A Simple Malaysian

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T08:17:00.002+08:00

Merry Christmas!

The 13th general election will be any time now

2011-12-05T04:27:00.003+08:00

In the UMNO general assembly yesterday,Prime Minister Datuk Najib gave very strong indication that the general election is very near.He said UMNO will field many new faces this time, and called on senior members who are not selected to remain loyal and support the new candidates. The name list will not be released too early to avoid possible problems.He is confident that the National Coalition (BN)will win back the few states lost to the opposition during the last election March 2008(308 election).

I am afraid the Prime Minister might be over confident, it might very well be the repeat of the 308 election this time also. In that election BN did not bother to clear up some issues which had been dragging on quite some time like the "Istana" house of Selangor Menteri Besar, the "close one eye" case of Jasin member of parliament. BN leaders ignored them without realizing that these are the "triggers" that hurt most during an election.
This time around there are issues always, the hottest is of course the NFC issue, the RM56,250/ pair night vision binoculars, the diamond order etc. Nobody is held responsible for all these. BN leaders are treating the voters like dumb-dumbos, by giving some lame explanations.

For example in the NFC case, Datuk Shahrizat, the Wanita UMNO Head, whose husband is involved in it, declared that it had got nothing to do with her. Her husband minds the cattle business while she minds the UMNO affairs, the two are not connected. But just answer one simple question," why her husband got the project in the first place, and not people like me and you got it?"

As for the purchase of the binoculars,the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission declared that there was no irregularities in the purchase of the binoculars by the Marine Department, just that the officials were not following the Treasury order to do a market survey before hand. That means if the officials involved had followed the Treasury order, they might be charged in court now. Therefore it is always wise not to adhere to the Treasury order because facing a disciplinary action is better than facing a jail term any time!
If these type of explanations are acceptable, you can be sure that all the politicians will rush to have their relatives grabbing whatever government tenders available and make tons of money!
If that happens, Malaysia will definitely top the list of corrupted nations in the region.
Until now, many top level leaders still think these are petty issues and advise grassroots leaders to forget them!The rakyat may be silent now, but the votes in their hands speak louder than any thing!
So be forewarned.

Cows,cows,cows.

2011-11-24T12:56:00.001+08:00

The hottest news in malaysia these days is related to cows.

The husband of a Federal minister owns a company which aims to grow cattle in the interior district of Gemas for the purpose of proving to the world that Malaysia is capable of producing premium beef.The company,the National Feedlot Corporation(NFC), has obtained a government loan (the opposition argued that it is a grant) of RM250 millions for the project.But after 2 years, the project has fallen far far behind target. It was discovered that portion of the loan(or grant?) was used to purchase 2 PREMIUM condominium units in prime area within the Federal capital, Kuala Lumpur.

The excuse for doing this action was because the money are idling, so it was invested in property which is, in the company's opinion, better than putting it in bank fixed deposit.NCP chairman (the husband of the said minister)had called a press conference to explain why the money is idle. I could not understand what he explained, nor could many Malaysians, I guess.

PPSMI - To stay or not?

2011-11-03T22:49:00.002+08:00

Personally I feel the issue with teaching science and mathematics in English(PPSMI) needs to be handled with care.

Now the sentiments on both sides involved in the argument are that of wanting to gain a totally win, one side wants to do away with it completely, while the other wants to embrace it stock and barrels.

They should meet half way, let the subjects to be taught in the children's mother tongue for Primary schools because they need full concentration to master their mother tongue and National Language at this stage. English should be taught as a second language.

Then when they reach Secondary school, they would have acquired enough skills in English to be able to understand the internationalization of the subjects in English fully. I strongly urge the use of English at this level because it is a very important international language.

But the government seeks the easy way out by simply abolishing it in both Primary and Secondary levels. While some English-speaking parents want it to be implemented right from the beginning stage of a child's schooling days disregarding the weakness of English of most children, especially those from the kampongs. This is pure selfishness because they know their own children are good at English and have a clear advantage over others in the class if these subjects are taught in English.

Then there are the politicians. Please don't politicize this issue for our future generation's sake.

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2011-03-05T17:46:00.001+08:00

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2011-03-05T17:34:00.001+08:00

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2011-03-05T17:33:00.001+08:00

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History to be a compulsory subject for SPM Exams

2010-11-15T00:14:00.000+08:00

The Malaysia Minister of Education announced that History will be made a compulsory subject in the SPM Exams in 2013.
The education minister said this is to increase the awareness of nation building efforts and therefore producing younger generations who are more patriotic. This is a load of craps.
The real reason is to brain wash the youth into believing that Malaysia is built by a single race, the contributions of other races towards building our nation will be denied by replacing facts with lies in history text books. Recently there were many instances where some politicians publicly denying the existence of famous historical Chinese leaders who helped to develop our country, for example Yap Ah Loy. Now they want to go one step further, they want our children to memorize these lies as facts. Or else they will flop their whole examination, not only failing a subject only. Do you see the power of this move?
It is sad that certain Chinese scholars are also involved in this falsifying of history for personal gains and glory. Their names will go down in history as betrayers of their own ethnic group.
Does the education minister realize that not every child love history, regardless of their intelligent levels.Those who excel in science or engineering subjects may not like to memorize dates,names,places and events. They like to memorize formula or theorem instead. Likewise, even some arts stream students also do not like history. Are we going to shut the doors of the universities to these intelligent students? How are we going to achieve our vision of a developed nation in 2020 without the help of these potential technocrats?

Happy Birthday,Malaysia!

2010-08-31T13:50:00.002+08:00

MERDEKA!

Our nation celebrates its 53rd birthday today.
Let's work together to face new challenges in the era of "Globalization".
Discard the out-dated ideology based on racialism and religion fanaticism.

The way to go : FORWARDS.

The A-G dropped a bombshell in the Chinese community

2010-08-02T20:39:00.000+08:00

The Attorney General charged the former president of The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) for 16 years,Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik, with 2 counts of cheating in relation to the KFTZ scandal.

Many Chinese are stunned by the News because it is just unbelievable that their leader will be charged. It shamed all Chinese.

On the other hand,it is a clear message to those who are in power, no one is above the law. The long arms of the law will reach you sooner or later.

It is crytal clear, why puzzle?

2010-05-24T16:33:00.000+08:00

When the results of the most recent 2 by-elections, at Ulu Selangor and Sibu, were known,many BN leaders are puzzled why didn't the Chinese voters return to vote for BN as the Malays and Indians did?
Prior to 2 by-elections all sorts of efforts were applied to ensure a victory for BN just for ego sake.Particular attentions were given to win the Chinese voters like approval of special funds for Chinese medium primary schools. Applications for renovations,maintenance,extensions, building of additional class rooms,etc,etc which had been pending for over 10, or 20 years were approved within weeks.Facility in the villages were suddenly improved.For example, an application to build an iron bridge which has been pending for years was speedily approved.
The government has done all there is to be done to win the Chinese votes,but why didn't they reciprocate. why? why? why?...
The answer is very simple,as clear as the crystal.
By doing so much for the people,especially the Chinese community, in such a short span of time, the government has aroused the resentment of the Chinese community. It was interpreted by the Chinese as they had in the past been kept waiting unnecessarily for the approval to various pressing needs not because there was a valid reason for the delay but because somebody up there was trying to show his authority or simply because of discrimination. They asked,"If it can be approved within weeks, why are we kept waiting for 20 years?"
The voters are smarter now,you know.

Still got people refuse to accept IT nowadays?

2010-03-20T01:55:00.002+08:00

What happened at SJK(C)Desa,Kepong really sadden me. There are still people who refuse to embrace new technology such as information technology(IT).

A handful of parents went all out to stop computer classes to be taught in the school against the will of the majority of the parents, against the will of most of the parents of surrounding schools in the area for that matter.

So much so they brought it to the court,citing it was against the education law to conduct computer classes during regular teaching hours because computer classes are not considered core subject. What, computer is not important? Why the government build the MSC and brags so much about it then? Is it just hot air?

This group of parents also claims it is harmful to let children to learn IT at early age, citing a research done by the Comsumer Association of Penang (CAP) which shows they will suffer brain damage,lack of execises and poor health as a result of exposing them to computers usage at early age. What loadful of craps. Of course, too much of any thing is bad. Even you eat too much or sleep too much is bad. One should have the wisdom to exercise control over any thing you do to avoid indulgence.

Who is CAP anyway, they are just another association out of thousands of association out there. What make them so full of authority? Must we listen to every word they say?

How are we going to achieve the 2020 vision if we are lagging behind in technology? How would we dare to crawl out of our own shells and step into the global village if we are not properly equipped?

Don't drag everybody down because of your personal differences. If you are so righteous and full of justice, go find something else to fix. There are so many things not right in our country, surely you can find something to prove how smart and righteous you are, just leave the children's future alone.

Church burners are narrow minded people

2010-01-09T22:47:00.000+08:00

I am sad to read about 4 churches in the Klang Valley area were arsoned in one day. Except for one at Melawati, the damage to property is not severe and no one is hurt. But the heart of every Malaysian is deeply hurt.
Those who did it must be coming from a place called "The Narrow-minded Street"!

Merry X'mas !

2009-12-25T15:35:00.000+08:00

Wishing all my Christian friends a Merry Christmas!

Multi-streams education system is protected by Malaysia's Constitution

2009-11-16T18:08:00.003+08:00

YBhg Professor Emeritus Dato’ Dr Khoo Kay Kim, a well known historian in Malaysia, proposed that Malaysia, for the sake of national unity, should consider abolishing the present multi-streams education system and to adopt a uni-stream education system instead recently.

This proposal has drawn harsh criticisms from the Chinese community, and reminded Dr Khoo that the multi-streams education system is protected by Malaysia's Constitution, and no one should ever try to abolish it.

The critics said Dr Khoo is obviously only well verse with Malays historic events but not of the other races. They suspected he knew very little about Chinese history in Malaysia for, even as a Chinese, he is not educated in Chinese hence not able to study Chinese history in depth. If he did, he should realize that education is the core concern of the Chinese community and the only one thing they are very sensitive about, their struggles in the past all centred around the education system.

In the eyes of the Chinese community, Dr. Khoo is not a true Chinese, he is just a person who happens to have a Chinese name, and who has sold himself to the government for the glamorous title and positions he is holding now.

The naive argument that multi-lingual and multi-cultural are the stumbling stones to nation unity holds no water. If this is true, countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Burma, Korea and Philipines where uni-stream education system is adopted should be very united and peaceful. But are they?

My advice to Dr. Khoo is to start learning Chinese, then study the history of the Chinese community in Malaysia in depth.

MCA main masak-masak?

2009-10-25T15:29:00.002+08:00

What, the warring leaders of the MCA sat down and smoked the peace pipe suddenly? What an anti-climax!

You all "main masak-masak" kah?

Ong Tee Keat fights back

2009-10-23T02:48:00.003+08:00

The President of Malaysia Chinese Association (MCA),Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, found his old form back again. Ever since he was elected as the President during the party election in 2008, he has been stumbling along losing his directions in his fights to consolidate his position in the party.
Being at the top, he was out of his comfort zone because he was not used to handle a fight where he has the upper hand. He fights best as an under dog in all his previous struggles within or outside the party.
In his fight against his deputy, Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek, he oddly discarded the power and resources available to him as President of the party and instead adopted a stance of an under dog. He accused his opponent of receiving outside helps and he has been isolated from the Barisan Nasional (BN) main stream. He even warned that MCA will be replaced by a Chinese based party from East Malaysia! In the eyes of the others he has become a "cry-baby" and not a capable leader.
While Ong was trying hard to pose as an under dog, but he made his arch rival Chua a bigger under dog by expelling him by using an old issue (the sex CD scandal) as an excuse.
But after the October 10 EGM, Ong has become a true under dog again. See how fiercely he fights back back now. I am eager to see how he wins again under adverse situation. Should be interesting to watch. But how about the future of MCA, am I not a bit concerned? That never cross my mind, hahahaha...

The sorry state of MCA

2009-10-17T16:45:00.002+08:00

What is happening? Not that there was no in-fighting within MCA before, but this time is different. The EGM which was the hope of bringing an end to the quarrel has strangely being seen as just the beginning of a new round of fighting. A fresh EGM has been scheduled, how many EGMs can a party host in a year? What is the objective of calling yet another EGM if it serves no purpose, because nobody takes note of the message conveyed in the results of the EGM?
Let MCA split into 3, each with its own happy leader and loyal supporters. Won't you agree?

Science and maths subjects will be taught in mother tongue

2009-07-10T14:04:00.003+08:00

Deputy Prime Minister cum Education Minister announced that science and mathematics subjects will use the mother tongue of the students as medium of instruction in primary and secondary schools starting from the year 2012.Currently the two subjects are taught in English since 2003 in a move to enhance the standard of English language.After implementing this policy for 6 years the English language standard does not show any significant improvement,while the performance of the students in the Science & Mathematics subjects had seen a drastic drop.
Faced with the growing criticism from the public,the Government decided to revert back to using mother tongue as medium of instruction for these 2 subjects.
Of course,there are also people supporting the use of English as medium of instruction, notably the so called "banana people" who speak English at home.Their children naturally have a very clear advantage over the children who speak their own mother tongue at home.With the abolishing of this policy they will lose the advantage over other children.
Another group of people who supported teaching science and maths in English are those who give English language tuition classes. They are worried that their market will be affected if the English language is not given the same importance as before.
The Government's aim to improve the standard of English language in schools is right,but I feel they moved too hasty and the action too drastic. They could have asked the teachers concerned to learn the proper technical terms (scientific names and mathematical terms)in English for the respective subjects then pass on to the students.This way,the sudents will grasp the principles of the subjects taught and also master the "jargons" at the same time. The teachers themselves will be less burdened because they need not learn a whole new language (for many of them I guess) but only need to memorise some short phrases.This would be much easier.
A little joke here:
A maths teacher told the class,"ten push seven equals three".Got it?

"Selema babi" = tactics of fear?

