Monthly Archive

It is no joke. The by-election results in the Selangor State Constituency of Ijok shows that campaign rhetorics may be all fine, but the people will vote the candidate they believe in.

BN’s gambit in retaining an MIC candidate to run under the ruling party’s banner has not dented it in anyway. “Cikgu” Parthiban won with an increased majority.

According to Bernama,

BN’s K. Parthiban polled 5,884 votes while Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) received 4,034 votes in the straight fight. There were 134 spoilt votes. Returning Officer Haris Kassim announced the results at 8.42pm.

I found this interesting report interesting as well.

In today’s by-election, which recorded the highest ever voter turnout in the the country’s election history, a total of 10,049 or 81.88 per cent of the 12,272 electorate cast their ballots.

That’s a record!. People turning out in droves to vote probably pushed the majority up for BN to improve upon Datuk K. Sivalingam’s 2004 showing where he polled 1,649 majority over his rival then.

At the end of the day, the people of Ijok showed that election rhetorics, no matter how much flash and pyrotechnics thrown in, doesn’t wash. Forget corruption, forget Altantuya; it is a local guy they knew and identified with that they chose. As for the rest, they know many would not even have heard of Ijok if not for the by-election. 

I also see that that PUNDAK managed to garner only 134 votes this time aroun despite its president’s calamitous visit to Ijok that resulted in bottles flying and God knows what else. Here’s to a better showing next time Pres Pazuzu : ) !

The voting majority of Malaysia will continue to vote the ruling coalition in the times to come, until and unless there is some demonstration of seriousness  on the part of the Opposition parties about ruling. Better the devil you know I guess.

A neighbour of mine said over a mamak stall dinner last week, “You know, my hometown people voted Opposition once. After all that bising-bising and promises during campaign, we hardly saw him! So tell me, how are they any different?”  

Hardly encouraging feedback for the Opposition.

Bad news always makes for prime news in the papers. After the sad death of Amid the baby elephant, I was in despair over the state of conservation in Malaysia. That poor, malnourished elephant must have suffered before it met its untimely end, despite the Malacca Zoo people’s efforts to make it healthy again.

Things are not always gloomy though. The Star’s front page today was chuckle-worthy. The sight of a bunch of people dragging a 4.7 m Gharial crocodile to meet its mate was a riot. Started me thinking though…even crocodiles get to mate and if it doesn’t somebody does matchmaking for ‘em. I guess I have to be an endangered species before I get match-made. But hey, as a Malaysian blogger I already am! : )

Another good news courtesy of WWF Malaysia is the spotting of the Sumatran Rhino, a critically endangered rhinoceros species, in the wilds of Borneo. The Star also reported it here

Here is a still from a two-minute footage from a camera trap that the WWF people had placed in the interior jungles of Sabah. According to WWF Malaysia, there are only about 25-50 Sumatran Rhinos estimated to be surviving in the whole island of Borneo.

Breeding these shy giants are by no means easy because, they rarely mate, and when they do, gestation period is a long one. Breeding them in captivity does not seem to have worked. In fact, several Sumatran Rhinos died within days at a Rhino Sanctuary in Selangor a couple of years ago.

This species is without a doubt the most critically endangered one in Malaysia, if not the world. Readers can help its conservation efforts by becoming a Kawan WWF.

Do your part, because we as the dominant species on this earth have a moral responsibility to protect the rest. After all, we at the top of the food chain stand to ultimately lose the most from extinction of species and loss of habitat.

Galadriel blushes!

The guy from the “boondocks of Kalimantan” Mat Salo thought this blog makes him think. Hmm…thanks a lot, dear Mat blue collar, who writes like a cross between a gonzo O’Rourke and a charmingly self-effacing Alexander Mc Call Smith.

I think this whole thinking blog thingie is a viral yet somewhat of a con, mutual admiration society thing, but hey, who doesn’t wanna be admired?

Blogging has brought me into touch with a lot of literate, thinking Malaysians and it never ceases to amaze me what stuff people can conjure up in their imaginations.

Now I have to do my share of thinking, wbout other blogs that makes me think. That is not so hard, since I had already blogrolled them. 

1. The Renegade of Junk a brilliant satire blog by this funny techie I used to know virtually. Thought-provoking with added snigger

2. Aisehman Easily one of the top socio/political bloggers in Malaysia. A wicked sense of humour and a sound grasp of the nation’s pulse. Me rabid about his..er…blog.

