!عام سعيد Chúc Mừng Năm Mới! 新年快乐! Selamat Tahun Baru! Happy New Year! Ein gutes neues Jahr ! Bonne année!

I would like to wish everyone a very happy new year 2009! May the dawn of a new year brings more happiness to everyone. Have fun and have a wonderful year ahead!

TNB Bill Waived

Guess what? I actually have my TNB bill this month waived as it was subsidized by the Government of Malaysia!!! And this must be the least electricity bill I have incurred in my life! Only RM13.73.

The Little Nyonya

The biggest year-end production of Mediacorp - The Little Nyonya (小娘惹) is now showing on Channel 8. A slice of history and culture of the Peranakans, a unique community found in the Straits Settlements of Malaya. This is what Mediacorp is best at - dramas depicting olden days Singapore - it does give a bit of feeling of nostalgia, doesn't it? They are also good at dramas depicting lifestyle of modern Singapore. However, they have to stop those crap shows on God of Gambler or attempted action-packed shows, coz they are simply hopeless at those.

Talking about Singapore, they are pretty down now with the ongoing recession. Retrenchments seem the order of the day with us expecting JB to be the receiving end of retrenched Malaysians. As usual, Malaysians will be among the first to go! We can't blame them. The same with Malaysia - the Indons, Banglas and Indians will most likely be the first to be sent packing in a downturn. That's just life. But JB is already crime-packed as it is, with more jobless returning from across the Causeway there could be 2 scenarios. The better one would be more selection of hawkers as returning ones may take open stalls selling char kuey teow and laksa. The second scenario which is more likely - rising crime rate. Tak boleh cari makan? Well just go and mug and rob! Or maybe the NFOs will have a field day. Don't you realize there are more special draws nowadays at Toto?

Keeping meetings short

They always say that we should keep meetings straight-forward and short. But everyone knows that this is rarely the case. Meetings tend to be long-winded, boring affairs deliberating over peanuts and arguing over ego-nonsense. Not to mention if you have an asshole or two sitting in! But that's a fact of life and we have to somehow learn to manage it.

However, there is one way to keep meetings short! An experiment was conducted where decisions were compared between a group meeting without chairs (and thus have to stand) and another group meeting the conventional way which is to sit down. It was found that stand-up meetings took 34% less time to make the assigned decision. The good thing was the quality of the decisions was just as good as those made by the sit-down group. So such meetings can not only save time it also saves some money on chairs!

Maybe we can do the same in the parliament since our MPs are wasting lots of time and our taxpayer's money debating crap and producing crap. Garbage in, garbage out - hallmark of our political system. Get rid of all the chairs and let our MPs stand. Maybe then we can squeeze some sense out of their mouths.

It's a pet's world

Do you know that...

• In America, the top 1% of pets live better than 99% of the world's population.
• In the past 15 years, the drop of percentage of households with children and the rise in percentage of househols with pets have been practically the same. - Seems like people nowadays prefer pets to children!
• In 2006, Americans spend $40b on pets, more than double what they spent in 1990.
• New pet luxuries: teeth-witheners, breath fresheners, fur glisteners, designer sweaters, jewelry, animal car seats, acne cream, nail polish, anti-aging creams, pet contact lenses, paw-fumes
• There's actually a "The Hound of Music" package. For $1600 you can let your dog have ride on a limousine to a recording studio and have his barking accompanied and digitally mastered onto a holiday CD. Massage included - for the dog.
• Doggie dating services, wedding, animal retirement homes, pet funerals

Life as a pet is definitely getting better in most places. But turn to the other side of the world to Vietnam or Korea and dogs are savored as a delicacy. Yiieerr..... But that's the sad truth. Vietnamese eat dogs to rid off bad luck. Apparently they only eat dogs towards the end of the month to rid off all the bad luck in hope of brighter new month. Dogs are never eaten in the beginning of the lunar month. In Vietnam, there are 7 ways to cook dogs:

• Thit cho hap - steamed dog meat
• Rua man - steamed dog in shrimp paste, rice flour and lemon grass
• Doi cho - dog sausage
• Gieng Me Mam Tom - Steamed dog in shrimp paste, ginger, spices and rice vinegar
• Thit cho nuong - grilled dog meat
• Canh Xao Mang Cho - Bamboo shoots and dog bone marrow
• Cho Xao Sa Ot - Fried dog in lemon grass and chili

Feeling sick already? Vietnamese eat cats too.... Someone told me cats taste better dogs.

