Not A Good Start

Well, Liverpool's first competitive match; the Champions League Qualifying match in Belgium ended in a poor 0-0 draw. Even though the opponent, Standard Leige is the Belgian Champ, with our quality, we should have got the job done.

Instead, it was the home side that pressed on, and only Pepe's heroics earned us a undeserved draw. Rusty? Well, we played some good footie in pre-season friendlies. Lack of fire-power? Keane and Torres were there! Maybe it's the 'ugly' Green away jersey. Yuck! Just like their performance. Yes, I'm disappointed, but I still have faith in Rafa and the boys!

So now, we are the favourite to go through with the home match. However, we can't let Standard set the standard. If they score once, we need 2 goals to go through. So, we need the goals with big money at stake. Watch out Standard, we gonna kick your ass!

Go Reds! Give us a champion performance.

You'll Never Walk Alone!

Racial Harmony? Dream On!

This says it all!

Malaysia as many noted is a country blessed with abundance of natural resources. You want rubber? We have it. You want palm oil? We have it! You want timber? We have it! Gas? Petrol? Tin? Basically we got everything under the sun except for diamond and rubies!

For such a rich country to fall so far behind in terms of development compared to it's "poor" cousin, Singapore is something the Government needs to look into urgently. Much of it has to do with the policies in place. We are bleeding to death; a disease commonly known as brain drain!

I know, the race and religion issues are something more or less a taboo in this country. Speak on it, you might get slapped with the Sedition Act or the ISA. But can't the people in charge wake up? No one in this country is questioning the Malay rights. It's already guaranteed in the holy constitution. But brain drain is a very real issue; an expensive one it is! Government has tried to lure back our professionals back to their homeland with incentives and what not but the end result? The adage "prevention is better than cure" can be more accurate and true. Why this people leave at the first place? Money? Perhaps.... but the main thing to me is that most of them felt unwanted at the 1st place. We did the hard work educating these people from Standard 1 but it's Singapore or other countries that reap the benefits!

Now it seems that the racial temperature has gone up a notch or two. Bar Council was criticised for holding a open forum on religious matter. Then UiTM students held demos and marched to send a memorandum to the S'gor MB for proposing to open 10% of UiTM to non-bumi. Then PPIM project director came out blasting the MB saying there was no need to sideline Malay rights. "If something like this is allowed to happen, then there will be a worrying situation where many Malay institutions will crumble and be 'Malaysianised'.

WHAT? "Malaysianise" is now a bad thing? So the slogan for our 51st Merdeka day 'Perpaduan Teras Kejayaan' don't hold water anymore? This is crazy. Yes, I understand his stand and I respect it but these are strong words! What about the racist teacher that utter racial slurs against her Indian students? Well, she got the punishment, if you consider getting transfer to a better school and nearer to home as one!

The education ministry has fail miserably in fostering racial harmony. In fact the whole Government fails us even after 50 years of independence. Discard racial policies/politics. Don't give the impression that the Chinese, Indians and the 'lain-lain' don't contribute to the growth of this lovely country.

Malaysia is for Malaysians; not just Malay/Chinese/Indian and 'lain-lain'!

Finally! Phew...

Backyard. A new maid room will be contructed

Toilet to be reduced in size

Kitchen to be converted to dining hall

Front wall to be demolished and extended

Finally! After more than a year after we paid the deposit for our town house, works on renovation has begun! After all the red tapes and maybe incompetence of local authorites and frustration dealing with the seller's lawyer, we can now look forward to move into our "new" house. All those frustration has now turned into relief, a big one that is!

Renovation will takes roughly a month or so. We have only confirmed the wet work to be carried out. Kitchen cabinets, wardrobes, doors, painting the house, electrical items and fittings/accessories and wood flooring will all come at a later stage. So far, the quote is RM40k (just the wet work); and we anticipate the cost to go another RM30k or so...... painful, but worth it, I hope. Plain bad luck for the transfer to drag for so long. If it could finalise earlier, I'll save at least 20-30% for renovating the house.

Thank you, BN for raising fuel prices!!!

We are still shopping around for best possible bargains around. There are a lot of "sale" these times. Furniture and others can wait for time being. One thing is for sure. Our glass windows and doors will be the best in quality/pricing; courtesy of my sister and her husband. Hehehe... at least we save some money.

We have been renting our current place for a few months already. Just hope the reno work can go on smoothly, and we can all move in by mid of September. Since Eddie and my Mom-in-law's place is just behind me (the main reason why we bought this house), it will save me a lot of time and petrol money for sending Xu Hom to school and Si Qian to his house. No more waking up at 6:30am! Yahoo!!!!

Anyway, just glad that work has started, we'll move into a brand new environment soon.

Are we matured, yet?

Police keeping watch at the Bar Council HQ

With the recent demonstration or protest to disrupt the open forum organised by the Bar Council, I can see that some (or most) of the Malaysian public is still unable to act rationally to discuss topics labelled as "sensitive". I was appalled by the words used by Ministers that I interpreted as a veiled threat; word like "don't play with fire", "question the right....." Totally uncalled for.

