Vote for a brighter Malaysia. Vote for a strong bi-partisanship.

 
I am writing this as a fresh Ph. D. graduate from the University of Cambridge who has, in most of my life, stayed in this beautiful country called Malaysia. I am now residing in the U.K. but I will be voting in this coming general election. I would like to encourage the citizens of Malaysia to vote for Pakatan Rakyat as the people’s representative and I would like to explain why.

The GE13 is the most crucial general election of our generation. We are not just choosing a candidate. We are choosing between a corrupted government, our fear for change and for a brighter future for our country. The choice is clear. It should be. It is our one chance to create a strong bi-partisanship in Malaysia, which is an essential component of any mature democracy. It is this time that we can choose to remove BN’s discriminatory, oppressive and racist policies from our beloved country. We have to do it right.

The “Big brother” UMNO

A better economy, a better welfare for the poor, a better education for everyone and a more mature democracy are among the things we hope for our future generations. Yet, this progress has been impeded by the prevalence of corruption and discriminatory policies implemented by the BN government. Furthermore, the misunderstanding among Malaysians due to our race and religion, and our gap between the rich and poor has only increased over the past decades since the NEP. Whilst claiming otherwise in the mainstream media, the UMNO-led BN has actually been directly and indirectly instilling such national policies since independence, instituting corruption in the process. This could not have happened if not for the collusion of MCA, MIC and other BN parties.

All these years, BN has covering these tracks of bad governance by controlling the media and by offering “sweets” when the general elections loom. No doubt that BN is very good at this. However, there are three questions begging here. Firstly, the government is both elected by the Rakyat (through elections) and funded by the Rakyat (through taxes). Hence, the money that the government gives the Rakyat, rightfully belongs to us in the first place. Why should these “sweets” be translated to votes? Secondly, one needs to weigh in how much has the government “stole” from the Rakyat from purchasing super-expensive binoculars to funding cows to stay in condominiums as compared to the meagre amount the government dangles to Rakyat just prior to elections. We need not to be thankful when one takes away what is rightfully ours, give us back that 1% and then expects our vote in return. It is not worth it when our children’s long term future is at stake. Finally, and most importantly, we are all aware that money cannot buy one’s moral and integrity that we uphold so dearly. As well educated and matured citizens of Malaysia, we will need to appreciate this better and reject any BN vote-buying schemes.

The Pakatan Rakyat coalition

Pakatan Rakyat is not perfect either. There are conflicts in ideologies among the component parties of Pakatan, just as BN has. However, in any team or coalition of entities, differences are not unexpected. It is how they work together as team that matters. What is important is the common ground which binds them together as a team. It is the common goal which they share and fight that defines the coalition, not their differences. And clearly, for Pakatan, their common goal is to bring better governance to Malaysia and free Malaysia of its endemic corruption practices, which they proved that they are capable of doing in Pakatan-controlled states such as Penang and Selangor. In a stark contrast, BN’s common goals are typically dominated by UMNO. In all these years, MCA, MIC and other BN component parties are accomplice to the UMNO “big brother” in bringing all these discriminatory, oppressive and racist policies to our countries. They bow down to UMNO’s request and resort only to begging when it comes to MCA and MIC’s promises to the Rakyat. How else would you explain that it took nearly 40 years for BN to recognise UEC and that there are less Tamil and Chinese SRJK schools now as compared to 1957? The irony is that even when UMNO has its way, it wasn’t the Malays that get benefits but the elite few who are well connected to UMNO. 

Having principles and the correct platform

Having graduated from University of Cambridge, I am well aware that no matter how high our academic achievements are, they must never surpass our moral and integrity. By being part of the BN coalition is akin to colluding with UMNO in making all the discriminatory, oppressive and racist policies; by being inside this corrupted organisation limits one’s ability to deliver policies that the Rakyat really wants.

The leaders of Pakatan Rakyat are intelligent, articulate and no less academic as compared to many of their peers. They have the political maturity to understand our problems and have the determination to resolve them at the highest level. More importantly, they have the correct platform with Pakatan Rakyat to rid Malaysia of corruption and instil a sense of responsible governance.  

