Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas to all my Christian friends. I don't think its wrong to call God - Allah in Bahasa Malaysia. Arab Christians call God - Allah too. Methinks the deputy minister has been badly advised by his incompletely educated advisers. If that becomes law, I feel sad for this country. Meanwhile, enjoy your selves.

We Survived Aidil Adha

Selamat menyambut Hari Raya Aidil Adha everyone. You know, we survived Aidil Adha, without the presence of our Queen of the house. A few days before Aidil Adha, we (the kids and I) discussed on how we are going to celeberate the Raya. Some decisions were to be made. 1. Wake up early (this task was not accomplished very well by certain members). 2. Spring cleaning. ( Fahmie and Shahman handled this). 3. Ironing our baju Melayu. (Lina's task) 4. Raya cookies. ( No volunteers, so we bought keropok and kacang to serve visitors). 5. Traditional Raya breakfast of nasi himpit and kuah kacang. This is a must have delicacy for any Raya in our family. ( No problem , bought the pre-packed nasi himpit and kuah kacang. But sad to say, the pre-packed peanut sauce is way below the deliciousness of our beloved Milah's cooking.) Yes, two of our neighbors sent us some ketupat and rendang. 6. Lunch. ( We planned to have beef curry, had already bought beef, potatoes, etc. Thanks to the pre-packed food industry, our beef curry turned out okay. Our neighbor sent some chicken masak merah, so we had two dishes for lunch. The curry lasted until dinner. But there was something we couldn't have - tomato rice. Nobody dared to experiment. so we settled for ordinary plain white rice. We didn't go visiting anybody, and nobody came a-visiting. Raya Haji is very laidback in this state. What's important is that we are together and are happy like that. And we miss you Milah lots and lots. Salam Aidil Adha to all my family and friends and blog visitors.

Che' Lah and his Big Ears

Our 'democratic' country has been making news internationally of late (but in a negative way). For the last few weeks or so, Malaysian viewers have seen our heroic boys in blue showing their force and power on those 'stubborn' uncles,aunties,brothers and sisters in yellow and a certain group (disowned by MIC). The government told us that those Malaysians (who were strolling and gathering where they were not allowed to) are dangerous and are 'threats' to national security. Wonder why people would defy the government. Maybe they are not happy with the way things are being handled (like elections, judge's appointment, money wasting) by the BN Govt. And I wonder why the Govt is so afraid to let the rakyat demonstrate their dissatisfaction and worries. Our PM Che'Lah (only nice guys should be called Pak Lah, like a kindly uncle,like me) once said he's got Big Ears, he's listening, but when the rakyat wants to make a point, he orders his boys in blue to water-cannon and lob teargas at them. Che'Lah, somethings aren't right in your administration. Just listen closely to us the rakyat. Don't hear just what you want to hear. Let the rakyat speak.

Single Dad ?

I've been a single parent for two weeks already. My beloved wife Milah and beloved mum to our brood, is in the Holy City of Makkah. She is accompanied by her sister and brother in law. Why am I not with her ? We could not leave our children (especially two of them) on their own. We have six kids. The eldest is Firdaus. He is married, and both he and his wife work and live in Alor Star,Kedah. They have a three year old son (our only grandson). Our second son is Fahmie. He works and lives in Penang island with his work mates. The third son is Fadzlil. Used to be a very energetic and enterprising youth, but now, because of an unfortunate accident, lies paralysed and confined to his couch or wheel chair. Fourth son is Shahman, finishing his final year at a college in KL. Fifth, and only daughter is Lina, she's in Form Four The youngest is Shafiq , born with Downs Syndrome and totally dependent. He goes to a Day Center for Special Children, not far from home. Its not so hard to handle the domestic chores, after all I used to help my wife...sometimes. Shafiq is quite easy to handle, you just have to understand him. Fadzlil is the one that I really need help with. Even though he can't move his arms and legs (he's quadraplegic) his mind is active and he can grumble and complain and talk like you and me. And he has a good appetite, he eats anything that he likes. Even at night, he would ask for a burger, hotdog or char koeytiau. His body is not like those typical paralysed patients, all shrivelled and loose flesh. His is well fed and muscle toned. The cruncher is when you have to lift him from his bed to the wheelchair. From the wheelchair to his couch in front of the tv set. Carry him again at bath time. After changing him, carry him back to his couch until bed time, which is after the last tv show he watches. I could never lift him by myself, Milah would help me. My two eldest sons, aware of this problem, decided to take leave from work, one at a time. Firdaus took two weeks off, Fahmie will take leave after that until Shahman returns home for his break. And my sons, I'm proud to say are capable cooks as well. So, my dear wife should not worry about us, concentrate on her Haj. Thank you Allah for blessing me with such a loving wife and wonderful children.

