'Modern Slavery'

Ref: http://www.merdekareview.com/news/n/10004.html
Recently there are some news about Indonesia government plan to cut off the supply of Indon maid to Malaysia due to several cases of maid abuse in Malaysia.
Our Minister of HR & Labor had proposed that all indon maid shall be given one day off every week to offload their stress. However, 95% of the family who had a Indon maid at home opposed such an idea. For me, I supported it even though I understand that most families concern that if the maid went out and get to know some illegal workers, they might end up coming home pregnant or worse, open the door for others to come into the house and rob the whole family.

My family used to have a Indon maid at home, she had been with us for 4 years, she went home once or twice for a 1-month holiday during the past 4 years and we sponsored the tickets for her. A friend used to tease me that I treated my maid 'too good'. The reason is because there is one day he came to my house around 8pm and he saw our maid is watching TV together with us. Well, I told him directly, she had work the whole day and I think she deserve some rest! Our maid usually went to bed around 9-930pm, sometimes when nobody is around the living room, I just hand her the TV remote, tell her to switch to whatever channel she like to watch. And there is one time I saw her reading books with the little table light, I ask her to switch on the lights and don't save the electricity for me, because it might damage your eyes if you read in insufficient lights condition. On Sunday, my maid only do some light duty work, despite she broke some of our stuff, we never make her pay for it, of course, we will scold her for her carelessness, so that she won't repeat the same mistake or try to be more careful next time. We never go beyond that, like some cruel boss who beats their maid.

On the other hand, my friend's maid is not so lucky working for his family. What I see is exploitation! One day when I visited his home, I saw the maid was massaging his mom at 11:30pm! So I ask him what time his maid wake up. He told me 5am! I was like, WTF?! Aren't she getting enough sleep working for your family all they long!? To add some salt on the wound, his family made the maid paid for the lost because one day her maid went to toilet due to stomach ache, she forgot to shut off the gas and the fire burn the pan. I think they make her pay for her half month's salary because the fire has burned a hole on the pan just to penalize her. I know this may end up a big disaster if the fire burn down the house. But couldn't be that she is so forgetful because she got lack of sleep and rest? I really pity her maid, her face looks so unhappy whenever I saw her.

Yesterday when we were having dinner, my mom told me that my cousin's mother in law also treated her maid badly, she fed her maid with leftover/overnight food; so does the neighbor behind my house that always scolded her maid stupid, more like a mental torture to me. Let say same thing to us, if we go to work every morning and our boss treated us such a way without any respect, you will feel very angry or sad right?

From time to time we heard maid got abused, or maid gone crazy, like recently a maid slaughtered her boss by cutting off her stomach in Hong Kong. I think these kind of things happened because the maid just mentally explode like a volcano after they piled up all their stress and anger from day to day until they can't take it anymore.

The above examples that I saw, I can see that some people think that they want to make full use of the peanuts which they have paid! Come on, if you are just paying RM500-600 per month and you want to fully utilize a person like a machine? Or treat them like a dog? To me, it is no difference than enslaving others? Well, or course, it is still better than the slavery of the old days because in modern days you won't whip someone. So I can only say that this is 'modern slavery'. It is simply not right to make a person work 24/7 without any off days, it is simply ;inhumane' to do so, that is why I support the idea having one single off day on everyweek. I will also suggest that the agency shall visit the maid from time to time just to find out how's things going on. Opening agency is a good business as I know a lot of them are political connected, if they want to collect high commission, then they should at least do their work!

Before my maid went back to her country, she shared with us when she first started to work here, she feel very pressure, because she was only 19 and far away from home, she told us that she feel like going crazy. But luckily we didn't treat her badly so after some time, she managed to adjust herself and she is ok and able to cope with it. What I think is, we need to treat people with respect and with a sincere heart, when we do so, in return, we will get the same treatment back from others. Of course, there are some exceptions, but still, I believe most of the time you get treated by how you treat others.

There goes my iPhone

Here is what happen to the Iphone when it fell from 6 feet high with the screen facing down... I was quoted Rm800 to repair the screen. That leave me no choice but to buy a new phone. :(

So I am using a my ne Nokia N85 now. 'Saudi Arabia edition', aka AP set. The keypad comes with both arabic numbers and characters. :)

C'est la vie

Ever wonder what does it mean in French on the song, 'C'est la vie' that was sang by Fish Leong? My friend asked me what is the meaning of "Au Revoir" during the concert. While I am looking for the answer, I accidentally found the translation of the narration as well. :)

Here is the translation:

歌曲：c'est la vie (这就是人生）

歌手：梁静茹

专辑：崇拜

ne laisse pas le temps te décevoirll ne peut être conquisdans la tristesse dans la douleuraujourd'hui, demainau fil du temps le temps c'est la vie

别因为时间而感到沮丧,它是永远无法被征服的.

不管是在悲伤里在痛苦中,今天,明天,年复一年时间.

