A Time to Reflect!

It is time for this nation to stop and reflects on her current condition. We are at a crossroad, the world is at a crossroad. This is an opportunity for us to lead the way rather than to act re-actively.

On matters of unity, let us all concentrate on our shared past and experiences, look into our similarities and build on that. Let us go beyond race, skin colour, religion, language and build upon empathy, brotherhood/sisterhood, love, caring as the basis of our nation.

On matters of education, let us look for the best in our young and future generations, so that they'll lead this nation to greatness. We all are the same, our children are the same, we all share a hope and a destiny in this nation of ours.

On matters of economy, let us throw away the shackles of poverty not only that of capital, but also the poverty of thoughts. New skills and knowledge should be created and shared with everybody. Let new opportunities be created and shared equally with all.

We all share a common bond in this country of ours. We all share a common destiny. We all dream a common happiness.

Hail the President!

Obama won.
Will it be a change?
Will the American perceived hegemony be soften?
Will the economy rise in hope?
Will fairness and respect be the norm?
Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
Will.i.am.

So many questions...

What happen to the market?

Oil.Down!
NYSE.Down!
Nikkei.Down!
Plantation.Down!
Banking.Down!
Everything.Down!

Salam Eidul Fitri!

Sebulan ku mencari rahmatMu,
ku tak pasti samada bertemu,
hanya Kau yang maha mengetahui,
isi hatiku yang meratapi,
yang mendambakan kurniaan,
yang mencari keikhlasan.

Hidupku, matiku hanya untukMu.

SOON!

A cold cool breeze,
clearing stagnant air,
bringing change,
bringing hope,
but maybe,
a start of a storm,
or even a bedlam of a hurricane,
destroying long held beliefs,
unshackling shackles,
whatever it is,
an altered vista approaches.

Condo Unit in Kelana D'Putera for Rent!

I'm moving out! Looking for tenant.

Description:

High Floor, Facing pool, Nice View, Well Maintained With a Fresh Coat of Paint, High Security with Friendly Neighbours.

1257 sq ft. with 3 Bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms, 2 air cond unit, 1 water heater unit, built in kitchen cabinet, and semi furnished.

Newly weds/ working couple preferred. Unit available in November 2008.

Failed Nation? by Rustam A. Sani

Today I had the pleasure of reading a book entitled "Failed Nation? Concerns of a Malaysian Nationalist" by the late Rustam A. Sani. For those who is not familiar with Rustam A. Sani, he was the son of one of our great freedom fighter, Abdullah Sani@Ahmad Boestaman. More than that, he was a great thinker and academician, a prolific writer, a literary master and most importantly a good soul. He passed away on 23 April 2008.

Anyway, I have been trying to get the book since it was first launch 26 April 2008. It's a collection of his writings that spans roughly 2 decades. In it you can take a peek into the mind of a great sociologist looking at the development of Malaysia as a full fledged nation-state and the creation of "Bangsa Malaysia", not only as a detached observer but also as an active participant of the process.

As you go along the pages, you can almost feel the sadness and sometimes the bitterness that the writer feel when evaluating our progress as a nation. On our confident existence as a nation during the 49th Merdeka Day, he had this to say, "Needless to say, there was certainly no convincing expression of confidence for our future".

In the same article, you can feel the losing hope of the writer on nation building through the last paragraph of the article,"It is high time that the highly articulate, theoretically-informed, social science promoter of the notion of nation-building that I have always wanted to be should also take a retirement just like the rest of me."

But of course not only on his pathos that I am interested in but also the weight of his arguments and his insights on nation-building and nationalism that is highly thought provoking. His statement that,"...Malaysia is just a state without nation - or at least, a state with several competing nations." forces us to look at this country we call Malaysia and re-evaluate our sense of nationhood. Can we look at our fellow Malaysian, without first identifying his race/religion/language/tradition and identify him only as our brother in this nation?

I have yet to finish reading the whole book, but from what I've read it inspires me to share a bit of the content, such a great thinker that was Rustam A. Sani. The only bad thing I can say about the book is that, his articles is too short for me. A more lengthy arguments would only bring greater elucidation to the reader and thus the better.

The Calm Before The Storm

There's this calm before the storm.
An impending chaos that I can feel.
The future is wrought with dangers.
But therein lies redemption.

There's this calm before the storm.





Happy Malaysia Day!

The Breaking Down of Society

Slowly but ever so assuredly, our society is breaking down. It is not something that is tangible, this break down. It is more of ubiquitous feelings of the masses. Highest on the list of such feeling is that of fear. Fear of losing power, fear of being proven wrong, fear of being expose, fear of the truth.

With the arrest of RPK and Teresa Kok, the arrest and subsequent release of Tan, shows the world or at least the small minority of people with interest in this nation, how we as society fears the truth. Or maybe a better word to replace society is the government.

The reports filed by JAKIM and several other government bodies against RPK is a clear indication of how immature those in the government departments tackle such an issue. What RPK did was write his opinion on what he thinks is the 'rightous' Muslim. The key word here is his 'opinion', his view, his understanding of the matter. It was an opportunity for Jakim (Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia) to give their 'official' definition of what is rightous and what is not. All they have to do is prove it using all the Quranic words, all the Hadiths, all the Ijtihads, all the Fatwas, that prove RPK wrong. But alas, they miss this opportunity.

They miss an opportunity to gain public support, and most importantly public understanding on the issue at hand. They failed miserably in their duty to preach in wisdom, to preach the truth, to preach in patience.

On the arrest of Teresa Kok, I would believe that most 'reasonable' people will come to a conclusion that this was a political act. Why arrest her in the first place? Why not arrest the person(s) that spread the story? Teresa Kok already denied it in public, if there's any such truth to the claims then why not the aggrieved party bring it to court or report it to the police and let due process takes place?

Why not let truths be guiding light of our society? Why such fear of the truth? All of these are symptoms. Symptoms of a dying society, or of that of a failed government. A government that cannot bear the truth, because the truth of the matter is that the government is a dying beast. And unfortunately it will take us down with it.

Project Malaysia

There's a new initiative started by Malik Imtiaz called Project Malaysia. It is a 'nation building experiment' where a particular 'theme' shall be discuss each month. It will run for 12 months. At the end of it, it is hope that a 'formula' on nation building can be found.

This is indeed an interesting and most worthy endeavor to try and look at this nation in a more objective and reasonable manner. Hopefully it will be a success. I look forward in reading the thoughts of invited writers and understand their perspectives. I also added the link in my Other Writings.