Hari Raya and Duit Raya.

After a month of fasting during Ramadhan, today on the first day of the month of Shawal, Malaysians celebrate the Eid Mubarak or Hari Raya Aidilfitri, as it is called in this region. I attended the Hari Raya Aidilfitri prayers at our nearest mosque in Tasek Gelugor with my sons. Typically as on every Hari Raya (Aidilfitri, Aidiladha) the congregation was spilling out into the corridors. Mostly because many city folks have returned home (balik kampung) for their family reunions. In a rural town like this, as in the kampungs, its the kids who enjoy the Hari Raya the most. A typical kampung kid's Hari Raya day goes like this. A morning bath, dress up in their newest clothes, baju Melayu or baju kurung, pay their respects to their parents, grandparents and other elders, collect 'duit raya' (raya money) and then join the rest of their gang for their Hari Raya expedition. First stop, the mosque ,for the Hari Raya prayers. After prayers, loiter a bit until one of the pakciks (uncles) tell them to line up for 'duit raya'. Some bolder kids cycle or walk to the 'open house' of local MP Shariff Omar (Deputy Agriculture minister). At least RM 2 'duit raya' is assured there. And lots of good stuff to eat too (especially the fried chicken and satay). And after that they start doing their house to house rounds. They come in groups of at least two. They see your door is opened. They greet you " assalamu 'alaikum". You reply " 'alaikum salam" and invite them in. You ask them if they want to eat or drink. The daring ones will turn down the refreshments offer and tell you that they just want 'duit raya'. Sometimes it melts my heart to see these little kids, some dragging their tiny tot brother or sister tramping from house to house to accumulate their duit raya. Some came from kampungs as far as 2km away. There's only three housing estates in this rural town, ours is the second oldest. These tamans seems to be the main target of those kids. There is this rural mentality that those who live in brick houses are wealthy. I think, the kampung people with acres of land are much more richer than us. To kids everywhere, in the kampung or taman, Hari Raya is only about how much duit raya they can collect. If they come calling on your house, don't turn them away.Give them their duit raya. After all, this is Aidil Fitri , a time for charity, love for fellow mankind. Selamat Hari Raya.

Our Angkasawan

A Malaysian , Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was launched into space Wednesday evening (9.22pm Malaysian time) from the Baikonor Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Together with NASA's commander Peggy Whitsun and Russian Yuri Malechencko. The spacecraft is due to dock with the International Space Station, somewhere in space, on Friday. Our spaceman will be in the ISS for 8 days. His mission is to conduct studies on space effects on cells, microbes and other germy-wermy stuffs. I suspect,previous space explorers might have already done that. The US astronaut Whitsun and Russian cosmonaut Malechencko will take over duties at the station for six months. The station's current commander Russian Fyodor Yuchikhin and Russian Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov will return to Earth with Dr Muszaphar . Now, many Malaysians question why did WE send our man to space for ? It cost us RM90 billion for the project. And the mission handed to him ... so pathetic. Just like a lab assistant. Actually, our angkasawan was just listed as a flight participant (read passenger). The government insisted that he be reclassified as an astronaut/cosmonaut. The government should have realised earlier that we don't have what it takes to be in the space hero category. Don't you remember what our government chaps were fantasising about what our Malaysian spaceman was going to do in space ? Pulling 'teh tarik', tossing 'roti canai' and spinning 'gasing' in zero gravity. Which space agency is going to take us seriously ? Well our angkasawan Dr Muszaphar is out there in space now. I wish him all the best and selamat berpuasa and Selamat Hari Raya. He will be regaled as a Malaysian, Muslim, Malay hero when he gets home. And that's what its all about, really.

