Can we trust Keadilan if we vote Opposition?

Yesterday, I was thinking about the consequences of voting the Opposition. Although I am not worried about the consequences of BN's backlash of depriving Penang of development funds....I really doubt whether they would seriously undermine our National Interests (not just UMNO's) to take revenge on Penang's voters....because if they do the International Companies and MNCs would just move from our shores and be very welcome in Vietnam or Thailand........

But there is another side to the proposition, what if Keadilan betrays its non-Muslims supporters by moving in with PAS in an unholy marriage......Islamic state with full syariah......then what? thats the risk.....

So the question is can we trust Keadilan????

What if Penang falls to the Opposition?

Penang people must be brave...they must not be scared to vote the opposition.....a DAP-Keadilan alliance would be good....

After that, the people in Penang must face the onslaught of the BN.....they will surely try to undermine the rule of the opposition by restricting funds for development and so on and so forth......

But the question is would the BN cut their nose to spike their face....PENANG IS THE HOME TO MANY MNCS ...the INTEL, DELL, AVIVA, AMD, BENQ......would the BN Federal Government risk driving them away not only from Penang but from Malaysia forever...?????

I doubt it, there will be lots of sound and fury...but in the end....who knows??? Never underestimate the stupidity of politicians....(look at George W. Bush.....and u know what I mean)...

But it still better to vote the Opposition then to let the BN take us for granted.....i.e no matter what they do ...we still elect them....there is no reason for them to behave any better....

Clock-tower at Customs House

When I come across from Butterworth to Georgetown by ferry, the first thing that used to catch my eye is the clock tower at the Customs House. Years ago when the Malayan Railway was only operating from Prai, one has the building where the clocktower stands served as the Penang Railway Station. I remember in 1958, taking a train with my father down to Kuala Lumpur & then to Johor Bahru. It was at this station we waited patiently to board the ferry that takes us from the Church Street Peir to Prai and then from Prai to Kuala Lumpur by train.

Yesterday, I took the ferry back. The tower greets you as the prodigal son that came back.....it welcomes you to the familiar sights and sounds....& memories....Today this landmark has been dwarfed by many....yet as one approaches the Raja Uda Pier from Butterworth, the familiar tower greets you like an old friend & beckons you never to forget your place and hometown.....

Yup beats coming back from Butterworth across the Penang Bridge...but the iconic twin towers of Penang and the water tower of USM greet you and welcome you home and I suppose in time they too will become landmarks that reminds us of all that is good and precious in Penang.

National Education Blueprint, ....Malaysia's attempts to leapfrog into the 21st Century

The two recent initiatives launched by the Government is indeed laudable.....abit too late but still better late than never....while our competitors are streaming ahead...we are still trying to play catch up....well as the Singaporeans say.."catch me if u can....". The Mid-East countries are asking Singapore to help them in the education systems...because they recognized it is world class.... they don't ask Malaysia even though a Malaysia is supposedly a model modern Islamic state.....(it is sad when malaysians especially our politicians begin to believe in our own PR material...what a laugh)

Regarding the National Educational Blueprint, the NST through its regular columnist this sunday recounted all the bad gripes malaysians have about the so called blue print...some evn said u turn blue before you can c something implemented....the columnist even cited a letter written by a malay who had send his son to a chinese school instead because as the letter writer saw it most the national schools had turned into small parochial semi-religous ones....so much hope...we have in our system...even politicians children are not educated in them....so it goes to show....how 'good" the system is....can the blueprint do it?

Maybe that is not the right question to ask? rather the right question to ask is who is going to implement the blueprint? is it the minister? NO....is it the Chief Education Officers ? No they are busy attending to the politicians PR exercises....

Who then will implement the blueprint ? the teachers and the assistant headmasters and headmasters......hello .... these are the ones who degraded our education system in the first place...enforcing their own beliefs and opinions onto to schools....and the inspectors and educational district heads that let them off......

These are the people who will implement the blueprint...the people that caused the rot in the first place....no wonder malaysians have lost hope....Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, and all the kings' horses and all the king's men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again....! Someone says that our education systems and institutions are the most racist and continues to perpetuate racists myths and beliefs....

Cleaning up after the flood, pledges & new resolutions to avoid the flood..

Can't help but feel a sense of deja' vu when our leaders start to pledge to make things right...clear drains, deepened the rivers and canals, desilt them...and so on and so forth.....like new years' resolution soon to be forgotten when the sun starts shining again...until the next flood....

RM300 million or more to repair damages to infrastructure.....really? not a 10% here and another 5% there....and we can truly see how far RM300 million will go these days.....