Al-Fatiha: A. Samad Ismail

From Allah we come. To Allah we go.

Malaysia today lost a great son, a great journalist, a great soul. Let us pray to Allah that his soul will be amongst the faithful. Amin.

Karaoke: What have we done!?

Edited 2: Added final video clip

Edited: Added more photos.

Original posting:

And so it goes, that we went to the Kotak Merah to beautifully destroy some songs. I was designated cameraman. FYI, I'm still editing the video, the lighting were terrible, so don't have clear shots but here are some still shots of the session. And a clip of the session as a teaser.

The newly weds

The not so newly weds

The Boyband

The GIRLZ!

The Mamat Jiwang

The Future Youtube Sensation

The Cameraman

The Horror!

Sumpah! Saya tak beli!

Saya bersumpah bahawa pada hari ini saya tidak makan tengahari! Saya juga bersumpah bahawa pada hari ini saya pergi ke kerja. Saya bersumpah masa saya bekerja saya kekadang terbuat silap. Saya masih bersumpah bahawa setelah balik dari pejabat saya singgah di Tesco. Saya sumpah bahawa saya hanya beli keperluan dapur dan bukan keperluan diri saya sendiri!

Biarlah Tuhan melaknat saya, keluarga saya, sahabat handai saya, keluarga sahabat handai saya, jiran saya, keluar jiran saya, jiran saya yang dah pindah dan keluarga mereka, dan juga semua orang yang bertemu saya berserta keluarga mereka sehingga anak cucu cicit sampai ke kiamat.

Nothing Much to Talk About..

I wanted to elaborate something on the Bar Council Forum, but I just couldn't put my thoughts properly. But basically, I can surmise it in several points.

1) Bar Council erred in picking up the forum title. Should use less 'sensitive' titles. My suggestion would be, "The legal implication and issues on Non-Muslim when their spouse converted to Islam".

2) The protesters are shallow and narrow minded idiots. But what is worse, they forces their shallowness, narrowness and idiocy upon others.

3) The police should have control the crowds.

Now UMNO Can Control Feelings

We've heard how some UMNO members can do wonders and magic. Most of the time it's related to money and how they make it disappear. Like I put a 50 cent in my palm and make it disappear. They can do it with bigger amount.

Now it seems, that not only are they illusionist, they are also enchanters. They now want people to stop feeling sympathy. They are indeed greater than Merlin!

Speaking of Merlin, I remember a cartoon in the 80's called Visionaries : Knights of the Magical Light, in it there's a Magician by the name Merklynn. In the cartoon series, the character's have magical power's that can be activated through their magical staves by reciting poetic verses. One of the verse that I remember is this, "Three suns align, pour forth their light, and fill my archers bow with might!"

Wonder what the UMNO guys verse would be? I'm guessing, "By those who bribes, by those who receives, strengthen my tongue with the power to deceive".

Shah Alam to Have Own Hospital

It's funny that the State Capital will only now have its own hospital. I would have thought that access to health facilities would be one of the basic infrastructures to have in a town, much more so for City. The three basic social infrastructures would be in the area of security, health and education. The three basic physical infrastructures would be water, electricity and sewage.

Useless Info: How much shorter can you get?

Just got this from Answers.com :
//
za
n. Slang.

Pizza.

[Shortening and alteration of Pizza]

//

I would have thought that if you want to shorten the word pizza, a more probable form would be 'pizz', like in, "I want more cheese toppings on my pizz, foo!" I can only imagine in the near future, we'll be talking in shorten words for our daily conversations.

"Yo! me an m'peeps gonna hangz at the rez. Wanna cumalon? We treatcha a za!"

A sigh of Relief!

Thank goodness, Bank Negara didn't raised the OPR. With several loans on me, it would be really difficult to manage them all. Maybe it's time for me to rethink my position.

Should Muslim envisioned an Islamic State?

I have been taught that a Muslim should always strives to create an Islamic State. A state where the rules and laws laid down by Allah through the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) are being enacted. And since young, I've always believed that being a Muslim it is my duty to ensure that the creation of an Islamic State is achieved. I used to believe that if we enact and implement the Syariah (along with Hudud), we will create an Islamic State, a State that is peaceful and at harmony with itself following the guidance of Allah and all problems will be solved.

But as I grew older, I realised that my naivety and simplistic idea in solving the woes of the community is laughable at best. I have forgotten that it took the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), 23 years of teaching, preaching and guiding to achieve an Islamic State, and from that period, nearly half it was not really successful in changing the people of Mecca.

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), migrated from Mecca to Madinah, with the understanding that Islam will not flourish in an environment of unjust, fear, subjugation and tyranny. That was the main reason the Prophet (pbuh) migrated to Madinah. Madinah was a more peaceful and tolerant city, with more open minded society compared with Mecca. The Prophet were able to preach Islam in a safe and secure environment, while at the same time inquisitive minds were able to questions the Prophet (pbuh) himself on any ambiguities.

What does this have anything to do with an Islamic State?

Everything. For an Islamic State to be created, we first have to create a society that is open minded and inquisitive, a society that is peaceful, safe and secure, a society that is just and fair. These are the ingredients that will make Islam flourish. More important than rules, regulations, laws and forms in Islam are that of the self and the people. Should Muslim be able to espouse the Islamic principles of peace, justice, understanding and knowledge with oneself and society, the first step towards an Islamic State have already been taken.



Pic: Mosque in Bourke, NSW, Australia (picture taken from Wiki)

Added a New Link in Other's People Writting

YB Gua Hantu just started a blog. I've added a link to his blog. From now on, if you're interested on YB Gua Hantu's thoughts, you can go straight to his blog.

