My government embarasses me

KUALA LUMPUR: By 2007, the first Malaysians will be launched into space and they will be taking with them a piece of home – batik and roti canai.

National Space Agency (NSA) director-general Prof Datuk Dr Mazlan Othman said the astronauts could exchange culture and food with their foreign counterparts, as they would be spending six to eight days at the International Space Station.
“We will have a programme called Batik in Space and we will also launch a programme called Roti Canai in Space to see how we can bring Malaysian delicacies up to the space station.

“We will research ways to bring our astronauts' favourite food into space.
“These we can bring to Houston, in the American state of Texas, where they will study how it can be brought into space,” she said yesterday at the Exploring the Solar System exhibition launch at the National Planetarium here.
She said they would also consult ulama if the astronauts chosen were Muslim.
“If they are Muslim, we will have to ask how he or she would perform their prayer rituals or where the kiblat is. You would need an ulama for that,” she said.
Russia is expected to send Malaysia’s first astronaut into space as part of a scientific mission on board the International Space Station.
Dr Mazlan said the Russians are expected to be in Malaysia by the end of the month, and the astronauts' names would be announced by year-end.

Taken from The Star newspaper.