Perhaps it may seem sick to foreigners, but it's just a culture and custom. What seems right to us may not seem right to them anyway. Disclaimer: they don't pet dogs or cats. The eaten ones are reared for that purpose pretty much the way we rear chickens and ducks.

How to lower performance

Wonder why your organization is not performing up to the mark? Feeling exhausted from work? You may have become a subject of an 'organizational malpractice'. This is according to Daniel Goleman's Working with Emotional Intelligence. Here is an edited excerpt from one of the chapters in the book:

There are 6 ways in which organizations or companies demoralize and demotivate employees, or so says Daniel Goleman:

• Work overload - Too much work to dor, with too little time and support.
• Lack of autonomy - Being accountable for work but having little say in how to go about it. Micromanagement by superior.
• Skimpy rewards - Getting too little pay for more work.
• Loss of connection - Increasing isolation on the job. Lack the 'human glue' that makes team excel.
• Unfairness - Inequities in how people are treated.
• Value conflicts - A mismatch between a person's principles and the demands of their job.

The net result of these organizational malpractices is to breed chronic exhaustion, cynicism, and a loss of motivation, enthusiasm and productivity.

The Four 'Slims' of Vietnam

Việt Nam has the famous four slims (miao tiao). Sorry, I don't know how to write miao tiao in Chinese characters!

Firstly, the country is slim. Look at the map of Việt Nam and you'll notice the country runs narrowly along a long coast line of more than 2,000km.













Then by the time you land in any of the major cities of Việt Nam like Hồ Chí Minh City and Hà Nội, you'll find that their roads are very narrow. Not to mention the chaotic traffic scene with motorcyles, cyclos, humans, cars, buses all cramming into the limited space.













Next are the slim houses and shops. All houses in Việt Nam are usually built with a narrow front but the houses could be quite deep inside. This is because traditionally, the houses and lands are taxed based on the width of the land and not the area!













And of course, the fourth 'miaotiao' would be the slim Vietnamese ladies. This must be something to do with their food intake which is quite healthy and not oily.









Việt Nam is in itself a beautiful country. Vietnamese are quite soft-spoken, friendly and nice people. And for all its years of suffering and war, it has grown to become a charming and beautiful country. I've so far covered Hồ Chí Minh City and Hà Nội. In due time, I hope I can also visit the historical city of Huế, Đà Nẵng and Hội An in central Việt Nam.

For more of my travels to Việt Nam so far, pls visit my Virtual Tourist Travel Page.

Ice Cream

Ice cream is and has always been one of my favorite dessert. When I was in secondary school, I used to walk home from school with a bunch of friends - Zul, Shahidi, Livin etc. And almost daily, we stopped by at a grocery store in Section 2 and bought each of us an ice cream. Not a very healthy lifestyle! But hey, the weather is bloody hot in this country. Surely a bit of indulgence is not too much to ask for. Anyway, I'm not blogging about ice creams today, rather I've here a song called 'Ice Cream' which was featured in the TVB drama Moonlight Resonance. Although it's such a lovely song, I've never heard of it before this show. The singer is such an unknown and it took me some time to find out. Anyone heard of Ciara Newell? All I know is she's an Irish singer from the group Bellefire (some say DNR and some say the Flip).