它头也不回地往前走,它就是人生。

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

也许我会再遇见你

像恋人般重逢美丽

看你满脸胡渣的笑意爽朗一如往昔

c'est la viec'est la viec'est la vie

走一个城市的陌生走到了曙光

无知无觉的黎明一路微笑的满天繁星消失在日出里

c'est la viec'est la viec'est la vieoh

塞纳河的水 是心的眼泪

流过了 你笑的 每个样子我会在你的记忆 看到我自己看到了结局

爱在错过后更珍惜

都将走向新的旅途 au revoir (it means good bye)说好不为彼此停留看车窗外的你沈默不语

我不再哭泣c'est la viec'est la viec'est la vie

oh 塞纳河的水 是心的眼泪 流过了 漂泊的 人生风景

愿我们各自都有美好的一生美好的憧憬

爱在遗憾里更清晰

oh 塞纳河的水 是心的眼泪 流过了

一直不回我会在你的记忆 看到我自己看到了结局

爱在错过后更珍惜

oh 塞纳河的水 是心的眼泪 流过了

漂泊的人生风景愿我们各自都有美好的一生美好的憧憬

爱在遗憾里更清晰

也许我会再遇见你像恋人般重逢美丽c'est la viec'est la viec'est la vie

Fish Leong's concert 14/06/2009

The Stage and the crowd before the concert start, basically, you can see it is a full house show.

Fish Leong and her friends. Until today only I know that 张智成 is Fish Leong's cousin.

I like this new song from Fish Leong - 情歌:

习惯是琥珀泪一滴滴被反锁

情书在不朽淹没成沙漏

青春的上游白云飞走藏够雨还有

闪过的念头潺潺地流走

命运好幽默让爱的人都沉默

一整个宇宙换一颗红豆

回忆如困兽寂寞太久 而渐渐温柔

放开了拳头反而更自由

慢动作千卷胶卷重播默片定格

一瞬间我们在告别的演唱会说好不再见

你写给我我的第一首歌

你和我十指紧扣默协前奏

可是呢然后呢

还好我又握着一首情歌

轻轻地轻轻哼着哭着笑着 我的天长地久 命运好幽默让爱的人都沉默

一整个宇宙换一颗红豆

回忆如困兽寂寞太久 而渐渐温柔

放开了拳头反而更自由

长镜头越来越远越来越远时隔好几年

我们在怀念的演唱会礼貌地吻别

你写给我我的第一首歌

你和我十指紧扣 默协前奏

可是呢然后呢

还好我又握着一首情歌 轻轻地轻轻哼着

哭着笑着我的天长地久

陪我唱歌清唱你的情歌 舍不得短短副歌

心还热着也该告一段落

还好我又握下一首情歌

是你宛如轻轻的像涌的河永远天长地久。。。

The King of Soya Sauce

To the ladies and gentlemen who cook/ plan to cook / going to cook/ currently learning to cook...

Just want to share with you that Lee Kum Kee has come out with a new product, probably it ain't new but I just notice it today. When all the soya sauce, be it regular or special grade, are selling around Rm6-8 for 500ml. This soya sauce that packed like a red wine is selling for RM12+.

Well, Aquarius are always curious. I couldn't resist but to buy it. I want to find out why the hell they sell it for such a high price when I could have bought two bottles of soya sauce. Will give it try on this 'King of Soya Sauce'. Of course, please don't expect me to do a 'white rice mixed with soya sauce' trial, I am no kid anymore. :)

Handling upgrade

I used to slam those 'ah bengs'/'ricers' that modify their cars till it makes it look so silly. Now I think I am becoming half of them. Well, I didn't do much cosmetic change though besides changing it to a set of lighter rims. Here is what I did to improve the handling and a little on performance.Trade in my original set of rims for RM250, replace it with Taiwanese SSW wheels for RM1080. With the lighter wheels, I manage to cut down about 3-4kg per wheel.

Upgrade from a stock 12" anti roll bar to a Ultra Racing 16" anti roll bar, that really help minimize the body roll coming from the rear. The bar cost RM298 without installation, could have got it in another shop for cheaper price (RM260).

Before going to work on yesterday, I have the shop install the front strut bar for RM150. I figure out it can provide some sort of impact resistence, and further improve the handling. so it is worth 'investing'. Note that both bar linked to the top of the front absorbers. The boss in the shop was telling me this, "Last time I thought only those "La La boy" will install such a thing to their car, but then, the supplier offer me a low price to put it on my Toyota Wish, so I tried it out, I notice it really feel difference to my car when I drive it! So after that, I also start selling these kind of bars."

Well, after installing these kind of stuff on it, I really feel like I am driving a different car, hehehehee, the wheel seems to spin faster due to lighter rims, and the cornering ability improve which makes the car more sticky to the road. I feel that there is still some room for improvement. :)

Harlem Basketball

Went to this poorly organized event from Telekom Malaysia (TM), not much advertisement on the local media and I am not aware about this event at all. My friend sponsored me the tickets, to be frank, when he asked me if I am interested to go for the event, I thought it the 'Harlem' from Taiwan. Later on he explain to me that it is some basketball show played by those retired NBA players. With not much enthusiasm, I went with him and other friends.

He booked the ticket online though which is suppose to be more convenience than you buy tickets on the spot. But the thing is, we have to line up for 45 minutes to get the tickets printed out where those who buy on the spot can enjoy further discount and can walk into the stadium immediately.

You can expect how slow is our streamyx service if you see how TM run the event. It is very inefficient!! They can survive because in telco industry because it is a almost-monopoly business to them, especially on fixed line business. Besides the ticketing management, the whole event is poorly organized too. I can't catch what the basketball players said at all due to the poor sound systems in the court. I think the players thought that Malaysians can't understand English. Well, the black english is already hard to understand, when they throw in those inferior speakers, it make things even worse! If you ask me if I want to go again? I think even if the ticket is Rm10, I would have to reconsider, a disappointing show!

Part time job?