Promises, promises...words that are made in the heat of the night.....how unreliable....we have so much flash floods in KL and elsewhere...and it is always the same...deepened the rivers...desilt the drains...yet floods still come...

i wonder how singapore avoided the floods and devastation....i am sure there are not so far away that there are unaffected by the rains that hit southern johore....yet except for a few landslides and temporary flooding...the singaporeans had been spared.... did they pray harder than us? or is it that they had better drainage, better desiltation and lots of better maintenance and services than malaysia boleh? or bodoh? or rasuah?

Why Malaysia is losing out?

Well, finally the Government had finally admitted why we are losing out in terms of FDI. No less the PM himself informed us that it takes more than 30 days to start a business in Malaysia, compared to 2 days in Australia and 6 days in Singapore. It takes almost 300 days to build a factory or warehouse in Malaysia and half the time in Thailand, Singapore or Vietnam.....

Then, on NST yesterday, Syed Nazri cited an expat friend who waited 6 months to get his car into Malaysia compared to two weeks in South Korea....whats more the expat experienced all the stupid and silly reasons that cause the delay.....officers giving him the wrong forms...and after submitting and not getting response ..... the expat went to the dept to be told that he has filled in the wrong forms....

How many malaysians had suffered these indignities so many times.....that we just give up!!! Like the time we went in to file an application for a TOL, but was told that there were no forms available....."come back in a weeks' time" ...then we were told that the office cannot accept the applications because the office had run out of receipts.....but if we want to solve all these problems use a broker or if u are brave enough "incentivise" them....the new buzz word in dealing with recalcitrant "civil servants"......

The stories the expat told Nazri is not new and sounds and looks like the tricks and games people play to get us to give up or cough up.....

Not that these things are not known to the powers that be......but until now there were no incentives to offend the entrenched interests.....after all as the filipinos say "pakikisama" but with so many countries bucking up and offering better and superior conditions for businesses....well if they don't like what malaysia has to offer they can certainly take their businesses elsewhere.....and so they should.....

Good luck Pak Lah,...but u need more than luck and mere rhetoric...lets see some action...start sacking.....or it is just mere talk....all NATO haha....

Devastating Floods

When disaster comes...it sweeps everything....it does not discriminate it does not take 30% of this community ...nor does it spare any community....it just blows everything in its path...leaving nothing in its path untouched....

Like the Katrina hitting Louisana, the poor and marginal of all races are affected most. Just like the Afro Americans which comprise the most of the poor, the Malays and Indians in Malaysia especially in the flood affected states of Johore & Pahang, are most badly affected by the floods.....and so should the aid and help go to the most affected regardless of race or religion....and by so doing most of the Malays and Indians will mostly benefit from the Government's assistance...nobody can argue against that!

Just wish they could do the same thing with the affirmative policy...just help the most needy and vulnerable in our society regardless of race...and nobody can argue against that!

Better security for all.........

Thailand started the year with a big bang.......a bomb blast in downtown Bangkok...many are accusing Thaksin but his supporters are vehemently denying it......good luck to the Thais....maybe too much democracy in the recent past and now they are starting to get democratic diarrhea....

Should Malaysia go the Thai way by having too much democracy....marching in streets and protesting...maybe opening up too much in Malaysia is something we are too in mature to handle...

We misinterpret everything and take offence so eaily & quickly even though no offence is meant...just discussion.... haha....can we discuss...can we talk rationally....or we just submit...submit....and submit....

So if we all submit and submit....no discussion...pretend that everything is honky dory....thats why Malaysia is such a peaceful nation...because a significant portion of the Malaysians are very good at being submissive... so we get better security....

Welcome 2007

I believe that 2007 will be a crucial year for Malaysia......whether we can snap out of our downward spiral.....as Kit Siang said Malaysia used to compete with Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore....now they had advanced and we are now competing with the likes of Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia......how low had the "mighty fallen"......

NST belatedly reported in their new year editorial that malaysians are now worried about the expansion of the pie....and the PM in his new year message urged all Malaysians to work hard for the year to come....

But for me as a non-Bumi Malaysian, I say I'm opting out....why when the hard work needs to be done we are all Malaysians...when it comes to sharing the pie and how to share it we are told to shut up....well I will shut up and I will sit back and relax and let the rest of the guys go expand the cake......

I'll go fishing instead....good luck Hishamuddin, you beat the Thais, and watch out for the Vietnamese for me...and be careful of the Indons out there....and don't forget the Filipinos they can beat us if only they can refrain from shooting themselves in the foot....

As for me....why worry ...be happy !!!

Happy working......have an ulcer on my behalf ...Khairy...