gathering

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small talk:-

Got another new hire joined the company today. Had a great and filling lunch, and the best part is, it is FREE, hehehe =)

Hope that my company keep on hiring people in the coming days "p

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oh ya, almost forgotten. Yesterday, I took the below photos in front of Pacific Megamall Perai while waiting for my friend.

Apparently, it is a gathering by a group of people to show their support for the 5 Hindraf detainees under Malaysia one and only ISA.

It was a peaceful gathering as far as I was there, but lots of police started to show up later, and I wasn't there anymore after that. Not sure how was the ending.

speaking up

When read the first few paragraphs of this article from sun2surf without really noticing who is the author, the article did give me the impression of being written by someone who is not so pro-government, was thinking probably either Citizen Nades or Terence Fernandez.

But as I read along, Mukhriz was brought up and was said to be "my son"!

???

The article is written by Chedet himself. I was like OMG!

You do the rest of the thinking.

blog talkshow

just realized that Malaysia now have blog talk show on TV, really an eye opening =)

soft reminder: the videos are actually rather long

a word a day

learnt a new term recently from the paper, about politic

"Pro Bono Publico"

meaning "serving the public without remuneration"

hmm...

why mca

funny... =)
people at comedycourt are damn creative entertainer =)

blogosphera

I myself dont even know when blogging started to take shape. I only knew about blogging when I first read Jules and jlaw's blogs some years back, and only took up the blog writting habit less than a couple of years back.

Then you heard or read about singers/artists in the entertainment industry also has their own blog, with the main purpose to reach out to their fans in a different way.

Then, you heard about top blogger in Malaysia KennySia and top blogger from Singapore XiaXue. They are like celebrity in the blogosphera, almost ever bloggers knew about them.

After a while, you heard about the blogger jeffooi who is very much active in politic, who is now the Jelutong's constituent MP's as well as the first blogger turn politician in the history. Probably you are not aware, I always likened jeffooi becoming MPs in the Parliament to Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming Governor of California :)

As of today, Dr Khir Toyo himself is now a blogger as well in the familiar google's blogspot, making headlines in some chinese newspaper today. Dr Khir is said to be the first senior UMNO member who become a blogger, and with speculations that many politicians will follow his footstep.

Case in point, there are 2:-

1st, blogging is now a recognized media and trend in the world wide web. I see that current blogging proliferation is just at the infant stage and there is a huge space for growth. With this, Nuffnang (a blog advertising company and Asia first) will make big furtune from there.

2nd, socio-politic-bloggers were once condemned by government/politicians, and they were like "pest", who falsified facts, and poaching into the "sentiment issue" territory, and often got sued or arrested. But now you see many politicians started to take up blogging. Arent it an irony?

baseless rumour

Early Saturday morning, I received a "rumour" SMS as below from a friend who probably received that from another friend and so on and so on. This is how rumour spread in this technology age, and it is very efficient and fast.

For those who dont understand mandarin, this is what the SMS says...

Anwar has successfully persuaded Sabah's 29 MPs to join the Opposition.

23rd March is the day that Pak Lah have to step down.

At that time, probably the 513 incident will happen again.

Remember to stack rice and food. (pass on the sms to person you care about)

At times, I understand that we need to be paranoid about things, even Intel's Andy Groove once said before that "Only the paranoid will survice" and many intelliers look up to that quote.

BUT!!! There are times also that we need to use our BRAIN to process the facts that being presented to us before jump straight into paranoia, right?

Another blame is, some Malaysian has been taught to be the receiver end of everything, to be an obedient and polite follower at work and at politic, all thanks to the education system or the whole good old country's system. I believe is time to wake up a little bit, and this is the main point I want to make with this post.

I mean, if you think properly about the wording that used in the SMS, do you think that Anwar is the kind of person that like to/will PERSUADE other MPs, especially from the rivals? He dont PERSUADE MPs. He (as well as any other elected MPs) only serve or probably PERSUADE the RAKYAT(people), this is what I believe.

