It Was 2007 and I see 2008 Around the Corner

The year 2007 has come and gone - still a Pig's Year by Chinese account, at least for another month or so.

There are lots of reminiscing going around - bloggers are no doubt writing about their experiences for the year and what they will be looking forward to in the new year. Loads of pictures on the web of happy moments, of friends partying, of birthday celebrations and of places visited.

This morning I heard the Hitz FM morning crew asking listeners about their memorable moments and quite a few mentioned the name Britney Spears - going bald and all really caught people's attention. Some mentioned Transformers and one even said "King Kong" - the DJ was like..."Hello?" No offense, but what is Transformers or any movie doing in your most memorable moments anyway? Did you have your first snog or something in the theater? ;p

Haha...anyway, I was thinking of what to write in this "Last Post" - as a friend described it - for the year. I thought "Last Post" was...well, not quite right. It sounded like I was ending this blog ;p

I have plenty of memorable moments for the year 2007 - from having a great time in Hong Kong, to running my first Penang Bridge marathon, to re-creating Simply Rojak, to having a truly merry Christmas with my family. Haha I'm tempted to just post pictures that I have taken throughout the year and leave it at that. But since everyone else seems to be doing it, perhaps I'll just try my best to write what's on my mind at this moment, with the year ending in less than 12 hours.

A lot has certainly happened this year - and some of it I would like to keep private. While I do not look back and long for a particular year to last longer, I do look back to see if I have made any successes or accomplishments as the year comes to an end.

Career wise it was a so-so year, despite getting a promotion. While I have only recently managed to get my career goals back on track, I really think these past two years - since returning to Malaysia - could have been better used to meet my career plans. As of now, I've still much to do to meet any self-set deadlines. And in this area, I do look forward to the year 2008 with much more anticipation than I had for 2007. One thing pops to mind as I am writing this is that my mum mentioned that - based on my horoscopes for this year - I would do pretty alright in my career. I guess that was what the promotion was all about.

Accomplishments wise...I guess starting to write again has been a good start. A good start for sharpening my thoughts and writing skills obviously. Haha...when I was in the UK, I took a course on creative writing, in the hopes of perhaps writing one of those fantasy novels that I like to read so much -and of course getting it published ;) This might come as a surprise to my friends who are reading this, though I would like nothing more than to be a successful writer and to enjoy writing at home, putting my wildest imaginations to paper - and of course the freedom that comes with the job. Perhaps I can write a few for this blog? We shall see...

This year, my Penang Bridge Marathon experience was not the greatest - far from it. Having a tummy ache half way through the run really killed any enjoyment I was having - and any hope of accomplishing much from it. They need to put some toilets along the bridge, dammit! ;p But I did gained some experience from it and allowed me to judge myself as to how much more I need to prepare for next year's run, that is if they are having one. And if they are, all the more I'm looking forward to 2008.

Relationship wise...haha I'm pretty sure my friends who are reading this would be looking to see if I would say anything besides my usual "nothing much" and "no girlfriend yet" answers. Well, I don't like talking about my relationships (if any) - not even to my family...and I wonder why. Perhaps past experiences taught me that private matters should stay private unless you really don't mind others knowing and talking about it. And not forgetting influencing your thoughts. Oh yes, back to the question before I'm being accused of performing the art of Tai Chi again. I have a lot of wonderful and much cherished experiences with friends this year - one great friend in particular. And the more I think about it, it is not a single memorable moment that I would remember for 2007, but the cumulative moments of 2007 that I would keep most cherished in my heart. I still believe that it is in these moments that lives become meaningful. Enough info? ;p

And how can I end this entry without so much as a mention of how our country fared in 2007? It was business as usual I would say. Despite scandals aplenty - which I'm sure our local media was quick to snuff out any mention of them. A duty to their political masters, no doubt.

For our country, the year 2008 is a year to look forward to, but also a year to dread. It will most likely be this year that we will see general elections and it will be a test on how the people really feel about the current government. I'm afraid that most of the stupid politicians we have now will stay on in power without much change. Even with the recent show of discontentment - taken to the streets - it would not do much to alter the mindset of our local politicians who are so entrenched in their way of communal thinking and their need to hold on to power. Well, if politicians are stupid this year, we can't very well expect them to suddenly become bright in 2008, can we? Perhaps a miracle...yeah, right!