Strong bi-partisanship. Create competition

As the Rakyat, we have this one chance to make a difference. We need to oust BN not only because Pakatan Rakyat fields better candidates but because we believe in a strong bi-partisanship will ensure a progressive Malaysia. Just as business monopoly allows one to have absolute control over the price, political monopoly of BN had allowed them to have absolute control over our lives. Without a strong competition at the federal level, they will continue to feed their families and friends rich at our expense.

Stop Lynas, Save Malaysia

My Facebook newsfeed was invaded with a wave of green things about a week ago. Being an ABU and a staunch supporter of bi-partisanship in Malaysia, I would usually join in the fray. But not this time.

It would seem that anyone who does not agree with the opposition of the Lynas plant will be faced with the wrath of the Malaysiakini, MalaysiaInsider readers and possibly even my own Facebook page readers. So before the readers start penning down their rebuttal on my letter, I would like to begin by saying categorically that I oppose the construction of the Lynas plant. Stop Lynas, Save Malaysia…but from what?

Rare-earths? They are not dangerous by themselves. But they usually appear in compounds which contains Thorium which could be radioactive. So ah ha! We are opposing it because of the dangerous Thorium-232? But how radioactive is it? Does anyone know? Does anyone care? No. Because in Malaysia anything with the tag ‘radioactive’ on it scares the shit out of you. Doesn’t mind the scientific facts now, if it is radioactive it has something to do with cancer. The next thing we know is that if I have a headache, it’s Thorium’s fault. But Thorium half-life is in billions of years and emits the radioactivity in the form of alpha particle, which is only harmful if you ingest, i.e. if you put it in your mouth and swallow it. Under normal circumstances, we won’t even swallow Copper, Lead, Iron or any metal for this matter but for some reason Malaysians are susceptible to swallowing Thorium. Maybe because it looks tasty.

Then comes all the videos that portray the rare-earth processing plant like some sort of nuclear plant, capable of a meltdown like Fukushima or in Chernobyl. I have been with the opposition all this while and I have to say sometimes they oppose for the sake of opposing. All these reminds me of the tea party movement in the USA where they use fear to garner support for their own cause.

All the nuclear scientists, local and abroad, will not convince Malaysians it is safe. Why? Because there are still some scientist and doctors who are sceptical about it. Malaysians say, “better safe than sorry, right?” But you know what? Even global warming has its sceptics. So does that mean it does not exist? Having earning my PhD in Physics I know that in the world of academia, anything goes. It’s almost like Newton’s 3^rd law - for every argument there is an equal and opposite argument. But we can only survive and science goes on because we have to believe in our experimental results, and we have to believe in our assumptions, and all these point to the fact that the plant by itself, under normal circumstances, is quite safe.

The hypocrisy of Malaysians is unparallel. When they have low mobile signals, they complain. But when we build a broadcast tower near their house, they also complain. What if I tell you that microwave signals attenuates so rapidly that at approximately 1 m away from the transmitting antenna the signal would have be so low that even your mobile phone will need something called a Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA) to pick up that minute signal. Placing our mobile phones directly next to our ears is probably more dangerous, but for some reasons, we are OK with that. Because, phones are small what, never mind the science!

Would I want the processing plant next to my home? No. Just like I don’t want any factory near my home, I don’t want the processing plane near my home too. All I am saying is that the danger of the plant is, at times, exaggerated. The danger of this processing plant is probably similar to any other factories. In fact, it could be safer. Like I said, Thorium does not cause you any harm unless you ingest it but fortunately it would unusual for Thorium to stay in gaseous form. I can’t say the same for all the harmful chemicals from other factories though. I think the gas will kill you and there is nothing you can stop those gases from coming out of the chimney and drifting with wind, or even dissolve in the rain water.

But I did say I oppose the construction of the Lynas plant, yes? Of course, and here is the real reason. Our government.