For the 12th General Election Parliament's result, BN won 140 seats while opposition took 82 seats. If there is indeed 29 MPs "jump" from BN to opposition, BN will have 111 seats while opposition with 111 seats as well. It is something like 50-50 shared. At glance, it is a very beautiful number of 29 that make this new composition, but it is unlikely to have such a 50-50 split (but not impossible, only with a very slim chance). This alone has put a question mark to the SMS before you jump into conclusion to stack for food, right?

29 MPs from Sabah??? For cold hard fact, please look up SPR website for the 12th General Election Parliament's result here. There is only 25 Parliament seats allocated for Sabah, where 24 won by BN and only 1 won by DAP. Obviously the number is incorrect.

Undeniably, there are news (not rumour) about negotiation between Opposition and MPs from BN who want to join the opposition, but now obviously some 'evil' parties trying manipulate the agenda for their own benefits.

513? It is something scary in the mind of many Malaysian. It is something that almost everyone wants to avoid and fear of. This alone is evident enough that everyone will make their best effort to contain such incident from happening again. Malaysian are more mature now, dont underestimate people's INTELLIGENCE!!! So, to those 'evil' parties, DONT SIMPLY hang the term "513" besides your mouth for everything, because you just simply making a fool of yourself at times!

Lastly, why these 'evil' parties want to do such thing at first? PROBABLY they hope that such rumours will cause chaos in food supply chain, causing declaration of State of Emergency (darurat) in some states, and follow by another re-election for another chance to regain control in those states. There is another POSSIBILITY that strain in food supply chain will mark up prices or boost sales, making certain people filthy rich. Am just presenting a couple of PROBABLE causes. You do the rest of the thinking. Time to think and not just keep on receiving only.

a quantum leap

A week back, I just met the guy up close and personal at one of the "Keadilan Ceramah Umum" as a guest speaker at Jalan Mahsuri Bayan Baru on 5th March 2008, a day before the massive gathering at Han Jiang .

He was campaigning very hard until the guy barely churn out any more voice, but he just keep on going.

The guy has many gestures during his speech, and although his speech is a short one (around 20mins), each every of his energy statement responded with applause from the medium crowd. You can really felt the energy.

And today, this guy is now the current CM of Penang - Lim Guan Eng, who just started to take office yesterday, but already get down to business.

Sometimes, without us much anticipating it, change could really happen overnight. As the current CM said it himself, years back, he was at his worst point in life when he was detained under ISA and denied his civil right. And now today, he is sitting at the top of office as the CM of Penang.

Anyway, am looking forward anxiously for what is in store ahead for Penang, and I am sure the now opposition BN will monitor him and the DAP-PKR-PAS alliance with eagle eye. Bring it on!!!

At the 5th March 2008 Ceramah Umum

following image grab from sun2surf

sarcastic

Muahahaha... I must submit to this statement
super duper sarcastic, yet intelligent :)

from sinchew daily...
自爆有政黨遊說‧安華：我絕不跳槽

安華說，他未必在峇東埔國會議席制造補選，以恢復他的國會議員資格，因為旺阿茲莎在峇東埔獲得輝煌的勝利，人民支持她出任國會議員。

“為甚麼不是在甲拋峇底或北根國會議席呢？或許有很多人會因為遭批評而辭職，我可以有很多選擇，哪里有空缺，我就去那裡競選。”

metaphor?

sometimes, what and the way how people said it to describe certain thing are very interesting, and is funny too :)

It is also telling when one hears a middle-class Chinese lady saying:.” “If there is no rocket (DAP) around, yue liang dai piao wo de xin (the moon (PAS) represents my heart)"
from theedgedaily "Malaysians break trend of voting for BN in mixed constituencies"

“There will be some panic selling. Some people will be irrational enough to dump the baby with the bath tub. If it becomes a crisis, there will be an opportunity,” he said.
from theedgedaily "Silver lining amidst election blues"

polling day

Yeah, this post came in quite late. I was eager to share the "tsunami" rather than the 1st time experience at the polling station earlier :)

I woke up early in the morning and went voting with my mum at 8am.