YB Gua Hantu: Biografi Ringkas

Maklumat Peribadi

Umur: 57
Tarikh Lahir: 3 Januari 1951
Tempat Lahir: Kg. Tengkorak Terbang, Mukim Hantu Raya, Daerah Gua Hantu
Status: Berkahwin (Isteri pertama: 1976 hingga sekarang, Isteri kedua:1985-1996, Isteri ketiga 1997 hingga sekarang, ada khabar angin mengatakan telah berkahwin seorang lagi di negara jiran)
Anak: 9 orang ( Umur/Jantina: 32/L, 30/P, 28/P, 26/P; 22/L, 20/L, 18/P; 9/P, 7/L)

Pendidikan:

Pendidikan Awal :Sekolah Pondok Kg. Tengkorak Terbang 1958-1963,
Pendidikan Pertengahan: Sekolah Menengah St. Francis of Assisi, Gua Hantu 1964-1970,
Pendidikan Lanjutan: University of Northampton (Bachelor of Science - Agriculture), 1971-1975,
University of Warwick (Master of Science - Agribusiness) 1980-1982,

Pekerjaan:

1976-1979: Penolong Pegawai Daerah Gua Hantu
1983-1984: Pegawai Daerah Gua Hantu
1985-1996: Ahli Perniagaan sepenuh masa
1997 - sekarang: Ahli Politik sepenuh masa

Kerjaya Politik:

1969 - Ahli Biasa Pertubuhan Golongan Pekerja (GoPek)
1971-1972- Ahli Biasa Persatuan Sosialis Northampton
1972-1974- Setiausaha Persatuan Sosialis Northampton
1975- Presiden Persatuan Sosialis Northampton
1976 -1984 - AJK Cawangan GoPek Kg. Tengkorak Terbang
1985-1992 - Ketua Cawangan GoPek Kg. Tengkorak Terbang, AJK Bahagian GoPek Gua Hantu
1992-1995 - Naib Ketua Bahagian GoPek Gua Hantu
1996 - Sekarang - Ketua Bahagian GoPek Gua Hantu

We're Going Nuclear!

Pic: Susquehanna Electric Station (taken from Wiki)

It seems that TNB is exploring the posibilities of building a power plant. I used to be against the building of nuclear power plants due to the risks involve especially when looking into the disaster that is Chernobyl. But now, afer rethinking my position, I believe nuclear would be the best alternative energy source to replace gas, coal and diesel.

I had the opportunity to attend a lecture by an ex-CEO of TNB. He was one of the first pioneers in a division setup by the Government then to look into the posibility of nuclear energy. He did say that we have the capacity and the resources to build a nuclear plant. Though, he said our mind set of safety and maintenance are very poor, that it'll be a liability to the operation.

Another problem I foresee is the dependency on the uranium source. We cannot be solely dependent on nuclear energy, due to the very fact that we don't have a uranium source and we also don't produce enriched uranium. This will be detrimental to our Energy Security.

A good ratio, I think, for our national energy diversification would be, Nuclear 30%, Hydro 40%, Solar and Wind 20%, and fossil fuel 10%.

Added An Oil Price Dashboard

Just so that I can keep track of th oil price. Btw, I mentioned earlier this month to a friend that I expect oil price to hover at around USD100 by middle of next year. Let us see whether my prediction will be accurate.

This is the best of times...

..this is the worst of times. My friend, we are at a momentous crossroad. Our politics are uncertain, nobody can guess what's going to happen tomorrow, much less two years from now. The wind of change is blowing everywhere, the weather cock is spinning like mad! Will it be better? will it be worst? Trust me, my friend when I say,"I believe it will be worst tomorrow, we have yet to witness the depth of depravity that hides within the heart of men! But once uncloaked, even Baalzebub will look upon us in awe."

Will all this politics matter? No matter what others says, my stand have always been that politics is the backbone of society. A weak, diseased and crooked backbone will ultimately kill society. We need a strong politic, not in the sense of might but strong of its righteousness. We need a healthy politic to ensure that the very basic needs and rights of individuals and society can flourish. We need a straight and true politics so that we can a walk a path of clear conscience. Without good politics, we will only be bad society.

YB Gua Hantu: Bersyukurlah!

Semasa melancarkan Pertandingan Laga Biawak di Kampung Peleset, YB Gua Hantu didalam ucapannya menyentuh mengenai isu semasa yang sedang hangat diperbincangkan sekarang di warong-warong kopi, rumah-rumah ibadat, rumah-rumah pelacuran, rumah-rumah judi haram, rumah-rumah anak yatim dan juga rumah ku syurga ku.

YB berkata, "Kita patut bersyukur tinggal di dalam negara ini kerana negara kita nie aman, damai dan tenteram". "Kalau ada kekacauan pun adalah berpunca daripada ah long - ah long yang tidak pandai buat pasaran. Ah long- ah long nie suka sangat tampal iklan diorang nie kat signboard jalan. Sampaikan mat rempit tak nampak hadlaju jalanraya, jadi mereka pun pecutlah. Inilah punca kemalangan yang utama di negara ini!"

Sambung YB, "Apapun kita kena bersyukur, sebab negara kita nie penduduknya ramah. Mana ada lagi tempat di seantero dunia ini yang sebebas negara kita. Kalau kat negara luar, orang cakap buruk pasal seseorang individu mesti dah lama kena saman, lepas tu kena tangkap masuk penjara. Kat negara kita nie, cakaplah buruk pasal apapun, pasal bom ka, pasal main belakang ka, semuanya boleh. Laporan media pulak bebas melaporkan apa saja, samada betul atau tidak itu perkara kedua atau ketiga atau keempat."

"Apapun kita mesti bersyukur, kat negara maju harga minyak tinggi sampai 4 ringgit seliter lagi mahal dari sebotol air mineral. Kat Malaysia nie air mineral sama harga ngan minyak. Maknanya kita nie sebenarnya lagi maju dari negara maju. Kita nie negara termaju. Diantara negara dunia ketiga dan pertama, kita nie negara dunia ruang angkasa iblis, boleh bertukar dalam masa 0.025 saat, itulah kemajuan namanya." YB dengan confident bercakap.

"Ingatlah wahai penduduk-penduduk Kampung Peleset, kita mesti bersyukur!" akhir kata YB Gua Hantu.

Bloggers on strike!

Well seems like some bloggers just couldn't handle all the blowing up, sodomy, susceptibility to anal sex and what not...what can I say?!....we reap what we sow. We are the people that stand by the side and let shit covers all of us without doing anything about it. For more than 2 and 1/2 decades we move silently by and let others step on us and shat...we reap what we sow.

But as any politicians like to say, "Jangan politikkan isu ini".....

Not Again!!!!!!

There's a reason why this country will not be able to survive the future. Guess!

I'm Back!

Well got back from BTN yesterday, all in one peace. Though a few aches here and there. I would say it was an "interesting" experience. I cannot divulge more info than that. Contact me personally for more

Going Off to BTN!

I'll be going off to BTN for a whole week. It's pretty stupid really. Anyway, I'll miss wife horribly :( and I don't think I'll have access to the internet. So be seeing you next week. If anything bad happens to me in BTN, please sue them for me ya!

Cya.

