COLOSSAL PSYCE

'Smart Politics': Politik Baru Anak Muda.

2012-02-06T01:43:00.000-08:00

Hari ini Mitt Romney, bekas Gabenor Massachusetts dari Parti Republikan merupakan calon yang paling popular untuk bertanding kerusi presiden Amerika Syarikat yang sedang disandang Barrack Obama. Kempen manifestonya memperoleh kutipan dana sokongan paling tinggi oleh rakyat Amerika Syarikat. Kehebatan gabungan karisma individu, kempen manifesto berkesan dan mainan 'smart politics' yang ditampilkan oleh Romney ternyata membuahkan hasil.

Menurut Jim Tankersley, koresponden ekonomi untuk Majalah The National Journal yang menulis, 'Smart Politics vs. Sound Economics: The Battle for Mitt Romney's Soul' menyatakan bahawa 'smart politics' yang dimainkan oleh Romney adalah apabila beliau mempamerkan personaliti sebagai seorang yang selalu duduk semeja dengan golongan yang mempunyai idea dan boleh mentransformasikan idea-idea itu kepada perubahan sebenar untuk masa depan Amerika Syarikat.

Romsey juga telah menggariskan 59 teras pelan ekonomi tetapi pada masa yang sama bercanggah dengan polisi kewangan dan perumahan yang dicadangkan oleh dua penasihat ekonomi beliau sendiri iaitu Glenn Hubbard, Dekan Fakulti dari Columbia University dan N. Gregory Mankiw, professor dari Harvard University. Namun setelah mengambil kira segala prinsip dan teori ekonomi semua cendekiawan, Romney meneruskan juga prinsip ekonomi yang beliau gariskan kerana percaya akan keberkesanannya pada masa depan ekonomi Amerika Syarikat.

Mari kita lihat pula pada gelagat dan pemikiran rata-rata politikus yang kita ada di Malaysia. Penulis ingin gambarkan bahawa aktor-aktor politik di negara kita hari ini, setiap kali adanya lontaran idea dan kemudian wujud pula ketidaksefahaman, maka perdebatan kemudiannya akan berkisar tentang bagaimana buruknya cerita peribadi mereka yang berdebat. Masyarakat yang pada mulanya berminat untuk melihat idea-idea bernas yang mungkin boleh merubah masa depan negara, akhirnya kecewa kerana terlalu banyak cerita cercaan peribadi. Inilah realiti politik di Malaysia yang asyik tertumpu kepada peperangan antara individu, bukan perbincangan kepada perbezaan idealisme yang mungkin boleh mencapai kata sepakat untuk membantu membangunkan negara. Perlu diingat, masalah ini jelas menjadi kurap yang merebak baik di parti yang memerintah, mahupun parti yang membangkang. Kedua-duanya sama sahaja. Hari ini, politik tohmahan, dan politik kebencian itu menjadi rutin biasa ahli-ahli yang berhormat, baik di medan parlimen, ataupuan ketika kempen ceramah pilihanraya.

Kedua, ahli-ahli politik di Malaysia, majoritinya terlalu jumud dengan pendirian dan ideologi pemimpin-pemimpin dan kawan-kawan mereka yang mereka anggap 'rakan seperjuangan'. Akhirnya, konsep 'yes bos' yang diwarisi sejak turun temurun masih kekal lagi di negara kita. Penulis tidak mengatakan bahawa mereka perlu untuk menjadi pemberontak di dalam parti yang mereka percaya asas perjuangannya. Mereka cuma perlu ada pendirian mereka sendiri tentang sesuatu perkara. Negarawan terbilang negara, Tun Dr Mahathir bukan seorang yang mengamalkan konsep 'yes bos' apabila beliau mengkritik hebat kepimpinan Tunku Abdul Rahman sehingga menyebabkan beliau dipecat dari UMNO. Walaupun dipecat, beliau masih percaya dengan perjuangan asas parti. Akhirnya beliau kembali dan menjadi antara Perdana Menteri dan tokoh yang paling disegani masyarakat dunia.

Hari ini, mungkin ada juga ahli-ahli parlimen kita yang mengkritik kepimpinan parti, tapi tindakan yang diambil kemudiannya adalah dengan meninggalkan terus parti yang diwakili. Seolah-olah prinsip perjuangan asas parti yang mereka pegang terlalu goyah dan mereka dilihat kecewa dengan parti mereka. Yang menjadi mangsa, adalah rakyat yang terpingga-pingga di dalam dilemma samada untuk menyokong perjuangan parti ataupun individu yang mereka telah undi untuk menjadi suara mereka. Saya menghormati mekanisme perjuangan YB Khairy Jamaluddin dan YB Dato' Saifuddin Abdullah yang hari ini mungkin serba sedikit menyokong perkara-perkara yang bercanggah dengan pendirian parti, namun apa yang penting, mereka terus setia dengan parti yang mereka wakili.

