Virtual Insanity - Inner thoughts

From Kit.- DAP and Malay rights

2008-11-19T14:43:00.001+08:00

Interesting read. I cant find any fault in his thinking.

http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2008/11/19/insinuation-of-pr-secret-agreement-on-malay-special-rights-baseless-mischievous-and-unworthy-of-a-professional-journalist/

As far Malay special rights, I declared the DAP’s stand on Article 153 in my first speech in Parliament on February 23, 1971, where I said:

“The DAP has also been accused of opposing special rights for Malays. We again invite the government to produce a single instance from our speeches and statements to show that we have opposed efforts to raise the economic standards of living of Malays.

“As democratic socialists, we are dedicated to the abolition of poverty and economic backwardness regardless of race. We want to create a classless community of Malaysians based on fellowship, co-operation and service, where there is no exploitation of man by man, class by class or race by race.

“We support any measure which will help better the lot of the Malay poor. But we are strongly opposed to the use of Malay special rights to enrich the new Malay rich to make them richer, while the mass of peasantry and poor are exploited as ever.”

In my first speech in Parliament more than 37 years ago, I stressed that the basic problem in Malaysia was an economic and class one, and not a racial problem.

I warned: “Any attempt to impose racial theories and solutions to basically socio-economic problems of the have-nots is dangerous as it will pit one race against another, which must culminate in a racial holocaust. It will also be founded on the monstrous falsehood that all the haves in Malaysia are non-Malays, while the Malays are the have-nots.”

Those who are interested to know more of what I said in Parliament in that first debate after the lifting of 21-month suspension of Parliament following the May 13 riots should look up my first book, “Time Bombs in Malaysia” published in 1978 or wait for a 30-year Reprint expected by the end of the year.

I am tired.. physically and mentally

2008-11-12T16:35:00.003+08:00

This has not been a great year, notwithstanding the wonderful times I've spent with my two beautiful girls. They have been the saving grace. Without them, I would have lost my sanity. Not that there was much there in the first place. At the beginning of the year, reading some horoscopes, there was doom and gloom painted in relationships. I didnt pay much attention to that. But the past few months has been very very difficult for me. I am not able to control the anger and disappointment within. There has been too many unpleasant issues which never seem to disappear.

Where is life headed towards? I have no idea. I cant bear to foresee worst case scenarios. There is emptiness again and again. Do I go into escapism again, like in the late 90s and pay the price. As much as it would be damn interesting, the spirit within just doesnt seem to have the will to do anything. Each day starts and ends. Almost everyday is about the same. D and K's smiles and laughter, and the occasional mischief, about the only spark. The melodramatic me surfaces more regularly. I look at his photo and say within how I feel I have failed.

I am at a loss at times. I have decided not to take up the shares offered to me. Given a bit more time, I would have been able to, but looking at the present issues at hand, I decided to decline. Time will tell if I made a mistake. It doesnt matter now. I need distractions. More time on work. Longer hours here in the office perhaps. Drinking more could be more fun but it wouldnt change a thing. So, its one day at a time. I need to find peace within.

On another note, K has just finished her K2 and will be going to Standard 1 next Jan. D finished second in school in her finals, way way above our initial expectations. Both have grown into different characters. D being the responsible caring type but still hyper sensitive and emotional. K being the playful and mischievious one who is so very ticklish.

Of fave songs..

2008-09-30T16:01:00.004+08:00

One of fave songs for the past few months..... I keep listening in the car...

This time, This place
Misused, Mistakes
Too long too late
Who was I to make you wait
Just one chance
Just one breath
Just in case there's just one left
'Cause you know, you know, you know

I love you
I've loved you all along
I miss you
Been far away for far too long
I keep dreaming you'll be with me
And you'll never go
Stop breathing if
I don't see you anymore

On my knees, I'll ask
Last chance for one last dance
'Cause with you, I'd withstand
All of Hell to hold your hand
I'd give it all
I'd give for us
Give anything, but I won't give up
'Cause you know, you know, you know

That I love you
I loved you all along
And I miss you
Been far away for far too long
I keep dreaming you'll be with me
And you'd never go
Stop breathing if
I don't see you anymore

So far away
So far away
Far away for far too long
So far away
So far away
Far away for far too long

But you know, you know, you know
I wanted
I wanted you to stay
'Cause I needed
I need to hear you say
I love you
I loved you all along
And I forgive you
For being away for far too long
So keep breathing
'Cause I'm not leaving you anymore
Believe it
Hold on to me,and never let me go
Keep breathing
'Cause I'm not leaving you anymore
Believe it
Hold on to me never let me go

Keep breathing
Hold on to me, never let me go
Keep breathing
Hold on to me, never let me go

Nickelback, Far Away

And the all time fave would still be:

If a picture paints a thousand words,
then why can't I paint you?
The words will never show,
the you I've come to know.
If a face could launch a thousand ships,
then where am I to go?
There's no one home but you,
You're all that's left me too.
And when, my love, for life is running dry,
You come, and pour, yourself, on me.

If a man could be two places at one time I'd be with you.
Tomorrow and today, beside you all the way.

If the world should stop revolving spinning slowly down to die,
I'd spend the end with you,
and when the world was through,
Then one, by one, the stars would all go out
And you, and I, would simply fly away
David Gates: If

This comes a close second:

Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling christmas eve
I stole behind her in the frozen foods
And I touched her on the sleeve

She didn’t recognize the face at first
But then her eyes flew open wide
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse
And we laughed until we cried.

We took her groceries to the checkout stand
The food was totalled up and bagged
We stood there lost in our embarrassment
As the conversation dragged.

We went to have ourselves a drink or two
But couldn’t find an open bar
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store
And we drank it in her car.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how.

She said she’d married her an architect
Who kept her warm and safe and dry
She would have liked to say she loved the man
But she didn’t like to lie.

I said the years had been a friend to her
And that her eyes were still as blue
But in those eyes I wasn’t sure if I saw
Doubt or gratitude.

She said she saw me in the record stores
And that I must be doing well
I said the audience was heavenly
But the traveling was hell.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to time
Reliving in our eloquence
Another ’auld lang syne’...

The beer was empty and our tongues were tired
And running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as I got out
And I watched her drive away.

Just for a moment I was back at school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home
The snow turned into rain --
Dan Fogelberg
Same Old Lang Syne

Yup. I can be very mushy mushy beneath the tough shell.

Some quotes

2008-09-30T15:08:00.002+08:00

"I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel", Maya Angelou, The Rotarian magazine 9/2008.

"Death at a Funeral" is a gem of a comedy movie. The following was said at the end...

' My father was an exceptional man. He may not have been the perfect man but he was a good man. And he loved us. All I wanted to do today was to give him a dignified send-off. Maybe he had done things he liked to do. Life isn't simple. Its complicated. We're all thrown in here together in a world full of chaos and confused , a world full of questions and no answers. Death always lingering around the corner. '

'And we do our best. We can only do our best and my dad did his best. He always tried to tell me that you have to go for what you want in life, because you never know how long you've gonna be here. And whether you succeed or fail, the most important thing is to have tried. '

'A parent can only guide you in the right direction. In the end, you have to learn for yourself. You have to grow up yourself. So when you all leave here today, I would like you to remember my father for who he really was.'

'A decent loving man. If only we could be as giving and as generous and as understanding as my father was, then the world would be a far better place.'

Yes, its not a perfect write. A bit corny here and there. It was a send-off by a son horrified to find out during the funeral his dad had an affair with a male midget. Disregard the comedy of it all. The words brought back memories.

I am naive

2008-09-22T20:03:00.002+08:00

I am many things. Short tempered, nice, angry, unforgiving, generous, I could go on (stop me..stop me... ). Am not in self-denial (almost all of the time). Failing to get my butt off the chair and do my medical checkup, thinking that I am in perfect health, isnt self-denial. I think I am in good health.

But, I am also naive. Naive to think that the right people will always do all the right things always. That people holding positions of authority will act fearlessly, impartially, as custodians of the trust given.

Two months ago, I shot off an email enquiring why a certain project was undertaken by a professional body ( who shall remain nameless for obvious reasons). This professional body wanted to present awards to top achievers of certain public school exams. However, no mention was made in their literature on the amount, the number of awards nor the criteria for assessing the achievment. Nor whether it was going to be a yearly affair. Perhaps because the financial state of the body was healthy nobody thought about these issues. The awards however was restricted solely on members of the body.

All nominations were supposed to be sent within a few days to a person within the committtee.

The function went on, 3 awards given and now its been 2 months and there has been no reply.

It seems, about RM50 was given to each student. Now, personally, I thought RM50 wasnt a big deal. Small amount for fairly well-to-do members/parents. Perhaps the RM50 would have been a major bonus for a poor high achiever. I was also told the two of the kids had a parent sitting in the committee. One of whom received and compiled the nominations. All these info surfaces, after I had sent my first email.

Now, I regret sending the email. And regret sending a reminder earlier today on why theres been no reply for two months. It is moments like this that I feel the crab in me wanting to go sit quietly under a coconut shell or rock, and watch the world pass by.

On a lighter note, two straight nights at Cabana last weekend! It was fun. To just stand there and feel the vibrations (and secondary smoke). To just not think of anything. To just listen to the music. It was a nice escape from the real world.

Old timer sex :)

2008-09-22T19:55:00.000+08:00

Old Timer Sex

This is too funny to be dirty - enjoy!

The husband leans over and asks his wife, 'Do you remember the first time we had sex together over fifty years ago? We went behind the village tavern where you leaned against the back fence and I made love to you.'

'Yes', she says, 'I remember it well.'

'OK,' he says, 'How about taking a stroll around there again and we can do it for old time's sake?'

'Oh Jim, you old devil, that sounds like a crazy, but good idea!'

A police officer sitting in the next booth heard their conversation and, having a chuckle to himself, he thinks to himself, I've got to see these two old-timers having sex against a fence. I'll just keep an eye on them so there's no trouble. So he follows them.

The elderly couple walks haltingly along, leaning on each other for support aided by walking sticks. Finally, they get to the back of the tavern and make their way to the fence. The old lady lifts her skirt and the old man drops his trousers. As she leans against the fence, the old man moves in.. Then suddenly they erupt into the most furious sex that the policeman has ever seen. This goes on for about ten minutes while both are making loud noises and moaning and screaming. Finally, they both collapse, panting on the ground.

The policeman is amazed. He thinks he has learned something about life and old age that he didn't know.

After about half an hour of lying on the ground recovering, the old couple struggle to their feet and put their clothes back on. The policeman, is still watching and thinks to himself, this is truly amazing, I've got to ask them what their secret is.

So, as the couple passes, he says to them, 'Excuse me, but that was something else. You must've had a fantastic sex life together. Is there some sort of secret to this?'

Shaking, the old man is barely able to reply, 'Fifty years ago that wasn't an Electric Fence.'

Swirling emotions

2008-09-12T15:53:00.002+08:00

Is this a new phase in life. There is much more extremes in the emotions that swirl within over the past few months. Much has been happening, as usual. For a while, I am but a bystander. But the juggling act has been going on for far too long. Peace within is a rarity. Is this all about choices in life. I have to work this out myself, I guess.

The company is undergoing a change of name. A major event, after 28 years of existence. So much to do. The notices should be out next week, I guess, once the official approvals are out. Life will go on, and things should be better in the years to come.

On the social front, I joined this particular organisation a couple of years back, and am now having doubts whether this is where I belong. And this is the second time in a space of 2 months these doubts have creeped in.

I keep reminding that perfection is but an ideal that I can only dream of. To let things be and taking a day at a time is something I will have to accept.

On a lighter note, its been 2 weeks since I went to the gym and its showing. Doesnt help that puasa month has started and am entertaining clients at buka puasa spreads!! Resisting temptations has never been one of my strengths.

Time to clear the backlog. Sigh.

On petrol, subsidies, orang pulau, Johor, the Tun and the nation.

2008-06-22T15:54:00.004+08:00

We have to see the bigger picture here. Our leaders totally lack good business sense.

Being a poorer neighbour with a weaker currency, its natural our richer orang pulau will come here to spend. What we should be doing is to encourage them to spend!!!

BUT, when it comes to petrol and other subsidised stuff, our dungu government should be controlling sales to citizens. We have the MYKad anyway. Why not use it. Why not allow only MYKad users to buy subsidised stuff like fuel, cooking oil, flour etc? Those without Mykads will have to pay the full unsubsidised rates, which will still be cheap for the orang pulau.

We have got to remember that millions are spent here in small poor border towns like JB for example. This money trickles down into the local economy and supports the property market, the retail business and the man in the street, by way of employment.Business do well, they pay taxes (if LHDN is smart enough to collect). And business who do well, provide more employment. Its a win-win situation.

The above is a very simplistic outline of the economics involved. If we can have a proper working relationship with them, it will be a win-win situation for all of us.

As for allegations of late that the government is selling off land to orang asing at the expense of the Malays here, I can only sigh at the hypocricy of it all. It was under the old man's term of office that his supposed cronies acquired about 25,000 acres of land around Gelang Patah for the second link project. A substantial acreage of land nearby was also acquired for the Port of Tg Pelepas project. The former screwed up big time due to lack of proper and good business sense, amongst other reasons. The latter has grown into a reputable entity.

Surely after allowing for such a huge land acquisition, the old man didnt expect the site to be redeveloped into a huge township and sold solely to locals?

All this political mess being spilled in the open is very bad for business. The nation is undergoing changes, and so is the region and the world. Can we have some sanity. Can all those at the top push aside their differences and work for the common good of the nation and its people, for once?

Phew... 1 year has passed

2008-05-14T15:58:00.002+08:00

Time flies....indeed it has.

Little D is in standard 1 and Little K is in K2 now. Theyve grown into fine young ones. Am proud and at the same time, considering the times that we live in, in constant state of alertness and worry.

Work-wise much has happened. We finally opened our Klang Valley office mid last year and its up and running fine. The BOD meetings for both entities were completed recently.

Living in the times when there is so much to do, and so little time. Stress has been an issue over the past few months. Been going out too often for drinks too. But then again, friends would reply theres never such a thing as too often or too much.

Got to go. This brief few minutes of a break itself is a bonus. Too many things need my attention. Too many things that I wish to write on, but time doesnt permit me.

birthday....

2007-06-28T16:39:00.001+08:00

Another year has passed by ever so quickly. And it was memorable again for how little D and K take the trouble to get colour paper, draw colourful hearts and other stuff and insert the birthday greetings. Yup, that was the highlight.

Last night while watching a tv programme alone, I broke down. It was a death scene. How the father was hospitalised and died unconscious after the operation. At that point of time flashbacks kept coming back. Tears started flowing and within seconds my body was shaking and I was crying silently. Everyone else were asleep. It has been a long time since he left us. It has been a long time since I last cried. I have had to try hard to supress thoughts and avoid thinking of him. Last night, sitting there brought back all the memories and pain in losing him suddenly.

Once upon a time, life revolved around a conference

2007-04-24T10:52:00.000+08:00

3 months. Thats how long a break it has been. Most of February and March was all about organising a conference here in Johor Bahru. I was the conference secretary. Not entirely something new but nothing had prepared me for the scale and scope of the responsibility that was on my shoulders.

Over the years, I had assisted to organise various half day and full day seminars for the Institution. But this was a major 2 day event with the State government in the picture. After much effort by the Organising Chairperson, we managed to secure confirmation and proceeded to work towards delivering the end product. 5 weeks was all that we had. Finalizing the list of speakers and the topics was the number one headache.

Next on the list of headaches was venue. With such a short time available, ZON wasnt available, and we were forced to accept latest convention centre in town. This was done with much reservations considering the slow response time and exhorbitant cost. Just to get a quotation was taking them 1 to 2 weeks. To amend it took another week or so. The excuse was it took 3 persons to sign the document. And I replied, "So why does it take more than a week???". Cost wise, it was 30 to 40 % higher than ZON or Hyatt. And for participants, RM8 was the parking fee, which was almost double of the rates quoted elsewhere.

The one major thing I was personally proud of doing was ensuring the buffet menu was sensitive to all the major races/religion i.e. meaning, no beef to be served. It didnt make sense for a multi racial group to be served beef when half of the participants abstains from it. What motivated me further to act was seeing the first proposed menu containing only beef soup on the first day. No options. Very insensitive on the part of the convention hall managers. But then again, since school going days, we keep seeing this insensitivity again and again.

There was much paperwork. It was beyond all pre-conceived imagination. The office secretary and 2 other staff were asked to assist. And they delivered. They worked hard and helped ensure we were on schedule and in control of the situation.

We were somewhat lucky in selecting the printers. An old classmate gave a lead which led us to work with a medium sized outfit from Kg Melayu. My gut-feeling was to go with them, and pray all went on well. True enough, they delivered. They were very obliging in delaying deadlines and came up with finished products of reasonable standards.

If I was asked what was the critical factors to ensure success of a conference, I would say there were 2. One was the speakers lined up. Get good ones, and half the battle is won. The second critical factor is marketing. There is no point lining up world class speakers if nobody turns up.

The marketing was a time consuming task. We had no prior experience to tackle an assignment of this size. Getting 80 participants to attend a one-day seminar was a big deal. Getting 300 to 500 participants was different altogether. I pushed for adverts in the local papers and we got that done. Flyers were sent to all members of the Institution. Flyers were hand delivered to post boxes of all major office buildings in the city as well as all the pigeon hole boxes at the Courts. Next came the faxes. Hundreds were sent out to other professional bodies, other professionals, financial institutions, fund managers, property developers, contractors, embassies, etc. Emails were sent out to various individuals, companies and real estate groups. The latter exercise made us realise, there were lots of people out there who dont read their emails regularly, if ever at all.

Coincidently, we were getting very busy at office with our work. Work that we get paid for. Those were trying times. Assistance was requested. Someone had volunteered to send a staff over to our office to assist. We took up on the offer. Later on, we were told the staff was there only to collect cheques and bank them in. Duhhh big time. That incidently practically set my soul ablaze. The anger and disappointment will be there for a long time. At a time when a plea for help went out, none at the top obliged.

Almost everything was heaped on us to handle. Correspondence that was supposed to be done by others, landed on our desk. Various lame excuses given. Yet, we tried hard to deliver. Even the souvenir magazine preparation was very very slow off the block. The printer required 2 weeks to prepare and yet when the deadline to deliver came, the person in charge had hardly done anything, citing a busy work schedule. Again here we had to assist with the editing and compiling. In the end, the printer had only 3 full days to get the books produced, which they did.
At various times during the month, I contemplated resigning out of frustration. And each time I came to the conclusion, to do so was to be irresponsible, regardless of how justified my actions would be. Towards the end, I desensitized myself when hearing comments of me being a superman in handling the tasks.

Short of sleep for days at a time, it was natural tempers were on the rise, on my part. The fuse became shorter. Office work couldnt be neglected either. For me, it was a responsibility to deliver on all fronts. A speaker on the second day, an old friend, when asked the single most important factor that defines success, answered it was "promise". If you make a promise, make sure you deliver. That hit it right on the nail. We promised to deliver a conference and therefore we had to go all out to ensure we delivered. Incidentally, that paper and the panel discussion that followed, were the only sessions I had the time to listen to. The price one paid for being part of the organising committee.

A total of about 510 participants attended, including some invited guests and organisers. We had the most unpleasant task of turning away late-comers. As for the speakers, part of them gave their papers at the very last moment. At least three of them declined permission to distribute their papers to participants. It was naturally their right but I found that very surprising. It was ok to show the slides to 500+ persons in the hall and press that were present, but it wasnt ok it put it onto hard copies for circulation. I will never understand the logic. In the end, I, personally, didnt get to know what was presented. My loss.

Various incidents occured during the two days. To list them down would be emotionally draining I guess. Or, am just too frustrated and lazy now to put it down to words. It may not bring any good to bring such stuff out in the open. Venting frustrations here does have it limits. In the end, the committee did its job. We delivered.

If a conference's success was judged by the number of participants or the number of speakers or the probable high profitability, then this was indeed a very successful event.

Much time had been spent to deliver the promise, at the expense of office work and time with the family. It has been an invaluable experience. And now, we are tying up loose ends. Once that is done, am out. I have done my "national service".

