2009, a year to look forward to

Too many people have said 2009 will be bad.
The economy is going to get worse, they said.
A lot of people fear for their jobs, though most people who do have not been working.
I say, 2009 is THE YEAR.
2008 was exciting, but I say 2009 will blow your mind.
To me, judgement comes from experience, and great judgement comes from bad experience.
I have a brother who's experiencing financial difficulties. He's been in that situation for the past 10 years. That means he has not recovered from 1998, the Asian financial crisis. For his sake, I hope he has learnt his lesson.
But until he does, I think he will be stuck in the same situation.
You see, only when you go through the bad, you will treasure what is the good. You will be thankful for what you have.
I hope all Malaysians will learn from their experience in 2008, and those who do not, no worries, 2009 will be a good teacher for you.
Only thing is, be prepared to PAY.
I wish everyone peace and love.
I hope Malaysia grows to be a better country, helped by Malaysians, regardless of their roots, who have matured in temperament and thought.
To all of you, Happy New Year and all the best in 2009!

A heck of a year

It's coming to the end of the year soon.
Time flies when you're having fun.
2008 was fun. The people of Malaysia, well, half of them, showed they actually had their eyes wide open, ears ready to listen and with enough brain power to process information properly.
These people voted for Pakatan Rakyat.
The other half were AFRAID. They were INTIMIDATED. They were MISLED.
I am not saying all PR representatives are good. In the absence of independence between the Judiciary, Legislative and the Executive, we need a good check and balance system in place. That is why PR's presence in Parliament needs to be expanded.
When Pakatan Rakyat takes over the government, it is NOT necessary to support BN just because BN becomes the Opposition. But they will make a good Opposition.
And that is what we need. To keep the Government TRANSPARENT.
Another reminder to our Members of Parliament, STOP PLAYING TRUANT!
We will watching your attendance record for next year's Parliament sessions.
WE are paying YOUR SALARY! And we will take you out if you do not justify your election.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Only the poor die young in Malaysia

Can't believe the government almost let go of the IJN, or National Heart Institute to be privatised. The standard of healthcare in Malaysia is already bad.
Nowadays, only the rich can afford to be sick in Malaysia.
The best example is my wife's story. She has IgA, which is a kidney condition that could be fatal if not monitored properly. During a routine scan, a growth in the liver was detected. She went through several appointments in the same hospital, which gave a 50-50 diagnosis of cancer.
To remove the tumor, the hospital quoted me 40k. Actually, it wasn't a financial problem as she was covered under my company's policy. However, I did not like the way the surgeon was pushing for her to do the op the NEXT DAY. I asked for time to get a second opinion.
I was lucky. My cousin knew this hepatologist in Hospital Selayang, which is our National Liver Center. After the standard screenings, they had a conclusion. To go for the op. I trusted them.
The surgery was successful. I never knew the human liver was the size of both your hands knuckled up together.
I have also given up eating chicken liver after they showed me her liver in a container.
The total cost : FOUR THOUSAND. 10 PERCENT of a PRIVATE HOSPITAL'S COST!
I am not saying all private practitioners are money-mongering pimps.
However, I do know of one specialist in a private hospital based in Subang with an art collection worth in the millions. No, he was not born with a silver spoon. He got that money from his practice.
So, what is the meaning of the Hippocrates Oath? Or should it be Hypocritic Oath?
DOCTORS, did you want to be a doctor to HELP or to be RICH?
I wanted to be a neuro-surgeon when I was young. This was after my mother passed away from liver cancer. I had the worst feelings when my wife was diagnosed.
I can imagine my feelings amplified and repeated throughout hospitals everywhere here in Malaysia as people find out they are very ill.
I did not become a doctor, but I promised myself that I will give the opportunity to my sons to become doctors.
God-willing, if I have the funds and they DO become doctors, I will build a hospital for them and their colleagues to cure the poor.

Did you ask to be born in Malaysia?

