Tambun Indah Land Berhad IPO

HO Ho HO tis the season to be jolly and to apply for promising new IPOs. On cue for listing on 18th of January in the year of our Lord 2011 is Tambun Indah Land Berhad at offer price to public of 70 sen per unit (par value at 50 sen each). After some initial hand-wringing, Yours Truly checked out the figures on the prospectus and from industry sources in the pearl of the orient i hear tell that this here is a promising little company indeed. It's a Penang-based property developer pretty famous in Penang and it has a low gearing ratio of 0.17 times currently (its prospectus says that its gearing ratio will be reduced to 0.12 times after listing by utilising some of the proceeds of its listing). Their future projects will probably be more on the mainland in seberang perai where land is cheaper and more plentiful than on the isle. They are also scouting around for suitable land in the Klang valley but nothing concrete there has come up yet, for now at least. Its price earnings ratio for 2007 is 6.76, for 2008 it's 5.63, for 2009 it's 5.54 and for 2010 (estimate) it's 9.99 respectively. Which is fairly respectable, given the downturn in economy of the last couple of years. They have of course, a 3-year preceding profit track record (proft after tax for 2007 is at RM19.558 million, for 2008 RM23.476 million, for 2009 RM23.764 million respectively) for main board listing on Bursa. They're projecting proceeds of around RM22million+ from this IPO. A few things conspire in favour of Tambun Indah's listing: it's an all-Malaysian company; it's board of directors are loan-averse (they like internally-generated funds to drive their expansion such as this IPO); they're well-known and established in penang; the stock market is currently on an uptrend and hungry for promising new companies; Malaysia which falls under the emerging economies' sphere of economic influence is reaping the rewards of being in the right place at the right time as are promising new companies coming up for listing on the bursa. Soooo...fingers crossed and hope to get some of the goodies this time. The closing date for Tambun Indah's IPO application is at 5pm, 6th January. Balloting is on 10/01/2011 and allotment is on 17/01/2011.

Post Blog Note: But having said all the above, Tambun's debut price was less impressive than some others. Eventhough Tambun was oversubscribed by over 18 times, it commanded a premium of slightly over 10sen only on listing day. This as compared to Benalec Bhd, a land reclamation outfit which listed at around the same time but commanded a premium of over 35 sen over its offer price of RM1-00 (on 20/01/2011 its premium has gone up to 47 sen). Perhaps the smaller property developers aren't that attractive to the market. So far all companies coming up for a listing after the New Year have enjoyed a premium over their offer price. So for now, almost ANY tom dick or harry IPO is a winner it seems.

Post Post Blog Note: Woaaah, Tambun has fallen to 68.5 sen today, that's BELOW its IPO offer price. What's up with that?

the humbler IPO and yet ...

After the milestone Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd IPO, I next applied for the IPO of little-known Careplus Group Berhad. At 23 sen a unit, it was cheap as cheap gets. Its bosses were folks from Seremban and it was an all-Malaysian, all local company. This was an ACE company and ACE companies unlike Main Board companies on Bursa don't need to have 3-5 years' profit track record to qualify for listing on Bursa. I even felt a tinge of remorse after applying for it as this company seemed too tiny to really make any significant impact in the market. They make rubber gloves, mostly latex rubber gloves, not the nitrile ones although in its prospectus the company had said that it was venturing into nitrile gloves with new machinery purchased from the proceeds of this IPO. Surprise surpise, my application and another application i know of has both been REJECTED today. this means that the retail over-subscription rate for Careplus' IPO is probably quite impressive. More impressive than even big brother Petronas Chemicals, i'm begining to believe. I didn't even get 1 blessed unit of Careplus Group Berhad out of the 20,000 units which i applied for. The company debuts on the Bursa ACE market on 6th December so i'm really curious as to how it will perform on market opening day. Unlike the Petronas Chemicals Group Berhad IPO which raked in billions of Ringgits, Careplus is projecting IPO proceeds of around RM15 million only.

POST-BLOG NOTE: little David falls the mighty Goliath. The Careplus Group Berhad IPO was oversubscribed by 84.67 times for the public category while the Petronas Chemicals Group Berhad IPO was oversubscribed by 2.98 times for the public category.

North Korea

Rogue states like North Korea should be taken out forcibly by an international expeditionary force sanctioned by the United Nations. They are a threat to world peace and are not only illegitimate, but hopelessly corrupt and criminal. There is no basis whatsoever for such a regime to continue to exist on paper or in fact.

Quantitative easing, anyone?

The US Federal Reserve prints money in QE2 (no, not the cruise ship, the second round of Quantitative Easing) as much as US$600 billion to buy up long term US treasury bills over the next 8 months. This is supposed to flush the US banking system with cash so that US Banks will lend out more money to US businesses which in turn create more jobs in the US and lower the US unemployment rate which is now hovering near 10%. That's in theory. But what happens in fact is that all this new money gets pumped OUT of the US into emerging markets in developing countries, so-called "hot money" snapping up properties, stocks, commodities, bonds in emerging economies and creating asset bubbles. Then i dread that as fast as this hot money comes in, foreign fund managers will take profit and spirit out their investments INCLUDING yours and mine hard-earned cash leaving markets in emerging economies crumbling in a tailspin.

budget 2011 - business as usual

The 14th budget deficit in a row since 1998 albeit narrowly lower at 5.4% compared to 5.6% for 2010's budget saw the return of mahathirism's megaprojects par excellence. They're going to build a new subway system for Kuala Lumpur (why did they build a monorail in the first place?), they're going to build a 100-storey tower in the heart of the city within a stone's throw from old chinatown (projected glut in office space be damned), they're doing all these and more. But no open tenders as usual (the day when there are open tenders for government/GLC projects in Malaysia will be a cold cold day in hell). Service tax goes up from 5% to 6% for 2011 and there's (among others) a new tax for astro satellite tv subscribers. The much hoped-for abolition or reduction in withholding tax (currently at 10%) for Malaysian Real Estate Investment Trusts (M-Reits) failed to materialise. And they want the private sector to take the lead in transforming our economy. Yawns! Ah the stale clammy air of recycled policies of old. Un-original, un-inspired, un-imaginative.

elections

i was at a government department recently and overheard civil servants talking about "what if i was picked as a candidate". Candidate presumably means standing as a candidate for the government in the coming general elections. Even before any official announcement have been made or parliament had been dissolved some people are already counting their chickens or manoeuvring for positions to STEAL more from the system and line their pockets. Kleptocracy in its full glory.

gratitude

I always miss out on the good things in life and chose instead to focus narrowly on the bad. That's a personal weakness i hope will grow smaller and smaller over time.

15 cents

Chinaman, Chinaman, sitting on the fence
Trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents
Along came a Choo Choo train
knocked him on the cuckoo brain
And that was the end
Of the Chinaman and his fifteen cents.

Malaysia Day

We've been living together for the past hundreds of years, there is no reason why we can't continue to live together in mutual understanding and respect. Governments may come and go, but people will basically remain the same at the end of the day.

same old same old

NOTHING new to report. the same old race-baiters, the same old, the same old. And people falling for the race-baiters. Thinking about it, why respond? It doesn't mean anything. If somebody hurls names or racist tags, just ignore them. There, that's much better.

stupid headmaster

it's annoying to hear school headmasters say stupid things like whose country this is and who are immigrants and "go back to your country". I don't pay much attention to people who are weak in the head but anyway this stupidity should not go unchallenged and un-punished. They should sack people who say outrageous things, cut off their pensions and i don't mean take leave of absence for a couple of weeks. If i were the student, i'd walk up to that headmaster and punch the stupid cunt in the face.

Suffer the little children

LATELY there have been many reported cases of baby dumping, some babies being killed after they are dumped in a dump site. It's sad beyond belief. The solution to this problem is not to lower the marriageable age of teenagers from 18 to 16. We can't have kids trying to raise babies when they can't even take care of themselves let alone assume the responsibilities of parenthood. What the government should do instead is to help open up more clinics where babies can be left in a specially prepared cot in privacy whilst protecting the anonymity of the mother at the same time. Look, there are LOTS of childless married couples and people who want to adopt babies. By providing these centres where unwanted babies can be left and then attended to and cared for and then put up for adoption legally, the authorities would be dealing with the problem in the best possible way. The problem of baby dumping is a face problem. Unmarried mothers are afraid to lose face and be socially stigmatized over their unplanned pregnancy. It is unfortunate that our culture puts a premium on face rather than happiness, but at the end of the day, since we can't change our culture, we have to find ways to mitigate its worst effects. So having these baby clinics would be a step in the right direction.

Internet Filter Study

NUTBALLS! The government has commissioned KPMG an accounting and advisory firm, to conduct a study on the feasibility of introducing an internet filter in Malaysia's surfdom. I knew they were going to get their slimey paws on the internet and fuck it up good. Like they've fucked up pretty much anything they've gotten a hold off. Hey you dungoos, the internet is the last remaining bastion of freedom in uptight Malaysia and if you deign fit to censor it, you are telling investors and the rest of the world to by-pass malaysia. This does not bode well for my digestive system.