A friend was telling me about his 'interesting encounter' when he try to look for some part time job. He told me that he asked a well-known job agency whether they can refer some part time job to him.

The agent came back with some interesting job offers, she replied, "Yeah, we have jobs like cashier, accountant, auditors, factory workers, interior designer and escorts, which one are you interested?"

My friend think that the agent is doing some side work for herself. So he replied, "I am interested on the 'interior designer' and escort, do you have any contact?"

Well, the agent immediately understands what he wanted, so the agent replied, "Our client is very high profile, for escorts, the rate is Rm200 per hour, you need to be 1. Handsome/Good looking; 2. Knowledgeable and 3. Humorous, if you are interested, please send me your photos and CVs. You will be contacted if you fit into our requirement.

My friend submitted a few photos to the agency.... Hahahahaha.. anyway, RM200/hr is a good money too. Easily the part time job can become full time if everyday you got business.

Ping Pong match

My company's social club is organizing a ping pong match yesterday. I signed up for the competition, I hope I can contribute something so our team who is currently ranked 5th out of 10 groups can rise to another level.

You might ask me what happened if it rised to the 1st place? I heard that the winner will be awarded RM10k, the group leader will then distribute the money to the group members who are active in participating the activities which are organized by the social club. Well, that is also part of the motivation that I would like to participate in the game despite I would say I am also an 'ok' player. :)

There are three knock out matches to be done at the same time, women double, mixed double and mens double. To be honest, we have a strong men's player in our group (not me), I think if I am a level 15 player, this fella is a level 18 player. Since he is better than me, I follow his order by joining the mixed double as I treat him as a team leader. He himself partner with his friend, who claimed that he hasn't play ping pong for 15 yrs, I assume he must be quite ok (level 1x) if the leader takes him in the Mens double as that is the 'most competitive arena', I even offer my extra ping pong bat to him.

So I go for the Mixed double, my partner, a lady, was a 'level 8 player', well, I think she is the best women player in our group, the rest is like level 4&5 players allocated in womens double. When I look at my opponent, I can tell straight away it is not easy to beat them, the guy is a 'level 14' player and the lady is a level '10' player, their strength in a way is more even (they were at the 3rd place in mixed double). In short, we won the first game (22:20)but we lost the other two (11:21) & (18:21).

After the first round of competition, all our players were being knocked out at the first game... sob sob... I wonder what will be the result if I was sent to play mens' double with a combo of Lvl 18 & Lvl 15 players.

Port Klang Free Zone scandal

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/27964-dap-wants-pkfz-to-close-shop
I didn't follow the news thoroughly, but then, from what I read, it is very clear that something fishy going on when there is a conflict of interest in the land purchasing deal. Now the case has been handed over to the anti corruption unit of Malaysia, MACC, which the authority are thick face enough to claimed that they are better than ICAC from Hong Kong.
There is a report filed on 2004 but there is no action taken, a lot of people like me suspect that some top guns are involved in this scandal. So let me take a guess on what kind of standard answer that I can expect to receive from MACC:

1. "The case is closed with "NFA" status. After many years of investigation when everybody started to forget about the case." (NFA = No Further Action);
2. "There is not enough evidence for any prosecution", therefore, back to item 1. Instead of go and dig for evidence, they just sit there and wait for evidence to submerge, or, who knows, evidence destroyed. The few billion scandal can easily buy off the officers that draws 3-4k per month during the 'investigation';
3. NFA again! "Everything was done 'according to procedure'..."

So at the end of the day, nobody is charged, everybody is happy, the one with evidence, or the scape goats, will be given 'warning'. Damn.... if I you pay me 30 million and you scold me and give me some verbal warning, suspend my membership in some joker political party for 'n' years, I don't mind to be showered with 'warnings' if that is the case.

Local Media loosing credibility?

Political parties involved in media business has caused the local newspaper loose some of their credibility...
Yesterday, when I was having a discussion with our legal counsel near the pantry, a colleague brought his coffee, about to sit down at the table next to us, he ask the legal counsel (which is his neighbor) to pass the newspapers to him... so I said to him...
Me: Time to read newspaper ya?
Colleague: Yup, see if there is any big news today.
Me: That saves you RM1.30 per day when you read newspaper in office, hehehehe
Legal Counsel: Ya, and half of it are crap!
Hahahahaha

Quote of the day

"We have extraordinary judges with extraordinary ability", Sulaiman Abdullah

Jusco Sales

I heard from my colleague that there was a J Card member sales on Thursday. I was wondering how big is the sales, I have heard stories like my relatives from Klang that actually drive from Klang to 1U at 7am just to beat the crowd.

So on Thursday after work, I went to the nearest Jusco at Equine Park, trying to check out if there is any good deal in the store. But then, I don't see the expected crowd there, it shows that the sales suppose to start on Friday. I ask the sales assistant is there a J card sales today? She told me that I should go to the 1 Utama branch, there is where they have the J card sales. After hearing this, I immediately went to the parking lot and get my car, because there is no point I stay there for another minute.

After dinner, I drove to Jusco at 1U, it takes me one hour to go there and park my car. It was nine something already, the mall is full of people, like the stores are giving away free merchandises. The air is warm in the mall, I don't think it is a good place for you to bring your baby. I can tell you, I never seen so many ppl even it is Chinese New Year or Hari Raya. Everywhere I see is long queue. Some shops near the Jusco shopping mall also take the chances and give huge discount that is up to 70-80%. From housewares to car accessories, from clothes to electronics. Hey, after I ask around, I found out that every Rm100 you spent, they give you another Rm10 cash voucher after you show them your receipt at certain counter. Can you imagine the crowd when there is so much good deal going on? Now I believe why some people actually take a day off just to go for shopping, if you ask me now, I can tell you that I will consider taking a day off!

