Heritage Street....Beach Street...# 1

The old Wall Street of Pg, Beach Street, is getting back its old looks. The looks that was hers in 1930's, I presume, before all the facades were put up.....but now after 50 years of rent control with its repeal, some owners are bringing back its old looks....which is gives it real character..some photos will be coming ....watch out for this space...a picture is worth a thousand words...

Defending the 1957 constitution.....

In a talk organised by ASLI, Raja Nazrin, the Raja Muda of Perak, defined the 7 steps towards building a sense of belonging and common destiny binding all Malaysians of all races, religions and origins together in a common purpose....

The first step is to defend the integrity of the Federal Constitution, Rukunnegara and Vision 2020....of these the first is particularly important.

Yet, today many in the legal fraternity believes that our High Court Judges are abdicating their role as defenders of the constitution because of their reluctance to to be involved when there appears to be an overlap in the jurisdiction of the syariah & civil law as in the case of Moorthy & now in Subashini case.

Appears to be our judges are behaving like Pakistani judges now.....or rather our justice system have gone the Pakistani way.....hope not, it may lead to the complete breakdown of law & order....& the beginning of the end for malaysia....

Why Chinese parents shun national schools

While there is no denying that alot of Chinese parents are attracted positively to Chinese schools, there are many (particularly those who had been educated in the English medium schools of the past), find that they are push to the Chinese schools because the alternative is even worse.....for many of them it is a Hobson's choice....

Chinese Schools may grab headlines of brilliant students...the sad truth is that many hide their average and poor students...worse many discouraged them from attending their school so that the school's brilliant academic record will not be tarnished....thats why the dropout rate amongst chinese schools is very high ....almost 25% of the students who start off in std one, do not make it to form 5.....that's how great

So if your children are not academically inclined or if he is creative or likes to dream, and watch the clouds above form beautiful butterflies and dinosaurs...Chinese schools are definitely not for your kids....the system there will kill your children's love for education and books, his imagination...and the creativity and curiosity in them

But why national schools are not attractive to Chinese parents.....here we are dealing with the perceptions, not facts, but these perceptions determined the choices of the parents and like the PEPSI blind tests that showed that although the majority like the taste of PEPSI, yet when it comes to buying...Coke wins hands down...ie the perception that COKE tastes better than PEPSI determines the buying decision...SO IT IS WITH CHINESE PARENTS... the National School suxs.....period

Why???, the belief that the schools lacks discipline, the teachers lack commitment, and that the agenda of the school is to promote islamic beliefs rather than to educate and prepare their children for the future and for life....

So parents like me, who do not like the Chinese school system but are apprehensive about the national school system....are caught between a rock and a hard place....yup....better international schools if we can afford them...

Disunity amongs teenagers...and non Malays get the blame....

Everytime the issue of disunity that arises in the country the non-Malays get the blame...according to some government official who attributed the disunity to children going to vernacular schools...

Again an easy target and knee jerk reaction......instead of looking at the reasons why non-Malays are deserting the national schools.......because during my time in the 1960's and 70's the vernacular schools were actually growing smaller...but changes in the medium of instruction in the English medium schools led to even non _Mandarin speaking chinese (english educated parents ) to send their children to vernacular schools...because they knew the quality of teaching had deteriorated....no hope and no future...dead end...no language skills just like the current pool of unemployable graduates.....

Attending a High Court auction

Today was the first time I attended an auction in Malaysia...it is very interesting as they was much interest in the property. However, the court should exert some discipline on some of the regulars....there is one chinese man, apparently a regular, who started to make all the "sour grapes' comments when he failed in his bid...I saw him twice being outbidded....the moment he was out bidded he tried to get the crowd to follow him out of the room even though the auction was still going on...

I believed the court should bar him from all future auctions until and unless he starts to behave....otherwise the dignity of the court will be held in comtempt by the likes of him...

Doing a search on houses put up for sale at the land office

The land office in penang is pretty efficient for doin a search on landed properties in Penang....however there is a caveat for this statement...you must know the grant number , the lot number, the daerah and the mukim or seksyen.....otherwise its no go....how many people you wonder will know all this....most of us go by addresses and thats all...sure push us a bit harder, maybe we know whether it is Georgetown, or Bayan Bahru...district or daerah...most Penangites would not have a clue on which Daerah or district you are in let alone mukim or section....

