Life is full of crap, so we yak about it

Belog Kesepuluh: Amboi!!!!,awak Yahudi rupanya

2006-06-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

Contrary to the title above, I'm not going to blog in our national language.I hate to admit IT but that is the fact;that Bahasa Malaysia is our national language. The older I grow, the more disillusioned I am by that fact. That is another story altogether and I will not dwell upon that matter for today. Even though I've ditched the whole idea of the national language, but the gist of that title is not questionable nonetheless.

NO, I'm don't recall having any face-to-face encounter with a Jew and I don't even have any of their MSN contacts (although I did chat with a Jew before during those crazy random chats on ICQ during the old days). Jew is like one of the striking words in many people's mind. This fact is especially true in the Middle East and the Western region where Jewish people have paved their way through perilous circumstances and persecution and eventually played a significant role in many areas of mankind. It is even more enthralling to read about the exodus and the ups and downs of the nation of Israel and the forefathers of its occupants. Bear in mind that more than 90% of the Jews in Israel nowadays are those who were shipped back to the "promised land" by the Allied forces who had the "white man's burden" to do so back then. Not to mention that, religion and the relativity behind it is a strong motivating factor as well. Even though the Jews were the target of massacre during the World War 2 holocaust, it wouldn't come as a surprise that there were those who didn't return to the "promised land" all these while. This logic is backed by the the infamous research that verified that Jews are one of the most travelled and scathered "nation" alongside the chinese. An article from "The Star" newspaper dating a few years back even revealed remnants of Jewish graveyards in some secluded area of Penang. Ya Allah, if the Jews managed to land themselves all the way to the "dirtiest state in the whole of Malaysia (This assertion didn't come from me. It came from the yearly survey that has consistently proven so) , there is no limitation for their mobility. I will be the first to admit that through Christianity and the history of "The Holy Bible", I've found a nearly unparalleled admiration and soft spot for the Jews and this sentiment is further reinforced by their remarkable achievements and history in the 20th century. Am I exaggerating? I don't think so and I've even come to realisation that the complexity of my sentiments towards them might even be lauded by plenty of people around the world. Among the bible reading people, Jews are sometimes known as "The chosen people of God", with regards to the stories of the Old Testament in the Bible. In fact, a lot of people around the world regardless of race and religion, would have no problem in admitting that the Jews are generally a gifted group of people albeit their relatively small population.

It is a known fact that some of the prominent Jews nowadays are some of the leading figures that most of us have came to know through the relentless media coverage around the world. Lest any of you frame me for plainly giving sweeping statements and assertion without substance, I shall substantiate the things that I've said with examples and eloborations as always.

Therefore we've arrived to a session today that I would like to name:
DID YOU KNOW????:
The statement and question of the day is as stated below;
Did you know that ________ is a Jew. The nostalgic fill in the blanks here will be answered with multiple prominent names. The honour and recognition for that blank space must be shared by multiple figures I'm afraid. However, i shall try to do all those named ones justice.

Things to take note: Just because I'm only naming a handful of Jews for my choice of selection doesn't relegate the other past and existing prominant jews to the depths oblivion in terms of recognition. I'm simply naming people that strikes a chord in my limited memory and knowledge. Those people named below without further elaborations in brackets are born to Jewish parents i.e both the father and mother are of Jewish descent

ANSWER NO:

1.

Albert Einstein

Being numbered 1, doesn't mean that he surpasses all the other prominant Jews that I'm going to name. However, he'll definitely receive one of the highest accolade if not the highest. Albert Einstein is arguably the greatest scientist of the 20th century and he is also the Novel Prize winner of 1921 for his massive contribution in theoretical physics. Few would refute that without this great man's work of research, there would be a massive void in the studies of engineering and its application which plays an array of roles in our day to day lives.

2. Karl Marx

Karl Marx is famously known as the father of communism. His erratic theory about the bourgeois and proletariat is embraced by many nation including the former Soviet Union and also China up till this day. His theory states that the organization of private bodies are meant to exploit the common people and this vicious cycle will never end. He further states that the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer if nothing is done and he subscribe to the idea of government involvement in every facet of the country and also the government's involvement in the redistribution of wealth. Agree of disagree with this great albeit erratic man, I think he will be a little dishearted to see the idealogy of communism twisted to suit Leninism in Russia's olden days coupled with the capitalist and globalization influences practiced by China.

Roman Abramovic

Malcolm Glazier

Mark Cuban

I categorize these 3 men as vastly successful business people who owns an enourmous sport or league team. First on the list is none other than Roman Abramovich. Roman Abramovich is the majority owner of Sibneft, currently the biggest oil company in the whole of Russia's minerals and resources rich land. In March 2006 he was listed by Forbes Magazine as the richest Russian, 2nd richest person in Britain and the 11th richest person in the world with an estimated fortune of $18.2 billion. The striking thing is that,everyone above him in the list is at least ten years older. He is also the owner of Chelsea Football Club who transformed the fortunes of the club. Since his move to take over Chelsea coupled with his endless investments, Chelsea have gone to become one of the elite teams in Europe and their are the English Premier League champions for 2 seasons running.

Second on the list is the current owner of Manchester United Football Club, Malcolm Glazier. It must be noted that Malcolm Glazier also owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Malcolm Glazier have a penchant for owning clubs that are largely successful. Tampa Bay Buccaneers were NFL Super Bowl champions under his ownership and he managed to literally broke the banks in whatever ways possible and also braved through the prospect heavy debts (he is still heavily in debat though) to obtain his coveted Manchester United Football Club; which is a global and iconic football club around the world. Manchester United is arguably the most supported club in the whole world. This man is also the president and chief executive officer of First Allied Corporation, a holding company for his varied business interests.

Mark Cuban is the man shown in the 3rd picture. He may be a relative unknown among most people but he is a widely iconic figure in the USA. He ownership of the Dallas Mavericks, the Western Conference Champions for the 2005-2006 season is as widespread as his knack for being outspoken in various avenues. Above all, he is widely admired for his huge investments through the years on his beloved Dallas Mavericks and he attends almost each and every match in the 82 games NBA season of the Dallas Mavericks and that is not taking into account the playoff matches as well. Mark Cuban made his fortune generally from selling his ownership of Broadcast.com to Yahoo and also acquiring a significant amount of influence in Yahoo. Cuban founded a new company during his early days, MicroSolutions, and was able to convince some of his previous customers to come along. The Microsolutions became a system integrator and reseller for companies such as Novell, 3Com, IBM, Banyan, Apple Computer and Sun Microsystems and an early adopter of technologies such as Carbon Copy, Lotus Notes, and CompuServe.

Other relatively unknown figures who are owners of a sport or league club are as listed below along with their nationality:

Abe Pollin, U.S, owner of the Washington Wizards (NBA)
Lawrence Tanenbaum, Canada, owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs (NFL), owner of the Toronto Raptors (NBA)
Howard Schultz, U.S. owner of Seattle Supersonics (NBA). THIS MAN IS ALSO THE FOUNDER OF THE STARBUCKS FRANCHISE!!!!!
Abe Saperstein, U.S. founder and owner of Harlem Globetrotters (global basketball team)
Jerry Reinsdorf, U.S., owner of the Chicago Bulls (NBA), owner of the Chicago White Sox (MBL)
Brian Cashman, U.S., General Manager of the New York Yankees (MBL)
Alexandre Gaydamak,Russia, co-owner and chairman of Portsmouth F.C
Bernie Ecclestone, British owner of F1 racing and one-time racer

Harry Houdini (Jewish father)

David Copperfield

David Blaine (single parent Jewish mother)

Yet again, coincidence struck us right in the face when arguably 3 of the best magicians or illusionist are Jews. Harry Houdini was among the pioneers in being an escape artist and his success would pave the way for many other genre of "magic" or illusionist. Not to mention, Houdini's father is actually a Rabbi. David Copperfield on the other hand cemented his status as one of the greatest illusionist with many unexplainable acts. And last but not least, David Blaine is still an active performer of street magic and also various illogical stunts and conquest.

Knowing that the interest amongst the youth of the nation might be subjective for most of the people;due to the reason that many of them are disinterested with those areas or field associated with regards those prominant Jews listed above;I've saved the best for last. The last part of this identification process is a genre with a strong majority of indifference. It is the entertainment industry's key figures that have hogged and are continue hogging a huge amount of appearances in our very own TV programs.

Alex Band from the group "The Calling": ALmost no one will have the instance that while they were singing to "Wherever You will go"and to his collaborative hit with Santana's "Why don't you and I", that the thought of Alex Band being a Jew actually crossed their minds . Not only is he a Jew, he is brought up to follow Judaism and the Jewish culture as well

Vanessa Carlton (Jewish father) : Until this very day, I couldn't find anyone that could play "A thousand miles" on the piano as smooth as Vanessa Carlton

Josh Groban (Jewish father although his father is a converted christian and he is raised as an episcopalian)

Bob Dylan: The vocalist of the legendary group namely "The Rolling Stones"

Paula Abdul (his father was born to parents of Sephardic Jewish descent and the name Abdul is given by his father due to his Syrian roots) : This is the ever-famous 80's pop artist and 1/3 of the American Idol globally reknown judging panel.

