Beyond The Looking Glass

So here we are, the final day of 2007. Tomorrow, 2007 is history and a new chapter in the form of Year 2008 approaches.

True, there are many challenges that lie ahead. I will be putting up my wish list in the next posting, but there is something that I discovered through talking that I felt that we, who love Malaysia so much should stop for a while and ponder our actions as well as having a little chat for what we've done.

I came into talking things actively about Malaysia in the past few months because of our role and position as bloggers are threatened when the Mamak of Merbok said something of classification back in May. My fear was that if there is no action taken against a group of spinsters and powerful ones, there is no freedom to talk as it pleases. The worst of the lot that could be affected are those teens who like to talk about their past times. What if the bureaucrats are watching those who talk their own things? Do you see a sense of breach of privacy? In other words, the whole cyber community of Malaysia could be controlled by bureaucrats. So that's why I decided to contribute in my opinion.

A friend of mine close to 10 years had spoken to me online three weeks ago and he brought up some interesting points that I believe that everyone should consider. He had looked some of the posting and I must admit that he sincerely told me that I've crossed the line of what I supposed to say. He understands that the I wasn't the kind of person that use to say those things before.

There are a few things he brought up that we should consider that:

1. While we criticize some because we want Malaysia to be a better place, perhaps we should consider that some things that we chose to say are part of the opposition's agenda to possibly stir up trouble that could create chaos.

2. If you are one of those who are caught in the illegal assembly that is successful, who tends to benefit ultimately in the end? Those who are behind the assembly.

3. He also tried to tell me that since there are also many of those like myself, with zeal and passion in making Malaysia a better place to save our strength for the future and not to let our futures ruined with just one arrest.

4. He also brought up message of remembering the past history of Lim Kit Siang and Anwar Ibrahim. We have to be careful that there could a possibility of Malaysia destroyed if DSAI becomes the next prime Minister or something.

You may wonder why the sudden shift of stance in my post this time, but I felt that while we keep talking about the problems in Malaysia, we could exploited by opportunists. Therefore, I felt that maybe we should pause and consider our actions lest we see the country that we dream of destroyed by failed promises.

So, in the next General Elections, who should we pick? Blue Wave? Opposition or abstain from voting? It is typically a lose-lose-lose situation thing, but we need to pick the choice that is the least of the three evils. If we abstain, we would not be able to shape how things go out because we decide who goes into Parliament or not. If we pick the Blue Wave, we can expect the corruption thing and all sorts of issues that we've witnessed in 2007 to continue on to next year. If we pick the opposition, we fear that the opposition in the end will end up never fulfilling our promises and drag the nation further down.

Now, the first sign of deciding the choice that we make in General Elections is at hand. SMSes had been circulated as well as a small newsflash in Malaysiakini saying that the price of fuel will go up to $2.32 from tomorrow onwards. So much for kicking off the new year. If you see this, what will you do then? Now whose fault is it? The government? The oil speculators? Fuel hike is inevitable already, as I've said back in October. There will be finger pointing saying that the government had misused its tax payer money. Will Malaysia go bankrupt if there is a slash of oil prices? Hell No! The answer lies in the current exchange rate. If we can make the ringgit back to 2.5 as during the pre-Asian financial crisis, we end up paying less money for a barrel of oil.

Anyhow, it's Happy New Year 2008!

Speak of The Devil!

Your enemy, the Devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour - 1 Peter 5:8

Speak of the Devil! I didn't expect things to come out of nowhere. It was 10.30 p.m. on Thursday night and I was blogging on one of my posts. I turned to The Star to check on news updates and I was surprised to see a news line which says: 'Benazir Bhutto reportedly killed.' I also had subscribed to a BBC News feed and it had a more grim description but still confirms that Bhutto was assassinated.

Of course, I must say that killing an innocent person is beyond proportions and every local media here including the MSM and Malaysiakini had Abdullah Badawi calling that a cruel act. Even those especially Gordon Brown said that only cowards would do that.

In this kind of situation, do you trust the other party? There were two accounts of how Ms. Bhutto was assassinated. But, the Pakistani intelligence intercepted a phone conversation which states that Al-Qaida of that division was responsible for the killing. To some, particularly extremists, they perceive Ms. Bhutto as a puppet or an agent of promoting the democracy model championed by America. Given how she came back intending to restore things when Musharraf announces of election in January, that's how the ball of terror starts to roll.

The way Al-Qaeda fights against the invaders like U.S is somewhat bears the mark of the Irish civil war back in the seventies. The Irish Republican Army at that time believed that anything to do with deal-talking or agreeing with the British Government is catapulting or losing to them. The keep fighting even though their zeal will drive them to nowhere.

Killing the Bhutto family (native) is similar to the Kennedy family where conspirators feared of the utopia that the family would bring to the nation. They wanted to follow their own devised way and find that the family is the obstacle to everything. What else can they do than to kill in shadows? Another reasoning is how people interpret the Quran or the Bible. Interpreting something wrongly would result in disastrous consequences. This 'jihad' or crusade is somewhat resulted from extreme view and interpretation of the holy book. So the saying goes - a poisonous tree is resulted from poisonous roots.

Am I bashing anyone here? No. I'm offering my two cents.

What Is Taffer?

On certain occasions, some bloggers that I've met asked me one question of the word 'taffer'. I guess it is now time for me to give an explanation of the usage of the word.

First and foremost, the word was originated from Thief Trilogy - a series of stealth games.

Origins of the Word

The word taffer was coined up for the making of the 1998 game called Thief: The Dark Project. The game was developed by the now-defunct Looking Glass Studios which comprises of certain core members like Doug Church (Ultima Underworld II) and Ken Levine (who went on as Creative Director of Bioshock). The studio was also responsible for its sequel, Thief II: Metal Age and System Shock II.

The first thief game has successfully coined up a new sub-genre in gaming called as FP-Stealth, meaning that it has more emphasis on being stealthy, no killing, staying in shadows. According to the developer journals, the word was coined up when the developers wanted to have a unique name that can be used to describe criminals that the City Watch characters can call. Of course, calling them criminal is kind of boring, if spoken repetitively.

Why do I put the name Taffer?

The way the word was conceived was unintentional as there was a word called 'taffing', a Welsh slang / Saxon Dictionary for the term low-life common criminal that exists. The name got struck and hence the writers felt that it brings new way of calling a criminal. So, whether if you are a thief, vagabond, cutthroats and etc..you called as a taffer, or a common breed of criminal. Later, the slang word evolved into anything that is low-life. So you can say that 'What the taff' (it can be 'heck, damn' or whatever that is low-life!)