Life

DO you ever get the feeling that life as we know it can be summarized in a nutshell -that life is generally shitty and the shitty-ness spills over from the current generation to the next generation ad inifinitum, ad nauseum? I keep coming across people with unresolved problems and what they do is to re-gurgitate all over their kids. It's not just financial woes, but things like dysfunctional families, unhealthy cultures, bad habits, addictions, the negative mores of lives spent mostly in drudgery and misery. I don't want to sound too negative (maybe i do sound too negative) but there you have it. What breaks the vicious cycle? Jesus! (said in gladness and not in vain)

the curse of easy wealth

Malaysia is one of those countries with many natural resources concentrated within its geographical boundaries. So much so that for many years we have been a major exporter of tin, rubber, cocoa, palm oil to name but a few primary commodities. Then the 80s and mahathir's social/economic re-engineering of Malaysia brought forth a spurt in industrialisation, some may argue of the less caring kind. It was also during the 80s that our petroleum resources were more fully exploited making Petronas the sole custodian of our nation's mineral fossil fuel wealth. It has been so that currently almost half of the government's total revenue comes from oil. Alarm bells have been rung and the slew of subsidy-reduction measures recently taken are efforts to forestall the erosion in revenue when the day of reckoning comes and we are well and truly out of the black stuff (oil). Perhaps we have had it easy for way too long, blessed with an abundance of natural wealth, that we suddenly find it hard to wake up and stare at the hard cold facts in the light of day. But all reckonings do come and they have to faced, whether with resolute determination or being rueful of a past that has all but vanished too quickly.

Wherefore art thou, leader of the free world?

I'VE ALWAYS been fascinated with America. Maybe it's because i was a child of the cold war, read news articles during the 80s about Mr Nyet and the bad old USSR and the USA under Ronald Reagan saving us all from the "Red Menace". But then again, politics will be politics and the winds do change. Right now the wind blows towards China. I'm not sure that i like the Motherland that much, having a first-hand experience of what her culture has to offer. I'm still pretty much Amerikkka-centric, and i don't know if my peers feel the same way, but i believe that the best hopes for the free world still lies with the US-of-A. I was disappointed in the Bush junior presidency as i thought that Dubya Bush was just a privileged scion of the Bush Dynasty with zero brains on the table (as far as I can tell). Bush junior was all gung-ho minus substance. As opposed to Bill Clinton's presidency. And the current president His Obama-ness has so far come across as a good man but a bit soft. I'd like Obma to live up to people's MAIN expectations of the man whom they elected by a landslide to be the leader of the free world and do more to revive the American economy. I'd like America to remain number 1. Because i still trust in the good old US of A. I hope my trust is not misplaced?

An Open letter to any kind-hearted and generous investors out there

PLEASE come and invest in our stock market, our industries, our economy. We haven't had a half-decent Initial Public Offering in years and the much touted IPOs that have passed are but teensy-weensy insignificant has-beens of companies stripped of their most valuable assets. Many good quality listed companies are being taken private by people not much interested in our stock market (and who can blame them)? Basically, what we have is a lemons market. And there is so much money going abroad and not coming back that we're basically almost broke. Or we would be but for the saving grace of our balance-of-payments and trade surplus. And oil. And so, without much further ado...HAYEEELP!!!!!!

Murder Incorporated

There has been a disturbing trend of late. People murdered ruthlessly by what appears to be contract killers. The latest case is that of former Selangor state assemblyman Datuk Abdul Aziz Mohd Noh and his female aide, Siti Rohana Ismat, both gunned down bullet-in-the-head style and their bodies found in Siti Rohana's car along the North-South Highway near Sungei Buloh, Selangor. Although police have not officially ruled out suicide, it would be strange for a man who is scheduled to attend a function and who was on his way to that function, to suddenly take his own life and that of his aide. This is but one among many cases of late and it seems to be increasing in frequency and blatantness.

One of God's 10 commandments is simply this: "Thou shalt not kill". To those who kill or worse, those who give the order to kill, i have this to say to you: You may get away with murder in this life, but you will certainly be made to account for your actions in the hereafter. What will you say when you stand before God and He asks why you have killed one of his children? All of us will perish someday. As you lie on your deathbed, as life ebbs away from you, you will be very very very frightened of what is to come. And it is JUST that you are stricken with terror at your deathbed just as you caused so much pain and anguish to the survivors of your victims who were a father, a mother, a husband, a brother, a sister and a wife to their loved ones. What will you say then, as you are about to meet your Maker? Nothing. And by ordering the death of or by killing another human being, you have condemned yourself to death. Why resolve problems this way? Is there not a better solution? Surely there must be one. Nothing warrants the taking of another life, however deserving of death that person may seem. The final terror is not that of your victim, but yours alone. And that is a terror that no man is able to bear.

1Malaysia 1Manusia

My My My, the 13th general elections are drawing closer and ever closer now, huh? Which explains the flurry of news reportage against the opposition of late, the disingenuous prosecution of Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik et al PKFZ scandal, etc. Hey Mr. 1Boss-Man, we're not fooled by your latest scam, OK? Both Tan Sri Eric Chia of Perwaja and former land and cooperatives minister Tan Sri Kasitah Gaddam were also charged and both VVIP clowns were acquitted later no thanks to an unusually inept and weak prosecution. But you could find ALL the evidence (and more) in Anwar's sodomy trial, right? No stained mattress, no stone left unturned in the heinous offence of sodomy, right? Hey Mr Attorney-General, you're the man alright! Well i know who i'll be voting for in the next general elections. You better make sure that the Elections Commission gets more postal votes in cos you're gonna need it! Charged for cheating my yellow ass.

When oh when

WILL the powers-that-be kindly-pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top see fit to get off their collective asses and pass the Personal Data Protection Bill which was tabled in Parliament in November 2009 ? Till today it STILL hasn't been passed into law? This is a landmark Act to protect people's personal data from unscrupulous commercialisation/selling/trading of such sensitive information without their consent. Basically, this Act will help to protect you from getting ass-raped.
(Blogger's post-blog note: I have just received word that the Personal Data Protection Act received the Royal Assent in June. It should become law just as soon as the government gazettes the Act which hopefully will not be too long from now).

Paris, Pot and Power

Just read a news report (Agency France Press) that Paris Hilton was caught upon arrival at an airport in Corsica with about a gram of cannabis in her possession, was taken to the cop station and later released without charges. Getting caught with some grass in your purse is no big deal, but the AFP report went on to say that Ms Hilton was caught after coming in on a private jet and I quote: "with people close to power in Malaysia". That immediately piqued my interest. Hmmm, I wonder now who these jet-setting people who are "close to power in Malaysia" are. More importantly, were they travelling in a private capacity or in official gubment capacity as in a private jet funded by Malaysian taxpayers, as in a trip sponsored by 1Malaysia? Oh oh oh i can't wait to find out. When you say someone is "close to power in Malaysia", the connotations are many and multi-faceted. One easy presumption would be that those "close to power in Malaysia" are probably getting "close to power $$$" from the Malaysian gubment. Otherwise, they wouldn't be "close to power in Malaysia" in the first place, would they? But speculation aside, i'm pretty certain that the identities of said mysterious people (fellow countrymen?) would be revealed very soon. Our tax ringgits hard at work as usual? Man oh man this better be good.
Blogger's post-blog note: I just viewed something like 53 pictures of Paris Hilton partying with a rotund Penang billionaire's son or some richie rich. The towkays were trying to out-order each other very expensive champagne and from the looks of things it was very merry indeed. Well, if it's someone spending money from their own pockets, then it ain't none of nobody's business. AFP's vague and insinuating report shall be put to rest with this.

The Lizard King

(Photo of Jim Morrison with long-time girlfriend Pamela Courson)

I actually took the trouble many years ago while on a trip to Paris, to drop by the Lizard King's final resting place at Pere Lachaise. One of my HongKong acquaintances gave me a wide-eyed look: "Why do you want to visit a graveyard??" But at Pere Lachaise lies also Modigliani, Oscar Wilde and many other illuminaries of arts and music and writing (i have forgotten some of the other noteworthy names but google it up if you will). It was a mecca of sorts for me, being a Doors fan since my junior college days when i bought "the Best of The Doors" featuring a shirtless and slim Jim Morrison on the cassette cover. I listened on my walkman and was enamoured. Riders on the Storm, Light My Fire, Moonlight Drive. Jim had the words, he had the voice, he spoke my language, i understood the man. More importantly, he understood me. Later when studying abroad i went to the premier of The Doors' movie at the local cinema with an American communist acquaintance (haha a member of the American Communist Party now that's a contradiction in terms if any). Anyway, the American Commie suggested that in order to fully appreciate the movie, one had to get drunk. Heck yes, Jim Morrison was stoned most of the time if not all of the time. The band's name itself was taken off Aldous Huxley's the doors of perception and dropping acid was all the rage in the 60s and the rest of the story well, you know it. But Jim's appeal was in his poetry and his music. I didn't care for his druggie hyped-up image or his well-publicised temper tantrums (wait, i wasn't even born when those happened) or maybe some of it i did because it was all natural, of course. He struck a chord in me that was so deep i still feel it today whenever i play his music. Back at Pere Lachaise, Jim's final resting place was none too grand. It was just a plain old tomb carved out in concrete (not even a headstone of Jim like in the movie); there were some graffitti on the wall, some complimentary, others less so ("Jim you asshole" read one). One fan came and sat there not moving for what seemed like hours. I went, sat beside the tombstone, took some pictures, read the graffitti, then went on to see the other grave sites. In the movie eponymously titled "the Doors" directed by Oliver Stone with Val Kilmer playing Jim Morrison's character, the Lizard king was portrayed as a wild child of the 60s. Indeed he was. Val Kilmer himself never personally liked the Lizard King, calling him a drug addict. Which wasn't false. But if one had to take drugs to be free, as so many other rock stars then and now do, it is a tragedy. Millions adore them and yet perhaps to release their artistic talent to the fullest they had to indulge in mind-altering drugs which ultimately destroyed them. What price creativity? What price freedom? Certainly not to die at age 27 years old in the bath tub after ingesting heroin, as Jim Morrison did. Fans mourned the passing of Rock's God. I mourn the loss of a life so young and so talented. One who was able to tug at my heartstrings in the most profound way possible as no one knew how. Mine and millions of other heart strings tugged at and broken when the Lizard King took his last and final trip through the Doors of Perception.
Jim, may you rest in peace. Wherever you may be.