No factory is accident-proof. An accident, after all, is defined as an unexpected event. But in a country, where cow-feeding operations can become real estate agency; where jet engines can be lifted from an air base; who is it to say that a rare-earth processing plant cannot become a nuclear catastrophe? The problem is, there is just not sufficient trust in the management of our government agencies for a project like this. While I acknowledge that there are projects that are well-run by our government, but I can also say that about half of them are equally abysmally managed. As the rakyat, can we afford the risk? As the Prime Minister of all Malaysians, should you take the risk?

Not withstanding the fact that Lynas’ handling of the entire project is very shady. It’s not too difficult to build a factory to, say, 90% accident-proof. But beyond that point, the cost would probably increase exponentially. It’s up to the management of the factory to decide how far they will go in making the factory as safe as possible. Given the flawed record of our government, can we trust Lynas and put our safety in their hands? A foreign company with shady records in their own land?

It was aptly pointed out by Zurairi in his MalaysiaInsider article that one last, but important point in opposing the Lynas plant is because of our experience with the Bkt Merah incident. And even more critically, simply because the rakyat does not want it. Whether the rakyat has been misinformed or not, the government, at the end of the day, serves the rakyat. Until trust is regained, I am afraid that this project must be postponed.

So there you go. I oppose the construction of the rare-earth processing plant. Because I don’t believe our government is capable of handling a project of this scale. Not because of the dangers of radioactive Thorium that has been wildly exaggerated. The next time you wear green, try to remember that.

Stop Lynas, Save Malaysia!

Say no to Pakatan, because there is a chance ...

Ini dia Malaysia! No matter how corrupted, we will vote for our government ... because there is a chance ...

There is a chance that BN will stop all the corruption
There is a chance that without UMNO, Malays will lose their place
There is a chance that without MCA, Chinese will lose whatever is left of their rights
There is a chance that PAS will introduce extreme Islamic laws
There is a chance that Pakatan will be unable to govern Malaysia if they reach Putrajaya
There is a chance ...

There is a chance that BN will end the NEP when the Malays are rich enough...
There is a chance that BN will give equality to all Malaysians given long enough time...
There is a chance that if the non-Malays stop learning Chinese, the Malays will accept us better.
And there is a chance that one day they will stop calling us "pendatang"
There is a chance...

There is a chance when ISA will no longer be there, when all of us are equally rich, and where finally there is meritocracy all over.

For 60 years BN has cheated us, but there is a chance they will not do it anymore.
There is a chance, they changed.
There is a chance, they will change.

Because of chance and fear or change, we choose BN.
Because there is a chance things will get better and not worse.

Martin Luther King has a dream. But in Malaysia, we do not dream. Instead, we give chance...

1Malaysia Boleh

Skiing trip in the Alps!!!

I had one of the most memorable Christmas in 2010. I went to the Alps for a skiing trip.

The trip began in the worst possible manner, with heavy snowfall delaying our train from Cambridge to London. Then the bus that is suppose to bring us from London to the Alps broke down half way through, delaying our journey for a further 8 hours!!

The funny thing is, my friends and I are all nearing the thirties. Whereas 90% of the participants are in their twenties. The first thing we heard when we boarded the bus was, "I was very good in my SPM moral subject one." To which all us reacted in this manner --- > =.= "'

heavy snowfall delayed our train

The bus trip from London to Dover, then boarding the ferry we travel across the English Channel to Calais, and finally from Calais all the way to southern France and then to the alps. This entire trip took exactly 24 arduous hours to complete!

When we arrived. We're dead exhausted. The room wasn't fantastic. But then the food was superb. French cuisine beats English cuisine anytime of the day. And what's more? It's free and buffet style.

breathtaking view of the alps from our room

With the ski googles on, I look like someone from the movie TRON. And also the monkey behind... =.=

there's a shope there call kanabeach. Wonder if there's one called kanasai?

We only started our skiing lessons the next day. On the first day, skiing seems so dangerous because with the ski on, you will slide indefinitely down the slope gaining infinite speed, with no way of stopping it.

first day of skiing lesson

the very scary ski lift

But as we learn how to control the ski, we just realised how fun skiing could be. Ski is sooooooo fun!!! Wheeee!!!!!! 7 days at the Alps passed by very quickly. At the final day, I enjoyed myself a lot by skiing down to the slope at high speed. And that was skiing down on a green slope. I wonder what would it be like in the advance level slope? Perhaps, this will not be my last skiing trip. I would certainly fancy another chance at it before I return to Malaysia...

