It has been more than a year since my last entry

Yeah, it has been more than one year since i last blogged.....i sort of lost steam and interest....in between that time...lots of things had happened...the 8th March Political Tsunami had turned the politics of malaysia...more and more like the politics of thailand & philippines....

We seen how our TDM has morphed back into the DR. MAHATHIR...the Malay Ultra of the 1960's...it seems like he was retrofitted for action as the marginalised outsider he was in the 1960's.....

What a shame...instead of leaving behind a legacy albeit a tainted one, but a still a 'legacy' which the opposition MP for Jelutong admitted was 80% good...(don't know about that...but I'm willing to concede he did left more good than bad)....but with his "race baiting" .....had left him looking like kucing kurap politician that indulges in the politics of the gutter....

Instead of remembering him, as a PM who inspired Malaysians to be Malaysians, alas what we have fresh in our minds were his fear mongering.....

What a shame.....and how sad.....

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...