The way the word was used in saying things low-life had a very amusing reaction. For those who played those three games, you would notice in certain in-game conversations the word is always mentioned at least once. In fact the summary is formed as Taffer = "Person or thing which taffs" in which Taffs means (shows low-life)

Various real life interpretations of 'taffer':

1. A taffer is of a person that tricks, deceives or fools.
2. A Mother Goose (welsh) nursery rhyme with the line 'Taffy was a Welshman'. Taffy is a slang name for a Welshman.
3. In Suffolk, England, the word refers to spitting. To taff means to spit.

Joe....Joe....What Hast Thou Incurred?

I haven't asked some of my Christian friends about this case, not even my uncle who's a pastor of a church. A recent decision call by the misfits of Internal Security Ministry has earned the wrath of Christians in Malaysia.

CNSNews - April 17 2003

A local paper quoted a senior official in the ministry's "publications control" division, Elias Mat Rabi, as saying the banned books breached guidelines for religious books.

They used several terms that were also used in Islam, which could confuse people, he said.

Reached by phone in the Sarawak capital, Kuching, on Thursday, Elias declined to comment, or to explain how the Bible and other books were considered dangerous.

The secretary-general of the Malaysia National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, the Rev. Wong Kim Kong, said from Kuala Lumpur there had for some time been difficulties over the fact that some words used in Islam were also used in Christian publications.

Some Muslim leaders thought this could perplex Muslims who picked up such books.

Among the words that cause concern is "Allah." It's the word Muslims use for the deity they worship, but the Arabic word pre-dated Islam and is also used by Christian Arabs when referring to God - despite the considerable differences in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic conceptions of God.

The Iban translation of the Bible uses the term "Allah Taala" for God, while the other banned Christian books, in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia, also use "Allah" for God.

Sure, everyone is aware that the Christian community is considering of suing the government of not allowing them to use the word Allah in the BM version of the newsletter. We all pray to God, right? There are many names that can interpreted as God. Most of the time, Allah is the Islam variation of God. The bottom line is that no matter what major religion you are, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or whatsoever, the common denominator is of course there is one God.

Those who are well versed in the Bible or reading the Quran should have an understanding that we are spawned and uniquely created by God himself. The common sense in the fact above lies in the 5 times a day prayers or reciting the beginning of the 10 Commandments (right before the start of the first commandment). Easy as that. Why do those misfits want to make a fuss out of it.

From Romans 3:30, Apostle Paul said:

There is only one God. `Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumci­sion by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.'

There was also one more verse in the Bible where Jesus spoke to three men, each representing Islam, Christianity and Judaism. This is to emphasize that all are sub-branches of God himself.

The head in question, Johari Baharom is once again under criticism by the Christian community by foolishly saying that Allah is only used by Muslims only. That is the interpretation of Muslim in Malaysia. Connecting to the above, no wonder they are too strict and unflexible over many things such as stupid conditions, dress code for people who come and perform. Indonesia has a larger population of Muslims than Malaysia but somehow they allow Beyonce Knowles to perform in Jakarta without imposing those ridiculous conditions here.

The current social climate is radically different from the Tunku years. At that time, no matter what religion you are, we all would gather at the bar for some wine and something to cheer about. But today, toasting is something that is frowned upon by the conservative Muslims whenever we go and do a toast at a small social gathering. If I were at a party or something, we don't see wine served but instead syrup. See a radical change of direction? If the people who tells this are the roots of a poisonous tree, therefore the entire tree will be poisonous. If the tree is not poisonous, it means the cause is due to the roots. Whose to blame?

When I skimmed through such issue, I felt that isn't it enough of having too much religious tension between majority and non-majority? I can't tell you how I felt about the Lina Joy case. Had the case swings in her favor, there is a possibility of the majority screaming in fury like behaving as a mob without understanding why or recalling the articles of Constitution.

Malaysian citizens of minority faith are in problems with those who tried to impose their Malay supremacy over them. In November, two MPs are criticized over the missionary school thing, something that many people are not happy to hear that especially those who studied at schools like St. John's. Did they ever know that there are great figures produced from those missionary schools like Najib and LKY? Think...if each month such issue happens, sooner or later there will be a giant collective fury at UMNO because we know that they are the big portion of BN - 50 percent. The Chinese in Sabah is also quite furious because the Mufti department declared a religious decree that all statues of Kuan Yin as blasphemous and illegal...so what more do those idiots want?

My friend Edmund tends to talk well about religious matters at times. If I am in his shoes and reading the piece of news that caught the attention of most people of the Christian community. What would I feel in the first place? Insulted, right? Second feeling...it's typically the same, why the difference? And the number of adjectives / verbs related to the question keeps piling and piling and piling. If I am in the shoes of my uncle, being a church pastor...I would feel deeply insulted by someone who simply wrong foots about religion.

Additional reading:
1. A Christian Anointed Muhammad as Prophet
2. Malaysiakini: God's Name Needs No Protection

December 21 2012

You may notice that there is a dead-set date that is December 21 2012 that is seen prominently everywhere. But there has been speculations and theories of what may happen on this date. Some called this date, December 21 2012 11.11 AM GMT as Judgement Day.

Why this date?

The date is derived from the Mayan Calendar that began in 3114 BC. Reaching that date on 2012 marks the end of 5000 years cycle that started with that time. The Mayan calendar consists of 13 Baktuns that form the long count. The 13th Baktun ends at that date above. The date starts on August 12 3114 BC which is the solar zenith day.

A Gregorian date is intepreted in the Mayan calendar like an IP address, except it has five numbers. If I am to take September 11 2001 from the Gregorian calendar, in the Mayan calendar it is shown as 6 Imix 19 Mol or 12.19.8.10.1

What happens?

There are many probable theories that could happen. But I do not believe that it is the end of the world. Instead the word apocalypse is misintepreted and instead we should believe that we are witnessing incredible changes that are likely to happen.

Most of the theories that I've looked into are those in the religious context. For instance:

1. The final pope will be revealed and he will be known as Peter The Roman. This happens because right now, the list of popes and successions are in line of the prophecy predicted by St. Malachy. The list never lies because the coat of arms chosen by each pope matches his predictions.

2. The Book of Revelations speaks of the Seven Year Tribulation beginning with that day and the coming of the Seven Bowls of Wrath spilled by God. The seven bowls are those of natural disasters, diseases, war, famine, and the evil things that are likely to come.

No, I don't really look into the religious context of it. Instead I look at the date as:

1. A forthcoming asteroid that could cause damage to the earth if no measures are taken care of.

2. Einstein theorizes of a magnetic polar change that could affect the direction of the earth. This is likely to happen by the time we reach there.

3. A likely change in human consciousness. Through something we are likely to evolve until a new level of human beings. Not to say that we start to think like advanced civilizations, but it's just one step further. The ancient prophet Zarasthura once prophesized of the evolution that man will go through. This could be what he had predicted.

4. Maybe it is likely that a new order has come to ensure peace and stability after God has witnessed enough of those wars, deaths and things that plagued mankind.

We are now 5 years away from the fateful day. What should we do?