I do so look forward to 2008 - although I have stopped making any New Year's resolution for a long time. Most of the time I know what I want to do - and even how to do it - and it's all down to putting in the hard work and getting it done. Or at least try to do so. The one main thing that comes to mind at this moment - and has been constantly nagging me in my head - is the need to save more money in 2008. Since I have started working in Penang, the dollar sign seemed always to be a problem. I blame it on the low buying power that is the Ringgit Malaysia. But since I can't change stupid government policies or those of my company, I have got to find a way to earn more and to spend less. Difficult, in a time where inflation is rising - way above the 1.9% released by the government - and the need to balance between buying out of necessity and things I can do without. I so hate to change my lifestyle ;p

I look back to 2007 and see that I could have accomplished more - much more. But then again, I am not one to look back and regret - not much anyway. I prefer to look forward and with the hope and optimism of a five year old that things will be better - more fun and a better life.

As clichéd as this might sound, I would like to say Goodbye to 2007 and a big Welcome 2008. I wish all my friends and readers a very Happy New Year and may all your hopes and dreams be fulfilled with the coming of 2008! I'll be spending my time tonight in Red Box, Gurney with some good friends singing our lungs out. I believe it's a good way to start a new year LoLz! :D

Icon's Story

Found this flash animation, called Icon War through Stumbling around. Though it seems to be an older work, check it out - it's pretty cool. Reminds me of the Animator vs Animation clip.

Christmas 2007

The night before Christmas - not the movie - my family had a simple meal of a mixture of east meets west kind of dishes. It's been a while since we sat down for a family dinner before Christmas, what with my brother and I being overseas for more than a few years.

My time in the UK during Christmas was usually spent with friends at potluck gatherings or dinners at restaurants having a Christmas meal. One would think that I'm a Christian by the way I'm writing about celebrating Christmas and all. Unfortunately - or fortunately, depending on one's beliefs and perspectives - I am a free-thinker. Though my dad is a Methodist and most of my uncles and aunties - on my father's side at least - are Christians. And so when I was young we used to gather at one of my aunt's place and celebrate - though I didn't quite understand what we were celebrating then. There would usually be a big Christmas tree, with lots of presents beneath it and a sumptuous meal. And we even had a family member dressing up as Santa Clause and passing out the presents. Being still a kid then - I truly enjoyed it :D

Anyway, over the years the gatherings became something less frequent. A lot of my cousins have gotten married while some have migrated overseas - I was away studying and working for around six years. Personally, as I grew older, Christmas gatherings became less significant - perhaps it was my deeper entrenchment in the thoughts of free thinking. But in hindsight, gatherings such as those during Christmas can mean quality time with close family members and friends and while it may sound absurd - not so in the modern context however - not necessarily in celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ (if I'm not mistaken it used to be a pagan festival that fell on the 25th of December).

I'm not sure how to put this, but I was certainly glad - more so than I expected, honestly speaking - that we had a nice dinner this year. My nephew is just over a year old and I hope that in the years to come we will continue with the Christmas dinner and all, and perhaps leave him with some fond memories that I had when I was his age. I wonder if he would follow the beliefs of his dad and granddad. Which gets me to thinking...my mum and sis-in-law are Buddhists, while my dad and bro are Christians. And I'm the only odd one out without a specific belief...weird ;p

Anyhow, while it's already past the 25th of December, I would still like to wish anyone reading this a Merry Christmas and most certainly a Happy New Year 2008!

I spent Christmas day itself traveling back to Penang from Kuala Lumpur. Here are some of the pictures I took of my nephew and the dinner at Chef & Brew that night with my bro and his family.

Aidan on his journey back to Penang :)

Aidan says: Where is my meal?

3 White Prawns & Chuka Idako (Japanese Baby Octopus) garnished with Miso Mayo, Lemon Sauce & Fresh Vegetables
There was a soup too - Cream of Asparagus with Scallops - though there wasn't anything special about it. Well at least not on camera ;p

Roast Turkey served with Cranberry & Roast Sauce, Chicken Sausages, Parsley Potatoes and Brocolli & Carrot
This was a simple dish, but with a very tasty sauce. And I think they missed out the pâté on menu, which my bro thought was better than the turkey. Hehe...probably because they served like 4-5 pieces of thick turkey meat, which meant that the last piece is already quite dry - despite the sauce - by the time you get to it.

Christmas Pudding & Cranberries Muffin
A bit too sweet - nothing special

Okay...that's it for now...it's 3:17am at the moment and I'm still wide awake...I need sleep...

Leading Up to Christmas...