Elliot Yamin: The second part of his name kinda betrayed his identity and background for me. However this amicable top 3 finalist of American Idol Season 5 is a great talent himself.

Lenny Kravitz (Jewish father): Lenny Kravitz is just one of those figures that have been in the music industry for a longgggg longggg time.

Billy Joel : He is one of those great singer adn songwriter in the past. Guess appeared on American Idol before. His father is a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust from the Nazis and his mother is an agnostic Jew.

Barry Manilow: He is another great singer and songwriter from the 80s. Guess appeared on American Idol before.

Nick Carter (Jewish father): 1/5 of the Backstreet boys and i refuse to elaborate further because I'm not really fond of boy bands.

Aaron Carter (Jewish father) : He is one of those crappy solo artist out there. The size of the picture reflects how small I actually think of him....hahahahahaha

If all these fail to impress you, there are also the significant other artists who have Jewish background on the maternal side:

Mandy Moore, actress & singer (Jewish maternal grandfather)
Elvis Presley, singer (Jewish maternal great-grandparent)
Pink, singer (Jewish maternal grandparent; mother raised Jewish)

The scary part is that, there are lots of prominent Jews that I've failed to name due to laziness,lack of resources or lack of interest. I bet even these names revealed here are shocking enough...HEHEHEHEHE

Fragments and pieces of things up in the air

2006-06-06T00:16:00.000-07:00

During this school holiday period, many working people or students on internship like me are still doing through the highs and lows of life. I'm feeling that I haven't been getting enough of holiday for a stretch of years already and I couldn't help but be rather envious of schooling people who get generous amount of holidays. This loopsided predicament that I'm feeling is heavily due to my the outline and the requirement of my degree course coupled with my self indulged activities.

In the midst of all those grumpiness and dissatisfaction,things can be rather downcast, I've learned to discover certain things that could lift up my spirits once in a while. Hopefully after I finished my degree course, I can still bear some semblance of the person that everyone around me came to know and not some battered man with various pressures. As for the meantime, I'm stuffing myself with session after session of basketball in an effort to make myself sweat profusely and just take my mind off certain issues as well. During this internship period, I've continuously read blogs after blogs and also tuned to to radio channels whenever I'm on the wheel. The former is a result of me having extra time on my hands whenever I've completed a given assignment given by my supervisor. As for the latter, I find it very very interesting nowadays to tune in to radio channels. I don't know about the masses of the people out there, but I'm beginning to feel that English radio station programs are degenarating till such a point that it constantly leaves me with a sinking and dissapointing feeling. Very rarely would it turn out to be otherwise. The only English program that is rated worthwhile for me might only be RickDees and the rest just pales in comparison to it. A large factor contributing to this feeling of mine is also the recent dry spell in terms of good solid music and the frequent airings of overplayed music.

Therefore I've been listening to a lot of chinese radio station programs which gives me much more satisfaction and I"ll be the first to admit that their programs are pretty much up uplifting and they maintain a healthy mix of humour and seriousness especially for the case of their talk cum music session programs. Granted that chinese music isn't facing a glorious pinnacle of marvellous music releases, but they still outweighs their english counterpart by a significant measure. Something that marvels me is the deep database of evergreen chinese songs which are at the radio station's disposal. Let me just clarify that I am not those bubble gum pop and "jiwang" fan of Lee Hom and JJ Lin. It would be foolish to say that they have not produced a single good song thus far in their career. Those artist are getting frequent air time as well but personally for me, a bulk of their songs are too shallow.

*Lee Hom pondering in the picture on the reasons Tiew Yiwen continuously fall for him despite his recent production of junk music*

** JJ Lin trying to act cute in an attempt to attract Tiew Yiwen; thinking that it worked with Lee Hom, and the theory should stand the second time around*

On a lighter note, there are plenty of interesting facts and stories that I've garnered from my faithful listening moments. Sad to say, almost all of those rather enlightening ones come from chinese radio channels again. Below are some of those that are still fresh in my memories:

The Australian government was trying to take a hardline stance in erradicating tabacco and cigarettes from its country altogether. Much to everyone's surprise, one of the most vocal groups of people who rallied against this government's stance are people coming from brothels. The prostitutes claimed that they are a significant contributer to the tourism industry in Australia and their appeal amongst tourist is something to be reckoned. They added that the rule imposed will only serve to discourage tourist from patronizing the "good brothels" that Australia stand to offer and this would in return diminish Australia from being a strong target of tourism in the potential tourist's choice of selection. They also further threatened that not only will smokers cease to support the government anymore in future elections, but the government are causing the brothels' vicinity to be filled by "unhealthy views" of prostitutes coming out of their brothel to take a puff or two of smoke; which results in the neighbourhood being potrayed as uncivilized and disorganized by locals and foreigners alike (bearing in my mind that lots of prostitute are addicted to smoking).
Since it is the World Cup season (hooray), various themes have been composed to further promote and boost the event. As far as I can remember, World Cup official theme songs have always been rather pacy and uplifting because it is the preferred genre to depict the frenzy and enthusiasm associated with the game. Therefore, artist who are fits into delivering that genre reasonably well would be chosen to promote the song months before the event is underway. Ricky Martin sung "The cup of live" for France 98 World Cup.

* Ricky Martin don't mind an extra fan in Tiew Yiwen as well. Therefore he follow suit*

Anastacia continued that legacy and genre with her rendition of "Boom" for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea&Japan.
Not to mention that Nelly Furtado reigned in her roots by delivering the Portugueese mix English song of "Forca" to launch the Euro 2004 in Portugal.

In my humble opinion, the legacy and proud tradition have taken a step backward this time around. I was rather shocked when I discovered that the theme for the blockbuster event is going to be performed by Il Divo and Toni Braxton. It was even more unbearable when I actually hear the song for the very first time. Don't get me wrong, Il Divo and Toni Braxton are a group of people whom I've reserved the utmost respect for. But it just feels terribly wrong when I hear their soulful and tortoise pace delivery of the song entitled "Time of our lives". It leaves me with a corny feeling and I'm somewhat lost for words to associated a lightning paced game with the soulful singing of Il Divo and Toni Braxton albeit a good one. In fact i earnestly think that the theme for "Dirty Dancing" the movie (NO, it is not dirty or pornographic at all for anyone's information) that also happens to be "Time of our lives" breathes more live and is therefore much more deserving as a World Cup theme.

Last but not least, one of the radio DJ of MY FM revealed in his research that, the word Hijack which origins are rather unknown was created not that long ago due to strange circumstances. Whenever the word hijack come across our minds, we tend to develop many different thoughts up our head; ranging from terrorist and 9/11 bombings or the movie Air Force One. In order to prove its rather unknown origin, I have even attached the result of the word "hijack" from the Online Meriam-Webster Dictionary:

hijackOne entry found for hijack.
Main Entry: hi·jack Pronunciation: 'hI-"jakFunction: transitive verb

Etymology: origin unknown

a : to steal by stopping a vehicle on the highway b : to commandeer (a flying airplane) especially by coercing the pilot at gunpoint c : to stop and steal from (a vehicle in transit) d : KIDNAP2 a : to steal or rob as if by hijacking b : to subject to extortion or swindling- hijack noun- hi·jack·er noun

According to this DJ's findings, he claim that the word hijack was created during the cowboy era in the United States where train robberies are something of a real threat. *think the Jesse James kinda era and scenario*. He further explained that those robbers/bad cowboys would barge and ambush into the driver's cabin at the head of the train and promptly greet the driver "Hi... Jack" before they point the gun at the driver's face and proceed to cease control of the train. As they would not know the name of the train coordination person and it is common for them to just call them Jack and sarcastically shock the coordinator. Because of the frequency of those robberies which is accompanied by that same phrase "Hi...Jack" whenever they seize control in the coordinator's cabin, that phrase have been combined to the word "Hijack' to depict the scenario coercing a pilot or driver at gunpoint.

Peace Out

Things to look back

2006-05-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

Everyone of us has a past that will remain with us for the rest of our lives. Things ranging from our childhood days; the games we played, the television programmes we watched, the people we mingled with, the snacked we ate and many others. In my point of view, I believe that at least half our childhood and past is defined and interlinked with the schools we attend directly or indirectly.

I couldn't say for certain whether if this is just a problem with me, or whether the masses of people out there would laud my outcry. I have a very skeptical view on the general schooling life in Malaysia. Perhaps I'm bringing exaggerating this problem of mine and it would be rather unfair to categorize it as "general". Reason being, I couldn't represent a significant number of people who've finished schooling. However I can safely say that I am not alone when I holler about this and I've came to know acquaintances that share my dilemma as well.

Since school plays such a major role in our respective lifes; it would be rather sad or a waste if we couldn't make the most out of it. I wouldn't say that my schooling life was downright horrible, but it wasn't really that memorable in the first place. Granted that I've got to know several good friends along the way, but is that sufficient to justify your stay at a certain compound and confine yourself within several blocks of building for 5 or 6 years?