3. Parti Undi Rosak Malaysia Satire in Malaysia has always been far and few in between. This one impresses with its wit and I hope Pazuzu really keeps it up, because it is simply precious!

4. My Asylum Walski’s blog makes me ruminate about a whole lotta things i thought only the lonely me used to think about. The bloke behind the blog is as impressive as his blog contents, once he warms up.

5. Kickdefella This guy and what happened to him made me start seriously blogging so yeah, the blog certainly makes me think, apart from chuckling, sniggering and laughing out loud at times.

This award was started here:And now my dear recipients, your award comes with a price. You have to award five others whose blog you think deserve this award.Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think 2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the

3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all - blogs that really get you thinking!

Lawyer Haris Ibrahim has started a project to “get to know your MP better”. It is a concept we Malaysians are not familiar with; electing your representative based on not just who he is, but also more importantly, what he stands for and whether his stand gels with those he is representing. This should, in a utopian society, cut away the riff raff from bona fide possibles.

What gives me greater glee however, was the prospect of hearing the replies from the various elected representatives from the 10 Parliamentary constituencies selected.

 I reproduce here the broad-based questions from Haris’ blog.

1. We are becoming an increasingly divided nation on account of the racial and religious politics that dominates our national political landscape. Is the Barisan government perpetuating the ‘divide and rule’ politics for their own political end so that the stated object of a ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ remains a hollow slogan?
2. A loss of public confidence in a judiciary seemingly weakened since the Salleh Abas sacking and the 1988 constitutional amendment. Is the recent call to review the Salleh Abas sacking as the starting point to restore the judiciary as the 3rd equal arm of government justified? Would the establishment of a Commission for the Appointment of the Judiciary begin the process to restore public confidence in the administration of justice?
3. The lack of transparency in governmental management and the recent disclosures of the extent of corruption that afflicts our society. Is the call to set up the IPCMC not justified? Would it not better serve the interests of the people if the anti-corruption agency was made answerable to Parliament? Is not the Official Secrets Act being abused by the government to hide from the voters the level of corruption and inefficiency that has permeated throughout the Barisan admininstration?
4. The failure on the part of the Barisan government to deliver on its pre-2004 election promise to allow greater space in civil society. Does this not mean that the ISA ought to at least be amended to allow for a ‘check and balance’? Does this not require for a repeal of the UUCA? Does this not mean that the restrictions on the print media must be lifted?  

 These questions, once posed, would invariably evoke some baffled looks and hostile comments from the sitting MPs. Imagine Tan Chai Ho of Bandar Tun Razak answering question 2.  LOL!

Dr Tan Kee Kwong of Segambut would probably smile and say, “Kepong MP send you here ah?” It would be interesting to hear Shahrizat Jalil of Lembah Pantai answering Questions 3 and 4.

Ng Lip Yong of Batu might ask….”You from MCA ah?” Heheh! 

Good luck Haris, but remember these few points.

1. Urban folks do have tendency to vote Opposition.
2. Questions you raised may not make a difference to the grassroots that is more concerned about his rice bowl.
3. These questions all had to do with rights, the law, race, transparency, corruption. What about the livelihood of the common man, what about education, what about the economy? These things are closer to the voters’ hearts.

 By the way, why is it that you have not chosen a single constituency that has an Opposition MP?

Tsk Tsk!

Would our elected representatives start dropping like flies? They certainly have been at more or less a steady rate, since last year, thus ensuring by-elections every now and then.

The Barisan Nasional candidate was announced today by Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo. The candidate, according to Bernama, is one K.Parthiban from MIC.

Here’s some excerpts..

Parthiban, 38, a former co-academic officer with the Kuala Selangor District Education Office, was selected to contest the Ijok state seat for the BN following the death of its Assemblyman, Datuk K. Sivalingam on April 4 in India.

Meanwhile, MIC president Datuk Seri S.Samy Vellu said Parthiban was capable of wooing the hearts of the constituents because he was a local who understood the needs and aspirations of the electorate.“Besides being young, he is also highly educated and an active social worker,” he told reporters after the announcement of Parthiban as the BN candidate .-Bernama

This brings to close all speculation about who’s going to be the next BN candidate. I must say I was well and truly disgusted with the kind of lobbying that was going on in MIC. It was happening even at the late Datuk K.Sivalingam’s funeral. Sheesh!!!

Imagine this scene…

 Widow: Booo Hooo Hooo….my husband has left me (wailing uncontrolably)

Wannabe: I’m so sorry for your plight, Datin. I knew your husband very well. We are like brothers. In fact he used to say that he would get me a seat.