Maybe the state goverment should think of something to relate all addresses to a database instead of this cumbersome way to go and get this info....

Anyway anybody know the names of the districts in the whole of Penang State.....9there are five I'm told--- 2 on the island & three on the mainland)....

Location upgraded...but ice kacang quality heads downwards...

The popular hawker stores at Swatow Lane have found new homes...in a newly constructed hawker center built on the site of the old "New World Park"....

The facilities are new, clean and certainly better then the days of yore....but unfortunately I think, the quality of the food had gone down in an inverse proportion to the quality of the premises....

Maybe ice kacang was never meant to be savoured under nice conditions but under the shade of an angsana or rain tree....

Views of the bridge from Queensbay Mall

The scene from the southern side of the bridge is quite panoramic....with pulau Jerejak at the side and the bridge spanning across two land mass is quite stunning...and more so if there is a small yatch steaming pass....

Pulau jerejak located temptingly near, just across a little stretch of sea invites us to savour its idyllic beaches and calm seas...the forested hills just behind it is quite pristine...one can see the meranti and seraya trees with its majestic crowns like cauliflower tops nestles just above the hills...and it is hard to imagine that just lying across the stretch of sea are the Intels and AMD and Dells producing the 21st century tools of which we acannot live without..yet just across the tiny stretch is a pristine jungle still unchanged for hundreds if not thousands of years...

Lost my wallet...but found hope in Malaysia

When I discovered I had lost my wallet, a sudden anguish comes piercing in my heart...I am not pining for the money lost but for the pain and agony that I thot awaits me when I go to the Government Departments to get a new set of documents.....

Well, the first thing one does with the loss of a wallet is you start ringing up the banks to inform them that your ATM and Credits card's lost....well HSBC scores high in this category compared to the one handling my problems at CIMB....compared to the HSBC guy, the CIMB person rates as one of the members of the Keystone Cops or an offspring of one of the 3 stooges, totally incompetent.....so hurrah for the world's local bank...CIMB have along way to go to match HSBC....

The next morning, the first thing I did was to make a police report....the Corporal (policewoman) manning the counter at the Patani road police station did the report efficiently...ask me a few questions on where I lost it...and in a matter of minutes, got my report....no sweat...syabas....

then its off to the National Registration Dept...and surprise surprise took me less than 40 minutes to get my temporary IC and in about 3 weeks time my new MyCard..wow...good no hassle service...again syabas..,..

i was full trepedition...when i have to approach JPj...my past experience tells me its a hell hole...frequented by touts and all sorts of low life trying to scrap a buck or two from the public...because of the incompetence of the JPJ system..BUT Lo and Behold...I managed to get my new drivers licence in less than 30 minutes...no kidding..

Well, all I can say is I lost my wallet but found faith in Malaysia

Penang-the 10th most livable city in Asia

Should be a better ranking, if we only can get our public transport right and enforce our hygiene and littering laws....

The best Penang food are not always found on the island....

Take for instance, Jawa Mee, the best I reckon is in Nibong Tebal....there is s tall run by a chinese with a Hockkien/Teochew speaking Indonesian maid (probably Javanese herself) that makes a very good Jawa Mee....the likes of which I have not tasted in Penang....In terms of taste there had been nothing in Penang that could match this stall's rendition of this ole favourite Nyonya Dish...from which I believed the Mamak adapted it to become their Mee Rebus....

The gravy is thick with a generous prawny taste...the sambal comes with a strong belachan flavour which makes the gravy taste quite heavenly....then the ultimate...the crispy flake-like prawn fritters, broken into bite-size pieces.....and as you sink your teeth into them...provides you with a nice crunchy and yet not too hard for teeth feel....and then finally the mee or beehoon is generously topped up with pounded peanuts which makes eating this meal quite exquisite....nothing in the island can even come close....

For those who are tempted, the store is located in Nibong Tebal Town itself, very near the Tenaga Nasional Office....it is in the 2nd block stores dividing the road...it is just next to the Bak Kut Teh stall...I will try the Bak Kut Teh...the next time I am in NT...

Bon Appetit

Penang Harbour Cruise by Night

Coming back to Penang Island late at night, one is met by an incredibly picturesque scene of Penang Harbour...