Follow-up: How rotten is the system - work in progress

2007-01-18T16:38:00.000+08:00

This will be a very very long post. Unfortunately or should i be thankfull, I dont have the time to do this in one sitting as workload appears a bit on the heavy side now.

There are numerous federal, state and local authority departments and offices in Malaysia. At federal level, you have the various ministries and agencies. At State government level we have the various committees, district offices, land offices, departments and agencies. The local government level has various local authorities such as the city hall, district councils, municipal councils, and other agencies.

I hope to slowly list down as much as possible each of these units of governance and the way the system of governance has allowed or encouraged or resulted in corruption to root in.

A. Local Government level
B. State Government level
C. Federal Government level

A. Local Government level
Local authorities - city hall, district council, municipal council
These are the people who run the day-to-day management at ground level.

1.Licencing of business
2.Rubbish/waste collection and disposal
3.Advertising and banners, permits
4.Assessment
5.Health checks on businesses
6.Town planning countrol and development control
7.Building plan approval, engineering
8.Parking
9.Enforcement units
10.Landscaping

Malaysia Boleh? Malaysia Airlines definitely TAK Boleh!

2007-01-18T16:02:00.000+08:00

The jury may still be out whether Malaysia Boleh, cos as the days and months pass by, it seems the country's situation is just worsening in terms of governance as well as attractiveness as a place for business and secured comfy living.

This afternoon, I surfed into MAS (thats Malaysia Airlines)'s website to checkout prices of tickets to a particular city in India. I've had plans for a long time to re-visit but circumstances had not permitted.

There I was keying in the dates, sometime in April this year being the planned dates, for a 2 week trip. Being away from KL meant I had to have connecting flights from this small cowboy border town to KL. 3 adults and 2 young ones. The fare amount came up to RM26,005.00 inclusive of taxes!!!!!! Bloody shit, I can fly to europe at cheaper prices. Surely something was wrong.

So I avoided multi-stopover menu, and checked out the direct flights. Here to KL and back. KL to India and back.

Here to KL and back totalled to RM1310 only. (damn expensive in comparison to Air Asia!). Surprise surprise! The return fare KL to India was RM7,080.00 The total fare amounted to RM8390.00. Thats RM17,615 more cheaper!!! In other words, RM17,615 was the cost of getting them to carry my luggage between connecting flights!

As Madnoh would have said.. tiuuuuuuuuu! to MAS.

Its a new year, but its the same ol ..same ol.. shit

2007-01-09T11:38:00.000+08:00

2006 went by like a breeze. It was by far one of the lousiest years.

Anyway, Happy New Year! May the year be filled with loads of fun, much happiness and good health.

Its visit malaysia year. But nothing much has changed. The country is still in a screwed up state. The top continues to screw the bottom. The uncivil service continues to rake in the percentages at the expense of my tax payment.

Driving along Jalan Wong Ah Fook in JB, just before turning into Jalan Gereja, you will notice a traffic cone and some other stuff put onto the left lane to warn people of the bad condition of the road. Its been like that for 2 weeks or more. Ever since the heavy rains late december. Almost the entire city that looks like a cowboy border town is in a state of mess.

Reading the papers only gets you more depressed.

I've been toying with this thought past few weeks. Someone should start this, to document the extent of the CBT problem. The culture of croynism and subcontracting. Getting contracts and deals, and then immediately selling it to others and making clean profit. The coffee money problem. The kickbacks. The inflated tender prices. The inflated privatisation agreements. The ridiculous Independent Power Producer contracts. Its CBT. Criminal Breach of Trust.

For example, the national service transportation fiasco. The contracts are given to cronies who are not in the transport business. They just sub it to others who sub it to others...it goes on. Tax payers pay a hefty sum, the cronies make easy money, and the poor fella who does the transport business gets peanuts for providing the actual service.

Multiply this with the contracts for uniform, food, etc in the NS. Add further the various ministries that we have, each having numerous departments. And thats only the federal government.

Add further the State Government and its various departments at state, district and mukim levels. At each "profit centre" tax payers monies are paid at inflated rates for services and products.

That is the tip of the iceberg. What about all the close one eye deals. All the coffee money that needs to be paid. At every department, there is bound to be such occurences. This is their shameless way of becoming rich, without working for it.

This is rotten state of affairs we are all in. How i wish the general elections was held now. Let the public show their displeasure.

Yes, visit malaysia. Write all the good stuff. May all the shit rise too for more to see.

Am no genius

2006-12-26T14:00:00.000+08:00

And now I can justify why my table is always in a state of organised mess!

http://web.tickle.com

Your IQ score is 133. This means that you are smarter than 98.0% of all other Super IQ test takers.

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Your test results indicate that the way you process information makes you a Visual Linguist.

You are highly intelligent and multi-talented. Particularly strong are your language skills and your ability to interpret visual information. You tend to map things out spatially, so it's immediately clear to you how things work. Understanding abstract concepts is unusually easy for you and it helps that you are able to see things differently, to see multiple angles on one situation or thing.

You have a very realistic interpretation of life, but your mind is capable of complex, conceptual thought. With most things, you just know what you know and don't particularly enjoy having to explain why or how.

Here's an example of your Visual Linguist thinking skills at work in a real-life situation:

You are in the car with a friend on the way to a party. You are both trying to figure out which route to take. You are very late already, and so want to make sure you take the quickest route. Your friend is arguing that the faster route would be the highway for several miles and then side streets. You quickly realize — based on your general knowledge of the direction and distance of roads in the area — that the route she's describing would take you way out of the way. You then convince your friend of a faster route on a road (with a moderate speed limit) that goes almost directly to the party. On the way back from the party you try the other route — just to see how long it would have taken. You find that it would have taken you almost twice as long. Both of you are very glad to have followed your advice.

Your Super IQ Dimensions

Now that you know about how you process information, let's drill down to see what your specific intellectual strengths are. None of the intellectual abilities is more important than any of the others. And it's your unique scores on each of these scales, that makes you an interesting addition to any group, office, or family.

These intellectual strengths color your world and the way you perceive it, and also allow you to contribute your original perspective when solving problems and coming up with ideas. No one intellectual dimension can define you. It's the original combination of your intellectual strengths that makes you special.

As you can see, your top scores are in the areas of Spatial, Mechanical, and Visual. This is a very unusual combination — only 6 in 1,000 people have it. Want more proof? Then pay attention to the percentages of people who scored higher and lower than you on each of the 8 intellectual strengths.

Spatial

You scored 99 out of 100. You use spatial ability to judge the relationship between objects and physical space, like a parked car and the width of the road. It is also what helps you visualize a room when you are decorating or rearranging furniture.

In every-day life, you use this ability when you drive or even when you are walking through a packed crowd (so that you don't run into other people!). Some people actually use this ability to help them with non-physical things. If they are trying to understand a situation, they might think of the words as shapes that they need to negotiate.

Compared with others, your spatial abilities are very high. This means that you have a very strong sense of how things exist in physical space.

Mechanical Ability

You scored 99 out of 100. Mechanical ability is what helps you understand how machines and tools work. Someone with a good amount of mechanical ability probably has an innate understanding of physics. High mechanical skill is also associated with a high degree of precision and practical thinking.

Here's a question that required high mechanical ability to solve:

Which object will fall faster? A 8 x 11 piece of paper or a peanut? Both weigh the same amount.

A. The piece of paper
B. The peanut
C. It is impossible to know

The paper will encounter more resistance than will the peanut, and so it will fall more slowly. The peanut will fall faster and so the correct answer is B.

In every-day life, mechanical ability comes in handy when anything in the house breaks, or when you have to purchase something that requires physical assembly. It is also helpful in finding solutions to physical problems, such as determining how to build a pulley to bring water out of a well.

Compared with others, your mechanical abilities are very high. This means that you have a very strong mechanical ability.

Visual Ability

Your score is 99 out of 100. Visual ability allows you to accurately visualize all aspects of an object for the purposes of recreating it, the way painters do. It's also what you use to imagine a scene from a novel or a story someone tells you — the ability to accurately reproduce reality in the mind's eye.
In every-day life, visual ability is what you use when creating original art. In order to reproduce an object on canvas (as painters do) you have to be able to accurately represent the dimensions of those objects in the picture. Getting the accurate perspective and depth is easiest for someone with a strong visual ability.

Compared with others, your visual ability is very high. This means that you have a very strong visual ability.

Verbal Ability

Your verbal ability score is 96 out of 100. Verbal ability means having an expansive range of vocabulary, being able to use it, and feeling a desire to add to it. It is also what allows you to comprehend the relationships and subtle difference between words.

Here's a question that required verbal ability:

The opposite of acute is:

A. Severe
B. Incisive
C. Dull
D. Flamboyant

The opposite of the word acute, meaning sharp or finely tuned, is dull, so the correct answer is C.

In every-day life, verbal ability is essential to being able to interpret written materials. It's also valuable for communication — the more vocabulary words you know, the more precisely you may be able to convey your point.

Compared with others, your verbal ability is very high. This means that you have a very strong verbal ability.

Numerical Ability

You scored 96 out of 100. You use numerical ability when you spot a numerical pattern or solve a numerical equation. Here's a question that assessed your numerical ability:

Which number completes the series? 1, 3/2, 2, 5/2, ?

Here's the answer: 3

In every-day life, you use the ability to calculate a tip at a restaurant, or estimate taxes on a purchase. Everyone has this ability to a greater or lesser extent.

Compared with others, your numerical ability is very high. This means that you have no problem processing numbers.

Organizational Ability

Your organizational ability score is 88 out of 100. Organizational ability is what allows you to organize and arrange information effectively, be precise, and proofread carefully.

In every-day life, organizational ability is what you use to proofread a paper or organize a messy desk. Coming up with an organizational system for keeping track of things comes easy to those who are high in this ability. It is a highly practical skill.

Compared with others, your organizational ability is high. This means that you have a strong organizational ability.

Abstract Reasoning Ability
Your score is 86 out of 100. With abstract reasoning you can think on multiple levels and see relationships between ideas that are not easily apparent. When you're using your abstract reasoning skills, you draw on both external logical and creative sources of information to come up with your solution.

In every-day life, abstract reasoning ability is used to understand complex, multi-layered situations, sometimes involving the associations and relationships between two seemingly different sets of information. For example, imagine someone who has taken piano lessons and was taught that the skill was more easily obtained when she pointed out her struggles to her teacher. She was able to learn from them and improve. This same woman then takes writing lessons and again makes her mistakes obvious so that the instructor can suggest changes and she can improve.

Compared with others, your abstract ability is This means that you have a strong abstract ability.

Logical Ability

Your scored 82 out of 100. Logical ability is what you use when determining whether or not something makes sense. You rely on logic when analyzing an argument, step-by-step. This ability also contributes to your aptitude for recognizing underlying patterns.

Here's a question that required high logical ability to solve:

Mary loved pink flowers more than she loved red ones. She didn't like orange flowers at all, and while she liked yellow flowers, she couldn't say that she really loved them. Which of these is true?

A. She liked red flowers less than orange flowers
B. She liked yellow flowers more than red flowers
C. She liked pink flowers more than yellow flowers
D. She liked orange flowers more than pink flowers

Here's the answer: She liked yellow flowers but didn't love them; however, she did love pink and red ones - pink more than red. Thus far the order of preference is pink, red, yellow. But she liked orange least of all, which means the new order is pink, red, yellow, orange. This means that she liked red more than orange (which makes option A not true). She liked yellow less than red (which makes option B not true). She liked pink more than yellow, which makes option C true, and she liked orange less than any of the flowers, which makes option D not true. Therefore, the correct answer is C.

In every-day life, you might use this ability to figure out the best route to the store, or to figure out the best deal when choosing between a couple items to buy. Everyone has a certain ability to use logic to solve problems. Some are better at it than others, however.

Compared with others, your logical ability is high. This means that you are a pretty consistently logical person.

A forgotten october post

2006-12-12T15:31:00.000+08:00

Updated: hmmm this was a forgotten post in draft form.

Its just past the half month mark. Almost everywhere friends and acquaintances are complaining about things being slow. The market is slow, unsurprisingly.

Our committee managed to meet up with the head honcho of the state a couple of weeks back. We did give feedback that things were very slow on the ground and the people were restless. And it wasnt surprising that the perception was this contributes to a higher crime rate.

Well, he did extend excellent hospitality throughout our 45 minute exchange of views. A couple of things that caught my attention was the proposed redevelopment of the old prison facility to house a 100-plus storey commercial building, and a proposed MRT to link up to our "little dot of a city nation" as well as a LRT system for our urban area.

While the latter proposal was welcome, the tower was a bit over the top.

Everyone seems to be waiting for the November launch and briefing of the South Johor Economic Region by the PM. Everyone waiting in anticipation of a serious sustained and realistic series of actions and ideas to transform this small border town into something that should truly reflect its actual role and importance.
Updated:
Well, the launch came and went. And sad to say we are none the wiser. What exactly will be done, and who the investors are, still remain a mystery. But the one evident benefit would be the billions poured into infrastructure projects in south johor.

However, at a time when we and our neighbouring countries are all chasing FDIs, it doesnt help when a head honcho issues a statement that foreigners arent to be trusted. Or is it mat sallehs. Doesnt matter. The effect is the same. At a time when we are supposed to embrace the world, negative statements continue to be made.

While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry - Business

2006-11-15T21:18:00.000+08:00

The following is an article that appeared in Oz land. Picked the lead at www.jeffooi.com.
While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry - Business - Business

Its exactly what lots of forward thinking malays and non-malays have been urging for the past few years. Unfortunately the focus continues to be on the gravy trains that service the select few within the ruling parties.

A nice one for Mondays

2006-10-02T12:10:00.000+08:00

A bus station is where a bus stops.

A train station is where train stops.

On my desk, I have a work station....
what more can I say..........

Well, its been a hectic month. Quite a lot of travelling. Even made a mid-September trip to Penang for work. Very eventful. To the point that i had to follow up with an email to the GM of a hotel there, and not get a reply even after 2 weeks.

But it was an enjoyable trip. Lots of good food. Exercised too. We walked about 1 to 2 kilometres, just to find that Twin sisters char kuay teow stall. It was worth the exercise.

No time to elaborate, perhaps later in the day.

Lessons in hiring staff

2006-08-22T12:40:00.000+08:00

A blonde is explaining to her girlfriend the bad day she'd had at work, and that her boss had suffered a heart attack and died.

"How horrible!" said the friend, "What did you do?"

The blonde replies, "Well there was nothing I could do. He kept yelling at me to call 9-1-1, but he wouldn't tell me the rest of the numbers!"

When hiring blondes and the like minded, always hire another too, to do the actual work!

Further on ..relationships...

2006-08-16T14:18:00.000+08:00

The Perfect Girl: "A friend asked a gentleman how it is that he never married?

Replied the gentleman, 'Well, I guess I just never met the right woman ... I guess I've been looking for the perfect girl.'

'Oh, come on now,' said the friend, 'Surely you have met at least on girl that you wanted to marry.'

'Yes, there was one girl .. once. I guess she was the one perfect girl.

The only perfect girl I really ever met. She was just the right everything .. I really mean that she was the perfect girl for me.'

'Well, why didn't you marry her,' asked the friend.

'She was looking for the perfect man,' he said. "

Relationships. Its all a matter of understanding needs

2006-08-16T13:51:00.000+08:00

I never quite figured out why the sexual urge of men and women differ so much. And I never have figured out the whole Venus and Mars thing. I have never figured out why men think with their head and women with their heart.

FOR EXAMPLE:

One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed. Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says, "I don't feel like it, I just want you to hold me."

I said, "WHAT??!! What was that?!"

So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear...

"You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man."

She responded to my puzzled look by saying, "Can't you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?"

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep.

The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn't decide which one to take, so I told her we'd just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said, "Lets get a pair for each outfit."

We went on to the jewellery department where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you... she was so excited. She must have thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even know how to play tennis.

I think I threw her for a loop when I said, "That's fine, honey." She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement.

Smiling with excited anticipation, she finally said, "I think this is all dear, let's go to the cashier."

I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, "No honey, I don't feel like it."
Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled,

"WHAT?"

I then said, "Honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman."

And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, "Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?"

Apparently I'm not having sex tonight either....but at least that *%^@!h knows I'm smarter than her.

(OK, this is an old email floating around. Someone sent it to me again today. So, what better way to keep then to blog it here. But somehow, i have a feeling two other scenarios could occur. One, the couple would break up. The other would be the optimistically unrealistic scenario of man and women finally understanding their needs and having great sex together that night, and moderate shopping within budget!!)

Politicians...

2006-08-15T12:51:00.000+08:00

HE KNOWS NO
FEAR

HE KNOWS NO
DANGER

HE KNOWS
NOTHING

What if we, as a nation, had taken a different path

2006-08-09T11:55:00.000+08:00

Something was discussed over a heavy lunch yesterday. There was no alcohol served, so we were all pretty sober and knew what we were talking about.

How would Malaysia be, or how much could we have achieved as a country, IF the government of the day had truthfully implemented the noble policies of the National Economic Policy in terms of poverty eradication and restructuring of the wealth/communities.

By this i mean, no cronyism, no favouritism, no denying of education aids to our brightest regardless of race and religion, meritocracy to be the basis in the civil service, no arbitary issuing of huge inflated contracts to friendly parties, and the like.

Instead of the 6% - 8% growth per annum achieved since the 80s, would we have achived double digit growths till today? Would we have become the financial hub for the south east asia region? Would we have become a developed state in the 90s itself? Would we not be so far ahead of other financial hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong?

Success breeds success. If we had achived all that, considering the numerous natural resources that we have, multi racial and lingual young population, kind weather and stable political climate, wouldnt poverty been eradicated long ago? Wouldnt everyone be financially better off? Wouldnt even the rural areas be thriving economically?

These are all thoughts worth pondering.

Instead of the above, what we have achieved thus far is a pittance. Cronies get richer. The poor are generally not so much the better. The wealth gap amongst the rich and the poor widens more. The rural sector continues to struggle.

And chest thumping and keris wielding continue to occur. They celebrate the somewhat miserable achievements (at the expense of much losses). They keep harping on 2020 as the target, when in actual fact we should have achieved that ages ago!

The SJER is supposedly to be fashioned and developed along the lines of Shenzen. Yes, we are extremely good in talking but suck big time in walking the talk. We are blind to the fact that our southern neighbour, with hardly any natural resources, has outpaced and outthinked us in various fields. Surely there must be something right in the manner they have developed their city state. Surely there is much to be learnt from them. By the way, many of their administrators were once upon a time our citizens.

So, in this month of august when the country celebrates its independence, i feel nothing but disappointment and pessimism. The question "What IF?" will forever continue to be asked.

JKR

2006-08-09T11:17:00.000+08:00

They're in the limelight, yet again, for the wrong reasons. The Health Ministry is not happy with the excessive delays in the Hospital Sultan Ibrahim, Pandan. Neither is the Education Ministry and Perak State happy with the works done by JKR on the hockey pitch at KL and the Velodrome Rakyat at Ipoh.

Over the years we have seen numerous complaints against JKR, though most were not truly of their fault. Some of the major probs relating to uncompleted buildings e.g Matrade, PMCs (project management companies), were actually not caused by JKR per se. They were just players in that gigantic puzzle of a scheme to enrich some. Decisions are almost always made at the Finance Ministry and JKR were only the monitoring or implementing body.

Well, these are my ignorant simplistic thoughts on JKR. It must be chopped down to size. Its too big and powerful. The federal government has a Jabatan Perkhidmatan Harta dan Penilaian (JPPH) thats filled with valuers and property managers. And yet none of them are involved in the management of the country's physical assets. Perhaps a tiny percentage. Management and maintenance of the assets are almost always under the purview of JKR.

Years ago, the waterworks department within JKR was chopped off and privatised. I believe it is about time that the JPPH is asked to play a major role in managing and maintaining the country's physical assets. The top cannot be lamenting of poor maintenance and then think that the solution is throwing RM500 million or thereabout to Class F contractors in the form of maintenance contracts. There just has to be a structural change in the way things are done here.

