Hiren’s BootCD 8.4 + How to Launch BootCD from USB Flash Drive

UPDATE :
Hiren’s BootCD 8.5 Available Here  

Download Mirrors for Hiren’s BootCD v8.4 (select the link most convenient for you):

Hiren’s BootCD 8.4 + Keyboard Patch [Zipped/Rarred Size approx: 64.1 MB]
Fixdown
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Depositfiles Mirror 1
Depositfiles Mirror 2
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Rapidshare Mirror 3 Part 1 of 2 – 55 MB
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Hiren’s BootCD 8.4 – All in one Dos Bootable CD has all these utilities.

Partition Tools:
- Partition Magic Pro 8.05 – Best software to partition hard drive
- Acronis Disk Director Suite 9.0.554 – Popular disk management functions in a single suite
- Paragon Partition Manager 7.0.1274 – Universal tool for partitions
- Partition Commander 9.01 – The safe way to partition your hard drive,with undo feature
- Ranish Partition Manager 2.44 – a boot manager and hard disk partitioner.
- The Partition Resizer v1.3.4 – move and resize your partitions in one step and more.
- Smart Fdisk 2.05 – a simple harddisk partition manager
- SPecial Fdisk 2000 – SPFDISK a partition tool.
- eXtended Fdisk 0.9.3 – XFDISK allows easy partition creation and edition
- GDisk 1.1.1 – Complete replacement for the DOS FDISK utility and more.

Disk Clone Tools:
- ImageCenter 5.6 (Drive Image 2002) – Best software to clone hard drive
- Norton Ghost 8.3 – Similar to Drive Image (with usb/scsi support)
- Acronis True Image 8.1.945 – Create an exact disk image for complete system backup and disk cloning.
- Partition Saver 3.20 – A tool to backup/restore partitions.
- COPYR.DMA Build013 – A Tool for making copies of hard disks with bad sectors

Antivirus Tools:
- F-Prot Antivirus 3.16f – Very good virus scanner (with ntfs support and easy to use menu)
- McAfee Antivirus 4.40 – a virus scanner (with ntfs support and easy to use menu)

Recovery Tools:
- Active Partition Recovery 3.0 – To Recover a Deleted partition.
- Active Uneraser 3.0 – To recover deleted files and folders on FAT and NTFS systems.
- Ontrack Easy Recovery Pro 6.10 – To Recover data that has been deleted/virus attack
- Winternals Disk Commander 1.1 – more than just a standard deleted-file recovery utility
- TestDisk 6.5b – Tool to check and undelete partition.
- Lost & Found 1.06 – a good old data recovery software.
- DiyDataRecovery Diskpatch 2.1.100 – An excellent data recovery software.
- Prosoft Media Tools 5.0 v1.1.2.64 – Another excellent data recovery software with many other options.
- PhotoRec 6.5b – File and pictures recovery Tool.

Testing Tools:
- System Speed Test 4.78 – it tests CPU, harddrive, ect.
- PC-Check 6.0 – Easy to use hardware tests
- Ontrack Data Advisor 5.0 – Powerful diagnostic tool for assessing the condition of your computer
- The Troubleshooter 7.02 – all kind of hardware testing tool
- PC Doctor 3.0 – a benchmarking and information tool
- Test Cpu/Video/Disk 5.6 – a tool to test cpu, video, and disk
- Test Hard Disk Drive 1.0 – a tool to test Hard Disk Drive

RAM (Memory) Testing Tools:
- DocMemory 2.2b – RAM Test utility
- GoldMemory 5.07 – RAM Test utility
- Memtest86+ 1.65 – PC Memory Test