As one crusies along the Penang bridge...on your right towards the north, one can see the harbour lights romantically flickering from Prai Port to the North Butterworth Container Terminal and with the sea reflecting these lights back...it gives a festive atmosphere to the place... the reflections along the shoreline leads north towards the sands along the Mata Kucing beaches ...

And on the Georgetown side...you can see the once majestic Komtar...with its 48th floor restaurant lights on, the most iconic of Penang's structure..beaming across a wave of welcome...and the sodium lights of the Jelutong Expressway beckoning you back home....

Towards to south, you see nothing at first, almost pitch black except for the lights directly across the bridge, that comes from the Marine Police Base.....but as you get nearer to Penang Island suddenly, the southern lights break out.....revealing the gem of Penang's drive towards industrialisation...the lights of Bayan Lepas.....Yes the bright lights along Queensbay Mall and Gold Coast greets you....although at first blocked by the ex-penal island Jerejak...the lights of the south will suddenly beam on you as you drive past Jerejak island...

A harbour cruise on stop of a sailing ship....will be a fine way to dine and charm your friends or have a romantic interlude...

Departed - the film based on HK movie infernal affairs won the Oscar....

I supposed HK movies have come of age....Hollywood copies HK films and they win awards...not bad for the movie industry in HK....its very flattering when Hollywood imitates you...

How come the Hongkies can do it but not we Malaysians....that's the infernal question....we know we are not lacking in creative genius as the Hongkies...we are just as good....

Its the systems & institutions they have in HK that nurtures and encourages these artists...in Malaysia unles it is done by malays or in the malay language...it is not encouraged....sooo sad....

UNCTAD estimates for FDI differs significantly from PM & DPM

Yup....Uncle Kit had come out socking it to the Government with UNCTAD's figures which is much less than the ones announced by the government.....

In its preliminary estimates of FDI inflows in 2006, Unctad figures for Malaysia see a shrinkage of 1.6 per cent to US$3.9 billion from US$4.0 the previous year, while FDIs for the whole region of “South, East and South-east Asia” register an increase of 13.1 per cent from US$165.1 billion in 2005 to US$186.7 billion, with Thailand recording a 114.7 per cent increase from US$3.7 billion in 2005 to US$7.9 billion and Singapore a 58% increase from US$20.1 billion in 2005 to US$31.9 billion.

The Prime Minister should explain the RM6.4 billion difference in MITI’s FDI figure of RM20.2 billion (or US$5.7 billion) for 2006 and UNCTAD’s preliminary estimates of US$3.9 billion (RM13.8 billion) for the same year.

Lets wait for the explanation......

But much sadder is the fact the figures had risen for the whole of S.E. Asia.....Thailand had registered an an increase of 114% while Spore had an increase of 58%......

No wonder our neighbours are getting richer and we are falling behind......long live the the Never Ending Policy of promoting rent seeking.....

It is a sad day when both the Prime Minister & Deputy PM has to say "we did not cook the figures"

Something is funny in Malaysia...despite the very positive news or figures in the economy, the man in the street just cannot believe it.....is it because it is merely spin? or is there such a big crdibility gap between the leaders and the rakyat....that the rakyat just cannot believe the sandiwara played out by their leaders....but surely if the news is so good, how is it that the rakyat had been completely unaware of it......

Maybe the trickle down effect of the economic effects of the positive figures had not filtered down yet....or maybe it is just figures....they are just mere reflections of the intentions of business people and investors....there are still a lot of wait & see.....

What ever it is...the good news of the economy have only scattered impact on the the rakyat as whole...there gasn't been a ripple effect that touched all and sundry...in fact in this flat world.....there will be losers and winners.....

Apparently the winners in this flat world-economy in Malaysia are not widespread.....

Rapid KL...Rapid Penang....Rapid complaints...Rapid profits

Guess who is screaming out loud now.....after the news that Rapid KL/Penang will be taking over the public transportation system....our great Penang bus companies...Milan & KGN Hin Bus....the people that provided you the shitty services...now they scream....because they will soon be deprived of their bus routes....they claim that they (altruistically) had sacrificed so much for the beloved people of Penang...& now they are demanding that they be compensated with rm & rm from the feds.....

Sure Malaysia boleh mah.....first give them shitty services....which threatened the security of tenure for the BN government in the state (hey, if the BN government cannot even guarantee a proper bus service ...don't think they can do alot for Penang in a flat world, might as well vote them out..makes no difference any way!!!)...then when the Feds come in with RM to rescue the unpopular state government & goofy CM... start to claim that you have sacrificed for the people in providing the shit service and ask for compensation....what a way to make money....