Horny, bored and the like

2006-08-09T11:10:00.000+08:00

Men are horny creatures (women too ..but theyre almost always too nice, shy or reserved to admit it).

But when youre busy and not bored, you wont think of being horny, unless youre busy having "not-boring" sex. (But then again, is there such a thing as boring sex for males?)

So, when youre not busy, and not having sex, you will tend to get horny..sex comes into the mind.

Unless of course youre impotent or in menopause. Am neither, yet.

monday blues just never seem to go away

2006-08-07T17:17:00.000+08:00

Only some time back the Government was encouraging or allowing EPF contributors to shift their funds to insurance companies for the latter to manage and then distribute annuities along the lines of pensions upon retirement.

And now, this happens. Thankfully, the scheme had long been disbanded.

Then we have this reported:

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has ordered a temporary freeze on the sale and purchase of land in the Southern Johor Economic Region (SJER).

He said the move would prevent land prices in the region from skyrocketing and tempting local residents to sell their properties for short-term gain.

However, owners who wish to mortgage their land to financial institutions to obtain development capital would be exempted from the freeze order, he said in a special interview with RTM.

Now, they failed to freeze things when Gelang Patah was first being acquired in the early 1990s, resulting in excessive speculation. The latter resulted in compensation payments far exceeding what was deemed to be realistic prior to the announcements and gazette notifications. In the present instance, its all talk yet again.

We had talks of RM15Billion coming into this region, even before anything is in the pocket. Now we're told land transactions are frozen. Surely they are aware that the district of Johor Bahru is huge, and the area covered by the South Johor Economic Region is equally big. Perhaps I need to verify with some friends if an intended acquisition notice under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1960 has been gazetted.

To top it all up, we have the all too familiar story of a high achiever in SPM, with 10A1s, being denied scholarships to further his studies by the Federal Government. This time around though, its the good people at UTAR who agrees to sponsor the guy on a year to year basis. This is a guy who has lost his dad and works in school canteen to supplement the family's low income. If the powers that be do not help such people, it boggles the mind the rationale behind their decision making. But then again, weren't these the same Government who decided that 15A1s were better results than 15A1s + 1A2.

As for the newspapers, as the days pass by, one thing becomes very clear yet again. There is a lot of spinning going on to further certain parties' agendas and interests. One who reads only the newspapers it would seem are being deprived of a lot of truths. A lot of questions being asked are valid to me. A lot of dirty linen is being washed in the public sphere. While this is good in the long run, IF the system improves later, it would seem that the business community is very uneasy. I know i am. Things are slow. That sort of explains the number of posts i've made of late.

oh Johor.....sigh. I cry for you.

2006-08-03T16:22:00.000+08:00

Learnt more of the State last night. Was watching part of the news late nite. I cant remember which particular channel it was. But the person interviewed or giving a lecture was the head honcho of Perbadanan Johor aka the corporatised version of the old State Economic Development Corporation.

He was talking about CSR if my bad memory serves me well, in the context of the muslim environment. No probs or worries there.

But what caught my attention was his statement which was something alone the lines of ... "Johor Corporation being a body that belongs to or owned by the muslims..."

And so the head honcho feels the State Economic Development Corporation with a modern name of Perbadanan Johor, which they conveniently prefer to call Johor Corporation, is a body thats belonging to persons of a particular religion. Does that mean also that the every other government department or agency, is also one thats belonging to that race? Here I was being so ignorant. Thinking that a state agency like SEDC was actually a body that belongs to every citizen of that state. To protect the State's interest and that of all its citizens. How can I have such idealistic views in the first place.

Sigh, me so stoopid. I had to learn this via the tv.

Food outlets and me

2006-08-03T15:30:00.000+08:00

Why is it that I am the one almost always getting the wrong order delivered to my table, or having the waiter/waiteress forgetting my order, or screwing it up totally. I believe i blogged about this earlier.

These two ladies and myself were out in town this afternoon to look for some material to buy for an association.

We passed by the nasi kandar outlet and gave it a pass cos it appeared a bit noisy and next to a busy road. We thought Compact Hotel would be a nicer place, as the coffee house would be airconditioned. We ordered fried kuay teow for the ladies, with one requesting specifically for no squids. I ordered for a spanking orange chicken, which the waiter had to go back to the kitchen to find out what it was. We werent any wiser but I still went for it just for the heck of it. After more than 10 minutes, he says the orange chicken dish is "out of order". I didnt know whether to ROTFLMAO or to curse and swear for wasting 10 minutes. Changed the order to chicken chop. The fun had just begun.

The kuay teow came after another 10 to 15 minutes. Both had squids. We requested for another plate with no squids. Within 2 minutes, super fast cooking my foot, the dish came back, minus the squid. The green-still-new-at-his-job waiter told her the squids were removed and this was her kuay teow. The drinks came, and we wondered why my hot chocolate looked like milo with too much milk. It sure did taste like milo. It didnt help when the waiter actually did say "here's your Milo" or something like that. He only corrected after I pointed out I had asked for hot choc. Sigh.

The chicken chop was huge. But the squid-less dish was a big issue. Insisted on the restaurant manager to come, but alas the person was out, during lunch time summore!! Nobody senior. Each time we complained, the waiters went into the kitchen.

We got up. Insisted on paying only for the drinks and an appetiser. We refused to pay for the 3 meals. We just did it, paid, and walked off.

First time ever entering the place, and got screwed service.

Yes, Sic. JB is a screwed place for food and service. Theres just too few places where one can truly go and enjoy a good meal.

... no idea what the title of this should be....

2006-08-03T11:55:00.000+08:00

In reply to a comment made by a buddy in an earlier post, what to do lah. Some of us got to struggle to earn a living in the wrong industry. No. Thats not it. I've just not been able to sit, and write.

I've been troubled of late on the directions the corporate sector is taking. Professional firms seem to need to have Bumiputra shareholders and directors to remain in the panels of some banks, regardless of how long you have been in their panel, or how good you are. At least 2 local banks have implemented this rule to our detriment, supposedly. Supposedly, cos only one bank was forthright about this issue, and the other just avoided commenting. Yes, I am totally aware of the 30% requirement in all stock exchange listing exercises, almost all FIC approvals on investment, in State Authority approvals for land development etc.

I have nothing against equal rights and fair competition. That is after all the basis of free trade. The stark reality which people have to know is this. The good professional Bumis come out and set up their own firms. And generally, they are doing very well. We wish them well. What the market is left with is the not so good ones. and almost all of them are contented to remain as employees and not seek professional status which would enable them to be shareholders or directors. Why are we being punished for something that is not of our fault. We have tried for many years, but have not found someone. Even the ones we train and groom, eventually leave to the corporate sector, not staying and growing with the company.

Johor

2006-08-03T11:34:00.000+08:00

How I wish I had the liberty of a few hours of free time, to sit here at my pc, and hammer away my thoughts on this state and country of mine. The trend amongst some bloggers is to say...how they cry for the country. Well, I have yet to reach that stage I guess.

In every aspect of our lives here, there are substantial shortcomings. I read somewhere, my memory fails me yet again, that live life not thinking of all the problems one faces and all the negativities in our midst. Just look ahead, look at the little good stuff, and live it. To ponder on things beyond one's control could be merely a mechanism to hold you back. Or something to that effect.

Desaru International Resort in the early 90s. Numerous proposed billion dollar investments or projects. Numerous world trade centres and mega-projects, some of which were privatization projects. We've been swamped with such grandiose proposals over the past 15 years or more.

The mind has become numb. There is one thing in common in all the above proposals. Nothing came out of it. Well, hardly anything.

The thing is, our administrators have that knack of announcing to gain whatever milleage when things are not even signed and sealed.

We have the South Johor Economic Region. First, we needed to be reinforced by the PM himself that this was a project that he and he himself came out with, not some other person. (I sensed hidden uncalled for tone there)

The 9thMP has been announced many weeks back, and theyre still talking about proposals. Proposed billions to be invested. On-going discussions with numerous foreign entities quequing to dump their cash here. And then we have the bombshell today, that the masterplan would only be ready at the end of this year. Huh??

In the meantime, billions of dollars continue to pour into our little red dot of an island neighbour in the form of FDIs. And, we continue to talk of proposals.

Time doesnt permit me to write a comprehensive take on the SJER at the moment.

I would end with this short story, which sort of says it all about our government and the people within it.

Recently, a foreign investor set up a museum in Melaka town. Spent millions, supposedly, within a row of 3 old shops. He had the MB come for its opening late last year when it was completed. Now, its revealed, he cant even get the CFO for one of the units as the building doesnt conform to standars or some other excuse. And the guy threatens to pull out his investments and move his museum to Indonesia.

Now. How did a building that hadnt secured the CFO, get to have an MB to come and do the opening ceremony?

The benefits of studying history

2006-07-27T12:58:00.000+08:00

Welcome to Sun2Surf: "Islam's status in our secular charter

I refer to your editorial 'Mashitah needs history lesson' (theSun, July 14). I am concerned that two paragraphs in the editorial may obfuscate the issue, viz. 'Although our Constitution states that Islam is the official religion of the country, nowhere does it state that it is an Islamic country. Mashitah rightly asserts that Islam is mentioned 20 times in the Constitution as the official religion, but there is nothing of Malaysia being an Islamic nation'.

May I point out that the relevant Article 3(1) of the Constitution provides that 'Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation'.

Under the deliberations leading up to the formulation of the Constitution and independence for Malaya on Aug 31, 1957, Article 3 was widely accepted as ascribing a formal status to Islam for ceremonial purposes which is quite different from designating it as the official religion, and much less, to have the effect of constituting Malaya (and Malaysia) as an Islamic state. I append below paragraph 169 of the Report of the Reid Commission which was appointed to draft the Constitution:

'We have considered the question whether there should be any statement in the Constitution to the effect that Islam should be the State religion. There was universal agreement that if any provision were inserted it must be made clear that it would not in any way affect the civil rights of non-Muslims. In the memorandum submitted by the Alliance it was stated - 'the religion of Malaysia (sic) shall be Islam. The observance of this principle shall not impose any disability on non-Muslim nationals professing and practising their own religions and shall not imply that the State is not a secular State.' There is nothing in the draft Constitution to affect the continuance of the present position in the states on the recognition of Islam or to prevent the recognition of Islam or to prevent the recognition of Islam in the Federation by legislation or otherwise in any respect which does not prejudice the civil rights of individual non-Muslims. The majority of us think that it is best to leave the matter on this basis, looking to the fact that Counsel for the Rulers said to us - "It is Their Highness' (the Malay Rulers') considered view that it would not be desirable to insert some declaration such as has been suggested that the Muslim Faith or Islamic Faith be the established religion of the Federation. Their Highnesses are not in favour of such a declaration being inserted and that is a matter of specific instruction in which I myself have played very little part." Mr Justice Abdul Hamid is of the opinion that a declaration should be inserted in the Constitution as suggested by the Alliance and his views are set out in his note appended to this report."

Richard Y. W. Yeoh,
Director,
Institute of Research for Social Advancement

Updated: 04:55PM Thu, 20 Jul 2006

And so, you cant say we are not a secular State. And it wasnt the personal opinion of the previous PMs as claimed by some jokers now.

More intellectuals with access to historical documents must voice out and not remain silent. These are troubled times. Apathy and silence will only lead us all the wrong way.

Article 11 forum

2006-07-24T10:57:00.000+08:00

I had been unwell for a couple of weeks, so were the kids. Everyones almost ok now.

A few of us friends attended the Article 11 forum in JB last saturday. It was more out of curiousity as we were quite aware of the issues at hand and the problems related.

We arrived at New York Hotel and proceeded to a mamak restaurant near Hotel Selesa for breakfast. There were some people who didnt appear to blend into the surroundings. Jalan Abdullah Tahir was after all more like an entertainment belt, with a few night spots.

Entering the hotel wasnt a problem, there wasnt much of a crowd at 9am. We registered without a fuss and within minutes something struck my attention. There were CID and other policemen plus some other unidentified people taking lots of video and photos of all the participants. Somehow, personally, I felt like a criminal. It was intimidation to the max.

As for the speakers, what was presented was just a brief of what was discussed in KL earlier this year. We were listening to mainly the same stuff we had read about in the papers. But then again, we were there to hear it personally. There was a mixed crowd of chinese and indians plus a few malays. Old and young.

By 1115am, we were told to end. We were told to wait for a while first though. By then there was a crowd of 100 - 200 demonstrating at the hotel entrance. Now, how come these illegal demonstrators were not arrested? The rule of law fails, yet again.

We went downstairs and was politely adviced not to exit via the main entrance, but to use the side entrance. A friend had parked his car at the multi storey carpark within, so we tagged along to make sure he was ok. While we were waiting at the lift lobby, there were two guys taking photos and videos of us. I was tempted to ask if they wanted my autograph, or to confront them to stop. But then, knowing how the system works, the slightest sign of dissent was enough of an excuse for them to haul us up with wild accusations. We kept just laughed and ignored what was happening.

Disturbing events. All over again. People not being aware of the problems some citizens face, and being manipulated to demonstrate for the sake of demonstrating. The argument against an inter-faith dialogue, runs smack against all reason. How can one talk of compassion and respect for a fellow human being, and yet deny the existence of others or the problems others face. The seige mentality is so prevalent. Some people out there just dont like the world to be a peaceful place i guess.

Security in condos

2006-07-07T12:07:00.000+08:00

This happened at JB. Married woman visited politician's condo and they.. err not sure what they did ;)

Married woman's businessman husband and his friends breaks open condo door and catches them.

Questions to be asked:
- How the heck did the businessman and his friends enter the condo? Guards sleeping?

So much for paying service fees monthly and having people come and break open your door.

Wonder who's the politician though.

First class service in the civil service

2006-07-07T11:15:00.000+08:00

No, there has not been any such nonsense. The title is but a dream of almost every tax payer.

We wrote a letter to the Kastam DiRaja Malaysia way back on 16 November 2005, complaining that the Land Office refuses to pay the service tax for professional fees which the latter had to pay us. The LO claimed they were exempted from paying such taxes. And on our side, we had to account for service tax when we raised our invoices.

So, being the good citizen wanting to abide by the law, we wrote in to the Kastam, asking for clarification and guidance. We had hoped that they would actually write a letter to the LO directing them to pay the taxes. One other friend in another company had written in at about the same time regarding this matter.

As usual, such things take a long time to see the light of day.

Late June, I enquired from the secretary to investigate why there was no reply forthcoming. Surprise! surprise! Kastam said they had replied to that other friend of ours, and thought it fit that there was no need to reply to our letter. KNNCB!

And so we insisted on a reply. This morning the reply comes. Why am I not surprised.

The letter merely stated serice tax is is payable for certain businesses and professions. And that theres concerns were to tax their customers. They requested us to call them if we had any doubts.

What the f$## lah. We ask a simple question and they tell us the known obvious facts. So its a wild goose chase again.

On another front, sicko had posted about our Tourism Minister's statement on the need to have more nightlife, longer opening hours etc. Reading from the Star page, its stated that he wanted more action to repaint and improve on infrastructure.

The way i see it, this country will forever be in a predicament. The need to balance religious sensitivities and short sighted/extremist views, against the need for foreign investment and tourism dollars. On one hand they spend millions asking people to invest and/or visit our country.

On the other hand, the red tape is a killer. Even after the top indian IT firm told off our number two this being the major obstacle which made them decide to set up a hub at another country, instead of here, things have not changed for the better. A foreign investor is never made to feel welcome. The tax payers themselves are treated badly. For foreigners to get a PR too will be next to impossible, unless youre a manual labourer from our neighbouring country, and of a certain religion I guess. The brilliant and/or rich ones from elsewhere will be treated like dirt. People apply for years and dont even get a reply. A potential con from across gets it or even an IC within months. I digress.

They spend millions trying to get tourists to come here, and the moment they touch down at the airports, the front line people will make life miserable for the tourists.

I was at JPJ Johor yesterday, at around 1220pm. To pay a summons. Was at the counter. By 1230 the lady had printed out something, but said the payment counter had closed at 1230pm and i had to return after 2pm if i wished to settle. What the !@#$!. This is basic customer service. Your citizens can only do such things in their free time, lunch time or days off. There are so many officers within such departments, and a few counters. Why cant they rotate staff working outs to ensure service is extended during lunch time? Surely we dont need to engage a harvard consultant to tell the government this???

Almost every government department practices the same outdated and ridiculous systems. I guess only Pos Malaysia opens its counters during lunch time.

Recently the Immigration Department got some publicity too. Major rush for passports. The director had the cheek to ask members of public who knew runners selling application forms at higher prices to complain to the department. In the first place the runners are plying their trade just outside his department. Each person entitled to 1 or 2 forms only, and how did the runners obtain stacks of them?

In the midst of all these gloom, all hope is not lost. There still are a minority within who still performs their duties to the best of their abilty and serve the public where they can. We had a need to see someone at the Land Registry here for clarification. This very senior officer took the time to listen and then answer. Very professionally, very politely. If only we had more such people.

First impressions count

2006-07-06T10:14:00.000+08:00

Was at a dentist on Sunday. One of the molars chipped off and was hurting. Since I was too busy or lazy to get it done during work days, I headed to one near my home.

Walked in, registered and after a while I was called into the room. There they were, 3 almost fully clad ladies. No sign of the two dentists whos names adorned the door of the office.

Nevertheless, I still went in.

Sat at the chair and an assistant proceeded to tie a bib around my neck. This would prevent my tshirt from getting wet, I guessed. Didnt think much of it. Just then the lady dentist walked over. I asked if I could gargle first. Raised my head and I realised I couldnt! My neck was secured against the head of the headrest by the bib!!! I was like...huh! Complained and the dentist realised the assistant had messed up. Apologized and said the assistant was new.

She lowered the chair till I was practically horizontal! I was uncomfy. She said she was short, therefore she had to lower the seat. I was like.. huh. But then, on impulse, said its ok, I was the tall one. She proceeded to do her job and it was somewhat done in an ok manner. I thought, what the heck. Since I am there, I might as well do some polishing or scaling.

Should have stopped while the going was good. Within seconds she started and she was practically scrapping my gums. It was hurting and I just raised my hand and said, STOP! Her work was rough. And I know it shouldnt hurt as Ive done it countless times over the years. She just nodded, I paid and left.

Still cant understand the tie-up to the headrest. For a while thought I was a goner there.

ahh...yes..life starts now.. or does it really?

2006-06-28T09:20:00.000+08:00

Yes. I turned 40 on sunday. No fan fare. No cakes, no parties. Being woken up and wished in the morning, after a late nite watching football, by my two daughters was the best gift I could ask for.

Theyre still down a bit with cough and cold. D took the trouble to do a birthday card with a drawing of a tortoise within. She had traced it from an animal book. Ok, I get the message. Her old man was getting old!

That nite, coincidently, there was a cultural show in town. We brought the kids there. All the way, throughout the show and the way back, D and K kept asking and mentioning the same thing. Wahhh.. Dad's birthday got show. Why? ... Naturally, dad answers "Cos so many people likes dad"..LOL!

Well, its the big 40. Its just another number. Somehow the feeling this time around is a bit different. One tends to realise that life is precious. Lost touch of Shak, an old classmate for like 25 years, and a group of us were emailing about 2 years back. We just found out he passed away due to illness a few weeks ago.

We are reaching an age where one by one, quite a number of us will depart. Losing Dad one and a half years ago was a major blow to me. I still wish I could have done more for him. Well, thats life, most will say.

Attended a funeral of a family friend's dad. He was 92 and died after an illness. Now, thats what one calls a ripe old age, living a full life. I had casually mentioned to a couple of uncles in the 50s and 60s age group that the younger generations can only dream to reach the 90s age band. We're not even sure to reach the 60s or 70s. Somehow that didnt come out right. I had to elaborate and say that with each passing generation, the life expectancy is reducing.

Another year passed. Wishes? Yes, am hoping for many years to come. Hoping to see D and K grow up and be there for them. And for mom to see it too. To see them settle down and have kids would be a bonus. As for now, I just hope they stay healthy.

and they continue to spin..