Reason to be optimistic

IT'S HEALTHY to be an optimist. You bring cheer to yourself and others around you. So much so that it has a multiplier effect (in economic terms, that's like the government spending money which creates jobs and more business and snowballs into a self-reinforcing expansion of the economy, benefitting everyone).
I know there is a lot to be gloomy about in our world today - floods, droughts, earthquakes, violence, crime, man's inhumanity to man/woman/child - but it's not ever worth it to brood. Take the Information Technology Revolution. Who would have thought in the 80s that someday soon you'd be able to message your pal on the other side of the globe almost instantaneously, or you'd get voice transmission services for next-to-nothing or that the tape you're now dubbing for your best friend would soon become obsolette and replaced by MP3 CDs capable of storing hundreds of songs in just 1 CD? We never dreamt that was possible, we never dreamt period - and yet look at us today.

I made some rough guidelines on the Dos and Don'ts of internet use which i am stating loosely here just for the record: Do use the internet as a learning and research tool. For example, DO use the internet to discover more efficient solar cells or to build bigger and better batteries to store solar/wind/wave power. Don't use the internet to surf porn. Don't use the internet to research how to make bombs.

I'd like to think that come another 20 years, we'd have found the solution to our energy needs and that fossil fuel and the internal (infernal) combustion engine have become a thing of the past or of mere curiousity interest for our children's history lessons at school. I have reason to be optimistic about the future. I don't think that the Greenhouse Effect will doom humanity. I believe we are more resourceful, more resilient and more adaptable than we give ourselves credit for.

I'm cheerfully optimistic.

Born to be Wild

Is Taman Negara or the National Park. I was but a sophomore back when i was on a plane heading home from England and i chatted casually with a couple of Malay dudes (later i found out they were members of Royalty, but I can't remember which house) who recommended that i throw out a few days of summer vacation at Taman Negara in Pahang state. So me and my ageing uncle both bought tickets and we went on the trip up the Sungei Tembeling to a clearing in the jungle where they had built comfortable traveller's chalets complete with a cafe and air-con units for the better-heeled travellers. I booked into a "bumbun" jungle hut for a night with some Danish students (all girls) and spent the night in the jungle looking out our bumbun (strategically nestled on a tree top) at the salt lick below where the animals came out at night to get their daily portion of salt and drink while we busied outselves staying awake all night to spot them. We saw a mousedeer, a small bear but there was not a tiger in sight. The next day i trekked out alone on the jungle trail and my legs were full of leeches which didn't bother me much except the bleeding and itching when you pulled out the leeches. Leeches were everywhere - they were under the fallen jungle leaves and they even swam in the clear running jungle streams. It was spooky too to trek in the jungle alone, sometimes you had the feeling that the jungle was watching you. The jungle can swallow you up - no one can hear you scream in the jungle. Snakes slithered here and there (no worries, they're more afraid of you than anything), a mousedeer on the run (very hard to spot them as they are so tiny and so fast!), a small snake swallowing up a frog, jungle tree tops obscuring the sky almost completely.
Back at base camp we had all the creature comforts - oh yes, even ice-cold beer and hot-cooked food. My uncle who was a bird/nature-lover stayed at base camp and busied himself studying the hornbill who had made itself a permanent roosting place on the lower branches of one of the tall "tualang" trees. Not far from our base camp along a hiker's trail there was a nice Rafflesia flower in full bloom. They say it pongs at night or something. There were also wild colorful ginger flowers (you can eat the wild ginger roots but it probably doesn't have the same sting/spicy-ness as the commercial ginger we buy at the supermarket), also some kind of wild jungle tree fruit that has the fleshy taste of rambutans and about that size too but its covering skin was yellowish and the fruit less sweet, i can't remember now what the guide told me was its name. The guide fellow was a slightly-built local Chinese man in his late 30s. Asked what was most challenging for him, he told me: "sometimes the loneliness can be crushing".
But if you have a bunch of like-minded pals, a trip to Taman Negara would be quite refreshing. Back to nature and as cliche as that sounds, it's good for your soul. You could even trek right up to Gunung Tahan, the tallest mountain on Peninsular Malaysia, if you were more adventurous (have to pay the orang asli guide to bring you there). Whatever, I thoroughly recommend it.

Bye to "Off the Edge" magazine

Just heard over 89.9 FM radio today that "Off the Edge" magazine is closing.
The decision was announced about 2 weeks ago by its owners and by its editor Jason Tan. The reason is that they wanted to focus on financial journalism, ie. The Edge weekly paper-zine which is Off the Edge's more famous sister magazine/publication.
I don't blame them. In all the 6 years that Off the Edge magazine has existed, Yours Truly has bought as Yours Truly can recall, a total of only 2 copies, or at the most 3 copies. Whenever i saw the magazine at the bookshop i would without fail read my favourite columnists Patrick Teoh who wrote "Teohlogy" column and other writers such as "Si Mabuk".
But i would invariably think twice about paying RM9 (it was only RM9 when last i spotted the magazine at the bookshop) for a copy as i thought that, as entertaining and relevant as the magazine was, it was a lifestyle and leisure magazine which i could not justify buying over something else like, for example, The Edge or The Economist magazine. So if Yours Truly can think this way, and Yours Truly am sympathetic to the local arts and writing scene, you can just imagine how many other people with less arts-leaning views would base their magazine-buying decision on. Although the owners of Off The Edge magazine have not openly declared it, i would think that the magazine had a hard time surviving financially. The illustrious and reclusive sasterawan Salleh Ben Joned bemoaned the limits of the local publishing market - it is very hard to make a living as a writer in Malaysia, especially if you write non-business or non-commercial works. The arts and writing scene in Malaysia is not exactly groaning from the awful weight/burden of having to chose from among so many generous corporate sponsors/patrons! Be that as it may, as the reading public grows in numbers and spending power, one hopes that things will change for the better. And that will not be soon enough for our great and long-suffering arts and writing scene.

flowers blooming

Last weekend i bought some fish to prepare for my infant daughter's porridge. It was good expensive fish, "Or Her" (in Hokkien). Normally my wife would prepare it by scooping out its flesh and packing it in bite-size portions using clear/transparent plastic wrapping. This time i decided to give it a go myself. It was hard work scooping out the fish using a steel tablespoon and my hands smelled heavily of fish afterwards. After i was done, there were some leftover fish skin, bits of flesh, bones and fish head. Instead of throwing these away, i decided to bury them in my potted plants as fertiliser. So using my bare hands, i buried bits and pieces of fish skin flesh bones and head in 4 selected potted plants. That was about 5 days ago. Today when i inspected the 4 potted plants i was gratified to see that they had ALL sprouted tiny flowers as if to show their appreciation for the fish fertilizer. It has been raining for a few days so by now the fish remains would have putrefied and its juices mingled into the plants' soil. Everyone of the plants now have tiny flowers starting to sprout out and they will bloom into beautiful flowers not very long from now.

Why I still prefer Malaysia

A LOT of people have migrated over the past 40 years and especially in the last couple of years alone, we hear of hundreds of thousands leaving in search of greener pastures. The numbers who leave are staggering, to say the least. For economic reasons but also because of "feel good" (or "feel bad" depending on how you look at it) factors, many non-bumis in Malaysia go overseas and decide to STAY overseas.
I don't begrudge them their God-given right to chose where they prefer to live, it is a personal and individual decision after all. Our forefathers chose to leave their beloved homeland probably for similar reasons. The world has become smaller today thanks to advances in modern global transportation and telecommunications, so one can easily be in England or in South Africa or the USA and connect with your loved ones on the other side of the globe instantly or even be physically there within a very short space of time. The Global village has finally arrived and it is here to stay.
But coming back to the main topic, why then not also migrate when so many others have already done so? Well, personally i feel that one should stick to something, especially a country if you will, purely for the feel good reason. That is, this is the country of my birth, it is the country of my parents' birth. I feel reasonably comfortable in Malaysia. Sure, not everything goes my way and i'm not a privileged majority in terms of education, government jobs, licenses, pink share form entitlements etc etc etc. The creeping Islamization of Malaysia affects me and i sure as heck don't appreciate the criminalisation of my liberties. But I've never asked for anything from the Malaysian government as such and i doubt that i will ask of them very much in future. I'm proud of my own community in Malaysia and what they have achieved for themselves, sans the government's help. I have met so many of my fellow countrymen of all races who are talented, intelligent, resourceful and who are basically very nice people. Oh yes, some people speak very bitterly about issues but i take these with a generous pinch of salt. It doesn't do me in or make me keel over or fall under. I am wary of people who have migrated and come and tell me unflattering things about Malaysia because i believe that the right to do so rests with those who are STILL living working and building their lives in Malaysia. Once you have left, you have left for good. Don't bring up these issues with me anymore cos i am not interested to hear it from you. You have already left Malaysia, end of the story. But having met fellow countrymen of like persuasion as myself, i find that life in Malaysia, despite all the negative flak Malaysia/Malaysians get/s so often from outsiders or even from Malaysians themselves, is still good. We have a lot of asshole politicians in Malaysia who deserve to be lynched and served ass-up on the barbeque pit. But so many ordinary people in Malaysia are among some of the most gentle, decent, generous, innocent, easy-going people i have ever met. This is what really attracts me about Malaysia. Malaysian cities are generally ugly, teeming-over-the seams monstrosities. The charm, the heart and soul of Malaysia, lies in her countryside. I have been to rural places, smaller towns, hamlets where people will feed you simply because you are a stranger and you look hungry - free of charge. People who are gentle, kind, unhurried and basically with a heart and a soul to share with you. I am sad that creeping urbanisation has done away with so much of our countryside's finer charms and I feel disturbed that the rape of the land from sand mining to careless, unchecked development continues unabated. I sure hope that in our relentless march towards "developed nation" status, we do not forget what we were, what many of us still are, and do not turn into what so many others have tragically become.