Visiting St. Michael's

Last Friday I went back to St. Michael's on the pretext of enquiring about my brother's leave certificate. I was told that it was only to be issued when the SPM results are out in February.

Someone next door there saw me and asked me whether if I am Melvin Mah or not. Then I realized that the man I was talking to was Peter Khiew, an afternoon session teacher who is in charge of the school blog here. Couldn't remember the face, but somehow the name was familiar. He started teaching here since 1999, but never in class.


So that started a long chat and he showed me around for a few changes in school. As you can see, there has been a staircase added that allows faster access to the office. The old 4 Science 3 classroom has been replaced with a brand new meeting room. I also managed to get an explanation of him over why the new bathroom was never used at all despite having the thing built. Told me about the water piping that was inadequate and not ready for the thing. They could have done it faster by having everyone told as soon as possible.

The primary school block has been completely demolished and something is up on the way.

We managed to get on friendly terms and I didn't know that Peter started to say that I was there and some other die-hard younger Michaelians making comments on his blog. I wasn't interested in their remarks. Told my piece about some teachers here and asking them to handle that thing.

A lot of top figures come from missionary schools and I felt that the two MPs making remarks over removal of religious imagery shows the lack of respect for other races. Sack'em!

Tis' The Spirit of Christmas

In layman, we say Happy Birthday Jesus!

I got invited by my aunt for Christmas dinner. Boy, this was the first time since 98 where I had dinner with the same group of people and relatives. Except this time, there's no turkey, since the price of the halal ones shot up tremendously than those non-halal. (some of them were held by Customs in ports).

I thought I could not make it there since there was a bad jam on the highway (the first half of the journey) I got delayed by about 15 minutes or so due to the traffic there. I supposed it's either the rain or police roadblock that causes that, but it was due to the former.

It was easy for me to find my aunt's house as I was given the address a week before. Everybody was there. There are Christmas presents lying at one corner of the house.

I remembered that while my aunt was in Ipoh visiting my grandfather, she took one alley cat home and raised that bloke. That bloke is called Patches and he has grown up. Now he weighs a ton!


There's the great sense of camaraderie among the family before dinner kicked off at 8 pm.


Look at that dinner. Rice salad, fruit juices, wine, roast lambs, roast chicken, fruit salad....can't finish it all!


The desert...dark chocolate log cake bought at Coffee Bean.


While we're resting. I just tested shooting it at the compressed size and in sepia tones.


Time for presents. That's what I got. T-shirt, Adidas toiletries, CDs, socks and shirts.

There's chit chat...with all the jokes....!

That's what Christmas is all about. I just loved it. They said that they wanted to have my brother being part of the show next year. They know that he's studying in Cyberjaya coming February...

Spoilt Food

When I came back from Ipoh on Tuesday night, I thought the small fridge in the room was running. The room got cleaned up by the landlady's Indonesian maid, who started working since early of the month. If the fridge's running, I would be hearing the humming sound of the motor behind.

But the fridge was switched off for many days! And when I opened it up, almost all the food inside got moldy. Even my fruit juice got spoiled as there are molds on the cap. I am not sure of the butter as there is little left. The left-over jelly that I brought back from my cousin's dinner got moldy. I could even smell molds.

Yuck..so much for my fruit juice. I guess the maid had forgotten to leave the fridge running....

Hardwares Wishlist for Gaming Machine 2008

Continuing from where I've left off: The Must Have Gadgets of 2008.

Previously, I've covered the gadgets on my wish list next year. And now, if I want to build my own custom gaming machine, then I think some of these stuff would fit the wish list.

1. Penryn Quad Core - The 45nm processors got launched off in October but I would want to wait until the second half next year as the prices will get lower as time goes. Buying this right now is considered as burning a hole in your money pocket. But for that price, there's better power management and higher performance.2. Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 - They called this board as the king of over-clocking. This board actually supports the hybrid DDR2/3 memory, which means when prices for DDR3 drop later, I can switch to that. But somehow, in the motherboard category, I got torn off of whether to get the MSI P35 Diamond as the alternative because it remains the only motherboard to have an onboard Creative Xi-Fi audio card built in.
3. Kingston Hyper-X DDR3-1375 - Remains one of the brands that starts selling DDR3. Period. I think having 2GB is a must since some games run only on Vista. Vista needs 1GB to run well....

4. MSI GeForce 8800 GTS - So far, MSI is the best of the GeForce cards around the market if we look at the overall situation. Good features and reasonable pricing. I felt that ASUS was more on the high-end of pricing but this one is balanced. I might want to get it but I'm not sure which shop in Low Yat sells that card. Most of them would sell Gigabyte or Asus. And this comes with a complementary copy of Company of Heroes. My brother loves Radeon cards so he might want to go for the Gigabyte 2900 XT. But the 3800 series marks the first time a 55nm GPU is used.
5. Antec Truepower Quattro - These kind of components needs a lot of power. I think this is one of those that places emphasis on good power management. You don't need 1500 Watts for one machine! I think 850 Watts will do. Just don't be like Warlock (Kevin Smith in Die Hard 4.0), okay?

6. LG GGC-H20L - High-Definition! This is one of the hybrid drives in the market. I always prefer LG for its optical drives. LG and Pioneer are one of the few brands that produces heavy-duty use optical drives. One time, many years ago, my disc broke into shards when it was playing in a normal CD-ROM drive. My friend said that high-definition for PC means Blu-Ray Drives. But Toshiba and Paramount are quite stubborn over the insistence of HD-DVD!

7. Seagate Barracuda Hard Drives - Need to say further? They are better than WD. I don't even need a lot of spaces, unless people are quite lazy to remove unnecessary programs from the machine.
8. Gaming mouses? Maybe Razerback Diamond 3G would be good enough.


9. Dell UltraSharp 2707WFP - The monitor template for Dell is almost the same as what my colleagues had in their terminals (some of them get upgrades because of the need to do more work). But this is the only monitor that has HDCP capabilities and plenty of connectivity options like D-sub and HDCP-compliant DVI-D ports, Component, S-video, Composite video inputs, two USB 2.0 ports, an upstream USB port, a speaker power port, and memory card readers. But it's only 6ms...not as responsive as the Samsung SyncMaster but a perfect balance of watching HD-movies and games. Boom..boom...Double Kill!

The Must Have Gadgets of 2008

I have to admit that I am a tech gadget freak. Yes, there are things that are deemed cool in the market that I want to get. Some things I want to get my hands on the next time I have a permanent home of myself.

Hardware Zone, a favorite tech portal of mine, catering for South East Asia has released a list of top products of 2007, some are the my wish list.

I will split between gadgets and PC components. After all, it is due time for me to upgrade one. So, suppose if I am given about $20000 USD, what will I want?


