HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: sehari@iastate.edu (Babak Sehari)
Subject: Re: The Persain calender year
Followup-To: poster
Originator: sehari@class1.iastate.edu
Organization: Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa.
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 20:32:31 GMT

In <1993Jan12.192243.9523@EE.Stanford.EDU> mack@isl.Stanford.EDU (mack) writes:



>>The first year of the calendar coincides with Prophet Muhammad's trip
>>from Mecca to Medinah. You could look at this calendar as another
>>example of the compromise the Iranians have generally made between
>>Islamic and non-Islamic socio-political and cultural heritage.

>Knowing:

>    a) The first year of Persian calendar coincides with hejrat
>    b) The first day of Persian calendar coincides with 1st day of
>       spring.

>Then:

>It is very unlikely that hejrat took place exactly on new year's day
>(norooz) of year 1. For example, let's assume hejrat took place on
>some random day like 18 Mordad. What I am wondering is that when the
>reference points were set for our calendar, which year was hejrat
>assumed to be? Did hejrat take place on 18 Mordad of year one? Or was
>it year zero? Or some other year? Or is this a stupid question?

>    --mack

Hejrat took place in a year period.  They could have started any time they
wanted.  Arabic years for example, start with "Mohram" (I Guess) and Iranian
year start with Farvardin.  As some one else have mentioned, Iranian have
incorporated many of our pre-Islam culture with Islam.  Specially, when Iran
switched to "shieh" this trend has been accelerated. Similar to England's 
protestantism.  

                    With highest regards,
                         Babak   Sehari.
-- 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian
From: Babak Sehari
Subject: MOSLEMS CAN USE OIL WEAPON FOR BOSNIA, TURKEY SAYS 
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 03:17:14 GMT



 MOSLEMS CAN USE OIL WEAPON FOR BOSNIA, TURKEY SAYS 
    ANKARA, Jan 6, Reuter -  Turkey believes Moslem producers can use the oil
weapon to force international military action against Serbs in Bosnia, Foreign
Minister Hikmet Cetin was quoted on Wednesday as saying. 
    ``Oil is the greatest weapon at the hands of Islamic countries. They are
the oil stores of the world.  They can use this,'' Cetin said in an interview
with the mass-circulation Hurriyet newspaper. 
    ``The Islamic countries can exert direct pressure on the U.N. Security
Council. They can display a joint position,'' he said. 
    U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has said any military moves
should be held back to give peace talks a chance. 
    Bosnia's Moslem, Croat and Serbian leaders meeting in Geneva, have
postponed the talks until Sunday. 
    Ankara has been urging international intervention in Bosnia since September
to break a Serbian siege of Moslems. Cetin said last week that ``the only
language the Serbs will understand is force.'' 
    The minister said Bosnia would top the agenda at an Organisation of the
Islamic Conference (OIC) summit planned for January 11 in the Senegalese
capital of Dakar. 
    ``A very serious resolution must be produced at the OIC summit,'' he said. 
    OIC states meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last month demanded the use of
force against Serbs and gave the United Nations until January 15 to find an
effective solution to the war in Bosnia. 
 REUTER AS DJG 

Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian
From: Babak Sehari
Subject: Tajikistan
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 03:10:18 GMT



    Tajikistan, a Central Asian state which borders Afghanistan and China, has
been racked by months of clan-based fighting in which many hundreds have been
killed and one in 10 of the five million population has been displaced. 
    The decree marked an attempt to reinforce law and order in the capital,
from which Islamic fighters were driven out only last month. 
    Interior Minister Yakbudzhon Salimov was appointed city commandant in
Dushanbe, responsible for enforcing the state of emergency in all districts. 
    The decree said meetings, street processions, demonstrations, picketing,
sport and spectator events, and strikes would all be banned during the
emergency period, which would last until the situation stabilised. 
    Traffic restrictions and road checks would be enforced. 
    It said the moves were intended to ``quickly stabilise the situation,
restore law and order, maintain citizens' security, confiscate weapons and
military equipment held by illegal armed groups, and prevent incidents of
plunder and other grave criminal acts.'' 
    Moscow radio said the 201st Russian motorised infantry division, stationed
in Tajikistan, had been charged with providing the armoured vehicles and
personnel to cover the state of emergency and the curfew. 
 REUTER MJT MN
From: >>>>>> Anonymous
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian
Subject: Testing [sci-anon-poster]
Date: 8 Jan 93 02:47:33 GMT
Organization: Notgheh MajjAni, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: handel
To: sci-anon-poster


Nothing but a test.