Widow: (Wailing) My husband…..

MIC Pres consoling widow: What can we say? God gives, God takes back. Have strength to survive this. He was like a brother to me.

Wannabe 2: He was like a brother to me. We used to serve the people of Ijok together. (Lower tone) Datuk Seri…do you have anyone in mind?

MIC Pres: This is a funeral daa….

Wannabe 3 barges in after overhearing conversation and corners the MIC Prez.

Wannabe 3: What kinda insensitive guy is that? Don’t pay attention to these kind of people Datuk Seri….they will sell the community for a fistfull of dollars?

MIC Pres wonders…”ithu engiyo keta mathiri irrukku” (I have heard this somewhere)

MIC Pres: These fellas don’t know how to behave at all, and they dare to come ask for a seat at a time like this. The funeral isn’t even over yet.

Wannabe 3: I agree 100 % Datuk Seri. I think these fellas should be sent back to school to learn some manners. Choose me to run in Ijok, and I’ll promise you that you will not see ill-mannered people in MIC.

Samy Vellu: Et tu? @$#@%#44^%#$!!@
 

What kinda statement is this?

 The Prime Minister of Malaysia said that it is up to the Anti Corruption Agency to to look into allegations that RM32mil in kickbacks was paid by nine Japanese shipping companies transporting timber from Sarawak. 

“We are not sure of the facts. If there is something serious, then those people who made the report can inform us. We cannot go on the basis of what the newspaper says” Abdullah was quoted in The Star.

He gets my kambing again. For someone who asked the people to “work with him, not for him” this is rather lame, and in my opinion, rather apathetic.

Of course you can’t go on the basis of a newspaper report alone. But isn’t it only responsible to look into the matter? It is a foreign newspaper that made the allegation, based on a foreign regulator’s findings.

Maybe in Billion-crazy and Trillion-high Malaysia, RM32million is mere peanuts.

We already have an Anti Corruption Agency head who is being investigated for a bunch of transgressions. The Prime Minister seem to imply he doesn’t really care about the country’s reputation. Others in the country is chasing dubious records…

We have a real shot at getting that real record. First South East Asian country to earn an International Laughingstock title.

This is a very compelling reason don’t you think, to vote Parti Undi Rosak next election? Oh! You missed the deadline? That’s ok…go back to sleep then. Let the country go to hell.

My love affair with books started way early, even before i went to school. Almost 30 years of reading, some authors’ names remain entrenched in my memory.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr, with his inimitable style, anarchic yet endearingly humble and humane observations on society is one of the few I’ll always remember.

He passed away Wednesday, April 11, 2007, barely weeks after suffering brain injuries after a fall at his Manhattan home. He was 84.

The bestselling author who had always questioned the good of scientific knowledge, progress and technology, was a humanist who sought to paint an ironical picture of what the masses see as positive.

The author of Breakfast of Champions, Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five and a wickedly funny Bagombo Snuff Box was a much-loved American, and Indianapolis (Indiana’s capital city) recently named 2007 The Year of Vonnegut in honour of its native son.

Let’s say goodbye to Mr Vonnegut, and with him, the oddly disturbing Kilgore Trout, a sci-fi writer whose work used to be published in porn magazines.

Here’s a link to some really sobering and some snigger-inducing quotes of Vonnegut. My favourites are these two:

 We could have saved the Earth but we were too damned cheap.

Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?

Would it make your day if you managed to get a guy you’ve been tailgating for the past two kilometres off your lane?

Would it make your day if you managed to bully your way to the front and have your needs attended to, leaving 25 others in the queue who should have preceded you?

Would it make your day to throw your weight around in the  commitee/board meeting, shouting down ideas and comments from other people that you didn’t like, just because you can?

Would it make your day to use a chance information to get even with a colleague/boss/friend/enemy, knowing it would cause untold irreversible damage?

Would it make your day to humiliate another human being, knowing your action might break his/her spirit?

Would it make your day to have succesfully bribed someone to get your business run smoothly, knowing that your gain may be someone else’s loss?

We all do these things everyday, and our deeds set off a chain reaction that can be devastating. One thing to remember though, your actions can come back and bite you in the ass.

So leave a bit of humanity in you. Someday you might need it in others and find it missing.

Heh! Many Malaysian road users have become quite manja since the North South Expressway came into being. Road travel is made convenient, linking the major cities and towns throughout the Peninsular, from Bukit Kayu Hitam to Johor Baru.