Maka inilah sebenarnya antara kurap-kurap permasalahan yang terus menghantui gerabak politik negara kita. Tidak kira di pihak pemerintah ataupun pembangkang. Pemimpin-pemimpin politik negara perlu sedar yang kami, golongan muda sebenarnya sudah muak dengan percaturan politik murahan yang dimainkan mereka. Penulis adalah salah seorang daripada generasi baru yang inginkan pembaharuan bukan sahaja dari segi mekanisme pembangunan negara, tapi juga corak amalan politik negara yang penulis anggap menjijikkan. Mengambil petikan artikel salah seorang sahabat, Rizal Abdul Rahman, seorang pelajar jurusan perubatan di salah sebuah universiti di Indonesia yang menyatakan nada yang sama melalui tulisan beliau,'Politik Kebencian: Hancur Masa Depan Negara'. Saudara Rizal menyebut, "Politik kebencian akan melalaikan perjuangan, melambatkan pertumbuhan, menjadi risiko kepada rusuhan seterusnya memusnahkan semua yang tercapai. Mungkin secara peribadi ia menguntungkan, hakikatnya secara keseluruhan ia mampu merosakkan Malaysia."

Suara anak-anak muda seperti kami inilah yang perlu didengar oleh semua pihak. Bukannya anak-anak muda yang menyalurkan suara mereka melalui demonstrasi dan tunjuk perasaan di jalanan yang penulis kira hanya mewarisi amalan politik emosi yang sedia ada dan sebenarnya tidak membawa kita kemana-mana. Akhirnya, masa depan politik negara kita hanya akan bertukar rupa pemimpin, tapi corak permainannya masih sama.

Debat Rafizi Ramli (Pengarah Strategik PKR, Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Pejabat Penasihat Ekonomi Selangor) dan YB Khairy Jamaluddin – (Ahli Parlimen Rembau, Ketua Pemuda UMNO) baru-baru ini di United Kingdom merupakan satu contoh politik generasi muda yang ingin kami lihat. Harapan yang cukup tinggi penulis letakkan agar perdebatan dua 'singa' muda ini menjadi pelopor kepada 'politik baru' yang akan dimainkan oleh generasi muda dan seteruskan menjadi amalan yang perlu dikekalkan pada masa hadapan. Kami sebagai orang muda mempunyai semangat dan tenaga yang cukup tinggi. Itu kelebihan kami. Tapi alangkah molek sekiranya politik anak muda juga berlandaskan ilmu, bukan semangat semata-mata. Perlu diingat, politik adalah khidmat, bukan alat untuk kesenangan diri. Suka juga untuk penulis menyebut bahawa politik itu 'taklif'(tanggugjawab) dan bukannya 'tasrif' (glamour yang gemerlap).

Unsur-unsur 'smart politics' inilah yang harus diberikan perhatian sebagaimana Mitt Romsey menunjukkan unsur-unsur keintelektualan dan mentaliti yang tinggi dalam mempamerkan diri beliau pada rakyat. Pendekatan beliau yang tidak dilihat terlalu jumud dalam sesuatu perkara memberikan beliau kelebihan sokongan padanya. Alhamdulillah, 'smart politics' ini jugalah yang ditunjukkan oleh debat Khairy-Rafizi dan InsyaAllah akan menjadi ikutan oleh keseluruhan anak muda yang benar-benar inginkan perubahan.

Kita kaji dan selidik dari sumber apa sekalipun, kerajaan agung Melaka itu musnah bukan disebabkan oleh kemalasan atau kekurangan sumber dan kedaifan persekitaran. Tapi disebabkan sikap sombong, bongkak dan amalan perpecahan pembesar-pembesar Melaka ketika itu. Hari ini, perkara yang sama berulang kembali.

Semoga amalan poltik Malaysia akan berubah.

Nik Mohamed Hussein bin Nik Ali
SPEAKER
PARLIMEN MAHASISWA
UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA

R.I.P Muammar Ghadaffi

2011-10-20T23:50:00.000-07:00

I got this from somewhere:

Ghadaffi abused the basic right a human deserve in Libya, but he's not all that bad and incompetent. Now let us get to the unknown facts about the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi:

1. There is no electricity bill in Libya; electricity is free for all its citizens.

2. There is no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at 0% interest by law.

3. Home considered a human right in Libya – Gaddafi vowed that his parents would not get a house until everyone in Libya had a home. Gaddafi’s father has died while him, his wife and his mother are still living in a tent.

4. All newlyweds in Libya receive $60,000 Dinar (US$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family.

5. Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25% of Libyans are literate. Today the figure is 83%.

6. Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kick-start their farms – all for free.

7. If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need in Libya, the government funds them to go abroad for it – not only free but they get US$2,300/mth accommodation and car allowance.

8. In Libyan, if a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidized 50% of the price.

9. The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 per liter.

10. Libya has no external debt and its reserves amount to $150 billion – now frozen globally.

11. If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession as if he or she is employed until employment is found.

12. A portion of Libyan oil sale is, credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens.

13. A mother who gave birth to a child receive US$5,000

14. 40 loaves of bread in Libya costs $ 0.15

15. 25% of Libyans have a university degree

16. Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Man-Made River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country.

So Malaysians, if you think our leaders are all that bad, think again.

Discussion Part: IMTGT-Medan 2011

2011-10-19T23:52:00.000-07:00

Malaysia has been a successful developing country and is forging ahead to become a developed nation in its own mould. In order to be more successful, our nation has to be managed effectively and its weaknesses and shortcomings have to be overcome. A major challenge it has to address in this endeavour is the strengthening the unity of different culture in Malaysia.