 
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From: ustai@memstvx1.memst.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
Subject: Re: Will Malaysia be DEVELOPED? NO
Date: 12 Jan 93 03:25:31 -0600
Organization: Memphis State University

In article <1993Jan11.072155.16744@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg>, othman@ntrc25.ntrc.ntu.ac.sg (othman (EEE/Div 4)) writes:
> 
> i) bus fares must not increase because they are making enough profit. The fare
> is RM$0.50 for a journey up to 10 miles or RM$0.10 per mile( for bigger busses).Taxis should be RM$0.25/km. Yes they can make money but only if the buses 
> remain the same(old buses), salary of workers remain low at RM300/month.
> 	In contrast, In Singapore it is S$0.25 /mile for buses and $1 /mile for
> taxis. Income of $1000 per person. 

	Interesting points you have raised.  However, I have trouble with the
above example.  As I have pointed out, the bus companies in KL are making heck
of a lot more money than healthy (I am talking about companies like Sri Jaya). 
And I do think the taxi fare is a bit on the low side in M'sia, but it's may be
a bit too high in Singapore.  One cab driver there told me that he works part
time because he wants to have money so that "I can buy whatever I want when I
go on vacation".  And of course there's the standard argument that things are
cheaper in M'sia.
	Ciao.

-Tai "who got addicted to muds... *sigh*"
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
From: an485@anon.penet.fi
Subject: Some addresses of Malaysain Restuarants in N. America
Organization: Anonymous contact service
X-Anonymously-To: soc.culture.asean
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 05:22:17 GMT

These resulted from a CD-ROM search for MALAYSIA*
Enjoy....


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Due to the double-blind system, any replies to this message will be anonymized,
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Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean,soc.culture.australian
From: othman@ntrc25.ntrc.ntu.ac.sg (othman (EEE/Div 4))
Subject: Re: Hot Off The Presses : UMNO Proposes Constitutional Changes
Organization: Nanyang Technological University - Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 07:18:17 GMT

PSYCTWO1 (psyctwo1@cc.newcastle.edu.au) wrote:
: 
: Does this mean that the Australian Police will be able to extradite a 
: certain Malay Prince?
: 
: Just curious.

Princes in Malaysia never had any immunity unlike princes in other countries
e.g. England.

	The current Sultan of Johor was actually jailed for 6 months when he
was still just a prince.
From: othman@ntrc25.ntrc.ntu.ac.sg (othman (EEE/Div 4))
Subject: Re: Kahaner Report: Malaysian computer import duties
Organization: Nanyang Technological University - Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 07:20:50 GMT

Black_Swan@MTS.RPI.EDU wrote:
:  
:  
:  
: ****** Start of Excerpts *****
:  
: The Royal Malaysian Customs and Excise Department, clarifying a recent
: budget day speech by Malaysian Minister of Finance Anwar Ibrahim, has
: said that the import duty on assembled computers and many
: computer-related products was abolished with effect from November 30,
: 1992.  The relevant duty rates had ranged from 5 to 25 percent on some
: 600 items.

Before you start buying pcs to bring back to Malaysia please note the difference
in tariffs between declared goods and goods brought in personally without
filling in any forms.

	I've just checked with Johor customs that for me, I must get the
services of a company to get tax exemptions for my personal effects and 
letter of termination of job. I'm not sure about US students. In my time
I did not need to pay any tax on my personal effects.

	Goods brought in personally are subject to 50% tax no matter if they
are tax exempted or not, at least that happened to my RC toys. Maybe it was
due to my aggressive nature. There is no record of the items taxed when you
pay your import tax. It is just a receipt.