My name is gaya

Happy New Year 2011

Last year was an epic failure. Of all the new year resolutions I made here. I only succeeded in completing those which are considered 'entertainment', e.g. playing sc2 and going to europe. This is so embarrassing...

And I started the new year with a ski trip to the Alps and 3 parties in a row...I really should be studying...

2011. This is the year that I must make it. But before I go do that, let's play another round of games on battlenet... (Dang!)

Religion pluralism

Recently, various Malaysian Islamic Organisations called to reject religious pluralism. That is to say that not all religions are equal - and Islam is the supreme religion.

Some suggested that Muslims should stop attending other religion's celebrations citing that this will threaten Islam as the supreme religion in Malaysia. But is this isolation and narrow-mindedness the threat to Islam or is it the willingness to share each other's joy the threat?

Some even suggested that Islam should stop having inter-faith discussions/forums as these are seen to put Islam on equal ground with other religion on the talking table. So now refusing to talk on equal grounds will make Islam great and supreme? I doubt that is what Prophet Muhammad had in his mind but I'm open to any Muslim reading this blog to correct me...

A lot of these religious scholars, Islam or Christian alike, read too much Quran or Bible that they need some time-off and read "common sense" and "logical thinking" in their spare time instead.

"It's true that in believing one's faith, one has to feel that his/her faith is superior compared to others. But that does not mean that other faiths should not be respected or be given equal treatment under the law. There's a difference between wanting your own faith to be strong, and wanting other faiths to be weak." -sL Dec 2010

Conference in Grenoble and the meeting with Albert Fert

Are you using a Gigabyte Hardisk? If so, then you must thank this guy - Albert Fert.

I have this honour to meet him in Grenoble France in a conference. He is one of the discoverers of Giant Magneto Resistance (GMR) and the Physics Nobel Laureate 2007. Without GMR, the hardisk we know today would not be able to surpass the Gigabyte limit. In short, GMR is the effect where the resistance of a material changes depending on its magnetization. This effect is important because it allows the hardisk read head to detect minute changes in magnetization, which in turn is the 1 - 0 data bit.


Grenoble seems like a fantastic place. It is known for skiing holidays. The town itself is surrounded by the alps and is beautiful beyond description, but its beauty is difficult to capture on the camera. Perhaps its also the people. The people there are also friendly (unlike the ones I met in Paris). And in this little beautiful town is the home to many of France's advance physics research facility including the ESRF, ILL, nanoscience center and atomic research center to name a few.

The Malay Supremacy and the King

Malay Supremacy is changing faster than I can write. Just a day after I wrote my post about it here, UMNO & Co. change their views again.

First, they claim there is no such thing as the Malay Supremacy, then they say actually there is and it is enshrined in the constitution, now they say it's actually about the King or our Supreme leader, not about the Malay race. Why is this term so damn confusing?

So Malay Supremacy is now about the special position of the King and not the race. Only the King is special right? No race is special? So does that mean under the King, every Malaysian regardless of the race is equal then? Yay!!! PERKASA then can you stop whining a? Because King is Tuan, and all of us (the rest) - Malay, Chinese, Indian or "lain-lain" underneath the Tuan would be equal la? yes? No a?

Dammit, Malay Supremacy is easy to understand la. But some people just like to beat around the bush. They want everything for themselves - the political power, the economy pie, etc. BUT, they don't want to sound too selfish yea, and that is why the confusion la. Malay Supremacy or Malay privileges or Malay Special Rights or Ketuanan Melayu, whatever you want to call them, they are what they are - ploys to make a particular race better at the expense of others.

Please la, if you have the balls to demand, then have the balls to admit it.

The Malay Supremacy and the status quo

And suddenly they are claiming that there is no such thing as "Malay Supremacy". Huh? Equality for Malaysians finally? Guess again.