2006-06-27T20:21:00.000+08:00

Its been getting more ridiculous. To all my friends who a couple of years back didnt agree when i said AAB would be useless and was all talk and no action, i have unfortunately been proven right. Time and again.

It is getting worse. As someone online quoted.. SSDD ... same shit different day.

We will continue to lose the best brains.
We will continue to get less FDI.
We will continue to discriminate based on skin and we're heading towards discrimination based on religion.
We will continue to see old favour seeking leaders helming political parties who wouldnt finish serving until they die.
We will continue living in a third world mentality world, even though i think equating with third world countries is an insult to such countries. We're probably worse.
We will continue to be told to leave, if we cant accept such rubbish and hypocricy. We will continue to see the special hypocrite ones not understand that this world and its occupants are created by HIM and that to discriminate or chase away from a particular region or country, is something that is so contrary to any morals or religious beliefs. To have a blind concept of brotherhood, yet demanding patriotism for the country, are, to me at least, two concepts that will never go hand in hand. We will continue to see hugely inflated contracts issued to friendly parties in the name of social restructuring.
We will continue to churn out a substantial percentage of unproductive grads who will go around demanding the government owe them a living.
We will however continue to see the not-so-special ones rise above the shit and improve themselves while hoping for opportunities across the fence.

And sadly, we will continue to see many blinded by such injustice, who will continue to support such injustices all because they are benefitting from such or dream of such benefits.
And, we will continue to see many who rather look or keep their grey matter preoccupied with mundane personal lifestyle happenings.
Finally, we will continue to see a growing number who just cant take it and resort to ballooning the size of the blogsphere.

Excuse the grammar. Am just so tired. Only brazil thrashing ghana, and spain beating france, will perk me up today. Its been too long since i had liquor.

chaos

2006-06-15T15:55:00.000+08:00

Everything is chaotic. Life is in a state of chaos. Work has been very very tiring. Health has been trying. Kids have been unwell for such a long time, one after another. There has been too many distractions. The only welcome distraction being the world cup thats been going on the past week.

Been travelling a bit too. Two trips to segamat by road. Another to KL a few days ago. All work related.

As a result so many things that needed to be done the past month has been at a standstill. The calls from all over is very very tiring to handle.

When oh when will this chaotic period end......

Funny thing happened though.

What would anyone do or how would anyone react to this:

An acquaintance changes h.p. number. The person then asks if you want the new number. How would you answer?

Me? I reacted in my usual way.

Swettenham, Usman Awang...

2006-06-05T15:54:00.000+08:00

Madnoh brought to my attention this quite some time back. Interesting read to be followed up by the following:

Usman Awang

Melayu

Melayu itu orang yang bijaksana
Nakalnya bersulam jenaka
Budi bahasanya tidak terkira
Kurang ajarnya tetap santun
Jika menipu pun masih bersopan
Bila mengampu bijak beralas tangan

Melayu itu berani jika bersalah
Kecut takut kerana benar
Janji simpan di perut
Selalu pecah di mulut
Biar mati adat
Jangan mati anak

Melayu di Tanah Semenanjung luas maknanya:
Jawa itu Melayu, Bugis itu Melayu
Banjar juga disebut Melayu,
Minangkabau memang Melayu,
Keturunan Acheh adalah Melayu,
Jakun dan Sakai asli Melayu,
Arab dan Pakistani, semua Melayu
Mamak dan Malbari serap ke Melayu
Malah mua'alaf bertakrif Melayu
(Setelah disunat anunya itu)

Dalam sejarahnya
Melayu itu pengembara lautan
Melorongkan jalur sejarah zaman
Begitu luas daerah sempadan
Sayangnya kini segala kehilangan

Melayu itu kaya falsafahnya
Kias kata bidal pusaka
Akar budi bersulamkan daya
Gedung akal laut bicara

Malangnya Melayu itu kuat bersorak
Terlalu ghairah pesta temasya
Sedangkan kampung telah tergadai
Sawah sejalur tinggal sejengkal
Tanah sebidang mudah terjual

Meski telah memiliki telaga
Tangan masih memegang tali
Sedang orang mencapai timba
Berbuahlah pisang tiga kali
Melayu itu masih bermimpi

Walaupun sudah mengenal universiti
Masih berdagang di rumah sendiri
Berkelahi cara Melayu
Menikam dengan pantun
Menyanggah dengan senyum
Marahnya dengan diam
Merendah bukan menyembah
Meninggi bukan melonjak

Watak Melayu menolak permusuhan
Setia dan sabar tiada sempadan
Tapi jika marah tak nampak telinga
Musuh dicari ke lubang cacing
Tak dapat tanduk telinga dijinjing
Maruah dan agama dihina jangan
Hebat amuknya tak kenal lawan

Berdamai cara Melayu indah sekali
Silaturrahim hati yang murni
Maaf diungkap senantiasa bersahut
Tangan diulur sentiasa bersambut
Luka pun tidak lagi berparut

Baiknya hati Melayu itu tak terbandingkan
Selaga yang ada sanggup diberikan
Sehingga tercipta sebuah kiasan:
"Dagang lalu nasi ditanakkan
Suami pulang lapar tak makan
Kera di hutan disusu-susukan
Anak di pangkuan mati kebuluran"

Bagaimanakah Melayu abad dua puluh satu
Masihkan tunduk tersipu-sipu ?
Jangan takut melanggar pantang
Jika pantang menghalang kemajuan;
Jangan segan menentang larangan
Jika yakin kepada kebenaran;
Jangan malu mengucapkan keyakinan
Jika percaya kepada keadilan

Jadilah bangsa yang bijaksana
Memegang tali memegang timba
Memiliki ekonomi mencipta budaya
Menjadi tuan di negara Merdeka

Wonder if the above is translatable into english..

down time

2006-06-01T20:18:00.000+08:00

Life has been hectic, to say the least, over the past few weeks. Lack of sleep was the order of the day for many a week. The deadline for submission was yesterday, and thankfully we made it in time. At a price though.

A slight throat irritation turned into a full blown inflammation, cold and fever. Been down the past 3 days. My senior assistant had high bp and exhausted. Another assistant was not only tired, had to take a day off to take care of his sick wife and kids.

As a result I had to cancel a trip to KL for the meeting yesterday. Thankfully the feedback we got was favourable. They vetted the reports and only minor amendments were required. We have completed them and sent it out today.

Life goes back to almost normal, hopefully. Little D and K are both sick too. D has been complaining about headaches, crying at times. Both suffering from cough and cold, and the occasional fever. Took ourselves to the hospital today and each given lots of medication. Urghhh. Giving medication to kids is a tough job.

Here's hoping for a quiet and rest-filled weekend.

How to fill the top post of an organization

2006-05-26T19:08:00.000+08:00

Was it last saturday that i saw a job advert for FINAS, Perbadanan Kemajuan Filem Malaysia. They were looking for a Director General. An organization looking for a head. Nothing wrong with it. Their webpage confirms this here. See the pdf file.

What appeared wrong was, interested applicants are to forward their application to "The Director General, FINAS, c/o HR Unit of Finas".

Funny how the HR unit is the one vetting applications for the post of CEO. Even if the existing Director General is in office, it doesnt appear logical for him to be the one receiving such application.

This country never fails to amaze me on how to do things wrongly.

tiring..

2006-05-22T19:52:00.000+08:00

Money or more specifically the greed for money, makes the world, no, people go crazy. How did they have it within themselves to end the life of a 7 year old child, stuff him in a bag and dump him into a river? Reading the front page of The Star paper today was disturbing. The papers were so insensitive to the extent of showing the photo of the boy's legs lying out of the bag.

Then there was this young girl who was about to be sexually assaulted and pretended to be dead, and was almost put on fire by the assailant. She courageously went through the charade and lived to tell the miraculous escape. What was not acceptable was the fact that at least one english daily published the photo of her lying in hospital, with her parents (i think) beside her. Whatever happened to the law of protecting the identity of juveniles???????

Not only is this world rotting, the newspapers are also sensationalizing such news. Reporting is good. Sensationalizing to sell more papers at the expense of the privacy of victims and their families, is insensitive.

On kids, a few of us were having lunch this afternoon. A big extended family walked in and immediately our attention was drawn to a cute young girl, perhaps about 4 to 5 years of age who was crying. The father was fiercely trying to get her to stop. It didnt work, not surprisingly. Instilling fear only works once a while, on kids. Not always. When it fails, youve got to use other methods.

They sat two tables away, and we continued with our lunch. All of a sudden, the father got aggresive, and pulled the little girl hand leading her out of the place.. and out of the blue, while being behind her, slapped the side of her face hard. We heard it so clearly. It was violent. One loud thud. We were stunned. So were a number of people there. Everyone was murmurring amongst themselves. More than half the crowd there were lawyers. For heavens sake, a kid is a kid. Theyre meant to be like that. Why the hell slap, and that too from the back towards the cheek. She could have easily fractured her cheekbone.

After a few minutes, they came back to their chair, and the girl was obviously shaken up. They finished their meal and left.

We were talking about this. Deep down, i felt guilty. As a human being, perhaps the right thing to do would have been to confront the guy and tick him off for abusing the child. And yet, being the typical malaysian in a state of apathy or fear of confronting, i let him get away with it. I dont know why i write about this now, when in the first place i failed to act. In a fit of extreme anger, human beings have the tendency to react irrationally.

Deep down, i prayed that she would be well. She looked about the same size as my elder one, who is 5. I reminded myself again, hitting kids is not the way. And prayed that i will have the strength to always have the patience to do the right thing in their upbringing. That they will always be safe and well. It is not too much to pray for, i hope, in this wretched world.

A region of hope?

2006-05-18T11:48:00.000+08:00

There is potential for the southern region to explode and transform itself into a new and exciting place.

The average growth rate of Johor State’s economy was 4.5% for the first 9 months of 2005 and projected to grow by 5.0% for the entire 2005. In 2006, a growth rate of 5% to 6% would be achievable if the global economy grew at 4.3% as expected. (Source: Economic Report 2005/2006, Stock Economic Planning Unit)

At the national level, the economy grew at an annual rate of 5.2% in the fourth quarter of 2005, i.e. at about 5.3% growth in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the entire 2005, as against 7.1% in 2004. GDP growth is forecast to expand at 5.5% in 2006. (Bank Negara Malaysia Press Release). The Malaysia Institute of Economic Research forecasts the growth to be 5.5% in 2006 and 5.8% in 2007.

The near to mid term future presently a challenging environment for the property sector. The “Draf Rancangan Struktur Negeri Johor 2020” has outlined the Federal and State Governments intentions to earmark Johor Bahru District generally and Kulai-Senai specifically, as a Transportation and Logistic Hub, which amongst others comprise the following components.

i. Johor Bahru Sentral Station (transportation hub).
ii. Sultan Ismail Airport in Senai as a cargo centre and regional logistics centre.
iii. The building of a highway from Senai to Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Pasir Gudang and Johor Bahru Sentral.
iv. Dual track electric train and monorail from Johor Bahru Sentral to Sultan Ismail Airport, Port of Tanjung Pelepas and Pasir Gudang.

Since late 2005, there had been an air of expectation that the Southern Johor region, will come under special focus of the Federal Government. The recently announced 9th Malaysia Plan has specifically targeted the South Johor Economic Region, which covers an area bounded by Kulai at the north, and Mukim of Serkat (Port of Tanjung Pelepas) and Pasir Gudang on the western and eastern flanks, and Johor Bahru in the south, to expand the services sector from the highly developed Klang Valley. The region contains Johor’s logistic hub, which included two international seaports and an international airport.

The state’s new administrative centre will be relocated to Bandar Nusajaya in a few years while the RM7.8 billion coal-fired power plant at Tanjung Bin is under construction and slated to begin partial operations in August 2006.

There is also the impending major involvement of Khazanah into the Danga Bay project. Not to mention the casino and mega entertainment projects planned in Singapore.

The region has the potential to be substantially transformed. Yet, at the back of my mind, the fear is the region has also the potential to be permanently scarred by ad-hoc decisions, bad implementation and lack of long term comprehensive planning. Not the mention the long list of the usual crowd waiting for handouts.

(R) Copyright Reserved. No part can be re-produced in any form without the written consent of the author.

same ol same ol...

2006-05-18T10:22:00.000+08:00

Some days back there was this pic in the papers about our Minister of Housing and Local Government officiating some sports event for the Town and Country Planning Department. Didnt pay much attention to it.

Two days back, I asked one of my staff to urgently head to the Johor Town and Country Planning Department. We needed to check details of a new housing development. It was needed to completed an urgent assignment.

After an hour, my staff got back. Guess what....

"Sorry ya. Semua pegawai pergi bersukan. Tolong datang balik hari Khamis (or is it ..lepas Khamis)"

That was the sorry ass reply. Theyre one of the more friendlier departments.

So much for paradigm shifts in mentalities. So much for aspirations to be in the First World league. So much for civil servants serving the public. Theyre still having social events with tax payers money, during office hours.

Updated noon:

Went to the said planner's office. The file was being used by someone. So they cant offer us any information. Simultaneously, another staff who went to the Majlis Daerah about 22 kilometres away, calls back to say the pegawai in charge was not around and the staff cannot release information to us.

$%$#@@!@$%&**#!!@#! just as i had feared.

Of prince of the land, nationalism and religion. Contradicting concepts?

2006-05-16T12:36:00.000+08:00

A major diversion, but one thats in line with the flow of thoughts thats been prevailing for quite some time. No intention to offend anyone.

I had a doubt. I did a search online to get confirmation and found this info.

"The life of human beings began with the creation of two people, a male and a female named Adam and Hawwa (Eve)."

and,

"From these two individuals, generations of human beings have inhabited the earth. "Oh humankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured among you in the sight of Allah is the who is the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)" (49:13)."

Ok, here is my view. If we all began from the same source, why do we then need to have the term "prince of the land", and accord special privileges to them? In the first place they all happen to come from other places a few hundred years or even tens of years earlier than the rest. If the entire population is considered to be from the creation of the One, why this mad pre-occupation to use race as the supreme divisive factor to justify dominance over others? Isnt this, as usual, another act of supreme hypocricy purely to justify holding on to political power and selfish accumulation of personal wealth at the expense of the masses?

I have come across some radical ones online who professed the idea that theres no room for race or nationalism. Everything has to be looked at from the religion grouping. I find it difficult to accept such a thought, for i would think nationalism would be the best starting point. You belong to a country. And you look at everything from the "country" point of view. Religion would be between you and your Maker. A personal relationship. Naturally if you commit a criminal offence, you cant hide behind that argument and you must be judged by your fellow humans.

These are just thoughts that came to mind this morning. How contradictory some issues in life are. Am no philosopher, neither a politician wannabe. With such thoughts in mind, I am just putting them into written form. Perhaps one fine day to be thought about and discussed deeper with the right wise persons.

On the above, if the divisive factor was religion, i wouldnt have an issue with it.

We're not even going to talk about the world being one village, WTO, free trade blah blah blah.

I must get away from all this and get high.

Top 100 sites Malaysians go to online

2006-05-16T11:19:00.000+08:00

This list refers to the most popular sites among users in the country, not sites hosted in the country.

Alexa Web Search - Top 500: "Top Sites Malaysia
Browse the most popular sites on the web. Learn more."

Distractions

2006-05-15T10:10:00.000+08:00

Life was somewhat simpler during the pre-internet days. No disractions from stuff like internet chatting, porn and real news, not the doctored censored ones you find in the print media. Information was scarce. To obtain information on the economy for example would require one to collate newspaper clippings, or spend lots of money accumulating annual reports of BNM for example. To obtain diverse views and opinions on technical matters would require one to attend seminars at ridiculous prices or buy expensive books.

But at least those days, we were resigned to the situation and made do with whatever we could have. Life went on. We didnt worry much.

But with the internet over the past few years, life has been not been a bed of roses. Ones eyes are forced open by not only the amount of porn thats too easily accessed, but more importantly how unjust a world we seem to live in. We begin to learn how our lives are indirectly or directly screwed by the powers that be. That theres always a hidden agenda in whatever thats been decided up there in our gomen aka government. We learn how the police appear to be the licensed thugs in this country. How politicians have a hand in the economic pie. How percentages are what they live for. How almost every project in the country is done at such an inflated amount so that someone gets their percentages. How the bright are deprived of the chances thats due to them either career wise or education wise. How the colour of skin dictates how you progress in the civil service.

You also realise how the ones screwing this country, are the very ones getting screwed by smarter people overseas. You would also learn that there is a lot of talk but action of the opposite nature in the real world. For example, to have a brain gain program to encourage our smart ones overseas to migrate back, but make life almost a living hell with red tape when theyre here. And in the same breadth allowing our young smart ones being pinched by other countries all because the colour of their skin prevents them to have fair access to opportunities here.

I know i can go on and on. This morning it hit me. Wouldnt life be simpler if this technology wasnt around. Would i be not that distracted if i wasnt a bit enlightened by what i come across online. As exciting as its been, is the distraction worth it? Wouldnt i be spending time doing productive work rather than hammering out frustrations here. As usual, thats something i dont want to think about too much. Another few minutes wasted.

MGGPillai.com :: The racial divide in Malaysia is now a fact

2006-05-13T16:50:00.000+08:00

The racial divide in Malaysia is now a fact

THE NON-MALAY CABINET MINISTERS who complained to their prime minister, Pak Lah, about non-Muslim voices being unheard, is ordered by Pak Lah himself to withdraw it and not let it be discussed by outsiders, i.e. Malaysians. Why they took this extreme stand, especially when they agreed with Pak Lah in the cabinet what they protest now is easy to explain. The non-Malay ministers are beholden to UMNO, and they nod their heads when the prime minister tells them to. This time, their ground is in revolt. But most of them have withdrawn their memo as the prime minister requested. One minister even said he was surprised the press took great interest in the memorandum. He of course chose to forget which were the media. But among the two ministers who signed the memorandum is the MCA and MIC presidents. The president of the two parties signed the agreement which gave this country independence. Now they have to express their dissatisfaction in a memo the the prime minister. It also revealed, though not for the first time, that Pak Lah is prime minister not of Malaysia but of the Malays. UMNO has decided, though that becomes less and less decisive, that they will lead the Malays. But he looks after the Malays only, and helps divide the country into racial units.

Thirty years after the New Economic Policy and that of Malay Dominance, by which non-Malays will hold no position in the government service that they cannot be promoted to any supervisory position in the lower services, and the promotions in the upper services are limited. After the nude squat scandal, the lack of non-Malays were highlighted. The official explanation is that they will not join the government services or the uniformed branch because they are paid better outside. It is the non-Malay view now. They took this view when they found they touched a glass ceiling early. There is an attempt to get non-Malays now, but the non-Malays do not trust the government now. A non-Malay promoted in the civil service means the Malay who recommended him would be penalised. No one wants that for himself, Malay or non-Malay. In the armed services, they retire as lieutenant-colonels or colonels, that latter rank given them in the last year of their service, while most of their Malay juniors had jumped over them. One examples will suffice: a non-Malay police officer retired as assistant superintendent of police, but his batchmate died as deputy inspector-general of police. They had retired in the 1970s, which means they jointed the force in the 1950s, after Merdeka. This would not happen now because the non-Malay would not be selected.

It became more of a Malay government with the passing years. The prime minister was concerned with what the Malays, usually from UMNO, felt. As the years went by, and the opposition within the Malays became sharper, he gave up all pretence of being fair. He would lose his job otherwise. UMNO has got the other parties in the National Front to obey its dictates. A Chinese or Indian minister would argue for a Malay concession. Tthis is supposed to show the government's concern for all races; but the reverse will not happen. As the non-Malay ministers sent their memorandum to Pak Lah, the Malay ministers queued up to attack them for not saying their peace in the cabinet, out of publicity. The 1969 riots was to remove the first Prime Minister, Tengku Abdul Rahman, from office. He was friendly, so it was reported at the time, to the Chinese. The NEP and Malay Dominance became UMNO policies then. It was made easy by the then MCA president, Tun Tan Siew Sin, pulled out of the coalition. He was brought back after UMNO had framed its new policies. The non-Malay ministers were not given any policy making portfolios, a policy that is in force 30 years later.