2009-06-28T04:08:00.003+08:00

Information,Communication and culture Minister,Datuk Rais Yatim advised the media to use the name "selema babi" (swine flu) instead of A(H1N1) influenza.
He explained that it is because he worried that the RTM news readers may find difficulty in reading A(H1N1) influenza accurately hence conveying the wrong message to the public.
Since when it is misleading to use the right name and since when it is accurate to use a misleading name?
I wonder based on what study and statistics Datuk Rais concludes that the news readers are more proficient in saying babi than saying A(H1N1)? As a minister he has the power and responsibility to send any staff in his ministry to go for retraining if he thinks that his performance is questionable, not by insulting them in the public.
He further added that,by simply saying the word "babi" it will instill fears in the public and they will be more careful. What kind of logic is that? Is pig so fearful in the eyes of the Malaysians? Why must he involve the poor animal in the first place?
What will happen if the public is made to believe that A(H1N1) influenza is connected to pigs, everybody will stop eating pork (poor pork hawkers!) then feel very safe and hence do not take the proper precautions laid down by the health authority? Chaos will reign man!

Adding this blod to MyBlogLog

2009-06-23T13:03:00.002+08:00

If you are a member of MyBlogLog,you can read this blog there direct at this link:

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

Public Service Department Scholarships

2009-05-22T21:25:00.002+08:00

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said 280 Chinese students who scored straight 1As in the 2008 SPM examinations and are refused scholarships by the Public Service Department(PSD), had submitted their appeals to the MCA.
Dr Wee is also the MCA Youth chief and party national education bureau chairman had been handling education and scholarship issues since 2001.
This really proves what I claimed in my previous post just last month. This is a classic case of the policy implementers abusing their powers,these are what being called the "little Napoleons" in the government departments.
The Deputy Prime Minister cum Education Minister of Malaysia,Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, tries to side track the issue by saying that it is due to some schools limit their students to sit for maximum 10 subjects only,therefore can not compare with those who sit for 14 subjects or more.To be fair these students should be considered for scholarships too. On the surface it sounds fair, but when think deeper,one realizes it is pure b.s.,it is blatant insult to the intelligence of the Chinese community.Even if you take away the extra subjects from the students who obtained 13A1s,they still definitely have 10A1s, still on par with those who are limited to sit for 10 subjects.Why are those who sit for less subjects are awarded the scholarships and not those who sit for more subjects? Be honest,be frank, admit that it is discrimination,period.
If this is the idea of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's "1Malaysia", it is only good for a laugh.

Removal of the 30% bumiputra equity policy

2009-04-30T01:02:00.002+08:00

The new Prime Minister of Malaysia,Datuk Seri Tun Razak, announced on 22 April 2009 that the 30% bumiputra equity policy will be removed from 27 sectors in the service sector with immediate effect. Datuk Seri is also the Finance Minister of Malaysia.
It shocked more than cheered people because it was such a bold move that it already treads on the baseline of the bumiputra supremacy. No Prime Minister has dared to do it before, not even a leader as powerful as Tun Dr. Mahathir himself. Although Tun Dr. Mahathir had pleaded with his followers to discard the "tongkat(walking stick)" many times and even shed tears in some occasions while doing so. But he stopped there , that is as far as he would go.
Not only that,Datuk Seri Najib further liberalized the financial sector 2 days ago. What is the underlying reason that drives him to take such drastic measures immediately after he took over from his predecessor, Tun Abudlla Badawi? Is because the sound of the footsteps of globalization drawing near and wake him up? Is he feeling the heat of the financial crisis already? Is it because it is evident that the 30% equity policy (NEP)is ridden with ills? I really want to know.
Actually,non bumiputras in Malaysia would not be as resentful towards the NEP as they are now if it was implemented properly. The greatest ills in the NEP is the huge disceptpencies between the implementation and the original definitions of the NEP.
The NEP policy implementers calculated in a strange way,either due to their lack of mathematical ability or they did on purpose.They stick to the policy of 30% faithfully during recruitment of public service staff(civil servants), intake of students to public universities, allocation of low cost housing units, allocation of shares applications of government-owned companies,allocation of public transport permits,development projects,etc; but 30% of what? That lies the core of the problem.
Take the recent intake of 1st year students into the oldest university of the nation,Universiti Malaya, as an example. It was reported that there were 27,000 students applying for the 3,500 seats available. So, how many seats should be alloacted to bumiputra students for this particular intake in accordance with the NEP's 30% policy? 5,100 seats should be allocated to the buminputra kids, therefore all 3,500 seats available should be reserved for bumiputras and still falls off target by 1,600. Why? Because 30% of 27,000 applicants is 5,100 students. Simple, right? Ok, if you protest, let's calculate another way. Supposing the total number of students in UM is 12,000. 30% is 3,600. Still there is no room for non bumiputras. Sorry lah, policy is policy. Of course if you got jalan, you still can come in. That is why you see a sprinkle of non bumiputra students as decorations inside.
Anyone who has gone through primary 4 knows that 30% of 3,500 is 450, still plenty of seats left for fair competition. If this is the way they implement it, who will ever bothers about the 30% thing?
Therefore, 30% is not the keyword, the keyword is 30% of WHAT?

Pakatan Rakyat shows sign of cracking

2009-02-03T04:01:00.002+08:00

Malaysians' hope of seeing the formation of a 2-party system in Malaysia may be dashed if the barely one year old coalition called Pakatan Rakyat or People’s Alliance disbanded due to crossing over to BN by elected assemblymen.
From the very beginning I had predicted this "marriage of convenience" among the 3 component parties will not last due to the following reasons:

(1) The vast differences of ideology between the component parties - PAS only wants to establish an Islamic State, DAP champions for the Chinese community, PKR only exists to fulfill Anwar Ibrahm's dream of becoming next Prime Minister of Malaysia.Their only common denominator is the enmity towards Tun Dr Mahathir and BN.

(2)The combined pressure of administrating a state government and maintaining smooth cooperation between member parties demands great tolerance from the party leaders.

(3)Their most fatal drawback is their lack of experience of running a government because their are so used to criticize others instead of doing the tasks themselves. It is easier said than done. They have been playing the role of fire flamers for too long and find it difficult to play the role of fire douser now.

(4)They are beginners in state administrative protocol and communication systems, many members are frustrated and want to leave the party as a result of this.

Let's hope leaders of Pakatan will face up to their short comings and over come them in order to make it a reality for Malaysia to have a 2-party system.

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-28T02:28:00.008+08:00

To all my Chinese friends: Happy Chinese New Year!

Teach English as a language

2008-12-18T00:33:00.004+08:00

The politicians in Malaysia have lost their sanity in the quest of positions and powers.They messed with the education system of the country in order to gain attention and supports.
The argument whether English should be the medium for teaching science and mathematics subjects in schools still rages on.This really puzzles one,what is there to argue about? Use BM in Malay medium schools,use Tamil in Indian medium schools,use Mandarin in Chinese medium schools and use English in English medium schools(if there is still any left).Simple and straight forward.
If you want to ungrade the standard of English language in schools,fine and you have my whole hearted support,but do it in a sensible and logical way. Increase the English language periods per week,send teachers for proper,specialised training.Do not ask teachers who are physics,maths or engineering majors and who received their degrees after attending courses conducted entirely in B.M. as a medium of instruction.
The only purpose in attending a science or maths class is to learn the concept or principles of the subject,not the medium of instruction itself.Young children, especially those in primary schools,have problems in mastering their own mother tongue already, it is placing undue pressure on them asking them to master the subject matter in science or maths and a second language at the same time.Don't you agree?
Do you realise that in order to phrase a question clearly the vocabulary,grammar and sentence structures used have to be at least of the level of a year 5 or 6.How do you expect a year 3 or 4 student to fully understand the question and answer it accordingly?
"Use the correct tool for the correct job".This principle was drilled into my mind when I was a young engineer long time ago.In countries like Germany,if you are caught using a pen-knife screwdriver (flat slot) on a Phillip screw(cross slot),you will received a warning letter.If you repeat the same mistake you will be sacked.This emphasises the importance of doing the right thing the right way in a developed country,we should learn from them if we really want to achieve our "2020" vision.
Sometimes you are thirsty but not hungry,while sometimes you will be hungry but not thirsty.You need not do both things always when you are in a coffee shop.You order the right thing for right need.
When you are thirsty,drink water or other drinks,you don't order a "sup tulang".Similarly,when you are hungry,eat some thing solid,you don't try to fill you stomach with gallons of water.
When you want to carry heavy goods, use a truck not a bus. When you want to carry passengers, use a bus not a truck. Do not try to carry both passengers and goods together with either a bus or a truck. It is an offence to do so, isn't it?
So I beg everyone to put politics aside for a while and think clearly with logic this time. Teach language in a language class,teach maths or science subjects with the language which the students know best for the maximum academic benefits.

Saddest day for the Chinese educationists

2008-11-11T22:30:00.002+08:00

The United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) had voted not to extend the contract of New Era College principal Dr Kua Kia Soong during an emergency general meeting.

Sad because the running of the icon of Chinese medium education in Malaysia,New Era College, is now decided by a group of businessmen who know nothing about education and who are only interested to gain cheap publicity for themselves.Gone are the days when concerned persons who would only donate huge sum of money and lands without interfering with the running of the Chinese medium education activities.They did not seek glory they only sincerely wanted to see the Chinese medium education strive and flourish.

Sad because there are news that most of the senior staffs of the College are also leaving the College.Yes,life goes on in the College.But what standard of teaching will be given to the students by the junior staffs who stay back? Will the Chinese community have confidence to employ them upon graduation?

I suspect that there are some among Dong Zong who sit in the committee with ulterior agenda.Now that the Ministry of Higher Education is eagerly trying to intervene and take over the running of the Chinese medium education functions,which the government had been trying very very hard for the past 50 years.This seems a golden opportunity for them to succeed finally.

Those who join Dong Zong with the sole purpose to destroy Chinese medium education are successful in their efforts too.

I FEEL LIKE CRYING NOW!

No blog today

2008-07-15T15:05:00.003+08:00

It is really disheartening nowadays,the nation seems to be filled with liars and deceivers.Really one does not know what to believe and who to believe.I do not want to help spread these lies through my blog,so NO BLOG TODAY!

Crazy price hike

2008-06-08T03:33:00.002+08:00

This is Malaysia 2008:

Cost of living is going up,up,up!
Standard of living is going down.down,down!

Think before you speak

2008-05-31T23:09:00.003+08:00

QUOTE:

Sharon Stone: Not real popular in China
While on the red carpet at Cannes, Sharon Stone made one of those comments that was both insensitive and just plain dumb. When asked about the recent Chinese earthquake that killed thousands of people, Ms. Stone suggested it might be karma for China's treatment of Tibet. Not surprisingly, China took umbrage at the insinuation and Stone apologized faster than you can say "Basic Instinct 3." Unfortunately, the apology may be too late—Cristian Dior already dropped her as a spokesmodel. Now that's karma. (Oh, and for those who are interested, HowStuffWorks explains how karma really works.)

UNQUOTE

Can't blame Miss Stone,because she is only popular for her body not her brain.

Hishammudin apologises for wielding Keris

2008-05-05T23:55:00.005+08:00

Malaysia Education Minister - Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein apologised in a press conference for waving the keris (traditional Malay dagger) during his speech at the Umno Youth annual general assembly for 3 consecutive years.
This act of Hishammuddin's, who is also the chairman for UMNO Youth wing, is cited as one of the major factors for causing Barisan Nasional to perform poorly during the just concluded 12th general election on 8th March.His action has created great uneasiness and resentment among the non Malays and some Malays.
Although he offered his apology out of political considerations,Hishammuddin was obviously not convinced that he had done any thing wrong.He insisted that the keris is part of Malay culture and expressed his doubts why should anyone be offended by it.He used the big "IF" to add some uncertainty in his apology.
But to the older generation,especially the Chinese,there were frightening and painful memories connected to the keris.In the early days of Malaya Federation's independence racial conflicts were common.There were rumours that gangs of Malays formed what was then known as the "Big Knives Squads", members of which worn white head bands and wielding huge knives patrolling the villages.The leader of such a squad only held a keris in front of his face and chanting continually. I heard such stories more than once at after-dinner gatherings as a kid in the kampung.Imagine their shock when the older folks saw in the TV screen someone waving a keris at them!
Maybe Hishammuddin has heard such stories before but he only remembers the part of being a leader waving a keris and forgets the rest,which prompts him to do such a stunt and stirs the past memories buried deeply in the minds of old folks. What a tragedy!
Or,was it just a big hoax? If not,why didn't somebody stop Hishammuddin for doinng it 3 years in a row? Now that it back fires,and everybody starts pointing the finger at him,poor Hisham!

People's Alliance (Pakatan Rakyat) of Malaysia

2008-04-07T11:10:00.004+08:00

The results of the 12th Malaysia general elections have rekindled the hope of forming an accountable opposition front.The 3 major opposition parties in the country namely, Democratic Action Party(DAP),Parti Keadilan Rakyat(PKR) and Parti Islam SeMalaysia(PAS), are forced by the prevailing circumstances to join hands and form coalition governments in 5 states - Kedah,Penang,Perak,Selangor and Kelantan (although PAS is able to form the state government on its own in Kelantan).
They officially named the front as Pakatan Rakyat (People's Alliance),the state governments of the 5 said states will form a common secretariat known as People's Alliance Secretariat.
It is not the first time the 3 parties had formed an united front,they had formed the Alternative Front in 1999.It ended in a dismay failure when PAS went ahead to fullfll its dream of establishing an Islamic state in Kelantan disregarding the feelings of other component parties.DAP was swift to cut itself off the alliance to save itself from being abandoned by its core base of supports.PKR was also starting to distant itself from this fundamentalist action.So the alliance was sadly disbanded.
The formation of Alternative Front was at least carried out with some planning prior to the general election,yet it failed.However, the current front was fromed hastedly to cater for the prevailing situation, that is they need each other in order to form the government in the 5 states. It is just a "marriage of convenience".
Many predict that if the PR did not win any state control in the next general election,it will just die a natural death.Some even predict it won't have to wait that long because soon the "honeymoon" period of the PR will be over and differences between the 3 parties will soon surface.
Each of them has distinct ideology different from each other.Pas has its dream of an "Islamic State of Malaysia" since the day of its inception; DAP though a namesake multi-racial party defends the interests of the Chinese voters and PKR is a Malay party which caters to the less fundamentalist Muslims. How long can each of them hold off the demands from their core groups of supporters? It is everyone's wonder.
On the other hand, it is the first time in the history of Malaysia the oppositions has a working "prototype" of an alliance for them to experiment on. If they can get the knack of running a real government and have sampled the sweet taste of power,they might try harder to blend together and establish a realistic 2-party system in our nation?
My personal take on this is: as far as there are enough state goverments for PR to run,it will survive. Otherwise it will be the same old sad story again, the component parties in PR will go their separate ways, each on its own lonely trail of searching for a way to rule Malaysia alone.