It's been quite a few days since my last entry - been busy hanging out and having loads of fun! ;p

Anyway, I went back to KL for Christmas this year - decided to take Monday off since this year Christmas day falls on a Tuesday and taking a day off makes it four days in row of now work and all play ;p

I could have taken Friday off too since Hari Raya Qurban was last Thursday and my company observe the day as a public holiday. But not enough leaves to take as I plan to take almost a week off work for a trip to Kota Kinabalu next year :D

I have taken lots of pics and after applying some sort of filtering system, I'm posting today's entry on the ones that led up to Christmas - and I'll leave the pics to do the talking, or so the saying goes ;)

I was there hanging out with a friend, checking out phone prices and the usual - people watching. We were suppose to be watching a movie at Berjaya Times Square, but we were late due to the the heavy traffic jam around that area. So we decided to walk around and do some shopping. Bought a X'Mas gift for my parents too - a multi-photo frame to be exact :) Will take a picture of it once my mum fills it with photos.Christmas decorations at Sungai Wang

I didn't managed to snap photos at Times Square - I guess I was too busy shopping. I had a RM50 Borders voucher with me so I was only too happy to concentrate at the task at hand - getting the right books! ;p

After that we decided to go fo dinner at somewhere nice. And we thought the Hard Rock Café would be a good place to spend a nice evening and get into the mood of celebrating X'Mas. We had great food and though we didn't stick around long enough for the band to get started, we had a great time.

My friend had the grilled salmon, which was just nice and not overcooked
An 8 oz. filet grilled and served with White
Cheddar smashed potatoes and fresh
vegetables.

And I, of course, had the New York Strip
A USDA choice 21 day aged center-cut, 12 oz.
New York strip steak grilled to your liking
and topped with Merlot-garlic butter.
Served with smashed potatoes, gravy and
fresh vegetables.

Temptation! The Brownie Sundae was most certainly sinful!

A regular portion of Häagen-Dazs vanilla
ice cream, topped with hot fudge sauce,
chopped walnuts, fresh whipped cream,
chocolate sprinkles and a cherry.
Put it in a souvenir Martini glass and keep it
for an additional fee.

A night shot of the Petronas Twin Towers from Concorde Hotel (which is adjacent to HRC)

Christmas caroling at the Concorde Hotel lobby

Meet the Santa!

After dinner, we thought that we could give it a shot at catching a movie - this time at Midvalley Megamall. Arrived there around 10pm and got the tix for a midnight show. We had plenty of time to kill so we went around snapping pictures.

Very nice decorations at the Midvalley Megamall. One word comes to mind - grand!

Make a X'Mas tree with lots and lots of buns!
Memory Lane was displaying some products, mostly soft toys on the ground floor.

Mushroom deco at the North Court
This was taken after the movie - very, very early in the morning of X'Mas eve

What's Christmas without presents?
There was certainly more Christmas spirit in the house as for a long time, my brother - and his family - and I were both back home with my parents.

More pictures to come, some taken on Christmas day, where we had dinner at Chef and Brew. Tonight will be another night out with friends, this time to celebrate the Belated Birthday of a very good friend - so certainly more to blog about ;p

Update (01-Jan-2008): Midvalley won the Best Decorated Mall Contest for 2007. Their decorations carried the theme "Fairy Whispers". Read more here.

Shanghai 10 @ Queensbay Mall

Last Wednesday I had a chance to hang out with a friend and try out the food at Shanghai 10 (or Shanghai "Tian" to be accurate) at Queensbay Mall. It was my first time trying the food at there and I was kind of hoping it would not be one of those expensive and yet not quite nice places - i.e. not worth the penny ;p

I was told that they have a new menu

Anyway, surprisingly the food was pretty good and most importantly, not expensive - I know, I know, I sound like a scrooge already, but one needs to save the money for other growing expenses. Well, I'm glad that my friend asked to try it out and so we ended up nicely filled and satisfied.

Having read all the crappy news on the local media lately and how our politicians are trying to out-spin their way from the current supposedly bad publicity, this will be my attempt to write about something else - and post some pictures while I'm at it ;)

We ordered the following dishes and shared them...hehe that way we get to try out more stuff ;p

Shanghai Special Fried Bean Sheet - RM7.80
(The "bean sheet" is kind of translucent and the dish itself tasted a bit like "Char Koay Teow")

Peanut and Spicy Sauce "La Mian" - RM6.80
(Although it said spicy - and I don't take spicy stuff - I thought the sauce was excellent. Certainly wet my appetite ;p)

Breaded Chicken Curry Fritter - RM4.80
(As the name said it, it tasted of curry powder and it has chicken - not the best dish I would say)

Shanghai Double Boiled Soup Dumplings ("Siu Loong Pau") - Rm6.90
(This is of course the famous Shanghai dish and it was quite good. Plenty of soup and tasty ;p)

I took the pictures using my Nokia N80i 3M pixel camera - so it's not the best quality. You can view far nicer shots of their food on this blog: Eating Asia.