Hard Disk Tools:
- Hard Disk Diagnostic Utilities
- Seagate Seatools Desktop Edition 3.02
- Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools
- Western Digital Diagnostics (DLGDIAG) 5.04f
- Maxtor PowerMax 4.23
- Maxtor amset utility 4.0
- Maxtor(or any Hdd) Low Level Formatter 1.1
- Fujitsu HDD Diagnostic Tool 6.61
- Fujitsu IDE Low Level Format 1.0
- Samsung HDD Utility(HUTIL) 2.02
- Samsung Disk Diagnose (SHDIAG) 1.28
- IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Test 4.08
- IBM/Hitachi Feature Tool 2.01
- Gateway GwScan 3.15
- ExcelStor’s ESTest 3.80
- MHDD 4.6
- WDClear 1.30
- HDD Regenerator 1.51 – to recover a bad hard drive
- Ontrack Disk Manager 9.57 – Disk Test/Format/Maintenance tool.
- Norton Disk Doctor 2002 – a tool to repair a damaged disk, or to diagnose your hard drive.
- Norton Disk Editor 2002 – a powerful disk editing, manual data recovery tool.
- Active Kill Disk 1.1 – Securely overwrites and destroys all data on physical drive.
- HDAT2 4.5 – main function is testing and repair (regenerates) bad sectors for devices
- SmartUDM 2.00 – Hard Disk Drive S.M.A.R.T. Viewer.
- Victoria 3.33 – a freeware program for low-level HDD diagnostics

System Information Tools:
- Aida16 2.14 – a system information tool, extracts details of all components of the PC
- PCI and AGP info Tool – The PCI System information & Exploration tool.
- System Analyser version 5.3n – View extensive information about your hardware
- Navrįtil Software System Information 0.59.9 – High-end professional system information tool
- Astra 5.21 – Advanced System info Tool and Reporting Assistant
- HwInfo 5.0.3 – a powerful system information utility
- PC-Config 9.33 (0408) – Complete hardware detection of your computer
- SysChk 2.46- Find out exactly what is under the hood of your PC
- CPU Identification utility v1.12 – Detailed information on CPU
- CTIA CPU Information – another CPU information tool

MBR (Master Boot Record) Tools:
- MBR Work 1.07b – a utility to perform some common and uncommon MBR functions
- MBR Tool 2.2.100 – backup, verify, restore, edit, refresh, remove, display, re-write…
- DiskMan4 – all in one tool for cmos, bios, bootrecord and more
- BootFix Utility – Run this utility if you get ‘Invalid system disk’
- MBR SAVE / RESTORE 2.1 – BootSave and BootRest tools to save / restore MBR
- Boot Partition 2.60 – add Partition in the Windows NT/2000/XP Multi-boot loader
- Partition Table Doctor 3.0 – a tool to repair/modify mbr, bootsector, partition table
- Smart Boot Manager 3.7.1 – a multi boot manager
- Bootmagic 8.0 – This tool is for multi boot operating systems

BIOS / CMOS Tools:
- CMOS 0.93 – CMOS Save / Restore Tool
- BIOS Cracker 4.8 – BIOS password remover (cmospwd)
- BIOS Cracker 1.4 – BIOS password remover (cmospwc)
- BIOS Utility 1.35.0 – BIOS Informations, password, beep codes and more.
- !BIOS 3.20 – a powerfull utility for bios and cmos
- DISKMAN4 – a powerful all in one utility
- UniFlash 1.40 – bios flash utility
- Kill CMOS – a tiny utility to wipe cmos

MultiMedia Tools:
- Picture Viewer 1.94 – Picture viewer for dos, supports more then 40 filetypes.
- QuickView Pro 2.57 – movie viewer for dos, supports many format including divx.
- MpxPlay 1.54 – a small Music Player for dos

Password Tools:
- Active Password Changer 3.0 – To Reset User Password on windows NT/2000/XP/2003 (FAT/NTFS)
- Offline NT/2K/XP Password Changer – utility to reset windows nt/2000/xp administrator/user password.
- Registry Viewer 4.2 – Registry Viewer/Editor for Win9x/Me/NT/2K/XP
- NTPWD – utility to reset windows nt/2000/xp administrator/user password.
- ATAPWD 1.2 – Hard Disk Password Utility.

