Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Malaysian's WMD

Dedicated to the Malaysian Authorities and "my name is wee"

(image edited from the original version, here, - courtesy of World Internet News)
It was the day after Malaysia's Independence Day. A thoughtful Tony Blair who had watched the celebrations on TV got onto the phone with his friend Bush:

"Malaysia!" shouted Blair.

"What about Malaysia?" asked a startled Bush.

"We English made a mistake George," said Blair, "I need to get Malaysia back as a colony!"

"You serious Tony?" asked a still more startled Bush.

"Yeah this is not the Malaya we let go some fifty years ago," said Blair, "this is a colony we would be proud to have now."

"So whatcha plannin' to do?" asked Bush.

"Why George what we did to Saddam. Attack them."

"You sayin' we? You not hoping I'm goin' to join you are you?"

"I helped you in Iraq George, you forgettin' or sometin'?"

"Yeah but we had an excuse there Tony, we were lookin' for weapons of mass destruction, you remember?"

"So we do the same thing here George. We tell the Malaysians to give up their weapons of mass destruction!"

"I don't know whether we are doing the right thing Tony, Malaysia is a democracy you know?"

"I LIED for you in Iraq George. Nearly lost the elections for you. I'm sure you could do this lil' favour for me.. With Malaysia back as my colony, we'll be back as a world power! Britain rules the world! You heard that phrase George?"

"I thought it was America who was doing the ruling Tony."

"We'll do the rulin' together George. You and me will be equal partners once I get my Malaysia back. Come on George talk to that Mahathir feller, tell him to give up his weapons of mass destruction, or else..!"

"Okay Tony since you insist. Can you call me back in five minutes."

"Shall I get my ships ready?"

"For what?" asked a surprised Bush.

"For war dammit," shouted Tony as he put the phone down and waited for Bush to talk to the Malaysian Prime Minister. He walked over to a little globe he had on his office table and circled Malaysia gleefully.

The phone rang and he ran to pick it up.

"Tony it is me," said George, "how many ships you got ready?"

"Aye aye sir, the Royal Navy is ready for action!" said Tony, standing at attention.

"You can send them to Malaysia," said Bush.

"To fight?" asked Blair happily.

"No to pick up their weapons of mass destruction."

"Whatcha talkin' about?" asked a confused Blair.

"Mahathir said you would know 'cause it is your people who made them," said Bush.

"What weapons of mass destruction?" whispered Blair uncertainly.

"Some of their politicians 政客  and MP 国会议员 " said Bush happily, "Mahathir said you could take them all back to where they belong, their ancestral lands. Your people brought them years ago to work but now they are wedging the Nation with their mother tongues and mother lands allegiance..!"

Edited from the original version, here, to suit the local climate.

(huh?! is that Weapon of Mass Destruction or wee meng dung err.. duh!?)



Monday, August 30, 2010

Merdeka !


Perhargaan kepada JUSTKHAI.COM ke atas imej Merdeka ini.

Surprise! Surprise!

Just read House PK today :-

TERKINI! ALEXA RANKING UNTUK BLOG DAN PORTAL PRO KERAJAAN!


And these two images, "print-screen" from PERAK TODAY - THE PORTAL



Surprise because :-
  • I do not know that Voices Around being "Alexa-ranked" or simply "Alexa-ed" (Did I insert any Alexa monitoring widget or someting in Voices Around's page?)
  • he..he.. masuk jugak ranking tu !!! List No. 77 dan Ranking 27,705 (Voices Around bermula sejak 28 April 2010)
  • Blog Mesra Kerajaan ? he..he..he... lepas ni kena muat artikel yang lebih banyak lagi "bantai" PM kita !! ha! ha!! ha!!

Anyways...

THANK YOU HOUSE PK !!!
THANK YOU PERAK TODAY !!!
THANK YOU ALEXA !!!


and...

VERY BIG
THANK YOU
kepada pengunjung-pengunjung Voices Around..   

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Sketsa Di Sebuah Rumah Melayu


Sketsa di suatu pagi, di sebuah rumah besar di perkampungan Melayu...

Suami : UMNOr !!! Kenapa kau ni sekarang ni nampaknya terlebih menggatal?
Isteri : Kenapa abang cakap begitu ?
Suami : Eleh ! Sudah gaharu cendana pula! Kau ingat aku tak nampak fe'el kau dengan si Lim tu? Kau ni sudah melampaui batas. Sudahlah terhegeh-hegeh, habis semua barang rumah ni kau gadai satu persatu kat Lim tu. Lepas ni tinggal body kau pula yang akan tergadai!
** (Pandangan mata si suami tajam menjalar di segenap penjuru dinding ruang tamu mencari seni khat kesayangannya yang terukir nama Allah. Matanya juga liar mencari potret Hang Tuah - "Tak kan Melayu Hilang di Dunia". Hai! Yang ini pun lesap juga ke? Bentak hatinya...

Suami : Hey! Dengar sini UMNOr! Aku masih lagi punya rasa sayang kat engkau. Bertaubatlah!
Suami : Aku dah sampai ke tahap mengintai perempuan lain untuk menggantikan kau, sekiranya kau berterusan begini!
Suami : Cuma kau yang masih bernasib baik kerana buat masa ni aku tak punya calon lagi.
**(Si suami mula terbayang wajah DAPsiah .. ahh!!! perangai macam komunis babi hutan! Kini wajah PASriyah gadis bertudung di hujung kampung bermain di mata.. hai.. Islamnya habis tunggang langgang sejak berjinak dengan Parti Ajaran Sesat tu... hmmm.. dulu pernah juga nak umpan si PaKiRah, langsung tidak dilayan oleh si PaKiRah.... selidik punya selidik, rupanya si PaKiRah ni tidak berminat langsung dengan kaum lelaki, sah jenis yang sejenis ni!.. sayang sekali.... budak comel si Perkasayang tu masih terlalu muda sangat lagi... tersedar semula dari lamunan....)
Suami : Ini amaran terakhir ! Kau menggatal lagi dengan Lim tu, aku akan CERAIkan kau dengan talak 3 !! Faham!!?? Lebih baik aku tak berbini daripada berbini orang semacam kau ni!!!
Seperti biasa... UMNOr terus bersikap "elegant silence dan "inaction"nya.....