Malaysia would rather get westerners for which non-Malays are capable. All government-linked companies employ only Malays in senior positions. All university vice-chancellors are Malays, the non-Malays leave after a time into the private sector. As opposition to UMNO spreads down to the undergraduates, no UMNO ministers dare visit the universities. Before Pak Lah could visit the University, intense negotiations took place so that the students would not rebel or protest. The police are afraid of its own shadow since they took the position as guardians of the regime, especially against Malays who rebel. When the then deputy prime minister. Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, was arrested, Malays came out in their thousands to protest. This surprised the authorities, which acted against them irrationally. Over the years, this has worsened. Today, about half the Malays are against UMNO. The federal government uses the police as its goon squad in states like Kelantan, governed by the opposition PAS.

What makes this dangerous is that Pak Lah and his government cannot right the state of affairs, without watching their back. He has delayed his long-promised cabinet reshuffle, for he is not sure those he drops will go the UMNO opposition. His son-in-law forced Dato' Isa Samad to resign from the cabinet. He went out of his way to make his departure painless. But he does not know to this day whether the man is with him. He controls about 50 votes in the presidential election; that can be disastrous if it went to his opponents. Many long standing cabinet ministers will remain by on different portfolios. He has to work out if they would then remain with him or against him. His inaction now, whatever the mainstream media says, would not help him. Since he uses the mainstream media to douse his opponents in UMNO, he is on a dangerous game. He announces policy, often on the run, but which is regarded in the press as 'earth-shattering'. But it is not. There is no discussion, his civil servants and personal staff do not care, and what he says or does is by rote. He tells Malaysians to not discuss the memorandum of the non-Malay ministers: the cabinet will discuss it. Most of the non-Malay ministers fell into line. But that shows divisions that never existed before 1970.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com

MGGPillai.com :: UMNO got rid off the Tengku with a riot, but did not think through its plan afterwords

2006-05-13T16:46:00.000+08:00

MGGPillai.com :: UMNO got rid off the Tengku with a riot, but did not think through its plan afterwords: "MGG Commentary

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25-01-2006 11:13 pm

UMNO got rid off the Tengku with a riot, but did not think through its plan afterwords

WHAT HAPPENED ON MAY 13 – whether it is the Malays who orchestrated it or the DAP which started it – misses one important fact. It was to get Tengku Abdul Rahman, the first prime minister, out of office. The deaths in the riots do not matter, only that the man must go. The MCA felt that the Chinese had let it down, and quit the government. It played into UMNO hands. The racial riots happened because UMNO wanted the Malays to look upon it as the only leader they will have. The Tengku was reduced to negotiating his departure so that he would be prime minister for a day under the new Yang Dipertuan Agung, his nephew the Sultan of Kedah. UMNO succeeded in their political aim in the last 35 years, but at what cost. UMNO the nationalist movement had made way for UMNO the political party in 1987. The Tengku did not join the political party, and died, with Tun Hussein Onn, out of the political party. In fact. the only ex-president of the political party is Tun Mahahir Mohamed. In 1969, the Tengku's namesis was Tun Mahathir, who plotted against him.

When Tun Mahathir came acalling on the Tengku in hospital on his terminal illness, I, who had gone to see him before Tun Mahathir, was asked to say. There was a tug-of-war of sorts between Tun Mahathir's security detail and the Tengku. He finally made me sit on the bed beside him. So when Tun Mahathir came in, I was also in the room. The Tengku had known me since the early 1950s, when as president of UMNO he shifted to Johore Bahru, and stayed near the edge of the Wadi Hana area where I stayed. When my father died in 1963, he was already prime minister and I did not inform him. When I returned to Reuters in Singapore from leave after the funeral to the night shift, I found the Tengku there. He told me to see him for breakfast at the Hotel Adephi, now no more. "M.A.G. Pillai was the Tengku's friend, not the prime minister's." giving me a wigging as only he could. He was in Saudi Arabia when my mother died in 1978, so I sent him a cable, and two of his personal staff turned up before the cremation. He used to say he was the happiest prime minister in the world because "he had as his deputy, Tun Razak". Tun Razak's premiership was spoiled for this reason. But little did he know, until it was too late, that Tun Razak was plotting against him. Tun Mahathir and the future deputy prime minister, Tan Sri Musa Hitam, were some of the plotters.

The May 13 riots, ostensibly because DAP celebrated their victory at the 1969 polls by taunting the Malays at Kampung Bahru after the opposition had got a tie in the state assembly seats in Selangor and Perak. The UMNO reaction as swift. Apart from the NEP and the policy of Malay Dominance, it separated Kuala Lumpur from Selangor, altered the constituencies that the Malay would always have the majority in the state assemblies. The MCA could win only in mixed or Malay majority. The MIC could win only in Malay majority seats. The Indian voters were spread to other constitutiences so that they could not be a threat. Areas like Brickfields were variously of Damansara, Siputeh, KL Bandar in the thirty five years since. The people in power, having made sure their version is the dominant, blame the Chinese for having started May 13. The DAP may have provided the catalyst, but the riots was the result of a deliberate plan. UMNO had the political power and the Chinese are blamed for it. The May 13 riots was to remove the Tengku and downgrade the non-Malays in government. They lost the policy making powers they had from independence. It was a far cry from signing the MCA and MIC presidents signing with UMNO the independence document with Britain to being a digit of the National Front in power today.

Over the years, money has taken over national policy. The NEP and Malay Dominance could have survived if it had followed the plan Tun Razak had worked out. Now the Chinese made sure the Malay in government was compromised. The policies were downgraded. UMNO had no thinkers of the Malay agenda. It showed. Tun Mahathir set up Proton so that the Malay will lose his fear of technology. It is now irrelevant, because its social purpose had given way to money. And it cannot be justified on that grounds. The death throes of Proton must be seen in that light. The Indian car firm Ambassador used the Morris Oxford for its model, and Premier cars the Fiat 1100, for more than 40 years, spawning a cottage industry of repairers throughout the country. but they hold ltheir own when foreign cars are brought into the country. That would not be with Proton, whose reason for existence went overboard when Tun Mahathir retired as prime minister. The is unfortunately true of all its industry. Proton could have been a force, an oditty in the world of automobile makers. Malaysia will lose out intially allowing cars in with reduced duties. But in the end, it would have held its ground. Not any more. Today when money rules, the relevance of Proton to national policy disappears, and with it out car policy. As Proton goes, so shall NEP and Malay Dominance.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com

MGGPillai.com :: The crooked bridge and cultural enmity

2006-05-13T16:07:00.000+08:00

The late MGG Pillai wrote this. He was all for the bridge. He implied security as the prime purpose. To make it hard for the tanks to come over here. An interesting read. Not sure how long his site will be up, so have copy-pasted the article here.

MGGPillai.com :: The crooked bridge and cultural enmity: " MGG Commentary

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14-04-2006 08:53 am

The crooked bridge and cultural enmity

WHY DID DATO' SERI SYED HAMID, the foreign minister, and others in the cabinet, make a fool of themselves days before the Prime Minister, Pak Lah, said the crooked bridge to replace part of the causeway with Singapore would not be built? Why had they not been penalised for making the Malaysian government look stupid? What was the basis for Pak Lah making his decision? Was it because his son-in-law, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, is reported to be close to Singapore and many believe is its representative here? Why did Pak Lah defy his cabinet ministers? He cannot say he is boss, and can do what he likes. He was a member of the Mahathir cabinet which approved the bridge. Much money has been spent in preparing for it. Just because Singapore says the crooked bridge is unworkable? The public reasons for the crooked bridge is as obscure as against it.

Politicians and academics from both sides of the causeway agree with Pak Lah's decision. But they will be proved wrong. Pak Lah had agreed to a cabinet decision in the past to build the bridge. Johore support it for economic, political and cultural reasons. But the problem is that it is sold to the man-in-street, and journalists, as an exercise in fantasy, and a way to make money. I knew it had a security purpose, which is not mentioned. Singapore would have known it, and told everyone who would listen it is not viable, changing the public attitude, for it would have a difficult time for its tanks should it ever invade this country. The people at the top in Malaysia forget their priorities when money wathe prime consideration.

I learnt of the crooked bridge when mooted in the 1990s, accepted why it had to be built. But what the prime minister's office said then in public and private were contradictory, but this was politics, and par for the course. Countries like Malaysia and Singapore, neighbours and rivals, have the other in their policy planning. Look and India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka. One cannot consider a policy except in reference to its neighbours. In Malaysia, the problem is complicated further because Johore has its own reasons for wanting the bridge, and its agreement is necessary. All agreed to it because it would have money in the promotors', and individuals', pockets. There must have been an equally good reason for Pak Lah to not have the bridge built, having approved it during Dr Mahathir's time as prime minister. But he does not say what it is.

It is fashionable to criticise Malaysia in public. It is difficult to see officials. Junior officials threaten local journalists with detention without trial if they ask the minister if he keeps a mistress in a love nest in a housing estate. Foreign journalists rarely go to Putra Jaya, where the most important officials are, unless they have to, and those they meet in Kuala Lumpur, including the Singapore high commission, tell them otherwise. Transport to Putra Jaya is not easy, and set you back about RM150. Contrary to official belief, people, even foreigners, are not wealthy. The Malaysian government is becoming aware, the first word in the ear, frequently repeated, that this is bound to get the public ear, and that it is often not Malaysia's. The public perception now is the crooked bridge is wasteful and irrelevant, and rightly for those reasons attacked.

I have been allowed into Singapore on a visit pass. specially applied for, from 1971, and banned permanently from 1991. It did not bother me since, an Italian journalist wrote in his book, I had done my shopping. I had written in an Indian paper of Israeli-made Singapore tanks and why they were bought. It was true, but local journalists could not write about it as they can never could get official confirmation. In defence matters, Singapore is touchy. The speeches I gave to the military staff college here on Singapore led me to be banned from it, a Singapore lecturer was invited to give the lecture instead. I still talk to senior military officials on Singapore privately. Malaysian officials do not want to hurt Singapore even if that makes Malaysia look silly. But is not time for Malaysia to take decisions that are for Malaysia's good and not other countries?

But there is one difference between Malaysia and Singapore, apart from the majority in one being Malays and the other Chinese. Malays think long term. Singapore short term. Coupled with good public relations, Singapore will steal a march in the short term over Malaysia. I believe in 2061, when the water agreeements expire, Singapore will be part of Malaysia, not as a state but as an adjunct to Johore. Singapore made that possible when it rejected a Malaysian proposal to shore in the profits of the water sold to commercial enterprises. That led to the then prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, coming to Kuala Lumpur in 1987 to sort it out with his Malaysian counterpart. It was at this meeting that Malaysia took the upper hand culturally from Singapore, which has tried to wrest it back by other means. In public, though, the Singaporean is seen as a go-getter, a Malaysian a bumbling fool harping on his past but quite happy to fill his pockets with money from any source.

It is not that the Singaporean is not corrupt. He is, but the government controls that: certain people are authorised to be corrupt, but not others. I know of Singaporeans in high positions who got there because they had views different from the others. In Malaysia, this is not allowed. But given the society Singapore is, he would not do anything unless ordered. The Malaysian will take a different view in public even if he is pushed aside. But his view will eventually gain the public eye if sound and relevant. He would go against the government if he has to. The government is in trouble because of this. In Singapore, the naysayers tend to make known their ways in private or in closed quarters. In Malaysia, publicly. So we have, to the outside world, a disorganised, disoriented, speaking at cross purposes Malaysia and an organised, oriented and united Singapore in what matters today, the short term. But Malaysia will have its day in 2061. To paraphrase a saying: He laughs best who laughs last.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com

organizelah some protest around your neighbourhood????

2006-05-10T16:04:00.000+08:00

and forfeit the right to cari makan and try save enough to migrate? and get a one way ticket to Simpang Renggam detention centre or worse yet revoked citizenship for being unpatriotic in the eyes of those in power?

This is after all an autocratic sort of asian country. Criticism of any kind is branded as an act of a traitor against the country. An act of a thankless immigrant whos been granted the privilleage to cari makan as well as enrich "them".

Protests wont work in this country, at this point of time, in these circumstances. Things have got to be so rotten, and only then possibly will the mass rise up in numbers. Only then will the silent majority act. I'd probably be dead by then.

Come to think of it, when ruling party Ministers themselves dont have the right to present a memo to the PM, when ruling MPs cant even vote based on what is right and wrong, when civil servants are almost always the servant of such rulers and yet be little emperors in their own right, what chance has the normal men and women on the street have?

Getting people to rise now? Bloody hell. I cant even get people to voice opinions or present alternate views or criticize in academic and professional seminars ive organised or attended. A few months back, i even directly hit out at the attendees of a seminar on this "tidak-apa" attitude amongst us malaysians, and asians generally. 99% of the people are content to just listen and read and go back to their normal routine. And true enough, nobody reacted to my comments.(maybe they were pissed off by my comments)

And so, thats why i say, the discontent lot have to be content with waiting impatiently for the day when it gets rotten to the core, or die, whichever comes first, for things to possibly change for the better.

Why is Lelaki Komunis Terakhir banned in Malaysia?

2006-05-09T17:02:00.000+08:00

First was the disappointing yet not surprising response by the PM on the Shahrir controversy. Vote along party lines, my foot. Its just an attempt to divert people's attention to the widespread misdeeds amongst the MPs.

and now...

Lelaki Komunis Terakhir (The Last Communist): Why is Lelaki Komunis Terakhir banned in Malaysia?: "Why is Lelaki Komunis Terakhir banned in Malaysia?"

For the past few years, as every day passes, my confidence in the future of this country reduces further..and further. The future is bleak. Am a pessimist in the midst of capitalist corrupt cronies. Perhaps the country has to get rotten to the core, before there will be "light at the end of the tunnel". There will be those screaming "leave if you dont like it", but unfortunately am not rich like those ruling fellas or their cronies. So, we suffer...and wait.

Shahrir supposedly resigns..

2006-05-05T17:25:00.000+08:00

Its obvious, all the recent issues played up by the newspapers are nothing more then a smokescreen. To distract the public from the core problems. Petrol, Police.

Wonder whats next in the minds of the puppet masters.

The Gatal incident - Hansard transcript

2006-05-05T17:19:00.000+08:00

Tuan Haji Abdul Fatah bin Haji Haron [Rantau Panjang]

Saya rasa ada peluang bagi saya untuk meminta penjelasan serta memberi penjelasan terhadap persoalan yang ditimbulkan suatu (sewaktu) soal jawab tadi oleh Yang Berhormat Menteri berkenaan dengan kenapakah wanita yang kehilangan suami hasil dari penceraian di tinggal begitu atau tidak diambil kira oleh masyarakat, sedangkan suami yang meninggal kerana kematian itu banyak simpati daripada orang ramai.

Apakah Yang Berhormat sedar sebahagian besar perempuan yang ditinggalkan oleh suami ini ada masalah yang menyebabkan berlaku penceraian. Satu. Yang keduanya apabila masyarakat melihat seorang perempuan yang ditinggalkan oleh suami sudah tentulah mereka ini ada sebab-sebab yang boleh dipertikaikan.

Kalau kita lihat di dalam majlis-majlis yang besar, perempuan yang ketiadaan suami hasil penceraian ini ada gatal sedikit. Tidak seperti yang kehilangan suami kerana kematian. Yang kematian ini, nampak dia insaf, sedih dan nampaklah air muka itu ada sedikit keimanan. Tetapi sebahagian besarnya, yang kehilangan suami hasil pencerian ini" kalau di dalam majlis-majlis, dia nampak gatal, sebab itu hilang simpati. Harap komen daripada Yang Berhormat."

blah blah blah from Shahrizat. Asks him to retract.

Abdul Fatah continues:

Saya sebut ini sebahagian besar, saya tidak kata seluruh. Bukan tuduh, sebahagian besar. Kalau tengok di majlis-majlis, katakanlah di party, private partu kalau kita tengok yang mana. Janda yang macam mana yang gatal, yang 'gelenyar', bahasa Kelantan. Kelantan kata 'gelenyar', bahasa persuratan gatal. Yang mana? Yang kematian suami ataupun yang diceraikan oleh suami. Sebahagian besarnya yang gatal itu ialah yang bercerai kerana sebab-sebab tertentu, samada si suami itu jahat ataupun si isteri itu ada masalah. Terima kasih.

Memartabatkan bahasa

2006-05-04T17:53:00.000+08:00

Its a photo i took in December, but only now got to upload here.

Apresiasi???????????? Apresiasi puisi?????????? Appreciation. Please tell me there is no other word in the Malay language that conveys the meaning of appreciation.

The end of the crooked bridge saga

2006-05-03T19:12:00.000+08:00

Been a bit busy of late, thus not responded to comments on my own blog. Well, here goes.

I tend to believe a bit of what TDM has stated. He has done his homework. We have the right to do as we please, and give 6 months notice, where water pipes are concerned. Even for railway line, as long as re-connection is done within a specified period, as per the related law/agreement, our assets at spore remain intact.

As for sand and airspace. Yeah, its possible some bolehlandputras aka umnoputras have a stake in the sand business and want to include that in. As for airspace, perhaps spore pushed for this from day one.

What do i make of all this crap thats been dumped on us by your incompetent and spineless Govt? I am beginning to suspect that PM wanted to use this as a smokescreen to divert people's attention away from the rising oil prices. Halt the bridge and save a billion ringgit.

Why give the go-ahead a few weeks earlier for bridge? So, GP can do a bit of work, and then claim RM100 million for work done aka compensation for project being cancelled.

PM probably didnt count on TDM coming out guns blazing.

The price we paid? The whole world got to see first hand how bad our politicians were in decision making, diplomacy and politics.

Remembering the past..

2006-05-03T19:07:00.000+08:00

"Chatting, friendship, intimacy or for that matter almost any relationship, is a two way affair. When its almost always only one party making an effort, then over time that person is going to just decide to fade away, not in anger, but in disappointment."

"Life is a continuous process of new beginnings. The past is just that, the past. To be cherished or remembered or.... feared (vic - 2005)"

An extract : Farewell, MGG - Malaysiakini

2006-04-29T17:11:00.000+08:00

I've since the late 1990s been following the late MGG's articles and the sang kancil site. They were enlightening. Here was someone who wrote what he thought,no holds-barred. No kowtowing, no posturing and ball carrying, so unlike the local print media. The following is a letter that was posted in the malaysiakini site. I thought i would keep a copy here for old times sake. Something to remind myself of the ideals of a person and how he went about fighting for his beliefs. The last line of the letter, is a gem.

He was from English College.

May God bless his soul.
Farewell, MGG - Malaysiakini: "Farewell, MGG
Jonathan Kent
Apr 28, 06 4:10pm

MGG Pillai was a kindred spirit for any journalist in Malaysia, whether local or foreign, who believes that our calling is to report without fear or favour and that, to quote the 19th century American journalist Finlay Peter Dunne; 'The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.'

MGG was a lion amongst Malaysian correspondents. I won’t say that he was without his quirks, nor would I claim that everything he wrote was entirely right. There were times when I fancy he misread the shadows from the ‘wayang kulit’ of Malaysian politics. But he was fearless, he was true to himself and his convictions and he did his damndest to bring the facts, as he saw them, to his readers.

He became, through his work, a living link to just about every actor of note in Malaysian public life since the country won its independence some 49 years ago. He would wistfully recall chatting with the Tunku at his official residence, sitting at dinner with Abdul Razak or Hussein Onn, or tussling with Mahathir Mohamad.

I last saw MGG a month or so ago. We sat together over dinner and he told me about his unfinished memoirs and shared some of the gems that would have made them glitter. Had he lived to finish them they would surely have been required reading for any student, not just of Malaysian history, but of the region’s history over the last 50 years because MGG was there to witness much of it not least as a Reuters reporter during the Vietnam war.

His death leaves us all the poorer, his friends, among whom I’d like to count myself, immeasurably sadder and young Malaysian journalists with one less redoubtable role model. His baton now passes to those braver spirits in the media who could pay the man no greater tribute than to try to fill his great shoes by making sure that none in power can both fail the people and count on a sound night’s sleep.