After dinner we wandered around till it was time for movie - we went to watch The Golden Compass. With all the religious controversy over this movie, I was curious to see it. My verdict after watching it is that some people were just oversensitive and all the noise surrounding it probably made the movie even more popular.

Just a short note for those who have not watch it yet and are planning to do so - this is based on the book called, Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman. This is the first book from a trilogy - so expect the ending to be a bit abrupt. And the reason why they changed the name is because New Line Cinema - who produced The Golden Compass - wanted to see if the movie is popular before moving on to make movies from the remaining books. Or at least that's something I read, somewhere on the web.

Anyhow, if you like fantasy type of stories, I do recommend this movie.

The Lingam Saga: The Full Video Is Out

Finally, we get to watch the full video of the Lingam saga. Is it authentic? I guess we'll have to wait and see for the Royal Commission report on its findings.

Personally, I think it's the true thing and was certainly a shocking revelation at the number of people that seems to be involved. Oh well, my words means nothing. So...you better judge for yourself.

For the full transcript of the conversation go here.

Are there no ethics in Malaysian journalism?

Is it just me or is the government putting in a lot of effort into getting a "feel good" factor going? With the amount of propaganda going on in the local media these days, I feel like puking whenever I read so-called professional journalists and columnists write their boot-licking-cum-butt-kissing articles.

Let's have a look at the latest by V.K. Chin in his column with the title, A united community can never be marginalised. It's probably a waste of time to rebut his views point by point, but let's go to his last few paragraphs. Oh, how I love it how these type of writers show their true colours at the end of their articles - every time. It's like, they try so hard to "show" that they are writing objectively, and then they turn around and lay down ridiculous statements, all in the name of serving their political masters.

This particular writer wrote in his Tuesday's column:

It is important therefore to control things before they get out of hand. People must also look at the situation in its proper perspective and in a rational manner.

Feeling marginalised is a matter of perception. In fact, unless there is restrictive legislation, no community can be marginalised, especially in a democratic society where every eligible citizen is entitled to vote for a new government every five years.

It must be said therefore that only a community can marginalise itself because if its members are determined to do the best for themselves, they can overcome all such obstacles.

The Barisan Nasional government has been looking after all the races since Merdeka, as it depends on their votes to renew its mandate. It would be political suicide to ignore any community.

While there are a variety of opinions on whether Hindraf is an extremist group and whether they are worth supporting, my personal views are that there is clear evidence that there is a good number of Indians in Malaysia that are living in poverty and that they have been marginalised by the very same policies that the government has implemented in the name of alleviating poverty in Malaysia. Just that they concentrate more, if not solely, on eradicating poverty of one particular race, rather than Malaysians as a whole.

To say that there is no restrictive legislation in Malaysia is like saying that the National Economic Policy (NEP) never existed. Hasn't the NEP become a "legislation" with the way it is being implemented? Wait...it's way more powerful than a legislation since it cannot be spoken of nor challenged by the rakyat. This is one of the reasons why the government has failed the poor in Malaysia - even the Malays - because the implementation of the NEP is discriminatory and has encouraged the practice of corruption and nepotism. It made racism something common in Malaysia by institutionalising the very idea that it's OK to treat people differently based on one's skin colour.

Just because the people can vote every five years for a new government, it does not mean that there are no marginalised Malaysians. In Malaysia, democracy is like mob rule, whereby the minority voices often get looked over and more often than not, their rights get trampled over - that is until something like the Hindraf rally makes it a big headline. Even then, as we can observe now, the government is deploying its machinery to create an atmosphere where everything seems to be rosy and that everything done so far - be it the Bersih rally or the Human Right Walk - has been politically motivated by the opposition. The writer has no doubt bought into the ridiculousness of it all.

By saying that a community can only marginalise itself because its members are not determined to better themselves is like saying that they are poor because they want to be poor. The excuse sounds so lame.

I have no doubt that there are some people who would like nothing better than to eat off from the hand of the government - rather than put in the hard work to make life better. But the writer should not make light of the the problems of any community by giving lame excuses by implying that "you have only yourself to blame if you are marginalised".

In a single stroke, the writer tried to brush off any connection that exist between the marginalised and government policies. It is certainly misleading, not to mention unprofessional to write such statements even if it is to help the government further its "feel good" agenda.