On the way, this is how my hometown market looks like, lots of roadside stalls. Sometimes, it felt good to be at home.

The scene outside the pooling station, very quiet and very few voters only early in the morning.

Was waiting for my mum to go in to vote. The "saluran 2" has the most voters queuing. It is known that each different "saluran" is for different age group, with "saluran 1" is the oldest age group.

There are only 3 "saluran" at the pooling station where I vote. I was "saluran 3"

tsunami or landslide

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small talk:-
just came back from home town and I am now connected again, anxiously to surf the web for the election result in some other states that said won by opposition, as well as blogging again to share my opinion.
for election 2008 result, please check at spr website over here...
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Disclaimer: all the contents in this post/blog are purely my sole opinion/speculation from hearsay and has nothing to do with any other person/entity or representing the view of any company/organization. The accuracy of the content is my pure interpretation at my best knowledge and should be used at your own risk & discretion.

"tsunami" is more well known to the asian, while "landslide" is the term used in the western in the political arena when a party won in a major style.

for the past 24hrs, it has been very exciting to see the amplitude of "change" as most Malaysia wish and expecting has been amplified by many times. (for actual election 2008 result, click here).

anyway, before I get any further, just a reminder to all.
wining or losing, do not parade or celebrate, stay calm, stay low profile, stay cool, stay home, do not provoke anyone, do not create any problem etc. Winning in a certain amount of proportion by opposition is just the very beginning of change. There is still a long journey to travel for the new gorvernment to form by the winning parties. Therefore, the following days and weeks are very crucial. Just chill and monitor the progress.

with that being said, while I travelled back from home town passing through Butterworth, I could see the street is some way different and more quiet although it is Sunday. I couldnt notice anyone smiling, just mind their things and day. This may be a good sign that everyone is rational and staying calm.

as for last night, I am sure a lot of Malaysian didnt sleep well, especially many leaders from both coalition (figuring out the cabinet composition since many previous ministers are now gone as well as post mortem for the defeat in certain states) and opposition (figuring out the new state government composition for a good start where they cant afford to make any mistake). I myself stayed up until 3am, slept for 4hrs only. Anyway, I am still alert :)

Over here, I would like to share some points that I gained from last night's 8tv election result program. I find the comments from one of the commentator is very true.

I am sure that many of you wouldnt expect the opposition would gain so much tracks in this election, because for conservative like me, I would expect there will be some minor change, but not as big as the final result.

Anyway, it is a fact now. As for what drives this, I would agree with the commentator to say that PKR's de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim is the main driving force for the opposition unity. Anwar's aspiration to form a true Malaysian nation is now share the same ground with PAS and DAP (although I am sure many other would not agree about this point). Opposition now work hand in hand efficiently like never before, fielding many candidates with vast and professional background that hold hopes for Malaysian for a change that is possible. Agree or not, this is what many called "Anwar's Effect", in mandarin "安华效应".

So, what is Anwar's aspiration of a true Malaysian nation? As we all know, Anwar will be eligible for running as a candidate for MP after 14th April 2008. And it is not a rumour anymore that after 14th April 2008, someone from any seats in Penang will step down "naturally" (I am not sure how this is done and where is that), and a re-election will be called and Anwar will be running as candidate trying to win the seat there.

First thought, many speculated that Anwar will go for the easy win with the Permatang Pauh seat. But then again, Anwar did voice out his wish before to contest in a equally mixed race seat, and Permatang Pauh may not be the choice anymore.

Many of you would ask, why he want to do such thing? Well, Anwar is a visionary man. IF he could win a mixed race seat when he contested, a true Malaysian nation under a new coalition parties will be born. Such result will give the current government a big blow, and IF the 5 opposition states perform well under the new opposition governance, next general election will paint a very different pictures already.