General Elections just around the corner

I can smell it. The Barisan-owned papers are on the prowl for opposition blood and they have been playing up what are mostly non-issues recently. Pakatan Rakyat should start preparing for the general elections now.

I just watched a Cantonese period costume drama on tv while over at my daughter's baby-sitter's and it reminded me of what Asian culture, especially in olden times, entailed. An old but powerful matroness of a leading family in the city was the de facto absolute ruler in her household and she barked out orders at her whim and fancy. When her son dies of illness and leaves behind a widow, she gives the daughter-in-law ("DIL") hell. One day, DIL was falsely accused of adultery and to escape punishment DIL runs back to her maiden home. DIL confides her troubles to her brother who after much persuasion, convinces DIL to go back to her husband's home with him alongside as peace-maker. Once there the brother presents a gift to the old matroness and speaks frankly to the old matroness who gave him her promise that no ill-will was borne and that DIL would be well take care of. Having extracted that promise, DIL's brother returns home leaving DIL under the old matroness' supervision. Big mistake. And what does the old matroness do? She promptly tricks DIL into an "outing" and when they have arrived at the temple grounds, DIL is promptly told that she is to become a NUN to save the family face. The old matroness justifies her lying to DIL's brother as a way to avoid conflict and that no one has the right to interfere in her family's affairs. So DIL is shaved bald and puts on her nun's robes. DIL's brother upon learning of this is furious but is unable to do anything as the old matroness knows the city's governor.

I didn't watch any further but this story line is typical of Asian period costume dramas. The feudal system in all its face-saving glory is shown to the entire world. So much harm comes from wanting face or wanting to "save face". Face is so terrible that i understand that in China, even the China of today, "face" can be used as a weapon. We have become materially well-off today compared with a hundred years ago, but our culture has essentially remained the same. Perhaps in Malaysia we are more exposed to ideas from other countries due to our location and role as a great trading nation (Malaysia is afterall a nation of traders), but the feudal system is never far away. It manifests itself in our government: "do as i say, not as i do". Commands are issued and orders are obeyed. face is to be saved and given at all times. Don't get me wrong, face is not exclusive to us Asians, even foreigners, westerners, have their own version of face and saving face. But it is more pronounced here, sometimes very uncomfortably so. To the point of extreme ludicrosity. How can face or saving-face be more important than one's happiness, i ask? Isn't that what we all live for ultimately? To be happy?

Free the JIMI

OF ALL the rock guitarists ever to grace the face of God's green earth, none stand out as much as The One Jimi Hendrix who played the axe like a lover's tender embrace at the end of a long and hard day at work. I've been listening to "Voodoo Child's" Daddy-O since first i lent mein ears to Jimi's magic in a cassette tape playback and he sounds as good today as he first sounded to me back then. Jimi was a Soul Brother who crossed the Atlantic on both sides in a quest to bring spiritual and musical freedom to the oppressed masses of youths waking up everyday not knowing what to expect next. The bomb? the red "menace"? Vietnam?
Jimi's tender caresses of his guitar melted away hearts hardened by fear and the lost souls of the multitudes. This man had something to offer mankind in music much the same way as the prophets offered the word of God to those who would listen. I was enthralled by Jimi while in my school uniform and i am STILL enthralled by Jimi in my middle age today. There are no boundaries for Jimi, freedom was an ends to itself, never the means. "Manic Depression", "Angel", "Are you Experienced", "Gloria", so many many more of Daddy-O's melodies jingle up and down my consciousness, healing, touching the depths, lifting me up to the mores of a life the legend personified. I don't want to idolise Jimi. I respect his work profoundly and yet inside i know that no one would ever come close to his magic. Such a genius as he is produced but once in hundreds of years and but for the Grace of God is our link with the eternal. When he died in the fall of 1970, millions mourned the passing of music's greatest. Thanks to modern technology we have records to listen to. How many geniuses have passed away who were unrecorded, unrecognised, unfeted, unwept over? But Jimi Hendrix if you please.

World Cup Fever part 5

I wasn't too disappointed that England lost 4-1 to Germany because I had expected that England would at best, draw or at worst, lose to the Germans maybe by a goal or 2 goals worse come to worst. But i hadn't expected England to be so badly beaten. For the record, the final tally should have read Germany 4, England 2 - Frank Lampard's goal post hitter went right across that white goal post line and it IS a goal. The linesman and referee can both kiss my yellow ass for not seeing the obvious. Anyway, England's world cup hopes once again relegated to the rubbish bin of history. Let's hope that they start preparing NOW for the next world cup which is in 4 years' time and should be time plenty for them to assemble a decent national squad.

Which begs the question: England's decline as a footballing nation and in other fields of sports/non-sporting endeavour - is it irreversible?
When i was a student in England, my international friends, notably the French and German, spoke about how England, unlike Germany, was shackled by its historical ties. By virtue of its colonial past, the 19th century industrial revolution, etc England was mired in ways that Germany was not. England's infrastructure, like its national football squad today, was old and tired. Germany's was young and re-built out of the ashes of the second world war. England was obligated to care for its former colonies, Germany had almost no colonies save for a thumb-sized plot somewhere in central/southern Africa. England had a LOT of traditions (the Queen/King, the aristocracy, the old conventions) to live up to, less so Germany. England was caught up in its past, Germany was only too willing to forget its past or wish that parts of its past never happened. Would England, "the land of the setting sun" as some Japanese commentators put it, ever regain its former glory and retake its place as the world leader in sports, industry, science and the arts? Probably not.

Black Economy

Headlines in The Star today that Malaysia's black economy may be worth about RM10 billion (only?). I don't condone illegal activities any more than the next person in the street condones crime, but you have to ask yourself whether the government's less-than-transparent policies may have contributed to the growth in the underground economy in recent times. Let's face it, it is tough to get licenses from the government for the most profitable enterprises/businesses, most of which are jealously guarded and dished out to people with the right connections in politically sensitive places. Contracts are awarded not to people who can do the job but to people who are connected. land is sold not on open tender to the highest bidder but by "direct negotiations" like how most contracts are won. Race is besides the point. It is the connected who gain the lion's shares of licenses and contracts, not those who can get the job done best, cost-effectively and best quality-wise. If i cannot get a license and a government contract no matter how good i am, guess where i will turn my energies and talents to? I'd say RM10 billion is an understatement. The figure is likely to be several times more than that. Every next person i have ever met tries their level best to circumvent existing regulations and why not? They are oppressive regulations, they are unfair, they are a hindrance to good business. And yet they wonder WHY people resort to illegal businesses.

World Cup Fever Part 4

What a night for USA and England, allies in arms and comrades in football.
I was watching England's match against Slovenia while Dad watched USA vs Algeria in the next room. England's one and only goal by the man-of-the-hour Jermain Defoe put the red-garbed Lions back into the world cup running only 23 minutes into the first half. I was hoping for a second goal to boost the Lions even further but despite an opportunity given to Lampard shortly after Defoe's knee-socked goal and several decent tries by Wayne Rooney, it wasn't to be. Rooney played well and he made some solid attempts but his wings were clipped tonight by Someone Upstairs (?). Both Rooney and Defoe were substituted in the second half, probably to save them for the next match. 1-0 against Slovenia is not impressive and England needs to get its act together if it has any hopes of even reaching the quarter semi finals for this world cup. Decent goalkeeping tonight by England goalie David James.

As for the USA, well what can i say? a brilliant goal in stoppage time by the Captain of the non-footballing nation swept Algeria's world cup hopes into the metaphorical stadium gutters. The poor Algerian Captain got a red card and was sent off for rowing with the referee towards the end of the match. But the USA goal was good stuff, it was no fluke. Into the next 16 USA goes! Not bad USA, not bad at all.

World Cup fever, Part 3

Well i finally found out that Astro DOES telecast live world cup matches on their channel 810 (for Malaysia) without astro viewers having to subscribe to extra channels. I couldn't find this month's Astro magazine (I can never find it, someone has always recycled it prematurely or something) and it was by word of mouth that i came to know about Astro's world cup live channels. Anyway, last night i watched the Korea Republic v Argentina live match (final score: Korea Rep 1, Argentina 4). In the dying minutes of the 1st half of that match Korea Rep suddenly caught the Argentine defenders unawares and lobbed in a quick goal. But the Argentines came back in full force in second half to lob in 2 more goals to make it a total of 4 goals to show that theirs was no fluke.

Then i woke up early this morning and watched the highlights of mexico v france (final score: mexico 2, france 0). If it's any consolation to fans of France, the 1st goal looked suspiciously like an off-side let off by the referee while the 2nd goal was a penalty shot awarded over a bad luck tackle by France's Eric Abidal. Luck was on Mexico's side and a goal's a goal, so...

World Cup fever, part 2

I was watching world cup again last sunday on tv, this time the repeat telecast of the match between Spain and Poland. Spain played superbly, knocking in goal after goal after goal. At the 67th minute when Spain was 5-0 up against Poland (the final score was Spain 6, Poland 0), the cameras zoomed in on the Polish coach. If a picture could speak a thousand words, then "agonized", "worried", "looks of consternation", "grim-faced" came to mind. Spain is looking very sharp indeed. Wonder how they'd stack up against the samba boys (Brazil)?