** tambahan skrip dan olahan semula selepas suntingan Sdr.Bingai @ Bangang (TQ !)

Friday, August 27, 2010

Black Hearted Goods

 Artikel di bawah di ambil dari laman blog Pak Habib. Saya ingin meminta permisi dari Pak Habib sebelum menerbitkan artikel ini tetapi tidak dapat berbuat demikian kerana ruangan komentar di laman Pak Habib tidak disediakan. Saya harap Pak Habib akan maklum perkara ini sekiranya Pak Habib ada mengunjungi laman ini. (* Ada beberapa perkataan di dalam artikel di bawah yang saya tambahkan dengan warna merah, membuat garisan bawah dan besarkan saiz perkataannya)

http://t0.gstatic.com/images

Jejak Habib: Dangerous Imported Foods
The whole world is scared of China made 'black hearted goods'. Can you differentiate which one is made in the USA , Philippines , Taiwan or China ? 

For your Information ... the first 3 digits of the barcode is the country code wherein the product was made. Eg: all barcodes that start with 690 up to 695 are all MADE IN CHINA.

471 is Made in Taiwan.

This is our human right to know, but the government and related department never educate the public, therefore we have to RESCUE ourselves.

Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that consumers do not prefer products 'made in China', so they don't show from which country it is made.

However, you can refer to the barcode, remember if the first 3 digits are 690 to 695, then it is Made in China.
 These first two to three numbered bar codes identify other nations.
00 ~ 13 USA & CANADA
30 ~ 37 FRANCE
40 ~ 44 GERMANY
49 ~ JAPAN
50 ~ UK
57 ~ Denmark
64 ~ Finland
76 ~ Switzerland and Lienchtenstein
628 ~ Saudi-Arabia
629 ~ United Arab Emirates
740 ~ 745 - Central America
All 480 Codes are Made in the Philippines
Now read on below for specifics on goods from China to protect yourself, your family, and your friends. This is sickening but it is an alert to read labels and always buy fresh when you can.
Have a taste for chicken? READ THIS

WATCH WHAT YOU BUY. ESPECIALLY HIGHLINER FISH PRODUCTS; all come from China, even though the box says 'product of Canada', it is from China and 'processed' in Canada, that is, the coating is added and packaged in Canada only!

The fish are raised in pens using chemicals that are banned in Canada as cancer causing but legal in China. This was exposed on CBC TV's M arketplace.

This one will make you think before buying anything from China .

Well, are you enjoying seeing Chinese food popping up in your supermarket left and right? Have you noticed you can't buy a single package of fish that isn't made in China (or Vietnam )? Do you think your food from China is processed in a sanitary manner, and thus safe to eat? Take a look at this!!

These undercover enclosed pictures speak a thousand words. Avoid buying all processed food packaged in China. Anything goes! We just don't know what else is in those packages.

Unlike in the U.S. CANADA and Australia , China does not have laws regulating food processing.
 Basically, do not buy any processed food from China , also Hong Kong, too. MANY Chinese companies are using a Hong Kong address to avoid this type of image reputation.
Early dawn, starts the day by riding around to collect dead chickens.

**Note: Below should be several images posted. However the image links were broken. Please visit Jejak Habib: Dangerous Imported Foods  in case Pak Habib updates the links.
 **Asking around for dead chickens.
 **Total of 5 riders are hired by the boss to ride to farms to buy dead chickens.
 **A dead chicken cost 1 R M B and would be sold at 9 R M B after processing.
 **Storage for the dead chickens in the court yard.
 **Carcasses are thrown everywhere.
 **And on the floor....
 **Four employees start de-feathering the dead fowl after soaking in boiling water from a rusty wok.
 **Enduring the pungent odor, but sometime, it get so terrible that even the most experienced of the workers would vomit.
 **Workers rushing to get the chickens de-feathered.
 **A discarded bath tub being used to soak the bare skin dead chickens.... The contaminated water would have accelerated the decomposition process.
 **Wearing slippers walking among the chickens before the colouring processing.
 **After the colour dye, it's creepy to find that they are quite tenderized.
 **And now presenting the mouth watering Charcoal Roasted Chicken!
**Note: Please visit Jejak Habib: Dangerous Imported Foods for images captioned above, in case Pak Habib updates the links.

Send to as many people as possible. Do NOT buy food originating in China (or Vietnam or Thailand)!

Take the time to read the labels and look for country of origin!
IF YOU VALUE YOUR HEALTH AND THAT OF YOUR FAMILY, STOP BUYING ANYTHING FROM CHINA

Thanks & Regards,
Jralf

Saya memulakan blog VOICES AROUND ini pada akhir bulan April lepas pun dengan memuatkan artikel mengenai pembuatan telur palsu, "Because of Money" juga membabitkan China. Satu lagi artikel, pembuatan air minuman coca-cola palsu, Anything For Money", tidak membabit China.

Ramai orang menyebut-nyebut dewasa ini bahawa China adalah sebuah ekonomi besar, sehinggakan PM kita sendiri nampaknya "tergila-gila" menyeru rakyat supaya menguasai bahasa Mandarin. Saya bukanlah ahli ekonomi ataupun mengikuti rapat mengenai perkembangan ekonomi dunia, terutamanya China. Tapi saya pernah melancong ke China.