However, I would also be the first to confess that it is easier said than done because a lot of us settle for convinience and not many families would be able to weigh various considerations regarding a complete schooling life even if those issues are of their concern in the first place. Furthermore, schools in KL are pride themselves in the sense that they do not lack in a certain area rather than how they ought to improve on what they have to maximize their potentials. One bleak area that I can remember vividly and point a finger at, is the tendency for most schools in malaysia to frown upon a positive development in extra curricular activity and branding anything out of the norm as unncessary and a waste of time. Somehow from various school systems that I've heard of along with the ministry of education; they exudes this aura of contented-ness and complacency regarding the activites outside of the academic region. It would be rather hard to change this school of thought because Malaysia is developing country at most, and the constant emphasize on "do or die" academic achievements may have well relegated other involvements and activities to a distant secondary. Don't get me wrong, I place a very high emphasize in the rigorous effort of acquiring knowledge and more often than never, it is the knowledge acquired during our schooling days that we will bring with along with us for the rest of our lives. Most schools' physical education sessions are synonymous to a football scramble with the whole population of 2 classes pitted against each other in the full lengths football field. If you are unlucky, sometimes only half a field is at your disposal. Sometimes they would do something out of the ordinary but it is done half-heartedly and there is no continuation. Perhaps I am blinded by western values and development potrayed in television programmes, where there is a systematic and a conscious effort to unearth talents or at the very least, to conduct sessions in an encouraging and healthy way. For my part, it was the unplanned introduction and nurturing of my basketballing passion that enriched my sporting life and I'm thankful and still at shock that something that means so much to me only came along my life's path by accident.I would hate to envision how would my life have been without the drive and zeal it brings. Mind you, I've never said that I'm not the most talented or physically built person for that sport, but I definitely have a passion for it.

It is no secret as well that many parents in Malaysia would frown upon excessive involvement in extra curricular activities especially in sports as they deem it as something that doesn't help you towards the development of a brighter future. Bear in mind that Malaysia is a third world country which is building itself to embrace the waves of the fervent pursuit of a knowledge based economy; a path Malaysia set for itself in belief that it will serve to narrow the gap between themself and the 1st world nation in the fastest way possible. It is also apparent that healthy activities such as debates, computer lessons, hands on experience in scientific tools and healthy reading materials are also lacking. The sick part is that I was rather fortunate to be schooled in one of the better schools in my area at the very least, and I would fret the thought of the situations in schools that are worse off as compared to mine.

I decided to blog about this post after seeing several encouraging scenes from footages of well known artist paying a visit to their old school. Perhaps those artists prolonged stay in the entertainment industry have directly enchance their acting skills, because I could really feel the sincerity and their pride coupled with a heart filled with gratitude when they graced the compound of their respective schools and interacted with the teachers in the school . Sad to say that, cases such as these are nearly non-present in Malaysia schools once again. One of those artist those artist that that I've referring to is none other than Taiwanese based Hong Kong artist Chau Wa Kin (his actual name in reference to Hong Kong's predominant Guangdong background) or he is better known as Zhou Hua Jian in the music industry. Any person familiar with the chinese music scene would tell you that Emil Chau (Chau Wa Kin or Zhou Hua Jian) is an extremely jovial person. He will break out in laughter in nearly every minute interval when he is interactiving with any given person.

Details and entertainment aside, these people are proud of their schools. Similarly,our tertiary education scene is not faring really well as compared its neighbouring counterparts. The last time I checked on the list of top universities in Asia, UM (widely regarded as Malaysia's best public university and Malaysia's top local based university) is lying in the 70-80th position and it is even behind University of Colombo from Sri Lanka. Sometimes statistics speak volumes isn't it?

The sitaution degenerated to such a point that 98.8 and 101.8 (chinese radio stations) aired community progressive messages that pleaded with its listeners to pay a visit to their old schools and even reminded them to bring along with them a kindred heart which is filled with love and appreciation. Chao turtle, Malaysia is naturally not loving and appreciative enough mehhh? har har. I could even quote you the message from my memory:

"记得回去母校走走.....记得带回一分热情的心，一分感恩的心"
"Ji de hui qu mu xiao zou zou....ji de dai hui yi fen re qing de xin, yi fen gan en de xin"
Translation is in the paragraph above.

To top it all, we even have a number of schools who took the trouble to errect a large board which reads "Syabas kerana anda hadir ke sekolah". It is in light of those dissatisfactions above, that it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and subsequently left me wishing for a somewhat different education background; perhaps something more western-like.

I know that issues such as school is a distant past to me but I don't really see much changes through the years, since I've left the school scene. I envy those people who can stand upright and claim that they are proud of their schooling past. For those who can do that sincerely while staying true to their hearts in the first place, I would like to congratulate them and tell them how fortunate they are. It is in situations like these that the grass always seems greener on the other side.

I DON'T LIKE IT...SO SUE ME

2006-05-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

Recently, blogsphere have been locked into some heated battles and arguments with regards to one religion eliminating another. Even though I don't patronize minishort's blog that very often, I was bitterly dissapointed that when I finally logged on to her blog, the main thing I've discovered was that there are those religious bigots trying to stamp their authority on another person's blog and they are totally bullish and direct about it. I've kept this article for a long time and I believe that I've every right to at least just post this article. I wonder am I the sole person who constantly chuckle at the government's "attempts" "to bridge the differences between races" or when they constantly laud their vision about democracy and equality. I can't help but look at it in a negative light simply because I know that a large part of those false hope and promises are coming from the mouths of direct or indirect hypocrites out there. So here is the article. (It is obvious that I am not the author of the article below)

**********************************************************************************

WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Interesting article .......

When the government embarked on the move to introduce a common language for all, in this case our own National Language (in the beginning called Bahasa Kebangsaan), it was done with the noble intention of uniting all Malaysians.I remember, in the 1960s, when I was insecondary school, I had to take three languages; English Language, Bahasa Kebangsaan and Bahasa Melayu. Bahasa Kebangsaan was simpler than Bahasa Melayu but, surprisingly, I scored better in my Bahasa Melayu paper than I did the Bahasa Kebangsaan paper. Until today I still do not know how this could happen.Along the way, I am not sure when exactly, Bahasa Kebangsaan and Bahasa Melayu disappeared and it was replaced with Bahasa Malaysia, I suppose a merger of sorts of the two.But the new National Language did not seem to unite Malaysians as our founding fathers thought it would. In fact, Malaysians became even more divided than ever. And it was not due to being unable to communicate as Chinese, Indians and the other minority ethnicities sometimes spoke better Bahasa Malaysia than even Malays themselves. I would be a case in point. My Bahasa Malaysia is so bad that I find it very difficult to express myself properly unless I do so in English.The issue that divides us is not language but religion, as well as the Bumiputera issue; in particular the special rights or privileges accorded the Malays.Okay, let us forget about language for the meantime. Let us assume this is not really that great a problem, though it may be an irritation for some. Let us just focus on the two core issues, race and religion. In most civil wars and domestic strife the world over, it has always been race and religion that divide nations whether it is Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Ireland, Bosnia, the United States, or wherever. In fact, if not because of these two issues; race and religion; the United States may not even exist today -- for the United States was where those persecuted over race or religion sought refuge over the last 200 years or so.Therefore, to be realistic, disagreements over race and religion is not a Malaysian problem. It is an international problem and, until today, this issue cannot be resolved amicably. And millions have died over the last 100 years alone because no common ground can be found in resolving these two issues. And the conflicts will continue until the end of time. And getting everyone to speak one common language is not going to resolve it. It will only end when no one race feels his/her religion or his/her race is superior to another and he/she is able to accept those of other races or subscribing to other religions as equals.And, this, Malaysia can never see as long as one race feels his/her race or religion is superior to another.Now, let us talk about one issue that has been the bone of contention for both Ma lays and non-Malays alike for more than 35 years, the New Economic Policy (NEP). The NEP, which was launched in 1970 soon after the infamous May 13, 1969, race riots, was supposed to give Malays a 30% share of the economic pie by 1990. But the Malays are not happy with the NEP because, by 1990, the Malays only managed 3% instead of 30%. The government at first tried to pass it off as 20%. But this 20% included the 17% owned by trust agencies, which belongs to the nation and not to the Malays.The non-Malays, on the other hand, view the NEP as discriminatory and similar to South Africas Apartheid policy. And I do not blame the non-Malays for perceiving it such.

