Saturday, August 30, 2008

Our 51st Merdeka...........

At midnight tonight, the fireworks will begin and pass, and it will signal the 51st year of independence for our country, Malaysia. A time of jubilation and celebration perhaps. But we are far from being independent. Independence is still a moral and ideal which we speak of, but do not prescribe.

We do not have an independent judiciary ever since 1988. We are still submissive to a Draconian Act, which is the Internal Security Act. And now, censorship laws are getting even more out of proportion ever since the Printing Presses and Publishing Act really messed up local journalism, by banning Malaysia Today. I guess everyone would have known that Malaysia Today is already banned by the Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). The government has since revoked its promises for no censorship and less tampering in the internet when the MSC was launched 10 years ago. WHY?!

Are they so afraid of that the Malaysian minds will be easily corrupted by ‘false news and allegations’?

Oh how stupid and foolish we are to read blogs and to get independent news! Yes folks, we all should just read the Star and New Straits Times and be happy with the news we are getting about how fine and dandy things are in our country. About how we are getting more foreign investments in our country on the Super Corridors like the Port Klang Free Zone, when in fact many have pulled out, like the JAFZA from Dubai which had previously made promises of investments therein. About how corrupt the opposition devils are as compared to the angelic Government. There is only good news about BN and good news all the way.

GEEZZZ I sure hate my sugarcoated news!! Perhaps Malaysians are still not mature enough to decide for themselves what they should be reading and to analyze facts and draw conclusions. Haha..yeah…Malaysians can’t do that. That’s the way things are :P

But then again, we will still get blogs who press for the truth and also kudos to Malaysiakini for being the most un-bias media and reporting the facts for what it is and for what they are. It’s true. Everyone should subscribe to Malaysiakini :)
On another issue, it’s great to see Anwar Ibrahim back in Parliament. Surely he is the man of the hour, but as was pointed out by Haris Ibrahim, the victory was not his alone, but the rakyats’. People say the outcome in Permatang Pauh was expected. To some extent, perhaps it was. But then again in this age of Malaysian politics, anything goes. Look at the latest sodomy allegations. The swearing of the truth which seems to me, has lost its meaning of truthfulness. But whatever it is, it was the second wave of the political Tsunami. And then for the biggest we hope on the 16th of September. We can only wait to see how things turn out and whether our petrol prices will drop. By all in all, it would be a refreshing change from the already decaying stranglehold of the Barisan Nasional of our country.

So what now? I don’t know. I have said once that we are living in interesting times, and yes, I still believe that we are. We are in the midst of a very very big fix. Holes need to be plugged. Wounds need healing. The judiciary should be restored once again as an independent body not governed by the executive, and I hope that Zaid Ibrahim would carry out the restoration that is needed as he claims to do. The ISA needs to be abolished for being an overdued piece of legislation in an era where human rights should prevail. And Malaysians shouldn’t be distinguished by colour or religion. Utopian? Then again aren’t all good ideas utopian in nature? It is through these ideals that we should work towards. We know it. And I hope that we are moving towards it.

Still, A Happy Merdeka to all. We shall be independent…one day.

Friday, August 15, 2008

All that Jazz.....(Part 1)

Another night out. Actually two nights. This is for the first. Yup folks the Annual Mont Kiara Jazz Festival is back. The usual suspects are back as well, and then there are the others. This time however, it only spanned for two weeks compared to the usual four. The reason? Duno. Recession maybe. The fuel price hike maybe. They couldn’t get more bands maybe. Or they just simply wanted to do it for one reason. Because they can :)

Ok cut to the chase. Me and buddies were there one band only actually. The Funk Mob band headed by John Thomas drummer extraodinaire. In fact we even got a shot of him, me and Colin. It was great. Well, we got some groupie to do it, and she said that she would charge us for RM50 for one photo each. Haha. We obliged and told her that we would send her an installment or two. Below is the pic that we took.
From L to R – me, John Thomas, Colin, John Thomas’ latte


