assembly. He was sacked by the governor but eventually reinstated by the Borneo High Court, which saw the necessity of a formal vote of no confidence.
According to the Nutgraph, the judge ruled ruled that the governor can only dismiss the chief minister when both these conditions are satisfied:
(a) The chief minister has lost the confidence of the House, and
(b) The chief minister has refused to resign and failed to advise a dissolution.
Nizar had filed for a judicial review on Feb 13, seeking a declaration that he is the rightful mentri besar of Perak and an injunction to bar Dr Zambry from discharging his duties as the mentri besar.
On March 6, Justice Lau Bee Lan had ruled that there were constitutional issues involving the interpretation of Article 16 (6) of the Perak Constitution and later referred four consitutional questions to the Federal Court for determination.
However, on March 23, the Federal Court ruled that the case of who the rightful mentri besar is should be heard by the High Court.
Nizar’s lead counsel Sulaiman Abdullah, in wrapping up his submissions last week, said the Constitution was the “genius of the Malaysian people”, adding that the court had a duty to uphold it. Over the last few days, he had submitted that the Sultan, while granted powers in the Perak Constitution to appoint a mentri besar, could not dismiss him.
The only way Nizar could be dismissed, he said, was through a vote of no-confidence in the House.
He also said that a mentri besar could request for the State Assembly to be dissolved in the middle of a term without losing the confidence of the majority of the House.
Dr Zambry’s lawyer Datuk Cecil Abraham, however, argued that Nizar went by Article 16(6) of the Perak Constitution when he sought an audience with the Sultan – this article specifically provides for the mentri besar to request for a dissolution when he has lost the confidence of the majority in the House.
Under the article, Nizar is required to tender the resignation of his executive councillors when his request was rejected, he said.