Here's the lyrics of the song:

ICE CREAM (BY CIARA NEWELL)
You talk to me
You speak with me
Don't sink before you rise baby
Don't fade away
You hesitate
You seem to wait
For all the time we had
Feels like a world away
Who's to say, we'll be ok
We will make it through the night
Don't wanna wake up in this state
I just want us both to smile
Cause we're the same
And i know that we'll never change
Look i bought your favourite ice cream
I dont wanna see it melt away

If you walk out now
I don't know if we could be the same
Baby just talk with me
Cause i want you to stay here with me

The memories
The things we did
I locked inside my heart
Where i know i won't forget
And now, who's to say, we'll be ok
We will make it through the night
Don't wanna wake up in this state
I just want us both to smile
Cause we're the same
And I know that we'll never change
Look I bought your favorite ice cream
I don't want to see it melt away
If you walk out now
I don't know if we could be the same
Baby just talk with me
Cause I want you to stay here with me
I want you to stay here with me



And I know this is totally irrelevant to the topic of 'ice cream' but I suddenly recalled a phrase in MR... "要割禾就要先彎低腰" which literally means you need to bend down to tuai padi, i.e. we need to work hard to get what we want. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Of Cows, Garbage and a Beach

I wrote this crap when I was bored to death in Dungun way back in 2001. Reflecting on those days which were so calm and peaceful, I kinda miss it in a way. Wonder how life would have been if I've stayed on in the east coast. But there are simply too many 'if' in life. So while I ponder this 'if' here's the reproduction of a short bull-crap called 'Of Cows, Garbage and a Beach':

I decided to take a short stroll down the beach near my house. The scene of the road leading to it is that of a typical kampung. Malay cottages and coconut trees are to be found all the way. Coconut husks are strewn all over the compounds of these cottages. Sometimes you will see chickens running about. Some Malay kids were chattering and reading aloud from a book. A makcik was standing at the door looking at the kids. An old pakcik was trying to ply open a coconut. They stared at me with suspicion as I walked pass. I was a stranger to them. This is only the second time I’ve actually walked that path.

Further down the road, not less than 10 mountains of cow dung have been deposited by traveling cows overnight. Its odor was unbearable. It stinks but surprisingly I didn’t find any flies circling around them. Maybe they are too busy tending to dung elsewhere. Dung is such a common sight in rural Terengganu, for that matter the whole of Terengganu is rural. I find the habit of letting cows and goats loose a nuisance. I wonder why the authorities never did anything about it. The problem is when an accident happens the whole kampung comes out and blame the poor driver. Surely the only person to blame is the one who owns the cattle? He didn’t take good care of them, did he? The cows leave their belongings everywhere they go causing so much inconvenience to pedestrians. Once a stray cow entered my house compound and spent an evening there. Thank God no deposit was left though I was startled when I heard it moo. There was another time when I was walking in my neighborhood when I almost knocked down a cow, or rather the other way round. The cow was just as startled as I was but he didn’t seem to care about my presence. He just walked on to God knows where. One evening, a car I was traveling in had to halt a full five minutes to allow a big herd of cows cross our path. For sure in this land they are Lord of Terengganu. Only yesterday after dinner at a restaurant, my housemates and I found our car surrounded by cows. It took us sometime to get our car out of that mess.

When I reached the beach I walked directly to the garbage bin. That was my reason for taking the stroll. No, I am not about to run through the precious contents of it to find a lost diamond. I was there simply to dump my garbage like what a garbage bin is for. It seems that the local council does not collect garbage from house to house. Instead we had to bring them out to designated spots along main roads and dump them there. The council will then carry out the easy task of keeping our households clean.

After finishing off my duty I decided to hang on a moment at the beach. It was a sunny day and the sun was furious. The sea looked calm enough but all will be changed in a month or two when the monsoon rages. Out in the sea, a few trawlers were out fishing. I wonder whether there will be a bountiful catch today. I have been here so many times but never once had I ventured into the sea for a swim. I read in the papers that the Dungun coast is deadly. Many people have drowned there. I remember seeing a notice board somewhere forbidding anyone from swimming in the sea. According to the locals, the beach takes a steep fall at some parts and swimmers caught unaware may drown. Therefore, I’ve only dipped my feet in the water. Might as well take heed of what the experts say.

Out in the horizon, I could see two islands. The bigger one is called Pulau Tenggol. The smaller one, I have no idea. Tenggol is reputedly a diver’s heaven. As a matter of fact that is the only reason anyone would visit the island. There are no resorts, no water sports and not much of a beach there. The water is too deep to swim in because it is only meant for diving. There’s no ferry or shuttle service to the island. To get there one has to rent a speedboat from the fisherman jetty in Kuala Dungun. Maybe one day I’ll make a visit, but then what will I do when I’m there? I can’t dive. I am afraid of depths.