Anyway, all of these are just what if scenarios, and the next general election still far far away. As I said before, the following days and weeks is very crucial for Malaysian, to see how the 5 new opposition state governments being formed, to see how the severely hit coalition form the federal government, to see how post 14th April 2008 goes, all these will direct the future of Malaysia in the next 5 years. Many Malaysian put high hopes on the opposition this time, lets hope that the new state governance does step up to the plate, not forgetting that all Malaysian must put in their effort as well and work together with the new cabinet composition, this is the way it should be, the same concept that apply for a balance government.

tips when going to a political ceramah

the tips may be too late since election is just tomorrow.

Anyway, just want to note it down for future reference :)

Am writting this post in a rush too because I am going back right away after posting this.
Till then, looking forward to the election 2008 result.

Tips:-
- ride motorcycle, walk if it is nearby, because it is difficult to find a parking space
- a camera
- your handphone
- during raining season, bring along raincoat and umbrella



- a 500ml bottle of water to quench thirst, but dont drink too much because you expect to stand there for hours without going to the loo, and the rainy weather is cold too

- torch light


- whistle to amplify your voice/support

- some other thing that I didnt bring but see other brought are - foldable chair, shining stick, bread etc. (I am in a rush, couldnt name more, sorry)

- some cash for donate, if you generous and passionate to the mission of the party you support

- as for the take-away, you get this limited edition CD from ROCKET :)

A sea of red and white (DAP CERAMAH AT PG)

~ I got this from a forward email. Not sure where this report came from ~


George Town, March 7 -- The Democratic Action Party rally in Penang last night drew more than 30,000 people, by conservative estimates.

Police sources had earlier told The Malaysian Insider that a crowd of "easily 15,000" could be expected tonight at the Han Chiang school field here, the second-last night ceramahs can be held before tomorrow's polls. However, the crowds in Penang just kept swelling in numbers, leaving even a veteran political observer to describe it as "amazing".

There were frequent cries of "Just change it" in Hokkien, referring to the political situation.

The crowd was mainly Chinese, a mixed bag of young and old, with pockets of Malays and Indians. About a quarter of them were wearing red, as called upon by DAP party leaders to show its strength in numbers.

The speakers were DAP leaders Lim Kit Siang, his son and secretary-general of the party Lim Guan Eng and party veteran Karpal Singh. PKR's only representative in Parliament until it was dissolved for these polls, Wan Azizah, the wife of Anwar Ibrahim, also spoke. Anwar, who was in Singapore on Wednesday and believed to be in Kuala Lumpur yesterday missed out on the excitement of the night.

There were three giant video screens, lending the air of a rock concert to the night, with a giant moving crane for the cameraman feeding the picture to the screens.

a remarkable sight

March 6, 2008

By 8pm, it started to drizzled, I was hesitating whether to go or not.

After a while of flipping my mind, I decided to go at the end to the DAP talk held at Han Jiang school field.

After witnessing it with my own eye, I would say that I will be regreting it if I really missed it yesterday. It was indeed a remarkable sight to behold.

If BERSIH rally last year was a sea of 40,000 yellow marchers for a fair election, today at Han Jiang, you would see a stunning gathering of at least 50,000 Malaysian/Penangites, majority responded to the heed to wear red, which made it sea of red. The gathering is a sign that Malaysian had have enough, Penangites had have enough, all of them want to see change in the coming election, lets hope that it does change.

smses & calls barely got through, it was really grand.

And who said that opposition political ceramah (talk) is boring?

Famous blogger - Jeff Ooi (Jelutong Parliment candidate) make a shocking appearance with electric guitar performance. Instead of some would consider boring political speaches, Jeff Ooi sang songs in Mandarin, Malay, English & Hokkien to do all the talking. It is refreshing to see creativity being presented in the politic arena. I am amazed while entertained throughout the talk. awesome presentation.

Lets talk no more. Let the videos to the talking.

Then again, who said that opposition political talk is boring?
There's fireworks too.