Rest in peace, MGG."

Guns come out blazing: Malaysian National News Agency :: BERNAMA

2006-04-28T00:14:00.000+08:00

HEREWITH IS THE FULL TEXT OF TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD’S RESPONSE TO THE STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE TAN SRI FUZI ABDUL RAZAK

YABhg Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s response to the statement by Ambassador-at-large Tan Sri Fuzi Abdul Razak

1. Tan Sri Fuzi’s rambling explanation about the Bridge over the Tebrau Straits on April 25, 2006, serves only to convince that the Government’s priority and intention is to sell sand to Singapore. If it is not allowed to do so then Malaysia will not get its bridge. The reasoning why the bridge cannot be built comes later and it was not convincing at all.

2. The Tan Sri, as a seasoned diplomat must know that treaties or agreements solemnly entered into by two countries, as are agreements between two parties can only be modified, changed or added to if both sides agree. If there is a dispute regarding the provision or interpretation of the agreement, then there should be arbitration or reference to courts. This is a part of International Law.

3. The provisions of the Wayleave Agreements are precise and clear. There is no specific provision for consulting and obtaining the necessary approval of Singapore for the relocation of the PUB water pipelines.

4. In case the Tan Sri has not read the Wayleave Agreement, I quote below the relevant paragraph; > > “That the Licensee (i.e. Singapore) shall take full responsibility financially or otherwise for any alteration to the pipeline that may become necessary by reason of any alteration or improvements made or to be made on the Johore Causeway and on receiving not less than six months previous notice in writing from the licensors (i.e. Malaysia) shall thereupon carry out the alteration in accordance with such notice and shall have no claim for any compensation.”

5. The provision is specific for the causeway. Singapore can claim it does not apply to pipes laid on land, (although the normal practice is to regard Wayleave Agreements to apply all the way) but it cannot claim that the Agreement does not apply to the Causeway. There can therefore be no reason for not complying with the Wayleave Agreement with regard to the causeway.

6. In fact there had been many alterations to the causeway and pipelines in the past without any objection by Singapore or Malaysia.

7. Because Singapore was unwilling to make a decision on building its side of the bridge to replace its side of the causeway, I informed Singapore that Malaysia intended to build a bridge on its side to land on a part of the causeway also on its side. The Singapore side of the causeway will not be touched. The connection will continue to be between the retained portion of the Johore Causeway and the Singapore half of the causeway.

8. The Singapore PM, Goh Chok Tong in his letter to me clearly stated that “ …… if you wish to proceed immediately to replace just your side of the Causeway with a bridge, I shall accept it, though I think this is not ideal.”

9. There was no condition attached to this acceptance, no mention of sand or airspace.

10. Although the exchange was in the form of letters, it was clear and recorded in writing that I proposed to build a bridge on the Malaysian side and the Singapore PM accepted it. Thus a unilateral decision became bilateral when Singapore acceded and accepted. Any change must similarly be agreed to by both sides.

11. For Singapore to add conditions more than two years later for the supply or 50 million cubic meters of sand for 20 years and to allow the Singapore Air Force to fly in Malaysian Air Space would constitute unilateral change. Malaysia can reject the new condition and insist on Singapore honouring the agreement between the two Prime Ministers.

12. It is the Malaysian Government, which tacitly agreed to the Singapore unilateral condition when it decided that it would not build the bridge because it is not in a position to supply sand or open its airspace because of opposition by Malaysians.

13. The proper thing to do if the Government wants to build the bridge would be to seek arbitration or refer to a court if Malaysia is uncertain as to the right of Singapore to impose new conditions unilaterally. Actually there is no need to doubt Malaysian rights in its own territorial waters. But the Government of Malaysia did not do its best to reject the condition. It gave in supposedly because the Malaysian legal authorities believe Singapore is in the right. It would be interesting to read the grounds for the A.G. to conclude that Singapore has what amounts to extra territorial rights and Malaysia has no sovereign right within its own territorial waters.

14. Talks about the possibility of Singapore refusing to allow the bridge to connect with the Singapore half of the causeway is sheer nonsense. The Malaysian bridge will land on the Malaysian portion of the causeway. The only way Singapore can prevent traffic from the bridge from passing through from the Malaysian portion of the Causeway into the Singapore half is to put a barrier across the causeway border. This would certainly constitute an unfriendly act. It would be Singapore cutting its nose to spite its face. The damage to Singapore businesses would be at least as bad as that which Malaysia may suffer. But in reality Singapore needs Malaysia more than Malaysian needs Singapore. We have our ports and airports to replace Singapore ports, airports and other services.

15. All in all it is clear that the Malaysian Government is more interested in selling sand to Singapore than to build the bridge. This keenness to sell sand is strange for Malaysia does not need the proceeds from sale of sand. Despite my alleged profligate ways when I was PM Malaysia is not so bankrupt that it has to depend on selling sand.

16. That any Malaysian leader should not shudder in horror at the idea of scraping ONE BILLION SQ. METERS from Malaysian sea-beds continuously over a period of 20 years, thereby destroying all the fish breeding grounds of Malaysian seas, depriving Malaysian fishermen of their livelihood, destroying Malaysia’s marine ecology defies the imagination. That there should be any Malaysian leader willing to entertain this idea, to destroy Malaysian seas to satisfy Singapore speaks badly of his love for his country.

Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad

Round 2 is off the blocks. TDM looks good in this. Wonder what happens next.

This kind of stuff as usual almost always happens when there is a change of leadership, and the new fella starts dismantling or reversing decisions made by the previous guy.

I say we build the bridge BUT we issue an open international tender, and we see if it really costs more than RM1 billion!!!!!!

The perfect Butt

2006-04-24T11:51:00.000+08:00

FOXNews.com - Academics Develop Formula for Perfect Butt

FOXNews.com - Academics Develop Formula for Perfect Butt - Celebrity Gossip | Entertainment News | Arts And Entertainment: "'The perfect female derriere has firmness to the touch and a resilience that prevents undue wobble or bounce, yet looks soft with flawless skin,' said Dr. David Holmes, a psychology lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, who devised the formula for measuring one's moons.

And the Rosetta Stone of bootyliciousness is: (S+C) x (B+F) / (T-V).

While it may look complicated, getting to the bottom of the formula is easy, Holmes insists.

First, a woman assesses her assets on a scale from 1 to 20 (1 being worst and 20 best) in the following categories:

* S = overall shape (a ripe peach being just about right)

* C = circularity (rounder is better)

* B = bounciness (less wobble is preferred)

* F = firmness (too much push to that cushion loses points)

* T = skin texture (no cellulite, please)

Then calculate this:

* V = the ratio of one's hips to waist. Finally, do the math.

While everyone may aspire to cans of J.Lo or Jessica Simpson proportions, balance is key to achieving the perfect score of approximately 80.

'Slender thighs and hip-to-waist ratio of 0.7 will frame the perfect bum, well, perfectly,' Holmes said.

'Kylie [Minogue] would score amazingly well on sphericality and symmetry. Her bottom is perfect in those categories, more so than the likes of . . . Jennifer Lopez, who has a more curvy posterior,' he said.

Interestingly, a poll of 2000 people across England found that while women sided with J. Lo's rump as the best, men preferred Minogue's.

But science really settles nothing, says booty expert Sir-Mix-A-Lot.

'They got to be juicy, round, with a little jiggle to it,' the 'Baby Got Back' rapper told The Post yesterday, laughing hysterically. 'The bubbliness does matter.'

But there's only one way to measure the most desirable derriere, he said.

"You know it when you see it," he said. "We could debate this all day."

Enlightening attempt to quantify what we normally assess based on personal taste and sight.

Godfathers

2006-04-24T10:56:00.000+08:00

Won't say a thing about work, apart from the fact that have been swamped by it of late.

But i did manage to watch the Godfather trilogy over the past few nights. Its been a refreshing watch. Al Pacino and the rest were outstanding. The first part was released in 1972. See here for more of this trilogy.

Watching it, one realises that one isnt born evil or bad. One either chooses to be, or is forced into it. In his case it was mostly of the latter.

How would you feel if your father lost his teenage elder brother and father at a tender age. And that you had to escape the country cos the hood wanted to kill you, to prevent you from coming back years later to exact revenge. While one toes the line, one then gets trampled all over by the bad guys in life. For everyone theres a limit, beyond which rational thinking and patience is thrown out of the window. When youre down and almost out, you wouldnt normally think straight, unless you're a saint. And so, a rational, god-fearing person bent on being good, can be forced to be the exact opposite in certain circumstances. In Michael Corleone's case, it involved the family. The bad guys were out to wipe his family and he stepped to the front to take responsibility.

One also realises the fundamental point that comes across in this movie. Never react emotionally, especially when dealing with enemies. Never react with anger. Love your enemies and keep them close. Only when you need to, act and wipe them out.

The third and final part was my favourite. Perhaps cos Sofia Coppola was good looking.

As for those who choose to be bad, which by the way is a relative/subjective term, perhaps this sexist term sums it up : "Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere".

It's hard

2006-04-18T11:28:00.000+08:00

Watching the scenes was quite heartbreaking. Imagine being involved in a bad accident. And as a result having a long pipe puncture right through your back, and through another woman who's facing you. You're barely inches away from her. The pipe punches cleanly through both of you and youre both numb of the pain. The bodies are slowly dying and yet she keeps her spirits high and jokes around with the you and the rest of the people around.

And you tell things like... "wait till my wife sees this. She would normally kill me for being this close with a pretty lady, but in this case, i'm sure she wouldnt mind." Or she saying.. "Can i have breath mints?... Err, no, not for him, but for me". Or something to that effect.

And while medical staff wonder and suffer in their predicament, these two become emotionally attached. When its realised that one of them will surely not make it after removal of the pipe, the emotions were a killer to watch. For he wanted her to live. And she wanted him to.

Its a hard watch. Yes, its just a drama series on tv. But watching how the medical staff try to save them, was somewhat a heartbreaker. Men dont show enough emotions, too cold, women say. Men who show emotions and cry, are weak, some women and men say. For me, it was a sense of deja vu. Dad's passing away was still fresh in my mind. The issues at hand were death related.

At the end the obvious happened. Somehow i felt the episode wasnt done effectively. Perhaps cos the drama was about interns and surgeons. Not so much about patients. It was mostly about the workings of the latter and how they steadfastly go about doing their job i.e. saving lives (and making money, for those in private practice here). Not an easy life.

FC United

2006-04-13T12:57:00.000+08:00

ESPNsoccernet - England - Breakaway rebels FC United win promotion: "Breakaway rebels FC United win promotion

Rebel club FC United confirmed the first promotion of their short history by recording a 4-0 win over Chadderton at Gigg Lane.

Launched only last summer in defiance of Malcolm Glazer's takeover of Manchester United, FC United have taken the North West Counties Second Division by storm.

The win was their 25th in 33 league outings this term which have yielded a staggering 106 goals and, while the title is not yet guaranteed, it"

Incompetent rule

2006-04-12T16:30:00.000+08:00

We are definitely reminded again that we have incompetent people ruling this country.

The cynic or scenic or crooked bridge is OFF, again!!!&*^%$$%@#

The PM's Department has put up a notice here, and The STar has picked it up here.

Kerajaan Malaysia telah memutuskan untuk tidak meneruskan pembinaan jambatan bagi menggantikan Tambak Johor. Keputusan Kerajaan ini dibuat setelah mengambil kira suara dan sentimen rakyat Malaysia keseluruhannya terutama berkenaan bekalan pasir dan ruang udara. Kerajaan juga membuat keputusan untuk memberhentikan semua rundingan bersabit dengan jambatan tersebut.

Loosely translated it means :

"The Malaysian Government has decided not to continue with the construction of the bridge to replace the Johor Causeway. The decision of the Government was made after taking into consideration the voice and sentiments of the Malaysian people as a whole espectially with reference to the supply of sand supply and air space. The Government has also decided to stop all negotiations related with the bridge"

Eh. Why talk if you cant walk the talk. Why behave like cowboys in wanting to build without mutual consent if you know legally you may not win. Who was the legal advisor. Got scared when Singapore threatened to report to the ICJ / UN ? But then again, seeing how he seems to be backtracking a lot these days, am not at all surprised.

What surprises me is since when did the voice and sentiment of the Malaysian people count? Petrol prices rise and people complained, they didnt listen. Tol prices went up, they didnt listen. People complain about corruption, they dont act upon.

And whats the deal with "supply of sand and air space". Whats sand and airspace issues got to do with a decision to stop building a bridge?

IMHO, this is one heck of a bad press release. But then again, why am i not surprised.

The turning point in the history of this country

2006-04-12T16:06:00.000+08:00

I had followed these events as they occured in the late 1980s. But being young and dumb back then, the implications of such events were not understood. Being old and none the wiser now, what i make out of the entire episode is the country had lost its soul. The right was all too easily brushed aside by the opposite.

The fall of our judiciary is mandatory reading. This here is the account of one of the key players in that sad episode.

I was surfing around and came across his writing in the Malaysian Bar website.

I wonder now if things would have turned out differently for this country if justice had prevailed during those times.

patience in the face of...everything

2006-04-12T13:57:00.000+08:00

The story starts a few years back....

"I want to sell my bungalow plot. How much do you think its worth?"
"Perhaps in the region of $70-80 per square foot, without any approvals for development"
"That much only? Youre out of touch with the market. You guys cant just go determining the value based on historical data of how much others paid for similar lands in the past. I've put up plans to put up a townhouse etc. No approvals yet, but there shouldnt be any problems. Its definitely worth much more. Even $90 - 100 dollars per square foot"
"Well, historical data is just but a basis to arrive at a decision. You have to see present conditions. And you have got to foresee what is going to happen at least in the immediate future. If one was to look purely on the basis of infinite possibilities of a property without considerations for prevailing market conditions and demand, specifically, then the end result opinion wouldnt be a considered opinion. Anyone can put a high figure estimate, but whether the market will accept that figure is a different matter. We come in to estimate what the market will reasonably pay for it."

"You guys dont know what the market is/want"

A couple of years later.

"I want to sell my (still unsold) land. How much do you think its worth. Try looking for a buyer."
*chuckling within* "Well, its still worth about $70-80 per square foot."
"Nah, its worth more"

A long time later.

"OK, whats your asking price now. Minimum price. I have a party who is interested, but I need to confirm the asking price"

"Err I cant confirm the price now"

*sigh, potong stim cock-teaser case*

A few months later.

"I want to sell my property. Can you guys help out?"
"Sure, sure, we can." *chuckling within* "Whats your asking price?"
"$80 per square foot"
"Eh, your neighbour has put up their property for sale at around $70. How to sell yours?"
"Nah, am sure I can get it for $80. Ok, put it for sale around $78."

"No problem. We will try"

Many many moons later.

"Eh, i heard you sold it"
"Yeah"
"Why so low eh? Thought you wanted much more"
"No lah. I've always wanted to sell at that price. It was on a need-to-know basis"

*kept a straight face,cos thought it was pointless to LMAO there and then*
The End. Finally.

Man U wins!

2006-04-10T11:08:00.000+08:00

It was a great victory against old nemesis Arsenal. Man U played well, but could have been better. A victory nevertheless. 2-0 was a fair scoreline though Arse was unlucky not to score. There were too many missed chances by our strikers.

What was Park's position? Most of the time he was in the centre. He should stay more on the flank and link with the overlapping silvestre. The way ronaldo and neville links.

But the night definitely belonged to Rooney.

Spineless government

2006-04-10T11:03:00.000+08:00

The independent commission for the police force is not to be, according to that minister in the PM's Dept., cos the police is against it.

What a spineless decision. Any manager will know that when youre trying to clear up an organisation, the members will definitely show resistance.

They should merge the proposed Ombudsman with ACA. Motivate this organisation to go after wrong-doers. To charge and secure convictions in the courts. Dangle the carrot by giving incentives and bonuses for each conviction. But then again, knowing the system, isnt it all too easy to get your files lost, or make a charge disappear.

its not that i dont get it...

2006-04-05T09:52:00.000+08:00

This could be a very very long rant. But time doesnt permit.

This one brotherhood stuff which is central to their thinking, overrides nationhood or statehood. It overrides law and order too, to a certain extent. Closing an eye or two when being in the face of wrongdoing. All for the reason of that other party being of the same brotherhood (lack of grey matter to come up with a better term).

Could this be the reason why they seem to be having problems every where...and i mean every single place where they are. The blindness appear to be the root cause of much of our problem The inability to open their eyes and lacking of empathy towards others not in the brotherhood runs in direct conflict with the former's selling point of being an open, caring and loving lifestyle.

More on this another time. Too much distractions at office. And I've been pissed off by the staff. And its only 10am. sigh.

3 wishes and women

2006-04-04T18:22:00.000+08:00

This is an email that i received from Chris recently.

A woman was out golfing one day when she hit the ball into the woods.

She went into the woods to look for it and found a frog in a trap. The frog told her, "If you release me from this trap, I will grant you three wishes."

The woman freed the frog, and the frog said, "Thank you, but I failed to mention that there was a condition to your wishes. Whatever you wish for, your husband will get it ten times!"

The woman said, "That's okay."

For her first wish, she wanted to be the most beautiful woman in the world. The frog warned her, "You do realize that this wish will also make your husband the most handsome man in the world, an Adonis whom women will flock to". The woman replied, "That's okay, because I will be the most beautiful woman and he will have eyes only for me." So, KAZAM-she's the most beautiful Woman in the world!

For her second wish, she wanted to be th e richest woman in the world. The frog said, "That will make your husband the richest man in the world. And he will be ten times richer than you. " The woman said, "That's okay, because what's mine is his and what's his is mine."

So, KAZAM-she's the richest woman in the world!

The frog then inquired about her third wish, and she answered, "I'd like a mild heart attack!"

/*Moral of the story : Women are clever. Don't mess with them!* /

Attention female readers: This is the end of the joke for you. Stop here and continue feeling good!

*Male readers: Please scroll down.
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The man had a heart attack ten times milder than his wife!!!

*Moral of the story: Women are really dumb but think they're really smart! *

*Let them continue to think that way and just enjoy the show!*

PS: If you are a woman and are still reading this; it only goes to show that women never listen!!!

Malaysian National News Agency :: BERNAMA

2006-03-31T13:05:00.000+08:00

Malaysian National News Agency :: BERNAMA
KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 (Bernama) -- The government has no plans to establish an inter-faith development department for now as religious understanding among the communities is good, the Dewan Rakyat was told Thursday.

Yup. We know much about them. And they dont know anything much nor care about the rest. Yeah, sweep it all under the carpet, as usual. Let issues simmer below the surface, for selfish political reasons, as usual.

Damn. Its friday. One should be thinking of drinks, partying, GROs and sleep.

Been busy...

2006-03-30T17:38:00.000+08:00

been busy eating..drinking.. talking. And not getting much work done. Had a long lunch, nyonya melaka food at Permas Jaya. Not bad i would say. The curry fish head was great, so was the petai sambal ikan bilis. Came back around 3pm, and by 4pm was out having coffee for another hour. Back in office now, and by 645pm, thats like an hour's time, will have to attend some sort of fellowship function. (aka free makan minum time). Damn. Desperately need to force myself to head to the gym. (or get dragged there)

On comments..

2006-03-30T11:44:00.000+08:00

12 comments on the posting about the movie Crash. Nothing to do with the posting. And am too busy now to read what the heck these comments are about. Will do it later. If deemed offensive, will take them down later in the day when i have the time.

cheers

Crash

2006-03-28T12:20:00.000+08:00

Watched this movie at home recently. It was very good. Story-telling of high standard. Different sub-plots weaved together skillfully towards the end.

Its a story most human beings will be able to feel. The exception would be racists, including the ones we have here, in particular the one who kept on saying the word racist countless times in parliment a few sessions back. These people will never change.

The emotions i felt watching this movie was like riding a rollercoaster. The most compelling moment for me would be when the shopowner takes out the gun and shoots at the locksmith, only for the latter's young cute daughter to leap in front and take the bullet on her back..whilst resting on his shoulder. The mother screaming hysterically. The father breaking down. The shooter stunned. That was a special moment. I could feel the heart-breaking moment. Damn, a cute young girl accidently taking a bullet for her innocent father. Naturally, in the true spirit of great storytelling, there was a twist to this shooting incident.