An ordinary man's view on the 12th general election results

2008-03-18T00:50:00.016+08:00

The results of Malaysia's 12th general election on March 8 were stunning,at least it is to me.
The Barisan National no longer command 2/3 majority of the Parliametary seats which it did and was taken for granted for so long.It also lost control of 5 state governments which is unimaginable in the 50 years existence of Malaysia!
I'm still in a daze up to this minute.After reading the analysis of many political observers I still can not fully comprehend what happened.
Their theories on ideology,political leaning,religious preferences,economy,etc instead of clearing my mind but makes me more confused.
As a simple Malaysian,I look at things like any ordinary man.Here are some of the things taking place lately that bothers me:

(1)Rising crime rates:

Snatch thieves: This category of crime was used to be considered minor case because the theives usually snatched neck-laces and the victims are not hurt except for minor scratches around their necks.Usually the victims did not report because they rather not go through the hassle of making a police report and forget about it.
But now the thieves go for the victims' handbags slung over their shoulders.When they attack they pull suddenly at the victims' sling bags,causing the victims to fall flat on the floor,sometimes down staircase or from motor-cycles.Some of them sustain head injuries and lost not only their valubles but also their lives.
These snatch thefts occur in busy streets in broad day light,and they got away and were never caught.
The law makers have increased the punishment for this crime, but punish who if the wrong doers are never caught?
The government seems helpless or plain indifferent towards this situation and offers the opportunity for the opposition parties to harp on this issue.Slowly the people start to believe the opposition parties have the solution and are tempted to give them a try.
Unsolved murder cases:There were several well publishised rape cum murder cases remain unsolved.Some arrests were made but the suspects were soon released and not produced in court and no further follow ups are reported.The people begin to question the capablility of the police force to deal effectively with the crimes in this modern days.At the mean time there is a nagging question in everyone's mind,"Who will be the next unlucky one?" The fear is real and we Malaysians are living like herds of deers or rabbits wishing not to be picked by the predator to be their next prey!
Murder cases involving public figure:
(i)The Mongolian girl case in KL.This case links to an adviser to a very very prominant public figure in this country,the judicial system is dragging its legs right through the 12th general elections and is still going on.Maybe untill eternity,when it will be forgotten by the people.
(ii)The fish monger vs ex-state mininster case in KK.It is an undenialble case that the ex-minister shot dead a person,yet he is still walking about freely on the street.This is really beyond everybody's reasoning power.Maybe this is another drag and forget case.
(iii)The boy drowned in a swimming pool.This boy who came from China to live with his uncle,who is a Datuk, while furthering his study in KL, was found drowned in the swimming pool in his uncle's house.But autopsy revealed that it was no simple drowning accident,the boy sustained internal injuries before he was killed and thrown into the pool to appear as a drowning case.The uncle was arrested but was acquitted soon afterwards,another huge judicial puzzle.

(2)Judicial system losing credibility:

A video clip showing a well known lawyer in the country speaking over the phone bragging that he has the influence over the outcome of the promotion of a senior feredal judge.This video clip has made the Malaysian judicial system the laughing stock of the international community.
Increasing numbers of acquittal of serious cases.Several serious cases like murders,drug trafficing,fire arms and armed robberies are acquitted due to various reasons like improper prosecuting proceedures,insufficient evidence,etc.Sometimes it is the results of the negligence of the prosecuting officers or sometimes due to the exceptional leniency of the presiding judges.It may seem fair to the suspects,but is it fair to the victims or the families of the victims? Why are not these careless officers brought to courts for obstructions of justice? Barring them from promotions is not a punishment at all,in fact it is a reward for them.It is hundred times more lucative to stay in these posts than a promotion.

(3)Corrupted politicians:

Zakaria's Istana:Datuk Zakaria Deros was the assemblyman for Port Kelang.He spent more than 10 millions ringgits to build a luxurious spacious istana-like bangolow in a low-cost housing estate,of all places,which irked his new neighbours.This quickly came into the national limelight,and more improprieties surfaced.
How did he amass this kind of money? He had no proof of inheriting it from any rich relative,he was a poor railway gate watchman before joining politics.
He was summoned by the Sultan of Selangor to explain in front of His Majestice and some how managed to get off the hook without a scratch,amazing!
Then the Anti Corruption Agency called Datuk Zakaria for questioning and subsequently wanted to bring him to court for 39 charges.When the whole nation was eagerly waiting to see Datuk Zakaria to be thrown into jail,suddenly all 39 charges against him was dropped.Not a single token charge was brought against him,this guy was a real magician!
He did not obtain any approval from the Town Council before starting constructions on this new house,but he quickly settled this problem because he himself,his son and his son's wife all sat in the Town Council! Can you beat it?
And the question is: how can a Datuk,a State assemblyman qualify for a lot(few lots to be accurate) in a low-cost housing estate,which is reserved primarily for low income group? Besides, he owned a shop selling satay which is also built without obtaining approval from the Town Council.This structure was subsequently demolished by Town Council workers under public pressure.But the construction works on the "Istana" went on despite all eyes were on it.
To top it all,it was reported that 60,000 quests attended his house warming party when the "Istana" was completed! The faces of many prominant political figures of the nation were seen in this party and the pictures were splashed all over the internet,what a launch(or rather,a downfall)!
Many people pointed out that this sort of news would never be allowed to appear in the news during Tun Dr Mahathir's time.If it ever managed to sneak into the news,it would be quickly sniffed at its bud,unlike Datuk Seri Abdullah who allowed it to grow into a colourful full blossom over a period of more than 8 months.It is simply unbelievable.
Said Yusof vs the Customs Department:Jasin Member of Parliament,Datuk Mohd Said Yusof, was reported in the news to have asked the Melaka Customs officers to "close one eye" while discharging their duties.Datuk Said admitted that he had interests in 2 barter trading ports namely,the Sungai Rambai and Kuala Linggi barter trading ports in Melaka.He was also operating a forwarding and shipping company through these ports.Therefore he asked the Customs to bend the rules in order for him to make handsome profits.When the officers reused to listen to him, Datuk Said blasted the Melaka Customs office in the Parliament for various alleged poor performance.The Customs responded by going to the press exposing Datuk Said's harassment of the officers.On the surface it seems a simple quarrel between 2 parties,but people suspected there were more untold stories behind this.

(4)Racial Dissatisfactions:

This is no new story.The main source of dissatisfactions of minority ethnic groups namely, the Chinese and the Indians, is the New Economy Policy(NEP).The NEP appears a bit crazy in the eyes of people of other nations,because it divides the people of our country into 2 distinct categories,the Bumiputra and the Non-Bumiputra.
The Chinese have come to terms with this segregation over the years, but not the Indians.They formed a group called HINDRA which claimed to champion the cause of the Malaysian Indians.They protested in processions and attracted worldwide attentions.
Whereas the Malaysian Chinese are ultra sensitive over the education system of their children,especially their mother tongue.When they are tolerant over the abuses by some government leaders on other areas like business opportunies or employment in the civil services,but they will fight back in unison without hesitation if the survival of their mother tongue is threatened.
They demonstrated this anger when a Chinese medium primary school was closed and moved to a new location because the original location was in a prime commercial area.The authority gave the reason for shifting the school was for the sake of the school children's safety,but nobody believed it.The Minister of Education promised to re-open the said school just weeks before the general elections,again not many believed him.

(5)Rising prices of commodities:

The price of crude oil has sky rocketed thanks to President George Bush's attack on Iraq.This in turns has caused petrol prices all over the world to shoot up,Malaysia can not escape it too.The increase has being kept low by subsidy from the government,but the government had warned that the petrol price would have to rise soon because the country can not afford to subsidise it forever.However,the opposition parties, on the other hand, promised to bring the petrol price back to its original level if they were elected to form the next government.The temptation is hard to resist!
The price of sugar has also gone up,the factories owners as well as retailers started hoarding in the hope of gaining a bigger profit in face of a bigger price hike.The result: nation wide shortage of sugar.And nobody heeds the government's warning against hoarding,and the authority is again helpless.
The situation is the same with cooking oil and worse.
Then the flour price sky-rocketed and subsequent shortage.
Finally, the effect spreads to all commodities which are essential in everyone's life:bread,cakes,noodles,the list goes on....The leaders of ruling party couldn't do a thing,all they could say is,"it's a global thing".The opposition, on the other hand,promised the people a maricle,"bringing petrol price back to its old level,free university education for all,introducing a minimum wage at RM1,500.00.." The BN leaders just brushed it off as silly ideas.But the people bought it,and that is what counts.

The above mentioned incidents may appear to be insignificant taken individually,but the impact is tremendous if taken collectively. As a simple analogy: a loose nail on a zinc roof is no cause for alarm; but a loose nail here and a loose nail there,the whole zinc roof may be blown off one day! Look at what happened to the zinc roofs of Kedah,Penang,Perak,Selangor and Kelatan?

Our PM was confident that his personal charimas will over shadow these "minor issues",but the eletions results proved how wrong he was.

Pak Lah should make some adjustment to his "wait and see" policy on issues arising in the country.If he waits too long, small insignificant issues will grow into unmanagable big issues.

Polling Day : To-morrow!

2008-03-07T12:29:00.002+08:00

The 12th Malaysia general election polling day is March 08 2008.
All registered voters should exercise their most important right as a citizen in a free democratic country.Don't deny yourself this very important right.Go and vote.
If you don't,all your hours of arguement in kedai kopi,living rooms and online forums are just waste of time and breath! This is the time for actions,not mere talks.

Minister of Helath Resigns

2008-01-03T02:52:00.000+08:00

Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek,the Minister of Health of Malaysia, resigned this afternoon just 24 hours after admitting that he is the man in the video clip showing him having sex with an unidentified woman.
Datuk Seri Chua was very vocal for a minister in the Malaysian government,especially in matters under the jurisdiction of his ministry.
It is obvious that this is a plot to disgrace him because these VCDs were not sold for monetary gain but were distributed free of charge.
Many believed that this was the work of the Opposition,but isn't it kind of stupid to pick on someone who spoke his mind and is liked by the people instead of someone else? Moreover, the Opposition would not be contended with only bringing down a Minister who is not that high in ranking, they would rather go for bigger fish if they want to.

PTPTN scheme - the best move towards nation building

2007-10-17T11:25:00.000+08:00

Many parents, especially those from the Chinese community, are unaware of the existence of the Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional-PTPTN (National Body For Higher Education Fund). As long as your child is accepted into any government-run or semi government-run institute of higher learning, he/she is eligible to apply for an annual study loan of RM15,000.00 maximum. The amount approved will be depending on the total incomes of the parents. Students whose parents' monthly incomes are RM3,500.00 and below are urged to apply in order to lessen the burden on your family budgets.

There is no more excuse for NOT sending your child to further study if his/her results are good enough to earn a place in any government or semi government institute from now on.

I was quite saddened by the bad news that there were mishandlings of the PTPTN loans recently. The concept is so good and noble , yet there are selfish and greedy people trying to ruin it.

We need highly educated young people in order to build a nation that is advanced, prosperous and happy. Please don't ruin the PTPTN loan scheme so that smart children from poor families can persuade their dreams of completing their higher studies and help to build a nation that can be on par with any developed nation.

Merdeka!

2007-09-01T03:09:00.000+08:00

Merdeka! Malaysia is 50 years old already!

Portrait of Bruce Lee

2007-05-13T11:57:00.001+08:00

I am a great fan of Bruce Lee and would like to share this with fellow fans...

High Speed Painting

Portrait of Bruce Lee

2007-05-13T11:57:00.000+08:00

I am a great fan of Bruce Lee and would like to share this with fellow fans...

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=376187&fr=yvmtf

Thumbs up for LPNK

2007-04-01T18:19:00.000+08:00

I have this to add to my previous post because I forgot to mention it.

On the day my son was returning home from national service,my opinion on the national service board (LPNK) changed drastically.
The way the LPNK officials were conducting things was a huge contrast to the first day when my son was reporting for duty.
The number of officials deployed at the airport was increased and the most important difference was that they were dressed in official uniforms.
The kids arriving at the airport were also in uniforms and could be easily picked out from other passengers travelling in the air craft with them. They were then ushered to a assembly corner and be counted.
My confidence in the LPNK officials' professionism multiplied 100 folds immediately. How I wished it was done this way on the day when my son was boarding the plane, it would have saved us months of worrying.

Sybas, LPNK!!!

National Service is equally important for male and female students

2007-04-01T13:58:00.000+08:00

After 4 years in existence, the National Service Board is still struggling to iron out many of its problems.
In my personal opinion the root of all these problems is the attitudes of the people entrusted with the responsibilities to run the service smoothly. They all treated this as "main main" stuff, afterall what can you learn in 3 short months? National service in other countries like Taiwan, Korea and Singapore last for 2 years and more, with proper salary scales and all. But in Malaysia everybody thinks it is just like a summer camp only.
Then everybody has a rude awakening when Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Defence of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak sacked 3 of the top brass in the board after a series of fumbles up during the first day of the first intake of year 2007 series which caused an up raor from the concerned parents. Datuk Najib's swift and decisive action drives home the message "don't play-play hah!". And things appears to improve, for the time being at least.
My son happened to be in that first group of the year to report for duty, and he was assigned to a training camp not in his home state. But my son insisted that we do not appeal to have him transfer back to the home state because he wanted the experience. This was the first time in his life to venture away alone, imagine the anxiety of us parents.
But the responsibility awareness of the officials in charge on that reporting-for-duty day was really worrying the parents. We were fighting inside ourselves whether to place the safety of our kids in the hands of these irresponsible people. Some parents took their children home and were willing to fight it out in the courts.
We do not have the resouces to fight the authority in the court so have to put my son on the plane reluctantly on the night of the 2nd day. He was on waiting list, luckily some kids opted out so he boarded the plane on the 2nd day, else he would have to wait for the 3rd day, 4th day......
My son is now home safely now. I can notice a few positive changes in him. He said that life in the camp is tiring but enjoyable. He even joked that some of the training are so strenous that he might not be able to last for another month. I think this is a point that the authority should consider making some adjustments. So I should say national service is good for kids, only need to be properly manged.
It is very unfortunate that there were some cases that resulted in death among the female trainees. This has prompted the proposal to exempt the female youths from national service. I think this is not the right solution, because in doing so it will imply that our male youths are less disciplined that the females, which is utterly untrue. Both our male and female youths need equal amount of training in discipline.
I am not an expert, but as a parent who cares about his kids, I venture to offer my observations here:

This is obvious, but I still list it here just in case.
Be aware of the differences between the physique of the male and female; some exercises which are simple for the males are difficult for the females. So do not demand them to carry out the same amount of exercises of the same nature.
Rest is the best remedy for all, whether for fatigue or for minor illness. Make sure they have a lot of sleep.
This is quite hard to achive as too many of trainees are staying in one room. Teenage girls are extremely sensitive about their privacy, asking them to sleep in groups is a torture. Some of them may have many sleepless nights and suffered in silence, until one day they just collasp.
My teenage girl always locks the door whenever she is in her room, and her mother always knocks on the door to ask her to open it. And a war breaks out. This proves one thing: girls treasure their privacy.
Girls are naturally less carefree than their male counterparts, they worry about every thing: pimples, weights, studies,friendship,etc,etc...And they have another thing to worry about now, to arrange for their further study. They can only sleep after they have it settled, and they need time-off to settle those matters. Please allow them to have leaves for doing it, else they will not be able to sleep at night, and their health may suffer.
After a hard day's physical training the body needs nourishments to replenish the resouces lost. Is the food in the camp providing enough for this?
Bear in mind, every single trainee is an individual, a human being, moreover, maybe the parents' pet. Please teach them discipline, but don't take this opportunity to torture them.