Well, after taking the picture, we went back to our tables to enjoy the mouthwatering music which was to befall our ears. Sure enough when the John’s drumbeats came in, me and Colin left out seats once again and started taking pictures. Hey , surely sitting on our arses alone aint gonna do the trick. We took lots of photos and even got close to John when he was performing his para-diddles and tricks. That man can really make an average drummer felt like he had learnt nothing his whole life!! He had a great line up too. Wan on the guitar, and a whizz at that he is too! Fly on bass….yeap…Fly not Flea for u Red Hot Chill Pep fans out there. But he is a master on the bass on his own right! And then there was the keyboardist, can remember his name though but he is pretty awesome as well. Below are the pics.


Then Elvira, the famous lead singer came on up. Colin and I had an absolute shock! That was the groupie who took our pics with John! Oh ignorant are we! We laughed to ourselves at the side of the stage and she saw us laughing too. She smiled at us and I Bet she was already wanting to tell us….bloody….dun u know who I am! Hahahahah. But it was good all the same. Elvira rocked the house, or rather jazzed the house with her vocals! Absolutely brilliant! Powerful and it complemented her band as well.
Below, Elvira in action.


And then we had the Lim Kit Siang band. Why Lim Kit Siang? Cause the bassist had an uncanny resemblance to LKS and it wasn’t my opinion alone but several others including my pal Alvin Cheah. And we didn’t caught the name of the band. Hahah. It was ok. But the bassist was too loud in his own department and sounded muffled, which in a live set isn’t a good thing actually. Oh well, they did managed to entertain the crowd as well.

The other highlight came later. The very awesome and acoustic Mia Palencia. We have heard of her reviews of her music. When she performed, the reviews did her justice indeed. She had a very wholesome voice and she was playing a lot of light but hippity hoppity numbers and she got the crowd dancing, in front of the stage.


We didn’t dance though. We’d rather enjoy the music like music academics and music intellectuals. Furthermore if we were dancing, it would be much difficult to kutuk them now :)
When the night ended, suffice to say, it left us rather satisfied. So that’s good :)The following week, next…stay tuned.

Oh..before we left, we sneaked in for a photo with Wan the guitarist of Funk Mob. Good stuff...good stuff...

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A Rhapsody of the Nonsensical World

Ok....I just can't help but post this pics in my Blog.
Copyright is mine....so there aint no infringement.

The things I saw in Penang....
Let me introduce....the Lorrycyle....
Behold....


and this is the Back of the Lorrycycle...


Notice the helmet the guy wears...hahaha...Salute!

But this one absolutely takes the cake....IT SURE MADE MY DAY!


McDonalds + Kentucky = McTucky
Genius....E=mc2 doesn't even come close!

ahahhahahaa....thank you....

Friday, August 1, 2008

Life Lessons on Punctuality


Two days before the end of my tenure at Rockwills. We had our bi-monthly Legal Department meeting.

We were going through the minutes of the last meeting prepared by Lynn. At the last meeting the issue of punctuality was addressed. “We should always come to meetings and come to work on time” and that was what was addressed the last time round. My boss goes through the minutes and then speaketh:-

Mr Lim:- “Hmm…Ok, we also discussed about punctuality in our last meet”
He turns to me. And then he turns to my other colleagues.

Mr Lim:- “Ok. We shouldn’t worry about this. As of tomorrow, this problem will be solved. The person who is giving us this problem will be leaving us very soon”.

He looks at me and smirks . My other colleagues looked at me as well, and then the department bursts out into laughter. I was laughing my arse of as well.

Mr Lim:- "Daniel…..I Can See You from the window, eating your roti canai every morning after 9.00am ok!" And then he smiles.

Me:- “I know Mr Lim. Thanks. Sorry. Hahahhahhaaha.”
And then we continued laughing.

People, please be punctual for any event whatsoever. Don’t play play with punctuality! Hahaha…I hope I won’t too in the future.