The process of ‘nation building’ in Malaysia was unique and filled with variety of concepts. The important principals to be considered when analyzing Malaysian nation character building are the relation and mixture of social, culture; heritage, tradition and religion between the major races in Malaysia. They have a significant effect in the political system and administration and are reflected in the nations’ ideology, Rukun Negara. According on what have outlined in Rukun Negara, the essence of unity and concept of moral were told to the people in every aspect; God, leader of the country, federal constitution, rule of law and also morality. All these essences were believed to unite the people so we can have a solid foundation to construct the country. These essences of unity will be reminded to the people over the time. 1 Malaysia concept for instance, it may use different approach, but the essence is still the same; unity.

As the problems of unity were overcome by the strength of our own local wisdom, Malaysia at this time has vision to become a well developed country by the year 2020. This vision, started by the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed has reached its development path. Vision 2020 is impossible without economic, social and government transformation.

This paper outlines the main elements of our local wisdom which shaped what Malaysia is today. Starting from Rukun Negara and New Economic Policy (NEP), and now the new proposed New Economic Model (NEM) which to be considered as the key element to drive Malaysia to an inclusive high income economy. This is in line with the country’s vision to be a well developed country in the year 2020. The NEM also portrays the Malaysia’s local wisdom in enhancing the economic atmosphere for the people in the future. As for Rukun Negara which gave the Malaysians a strong belief to be united as a nation, New Economic Policy (NEP) which distributed the wealth of the country to all races, so now it’s time for Malaysia to create high income jobs with inclusiveness of all people. ‘Inclusiveness’ is a continued principals used in both Rukun Negara and also New Economic Policy (NEP). This is not the end of the journey, just a signpost to the beginning. The way ahead, however, is clear and Malaysia will lose its way if urgent action is not taken.

The current past and Malaysia leaders have obviously used the ‘Big Push Theory’ which stressed on the development economics or welfare economics. The big push of the Rukun Negara, NEP and NEM are required to enhance the momentum for change to be a well developed nation in the year 2020. These efforts in a way portray the government’s commitment in giving a clearer vision to be a developed country. Malaysia would then have an economy capable of sustaining high income growth, of delivering improvements in the lives of all Malaysians, and of providing a sustainable environment for all our futures.

Evolusi negara Arab: Raja-raja terancam?

2011-10-01T00:32:00.000-07:00

Saya pernah terbaca tulisan ini dalam:

http://aliasmohdyusof.blogspot.com/2011/08/pemimpin-autokratik-dan-diktator-arab.html

Persoalannya adalah dimana revolusi untuk menjatuhkan pemimpin ditaktor di negara-negara timur tengah menular dengan hebat namun tidak pada raja-raja yang menaungi sesetengah negara Arab.

Tidak saya nafikan, raja-raja Arab juga mungkin dan pernah mengambil kesempatan dari kedudukan dan status mereka. Perkara ini mungkin boleh dianggap 'masalah sosial' pada hari ini iaitu mana-mana pemimpin yang berkuasa akan cenderung menyalahgunakan walau sedikit kuasa mereka untuk kepentingan diri sendiri. Itu semua adalah soal akhlak yang boleh diperdebatkan di topik yang lain.

Namun, jika diperinci, jika adapun penyelewengan berlaku, raja-raja Arab ini tidaklah seteruk Hosni Mobarak yang semasa memegang jawatan Presiden Mesir selama 30 tahun, beliau telah menangkap, memenjara dan membunuh para penentangnya yang kebanyaknya daripada pergerakan Islam yang diketuai oleh Ikhwan Muslimin. Ataupun seperti Muammar Gaddafi yang sehingga dikenakan waran tangkap oleh makhamah jenayah dunia atas bermacam-macam jenayah global dan jenayah menentang kemanusiaan yang dilakukan.

Pemimpin diktaktor seperti ini wajib dan patut digulingkan.

Tetapi jika kita berbincang tentang raja-raja Arab, isu mahu atau tidak mahu menggulingkan mereka ini buka semata-mata berkisar disebabkan oleh aktiviti berfoya-foya keluarga atau saudara mara mereka, kecenderungan untuk memegang tampuk pemerintahan yang lama ataupun hanya kerana mereka adalah keluarga diraja. Kalau dilihat dalam konteks yang lebih luas, sistem beraja tidak lansung mempengaruhi ketidakadilan ataupun ketidakstabilan sesebuah negara. Kehebatan pemerintahan sesebuah keluarga diraja atau pembesar telah terbukti dalam sejarah. Sebagai contoh King Ferdinand dan Queen Isabella di Sepanyol yang sehingga hari ini diingati atas dasar penyatuan Eropah mereka atau Gengkhis Khan dan Amir Timur, wira Mongolia yang diiktiraf kehebatan mereka sebagai keluarga diraja dan juga pemimpin. Contoh terdekat yang mungkin boleh diambil adalah bagaimana Parameswara sultan pertama Melaka sehinggalah ke Sultan Mansor membangunkan Melaka sebagai hub perdagangan paling penting di semenanjung Melayu ketika itu. Mereka semua adalah keluarga diraja. Terbukti mereka juga hebat dalam selok belok pemerintahan. Kemerosotan sesebuah negara di dalam sistem beraja disebabkan oleh soal individu. Bukan kelemahan sistem beraja itu.