September stories

September, I don't have a post for September. Some notable incidents happened in September. After a frentic -three weeks search for their missing eight year old daughter. The search ended with the discovery of her abused body in a sports bag, dumped outside a shop in Shah Alam. Just like other caring Malaysians, I wept with the parents and was bitterly outraged at the bestial crime. And I was utterly annoyed and disgusted with Shahrizat, IGP Musa and Nazri for suggesting that the parents should be booked for negligence. Haven't they suffered enough ? IGP Musa's men should be more alert and more dedicated in keeping our streets safe from such 'sickoes'. They are more into serving the ruling party bosses, intimidating peaceful gatherings shooting live bullets at unarmed people. That was in Batu Buruk,Terengganu. Towards the end of the month, Anwar Ibrahim released a video-tape, where lawyer Lingam was filmed speaking on the phone to present LCJ in 2002 [at that time he was CJ of Malaya]. The conversation was about how he (Lingam) can help fix up the judicial appointments, because of his (Lingam's) close connections with the then PM (Dr M) and the cabinet and high profiled business persons. He looked so cocky and arrogant. The government quickly assembled an independent panel to investigate the authencity of the video-tape, not about what the hell is going on between this Lingam fellow and the judges. The Bar Council and other parties wanted an independent royal commission to probe this affair. Two members of the panel seemed very biased to the government. In September too, my second son Fahmie turned 26 and my grandson Hasif celebrated his third birthday.

I Love Malaysia

Malaysia is 50 years old today. Celebrations across the nation began late last night. At the stroke of midnight the present PM , emulating the late great first PM Tunku Abdul Rahman, shouted out `Merdeka !' seven times. Pak Lah's 'Merdeka ' sounded a little feeble, when compared with the late Tunku. This ritual was carried out in every state by the state MBs and CMs. This morning, there were the parades of proud Malaysians, putting their best feet forward. And just concluded was the day's finale the Persembahan Raksasa (Mammoth presentation ?) at the historic Stadium Merdeka, showcasing the eras of the past 4 PMs and the present PM, in dances and patriotic songs. All the state rulers and the Agung attended the show. Just for today, everyone felt that they belonged to this country. But, what about tomorrow, when Arrogance, Avarice and Inefficiency creeps up again to our elected officials, civil servants, and political upstarts. Then the victimised would wish they were not Malaysians. I really love my country and its people, but I dislike people who just love to make our lives miserable, I don't like people who don't care about the poor, the weak and the disabled. Go on and create your wealth, but not at the expense of the defenceless. Go after the crooks and don't cover up your crooked pals. This country has potential to be a great country. Lets not lose our respect and credibility in the eyes of the world. You (the people ? the PM ?) hold the cards.Play it right. Happy Birthday Malaysia.

Shafiq is Thirteen

Yesterday, 23rd August was my youngest child Shafiq's 13th birthday. And I feel so awful that I had forgotten about it yesterday. All of yesterday, I was on the island, attending a seminar on PDKs ( Pemulihan Dalam Komuniti or Rehabilitation in the Community). This is a centre for disabled children and adults, set up by the Social Welfare department, for the disabled within their own community. Most of the kids here were rejected by the Special Education section of the Education Ministry. The main reason was that, some of these kids were not capable of looking after themselves (meaning that they cannot handle them if they wet or dirty themselves). Shafiq attended one of those classes when he was seven. But each time I went to pick him up, after school, I would find him wet or dirty. They never changed his diapers. Even though we provided enough spare diapers, a towel and change of clothes. After a few months, my wife and I decided to send him back to the PDK. He had attended the PDK since he was six, instead of kindy. At least the PDK teacher was more caring than those specialist teachers. Well, he's a big boy now. Good looking and very neat. He is not wearing diapers anymore. He can control his bladder during class. When at home, if he feels like peeing or pooping, he would go to the bathroom and take a bath, fully clothed. After soaking himself, he will strip off his clothes, do his business and continue with his 'hosing' bath. His mum or dad got to soap him up, and let him continue his bath. He will be 'showering' four or five times a day. As for dressing, he likes the comfortable soft worn out ones. He hates the new crispy clothes. And no collared shirts please. The only collared shirts he wears is his uniform. He is very particular about his footwear. If the slipper or sandal straps burst and if his feet outgrows them, we got to find the same design,color as the old one. Those mentioned are some of Shafiq's 'quirks' and habits , we the family has to learn to accept.Its not easy to change him. He does'nt want to change. I'm sorry son, I forgot your birthday. Promise I'll make up to you. (Lina says sorry too, she also forgot your birthday).

