i though all this talk about the first malaysian astronaut, was just coffee shop talk, and all the short listing of candidates was just malaysian way of wasting money. but now they actually have the 8 finalist candidate. check them out, extract from the star.

1. Malaysia Airlines pilot Mohammed Faiz Kamaluddin;
2. AirAsia pilot Kelvin Lim Hock Seong;
3. Automotive designer Mohd Bostami Ahmad;
4. Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan medical officer Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor;
5. Royal Malaysian Armed Forces dental surgeon Faiz Khaleed;
6. Esso Malaysia Bhd machinery engineer Muhammad Husaini Hashim;
7. Engineer and project manager Norazlan Shah Mahadi; and,
8. Senior quality engineer S. Vanajah, who is the sole female candidate.

so there are 2 pilots, 2 dr and 4 engineers, your average malaysian ? not a chance.

if it was my pick, i would list the following ppl

1. malaysian most influential blogger - jeff ooi
2. mr. rocketman of course - lim kit siang
3. malaysian funniest blogger - kenny sia
4. mr. niamah - patrick teoh
5. 1 cd/vcd/dvd seller
6. 1 roti canai mamak
7. 1 student
8. 1 ah sow

the reason, being

1. malaysian most influential blogger would be about the only person that would understand all the astronaut lingo, bandwith, mach speed, and all those blinking lights. and of course we want him to blog all about it in screenshots without cencorship.
2. lim kit siang is to prove to some of the umno members that the dap rocket can really fly.
3. kenny sia, we need a funny blogger, jeff ooi will be explaining in details technical terms we all cant understand, kenny sia can simplyfied it. and anyway they might need some comic relief during the long trip.
4. patrick teoh, who else better to niamah about it in his blog
5. 1 cd/vcd/dvd seller, represent the most sold commoditties in malaysia, come rain or shine, and at the same time provide some "in house" entertainment for th long journey.
6. 1 roti canai mamak, malaysian staple food, who can leave without roti canai, nasi lemak or teh tarik and the telur setengah masak in the morning.
7. 1 student, this being 1st for malaysian, youngest astronaut
8. 1 ah sow, who better to gossip to the entire malaysia about the other 7 ppl bad habits, and make exagerated story about the trip.

anyway, in realty, the whole project is a total waste of money, as we do not really need astronaut, as we dont even have a space program, you know as much as i do, that this is just for show off, just like our twin towers, sepang airport and F1 circuit.