How to Reach Your PM

There are a couple of options if you want to contact our PM through websites:

1) You can go to his office website at www.pmo.gov.my



or alternatively,

2) You can reach him through www.warkahuntukpm.com.my



Wait a minute, both are under construction. Too bad I wanted to share with him my thoughts on the new fuel subsidies. By the way, I wonder who got the contract for the construction?

Petrol to be RM2.70/litre

My prediction is slightly off by 2 months. It seems the government took the hard step of increasing fuel prices at pump immediately beginning midnight. Petrol at RM2.70 means the government is still subsidizing the price at around RM0.30-0.50 as of now. Other than that it seems other subsidies such as gas and electricity shall be slowly reduce. I applause the government brave action in pulling back these subsidies. One thing lacking is that rather than a sudden increase in price there should be a clear policy in reducing fuel subsidies within a time frame of 3-5 years and gas subsidies between 7-10 years.

The immediate impact of the increase on the consumer would be psychological in nature. Seeing that we have been content in living with subsidies. The government have to effectively explain to the people on the street why such an increase is essential to save the nation economy. My fear now would be a civil unrest and people taking to the street their dissatisfaction. Already tonight I noticed a certain sense of chaos with people queuing up for fuels. I'm sure there would be pent up frustration and hopefully such feelings can be contained. A civil unrest and riots would be disastrous at such moment. This would be detrimental to the country's peace and economic health.



Cars queuing up for fuel [picture by my lovely wife :)]

By now, people would have started to compare the fuel at pump between oil exporting nation with that of Malaysia, and rest assured that the prices of fuel at these countries can be unimaginably low. But like all things, not all examples are good. The nation that subsidised so much of their oil will eventually have to bear the negative effect in the future. Our children, and their children will eventually live in a world with no natural resources what so ever due to our wastages now.

Let me remind you again that subsidies like the fuel subsidy reduces the efficiency of a market, it will produce wastages by consumer and never actually meet it's economic target of helping the poor.

Rather than looking at the bleak picture, now is the time for us to be more creative in dealing with daily difficulties. We can now focus the savings we made from our subsidies reduction to areas that can be beneficial in the long run. Subsiding health and education seems to be one of a long term solutions that can actually increase not only the quality of life for the citizen but bring about a better society.

On a more personal level, maybe it's time for us to look at a bus map and plan our journey to the office tomorrow. Or maybe we can advertised in our office and find a car pool mates. In a long term solution maybe we can find a place to stay nearer to the office or near public transport routes.

I hope tonight we can take a moment and reflect on this situation and give thanks to God for giving us some common sense to look further in the future to the needs of our next generation.

Subsidies Reduction

With crude oil prices passing the USD130.00 mark, the Malaysian government have no choice but to reduce subsidies by increasing prices of essentials and commodities. Though an unpopular move by the government, it is only by reducing subsidies can wastages be stop. It's basic economics.

Recently the prices of iron have been uncapped by the government, thus ensuring more or less an open market pricing mechanism that would immediately increase the price of iron. Most contractors and developers welcome such moves since it will reduce the dependency on iron black market. Though there will be an increase of prices in future development, I would say it'll properly adjust itself in the future by lessing demands. Hopefully there will be an increase in efficiency in the metal industries, by players merging their resources or sharing their facilities to lower production costs. And developers can be more ingenuous by exploring development techniques that'll reduce cost and shorten construction works. Of concern, is the middle and low cost houses. Unfortunately, for the immediate future, cross subsidies by developers or even direct subsidies by government have to be taken to ensure a reasonably priced homes be offered to the poor. A transparent and equitable purchasing system have to be setup so that only the truly deserving can purchase the homes.

While at the same time, rice prices have been set at certain ceiling depending on the quality of rice on retail. While special rices such as basmati, herbaponi have been uncapped. Though unfortunate that the government have to provide rice subsidies, it is important that the people nutritional needs are taken care of. Anything lesser than, the country might face a civil unrest.

And now,most probably in August the government is going to present a new oil subsidy scheme to tackle the rising price of global oil. I would provide a wild guess that the adjusted price at pump would be around RM2.50-RM3.00 per litre. While subsidies fuel would either be maintained at current price or increased slightly to RM1.95-RM2.00 per litre. This would probably be applied for the lesser grade fuel (RON 93/95). There would probably be no more subsidies for the higher grade fuel (RON 97/99), thus making the price roughly around RM4.00 per litre. Though this is just baseless assumption, mind you.

Of course, cost of living will increase and thus inflation will increase. People will feel more burden on their shoulder while their ringgit are stretch to its very limit. Hopefully, all this savings from the reduction of fuel subsidies will go to lower other cost such as lowering car and income taxes at the federal level. While the state might be able to reduce land and assessment taxes. This will go along way in reducing the burden of the people.

Selling Your Soul

"Cubalah, Encik....cubalah, free for life...cubalah..." pleads the lady. It was nearing 10 pm. The look on the lady's face haunts me. She was small, a hand shorter than me with straight dark hair cut at shoulder length. Her eyes...oh God! her eyes.... you can see desperation in her eyes. I tried walking away...but she persistently pursued me...even though after I remark "Never mind, thank you"... she still shadowed me along with that horrifying pleading voice.."Cubalah, Encik...cubalah"... I had a quick glance at her. My eyes were drawn to her face, thin almost gaunt like.

She was pitching her sale line. As though getting customer to sign up for the bank credit card is her life line. As though her very soul is at stake. I shudder to think what forces somebody to act so desperately.

There must be a better way of convincing people to take up your offer for God sake! And haunting them with your pleadings aren't it!

"Cubalah, Encik....cubalah, free for life.....cubalah"

Benar : Dare to be Free

I feel strongly about this issue:



There's a walk for a free and fair Media. Read more about it here.

A Long Tiring Journey

Just came back from Kluang, Johor. Went there Sunday around 10 pm after attending a wedding dinner of Mimi's friend. Mimi accompanied me to Kluang. Thanks Dear :). Arrived in Kluang around 1 am. Quite an uneventful journey going there. Haven't been to Kluang since the last 20 odd years or so. The place definitely changed. More people, more buildings, more roads and of course more traffics.

Around 9 am went for a meeting. Meeting ended around 12.00 pm and went to visit a site in Kluang after that.

Started back home Monday 1 pm, used the 'scenic' route and arrived around 7 pm. Exited Ayer Keroh exit, had a late lunch of chicken rice in Sg. Udang near the Trendak Camp (not bad, definitely should try if you're around there). From there traveled to Masjid Tanah, Ramuan China Besar, Ramuan China Kecil, entered Negri Sembilan through Rembau.