Having drinks with my buddies last night. One remark, "We are so blessed to be in this country"
Couldn't be better? Yes, it could be but
1. The average person has a proper roof over their head
2. The man in the street has enough to eat, or with some of the buffet lines I've seen, too much to eat.
3. One in 3 Malaysians have their own mode of transport so that they don't need to rely on the decrepit public transport system.
4. The country has an unique employment rate of 115%, thanks to the 15% of our population consisting of foreign workers, which means everyone can support themselves AND afford to hire foreign labor too.
5. We don't have problems like strikes (Europe) , riots (Greece) and natural disasters (ok, forget Bukit Antarabangsa, that's a man-made one despite whatever our idiot Ministers say).
So what's the problem, right?
Why is there any cause to complaint at all?
I have 2 houses, 2 cars, a wife who hasn't managed to bankrupt me with her shopping, 2 beautiful boys with a third child on the way (God, please, a girl), a good job with a great company and enough time to play golf and for occasional drinks too.
I should be rejoicing for all to see.
Our authorities tell us our crime rate is lower than most countries. Yes, thanks, the first month I moved to my house, our car CD player got stolen and the darn thiefs broke the car window to get to it. So I should be thankful I don't live in Zimbabwe?
They also tell us that foreigners flock to Malaysia as their choice of study. Ok, these people have 1. no schools in their war-torn country and 2. not enough money to get an actual quality education in a proper institution elsewhere, ok? There's no surprise that our country's ranking has slid in the International Science and Math.
My cousins used to tell me that they (both doctors) didn't want to come back to Malaysia, no thanks to zero meritocracy in our civil service. They would complaint about racism and UMNO's policies etc.
I stopped this argument with one question.
DID YOU ASK TO BE BORN IN MALAYSIA?
No? You didn't have any choice. Oh, some people I'm sure would love to be born in the US, UK or Australia. That's why they migrated there.
So, either you start fighting the slime of evil in this country or get the hell out of it.
Some people have no choice. They can't afford to migrate. But they love to complaint. My previous post refers to them as "The People".
You sure didn't ask to be born in Malaysia, but you sure as hell can do something about making this good country a great country.
You can start TODAY.

Malaysians, the enemy of Malaysia

The people who run the Malaysian governement are simply taking advantage of the multitude of people (including some of my own relatives!) who refuse to think, learn, discuss issues, and behave in a respectable manner.

Who is really the enemy of Malaysia?

Is it the people who propagate corruption in the government?
I say the primary enemy of every nation is that horde of non-thinking fools we refer to as "The People".

The People want to advocate transparency, but they refuse to discuss our government policies and how it might be the cause of hatred and chaos among the various races.

The People want to vote, but they refuse to learn about our government system or seriously discuss which candidates have shown leadership abilities.

The People want to pass judgement on immigrants, crime and the economy, but they refuse to learn about or discuss any of the issues.

The primary enemy of Malaysia is my friends, my relatives, my neighbors, and most of your colleagues, relatives, and neighbors.

The Kuala Trengganu by-election is coming. I hope that all of you, my fellow Malaysians, WAKE UP and smell the STINK of CORRUPTION in the government.
Don't forget, these are the same people who told you it's ok to use YOUR MONEY to buy Mercedez Benzes for their own personal use. RM 3.4 million of YOUR MONEY!
They also believed you were STUPID enough to believe that it costs 50k to maintain a Proton Perdana.
They believed they could CON you into the myth that Benzes are cheaper to maintain than a local car.

Fortunately, we have a couple of citizens who keep watch for the rest of The People.