I wonder where do the people of Penang stand in all of this muck....very far away the CM hopes.....maintain your rage people of Penang & see the BN out at least for one term...try out the DAP-Keadilan cuisine for a term...& c what they can turn out good, bad..or just plain dumb....

Pigging out during Chinese New Year

Despite my telling myself not to eat too much during this CNY period...I still do it....the food..the invitations all posing themselves so deliciously ...inviting one to sink ones' teeth into them an d just partake of just one morsel...

Rapid KL taking over Penang's transport....

Yes, thats the gift that the Feds are making to the good people of Penang...I'm wondering why just stop at public transport.....take over this little state with no more than RM300 million budget.....less than what the Forest Department in Sabah collects in a very bad year....

Yup....the CM without power and worse still without guts....if the Feds (UMNO) made the whole state a federal territory.....like KL and Labuan and Putrajaya.... then we can do away with charade of Penangites actually voting a CM that can rule them...and be accountable to them....now we can't even get the CVLB to be accountable.....thats why our Public Transportation system had gone down the drain....

Yeah..why stop at public transportation take the whole damned state.....

RM150 million for monrail.....

Yes, we better spend it before the next election.....the feds might just take it back....BN can't even run a proper public transportation system for a population of less than 2 million inhabitants....the public transportation we once had in Penang & Province Wellesly (i use the old name) is much better than the ones we have in the 21st Century...shame on you Tan Sri Koh....the bunch at Komtar is no bloody use....if they cannot even solve the public transportation problem....don't expect them to solve bigger & much more complex problems facing the State...

M'sian Deputy PM says "We did not cook the figures"

Yup, we heard it from the proverbial "horse's mouth" we did not cook the good economic figures.....hey CNY season lah... nowadays many chinese families eat outside or "tah pau" dishes cooked by paid chefs.....so no need to cook ourselves mah!!!

As I said....look at the "street smart indicators"...restaurants...massage parlours...karoake clubs.... how's business there? Number of tower cranes....how fast the number plate of cars change....the faster it changes the better the economy.....hey maybe we can do a study on it.....or maybe something like Freakonomics..... must get Dr. Yeah of RAM to do it as an indicator and test how reliable it is as a quick indicator.....

Spirit of Muhibbah...CNY greetings recieved from Sabah

I recieved this "Malaysian" CNY greeting from my fren Robert in Sandakan

Anjing pergi
Babi mari
Soi pergi
Ong mari
Tahun ini
Mesti lucky
Kena magnum
Kena loteri
Dalam MyBank
Banyak money
Selamat Tahun Baru Cina

Lunar New Year's eve...2007

Seems to be alot of good news of late.................. the KLCI is searing to the top......FDI had increased....it seems things cannot be wrong

Good new year for the country...and so it seems....maybe an election is around the corner....

Penang FDI best year ever since 1980's

The NST and Star came out singing this tune.....that Penang achieved its best FDI in 2006...the best in more than 27 years.

The NST has this to say
Investment in Penang is booming. With more than than RM5 billion invested last year, the state clocked up a high it hasn’t seen in 27 years.


......could it be true?

Really? who is coming...... the NST noted that penang can't even provide decent public transportation to move its labour force around....what a shame.....

Lots of good news for Malaysia or just plain ole' spin

Lots of good newsa been splashed over the local rags lately....one trillion rm in trade....KLCI reaching 1,200 points...more government spending....

The news, and government polies say so...but others have their reservations....what can a man in the street know?.....what indicators can we see....

First look at the restaurants.....are they packed? ...even on so call slow nights.....what about supermarkets and retail outlets ask around and see.....are they more tower cranes.....job advertisements....how many of them on Saturdays or on week days....

Going through these I find that the indications are that the economy is rolling along well this time (I don't know how it would do another 6 months down the track)...in Penang at least...the reastaurants are reasonably packed although not during the weekdays....more twoer cranes...especially along the Jelutong Expressways....and more job advertisements in the Star..even on the weekdays...

So things may not be as bad as the detractors are saying....