From there passed several villages until reached Port Dickson. Continue to Lukut, Chua, Bukit Pelandok and arrived in Selangor through Sepang.

NEED TO REST!

Here In My Home

Support the Malaysian Artist For Unity

The Path Most Travelled

In the dawn of my life,

as I lay awaken,
by the sights,
and sounds,
and smells,
of people living their lives.
Some moved with purpose,
others endlessly roaming this earth,
looking for a cause,
a meaning,
of existence or at least,
a purpose for their meandering.

Sometimes at awed,
most of the times frightened,
the journey that men have took,
through chasm of indignities,
across mountains of hatred,
over oceans of doubts.
A few breaks free,
the shackles that is mass indifferences,
or worse,
the fate of being unnoticed.
But that few,
whether by the lies that is might,
or the strength that is right.
Have force history,
to take a moment notice.

Ha! what path had they undertook?
What stories could such a person holds
dear in his chest or laid bare open?
Upon them, we looks for similarity.
If not that,
at the very least,
an attempt to be similar.

As I started this journey,
traveled this path called life,
my steps hesitant,
but proceed I must.
Slowly and steadily,
the steps grows surer,
the stride grows longer,
the pace grows faster.

How else can a man chart his destiny,
if not by taking a step at a time.
How else can a man measure himself,
if not by the distance he had traveled.

A walk in the Park

I took these pictures using my wife's friend's camera while we were at the Butterfly Park.

Neutrality vs. Subservient

In Malaysia, the civil servant is expected to obey and be 'loyal' towards the government of the day. The will of the 'political master' is the command unto the civil servant. The political master set the policies and the civil servant implement them. But at the same time, civil servants by nature have to be neutral in implementing government's policies, without regards towards race, religion or even political preferences.

The problem exist when the policies of the political master are bias against their opponent and detractors. What becomes the civil servant? Stuck between political will and principal neutrality, how should a civil servant conduct him or herself?

It is my opinion that, neutrality is the pillar of our civil servants. The public pays their salary and also all of their offices and equipments. By right, a civil servant have to act in accordance to the needs and rights of the people. They should serve without fear or favor and also fairly and justly. To do otherwise, is to betray the trust of the people. Should the political will commands otherwise. The civil servant have a right to not obey such unjust commands.

A New Kid in Town

Finally, my wife just posted her first blog. You can find her link in the Other's People Writings. It'll be an interesting blog, since my wife have more flair in expressing herself and sharing her experiences with others. Enjoy:)

This is a Test for Adding Pictures

From left : Emak, Mimi, Abah

Time Hundred Most Influential

I just watched the news on ntv7 that, Robert Downey Jr. is listed in the Time 100. Go Downey! I've always thought that he is a good artist and entertainer. But more interestingly, ntv7 forgot or purposely ignored the fact that a Malaysian was listed in the list. This is what's so funny, we always like to highlight our so called 'successes' and we'll always shout such 'successes' to the four corner of the world. But this listing of our 'illustrious son of the nation' seems to be ignored by the news. I'm not sure whether or not it is everyday that a Malaysian managed to make it in any list (though we do have several entries in Forbes Most Riches) but somehow snubbing it outright is really 'to your face' politics.

I'm not particularly sure how the people were selected. It would be nice if the editors can be transparent about it. How did they quantify 'influential' in the first place? Is it by the news worthiness? Is it by public recognition? Is it by lobbyist waiting in the TIME lobby trying not to look like lobbyist?

Well anyway, kudos to Anwar Ibrahim for being listed. I wonder how I can be listed in future Time 100 list?

A most unfortunate turn of event

**Sigh**

Another attempt at drowning and strangling the freedom of expression and speech.

Lo! within this land,
beautifully carved by God,
upon which millions,
nay! billions,
of life striving,
to seek His benevolence,
alas! a few darken souls,
building four walls,
to enclosed our spirits,
fey! our heart of hearts,
shall slowly wither?
Never!

Prevention of Lightning Fatality While Showering

I'm sure by now that most of you have heard that the ministry of Foreign Affair is proposing to the government requiring solo oversea traveling female consent from their family before journeying to prevent them being used as 'mule' for drug traffickers.

In the same vein as this proposal, I'm also proposing that we put in the Penal Code the crime of showering during lightning storm. We all know that there is a possibility (no matter how small) of being electrocuted while showering during lightning storms. This incident could even be fatal to the individual involved. So as to stop people from being harmed from this situation, I proposed that we equate the action of showering during lightning storms to that of trying to kill one self, which is a criminal offense. Thus punishable for jail terms and/or caning.

Hopefully with this proposal, we can reduce the number of possible death by lightning electrocution during shower.

World Press Freedom Day

Today is the day we 'celebrate' the freedom of our press and also to pay tribute to journalist that have 'fallen' in the line of duty.

It is timely for me to remind myself and all, the importance of having a free, fair and credible press. A trustworthy press that holds itself with dignity and integrity will undoubtedly advanced the cause of the people and also democracy. The press should be seen as the Fourth Estate, that forces the other state arms (Judiciary, Legislative, Executive) to be accountable to the people.

Such qualities of press are unfortunately lacking within this nation of ours. It is up to us to demand a better press.

A Requiem for the Fallen:

Arise, arise, O! you who have fallen,
your tears and blood shall not be forsaken,
your legacy and faith shall not be forgotten,
lest we the living forever be silence.

Arise, arise, O! you who have martyred,
your glory awaits you in the hall of the Departed,
your battles are o'er but alas not the war,
we the living shall fight the oppressor.

Arise, arise, O! you who have fallen,
we the living shall be unforgiven.

May Day: A tribute to the Anarchists

Fourth of May,
what a tragic day,
blood shed for a rest day,
for a less hour work day,
the anarchist hope and pray,
the police march in formation,
a bomb exploded causing consternation,
Degan dies for a senseless show,
gunshots fired between friends and foes,
workers and polices lay wounded and dead,
what a bloodied path to tread,
caught were the eight,
what a terrible fate,
a trial to follow,
all but one sentence to the gallows,
of the seven,
two were commuted to life,
while Lingg prefers the dynamite,
the rest were dutifully hanged,
but slowly not as planned,
before his death,
Spies shouted his last breath,
"The time will come
when our silence will be
more powerful than the voices
you strangle today!"

Happy May Day!

I was supposed to write this at 12 am sharp but I fell asleep :D

Anyway, Happy May Day! Let us all not forget the trials and tribulations of workers and labourers around the world that fought and continuously fight for our rights. Long live the proletariat!