After staring out into the sea for some time I decided that it’s too hot to stay any longer. Thus I began my short journey back home again, retracing the same scene. Then I remembered there is another garbage bin nearer and I need not have taken the long stroll.

By the way, the above story is a true story of myself on Nov 1, 2001. The location was between Jalan Kenanga, Dungun and Jalan Pantai (where the beach is, duh!).

Reading fever

I have been in a reading frenzy for the past few weeks or so. That is ever since I became member of the newly-opened Johor State Library located at Jalan Yahya Awal. The library is not to say very well-stocked up with books but it is quite a good effort on the part of the Johor government. The ambience and atmosphere are superb. It is very comfortable to spend some hours in on my free time. It's not those kinds of libraries where you must shut up. In fact, the whole library is quite relaxed and lively. There is not stupid dress code like most government agencies require. There is also a small cafe to take a cup of coffee while reading a book.

Come to think of it, I have always been a library-person. When I was small, I frequented the Shah Alam library which at that time was the biggest in Malaysia. Those days, I had a family card which allowed me to borrow about 8 books at one time. Later on when I shifted to KL, my visits to libraries dropped dramatically (despite the fact that I was a librarian in school). The KL national library was not so far from my house but the public bus service in that direction was horrible. For that matter of fact, public transportation in KL was and still is shameful. But the KL library really had a huge collection of reading materials. I remembered the days when I had to research old newspaper articles while working on some school projects. Was able to find papers even till pre-war days in KL's library. I also remembered there was a room with a 'Koleksi Bahan-Bahan Haram' or something like that. Would really like to sieve through these bahan-bahan haram! But for that I need to get the Home Ministry's approval! Fat chance of that.

Later on I moved to Dungun which also had a library which to my surprise was sufficiently stocked with good English reading materials. Those days I worked shift and had quite a lof of free time in the day. I did most of my John Grisham and Sidney Sheldon books during that 1 year I was in Dungun. And after a visit to the library on Thursday evenings, I can even visit the biggest Pasar Malam in the east coast, which is virtually next door.

Coming to Pasir Gudang, there was a library runned by the Pasir Gudang municipality. However, I rarely visited it. But somehow, ever since the new JB library opened I had reinvigorated in me a new Library fever. I've been reading 2 books every fortnight, borrowed from this spanking new library. My latest 'reading in progress' are Daniel Goleman's "Working with Emotional Intelligence" and Penn's "Microtrends".

The reading culture in Malaysia is still quite weak. Unlike Singapore which has themed-libraries even in shopping malls, here libraries are sparsely located with lousy collection of books. Well perhaps, that may change for the better in the future. Meanwhile, I really congratulate JB for a nice library which has helped me nourish my brain with new knowledge! For more info on this new state library, visit http://ppaj.johordt.gov.my/.

Paige Chua

A new Singaporean model and actress - Paige Chua (蔡琪慧) has come into the scene lately. I first saw her in the show 一房半厅一水缸 . Somehow she gives me the Chung Kar Yan feel and I kinda like her. Acting still has room for improvement but she has some kind of attractiveness. Someone to look out for in coming Mediacorp shows.

Talking about Singapore dramas which I was introduced to some 6 years back when I arrived in JB - they have really came a long way since they first started off. They have some really good actors and actresses which somehow are little-known outside of their tiny island state. I particularly like those shows that depict olden day Singapore and give a very Nanyang feel. Their God of Gambling type of show or attempted action-packed shows are still craps. No way to compare to TVB's. But their shows on everyday Singapore life is really great. Maybe because there are so much in common between Malaysia and Singapore, there is some connectedness when watching such series.