The last sentence certainly confirmed that the whole reason for the article is to further BN's propaganda by putting blame on the communities themselves for being poor. So how come there is a certain race in Malaysia that doesn't blames itself for its shortcomings? Why is it that they get the leg up on so many areas? So by the writer's points, shouldn't the NEP be abolished?

Are there no ethics in Malaysian journalism?

The Jakarta Post: Truly Malaysia

Something worth reading. Here's an article from The Jakarta Post.com
This is merely to share and so that I may keep a copy for future reference.

Truly Malaysia

Although the ongoing anti-government movements in Malaysia are still at a very preliminary stage, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has threatened to impose the much feared and draconian Internal Security Act against those who still defy his warnings to cease street demonstrations.

The threat to jail protesters for an indefinite period of time seems to have worked, at least for the time being, because the number of street demonstrations has sharply declined. But the prime minister needs to remember that demands for justice, more freedom and more political and economic equality cannot be silenced just by throwing more people into prisons.

PM Badawi and the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO)need to remember that as long as the roots of discontent exist anti-government movements will not subside.

The experience of Soeharto before his fall in May 1998 showed there was a point where people lost their fear of the iron-fist man and did not care anymore about his brutal responses to their protests.

It is clear the current situation in Malaysia today is very different from what Indonesian faced nine years ago, especially in terms of economic conditions. In 1998, Indonesia's economy was on the brink of disaster, while Malaysia's economy today is relatively healthy. But as its economy shows declining growth amid soaring oil prices, many people have begun to feel the heat.

The attitude of many Malaysian officials in responding to the street demonstrations is similar to the attitude of Indonesian officials in 1998. They point their finger at "third parties", "western countries" or "irresponsible press" creating the political unrest. They are reluctant to accept the street facts, because they have been too long in power, enjoying all privileges.

As its constitution is perceived by the minority as discriminatory against non-Malays and non-Muslims, more Malaysians now are demanding real equalities. Sixty percent of the 26 million population is Malay -- synonymous with Muslim according to the constitution -- while the rest are Chinese, Indian and other ethnicities.

Badawi should demonstrate his strong leadership as the country prepares for an early election, because he has not been able to fully control the ruling party. Many Muslims in his ruling party are increasingly impatient with Badawi because they think things were better in Malaysia before Mahathir Mohamad handed over power to Badawi in 2003.

Mahathir is widely regarded as much more protective of Malays than his successor is. Many Malaysians perhaps forget that Mahathir left many fundamentals problems -- from an ailing economy to corruption -- for Badawi. The fact the succession from Mahathir to Badawi was not conducted by fully democratic means also created friction among the elites and dissatisfaction among the people.

The Malaysian government needs to be more sensitive in listening to the aspirations of its people. Defensive attitudes -- such as blaming others, probably including this newspaper -- will not be helpful at all.

It is time now to honestly listen to criticism from citizens. Putting anti-government activists in jail is only a very short-term solution. PM Badawi needs to show he is the prime minister of all Malaysian citizens no matter their ethnic or religious background.

Propaganda crap continues on The Star

If one were to pick up an English paper today, one would see a lot of propaganda crap floating around, especially if you are one of the majority of people who gets their daily news dosage from the likes of The Star and NST.

Today, I'm going to continue with my criticism against the former after reading this article, A step closer to ISA?

It was loaded with views that are only meant to make the government look good. The writer tried to portray his article as an objective piece, but it ended up being 90% pro-government and a trifle mention of any opposing arguments.

Let's take a look at what he said.

A British legacy, it is regarded by many as draconian and to be used only as the last resort when the country’s security is threatened.

Over the last few days, the chorus for the use of the ISA against the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) has become louder.

Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam and Youth chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein Onn – two senior Umno leaders – want the ISA invoked while MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said he would not interfere if the ISA were used.

To begin with, as a country aspiring to be the first of many things - including the cultivation of a first world mentality, the Internal Security Act (ISA) IS draconian and should not exist when the rule of law is properly in place, and justly applied. The government uses the ISA merely as a tool to quash dissenting voices and to protect its interests. While it is only my opinion, one need not think too deeply to clearly see that our government's interests today no longer represents the interests of its people. The government is only interested in protecting the the few, the powerful, and the well-connected, i.e. themselves.

In short, ISA is used mainly to ensure that they have a continuity in power and that any party or group that are seen to be challenging their dominance, must be crushed - brutally - and without mercy. That is their justification to use the ISA. Of course, they would be fools to tell it straight to your face.

The author of the article says that the chorus of voices that are asking for the use of the ISA are increasing and getting louder. One only need to look at the names that he has supplied to see the stupidity of this remark when these voices comes from the government itself - if not entirely from UMNO, who sees any challenge to it's dominance as a taboo. "Saya pantang dicabar", remember?