My friend told me that a average Jusco mall make a sales of RM500k everyday. But today, I think the sales is 10 fold more than a usual day. A young couple in front of me took out a platinum card and swipe for their clothes, guess how much is the bill. RM1845.90!! On the other side, I saw one auntie paying for her three new hair dryers. I guess she plan to put each of her bathroom with one hair dryer. Totally crazy man!!

Well, due to the limited time that I have, as the store open at 8am and close at 11pm. I can only grab whatever I could. Got a Diadora slipper for half price which I pick it up when I am on the way looking for the water dispenser, it is around RM18, a Lock and Lock Tupperware with 20% discount, a Zebra stainless steel water dispenser with 20% discount, two Pierre Cardin 100% cotton shirt with 70% discount, one pants with 30% discount, a 600ml Sigg bottle with 30% discount, total damage is RM500+. I think if I have another hour there, for sure I will spend over RM1k... I told my mom, for the next 'J card' sales, I think I will seriously think of taking a day off. On the day of Jusco sales, it seems that everyone is a 'J Member'. You also feel like the news about recession is a lie, people spend like no tomorrow, you see hope on economy recovery. :)

The only thing that I regret a bit is the Swiss made SIGG bottle, the 600ml bottle selling at RM67 after discount from RM99, the 1 litre bottle without discount is selling at RM99 - Rm109 too. So I think if I pay RM32 more, I get a 1 litre bottle without discount that comes with a better design and larger storage, what is the point of paying RM67 for a 600ml bottle? I learnt this from a book, "The Millionaire Next Door", where some of the rich fellas in US buy their cars based on the weight of the car. You use the total value of the car and divide by its' weight to find out how much you are actually paying for every pound of steel. :)

“同班同学” - II

Refering to my post on Thursday, March 26, 2009
之前批评了一首叫“同班同学”的歌曲；终于知道谁主唱，谁填词了。主唱是中文咬字不清的泰国偶像派组合Golf & Mike, 填词的是马来的黄维尔，曾出过唱片，但不是很红。一个字来形容同班同学这首歌 - “烂！”希望Golf & Mike回去唱英文和泰文歌曲，中文歌曲真的不适合他们，难怪我觉得很难听。另外，也希望黄维尔在填词在方面有所改进，可能是比较能听的歌曲都留给自己唱了。
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fokXodXJfuM&feature=related
好不好听可以在以上U 管查询，本人真的觉得这首歌超难听！

'Chinese are a bunch of Cowards'

I totally agree with what has written by the author, I have tasted it the first time during my high school time, when me, together with a group of friends are going for a strike on something. You see majority of the buggers just chose to keep quiet and not to do anything because they are afraid of being punished, they 'feel' that they have more important things to do, spending time on study, getting a good results at school for themselves is more important than wasting time going for a strike. After the strike is successful, they enjoyed the achievement.

So after these bunch of cowards grew up, they think that politics and human rights are none of their business, not to mention global issues. Some chose to ignore it and bury their head under the ground like ostriches, some prefer to sit inside the well and look up the sky for the rest of their lives, because they think that it is useless and a waste of time because they think that there is nothing can be done as a member of minority or there are more important things to do in their life. In addition, you heard 'cowards' complain about street protest that creates unnecessary traffic jams that wasted their precious time, jeopardize their business sales; but they never look into the bigger picture which brings everyone a bigger good in the future, they are just surrounded by pessimistic thoughts. Thus, this has concluded that Chinese are a bunch of Cowards. As a Chinese myself, I will have to agree with that too!

Yes, most Chinese are selfish, they only care about themselves and doesn't care about how other people live their life, what is going on around the world. I am not sure if this has to do with our genes, when you hear someone said, 'Chinese is like that la'... this is just an excuse from cowards. My mom always tell me to avoid trouble for myself, don't bother with other people's business, but I never listen to her. If I see something heroic and righteous that need to be done, I will do it, but of course, I will use my brain and think before I do.

Ref: http://stocktube.blogspot.com/2009/05/chinese-are-bunch-of-cowards.html

Five thousand years of Chinese Civilization have transformed the Chinese into a unique race which possessed all the necessary ingredients to survive in a harsh environment. But they are still the same homo-sapiens that are clever yet selfish and cowards. Although the Chinese are complex they’re relatively easy to understand once you mix with them. And they don’t call Singaporean “Kiasu” (fear of losing) and “Kiasi” (afraid of death) without any good reason. As usual there’re two sides of the coin and hence the Chinese are known to be rich (or rather economical capable) yet they need to be led and controlled under communism regime for obvious reason.

Generally the Chinese (in China) are weak in politics thanks to thousands of years under autocratic dynasties’ rule. From the first emperor Qin Shi Huang to the last emperor Pu Yi, the Chinese never tasted real politics let alone democracy. So when the Taiwan’s lawmakers started throwing punches and chairs, spraying water at each other, pulling hairs and literally transformed the House into a wrestling hall, it was understandable as they were just infants learning the rope of democracy. However the Chinese are very good in business so much so that they “may be” the first race that invented corruption (whether they realize it or not) in order to speed up the business deals.