National service is neccessary for boys as well as girls.

Welcome 2007!

2006-12-31T19:20:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year, Malaysia!

Wish 2007 will be a better year for every Malaysians.

When the lunatics run the asylum

2006-12-16T16:55:00.000+08:00

The message which the following story conveys is very similar to one of my previous entries ( http://asimplemalaysian.blogspot.com/2006/10/who-is-more-convincing-epu-or-asli.html)

Anyway,enjoy...:=))

> > "Hidup China! Hidup China! Hidup China!"
> >
> > "Hey, Wong! What the hell are you trying to do ah?"
> >
> > "I'm rehearsing my speech for the Annual General
> > Assembly lah Ali."
> >
> > "But what's with this `hidup China' thing?"
> >
> > "That's how I will close my speech. I will shout
> > `hidup China' three
> > times."
> >
> > "That's so ridiculous. Can you just imagine a Malay
> > standing on
> > stage and screaming `hidup Melayu' at the end of his
> > speech? Would
> > he not look downright stupid? I'm sure he would also
> > be considered a
> > racist. And isn't brandishing that Kung Fu sword
> > above your head
> > very provocative as well? I mean, how would you like
> > it if a Malay
> > starts waving a keris and threatens to bathe it in
> > blood or
> > something like that? I am sure you will get upset."
> >
> > "Hmm..you're right. Maybe I will drop the Kung Fu
> > sword bit. But
> > what's wrong with shouting `hidup China'? After all,
> > we are a
> > Chinese political party."
> >
> > "I know. But Malaysia is not a 100% Chinese country.
> > It is 60%
> > Malays and 40% non-Malays, or roughly something like
> > that. I also
> > don't know the real figure because there are so many
> > Indonesians who
> > have been given identity cards that we really don't
> > know how many
> > there really are anymore. So would it not be
> > insensitive of a Malay
> > if he were to stand on stage and start screaming
> > `hidup Melayu'?"
> >
> > "I suppose you're right. Maybe I should cut out the
> > `hidup China'
> > part from my speech as well."
> >
> > "Right! You must be more sensitive to the feelings
> > of the other
> > races. Before you say something you must stop and
> > ask yourself
> > whether what you are going to say will hurt the
> > feelings of the
> > other races or not. Just like no Malay leader,
> > especially someone of
> > the level of Prime Minister, would ever stand on
> > stage and
> > scream `hidup Melayu', you also should not go around
> >
> > screaming `hidup China'. What if the Malays
> > retaliate by also
> > shouting `hidup Melayu'? How would you feel?"
> >
> > "Yes, you are right. I did not think of it that way.
> > I think that is
> > good advice."
> >
> > "We Malays may form 60% of the country's population,
> > but we are
> > always concerned and conscious of the minority
> > pendatang's feelings.
> > We always consider the feelings of immigrants like
> > you."
> >
> > "I appreciate that."
> >
> > "My grandfather emigrated from Indonesia soon after
> > it obtained
> > Merdeka because that country was in a mess. Malaya
> > then was still
> > under the British but it was a peaceful and stable
> > country, even
> > though still a colony of Britain. My father was born
> > in this country
> > so we regard ourselves as Malaysian Malays and not
> > as Indonesians
> > anymore. So we must think as Malaysians. I am sure
> > you are the same."
> >
> > "Yes, my ancestors came to Malaya around 1400 and
> > none of our family
> > has ever gone back to China, not even to visit it as
> > tourists. We
> > don't even know who our relatives in China are or
> > where they live."
> >
> > "I go back to Indonesia once in awhile. I still
> > visit some of my
> > relatives there but they're very poor. Life's very
> > hard in
> > Indonesia. We are more fortunate in Malaysia. Life's
> > easier here,
> > especially for Malays like me."
> >
> > "You're very lucky. You still have family members in
> > Indonesia. It's
> > like having two countries as your home. We Chinese
> > only have
> > Malaysia. China will not accept us back even if we
> > want to go back.
> > But what's there to go back to anyway? There's
> > nothing there for us
> > anymore."
> >
> > "But Malaysia's not so bad. At least you Chinese can
> > earn a good
> > living here. If you can't find work you can always
> > do business. We
> > Malays need to work for the government. If not then
> > we can't earn a
> > living."
> >
> > "Chinese can never work for the government. The
> > government will not
> > take us. So we have no choice but to do business,
> > even if it is just
> > selling pirated VCDs. Our unemployment rate for
> > university graduates
> > went up 50% this year compared to last year. Did you
> > know that?"
> >
> > "Wah! So high?"
> >
> > "Yes. Last year two Chinese graduates were
> > unemployed throughout
> > Malaysia. This year, three Chinese graduates are
> > unemployed, an
> > increase of 50%?"
> >
> > "That's terrible. For Malays it's not so bad. Last
> > year it was about
> > 60,000 unemployed graduates. This year it's 66,000.
> > So ours went up
> > only 10%, not so bad."
> >
> > "See, Malays are more fortunate. The government
> > absorbs the
> > graduates. You can also join the police or army. We
> > Chinese, where
> > we want to go?"
> >
> > "I suppose you're right. But it's all the fault of
> > your political
> > leaders. We have Umno that takes care of the
> > interest of the Malays.
> > You have MCA and Gerakan, but they do not take care
> > of the Chinese.
> > You Chinese are neglected and have to fend for
> > yourselves. You have
> > to work hard to become rich. It must be very tough
> > for you Chinese."
> >
> > "Tough, very tough. You think it's easy to become
> > rich? Very
> > difficult. You cannot become a millionaire
> > overnight. You need at
> > least two or three years. We have to open shops. You
> > can go see at
> > any shopping centre in Malaysia, almost 100% of the
> > shops are owned
> > by Chinese, even in places like Kota Bharu. Malays
> > don't have to do
> > this. We have to work the whole day long, even on
> > Sundays. The only
> > holiday we get is during Chinese New Year. You
> > Malays work five days
> > a week and every public holiday you can rest at
> > home. You Malays
> > work only 34 hours a week. We Chinese have to work
> > almost 100 hours
> > a week, three times more than you Malays have to
> > work. We have no
> > time to even go shopping. That's why you see at the
> > shopping centres
> > or places like Giant, almost all the customers are
> > Malays. We
> > Chinese where got time to go shopping? We are too
> > busy working."
> >
> > "Yes, I have noticed that."
> >
> > "Actually, sometimes I wish we Chinese have a
> > political party like
> > Umno. At least then we can relax a bit and not work
> > so hard and let
> > the party look after our interest. This MCA and
> > Gerakan are useless.
> > They will never help the Chinese. So we have to help
> > ourselves. If
> > not, who will help us?"
> >
> > "That's why. You Chinese should be more political
> > minded like we
> > Malays. I tell you, if not because of politics, we
> > Malays will also
> > be nowhere like you Chinese. Luckily we have Umno.
> > If not we Malays
> > would also be suffering like you Chinese. Imagine if
> > I have to work
> > 100 hours a week and sit in my shop from morning to
> > night, every day
> > of the week with no rest. Aiyah! I just cannot
> > imagine that."

Ideas for Christmas

2006-12-16T16:46:00.000+08:00

Here's a list for adding to your ideas of having fun during Christmas holidays:

Christmas fun ideas

Using English As Medium Of Teaching Fails Miserably

2006-11-12T16:16:00.000+08:00

Malaysia Minister of EducationDatuk Seri Hishamuddin said the policy to use English as medium for teaching science and mathematics in primary schools will be reviewed in the year 2008 to decide whether to scrap it or improve on it.
Why wait for 2008? Do something about it quick now.
I was looking at the maths test papers of a primary-2 boy the other day and was shocked at what I read. He got only 20% for that test, I was not shocked at his marks but at the way the questions were presented.
Below is one of the questions:

"John has 349 cards. After giving 154 cards to his sister, how many cards has he left?"

Now compare to what the boy is learning currently in his English class by referring to his text book:

"Puan Fatimah is a teacher"
"I am reading a story book"
"Ali is drawing on the black boar"

Notice the vast difference between the level of standards of the English use for the maths test papers and what he has learned in the language class?

He is only begainning to learn simple present tense while the teacher is using present perfect tense (has he left) already. The teacher also introduced the use of passive verb (After giving)
in the same question.

Just to find out what is his understanding of the English language, I went over the question with him word by word. He could only make out these words : has, to his sister, how, he, left. He reads "has" as "have", when asked the meaning of "left", he showed me his left hand!
His answer to the meaning of "giving" is a person! What?! Oh..he thought "giving" is "Kivin", a mis-spelt version of the name "Kevin" !

Obviously he is very poor at English, but the test papers in question is about maths subject and not about the langauge, don't get that mixed up, man.

Please mister Minister, teach maths in a maths class, teach English in an English class lah. So simple also need people to tell you one!!!

Happy Depavali

2006-10-26T16:21:00.000+08:00

Happy Depavali!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

2006-10-25T16:20:00.000+08:00

Wishing all Muslim friends in Malaysia :

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI!

Who is more convincing, EPU or ASLI ?

2006-10-16T13:45:00.000+08:00

The Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI) claims in its recent report that Bumiputeras (Malays and other indegenous races) hold 45% of the share equity in Malaysia. But the Economy Planning Unit (EPU) rebutes it and claims instead the real figure should be 18.9%. Please note the insersion of the decimal point by the EPU in order to emphasy the accuracy of its findings.
Who is lying and who is telling the truth?
But who cares? Figures like these really tell nothing as far as us ordinary folks are concerned, we are not trained to grasp the implications behind.
What we can readily understand are the number of retail outlets lining the streets, in shopping complexes and supermalls or the workshops and factories in industrial estates. We can count the number of saloon, kedai kopi (including those 24 hours types), tailors,etc, etc......
If anyone were to conduct a survey as I mentioned just now, the truth will be shocking and sad -- majority of the owners of those outlets are indeed non-bumiputras. Ahh..the bumiputra politicians will be quick to say, "The economy of Malaysia is controlled by non-bumiputras!" But is it true? It can't be further from the truth, is the whole of Malaysia's economy made up of retail business solely? What about the big bucks sectors like petrolium, banking, automobile, airlines, insurance,energy, communications etc ? They are in the hands of the bumiputra, it is open secrets, no denial about it please.
The non bumiputras are squeezed out from joining the job force within government departments orchestra by the Public Services Department, also they can not lay their hands on big-bucks business. Where else can they go? Simple, they join the private sector, learn the trade and start on their own when the time is ripe.
Why can't the young bumiputras do the same? Ah, I don't want to go into that again (I had explained why in one of my old posts). Our wise leaders should know what to do, provide they got the guts to face the truth and do the right thnig and not constantly harp on racial issues instead.

Tun Dr Mahathir Not Elected As Delegate

2006-09-11T23:24:00.000+08:00

In the Kubang PasuUMNO division election on Sunday, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir failed in his bid to be elected as one of 7 delegates to the party's nation wide annual assembly in November. There were 15 candidates competing for 7 seats, Tun Mahathir got 9th place while his son was in the 5th place, therefore will be one of elected delegates.
Politics is cruel.
By right, Tun Mahathir will be accorded a seat, a VIP seat at that, without having to go through such humilations. But now.....

Moves To Curb Handbags Snatch Thieves

2006-09-07T14:53:00.000+08:00

It was learned that the Cabinet of Malaysia is planning to increase the sentence for handbags snatch thefts from 7 years maximum to 14 years maximum or death sentence if the offence resulted in death.
I hope this will be tabled in the Parliament and become a bill soon before more snatch thefts victims are hurt. I also hope that there won't be any hypocrites who might jump out and criticize the bill, for they do not know how crazy this kind of theft is and how harmful it is.
In the past, petty robbery like this was normal done without causing harm to the victims. The victims were always threatened with a knife or gun (very rarely) to surrender their valuables, which the victims most of the time would obliged and escaped being harmed. But in the current scenario, the robbers do not give the victims any choice. They will snatch the handbags without warning the victims, and the force of the sudden jerk will cause the victims to fall to the ground usually flat on their backs, sometimes resulting in head injuries. Worst still if the victims were riding on motor-cycles, they will lost control of their bikes and end in serious accidents.
This is no small matter, some victims become human vegetables and some even lost their lives as a result.
Hope the Ministers will not go back on their words and see it through.