This hot dry Penang weather

Penang and the northwestern coast of Peninsular Malaysia, has what geographers call the Indo-Burmese climate.....which simply means that the early part of the year (starts just before Christmas and ends in late March or early April) we have a very dry and hot weather.....the Chinese new Year weather....although last year we had a really mild one.....

But this year it looks like its going to be a scorcher....real hot and dry.... drink lots of air nyior....guarantee to cool down your system....

Pemudah formed to reduce red tape in Malaysia

Good luck.....the committee has only six months to achieve results....what a tall order....what took a life-time to accumulate cannot disappear in such a short-time.....old habits die hard...too much vested interests....too much "territory"....

Unrealistic to expect real significant changes to the Government's delivery system t5o change overnight because it is the same people doing it...just changing their clothes and some posters in office won't change an addictive behavoir that took a life-time to acquire....small-time clerks and even office boys wield tremendous power....watch how the towkay driving big Mercedes Benz talk to u ever so politely because u can either find the file or lose a file....

soo goood luck Pemudah.....hope u make it mudah....and not just NATO which is becoming the trademark of the Badawi government...big talk.....

Tun Dr. Mahathir......for the Nobel peace prize

Well, if it can attract more tourists to come to Malaysia and why not? To see another S.E. Asia's Nobel peace price winners who is not under house arrest....

There is no harm trying......maybe another Malaysian record.....making the biggest roti canai in the world or the longest anything....

Malaysia boleh mah!!!!

Tun Dr. Mahathir......trying to "try" George W. Bush & Tony Blair for war crimes.....

Its interesting how our exPM is trying to get Tony Blair and George W. Bush for war crimes.....and compare this to Sabahan politicians trying to find out how quite suddenly the population of Sabah surged over a short period of time making KadazansDusun Murut community the minority in Sabah...Project IC or Project M (I wonder what does M stand for)

I think the world community or UN would try Tony Blair or George Bush as much as Malaysia would established a Royal Commission to investigate the sudden surge of the Sabahan population.... as they say a Chinaman's chance or a snowflake's chance in hell before both these things can happen

Climate change & Malaysia...

Humans are to blame for the changes in world climate. A few degrees hotter....what the big deal....well more unpredictable weather, more rains during the rainy season (if there is going to be rainy season....or the rains will come anytime of the year without any predictable patterns at all) and droughts during the dry season...again there will be no patterns....so what?

It will affect us in Malaysia and the rest of the world precisely because of it's unpredictableness...old patterns of rain and dry season does not come at predictable times of the year...they just come in and out unpredictably....thats bad for the agriculture and tourism....and the unpredictable weather will also mean very high maximums and very low minimums....i.e if it rains it will beyond what has happened in the past and it dries up...it will go on for longer periods of time...

So this means the assumptions that we have used to build our infrastructure (bridges & culverts; or reservoirs) may not be able to cope.....we may have to rebuild .....so much $$$$$ down the drain (which may not be big enough to carry away the storm water)....

Welcome to disasterville

Is someone monitoring my blog?

I don't know about this...but since I started blogging abit about politics i.e. voting the opposition...I find sometime weird happening to my blogs...I cannot access it.....sometime...hey u out there....there nothing subversive here so don't waste time and money .....

I write what i feel...that is concern for the state of my oikos i.e my home and environment....its for its betterment...I believe in the democratic process.... and in the ballot box.....no matter how the powers may try to twist it within the rules to make it tilt towards them...surely if there is a surge of voter sentiment or popular swing.....it will surely reflect the people's decision...it happened in Kelantan, Sabah, and more recently in Sarawak.....it does not mean that the Opposition will win the Government but the popular votes will surely reflect the will of the people...and the BN government will have to respect that...world opinion and the investing world will see to it.....

So stop pestering my blog...ok....no subversive people here just plain ole me....no incitement....no libel or sedition.....just opinions and sentiments....

Can we trust Keadilan if we vote Opposition?

Yesterday, I was thinking about the consequences of voting the Opposition. Although I am not worried about the consequences of BN's backlash of depriving Penang of development funds....I really doubt whether they would seriously undermine our National Interests (not just UMNO's) to take revenge on Penang's voters....because if they do the International Companies and MNCs would just move from our shores and be very welcome in Vietnam or Thailand........

But there is another side to the proposition, what if Keadilan betrays its non-Muslims supporters by moving in with PAS in an unholy marriage......Islamic state with full syariah......then what? thats the risk.....