Because of the “Kiasu” characteristic, the Chinese are always in front of the queue when come to the business of making money regardless whether it is legitimate or illegitimate. They can naturally smell the aroma of money miles away and they are willing to enter the ring of no-holds-barred for the sake of making money. There’s not a single business which can make money without the presence of Chinese. From stock market speculators to drug smuggling you will see the Chinese have some parts in it. Yes, the Chinese are brilliant and can make huge amount of money quite easily but that’s because they’re a great spender as well. They can create an efficient economy mill within a small town with ease and you wonder how the hell the community can prosper. As a comparison, go to a kampong dominated by ethnic-Malay and your jaw will drop to the floor.

Unfortunately the Chinese are “Kiasi” at the same time. They have extremely high level of tolerance and as long as they can bring food to the table for their family, they can accept intimidation, inefficient and even a very corrupted government. That was the reason why they never strike back even though their husbands and sons were brutally killed and their wives and daughters were gang-raped during the riot in Indonesia of which many said was engineered by General Wiranto and endorsed by President Suharto. The Chinese have done a calculated risk and knew it wasn’t a battle for them thus they migrated leaving behind the debris but not before transferred billions of dollars out of Indonesia (mostly to Singapore). They understand the concept of live another day and you will still be alive to avenge your losses. Fight a losing battle and you’ll lose your life cheaply.

Having said that the Chinese would not tolerate if their country is at stake as can be seen when the China was invaded many times by outsiders. In fact historically the Chinese never invaded other countries (if my old memory serves me right) but was enjoying many civil wars within the current modern China territory. The Chinese had the greatest opportunity to expand their empire during the height of their naval power under Admiral Zheng He when the China generally ruled the seas but they didn’t. They’re happy to show off their power and as long as you do not poke their nose, they’ll leave you alone. And for this simple reason former PM Mahathir once said Malaysia (and other countries) has everything to gain and nothing to lose if China continues to prosper although the other superpower U.S. didn’t think so, out of jealousy I supposed.

Unlike the Chinese, the ethnic-Malays are specialists when come to the topic of politics. They’re willing to risk everything for their political beliefs including their lives and for this reason the UMNO supporters were easily intimidated and demoralized with the presence of a bigger crowds from PAS, both consists of Malays. There’re reasons why the “Bersih” rally was a huge success but the supposedly “Perak” rally yesterday was, well, a failure. Unlike the “Bersih” rally, there was no serious organizer for the “Perak” rally and everyone “thought” people will show-up naturally as if it was a “Michael Jackson” concert. But sadly the urge for the rally never reach the Perakians. Furthermore the “Kiasi” Chinese will only turn up if they see scores of Malays turn up. It was like a 100:1 ratio – if there’re 100 Malays then you’ll probably see 1 Chinese *grin*. They need PAS-Malays to lead them, period.

Seriously most of the Chinese in Ipoh consists of middle-age or retiree who do not have the stamina to run should they greeted by tear-gas. Also, they do not read blogs but still subscribe to the government-controlled newspaper, mind you. In addition, many of these Chinese are still haunted by the 13th May 1969 bloody incident. The youngsters who are “relatively brave” have mostly migrated to towns such as Kuala Lumpur, Johore Bharu or Singapore. They have yet to see that should they be whacked by UMNO-Malays, the PAS-Malays will come to their rescue and can you blame the Chinese considering they’re one bunch of “Kiasi” cowards?

Now, after seeing how an Indian-Hindu Speaker Sivakumar was humiliated and dragged away as if he was a stray-dog by, God knows if they’re real police, do you think the already “Kiasi” Chinese will not think thrice to come out, if there’s another rally in the future? If the so-called police can treat a Speaker in such manner, what guarantees are there that an average-Joes will not ended up like toasted-bread with several broken bones? Yes, in this case the Malays are well-built wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan, Batista, Triple-H or Goldberg but the Chinese are just novice with body no better than Tian Chua. So it’s not a level playing field with Tian Chua holding a poster while Hulk Hogan holding a steel-bar thirsty for blood. Oh yeah! Do you want to know the court’s decision on Monday to decide who the rightful Chief Minister of Perak is? I’ve the crystal ball for this *grin*.

Who embarrass Who?

Last night, me and my friend were looking for KFC restaurant at the Shenzhen airport. A few ppl has been telling me on how great is the KFC in China, so I really want to try it so I can share with you whether it is true or not.

Unfortunately, the KFC restaurant is in the old wing, there is only one restaurant called "Golden Chi Lin" or something in the new wing airport. Thus, me and my friend decided to go and get some food at the restaurant.

The restaurant is not a fancy one, it looks like the regular Chinese restaurant that sells roast chicken, roast goose meat, BBQ pork and stuff. So we both sat down and ask the waitress to hand us the menu. Let me tell you, the moment I open up the menu, I started to swear 'WTF?' inside my heart. Guess what? A regular roast chicken + BBQ pork rice is selling at RMB88!! That is like RM47-48 per plate of 'Chicken rice'? Then my eyes start to scroll down a bit, trying to flip over the menu, trying to look for minimal damage... If I am not mistaken, I found the cheapest mineral water RMB20! Wow!! That is what I called "Monopoly business"!

I look at my friend, and he looked back at me with a grin on his face. Finally and thank god that he opened his mouth, he tell the waitress that we don't plan to dine here. We stood up and walked out of the restaurant. Right after we walked passed the restaurant entrance, he sweared and told me that the food doesn't worth the price. I said, 'I totally agree with you, glad that you initiated to leave, or else I will end up ordering the RMB20 mineral water'.