A week ago, Dr. Wan Azizah said that Malaysians should reject "Ketuanan Melayu" (Malay Supremacy) and instead embrace "Ketuanan Rakyat"; and within 24 hours UMNO & Co. lambasted her for politicising the issue. They claim that there was never a need for the Ketuanan Melayu, it never existed and neither did the constitution ever mention this concept. Huh? Huh? They, claim that what was mentioned in the constitution is the Malay Special Privileges, not the Malay Supremacy. Hang on a minute... Wasn't "Ketuanan Melayu" published on Utusan Melayu's headline countless of time and that if any of us - the non-Malay challenges this we shall be skinned alive and fed to the fishes in the South-China Sea?

Oh, now it's more trendy to say "Malay privileges" instead? I don't give a damn what you call it. But, we the non-Malays know what it is. It's the quota you set for our University education, it's the quota you set for our scholarship, it's the discount you give to Malays for purchasing house, it's the promotion that was denied merely because of our skin colour, it's the open tender that could only be given to a particular race, it is the requirement that every listed company has to have a certain amount of the indigenous race; it is the excuse that you make to benefit your cronies, to enrich your own little circle of friends, to build multi-million dollar house in Selangor (read Khir Toyo) or to own a multi-million dollar house in central London (read Taib); and it is also the countless threats of May 13, and "know-your-place" assertion and also the infamous "go back to China/India" insults.

So you claim, that you never wanted to create a Master and Slave relationship between Malaysians, but yet you remind us every other week to be grateful of our "jus soli" citizenship and our "social contract". And at the very instant we try to move our lips to speak out against this policies, we will be punish. I ask you sincerely, if not for the internet, will we ever have the chance to speak? I sincerely ask for your opinion that if this sentence sounds like what a Master would say to the Slave, "Kalau tak suka, keluar Malaysia"? Has the person who uttered such vile statements been reprimanded? No. But if anything would happen to him, I'm betting that he will be transferred to another state - it's currently the most popular "punishment" a racist can get in Malaysia.

But even this is not the latest trend. The latest trend is to say that Malaysia has been in harmony for decades now. So why bring in new terms like the Malay Supremacy into the "game"? Let's maintain the status quo which has made Malaysian happy. Seriously, dude, is Malay Supremacy the status quo which Malaysians have lived upon harmoniously for the past decades, or is it so because certain quarters have been asked to shut up on this issue or face the music? The so-called status quo, I'm guessing, was established in 1969 after the NEP where the so-called wealthier race agreed to compromise to help the weak and the poor, and more importantly to restructure the society's wealth distribution. But let's be frank, are we helping the poor or just helping the Malays? How many national policies are based on income and how many are based on race alone. You know best. Now you can't be doing that forever and claim for status quo, can you? Are the so-called wealthier race forever wealthy and are they suppose to be compromising forever? This is beginning to look like a Master and Slave relationship again!

Silicon Valley comes to Cambridge

Last Friday, I attended a series of talks by the "big shots" in Silicon Valley. Those who came included CEO of Linkedin , CTO of Facebook, CEO of Mozilla and GM of Google.org. Below are some of the interesting Q&A:

1. How big is big enough for the Venture Capitalists?
Ans: 1 million (CEO of Linkedin)

2. Do you have a balance life?
Ans: That's the wrong question to ask. The right question to ask is if we are happy. If we enjoy what we do and believe what we do can change the world, then we'll be happy doing it, even if it is 2am in the middle of the night. (CTO of Facebook)

3. Why do you want to be an entrepreneur?
Ans: Because this world is fucked up so bad. I want to unfuck everything. (CEO of Knewton)

4. Which kinds of employees do you like best?
Ans: I like the kind of people where you told him to do one thing; he goes back think for a while; then comes back and tell you are wrong, and then come up with something better. (CTO of Facebook)

5. What did you do before you become an entrepreneur and how is that helpful?
Ans: I worked with Goldman Sachs, in various management consultant jobs and the banking industry. And they are a waste of my time. (CEO of Knewton)