1. Nokia N95 8GB - This is one heck of a phone! I felt that I was right not to get a N93 for there could be a better model than that. My friend told me that the first batch of N93s had glitch where video recording and playbacks hang sometimes. The N95 fixes it and it has a better camera size and it has the HSDPA thing, which makes things easier the next time I want to use a wireless Internet connection without using Streamyx. Another alternative would be the 6500 model, which I kind of like it's slider version.



2. Nikon DSLR D40X - I remembered D40 has 6.1 MP but X has 10 MPS and they say that this model is a tie or equivalent of Canon's E400 DSLR. But I admit that the price that they offered is quite good. Currently, the price of the body plus a 55mm lens and 2GB card kit is at $2400. What I like is that of lenses. You see for those who do not know, Panavision's E-Series lenses has a good contrast and color because it uses Nikon glass. If you get a 135mm lens package, you can should beautiful close ups. I am more of a fan of telephoto lenses, so this is part of the list. ISO is better, meaning that I can push a standard high speed stock up by two stops.

3. The Sony Bravia-X series 46-inch. In the last six months, Sony remains at the top of the ranking of HD television sets. Toshiba and Hitachi are behind. Even though Hitachi has produced a new HD TV set this year, but Sony still wins hands down. The W series is also an alternative is cost is a problem.

4. LG-BH100 There has been a indecision over whether to buy a Blu-Ray player like Sony or a HD-DVD player like Toshiba. See, Paramount only released titles in DVD and HD-DVD format, not in Blu-Ray. But then, I was told by my friend that LG has released a beta-version hybrid player that will play both formats. There are still bugs though, so I thought I would wait longer.




I knew that my brother is starting a graphics design course in February so he will need a notebook that he can carry that contains graphics processing capabilities. Should I get him a gaming notebook? Or something that will fit his needs.

I think Asus G2S fits the bill, but it could be quite expensive. Maybe G1s is more appropriate.

Next: My hardware picks for a decent gaming machine!

Mamak! Lagi Satu....!

Note: Although it seems that I've gone beyond the "one more topic before break thing" I felt that there is something amusing to comment over what is said by our hate figure here...!

While I feel that today being Christmas, every Malaysian should have time off from paying attention to serious matters and spend some time in relaxation.

But I do understand that there are some who had to do work today but given the chance for time off either the next day or Thursday. This particularly happen to our friends who work in essential items industry...sure you know who.

Well, throughout a well deserved 6-day break that I had since last Thursday, I just told my brother that I hope that I don't hear any idiots (the lieutenants of AAB making kind of fool comments), I refer the idiots to either the Zam Zam Alakazam or El Balachi making stupid statements that wanted someone to just say the line 'I am Optimus Prime' to shut it up.

Things went well today, but somehow, today was capped off in an anti-climatic fashion by two statements made by the Mamak of Merbok.

The first one is not as serious as the latter one, but after reading it, I was asking myself a question or two concerning the level of education and speech in Malaysia.

Refer to this Star article here:

I'm fine with things that promote multi-racial relationships here, but I thought shouldn't we give more attention to English being the number one worldwide language here? Where is Bahasa Malaysia in this era ranked at? Number 3? Number 4? Or somewhere below the bottom? Well, we do know that the two most important languages now is English and Mandarin, and to prepare Malaysia in facing globalization, there should be more priority of English over Bahasa Malaysia. Yes, I know that we should be proud of our own National language, but putting that over English is not the right way to move forward.

I have concern that because of this wrong emphasis on BM has resulted in producing many graduates who some could not speak English well, and they lose out in jobs especially those under multi-national companies. My dad once had a subordinate, a Chinese girl who only speaks Chinese and Malay. She could not write, read and speak English at all. Sure, most companies require English minimum because all correspondence and work documents are in English. She only quit after two days because of this problem above. Sometimes, I feel that the zeal of ultra-nationalists in pushing this over preparing for global challenges has resulted in efforts backfired.

I watched Tunku the Musical in August and at the end of the third act, it was shown that it was the act of ultra-nationalists with their fiery zeal ended in backfiring, and the May 13 1969 incident. The man (played by Tony Eusoff), an ultra-nationalist, who witnessed his son killed by a mob in that fateful incident, wept over his son's body in regret that his zeal and actions had triggered a backfire and led to the boy's death. This also happens in the civil war in Ireland. The fiery zeal of the Irish Catholics at that time had resulted in bloodshed of thousands, disregarding of humanity while pursuing their goals to win at all costs.

It will better if they promote more use of English. Let's take into account of foreigners who want to ply their trade here. How on earth are they going to proceed if certain forms or billboards or notices or advertisements are purely in Bahasa Malaysia? Sure, we can read, no problem, but what about them? They will...ah...ah...and frustrated to understand, they might go elsewhere like Singapore, because everything is handled in English that everyone, locals and foreigners understand very well.

Fine, there is just a remedy of putting dual languages to solve that. But if there is an Englishman talking to a person who doesn't speak English that well like ZAM did the other day, he might be giggling or annoyed over the fact that the 'handicap' guy couldn't face him!

I am more worried about the latter half statement made by the Mamak, saying that there is little importance made by Paramjothy.

We have learned in history that nations and leaders are ultimately punished for their ignorance over certain remarks that might be small in scale but carry important messages that requires acting on a moment's notice. Reading through, this shows that if the next general election results in the Opposition winning and people voting for them instead of BN, that could be an example of BN being punished for their ignorance over certain issues.

You see the thing is that this is not 1980 or so. This is 2007. People think differently than before. Many of our ministers seem to have the thinking patterns of the 80s or the 90s. I'm not doing any government bashing here, but telling them to wake up from their dreamland or something. When you read this Malaysiakini letter, this has clearly underline that people are no longer fools who know nothing. A man who knows nothing is as ignorant than the man who goes digging around to get the facts out of something, which is what Mamak of Merbok is put under.

Harv Eker once said that you can't run away from all the problems that you face. If you face it and succeed in that, the problem is off and forever. If you run away, the problem will still be there and will never go off until you face it yourself. So, by saying that, what the Mamak of Merbok implies is that he wants the public to run away from the problem.

The Kerisman Warning - Round 2

Poster by Mob

If you remember back in July, Kerisman (UMNO Youth Head Hisham Hussein) issued a warning at the MCA to stop saying things that Malaysia is a secular state (a true fact) and fighting to get it right, whereas UMNO wanted to say that Malaysia is an Islamic State.

And now....Kerisman's Warning Round 2: We Will Break Ties With You (Gerakan) if Explanation is Unsatisfactory

So then, silently, Gerakan decides to act against the macha who broke the ranks but then as Malaysiakini said, they are shocked to hear that thing coming out from one of their own.

Give me a break!

I feel that there is something wrong here. If there is a guy who breaks ranks with the pack because he thinks that he knows the facts correctly and speaks out, do you reprimand him for that kind of action? Our friend in scrutiny is doing the right thing for a better good. Instead, UMNO starts making noises over the thing that they are actually in the wrong and point fingers at others. True, there are some things that deliberately started by UMNO themselves as dirty tactics to gain all Malay support.