Okay, let us (and I mean Malays when I say us) look at the NEP from the Islamic perspective. Islam says, in any commercial transaction, there must be a willing-buyer-willing-seller situation. Then, the transaction must be verbally declared (lafaz) in that the buyer and the seller both endorse the transaction and engage in the transaction in good faith. The NEP, however, makes it mandatory for non-Malays or foreign investors to offer 30% of their company to Malay shareholders. In certain industries it must be 51% or more, while in others only 100% Malay-owned companies will be allowed.Since the non-Malay or foreign investors are forced, against their will, to offer a portion of their property to a Malay shareholder (in this case he would most likely be Muslim as well), how would this be a willing-buyer-willing-seller situation? The buyer may be willing, but the seller is certainly not. The seller is reluctantly selling a portion of his company to the Malay shareholder because he/she has no choice in the matter. And most times the seller has to sell the asset at a discount or below market price.According to Islam, in the absence of a willing-buyer-willing-seller situation, the transaction would become tak sah (invalid). And invalid is invalid. No renaming it as NEP would make invalid become valid.The same goes for Bumiputera quotas. The foundation of Islam is justice. Denying anyone his/her right is unjust and Islam frowns upon this. If a non-Malay (meaning non-Muslim) is eligible for something, yet he/she does not get it (like a place in a university), and instead that place goes to someone less deserving, then Islam would view this as unjust.Let me give you some examples of my personal experiences. Once I used to own a travel and ticketing company called TATA Sdn Bhd. I spent a lot of money setting up this company and my renovation and furnishing cost for my Kuala Lumpur and Kuantan offices alone ran into six figures.Understandably, as in most new businesses, for the first few years I ran at a loss. Then I stole a marketing manager from one of Kuala Lumpurs leading five-star hotels and this Chinese lady managed to turn my company around and save it from bankruptcy. By then more than RM500,000 had gone down the drain but we were beginning to break even with this very aggressive lady managing the business.One day, some Ministry of Finance officials paid my Kuala Lumpur office a surprise visit, saw this Chinese lady, and immediately confiscated all my licenses and deregistered my company. After that it was downhill all the way until I had to wind up the operation because I could no longer, legally, do any ticketing business.I had committed a cardinal sin. I had employed a Chinese lady as a manager. And for that I deserve to be closed down. Is this Islamic justice?Okay, you may say this Chinese lady is not a Muslim, so you do not feel any harm has been done. Fine, my wife is also Chinese, but she is Muslim, and she was a director in some of my other companies. The Ministry of Trade, however, was not happy that her name was listed as a director in my company.They called my wife for an interview and they were surprised that she was more Malay than even the interviewers. She spoke superb Malay and dressed in Baju Kurong, the dressing she wore every day even at home. But they were still not satisfied and I was asked to remove her name and use the name of some other Malay nominees instead.Who? I asked. Anyone, as long as it is not my wifes name. A private limited company needs two directors so my name alone is not enough. I removed my wifes name and replaced it with that of my Malay secretary.

But my wife still co-signed the cheques and since only two of us signed then it would be considered 50:50 -- still cannot. So I added a third signatory and now any two of the three could sign the cheques. No, not good enough. Not any two of three. It must be ALL three. Then it would be 66.6% Malay against 33.3% Chinese. I had no choice but to comply. And my wife thereafter decided it was no use trying to be Malay any longer. She might as well revert to being Chinese again, and she might as well discard her Baju Kurong for jeans and T-shirt. Can I blame her? In fact, I support her wholeheartedly. Is this what the NEP is all about? And is this what Islam asks from Muslims; to discriminate others just because he or she is not Malay, even though he/she may be Muslim? Further to that, do you know my wife will not be able to get my house when I die if it is built on Malay Reservation land? I thought, according to Islamic teachings, when the husband dies the widow is entitled to a share of the property. Does the Koran say this law only applies if the house is not built on Malay Reservation land? I think the word Malay is not even mentioned in the Koran. I challenge all those learned Muslims out there to offer just ONE hadith or verse from the Koran that says this is how Islam is supposed to conduct itself. Malays should unemotionally re-look at the issue of the NEP and Bumiputera quotas, not from the race perspective but from the Islamic perspective. Malays must be Muslims first and Malays second. Malays will one day have to stand before God not on the basis of whether they have been good Malays or bad Malays but on the basis of whether they have been good Muslims or bad Muslims. Better we be bad Malays but good Muslims, because this is what counts later. Maybe what I am saying would mean Malays may be left behind, at least initially. But if we are prepared to suffer for the sake of upholding the tenets of Islam, then that is indeed an extremely small price to pay. That is real jihad, the struggle against temptation, the temptation of getting rich the easy and shortcut way. Of course, as what Deng Xiao Peng said, Being rich is glorious. But if becoming rich is all that matters, then there are many other unIslamic ways of getting rich. Getting rich is not what matters. It is how we get rich that is the issue. If going against Islamic teachings to get rich can be considered alright, then I can suggest many other more lucrative and easier ways of getting even richer. Anyway, the issue of whether Malays are going to be left behind is another matter altogether. Again, let us look at this issue not as Malays but as Muslims. Islam says that nothing will happen to us that we do not do to ourselves. Islam also says that nine-tenths of pintu rezeki (the door to good fortune) lies in business. The majority of Chinese do business while the majority of Malays seek employment, mainly in government service. Any wonder that the Chinese would be far ahead of the Malays, economically speaking? Islam has already told the Malays that businessmen will be ten times richer than wage-earners. So there is no shortcut to getting rich and as long as the 80,000 unemployed graduates go crying to the government for jobs instead of setting up a small business the Malays will continue to be left behind. It is not easy being a good Muslim is it? Not only must we steer clear of discos, sausages, gambling, adultery, liquor, plus we have to pray five times a day, fast during the month of Ramadhan, perform our Haj, and pay zakat/fitrah (tithe), now we also have to get rich the Islamic way and not rob non-Muslims of their rights. Sigh! Why did Parameswara get us into all this? I am sure we Malays were much happier before we became Muslims.

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END OF ARTICLE

I don't care if government, muslims or ISA read about this because I didn't ask for anything to be done. All those repercussions are subjective in everyone's heart and most importantly, I am only speaking about the truth. In fact, I am only posting an article by a "radical bumiputra" and I didn't even edit a single word from his piece of enlightenment.

California here we come?....NO NEED LAHHH, we got Taman Melawati in Malaysia

2006-05-16T06:17:00.000-07:00

About a month or so ago, Yuweno Inferno introduced me to the blockbuster ongoing series of The O.C . Even though the show has this "larger than life" tag attached to its very namesake, I had difficulties in geering myself to watch it because generally, I'm rather unmotivated to watch movies outside of cinema; with the exception for random television programmes which are at my disposal. Sometimes it is just harder to come to terms and prepare yourself to watch something new as opposed to randoms programs encountered from the carefree browsing of television channels, which could discard such nuisance in our minds and just force us to accept things as they are. At times, things just look awfully bleak and discouraging the more we think about it and before we know it, our morale are greatly diminished and we would eventually procastinate on what we had set ourselves to do in the first place. Knowing that I've delayed for way too long, I finally took the leap of faith and subsequently tried viewing those 4 episodes which were entrusted to me.

I have to admit that television series are really very well fabricated nowadays to grab your attention and leave you somewhat hooked to it. It is not hard to see that The O.C is a legitimate series which exudes its own brilliance and style in a special way. On the other hand, I also know that I don't have the luxury neither to be an ardent nor a hardcore follower because I don't exactly have all the time in the world. However, the knowledge of knowing that I've opened up a whole new avenue of entertainment would only stand benefit me whenever I wish to take up that option in the near future; granted that I have that time for it. Thus, the introduction to The O.C series is greatly appreciated.

From my very humble upbringing and experience, I believe the father of all trendy youth dramas is none other than Beverly Hills 90210. I was 8 years old when images of the show is aired in Malaysia's national television and the idea and concept of the show was selling like hot cakes. Not only was everyone fascinated about the concept of the American dream at that time, the show's very own cast comprised of actors and actresses alike whose physical appeal were so captivating and enchating that the near-perfect combination of good looking and spicy lifestyles ;propelled the show to a level of cult status. The appeal and the idea of the show was so strong that even a largely blur and forlorn toddler like me back then was drawn to the show even though I was absolutely lost in terms of comprehending the details of any given episode. Somehow I could only connect to the coolness associated with it and not the logic behind what was actually being presented because the content and conversation that was was aired in every single episode was nearly impossible for me to grasp at that age. Mind you I was 8 at that time and I don't exactly watch anything outside of cartoons small time dramas.

Therefore I can draw lots of comparisons between The O.C and Beverly Hills 90210. At the surface of all the hype between both movies in different eras, the whole backbone of both series revolves around the idea of a group of cool people who are residing in a really cool and classy place,and that their lives are plagued by a host of modern day issues. Under normal circumstances, people love to watch movies about about greener pastures and a cooler life. You don't even see producers wanting to promote shows about the gangs in the streets of Harlem, internal struggles in the slumps or the predicament of broken and underpaid families. Those sort of shows can only potentially succeed in one off programs and it is not long lasting in terms of appeal. Therefore the producers, would rather feed the audience with what things that have a lasting appeal rather than a brief one. Longevity and success is of paramount importance in the industry.

Shows like The O.C and Beverly Hills 90210 inadvertantly promotes the american culture or the american dream to aspiring teenagers and young people who wish to emulate the hype that is displayed before their very eyes. As a result, some might fall prey to thoughts and ideas of greener pastures elsewhere, especially in the west and also somewhat assimilate pick-up lines, phrases and the approach that was enticing to them.

Since negativity is the demeanor that is frequently overused as compared to its direct counterpart, I shall take the road less travelled and take all those negativity heads on for once. Of course, arguments itself seems futile without a direction. Therefore, I devised this small thought up my head to draw parallels between my very own home area as compared to those paradise depicted by the media of the west. Take note that I've been brought up in Taman Melawati my whole life and it is the only area that I can modestly boast of sufficient understanding. Therefore anyone who is as enthusiastic about their very own housing area can draw similar parallelism as well and it is not mutual exclusive as opposed to any other areas out there.