Another interesting Singapore trademark in their series is the strong element of government propaganda. I remembered when there were lotsa hoo-haa over falling birth rates (who to blame but LKY?) their shows immediately promoted the virtues of giving birth and gave everyone a briefing on all kinds of government incentives for having more kids. One show even went to the extent of educating the public on methods to conceive - something about guinness stout and a warm pillow! Then of course, some shows (in hardly subtle ways) promote their CCCs. And of course the latest drama serials 不凡的爱 is about awareness on HIV/AIDS patients. It is definitely no secret of how even entertainment serials are being used by their PAP government to extend all government propaganda. But then again, there is hardly anything bad to say about the Singaporean government and their propaganda in the end probably is for the better.

Chinese Family Relations

I was never good in identifying the complicated Chinese terms for different relatives. Having gotten used to calling all my elders uncles or aunties and my cousins by name, I'm always clueless when caught in a situation when I need to identify the correct Chinese term to address them.

However, in Moonlight Resonance, the evil-turned-good Susanna Kwan taught us a riddle to learn such things, although I think it only works for the Mum-side of the family. And by the way I'm still clueless. And here goes Ah Sa's riddle:

堂呀大過姑，姑呀大過姨，姨呀大過表叔公，表叔公呀大過表叔婆，表叔婆呀大過表伯，表伯娘呀表叔，表嬸，表姑媽，表姑姐，表姑丈，表舅公，表舅婆呀表姨婆，表舅父呀表舅母，表姨媽，表姨丈！

家好月圆(Moonlight Resonance)

After my last post on "Heart of Greed", I was waiting for the next HOG-genre drama series. Next up was Moonlight Resonance 家好月圆, which is basically HOG2 with most of the cast retained. Another captivating series. Unlike HOG, which basically builds up the momentum slowly, 家好月圆 is basically exciting from the very beginning. Nice watch but most of all I enjoyed 2 particular songs in this show. One is an old number by George Lam - 分分钟需要你. The other one is Lam Fung's 愛不疚.

分分钟需要你
愿我会揸火箭 带你到天空去
在太空中两人住
活到一千岁 都一般心醉
有你在身边多乐趣
共你双双对 好得戚好得意
地冧天崩当闲事
就算翻风雨 只需睇到你
似见阳光千万里
有了你开心啲 乜部都称心满意
咸鱼白菜也好好味
我与你永共聚 分分钟需要你
你似是阳光空气

扮靓啲皆因你 癫癫地皆因你
为你甘心做傻事
扮下猩猩叫 睇到乜都笑
有你在身边多乐趣
若有朝失咗你 花开都不美
愿到荒岛去长住
做个假的你 天天都相对
对木头公仔做戏
有了你开心啲 乜部都称心满意
咸鱼白菜也好好味
我与你永共聚 分分钟需要你
你似是阳光空气

有了你开心啲 乜部都称心满意
咸鱼白菜也好好味
我与你永共聚 分分钟需要你
你似是阳光空气
有了你开心啲 乜部都称心满意
咸鱼白菜也好好味
我与你永共聚 分分钟需要你
你似是阳光空气
有了你开心啲 乜部都称心满意
咸鱼白菜也好好味



愛不疚
收藏在眼眸 常徘徊左右 爱猜到没有
愉快玩笑後 能全然退後 你开心就够
这种感觉太亲厚 讲一千句也不够
假使讲了你听到後 或会走
这种恋爱太罕有 不须真正拥有
成全 衷心祝福然後 就放手
放手 放开所有 彼此更自由
放手 其实我绝非爱得不够
放手 豁出所有 还有这个好友
已经 已经足够

遥远是宇宙 静静在背後 去看守就够
这种感觉太亲厚 讲一千句也不够
即使一刹有过冲动 挽你手
这种恋爱太罕有 不须真正拥有
成全 多舍不得仍然 是放手
放手 放开所有 彼此更自由
放手 其实我绝非爱得不够
放手 豁出所有 还有这个好友
已经 已经足够
放手 我的牵挂 找不到尽头
放手 期望你幸福甚麽都有
也许 爱很深厚 然而我早看得透
放手 至可拥有

Somehow both the above songs bring some reflections.