World Cup fever

I've just watched the game between Brazil and Tanzania in which the samba boys won hands down 5-1 against the Tanza boys. It was a nice game. Watching my favourite team brazil is sheer pleasure. Their prowess in football is the stuff of legends. They dance with the ball. I'm hoping the yellow jersey and blue shorts will win this world cup. I don't usually watch football except for the world cup, but even kaki bangkus such as myself can enjoy a good game of football once a while. And the world cup is that once-in-a-while occasion to kick back and just relax and watch the 20 men run up and down the green field and display their athletic and sporting agility as i sit on an armchair with a hot glass of coffee/milk tea in hand. Curiously, the only other team i would root for is England but i don't think they're going to walk away with the world cup. I don't even dream of England repeating their 1966 feat, not by a long shot or unless they're extraordinarily lucky. Everytime they come up against germany or arch-rivals argentina, i'm sad to say, they fail to shine. So England, unless you can prove me a punk-ass, i'm not putting my hopes in you. But in Samba we trust. Go Samba Go!

cut the red tape

The recent announcement to extend the deadline from 15 June to 1st July and waive the RM10 licence fee for an estimated 70,000 retailers nationwide to apply for a licence to sell sugar, cooking oil and flour was made in response to growing disenchantment among small retailers against the government's decision to impose a licence for selling these basic necessities. This is despite the above concessions and the promise by the government that they will issue the licence within a day. Fast and cheap, it seems, doesn't put a dent to small retailers' beef that yet another licence would add to their growing list of licences to apply for to do business. They have a legitimate grouse. The main problem here is the hoarding and smuggling of sugar. Now why is our sugar being hoarded locally and smuggled abroad to neighbouring countries? Because it is a price-controlled item and subsidised by the government hence making it relatively cheaper compared with the sugar in our neighbouring countries. I reckon the solution to this problem is to cut sugar (and other) subsidies gradually - not by introducing more red tape and more bureaucracy to our already considerable mass of red tape and obese-to-the-hilt bureaucracy. What is the point of having the Performance and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) and talents like Dato' Sri Idris Jala on board to advise the government on how to streamline the bureaucracy and cut red tape if we are going to increase bureaucracy and red tape at the end of the day? This isn't about issuing licences within a day or cutting the RM10 fee. It's about the hassle of having to apply for licences for everything from setting up your business to advertising your signboard and now to selling basic essentials like sugar, cooking oil and flour. Just cut out government subsidies. Cut it out gradually, for example, 20 sen this year, another 20 sen next year, etc. Whatever. When prices of our gasoline, sugar, cooking oil, flour and other items rise to their true free market prices, the smuggling and hoarding will cease automatically. It will save the government heaps of dough, and people will over time (crying shouting screaming and gnashing of teeth notwithstanding) get used to paying market prices for essential goods. Just don't add more regulations and choke out business. We do want to streamline the business of government, right? We want more efficiency and less cost, right? Ok, then stop imposing new licences/regulations, improve on the existing regulatory/enforcement framework, cut the subsidies. I suggest that on the latter point the government show more backbone/moral courage and go ahead with what was recommended by Dato' Sri Idris Jala. Go ahead and cut the damned subsidies. Stop spoiling the children.

Days of Wrath

The freedom flotilla to the Gaza strip's 9 dead and 60 injured (?) made headlines for the past week. I'm not privy to middle eastern politics and as an outsider i have no right to meddle in the affairs of others especially when the situation is as serious as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So i can only comment as an interested by-stander as in what happens there does have an effect on me, geographically separated by oceans and thousands of miles notwithstanding. Indeed, it affects the rest of the world.

As far back as i can remember there have been war after war after wars fought since the creation of Israel. Israel has so far only signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan by virtue of, respectively, the Camp David peace accords brokered by then US President Jimmy Carter in 1978 and the Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty of 1994. Other than these 2 Arab countries, none of Israel's other immediate and adjacent neighbours made peace or officially recognised the Jewish state's right to exist. In essence, Israel has been in an official state of perpetual war because of this lack of an overall consensus among Arab states as to official recognition of the jewish state's right to exist. Sans 1948 or 1967 borders. It is interesting to note that neither the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) nor Hamas recognise Israel's right to exist, their maps show only Palestine. Not a square inche of land is marked as Israel. (Blogger's post-blog note: Incorrect. the PLO DID recognise Israel's right to exist in 1993 and formalised later in the historic Oslo peace accords brokered by then US President Bill Clinton and signed with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin himself was later assassinated by a Right-wing Jewish extremist for his part in reaching the Oslo Peace Accords with the PLO in which Israel in return recognised the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Only Hamas has remained steadfast - till today - in its refusal to recognise the right of Israel to exist - my apologies for the oversight on my part. But official recognition notwithstanding, the late PLO chairman Yasser Arafat's statements to the press from time to time in which he cited instances from the Prophet Mohamed's life to justify cutting a deal with the enemy as a means to ultimately destroy the enemy was unhelpful to say the least).

In this context, you would understand why Israel is always on the edge and its security checks on all border crossings into Palestinian territories are detailed and exhaustive. The freedom flotilla may be nobly motivated. But who is to stop unscrupulous quarters from smuggling in weapons, for example, a dirty bomb that could be delivered right smack into the heart of Israel propelled by a katyusha rocket? Therefore Israel's absolute insistence that the ships be first checked at its port before anything else. This isn't state terrorism, it's state security. And it's a very real and present danger which cannot be dismissed or brushed aside in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Israeli operation to board the freedom flotilla was done rather badly. Yes, it was a botched operation. Yes, it was stupid. Made worst by the loss of lives on that fateful night when the organisers of the freedom flotilla decided it was time to set a course for the Gaza strip. Perhaps the results could have been different had they been intercepted during the daytime. We shall never know. What is done cannot be undone. But the actions taken by the Israelis while stupid, badly executed and unfortunate, was necessitated by the realities on the ground. They should not be made to shoulder the blame for this tragedy entirely. The organisers of the freedom flotilla should have known better than to undertake such a foolhardy and reckless adventure. One would think they knew what they were doing when they assumed the risks. Well, now we know the outcome. The organisers of the freedom flotilla are ultimately as responsible for the deaths of the 9 people on board the freedom flotilla as the security apparatus of Israel. And that's the naked truth as far as i can tell.

spend spend spend or save save save

I've just had a double heap of mountainously teeming-over spoonfuls of vanilla Wall's ice-cream and it's almost time for Yours Truly to hit the sack. But having gorged on dinner's desserts and with my tummy taken care of, i got to thinking about what Paul Krugman, Economics Nobel Prize winner, had to say about the current ascendency of fiscal consolidation over quantitative easing in the minds of policymakers worldwide. Old Paul thinks that governments shouldn't rein in the horses not yet anyway, while growth is tentative and the recovery is still fragile. And he's about right on quite a few points there. To raise interest rates dramatically, slash govt spending on welfare would crimp the spenders for sure and lead to less business. But on the other hand, higher interest rates after a record zero interest rate regime in the USA for the longest time known - ever - wouldn't be such a bad thing either. People would, in the USA at least, be motivated to start saving for a change. There would be less foreclosures when people have a nest egg. The mortgage crises would see improvement. Sure, borrowing costs would go up. But reckless lending has been the bane of us all this recent while, no? So some control on lending, especially of the reckless kind, would be welcome surely. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. We can't continue to spend spend spend. And we can't all become Scrooge McDucks. Someone has to bring balance to the force.

Reality bites

Well folks, belt-tightening time! The government has finally decided to set a time-table to "rationalise" subsidies ranging from sugar, cooking oil, flour to education, healthcare, highway tolls (i.e. highways with trunk/toll-free road alternative), gas and petrol. I 100% welcome this move which is the right move and a courageous move. It's time we were weaned off our addiction to subsidies and faced the real world. In this age of the global village, subsidies have no place. There will be political repercussions though, and managing those will of course be a top priority for the powers-that-be. The irony is that doing the right thing may land you in hot soup sometimes. But hey, who said that doing the right thing was easy?

The case for a two-party system in Malaysia

In Malaysia we have been ruled continuously by the Barisan Nasional government under various coalition names for the past 53 years. That's a long stretch by anyone's imagination and we have seen tremendous progress over that same time frame. But we have also seen numerous and colossal blunders from (to name just a few off-hand) the Bank Bumiputra-Carrian Group Scandal of the late 70s in which Jalil Ibrahim, the bank bumiputra auditor sent to Hong Kong to investigate the Scandal and who uncovered evidence of wrongdoing was murdered in Hong Kong (Jalil's murder case has not been solved to this day - the culprits were never brought to justice), highway concessions which were veiled in secrecy, privatisations carried out in name only but which really awarded largesse to politically-connected companies and now the Altantuya murder scandal which until today has never been clearly investigated and subject to scrutiny. We have had people like Mahathir saying that we should be "grateful" for government largesse and hence vote for the government. Wrong. The largesse comes from tax payers and the government is beholden to, never the master of the people. Gratitude does not figure in the picture unless you are corrupted so hopelessly that you see yourself as the giver of alms to a poor and deprived people when you yourself are being paid out of their pockets. What cheek, what temerity! I always get mad whenever the "gratitude" or "loyalty" card is bandied about. Voters have the right to vote for whomever they chose. Our votes cannot be bought. If we let our votes be bought we deserve the government that we get. And we haven't had a very good government so far.

Which goes to say lots about how we as a people are and what we are made of. Your vote is a precious commodity and before you exercise your vote you need to think seriously about the consequences of who you vote for. Cos you will be stuck with the donkey or monkey or hare or turtle that you voted for, for the next 5 years.

In Britain there are the Conservatives and Labour parties. In USA, the Republicans (GOP) and the Democrats. Even in India now there is the Congress (I) Party and the BJP. They all enjoy a 2-party system. I'm not saying that a 2-party system is the best thing but it is the minimal that a true democracy should grant its people. Otherwise, what is the point of an elections? It will just be a formality to re-appoint the same old faces to the seat of power.