Other speakers on that day - Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, Lim Guan Eng (Bagan Parliment candidate, Ayer Putih state candidate), Dato Zahrain Mohamed Hashim (Bayan Baru Parliment candidate), guest PKR candidates, and many many other candidates gathered to show their unity.

I want to take more photos and videos, but my camera's battery run flat after a while... sadly couldnt capture more to be posted in this blog.

Lets rise to the call in the video below.

Because if you have had enough of the hanky panky business with the current coalition/government, it is time to change, time to vote for opposition, give them a chance to present themselve, a chance to balance the parliment composition, that is the way it should be. The fate of either opposition or coalition parties lies at your hand tomorrow at polling station.

As expected, none of the newspapers today make the yesterday DAP talk at Han Jiang a headline, as if nothing happen, while the Penang's Rifle Range Coalition gathering of 3000-5000 made headline YESTERDAY and even have full page coverage TODAY. You tell me, is this not double standard?

What you can see on the newspaper is Pak Lah resort to instill fear in the Chinese community (which is their last desperado move), warned that if opposition win big in Chinese community seats, Chinese will lost MCA for good in the coalition and will not have Chinese MCA representative/ministers anymore. Chinese plight will not be heard anymore. Isnt this an arrogant threat by someone in power to gain more power? It is time to deny it because those in power are extremely corrupted. As a Malaysian (not Chinese, not Malay, not Indian etc), do not fear and cast your vote wisely, and dont cast your vote because of fear. You are not alone if you dont fear.

Again, for the Coalition gathering at Rifle Range, you dont see even a policeman giving parking tickets for illegal parking, but you see them do so without mercy at Han Jiang yesterday, is this not double standard?

When Coalition gather, they can easily use the public venue (school hall, stadium, municipal council hall) for free, while opposition talk/gathering has to resort to private institution venue because they know for sure they will be played/rejected if they apply for the public venue.

People who gathered at Han Jiang yesterday are passionate enough to go out to show their support, many even donated as much as they can, ignoring the coalition "sweets" of free food, free popular artists performance, lucky draw etc when they have such talk in a bigger venue than Han Jiang. These are only some of the differences.

michaelbackman is back

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small talk:
The aircon in the office is ridiculously COLD recently. I believe it is sub 10 deg C.
One of my colleague even wear winter clothing to office. I think it is sonner or later all of us wear winter clothing.
Then, while my colleague was eating some snack, and I was drinking a cup of honeylime for my cough, suddenly I suggested/made a lame joke to my colleague.
"since it is so cold in the office lately, storing the honeylime/food here is a good idea, isnt it?"
~~ a few crows flying in front of us ~~ -_-
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Remember the "michaelbackman" who dare to comment about Malaysia's NEP, astronaut program, Petronas etc? Because of that article, he drew a lot of "fires" from Malaysia Government? (you can read the previous article here)

Well, he is always there actually, and now back with an brilliant article about Malaysia's current political situation facing the General Election 2008.

Although he is not a Malaysian, but his article always enlighten me about Malaysia politics, seems like he is more Malaysian/patriotic than me "p


Please read this if you have the time. Rationalize it yourself.
http://business.theage.com.au/malaysia-needs-a-strong-opposition/20080226-1v0i.html


some excerption...


"does the Malaysian Government deserve to be re-elected? The answer to the second question is no."


"So the next question is: should the Malaysian Opposition be elected to office? Again, the answer is no."


"Malaysian electorates are severely malapportioned."


" Tens of thousands of dead people are believed to have voted in the 2004 elections"


"Absurdly, even family members living in the same house discovered that they had been registered in different electorates."
This i gotta comment. Is a true account. Today, I noticed that one of my colleague was checking the electoral info on this page on behalf of her brother, father, mother etc. Then my colleague told me it is weird to found that her brother's polling area is different from her although they stayed together. I really clueless until i read this Michael Backman article... Enlightening isnt it.