Saya, secara peribadinya, agak khuatir untuk "menyanjung" ekonomi sebegini, walaupun ia nampaknya sebuah ekonomi besar. Dapatkah ia bertahan lama dan menjadi utuh kalau ia membabitkan "black hearted goods"?  "While Bank Accounts Swell, Morality becomes Bankrupt", satu lagi artikel yang saya muatkan mengenai barangan buatan China. Nampaknya, segala-galanya ini bertuhankan duit. Kerana duit, habis semuanya ditolak kebelakang termasuk moral, etika dan nilai-nilai murni manusia sejagat, In God We Trust, tuhan yang mana satu? Kitapun maklum bahawa terdapat segelintir, malahan sebilangan orang-orang yang berhati hitam ini di sekeliling kita, yang menggadai segala-galanya demi wang.

Kalaulah benar "sebuah ekonomi yang besar" menjadi salahsatu alasannya pemimpin kita tergila-gilakan bahasa Mandarin, apa akan terjadi sekiranya tiba-tiba negara Rusia muncul sebagai kuasa ekonomi? Apakah kita, SEMUAnya, akan tergila-gila mengejar untuk menguasai bahasa Rusia pula? Kalau ya pun begitu, sudahkah kita menguasai bahasa kedua kita?  (Do You Understand English ?)

Saya membuat kenyataan yang agak sinis ini kerana saya tidak nampak bahawa PM dan kerajaannya bersungguh-sungguh untuk mendaulatkan Bahasa Kebangsaan sendiri. Ini adalah termaktub dan menjadi seruan Perlembagaan supaya Bahasa Melayu itu didaulatkan di bumi ini. Bahasa adalah Jiwa Bangsa dan ianya merupakan salahsatu asas perpaduan anak bangsa. Mana mungkin untuk mencapai perpaduan yang utuh sedangkan kita sesama sendiri tidak menggunakan bahasa yang seragam untuk memahami sesama sendiri. Usahkan penerimaan dan toleransi, di tahap pemahaman sesama sendiri kita sudahpun kantoi! (Do We Understand Each Other? dan Do We Understand Each Other - Part 2)


Thursday, August 26, 2010

Slow Down and Take It Easy

"Rivers know this : There is no hurry. We shall get there someday" - Winnie The Pooh
I have read the article below a couple of years ago. I could not blog it earlier since I could not find it in my email collection box. After sometime, here is the article again, received via another email. 

Remember, next time you want to accuse someone of being "malas and lembab". That someone may be a sloth to you, but he may live a much fuller life than you. 

pic - http://www.cabrio-team.ch
It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.
Globalized processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results.
Therefore, we have come to possess a need to see immediate results.

This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.
  1. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
  2. Stockholm has 500,000 people.
  3. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, are some of its renowned companies. Volvo even supplies NASA.
The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work).

The first day, I didn't say anything, neither the second or third days. One morning I asked him,
"Do you have a fixed parking space?"
I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot. To which he replied,
"Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, don't you think that whoever gets in late will need a place closer to the door?"
Imagine my face.
pic - http://static-p3.fotolia.com

Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe named Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart, Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fuelled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being".

French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity driven up by 20%.

This slow attitude has come to the notice of USA , the pupils of the fast and "do it now" brigade. This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity.

It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress.

It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living. It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive work place where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do.

It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious to live for the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists.

We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment.

pic - http://fashionablygeek.com
Congratulations for reading this email till the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this "Globalized" world...... !!!
** (Author not known)


Today's Lesson :
How to get there, yesterday.
Lesson Never Learnt :
Too Late.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Bastardest ! Hush Up Will You?


STOP ! STOP! Hit the brake! Step hard on it!!! Now!!!

Okay.. take a slow deep breath........ let it out now... slowly.....

Now...

Who were actually the target group of DEB? Were they not the Malays and the Bumiiputeras who are still way behind? Are they not?

Then...

Why are you "barking" demanding this and that ?! Are you the target group?

Why are you dumping DEB and replacing it with MEB? The objective of DEB has yet to be achieved, but are you apologising to those who are barking?  And you, the "liberals" too?

Let's see when they bark...

They bark and bark, saying that they have been victimised, discriminated, whatever. Look around. Who are living much more wealthier lives, by far and large? How many percentage of them "masih tak cukup makan, forget about receiving proper education" compare to the percentage of those in the DEB's target group?

They bark at the WHOLE Malay people (a little quiet on the Bumiputeras though) bashing the so-called "UMNOputeras" whom the average Malay people wanted to bash as well!!

They, including the product of "bastardized DEB" attack the "bastards" (but blaming the whole thing on DEB) who syphoned the country's wealth like nobody business. But why these "bastards" alone? What about those, the non-Malays, who took the opportunity to make even more millions and billions by colaborating with these "bastards"? Are they not even more "bastard"? Bastarder? Looks like those who cunningly forget and keeping quiet about these "bastarder" are the most "bastard"......,  the bastardest !! Everybody seems to forget the actual target group of DEB. How are they doing now? Are they okay? Who are they, again? 


Does MEB really address the original target group of DEB? MEB is really for them? Or does MEB looks more like making apologies to those who "bark"? Then why "gelabah" when confronted by Perkasa in the Kongres MPM?

DEB has not reached its objective, has it? Then why dump it? Why not instead modify it, retune it, improve it? Admittedly, there could be something not right during the course of implementing DEB, but there is hardly anything wrong with DEB itself.

Tun Razak was very far-sighted enough to had thouight of  DEB.

Tun Hussein had succesfully launched it.

At least Tun Mahathir had implemented it and managed to produce many doctors, engineers, etc including the CIMB top man, mainly out of the original DEB's target group. If not,  once upon a time Malaysia would have not become the fierce little tiger of Asia. And yes, it is still way behind the 30% objective.