6. How important is it to create a good environment for the employees?
Ans: We have nurseries, laundries and other services. But we do not like to see them as perks for the employees. These are conveniences such that they have more time to do what is important or interesting to them in life (CTO of Facebook)

7. Why did you like Mozilla/Firefox so much?
Ans: When Jerry Yang (founder of Yahoo!) slammed on the table and points his finger at us, we knew we were doing something right. (CEO of Mozilla)

CTO of Facebook (Mike Schroepfer) at the center

Silicon Valley comes to Cambridge

CEO of Mozilla

GM of Google (Megan Smith) on left

It's difficult being a racist

I can't believe Dr. M said this - meritocrats are racist? Meritocrats are people who make decisions solely based on results, racist are people who make decisions solely based on race. Now, unless by merit means by exclusion of certain race naturally, meritocrats are not racist!

First Perkasa, then the headmistress in Johor, and now Chedet. Everyone seems to be jumping onto the bandwagon to label others as racist. "You're racist!", "No, if you label me as racist, YOU are the racist!" So is Perkasa being racist? Or are we racist by labeling them as racist? Are the proponents of Malay supremacy racist or are the people against such idea a racist. This is all so confusing.

But look, although I would like to have an equal, meritocracy-based Malaysian society, I can understand why some Malays want to support the NEP and the Malay-Special-Rights policy.

However, there is a difference between wanting your own race to be strong, to wanting other races to get out of the country; there's a difference between wanting Islam to be the official religion, to preventing other religion of their own freedom; there's a difference between wanting people to join Islam because of the faith, to preventing Muslims from leaving the religion by law. You can make A > B by either reducing B or by improving A. So if the Malays want to be A and want A > B , by all means. But do so by improving A, not by killing off B.

Wanting A to be better than B by virtue of all B either dying or leaving the country, is that not racist? If Malaysia really wants to be 1 Malaysia, then the government must give a firm stand on what is true racist and what is not. The government can make us understand why they need NEP so that the economy is "fairer". But do not try to make us understand why asking us to leave is not a racist remark.

What do Cambridge Phd students do when they are stressed?

Punting...

BBQ...

Formal Halls...

Celebrations...

Support our boat racing team...


Playing Wii?

Bumper Cars (in tuxedo)??

T. Tokieda

I was on the way to Trinity College when I suddenly paused. "I have tonnes of work waiting for me. Should I really be listening this talk about 'physics of toys'? Anson, did say it is THE lecture to go for..." For a moment I turned my back away from the city, but fortunately I did another U-turn and ended up at Trinity College for the lecture.



It turned out that this one of the best lectures that I have ever been to in University of Cambridge. Not only is Tadashi Tokieda a brilliant mathematician himself, he is also a genius in making what seems complex mathematics into something that everyone could understand.

He never ceases to capture the audience's attention, alternating between good humour and extraordinary mathematics in every moment of his lecture. That is hard to achieve. In one instance, he took a piece of white paper, crumpled it and then stepped on it. Then he unfold it and ask, what did you see? You see lines, random lines. But if you try to draw a crumpled piece of paper by using networks of random lines, you will immediately recognise that the drawing isn't a crumpled piece of paper. This means that there is more than just random lines in a piece of crumpled paper. Did you realise that for each point on the crumpled paper, there can only be an even number of lines coming out from that point? If there are only four lines coming out of a point on that crumpled paper, then did you know that the sum of the opposing sectors are equal? He proved all these without using a single equation. All he had was 3 slides and less than 100 words in the 2-hour lecture. When I have to write what he had actually explain in that lecture, I'm lost for words. So if you find it difficult to understand what I have just told you about crumpled paper, it is my fault, definitely not his.

He went on to talk about negative Poisson ratio and origami and how this revolutionise the way the satellites fold their solar panels. He did all these without using any equations. You get a real sense that what he is talking about is really complex, interesting and cutting edge but yet everyone in the room understood it completely. At the end of the lecture, not only do I feel entertained, but also feel that I have learned so much in just 2 hours.