Remember, the people whom you vote for has the power to pass laws that affect you. They have the power to decide how much taxes you pay, how those taxes will be spent, the educational policies, your future, your kids' future and the future direction of the country.

In a 2-party system, say if Malaysia has Barisan Nasional and the Pakatan Rakyat, it is simple straightforward and better. If Barisan fails to perform, vote them out. Vote in Pakatan. If Pakatan fails to perform, vote them out and vote in Barisan. In this way the politicians will be accountable and made to bear the burden of their policies. If they administer in a "As-I-Please" way, they will be booted out next elections. This is the true essence of a democracy. Not just to formally observe elections and put the same people back to power again regardless of what they do or say. Don't vote tribal, don't vote ethnic. Vote for who is more accountable. If they are not accountable, kick them out. Simple as that.

The time for a 2-party system in Malaysia is long overdue. I am sick of hearing people complain and bitch but at elections vote back the same clowns who gave them a hard time. Use your vote and don't take it lightly. Vote for the alternative if the incumbent is not performing. Don't settle for cheap slogans and cheap hand-outs. You deserve better. Your kids deserve better.

Ohh oooo looks like shitty days once more

This morning i logged on and found the local bourse had dipped below 1,300 points in as many as several months now after Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's triumphant declaration that the US economy is out of the woods. Well, the US economy may be out of the woods, but Europe sure ain't getting out of the briars not yet by a long shot. In February this year i wrote about the coming great bust of 2010. My prediction looks almost like coming true earlier than i had thought. What with the sovereign debt crises in Greece/Europe, China's recent tightening of credit to stem property speculation and our nascent/very wobbly recovery and raising of interest rates, the stockmarket unsurprisingly took a dive. But perhaps it's just going to be the stockmarket taking a battering/going into correction mode and NOT the economy as a whole. Singapore registered its strongest first quarter growth since the 70s and we're doing pretty well too. Bargain-hunting time? Little grasshopper, the tender green shoots of recovery may remain tender for some time yet. I was really hoping nay, praying even for "De-coupling" vis-a-vis the Developed countries such as USA & Europe versus the BRIIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China). But it looks like babylon (Europe) may yet bring us all down like a house of cards. Now is the time to see whether De-coupling has a place in our common vocabulary or it's just wishful thinking/pipedreams. As Suze Orman says and Yours Truly couldn't agree more with her: "Remember, people first then money then stuff". Suze my darling pumpernickel, you're the best.

light and easy

I've always been a big proponent/fan of renewable energy in general and solar power in particular. Hitherto i had always held the idealized belief that solar power is a never-ending and perpetual source of power with zero emissions and is 100% environmentally-friendly. But when i delved deeper into the subject today, i discovered that there may be a darker side to solar power as well as its obvious benefits. You see, currently a lot of solar power is produced by old-fashioned solar panels. The manufacturing of solar panels requires polysilicon, a material which is made from silicon. In the process of making polysilicon, a waste/by-product is produced, called silicon tetrachloride. Now silicon tetrachloride can be processed and recycled safely at high temperatures (1,800 degrees Fahrenheit) and put back into the production process. But this processing entails high investment costs and time. According to a Washington Post article dated March 9, 2008 by Ariana Enjung Cha, in China the problem is some companies that make polysilicon dump the waste/by-product silicon tetrachloride unprocessed in the factory's immediate surrounding countryside areas. Yep, just like that and easy as pie. Unprocessed silicon tetrachloride releases highly toxic and corrosive hydrochloric acid ("HCL" - remember secondary school chemistry class? yep the same stuff, old HCL) and generates fine powder silicon dioxide which is so fine that it can be easily ingested or inhaled. HCL is produced when silicon tetrachloride reacts with water in the soil. Crops cannot grow in this and it is certainly not suitable for people to live nearby. For each tonne of polysilicon produced, the process generates at least 4 tonnes of silicon tetrachloride liquid waste. And some Chinese companies manufacturing polysilicon have been dumping their unprocessed silicon tetrachloride wastes right outside their factories where there are rural communities living on and working the land. Crops die and the peasants complain but nothing is done except denials from the bosses and a promise from the local authorities to "look into the matter". Companies save a lot of money by not treating their silicon tetrachloride wastes. As you can imagine, the margin thins dramatically when you have to foot a huge electricity bill and additional manpower/time spent just to treat your waste/by-product. The solution? Just dump it.
In Malaysia we already have a solar power outfit "First Solar" operating a RM2 billion plant in Kulim, Kedah and it recently expanded its production lines there. Next to come to Malaysia, that is in Malacca where Yours Truly is domiciled, is another solar power outfit called Sun Power, a San Jose, California based company founded in 1985 (First Solar is also a US company). It's a given that they will be manufacturing solar panels which require polysilicon as raw material. Not a problem. Problem is when someone sets up a factory to produce polysilicon here and the aforementioned potentialities ala China, may then surface. If they are importing polysilicon say from China, we will not suffer the ill-effects of indiscriminate dumping of silicon tetrachloride here. I hope.

On a brighter note, there is new technology that doesn't require polysilicon, for example "Solar Paint" developed by Nanosolar (a solar power outfit also based in San Jose, California)and "Solar Ink". Popular Science magazine's Michael Moyer writes: "Imagine a solar panel without the panel. Just a coating, thin as a layer of paint that takes light and converts it to electricity. Popular Science's Innovation of the Year for 2007 is a solar cell that can be printed like paper and applied to roofs or any other flat surface, delivering solar energy at 1/10th the cost of a traditional glass and silicon cell."

One hopes that First Power and Sun Power will invest in Solar Paint/Solar Ink as well as producing traditional solar power panels. Woe betide us if anyone decides to make polysilicon in Malaysia, decides to save some money/increase profits the easy way and not process its waste/by-product silicon tetrachloride but just dumps it all in some kampung. Remember Asian Rare Earth's case in Bukit Merah, Perak during the 80s? I liked HCL better in the confines of my secondary school chemistry laboratory.

Miracle in Sibu

A few days ago Yours Truly made a dire prediction that the Sibu, Sarawak Parliamentary by-election would go the same way as the one in Hulu Selangor, Selangor. That massive vote-buying, promises of cash and aid infusions and "development" projects from the government would sway voters into voting for the government as it swayed the people of Hulu Selangor. I was wrong. The Opposition has won the Sibu seat, albeit by a slim majority of 398 votes. My respect for the people of Sarawak has gone up by at least 5 points (10 being perfect)to the region of 7 1/2. Perhaps it was the choice of candidate which mattered at the end of the day but the fact is that the people of Sibu rejected the corrupt and welcomed into their fold a veteran opposition campaigner who had thus far not won in any of the elections which he had thrown his hat in. This is good news indeed, it is very encouraging news and there is a ray of light. My hopes for a just and vibrant democracy in Malaysia hs revived and come back to life again. I am planning a little celebratory feast tomorrow.

Oily mess

The oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico has resulted in another catastrophic oil spill the likes of which have been unmatched since the Exxon Valdez tanker spill off the coast of Alaska on March 24, 1989. But it's unlikely that they can avert oil spills in future since there is always the risk of another oil rig exploding or an oil tanker hitting the rocks no matter how detailed the precautionary measures taken. All of which is even more convincing evidence of why we need to move away from reliance on fossil fuels as an energy source and explore and develop renewable energy sources such as solar, wind or ocean wave power. There will always be industrial uses for oil in plastics and fertilizers, but the bulk of oil consumed today is to supply our energy demand. Fossil fuel has been around for only a short 2 centuries, on an industrial scale at least, and the damage it has wrought on the environment has been nothing but short of catastrophic. It threatens our very survival as a species. For ancient fuel we have sacrificed clean air, clean environment for the smoggy choke of our cities. The costs in terms of health care and damage to the environment alone would make economic sense not to use oil as an energy source or at least to move away from oil immediately. With the age of the internet where the world wide web is a treasure trove of information and research tools, one hopes that research and development of renewable energy sources, especially solar power and its storage capabilities, will be greatly enhanced. Imagine waking up every morning to breath clean, pure air! No carbon monoxide emissions, no combustion engine produced CO2 added to the greenhouse effect, cars running on highly efficient solar panels with batteries to store enough solar power for a 100km drive! Will this become a reality for our children? Let's do it. We can, we can, we can.