After all those barkings, the "bartardests" attacking the "bastards" while seemingly keeping quiet on the "bastarders" and the "never ending apologising stance", has the original target group of DEB reached the 30% objective which necessitate the dumping of DEB? They are still way behind, are they not?

Look!! If we are all sincere enough, we all should help these "still way behind target group of  DEB" instead of barkings profusely bashing the whole Malay people, using the excuse of the bastards whom the Malays themselves want to strangle, if possible.

If we are true enough to our noble ideas, then we should do everything necessary to make good the DEB instead of apologising to the loud barkings. No wonder there is THIS call. There may be a reason to support it!

The fact still remains, even today. The Malays and the Bumiputeras are still way behind in their own soil.


Now Bastardest! Hush up on the Umnoputeras and bastards, will ya??!!

And this seemingly never ending apologising stance ought to end right now too!

"Semua nampaknya berpura-pura" - Dari Kacamata Melayu.


NOW....


Stay tune to Uranus Space Monkey
Join Pure Shiite In Time Travel beginning with....

SatuLimaTiga....A Tribute to Justice Hamid

 

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

About Cars - Not Driving Them (or Being Driven) To The Wall


This is to continue sharing my "experiences", last posted HERE, when me and family were outside from this "bumi bertuah".  Outside Malaysia, I had driven cars for quite some years, all around the eastern part of U.S. I had also driven rented cars from south to north of New Zealand and all over the U.K. I had done it twice at different times all over U.K. (except Ireland).

Driving with a GPS unit (nowadays) is marvelous! I was once lost my way for hours trying to get out from New York City, during those 'map' days.

OK. Outsyed The Box have talked about prices of cars, HERE (Cars in UK)HERE (Cars In US) and I will share my driving experiences in UK (no need about driving in NZ and US, quite similar in terms of driving attitudes). On our recent holiday in UK, we rented a medium sized 1.6 litre diesel engine car and at another time a small sized 1.5 litre petrol engine car. Both models are available here in Malaysia (except they don't bring in the diesel version here)

We rented from two different well known rental car companies, also doing business here in Malaysia.  When I took the diesel car, it had a mileage clocked at some 5,000 miles and the other was a brand new! (having the mileage clocked at 3 miles). Both cars  have  a gadget/meter to estimate how many more miles you can drive before the fuel totally runs dry. Neat!

I have never rented a car from a well known car rental company here in Malaysia. I have rented a Kia Carnival from a car rental company chosen by American Express Card. It was long time ago. I think the rental cost here (rented from a well known car rental companies) is more expensive than in UK. The amount of petrol I spent while renting that Kia Carnival? Mak Datok!!

Let me digress a bit, but still relevant when we talk about quality of things we get around here. The whole family was stranded beside a highway in Pahang, one day. Why? Because my SUV's  gearbox kaput! KAPUT THE SECOND TIME!! That's when I made an emergency call to AMEX and they sent a Kia Carnival since I had asked for a family/people mover vehicle.  The SUV I bought was a CBU unit from Korea. The SUV's gearbox KAPUTED the first time when it clocked around 60,000km mileage when it was 2 years 11 days old. And no, nothing! Naza people said the car was already beyond its 2-year 40k km warranty. No sympathy, no nothing. How's that for customer's service? This was not a power window that won't work. This was gearbox entirely broken down, kaputed the SECOND TIME !!  how's that for quality of a damn SUV thing that costed more than RM150,000?  When the damned gearbox broke down the first time, I had to fork out some 5 figures amount to pay for it! Almost 3 months stranded at service center waiting for a new gearbox to arrive from Korea and not even an offer to lend me another vehicle to go to work!. I asked them, "What if the gearbox give way again?" They said, "It has a 3-month warranty 10,000 km mileage". The "beside a highway stranded incident" happened just about reaching the 3-month and  clocked about 9,000++km  (after the new second gearbox installation)! Of course they did not charge for the THIRD gearbox, but they did not compensate me either on car rental, and several other components that went kaputed together with the gearbox, and again the time lost  while they  waited  for and installed the third gearbox! Luckily there was no towing charges by AAM since I am a member. The towing was somewhere in Pahang, all the way back to KL. When the SUV was back on the road again after being in ICU twice, I made the decision to throw out the JUNK SUV fearing for a third time gearbox kaput. So why did I choose to own a JUNK SUV in the first place? Prior to making that decision, I read a few car magazines which reported that the same SUV model won the "SUV of  The Year" award, 3 years in a row! Of course the award were in some other countries, not Malaysia. Since then anyone who have had asked my opinion prior to buying a car or SUV, my advice is "NOKIA". Of course I dont mean the nokia phones! I have decreed a fatwa on my family members too, "NOKIA".

Okay, back to the driving experiences in UK.

A full tank costed me about GBP60 for the diesel one and slightly above GBP40 for the smaller petrol one. It also depends on which fuel station you go to since different fuel stations have different prices per litre fuel. I think Shell seems to offer the cheapest fuel per litre there in UK 

I am quite sure that I had covered more than 700 miles before refueling the diesel; or was it more than 800 miles? Okay, let's talk about the 1.5L petrol one. I think it was 600 miles driven before next refuelling (mixed motorways and cities driving).

I drive japanese cars here in Malaysia. I had a 1.6 Proton Saga Magma engine before, and on my record, this car served me the best so far (Record in terms of less headaches in component breakdowns throughout the ownership time).

Yesterday I filled up my nearly empty tank, 1.5L petrol japanese car with RM63 of  fuel (the yellow pump, RON95? anyway, the cheaper one). Let's say RM65 for a full tank. Total distance this car normally does before next refuelling is around 400km before the fuel warning light starts to flash again. So RM65 for a total distance of 400km (mixed not KL city driving)


Let's be safe. Let's say I had clocked 500 miles (instead of 600 miles) for the UK rented  car. In kilometre, it is about 800km. Wow! 800km for a full tank fuel ?