We sat down on the chairs for passengers after we get out from the restaurant. I joked with my friend by asking him, 'Hey, do you think 'Malaysia' embarrassed us just now or we, as Malaysians, embarrassed our country?". "You see, if our country is strong and our currency exchange rate is the other way round when we exchange for USD, let say USD3.55 can only change one Ringgit Malaysia, then, we won't think that RMB 88 for a plate of chicken rice is expensive. But then, due to we have a not-so-efficient-government that runs the country(I think this will sound better than using 'idiotic and corrupted government', you see, nowadays the government might send you to jail if you talk something bad about them, the hell they can link it to'sedition' if they really want to charge you), our Ringgit value shrinks badly, now we have to walk out from the restaurant with embarrassment. In a way, we have embarrass Malaysia, because we can't demonstrate our buying power but on the other hand, we had demonstrated the weakness of our Ringgit and our standard of living, when a few Hong Kongers still eating happily inside the restaurant and I assume they hate flight meal very much.

Malaysia is a country that is used to be ahead of Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea; on par with Hong Kong and Japan. But after forty years, there are two Malaysians complaining a RMB88 chicken rice not worth the price in ShenZhen airport. So, do you think we had embarrass the country? Or the country embarrass us? Does this reminds you of 'Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You! Ask What You Can Do For Your Country!'?:)

Hey, one thing I need to clarify, we definitely can afford the meal if we want, in order to save ourselves from dying hunger which we don't have, but then, I still think it doesn't really worth what we are paying for. Don't you agree?

Diarrhea

This morning woke up feeling very weak, I doubt that I am having a light fever. After breakfast, went to take a long nap.... since then, woke up having continuous diarrhea. Feel like going home, started to feel bored. Went to check the rate for one way return ticket, wow... about RM600-700... alas... forget about it!

After finishing one role of toilet paper, I think I am going to dehydrate later... need to look for '100 plus' kind of drink now.

Paint Ball game

Went for a paint ball game with colleagues on last weekend. The fun factor is alright but then I think the game is quite expensive too, for about three session of game, it cost us almost RM100 per person. I think the way they design the "capture the flag" game is really not fun at all, the first game lasted in a few minutes, some people just simply whacked and finished of their 'ammo' in few minutes time. To me, the fun part of the game should takes longer time, and you need to use more tactical move to capture the flag. Once you finished your ammo, you are as good as a dead man.

For the first three game, half of my cartridge is still full, because I aim and shoot. May be I am just in to those PC game, which a lot of times you need to conserve your ammo and make every shot count and focus on head shot for maximum damage you can get.
This is before we go into battle.

The organizer - Siew Wai, tasted my head shot at the final 2 vs 2 game. :p

My partner and me manage to get them because our opponents: 1. One finished of his bullets despite I didn't manage to snipe him because he hide behind the net. 2. The other guy got hit on the head by me. So with one guy without ammo but still alive, he will have to surrender.

After the game, we took a group photo again. :)

Farewell with my colleague - Ray Teng

From left: Ganesh, Choo, Ray Teng, Me, Terry, Allan and Michael

叫父亲。太沉重。

故意用中文写这篇博客，因为怕我的一位同事会看。

在咱们闲聊讨论到家长该如何教导孩子时，他提及了他的父亲。。。

他说他的老爸在他十二岁时去了美国跳飞机，一去就去了十多年，从来没有回来过，直到一两年前，他们一家才团聚，一起去了某国旅行。 那时候，他父亲告诉他们他在美国也成了另一头家，有了个女儿。已经十七，十八岁。现在他父亲在纽约当了餐厅的经理，虽然也不算富裕，但至少他觉得他父亲生活应该还过得去。

他说他父亲的家里穷，他爸经常告诉他说他们以前祖父家里是割胶的，一切得靠自己努力争取。这位友人认为这种想法很不正确。他觉得只要负担得起，应该让孩子得到他们要的东西，他说他的母亲以前甚至还给他每天十块钱的零用钱。我和另外一位比较年长的同事认为绝对不能宠坏孩子，要让他们知道一切物质享受得来不易。即使很有钱，也不会让小孩要什么就有什么。

他说他很讨厌他爸，认为他没有尽到做父亲的责任。他说他二十一岁时很想要一部手机，但他爸爸偏偏告诉他，说要靠自己去赚取一部手机回来。他觉得很不甘心，为什么他妈可以给他的，他父亲却给不到？他还说他父亲曾答应过给他买车的头期钱，但结果只是送了件夹克给他。他觉得为什么他可以对他在美国的家人那么好，却对他和他弟弟妹妹比较差？

我听了以后便问他，说他父亲在美国打拼时，有没有寄钱回家给他的母亲来养他们？他说有，他还说他父亲也有资助他的学费。那么我问他，既然是这样,那就不能说他没有尽做一个父亲的责任了，当然我也不能说他
可以拿一百分。我之前还以为他爸没有寄钱回家，丢下小孩，让他母亲一个人独立抚养他们长大。我告诉他，他不能用他父亲给的金钱数额来衡量，毕竟美国和马来的消费不一样，或许他在美国为了供养两头家，生活担子也比较重。或许我这位友人没有感受到父爱，所以他讨厌他爸。
记得以前就读学院时，老爸曾说过要买部电脑给我，后来他没有兑现，我
气起来，两个星期都不肯跟他说话，冷战起来，后来我妈问我为什么不跟我爸说话，我把实情告诉他，大约两，三个星期以后，我爸买了一台486电脑给我，当时电脑真的很贵，可能就是他一个月的薪水。回想起，觉得很内疚，很懊悔，其实我们不理解做父亲的苦衷和生活担子，就这样责怪了做父亲的。如果深一层的去思考，其实我觉得他为家庭付出了许多，内心非常的感激他。