Are they trying to say that nobody in the coalition should rock the boat, even though one of them knows the facts and truth that there is something wrong with the boat? Is that what is implied in Kerisman's statement? Shut up this, shut up that? Is that the only thing Kerisman is saying in his role as UMNO Youth figurehead? Sounds unfair right, if you can wave the dagger in the assembly whereas Gerakan cannot do that thing again using a kungfu sword and say "Hidup Gerakan"?

I am not sure of what is Gerakan's next move. Is it keeping their head down for now? Or accept the points of our friend is posing and tell the rest? I would prefer the latter, for there should be some fixing to do here. In fact, this would not happen if MIC does things earlier rather than the desperation shown by Samy Vellu now. If they just keep silent, then the rot goes on and on and on...

Let's recall the shape of a Malay dagger. Is it straight?

He just can't think straight ahead!

Malaysian Delicacy Health Advisory Warning

I thought this was a sick joke or something, but when I read through an interesting piece of read that my father told me about, I started to ask myself whether Malaysian delicacies here are something that should not be taken so often.

Hell, I was wondering whether the Health Ministry, ran by my friend's ex-neighbor in Batu Pahat should issue an advisory warning over eating this kind of food.

This piece of health info made me wonder whether the ruling of mandatory offering of nasi lemak and roti canai in the hotels for morning breakfast is to be questioned or not. I'm not sure who's fault is it to introduce such rules....

First thing is about roti canai. Sometimes, it is a favorite of some people who want to have a different taste of Indian breakfast. If you are exercising, don't eat roti canai after exercise. You gain nothing.

Why? The main reason is of the oil content absorbed when it is cooked on the heating pan. Secondly, an interesting fact is that the amount of calories it contains is equivalent to the amount of calories you lose if you perform a 5km jog or run. That amount of calories is seen in just one piece of roti canai.

As an alternative, you would go for the capati as for breakfast. It has less calories than a roti canai does. Some guy doing Sports Science in UPM said that if we eat a piece of roti canai everyday starting from the age of 20, there is a high probability we would not go beyond 55.

Number 2: Nasi Lemak is the mandatory thing seen in morning breakfast or at hotels. But not many people know that it is fattening given that the rice has coconut milk content. If you ask someone of the age who is above 80 and still going on, there is a probability that they hardly or never eat nasi lemak. Try asking Royal Professor Ungku Aziz and he'll say that!

I think it is time for some of us and those who really love those two food and rendang to start thinking again on eating those kind of food, given of high oil content.

Welcome to K.L, Bro!

My brother had finished his SPM examinations and is currently taking formal driving lessons in order to get his test. The test is now an online test, which is in contrast of circle the right answers, that I did five years ago.

Anyhow, one week before Christmas he came down for a Manga festival / convention downtown that I had to take him around and spend one night with him before he went back to Ipoh on Sunday afternoon. He finished quite early and he was kind of pissed when he had to wait about one hour. I was kind of obsessed of finishing Medal of Honor Airborne that I've forgotten to pick him up! Anyhow, I took him for meals when I captured this photo.


Then he came down again on Wednesday (the week before Christmas) because he wanted to take a look at the Lim Kok Wing campus in Cyberjaya.

When I came to the hotel to see him with my dad before dinner, I was shocked to hear that he signed up for his 4-year course of graphics design. It had been his interest since 18 months ago. He will be starting mid-February. I thought he would come down and see. I asked him why not wait for the education fair in January because there are more choice to consider rather than making up his mind right now. Dad explained that of all the campuses he had look into and compared, Lim Kok Wing University fits the exact needs that my brother has interests in.

So this means that he'll be in the south-western part of Selangor soon. My aunt said during dinner that almost all of the family had returned to their roots. What I mean by roots is that my paternal family originated from K.L (before that from China)...hence the saying.

What will happen to Ipoh? I don't know right now. But then, it's a welcome thing for him. But I told him that if he's in boredom, he can come and spend the weekend with me on the north-eastern side of Selangor. Setapak is near Gombak, right? Gombak is somewhere in the north-eastern part of Selangor, correct?

Panggilan Khidmat 4

I don't really have a powerful $5000 machine that allows me to enjoy playing games on my own pace. Not even my notebook is capable of playing that kind of games, so that's why I had to go to the cybercafe near my house to play.

I recently quite got addicted into playing Call of Duty 4. I felt that it is far better than playing Medal of Honor Airborne. The engine is same as Call of Duty 2 but with vast improvements taking advantage of the new technology. Modern Warfare focuses on two fronts, that is in a Arab nation and then in a section of Russia.

I let you play the game to see how you would interpret your opinion on the game.

Some say that is fun to whack baddies here. I say yes.

The Best Damn White Coffee!

White coffee is much different from the conventional coffee that we drink. The method of blending the beans is slightly much different from the way you get the coffee from Java beans or whatever beans you can say.

Another thing of white coffee is that to achieve the smooth taste, two types of milk, (all halved) from the conventional measurement is used. Both condensed and evaporated milk is used to mix the coffee. For evaporated, I would recommend the use of Ideal evaporated milk.

Some of you particularly tourists from elsewhere do not where to find white coffee.

There are two shops that you can look in Ipoh. They are at the Old section of Town. Look for this road called Leech Street (Jalan Bijih Timah). Make sure you look for the one that has Kwong Fatt Textile Shop along the road.

Go to the end and there are two shops selling those.


The best one is at the shop called Sun Yuan Foong. There is a canopy that says, "The Best White Coffee in Town." The other one is called Nam Heong. About 10 years ago, the shop was at the other end near Market Street before it moved to the other end of Leech Street.

If you buy your Old Town coffee packs there, you get it a lower price because it does not involve transportation costs, that is included when you buy those from supermarkets.

How proud to be from Ipoh....!

Brandon Sanderson Will Finish Wheel of Time

Word has hit out that last week, TOR has announced that Brandon Sanderson will finish the last chapter of Wheel of Time entitled A Memory of Light. He was personally approached and selected by Robert Jordan's wife, Harriet for his work on the Mistborn trilogy. The outline is already out when Robert was in treatment, he actually dictated the whole thing in event of his death.

So, I didn't send in a request--or even a question--about the future of The Wheel of Time. I was dumbfounded and honored when--a month or so after the death--Harriet called me on the phone to inquire if I was interested. I got the impression that she was calling several authors (I don't know how many) and making sure that they were willing before she invested the time in reading their work.

James died on September 16.


Sanderson once said that Mistborn is the complete opposite of Wheel of Time - which is about kings becoming peasants while Wheel of Time is about peasants becoming Kings.

The condition stipulates that Sanderson must finish the writing draft by December 2008 with publication coming out by Fall 2009. Currently, he's on the copy edit of Alcatraz 2.