Ketiga, artikel di atas ada menyebut tentang persepsi masyarakat yang berada dalam sistem feudal yang menganggap raja adalah wakil tuhan dan sebagainya. Maka jika menentang raja dianggap berdosa. Saya tak menafikan adanya teori ini terutamanya semenjak zaman Yunani atau Greek lagi. Namun dalam konteks hari ini, terutamanya di negara-negara Asia Barat yang majoritinya beragama Islam, anggapan raja sebagai Tuhan dan sebagainya itu tidak menjadi isu atau penyebab utama kenapa tiadanya tentangan terhadap raja mereka. Saya yakin dan percaya yang orang Islam di Asia Barat masih berpegang teguh dengan kepercayaan Allah adalah tuhan yang satu dan bukannya raja mereka. Maka jika selagi tiada kezaliman dan pemesongan akidah Islam yang dilakukan, penentangan pada raja mereka mungkin dirasakan tidak perlu.

Namun mungkin apa yang menjadi kekesalan saya adalah, raja-raja Arab ini, walaupun dengan kuasa dan kedudukan yang mereka ada, tidak lansung memperjuangkan tentang nasib kebanyakan negara-negara Arab yang ditindas. Raja Arab Saudi misalnya mempunyai hubungan yang cukup rapat dengan Amerika Syarikat. Maka saya sama sekali tidak menolak kemungkinan yang pada masa hadapan raja-raja ini juga mungkin akan digulingkan juga oleh rakyat mereka sendiri.

Atau, rentetan penggulingan diktator-diktator yang terjadi mungkin telah membuatkan raja-raja ini sudah 'kecut perut' untuk terus mengaut keuntungan.

E.V.O.L

2011-05-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

My parents have been married for 30 years. And they still are in love with each other as I can see; verbalize their thoughts by saying 'I love you', and cuddle while watching TV when the children/grandchildren are out of sight. ( yes, I peeped). Looking at them makes me believe that there is 'live happily ever after' and 'love for eternity'.

I don't really talk with my parents about love matters. I also rarely talk about my girlfriend unless they ask about it. Which they seems like really wanting to know what is going on and everything. But one day, when I was driving my mom to the grocery store. I thought of asking a question to my mom who sat beside me. I asked, "What makes married couples can still go strong for more that 30 years? Is it love?" I wondered if the love we had during the early years of relationship is still the same love after we have like 10 grandchildren?

My mom smiled. Putting the whole sense of motherhood into her with a little bit of surprise that his boy actually asked her about a matter that she never thought will be discussed with. Se said, "yes its love. But love comes in with different shapes. It was love during the early years of relationship when you text and call your love ones every single day.It was love while holding your first baby together and laugh when you see how cute your baby smile back at you. It was love while walking and holding hands at IKEA choosing the furnitures to fill in your new house, and it was also love while playing with your grandchildren and had to clean up the toys together. There are times that you just wanna kill each other, there are times that you just wanna give up with the relationship. But holding on with each other during thick and thin are the best thing you can make and it's the most beautiful feeling you will never forget."

I had that coming from my mom. It explains everything. And I just stop the conversation and change with some other topics. My mom might wonder what did I asked that question. I won't tell. But I'll hold that words in my mind forever.

My parents are totally a different person. Whoever knows my dad, will know that he's loud and active and he's a legend with his laugh. People can recognize him from far with his laughter before even looking at him. He sucks at arts even he claims he's good at it. He likes music and karaoke a lot. But my mom is totally the opposite. She's the very soft-spoken type of person. Good with arts with her handcrafts, needlework and wedding flower-making. She's really good. She even had headache when she listens to keroncong songs which my dad loves a lot. Not even once in my 23 years old of life that I hear my mom sings in the karaoke even we have this big karaoke system at our house and even my dad do karaoke a lot.

But opposite attracts.

You know love stories. Some love stories will have this script of "Have you ever look at someone at the first time at you just know you'll be with him/her for the rest of your life". That's a cliche love story lines I would say. There will be tragedies and conflict in the movie plots but the movie ends up with the couple kissing and they seems like going to live happily ever after. And the audience are so touched and cry at the end of the movie. But have you ever wonder why they are so few love stories that have the second sequel?

I'll hold on while I still can.

Shhh....

2010-12-19T17:13:00.000-08:00

Kisah Sebuah Nota Rahsia

2010-12-14T16:57:00.001-08:00

Kisah sebuah nota rahsia.

Terpelihara.

Tapi kalau dicalit dengan jari,

habuknya bukan kepalang.

Bak isteri curang yang menjaga sakit suami.

Umpama lelaki yang menolak jalang.

Ditulis berlandaskan nafsu, bukan hati.

Konsistensi yang berselang-selang.

Catitan-catitan yang separuh kerat,

hidup segan mati tak mahu.

Kalau benar-benar diamat,

oh rupa-rupanya luahan hati yang tersirat.

Tentang kehidupan yang makin melarat.

Malap, sarat dan palat.