Therefore the stage is set, and the battle is imminent.
Battle of the day:
Overpriced and overhyped California vs Modest and unheard of Taman Melawati

NOTE: THE DESCRIPTION BELOW ARE MEANT TO BE SUBJECTIVE AND DOESN'T NECESSARY REFLECT THE TRUTH. THEY ARE ALL FABRICATION AND IDEAS ALTOGETHER AND IT WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE TOWARDS ANY SENSITIVE OR INSENSITIVE THOUGHTS OF OFFENDED PARTIES ALTOGETHER.

They say that California's very own sight is breathtaking and envigorating

They love the wholesome package that California brings. They think it is so trendy to have basketball courts by the beach. Who are we kidding....GOSHHHH!!!!. Not enough land is it?

WE say that things doesn't always have to be classy, when mother nature can actually do wonders at times without human intervention.

Even our roads have a classic look attached to it and it is the target of countless local film production. Unlike western series which played to the hearts of the viewers who demand changes as we can see for ourselves from Beverly Hills to Orange County, our local directors never grow sick of melawati and they kept coming back for more in terms of footage from numerous picturesque location. So shy of it that they have to disguise the location under names of other areas sometimes. It is ok, their intentions are understood.

Look!!! we even have a multipurpose court with ample of land by it's sides. Melawatians are spoilt for choices till the point that nobody even want to patronize this well planned and constructed court.

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Snobbish people would point that The O.C and California boast of great friendships and red hot companions which are unparallel as of yet.

Things to note: Expensive furnitures and background settings to further boost the image

WE beg to differ. It is obvious that they haven't visit the "padang" at phase 4 in Taman Melawati. As an attempt to challenge the O.C in terms of frequent airings per weeks, real-life activity as depicted below are carried out on a weekly basis; if the weather permits.We are clear advocaters that class and style is not mutually exclusive on the other side of the world.

Things to note: No expensive things are needed and nature loving melawatians only need mother nature in their midst for "happening" activities.

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Wise man says that California is full of love and intimacy, coupled with their wondrous open minded approach towards relationship (in short, it means that they are open towards pre-marital sex and ceaseless switching of partners). A shoulder for those who needs it just goes on further to prove their depth in love and affection. "Armour infinito?". OWHHHHH HOW SWEETTTTTT.

WE say, those self-proclaim wise man aka morons only need to visit Wangsa Maju's branch of McDonalds to dispel such nonsense. Who is more open now?. This guy is literally hugging his girlfriend in such close proximities. They bodies can literally merge and several strategic angles might even betray our eyesight into believing that they are somewhat superimposed into each other. Such act of boldness and liberalism could even mislead many naive childrens to conclude for their own that those two persons are actually Siamese twins and their very naive brains simply repels any other reasoning that could be conjured or offered. Shoulders or anything that is that conservative wouldn't suffice even in Jaya Jusco's McDonalds, what more the rest of Melawati. FEEL THE LOVE, CALIFORNIANS?????

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Californians claim that they can strike up a pose better than any homo sapiens from any other part of the world. They claim that the mixture of style and arrogance clearly shows everyone that they centerfold material.

WE say.... "My boy, I'm sure the term {posing maut} is foreign to you. It is ok, as there is always a first time for everything". I'm lost for words to describe this pose below. It is that good and the innocent guy in the picture below is only a youthful 15 when the photo was taken.On the contrary,the guy from the photo above might have enter Zouk a gazillion times already and corrupted his personality many times over. We Melawatians give you the wholesome package in this aspect; naivity and vanity.

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Californian: But but but.....our seaside and beaches are still unparallel. Surely you can't top that? We even have a majestic bridge/structure to accompany it!!!!

Californian: Marvel at your beaches you third world country!!!!.

Melawatian: Beaches are meant for swimming what.....We also got wonderful scenaries all around us. A swimming pool can also serve that very purpose already.Not to mention, we love the smell of clorine in our swimming pool water. Noobs don't know how to enjoy luxuries like these. NOW BEGONE!!!!

Melawatians: But before you go, it is ok take a glimpse and drool with incomprehensible yearning for things that we Melawatians take for granted.

Melawatian: Again

Melawatian: And again

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Ancient myths have it that Californians or westerners are equipped with cutting edge technology and they absolutely love their music. Wireless and portability is the new name of the game and they are the self-professed master of them all.

WE say that although we can't necessary match that feat, Malaysia in general is not lagging too far behind. We love music too and our affliation with wireless and portability started even years back which is unfathomable. Sometimes pictures speak a thousand words doesn't it?

Picture courtesy of Kennysia.com's old post.

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ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.........

END OF COMPARISON......

I don't want to compare anymore......I don't need no justification. It is official, but I stand corrected in the future. I love Taman Melawati as it is. I've met great personalities all along that have blessed me immensely throughout my 22 years of life. No matter what happens in the future and where I may go, Taman Melawati and its people will always be a great part of me. I dare say that there is nowhere else I rather be; for most if not all the time (hoping that I don't eat my own words).

P.S: The person on the bottom left of the picture is me. The rest of the people in the picture are just great blessings altogether directly and indirectly to me. Thanks everyone!!!!

SO I GUESS WHAT SHOULD I SAY THEN AFTER THIS LONG RANT???...ermmmmmm....Melawati ROCKS?....

Peace OUT

My Malaysian Idol.....NOT

2006-05-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

(Shorter post as compared to the past....heheheheheheh)

Last Sunday,I was going through a nerve wrecking time to save my laptop from oblivion. I know that it is not a good enough excuse to skip church but me and my brother just didn't manage to wake up in time. During the constant probing and brainstorming to rectify the problem, my brother who was an accomplished Intel worker claimed to have found the potential defective factor and he surprised me even further that he was willing to drive all the way downtown to rectify the problem straight away without any further delay. Spearheaded by his enthusiasm, we departed for the center of computer technologies, accessories and not to forget piracy of the highest degree; Low Yat Plaza. I've got myself a brand new memory chip and the results so far have been encouraging. The negative ill-effects of my old problems are gone for now but there is no guarantee that it will not occur again in the future. I just gotta keep my fingers crossed.

Being opportunists and people that treasure our free time dearly, my brother and I decided to cross the border to the almost-as-famous and hugely notorious neighbour of Low Yat; which is none other than Sungai Wang; to grab a few DVD of our choice. It was a plot up my brother's head all the time as he attempted to kill two birds with one stone by maximizing out efforts in going all the way downtown. We would leave that place as soon as possible due the the huge Sunday crowd which is not a pleasant environment to say the least. Something that never cease to amaze me is pool of people that I've encountered through the years surveying Sungai Wang. Somehow Sungai Wang Plaza managed to capture the hearts of an array of people. So much so that people from all walks of life are just breathing neck to neck in most parts of the building (due to the close proximity of those people who seems to crowd the place and have nothing else better to do). Nevertheless, these are all old news and nobody was caught by surprise. Somehow that fateful day was meant to be different from the past. Something was coming my way and it was bound to set the visit apart from those that ones that I've experienced but I was resistant towards it at first being a skeptical person.

While me and my brother were painstaking trying to reach the upper few floors where the DVD shops resides, I heard this famous tune that has been blaring through the stereos of various sources ever since Malaysian Idol Season 2 ended. It was not difficult to identify that it was the wretched song of Daniel Lee, which was none other than "Fei" or the translated version of "Mimpi"; the official theme of Malaysian Idol Season 2 finals. Since the song has been played for countless times ever since the finals ended, it came as no surprise to me that the song is blaring through Sungai Wang's very own speakers. The only part that I could fault them is their DJ's poor selection of song choices. In fact, come to think of it, poor is starting to become an understatement for that act.

However I realised that there was a twist to the whole plaza when there were shouts of joys and excitement coming from the basement where the permanent stage for occasional performance is located. The suspicion was further confirmed when people from floor to floor were encircling the open air view to catch a glimpse of what was happening. It was then that my heart,eyes,brains and instinct verified my greatest fear of what could be worse than the song that was being played. This was because simple logic tells me that no matter how ridiculous and absurb those general girl fans are, they don't shout over ordinary music being played. Therefore there could only be one possibility....and of course, it was the very own person is present there on the stage. YESSSSSS, our very own Malaysian Idol dishing out his rendition of "Fei" or "Mimpi".
The highlight of the day for me was when he was waving his hand towards the crowd of girl fans and hitting his very modest high note which send a group of girl fans into raptures. Ya Allah....what have these people degenerated into that they could possibly get excited over this Daniel Lee.

As you all can see, Daniel have achieved such a level of recognition that I feel obligated to search out his images to haunt myself all over again. So here are a few of them:

This picture is the best of the lot where it tells a thousand words which depicts what kind of artist or product he has become as a result of Malaysian Idol

On a lighter note, he is an ordinary person after all

If this figure were to appear in my uni before the malaysian idol craze, some people might have mistaken him for a girl and subsequently hit on him. Forgive my uni. It is densely populated by males which in turn promote desperateness and longing for any form of feminism (though I am perfectly clean....heeheheheh)

Can anyone honestly tell me that they are proud of this person representing Malaysia for in the World Idol contest. I am the first person to tell you that I am not a patriotic person at all. I even hoped for Malaysia to lose in the Thomas Cup and various other sporting events. But I just want to limit the shame and hummilation that he will potentially carry to Malaysia's already ugly reputation.