On the mountains of truth, you can never climb in vain; either you reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.
- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900)

One man's meat, the people's poison

There is an issue where Mukriz Mahathir, currently contesting for the post of UMNO Youth Chief, has commented that the vernacular school system is to blame for racial divide.
The comment is totally uncalled for, and it demonstrates exactly why UMNO is the MAIN CAUSE of racial anxiety in this country.
He may be pretending not to understand, and if he really does not understand the following fact, then he is truly stupid.
To the Chinese community, one's education is paramount.
For tens of centuries, officials in China or their government servants were appraised based on their level of education. How one performed in the annual examinations was a reflection of their knowledge, maturity and language/communication skills.
Transfer that belief to our country and it becomes an even bigger issue. The Chinese know that for a person to achieve higher education, they have to outperform the rest in order to qualify for the local universities. This is not by choice. There are plenty of Chinese families who cannot afford to send their children to overseas institutions.
Therefore, you will see that year after year, the top scorers in SPM and STPM are mostly from Chinese schools. They know that if they are not the best performers, they are nothing.
Some smart non-Chinese parents have sent their children to Chinese schools. They know that even though some of the Chinese schools are not government funded, but because the Chinese believe so much in education, these schools will have the best finances, resources and the most dedicated teachers.
The forward-minded parents who sent their children to Chinese schools 20-30 years ago have benefited from their children, especially those who went into trade with Mainland Chinese counterparts before the economic boom of the 90s.
Malaysia has a mixed population with Chinese and Indians. The 2 countries with the biggest populations are China and India, with Malaysia located strategically in the middle. China has already boomed, with India on the way too.
When our trade grows with these 2 countries, our entire country benefits.
If UMNO still wishes to be so introverted, let them be. There doesn't seem to be a week going by without anyone from that party making a dumb decision or comment.
Perhaps the latest incident of sacking a gentleman like Zaid Ibrahim is a blessing for him, to be liberated of racist and greedy politicians waiting for their chance to pillage our country.
Thank you, UMNO, for killing yourself slowly.
I suppose the only problem is that the people of Malaysia have to wait too long to take you out to the crematorium in 2013.
Allow me to end with a quote from a man who started Barack Obama's journey:

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

Dispute? They can't help but laugh

Again, my attention is drawn to all this discussion about the fatwas.
First, there was the one about female Muslims dressing and behaving unlike a "woman". In these modern times, one should be practical. If they wanted to enforce this fatwa strictly, the first person they should charge in Syariah Court is our Tourism Minister.
Then, about yoga. This one was more serious as it involved the customs of another race / religion. But heck, yoga isn't even a custom. It's just a form of exercise that has it's roots in Hinduism. It's like what the Chinese call Tai-Chi, but not the government servant version of passing the buck.
The police and other authorities have warned non-Muslims not to interfere or dispute this fatwa. But they don't want to do that at all. It's just that they're in stitches, laughing at the mockery JAKIM has made out of Islam.
Islam is a good religion. In fact, there has never been such a thing as bad religion. It's just that a minority of people who happen to be in power are interpreting Islam on their own whims and fancies. The effect is that, they are making Islam sound terribly medieval, horribly out-dated and impractical in this day and age.
So, please, hopefully these kind of people will lighten up. Female Muslims can THINK on their own, how they want to act and behave. I think Muslim lesbians are the least of things troubling this country now.
I don't hear reports or any news of mass conversions to Hinduism at any fitness centers, so I believe the MODERN Muslim's faith is sound enough not to be affected by heavy breathing and exercise.
Now, if only the Rulers could knock some sense into some people...........

Wow, 2 posts in a day

Suddenly, so productive and efficient.
Must be the silly newspapers stoking up racial tensions again. Also, the NST and Star editors should be congratulated for having the same headline on the same day "Yoga Ban". Must've been a deal done over a quick cuppa tea, eh, fellas?
The past few days, thoughts have brought me back to the time when I was doing audit. I was assigned to perform a statutory audit on IKIM, Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia. My manager, who is currently one of the country's invesment banks bosses, commented.
"Bob, had I known you were the party animal you are, I wouldn't have sent you to IKIM". I asked, why. He said, as per strict interpretation of Islam, even smoking is prohibited.
Wait a minute, but look around you, I said. He said yeah, but some people don't care about going to hell. He wasn't talking about UMNO leaders per se, but you get the point.
Funnily enough, of all papers, on the same day, the NST ran an article on "Champion Bartender", who's a Malay by the way. Hold on, hold on, I thought liquor was haram, but there was this guy, flaring for all his life was worth. (Flaring is the art of bartenders throwing the bottles up and around in the air to fool drunk people at the bar that they're still sober)
So, my conclusion can be taken from this quote (yes, I absolutely love quotes):