Ekspresi pasrah, akhirat tak ingat.

Sesekali ada juga perihal impian.

Jurusan maut konon untuk mengaut keuntungan.

Wang ringgit yang boleh dibaling-baling,

dan turun kembali seperti hujan.

Tersengih melayan angan-angan.

Tapi catitan tinggal catitan.

Impian diragui pula jadi kenyataan.

Buang masa.

Buang karan.

Soal cinta wajib, tak dilupa.

Perihal wanita idaman yang digila-gila.

Kalau dapat dipeluk,

oh! indahnya dunia.

Indah lagi pantat periuk,

yang dipaksanya kamu gosok

bila dah bernikah esok.

Bongok.

Nota rahsia habis diselak.

Terlerai habuk-habuk yang melekat.

Ditatap untuk kali ini.

Kalau diselak sekali lagi,

mungkin sudah berulat.

Jasa nota rahsia.

Rahsia kelat disimpan ketat.

Maple St.

Brisbane, 12.52am.

2010-12-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

Brisbane, 12.52am.

You know it has been awhile. I have been travelling to some 'important' parts of Australia. I had a really good deal with the flight ticket which brought me from Adelaide to Melbourne to Gold Coast to Sydney to Brisbane and back to Adelaide. Currently I'm in Brisbane. Enjoying some really good time with my good friends. I'm killing time now waiting for my flight back to Adelaide. The flight is at 6am in the morning. I guess I'll just burn the candle, staying up for the night. No risk taken.

I have been in Australia for 4 months now. Some might ask, why didn't I blog all my activities in Australia? Sharing my good times and ect. In my mind, the posts I could be doing to share all my good times and 'about me' will be like " OMG! I AM GOING TO GOLD COAST!" or "I AM IN SYDNEY BABY!" or "OMG THAT AUSSIE GIRL'S TITS ARE SO BIG!"...

Oh well, I could do that. But I didn't. Because I don't like to blog about me. I will write about Australia now and then, after I can fully understand about what I am writing about. After some personal stupid observations perhaps?

And oh.. I just write. I don't expect people to follow me. Or me following people's expectation. No. I just love pouring my thoughts on people's mind. Some might get annoyed. Too bad. For those who like it, I am flattered. I don't expect that. But thank you. A month ago,(this might sound like out of date) I got this Facebook message from one of my Facebook friend.

I don't know him. (Obviously I just approve all the friend requests). But having some random people asking me to update my blog is just a good feeling. Thank you.

But like I said, I just write. Not about me. But about what I think. Well, most of it.

Will update soon.

Hey.

2010-12-11T05:58:00.000-08:00

When something knock your head hard on the wall, the pain will lead you to either two things:

1) you swear you don't wanna go through that pain ever again, so you will be smartly careful next time.
2) you know the pain, and get immuned to it. And you don't mind to be knocked harder next time.

I'm afraid of the second one.

Can you be an economist?

2010-11-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

*This entry is just a reflection of my own opinion based on my personal observation. There might be some arguments. Thank you.*

Economy was always my field of interest. I wanted to know more about how people deal with scarcity and distribute resources in the best way they could. THAT WAS WHAT EXCITES ME. Learning about economic theories and the impact of its application to the society is fun. WAS fun!

Well, most of the theories have been applied successfully to the countries which need growth. Today, the theories are like a 'formula' that have to be learned by all economic students. Sort of. But I do believe that these theories need to be improvised accordingly. For this reason, I do feel that most of the theories are not relevant to today's world.

I came to the extend that I can't even imagine how some of the theories can be applied today. (I don't want to list what and what).

Malaysia came out with the New Economic Model. That was an innovation of some economic theories. It came across my mind that maybe it's time for some new economic genius to come out with more reliable theories. It might be you, me, anyone!

America in two-three years back had the biggest economic crisis in 80 years, yet most economists were admittedly clueless about the cause of the crisis.

Should economists and policy makers have identified the housing market bubble before it burst? The answer is most likely no, because economic theory was not up to the challenge.

While optimistic forecasts held by many market participants in 2005 turned out to be inaccurate. Those projections were not “unreasonable” given what was understood about the economy and housing market dynamics in the years before housing prices crashed and helped create one of the worst economic downturns in generations. ..

In other words, they did not understand much about the economy nor the housing market.

Economists were clearly not of one mind about the implications of rising housing prices. Some saw them as consistent with economic fundamentals, and driven by factors like the need for shelter to house a growing population, a favored explanation of central bankers themselves during those years. Others simply punted, offering no view.

Then there were those with negative views, many of whom have been sharply critical of the economics profession, and of policy makers.

The pessimistic case was a distinctly minority view, especially among professional economists. The small number of economists who argued forcefully for a bubble often did so years before the housing market peak, and thus lost a fair amount of credibility” in the process. Others called a bubble with “arguments fundamentally at odds with the data” that became available after the fact.

The fact that a small number of economists who saw this coming but lost credibility because the peak was still some time away says more about the economics profession than it does about those who saw the crisis coming but were early.

For the most part, regardless of the view economists held on housing, the science of economics wasn’t really even equipped to deal with the issue. “Academic research available in 2006 was basically inconclusive and could not convincingly support or refute any hypothesis about the future path of asset prices.”