Old Song Remixed By Khairy Jamaluddin

2006-08-24T09:35:00.000+08:00

Former Prime Minister of Malaysia (Tun Dr Mahathir) is driving the son-in-law of current Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi), Khairy Jamaluddin, to the wall recently. Khairy who is also the deputy chairman of the youth wing of United Malays National Organisation(UMNO), in a bid to maneuver the focal point away from himself, warned the members of UMNO about the danger of a weakened UMNO will give rise to opportunity for other component parties within the National Front Coalition(BN), especially the Chinese-based parties to demand for more rights and benefits. The BN will be strong only if UMNO is strong.
Sure enough this draws outcry from leaders of Gerakan and MCA(Malaya Chinese Association),especially the younger ones. The strongest protest came from Ling Hing Leong, vice president of the MCA youth.
Incidentally, Ling is the son of former MCA president Datuk Seri Ling Liong Sik. He demanded an explanation from Khairy for belittling the Chinese parties and for forgetting their contributions towards nation building in the past.
The two subsequently met behind closed doors, but it was clear that Khairy still maintains his stand and no explanation was given for his remarks.Ironically, what Khairy said is basically right. All other component parties of BN benifited from the strenght of UMNO.
Everybody knows it and admits it since day-one of the formation of the BN alliance. I still remember the opposition parties used this fact extensively to attack the Chinese-based parties during election rallies in the 60s (when public rallies were still legal).The speakers on opposition stages would always yell, "What is MCA anyway? They are but some opportunists hiding under the protection of the Malays' sarongs!"
Remarks like this would always receive thunderous applauds from The audience.But with the banning on all public rallies, this kind of remarks slowly die off, and the Chinese have begun to accept MCA as their reprsentative in the government alliance since.
The fact remains that UMNO is still the backbone of the BN coalition. But should some one go and dig it up after it has been buried there for so long? Let's give a crude analogy here : Everyone knows very well that sex is part and parcel of a marriage, but must we go round telling others about this fact? People will feel offended even what you tell them is right and is a fact. It is just not proper to do so.
Khairy did what he did shows not only he is cracking under the pressure of attacks from Tun Dr Mahathir, but also his lack of creativity and originality. What he should have said is that a weakened UMNO will give rise to the opportunity for the opposition coalition of PAS and Keadilan, probably DAP, to over throw the ruling party. Won't it be better?
Stirring up racial sentiments is a stale and worn out method used by many extremist politicians before him, yet he still chooses to apply it. How sad!

Will it be safe to leave the house any more?

2006-08-04T23:17:00.000+08:00

The senseless killing of a year 1 student of UniTAR by 2 heartless robbers jolted the whole Malaysian nation up. A smart, deligent boy lost his life just because of a hand phone and some cash, (being a student I don't think he would have a lot with him).

While we all were disturbed by the long list of unsolved rape-cum-murder cases, and the snatching handbags injuries (some were fatal) were almost daily news, but this one really shakes
everyone. We finally realize it is no longer safe to allow our children to walk Malayisan streets without adult companions. And again, a year 1 uni boy is almost an adult already, right? Yet this tragedy tells us that it is still not safe for a person at that age to go out alone nowadays.
Will somebody do some thing to make it safe for our children to walk on the streets again, please?

Not long ago, the Senior Minister of Singapore Mr Lee Kuan Yew criticised that Malaysia is not a safe place to live in. We were so furious at his remarks, saying unkind words towards him, even calling him names. But if he were to repeat his words are we still so indignant about it all? Aren't what he said proven true, now?

Tun Mahathir Peppered By Kelataneses

2006-07-29T13:33:00.000+08:00

Malaysia's former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir, after months of letting go barrages of attacks at his successor, Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi Ahmad, does not show signs of calming down. Instead he chose to go round the country to voice his grievances. And the first destination he chose to start his campaign, of all places, is to Kelantan a state controlled by his arch rival the PAS!

In fact Tun Mahathir is smart, he knows very well that Kelantaneses hate UMNO, and now he is attacking UMNO they will take him as a "dear friend". But he miscalculated the risks on this score obviously. Somebody threw a can of pepper powder (some media reported it was a gear gas canister, whatever la) the moment he got down from his car to start a speech. He was almost choked by coughing severely. What a way to welcome a friend, you Kelatanese.

The saying goes, "the most dangerous place is the safest place", it does not seem to hold true this time leh!

Controversial Ethnic Relations Guidebook Withdrawn

2006-07-20T09:32:00.000+08:00

The Star siad,"The controversial Ethnic Relations module taught at Universiti Putra Malaysia has been withdrawn, and will be replaced with a new one. ......"
Well, another example of the "Look East" national policy backfires. We Malaysians did not learn from the Japanese their hard working ways towards life, but learn to alter historical events instead.
When will we learn to pick the goods from the bads?

Read more...

Build and Sell Housing

2006-06-28T11:40:00.000+08:00

The Malaysian government is considering to introduce the "build and sell" concept to housing developers in the country. They are thinking of ways to encourage the developers to adopt this concept.
Why do we have to wait for so long to introduce this concept? The current "book and pay progressively" method is in fact a scam, but it is bewildering the Malaysian government has allowed it to go on for so many years. Imagine one can simply register a company and pose as a housing developer and starts to advertise to sell non existent house lots, all he has to show is an impressive billboard along the highway claiming how the completed units would look like. When more and more of the public fall into his trap he will have more money to make his scheme look more impressive by renting cozy air-cond office and beautiful sexy staff to receive visitors, with the buyers' money!
He may even con some poor kampung folks into a deal whereby they allow their lands to be used as proof of his project's site.
More people are hence lured into booking lots from this "developer".
When the "developer" has collected even money he will just disappear. The victims will complaint to the government, the government will then take "stern action", that is to cancel his licence...HAHAAHAHAHA!!! He will simply apply for another licence, what is the big deal?
Those victims who had only paid for the deposits are lucky, because that is what they will lose and no more.
I know of a guy who was not so lucky, he not only paid the deposit but also signed the charge agreement with the bank to release bridging financing to the developer. His nightmare began when the "developer" absconded with the deposits, the financing bank kept chasing him for payment which he obliged initially. But when he discovered that the abandoned project showed no hope of revival, he stopped paying the progress payment.
And the bank kept sending him reminder after reminder urging him to pay up. He went to the bank and explained that the project was abadoned, he lost so much money so it would be inhuman to ask him to carry on paying for a non existent house. You know what the bank oficer replied? He said, "I can't help you, that's between you and the developer. Since you had signed the charge agreement you have to pay!"
My friend refused to pay. So the bank put his house up for auction and sent him a letter informing him of the action through a lawyer. The economy reccession had already set in by then, and there was no bid of the auction. The auctioneer's fees and legal fees were then added to the buyer's account. The bank repeated the proceedure every month, each time the reserved price was lowered but still no bidder. Interests on the amount were also grwing fast. My friend's account outstanding amount snow-balled up to more than 3 times of the original loan amount! Talk about "Ah Loong"!
He pleaded with the bank's manager not to put his house for auction so frequently, as it was reccession time. Moreover, the Local Housing and Development Ministry refused to issue the "Occupancy Certificate or Certificate Of Fitness, whatever" for various reasons. It was unlikely that anyone will bid for it. But the bank manager refused to listen to the buyer's plea. This dragged on for more than 10 years, during which time he spent every cent of his life savings trying to salvage his dream house, often falling prey to con men who claimed to have "jalan" to help. Finally he spent his last sen and still no house to call his own. The house was eventually auctioned off at about 1/4 of his debt amount and he is still paying the balance today and renting a house.
This is a real story, it happens in Malaysia. It happened to my friend, and it can happen to you!
By the way, where is the developer who ran away with the depoeits, is he still around? Of course he is. He is very respected, owns a string of properties and resorts and fast food business. Eat your heart out man!

Pak Lah VS Tun Dr Mahathir

2006-06-10T15:32:00.000+08:00

Former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohd is criricising harshly his hand-picked successor, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The current PM has shelfed a few of Tun Dr Mahathir's mega projects which were expected to be completed by Datuk Abdullah.
Some of the said projects are :

The upgrading of the nation's railway system
Selling off of the Agusta Motorcycle factory
Shelfing of the Scenic Bridge which was to replace the Johor-Singapore Causeway

These are mega-mega projects requiring tons and tons of budget to complete. This is not to Datuk Abdullah's likings.
When Tun Dr Mahathir announced his decision to step down and his preferred successor was Datuk Seri Adbullah, everybody was surprised not only by the sudden announcement but also by his choice of successor. Tun Dr Mahathir was a high profile, glory seeking and glamourous person, while Datuk Seri Abdullah is a low profile person. Tun Mahathir should be aware that Datuk Abdullah might not have stomach for his super mega projects, now that they are shelfed, why is he so surprised?

Many people wonder, "Tun Dr Mahathir has cross over to the opposition already?"

Land Slide Tragedy At Hulu Klang

2006-06-03T15:50:00.000+08:00

At Last, the two missing persons in the Kg Pasir, Hulu Kelang land slide tragedy were found buried under 4-foot of mud after days of digging by the rescue crew members. The victims were a 32-year old Malay woman and her 4-year old daughter. Mother and daughter were found dead embracing each other. This brings the total casualty to 4.
The place where the tragedy occured was not far from the scene of a far more tragic land slide many years ago, the High Land Towers Condominium, where a 40-storey high apartments collasped like a match box when its foundation shifted due to land slide. Many occupants lost their lives, including the son of former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Musa Hitam. Two adjecent blocks of apartments were subsequently declared unsafe, and they still remain vacant until today.
The High Land Towers tragedy was reported widely by international news media because Malaysian government had sought help from experienced rescue teams from foreign nations like Germany, Sweden, France and Japan to save those trapped under the rubbles.
This tragedy was a rude awakening for the relevant authorities. The Malaysian Parliament subsequently passed bills and acts hoping to prevent a reccurence.
Unfortunately these steps taken by the government failed to prevent another life-snatching land slide, on top of that, in the same proximity as the previous tragedy.
It is about time somebody from the local authority and the Department Of Environment (DOE)own up to the responsibility and resign from their positions.
The Director of DOE recently claimed that they are under staffed when was criricised for failing to take action against a company which has violeted environmental regulations for the past 10 years. But we have so many unemployed graduates at the same time, where is the logic? Why can't we produce useful graduates, in environmetal study for instant? Then they can quickly fill the vacancies in the DOE and be employed.

Pak Lah, You Are A Huge Disappointment

2006-05-11T13:49:00.000+08:00

The Member of Parliament (MP) of Jasin, Mohd Said Yusof admits that he is the sole proprietor of the forwarding agency, Binyu Sof Enterprise, which transported the consignment of imported sawn timber seized by the Malacca Customs. This gives a new twist to the controversy surrounding the dramatic resignation of Datuk Shahrir Samad as the chairman of the Backbenchers' Club in the parliament of Malaysia.
It all started as a story carried on the Malaysia's English dairy, The New Straits Times, reporting that a MP was interfering with the operations of the Customs Office by telling the Director of Customs to "close one eye". Seeing the opportunity, the Leader of Opposition, Lim Kit Siang of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), brought the matter to the Parliament and moved that the said report carried in the NST to be referred to the Rights and Previllages Committee.
On normal day this story will usually end here, the National Front (BN) MPs will simply vote it out treating it as just another of the gimicks by the Opposition to attract attentions, and will not even be reported in the news. But not this time, because Datuk Shahrir saw the real issue and its moral seriousness and supported the motion. He urged his comrades to do the same. But the BN MPs did not vote with their clear conscience and opposed Lim's motion. In a fit, Datuk Shahrir resigned from his position as chairman of the Backbenchers' Club, and drew sharp criticism from his collegues, notablily the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Nasri.
The matter was widely reported in the media, now this time the BN MPs draws sharp criticism from the public, they cried, "why close only one, better close both eyes!".
Malaysia Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was out of the country at that time and everyone was waiting for him to return and sort this out.
On his return, Datuk Badawi announced that all BN MPs should follow party rules a nd vote only for BN MP's motion! (Blindly huh?)
This means Datuk Badawi who portrays himself as the champion of anti-corruption in Malaysia has given himself a tight slap on his own mouth. It means that he condorns the action of the BN MPs' action of blocking a motion to investigate corrupt practice of a MP. He is willing to sacrisfy the efforts to curb corruption in favour of political gains.
MP of Jasin, Mohd Said Yusof declared, "I admit I'm a businessman, but what's wrong with a MP becoming a businessman?" Nothing wrong, absolutely nothing wrong YB. But using your position as a YB and start to ask enforcement officers to "close one eye" is defenitely wrong. If every YB starts to do the same, what will become of Malaysia?

Chairman Of Parliament Back Benchers Resigned

2006-05-06T16:31:00.000+08:00

Datuk Sharir Samad, the chairman of the Backbenchers' Club in Malaysia Parliament, resigned.
He did so after supporting the Opposition Leader, Lim Kiat Siang who moved to eradicate corruptions in Malaysia. But the back benchers did not follow his example, and voted against the motion instead. Datuk Sharir felt that he no longer command the respect of his fellow backbenchers and does not find any reason to stay as leader of the backbenchers club. He does not want to play the role of a rubber stamp in the Parliament, he wants all Members of Parliament to uphold their dignities and have own rights of decision.
I tip my hat to a politician who lives up to his principals here.

Singapore Having Their General Election Soon

2006-05-01T12:02:00.000+08:00

The nearest (note I didn't use the word closest) neighbour of Malaysia, Singapore will be having their general election in a few days' time.
This time the ruling party did not win the election on nomination day itself. Suprise, surprise!
Actually, why should they bother to hold any election at all? The Singaporeans won't dare to elect any opposition candidate anyway. They are all conditioned to listen to the ruling party since the day they were born.
Supposing any of the opposition candidates was elected, he will be quickly disqualified due to the fact that he being a bankrupt. How come? Don't you know that he will be sued by the leaders of the ruling party for libel because he criticised them during the election campaign. They will definitely win and the poor chap will have to declare himself bankrupt because he will never be able to pay for the ridiculously high damage amount awarded by the court. It happened before, just go and check the reords.
Malaysian government has a powerful weapon against the opposition candidates - the "ISA", but Singaporean government has "ISA" and on top of that they have a much much more lethal weapon - "Sure Win Libel Suits".