I had to go up North for some business cum long-delayed visit. Was doing the robot-like thing in getting on to the PLUS North South Expressway at Jalan Duta. After taking my toll ticket, I drove on with dread, knowing it to be a long, boring trudge with the inevitable pitstops.

Something snapped when I was passing the Sungai Buloh rest area. Damn! I must get off this road….and that I did in Rawang. Drove through Rawang town with its own little traffic jams (bottleneck-type largely) and headed towards Kuala Kubu Bahru.

Thought I’d pull up for a chicken rice before continuing. Then I saw this sign

Er…Doesn’t exactly inspire you, does it, when you go to and eatery and it say TRY TO EAT? The sign raised more questions, so I drove a little further and had chapati and dhal at a Indian eatery.

Sun is already high in the sky….and it was sweltering. Aiyoh! Air-conditioning and Joe Satriani at full blast made the next half an hour or so kinda tolerable.

Batang Kali, Serendah, Kuala Kubu Baru…all quaint scenic towns that you miss if you had taken the highway. Then I saw this.

Some diehard Ipoh guy must have done this. Ok…So I had to say it. Ipoh Mali! Tara Sombong Punya. But why laa vandalise a road sign? Is Ipoh Mali a suburb of Ipoh? @#$$#

More sights are to baffle and befuddle me. I give you some of them here.

I was going through the state and federal roads. I expected to see kapchai, cars, cows, goats people, lots of trees, and yes busses too. But this many buses in one place? Duh! There must be more than a hundred there, in differing degree of desrepair or should I say someday, DisReput?

Driving on, sights were pretty normal, for a country side. Kuala Kubu Baru Kerling, Kalumpang, Tanjung Malim, Ulu Bernam passed me by, provoking chuckles with some off kilter signs.

This showed that the double tracking project by KTM all the way to Ipoh, is very much alive and in progress.

Oh! I had to make a little detour in Kuala Kubu Baru to take a snap of this. KKB Komuter Station is almost ready. Good for the locals, I thought.

 Driving along Tanjung Malim district took me through some oil palm plantations. This stopped my car. Bat Village. Dracula’s retirement estate.

And then I saw this sign below, and chuckle became a guffaw!! Hahahah!

Umno is recruiting bats now? Election time must be really happening. Wait a minute. Bats are nocturnal right? So would they extend voting hours to accomodate Kg Kelawar residents? All kinda wicked thoughts occured to me as I hit the accelerator.

This was nearer to Kampar, in Perak. Certainly eye-catching sign. Didn’t stop to try the Haji-Naik-Moto less food, as I was short of time. Stopped for a quick lunch in Gopeng before going back on the PLUS Expressway. Yeah! I chickened out.

The pic above shows a a man in his lepak maut moment on Gurney Drive in Penang. Envy the guy, he knows how to chill.

Here, off Gurney Drive, three species of God’s creation look for the same thing…..fish.

The sight of an Ang Mo/Gwei Lo/Mat Salleh eating rice with his fingers was something I could not resist capturing. But that is what I like about these travellers. They absorb the local experience the whole way. This pair was snapped having a banana leaf vegetarian meal at a Chulia Street Indian restaurant in Penang. (Note to self: Masuk Kandang Kambing Jangan Mengaum).

I save the bad noose for last. My camera did a humpty dumpty and is now in coma…Sigh…

The United Nations Climate Report is out. And it paints a really bleak picture of the future. Those of you who just married and want to have kids, think again. The Earth of the near future doesn’t look like a conducive place to live and raise children.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) delivered what Reuters described as a “stark warning” to the world on the need to take active steps to handle climate change and possibly avoid the catastrophic prognosis that the 100-nation panel’s report contained. Read it here

 There are interesting bits, i reproduce here from the Reuters report

The report said warming, widely blamed on human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, would cause desertification, droughts and rising seas and would hit hard in the tropics, from sub-Saharan Africa to Pacific islands.

From Factbox  I would like to highlight some choice bits.

Since the mid-20th century, rising temperatures are changing the face of the globe, mostly due to human production of greenhouse gases. Dry areas will get drier. In some countries, crop yields could drop by 50 percent by 2020.

More than one billion people may face shortages of fresh water by 2050, especially as demand rises with living standards in Central, South, East and Southeast Asia.

By the 2080s, millions of people will be threatened by floods because of rising sea levels, especially in the mega-deltas of Asia and Africa and on small islands.