NTFS Ext2FS, Ext3FS (FileSystems) Tools :
- NTFS Dos Pro 5.0 – To access ntfs partitions from Dos
- NTFS 4 Dos 1.4 – To access ntfs partitions from Dos
- Paragon Mount Everything 3.0 – To access NTFS, Ext2FS, Ext3FS partitions from dos
- NTFS Dos 3.02 – To access ntfs partitions from Dos
- EditBINI 1.01 – to Edit boot.ini on NTFS Partition

Dos File Managers:
- Volkov Commander 4.99 – Dos File Manager with LongFileName/ntfs support (Similar to Norton Commander)
- Dos Command Center 5.1 – Classic dos-based file manager.
- File Wizard 1.35 – a file manager – colored files, drag and drop copy, move, delete etc.
- File Maven 3.5 – an advanced Dos file manager with high speed PC-to-PC file transfers via serial or parallel cable
- FastLynx 2.0 – Dos file manager with Pc to Pc file transfer capability
- LapLink 5.0 – the smart way to transfer files and directories between PCs.
- Dos Navigator 5.9.0 – Dos File Manager, Norton Commander clone but has much more features.
- Mini Windows 98 – Can run from Ram Drive, with ntfs support, Added 7-Zip which supports .7z .zip .cab .rar .arj .gzip, .bzip2 .z .tar .cpio .rpm and .deb, Disk Defragmenter, Notepad / RichText Editor, Image Viewer, .avi .mpg .divx .xvid Movie Player, etc…

Other Tools:
- Ghost Walker 2003.793 – utility that changes the security ID (SID) for Windows NT, 2000 and XP
- DosCDroast beta 2 – Dos CD Burning Tools
- Universal TCP/IP Network 5.8 – MSDOS Network Client to connect via TCP/IP to a Microsoft based network. The network can either be a peer-to-peer or a server based network, it contains 85 different network card drivers

Dos Tools:
- USB CD-Rom Driver 1 – Standard usb_cd.sys driver for cd drive
- Universal USB Driver 2 – Panasonic v2.20 ASPI Manager for USB mass storage
- SCSI Support – SCSI Drivers for Dos
- Interlnk support at COM1 To access another computer from COM port
- Interlnk support at LPT1 – To access another computer from LPT port

Windows Tools:
- SpaceMonger 1.4 – keeping track of the free space on your computer
- Drive Temperature 1.0 – Hard Disk Drive temperature meter
- Disk Speed1.0 – Hard Disk Drive Speed Testing Tool
- MemTest 1.0 – a Memory Testing Tool
- PageDfrg 2.32 – System file Defragmenter For NT/2k/XP
- WhitSoft File Splitter 4.5a – a Small File Split-Join Tool
- Ghost Image Explorer 8.3 – to add/remove/extract files from Ghost image file
- DriveImage Explorer 5.0 – to add/remove/extract files from Drive image file
- Drive SnapShot 1.37 – creates an exact Disk Image of your system into a file while windows is running.
- Active Undelete 5.1.010 – a tool to recover deleted files
- Restoration 2.5.14 – a tool to recover deleted files
- GetDataBack for FAT 1.01 – Data recovery software for FAT file systems
- GetDataBack for NTFS 1.03 – Data recovery software for NTFS file systems
- Startup Control Panel 2.8 – a tool to edit startup programs
- Startup Monitor 1.02 – it notifies you when any program registers itself to run at system startup
- IB Process Manager 1.02 – a little process manager for 9x/2k, shows dll info etc.
- Pocket KillBox 2.0 – can be used to get rid of files that stubbornly refuse to allow you to delete them
- HijackThis 1.99 – a general homepage hijackers detector and remover and more
- RootkitRevealer 1.7 – Rootkit Revealer is an advanced patent-pending root kit detection utility.
- Silent Runners Revision 47 – A free script that helps detect spyware, malware and adware in the startup process
- CurrPort 1.07 – displays the list of all currently opened TCP and UDP ports on your computer
- Unknown Devices 1.2 – helps you find what those unknown devices in Device Manager really are
- PCI 32 Sniffer 1.1 (0408) – device information tool (similar to unknown devices)
- NewSID 4.10 – utility that changes the security ID (SID) for Windows NT, 2000 and XP
- Double Driver 1.0 – Driver Backup and Restore tool
- CPU-Z 1.36 -It gathers information on some of the main devices of your system
- CWShredder 2.19 – Popular CoolWebSearch Trojan Remover tool
- Winsock 2 Fix for 9x – to fix corrupted Winsock2 information by poorly written Internet programs
- XP TCP/IP Repair 1.0 – Repair your Windows XP Winsock and TCP/IP registry errors
- CCleaner 1.32.345 – Crap Cleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool
- EzPcFix 1.0.0.16 – Helpful tool when trying to remove viruses, spyware, and malware
- Content Advisor Password Remover 1.0 – It Removes Content Advisor Password from Internet Explorer
- Spybot – Search & Destroy 1.4 (0408) – Application to scan for spyware, adware, hijackers and other malicious software.
- SpywareBlaster 3.5.1 – Prevent the installation of spyware and other potentially unwanted software.
- Ad-Aware SE Personal 1.06 – find and remove spyware, adware, dialers etc. (a must have tool)