Contracts Which Fail To Meet Deadline Will Be Terminated

2006-05-01T11:19:00.000+08:00

Malaysia's Minister Of Works, Datuk Seri Samy Vellu, warned contractors in the country that they should not delay to commence works once the contracts are awarded to them. They also must meet the deadline as stipulated in the contracts.
In the 9MP period, the Works Ministry of Malaysia will monitor all contracts awarded closely. Investigations will be carried out if any project is found to be falling behind schedules, stern warning will be given to the contractors concerned, and they will be given another chance to rectify the problems.
If they still fail to meet the deadlines, the delayed contracts will be terminated and be reawarded to new contractors. If the new contract sum is higher than the original contract sum, the difference shall be borne by the original contractors. In the past, such a difference was borne by the government.
Will this measure be effective? Yes and no. If the contracting companies only are held responsible for the delay, the owners of these companies will simply disband the companies and form new ones, then the above measures will be useless against them. On the other hand, if the owners of these companies themselves are held responsible, then they got no way to run, these measures will be effective....to certain extent at least.
Any way, this post is not meant to criticise the Works Minister, but its main purpose is to record the words spoken by the Works Minister. We shall check back after a few years or months to see how much he has lived up to his words.
I will do this more often in future, for all prominent people in Malaysia, so that we have a record to trace how fast and how often they change their faces and tunes.

A Great Stateman Has Passed Away

2006-04-24T08:40:00.000+08:00

Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, died of heart, lung and kidney complications at 7.34am yesterday at the Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre in Jalan Ampang. He was 81 years old.
Tun Abd Ghafar Baba was no ordinary politician, he was a great statemen, who was from the grassroot, for the grassroot and with the grassroot till the day he died. He worked evry hard for national unity, eradication of poverty and corruptions all his life.
Tun Ghafar was not a slew and cunning politician, he was one who "shoots straight", otherwise he would have become the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Unfortunately he was betrayed by those who pretended to be loyal to him but quietly manupilated to unseat him in the party election in 1993.
During the peak of his political life Tun Ghafar refused to accept any titles bestowed upon him, he preferred to be addressed as "Encik Ghafar" officially. He only accepted any title when he was no longer in the manistream of politics. What a simple but great man!
Tun Ghafar's passing away will be missed by everyone who believes in good and straight ways.

The Scenic Bridge Plan is Scrapped

2006-04-14T16:42:00.000+08:00

Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that the construction of the controversal "Scenic Bridge" which were to replace the 82 year-old Johor Causeway linking Malaysia to Singapore will be stopped permanently, to everyone's surprise.
The idea of building this bridge was mooted in 2003 by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir who reasoned that the Causeway was built without giving due environmental considerations to the Strait of Johor. He claimed that the Causeway was blocking the free flow of the water of Johor Strait and eventually turning it into a pond of dead water. Whereas a bridge will allow the sea water to flow freely below it. But his proposal was met with strong protests from the Singapore government, whatever for, I really don't understand. Maybe Singaporeans love dead waters.
When Tun Dr Mahathir retired and Datuk Abd Badawi took over as PM, he continued to pursue the idea of replacing the old causeway with a new bridge, he even went as far as designing a curved bridge calling it the "Scenic Bridge" on the Malaysian half of the bridge. His idea was to build our portion of the bridge first while the negotiation between Malaysia and Singapore was underway. When the two countries come to an agreement finally, we would have completed our part already. And this is also to beat the ever rising costs of construction materials.
On seeing this, the Singaporean government demanded unreasonable bargains like allowing their fighter jets to fly over Malaysian air space freely and allow them to dig the Johor Strait for sand, an action which will erode the Johor shore lines as well as poluting the sea water. This brought about outcries from Malaysian public, demanding the government to scrap the idea of building that new bridge.
Being an elected government of a democratic country, Datuk Badawi has to listen to the people and stopped the project. The effects and implications of this decision is yet to be seen, but it is done for the best of the people's interests.
I can not understand the rationale of Singapore's objections to building the bridge because I did not follow this issue over the years. I did not bother myself about this issue because I won't be using it often, I go to Singapore maybe once in 5 years. I thought there is much to be gained on both sides if the conggestion at the causeway is eased as a result of the building of this new bridge, not only Malaysia will benefit, right?
From the commercial angle, it is better for Johor Port and Port Kelang's business if the conggestions situations at the causeway worsen bacause the lorries delayed there will caused great loss to the businessmen who prefered using Singaporean port instead of our own ports. When they realised this, they will switch to using Port Kelang or Johor Port.
Why should the Malaysian government be so eager to improve the traffic conditions at the causeway since both Malaysians and Singaporeans are using the same causeway? Maybe the Malaysian public dare to criticise the government while the Singaporeans dare not, and also they are dumb as pointed out by the renownTaiwan author, Lee Au（李敖) recently. Therefore the Malaysian government will feel the pressure of public criticism while the Singaporean government will relax and watch because there will be no critism from Sinpagore public against their own government.

Ombudsman panel to check public services

2006-04-12T12:50:00.000+08:00

Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, Minister in Prime Minister Department, disclosed that a body to watch over the enforcement agencies is being drafted. The body will be named Ombudsman, any complaints from the public against the enforcement agencies like police, custom, immigration, road transport, land and survey and others even the ministers can be directed to it. He said the government will push hard to make it pass through the parliament.
The idea is very good in theory, but will it wotk in practice? I doubt it very much. The reason is very simple, who dare to face the consequences by stepping forward to lodge a complaint against one of the above mentioned enforcement agencies? Will they be protected from being harassed after doing so? please be real .

Pak Lah's warning to all heads of departments

2006-04-12T08:44:00.000+08:00

Malaysia prime minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned all heads of government departments to buckle up and see that the implementation of the 9th Malaysia Plan is smooth and on target.
They should ensure that everyone under their charge to perform, if anyone is found not complying with the 9th Malaysia Plan should be suspended or even terminated permanently. This also applies to the departmental heads themselves. There will be no room for sympathy for individuals in this case, because the inept performance of one person can affect the welfare of many.
The PM sounds very serious this time, hope it will not fall on deal ears.

The 9th Malaysia Plan

2006-04-01T14:20:00.000+08:00

The prime minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had unveiled the much aniticipated 5-year 9th Malaysia Plan (9MP) yesterday.

Here's the Ninth Malaysia Plan at a glance :

9MP to cost RM220 billions
ECONOMY to expand by 6.0 % per annum
RURAL Dvelopment RM10.9 billions, Finance RM9.8 billions, Transport RM9.5 billions
POPULATION to grow to to 28.96 millions
BUMI corporate equity share to reach 30%
INDIAN share of corporate equity to attain 3.0%
RM9.1 billions for agriculture
PRIVATE FINANCE initiative for RM20 billions of projects
PM's DEPT gets lion's share of RM29.68 billions or 13.5%
EDUCATION RM23.19 billions or 10.5%, works Ministry RM18.9 billions
HIGHER education RM17.6 billions, Defence RM15.75 billions
ENERGY, Water & Communications RM12.12, Health 11.00 billions
BUMI CONTRACTS to make up 60% of all works in civil works.

Although the proposed allocation for 9MP is quite handsome, but the plan is an anti climax. There is nothing new in the content of the plan, it still harps on old tune like 30% share for Bumi, bridging the income disparity between the Bumi and non Bumi, eradicate poverty,the 2020 Vision, etc etc. The PM even coins the new phrase for this plan - THE FIVE KEY THRUSTS OF THE 9TH MALAYSIA PLAN.

The wording part of the 9MP is excellent, only thing is that the implementation part is not. I will give it a 20%-30% success rate.

I predict more than 80% of the allocated RM220 billions will be sucked up by the small group of elite rich Malays (Cronies as the opposition called them) like a huge sponge, maybe a trickle will filter through to the hardcore poor Malays at the rural areas. The remainder will be divided among the middle-class Malays, the Chinese, The Indians and foreign investors. How to close the gap between the urban and rural areas this way? The Malays already own more 70% of the economy in monetary terms but falls far behind the 30% mark in head-count terms, because the distribution of wealth is too concentrated in a handful of elite Malays.

The Malays youths will be ushered into local universities or other institutes of higher learning, and then to a good secured job in the civil service. But over the years the giant civil service's oversized body can take in all of them no more. Some of the Malays graduates are unemployed in the end. This is a pitiful lot, much worse off than the Chinese and Indian youths.

The non Bumi youths kowing very well that getting a place in the local universities and then onto a secured job in the civil service is next to impossible for them, they will either go overseas (depending on family ability) to further their studies and do not return to Malaysia, or will take the plunge into the working place as non-graduates and learn a vocational skill. They will work and gain enough experience after some time and start their own business, so the non Bumi business community will grow bigger and bigger. Surprised, aren't you? Well, you should not be, this is a vicious circle, and the Malaysian government is not trying to put in a sincere effort to correct it.

At the mean while what happen to the unemployed Malays graduates? Well, they stay at home, grumbling, whinning and waiting for openings like the 9MP to come along. They loathe the idea of learning up the skills to do business. How do you expect them to take over the business control of the country?

Slotting 60% of all civil works to Bumi contractors will help to produce more Bumi entrepreneurs? You can allocate 100% of the contracts to them, all the contracts will be carried out by the non Bumi contractors in the end, the Bumi contractors will just sit back and enjoy the commissions. The legend of "Ali Bapa" will live on! Will they ever learn any thing? Of course they will, they will learn to drive expensive cars, learn to search out the most expensive holidays spots, learn to politics with money and eventually learn to file for bankrupcy.

The award of tenders of civil works are always seen as the pay off by political leaders to their supporters. We should not expect any different this time around. We live in a real world.

Penang, home state of the PM and Sabah which is lagging behind other Malaysian states economically are the two happiest states this time. They will both receive larger allocation of funds during the 9MP.

Tudung for all policewomen

2006-03-27T21:23:00.000+08:00

The Inspector General of Police of Malaysia sent out a directive that all female police personnel in Malaysia have to wear the head scarf (tudung) for all march-pass, passing out ceremonies and the national parade. This was met with very unfavourable response from the non muslim community, the loudest protests are from the oppositions, as usual. Then the IGP quickly clarified that it is only compulsory for muslim female police personnel, it is optional for non muslims.
Then the Prime Minister said that if tudung is part of the police uniform, then all policewomen should wear it regardless of religion backgrond.
So on the recent 199th police day parade we saw almost all the policewomen wore the scarves, except for a few non muslim policewomen. It will be interesting to see what will be the fate of these few who did not comply.
The question of whether should female workers who deal with the public, especially with foreign visitors wear the tudung while on duty is not a new one. Those in the service industries like hotels, tour operators, restaurants, entertainment sector as well as the media are against it for fear that the label of Malaysia being a radical muslim nation will stick. Those who are for it will argue that muslim women should be allowed to wear tudung in the workplace, otherwise it will be considered harassment of individual's religion.
But in the case of the policewomen wearing tudung in official parades has taken a new twist to the issue. What would the real radical muslims inMalaysia react when they learn that non muslim women are wearing the tudung which they consider the utmost suci (holy) n the public?
They will certainly take this as a very big insult to their religion.
My statement is not wihout any grounds. Remember not very long ago some non muslims trying to show their friendliness to their muslim colleagues by greeting them with the muslim phrase,"Assala maliakum", and the friends took offend thinking that the non muslim guys are mocking them. And this became a big issue. They insisted that only muslims are authorised to say such phrase. Only words itself created so much troubles, what more with the holy scarf ?
There is another point I wish to raise here. The Chinese youth have being accused by the government,the police department and UMNO politicians in the past that they are not patriotic because very few of them like to join the police force. And they are only interested in making money. Those who said this ought to have their brains checked or to be put through an IQ test designed specially for primary school students. Please be informed that NOT all Chinese youth are from rich families, don't look so surprised, it is an undeniable fact. They will gladly join the police force to enjoy the steady job with many not tracable side-incomes, if only you don't make it difficult for them to join and also not to create any deep unease like the case of tudung. Come on, Chinese are human too, they also do not like religion harassment. So the best way is to stay out, keep clear of all these unease.
Tell me honestly, do you think more Chinese youth will wish to join the police force after reading the IGP's new directive in the news?

Dong Zhong and NFCSH End Dispute

2006-03-20T10:49:00.000+08:00

The dispute between the two major groups of Chinese educationists in Malaysia, the Dong Zhong (United Chinese School Committees Association) and The National Federation of Chinese School Headmasters was put to an end with the help of the Jiao Zhong(United Chinese School Teachers Committees Association) in a meeting between the three groups in the presence of other concerned parties.
The three groups quickly came to an agreement to end the dispute and to reconcile for the good of Chinese education development in Malaysia, after one hour and a half of discussions. They will adhere to the following four general understandings :

To highlight to the government the importantce of the Dong Zhong in the running of Chinese medium schools in the country
The award of tenders to canteen operators in Chinese schools should remain the provocative of the Dong Zhong
The setting up of a committee to oversee the running of all fee-collecting matters in the Chinese schools
The Dong Zhong should be kept informed about matters that involve fee-collection.

The above agreements seem reasonable, it is what it should be in the first place. The handling of matters involving money will be more transparent and nobody will run the risk of being wrongly accused in the future.

We are fortunate that our educationists finally come to their senses and decided to talk things over instead of exposing all the ugly matters in the media. And there is still hope for Chinese education development in the country at the end.

Dong Zhong Vs The Headmasters

2006-03-06T15:19:00.000+08:00

While my attetion was grabbed by tensions build-up between Taiwan and China the past few days, tensions are also building up between factions of the Chinese community in my own country! Chineses are good fighters - amongst themselves,that is.

The National Federation of Chinese School Headmasters is at war with Dong Zhong (United Chinese School Committees association). Traditionally all headmasters of Chinese primary schools are appointed by Dong Zhong's affiliate members, that is the school committees of individual Chinese schools. But this power of Dong Zhong has gradually but surely being eroded by the government, and the Chinese school headmasters consider themselves more as government servants than employees of the Dong Zhong nowadays. So there is not much respect left for the Dong Zhong as far as the headmasters are concern. This is not surprising to see the current dispute between the two to grow into this scale oblivious to the concerns of the Chinese community in Malaysia. And there is no sign that either side will be eager to bring this to an early stop.

Apparently this dispute was started by a committee member of a School's Parents-Teachers Association in Petaling Jaya by accusing that some headmasters in Chinese primary schools are receiving hefty kickbacks from suppliers of text-books, excersie books, stationeries and computers. As a result these suppliers enjoy monopoly over the supply of these items, and parents are not allowed to source from else where. This were echoed by several parents in the press. One businessman (reported to be a member of a school committee) put up a RM50,000.00 reward for information related to any corrupted headmaster in Chinese school. To make matter worse,there are actually 40+ responses to it.