That meant anyone could argue anything!

Yes, anyone could make any argument and no one had any idea if they were right or wrong. That is quite the "science," isn't it?

Of course, not all economic theory is useless. However, as a profession which attempts to add value through forecasting, it fails at the most critical times, which is tantamount to a meteorologist who consistently forecasts sunny skies with the occasional rain but is unable to see the hurricane coming.

Well, what say you?

Three Stooges.

2010-08-24T22:48:00.000-07:00

Hey Malaysian politicians,

YOU ARE SO BORING.

You bore me to death with all the cliche ideologies of racism from both sides. I have to say, and YOU have to admit, we are all racist. Malays and Bumiputras are fighting to maintain their 'hak istimewa' and other races are creeping slowly up on their equality tree since forever. No one is right and no one is wrong. Both sides are right in fighting what they want and both are wrong in condemning each other's right.

I repeat, we are all RACIST. We just kept it low profile. Just like we did after 13 May tragedy until PRU 2008.

But now, all the coolness explode. Seems like the smile we gave to each other before were officially stamped as FAKE. I do have my own stand in this matter and of course my stand is bias as I am ABU. Go and ask AH CHONG or MUTHUSAMY, and I am sure that they also have their own bias perspective regarding this as they are AH CHONG and MUTHUSAMY.

I was born in 1988. 19 years after the tragedy of 13 May 1969. I was sent to sekolah kebangsaan where I learned and played along with my Chinese and Indians friends. During class, we were taught to be friend with everyone and all the examples showed in textbook referred to how "ABU bermain guli bersama AH CHONG dan MUTHUSAMY, Mereka bertiga bersahabat baik. ABU dan AH CHONG suka makan bersama-sama, AH CHONG dan MUTHUSAMY melawat ABU yang sakit dirumah"ect ect..

You know, all of these qualities and friendship among races are implemented in us in sekolah kebangsaan.( I don't know how it is in Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan(SJK)). But we did get along well and we had no problem with that. As we grow older, lets say 17 years old( when we learn the form five Malaysian History for SPM). There was maybe the first time we knew the tragedy of 13 May 1969. That is like 36 years after 1969.

My generation was fresh and clean from all the hatred and racism until now. Thank you to SOME CURRENT politician leaders who spoiled our my mind and their mind with this.

I don't blame you for everything. You, ABU are my hero in fighting for Malay's right. AH CHONG and MUTHUSAMY, you are their heroes in fighting for my friend's right.... BUT UNTIL WHEN?

Saya ibaratkan Malaysia umpama rumah kampung yang ada tiga beradik berlainan character dan perangai yang tinggal bersama. Biasalah, rumah kampung, kemudahan kurang maka mereka selalu bergaduh nak mendapatkan yang terbaik untuk diri sendiri. Mereka akan selalu bergaduh tentang perkara-perkara kecil sehingga perasaan benci yang amat sangat timbul antara satu sama lain sehingga besar dan berkhawin dan mempunyai anak masing-masing. Yang menyedihkan, anak-anak mereka diajar untuk membenci sepupu- sepupu mereka dan kebencian itu diwarisi turun temurun sehinggalah satu generasi bertanya, " ayah, mak, kenapa kita semua bergaduh?" Mereka bertanya, kerana hairan mereka bergaduh tanpa mengetahui punca yang dimulakan oleh nenek moyang mereka..

Bayangkan generasi baru menyambung pergaduhan yang dimulakan generasi lama tanpa tahu puncanya. Tidakkah rugi?

Kita tinggal serumah, memang banyak benda akan timbul tidak puas hati. Tapi sampai bila?

Like I said, we are all racist. Just keep it low and don't heritage that to our children. Kalau tak, bila nak habis?

Don't be like the Three Stooges. They were laughed at not because of their art of jokes and performance. But because they act stupid.

Janganlah kita ditertawakan... We love Malaysia. Don't ruin it.

Tuan Muda?

2010-04-12T01:58:00.000-07:00

I was laughing hilariously while reading this news on paper yesterday. Fine, there was a fraud by a 17 years old boy who alleged to be a Tuan Muda from Pahang royal family.

I wasn't laughing to the boy. I think he is a genius.

I definitely wasn't laughing to the Pahang Royal Family. They are respected for who they are. Menjunjung Kasih. Daulat Tuanku.

But I think, a fraud made by a seventeen years old boy to a government department which made the highest ranked officer of the department to accompany this boy for an official visit is something we should think of. One of the Pahang Exco was also there for the visit.

Many would question the credibility of a government agency to actually let a boy to manipulate them.

Siap buat baju dengan tag nama Tuan Muda tu..

Taknak cakap banyak. Nanti kena saman.

Yosuke Nimura

2010-04-11T14:31:00.000-07:00

We all should know, how the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed had been emphasizing about the Look East Policy which stated that we, Malaysians should copy and follow how the Japanese and South Koreans work. I truly understand why now.

This is Yosuke Nimura. He is from Japan. He WAS a former exchange student in USM for one year. He was and STILL one of the USM Buddies. And HE IS ONE GREAT FRIEND.