Looking at the "500miles/800km GBP40 plus full tank in UK" versus the "400km RM65 full tank in Malaysia", my mind was lingering on few things.

Was it the high quality fuel in UK, be it diesel or petrol? They say the diesel version car won't come here in Malaysia because our diesel fuel will wreck the Euro-5 (?) diesel engine in no time.

Was it the engine efficiency ? The cars in UK are more efficient?

Darn it! I should have recorded the fuel quantity when I filled up the tank in UK. It could have been the larger tank they have there in UK, more fuel pumped in, therefore more mileage covered.

But before you argue (like the government always argue) that GBP40 is roughly RM200, please assume that you pay GBP40 in UK's environment (simply to say that you live there, factoring everything of UK environment including income tax etc). Dont simply convert the GBP to RM  and compare. It is not right to compare the spendings in UK while you are earning your living in Malaysia. Let's be a bit fair here when comparing. Assume that in UK the petrol's price range is from 1.13 to 1.26 unit price per litre and in Malaysia the petrol price is 1.85unit price per litre (forget the RM and GBP for one moment).

Driving in UK leave me the feeling "it is more economical" than in Malaysia. In getting around and moving about (to go to Poundland stores and moving about to buy White Bread, Clark Shoes, Underwear), I have not factored in the kind of public transport they have over there. The low cost carriers that operates there ( to be fair, cost of properties like homes too). Maybe I'll touch the subjects next. For now it is just cars and driving around.

What do you think? Between "speed" and "reckless", which one contributes higher road accidents statistic?

I don't really know. Due to my "affection" to the sign "90" I had a few times driven the car in UK with speedometer at "90". There were many more cars whizzing, overtaking me on the right lanes since I drove mostly on left lane on UK's motorways. Ooopppss!! That was 145km/hour speed! The speedometer in UK was in miles per hour, not km/hr !!

There was a man recently killed by a 3-wheeler (you know that motorcycle attached to a carriage) at Kepong (?). Do you think that 3-wheeler was doing anything above 80km/hr? 50km/hr? Which one is more scary to you, a speed demon doing 140km/hr on PLUS Highway or a "lipas kudung devil" zig-zagging the lanes (including the emergency lanes) in KL city at 70km/hr? I think the traffic police should use canggih "video camera" in the cities for Ops Reckless, more frequent than the "still camera" at highways Ops Laju.

I think driving attitudes in UK gave me a "safer and more comfortable" feelings when driving. Here, it does not take the "speed demons" to scare me on the roads. It seems more drivers here are in a rush to get somewhere, yesterday!

In UK, you flip the signal and the drivers (including truckers, buses etc) will flash the head light giving you the safe opportuniy to cross the lane. The fast one will switch to the next right-hand lane, giving you again, the safe lane switching manouveur. Do you experience such courtesy when driving here? Yes I have, but still way far behind the courtesy as displayed by the UK drivers (the US and NZ drivers too! based on my experiences). But the UK drivers will become mad if you switched lane without giving the signal, especially when they are quite close behind you during the lane-switching manouver. Giving ways to other as and when appropriate, seem to be the attitude of the drivers there. During student days, we were once caught in traffic jam (but still moving slowly) on motorways leading to Washingston DC at peak time. We were weaving from left lane to right and right to left. Quite surprisingly, the American drivers' courtesy still gave us the space to switch lanes when signalled even though it seemed our car was the only one zig-zagging the lanes. I did feel ashamed!

Where do they learn these courtesy and civic-mindedness ? Certainly not in a kindergarten or schools where the subjects courtesy/civic mindedness/nation building not being stressed upon or nurtured while the kids are having good times mingling and playing everyday at school. But do the kindergartens and schools produce good citizens of the nation? (the schools and kindergartens which seem to drive the kids to the wall to score as many As and to finish tons of homeworks in all those many subjects "God-knows what", necessary for the young minds to grow up to become what ?!.. kiasu adults ?) Do they produce well-mannered and courteous citizen?  Or do they produce savage road bullies, speed demons and not-so-courteous lipas kudung zig-zagger devils? Do they produce the ever satiable "in god we trust" citizen, not those who live and die for this god alone?


This article is way too long! Time for Kempen Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua! Sign THIS please !!
 
CIAOW!!!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Respek Sama Lu !!!


Saya sebenarnya ingin berkongsi sebuah email  yang saya terima bersabit dengan ayam sembelihan dan status halalnya. Saya dapati hasrat saya itu telahpun dipermudahkan oleh The Unspinners yang telahpun menerbitkan email yang sama di SINI.

Ada sebuah komen oleh seorang pengunjung blog ini yang berbunyi, "Kalau rasa syak kepada ayam yang dimakan, mulakan business bela ayam." Sekiranya ada sikap saling hormat menghormati,  kemungkinan besar perasaan was-was, syak wasangka dan saling tidak mempercayai tidak akan timbul dan tidak perlulah bagi seseorang yang lain menceburi bisnes yang sama  semata-mata hanya kerana timbulnya perasaan-perasaan negatif tersebut.

Masih ingatkah lagi kes mengenai bekalan makanan halal dan IKEA Mutiara Damansara? Waktu itu terdapat beberapa pembekal dan premis pemerosesan daging yang dibongkar oleh pihak yang berkenaan. Keraguan timbul terhadap status halalnya berikutan dengan cara pemyembelihan dan pemerosesan bekalan makanan tersebut. Ada yang premisnya terletak berhampiran dengan tempat pemerosesan daging babi 

IKEA Damansara telah terbabit dalam kes ini apabila terdapat pembekal sosejnya adalah di antara pembekal-pembekal yang disyakki. IKEA Damansara bertegas bahawa sumber bekalannya adalah halal. Saya pun pernah terbaca yang ada di antara pembekal-pembekal yang disebut dalam kes ini menafikan bahawa bekalan mereka itu adalah tidak menepati syarat status halal.