Go see the movie. Its worth watching. Good for the soul to experience race relations issues. It was definitely better than "Munich" and "Good nite and good luck", which were excellent movies.

self regulation never works here

2006-03-27T13:00:00.000+08:00

Is it the Asian mentality? Or is it human nature? To self-regulate is rarely a success.

Why would the malaysian police insist that the police commission, their internal organisation, is sufficient to regulate them? Two royal commissions have stated the failure of the existing set-up. And yet they have the cheek to resist and insist on status quo to remain.

Why they as well as the umno MPs would insist on status quo to remain is pretty obvious . Its public perception that corruption is rife within the force...from the bottom... upwards. That is the perception. The coffeeshop talk. While they may claim to have a high case-solving percentage, they somehow fail to admit the various high profile failures in prosecution. The crime rate is still at uncomfortable levels. If status quo was changed and an independent body was there to investigate and regulate, that would mean a substantial percentage of the force being possibly implicated.

And when they go down, surely all the local politicians who have been riding the wave and benefitting from the selective prosecution will also be implicated. A highly effective and impartial police force would mean the substantial reduction in crime, corruption included.

Money, or the possible end or reduction of ill-gotten money, could be the motivating factor that is holding up the setting up of this independent police commission.

And as usual, i dont think the present govt. has the balls to walk the talk. The way the PM caved in with the policewomen-in-tudung-during-official-function issue itself was just proof of where we are headed.

There was another issue highlighted in the local papers recently. About some prick telling us that non-malays werent applying for civil service positions and were not interested. This supposedly was the reason for their low numbers.

Hello! Why would anyone of us bother to apply an organisation that blatantly discriminates against them? Time and again we have seen qualified people being by-passed promotion just because they dont have the right "kulitification". At the entry point itself very very low numbers, if any at all, are taken in. Just look at the Johor Corporation, Johor State Government Civil Service and even the Federal civil service. The former two hardly has any non-malay at all. Given the fact that you hardly see anyone there, and if youre in you might be by-passed by your juniors year in year out even if youre out-performing them, it doesnt take a genius or a Harvard consultancy to figure out the problems or solutions.

Time for lunch.

Most want end to fuel price increases, poll shows..

2006-03-24T11:17:00.000+08:00

The link to this news item is here.

Supposedly, The Star paper's survey indicates what most people want in the 9th malaysia plan is for fuel prices to stay low i.e. no more increases. Sigh. Its ridiculous.

By the way, i am ok with the price increases i guess. What i am not ok with is the fact that we are told to pay higher for fuel cos its price has increased worldwide, BUT we are also forced to buy vehicles at inflated prices cos the government has a very high tax regime. Talk about a double whammy. Prices to fall under the NAP? I doubt it. I expect to see the usual excuses of higher overheads to justify maintained prices to justify same or higher profits.

What would i want under the 9th MP? Naturally the setting up of the police commission will help. No idea why some ruling party MPs are against it considering how supposedly effective such a commission was in cleaning up the Hong Kong police force.

I would also want the end of the present AP nonsense. Create a level playing field, not a few handpicked people to be instant millionaires.

Hold every GLC and government agency accountable for the unpaid dues they have failed to collect. Its ridiculous how millions arent collected by TNB. How millions arent collected by the Public Services Commission and the Student Loans section. The millions not collected by the local authorities and land offices.

A revamp of the entire education system. No more biasness please. Once and for all, get rid of this race based policies and governance please. Help the needy. Help ALL of the needy. Sponsor the best at every level to ensure they achieve the maximum potential. Stop the brain drain to Spore and other countries. And stop dreaming about reversing the brain drain. All of this, i am unfortunately sure, will not happen in my short remaining lifespan.

We have sort of excellent laws, notwithstanding the lack of laws governing service apartments and gated/guarded developments, amongst others. What we most lack is the will to enforce the laws and prosecute professionally. Enforce what we have, and am sure we wont be that incomparable with the best governed nations.

And most importantly what i hope most under the 9th Malaysia Plan. A hope that the institution of family is upheld in the financial planning. Higher tax breaks please for those with kids. RM800 per kid per year as rebates doesnt even cover kindergarten fees. Sigh.

Use condoms...

2006-03-21T17:17:00.000+08:00

on a not so lighter note...something that a lot of people here can relate to, but most choose to not talk about.

The following is a comment entry made by a person named Neil at Screenshots

B: "Actually I don't think the BN is doing too badly. The country is peaceful and the economy's moving. Sure, there are some problems, but which country doesn't have them? In our case, most of these problems pile up because there was scant attention paid to physical maintenance and distribution techniques. But, given time and will-power, and less detractors like your goodselves, I am sure we'll pull through somehow."

A: "Excuse me, woman, you may look like some stunning Korean tv actress, but try to exercise your brains here. Tell me you know what's happening right now. We're facing a crisis of confidence in governance. Let me make it plain. The people don't trust no more this government. And that includes most of those who had voted for them. So we have this otherwise comic situation of voters no longer trusting one word of a government they had placed their faith in without question not too long ago. Know the old saying? Nothing more dangerous than a woman scorned, eh?"

Neil: "A, i can empathise with your feelings. It's all from this fuel hike and revelations on Scomi, and before that the APs, Metromac judgement, the MRR2 father-son link, the earsquat fiasco, the scenic bridge brouhaha, Highlands Towers, the cityhall assessment rate rise, the JPA bumi-awards, the funeral parlour, the shah alam flood, the shah alam tap water, the public transportation 100-year cronyplan, the parliament chorus of cackles, the retirees food pension fund, the .."

B:"Neil, stop! what retirees food pension fund?"

Neil: "Oh, the one they'll have to cough up quick otherwise the retirees will starve."

B:"It can't be that bad, Neil! You must be exaggerating."

Neil: "try again, dear."

A:"Look, we have a problem, and i, wolfgang amadeus A, can trace it to its damn root. The answer is simple. This government is propagating denials because it has also been denying itself from truthfully seeing those denials. This government, or 'govern men tragically', simply cannot see itself from outside itself. It has a blind spot. It has no 20/20 vision. This myopia has to stop, and that must start from the top. Why? that's the fastest way to effect change for a behemoth that's almost a million men and women. Some our kakak and adiks."

B:"ok, i can live with that. But you must also admit this government has been exercising some wisdom."

Neil:"pray tell, we are all ears. (and some)."

B: "it has given scholarships to bumis so that they will come back more open to what's open for Malaysia. It has given time for DBP and our national-language champions to malayise the national medium so that a common communication can be forged. It has created the national service to make it easier for youths of all races to come together. It has solved the asian crisis and created engines of growth by spending our way out of recession."

A:"Excuse me, woman. Have you been drinking? Let me take you up on them, one by one. Heh-heh.

Scholarships for bumis? And how many of them actually return to change the mindsets that was the reason why they were sent? How many have become subservient, instead, to their own coterie of daily needs? How many of them carry one iota of consideration and commiseration translated into real action that the privileges they had enjoyed were given them over the heads and cries of others who had achieved more but remain in the pits because of their names and colours of their skin? And how many of them stayed away to not pay back loans on the reason there's lack of suitable high posts for them on silver platters when they return? And how many of them are not cronies now? How many of them have stood up and told the funders these words -'we can't do things like this anymore, our Chinese and Indians and other brethrens also deserve support; they sacrificed their rights as brothers so that we can have a better life; we must give them no less than what you have given us. Otherwise our sense of justice and principles of faith and liberal education make a mockery of us and will taint us for the rest of our lives.' And you know what, last year this time the JPA head said they will review the criteria after the public outburst. What has come out of that statement? Let me answer for you - NOtHinG! Only a cockamamie aspersion by the DPM. Why can't they just spell out the criteria? Something to hide? Afraid the public can't swallow it? After 49 years, fear should be the last thing. Confidence is needed. And this goment ain't got that.

And this malayising the national medium thing. Where are we now in this matter? Ok, i admit it wasn't a bad thing - which country won't want to defend its own national language?"

B: "you see the wisdom?"

A: " yes, i do. The gomen did allow for anti-globalists to sentimentalise on the national language. But then , let me hasten to add, at the expense of national mental and knowledge growth. Now we pay the price multiplied by other factors for being too late too little to embrace change for our youths. I look at the textbooks in some other countries. They're way ahead in content and coverage while our focus seems to be regressing in both standards and content.

The national service? Let me cut the chase. Wait until the participants grow up to have their own families and then get a taste of the real life of affirmative policies resulting in inequitable denials. All the muhibbaba will vanish. Then where will we be but for the million megabucks that have gone into the pockets of the promoters?"

Neil: "perhaps that's too sensational, no?"

A: " step aside, Neil. I ain't finished yet.

Engine of growth by spending the way to kingdom come? Do you know how many credit card accounts are on the verge of being suspended? 150,000. What do you think will happen to these people come April when the bill collectors hit the doorbell? Common sense tells us we can only depend so much on this economic romanticism when there are real engines of growth. Too dependent are we on oil and natural gas, says Yoda. All this while, what this gomen been doing? Oiling the hands of its own cronies with APs, junket trips, kickbacks. And when the rakyat plea for sanity, they hurl back insults with otak binatang, racist, resign!

Come on, make my day, give me sensible retorts."

B: "A, calm down. Not good for your health.

A: "B, yesterday, the guy of some association of public accounts said that the town council accounts are confidential because the law says so. What an unhelpful statement! The very reason the rakyat are asking for the details is that they want to know how the money has been spent and on whom. What have they to hide? That they've been using the money to buy defense shields? Saying something that can be changed but won't be changed only makes idiots of the sayers.

I am tired, my friends."

Neil: "me too, old friend."

B: "i should have kept my mouth shut. Please don't feel too bad about it."

A: "the only endlosung - final solution? use more condoms."

Neil: "erhhhh?"

B:

A: "that way you won't procreate future generations which have to suffer such shit in the very land they shouldn't be born in."

Neil:

B: "let me take both of you to a movie instead. How about V for Vendetta?"

A: "let me know when V for Viagra hits town."

Posted by: Neil [TypeKey Profile Page] | March 21, 2006 09:45 AM

I could relate to the above. Not that i am anti-government, but because i think things should be done in a better, equitable way for the good of the country. At a time when the world is rapidly becoming a village, the local politicians are still playing race politics. Saying that some things cannot be discussed as though its their God-given right not to change an archaic status quo. Nobody up there seems to care for anything apart for their political security and personal wealth accumulation.

And why do people curse and swear? Cos no matter how much criticism is levelled, nothing seems to be changing. The reply from the top is always the same. "If you cant accept the crap, then leave the country." Sigh. The sad part is, the very ones telling that, are the ones with the money to do it. Perhaps we should indeed use condoms hereafter.

jokes...

2006-03-21T17:06:00.000+08:00

Was surfing earlier today and came across these two adult jokes. Thought i will save it here.
By the way, "I" is not me :)
*******************************************

I checked into a hotel on a business trip recently and was a bit lonely, so I thought I'd get me one of those girls you see advertised in phone booths when you're calling for a cab. I grabbed a card on my way in. It was an ad for a girl calling herself Erogonique, a lovely girl, bending over in the photo. She had all the right curves in all the right places, beautiful long wavy hair, long graceful legs all the way up to her ass. You know the kind. So I'm in my room and figure, what the hell, I'll give her a call.

"Hello?" the woman says.

God she sounded sexy. "Hi, I hear you give a great massage and I'd like you to come to my room and give me one. No, wait, I should be straight with you. I'm in
town all alone and what I really want is sex. I want it hard, I want it hot, and I want it now. I'm talking kinky ! the whole night long. You name it, we'll do it. Bring implements, toys, everything you've got in your bag of tricks. We'll go hot and heavy all night; Tie me up, wear a strap on, cover me in chocolate syrup and whip cream, anything you want baby. Now, how does that sound?"

She says, "That sounds fantastic, but for an outside line you need to press 9."

**************************************************************

A mother is in the kitchen making dinner for her family when her daughter walks in.

“Mother, where do babies come from?”

The mother thinks for a few seconds and says, “Well dear, Mommy and Daddy fall in love and get married. One night they go into their bedroom, they kiss and hug and have sex.”

The daughter looks puzzled so the mother continues, “That means the daddy puts his penis in the mommy’s vagina. That’s how you get a baby, honey.” The child seems to comprehend.

“Oh, I see, but the other night when I came into your room you had daddy’s penis in your mouth. What do you get when you do that?”

“Jewelry, my dear. Jewelry.”

****************************************************************

(...and all this while we thought they do it cos they love it!)

monday

2006-03-20T11:21:00.000+08:00

Weekends are never rest days. As usual, it was a packed, tiring weekend. Running errands, shopping, attending a cousin's engagement (which was more like a wedding), on Saturday. And being too tired to watch beyond the first half of Man U's match against West Brom. By the time i woke up from the couch, it was all over. At least Man U won 2-1. BUT, RVN didnt play..sigh.

Sunday was shopping in the daytime. Caught Narnia in the late afternoon while the kids were asleep. It was a so-so movie. Something better could have been achieved under a better director perhaps.The ending was boring. It was off to a charity dinner at night. Watched the Fulham vs Chelsea match. It was entertaining. But the result was right. Fulham deserved to win.

Someone in the property industry commented that the public should snap up houses now as prices will increase next year by at least 10% (or something to that effect). Fuel price increase being the cause.

Hello hello! There is a glut of units in the southern johor region. It is so obvious to many. Developers are giving away goodies and rebates to entice people to buy. From what little i have gathered, most developers seem to have many unsold completed units. With all the sweeteners, its no wonder the secondary market is still quiet. Prices are falling. The auction market isnt faring better. Strata properties are going cheap, very cheap. Landed properties arent so bad but are fetching lower prices .

On fuel, damn. It costs something close to RM100 to fill the tank now. Little D was having a cough this morning. Hope she gets over it soon. Never easy when kids are sick. As for me, am still feeling groggy. 3 hours sleep was definitely insufficient. Time to clear work.

annoyed, mostly

2006-03-16T16:04:00.000+08:00

Petrol prices are up. Naturally prices of almost every other thing will rise too. The one item that may not experience price increases may be properties. They appear to be on the slide down. The banks are still supporting the property market. Some developers are openly advertising 100% financing. To hell with prudent lending.

The people running this country has gone bonkers. Almost everything has gone haywire. Its reactionary policies and action. The word planning does not appear to mean anything to them. How else would one describe the action to increase petrol substantially and then taking their time to have mechanisms to subsidise the lower income groups. They have the cheek to tell the people to adjust their lifestyles. They have yet to announce any plans to improve public transportation. The existing one sucks big time and theyre making empty promises.

I seriously think the government should control commercial developments within cities and encourage more mixed high rise residential developments. There has to be pockets of "HDB-styled" apartments to cater for the low and middle income group. The way things are now, this group of people are forced to move further away from city centres and are bearing the full brunt of a bad public transport system.

Taxis dont charge by the meter. Too many are out to fleece passengers, be it local or foreigners. There appears to be no taxi drivers charged in court for not using meters. KLIA is still plagued with touts and highly priced "limousine" services.Every major town in the country still has a problem with taxis. Yes,too many taxi drivers arent taxi owners and find it difficult to make ends meet. Since the authorities fail to control taxis, the users are the ones made to suffer.

Dont even talk about public buses. Its crappy. Almost everywhere.

Wouldnt it have been better to actually plan things out and then implement it properly so that the people know exactly whats in store. The impression now is the money saved is gonna be used to bail out the national airline.

Which brings me to another thought. Why is the national airline and the authorities appear to be taking on the local budget airline as an adversary? For the good of the country shouldnt the government support local entities all the way? Or has jealousy totally blinded these people.

.... got to stop for now...

arghhhhhhh

2006-03-03T19:22:00.000+08:00

busyyyyyyyyyyy
so much to do..so much to write. no internet at home. will put up a post on monday, am halfway thru a post. No time to finish it :(

In the meantime, enjoy this

http://flashfunpages.com/bras.html

been busy... very busy

2006-03-03T18:18:00.000+08:00

Life has been hectic for the past month. Moving home is no joke. It has been tiring looking after the loose ends. Buying stuff. There were many things to buy. Things that never crossed my mind. Had to buy something like 15 big padlocks for the house. Sigh. You get warned by people not to buy RM10 to RM20 cheap padlocks cos theyre supposedly easy to be opened, some with screwdrivers.

The house is still in a mess. Some stuff are still in big bags and boxes, yet to be unpacked. Last evening the contractors finally installed the built-in wardrobe. All that needs to be done is the grilles for the backyard. The funny thing is when we first started renovation we wanted an airy backyard and thus put up a 5 feet wall with a roof over it. Then we realised that security was a major concern. So the grilles will go up soon and the home becomes almost like a jail-like environment.

The kids got sick last week. One after another they had fever. Thankfully it lasted a day or two only. Theyre both enjoying kindergarten. Spoke to their teachers this morning. D isnt that shy anymore and K isnt that aggresive. Theyre both doing fine. K however does have a short temper and insists on getting what she wants.

Work wise its been hectic. A couple of weeks ago someone senior whom we took in for the purpose of being groomed to take over one of our branch offices left us. He couldnt handle the branch well and thankfully we found a capable yet experienced young lady to run it. He got himself back here and after a couple of weeks submitted his resignation. Naturally we were not surprised. But the manner in which he resigned was crude.

Used to think only new people come to see you and talk nicely to get a job. And when they leave abruptly they throw a letter and disappear. Some dont even bother with the letter. This guy practically did the same thing. I waited till it was almost quitting time, and went over to his table and told him off for being ungentlemanly.

Well, life goes on.

Its taken me two weeks to update this posting. Wish there was internet connection at home. Things have very much settled down at home. The living and dining areas are still a bit bare. We havent decided how we want it done. Will probably wait a few months before doing anything. So, in the meantime, the kids will have a field day with a spacious play area.

Crime...oh crime..

2006-02-15T10:53:00.000+08:00

A brief post.

The state officials supposedly went over to Singapore to assure them folks that the crime rate in JB isnt that bad.

OK, I beg to differ. And its from a first hand's experience view. Have moved house about 12 days ago. There has been at least 3 break-ins so far. And all done during the day time.

The last one happened on Monday. I was at home supervising two sets of contractors and their workers. Correction work needed to be done on the security grilles. The second group were laying zinc sheets underneath the roof tiles. At least 10 of us were there.

At around 4pm, the house at the rear of mine was broken into! An Indonesian guy entered the premises and asked the maid if she was indonesian. She answered in the affirmative. He asked where the valuables were hidden by the owner. She took the less-than-2 year old twin boys and ran out the back while he ran upstairs to the masterbedroom.

The maid shouted at my neighbour who was in the kitchen, and sought refuge there. The young daughter ran to the front and alerted us. We rushed to surround the house, called the police as well as the developer's staff and guards. Surprisingly, at least 4 to 5 police cars arrived within 15 minutes or so. By which time we realised that the masterbedroom door was locked. The owner too had arrived. The grille workers broke open the door, and found no one within. A few people proceeded to climb onto the roof and check within the cavity between the ceiling and the roof. After an hour or so everyone gave up. The robber was nowhere to be found. And all this while it was glaringly apparent that the policemen were just standing around. Nothing actively done. No sniffer dogs. No dustng for fingerprints. After a while they just drove around the housing estate and went off.

The following night, one of the neighbours recounted an experience by his nephew at the Larkin Bus Station. The man had just dropped his dad at the station and entered the car. Before he could close the door, a guy put a knife on his throat and demanded all the valuables. The poor fella and his wife/girlfriend surrendered all the valuables. This happened in the evening too.

A week ago, someone prised open a casement window panel and then easily removed the security grille and entered another house nearby. Luckily the lady in the house saw the guy entering and screamed loudly before any harm could befall her and her teenage daughter. The guy ran away.

A word of advice. Turn on your alarm at all times, even if youre in. And pray a lot.