"The last thing the men behind the curtain want is a conscious informed public capable of critical thinking which is why a continually fraudulent zeitgeist is output via religion,the mass media and the educational system." - Zeitgeist

Go ahead, Tun M, make our day

So Tun M has decided to name the persons responsible for money politics in UMNO. Very good, except it won't change the fact that no one from that party is qualified to lead this country save for the fact that they are a member of UMNO and that's that.
I believe the UMNO members now face a genuine dilemma. They are now demanding,
"I either want less corruption, or a chance to participate."
Either way, UMNO is dead. It cannot run without money, because no one in the party is genuinely interested in serving the people unless they make a lot of money from it.
Let me give you a rough calculation.
UMNO has about 2,000 delegates, am I right?
If you were a delegate, would you be satisfied if UMNO paid you, say, RM5k a month? You would be? OK, good! That's only 60k per annum. I mean, it's a small price to pay to hoodwink your fellow kampung villages to vote BN every 4-5 years.
Now, listen carefully. 2,000 delegates multiplied by 60k. What is that?
It's a staggering RM 120 MILLION a YEAR!
ok, time for the hard question. Where the HELL does this MONEY come from???
It comes from the PEOPLE!
It comes from the people you swore to enrich through your crooked policies.
The saddest part is that I heard with my own 2 ears that the corruption is accepted by everyone in UMNO.
I met my schoolmate at another schoolmate's wedding last Saturday. Out of curiousity, I asked, hey, you still working with the UMNO division? Yes, he said.
Is it true. that branch chief's post cost RM50k? Yes, he said.
The strangest was yet to come. He said division chief now is at RM1.5 million. He said, how are people supposed to "afford" that?
Hmm, "afford", eh?

Comedy of errors

It makes me laugh to hear an ex-Prime Minister say something that is akin to putting his foot in his mouth. He should have known better than to open his mouth about RM5 million paid to a judge he himself sacked in 1988.
He says he "only" earned a basic salary of RM240k a year when he was Prime Minister. I'm sure that will go a long way in explaining why he is living in a multi-million dollar mansion in a gated community.
Everytime I play a round at the Mines Golf and Country Club, Tun Mahathir's house is something that I always look at. It's at the end of hole no. 8, where you can see a few cars parked. There used to be 20 or so cars parked there, but he must have returned them to Proton in disgust during that spitting the dummy episode.
After you finish hole no.8, at the teebox for hole no.9, you can see his balcony and the house inside. Very nice, very nice indeed.
You half expect him or the wife to be there, I mean, it's their house, isn't it?
Then, you tell yourself, "It must be DARN GOOD to be the Prime Minister of a country".
I'm sure engineers in oil and gas also earn around 240k annually, and I really doubt that they can live in a mansion.
Tun M must have been a really thrifty person to afford that house.

Forget Islamic state, Malaysia is FASCIST

When I was in Form 6, we had this subject called General Paper, or Pengajian Am. There and then, we also learnt about the formation of the country we are born in, and have grown to love. The only distinction in STPM that I got was this paper.
For some reason, I loved the subject. And we all know that you will do well at something you love.
One of the main points we learnt was separation of power between the 3 branches.
In Malaysia, however, it is intricately linked and there is no clear jurisdiction between them.
The past week has seen the persecution of a Selangor state councillor for his involvement in a candelight vigil. He was arrested that night, but understandably, he took offense at being manhandled by the police. Now he is being arrested for something he allegedly did a year ago.
This is because he DARED to ask for the badge number of the policemen who roughed him up. The image of the Royal Police of Malaysia is in tatters, if not shredded to nothing already in the past 10 years. Corruption, criminal intimidation and other crimes have been linked with the police. It is an open secret, to say the least.
It also serves the current government that the councillor is from the Opposition.
The entire purpose of separation of power is to provide a system of check and balance. This is what we learnt in our textbooks.
The Judiciary is supposed to be the balancing act and neutral to either branch. Reformation of the judiciary is also SUPPOSED to happen. But it will not, at the rate things are going.
All in all, it boils down to private interests in this country. And with that, I provide you with a quote from a former US President.