Blogophobia

Drats ! The government `wet blankets' are annoyed with us bloggers. If they really "read " blogs they ought to know that not every blogger is a trouble-maker. Are they so naive to think that bloggers are so influential (some bloggers think and claim that they are the most influential bloggers in the land) and can provoke anarchy and riots in this country. They also ought to know that not everybody reads those political blogs. How many percent of Malaysians have access to the internet ? Its so minimal, and yet the government is scared shit of these political bloggers. Some prominent bloggers have made some interesting revelations about governmental misdeeds ( with documental evidences) and this has upset those in power. These expose's should be followed up by the responsible officers, if found to be true. But, no, they want to shut up the 'messengers'. We live in a free country, we are free to talk, to believe and to think. That's what blogging is, a channel to share our views, our thoughts with fellow netizens. And now, I'm not to write what's really on my mind, my opinion of the way this country is being managed, I cannot tell anyone that minister so and so is an idiot (when he really is). Sorry Government, I pay my taxes ,I pay my bills (to pay you) and I pay for my internet access, I have every right to write, to say what I damn please. ( middle finger to you!)

Poverty ?

Pak Lah said that the government is serious about eradicating poverty and all of us must play a part toward this target - Zero Hardcore Poverty by 2010. Pak Lah, I'm afraid that you will not achieve that target, looking at how foodstuff prices have been rising, the ever escalating toll charges, utility tariffs, fuel and transport charges and just about every necessity. We are getting poorer while you and your fat cats are getting richer. You blamed Dr M for indulging in mega projects, so what do you call your brainchild economic regions , aren't they giga-mega projects ? You are all the same, so will the next PM, whoever he is. We don't need anymore developments. We need land, decent homes, affordable transport and reasonably cheap decent food.

ICT Illiterates

Deputy Home minister Tan Chai Hoe urged Malaysian cops to be more ICT savvy. He said that 'cyber' criminals are using their ICT expertise to commit con-jobs in cyberspace. And our cops are caught 'flat-footed' - unable to counter the cyber crooks. You can tell your fellow ministers too, to take ICT courses. Some can't tell the difference between a blog author and a commenter. Always blaming the blogger. What a shame.

Why Blame JKR ?

Works minister Samy Vellu should not be ashamed of JKR. JKR is not to be blamed for the recent constructional malfunctions. JKR (Public works department) has been around since 1872. Look at the old government buildings and public roads in the cities and small towns in the peninsula. Some have stood the test of time, sturdy and strong until they had to make way for new developments. Minister Samy, why don't you tell the Malaysian public that the recent 'defective incidents' involving government buildings were not built by JKR. Why let them point fingers and say that JKR did it. You have to inform the public, as well as the 'clueless' politicians (ruling and opposition) that since Dr Mahathir's premiership, many government projects were taken away from JKR, to be handled by the respective ministries and agencies who set up their version of JKR called PMCs. These PMCs are headed by politicians and businessmen who have little technical knowledge.Sure, they employ technical staff to look professional. But they (the CEOs ) don't listen to their technical professionals. Jobs are given by negotiation to certain 'hand-picked' contractors. Sad to say, but most of these contractors are incompetent. Remember the uncompleted 'school science labs' projects that dragged for so many years. Who cleaned up the mess ? JKR of course. Mr Samy, if JKR has to clean up all the shit that these agencies make, why give them the job in the first place ? Political pressure from the top. Mr Samy, you should have stood up for JKR, throw the shit back at them and wash your hands off it. Yes, even JKR has some cleaning up of its own mess. Supervision was unsatisfactory in some jobs. Not enough training you think. Its not enough dedication and responsibility. Many young officers tend to get sidetracked by generous contractors. Its technical training and moral/integrity training they need. I served in JKR until I retired in 2003. I care about JKR.

Register your handphone

Some 'bright spark' from the Communications & Multimedia Commission wants us to register our handphones/cellphones to prevent thefts (of handphones). You have to register the serial number, model type of your handphone. Just like you register your car or motorbike. Unlike cars or motorbikes you cannot transfer ownership to another person. This official claims that this registration is being practiced in the UK,France & Germany. So, Malaysia must keep up with these 'developed' nations . There are at least 20 million active handphones all over the country. Just how are the Commission going to keep up when the rush for registration starts. We know what to expect, knowing our 'not so dedicated but want more pay' civil servants. Anyway, this proposal is still under study. Don't be surprised if they really implement it. What will they think of next ?