A brief post this is not.
vic

Away for a while

2006-02-15T10:49:00.000+08:00

Been extremely busy of late. Not able to come online as much as i would like to. Moved house the previous friday. And there is NO telephone lines, thus no internet facilities. Sigh.

Will write when am able to.

Cheers.

The bridge over the Straits of Johor

2006-01-27T12:08:00.000+08:00

FINALLY the government is proceeding with the bridge.

A tunnel instead of a bridge, from my non-engineering layperson point of view, may not be possible due to the short
distance between our border and our shoreline. (Unless you want gradients of roads exceeding 45%?)

Its not not surprising that our neighbour has been reluctant to participate. When one party may perceive that they may not gain much but instead may lose more economically, this feet-dragging delay may not be that surprising.

Over the years too there have been many attempts to discourage spending here. 3/4 full petrol tanks before leaving the country, restrictions on bringing in stuff like certain food or even cigarettes, are amongst such perceived restrictions. Then theres the preceived long delays in their CIQ to exit as well and enter.

And upon completion of a "scenic" bridge, there are great environmental benefits. Cleaner waters and healthier marine life. Some marine life would meet their long lost relatives too(as per berlin wall anology)! BUT if we are to utilize the waterways for economic reasons such as leisure based shipping, and more importantly linking PTP and Port of Pasir Gudang by way of large barges, then there is every reason to believe this may make our neighbours a bit uncomfortable. It may be helpful for our public if our authorities and ports open up and reveal the exact plans they have in this regard. Too many people on either side appear to underestimate the benefits of an open waterway along the straits, especially for us.

BUT if the waterways are going to be shallow and not dredged, then all the controversy against the bridge may be justified. The bridge then would be just an excuse to build an over-inflated priced bridge designed to enrich certain people, in the usual Malaysia Boleh tradition.

JB definitely needs this project. Traffic needs to be diverted out of the city. The jams are just clogging the inner city roads and becoming a nuisance for the people.

For too many years now things are at an almost standstill state in Johor, particularly JB. Its mostly been private sector driven development. The State and its local authorities are only busy planting carpet grass all over the town and lavishly landscaping and putting up expensively priced cheap lamposts. They cant even build proper roads and theres much potholes all over town. The papers highlighted an old man in a bicycle patching up potholes on his own, and i dont think any government official responded to that swipe. I digress again from the bridge issue.

An alternate viewpoint

2006-01-24T10:05:00.000+08:00

An interesting read on current issue here.

and so...what some say are true

2006-01-23T14:37:00.000+08:00

Dont think of the country. Dont think of its leaders. What they say, or what they do. Dont even bother to question how the country is run. Dont even bother to come up with suggestions to improve the country.

Accept this. You're but a guest with a colourful document validating your stay. Live your life, earn your living, school your kids and build an asset base, if you so wish to albeit at a higher purchase price.

Things arent going to improve. Mr Pessimist has overwhelmingly chased Mr Optimist into oblivion.

:)

2006-01-23T09:26:00.000+08:00

Manchester United 1 Liverpool 0.

*smile*

vic

D-day approaches

2006-01-20T10:55:00.000+08:00

Exactly 2 weeks to go before the moving starts and there is still much to be done. And as always, January has been a busy period at office. Need to delegate more work and concentrate on this more important stuff. No, not blogging, commenting, chatting or emailing. Moving house is definitely no fun.

The wet and dry kitches are partially completed. They have had to re-do the table top and re-position it as a result of a wider hob being utilized. The backyard is completed, except for painting. The latter should begin in the next day or two and hopefully completed within the week. The grilles will only be done early next week thus delaying the installation of lightings and alarm system. By then, the entire kitchen cabinet should be installed. Now the question remains. Should we go and get a proper oven.

The extended terrace should be completed by this evening. Need to flood the upper floor baths overnight and check out for leaks tomorrow. Hopefully there are none. Thats a big hope.

Perhaps we should have just engaged an ID company to do everything.

Lost in subtitles

2006-01-18T12:55:00.000+08:00

I needed some laughs and decided to watch "The Pacifier" a couple of days ago at home. Had actually bought the dvd months ago. Whilst the movie was light hearted entertainment, the subtitles were out of this world comedy.

.... kidnapped by serbian rebels.

- came out as " ..kidnapped by serbian rebels". Ok, its close. Hearing problem perhaps.

"... I expect perfection." (Hero tells his mates before the start of their mission)

- came out as.."expect profession" !!!!

...." and you will dive from there"

- "dive from them" sigh.

... I'll handle the chopper! (hero will destroy enemy's chopper)

- "i'll handle the jumbo" (oi.. chopper and jumbo, dunno the difference ah?)

... " We are Seals!" (Hero proudly motivates his mates)

- "We're sealed" !!!!!!!!! muahahahaha.

And so the fella rescues the prof from the ship and the prof thanks him.

..." If i die out there, my wife is going to kill me" (he jokingly said to the hero)

- "The guy are there with my wife. He want to kill me" (the translator jokingly subtitled to humour us)

..."Give us another sec" (Hero tells someone)

- "give him signal of the set" .. huh???

..." In order to maintain the state of safety....."

- "In order to maintain the stadium safety" (perhaps he was watching a Malaysian football match on tv while translating!)

The subtitles were too distracting. Funnier than the movie. Decided to turn the subtitles off and proceeded to waste an hour plus watching an average movie. Nice way to kill time on a lazy morning at home.

(whats so difficult in subtitling in the same language????Perhaps i should have checked out the subtitles in Malay.)

Further enlightenment

2006-01-18T12:06:00.000+08:00

This is an article on the discussion going on about having clothes on when married couples have sex. The additional info appears to be quite enlightening. Picked up this orginally from here.

Some of their answers about what "good Muslims" should or shouldn't do in bed are very explicit, so readers under 18 should stop here. While some of the advice is sensible, a lot of it is completely daft, so remaining readers over the age of 18 may wish to get a second opinion before putting it into practice.

There is even a comment about oral sex. To some people, oral sex plainly means "F%$# you.. and the response is 'F%$# you too'",

Delivering a fatwa on oral sex, 79-year-old Dr Qaradawi describes it as a disgusting western practice, resulting from westerners' habit of "stripping naked during sexual intercourse". But he continues: "Muslim jurists are of the opinion that it is lawful for the husband to perform cunnilingus on his wife, or a wife to perform the similar act for her husband (fellatio) and there is no wrong in doing so. But if sucking leads to releasing semen, then it is makruh (blameworthy), but there is no decisive evidence (to forbid it) ... especially if the wife agrees with it or achieves orgasm by practising it."

On this issue, Dr Qaradawi's views are more permissive than those of several other clerics on the internet. One states that oral sex is definitely forbidden, adding that "this hideous practice will draw the anger of Allah". Another, asked if oral sex is permitted, replies: "I don't know what is oral sex, please define it."

Wow.. interesting.

And then, theres masturbation. Something thats definitely a good followup to my earlier "cut-n-paste" posting.

Masturbation is generally frowned upon by Islamic scholars, though they disagree about how sinful it is. The Inter-Islam website describes it as an indecent practice that has "crept into the youngsters of today". Masturbation has become prevalent, the website says, because of the modern tendency for young people to marry later (contrary to the advice of the Prophet). As a result, they feel a need "to fulfil their carnal desires but ... cannot do so in the normal way, ie sexual intercourse". Islamic Voice describes masturbation as an "abominable and wicked act" which is forbidden in Islam. "Its harms are great and it has disastrous consequences as established by doctors."

The "proven" medical effects of masturbation - which, of course, include damage to the eyesight - were once listed by Abd al-Aziz bin Baz, the late Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, and his list is reproduced on numerous Islamic websites. According to bin Baz, masturbation causes disruption of the digestive system, inflammation of the testicles, damage to the spine ("the place from which sperm originates"), and "trembling and instability in some parts of the body like the feet". In addition, there is a weakening of the "cerebral glands" leading to decreased intellect and even "mental disorders and insanity". Furthermore, "due to constant ejaculation, the sperm no more remains thick and dense as it normally occurs in males". This results in sperm which is not "mighty enough" to make a woman pregnant or produces children who are "more prone to disease and illness".

There is even a further comment on anal sex. Hmmph.

Whoa... am speechless.

After being entertained whilst reading the article, I found the last paragraph to be the most enlightening part. The tendency to indulge much resources into this issue of sex matters.

Hope people find that article at www.guardian.co.uk to be insightful and englightening. I sure was.

Sex and relationships - Are you multi-orgasmic?

2006-01-13T11:48:00.000+08:00

Found this while surfing the net and reading other blogs. Its a piece at a women's site. I believe this is a must read for all, women and men alike. Please share your thoughts and your experiences, if you wish to.

Sex and relationships - Are you multi-orgasmic?
How to be multi-orgasmic?

Masturbation is the absolute best way for anyone, to learn about their bodies and what they like sexually. So, when you masturbate, stimulate yourself to the verge of orgasm, then pause, hold back, wait and continue in a slower more relaxed pace. Repeat the whole process, until you absolutely can't hold off any longer, then allow yourself to orgasm.

As you start to calm down then stimulate your vagina, and the area around the clitoris until you feel the waves building up, then move more directly to your clitoris. Use your fingers or a small vibrator such as the "fingertron"

The most advantageous position for a woman to experience multiple orgasms is the Woman-On-Top position. This allows her to initiate and direct most of the movements as far as how quickly and deeply she's penetrated and she can also control the amount of stimulation to her clitoris.

its already almost 2 weeks..

2006-01-12T20:39:00.000+08:00

Time flies when one is busy, i guess. Its been hectic and will continue to be so for the next 3 weeks or so. Renovation works are going on at the new place. Praying hard that all the contractors deliver on their promises and the early february deadline is met.

The kids have started their classes. Ahhh am getting older. Theyre off to school. K, having just turned 3 last november, has started her nursery class. Sunflower Nursery is the name of her class. D on the other hand who turns 5 this April, enters K1 with Rabbit, being her class name.

Surprisingly theyre both coping well. Neither cried from day one. They enjoy going to school, though initially they were a little shy. The experience will do them well. On hindsight, perhaps it was a mistake not sending D off to nursery last year. Well, with extra coaching, am sure she will do just fine. Am proud of them. Both of us are.

Classes start at 8am!! Therefore i have to be up by 630am.....*sigh* Its been ages since i woke up that early. Need to sleep earlier nowadays too. As we age, some of us need more sleep. The lucky ones need less sleep. Perhaps this need for extra sleep is related to my lack of fitness.

By 11am their classes end, and the school van sends them to my mom's place. Around noon, i would call to make sure theyre fine. And to remind them to be good for the rest of the day.

Postings here will be very very irregular henceforth. There just isnt time to sit and type. Work takes priority followed by monitoring of the renovation works. The daily rain just isnt being helpful.

Hope that 2006 will be a good year.

Too many things to be done. Time to stop and continue with work.

in the NST today...

2005-12-30T23:20:00.000+08:00

At least two issues struck an uncomfortable chord. No, not the sickening religion issue.

One was an advert placed on page B4. Congratulating Mahdzir Bin Khalid for his appointment as the Kedah menteri besar. Nothing wrong with that cos lots of "ass-kissers" do that in Malaysia. Its a culture. But wait. This advert is placed by "THE GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF KEDAH DARUL AMAN"

Isnt the menteri besar part of the state government? What an utter waste of public funds, or did some rich person looking for a "big cable" pay for it.

Whats more sickening is the new campaign the government is having now. See Page B24. "Jangan membeli berlebihan - itu membazir!" It is launched by the Minstry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs. A cool RM15 million allocaed for a "Smart Consumer" campaign ...".... as part of its efforts to help curb escalating household debt"

WTF lah. First you tell the people not to overspend. Then they put out a whole page advert congratulating themself! And to add salt to wound, they have the cheak to allocate RM15Million of OUR money to tell us to reign in the spending.

Any prick will tell you all you need to do is control the banks. Stop issuing more than 3 credit cards to a person. Have lower limits of spending. Revert back to the olden days where only someone earning a certain limit could apply for a card. Control financing of properties. Say NO to 90% or 95% or 100% financing. Whats so difficult? But when the government itself isnt spending our money wisely, this charade appears to be nothing more than another attempt to let someone get rich the Malaysian way (i.e. the RM15 million budget)

as a new year beckons

2005-12-30T14:26:00.000+08:00

I dont feel that good. A year has almost passed by without much highs. And its ending with a lot of low points. That doesnt augur well for the coming year. For the past week, I have been very discouraged to blog. To start here would be to vent a lot of frustrations that we seem to be facing in this beautiful yet sadly, badly run country. It doesnt help when work on the table piles up and theres many things to be done for the new house.

This is a scary scenario. I could be unconscious in a hospital, and someone can just take my thumbprints and then claim that I had converted my religion. My entire estate, if HE thinks my time is up, then is taken from my family. All because theyre not of the same religion, it can be claimed. It becomes as though I did not exist for my family. It doesnt make sense. At all. The details of the case is still a bit sketchy, but whats been reported has scared the wits of lots of people. And YET we have NOT seen our MIC, MCA, Gerakan and other political parties saying a word on this matter. When the idiotic MP uttered the word "Keling" in parliment and was rebuked by DAP (of all people), where were MIC, PPP and Gerakan? When one knows something is considered an insult by others, one wouldnt (if one was a decent person), utter such insulting words. But then again, decency is a subjective matter nowadays. Perhaps i should at all times keep a small piece of char siew, sealed in a plastic bag, in my wallet. Now, thats a thought.

Then we have the proposed laws affecting the majority here. Husbands can divorce and then seek maintenance from the wife! Equal rights, it seems. Our PM has the cheek to say that whatever unjust provisious can be amended later. And so, we tolerate third class work and allow for amendment later.He has lost all credibility. It is very obvious he is not in charge of the country. These women are being treated like objects.

So much for saying theyre of compassion and fairness.

I was driving to work this morning as usual, and this hit me. In the indian dialects, the word "swami" is a primarily Hindu honorific, loosely akin to "master". It is derived from the Sanskrit language and means "owner of oneself", denoting complete mastery over instinctive and lower urges.It is a title added to one's name to emphasize learning and, of course, mastery of a specific field of knowledge, most often religious and/or spiritual.

Why do i bring this up? In the Malay language, theyve adopted this word i.e. spelt as "suami", to mean "husband". Is it a cultural thing then. The Lord and master of the home. Owner of himself and all who are tied to him.

What else has been bugging me. Work related ones. Someone appeared to have screwed up in the branches. Its a bit worrying.

On a general basis, theres no signs of control over over-building in the country. The financial institutions are bearing the weight of this potential nightmare.

On a somewhat lighter side, can one really believe that students nowadays are getting smarter? The number of students getting sraight As is absolutely mind-boggling. I wonder if those getting As in English at PMR level are able to speak decent English. (Naturally almost anyone can speak indecent English)

There is no accountability at all anywhere. Government or GLCs. Everyone spends money like its their right to. They manage as though its their house. Not as a responsibility held in trust for the public.

Then we had the year end circus act. To drape the grand pyramids with flags. Sigh. An equivalent to the normal government department and local authority "lawatan sambil belajar"/study tour, where the tours are primary reasons, at taxpayers expense. Now it seems the Egyptian authorities will NOT approve of such stupid things.

Which brings back to how we seem to be donating millions all over the world, but find it difficult to fund the needy here. It is downright sickening. Millions collected for victims of the tsunami have yet to fully trickle down to those deserving.

I guess I could go on and on and on. And it wouldnt serve a purpose. I complain not because i hate this country, but because i hate the way it is being screwed by the managers. We should be comparing ourselves with first world economies, but instead the defenders would say we are doing so much better than indonesia or african countries.

There has not been many highs. I guess most highs have been related to D and K. They're a wonder to be with. Testing our patience to the limits most times, but nevertheless a joy to spend time with. To see them grow up to what they have become at times I wish we could do more. Spend more hours. Taking them around. Theyre heading to nursery and kindergarten next year. K coped well during orientation this week but appeared a bit fearful of being alone. She should do well. D on the other hand is taking time to get used to being in a classroom. She's excited yet she could be at a disadvantage for a while since the rest of the students had the benefit of attending nursery this year. On hindsight our decision to let her skip nursery may not have been a good decision.

We're heading to KL tomorrow morning for a couple of days. If weather is fine, I hope to drive up to Ipoh on sunday morning to meet up with an old friend and his family, for a day trip. By wednesday, work on the house should commence. And surprise surprise, i finally signed up with Clark Hatch last week, after procastinating about it over the past few years. Time to get back into decent shape.

Its going to be a very interesting start to the year. Lots of expectations and dreams. Only time will tell how the coming year will turn out to be. Anyone know a good feng shui master? astrologer? Time expended writing this. I should have used that time to finish up my work! Its already 330pm and its time to head to the bank. Looks like work will have to wait till next year.

Cheers! everyone. May you find what youre looking for in the following "mat salleh" new year.

vic

Seventh Rangers Mechanized

2005-12-23T13:56:00.000+08:00

Its about time. We have our own heroes blogging about their past and their lives. Fantastic site, i would say, though i have just started reading a bit. Do check out this site.>> http://7rangers.blogspot.com/

Another attempt to hijack

2005-12-22T16:01:00.000+08:00

tulipcat (22/12/2005 10:00:44 AM): visit my site, has some photos www.yahoo-photos.tux.nu

Naturally i didnt fall for it this time around. The classic way to get people to divulge their ID and password by putting up a similar looking login page.

40-year old virgin

2005-12-22T01:52:00.000+08:00

Just finished watching the 40-year old virgin movie [yes, the cheap RM5 pirate dvd9 version) just now. Slapstick comedy, as usual. Would i recommend others to watch? Yes, for some mild fun and laughs.

The guy was a 40-year old virgin not because of choice. He did try to make out, but the movie potrayed him as a dork who kept on messing up. Eg kicking a gal in the face just when she was starting to suck his toe! After a few disasters, he built high walls around himself and the years just went by. It was somewhat implied he was into D-I-Y very occasionally. Or was he lying? Nah, i wont watch it again to verify.

That movie brought back old memories. Memories of a guy who went around chat rooms proudly proclaiming to be a virgin. (And boasting that women who met up with him wanted to have sex with him, cos supposedly he was good looking) Naturally when i asked if he indulged in D-I-Y, he got pissed off and refused to answer. (that answered my question,naturally) Of course i was just teasing the bugger. Virginity relates not to D-I-Y, but relations with another.

As for the issue of virginity, i would say the movie isnt about that though the title is. It isnt about someone waiting for true love or marriage before he/she surrenders themself.

Is there any movies out there about people wanting to remain virgins for strictly cultural and religion reasons? The way society is heading, the homely side of me knows in the years to come i may have huge battles to face on this issue.

a note to the anonymous one..

2005-12-20T11:29:00.000+08:00

No, i am not writing to myself.

I received a comment for one of my earlier blog postings. Surprisingly the comment was received via email and not shown in the blog. And, no, due to the nature of the content, i feel it best not to post it here.

Reading the email brought back some memories of pleasant times from the past. I appreciated the contents of it. Though i have a hunch on who could have sent it, naturally i have no conclusive proof. But it doesnt matter.

Perhaps i should state here that i am not into violence. I feel that violence does not solve the problem. Killing another human being does not bring back anything. There is no justification at all. Gratifying perhaps for the evil. So, when it comes to acts of terrorism, i am dead against it. I am also against the bullying hypocrite attitude of some countries. The feeling extends to a certain extent to the corrupt ways of most of our police (and society). [yeah..i know, am a hypocrite...i am but a weak human being after all]

And so, whilst we remember of the past, we must be prepared to accept the fact that things will get worse in future. We just have to exercise more restraint on our emotions, no matter how difficult it is. And battle ourselves to face what life throws at us.

aisey...

2005-12-20T11:21:00.000+08:00

Too late to be anon huh, sic? :(

There goes my plans to pretend to be a tall well built aussie hunk residing at JB with a high performance german sports car :(

Well, the veil has been lifted. We shall see where this heads.

Looking forward to a break to KL next weekend. So many things to be done.. yet so little time. (yeah.. blog summore.. YM summore.. fantasy footie summore.. long lunch breaks....no wonder not enuff time!)