*
Brandon's official site

Bookmarks!

You may notice that I've added a bookmark thing called Delicious there.

Sure, there are many out there between DIGG, Reddit, StumbleUpon and others, but I decided to go for one first as to test the feet.

There has been a debate of whether DIGG or Delicious is better. I think in terms of capabilities provided, Delicious is better even though DIGG's reputation is much more popular.

Reasons:

1. Delicious is enduring.
2. You can add custom tags, categories with no limits allowed by Delicious.
3. It tends to attract much more traffic than DIGG.
4. It doesn't have much of the criticism than DIGG since there are numerous complaints there.

The Fat Man Running Dog

*Note: This will be the first half of things I will be covering about the socio-polo stuff in Malaysia before taking a break from blogging of this matter for a while. Felt that there is a need to cover this and the next one up.*

I thought for a while that when I read the news of the 395 NGOs forming part of DAMAI handed a memo to Abdullah Badawi it gave me two impressions from the actions done.

1. The 395 NGOS simply do not understand that there are situations in Malaysia that cannot be ignored and will plunge the nation into abyss.

2. If Abdullah cannot sit down and talk with NGOs and those who do have proof with problems and merely ignores it, but instead he listens to those who follows his tenets and the government stances, then there is something wrong with him and he's a hypocrite.

No. That's not what I want to cover about. Instead, I wanted to cover this:


From the Star:

In the joint-declaration read by Damai chairman Mohd Saiful Adil Mohd Daud, members expressed their disgust at street demonstrations, and the use of religious and racial issues to create hatred among Malaysians.

They also condemned individuals and groups who used lies and slander against the country and asked for foreign intervention into Malaysia's internal affairs, he said.

Damai advisor and Bukit Bintang MCA chief Senator Datuk Dr Lee Chong Meng said the Bersih and Hindraf illegal demonstrations last month had caused tourists to avoid Malaysia.

And another one from NST:

There is something I don't really like about him. I have to concur with some friends that this guy is a classic example of a running dog - machai, always a yes-men, kow tow to the high and mighty with the CLEAR fact that the high and mighty were in the wrong end. Such kind of guy as part of the MCA shows that the MCA is just like the MIC. They are not doing much for the Chinese out of the basic barriers, respect that was defined 50 years ago. They should have helped everyone, not to pocket the money as a reward for serving under UMNO and just doing nothing. That's gaji buta, oiii!!!!

Image Poster by Mob

In fact, Lee was the first guy in the government immediately after the BERSIH rally to speak up as the running dog - machai.... Taking a statement from Lulu and Zorro, To blame the Bersih march for loss of business, man.... it's no wonder why he lost so many times. Here, we are looking at one man who doesn't even know of the shame of being a kotow to the despotic, even though the facts are out there.

A letter taken from Malaysiakini, with these key paragraphs sums out what I want to say:

His (Lee's) selfish and ill-conceived reason that the demonstration on Nov 10 have caused losses in the 'millions' clearly shows that the MCA and their underlings have no principles to uphold and that their main motivation for objecting to the rally was because of money.

By now, the Chinese community should be conscious of MCA's role in the BN government. The MCA politicians are in the BN for money, position and power. Fifty years of this unholy alliance in the BN have proven that MCA is incapable of looking after the interests of the Chinese community. If they had done their work faithfully and unselfishly, the Chinese would not have been marginalised in education, civil service, government contracts, university places and a slew of other racist policies.

The coming election will determine the future of the Chinese community. If we continue to give MCA the same support we have been giving them for the last 50 years then you can expect the same practice and habits to continue. MCA politicians will continue to receive the crumbs offered by their Umno counterparts and in return they will give their undivided support to plunder the nation's coffers.

The NST article mentioned above has the similar context to the first paragraph of saying money is the motivation of objecting the rally.

I would just tell the MCA to wake up from the slumber. Remember of their first and foremost duty to help the Chinese community in Malaysia. Don't just be a yes-man to them, for the future's sake! If they had really acted earlier, anticipate the problems of the community and solve them instead of ignoring them to this point, then true, there is not a need to have a rally to call the attention.

Judicial Crisis Scoreline: People 2 Government 2

Note: This post was supposedly up yesterday night, but since Malaysiakini got jammed due to too much traffic, I won't be able to get much more sources from there, so you may to check there for yourself.

***

I guess it's time to update the scoreline of the current judiciary crisis in Malaysia.

It's clear that the government is trying to keep the system as of it is after the 1988 sacking of Salleh Abas - rigging the game to their favor.

First goal:

It came by surprise and shock that Haidar Noor, who led the probe panel in October was appointed the head of the royal commission. To many, as Lim Kit Siang stated that Haidar is an unacceptable choice because of his direct involvement in the Salleh Abbas sacking. I thought the commission shouldn't have the same people as those involved in the panel including Mahadev Shankar.

You called that a balanced team, Nazri? I have doubts for if the commission finds that there is nothing wrong with the Lingam tape, which possibly does not cover V.K's brother, then everything goes poof. We could be witnessing another L.A Riots 1992 style here.

Second goal:

You all know Zaki's appointment. It creates two problems in the future. One is that being the most junior judge being elevated to the number two position shows that there is something wrong with the promotion system. Shouldn't those who had senior experience and bi-partisan get the posting? Let's look at Alauddin Sheriff or Hisham Yunus. They handled the most complicated cases and they were never elevated! Something's wrong! Second is that, he was a advisor to UMNO, meaning that I am concern that if he handles cases involving politicians, the case will go to their favor, even if they are guilty!

The real cancer is the head, I mean all decisions are made by Bedol, right? You know what to do.

Bedol Presents: Operation Padam

Let's recount the tally of people arrested from last month until as of yesterday:

1. 245 people arrested during the November 10 rally.
2. 31 people arrested at the HINDRAF rally.
3. 9 people arrested at the Lawyer's Walk for Freedom
4. 17 figureheads from the BERSIH rally
5. 26 people from BERSIH's handing of memorandum to the parliament.

Total count: 328.

The recent clamping down on people who wish to express the voice of freedom is part of Abdullah Badawi's plan called Operation Padam (Erase). It was used on several occasions. It is a plan to arrest and charge those who would be opposing or challenging him at any turn. Example would be given the recent problems arose in Malaysia including judiciary crisis and the call for electoral reforms as well as the grieving by the Indians. Of course this is the direct response at those who remained defiant at the "Saya Pantang Dicabar" (I Cannot Be Challenged!) warning that he mentioned of at the UMNO assembly last month.

His remark on yesterday's major newspapers, "sacrificing public freedom for public safety" is part of the cover and excuse of using his plan to catch all of his oppressors. But then, Ops Padam is just one or two steps short of 1987's Ops Lalang, in which 106 people were held under the ISA. Of course, Bedol and the mainstream media are trying to build the use of ISA against future rallies such as this above. The flaw of the plan is that the operation was conceived without the views of other cabinet ministers including Najib or government officials, just those 4th floor boys including the SIL. Secondly, it was aimed on the exteriors.