Btw, we should demand that we only work 8 hours a day again!

Diesel Subsidies

In principal, I am against subsidies. Whether it is for petrol, diesels, gas, utilities, food and many others. It will create inefficiency in the market. Though there are a few exceptions such as in the area of education and health where I believe that the government have to fully support due to the inherent responsibilities of governments to maintain the public well being.

It is a fact that prices of materials and commodities have increased dramatically in the global market. A higher income population in Asia and Latin America are eating and consuming the resources of the world. This have inadvertently push the prices of most goods to record high.

Locally throughout the decades, the government have tackled this issue in a populist manner by giving subsidies in most critical areas. From fertilizers to petrols, the government have spent billions in subsidies to maintain fixed prices. Unfortunately, the global prices of materials and commodities are still moving upwards with no sign of stabilizing in the near future. It has thus come to a point where the government could not afford to support subsidies for the people.

Recently, the government have made known their intention to pull back or reduce subsidies for diesel. The government chose diesel as their first commodities due to their logic that diesel have a smaller user based compared to petrol. Though, I have to point out that this small user base consist of trucks, lorries, buses and heavy machines that more or less serves as the backbone of our logistic industry. Meaning any price increase on diesel will directly increase the cost of deliveries of goods. This will most assuredly increase the prices of consumer goods. And thus, reducing discretionary income of the public.

The problem with this country is that our income do not increase in proportion to that of the price increase. Which means as we move forward, we will be getting less discretionary income.

Unfortunately, I do not foresee any short term solutions that will be good enough to solve the diesel subsidy issue or any subsidies issues without creating a shock to the consumer. It is my view that the government have to come up with a clear and holistic plan and policy in reducing subsidies in the long term and not tackle the issue piecemeal by piecemeal.

Purpose to blog

What is your purpose to blog I wonder?
Mine?
I write to fill my spare time.
I write to form my thoughts (whatever it maybe).
I write to form my half form thoughts.
I write to lay bare my demons.
Sometimes I write just because.

How now brown cow?

It's been more than a month since the last election. Everything and everybody seems to settle down to their purpose and work. The Federal Government introduces several institutional changes and reforms in the administration of justice and anti-corruption. A pretty good move if i do say so myself. But the more important thing is, is changing the mindset of individuals and masses to put others before self. How to do that?

Gblogs or Goblok?

Haha..this is a funny one....Google is coming up with a new personal publishing service called Google Weblogs, in short Gblogs... I maybe asinine to say this but Gblogs sound soo much like Goblok...

I dream of a better Gini

For those who are not familiar with Gini Coefficient it is measure of statistical dispersion most commonly used to measure inequality in income distribution. The value used is between 0 to 1. 0 being perfect equality while 1 is perfect inequality. Basically, it's says how equal is the distribution of wealth in a given study.

In the case of Malaysia, based on survey in 1997 that was published in 2007 by World Bank we are rated at around 0.492 or 49.2 %. Looking at the table, highest 10% of the population owns 38% of the nation wealth. Looking at top 40% of the population owns 74.6% of wealth, while more than half of that wealth is concentrated within the top 10% of the population (38.4%). The rest of the 60% of population owns just 25.4% of the nation wealth. This is a terrible indicator of our distribution of wealth. It just shows that we have a skewed economy where only a small minority of the people (1/10) own more than 1/3 of the nations wealth. That was in 1997.

I fear to know the current situation.

Wife

When the day turns to night,
you are the star that shine so bright.

Nephew

Bright, clear and fresh,
like spring in a forest.
Flowing, tinkling
like spring in a forest.

Time...not enough

Argh...too little time..too many things to do... online projects, residence management committees, office works, books to read, blogs to type and read...argh..

Fare thee well.

I lost a friend yesterday to a motorcycle accident. He was on an tour with a group of super-bikers to Johor. He's 29. He left behind a wife and 2 children (4 and 2). Fare thee well, Firwance. May God protect and bless your journey in the Hereafter. Al-Fatihah.

Fitna the Movie (Short film to be exact)

Finally, after reading about it sometime ago, the movie is out. I had guess the reaction to the clips would be 'explosives', pun intended. And it was badly accepted by the majority of Muslims. At first I was quite hesitant about watching it, but then if I don't watch it, how can I comment on it. So, I managed to watch it in youtube. After watching it, I had a conversation with Farrish through gmail on this issue. And this is what we discussed:

23:14 me: salam
Farrish: salam
wassssaaappp bro
23:15 me: writing my blog...
on fitna
Farrish: aaaaa
23:17 me: before that...i have to watch it first
Farrish: is it still available?
tot it was put down?
me: it's in youtube
flagged though
Farrish: damn
23:19 me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCrCsTMokTU

23:27 me: done watching
Farrish: not yet
half done
me: k
nothing much really...
23:28 i was expecting more interesting scenes..
or at least better cinematography..
23:32 Farrish: ok
done
23:33 me: so how was it?
not really oscar type
Farrish: hahaha
dat guy who did fahrenheit 911 was better la
me: moore?
Farrish: yeah
but still
23:34 me: yeah, he did a better documentary
Farrish: makes my blood boil just watching it
me: why?
Farrish: did u watch it?
me: yeah...
Farrish: i mean apart from the cinematography and all?
me: ohh...that...
23:35 a very skewed view on islam..
Farrish: very
me: well..it happens
Farrish: and worst part
i read da commetns at the bottom
just sad to see so much hatred
me: didn't read that much of the comment
23:36 most of them are sub-literate anyway
Farrish: yeap
me: i bet some of them get their infos from youtube..
23:37 Farrish: haha
me: seeing how most have a short attention span
Farrish: call it selective memories then
me: the 10 mins youtube clips would be their bread and butter for info..
anyway...not really that awe-inspiring..
Farrish: nah
23:38 me: it's just a cut and paste thing
Farrish: just something to rile the non-muslims against us
me: with very little editting..
Farrish: yup
me: i heard about this clip for quite sometime now..
Farrish: mostly from cnn and other news source
me: more than 3 months i think
Farrish: u did?
me: yep..
Farrish: so long ago?
23:39 damn
me: he was planning this since last year i think..
Farrish: crap
me: he needs a better director i think
or at least better editor and special effect
Farrish: think he save cost and directed it himself i guess
and the edditing
23:40 and the cinematography
me: yeah...very unprofessional way of directing
Farrish: yup
da cut and paste way
sounds like plagersm...
me: hmmm...most of it IS from other sources..
23:41 i would reckon only 5-6 seconds of actual camera shoot
the last part where the hand seems to fold/tear the page..
Farrish: yeah\
me: the rest are all clips..
23:42 Farrish: yup
think the hand belonged to him
to save cost again...
me: maybe..
he needs to go to a better school of movie directing
Farrish: hahaha
me: limkokwing should be good
23:43 Farrish: guess so
me: a lot of creative juices there..
Farrish: cant think of any good dutch movies....
hmmmm
he might not afford limkokwing
since everyone is sueing his @$$
23:44 me: what..i'm sure he's salary is enough to cover long distance learning
Farrish: guess he spent his paycheck on dis thing called a documentary/short film....
23:45 me: hmm...btw, i dont think he can be sued for the film
Farrish: how so?
me: he might be sued for his action of disrupting public peace...
but the film...i dont think so..
Farrish: heard that dutch co's wanna sue him for lost of income
23:46 me: the content is basically an interpretation from his POV on the Quran
obviously he did not hire good translators..
Farrish: hahaha
yup