So the question is can we trust Keadilan????

What if Penang falls to the Opposition?

Penang people must be brave...they must not be scared to vote the opposition.....a DAP-Keadilan alliance would be good....

After that, the people in Penang must face the onslaught of the BN.....they will surely try to undermine the rule of the opposition by restricting funds for development and so on and so forth......

But the question is would the BN cut their nose to spike their face....PENANG IS THE HOME TO MANY MNCS ...the INTEL, DELL, AVIVA, AMD, BENQ......would the BN Federal Government risk driving them away not only from Penang but from Malaysia forever...?????

I doubt it, there will be lots of sound and fury...but in the end....who knows??? Never underestimate the stupidity of politicians....(look at George W. Bush.....and u know what I mean)...

But it still better to vote the Opposition then to let the BN take us for granted.....i.e no matter what they do ...we still elect them....there is no reason for them to behave any better....

Clock-tower at Customs House

When I come across from Butterworth to Georgetown by ferry, the first thing that used to catch my eye is the clock tower at the Customs House. Years ago when the Malayan Railway was only operating from Prai, one has the building where the clocktower stands served as the Penang Railway Station. I remember in 1958, taking a train with my father down to Kuala Lumpur & then to Johor Bahru. It was at this station we waited patiently to board the ferry that takes us from the Church Street Peir to Prai and then from Prai to Kuala Lumpur by train.

Yesterday, I took the ferry back. The tower greets you as the prodigal son that came back.....it welcomes you to the familiar sights and sounds....& memories....Today this landmark has been dwarfed by many....yet as one approaches the Raja Uda Pier from Butterworth, the familiar tower greets you like an old friend & beckons you never to forget your place and hometown.....

Yup beats coming back from Butterworth across the Penang Bridge...but the iconic twin towers of Penang and the water tower of USM greet you and welcome you home and I suppose in time they too will become landmarks that reminds us of all that is good and precious in Penang.

National Education Blueprint, ....Malaysia's attempts to leapfrog into the 21st Century

The two recent initiatives launched by the Government is indeed laudable.....abit too late but still better late than never....while our competitors are streaming ahead...we are still trying to play catch up....well as the Singaporeans say.."catch me if u can....". The Mid-East countries are asking Singapore to help them in the education systems...because they recognized it is world class.... they don't ask Malaysia even though a Malaysia is supposedly a model modern Islamic state.....(it is sad when malaysians especially our politicians begin to believe in our own PR material...what a laugh)

Regarding the National Educational Blueprint, the NST through its regular columnist this sunday recounted all the bad gripes malaysians have about the so called blue print...some evn said u turn blue before you can c something implemented....the columnist even cited a letter written by a malay who had send his son to a chinese school instead because as the letter writer saw it most the national schools had turned into small parochial semi-religous ones....so much hope...we have in our system...even politicians children are not educated in them....so it goes to show....how 'good" the system is....can the blueprint do it?

Maybe that is not the right question to ask? rather the right question to ask is who is going to implement the blueprint? is it the minister? NO....is it the Chief Education Officers ? No they are busy attending to the politicians PR exercises....

Who then will implement the blueprint ? the teachers and the assistant headmasters and headmasters......hello .... these are the ones who degraded our education system in the first place...enforcing their own beliefs and opinions onto to schools....and the inspectors and educational district heads that let them off......

These are the people who will implement the blueprint...the people that caused the rot in the first place....no wonder malaysians have lost hope....Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, and all the kings' horses and all the king's men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again....! Someone says that our education systems and institutions are the most racist and continues to perpetuate racists myths and beliefs....

Cleaning up after the flood, pledges & new resolutions to avoid the flood..

Can't help but feel a sense of deja' vu when our leaders start to pledge to make things right...clear drains, deepened the rivers and canals, desilt them...and so on and so forth.....like new years' resolution soon to be forgotten when the sun starts shining again...until the next flood....

RM300 million or more to repair damages to infrastructure.....really? not a 10% here and another 5% there....and we can truly see how far RM300 million will go these days.....

Promises, promises...words that are made in the heat of the night.....how unreliable....we have so much flash floods in KL and elsewhere...and it is always the same...deepened the rivers...desilt the drains...yet floods still come...

i wonder how singapore avoided the floods and devastation....i am sure there are not so far away that there are unaffected by the rains that hit southern johore....yet except for a few landslides and temporary flooding...the singaporeans had been spared.... did they pray harder than us? or is it that they had better drainage, better desiltation and lots of better maintenance and services than malaysia boleh? or bodoh? or rasuah?