A big part of the blame goes out to his supporters as well I guess. He is just a person reaping from the concept of supply and demand. There were genuine voters who voted for him for whatsoever reasons. I've even come across people who supported him just because of his skin colour as opposed to the person that was competing alongside him in the finals. This craze and absurd ideas have been in malaysia dating back to those backstreet boys and boyband era period. Don't be fooled by the thought that Malaysia only go for western products and boybands. My misconception was quickly corrected by my malay friends in the past who quickly enlightened me of a malay boyband as well which was present at that time. They were called "The Boys" or something along that line. Apparently, malay girls go crazy over that particular boyband. There were always a handful of malay girls that were shouting in ecstacy over their performance and there were even some who fainted in the midst when it seems like their ecstacy climaxed to the point that their body gave way. Those fanatics even took a step further where they actually hurled objects at the band's van to break their windscreen and side mirrors so that they could actually extend their outreaching arms; in an effort to touch those beloved figures that they deeply adore. I marvel at the ideas and acts of those fanatics and it never fails to astonish me up to this day.

3 goody ones down, and nightfall is on the horizon

2006-04-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

My classical phrases to prepare us for the day is "If you want to be angry, do not speak or act" and "If you want to speak and act, do not be angry".

An acquaintance of mine have recently told me of my recent dry spell, where I seemed to be holding back on blogging freely and I was rather shackled by some issues. I guess he was right and I couldn't deny it. Hence the topic which is to depict the slightly changed stance that I am going to take as least for this particular blog entry and I will see how things progress from there (I am pretty much a person who blogs according to my mood and I freaking blogging in the midst of my office hours and under a considerable amount of scrutiny, so try topping that if anyone is not down with it). I would first and foremost declare that I am NOT in a vicious and furious mode even if I sounded as though I gave the slightest hint that might have suggested that way.

I've had the opportunity or the misfortune to have met some really stuck up people in my life. One part of stuck-up-ness that I could never comprehend and that it would never cease to leave me in a scornful mood, is a form of classical defensive stance or thought that is present nowadays. I am a particular believer in certain people being born smarter than others and likewise certain people being born prettier than others. I don't think this is rocket science and I don't think it is hard to digest if we've opened our eyes wide enough to embrace the things around us. This particular stuck up school of thought (yes, I believe that there are many people out there with this sort of mentality that it merits this magnitude of a phase "school of thought". It is sad but true) that I am trying to depict here is with regard to a group of people who is born rather unpretty or they might be slightly oversized or somehow one couldn't even come out with words to describe what are the precise flaws that stand ever so strongly as a barrier from these people being labelled as good-looking or gorgeous and so on and so forth. Notice that I used the term "some" and this denotes that I do not necessary mean that everyone who falls under that category or anyone who thinks they fall under the category would act this way. I think we know ourselves well enough to be a judge for this context. As I was saying, it is no cardinal sin to be born rather average looking or perhaps slightly below average and even downright bad looking. Nobody is going to impose capital punishment upon you. Nobody can bring you down if you are grounded to who you really are. Your life is not meant to be less vibrant as compared to your better looking counterparts and you are certainly not a gone case. I happen to know lots of people who might realise ages ago that they are not in the league alongside people with the best looks, but they definitely potray a big heart whenever they are with their friends. I couldn't help but be proud of them as well.

Now that I have left the good and logical path aside, I shall reflect upon the other side of the thought where a bulk of those people from that category indulge in. It particularly irks me whenever I come across those stuck up people going around proclaimng ;either verbally or when they immortalize their words in their personal web space; their steadfast stand and when they are quick to denounce or undermine those people who have the slightest hint of appreciating physical beauty. First of all, each and every person have every right to go about their respective lifes but once you've crossed the border ;as in to act as if you know better and to express it to others;then you better make sure what you are saying is going to give a semblance of intelligence or sanity,else the issue might paint a negative light upon your judgement. Granted that perhaps these people generally had a rather unbalanced or unpleasant upbringing which could be devoid of the sufficient type of attention he or she needs. However that doesn't directly translate into that person being presented with anymore right to tell others how they were to choose the way they want to live or think. I mean seriously. Lets just say that A is a good looking boy and B is an ugly looking boy (being rather straight forward to deliver the point without beating around the bush). If A chooses have a particular yearning or he is more inclined towards the opposite sex with great features or looks which attacts him, arouses him or whatsoever crap that comes in between then so be it. However if A have other form of criterias that he look for, (granted that A is a sane person and he is not brainless to the point he chooses a life partner who is full of crap with bad looks and bad traits as well) then that would be very much welcomed as well. What then can we say of B. Some people might not have high hopes of B. However if B chooses to be with a girl even out of his league by miles away i.e somewhat somewhat like Malaysia's Liga Perdana as compared to the English Premier League then so be it if he chooses to stay that way and if he feels he is conscious and he feels that he is not fighting a lost cause. Likewise, B can follow the path that many feel would be deemed as more appropriate for him. This is a simple concept and i seriously feels it is universal. It is even applicable for those who thinks that they are somewhere lying in the region between A and B.

Take note that I am only condoning this theory for those people who pursue their life's path with a true and sincere heart regardless of their features. If a person were to resort to sinister and wicked ways, then I guess no reservations of thoughts and support should be appropriate anymore and it would on be proper that my thoughts in this entry would be rendered unsuitable for those scenario (these are some my heartfelt ideas and I don't proclaim it be a torah,quran or bible).

Then there are those famous words and phrases being overused by those abovementioned stuck up people. Some of the things that they've said might sound a little something like (somehow, this scenario only only happen to the females that I've come into contact, and it doesn't mean that that case is irrelavant to males as well) :
"Isn't it a bit shallow that guys are always going for some form of looks"
"Eeyer, those are your criterias ahhhh.....why you go for looks one??"
"We must only look at people from the heart and love them for their heart because their looks will diminsh but their traits and characteristics and personality will stay forever".

*take note that this is an issue that I've talked about a lot with my friends in the past and those are quite well verse in this topic themselves agreed with quotes that I've stumbled upon or heard with my own pair of trusty ears. *

Some of them would go the distance to undermine certain people's inclinations and choices. So what is so wrong if someone were to yearn for people of the opposite sex (same sex not allowed!!!!) in the league as the people that are shown below OR EVEN SOME LOCAL PEOPLE IN THEIR LIVES WHOM THEY DEEM AS SOMEWHAT TANTAMOUNT TO THOSE PICTURES BELOW??

These are the thoughts that came across my head when I saw these pictures. Nice and simple with no strings attached.

Looks good to me

Good looking

Gorgeous

Nice asian-like beauty

If any of you have been in this situation, have you all notice this one distinct similarity that is omni-present. These sort of complains or lamentations only come from the people who are rather unsatisfied about their looks. Reason being that in truth they are not the prettiest to say the least and that they feel rather unsecure about their looks which in turn affects their self-esteem and they create this whole self-defense mode to justify themselves. Logically an above average person would naturally be given much more affection by family and friends alike where those stuck up needs wouldn't arrise. Even if any top beauty queen for example will to forgo looks in the search of their counterparts, it would be because they already possess beauty for most parts of their life that they are willing to part with it for something else that excites them. This is clearly contrary to those meaningless the lamentations from the irritating ones who have to disguise their insecurity. For any sort of vindication presented by these stuck-up people, there are always a few things that we have to bear in mind:

These things might be fantasies that will last indefinitely, and if anyone insist to stay strong towards it and even after several acid test, then let it be.
If these people continue to live under such a mindset and they wouldn't settle for any other alternatives coupled with the fact they wish to continue to living that way, then I believe that they have every right in the world to gamble upon it as well.
Ever so often that these scornful people have gossips of their own on the opposite sex they come into contact with or those regarding superstars in the media and they would practically fall heads over heels again and again just by simply talking about them. But somehow, when they hear from their more critical counterparts or friends, they would adopt a very deranged headstrong mentality and proceed to show their irritation or disagreement. Pure BS.

All of us are living in a media hyped era unless you hail from some forest in sabah or timbaktu. Whenever we patronize any neighbourhood chinese coffee shops, the sight of a posters explicitly showing scantily clad womens promoting certain brand of alcohol is almost a certainty. Good looking women have already been used as the main attraction in movies, advertisements and also various promotions perhaps even before some of those stuck up individuals were born. So what is the big fuss? Why don't you go solve those problems first? Why are you talking big when you only reflectly yourself to be a small thinker at the same time?

Even the beauty pagents are screwed up most of the time. They would try to minimize their damage or intentions by fabricating rounds after rounds of IQ questionaire in hope to prove that the conquest is heavily inclined toward finding a pagent with the most beautiful mind. Fat hopes you baboons. It is already a contradiction that you are already gathering beauty queens from various nations and it doesn't really matter whoever wins because nearly all of them are representative of their country for a BEAUTY CONTEST anyway??. Prove me wrong and try bringing an ugly representative for the beauty pagent and prove me wrong next time around. The biggest joke is that there are even institutions particularly in india where they train those future pagent candidates to swiftful answer those genre of questions that the beauty pagents usually dished out. They would be somewhat equivalent to a degree holder in beauty pagent participancy already by the end of the course. But these form of manipulations are not of their slightest concern because they are getting rave reviews and that in return only work to spur them on.It is the simple concept of supply and demand my friends.