To recall back, when I was the Project Director for USM Student Exchange Orientation Week Program back in 2009, me and Joe Yin invited him to be part of the committee for the program. It is somehow weird yet unique because he was part of the working committee for his own orientation week program! He arrived months earlier. That's why he can do that. So he officially became part of Buddies.

So I approached him and invited him to join us that time. We had a chat. His English was so fluent and he spoke with an American accent. So I asked him,

"were you born in the USA?" and "have you been getting your education from USA?"

He answered, "NO. I was born and raised in Japan. I took my degree in English"

So from that moment of time, I knew that he is a great person. Judging from how he can actually improve his English even though he is not from an English speaking environment. So he joined us and became one of the family members. I was the project director at that time, so of course I had the command for my working committees. I would say, he was the most hardworking person during the program. He had no problem receiving orders and he will do the task given efficiently. And that has given him a huge respect from us. For me personally, it is amazing how he can fit into a different culture, and actually loves it. He loves durian, spicy Malay foods and etc.. I could list down his great personalities and the things that made us feel amazed, but that would take forever. He is a great leader, follower, friend and brother.

But now he already left for his home country last night. A year of memory with him will last forever. Hoho. This is very touching.... Arghh.. Haha. Ok.. Ok..

Like I said, I finally realized why Dr Mahathir had been wanting the Malaysians to follow the Japanese working culture. They work hard, respect their leaders and minimize the the hanky-panky culture in work. I learned a lot from this guy and Yosuke, I should say thank you. They(Lian Mien) asked me to write a goodbye note to Yosuke. This is basically what I wrote to him:

"Dude,you are amazing... bla.. bla... bla... I hope me and other Malaysians can be like you. bla.... bla... bla... take care, and remember us always!" -Nik-

So I really hope for that....

At the airport, As a memory, I personally gave him an old 1 Ringgit note which I kept in my wallet for almost 3 years.. I gave him that: (1)because I did not have anything to give him at that time, (2) because that 1 ringgit note means a lot to me, and (3) because he can easily put and keep that note in his wallet. Haha..

To Yosuke,

Dude, remember us and do come back. Because I'm gonna smack your head for making me cry at the airport! Damn..

Mini NRIC 2010.

2010-04-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

Alhamdulillah, Mini-NRIC 2010 has been successfully organized by National Research and Innovation Competition (NRIC) Secretariat 2010. Congratulation to Nurul Fatini Jaafar, the Project Director of Mini NRIC 2010 and also the heads of departments for Mini NRIC 2010. This is our first move in exposing the importance of science and technology to the primary and secondary school students. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL. I am proud to work with bunch of dedicated people. Thank you for those who supported this event. I have nothing much to say. I hope NRIC 2010 in May will be blessed and will be a great one. This is my speech during the NRIC 2010 pre-launching ceremony.

"First and foremost, we are honored to have our beloved Professor Tan Sri Dato Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, the Vice Chancellor of USM to be with us today. This is an event fully organized by the students of USM with the help of USM officers. I truly believe that this is something for us to be proud of as it reflects how we as students can also provide our intellectual thinking not only in academic fields, but also on the application and practicality aspect as what we have shown and proved today. I believe this is also part of the needs of an APEX university which it shows the ability of students to think and act intellectually. In the other hand, Motorola, our main sponsor has been always supporting and believing in the capability of the USM students as they have been our main sponsor for the past 2 years. Special thanks to Motorola.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The National Research and Innovation Competition (NRIC) has been organized successfully by the Student Representative Council of Universiti Sains Malaysia (MPPUSM) with great collaboration with the NRIC Secreatariat for the past three years. This year, we will continue organizing this project as an annual event. Besides giving recognition to the best final year project for undergraduate students from IPTA and IPTS, we believe that this event will also creates a greater way for the student representative council to consolidate the networking among universities.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are the organizer of an event regarding innovation and research competition. So we also have been doing some innovation for our self. We are opening and broadening our target not only to the IPTA and IPTS but also to the secondary and primary school students. For that we proudly present our first Mini NRIC 2010.

This is our first move in providing a platform to introduce NRIC to the students and public. We are putting efforts in getting the society to gain more knowledge in science and technology and also to educate these young scientists in the creative field. Furthermore, with the involvement of CETREE and Unisains Holding Sdn Bhd, Mini- NRIC is viewed as a social responsibility of an Apex research university in conveying messages about the importance of science and technology to the public. This can be made through exhibition, advertisement and also publicity via electronic and printed media.

According to the great book, Blue Ocean Strategy, we need to create our own wave that has the ability to create another competition. That is why we have to do something different. We have to lead, not follow. So he Student’s Representative Council USM has been leading other universities by conducting this annual event in the national level. We are still going to explore other possibilities to prove that we are an APEX university and the nation’s leading educational institution.

Last but not least, we hope to make Mini NRIC as an annual event of pre NRIC, and continue to discover new talent of young scientist in producing a new range of product based on the science and technology concept. I would like to remind you to mark your calendar on the 26^th May 2010 for the National Research Innovation Competition 2010. On behalf of the Student Representative Council USM , and NRIC Secretariat, I would like to welcome you to one of the great event in USM.

Thank you."

Congratulation to the NRIC 2010 Secretariat. You guys are amazing!

