2007 is the Chinese Lunar Year of the Pig. The Year of the Pig began on Sunday, 18 February 2007 and will end on Wednesday, 6 February 2008 while the Rat takes over from Thursday, 7 February 2008 to Sunday, 25 January 2009.

May it be a coincidence, there is just so much about pigs this year. Just a month before Chinese New Year, some time in January, the RK House - No Pork video clip was widely circulated in YouTube as well as blogs. The video clip, originating from Singapore is about 2 youths who insisted of ordering pork in a Mamak restaurant despite being repeatedly told that there is no pork available.

On a more personal side, some of you know, while many of you probably do not know that, the fact is: I DON’T EAT PORK. Reason? No! Nothing religious, but rather, in my opinion, I say again, in my opinion, you don’t have to agree with me, but it stinks! And it was only a few days ago I had an argument with my cousins just because of the topic of pork. Besides, I am rather sensitive to the smell of pork. I don’t even consume soup boiled with pork and I also don’t consume any food where it has any pig-based ingredients.

While pork stinks to me, I think the pig wink in Windows Live Messenger is rather amusing. It’s my favorite wink where I send to numerous people just for the fun of it, in particular to Esther and Ooi Fun. However, they seldom go online nowadays, and have left the Klang Valley to Singapore and Ipoh respectively. As a result, for the very first time, I bought each of them a pig figurine as gift during their recent graduation.

Oh well, what makes the news headlines recently? Oh ya, pig farms in Paya Mengkuang, Melaka! After a stand-off with the authorities, the government aborted the plan to cull the extra pigs from pig farms in Melaka, giving them a time frame to slaughter or relocate the extra pigs to other states. The main reason for the control of number of pigs is purely due to environmental factor, but looks like it has become a political issue!

Well, pigs rule in the Year of the Pig!

The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Two college students who may have allowed a lottery scam syndicate to use their bank accounts contacted the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department yesterday.

The department’s head Datuk Michael Chong said the students, however, declined to volunteer any personal details or details of the syndicate.

“All they said was that they were scared a third party may have used their bank accounts for misappropriation and I told them to lodge a police report,” he said.

Chong said the department received a telephone call at about 10.30am and one of the students had requested to speak directly to him.

Yesterday, the plight of a contractor who lost RM1.7mil in a lottery scam was highlighted in many newspapers. It is believed the students contacted Chong after reading the reports.

“The students claimed that they were persuaded by friends to open bank accounts to earn commission.

“Their friends told them that if they allowed their accounts to be used by a third party, they would be paid for every transaction made.

“These two boys were not sure if their accounts were indeed used by the same syndicate or for what purpose,” said Chong, adding that one of the students said he received RM400 as commission for two transactions made through his account.