And then, the writer further adds:

The pressure seems to have been stepped up and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must surely be aware of the feeling on the ground.

Any decision to use the ISA would not make the leadership popular, particularly in the eyes of the world, but for many Malaysians, this could well be the only solution to keep the peace and stability.

The feeling on the ground is that the Prime Minister (PM) should get his act together and do something about fulfilling his promises to fight graft and be a PM for everyone. Up till now, his record on fighting graft is almost zero. He has allowed racist and sexist remarks from MPs from his very own UMNO party to go unpunished.

Under his government, we have seen a rise in crime rates - need we even mention the words snatch thieves? How about doing an interview with the residents in Johore Bharu? One Johorian friend once told me that if you are staying in Johore and your house has not been broken into, then you cannot be considered a Johorian. Although I took his "statistics" with more than a pinch of salt, the appalling crime rates is this country - not only in Johore - is clearly getting from bad to worst. How many reports on crime is The Star reporting daily? And what have our Pak Lah done to alleviate this? Has his premiership made any difference to say if any other Tom, Dick or Harry was in his place instead?

The use of ISA is NOT popular - full stop. It's not only unpopular by world's standard, but it grossly unpopular with the common Malaysian people, with the exception of the government and its boot-licking cronies, and also not forgetting people with third world mentality such as Mr. Wong.

The only solution to maintaining peace and stability is to implement policies that are just and fair for every Malaysians. It's utter ridiculous nonsense, particularly coming from an experience journalist, to say that the application of a specific law - one that is often spat upon - to be the saviour of the peace and harmony in our country. That is super third world mentality for you.

Moving forward, I'll skip his other comments on Hindraf, since it's nothing but excuses to justify the use the draconian law. But let's take a look at the last few paragraphs:

Yesterday, about 100-odd people, including lawyers, some linked to Parti Keadilan Rakyat, and activists, went ahead with a protest march although the Bar Council had called it off. As lawyers, they should know the law better, even if they disagreed with it and taking to the streets is something new to Malaysian politics.

Tomorrow, the PKR-backed Bersih intends to gather outside Parliament House for another protest.

These series of protests have put the leadership under test, if not strain, including within their party and supporters.

No one should be surprised if the ISA is used against those who threaten racial harmony, as enough warnings have been given.

The right to protest and the right to march should not be something alien to Malaysians. And it's not new either. Malaysian took to the streets when they opposed the the Malayan Union even before we achieved our independence. Mr. Wong, please go and do your homework. In Malaysia, protesting on the streets is only a taboo after the May 13 incident - and that also applies only to non-UMNO protest walks. What happened to the protest by the one famous son-in-law in front of the US Embassy? Was that peaceful? All I remembered was his 'beruk' (literally means ape) face on the blogs. What did that do to investors' confidence?

The writer is correct in one sense when he said that no one should be surprised if the ISA is used. But that is because Malaysians has always learnt that the ISA is ever ready to embrace those who opens their mouth against the government. Especially, if you are capable of rocking the political boat, you are surely deemed worthy of some time with the ISA.

We, Malaysians have learnt one thing well and that is to fear the government when it utters the words I-S-A.

Update: It's refreshing to read something closer to reality from our local press. Read Opposing Democracy and judge for yourself.

The art of professional ass-kissing

Headlines like, Government ‘fighting graft well’, is freaking misleading (I was going to use the 'F' word, but I'll trying to keep it civil). And it's a SHAME on The Star for kissing the government's big ass all because the General Election is around the corner. Oh wait, you kiss it all the time.

If the government is really 'fighting graft well' (puke, puke) then why is it in the same article, you wrote the following?

It also found that 18% of Malaysians believed that corruption would decrease in the next three years while 63% thought it would increase.

Malaysians gave a ranking of 3.7 to the police in their perception of the corruption they perceived to exist in various sectors and institutions. (1 indicates not at all corrupt, while 5 indicates extremely corrupt). Political parties got a ranking of 3.6 while religious bodies were ranked 1.9.

Transparency International Malaysia’s president Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said the findings showed that the people still did not have enough confidence in the Government’s efforts to fight corruption where the Anti-Corruption Agency lacked resources and tough legislation.

Oh...I guess that would be the "cover you ass" part where you put in some facts in so that you will look professional and then we cannot say that you are bias in your reporting.

So if those were the facts? What's with the stupid title?

And then you report the PM is happy with the recent survey on free and fair elections in the coutry. Of course he is happy - probably laughed until his tummy ache when he read it. Who the hell did they surveyed anyway?