Apa yang menarik perhatian saya adalah tindakan susulan oleh pengurusan IKEA Damansara dalam hal ini. Walaupun belum terbukti 'tidak halal', IKEA Damansara telah menutup cafenya selama beberapa bulan dan melakukan pengubahsuaian termasuk menggantikan semua peralatan dapurnya  dan penyamakan mengikut kaedah Islam di samping memastikan para pembekalnya benar-benar mematuhi syarat 'halal' yang ditetapkan oleh pihak yang berkuasa. Kalau tidak silap, IKEA Damansara ada menyebut bahawa tindakan tersebut diambil kerana keyakinan para pelanggannya amatlah penting dalam perniagaan mereka.

Apa pendapat anda sekira ianya bukan IKEA Damansara, tetapi taukeh-taukeh tempatan kita? Apa agaknya tindakan mereka dan bagaimana pula tahap hubungan mereka dengan pelanggan-pelanggan?

IKEA adalah sebuah syarikat dari Sweden. Sebelum mempunyai dan berpindah ke gedung perniagaannya sendiri di Muitiara Damansara, IKEA telah menyewa ruangan perniagaan di 1-Utama (Old Wing). Sekiranya anda berkunjung ke IKEA Damansara, anda akan dapati bahasa yang digunakan adalah bahasa Inggeris dan Bahasa Melayu di papan-papan tanda, di tag-tag harga dan spesifikasi barangan dan lain-lain. Boleh dikatakan hampir keseluruhannya menggunakan hanya Bahasa Inggeris dan Bahasa Melayu. Saya beberapakali menerima katalog dari IKEA yang ditulis dalam kedua-dua bahasa tersebut sahaja.

Apa yang saya bangga terhadap IKEA ini?

Mereka adalah syarikat asing tetapi dalam hal ini nampaknya IKEA begitu menghormati agama rasmi negara serta bahasa kebangsaan negara kita Malaysia. Mereka bukan tidak tahu bahawa bukan semuanya rakyat Malaysia tidak memakan makanan tidak halal. Sekiranya mahu, mereka boleh buat 'derk' tanpa perlu mengeluarkan perbelanjaan besar untuk pengubahsuaian cafe mereka.

Mereka menghormati Bahasa Kebangsaan Malaysia walaupun mungkin mereka terdengar khabar bahawa golongan kaya yang sering berbelanja adalah kebanyakannya terdiri dari gologan yang tidak mengutamakan Bahasa Kebangsaan, terutamanya di kawasan KL/PJ ini. IKEA tidak pula menggunakan bahasa asing untuk menarik golongan yang sering berbelanja ini. Tidak seperti suatu ketika dahulu di mana CELCOM mempromosikan pakej 'Naga' untuk menarik golongan yang mengutamakan bahasa asing ini. Habis segala iklan CELCOM ini dibuat dalam bahasa asing dalam promosi itu. CELCOM tu syarikat Malaysia ke?


Baru-baru ini saya membeli lampu lantai di IKEA. Keputusan pembelian saya berdasarkan fungsi lampu, harganya, rekabentuknya dan lebih senang menjumpainya di pusat perniagaan seperti IKEA. Hati sedikit resah apabila terbaca "Made in China". Walaubagaimanapun saya lega apabila mendapati ada label QC (pemeriksaan dan kelulusan kualiti barangan) di bawah tapak lampu tersebut. Label QC ini memaparkan nama dan tandatangan pegawai pemeriksa kualiti dari IKEA sendiri.

Sebenarnya, bagi saya, sikap MENGHORMATI  dan keutamaan kepada pelanggan ini adalah agak lazim di negara-negara seperti Amerika Syarikat, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Jepun dan saya yakin banyak lagi negara-negara lain seumpamanya.

Mungkinkah sikap tersebut timbul kerana mereka sendiri amat menghormati negara mereka lalu sikap ini tertanam subur dihati mereka sehingga ianya tidak menjadi masalah kepada mereka untuk menghormati orang atau negara lain. Mungkinkah bagi mereka, PELANGGAN yang sebenarnya memberi kemajuan kepada perniagaan mereka, bukannya WANG pelanggan mereka?

Bagaimana pula kita orang Malaysia? Adakah kita benar-benar MENGHORMATI prinsip Rukun Negara dan Perlembagaan? Tidakkah kita maklum bahawa agama rasmi adalah agama Islam? Tidakkah kita dapat MENGHORMATI bahawa adalah haram bagi orang Islam  memakan makanan yang tidak disediakan secara halal? Sekiranya Rukun Negara dihayati dan timbulnya sikap saling menghormati, akan adakah restoran-reston "Tidak Halal" yang terletak bersebelahan dengan restoran "Halal"? Akan adakah premis-premis perniagaan yang membabitkan daging babi terletak ditengah-tengah kawasan kunjungan orangramai? Dahulu, saya jarang melihat keadaan seperti ini. Premis perniagaan daging babi biasanya akan berada disudut tertentu di mana ianya melambangkan sikap hormat kepada mereka-mereka yang beragama Islam.

Kenapa IKEA of Sweden dapat MENGHORMATI negara asing bila berniaga di bumi asing, sedang kita  tidak dapat menghormati negara kita sendiri walaupun kaki bertapak di bumi sendiri? Kenapa kita begitu "BIADAP" terhadap diri sendiri? Ajaran Agama Wang, tiada tuhan lain yang disembah melainkan tuhan wang? Semuanya kerana Wang? Bangkrapnya moral kerana Wang?