Not surprisingly if you were to discuss those opinions with those stuck-up people, they would be even more gung-ho. They would claim that they hate the media for those negative potrayal of women's image. They would also claim that it is bad that so many people are falling for it. What they fail to see is that most if not all of the people who are "exploited" in their terms, actually decided on taking this path out of liberty and free choice and they are the ones that prolonged their stay in those paths. It is different if this were some classy talk cock story about how there was once this super beautiful girl came from a poor family and she had no education whatsoever and that she had to resort to this evil path that she is totally uncomfortable with and now she is stuck and entangled in between that she couldn't leave anymore. It is also different if someone pointed a gun at her face to literally force her to sign that a contract which subsequently relegate her all the way down to the "evil industry" or if the mafias threatened to have a full scale massacre of her family members if she refuses to comply. If those were the case, then they shouldn't have to break another sweat. What they should do is that they should contact the SDU, French GIGN, British SAS, American Seal forces or even the United Nations Security Council to free those innocent people from their plight. On the contrary, most of these icons and big names on TV are currently enjoying a life that you couldn't even have dreamt about and they can wallow themselves in sympathizing you more than you could ever sympathize them for whatsoever nonsense that you could conjure up in your head.

In the end, I am just saying that everyone should be given their very own room and space for their inclinations,fantasies or even admiration. Whether or not they take the leap of faith to traverse the path of seeking them fervently is another matter altogether. Everyone should just be live with a sense of confidence in themselves regardless of their appearances because everyone loves a person who knows how to bring themselves about in a proper way and confidence is one of those qualities. On a similar note, Jeremy used to like 911 a lot and even though I strongly disagreed with him, I didn't utter any form of curse or brandish a finger at his direction and he can testify to that....heheheehhehehehe

If any nimrods (I myself don't know what this word means, but it sounded good...so the heck with it) out there think that this thought is too perplexing, then try to fathom the thoughts of girls weeping with such great force followed by their outreach arms trying to stretch to its maximum length in hope to reach a particular boyband group who is performing on stage. Wonder if they will ever weep with such great force and sorrow if any of their loved ones were to pass away. Now that is perplexing, with a pinch of stupidity in it. I am not lying. It was not that long ago that I stumbled upon various boybands indoor performance that was broadcasted by MTV . For that particular performance or show,there were loads and loads of fanatic female fans weeping around the indoor stadium with such great force while their favourite boyband was performing some choreographed dance act which is accompanied by a simple synchronized song, with very average vocal range,at most. Those morbid impression that you could deduce from their faces and outstretched arms were somewhat resemble a legion of hell-send ghosts or zombies that were trying their level best to drag you down to the chasm of hell along with them; something that was supposedly present only in nightmares and shallow horrow movies. That is way way more perplexing and even to a point disturbing. Thats all for today as blogging gives way to serious work that beckons. Might blog about my recent Melacca trip by the next entry if I'm free.

Peace Out

In the midst of work (something to let off the chest)

2006-04-26T23:10:00.000-07:00

In this short period of time, I have been exposed to working life and its effects. As wise people said, you will never know working life until you really tried it. As for my working experience, it is not as bad as come people denounce it to be but it is not exactly the most exhilarating thing either. One of the things that is universal to everyone working on a full time basis is the long hours dedicated to it. As for me, I am working from 8.30am to 5.30pm with a lunch break in between. The hardships and dilemmas of my internship tasks are being unravelled at a slow but definite pace. I know that harders things were to come even from back then but the only dissatisfaction I would get is that, no matter what, we are still being used as cheap labours and image booster (can't help it because I work longer hours than part-timers and my salary is a mockery to the amount that a part-timer earns as well). Perhaps a lot of you are oblivious of a fact out there which is true for Malaysian system (I wouldn't know if it is applicable out of Malaysia). Why do you think private companies and organizations offer Scholarships and benefits that are worth thousands and thousands of dollars per annum??...Some of the naive ones might think that it is out of the act of goodwill and that they are returning some of their earnings back to the community from which they are heavily involved. Others might think that the prospect of bonding or tying up those prospectful people who satisfy their criteria;to a contract of certain duration upon graduation; is a fair trade that is worth the consideration. Perhaps those reasons above play a role in their decision albiet a minor one. The matter of fact is that, if a company were to hand out scholarships, they would stand to receive an particular amount of reduction of taxes from their net income. It is common that organizations or groups that hand out scholarships are relatively big (otherwise they couldn't even afford to do it in the first place considering that their financial status is not even secured), which directly translate into a decent net profit per month or per year. The amount of money being taxed from their net profit annoucement and declaration would therefore be hefty in a normal person's eyes to say the least. Hence, there is this alternative openned up to them where they could hand out scholarships of a certain amount (I cannot say for sure, but it is only logically that the amount of money being offered by the scholarhship does not even come close if they choose to pay full amount of taxes without reduction) and in return they would stand to benefit from a significant reduction in taxes while at the same time securing some bonded workers in the future where they can nullify the contract if they are not satisfied for whatsoever reasons. Not to mention, they are able to promote their very own goodwill and image as an equivalent of a generous giver. The pain is of a lesser degree if those people under the category above are to be bonded to a decent enough company. Somehow as opposed to many people's assumption, big names do not always guarantee big satisfaction. In fact, from the stories I've heard, it could well be the other way round for most of the time, if not all of it. Imagine yourself being bonded 4 or 5 years with a single company and that you are sick and tired of that company for whatsoever reasons. In terms of engineering, the bad and sad stories are plentiful and the ears of engineers themselves are saturated with those stories while the pleasant and happy ones are few and far in between. If you were to quit the job out of personal request or whatever situation which displeases them, you might have to face the penalty of reimbursing all those amount of money that they spend on you in one lump sum. I bet that would really hurt.

As for myself, I have formatted my laptop twice in the space of one week. My laptop is lifeforce is growing weak. From time to time, the same old problem would occur. The only remedy that I could dish out myself is by formatting the laptop if there were any corruption in software of registry. Unfortunately, the hardware is the main factor contributing to my ailing laptop. Safe to say that, with my limited amount of hardware skills and from the advice that I sought in the past, I have managed to squeeze any form of life out of it. Hopefully this will last me until the end of my final semester when I will finish my final year project and thesis by then. When I have handled formatting with much ease in the past, the experience this time around haven't been too pleasant mainly because of my careless-ness. I have lost two important folders containing some precious documents and files which slipped from my attention when I transfering some other files that were up my mind. It dawned upon me only when the formatting process has come to a completion. By then, I have lost my years and years of documents and also my MSN folder which goes along with my emoticons and settings. Thats right, now I couldn't flash all those fancy emoticons around anymore and I would have to start from ground zero collecting it. Not to mention, I have lost all my documents which mainly consist of those homework and assignments from my 4 years of coursework. These are stuff that I can live without definitely, but there is lots of sentimental value attached to them and given a choice, I would definitely not want to part with them. Well....what is done is done. Life goes on.

Peace Out

Movies and relativity

2006-04-17T00:43:00.000-07:00

Each and every year, there always seems to be a long awaited blockbuster that is going to hit the big screens and it is starting to become a norm. I couldn't really recall when was it that promotions for films have grown out of proportions. Not only are the preview clips available for download over the internet, but huge billboards and constant advertising also appear in between TV programs; be it national or privatised TV programs. It is perfectly alright to advertise movies that are undeniably worth a watch or movies that are adapted from credible books i.e. Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, X-men and many others. Granted that everyone has a subjective taste even towards those blockbuster and movies but at the very least, they have a storyline and background that appeal to a majority of audience. Those movies also boast of an accomplished background or inspiration, mainly coming from books or television shows. Therefore if they were to dissapoint anyone, then they could at least held themselves accountable to be a minority and some might even credit the show be an eye-openner and offer a fresh range of dynamism to our imaginations at the very least. Mind you that the production of those shows were painstakingly done and millions of dollars have been pumped in to produce a show where we can watch at the comfort our cinema seatings with the purchase of a ticket at approximately 10 dollars of various international currency (we actually got it much more worth it at RM10 instead of $10). Personally for me, none of those vastly promoted movie have made me angered at the lack of quality to the point that I classify them as "no value for money" so to speak. However if any of us were to watch any less promoted films or those that has a "B grade" written all over it, then we stand to risk it upon ourselves and if we were to complain that the film is lacking in quality; it would fall on deaf ears as it can only be said that we brought that wrath upon ourselves by taking that bold move and a gamble in the first place.

However, I used to remember those days when movies weren't really promoted on such a large scale. Somehow many many great movies have been produced during those time and somehow those memorable and excellant movies produced during the early years of my childhood; where the media was much more subdued in terms of promotion;was at least of equal amount of compared to the modern day multimedia age. I've already named those modern day movies that are fresh in our memory such as Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Narnia, The Island, Matrix Trilogy and such. However I also remember not that long ago evergreen movies such as Seven, The Sharkshaw Redemption, The Rock, Con Air, Gladiator, The Legend of the Fall, Braveheart and such taking our breath away and leave us in astonishment. Those old movies stand as some sort of a benchmark even up till this very day. Maybe a lot of the younger generation would not have stumbled upon those movie and they might look at those movies in a negative light and mindset.