Bapa - Bapa

Almarhum Tengku Abdul Rahman - Bapa Kemerdekaan,
Almarhum Tun Abd. Razak - Bapa Pembangunan,
Almarhum Tun Hussein Onn - Bapa Perpaduan,
Tun Dr. Mahathir - Bapa Permodenan,
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - Bapa ?

emancipate yourself from mental slavery

I love this song

The King of the Turtles.

I suppose by now, everybody would have scrutinized the issues surrounding the appointment of the T'ganu MB. A lot of legal issues being brought forth. Some are saying that there is a "Constitutional Crisis", others claims that the Palace is interfering withe the process of democracy. The more passionate ones, declared that BN actions is tantamount to treason. While some others would speculate that the Monarchy is flexing it's muscle and to test the new Federal administration. You can all read these opinions (some are really good, while others barely acceptable) in other blogs.

However we want to see it, the main point is that we as a nation are slowly adapting to the new political realities. Not only is there a more representative of the Opposition within the Parliament, there is a change in the equilibrium of the power within it. We all know what the effect of the shift in the equilibrium of power in Parliament entails. That is of greater voices of opposing views. But other than that, what other effects have there been or will be?

The most apparent, is a feeling of empowerment within the community. It seems that we have been given our voices back. Even the Monarchy feels a certain sense of vigor. Especially of note the case in Perlis and T'ganu. It seems that we have been taken a breath of fresh air after years of living in an environment of fear, frustration and stagnation. Such was the stranglehold of the Central government, would I say the political power, in terms of suppressing the freedom of expressions, ideas, hope and the thousands varied feelings that are kept within the heart of men.

This sense of empowerment should not be taken for granted. It is to be seized and cherish and nurture further so that it will in turn create a far more vibrant democracy and a more inclusive nation. We can be more with each other. We can find the soul that was once lost in the emptiness of empathy and despair. We can learn and understand the hope and fear that is in each of us and form it we see the glorious beauty of the true self. Let us not waste that.

We have our voice back. It is up to us to decide whether we sing in a cacophony of tunes that ultimately merge in to a harmonious magnus opus of discourse. Or we falter half way and listen to the silence of empathy.

About Terenganu Crisis...Naaah!

I thought of writing my thoughts on the events that is happening in T'ganu. I have this great observations on it but, I'll probably do it another time...

Though not as dramatic as the T"ganu Crisis...I leave you all with this, the great bumble bee

The New Cabinet

Out with the Old,
in with the New,
never mind the look,
it serves the same function.

How to pick a Cabinet?,
it is really not that hard.
First, pick one
that caught your fancy.
Second, open it
and size it up.

If it's too big,
look for another one.
Or you can just buy
the first one
that caught your fancy
and cut it in half.

But if it's too small?
Buy another one
that is similar.

And that's how
you buy a new Cabinet

The Forgotten Representatives

For several days now, both the Federal Government and the State Governments have been choosing their Ministers and Excos respectively. It seems that we have a muhibbah line up of executives. Or do we?

You see, except for Penang, we have Malay Menteri Besar for all the other states. This itself is a glaring unevenness in the distribution of Menteri Besars post. Though to balance it out both the BN and the non- BN parties (they should get a recognizable name) elected excos from Chinese and Indians. While the CM of Penang elected both Malay and Indian to be the Deputy CM.

But the question in my mind is, where are the original people? Where are the Penans, the Senois, the Negritos and the rest of our original people? They have the same rights if not more, to be apart of the administration. Though there are certain limitations to electing excos and ministers (they have to be either a member of the State Representative or Parliamentary Representatives), I'm sure certain ways can be done to put the voice of the original people in the whole national debate. Some of the state, like Kelantan, Perak, Pahang and Johor can elect 2 people to represent the state in the Senate. Maybe one of them can be an original people.

Hmm...maybe there's a chance to for me to set up a political party to fight for the rights of the original people. Maybe a PBDLL (Parti Bersatu Dan Lain - Lain) or PBOAS (Parti Bersatu Orang Asli Semenanjung).

Pseudo Analysis of the GE2008 Result Part I : Personalities

As we slowly understand the implication of the results of the 12th General Election, it's timely to look at the GE in totality from a layman point of view. The usual questions have to be ask, why and what happened that made such a tremendous swing in the vote? What made BN be able to maintain nearly 62% of the House of Representative? What is next after this? So many and more questions will be look into in this series of blogs to understand, at least on my part, the how, why and what of the GE result causes and effects.

I posit that the seed of discontent among the people started gaining momentum way back, prior to the 10th GE. Specifically the sacking of Anwar as DPM. To a lot of youths, especially malays, around that time of the event, Anwar was seen as a standard bearer of Asian modernity and civilization. His sacking created a maelstrom of furies amongst the youth. This reaction was very pronounced within the university youths. At the same time, the ease of Anwar dismissal strike a feeling of discontent and even fear among the urban public. The urban public realised that the sacking of the DPM was a symbol of the corroding state of civil liberties, that were tolerated by the public at large then. While for the non urban malays, Anwar was seen as a beacon of Islamic virtues and his sacking was seen as an attack to such values.