Homepage – http://thanki.tk

Size: 64.3 MB

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Hiren’s BootCD From USB Flash Drive (USB Pen Drive)

Step 1
Put the BootCD 7.2 or newer in CD Drive

Step 2
Start Mini Windows 98

Step 3
Copy Files From A:\ (Floppy Drive) using Explorer to C:\USB and Restart Computer to normal Windows

OR
Note: if you can not see your hard drive from mini windows 98 then you will need a blank floppy disk.
click Start > Turn Off > Exit to Dos and type COPY A:\*.* B:\
Now remove floppy and Restart Computer to your normal Windows and insert your floppy disk
and copy all files from floppy disk to C:\USB

Step 4
Download USB Disk Storage Format (34KB)

Note: USB Disk Storage Format works on xp, for windows 98 Go to My computer and
Right click on the USB Drive and click on format. You will need a USB Flash Drive 64MB or more

Step 5
Copy All Files (but not JO.sys) From C:\USB to Your USB Flash Disk

Step 6
Copy \BOOTCD folder to Your USB Disk

Step 7
Test Your USB Disk

To Enter the BIOS press the “Del” button on your keyboard. Alternatives are “F1″, “F2″, “Insert”, and “F10″. Some PC’s BIOS might even require a different key to be pressed. Commonly a PC will show a message like “Press [Del] to enter Setup” to indicate that you need to press the “Del” key. Some AMI BIOS require you to enable the option “USB Keyboard Legacy support”!For AMI BIOS:

• Go to “Feature Setup”. “Enable” these options: “USB Function Support”,
  “USB Function For DOS” and “ThumbDrive for DOS”. Go to “Advanced Setup”.
  Set the “1st Boot Device” to “USB RMD-FDD”.
  Reboot the PC and it now should boot from the Usb Stick.
• Go to “USB Mass Storage Device Configuration”. Select “Emulation Type”
  and set it to “Harddisk”. Go to the “Boot Menu” and set the “1st boot device” to “USB-Stick”. Exit the BIOS, saving the changes.
  you can try “Emulation Type” to “Floppy” or “Forced FDD”.

For PHOENIX/AWARD BIOS:

• Go to “Advanced BIOS Features”. Go to the “1st Boot device” and set it to “USB-ZIP”.

Source: http://www.hiren.info/pages.php/bootcd-on-usb-disk

Yasmin Mahmood to assume Microsoft Malaysia MD position in September

Yasmin Mahmood has been appointed as Managing Director of Microsoft Malaysia with effect from early September 2006.Yasmin was previously the General Manager of Dell Malaysia and Corporate Director of Dell Inc. Prior to that, she was the General Manager of Hewlett Packard Sales Malaysia’s Commercial Channels Organisation.

Yasmin succeeds Butt Wai Choon, who has been promoted to Asia-Pacific General Manager of Microsoft’s OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) group. This new business segment was established to assist Microsoft’s regional manufacturing partners customize and to add value to their respective products and solutions with Microsoft’s flagship Windows, Office and Server flagship technologies.

Butt will continue to oversee and manage business at Microsoft Malaysia (holding all Microsoft Malaysia Managing Director responsibilities) until Yasmin comes on board officially in September.

Said Eduardo Rosini, Regional Vice-President (Asia Pacific) at Microsoft, “In the last six years, Wai Choon has demonstrated very strong leadership skills in the management of our Malaysian operations.

“As a company, we always look for opportunities to grow our people, and I’m glad that Wai Choon has decided to take up the new challenge to lead our regional efforts with our OEM partners. This new and very pivotal role will hold strong responsibilities in helping the company and our OEM partners ramp up our efforts as we look to launch Windows Vista and Office 2007 in the next year.”

Meanwhile, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) Chief Executive Officer, Badlisham Ghazalli, said that he was grateful to Microsoft for its continuous contribution to the growth of Malaysia’s ICT ecosystem.

