十月的她

和新玩具大熊猫合影。

这张好像小白兔！

在妈妈生日那天合影。

在槟城从店里借用的玩具。

The 3rd recorded Burning Bush in History (must be all that oil)

The world is ending. Why are you here ?

Shouldn’t you be over at the Hill thinking ?

Let’s take a look at the legacy of President George W. Bush :

1. Started the war in Afghanistan – still ongoing.


2. Started the war in Iraq – still ongoing.
3. Inspired an entire new army of Jihad terrorists - Osama bin Laden is happy that Bush was President. Bush made recruitment easy for him.


4. Torture at Guantanamo Bay – bill passed : torture is barred, but the President now gets to determine what is torture. Hah!


5. Detention without trial – bill passed. It’s called the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Commissions_Act_of_2006). The USA’s very own ISA.


6. Eavesdropping on public without a warrant – executive order issued amidst controversy. After legal wrangling, now subjected to judicial oversight.


7. Increase in USA’s national debt from US$ 5,727,000,000,000 (i.e. 5.727 trillion - on the day he became President) to US$ 10,149,875,434,832 (i.e. 10.149 trillion) – the greatest increase of any president in American history. And it’s still increasing.


8. The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. You could say that the bubble has been building for decades, but it burst on his watch – in the 8th year, so the new President gets to handle the shit from this baby.


9. Refusal to join the Kyoto Protocol – out of 185 countries, the USA is 1 of only 2 countries that have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. And they’re the biggest per capita polluters in the world by a wide margin. I guess that would have meant reducing the profits from selling the oil in Iraq.


10. Both McCain and Obama, the presidential candidates, are campaigning on a platform of CHANGE :
    
    Guess who they’re changing from ?
    
    What a difference a few hanging chads make : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Florida,_2000

Worst. President. Ever.

I fear

There are many things where I fear for my child :

* I fear that sending her to a national-type school will expose her to only Chinese culture while ignoring the other cultures that exist in Malaysia. I fear that their reputation for too much homework and exam-oriented pressure is justified and that she will not have the time to grow in other areas, whatever those may be. BUT, I don't think much of the quality of education in national schools, so what can I do ?

* I fear that she will grow up in a country where we talk about Malay supremacy and the special interests of the Chinese and Indians and Iban, et al. And while the politicians are all fighting over their slices of pie, other countries just come in and take that pie away - bit by bit. And at the end of it, having 80% of nothing is still nothing.

* I fear that she will have to grow up in a country where theft and robbery and rape are common place. Oh wait, we're already here.

* I fear that she will not know the joy of meeting and playing with friends in her neighbourhood because it's dangerous out there.

* I fear that she will not exercise because she's sms-ing on her phone or playing her Playstation or sat in front of the TV and PC all the time.

* I fear that she will not know the beauty and joy of nature because she only ever sees a screen - be it TV, PC or phone. And nature has no screen.

* I fear doing this to her in my own way :

There are many more things where I fear for her. This, at least, I can control.

第一张彩画

这是韵的第一张彩画，不是什么惊天动地的杰作。

但是对于好像昨天才是婴孩的她应该是一个非常大的突破。

看起来像个小大人的画。

Equal Opportunity in Singapore

This exchange happened during the recent F1 race in Singapore (names changed to protect privacy) :

X : eh....... they provide hookers during the event too ?

Z : yeah! they're all about equal opportunity in SG. so they get a chance to do their stuff too.

Ha! Ha!

Well, Singapore is always on the lookout for human talent ...

Sign of our times

This is from an article by Terence Fernandez on The Sun today :

A WORD of caution to Teresa Kok. With the petrol bomb attacks on her family home on Saturday, there is clearly a threat to her safety. So now, she can be detained again under the Internal Security Act for her own protection – like what happened to Sin Chew Daily reporter Tan Hoon Cheng. Don’t you feel secure with the knowledge that no one can set you on fire when you are enjoying your eggs and gravy in a 6x8 cell ?


This is the sms I sent to Michelle arising from that paragraph :

“More arrests : Teresa Kok’s family to be arrested under ISA for their protection”


This is her response :

“Confirm? No news”


It’s a very revealing reply. My sms was satirical in nature but her reply reveals how far we believe the BN is willing to use the ISA right now.

It’s sad.

Original

So our national anthem actually is taken from this popular Indonesian song. Guess there is nothing really original in Malaysia.

Freedom

So after 7 days under the detention using the ridiculous ISA, Teresa Kok had finally being released. Is this the end of drama? Or just a commercial break? Wonder what is happening here in our country?

There is still one more.......

Operasi Lalang

First Raja Petra was arrested under the ISA, then Tan Hoon Cheng (the Sin Chew journalist who reported Datuk Ahmad Ismail's "penumpang" proclamations), now Teresa Kok.

All these people arrested while the erstwhile Datuk Ahmad Ismail walks around freely admitting that he called Malaysian Chinese "penumpang" who would never gain full equal citizenship in Malaysia. The government would rather arrest the journalist who reported Datuk Ahmad Ismail's "penumpang" comments than arrest the original unrepentant perpetrator himself.

I guess even Badawi has his limits. Contrasting the singular treatments the abovementioned four people have received, I can confirm that the "Malaysia Boleh!" sprit is alive and well.

忍者

最近越来越像忍者。如果真的能飞天顿地道是不错。可惜，此忍者不比彼忍者。

真不晓得还要忍到怎么时候。

自认不是个谟大事的人，这样可以不要忍吗？

Reflections..

Nowadays when I log into facebook and look at the list my schoolmates in Penang Free School, I've been thinking to myself : "Half of them are in Singapore".

What have we done to cause so much human talent to go just a short hop, skip and jump across the water ? And I realize that it's not really "we", and that I could just as easily be in their shoes. After all, they and I have similiar profiles : non-malays who did not attend a Malaysian university.

http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/columnists/john-lee/8557-a-wish-for-a-better-merdeka

I work with many Malays, and some of them are really quite capable. The same can be said of the Chinese, Indian and dan-lain-lain staff I've worked with. But maybe my circumstances can't be used as a definitive example since I'm in the urban, middle class category. And yet, it's a category that's growing in Malaysia.

I do think that an affirmative action policy was necessary back in 1969. My question is : "When is it going to end ?"

It's a fact that huge chunks of non-Malay Malaysian talent are working overseas. And those who go overseas are usually in the top tier. As for those left behind, of all races, there is no way of learning from these people simply because they're not in Malaysia. There is no way of utilizing their talents in the interest of Malaysia simply because they've chosen to work overseas as their work can be judged on merit.

I find myself asking : "What if Lee Kuan Yew had been Prime Minister of Malaysia ?"

Can you imagine how much progress Malaysia, with all it's natural resources, would have made ? Where would we be now ?

Tell me why??!!!

Some voice, some song.