dulled and duller

i don't know what, it must be the current prolonged hot spell combined with the staidness of sleepy hollow that makes a man feel out of sorts in all sorts of ways. Outwardly i'm the same as usual, but inside there is a puppy howling to be let out. This is when i feel like taking a trip OUT of the Golden Chersonese and be away for maybe a week or so - so that i can regain my lost perspective on things important and not-so-important. One gets mired in the customary pettiness of day-to-day living simply by being fixed to one place and routine for too long. My cough has almost completely cured itself, after a dose of antibiotics and boiled menthol leaves over a span of 1 1/2 weeks - which prescription was responsible for curing me I cannot tell. ok, first things first. The reason why over 300,000 fellow countrymen have emigrated abroad in the last couple of years? Well for all the usual reasons. Politics, a sense of grievance, greener pastures (this is probably the greatest lure) and a sense of despondency over the state of this here our dear old Golden Chersonese. An old uncle friend kept saying to me whenever we met up: "Get out now while you are still young!" Uncle I'm not young (but i didn't let slip my chronological age to dear old uncle. People always assume that yours truly is young but some are smart enough to suspect otherwise). Uncle was convinced that sleepy hollow was a dying community. And he's probably right in many ways. Short of being overawed by the voting pattern in the next general election which i wearily predict will return the same old folks to their accustomed seats of power (hey look at Hulu Selangor and coming soon-to-be Sibu) and you'll see what i mean. I always could depend on our voters voting intelligently. Or not. So the sense of despondency hangs thick and creepily in the air. Confounding me, adding to my asthmatic cough. The thickness which i caanot swallow anyway at all easily. Oh Lord pity me, a fool! Someone wrote a poem about that. Nice things in life come at a price, so i have grown to believe in a dark despairing way. Nothing oh nothing save perhaps for the love of God, is free. No one is holding you back, and yet you let yourself be a "victim" of circumstance. The loneliness of the long distance runner - aye, if only my hip allows me to run as before. I can understand why people pop themselves. Life is too dull, too tragic, too unbearably stupid and brutal for some of us to put up with. But most of us are too cowardly to take our own lives. And not courageous enough to live it to its fullest. We exist in a twilight of the almost-netherworld, neither living nor dead. Just existing, as a HongKong friend in a moment of quiet reflection once told me. We exist simply because we are afraid. We vote for the same people simply because we are afraid. We let fear govern our lives. We are not strong enough, not brave enough, to change our destinies. Well, but life has to go on! There was the black death, and life went on. There was WW1, and life went on. WW2, and life continued. The polar caps are melting, so what life goes on. It goes on and on and on. Says Monty Python : Always Look On The Bright Side of Life. Oh brother we must!

fevered ramblings

a dry hacking cough, fever at 38 degrees celcius and bed-ridden for most of this afternoon was how yours truly came to be. i gallantly went to work till shortly after 11.20am today when the dry hacking coughs made their presence volubly heard in my office. Not wanting to waste more manpower by transmitting my flu/cough viruses to my esteemed co-workers, i took MC for the rest of the day. The Minah at the company clinic was wearing a surgical mask when i explained to her how i probably caught the flu/cough from my mum. The stetoscope, tongue depresssor and head thermometer examination was over fairly quickly and she prescribed some antibiotics, cough syrup and fever pills. On my way home i dropped by at the local wet market to pick up some papayas and pineapples, fruits that i like to think will have a beneficial effect on my sickly condition. Reached home and quickly showered, had my lunch and took the minah's medicines and went straight to bed. Woke up around 3pm, had a tea of sliced peeled apples (2 apples) took the minah's medicines again and read today's papers and a book. Time runs really slowly when you're not working. Then when you're working it doesn't run fast enough for you to clock off work and run back into the safety of home and hearth. But anyway, the flu virus seems to be everywhere now so a word of caution to my friends and the wise : stay away from crowds. unless your own brings home the virus, which means you're fated to be sick.

I'm almost tempted to go for the free H1N1 flu jabs at the government clinic nearby but most of people i spoke to have shyed away due to fears about getting sicker or possible side-effects after receiving the H1N1 jabs. But the thought continues to play out in my head and i will probably make up my mind about whether to get the free H1N1 jab over the next few days.

Headlines news today: Malaysia to get 1st nuclear power plant up and running by 2021. I don't want to sound like a wet blanket, but as i recall in the not-too-distant past calls have been made loud and clear to preserve south east asia as a nuke-free zone much in the same spirit as New Zealand? But having said that, i do recognise the need to source for power other than our oil and coal power stations. Hmmm, i hope our nuclear power plant won't be like the power plants in SimCity that explode after 20 years. And i think of how they're going to get rid of the nuclear waste. Cruises to nowhere? load them onto ships and keep paying the sailors, hahaha. But what about solar power? We're practically drenched in sun in Malaysia, no fear of lingering overcast days here. Anyway, whatever the outcome, let's pray and hope that we live to see our kids/grandkids live in a safe and secure environment free of the mushroom cloud.

Auditor-general's report be damned

Remember last year's auditor-general's report on government contracts and procurements for over-priced computers and furniture? a set of jacks for many times more than what you can buy off the shelf? Well, now how about a defence contract worth over RM8 billion tentatively to be awarded to a local company (DRB-Hicom BHd's wholly-owned unit Deftech) for 257 armored personnel carriers (APCs) priced at around RM31.12 million each APC, which is about 6 times more expensive than an American make or about 3 times more expensive than a German-Dutch make? Yaaaay! we can afford it! And we can build our very own too! It's ok that they cost several times more than tried-and-tested APCs available in the open market, cos what's important is we be self-sufficient, right? who cares about comparative advantages or our lack of it as such? We have our own national car already, now let's start on the big bucks department, military hardware and equipment! Hmmm, if we bought it for say a third of RM8 billion, we'd save about, say conservatively estimated, over RM5 billion? RM5 billion would buy a heck lot of schools, hospitals, public services, right? Naaaaaah! Let's just throw money around like it's going out of fashion. after all, there's lots lots lots more where that came from. Auditor-General's report be damned.

learning to fly

Work-related stress is probably the Number One cause of much unhappiness in many households today. Learning how to cope with stress, stress management is a skill i would like to learn. Just today i was feeling quite irritable and tired after work. My wife was having diarrhea after holidaying abroad last weekend and she hadn't recovered even 4 days after coming home. We went to see a doctor and i gave her token words of comfort but inside i was really hoping that she would get well again quickly, immediately, and not get us bogged down in sickness. i wanted her to be well again for my own selfish reasons. i should have been more sympathetic to her just as she would surely have shown great sympathy for me had i been the sick one. But it really wasn't about her or her being sick. It was rooted in my having had a long day at the office, things not working out as i'd like them to be, mistakes at work which, had i been more meticulous and careful, could have been avoided. All of which rolled together into a tangled ball of stress that i couldn't untangle out of on my own. And so i took it out on my wife who was feeling poorly. i blamed her for being weak and for falling sick so often eventhough this was something that one couldn't assign blame for. It's funny how easily we look for a convenient scapegoat whenever things don't run smoothly for us. it's always somebody else's fault, not ours. So this general moodiness and irritability carried on even after dinner, but thanks to recently having prayed more often than before, i maintained a slender but tenacious grasp on hope and inner peace. While visiting our daughter at the baby sitter's i played with our daughter and made her laugh out loud in delight. That took away the tightly-wound up ball of stress immediately. Hearing her little shrieks of joy had a deeply therapeutic effect on myself that i simply cannot describe sufficiently in words. You have to experience it personally to understand how that felt. And it felt good. Other self-help measures such as prayer helped too. The root of one's unhappiness can often be traced back to events that happened at the office/outside and work-related stress. All sorts of hardships and challenges do and they will come. It's important not to be too sucked in by the nitty-gritty details and to be able to take a calm and peaceful step back and put matters into perspective. It's work it isn't anything else really. And work will never finish. But one keeps at it all the same and commit to even more effort and sustained effort at that, come what may. Work-related stress shouldn't be brought home to spoil your day and your relationship with your loved ones. It should be left at the office. It's difficult to untangle oneself from the ball of stress, sometimes almost impossible to get out of the trap. I am rather thankful that the laughter of a baby could help me achieve that. And so effortlessly too, at that. :)

elected to serve, not to own

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was quoted as saying that Hulu Selangor had traditionally been a Barisan stronghold but was "on loan to PKR for a while". He was quoted as saying: "The time has come for the loan to lapse and the seat to be returned to Barisan".

Pardon me, Mr. Prime Minister. Neither Barisan Nasional nor Pakatan Rakyat "own" Hulu Selangor or Malaysia for that matter. The voters elect a representative to Parliament to carry out their manifest will, not for someone to be a vehicle for his party to do as the party bosses please. You are elected as a servant to listen to the voices on the ground and to serve them. You do not "own" anything. A Parliamentary or a state seat or any elected position is not a property nor a commodity for you to own or to run as your own personal fiefdom and to barter, trade and buy or sell as you will. Get that straight.

Holiday in sleepy hollow

Writer and sasterawan Salleh Ben Joned who was born in rural Malacca pretty much sums it all up about Malacca when he wrote about his "poor beloved Melaka", "sad Old Melaka", "Sleepy Hollow" - all fitting epithets to describe old Malacca in much the same way that it is known today as it has been known since years of yore and lore. Property prices in Malacca uncommonly gain/appreciate in value and when they do it is usually at sleepy hollow pace, businesses here typically move at a very "as i please" pace and its people are kind but generally frown upon outside attempts to hurry and punctualise Malaccans. I'm writing this on a hot and bright afternoon in sleepy hollow, the air so thick and humid, the heat so radiant from outside that i bask in its baking glow even from within a construct of bricks concrete and mortar. Malacca Malacca what can i say about you that hasn't already been said and written? Today the 7th anniversary of our "historical city day" will no doubt pass with little fanfare outside of officialdom. People going about their business as they please, as they like. And i actually like it. This grows on you. I don't mean that if you stay in malacca you will be condemned to a culture of laziness and complacency (some undoubtedly believe that) but the pace of life here is slow enough to render a certain healthful contentment to me. I'm a rusher alright, don't get me wrong but sometimes i admire folks of the more relaxed type. They're unhurried, they do what they do as and when they like and they finish it when they jolly well feel like it. Before you roll over belly-up laughing and fat ass all over the floor, consider this - in a state with a total population of about three-quarters of a million, a mere town over 7 years ago and inducted into cityhood by grace of political patronage, people generally agree that Malacca is a nice place to bring up your kids, it is a safe place. So if i can take safety as a plus and not get totally sucked into the lazy-and-complacent mindset, life here can be good.
I don't expect to make megabucks in old sleepy hollow, i don't expect corporate types to make a big imprint on anything in poor old melaka. i expect life to go on here as it always has with me right smack in the middle of it. And happily too, i hope. i pray even ;-)