But then, having such plot in motion has more dangerous consequences and also it brews more enemies from in and out. The in refers to certain members of the UMNO party and the out refers to certain members of the police force and the public community which I will break up shortly.

On the inside, there are some members of UMNO knew that Abdullah personally violated the ethics of the society by deliberately withholding three pages of the minutes of report that is a gameplan to make sure that Mahathir does not win the representative seat of Kubang Pasu in last years' UMNO assembly. Many are prepared to testify to the court if the police decides to act on the report.

You also have three other problems on the outside:

1. As I have mentioned before, the police is now split apart with one camp supporting Musa, ACA, and perhaps Christopher Wan. The other one is in camp with the suspended CCID head Ramli Yusuff. Many of the police had deep admiration and respect of Ramli for he did most of the work along with Inspector Nordin, and ASP Hong against the Chinese underworld. Should AG Patail with consent from Bedol issues a release order at Joe Baharom, to release one Goh Cheng Poh from the Restrict Ordinance, the police will be more angry and disgusted for a criminal wanted for supposedly many crimes of vice and underworld activities walked out free.

What about Ramli? While the supposedly underworld kingpin gets off scot free, Ramli will be the one in the charge of using government property to his own end and on the losing side. But have we forgotten that Abdullah did use government property for private trips to Australia?

2. Today, former Sabah CM Chong Kah Kiat has filed an appeal against the Kudat town board of the withdrawal of approval to construct the tallest Mazu statue. Yes, it is true, but not all details were shown in the NST. Why? The Kudat Board was acting on a religious decree issued the state Mufti board under Ahmad Alawi Adnan. The decree states that Buddhist statues are illegal and must be torn down as because of "disrespect to Islam." When this thing breaks out, the Chinese will definitely be very angry over the decree. Shows that government has no respect of freedom of religion to the other people.

3. The fabrication of the accusation of attempted murder of a police officer at the 31 detainees of the HINDRAF rally provokes more anger from the Hindus.

4. Some quarters are objecting to the selection of the Royal commission members proposed by Bedol, as in Malaysiakini. If the members decided that there is nothing worth in the Lingam tape, it will spark more anger among the public.

It will require trust from people of both camps if they think Abdullah should be out for the mess that he has created. With more anger from the public and his opponents and his actions violating his tenets of Civilization Islam, you can say that he might last for just one term.

Additional reading: Losing the Plot

Bedol: Violating His Own Tenets

December 9 was considered as a masterstroke day for Abdullah Badawi. To some, it is considered as witch-hunting day. The Bolehland government has become nothing than other the Church, hearken in the medieval times of Europe, hunting down on unbelievers and innocents whom they just suspected of witchcraft.

Taking a queue from Jeff, the connection to above is like: 31 people arrested from HINDRAF rally, 9 lawyers and activists arrested from Sunday's Lawyer's Walk for Freedom, 17 people from the BERSIH rally. All were charged personally by the Attorney-General himself.

You can cut the crap of whatever you want to say, Bedol.

In less than two months following the three protests, the police on behalf of him had committed a cardinal sin three times of bullying the people who are out there to voice out their opinions if they cannot speak personally.

Now let's look back at the tenets of his own Civilization Islam (Islam Hadhari):

• Faith and piety in Allah
• Just and trustworthy government
• Freedom and independence to the people
• Mastery of knowledge
• Balanced and comprehensive economic development
• Good quality of life for all
• Protection of the rights of minority groups and women
• Cultural and moral integrity
• Protection of the environment
• A strong defence policy

In the three rallies, the so called Grand Imam of Islam Hadhari had violated the keymost principle of his tenet: Freedom and Independence to the People. The reaction to the HINDRAF rally shows that he had violated another principle: Protection of the rights of minority groups and women.

Another violation of tenets committed by the Imam himself is about the Balanced and Comprehensive Economic Development. The NEP is still affecting everyone badly including the Malays themselves and the wealth is not given to all but to the select few. Mismanagement by the government over the Petronas subsidy resulted in a potential oil price hike to $2.35 per liter coming next year.

I am aware today that BERSIH wants to submit a memo stop the debating that allows extension of the EC Chairman to 66. True. But the police instead wanted a restraining order (from Malaysiakini) against the people who are thinking right about not getting the election rigged to the favor of the Blue Wave. When I was a kid, I often assume that BN is good and Opposition is bad. But now, I had a different opinion and realized how people are being mislead by their ownership of the mainstream media, I think that for one time, the Blue Wave Nazi is just like another Galactic Empire.

The police didn't even use common sense in seeking a restraining order. They think that the BERSIH guys are those who are violent akin to the gangs arrested in Operation Kantas Kenyalang in Sarawak. Come on, those guys don't carry weapons. Why do you want to do that if you want to submit a memo and that's it?

Supposed if there is another rally in the next month or so. The turnover is at 200 thousand, 4-5 times more than usual. And there are only 4000 policemen there, how are they going to arrest everyone if they simply decide that whoever walks to there is liable for an arrest. The prison cells around the country cannot hold that much even for those who feel that they are doing the right thing. Yes, Hadi was saying, Malaysia is not a democratic state, but a police state.

I take this quote from Thomas Paine in his essay, Common Sense:

Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us the time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses against us. There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these inextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated the earth, of have only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affection. The robber and the murderer, would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice.

There are people stupid enough to follow the misleads and lies. To call a professional body as a coward, a repetitive word used by the Village Idiot shows that he learns totally nothing instead of doing some fact finding thing. Having some guy like this as the de facto Law Minister isn't right. In fact he isn't right.

There is also a possibility that there are "extremist eunuchs" in the government who might feed lies to the top brass like Abdullah and Musa. And this goes to their press. Hence, it is a trick to get support to build the use of the ISA against anybody. Look, the mainstream media editorials especially Kali's NST is at the affirmative for the use of ISA!

The thing is Bedol is dismantling his own government mechanism. He is not what people seems of him. They used to call him Mr. Clean, Mr. Nice, but it is the other way round. There are people trying to cling on to power even though they are judged to be wrong and unworthy. They can try arresting 200 thousand people who are doing the right thing, but the problem will happened when it comes to the election. The village idiot suggested that the BAR become a political party...heh. Bedol says people need him longer...CRAP! EC Man Rashid admitted that the BN regime is needed...that's going to be the turning point of BN losing much in next election.

"I want everyone to remember why they *need* us!" - Sutler, V for Vendetta

Yes, people are now angered with how the police and the government stamping on the freedom of expression. They are also angered that the quality of life is going downwards because of the impending oil increases. They earn 5 times lower than Singaporeans do. Don't forget that there are people who loved the nation so much that they are willing to spill the beans that represents the hegemonic and the bad side of Malaysia to the worldwide press.