I'll get more info when I go to Johor next week.
From: lteo_ss@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Leslie Teo)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
Subject: Re: VAlue of money
Date: 11 Jan 93 19:36:41 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)

In article <1993Jan9.015247.16007@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg> othman@ntrc25.ntrc.ntu.ac.sg (othman (EEE/Div 4)) writes:
>Leslie Teo (lteo_ss@troi.cc.rochester.edu) wrote:
>: 
>: Call me naive but I think the chaps at Bank Negara have enough brains to
>: realize that they shouldn't be playing with fire. Yes, government might
>
>It depends on how independent Bank Negara is from the politicians.
>German central bank is refuted to be the most independent and it is very
>determined to maintain the value of the mark. Read fortune magazine again.
>
>Another case is the action of  President Salinas of Mexico.

I  didn't read the article, but it's true that the Bundesbank is
probably one of the most independent  central banks  around. Bank
Negara,  unlike the Federal Reserve or the Bundesbank, is not constituted
to be "independent".  Most central banks (and in a sense monetary
policy)  is, these days,  geared towards reducing or keeping inflation
low. A central bank does this by influencing  interest rates.
Maintaining the value of the currency is usually a by product of  this
mandate. That's one reason why lots of people were mad at the Bundesbank
during the European currency crisis last year. The story goes something
like this: the Bundesbank had  over the past couple of months increased
interest rates in an attempt to keep inflation under control (one reason
for this was the government's expenditure ie. cost of unification).
However, higher German interest rates together with investor confidence
in the German economy (compared to other alternatives) created more
"demand" for the currency. By the law of demand and supply, the value of
the German mark increased (relative to other currencies.)


>: print more money (or spend more) increasing inflation, causing a default
>: "devaluation" but I doubt that Bank Negara would allow any policy which
>: would be so  transparent or significant. Otherwise, some of us will be
>: making tons of money on the currency market & in doing so might cause
>: Bank Negara & the treasury a lot of heartache. Again, value (wrt to
>: other currencies) is
>: determined basically by fundamentals. There may be  short term
>: fluctuations/manipulations but they can't buck the market. 
>
>What are those fundamentals? It is that you cannot create wealth by printing
>more money which will come out of fiscal irresponsibility.

By fundamentals, I mean the law of supply and demand. The value of a
currency is determined by how much "ringgit" is wanted (relative to
another currency) and how much is supplied. The market of  ringgit, I
think is controlled to a certain extent by Bank Negara. However, even a
country like India (the rupee  is not convertible)  could withstand
market forces.  That is, the rupee was trading at 26/per  US dollar on
the black market while officially it was set by the government at 20/ US
dollar.
From: bador@bnr.ca (Yasmin Bador)
Subject: S.A.D, no sun, miss makan
Organization: BNR Europe Ltd, Maidenhead, UK
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 13:22:43 GMT

Anyway, makan sorang-sorang is no fun.
For you lot out there in any sunny parts, keep
us here posted about the news from home ei?
Not everyone gets ftp access you know.

Just for the record, how many people resident in the
UK( Northern Ireland included) reads this newsgroup anyway?
Post it up and say Hi (no email address for me, good for avoiding
flame throwers).

Ah well! Moan over.
Back to work.

Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
From: changh@fraser.sfu.ca (Chang Tih Ho)
Subject: Re: List of overseas Malaysian restaurants
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 22:10:09 GMT

kama@microsoft.com (Kam Foo Aw) writes:

>Place: Vancouver, Canada
>Restaurant: Tropika
>Good foods: Great curry dishes
>Direction: I couldn't remember the street. You can almost see 
>the English Bay from the street.

It is at 1098 Denman Street

Other M'sian/Singaporean restaurants in Vancouver:

The Singaporean Restaurant : On Broadway
Tropika : One at the aforementioned address and the other one is on Broadway
Tauke: On Broadway
Nonya and Baba : On Davied

Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
From: matmcinn@nuscc.nus.sg (brett mcinnes)
Subject: Re: Developed? Must have unemployment benefits!
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 08:24:36 GMT

othman@ntrc25.ntrc.ntu.ac.sg (othman (EEE/Div 4)) writes:
: 
: this is one of my controversial ideas again which I have studied for some time
: based on the facts that
: 
: ALL DEVELOPED NATIONS HAVE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.
: ALL UNDEVELOPED NATIONS HAVE NO UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.
: 
: In the Singapore case, the support for government becomes less when Singapore
: become more developed because of fear of rising cost of living but this is the
: price of development. As the government had tried to explain that as the workers
: wages increase, the cost of labour will increase resulting in increases in
: hawker food stall prices, etc. 
: 	So I boldly predict that, Singapore will not achieve its parity with
: Switzerland if it does not have equivalent unemployment benefits. It already has
: quite close in the form of the CPF, which can be withdrawn for various needs,
: such as hospitals but not for unemployment.
: 
ALL RICH PEOPLE SPEND A LOT OF MONEY                                      
ALL POOR PEOPLE SPEND LITTLE MONEY				             
THEREFORE, IN ORDER TO BECOME RICH, ONE SHOULD SPEND AS MUCH MONEY AS
POSSIBLE:                                                                
 There is one slight difference between CPF and unemployment benefits.
Namely, you spend CPF on yourself. In the case of unemployment benefits,
the government spends your money on someone else. A mere bagatelle, I
know. After all, who cares about money?                                  
: 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
From: sbog6936@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Bin Ong)
Subject: Re: Why so quiet?
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 18:31:55 GMT

othman@ntrc25.ntrc.ntu.ac.sg (othman (EEE/Div 4)) writes:

>After not typing for 1 full month I feel a little bit uneasy and slow so do
>not like to talk too much.

>Why not much cotroversial topics although there are a lot of new developments
>in Malaysia?

There was peace on earth ...I mean, on the net :-). Thanks for that period
of peace and quiet.. Othman... could we put that in as part of the
New Year resolution for the net?? I mean, comments are welcome, as long as 
they are reasonable and logical...and not arguments for argument sake. If
you want to play devil's advocate, put in the spoiler.

Bin Ong
Univ of Illinois
INTERNET: bin-ong@uiuc.edu 

Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
From: rswi@mtu.edu (shammoo)
Subject: Help
Organization: Michigan Technological University
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 14:24:01 GMT

Keywords: 
Dear Fellow Friends!

To those who have provided me with the list of e-mail addresses for graduate
school - I really apperiaciate it...yhanks a lot!

However due to my own carelessness, I have forgotten to indicate my field of
interest.

Therefore to anyone out there who has a list of e-mail addresses for graduate
school in the field on Business Management and/or Mass Communications - I would
surely apperaciate it if you could mail it to me at :

		RSWI@mtu.edu

thanks once again!

raymond

Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
Date: Fri,  8 Jan 1993 01:56:50 -0500 
From: Rikiya Asano <ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Who are the seven Saltans...

Friends,

.

         Please could any of you tell me what the names of the seven Saltans of
Malayia. And also, any information about the native people of Sarawa. The Iban.
I like this culture very much. Thank you.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
From: othman@ntrc25.ntrc.ntu.ac.sg (othman (EEE/Div 4))
Subject: Re: soc.culture.singapore is up!
Organization: Nanyang Technological University - Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 02:04:51 GMT

MunTuck Yap (muntuck@bombay.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM) wrote:
: In article <1993Jan12.165648.20179@noose.ecn.purdue.edu> seow@kraft.ecn.purdue.edu (Aik Siong Seow) writes:
: 
: >
: >  Hey everyone!
: >	   Soc.culture.singapore is up. Join in the fray!
: 
: 
:    With due respects to Singaporeans, are there anything exciting or even
:    remotely interesting happening in Singapore? What do Singaporeans do
:    for fun?
i) shopping for branded goods,
ii) live in houses with proper toilets
iii)watch NICAM stereo hifi on 29" TV
iv) travel overseas frequently
v) eat anything they want

That is what you get as a developed NATION. In terms of purchasing power it
is even higher than Japan but then Japan do not have those hawker centres, and
Sim Lim Square, HDB flats, cheap labour from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and
the Philippines.