The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism -- ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Change our country's name to Maysia

UMNO's election is generating interest, but for the wrong reasons. So far, there have been more than 900 reports of corruption and "money politics", the moniker made famous by UMNO.
So, this is the party deemed fit to lead our country? On what grounds? Because they are superb leaders? With a true desire to serve the people?
UMNO is a disgrace to the country. They are a black mark on the Malays. Under them, Malaysia has seen an economy becoming not unlike Indonesia and India, where the poor grow poorer and the rich get richer.
I remember Maybank used to be called Malayan Banking. A lot of non-Malays refused to put their money in because of their name and their policies. Then one of the management was somehow smart enough to hire someone to re-brand their bank. It became Maybank.
I propose that our country changes it's name to Maysia. To call it Malaysia would associate it with the UMNO despots who think they own the country and everything in it.
For all the talk that UMNO stalwarts spurt out about being a good Muslim, it seems everything they do proves they don't care about going to hell.

What is supremacy? Nothing but the Samy Vellu syndrome

Seems to me there is too much talk on Malay supremacy.
To me, it's an issue that is blown out of proportion.
The Malays are not out to say their blood is better than others.
The non-Malays just want to put a decent meal on the table without giving away another meal for nothing.
I remember telling someone, that you are great not because of the number of people who served under you, but because of the number of people YOU have SERVED.
There are a few people out there with rational heads, ex-Senator Zaid being one of them.
With the BN (actually UMNO) politicising this issue, they are again committing political suicide.
I call this the Samy Vellu syndrome. Someone who thinks they speak on behalf of the WHOLE community.
Hello, UMNO, what makes you think you speak for the Malays? Half of them didn't even vote for you on March 08.
If the NEP had worked, we wouldn't see most of our rural villagers still living in wooden houses on stilts.
Yes, UMNO, I'm sure they live like that cos' they love it. Only you can save the Malays from themselves and poverty.
You can have your elections in March. That's only to determine who will try to save your party come 2013.
I said,"He'll TRY".

Any one who is NOT tired?

There seems to be a co-relation between the mainstream press and what's happening in the country. I used to be an avid reader of newspapers. This started from the time that we (students my age) were encouraged to read newspapers as a way of improving your language, be it BM or English. We would read Berita Harian or Utusan Malaysia, plus The Star or New Straits Times.
My father had a subscription to NST, which is why I read it more than other papers. I have stopped reading NST, unless I have too much time (very seldom) or the paper just happens to be near me while I'm waiting (in a queue or whatever).
I started noticing the difference between NST and the other English papers. For some reason, it was expressing views that contradicted the others. Maybe Tun Mahathir is right. NST was the spin-doctor for BN's government.
When Teresa Kok sued Utusan, I was curious. This was a newspaper I had read in my teens. That had educated me and helped me get an A in BM. What had changed?
I took one look at it's front page last week. No, not good. I did not see a unbiased or balanced view in their articles.
It seems that these publications controlled in one way or another by the government had their personal agenda against anyone who is not pro-BN.
My question is this, at what price do you put the efforts of bringing down your opponent via the media? At WHAT PRICE?
At the price of RACIAL TENSIONS?
Somehow, these publications don't get their licenses revoked.
I started this blog because I am tired of standing by quietly while self-important people tear into others for their greed.
At one point, I liked it when Gordon Gekko said,"Greed is GOOD".
At this time, GREED is tearing this country apart.
I am happy the Prime Minister took my advice and delayed the decision to purchase the helis.
This is the time to stop greed.
This is the time to stop hate.
This is the time to stop making everyone weary of the country's situation.
I am tired, but I'm not sitting down.
This time, I'm ready to help save my country.