The response from the furious headmasters was dramatic. The placed advertisements in the newspaper threatening to disband The National Federation of Chinese School Headmasters and also will stop conducting all tuitions (extra classes) for Bahasa Malaysia,English Language and computers beginning second half of 2006. And they will only supply text-books recommended by the Education Department, and parents will have to look for reference books for their children on their own. Wow this is quite a bomb for the parents!

I don't know about other parents, I personally welcome the NFCS announcement, I would feel much relieved. I have two schooling kids, the amount they have to pay is ridiculous. And they keep changing the texk books every year, the younger child can not just reuse the books handed down from the elder one. I think something is fishy there, is there a need to change it every year?

Good news is Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussien announced that less emphasis will be placed on examinations in the new education system. Text-books, reference books and tuition classes will not play such an important role then.

As an after thought why can't the two sides sit down and talk, is there a third party preventing this to take place? In the case of Taiwan and China, USA is the obvious culprit; but in our case, who?

IGP Warns OCPDs

2006-03-03T16:18:00.000+08:00

Inspector General Of Police Tan Sri Bakri Omar reminded 145 district police chiefs (Officer in Charge of Police Distrct,OCPD) that they should be more sensitive when dealing with the public, especially regarding matters that may give rise to the issue of human rights. The IGP was speaking to these OCPDs attending a 3- day human rights seminar.
He reiterated these officers were being taught human rights all the times, this seminar was also conducted to reinforce their understanding of the subject. If need be,this seminar can be extended to acheive the objective. If there were officers still can not understand, then they are advised to change jobs, "We don't want stupid officers..." he said.
The IGP was frustrated after a series of incidents bringing the police force into disrepute recently.
Bravo, well put,Tan Sri !

Malaysia's First Online Grocery Shopping Portal

2006-03-03T10:33:00.000+08:00

eGrocries.com.my - the first online gorcery shopping mall in Malaysia was launched by the Wah Kong group and MnEBay Technologies Sdn Bhd.
They expect the portal will generate RM6 million turnover in the first year of operation. Aren't they a bit over optismatic? The general Malaysian public is still not tuned to online purchase just yet and a vast majority feel insecured revealing their credit card details online.
To over come this fear eGroceries provide door-door delivery and accept credit cards at the door. Then again this will limit their coverage, and defating the purpose of being "on the net" in the first place.
Their door-to-door delivery is limited to Klang Valley areas only, and to enjoy this service the minimum purchase is RM100.00 in one receipt. Also they do not make deliveries on the following holidays: New Years Day, Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, Hari Raya Haji, Labor Day, Wesak Day, Agong's Birthday, Sultan Selangor birthday, Independence Day and Christmas Day. Orders will be delivered the next working day in the above cases. Not much an online experience, right?

Full List Of Malayia Cabinet 2006

2006-02-28T09:30:00.000+08:00

Following is the full list of Cabinet Ministers and members of administration of Prime Minister of Malaysia :

Ministry	Minister
Prime Minister	Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Deputy Prime Minister	Datuk Seri Najib Tun Hussein
Prime Minister's Department
1. Minister	Tan Sri Bernard Dompok
2. Minister	Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz
3. Minister	Datuk Seri Mohd Effendi Norwawi
4. Minister	Prof Datuk Dr Abdullah Md Zin
5. Minister	Datuk Dr Maximus Ongklili
1. Deputy Minister	Datuk M. Kayveas
2. Deputy Minister	Joseph Entulu
3. Deputy Minister	Datuk Abdul Rahman Sulaiman
Parliamentary Secretary	Datuk Dr Masitah Ibrahim
Finance
Minister	Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Second Minister	Tan Sri Nor Mohamed YakcopMinister
1. Deputy Minister	Datukl Dr Ng Yen Yen
2. Deputy Minister	Datuk Dr Awang Adek
Parliamentary Secretary	Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya
Internal Security
Minister	Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
1. Deputy Minister	Datuk Mohd Johari Baharum
2. Deputy Minister	Datuk Fu Ah Kiow
Home
Minister	Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad
Deputy Minister	Datuk Tan Chai Ho
Parliamentary Secretary	Datuk Paduka Abdul Rahman Ibrahim
Defence
Minister	Datuk Seri Najib Tun Hussein
Deputy Minister	Datuk Zainal Abidin Zin
Housing & Local Government
Minister	Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting
1. Deputy Minister	Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun
2. Deputy Minister	Robert Lau Hoi Chew
Parliamentary Secretary	Dr S. Subramaniam
Energy,Water & Communications
Minister	Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik
Deputy Minister	Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor
Information
Minister	Datuk Zainuddin Maidin
1. Deputy Minister	Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
2. Deputy Minister	Chia Kwang Chye
Parliamentary Secretary	Noriah Kasnon
Works
Minister	Datuk Seri Samy Vellu
Deputy Minister	Datuk Mohd Zain Mohamad
Parliamentary Secretary	Datuk Yong Khoon Seng
Natural Resources & Environment
Minister	Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid
Deputy Minister	Datuk S. Sothinathan
Parliamentary Secretary	Datuk Sazmi Miah
Agriculture & agro-based Industry
Minister	Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
1. Deputy Minister	Datuk Seri Mohd Shariff Omar
2. Deputy Minister	Datuk Mah Siew Keong
Parliamentary Secretary	Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim
Foreign
Minister	Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar
Deputy Minister	Datuk Joseph Satang
Parliamentary Secretary	Ahmad Shabery
Transport
Minister	Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy
1. Deputy Minister	Datuk Seri Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar
2. Deputy Minister	Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas
Human Resources
Minister	Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn
Deputy Minister	Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar
Science,Technology & Innovation
Minister	Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarlis
Deputy Minister	Kong Chu Ha
Parliamentary Secretary	Prof Datuk DrMohd Ruddin Abdul Ghani
Culture,Arts & Heritage
Minister	Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim
Deputy Minister	Datuk Wong Kam HoongMinister
Women,Family & Community Development
Minister	Datuk Seri Shahri zat Abdul Jalil
Deputy Minister	Datuk G. Palanivel
Parliamentary Secretary	Chew Mei Fun
Rural & Regioanl Development
Minister	Datuk Seri Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin
1. Deputy Minister	Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman
2. Deputy Minister	Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe
Domestic Trade & Consumer Affairs
Minister	Datuk Mohamed Shafie Apdal
Deputy Minister	Datuk S. Veerasingam
Parliamentary Secretary	Hoo Seong Chang
Plantation Industries & Commodities
Minister	Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui
Deputy Minister	Datuk Anifah Aman
Parliamentary Secretary	Datuk Dr S. Vijayaratnam
Youth & Sports
Minister	Datuk Azalina Othman Said
Deputy Minister	Datuk Liow Tiong Lai
Parliamentary Secretary	M. S. Vigneswaran
Health
Minister	Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek
Deputy Minister	Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff ahmad
Parliamentary Secretary	Lee Kah Choon
Tourism
Minister	Datuk Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor
Deputy Minister	Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai
Federal Territories
Minister	Datuk Zulhasnan Rafique
Deputy Minister	Datuk Wira Abu SemanYusop
Entrepreneur Development & C0-operative
Minister	Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin
Deputy Minister	Datuk Khamsiyah Yeop
Parliamentary Secretary	Samsu Baharun Abdul Rahman
Internationa Trade & Industry
Minister	Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz
1. Deputy Minister	Datuk Ahmad Husni
2. Deputy Minister	Ng Lip Yong
Education
Minister	Datuk Seri Hishammudin Tun Hussien
1. Deputy Minister	Datuk Hon Choon KimMinister
2. Deputy Minister	Datuk Noh Omar
Parliamentary Secretary	P. Komala Devi
Higher Education
Minister	Datuk Mustapa Mohamed
Deputy Minister	Datuk Ong Tee KeatMinister
Parliamentary Secretary	Datuk Dr Adham Baba
Last Updated On :	28 February 2006

Complaint From A Foreign Tourist

2006-02-25T12:01:00.000+08:00

Immediately after taking up their new offices, the Minister in the Tourism Ministry of Malaysia and his deputies vowed in front of the press that they will give all they have to promote and improve the tourism industry in the country. Hope they meant what they said.
I am very disappointed when a foreign tourist (judging from his comment,he is most probably a German) comments in an old post of my blog recently (21 Dec 2005). He was blasting away at me, a Malaysian, for being cheated by a Malaysian tour operator, who has no connection with me whatsover. The tour destination is in Indonesia, if I understand him correctly.
I guess the complaint was not directed at me personally, maybe he could not find any proper channel to voice his complaints and he simply keyed in the search enginees the word "Malaysian" and found my blog which happens to rank high for that keyword!
The Tourism minister please instruct your men to provide a channel for collecting feedback from visitors to Malaysia.

A Major Reshuffle In Malaysia Cabinet

2006-02-17T10:31:00.000+08:00

Finally, Prime Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has slected a team to his own liking! He had kept the original cabinet since he took over from Tuan Dr Mahatir with only minor adjustments.

Everyone seems to be pleased with the new line up, praises from all quarters, except the Oppositions, of course. There were a few surprises, like those who lost in their bids for positions in their own parties are retained in contrary of predictions by political analysts. And there is Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz who was in the center of the recent "AP" controversy, was widely believed to be dropped. And to everyone's surprise she retains her profolio of Minister of International Trade and Industry.

In spite of the great numbers of persons involved in the reshuffle, the key positions remained unchanged. These are:

Internal Security
Foreign Affairs
Home Affairs
Defense
Works
Water and Communications
International Trade and Industry
Education.

They are all headed by the original ministers. Hence it is quite safe to say that the core policy of Malaysia ruling coalition will be pretty the same except with Datuk Seri Badawi's personal touch added.

This demonstrates that the criteria are based on ability and experience and not on political power and popularity.

Sarawak Tribune Suspended

2006-02-10T10:18:00.000+08:00

The English news paper Sarawak Tribune in Sarawak, the East Malaysia state, has its publishing permit revoked by the Federal Government yesterday. The order was given by Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi personally. He is also the Internal Security Minister of Malaysia. No indication of when will this suspension be lifted was given.

The Sarawak Tribune republished the publication of 12 Muhammad cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September, which sparked off a series of violent protests from Muslims (especially radicals) all over the world.

Everybody, including those in western countries where religion tolerance is unheard of, should have learned that these cartoons are meant to radicule Prophet Muhammad in particular and the Muslims in general by now. Yet the Sarawak Tribune, a news paper in Malaysia where religion tolerance is a way of life, chose to republish them really stunned all Malaysians.

Really, another case of insentive minds at work.

Malaysia Police Department facing leadership crisis

2006-02-06T16:50:00.000+08:00

Top seven ranking officers in the Malaysia Police Department will be due for retirement before end of year2006. It is reported in the news that the police department may face a problem in finding suitable candidates to fill their positions. All 7 are holding the rank of Commissioer of Police (CP), while the highest ranking officer amongst the younger remaining officers is Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP). Some of the younger officers have to be promoted soon in order to fill the gap.

Hope the reshuffling at the top of the police force will not affect the performane of the men in the field due to lack of proper supervisions.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

2006-02-02T20:39:00.000+08:00

I wish all Malaysian Chinese a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year!

For all those who balik kampung for the long week-end,Chinese and non-Chinese alike, please drive with caution and patience. Remember your mission is to go home and spend a happy holidays with your loved ones and then back to work safely. Don't let this mission fail half way home.

Pandu cermat jiwa selamat!

GONG XI FA CAI

Suspects of rape murder acquitted

2006-01-27T12:22:00.000+08:00

Just as I am afraid of, the 6 suspects arrested recently over the rape murder of factory executive Chee Gaik Yap was acquitted. The reason : DNA tests failed to link them to the case.
Fortunately, they are remanded under a different clause for further investigation.
We are not asking the police to simply find some scapegoats, but there must be somebody responsible for the girl's death. If they are not, then who is? The police have not made any arrest beside these group of people. What is the explaination to the stains of sperms and blood found on their vehicle,with which they were arrested?

It is high time the police department upgarde their investigation skills, laboratory facilities/analysis and their level of commitment.

Is it going to be just ANOTHER unsolved case?

Ministers withdrew their memorandum

2006-01-22T19:37:00.000+08:00

Earlier of the week 9 ministers from the cabinet of Malaysia submitted a memorandum to the prime minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi urging him to amend the constitution in order that Malaysian Islamic Court (Syriah) will not issue injunctions to seize the bodies of deceased non Muslims during their funerals.
The deceased persons in questions are claimed by the Muslim authority that they had converted to embrace the Islamic faith without the knowledge of their family members. The actions by the religion authority came as a huge shock to the deceased family adding to their pain of losing their loved ones.
The 9 ministers who submitted the said memorandum are all non Muslims. However,under pressure from the Muslim components of the Malaysian National Front, and with the personal request from the prime minister himself pleading the 9 ministers to withdraw the memorandum, the momorandum was finally withdrawn. (Only 5 of the original 9 ministers were present).

I strongly advise all non Muslim Malaysians to go to the lawyers and include in their wills the following clause : "I shall never be converted into a Muslim, and under no circustance shall I be buried in a Muslim cementery ", just in case.

Sorry,no handphones in school for now

2006-01-20T13:42:00.000+08:00

The final decision by the Education Ministry of Malaysia is to withdraw its earlier announcement to allow students of all schools to bring handphones to schools. Reason : Parents and teachers are not ready (some critiques that about 5-10 years behind time).

Then again, the Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin said it will be implemented later, stage by stage. Yes, begin with the secondary schools, the students of which are big enough to handle this. We cannot postpone it for ever, else people in other parts of the world may look upon us as "ulu".

6 suspects held for killing of girl

2006-01-18T14:51:00.000+08:00

6 workers from a race horse stable were detained for investigation into the murder of a girl while she was jogging at a high class residential area in Sungai Petani. She was later dumped at the entrance of a resort.
The stable was close to the scene of murder. A vehicle was retained together with the suspects. Stains of sperms and blood were found at the vehicle.
Hopefully the police will not forget to send these specimens for DNA analysis.
Let's hope this case be solved and not ending with the accused been acquitted due to some technical fumble up.
We are seeing more and more serious homicide cases go unsolved, the accused always being acquitted due to technical mistakes.
Maybe we should create a blog to record these acquitted cases, recoding the names of the prosecuting officers, court judges. At the end of the year we will name the winner with the highest score!