--
Othman bin Ahmad, School of EEE,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 2263.
Internet Email: eoahmad@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg
Bitnet Email: eoahmad@ntuvax.bitnet
From: ustai@memstvx1.memst.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
Subject: Re: Will Malaysia be DEVELOPED? NO
Date: 12 Jan 93 09:40:59 GMT
Organization: Memphis State University

In article <MUNTUCK.93Jan10042118@bombay.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM>, muntuck@bombay.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM (MunTuck Yap) writes:
> 
> Will Malaysia be saved from wholesale pollution from this rush to 
> industrialization? 

	I hope so.  Someone mentioned in another newsgroup that a think tank
came up with a 4 page report basically saying that if we don't mend our ways,
within 10 years (at current growth) the pollution will be so bad that it will
be irreversible.  That person goes on to mention that the report was by about
100 scientists of which a lot were with Nobel prizes (and in hard sciences, and
not economics).  I wish I remember the name of the report.

> I had a conversation with about two or three people
> from Penang, and they were complaining bitterly on the pollution of
> the beaches by industrial waste. Things were so bad, that nobody in
> their right mind would go swimming in those beaches. There were talk
> and counter-talk in the newspapers but no action.

	It had been bad in KL for the longest time.  Go downtown and touch any
leave in the "green KL" project.  Yucks.

> Are there environment groups in Malaysia?

	*nod*  That Utusan Konsumer in Penang.  And a couple of others.  But I
find that sometimes Utusan Konsumer don't tell the whole truth... (or the
writers weren't aware of the facts).
	Ciao.

-Tai
From: q0c192@rick.cs.ubc.ca (Kok Liang Foo)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
Subject: Income Tax
Date: 6 Jan 1993 23:33:04 -0800
Organization: Computer Science, University of B.C., Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: gambier.rick.cs.ubc.ca

Does anyone (should have) know what is the income tax rate in
Singapore and Malaysia are ?
Thanks


Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
From: othman@ntrc25.ntrc.ntu.ac.sg (othman (EEE/Div 4))
Subject: Re: VAlue of money
Organization: Nanyang Technological University - Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 10:00:43 GMT

Zulfakar Aspar (zxa5@po.CWRU.Edu) wrote:
: 
: This is not one of the main reason the BN won the election. However, I think it
: influenced educated people decision.

I think you are wrong here. The really educated ones, i.e. those who are
successful financially, put their money in property or overseas.

: 
: >It strikes me as though the billions actually come from my savings. It is a
: >licence to steal/tax people's money efficiently. But is it fair to the majority?
: 	Could you explain this?

If the value of your saving/salary becomes less, someone must have taken it
 then? For example if your saving is $100 ringgit which is originally 
equivalent to 25 US$, what happens if that $100 ringgit become only 20 US$?
5 US $ has gone missing.
	Who has the power to decide the value of the money if not the guy who
create it in the first place, i.e. the government? After all money is just
a piece of paper, not a physical object.

: 
: 
: >Those who borrow a lot will gain during a devaluation because property prices
: >remain high after all physical objects and imports will be priced realistically.
: 	And this?

The rate at which you pay your mortgage is the same so if the value of money
has dropped, you are actually paying less, but the house/car remains the
same, and you are using it. And you'll notice that the value of the house/car
will actually go up because you will not accept the original price since 
money buys less physical objects than before(actually it is also due to the
larger number of people who have more paper money to offer for physical 
objects). 

: 
: >Singapore has chosen the strenghtening of its currency. the same with Germany.
: >Britain tried to do it but it is too expensive for them becuase it has too much
: >government deficit.
: >
: >The ringgit starts to drop again in liew of the current royalty battle. Could it
: >be the government spending money campaining?
: >
: >I can bet that during election time, the ringgit will drop in value again,
: >with the government printing more money.
: >
: >
: 	And I bet the ringgit will increase at lease slightly when a big
: government company is opened to public like the TNB.
: 
Thanks for this tip. I missed it completely. Now I can explain the ups and
down of the ringgit. You know how important it is for me here in Singapore
who has to send money to Malaysia regularly.

As a tip, DCA(airport) has just been commercialised but its shares are not
yet offered to the public but it will.

At the moment the ringgit is dropping in value. The value will only go up
if DCA were sold to the public.

--
Othman bin Ahmad, School of EEE,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 2263.
Internet Email: eoahmad@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg
Bitnet Email: eoahmad@ntuvax.bitnet