During the Q&A session, one audience asked, "you said you haven't solve this problem negative Poisson ratio. Why?" He answered, "Because it's hard!" to the laughter of the audience. He went on, "It's hard, but not because of what you think. The difficult thing about research is that unlike in school, you have to formulate the problem which you yourself is going to solve. If the problem is too easy, it becomes uninteresting to the research community. If it becomes too hard to solve, it becomes uninteresting to you. So how should you formulate the problem, set the conditions right so that it can be interesting yet solvable. The common fallacy is that people think research must be important. They are wrong. Research must be interesting."

I'll remember him, T. Tokieda.

With and without love

St.. Edmund's Mayball

I'm 30. The party was meant for those below 20.





Nevertheless, I attended this unique event in University of Cambridge called May Ball. It's called 'May' but it's held in June, after the exams. It's a 'Ball' which means you must wear a bow tie, tuxedo and a full set of black tie formal wear otherwise you will be denied entrance, even if you bought the tickets. This was the first ever time I wore a bow tie and a tux.

It started at 9pm. It ended at 6am the next day!




Free flow of drinks (from all kinds of beer and wine), food (burgers, hot dogs, chocolate fondue, etc) and entertainment e.g. Laserquest, movies, magic show, hot air balloon, bumper car!!



I went with a bunch of Malaysian lads - my good friends here in Cambridge University (too bad Fendi wasn't around...)



It was a lot of fun!

Doing things we like and doing things that are important

It's important to do the things you like, but things we like to do may not necessarily be important.

Do the right thing: Place important things ahead of the things you like to do. It's call responsibility!

Did Idris Jala asked the right question?

Years of debate training taught me one thing: you can trap your opponents by asking the right question. For example, if I asked, "Would you prefer your country to go bankrupt or for your subsidies to cut?" The reasonable answer is rather obvious for if I said I would rather the country to go bankrupt I will look like a selfish bastard. But this was exactly the question that our minister, Idris Jala and PM, Najib posed to Malaysians a week ago. They asked us to choose between being a selfish bastard or a "noble" countrymen.

But if I rephrase the question into, "Would you rather have your subsidies cut, or to stop the corruption and wasteful government spending in order to save the country from bankrupt?" Then suddenly we are not so sure anymore that refusing subsidies cut is a selfish thing to do.

Any successful businessman will tell you that "you reap profit, not by saving money but by investing it!" What good is it if we are able to save all the money in the world if they are not meant for investing into a better future? Then perhaps this is a good time to reflect on our major government spending spree and see how the ROI (return on investment) looks like. From the Multimedia Super Corridor, Sepang Formula 1 Circuit, Bakun Hyrdo Dam, to the hundreds of low-cost housing development areas...how many of these actually reaped concrete returns to the people of Malaysia? As if to add salt to the wound, recently we purchased state-of-the-art submarines that cannot submerge (and once submerged would never emerged) and 257 armoured vehicles at RM31 million each. What is the ROI for these?

And to my shocking, I stumbled onto a 2005 Nature journal paper titled, "Malaysian biotechnology: The valley of ghost" which claimed that the government had spent USD160 million on building a biotechnology hub in Malaysia but it failed, miserably. Although I understand that the building of this hub is still "work-in-progress", how would any world-class bio-technology researcher want to work in Malaysia after this revelation by Nature, one of the most influential journal paper in the world? What is the ROI for this?

Would the subsidy cut succeed in saving Malaysia from bankruptcy if implemented as a stand-alone policy? The answer is a straight NO. In the recent sub-prime financial crisis, many countries in the west have a bail-out plan, tighten loan requirements and also have the subsidies/welfare cut. But they knew that this was just a temporary mitigation plan. Their long term strategy was to restructure the way banks work. So do we have a similar long term strategy? Or is cutting the subsidies our "long term" strategy?