"Next month's election is being held a year early. Why? One reason is because Anwar Ibrahim, who was deputy prime minister until he was charged and convicted of corruption and sodomy in the late 1990s, will only be eligible to stand for election after April 8 because of the convictions."


"So what should Malaysians do? Firstly, in a country where voting is not compulsory, they should vote. There's no point complaining on internet blogs but not bothering to vote."


"Given the Opposition's unpreparedness to govern, the Malaysian Government is best returned. But it does deserve a good, hard kick. Even more, it needs a significant and strong Opposition to help it govern better. It needs greater accountability and scrutiny, which a strong Opposition in Parliament will help provide. That is what good governments everywhere have and need."

funny speech

good example used in his speech about fuel hike,
great sense of humor :)

politic the fun way :)

politic has never been fun like this before :)
the creator of the clip is indeed a very creative entertainer :)

ceramah umum

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Parti Keadilan Rakyat will have a ‘ceramah umum’ this Wednesday (27/2) night 9p.m. at their operation house directly opposite Vistana Hotel, Bukit Jambul.

Speakers are Dato' Zahrain (Parliament), Sim Tze Tzin (man who exposed Lingam tape, DUN seat Pantai Jerejak), Haji Malik (DUN Batu Maung) and lawyer Raveen (DUN Batu Uban).

**Guest speaker for the night is JEFF OOI!**
(Yes, the blogger-turned-DAP-Jelutong-candidate!)

Be there, or be square!!

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Although I'm still feeling not so well, I will be heading over there tonight to listen. Some of my friends will be heading over too. Besides, the venue is quite near to where I stayed in Penang now.

Some people might say
"vote BN or vote opposition, doesnt matter also. Because BN corrupt, opposition not united and not stepping up to the plate also, might as well dont care"
"DAP slogan is a cheap immitation of Nike, reflecting the imature level of thinking the party is. Again, doesnt step up to the plate also. Might as well not waste my time listening to the ceramah"
"dont go lar. Later got riot, got hurt then how?"

Anyway, before casting my vote to anyone, I would like to utilize my sound judgement, at least I try to listen. How about you?

Another thing, do you notice that every politic related forwarded emails that you receive recently are pro-opposition and none of it pro-coalition? Isn't it weird?

Either all these emails are created by the desperate opposition as fire-up campaign agendas OR is true account that the young knowledgeable groups who concur the content. OR maybe I am just coincidently surrounded by circle of friends who just coincidently pro-opposition.

The only avenue you can read all the positive headlines and full page advertisement (not to mention expensive) about coalition is the daily "puppet" newspaper.

You do the thinking, I am just pointing out the facts.

On other note, undeniebly, my blog becoming more and more politic related already, especially kinda pro-opposition.

As I am casting my vote for the first time, I want to a least put some of my thought to review the past, process the facts and to make my final decision.

Not that I am patriotic, I am really not. I just want to see at least some change in the current ill society/government. Simply put, try to make a difference if can.

So far, from what I have gained about this election, none so far budge me toward coalition.

nomination

" ... forgotten to sign the nomination form ..."

" ... misplaced the nomination form ... "

" ... forgot to put his/her name in the nomination form ... "

" ... submit the nomination form without the accompanying statutory declaration being stamped ... "

" ... xxx put Prime Minister in the occupation column ... "


Think about it.

A candidate that running for the upcoming general election, who will represent the people and charged with responsibility of managing the country, BUT cant even fill in the nomination form porperly, which is one of the most important thing in the whole freaking process!

Undeniebly, human cant run away from making mistakes.
And for first timer, they tend to be nervous and will make mistakes.

But the reports about these "errors" that all these politicians made are just damn too many, and it happens on "old timers"

And most importantly, all these candidates that made these "errors" went through the nomination with "flying colors". There always an "excuse" to any "akta xxx kurungan bla bla bla"

Anyway, what I want to say is

aren't they just plain dumb?

OR plain ignorant?
OR a testament that they cant even manage themselves (like my ex-manager)

Will you put your vote for these people?