The bottom line? DO NOT *FUCK* WITH US. If the BN politicians lose in the next election, don't come blaming at us, Bedol for not picking them. It's simply because of the many mistakes that you and idiots alike have committed.

You think we bloggers are lying? Go ahead, I dare you to say that we are lying. Bloggers do this, bloggers do that.... Then repeat that again. These guys are one step backwards!

Additional accounts from Sunday's walk:

1. Bernard: Mama Gobloking and Zawi, I'm Fine
2. Michelle: International Human Rights Day, Malaysian Style

There Is No Underground Group!

Watch this first before continuing:

Look carefully at the two following pictures. These are the heads of groups starting the ruckus.

The BAR Council is slamming the police over being a bully and starting the ruckus. As of last night around 10 p.m, there was a road block right in front of the junction at Jalan Pahang. That explained why there was a massive traffic jam at that road. Just because of the directive of one superior that sparks the problem.

Later on, as in Malaysiakini the police went to arrest the heads of the BERSIH rally.

I can surmise that those guys above intended to start the trouble in the name of LAW.

The BAR Council is no underground group. It is an organization comprised of lawyers, people with intellect and great knowledge of the Federal Constitution and Law. The actions of the police and DBKL had directly contradicting the Third Principle of RukunNegara: Keluhuran Pelembagaan - meaning, that the Constitution is directly above the law.

The mainstream media articles had some inconsistencies, namely about the turnover of people. It is 100, not 50 as many perceived. Bedol's remark shows that there's is not much of truth of what he says. It is said that the BAR will be having a meeting tomorrow to sue the DBKL for the mess. So this means that the man above on behalf of DBKL, is causing DBKL to be forking out money in compensation. Be prepared to pay for the damages.

And now, Bedol has reared his real head rather than the false promises he made back in 2003. Here's one very kind of "intimidating feel" title news from the NST with the sort of threat of using the ISA. Here's the way he said "Saya Pantang Dicabar" as at last month's UMNO assembly.

"DO NOT *FUCK* WITH US" - Tyler Durden, Fight Club

Let us remind ourselves that we hold the balls of politicians. We decide who we want in to run the nation by elections. They have forgotten that the people they are after here in the rally are sometimes people that they have to depend on. We are people who cook their meals, we are people who haul their trashes, we are people who would connect their phone calls, and sometimes we can be people who watch over them while they are asleep. The government's hand is too heavy on the people. When that happens, people will turn against them not because they WANT but they are FORCED to do so.

All in the end, the government will have to fork out millions of ringgit again as compensation for the mess that they created by themselves...

Previous posts:

1. 5 Lawyers, 3 Activists Arrested
2. Now This is A Police State!

5 Lawyers, 3 Activists Arrested

I missed out the walk from SOGO to Central Market today, but I decided to meet some of the bloggers directly from the BAR Council office today.

From General Hospital from the Pahang Roundabout, there was a roadblock already and the road towards Merdeka Square was sealed off from SOGO point because of the supposedly protest walk. That means, I had to detour at Campbell Road and go via St. John's Church. The police had perceived the walk as a protest march / illegal assembly instead of the typical group party. According to Zorro, the police at the SOGO end allowed them to walk but the police group at the other end demanded them to dispersed in two minutes. Unfortunately, they do not have space to move out and it was through the intervention of other lawyers that they are allowed to move out of the space and walk towards the BAR Council office via Merdeka Square. However, that ended with the four lawyers arrested and being intimidated by the police.


True to be told, the number of media and police is at 5:1, 500 against 100 lawyers and other citizens alike. I actually parked my vehicle at St. John's church and walked all the way there, gazing my eyes at the policemen standing and just a helicopter flying around the city. Just because of one roadblock, it becomes a traffic jam in the city. Yes, as what Nuraina said, the police had absolutely nothing to do and their priorities had deviated from its main priority of arresting hardcore criminals roaming the streets of Malaysia.

All the top bloggers were there, including Stephen, Jeff, Shar, Bernard, Tony and Michelle. I think at this time they had their accounts up already. There were two press conferences at that time, one by Edmund Bon, later arrested by police and another by that idiot Hamzah Ismail (the policeman who issued the warning a day before). Every media, including mainstream media were there including Reuters and Malaysiakini interviewed Haris as well.


I happened to saw that activist from Singapore, Ashfar Ali Raja as one of those who make the squealing and ranting out in the Bar Council exterior. He was later taken away from the police when I heard him saying out loud from his lungs.


One thing was curious though...I noticed a DBKL ITIS (traffic monitoring van) parked opposite the building. That van was supposedly used to monitor the traffic around the city, but the authorities had misused the resources and wasted a lot of man power in attempting to stamp down on the so called Human Rights Festival Day. This caused a sense of curiosity and confusion between myself and Tony.


Not much left apart from discussing their accounts and we went for some nasi lemak breakfast at Kampung Baru. Some of the photos seen are borrowed from Stephen, who was with me together with the big group we met during the Bersih Rally. At that time around 10:30 a.m, we got preliminary assessment from Jeff via the Star alert that there are 4 activists and 4 lawyers arrested, and that showed on Bernama and The Star.

I would later join the group at the KL police headquarters in Pudu later on. I wanted to learn what happened after the rally. True to be told according to Haris and Jeff, the final tally was 5 lawyers arrested and 3 activists. The 5 lawyers include Edmund, Sivarasa, Latifah Koya, Surendren, and Amir Hamzah. The 3 activists include a woman who got arrested in a tough manner by a female police officer and of course Ashfar.

At noon, there was still no word from them apart the word that BAR president Ambiga was not allowed to enter IPK. All of the 8 arrested are charged under Section 28 of the Police Act 1967. It was around noon where Michelle told us that Edmund was held for attempting to stop the police from removing the banners. By rights, the banners and advertisements are under the jurisdication of the City Council and the police had indeed crossed the line of stopping the rally with such act against Edmund.


Update, 4.45 p.m: The BAR Council is screaming over the top for Edmund's arrest.

I am divided over whether the police had to act under the direction of a paranoid superior or the government thinks that with police and things as their weapon of choices, they can strike things down. But the politicians have totally forgotten that it is the citizens and people who have the power of deciding who is to run the nation. Be prepared to lose seats next general election!

Addendum: I was back at IPK after a drink or so when Jonson Chong came out and told us that the police had moved out to bring the heads of the BERSIH rally back to IPK for questioning. One of them, is Mohammad Sabu of PAS who was taken from Ipoh all the way back here for interrogation. The addendum can also be viewed at Jeff's posting below.

Further Accounts:

1. Jeff: Cops Outnumber People 5:1
2. Nuraina: Sunday Walk
3. Stephen: Human Rights...What Rights?
4. Rocky: Walking With 500 Cops
5. Tony: A Walk Too Far

Previous Post: Now This is A Police State!