Let there be no doubt that we, the Malaysians, have been enjoying a whole range of subsidies since we were born. And I totally agree with Idris Jala that Malaysians are one of the most heavily subsidised citizens in the world. But the question that goes begging here would be: where did we go wrong? Was it the 1997 Asian financial crisis? Was it the 2001 burst of the IT bubble? Was it the recent sub-prime financial crisis? Could the government be giving a false impression to us for past decades by keeping the subsidies high, the inflation low and fueling the economy with debts? It is not possible that the years of economic boom under the leadership of Dr. M is just a mirage after all?

BN knows very well that they cannot do a drastic subsidy cut. It will increase the inflation that will kill off the economy and as well as any chance they have in the next general election to re-gain the two-third majority. So they may just keep the subsidies. Here comes the scary part: Would the government continue to drive the economy with the current failed strategy despite knowing that Malaysia will go bankrupt? And mind you that when we say the country goes bankrupt it doesn't mean everyone becomes dirt poor, but only the middle working class like you and me. I personally believe that BN will continue with the "bankrupt strategy" because (1) BN ministers have abundance of wealth far beyond the reach of middle working class like you and me; (2) most of them own a 'backup' property in Australia.

I have absolutely no grudge in paying more taxes and in accepting the reduced subsidies from the government, provided that I know the money that I help saved is well spent. But not only is my confidence in the government policy so lacking, so is the general public's. There is no way a subsidy cut is going to work, not if the government first show their commitment in combating corruption and wasteful spending. And no, I'm not talking about the MACC actions on corruptions amounting to only few thousand ringgits. We wouldn't be bankrupting with that amount of corruption.

伟人、改变世界

最近读到一位辩论“小瓜”的博客，有感而发。（其实，她已经不是小瓜，可是相对我而言，还是。。。嘻嘻）

其实这种想法真的很普遍：想要改变世界，讨厌霸权和不合理的事；但同时又害怕改变世界以及害怕要面对霸权。只要不合理的事还未涉及到我们，或是我们周围的人，我们又何必当改变世界的“先锋队”呢？起码，我并不是狼狈为奸。只要做好我本分，那不就好了吗？何必想要成为伟人？

可是，要成为伟人不是一种选择，是他人给予的肯定。
改变世界。这，是一种选择。

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY...

WISHING MYSELF A BELATED BIRTHDAY...

thank you for the cake and the dinner...

thank you for the birthday wishes and card...


thank you for the ... game ...

the British general election

Gordon Brown was caught last week calling a retiree a bigot behind her back. Though the Labour had since lost the GE, it has still garnered quite a lot of votes. It seems like the people of U.K. are more concerned about the policies of the parties, rather than the morals of the party leaders. But how could they believe the policies of a leader who is capable of such backstabs? On that particular day, Gordon Brown was all smiles as he campaigns for Labour Party. He spoke to the woman, held her hand. But after that brief meeting, he forgot to turn the microphone off. So the entire conversation where he call this woman a bigot was recorded. He also said that the meeting was ridiculous. Why would the Brits trust a PM who backstabs?

And after losing more than 90 seats, he is still not surrendering his post as the PM. While I find it hard to believe this is happening in the land of 'gentleman', there is something Malaysians can learn.

The conservatives and the lib dems are talking today for a possible coalition. They accept that since no one has the majority, they would have to form at least a loose coalition and then TABLE A VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE in the next parliamentary session in order to remove Gordon Brown from his post. And the Queen of England has cancelled all her appointments while waiting for the outcome of the negotiations before meeting with the leaders of the party. This is what is reported in the news.

Now, wait a minute!!! Isn't this very similar to the Perak 'crisis' a year ago??? But did UMNO table a vote of no confidence? Or was the speaker and Chief Minister forcefully removed from position? Was our 'King' as 'gracious' as the Queen of England? Or did he take things into his own hands and 'sacked' the Chief Minister immmediately?

We inherited the Parliamentary Democracy from England, but we did not inherit their common sense. And now to add further insult to this crooked common sense, Hee Yit Foong was given Datukship (Knighthood, in England). Such a salutation is only given to people who has significant contribution to the society and country. So what does this Datukship acknowledge? That when she jumped ship from DAP to pro-BN it is a SIGNIFICANT contribution towards the country?

Who is the real bigot here?