Heart of Greed

Was watching the TVB series "Heart of Greed" (溏心風暴) when I was in KL 2 weeks ago. I must have just watched 2 or 3 episodes (which by the was after screening of 30 episodes before hand). But I was so hooked onto the serials I actually bought the entire series DVD and started watching from the beginning. There were a total of 40 episodes and I finished all of them in under 4 days, i.e. 10 episodes per day!!! I've never ever done such a thing. In fact I used to lament the fact that some people spend the entire day in front of a TV watching all those Japs or Taiwanese series. I don't watch both of those at all, but I succumbed to the all-good TVB drama. All the family feud, fighting over money, kinship, friendship, tragic love etc. 溏心風暴 was a good watch. I heard part 2 has started airing on Astro which I may just go crazy and get my hands on the DVDs. But then again, I know my sis will get those soon.

Back to 溏心風暴, it was a really nice watch. Very touching and enlightening. I particularly like the love scenes between Lam Fung and Linda Chung. The tragic end of Lam Fung's character in the show was really one of those peaks in the show. 2 famous phrases in the show: "哭有时，笑有时，悲伤有时，欢乐有时" and "有口也是和，冇口也是禾".

The Roof is Leaking

Remember how the parliament building was leaking so badly, it probably cost our dear Samy his job? The last I could recall, it was still leaking. Then it was Lim Guan Eng's official residence leaking and apparently some government officer estimated the repair to be hundreds of thousands. Well, I don't really care if it's Pak Lah's home leaking or even the famous 1151 condo! But it so happens, it's now my own apartment which is leaking! Yes, it was raining heavily today (but not really the extremely heavy type). I returned home after the rain has turned to drizzle and lo behold, I found my living hall flooded. Darn, and it's a Saturday - the apartment management is not working. SHIT!

The good thing was, the dripping rainwater missed my TV, DVD player and camera. Lucky, lucky me! Now I hope it doesn't rain over the weekend. At least till Monday when I get the management guys to settle this leak!

State of the Straits

Presenting the Straits of Johore:

Seafood anyone?

I was walking around by the Straits of Johore, and found the invasion of some kind of foamy stuff in the straits. Indeed, this is a daily phenomenon. And I've not even taken pictures of the 'gifts' Malaysians pour into the sea - plastic bags, shoes, containers, even chairs! God knows, how long our sea will survive this plunder??

JB - The Southern Gateway

Johor Bahru – the southern gateway to Malaysia. This is the first sight of Malaysia for visitors coming in through Singapore. Of course, as an entry point, the authorities have indeed done a good job in making sure that the city greets its visitors with enthusiasm, warmth and the likes. Of course, in true Malaysian culture, we have the famous traffic crawl on the causeway and greeted by a superbly rundown piece of architecture called the ‘JB Kastam’. Also, the road conditions after the architecture is sure to entice all first-time visitors. As you travel along the main street of JB, fondly called ‘Jalan Ah Fook’, you’ll have a great sense of security, that it is absolutely safe to roam around town and not be mugged by some small-time thief, which they call ‘Ah Chak Ko’. Of course, as I say it is safe, and therefore I’ve never met an ‘Ah Chak Ko’ before. The town is teeming with life as night falls. There is lots of ‘Kedai Minuman’ aka pubs and nightclubs. These healthy nightspots are sadly often mistaken for being dens of sins. However, for KL-ites, it’ll be quite difficult to get any good Mamak stalls here.

The roads are marvelous in JB. Try the Pasir Gudang Highway. This state-of-the-art highway has potholes of all sizes, guaranteeing you a free horse ride all the way. Surely tantalizes the taste buds of all horse-loving creatures. The bushes, lalang, weed and voids all along the way provides a scenery not to be missed. In fact, you may want to try driving at night. This will surely give you a complimentary test on your eyesight. Do note too, that there are streetlights along most of the highway, which are interestingly seldom lit. Also, don’t bother much about nice people who seem to like to cross the road at various stretches.

When it comes to shopping, you are in shopper’s paradise. Drop by at the most happening mall – Giant Hypermarket… Wooo! In fact there are three Giants in JB, and counting. Or if you like something more quiet, visit the Waterfront, Best World or Pacific Mall, which are all famous for empty lots. No crowds, no parking charges… what else do you want? Then for all those Taiwanese-fashion-sense-inclined people, a stop at Holiday Plaza is a must. Duty-free liquor? Try Eden Garden!