Banner Problem

Update: The banner problem has now been fixed. Thank you Blogger.com!

OK, anyone reading this blog will notice that the banner has shrunk to about 2.6 times of its normal size. And it's not that I want to you guys to use a magnifying glass to view it. There is no hidden clues or treasures on the picture unfortunately.

Blogger has been having some problems lately, most popular is the problem with uploading pictures to blogs. And at the moment, we can't seem to view pictures that are posted on blogger in an "enlarged" manner, e.g. usually I would just click the pictures to view it in full resolution. Right now, on Firefox, blogger will prompt you to either "Open" the file directly or "Download" it to your computer for viewing.

I didn't have this problem (the banner one) till last night when I decided to design a new banner for Christmas + New Year - you know, too change the mood a bit on this blog? Well, the re-design part went well - just that it's not showing up right at the moment ;p

I have posted this problem on blogger's help group here and it seems that there are others who are experiencing the same. So if you are thinking of changing your banner, you might want to wait a while longer. Or you can give it a shot and let me know if you see the same problem ;p

New Toll Rates?

Is the above correct? I received it via email a moment ago.

I've got no comments come to mind as yet...I guess I can only sigh at this moment...

Peel it quick, this is how

I meant peeling a potato that is. I think I saw this on the web some time ago, or was that in an email? Anyway, here's a reminder on how you can peel potatoes in a quick and easy manner. Though you need ice for this...weird, huh?



Actually what was more interesting as I stumbled upon this video is the 5min Life Videopedia. I haven't really explored it fully yet, but it looks like your typical YouTube - only that you can post up to a maximum of 5 minutes. And it consist of mainly knowledge sharing stuff - though as you can see in the above clip, can be pretty fun and interesting.

This is what 5min is about:

The idea behind 5min is very simple: any solution can be visually explained in no more than 5 minutes. Our goal is to create the first communal Life Videopedia allowing users from all over the globe to contribute their knowledge by sharing visual guides in areas such as arts, business, fashion, sports, health, tech, food, and much more.

If you have not already, go check it out!

Festival of Rights 2007

Just helping to spread the word:

As I believe : Freedom of Expression through Art, Music, Culture and Conscience in conjunctoin Human Rights Day

I think it would be fun. That is if the government don't make a mess out of it again.

Details:
9th December 2007
Part I : 0730 SOGO COMPLEX - People's Freedom Walk
Part II : Central Market - Festivities and Conversations

Read more from Jeff's Screenshots.

An all day event at the Mall

I see Sharon has already blogged about the one day outing at Queensbay Mall that we had as part of our department's celebration, which is suppose to celebrate the release of a feature enhancement for our products - a pretty big one too considering the amount of work that has gone into it. Not to mention the amount of people who were involved.

Let's rewind to a few weeks back on how I got involved in organizing this event. I think it was about three weeks ago that I received an email from my manager asking whether I could take up the task of organizing, what should be "Appreciation Dinner + Some Activities". And that email was copied to almost all the managers and senior managers in the department. Haha...even if I didn't want to do it, it was kind of hard to refuse, right?

Anyway, fortunately I didn't think organizing it was a problem, so the issue of thinking of a way to decline nicely was not required ;p Personally I thought it was a challenge. This time I wanted to organize the appreciation event for my fellow colleagues - something fun and not just a typical dinner, at a typical hotel. Although some did indicate that food is the most important and all else shouldn't matter much ;p

For this sort of event, having a dinner was a given. But we also wanted some sort of activities in the day so that fellow colleagues and friends can have some time interacting - and have a nice time off from work. God knows, some of them has worked their asses off - even on Hari Raya and other public holidays.

The idea of having a 'Treasure Hunt' in a mall was mooted after getting to know that another department has recently organized such an event at a local mall. And it seems that they had quite a bit of fun too. To Penangites, Queensbay Mall should be a familiar name.

Well, if they have done it before, it shouldn't be too difficult to do it again, right? That's what I thought. Unfortunately, the mall's management disagreed with the way we are going to look for the treasures and so I had to modify the whole concept in order to meet their requirements. At first I was doing alone and frankly speaking, there was only about a week plus to get everything in place - so it was really fortunate that I had two other friends, Kin Wei and TJ, who volunteered to help out - Thanks a lot guys!