Why Malaysia is losing out?

Well, finally the Government had finally admitted why we are losing out in terms of FDI. No less the PM himself informed us that it takes more than 30 days to start a business in Malaysia, compared to 2 days in Australia and 6 days in Singapore. It takes almost 300 days to build a factory or warehouse in Malaysia and half the time in Thailand, Singapore or Vietnam.....

Then, on NST yesterday, Syed Nazri cited an expat friend who waited 6 months to get his car into Malaysia compared to two weeks in South Korea....whats more the expat experienced all the stupid and silly reasons that cause the delay.....officers giving him the wrong forms...and after submitting and not getting response ..... the expat went to the dept to be told that he has filled in the wrong forms....

How many malaysians had suffered these indignities so many times.....that we just give up!!! Like the time we went in to file an application for a TOL, but was told that there were no forms available....."come back in a weeks' time" ...then we were told that the office cannot accept the applications because the office had run out of receipts.....but if we want to solve all these problems use a broker or if u are brave enough "incentivise" them....the new buzz word in dealing with recalcitrant "civil servants"......

The stories the expat told Nazri is not new and sounds and looks like the tricks and games people play to get us to give up or cough up.....

Not that these things are not known to the powers that be......but until now there were no incentives to offend the entrenched interests.....after all as the filipinos say "pakikisama" but with so many countries bucking up and offering better and superior conditions for businesses....well if they don't like what malaysia has to offer they can certainly take their businesses elsewhere.....and so they should.....

Good luck Pak Lah,...but u need more than luck and mere rhetoric...lets see some action...start sacking.....or it is just mere talk....all NATO haha....

Devastating Floods

When disaster comes...it sweeps everything....it does not discriminate it does not take 30% of this community ...nor does it spare any community....it just blows everything in its path...leaving nothing in its path untouched....

Like the Katrina hitting Louisana, the poor and marginal of all races are affected most. Just like the Afro Americans which comprise the most of the poor, the Malays and Indians in Malaysia especially in the flood affected states of Johore & Pahang, are most badly affected by the floods.....and so should the aid and help go to the most affected regardless of race or religion....and by so doing most of the Malays and Indians will mostly benefit from the Government's assistance...nobody can argue against that!

Just wish they could do the same thing with the affirmative policy...just help the most needy and vulnerable in our society regardless of race...and nobody can argue against that!

Better security for all.........

Thailand started the year with a big bang.......a bomb blast in downtown Bangkok...many are accusing Thaksin but his supporters are vehemently denying it......good luck to the Thais....maybe too much democracy in the recent past and now they are starting to get democratic diarrhea....

Should Malaysia go the Thai way by having too much democracy....marching in streets and protesting...maybe opening up too much in Malaysia is something we are too in mature to handle...

We misinterpret everything and take offence so eaily & quickly even though no offence is meant...just discussion.... haha....can we discuss...can we talk rationally....or we just submit...submit....and submit....

So if we all submit and submit....no discussion...pretend that everything is honky dory....thats why Malaysia is such a peaceful nation...because a significant portion of the Malaysians are very good at being submissive... so we get better security....

Welcome 2007

I believe that 2007 will be a crucial year for Malaysia......whether we can snap out of our downward spiral.....as Kit Siang said Malaysia used to compete with Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore....now they had advanced and we are now competing with the likes of Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia......how low had the "mighty fallen"......

NST belatedly reported in their new year editorial that malaysians are now worried about the expansion of the pie....and the PM in his new year message urged all Malaysians to work hard for the year to come....

But for me as a non-Bumi Malaysian, I say I'm opting out....why when the hard work needs to be done we are all Malaysians...when it comes to sharing the pie and how to share it we are told to shut up....well I will shut up and I will sit back and relax and let the rest of the guys go expand the cake......

I'll go fishing instead....good luck Hishamuddin, you beat the Thais, and watch out for the Vietnamese for me...and be careful of the Indons out there....and don't forget the Filipinos they can beat us if only they can refrain from shooting themselves in the foot....

As for me....why worry ...be happy !!!

Happy working......have an ulcer on my behalf ...Khairy...