Mountains will have fewer glaciers, less snow, less winter tourism and as much as 60 percent species loss by 2080 if high emissions of greenhouse gases continue. Winter flooding will increase and less water will be available for energy, agriculture and human consumption.

Coral bleaching will cause widespread mortality unless the coral can adapt. The Great Barrier Reef could lose “significant” biodiversity by 2020.

Between 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species examined to date face an increased risk of extinction if the average global temperature rise exceeds 1.5-2.5 degrees Celsius.

More than 100 nations agreed on the wording of the report. That means they agree there is a problem. And that we human beings as a collective caused this problem. So don’t you think it is only responsible as the dominant species in this world to stop bitching and start doing something about it?

Granted, most of the polluting is being done by those “big” countries, Al Gore admitted as much in his documentary An Inconvenient Truth. He may have painted doomsday picture of what’s happening to the Earth hence earning in a the “Inconvenient Asshole” sobriquet among the thinning Bush camp, but what he says I believe is true.

If anything, The UN climate report paints a more dire picture of the future than the Oscar-winning documentary. Wake up people.

The virtual movement that was triggered when Sheih of Kickdefella and Susan Loone started Bloggers’ United morphed into a tangible entity yesterday with the formation of the National Bloggers Alliance. More details at 3540 Jalan Sudin and Jeff Ooi. They say it better anyway.Mat Salo has more pictures and some smart ass comments too.

For now, i’m grieving for my Sony Cybershot, that fell down and cracked its head. Major surgery might be needed before he can see. Booo hooo hoo….

The pen, if not mightier than the sword, fits easier into the coat pocket…I read this sometime back in Keith Miles’ book on all things cliche, The Finest Swordsman in all France.

Convenience is a powerful rationale to explain why people do things the way they do it. In Malaysia, many not-so tech-savvy people did not write online because they were not familiar with templates, widgets and other thingamajigs that can be so off-putting.

Blog hosts like Blogger, WordPress, Rediffblogs, MySpace make it very easy for people to claim a space and write away. Humans are expressive creatures. doesn’t take long for them to express their respective individuality.

In Malaysia, 22 or is it 23 million different individuals make up the nation. We are all different. What brings us together is the fact that we live under the same constitutional roof of Malaysia.

Of course there will be differences. Celebrate the diversity, and come together when it matters most, our own nation. We bloggers do not love this country any less than those people in the political parties or in the government.

Speaking for a large number of bloggers, I must say that a lot of bloggers are not even partisan. Patrick Teoh of Niamah and Tokkok is one such guy. He delivers brickbats for what he sees as bad governance and bad service, and kudos for the good ones.

Kenny Sia who Technorati rated as the No 1 Blog in Malaysia, is not partisan either. But the 20-something Sarawakian still makes his views known, and sometimes beneath all that hilarity there is a point.

Kickdefella makes his point with posters. Rather funny ones that made him a household name in a short time. He often targets political figures but come on, it hardly counts as hatred-mongering.

Mat Salo writes from a lonely outpost in Borneo and what brings us his articulate viewpoints and stories is the blogworld. Blogs are making us Malaysians read more. Its making us Malaysians write more. It is has a potential for making us more literate as a society, more informed, and hopefully someday a more mature society.

Registering bloggers? What does that accomplish? This is perhaps the last democratic place in Malaysia where we can say what we want to without being arrested for illegal assembly, being subjected to tear gas and water cannon treatments.

And what are we saying really? Make this country a better place for all Malaysians. We say it differently. Perak Regent HRH Raja Nazrin Shah said the same thing more eloquently.

This country belongs to all its citizens. So don’t make us feel like “All Malaysians are equal but some are more equal than others” anymore.

Ah…this is bad. Reuters and TVNZ reported several dead and buildings destroyed by tsunami in the Solomon Islandafter an early morning earthquake shook the seabed in the South Pacific ocean this morning.

Update from Brisbane Times here says at least six people are dead and many are missing in Solomon Islands. The seismologists don’t think it will be as bad as the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004. I am not so sure. This new one happened deep in the ocean. God knows what kinda cascading effect it will have on he islands, which are sprinkled liberally throughout the South Pacific.

It was a tiring weekend…had to get away for a long overdue visit to a friend. She’s still in grief; its not a month yet since she lost her son in a road accident.

Took advantage of the trip to look around a bit. Found some weird sights while on the road. For those who have been too used to the convenience of the North South Expressway, I have this to say, TAKE THE LONG ROAD….its far more interesting and it keeps you in touch with the real Malaysia.

My next post will show some shots. Watch this space.