PM Pak Lah Getting Married

It has been rumored for some time already. And now, at last, the PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) finally announced that he is getting married again. Pak Lah's first wife, Allahyarhamah Endon Mahmood passed away on 20th October 2005, from breast cancer. The lady he is marrying is Madame Jeanne Abdullah. She was a former manager of the Deputy PM's residence and Kompleks Perdana in Putrajaya. Coincidentally , she is the former sister-in-law of the late Kak Endon. The wedding ceremony (akad nikah) is scheduled to be held this Saturday 9th June. Congratulations Pak Lah and Mdm Jeanne. Have yourselves a good life. Pak Lah, please get down to business, after your honeymoon. There are many things that you have not settled.

Proton lost RM 619.9 million

Proton lost RM 619.9 million last year. And Volkswagen has snubbed Proton's offer of partnership. The PM has called on Proton to try and find a way to make profit. Lower priced cars and inferior quality accessories ? I would suggest a major revamp of the management . Hire those who are more innovative and creative. But who am I ? The PM is supposed to be smarter than the rakyat.

Law vs Religion

That Malay lady left her original religion (Islam) by her own choice. She's happy with her new religion and looks like she's never going back to Islam. To avoid 'inconveniences' to her family, she applied to deregister the religion Islam on her identity card. But our government officers found her case too hot to handle and pushed it to the courts. To the highest court in the land went her appeal. Presided by the three highest ranking judges in the country. The collective verdict was 2 Noes and 1 Yes. No, she can't deregister her religion as stated in her IC. There might be some others like her,but they are not bold enough to admit. They would rather let the religious authorities and their family members play `tug of war' with their corpses when they die. Would they ?

I'm still around

Hello, Hello. I'm still around. So, BN won in Ijok. No big deal. Was it necessary to pour in millions of ringgit for a few votes ? Must be really desperate, our government. Will be back soon.

Blog-phobia

It does'nt surprise me at all that a minister in Malaysia would suggest that all bloggers using the .my domain to register with the government . Our government chaps seem to have this phobia about the Internet and blogging in particular. Out of ignorance,perhaps, this ministry chap overlooked that most blogs are hosted by Blogspot.com or Word Press.com and other dot coms, hardly any dot.my. Watch for the news tomorrow, see how they fumble and tie their tongues to justify themselves. Rallying for brothers in hot soup , or apple polishing ? Just curious.

Intolerant minister

Dear me, another minister has made a clown of himself. This .......... minister implied that all bloggers are liars and trouble makers. We are to be blamed for setting up the races against each other . His words ... " the Malays will start killing the Chinese, the Chinese will kill the Malays and the Indians will kill everyone else " Pakshah thinks that was a very 'seditious' and irresponsible statement. He called on Malaysians not to be easily decieved by bloggers and gamble away our future. " We must show a positive attitude , if the world learns to be tolerant like us, the world will become peaceful , no more civil strife or wars." Hello, who's talking about tolerance here, you are not even tolerant with bloggers. He even implied that 80 percent of bloggers are unemployed women. He thinks that bloggers are like the aunties gossiping over the fence ? Mr Minister, you should respect those lady bloggers. I bet you cannot write like them or even have enough brains to. Pakshah wonders why our ministers and others of that ilk are so insecure about the internet ? Must be because they seem to be on the recieving end most of the time. PM (if you get to be PM again ?) clean out your cabinet of these cobwebs and cockroaches.

They can hold on to their jobs !!

Pakshah is very very disappointed with our dear leader's statement today about his two suspectedly corrupted officers. He said that they can hold on to their jobs, even under investigations. We ,the rakyat have no right to demand their resignations. Nobody (especially his deputy minister) can influence the police investigations. He (our dear leader ) is overseeing the police force. Pakshah thinks that our dear leader sounds like he is sympathetic to the rascals. Our dear leader is acting soft (pondanish), seems to be in 'fear' of these characters. My dear leader, this is what happens when you don't take your duties seriously and leave it to others to do your bloody job. So sorry sir. Be a man and suspend those fellers. Listen to the rakyat.