我觉得我这位友人的父亲，也是为了让他儿子向他一样坚强，与其每天给你一条鱼，不如教导你想办法如何弄一条鱼回来，真是用心良苦啊。
不过我想，也许是因为他觉得父亲对他母亲在感情上的背叛，让他讨厌他的父亲。他跳飞机去了以后，从此父母两人相隔两地，感情渐渐就如此疏远了，所以他父亲后来在当地娶了另一个女人，我也不觉得稀奇，一个人在外头，心灵上难免会寂寞。其实我可以明白，为什么他父亲没有回来，主要原因是因为他一出境，就没办法回到美国了，我想他选择了一个人去美国，肯定也是为了让他们一家人能够过得更好，不是去那里娶另一个太太。从他口中，我知道他父亲和他亲生母亲还是有保持联系的，可见他也不是完全不理会他的前妻和小孩。

我想我明天应该要劝劝他，别叫父亲太沉重。。。

Chicken ala Carte

Don't you think we are very lucky? I purposely send this to one of my friend who love to waste food.

I think the video is shot in Philippines, due to you can find Jollibee, Chow King and their fast food comes with rice.
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte

TAX! TAX! TAX!

I don't mean "TAXI, TAXI, TAXI", I mean "TAX! TAX! TAX!".
I kinda like this article that talks about "Why should we pay income tax to BN?: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/hafiznoorshams/23865-why-should-we-pay-income-tax-to-bn
I think you can't blame those people who is so reluctant on paying tax or trying so hard to avoid tax, this is because we really cannot stand how the idiots in power trying to spend our hard earned tax money like water. RM200 for a Stanley's screw driver, first class air ticket, president suite, multiple"technical visits" by some "simple person" (Ref: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/19/focus/20090419074711&sec=focus_) Damn... if Mr. Toyol can call himself a simple person like that, I guess that the rest must be very complicated.
At last, I have finished my BE form and finally got the envelope sealed, like last year, I have to write a check to the Lembaga Hasil, so they can spend whatever they want with my tax money, be it the screws that were used in the submarine, or a push start button for the helicopter which we don't need. Sigh...

Blood donation

Today I went for my first blood donation in my life. My colleague told me that I will have a good night sleep after donating my blood. The program was organized by TMnet, opposite of Ericsson's building. Spent about an hour there with my colleagues. 4 went there, one taking anti biotic, another female colleague blood pressure is too low, so only me and another colleague are qualify to donate blood. I saw that most of the donors are contributing O positive blood type. So am I.
As you can see there is a small bag of blood next to my wrist. Don't get me wrong, that is only one of the bags that I have donated. The bigger bag is actually underneath the bed which I was not able to capture it with my phone camera. The bag with thick liquid of blood I guess can feed a vampire for one full meal.

After the donation, I received the above reward: a sugar cane packet drink, a peanut butter bun, some biscuits and a cert of appreciation. Well, I drank the packet drink, ate the bun and biscuits before I leave. Errr.... as for the cert, I put it back, try not to waste so many papers. :)
Very sleepy now, I think my colleague is right, I will have a good night sleep for sure. Good night!

Telemarketing again

Don't you hate it when you are trying to hibernate in a one-fine-rainy Sunday and someone try to call you because you are so 'lucky' to win some prizes and voucher?

An unknown Maxis number called me just now, I am sacrificing my basketball game for my nap after working on some company's work. A Malay lady asked me if my name is "CVK"?

T=Telemarketer, VK = Me

She speaks Malay, so I can only answered her with my limited Malay capability, which you can hear it in those wet market, spoken by some ah pek.

(After I confirm that I am that person which she is looking for...)

T: I am xxx calling from xxx company.

T: Mr. Choong, have you every participate in those Bonanza competition in any of the petrol station in Klang Valley?

VK: Errr.. I don't recall (my brain just woke up from 'sleep mode', don't think so, may be yes, may be not, don't think I sign up any of these things..

T: Congratulations to you Mr. Choong, your name has been selected by our company, now you are entitled for 3 prizes, one is xxx, second is xxx, and a RM300 voucher from England optical! She kinda emphazied on the value of the voucher, that is why I have to highlight it in bold face.

VK: Ok.... errr... so what?

T: In order for you to claim the prizes, you will have to come to our office at xxxx.

VK: Ai ya, why so troublesome? You can just mail it to me right?

T: No Mr. Choong, we need to verify your IC, see whether if is you?

VK: Why so troublesome? If you guys have the "heart" to give the prizes to me, you can just mail it to me. Last time Citibank drop the 32 inch TV at my home, I don't even bother to go to Citibank at Jalan Ampang to pick up my TV....

T: "Pak!" (I heard a loud voice in a sudden, the lady hung up on me! I think she is fed up with this ah pek liao. Hahahah)

Why Doctor deserve to earn more?