We were at the mall practically a few days in a row, trying to figure out the treasures and clues. And we are probably a bit sick of going there already ;p But cutting the long story short, we made it in time - the hunt involved 23 shops/establishments and 25 treasures in total. Phew...that was a relief because after the invitations went out, a lot of my friends has expressed anticipation for this event. So it kind of became the anchor event for the day - if there was any such thing ;p

As for the dinner, remember my previous entries where I was deciding between G Cafe and Cafe Laurel? Well, due to some foreseeable difficulties in our company's method in making a claim (for the cost), we decided that it would be better if we didn't have the dinner at a hotel. Instead, we decided to have the dinner at TGI Fridays - which was also at the mall. Having the dinner at the mall means that we need not have to travel to town, which means no traffic jams and more people who can join the celebrations. In total we had 76 people who attended the dinner. We went for the current 3-course meal deal at RM39.90, which covered an appetizer, main meal and dessert. Haha...it was really good business for TGI Fridays that night ;p

Anyway, coming back to the activities, thanks to the help from KW and TJ, the Treasure Hunt was a success. And in between the 'hunt' and dinner, we threw in a nice activity for them and that was going to the cinemas! Yup, all paid for and any movie that is showing at that time. Well, to clarify, all paid for by the managers - we have a fund you see, for funding team building activities and I guess this can be considered as one if them...hehehe ;p

A lot of us watched The Kingdom and I must say it was really good, much better than expected. There were of course some parts that were censored, but it didn't really affected the flow of the story. Some went for the other favourite, which was the Enchanted - you can read my views for this show in my previous entry.

So now that all the words have been laid down, let's have the pictures do the talking, so you can see how much fun the whole team had. And for that I'm truly happy 'cause it made the effort that we put in, truly worthwhile.

Strategizing

This is how you win prizes!

Go! Go! Go! Haha...what a relax bunch ;p

Hey, no writing on the wall!

Oh wait! I think I see something!


Sharon, no running around the mall!

Oh...I guess it's alright if you are running to pose ;p

No more time to deliberate guys!


It all ended after an hour of happy hunting!


After all the hard work, we went for some raw meat at Sakae Sushi :D


As you can see...I was satisfied with the meal ;p


And after the movies, it was eating time again!

We were busy ordering our food


Getting right down to business! Yum! Yum!


And finally we gave away some prizes for the Treasure Hunt and here are the the first prize winners! Congrats all!

It was long day, but a fun a day. Like I've said before, I was there for more than 10 hours, but it was all worth it :D

Simply Enchanted

So the big celebration is finally over. And I'm half down with a sore throat and cold. Well, maybe it started even before the celebration. I'll write more about what we did yesterday - all I'm going to write now is that we spent the whole day at the mall - based on the parking ticket time stamp, I was there for more than 10 hours. Yeah, I know, it sounds like something boring and not quite so cool - like what would you do for 10 hours at a mall, right? Well, you'll have to come back again to find out in my next blog entry once I have sorted out the photos ;)

Anyway, tonight, I went for my second movie this week - two days in a row to be precise. I watched The Kingdom yesterday and Enchanted just a few hours ago. Surprisingly it's been a few months since I've watched good movies continuously - and by that remark, I meant that both movies were good and certainly worth watching.

I'll leave The Kingdom for another day. But since I just finished watching Disney's latest production, I guess I'll just talk a bit more about it - but no spoilers :)

Enchanted is a movie about...well, I think most people should know by now...but maybe just to recap a lil' bit. It's about Giselle, your usual Disney beautiful lady destined to marry Prince charming and become his Princess. When on the wedding day, a wicked witch, which is the Prince's step mother - also the Queen, hatches a plot to stop the "Happily Ever After" event from happening.

Only this time, Disney made these characters come into the "real" world, or rather New York city in this case. You can only guess the ending...think about the theme "Happily Ever After" and you'll catch my drift.

The cast for Enchanted is a good one in my opinion. We have Amy Adams as Giselle, i.e. the Princess (or Princess-to-be). She was really funny in the show. And also a beauty in IMHO ;p

And of course we have the Prince, played by James Marsden. Remember Cyclops in X-Men? OK...maybe it kinda spoiled his whole macho image after watching this movie. But he played his role well, by being blur most of the time lol!

The twist comes when Disney introduces The Man, which was played but none other than Patrick Dempsey. Don't know who he is? Think Grey's Anatomy.

And finally, how can we missed out Susan Sarandon, who play Queen Narissa?

Oh wait...I forgot someone...ah...it's Pip! Without him, the story would certainly be less funny ;p
If you are looking for a light time and plenty of good laughs, I sincerely recommend this movie. Though, keep in mind that this is a Disney movie ;p

Pictures were taken from the official movie website for Enchanted. There is plenty more there, go take look :)