I personally have a fond memory of a few of those movies. First and foremost, those movies coincide with the period of time when I was growing up and where entertainment wasn't so readily available nor did I have the luxury to actually acquire any high-end entertainment means. Therefore movies at those time, was something really big to the point that they exudes some sort of unparallel bragging rights. People who have watched those classical movies of excellant recognition would talk about it for days to come and it would always become a relentless agenda that would never cease to bore various groups from different background. Come to think of it, some even went the distance literally ;when VCDs and DVDs weren't rampantly pirated to our neighbouring pasar malam or hotspots as our present age; to acquire their desired video casette at any targetted entertainment outlet or video rental store. On that account, my brother and I had personally took a buy to rent vidoes and my brother have cycled all the way to the video rental store just to get his hands on a movie or two. As ridiculous as it may sounds right now, travelling that far on bus or on bicycle for such purposes is considered a BIG thing when you are a toddler. Not only did my mom shun us from doing so and that we would have to do it secretly, but that the world seems ever so big back then and you were entering uncharted territories by embarking on this perilious mission .I remember vividly of how I pleaded to my dad to bring my brother and I to the video rental store where we could pick a video cassete of our choice for our viewing pleasure. The ironic part is that my brother and I wouldn't really have a particular movie that we have in mind beforehand and we are willing to just survey those covers of the movies from the catalogues available and pick randomly at best according to our instincts. Strangely, that sort of planning seems absurd to say the least but I do not really recall any of those selection albeit a largely random one being dissapointing. Perhaps I am suffering from the ill-effects of aging and I've forgotten all about it by now or perhaps I have grown to be much more fussy and I used to be easily satisfied back then. I don't really know. But what I do know is that movies such as Braveheart and The Rock are still being talked about even till this day and that feat proves itself. I had the privillege to watch those movies when they were freshly released from its premiere.

This whole issue suddenly dawned upon be because I have just finished watching a DVD from my stack old stack of collection. It is one of the titles that I've mentioned above and it is none other than "The Legend of the Fall". This movie was the winner of the 1994 Academy Award for Best Cinematography. My opinion and admiration for "Legend of the Fall" have only been reinforced after viewing the movie again. In fact, the movie as a whole never cease to leave me satisfied and the storyline is appealing to me as well. It were to be up to me, I would personally credit it to be one of the best movies that I've ever watch as well in terms of story line and the value of the movie as a whole. The movie boast of accomplished actors at their prime such as Brad Pitt (I've always acknowledge that he is a good actor personally, and that sex icon thingy is up to the masses to judge and I couldn't be bothered), Anthony Hopkins (can anyone every find a bad movie which he is associated with?) and also some very good supporting cast. This movie have its fair share of 18++ factor but it isn't really that obvious and obscene. Needless to say, you could see that I strong recommend this movie for any serious movie lover and appreciater (if you like to watch princess diaries and those sort of movie then by all means, ......I think you are a mockery by itself jk jk jk jk.....this is democratic country and you all can love RTM programs to whatever programs that pleases you) .

All these movies,music,entertainment and such have a strange way of fondness in our hearts especially when they are relatively long ago. Not only are they nostalgic for me personally but they can also serve as a reminder of our yester-years and our lifes when we first encountered it. It is just like how I recall Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Kind of Life" being such a hit that I could vividly recall that it was during my Form 1 days when everyone was talking about it and humming to its melody. Braveheart and Con Air was released when I was roughly standard 6 or 12 years old. I have overlooked the coming and passing of these movies and in the same light, these movies have overlooked my growth into adulthood as well. Ahhhh, those were great times. I miss those times. I miss those age. It is too much to say that those movies have built the characteristics and imaginations that I posess today??

Cheers
Peace Out

A new beginning??

2006-04-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

I wonder how I convinced myself into taking this bold move. Maybe I just wanted to rejuvanate my motivation for writing by changing to a new environment. Maybe I was just plain bored. Nevertheless, blogspot really opens up more freedom and even the background and colours of the webpage makes you feel so much more alive.

REASONS FOR JARODBLOGGY (don't we all just love to listen to people's reasons and secretly denounce them if it does not adhere to our system of beliefs)

Some of you might have realised that I do have another blog at xanga and what purpose does this blog actually serve?. This blog here is a small challenge posed to myself on how much discipline that can I conjure to consistently write.
This might seem a little unethical, but well, sometimes I just have too much free time at my training center in Mimos, and somehow Mimos IT department have blocked and classified xanga as an unauthorized site (not only they block you everytime you enter a site they deem unsuitable for you, they system even proceed to redirect your web page to their good old Mimos Berhad site where they explain all the fundamental details of their background and activities). In a way it is good, because I am getting sufficient learning materials and now I got plenty of online time as well hahahaha.
The myth that blogspot is superior in many ways is also one of the factors that prompted me to try it out and in a way it didn't dissapoint me. Just by seeing HMTL codes give me an extra headache because I think I did enough programming work in engineering already and this extra dosage here is an unwelcomed one.

I am currently embarking on a mandatory training period which is required by my University's Engineering Department where each student will have to undergo a MINIMUM of 12 weeks training stint with a single company. In a sense, the intentions are generally good but sometimes you just cant't help but feel a liked irked or sick of the protocols in between where you have to furfill certain conditions and criterias. To add to that, my uni actually require us to fill in certain forms namely Form A-F from time to time according to a time frame allocated and fax/post/hand it back to the college of engineering. As if those process were not painstaking enough, we will also be required to update a journal on our progress which is known as a logbook and our supervisor from uni will drop by for a visit to evaluate us. To wrap it up, our supervisor from our respectively companies will also hand out his/her own evaluations to top the ones mentioned above and finally we would have to give a powerpoint aided oral presentation when the training ends which subsequently leads to the beginning of the semester.

I am currently working in Mimos, the company that sucks money out of each wage earner's pocket (that is because I found out that they are fully government-owned and their main parachute and income comes from the government's money of course aka taxpayers money). Learning bits and pieces. Sometimes there are challenging materials posed to us, but sometimes it is just downright boring because when we are finished with our current work, usually we will just be stuck in the computer lab. Which means we would have ample of time to surf the net. However, that liberty is restricted by the company's blocking system of course. Therefore, highly demanded applications such as MSN or Yahoo Messenger is clearly out of the equation.

I don't think I am in the position to introduce Mimos. Why don't I leave it to that wonderful redirected Mimos site which clearly explains it all.

"MIMOS is a leading, Government-owned, Research & Development (R&D) organisation specialising in the areas of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) and Microelectronics.We pursue exploratory and industry-driven R&D through smart partnerships with universities, research institutes, Government organisations and other industry leaders"

The sad case with training in ala working working environment, is that you got to wake up at 6+am and willingly brave the traffic jam (for me it is the ampang and cheras jam) and you gotta hold through all the way to 5.30pm (for Mimos). But it does give you a sense of satisfaction whenever you learn something and that you feel that you've earn your wage for the day (although it is not much for trainees). The sad thing is that many of the trainees are generally being used as cheap labor. I am in a much more fortunate situation where Mimos as the introductory paragraph elaborated ever so clearly; an organization where a majority of their activity and operations are dedicated towards research. Some of my less fortunate friends are doing things that bear no semblance and sense whatsoever to their respective engineering field. For example, 3 of my coursemates are working in a contruction company where they would have to go to a pre-assigned construction site. Their one and only work is to overlook the work of the subcontractors and also the workers and to make sure they proceed with their job smoothly. The irony is that they are suppose to be Electrical and Electronics Engineering and that job sounds like a Civil Engineering job if we are even generous enough to generalize it. Does those kind of scenario means it would be better off for the Civil Engineering trainee?. Yes and No. Yes because they are working in a site similar to those 3 people I've mentioned just now but no because some of them have to work 7 days a week and they will only have one day off every 2 weeks. I quote some of my civil engineering friends who are working in those construction site, "our job is to scold the indonesian workers". As an attempt to balance the equation, there are companies who do serious work as well. Some companies willingly give you compenent permanent staff jobs because they want to utilize you to the maximum. It comes back to the whole thing that interns are cheap labour. Basically I haven't heard of any intern earning more than 3 digit sum per month. Some of us get jobs like me where we learn and we slack periodically; some get brainless jobs (as in needless for them to use their brains) where their jobs are to overlook and scold people in the site; while there are companies out there who take the extreme path where they really train you up and use you the best they can before your training stint ends because you are just a cheap 3 digit sum salary earner whereas if they were to hire a full engineer graduate for the job, those people would be working on a hefty 4 digit payroll. Therefore I got more than one reason to be thankful I guess even though unforseen circumstances relagated me to Mimos which is another story altogether (might blog about it in the future or if you are dead curious, then just ask me larrr).

As for now, it is enough for a starter. We all got lifes to lead and I better get on to some actual "work". Peace Out