Madness

Just read in the papers that the KL Mayor spent RM1.5 million on 11 overseas trips in the past year. The most extravagant was RM370k for trips to 3 countries, and this amount was excluding his allowance.
Most companies I know have a claims policy, that either you claim for your meals / expenditures or you claim your travelling allowance.
What is DBKL's policy? Can anyone clarify?
RM1.5 million can be used to clean up the Selayang market, which has been feeding recycled vegetables to the residents there for years.
RM1.5 million can pay the salaries of how many DBKL employees? Hello DBKL employees, your boss very good at spending the money, ah? What if it went to your increment? Or as part of your bonus? Would you like that?
I'm not saying our KL mayor should stay in KL and mop up after the weekly floods. There should be some kind of limit or audit on how much is spent on what and so on. How about asking him to travel on his own money, since he said he was invited? People invite, you can always say no. Say lah, I want to keep my job, if I spend too much money, people will notice.
How about some sense? Seems it's not so common anymore.

Is our country matured enough?

Had a discussion during dinner last night. On my right, was a group of businessmen aligned to Pakatan Rakyat. To my left, was another group who believes there is no need to change the government.
I asked everyone at the table, why did you vote? Was it a protest vote? Or because you BELIEVED that you could make a change.
How did you feel the night of March 08, 2008, as the TV news ticker relayed the results out?
Did you feel, "Hey, I only wanted to reduce the majority, what happened?" or "Yes, we have given PR a chance to show us what they can do!" ?
Did you feel, "I think I went a step too far" or "Now, we have a few states to gauge the difference in governments" ?
I had a Hongky friend visit me the week before the elections. He asked how's the situation. I said, it's time for change. So he asked, will PR take 1 or 2 states? I said they'll take FIVE. This was on March 02.
Why I said that is because everyone I asked, they said I'll vote for PR. This happened in the 3 months preceding March 08. So, the winds of change was obviously blowing in already.
So, what the BN has to learn to do is to serve properly if they want to stay in power. No more nonsense of buying Benzes instead of the local car. You take 25% of my income as tax and you blow RM2.3 billion on helicopters? Why?
Without helicopters, the government cannot run, issit? There are homeless and starving people on the streets and somehow, I see that the government is unable to differentiate what is important and what should be prioritised.
If this continues, PR doesn't really have to do anything other than serve the people properly in the states they were given. BN is already committing political suicide. You can get ready to say bye bye to them in 2012.
Remember, Mr. V said, "The government should be afraid of the people, and the people should not be afraid of the government".
It is us, the people of Malaysia, who put you there in the first place.

The 1 and 5 formulae

It seems the world is in financial trouble. Very easy to ask why. Why?
Because almost everyone is living beyond their means. I've come up with a simple formula to gauge if you are living within your means. This applies mainly to people between the ages of 25 - 40.
It's called the 1 and 5 formula.
Basically, you should only buy a car that is 1 year's worth of your monthly salary, and owning a house that is not more than 5 years of your salary.
For instance, an example would be a person earning approximately 5k a month (gross basic). That means he should be driving a car worth about 60k, and paying for a house worth about 300k on the market.
If the person is using a nicer car than that, or staying in a house that's worth more than that, then he's living beyond his means. Either that or he has a very nice undeclared tax-free income on the side.
The only ironic part is that economic growth depends on people spending more than they did in the corresponding period. So there.

Time and time

Watched Eagle Eye. Catchy line from the end, "Steps taken to protect the people's liberty become a threat to liberty itself."
How true not only in the States, but around the world too.
Running short of time again. Seems things always happen to fill up your time.

Before I forget, again.....

Yes, I'm also the guy who did "30 things to know before you're 30". Almost was done with it before the blog was wiped out by that darn server and my PC got stolen. This is a self-reminder for me to finish what I started.

Blog = Bob's Log

Title almost sounds like I invented blogging.

Anyway, blogged once 3 years ago but lost the time for it.

These times call for more voicing out of people and blogging's one way to do it.

I find that the thoughts resounding in my head while I'm driving are best put into words so that I can remember them better.

Now, let's get this show on the road.