The effect can be seen in the 10th GE, where a lot of the malay votes went with the opposition parties. Though not enough to vote out BN then due to the support of the non malay votes. After the swearing in of Mahathir as PM, he was still shadowed by the visage of Anwar. The issue of cronism and nepotism continues to haunt him until his resignation in 2003. Mahathir understand that he could not hold on to power without severely destroying BN chances of winning the next election. He would still want a BN government that not only sympathize with him but also to to protect him. And so he pass over the baton to Abdullah, a man seen to be an Islamic figure (his father was a religious figure), an ex civil servant, have the support of the major camps in UMNO and have a wife of mix parentage. It was a perfect choice. And this was shown in the 11th GE, where most of the public have a great hope for him and gave BN another chance under a new administration. But bear in mind the youths that supported Anwar around his sacking, they did not become a strong supporter of BN in time of the 11th GE. They just gave a chance for Abdullah to prove that he was different than Mahathir.

Abdullah did indeed proved that he was different, he gave a greater freedom of the press, a greater room for public debate and seem to be more transparent and open than the previous administration. Though at the same time, he was not seen to be able to manage and control such openness and at times was accused of being weak. Especially critical about this were supporters of UMNO themselves. Certain religious and racial issues were not handle fast enough and decision was seen to be arbitrary.

Basically what happened was Abdullah managed to lose the support from UMNO grassroots, the trust of the non malays, and some what betrayed the hope of the malay youths.

A Dawn of a New Era!

It's incredible! That's all I can say. I have stayed up late for Election result since 1999. And never have there been more exciting and nerve wracking experience in the Malaysian history of voting. On the 8th of March 2008, for the first time in the Malaysian history, the Opposition have denied 2/3 rd majority to BN. The Opposition is now in control of 5 state government.

Is it for better or for worse? Only time will tell. But this is an opportunity for us to start something new.

Cheers.

Election Day

So as of 12 midnight, the campaigning and canvassing for votes officially ends. At 8 am today we will vote in the representative that will give voice to our needs and concerns be they of local level or of national interest.

Bear that in mind, my friends as you cast your vote for the 12th General Election. At the tips of our fingers are the power to decide the course of this nation. Whether we have the wisdom to choose properly only you and God know the answer. But whatever it is the vote have to be cast.

All the best.

More responsibilities!

On the weekend, I attended my Resident Assoc. AGM. Only a few handfuls attended, the meeting went on anyway after waiting for half an hour or so. RA serves an important purpose to unite the community into a single cause and interest. Though somehow, it seems that my condo's residents aren't too interested to join in. A good RA can actually increase the value of the area that you live. So, it's quite sad that there's not enough support.

And I don't know why this keeps on happening to me, I was elected to be part of the General Committee of my RA. Argh! more responsibilities to shoulder.

Fidel retires

Well, it seems an era have finally close it's curtain. Despite his supporters propaganda and his critics attacks, one thing for sure is that he is a great figure in the clash of social ideas. Capitalism vs Communism. But more importantly, to me at least, he was the president of a small state at the door step of a giant superpower, belligerently defiant and against all odds survive numerous attempts at his life and even an all out attack against Cuba.

Good bye, Fidel, may your retirement brings you peace and no more assassination attempt against your long battle hardened life.

T.O.B. : Free Telcos Service (SMS)

Hand phones have become ubiquitous in this age and era. You can leave home without it and everybody seems to have at least one. I heard somewhere that there is at least 2++ billions hand phones around. That's nearly 1 hand phone per 3 people in the world.

I usually use my hand phone for emergency and anything important. If not that, then most probably I just sms'es my info to the other side. I imagine there would be multitude of people that just uses their hp for sms purposes only. Imagine if you can get free usage of sms's. How much money would you safe?

How to get free sms'es? I have an idea how to achieve this, though not really original, but maybe original for the mobile sector. As said above, the number of hps is staggering. Just imagine the marketing opportunities that exist in such a medium. Revenue derives from marketing can be the source of money to support a free sms package.

My basic idea is this. A user subscribe to a package that gives free sms provided he agrees to receive sms advertisement. Whenever he received an sms, a short sms advertisment will attached itself to the incoming sms. A company can pay the telco's a certain sum of money to advertise using this method (say something around 1 cent per 1 sms advert) this money will support the free usage of sms by the user.

That's it.That is the idea. It need a further fine tuning in terms of pricing structure but I'm sure that can be calculated easily.

Election is Here!

So, election is so very close that the campaigning and propaganda spewed by political parties trying to get your vote is so thick and cloying that it'll clog your arteries and block your alveoli. To those whose voting, do remember to vote properly. No burden really, just the future of our nation administration is in your hand.

Remember people, we ARE the king makers!

Nisi Dominus Frustra

So, it came to be that we celebrated the coming of Chinese New Year with a karaoke session. It was held in one of those karaoke joints, Redbox, or something in Pavilion near Jalan Bukit Bintang.

It was my first time there, in Pavilion. It was new, shiny and humongous. A grey and silver building as though a leviathan have stranded on land. Pavilion joins many other 'world class' mall that will sure take your breath away.

I was struck by how different it was that area, nearly 7 years ago. For those who knowns, it was used to be a site for a all girl school, Bukit Bintang Girls School, fondly known as BBGS. The school was founded more than 100 years ago. It was one of the oldest school in KL, with a venerable stature greater even than VI and Maxwell School.

I remembered when the government announced that the site will be sold to the private sector for 'development' purposes. There was a lot of objections towards the move. Some of the biggest name came up to defend the school. But alas, all is in vain. And how aptly the motto of BBGS came to mirror it's situation.

Nisi Dominus Frustra - "Without God, all is in vain"

Memories

I remembered hearing this song first in Crime Story. Enjoy!


Oh! And by the way, here's the original opening. The coolest crime show ever!

Welcome 2008!

Though a bit late, I would like to wish all of my readers (all 2 of them) happy new year! I am not the type to make resolutions, so since I never stated my resolution for 2007, I am positive that none were achieved. But 2008 will be markedly different, for once I'll make a new year resolution. So here is my list:

1. Read 1 book a month. Any books will do. Newspaper and mags don't count.
2. Write a short story of at least 10,000 words. Cheap descriptive porn don't count.
3. Try to pick up a foreign language. Languages from LoTR don't count.
4. Reduce weight by 5 kilo. Reducing it by changing the law of physic don't count.
5. Better management of personal time. Adding more hours by slowing the speed of earth rotation don't count.

Well that's my resolution for 2008. For an added bonus, let me predict what will happen in 2008:

1. Oil prices will continue to increase. Oil subsidies will be reduce and everybody will be buying motorcycle.
2. Australia will face a major water problem.
3. Australia will be 3rd in the Olympic gold tally.
4. The Lakota Indian will build casinos to help their nation economy.