An ING veteran agent came to our office to do a presentation on ING medical card's benefits. He listed three hospital that are not accepted by ING insurance, they are Pantai Hospital, Sunway Medical and another one I forgot the name.
An employee raised his hand and ask the doctor why these three hospitals are rejected?
The veteran agent (around late 40s) said that because they are - expensive.... He also said that, " You know la, doctors spent most of their time at school, when they come out, their "time frame" of making money is shorter, so they have to charge more to catch up on earnings..... also, when they get older like me, their hands become shaky when doing a surgery, eyes are not good, nevermind, you still can wear glasses like me, but when the hands are shaky, then how? They can't do operation like that, so their time frame of making money is really limited, may be not more than 20 years.."... everyone had a great laugh with his joke... hahahaha

Unsolved Mystery - Altantuya murder case

Ref: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/9/nation/20090409093431&sec=nation

After the long trial, the two policemen will be sentenced to death for the murder of a Mongolian lady who was claimed by some bloggers that she is related to our current prime minister in a submarine deal.

You see, you can blame that I watch too many Hollywood movie and that causes me to think too much. Unless you let me see that these two policemen are hung to death in front of me; or else, I doubt that they will be sentenced to death as proclaimed by the court. The two policemen who are 'proven' guilty can be released from the backdoor, be given with new IDs, paid them a few million Ringgit and asked to get lost from Malaysia forever and never come back; OR they get paid like 10k down payment and will be told to settle down in somewhere secluded first before transporting them out of the country, then assassins will be sent in to shut them out forever by someone that is rich and powerful... I don't know who is behind the plot yet, and I don't know if it may happen or not. I could be charged sedition if I name someone out without a solid proof, this is just my guessing.

I think I have mentioned it before. In order to murder someone with a few gunshots, and then take some effort to tie the body up and blast it with explosive, to me, it is very troublesome! You need to hate that particular person very very much, he or she might be someone who had murder your family member or had did something cruel to you; or else, what is the point of doing so? Especially when the two policemen don't even know the Mongolian woman, they were just taking orders from 'superior'. In short, they don't have any motive to kill the poor woman and some more, they don't have any access to the C4 explosives which was used to blast the dead body into pieces. You don't have to be 'Sherlock Holmes' to figure out how the case should be investigated, it is sheer common sense, just trace it back to the person who gave order. This has remained as a unsolve mystery to the people in Malaysia despite the court has released its' ruling this morning. I am sure the verdict can't convince Altantuya's father, so do I. We owe a big one to the Mongolian government.

The name 'Altantunya' was recorded in Wikipedia, I think her name is more famous than the current first lady in Malaysia.

Tsunami on July 22nd?

Today I receive an email from two different friends regarding potential Tsunami hit, the message says:

“Hello there. I just wanted 2 let you know that please stay away from the beaches all around in the month of July. There is a prediction that there will be another tsunami hitting on July 22nd. It is also when there will be sun eclipse. Predicted that it is going 2 be really bad and countries like Malaysia (Sabah & Sarawak), Singapore, Maldives, Australia, Mauritius, Si Lanka, India, Indonesia, Philippines are going 2 be badly hit. Please try and stay away from the beaches in July. Better 2 be safe than sorry. Please pass the word around. Please also pray for all beings.” Thanks and have a nice day. Bless you~ "

Frankly speaking, after reading the above email, I am not convinced at all. I think when we read and listen to something, we really need to use our brain to think a bit and analyze it. First of all, if the prediction is so accurate, it wouldn't be called "natural disasters", because it ain't 'natural' at all, the term 'Force Majeur' could have removed from the contracts if this can be predicted like that. If this kind of disaster can be predicted, then there won't be so many deaths in earthquake and insurance could lose some of its' business or even close shop if I can predict when I am going to die. Of course, you can argue that there might be people like me who doesn't believe this kind of tsunami BS, thus contributing the death toll. Sun eclipse happen every few years, I still didn't see any usual thing happening to the world.

Hmm... I am willing to take the bet with anybody who bet on there will be a 'tsunami' on July 22nd.

2:1 as predicted.. :)

Blogger's hand

今天我妈叫我带她去看铁打，我自己也看了一份，把打球时弄上的地方敷了药，希望快点好。两个人花了60块钱，还真不便宜。 :(

2:1

I have a feeling that tomorrow's bi election's result will be PKR 2: BN 1
Of course, my hope is "3:0"...
Freeing the 13 Hindraf leader is a joke, they are not really a free man yet. You are free to walk but not free to talk? Will you see that as "Freedom"? I hope the people are smart enough to see that this is just a 'show' from the government, hope most of them are not so naive.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/22394?task=view#pc_66067

Rise of the darklord

In a galaxy far far away, in a country with over 20 million pathetic citizens that were ruled and screwed by the Galactic Empire... today, they have announced the appointment of the new Darklord...
Today, in the heart of the imperial city, Coruscant. The new Darklord vowed that the people who is under the rule of Galactic Empire should start to embrace the concept of "One Galaxy"...
As a citizen living in the city of Coruscant, he didn't feel excited at all and he is very skeptical to the "One Galaxy" concept. Talk is always cheap, sometimes it is even FOC. You have one set of story prepare to please group A, and another version for group B. How do you name a person that talks a lot of cock? "Cockster"? Only time will tell...

Movie Review: Look For a Star

My friend ask me to check out this movie, he said that the idea of the movie is old and predictable, but the director use another special way to produce the movie. Well, after watching the movie, I think it is worth a look, not that bad though despite come people might think it is not very realistic. Starring Andy Lau and Shu Qi.


Movie Rating: B