Its time to kick-ass

Our dear leader is back home from his international duties. Our wannabe world hero berating the western powers and Israel for their misdeeds and atrocities to poor Palestinians,Iraqis and Afghans. At home, he is not much of a hero, almost zero, Pakshah is sorry to say. Pakshah used to like him and had high expectations when our dear leader took over from his predecessor. He started off well, booking a couple of high profiled persons for corruption. More arrests were expected but only some middle and lower ranked officials were booked and sentenced. What happened to those 'prime suspects' ? Some are still running the government machinery. Prices of essential foodstuff and petroleum products seem to be going up and never coming down. Tolls have gone up, and the rakyat is not allowed to see the 'secret' agreements. The rakyat is tired of being fooled. There's a lot of unhappiness among the races. One particular race wants to be the superior race.This is not good for the country. We send our kids to National Service training. Good for integration they say. But when the kids come home, they are faced with several racial road-blocks. And the horror stories that come from these camps e.g. the bad food, the bad medical facilities, the sexual harrassments, the bullying. At last count nine kids (correct me if I'm wrong) have died , some from exhaustion, sickness and 'accidents' because of poor monitoring by 'trainers'. On corruption, how could a man who was being probed for corruption and sexual abuse in his former department, rise up in ranks to become the chief of the government anti-corruption agency ? And this one ,right under our dear leader's very nose, the man entrusted to keep law and order in the country, is suspected of selling 'freedom' to thugs and gangsters. Our dear leader, has to open up his eyes, really really OPEN. SEE all the shenanigans going on by his underlings. He must not protect them anymore. It is EXPECTED, DEMANDED of him. The rakyat have placed their trust in him. It is his AMANAH. Dear leader, its time you kick some ass, WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR. Then you will deserve to be a HERO.

Who's running the country ?

Pak Lah has gone to Syria, and is on his way to Yemen. Datuk Najib is in Mecca doing his 'umrah'. So, who is minding the country. Has anybody been appointed to act on their behalf ? Datuk Najib needs all the 'divine help' he can get. His defence ministry is in a mess. The ragging incidents at the Air Force College is under probe. The many mechanically unfit aircrafts that have crashed. The silly border guards caught 'playing' with live grenades. And his 'pet' project the National Service is in a mess too. Another teenaged NS trainee was reported dead today,the second death this year and the 19th death since the National Service program started four years ago. And the many sexual and physical abuses reported or hushed-hushed. Meanwhile, the Anti Corruption Agency director general is due for an 'interview' with the parliamentary integrity panel on charges of corruption, sexual abuse and misuse of government facilities, as reported by a fellow ACA officer. The said offences had been going on since the DG was in the police force, and as an ACA official. No action has been taken on him yet. IGP Datuk Musa says he knows about it. The case has gone back to the AG for review. Would a crook catch another crook ? Guess not, thats why there are so many in business. I call on Pak Lah to reduce his globe-trottings and stay put and get some serious work done for the good of the rakyat and the country. Don't be complacent about that victory in Batu Talam.That was no fight at all.

Road safety contest

Its balik kampung season again, this time for Chinese new year. The highways and byeways will be jammed with vehicles, big and small, leaving the big cities for little hometowns and villages. In their eagerness, in their haste to be with family, many drivers tend to be careless and forget about traffic rules. 55 deaths by road accidents have been reported since Ops Sikap XII was launched on Sunday. The death toll may go up further if drivers don't change their attitude on the roads. Think of your family and loved ones waiting for you. A few days back, the Road Safety department thought it had a brilliant idea to keep the roads safe and creating awareness among the public. It launched a public contest called 'Snap,Send and Win' to snap photos of traffic violators caught in the act. Cash prizes were being offered. In other words they want you to waste your precious time and go out and look for traffic offenders and record it in pictures then send to them for action. Risk your own life and limb for a few ringgit. Tranport minister Chan Kong Choy was not amused and directed the department to scrap the contest immediately due to possible abuse by certain quarters. The department should start planning some other strategies or get road safety consultants from other countries to help educate our road users and road designers.

MyKad lucky draw

On Tuesday, home affairs minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad announced that the 'Jom tukar dan menang' lucky draw for MyKad (new IC) applicants be withdrawn. He said it was silly (actually he said rubbish) to reward people for doing what they are supposed to do. That's the problem with Malaysians ,if you want them to do something, offer something in return. Which is bloody unfair to law abiding citizens like me and you. The former minister (now natural resources and environment minister) Azmi Khalid said he will give a written statement soon on why the lucky draw was held. The third draw supposed to be held in November 2005, was postponed indefinitely, because the NRD announced a RM10 fine for late collection of their MyKad. The contest was overtaken by events, such as the Cabinet reshuffle in February 2006 and the minister Azmi had no intention to stop the contest. He left it to the discretion of the incoming minister Radzi. In Kangar, Perlis CM Shahidan Kassim asked minister Radzi not to be harsh. If he is not in favor of the previous minister's actions, just issue a statement to scrap the contest. Don't call it stupid or rubbish. Why, Datuk Radzi, after all you, Datuk Azmi and Datuk Shahidan are state brothers from Perlis. UPDATE : Datuk Azmi admitted that he had postponed the lucky draw and forgot to update his successor Datuk Radzi. His ministry officials had forgotten too. This minister must be having more pleasant things on his mind,other than just his job. (He just got married at that time to a hot tv personality.)