As you see, there are so many things to see in JB. So grab your bags and visit this truly beautiful city. Ohhh… have I mentioned the beautiful beaches, the ones that you’ll never know what you can see when you are in the sea? So… come on down for a fun-filled holiday.

Gravels and electricity

Have you ever wondered why the compound of an electrical substation is usually covered with stones or gravel? I have always thought that it is to avoid water retention when it rains. I also know that it has something to do with step potential and earthing resistance. But I also found out that there are more to it.

During rain, water seeps through the gravel and avoids flooding in the substation. (Water and electricity don't really go together!) After rain, the gravel does not allow the soil to dry as sunlight cannot penetrate through. This improves earthing resistance. People in the electrical line knows the importance of low earth resistance in substations.

Of course, the presence of gravel slows weeding. So the gardener need not go into the substation with a lawn mower every month. By the way this is not allowed as we don't want grass to be splattered all over the HV equipment.

But of all, the most interesting bit of info is that gravel helps to deter snakes! Apparently, snakes are attracted to corona sound (that kind of crackling sound you hear sometimes near high voltage lines). Snakes prefer to slither along on smoother surfaces like roads. However, the pointed edges of gravel makes it difficult for the snakes to move - hurts their belly! So gravel is a snake deterrent! Good idea as our technicians wouldn't like to move around in the dark at night with snakes around.

A Malaysian no more...

The fuel rebate exercise recently has created a mad rush for Malaysians throughout the country with the post offices being stormed over the weekend. Personally, I had a pleasant experience and breezed through the process. It is thumbs up for Pos Malaysia on this.

However, I could not say the same for a friend of mine who left the post office sad and disappointed. The worst part is, he left with a feeling that he has been stripped of his rights as a citizen of Malaysia. This friend of mine was born in Singapore but is a citizen of Malaysia all his life, well, at least that’s what his MyKad and passport indicate. Like many others, he made his trip to the post office to get his share of RM625. He did this a few days after the start of the exercise. However, the post officer informed him that he is not eligible for it. This is because a circular has been sent to the post offices on 16.06.08 to halt disbursement of the rebate to foreign citizen holders of IC with the numbers 7X, 8X or 9X in the seventh and eighth digits. My friend happened to have the numbers 71 on his MyKad since he’s born in Singapore and was automatically deemed a foreigner. Since when is a Malaysian only a Malaysian when he’s born in Malaysia? Does this mean that all Malaysians born overseas (including children of diplomatic officers) are in fact stripped of their citizenship? Can foreigners actually hold MyKad?

How come such a directive was not made public? I did not see any such announcement in the newspapers or any other media. The officer at the post office was kind to show proof of the circular but did not allow a copy to be taken by us. I think the circular was issued by JPJ. Why must there be so much secrecy in this circular? Is it because many people would cease to be Malaysians? I only hope that there has just been some mistake in implementation. After all, isn’t Malaysia famous for grand plans which inevitably fail due to horrible implementation.

I hope the relevant departments would sort things out and return the rightful rebates to all eligible Malaysians regardless of whether they are born on this soil or not. Remember, they are Malaysians, not foreigners!

Outrageous Places

Found these road signs from another website. Talk about giving places outrageous names!

Camels in a flooded desert

Yes... it can get flooded in the desert!

All over a bunch of rocks.

Kudos Malaysia! The verdict is finally out. Our southern neighbor has finally gotten the big rock stained with white bird shit. We made it to wrest control over a bunch of small rocks. What remains is to figure out what to do with the two rocks that disappear during high tide. After decades of dispute, we arrived at a 'win-win' situation. This sorta proves my theory that the winner will always be the one who runs the structure on the islands. This happened for Pedra Branca (can't call it Batu Puteh anymore). It happened to Sipadan, thus Malaysia prevailed. And it is a fact that all countries (even Malaysia) are building one structure or another on Spratlys. Anyhow, we have to accept the decision no matter how sad it is. After all, it is only a bunch of rocks.