nigga4life

i went out for lunch yesterday and again someone brought up the issue of the 5% government tax at fastfood outlets such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. Rumors have been circulating that Malays are exempted from paying the tax after a meal while non-Malays are charged. Anyway, one of my lunchtime associates asked a man-about-town to confirm whether the rumors were true. man-about-town confirmed that the rumors were true - he personally went out to pizza hut for a meal and asked a Malay buddy to get the bill. And Lo and behold, the bill was indeed cheaper when paid by a Malay. Immediately i asked but isn't this practice illegal? My lunchtime associates laughed. I also queried how they could ascertain whether the customer was malay or non-Malay since some Malays looked like non-Malays and vice-versa? No one could answer me on that point. I surmised that if indeed there was this practice, it can't be company policy or the law (as far as i know the sales and service tax applies uniformly acorss the board regardless of race) but rather some miscreant employees sympathising with poor malays and not charging them 5% govt tax. But wouldn't they be caught by the fastfood outlet Manager when they balance the cashier's till at the end of each day? Hmmmm

the importance of being earnest

Going out on a field project today with my office co-worker we got to talking as he drove me in his proton waja to the project site which is just a little out of town. We talked about everything and anything - politics, the government in Malaysia, the MCA, the government's affirmative action programmes, kids, you name it, we probably talked about it. He is a Straits-born baba-nyonya and he is very experienced when it comes to field work so he led me along and i mostly listened. Work apart, i found his views interesting and yet somewhat unsettling. He felt that all government projects, especially projects in Malacca, were a means to an end. the means was the project, the ends was kick-backs and bribes returned for securing the projects, into the pockets of our state politicians. While at the project itself that we visited we heard of a request from a JKK (Jawatan Kuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung - Village Development & Safety Committee) member that the non-bumi lots facing his house lying just outside the project boundary be moved so that his house would face the bumi lots. The allocation of bumi lots in any project in Melaka is usually about 60% of all lots and the blueprint is drawn up by the state government solely without the developer's influence or input. So this request from the JKK member came as a surprise. Coming back to my co-worker, he felt that projects such as the airport expansion plan in malacca was done to grease state politicians' pockets. "Why do they do it there and not somewhere else where there is empty land? You see, when they acquire land where there is housing already they get kick-backs too". On the journey home we spoke awhile about other things such as the government's allocations for vernacular schools. His take: "Well, they take nice photos with a big mock cheque but later when they cash the cheque it always bounces one". He even thought that fast food outlets such as KFC and McDonald's charged non-bumis service tax of 5% but exempted Malays from paying service tax. He was positive that his sources were true. When we were at the project i was approached by a man whose wife was a Sarawakian bumi. He wanted to know if his wife, being a bumi, was entitled to the bumi discount and could buy a bumi lot. We told him that under existing Malacca State land regulations they could not qualify for bumi lots as the bumi lots are reserved for Malays only. The man said:" Well, then they should say in the poster only for Malays instead of for Bumis which is misleading". Another non-bumi visitor openly voiced his dissatisfaction with the status quo and wondered if his children would rebel against this system. "We can take it, but how do we explain this to them?" was his take. On the road home later my co-worker told me that corrupt officials loved to resort to court action because all the judges were on their (the corrupt politicians') side.

I've heard about enough and this comes up all the time. Jaundiced views or close approximations to the truth, your guess is as good as mine. I am surprised that people believe half the things they believe, some of which are true and others a wildly exaggerated version of somebody's experience heard via hearsay. The bottom line is that the Malaysian government's credibility is very low and this makes it all the harder for the government to do its job. How do you perform when people are so willing to believe the worst things about you? As i write this i believe that the government has just come up with the broad brush strokes of the New Economic Model. I hope that they get it right at the implementation level especially and make sure that state governments conform to the liberalised regime and not merely carry on with business as usual. By golly, one gets tired of hearing the same old hash over and over and over again.

a tale of 2 cities

i'm driving up to kuala lumpur today after having gone down to singapore a few days ago. i don't make it a habit to go to singapore as often as when i was younger mainly because the exchange rate makes buying more expensive in the island republic, but when i do go i always observe what has changed about singapore. and what i saw this time took my breath away. we didn't have to drive around, we took the MRT tubes to where-ever we wanted to go and the MRTs were fast and on time and they had MRT stations conveniently located in almost every conceivable place. The escalators in orchard road were fast. HDB housing areas were clean and well-maintained. In all the public toilets i used the flush was strong and the toilets clean. Road signs were clear and helpful, you could actually trust in their road signs to get you to where you wanted to go. Singaporeans, particularly the younger generation, were polite and civic-minded. i have had doors opened for me, sorrys and excuse mes when i was bumped into, no queue jumpers at eateries, polite drivers on the road. in short, they reminded me of when i am visiting a developed country. Of course, Singaporeans themselves would beg to differ: they are unhappy with the high cost of living, ERP road tolls, foreigners taking away their jobs housing school places etc all the normal grouses that you'd expect locals to bear against their government just as we in Malaysia do. But while Singaporeans grumble about social realities, they grudgingly concur when i pointed out all the good things their government had laid on the table for their convenience. Sadly, we Malaysians do not enjoy such amenities.
It is true that many foreigners make their way to singapore to eke out a living. One of my friends who is a lawyer told me how he interviewed over 300 job applicants for the position of secretary and almost ALL were foreigners, be it malaysians, myanmareans, indonesians, etc. i spoke to my sister's filipino maid and she told me in equally gushing terms of how living in singapore was good compared to the corruption and backwardness back home. "oh we do have the shopping places too but here you get all the latest IT gadgets". Another friend told me of his long walks across parks linked together by park connectors or bridges linking certain big parks in singapore together so that walkers could have uninterrupted nature rambles at their leisure. This isn't possible in kuala lumpur. the more i look at things the more i felt a tinge of sadness and remorse. one feels like a hungry child staring at all the cake goodies through the shop window. Why can't we make the same great strides towards developed nation status as singapore? Back in the 50s, 60s even right up to the mid-70s the Malaysian Ringgit was on parity level with the Singapore dollar. the current exchange rate is about S$1 to RM2.39. In Kuala Lumpur we have ugly massive concrete pillars supporting our monorails which aren't quite as fast and on time as we'd like them to be. There is little greenery in Kuala Lumpur. But i admit that the road system in Kuala Lumpur has improved much over the years. However, the lack of public transport is something which only the government has the resources to develop and this is sorely lacking in Kuala Lumpur. This isn't something new, my story. People say the grass is greener on the other side. Well, i have actually been to the other side and it is a manicured lawn. I just hope that someday we will reach developed nation status and not have to encounter too many hiccups along the way. Our politicians bicker and fight over scraps while others zoom by us. The people who run singapore focus on the job at hand and get it done, no nonsense and no excuses accepted. We have progressed haphazardly while they have made giant leaps over the same time frame. Will our politicians quit fucking around and please wake the fuck up?

Timely Rain

A few days ago the first blessed showers to break the recent dry spell fell, much to everyone's relief. We take a lot of things for granted in our little corner of the globe. Fresh water supply for one. If the El Nino-induced drought dragged on for longer our water dams would very soon run dry and we'd be rationing water. Like during that very severe drought in the early 90s when everyone bought buckets and waited for the water truck or took showers at relatives' houses which had wells.
It rained again today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more rain. And for God's blessings. We have much to be grateful for. Lest we forget how fragile we are.

Sign of the Times

The Lunar New Year has come and gone. Earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, Taiwan, Japan and now Turkey. The hot and dry season beats down with unrelenting dullness - I'm challenged enough to NOT be dulled and so far i'm ok. In Europe, floods and wet weather. The local economy seems to be on an uptrend, the local stock market post-Lunar New Year is rallying once again. Interest rates are "normalising" (a tick up). I'm changing jobs. The governing party is trying to buy over enough MPs to form a two-thirds majority in Parliament so that it can re-draw electoral constituencies in its favour. Some MPs take the money. Some take promotions. Our oil is going to run out in about 20 years.

Ahhh March, life goes on.

Freedom: Too much or too little?

Read a NST news report on Tuesday, Feb 16 that Kelantan Menteri Besar and PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat also known affectionately as "Tok Guru" observed that: "cases of babies being abandoned are the result of too much freedom among the youth". I can't tell whether he is mis-quoted and after all, this is the NST we are talking about, the government mouthpiece, but i'd like to share some thoughts on the subject of freedom in Malaysia. I don't think that too much freedom is the cause of social ills. Rather, it is the lack of a good educational system that is to blame. Freedom does not mean wanton disregard for morals. Freedom does not mean abandoning one's values and condoning acts of mindlessness. It is rather the opposite. True freedom leads to enlightenment and into the light away from the darkness. Freedom means achieving one's true potential as a human being. Freedom means getting closer to the truth. The word "freedom" is much abused and our understanding of it through popular media is warped. We confuse freedom with chaos. the two does not mean the same thing nor does one inevitably lead to the other. The problem is one of culture. In conservative Malaysian culture, freedom is not a top priority. Observance of rites, social graces and customs are top priority. Not freedom which is almost alien to Malaysia. But herein lies the paradox. Our observance of the culture of obedience and adherance to authority does have its positive points but it also means that our leaders are given awesome powers and we have seen in recent years how this power has been wielded to serve only the narrow interests of the vested few. So in retrospect, and with all due respect to Tok Guru who is an honest, pious and humble soul, i beg to differ. Our social ills are due to our lack of education and lack of guidance which comes partly from the lack of freedom, true freedom. Freedom to information and freedom to seek the truth. We need more freedom, Tok Guru, not less. We need guidance and more education to go with that greater freedom. Some hiccups will occur in the process but it doesn't blacken the worth of true freedom. Let's have some more in-depth perspective here.