Bloggers in trouble

Should I feel sorry or what ? Sympathise ? Empathise ? I'm talking about those two blogging guys who got the editors of an established newspaper so riled up. Now those two bloggers are getting sued. Our two 'folk heroes' believe that they speak for the 'misinformed' public. Alternative and unspun news and facts. In fact, many other bloggers too have done the same, but..... they were not targetted. Even the politician bloggers (opposition and others) don't write nice things about the establishment. Nobody has stopped them yet. The common bond between these two cyber-writers is that both of them are unhappy with the newspaper's administration and editorial officials. So some unkind remarks or innuendos were written to embarrass or shame the news guys. Maybe they went out of line somewhere. Its common knowledge that one of the said bloggers used to be on that newspaper team. Maybe the pain of being 'let go' is still burning ? The other fellow is known to be feuding with one of the former editors and likes to ridicule the newspapers. I admit that I do read their blogs and its amazing how they can come up with such sensational stories sometimes. Very entertaining. They should have looked out for their readers comments. Some are so rude and insulting. These commenters will spoil and sullify your blogs. You can criticize, but don't libel. And what's with these news guys ? Makan cili kah ?

Johore flooded again !

Kluang, Kota Tinggi and several towns in southern Johore were flooded again, just three weeks after the first wave in mid-December 2006. Most of the folks had returned to their homes when the floodwaters receded just a few days ago. All the hard work of washing and cleaning their homes to make them liveable again was wasted. Now, some of them had to evacuate their houses to go back to the shelters. Some families claimed that not only their furniture and electrical appliances were destroyed, they found that some valuables and cash were 'missing'. We sometimes 'forget' about these things when our main priority at the time was to save our families and loved ones. We put our trust and faith on the 'security authorities' to keep our homes safe from looters and other like predators. Ever wondered who has access to the flood stricken properties ? Our national leader is not around again to visit the flood victims as he is away on 'official duties' in the Philippines. He promised to come and have a look as soon as he can. When the floods hit the southern states last month, he was on vacation, fishing and looking at a yacht in Turkey. But he did cut short his vacation to come and cuddle babies and mingle with the folks in the shelter. Every smart aleck knows what causes floods. Soil erosion from barren hillslopes causing heavy silting in the rivers and streams and long continuous heavy rains. Rich natural vegetation scraped away for 'mega projects'. There's one very ultra-mega project just recently launched in Johore. This project is named after the state ruler. What every smart aleck doesn't know is that any proposed project that covers more than a hectare of land area must submit an Environment Impact Assessment report to the Environment ministry. Somebody is not doing their job and somebody is faking the report. Who's going to take responsibility for the disaster ? Its been said, time and time again, don't mess around with Mother Nature. See what happened.

Looking back at 2006

Already one week into 2007 and this is my first post for 2007. The holiday mood is slowly fading and everyone's back in their business. Never expected the floods to be so devastating in Johore and the southern states. From the pictures we saw on tv and on internet sites, reminds us of the New Orleans floods in the US, and some coastal areas look like the tsunami aftermath. That is one of the most memorable events of 2006. Wonder what will Mother Nature hand us this year. If only we had preserved her natural assets and protected our environment, we would not be so devastated. Develop some more, cut the hillslopes, chop off the trees, choke the streams and rivers. When disaster comes , you ought to know who to blame. You asked for it. Malaysian politics can be summed up as this : Everybody thinks that they are smarter than the government and Prime Minister and can run the country better. Racial harmony and religious tolerance are not being given the chance to flourish because of certain chauvinistic parties. People without religious credentials shut up say the holier than thees. Local warlords and their kin can break the local bylaws and get away with them. Those other politicians who kick up the ruckus are plain envious, so they say. What next 2007 ? Will we Malaysians ever change ?