The whole incident reminds me of a joke I heard years ago. (DISCLAIMER: Only a joke - no truth in it!!) According to the joke, Samy Vellu was once asked to comment on the dispute over Batu Puteh. He replied with his usual self, "Batu Puteh kah, Batu Hitam kah, I don't care.... as long as nobody touches my Batu Caves. If Singapore wants Pulau Batu Puteh then please take it as long as they return us our Singapore!"

Well the news over Pedra Branca was a break from all the Dr. M - Pak Lah saga. At least we get a change in headlines! That is probably a good thing.

Now that we are done with one dispute... we have finally removed one item from the long list of problems with Singapore. What others do we still have now??

• Water rates still at 3 sen per thousand gallons. (Broad daylight robbery!!!)
• KTM rail line and rail station in Singapore.
• CPF money owed to Malaysians (specifically Peninsular Malaysians). Some say the amount is big enough to cause jitters to Singapore if withdrawn!
• Air space for Singapore air force (is this solved already???)
• Land reclamation works on Straits of Johore (is this done?)

As our ministers try to solve the above over another round of golf, I will pay a visit to Singapore this coming weekend. It's the Great Singapore Sales!

Hot... hot... it's getting real hot.

HOT is the theme nowadays! It's been bloody hot the past week in JB especially two days ago. I checked on the control room terminal and found that the ambient temperature was 37 degC! Can you imagine that? It's almost like summer in the Middle East! And with the humid weather outside, I was sweating from early in the morning. Is this really global warming? I remembered when I was younger, I had no need for any A/C for a good night's sleep. But nowadays, no A/C, no sleep. It's definitely warmer nowadays.

Since we are in the subject of global warming, I would also like to promote a YTL initiative - "Climate Change Week". Catch screenings of 'The 11th Hour', get a copy of 'Wastenomics' or participate in a business conference entitled "ENERGY SECURITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE 21ST CENTURY". For these and more details please visit http://www.ytlcommunity.com/climatechange/ .

It is also getting all heated up in the parliament this week as the first parliament session after the elections commenced. We can definitely expect a more interesting and heated debate nowadays. I only hope we have less of the stupidity and monkey acts that we had in the last term. But somehow I'm not so sure. With some MPs who can hardly speak proper Malay and many who were conveniently voted into parliament, I'm afraid our expectations would not be met. Like some said, the last election, you could have placed a log as a candidate and he would've won as long as he was not on BN's side. But who knows? This is the best chance to see something positive coming out. And if not, at least it would definitely make interesting news every day in the papers.

Pictures from Vietnam

Just before the Chinese New Year, I was in Hồ Chí Minh City and Vũng Tàu. Here are some pictures from this beautiful land. Missed the place very much.Definitely a much better place to live in than Abu Dhabi.

I'm back! I'm back!

Some are still not aware that I've returned from Abu Dhabi for more than month. Well, I'm back! I'm back! In fact, I returned on the night of March 7, 2008. That was one day before the general elections which became nothing short of a tsunami - the election that kept people talking even till this day. Not a single day goes without some politics being discussed. Suddenly everyone has become political analysts, each giving their five-cents-worth of thought that could perhaps earn them a PhD in political science. Some have gone to theorize that the present debacle of BN was actually a conspiracy, yet again by the ruling elite! In fact some said it was a Singaporean conspiracy (hey I thought they were expelled out of the federation in 1965???) Some (rather myself) say that perhaps, the tsunami is also washing to the shores of Singapore - Uncle Lee better watch out!

And of course there is one arrogant dreamer who says he will be wresting control of the government real soon. Yes... he was the one who was part of the system, removed from the system and now appears to have never had anything to do with the system. But of all of them, I definitely enjoyed Dr. M's comeback. Or did he ever leave the scene?

Regardless, life in Malaysia has become so interesting what with the alternative media and bickering among the politicians. Conspiracy theories are flying around like daggers. I hope in the midst of all these, they do not forget that they are elected to run the government. I sure hope someone is still driving the steering. Otherwise, Malaysia will be lost in the wilderness as others strive ahead in today's competitive environment.