What's so threatening is a matured open forum being held in a closed premise? If the forum is to question the rights of any race or criticize any religion, by all means close it down. Drag those responsible/organisers to court. But no! Why can't everybody sit down and have a good open forum and talk about issues that affects every Malaysians? What about our rights in our own country? Why the authorities don't pursue matters that's more threatening, i.e kerosene bombs thrown at Dato' Sharizat's house? "I told you so...." sounds so stupid because it implies that it's OK to burn some one's house than talk about "sensitive" issues. Maybe next time, other races can demonstrate or barge into a meeting when Malay parties talk about Malay unity because it can cause uneasiness among others.

To make matter worse, Pak Lah has said that the Home Ministry could take action against the Bar Council for holding the forum. In this take, I'm really disappointed with Pak Lah. I've always thought that he will be the one that will give his full support for a more open society with his reform agendas. Seems like he himself needs to have support from certain quarters when his position is at stake. Now, that would be a really sad day for Malaysia.

After more than 50 years of independence, we have become more racist. Going backward with racist remarks made by politicians just to gain some publicity or support. Politicians or political parties will not be afraid to play the race/religion card to gain popularity. Power play in politic is normal but to use the race card is just so uncool! MCA has been critical of the demos. Rightly so! Why none of the Malay ministers/politicial condemn this act which is "not our culture"? Why ?

Grow up!!... We, Malaysians deserves better!

08.08.08

08.08.08.... Let's celebrate!

Yes, this is the day considered by most Chinese to be an auspicious day; maybe one of the most auspicious day of the year. The number "8" sounds like 'prosperity' or 'richness' in Chinese; thus meaning good luck or great fortune. No wonder the Beijing Olympics will kick-off the opening ceremony on this day, exactly at 8.00pm sharp. I'm sure, billion of viewer across the globe will glue themselves to the idiot box in what being termed as the most expensive and extravagant show of the century!

Most Chinese have a strong believe system, inherited from their forefathers. We believe in anything that sounds good to the ears, will bring good luck. Thus it's no secret the number '8' is one of our favourite numbers while the number '4' is a big no no! Why? The word '4' sounded like death in Chinese..... Big Chinese tycoons are always willing to spend big money to get their coveted car plates, possibly '8888'.

So with such a heavy investment to organise the Olympics, the Chinese Government had to break tradition, that is to have the opening ceremony other than a weekend. Take no risk, since the biggest sporting event in the world has to be a big success. Anything that can help, will help...

However, it's interesting to note that this year, the year of the Rat in the Chinese calendar is far from smooth sailing for China. First to hit is the damaging snow storm, stranding million of home going Chinese at railway stations during the biggest annual exodus of human being; Chinese New Year. Then, the unrest in Tibet where Beijing got unwanted spotlight focusing on alleged violation of human rights. Then came the deadly Sichuan earthquake that shook the whole world. Ironically the Sichuan disaster happened 80 days before 08.08.08!

So, I hope whatever misfortune that hit China will be cleansed once the Games kicks off. China has suffered enough for the year. It's time to rejoice and celebrate humanity.

08.08.08..... Let the Games begin!

Another URGH! on the road....

Another round of massive jam

Yep, today the KL city folks have to endure another round of traffic jam courtesy of the PDRM in anticipation of a mass rally, demo whatever their intelligence sources told them will happen.

Preventive measure? You bet. Since Anwar Ibrahim is to be charge in court for sodomy charges, his supporters might go nuts and destroy everything in sight. Maybe the police knew something we really don't. Maybe PKR's members are planning a march around town in protest against Anwar's impending court case. MAybe the party members are so stupid, they'll march right in the middle of the a morning rush hour. Just to state their case..... Thank you Mr Police, you made me feel safe with your presence at the highways this morning.

Don't the police or anyone in charge see it? These roadblocks contributed nothing but frustration, anger and waste of precious petrol to everyday commuters. Morning jam is bad enough but instead of improving traffic flow, our men in blue made it worse. Most were caught out in surprise. Many were late for work or appointments. Waste of time, if you ask me. These roadblocks are just not effective and counter-productive.

All these tax-payers money should be put into better use. I'm sure the police or some big shot will justify this insane call for blocks. Please don't put the blame on Anwar, PKR or PR. It all about the Government feeling insecure, paranoid and defensive. Have the balls to admit it. Don't find silly excuse and bikin susah to the rakyat.

August 26th... D-Day

Will he make it this time?

This is it, folks! The Election Commission has announced August 16th to be the nomination day while August 26th will be the day where folks in Permatang Pauh will cast their votes again. This time it's for Anwar or another BN candidate. This place will get huge limelight in the coming weeks!

Permatang Pauh has always been Anwar's fortress. He won there as a candidate. His wife won there as a candidate. So this time BN really is the David..... they got an uphill battle to wrestle the seat and more importantly defeat Anwar and prevent him from gaining entry into Parliament. Tough, but still doable.

It would say Anwar will be a huge favourite in this bout; no matter who he faces. I'm hoping for Ezam, his former aide. That would be more exciting than watching the Olympic century sprint. However, I'm still a bit confuse. Will Anwar be able to do battle if he's arrested for the alleged sodomy case looming? Won't that disqualify him? If there's anything happening to him now, the conspiracy theorists will have another field day! BN is now walking on a tight rope. Sure they can lose Pematang Pauh (it's not their seat, anyway) but the effect of electing Anwar into Parliament will be a great blow to them.

Stay tune, folks! It's gonna be lipsmacking delicious!