Meteoroid in Malaysia?

I came back quite late today. It’s already 8.30pm by the time I got home. After a refreshing shower, and performing my prayer, I sat down reading the newspaper while waiting for my dad to return to have dinner.

On the page 4 in Utusan Malaysia, there was an article on an asteroid* narrowly (astronomically speaking) missing Earth. It’s reported that should it landed on earth, the impact of the meteoroid** would equal that of several nuclear bombs, depending on its mass and the location of impact. The report, however failed to mention about the size of the asteroid.

On page 9, there’a another incident, where a meteroid crashed in Ulu Yam. The report, coupled with an artist’s impression on the incident, reports that 16 families had to be evacuated temporarily, and authorities had confirmed that the dam did not suffer any structural damage. The crash was felt in a 5km radius. It was even reported that a witness, known as Pak Salleh, recounted his experience as the meteorite flew in front of him before it crashed.

Later my Dad returns and told us about what the people at the surau was talking about. You guessed it…about the asteroid and the meteoroid. One of them, claims to have seen the meteor** falling out of the sky from his office in KLCC. He even told how the meteor’s burning weirdly, unlike anything he’d seen before.

Then, I saw it. The truth…and I was like, WTF!!!It was actually a DIGI advertisement. I missed the small “Iklan” printed on the article, and only after I see the TV ad did I see it. I mean, how obvious can an amateur reporter reports an incident with crytal clear footage and a quirky old man named Pak Salleh even tried to flirt with her.

It’s just…the man from surau believed it so much that he created a story that he saw it himself! Now I would like to be around when they broke the news to him, that it’s just a bad advertorial joke. And by claiming you saw the meteorite too, you’re officially the joke.

*asteroid = a floating body in space, usually in forms of dust, rock and/or ice particle.
**A meteorite is an extraterrestrial body that survives its impact with the Earth‘s surface without being destroyed. While in space it is called a meteoroid. When it enters the atmosphere, air resistance causes the body to heat up and emit light, thus forming a fireball, also known as a meteor or shooting star. – Wikipedia