Kita sering terdengar alasan-alasan perniagaan seperti  "mahu untung", "hendak cepat", "perlu jual banyak", "kena pastikan pulangan besar" sehinggakan pelanggan, kualiti barangan, harga berpatutan telah diletakkan jauh kebelakang. Malahan berlaku penipuan, sorokan barangan keperluan, penganiayaan dsb. Adakah ini ajarannya Agama Wang yang menyembah tuhan wang?

Sekiranya kita tidak bersetuju dengan Prinsip Rukun Negara dan Perlembagaan yang ada, maka amatlah wajar bagi kita berpindah ke negara lain yang Perlembagaannya memenuhi citarasa kita. Perlembagaan bukannya tidak boleh diubah sekiranya wajar dan perlu. Tetapi lakukanlah bibit-bibit perubahan itu dengan cara terhormat, mengikuti saluran tertentu sehingga perubahan yang diutarakan tersebut dapat diterima ramai. Sementara ianya belum berubah, hendaklah kita mematuhi peraturan yang sedia ada. Jadilah seorang warga yang penuh SOPAN bukannya biadap atau khianat terhadap negara.

http://t1.gstatic.com   

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

We Still Cannot Accept The Truth Behind It


DO NOT STIR THE MALAYS AND BUMIPUTERA !!!!!
Why can't you understand that !!



The 13th May 1969 Racial Riots
Analisis by Jebat Must Die (pdf file)
They are waking up .....

Read also, "Bangkitlah Melayu" by Dinturtle
And "Bangsa Yang Tidak Mengenang Budi", by GWM @House PK
And "Najib di Cerai Soi Lek Talak 3" by Tam Dalyell
And "Stop Outrageous Demands" by Big Dog
And "Jangan Terlalu Berani Mencabar" by Ridhuan Tee


MAY 13 couldn’t have happened if not for the environment of bad relations between Malays and non-Malays, which was generated in 1964, during the racial riots in Singapore.
But 40 years on, we are no better off. If I were to go out on the street now and slap a couple of Malay boys, there would be ethnic trouble.
We haven’t changed since 1969. We can’t even have one school for all our children. And we can’t even discuss the possibility of this without getting angry.
The Razak Report (in 1956, to reform the Malayan education system) stated that the main objective of the country’s education policy is national unity. But which school has achieved this policy in this country? Instead, someone came up with the slogan “Science for unity”. It should be “Education for unity”.
We need to cross the ethnic divide. Malaysians need to grow up together.
We need to make a very serious start to try to bring people closer together. There’s no need for the National Service Training Programme.
Sports, the cadet corps, scouts, girl guides — they used to bring our children together and they had this in every school. But these uniformed activities have been allowed to die, because the students have to study to get 28 As! And schools don’t have school concerts any more.
The prime minister should organise activities for the young, which will allow them to socialise. The government should plan for the younger generation to understand one another.
And they should be taught not to rely on their ethnicity for success. The New Economic Policy was meant to balance economic disparity among the races; any disadvantaged group would be helped. Unfortunately, the NEP was not implemented the way it was supposed to be, and it created a greater divide between the races.
The way it is now, it gives the impression that it’s a way for Malays to make easy money.
It’s a mistake to equate 1Malaysia with the Malaysian Malaysia concept. “Malaysian Malaysia” carries bad memories, because of the way it was used in 1969.
What people should understand about the Social Contract is, the Malays are not given privileges because they were the original inhabitants of Malaya: of course not. They were given privileges because the British came in by signing treaties with the Malay rulers.
After May 13, we came up with the Rukun Negara, which was supposed to be the national ideology. It was supposed to be planted in the minds of the young, so that they would have shared values and beliefs.
Unfortunately, schools just got the students to memorise it. If pupils don’t understand what they are studying, it’s no good.
People are supposed to learn about the Constitution, and understand the concept of parliamentary democracy and separation of powers, so that if they saw these being eroded, they would speak up against it.
There are various theories of what really happened on May 13, and how it actually started. But society’s still not ready for the truth — even among the educated.
We are unable to discuss facts without feeling obliged to apportion blame. But, with regards to May 13, the truth doesn’t matter. What’s important is that we should understand enough about it to avoid it.
Khoo, a historian and Suhakam commissioner, was on the research panel for the Rukun Negara
** bold faced by me


 
UPDATE

Pribumi Perkasa

Chua Soi Lek Sialan !!! - Gerakan Timur

Tahniah Kepada Hero Melayu - House PK

Bonology.com

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

While Bank Accounts Swell, Morality becomes Bankrupt


Received via email. (texts in blue are mine, added). How true this email is? Well, I don't know. Look around and answer that for yourself. I am still looking for that old piece on how they make 'fried kuay-teow', from old newspaper and 'sea-weed' from plastic materials. Yes! both sold to be eaten by human! And both, are china-made.

What the unscruplous and crooked people would go through just to make money !
 Subject: Worse than the Melamine Milk Scandal ?????

TOXIC Hairy Crabs, Eels, Turtles, Bean Sprouts, Farmed Fish - worse than the Melamine Milk Scandal Yale Professor Chan CM, in his lecture at Beida Univ about poisonous eels being sold in China and how widely the local eel farms are using hormones which remain in the human body sometimes for 7-8 yrs.

An Environmental Scientist whom he met at Suzhow told him "my relative who owns a bean sprouts farm said that because of the use of hormones, the sprouts normally take 5 days to be ready for sale are now ready in 1 day. Truckloads are sold to Canton and no one in his own village will eat the stuff they farmed. "

Hairy Crabs : Mostly from Jiangsu. Each year, the crabs became more affordable due to large harvest. They are bred using all kinds of toxins : hormones, antibiotics. From the baby crabs stage, the crabs are fed around 10 types of chemicals. In Fujian, they are worse, they feed female crabs with birth control hormones so that the mother crab will be plumb and ready.