“I am heartened that, although Microsoft is today the world’s largest software company, the company has consistently made great efforts to grow the local software ecosystem,” said Badlisham, citing, amongst others, the Memorandum of Understanding signed with local independent software vendor (ISV) IFCA-MSC Berhad to share information on the latest software technologies which Badlisham himself officially witnessed last April.

Since Microsoft established its Malaysian business in 1992, the local partner ecosystem system has grown from a handful to 5,000 highly qualified solutions providers as well as a specialized group of some 800 ISVs today. What’s more, an IDC study released last year showed that, for every RM1 spent on Microsoft, another RM15 is spent on the overall solution comprising hardware, services and software for local partners.

“MDeC believes that our fellow Malaysian Yasmin will continue to build on this momentum to build competencies, capabilities and competitiveness for Malaysia established by her predecessor, Butt, who is also Malaysian,” added Badlisham, citing Yasmin’s deep understanding of the local IT environment.

“Toward this end, MDeC welcomes the appointment of Yasmin and we look forward to Microsoft strengthening on its already strong support for the country’s Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) initiative,” he further said, adding that MDeC hopes to further enhance the already strong relationship between both organizations to fully realize the MSC mission of spearheading transformation of ICT companies at both local and global levels.

Microsoft’s Continuous Commitment to Malaysia
Microsoft Malaysia, through its deep engagements with local government, business, industry and community, are active contributors to the country’s economic development, and will remain so over the long term.

The company will continue to:

(1) Significantly contribute to the growth of the local software economy: In 2006, Microsoft invested some RM26 million in Malaysia comprising, amongst others, tools, training and technology in its effort to establish software development as a key engine of growth for the Malaysian economy. It is estimated that some 50,000 jobs have been created in the software and services sector as a result of Microsoft’s initiatives.

(2) Accelerate digital inclusion and digital literacy: Just a fortnight ago, Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, launched the Microsoft Windows XP Multilingual Starter Edition – the only operating system in the world that is available in four different languages, namely Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin and Tamil, thereby allowing more Malaysians to tap into world of computing in languages they are familiar with.

(3) Lay the foundation for the next generation of Malaysians: This is primarily through education under Microsoft’s “Partners in Learning” programme to bring greater depth of IT teaching skills to the education sector (Primary, Secondary and lecturers in Higher Education) and to train 300,000 teachers to be IT skilled teachers within the next two years in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

The company also places great emphasis on what it terms “Customer Value”, that is for IT to assume the role of business enabler for greater productivity and operational efficiency.

One of Yasmin’s first milestones as Managing Director would be to oversee the launch of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system — the most innovative, large-scale technology release in a decade — and the 2007 Microsoft Office System with enhanced tools and capabilities, scheduled for January 2007.

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/malaysia/press/linkpage4316.asp

What’s Driving Private Investment in Malaysia?

Author/Editor: Guimarães, Roberto Pereira | Unteroberdoerster, Olaf

Authorized for Distribution: August 1, 2006

Electronic Access:

Full Text in PDF format. (PDF file size is 733KB)
Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file.

Summary:

Private sector investment has been a key source of growth in Malaysia over the last three decades, but after an unprecedented decline in the wake of the Asian crisis it has remained sluggish in recent years. Using aggregate and firm-level data, this paper aims to explain these trends and their implications for Malaysia’s investment and growth outlook. Aggregate data point to sustained overinvestment in the years prior to the Asian crisis and the role of shifts in investor perceptions as important determinants of the recent decline in private investment. Meanwhile, firm-level data suggest that low profitability, along with financing constraints affecting smaller firms and those in the services sector, has also been important.

Source: IMF

Man U to play in Malaysia after signing tourism deal

MANCHESTER, England (AP) – Manchester United will play a preseason soccer game in Malaysia next year after signing a deal to support tourism in the southeast Asian country.

Manchester United chief executive David Gill said Friday that the itinerary had yet to be determined. The club last toured there in 1995.

“We have always had a huge following in the region for three main reasons; history, heritage and achievement,” he said. “It will be good to have the chance to visit the region again.

“It will be a genuine attempt to project ourselves to supporters who very rarely have the opportunity to see us live.”