Do not jog alone

2006-01-16T09:47:00.000+08:00

It was reported in the news today that a young woman was raped and killed while jogging in a Taman in Sungai Petani.
Please do not take the risk and jog alone, especially young beautiful girls, even in broad day light. This is NOT the fisrt time young beautiful women were killed while alone in secluded places. There are 4 such cases where the murderers are still at large.
The fact that one can commit such crimes and still escape punishement definitely will motivate others like-minded individuals to try to do it also.
This will make it more dangerous for any young (and beautiful) girls to go any place alone.
I pray this particular post will be read by all Malaysian girls. Please forward this to your friends.

Sin Chung School-a test of Pak Lah's integrity or authory?

2006-01-12T15:45:00.000+08:00

SRJ Kebangsaan Sin Chung is located inside the constituency of the Prime Minister of Malaysia,Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi, oh my God I didn't know!
It seems very odd, very very odd! True, the developer has the legal right to tear down the school, but the arrogance with which he went about handling this matter is definitely not the Malaysian way. He must at least "give face" to the wakil in that area, unless he has the blessing of the said wakil. Did Pak Lah give him the blessing? I doubt it very much.
Then it must be that he did not care who the wakil is, be it be it an ordinary MP or the Prime Minister himself. I wonder again who is this guy? So powerful that he can just ignore the Prime Minister. Or maybe he plans to quit doing business in Malaysia after completion of this particular project, so that he can afford to antagonize everyone.
Sin Chung was built with the help of the public's donations through the years. Now that it will be demolished, who will help to rebuild it now? Surely they can not collect enough money in such a short notice. The only way is to convert it to a full government managed school; this will be a severe blow to the Chinese community.
Pak Lah said he had given full authority to Penang's Chief Minister Dr Koh Su Koon to handle the matter. Can Dr Koh handle it? It was very clear in past incidences that the developer did not respect him at all. Dr Koh is in a real dilemma now!

Handphones in schools

2006-01-11T10:17:00.000+08:00

The education department of Malaysia has instructed all schools in the country to allow students to bring handphones to schools. But they have to adhere to the rules regarding the usage of handphones in schools,they can only use them before school,after school and during recess.
This has brought critics from all angles,the parents,teachers and headmasters. Their reasons for objecting:

1. The students may be distracted from their study,they may be busy engaing in games and SMS back and fro.
2. The rich kids may show off their expensive sets in front of the poorer ones,hence causing envy. This may lead to theft or damage to others' handphones. Teachers will have to spend unnecessary time to handle these cases.
3. Parents will face difficulties in fullfilling their children's wishes to possess handphones as all their friends are using handphones now.
4. Students can make use of the school's telephones to contact their parents for urgent matters.

Point# 1 is quite easy to handle, any student found violating the rules laid down by the Education Department will have his/her phone confiscated as instructed by the Department.

Point#2 is slightly complicated but still can be solved. The schools can restrict the models of handphones allowed in the schools,requiring the students to bring only the cheapest yet still functioning handphones. If they want to show off,they may do so outside the schools.

Pont# 3 is too personal,I can not offer any suggestion.

Point# 4 gives room to a lot of arguments.How do you define "urgent" ? To some students the slightest stress, like the transport is late or forget to bring a book, is a matter of emergency; while to some students, nothing is worth worrying about, unless the sky fell on top of them.

In my humble opinion, it is good for the kids to be easily contacted. In case there is some thing suddenly crops up at works and can not come to fetch them home immediately, at least the kids will know. In this case this is an in-coming call, are the teachers willing to go a few blocks just to inform the kids? Say there might be 10-20 such calls everyday?
In another scenario, say a kid is supposed to stay back for some extra curriculum activity,so he/she will not follow the "Bas Sekolah" home, instead the parents will pick him/her home after works. But the activity is suddenly cancelled, he/she will have to stay idling in the school for a good 4-5 hours. This is how the students begin to sneak out the schools and hang around the shops where they pick up bad company. I don't want this to happen to my kids!

Allowing kids to bring handphones to school is not a bad thing, provided we do it carefully.

Condolence

2006-01-09T15:55:00.000+08:00

My deepest condolences to the families of the 4 Haj pilrims from Malaysia who were killed in the collasped hotel in Jundaria Road near Masjidil Haram in Mecca last Thursday.

Note this day in history

2006-01-06T11:05:00.000+08:00

The session court has ruled that the developer has every right to demolish the Sin Chung Chinese Primary School. Note this day in history as the day a fully operational school in MALAYSIA first to be legally demolished in front of the public.

Let's not get into the details of legal issues here,I am not trained for it. Let's talk about the humane side. The eagerness of the developer to tear down the school frigtening young school childern to cry is inhumane. Can't they wait for school seesions for the day to be over ? The session court judge should have thought of this and order the developer to wait a day or two. Fortunately the school managed to get an order in time from the high court judge to delay the demolition.

Umm....the session court judge is a Malay,while the high court judge is a Chinese. Is it a coincident or am I being too sensitive? Don't get me wrong I am not trying to stir up sensitive racial issues, am just thinking if the two judges were to interchange positions, the court decision might still be the same. But the way it was to be handled could be much more subtle,much more humane.

The learned leaders of Malaysia are emphasizing the importance of education towards nation building, towards acheiving the 2020 vision. But here we see court judges ordering the tearing down of schools,how ironic! Is making money all important? Must commercial deals get higher priority than providing education for our younger generation?

I don't know who is right or wrong,and I don't care. What sends chill down my spine is the way the whole thing is handled.

The Construction Companies Again!

2006-01-04T01:34:00.000+08:00

A man with a PHD from Cambridge University ,who has a bright future before him, was killed when a 720kg steel and concrete slab fell from building in a construction site while he was driving through the traffic next to the site.His wife who was with him in the car was seriuosly injured but survived.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia said the government is going to find out the cause of this tragic incident.The Cabinet will discuss this matter in details soon.
A site supervisor of a construction company when contacted said,"Strict safety rules and regulations are adhered to here,but sometimes some careless workers did not adhere to the rules. Nothing much we can do except sack them after been found committing the mistake 3 times."
This is by far the most irresponsible remarks I have heard! If you can not hire workers who are competent and follow safety rules then do not carry out any large projects that may endanger others' lives.
Imagine a worker is allowed to make such risky mistakes 3 times before he will be sacked,it is like letting him have 3 chances to try to attempt killing others!
I remember there were other incidents where heavy cranes fell on passing cars in the past.
It is high time for the Malaysian government to take a closer look at the background of the constructions companies.
And do not let traffic come too close to constructions sites.

Tun Dr Mahathir for routine medical checkup

2005-12-30T17:14:00.000+08:00

There were romours flying about that the ex PM Tun Dr Mahathir was critcally ill and was admitted to hospital.
Tun Dr Mahathir immediately issued a statement that he was only going for a routine checkup. Wow, a retired politician still can stir up so much news!

Big business with only 1 Euro

2005-12-29T17:35:00.000+08:00

Malaysia national car builder Proton has sold its subsidiary,Agusta for 1 miserable Euro.
Agusta was acquired by Proton for 7000 Euro with much fanfare on 7 July 2004 . Subsequently Proton pumbed in another RM 1.7 billions to cover losses incurred. It lasted barely a year and all we saved is 1 Euro. No profit and no technology transfer.
After the MAS fisco,this is another big money sucker.
Work harder you Inland Revenue guys out there,we need you to feed these big money suckers!

Kedah Tenaga transformer stolen

2005-12-29T17:24:00.000+08:00

Three stand-by feed transfomers of Kedah Tenaga was stolen.The capacity of these transformers are enough to power half of Kedah.Two large lorries are used to carry them away. What do these thieves take the police for,they think the police are blind or what?
The police should pay regular visits to the second hand goods and scrap iron traders,so that these people will not be so bold as to carry out a stunt like this. Maybe the junk yards are too dirty for our policemen to set foot on?

Who own these construction companies?

2005-12-27T10:54:00.000+08:00

The authority and dignity of 2 state government are put to the test recently,coincidentally both by developers (construction companies).
The fisrt incidence is in Tawau of Sabah.4 lots of state lands ear-marked for recreations purposes and car parks are given to private developers under dubious conditions. The irregularity was exposed when construction works were started on these lots.
The town council called an emergency meeting and declared that works on these lands should stop with immediate effect.However,the town council's order was ignored and works continued.
Petitions and protests from the public occupied the front pages of local news papers daily,which caused the cabinet to issue an order to the said developer to stop work on the project. Yet works on the said site continued,and the news reported (complete with photos) that the protesters and the developer's employees are getting physical.
The Chief Minister himself had to stand out and gave stern warning to the developer.The dispute is not over yet.
Who is behind this developer who can ignore the weight of the town council/state cabinet/CM? Even if they go ahead and complete the project,who will buy their shop lots knowing very well that they will not be able to get OC,trade licences and other permits if the relationships between the developer and the authority are strained?
To top it all the self-proclaimed "champion of the people",the Consumers Association Of Sabah (CASH) ,is on the site of the developer! The developers are robbing the people of recreations and parking facilities,and CASH stood by them and urged the state government not to stop them!

The second incidence takes place in Penang.
It involves public interests too,this time the victim is a school,Sin Chung Chinese Primary School (the name is translated by me,might not be accurate,because I read only Chinese papers).
A developer managed to get a court injunction to evacuate the school and a factory nearby which are situated on state lands.How they gained control of the state lands with school on it is everybody's guess.
Anyway,the villagers/parents formed a human wall against the developer's bull dozers and the fierce workers to protect the school.
This makes good content for the news papers,especially the Chinese news. This stirred the Chief Minister himself.He ordered the developer to stop threatening the school.Meanwhile refurbishment works were going on in the school.
When the works on the school was completed,the Chief Minister and many of the local dignitaries went to witness the open ceremony.What welcome him was a new solid fence of wood and zinc surrouding the school,only a small "dog-hole" was left open to let the CM and and his group of YBs to pass.
The ceremony was called off to save the CM from the humiliation of going through a "dog-hole".
The fence was susequently pulled down by city council workers. But it sprang up again later in the day! The fence was pulled down the second time,police men are posted there this time to prevent the fence to be put up for the third time. Unfortunately,the developer had dug a huge hole in the middle of the access road to the school.It is believed that the road is government property,the law is broken then! Take them to court and see the reaction of the court!
Again,who is this developer who is more powerful than the CM,making the whole state government so helpless ?

Merry Christmas

2005-12-24T17:00:00.000+08:00

Merry Christmas!

Foreigners as tourist guides

2005-12-21T01:36:00.000+08:00

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib announced that foreign individuals will be allowed to work as tourist guides to serve visitors from their home countries.
This move will certainly boost the tourism industry. Earlier this month 9 Mandarin speaking personnels from the Immigration dept are stationed at airports of the major cities to facilatate smooth operation at the check points in order to attract visitors from China,Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The government is doing the right things,if you want people to come here you must make them feel at home and stay longer (and spend more).Remember Malaysia is not the only country that has bright sunshine and beautiful beaches!

Floods at 4 northen states in Penisular Malaysia

2005-12-19T12:44:00.000+08:00

The yearly north-east moosoons (winds) is demostrating its powress again.
It brings a 3-day non stop down pours.As a result,the northern states--Perlis,Kedah,Kelatan and Trengganu are under 5 feet flood water.
All land transport between the north and south are cut off,rubber-dinghy are deployed to reach areas where aids are urgently needed.In extremely urgent cases,helicopters are used.
Losses are yet to be assessed as a result of power cut,and road inaccessibility and crop destruction.
One thing for sure the yield from Kedah,the ricebowl of Malaysia will drop dramatically.

The Kedah state government blames Thailand for the disaster,because the southern Thailand state city Changloon was under 8 feet of flood water,and they opened the flood-gates and let the surplus of water to flow into Malaysia. What a kind neighbour we have here!

Radio Hosts' Pronunciation And Accent

2005-12-12T11:31:00.000+08:00

The authority concerned has released a new set of guidelines for Bahasa Malaysia announcers of Radio TV Malaysia,as there are a lot of confusions over how to pronounce certain words among the announcers.

This is definitely a positive step,but the authority can go one step further by correcting the annoucers' accent as well. The spoken Malay words differ from their written forms when the last syllable ends in the vowel "a",the spoken words will be read with the last syllables ending with the vowel "e" instead of "a",to make the last accent less heavy.Example : "mereka" will be read as "mereke" instead.

The fomer deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim wanted to change this way of accenting over the air.He introduced the Bahasa Baku where "mereka" will be read as "mereka" not "mereke". Unfortunately the Bahasa Baku sounds very much similar to the way Indonesians speak,so the annoucers thought that by aping the Indonesians they will be speaking perfect Bahasa Baku,which is not true. The Bahasa Baku requires that the last syllable of words not to be light-accented,whereas the Indonesians put heavy accent on every single syllable of their words!

So let's speak BahasaBaku,not Bahasa Indonesia!

Malysia's own squash Queen,Nicole David.

2005-12-09T17:08:00.000+08:00

What Nicole has accomplished is some thing which I never believe a Malaysian can achive....I confess.

You make us proud,Nicole!!!

National Service Camp for the Police

2005-12-06T12:36:00.000+08:00

Design a "NATIONAL SERVICE CAMP" specially for the police force!

Since everyone agrees that the "National Service" camps are good for instilling desirable values in our kids,why not set up the same trainings for those police personnels who are already in the service for over 10 years?

The recent stream of disgraceful publicities created by the police is,in my opinion,stemmed from pure boredoom. The police personnels involved have nothing better to do. When the public report minor cases like handbags-snatching to them,they will just reocrd the incidence and advise the victims,"small matter lah,forget it lah..." Then they do nothing. On the other hand,when met with serious crimes like murder cases,they will push them to higher authority or special unit. They will say,"oh...so big case,we can't handle lah...".

Then what is left for them to do? Everyone knows the answer now after reading the many bad reports about them from the media.

An alternative to the "KHIDMAT NEGARA KHAS" for the police personnels to help them while off their idle time is to get them involved in community/social works. Moreover,it will help them get rid of their bulging bellies!!!

No more oil price hike,please!

2005-09-07T20:59:00.000+08:00

Please dont increase the price of oil again.Cost of living is already high,any further increase in oil prices will eventually push the cost of living even higher.
According to the findings of a news paper 20% of the people's monthly expenses exceed their incomes.This is very sad to hear.If this situation is not changed,it is meaningless to acheive the year 2020 vision.

Malaysia Independence Day

2005-08-31T23:20:00.000+08:00

MERDEKA !

MERDEKA !