24 hours after they were fetched, the crabs arrived at HK dinner table, but not before they were fed one last time with antibiotics so that they would stay healthy enroute. If you walk along the small streets in the Crab Farms, you will see many shops selling "Medicine for Crabs". There are at least 10 different kinds on their "menu".

Next Magazine Investigative Journalists took 12 Hairy Crabs for lab test. 11 of them have 土黴素 (sorry!  cannot read the characters). 6 have æ°¯é»´ç´ (sorry again!). All damaging to blood, and esp bad for pregnant women and foetuses.

If they tell you their crabs are fed organically (versus Chemically Fed), that means they are fed by decomposing carcases of dead cats, dogs, chicken. The dogs died from first being poisoned, or from diseases. The owner of the crab farm pulled from under a bed a dead carcass, deskin and dehaired it, waving a piece of the leg proudly pronouncing it as "organic feed" These dogs came from a private vendor that kills the dogs by poisonous gases. The dog died from chemical poisoning.

The investigative journalists from HK witnessed such display of "organic feeding" when the farmer tossed the dog carcass into the pond. They watched 2 crabs feeding on the decaying carcass.

The Fishery Dept showed that the most famous YC Lake for Hairy Crabs, at maximum can only produce 13,000 Class 1 Crabs. HK imported 13,000,000 crabs all claiming it's from YC Lake.

Jiang Su natural water engineer Mr Tong said the the whole of China claims that the hairy crabs they sell are from YC Lake. The only exception being those sold in Tibet, a desert.

Turtles, Snakes, are all fed by chemicals, as well as birth control hormones.

Toxin fed Crabs, snakes, eels, turtles, all fed for revenue, not forgetting fake milk powder, fish from fish farms, bean sprouts, fake soya sauce, fake seaweeds (where is that email I am looking ?), fake eggs ....... Color-enriched tomatoes, melon seeds, grapes...... all massive exploits to milk cash. (hmm.... why I am not surprised !)

Why is all that happening in China ?(again, any surprise?)
 

First: Greed.(look around you!)

Second: Lack of govt control. the govt cannot keep up with the sudden market demand, as the surging middle class have a lot more cash nowadays. (wonder why fakes, no quality standards and even hazardous to consumer products manage to make their ways here? Malaysia, an ever ready market for chinese products dumped by the USA and first world countries?)

3rd and most fundamental reason : This has led to the current problem of the maximization of profit at the cost of morality. (wow! any wonder ? Money, all the reason there is!)

4th: The lack of Family Values (as kids growing up, the only value is how to make money). The daily mantra is "Study hard to ultimately get rich."(sounds like our education system and In this god we trust!)

The adults feel that they have to make up for "lost" time when they were deprived under the Totalitarian regime when the govt kept what they harvested. While their bank accounts swell, they are morally bankrupt.

And closer to home. An email forwarded, copy-pasted below. 


An interesting letter to Tony Fernandez from a pax...... 


Subject: FW: AIR ASIA
NOV 9 — Dear Tony (if I may, or Dear Datuk Seri Tony Fernandez)

I have been meaning to write to you. I know you love getting notes from your AirAsia customers. You have a blog, several websites, wiki page and even Facebook, all for people to get in touch with you. I decided against writing you a direct email because I think what I have to say is widely shared by other people as well. So if you do reply to me, I can share your reply.

Let me congratulate you on your appointment as F1 boss and a trustee of 1 Malaysia Foundation. Second, congratulations on your titles after such a short career in aviation — I mean less than five years ago you were “call me Tony” then you became Datuk and now Datuk Seri. At the rate you are going, I suspect you will be Tan Sri by the end of next year!

The reason I am writing is because I keep reading how well your airline is doing— it’s making tons of money and ordering a massive number of Airbus planes. You have gone international with AA X, insurance, hotels and goodness what else!

Yet somehow I think you have lost your human touch and are now solely interested in making money, just like the blood-sucking Malaysian elite you joined recently. Yet you keep telling us, in your public interviews anyway, that making money is not your main aim but providing a “service” to the rakyat! How can we, the poor rakyat, not remember that before you descended from the mountain, we had to pay “sky high” prices just to fly. As you say, now “everyone can fly”. So, a big Terima Kasih from me and 28 million other Malaysians!

What I am talking about is your reluctance to use the passenger-bridge in all airports in Malaysia . You put the blame on MAHB’s high charges. I’m sure since yours is a volume business, MAHB will be happy to offer you a special deal since you must be their second biggest customer after MAS. I cannot believe that with the millions you are making, you cannot afford to use the bridge. Or if you are really desperate, I am sure you can add 50 sen to every ticket sold to cover part of the costs.
 
I say this because I took a flight recently from LCCT to East Malaysia . When we arrived, it was raining heavily. Several mothers with children, and old people, were reluctant to leave the plane. But alias, your crew literally pushed them off since they only have 25 minutes to fly out again. I felt so sorry for one of the old aunties who had to carry two bags (she was trying to save RM10 because of your no-free luggage policy) and there was no one from Air Asia to help her with an umbrella. One mummy with children fared even worse. She was carrying an infant and could not hold the umbrella properly. I asked one of the flight stewardesses to help her but she gave me a dirty look. I guess nobody wanted to be caught in a mini-typhoon. I tried my best my help her but she got soaked because the umbrella was designed for one person only.

I can go on and on, and described the scene at the staircase since we all had to walk up to the “arrival hall”. Let’s just say it was a heart-breaking scene. The old people had to climb up the stairs totally soaked, and I will not be surprised if they came down with pneumonia. One of the children slipped because the staircase was wet.

So, Tony, can you please show us your heart? Now that you travel first or business class, and no longer a member of the working class, can you just do this little favour for the rest of us? I am sure it can be counted as CSR and win you another award

Yours sincerely
James Chin
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