Tourism Malaysia was introduced as a new sponsor at the club’s training ground at Carrington, just outside Manchester, with Malaysia’s Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor meeting players Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes.

Ferguson said Asian players were making an impact in Europe. United has South Korean midfielder Ji-sung Park, and Ferguson hopes to add another player from the country.

“The world has changed in terms of where you get players from now and we are currently looking at a young Korean boy we are hoping to bring over quite soon,” Ferguson said.

Source: http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5947464

Malaysia to pass NAM chairmanship to Cuba next week

Ipoh (Malaysia), Sept 7:

Malaysia will hand over the chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to Cuba at the NAM Summit in Havana next week, Foreign Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Rastam Mohd Isa said.

He said Malaysia was entrusted with the chairmanship in 2003 when Bangladesh and Jordan could not assume the chairmanship as agreed.

Cuban President Fidel Castro, who was NAM chairman 25 years ago, will again assume leadership of the movement from next week.

However, it is still not clear whether he will be able to attend the summit from Sept 11 to 16 as he is recuperating after undergoing intestinal surgery in July, Rastam said.

Referring to the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), Rastam said Malaysia would continue to hold the chair of the OIC until Senegal was ready to organise the next summit in the coming year or in 2008.

He also said Malaysia would open a consulate in western metropolis Mumbai, India. “The Cabinet recently endorsed the setting up of the consulate because it felt we cannot ignore the growing importance of India as well as China in the global economy,” he said.

— PTI

Source: http://www.newkerala.com/news4.php?action=fullnews&id=18105

Malaysia: Tension Grows Over Christian Convert

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (ANS) – From mobile phone text messages to blogs and e-mails: Muslims and non-Muslims in Malaysia have been sharing their anger and concerns over how the country’s judiciary will rule on the legality of a Muslim woman’s conversion to Christianity.According to Adnkronos International (AKI) an independent news agency based in Italy, the tension has been caused by Lina Joy, 42, who was born as Azalina Jailani, and is awaiting the Federal Court’s decision on her appeal to have her conversion officially recognized.

Muslim women in Malaysia where almost 60 percent of the country’s 26 million people are Muslims (Picture from BBC website)

Reports say that Joy is in currently in hiding after death threats from Islamic extremists, who accuse her of being an apostate.

“The case began when her application to change her religion in her identification card was rejected by a high court in 2001 who ruled that as a Malay, she could not renounce her religion and that it was a matter for the Sharia courts to decide,” said the AKI story.

“Last month, her lawyer appeared before Malaysia’s  highest court, the Court of Appeals, to argue that Joy’s conversion be considered a right protected under the Constitution and not a religious matter for the Shariah courts

“A decision was expected in August which has now been delayed.”

In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), Muslim cleric Harussani Zakaria, while clearly stating his opposition to the conversion, called for a mutual respect as a means to calm the tension. “Whatever the court decision, the people must have respect for each other,” he said.

“This case has shown that people do not understand the Constitution. What they are claiming in court as her right to choose her faith is not applicable because she was born a Malay-Muslim,” he added.

According to some lawyers and women’s groups the delay is deliberate and is aimed at diffusing the growing tensions over the issue that has seen individuals and groups defending her right to practice a religion of her choice coming under fire from Islamic groups.

In the midst of the storm, Joy counts on the support of the Christian community that has also appealed for calm.

The Malaysian Council of Churches General Secretary, Hermen Shastri, said Christian groups have organized prayers and vigils to stress on the need for peaceful co-existence.

“Personal freedoms and peaceful co-existence between religions must go hand-in-hand,” he said in an email interview.

“The current growing mistrustful relations between Muslim, Christian and Hindu in regards to issues of converting-in and converting-out of Islam must be handled appropriately, lest extremists may exacerbate the situation,” he added.

The AKI report went on to say that the Very Reverend Jason Selvaraj of the St. Mary’s church in Kuala Lumpur remains skeptical and expressed worries about the outcome of the case.

“Religion should be completely out of the purview of the state. I am proud of Lina Joy as she has dared to take on such a big institution to claim her religious rights,” Selvaraj said.

“But among Christians there is concern that, if the case went in Joy’s favor, there could be attacks on the churches,” he added.

Almost 60 percent of Malaysia’s 26 million people are Muslims. Christians of various denominations make up about 8 percent while the rest are Buddhist, Taoist and Hindu.

Source: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s06090004.htm

DCM To Sell Locally Assembled Mercedes Benz S-Class By Feb 2007

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Bernama) — DaimlerChrysler Malaysia Sdn Bhd (DCM), which is in the midst of assembling the Mercedes Benz S-Class range of cars at its plant in Pekan, Pahang, will start selling the cars to the local market by February next year.

“We have already produced 25 units of the locally assembled S-Class model in Pekan, and need 100 units before we launch the model into the market,” its president and chief executive officer, Datuk Frank Steinleitner, said.

“To produce another 25 units will take a month, and I think we are on track as I want to introduce the model into the local market before the Chinese New Year,” he told reporters at the signing ceremony and launch of the New Straits Times/AmBank Group “Car of the Year (COTY) 2006″ Awards, here Thursday.

Also present were group editor-in-chief of New Straits Times Press Bhd, Datuk Hishamuddin Aun, AmBank (M) Bhd’s managing director for retail banking, Mohamed Azmi Mahmood and Malaysia Automotive Association’s president, Datuk Aishah Ahmad.

DCM currently assembles the E-Class and C-Class models, as well as Mitsubishi Fuso and Mercedes commercial vehicles in Pekan.

The plant, a joint project with DRB-HICOM Bhd, with a combined production capacity of 5,000 units (including passenger and commercial vehicles), currently produces about 3,000 vehicles annually.

Steinleitner said that for the S-Class’ production volume, it would be around 300-500 units annually.

Malaysia is the only country in Asia that assembles the S-Class car, said to be the most luxurious and advanced automobile produced in Malaysia.

Touching on a news report that DCM will use its Pekan plant as an assembly and export hub for the region, Steinleitner said: “We should wait until we produce our cars here first…for the market here… before considering export.”

Meanwhile, the COTY award was held to recognise the best vehicles under 11 categories based on size and function.

The first award, given out in 2002, was won by Perodua Kelisa, while Volvo XC90 was the best car in 2003, the BMW 53d in 2004 and Mercedes Benz CLS350 took the prize last year.

– BERNAMA

Source: http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_business.php?id=218485

Asia Blog Awards announces top 10 finalists for Best Malaysia Blog Q1 2006/2007

Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia — (SBWIRE) — 09/07/2006 — The Asia Blog Awards (ABA) “Best Malaysia Blog” finalists have been announced. Blog enthusiasts and individuals interested in participating can visit the ABA http://asiablogawards.com/?p=28

Voters are required to rank all 10 of the nominated sites. The nominees for Best Malaysia Blog Q1 2006/2007 are as follows:

• BlackJetta – http://blackjetta.blogspot.com/
• Cheeserland – http://www.cheeserland.com/
• Clueless Person’s Lair – http://clueless-thoughts.blogspot.com/
• Desidarata – http://desiderata2000.blogspot.com/
• Fireangelism – http://www.fireangelism.com/
• kurtlow.com – http://www.kurtlow.com/
• myAsylum – http://asylum60.blogspot.com/
• MySabah – http://www.mysabah.com/wordpress/
• Quaintly – http://www.quaintly.net/
• TV Smith’s Dua Sen – http://www.tvsmith.net.my/duasen/

The Asia Blog Awards (http://asiablogawards.com)were created to help recognize the contribution of individuals and groups that operate web-logs within continental Asia. Some of the categories include:

Best Asia Travel Blog
Best Asia Podcast/Video Blog
Best Mekong-region blog
Best Taiwan Blog
Best Malaysia Blog
Best Hong Kong Blog
Best Singapore Blog
Best Asia Diarist
Best Philippine Blog
Best ‘Rest of Asia’ Blog
Best Asia Sex Blog
Best Bangladesh Blog
Best South Asia Blog
Best Korea Blog
Best Japan Blog
Best Asia Business/Economy Blog
Best China Blog
Best Asia Group Blog
Best India Blog
Best Asia Photo Blog
Best Asia BGLT Blog

The poll will be launched shortly. Please take the time to review the nominated sites at Best Malaysia Blog. http://asiablogawards.com/?p=28

Source: http://www.sbwire.com/news/view/7968