Aku Melayu

2010-04-06T03:49:00.000-07:00

Sedar atau tidak, dunia sekarang lebih terbuka. Banyak luahan pemikiran yang dapat dilakukan menerusi pelbagai bentuk. Media cetak dan elektronik yang sedia ada seperti surat khabar majalah dan televisyen mungkin dipelopori oleh orang-orang yang 'terpilih' dan terbukti ilmunya untuk dijadikan landasan menyampaikan wacana pemikiran mereka. Kini, wujud media alternatif seperti blog yang kini bukan hanya digunakan oleh mereka yang berilmu, tetapi juga digunakan oleh mereka yang kurang berilmu.

Tidak mengapa. Kerana itulah sebenarnya warna-warni dunia internet.

Banyak penulis blog tampil di dunia cyber dengan bermacam- macam cerita. Ada yang bercerita tentang ilmu, kehidupan, makanan, tempat, hubungan, cinta, seks dan sebagainya. Internet umpama dunia tanpa sempadan. Maka bermacam bahasa digunakan. Dalam konteks di Malaysia, saya percaya Bahasa Melayu, Inggeris, Mandarin dan Tamil banyak digunakan oleh penulis blog di Malaysia. Saya tidak tahu berbahasa Mandarin atau Tamil. Maka untuk blog-blog dari Malaysia, sudah tentu saya memilih untuk membaca blog-blog dalam Bahasa Melayu dan Inggeris.

Menerusi blog juga, banyak pendekatan yang dilakukan oleh penulis. Ada yang bercerita tentang hati dan perasaan, ada yang bercerita tentang diri sendiri, ada yang menghentam orang lain, ada yang menulis blog, untuk melepaskan tekanan.

Sekali lagi, itulah warna warni dunia internet. Dan saya tidak ada masalah dengan itu. Itu semua hak masing-masing.

Namun saya cukup meluat dengan blog-blog yang dikendalikan oleh orang Melayu yang menulis blognya dalam Bahasa Inggeris.

Terkejut? Bagus. Ya, saya juga menulis dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Tapi ada sesetengah blog-blog ini yang berterusan menulis dalam Bahasa Inggeris, tetapi mungkin terasa ingin menukar mood, tiba-tiba menulis satu post dalam Bahasa Melayu. Dan ayat permulaanya begini:

"saya tak pandai berbahasa Melayu."

atau...

"bahasa melayu saya sudah luntur"

Saya tidak ada masalah dengan mereka yang menulis dalam Bahasa Inggeris dan sesekali ingin menulis dalam Bahasa Melayu. Tapi apa saya cuba ingin katakan ialah:

Saya meluat dengan orang Melayu tulen yang kononya mengaku tidak tahu/mahir berbahasa Melayu.

Mungkin benar, bahasa Melayunya tidak begitu mantap. Tapi pengakuan begitu agak menggelikan saya. Bagi saya, tullislah ribuan novel Inggeris yang boleh mengalahkan Shakespeare, bercakaplah dalam bahasa Inggeris dengan pelat Mat Salleh, sehingga orang kampung anda ternganga. Namun, untuk mengaku anda tidak mahir berbahasa ibunda anda iaitu bahasa Melayu, itu umpama menghina bangsa anda.

Sekarang, saya menulis dalam Bahasa Melayu. Jika A Samad Said menilai bahasa Melayu saya ini, mungkin saya akan dapat markah yang sangat rendah. Namun saya tidak mahu mengaku yang saya tidak mahir menulis dan menggunakan bahasa Melayu.

Tatkala kita hebat mencari ilmu dan memantapkan bahasa Inggeris kita, ada segelintir di luar sana yang bukan berbangsa Melayu malah, rakyat dari negara lain yang berusaha untuk memantapkan bahasa Melayu mereka sehingga dapat berpidato dan bersyarah dalam Bahasa Melayu.

PERTANDINGAN PIDATO ANTARABANGSA, PIALA PERDANA MENTERI buktinya.

Peserta dari Jerman, Josee Hunnekes dan beliau boleh berpidato dalam bahasa Melayu.

Peserta dari Rusia, Natalya Budanova dan beliau boleh berpidato dalam bahasa Melayu.

Tapi anda, orang Melayu tulen, mengaku tak mahir berbahasa Melayu?

Malulah!.....

Kasih Ibu

2010-04-04T06:32:00.000-07:00

Actually, I was not really interested in giving my thoughts or even care about the entertainment world. I don't give a damn about celebrities and artist locally and internationally. Seriously, if you ask me about who sing this song, who sing that song, what is Britney's favorite panties or what Siti Nurhaliza and Datuk K did during their first night, or when is Anugerah Bintang Popular. I would definitely say. I DON"T KNOW.

But this story really made me to write something:

Yup. This guy Khaeryll Benjamin A.K.A Benjy is one of the Malaysia's renowned male actor. I personally admire his acting style and I would say he is an actor with charisma and great talent. It might be inherited from his mother, actress Azean Irdawaty. Azean Irdawaty herself is my mom's favorite actress. But he is now accused for possessing drugs. You can read the story in newspaper.

Like I said, I don't give really concern about what is happening to those celebrities. But why am I writing this?...

I had my primary school education in Sekolah Kebangsaan Kampung Tunku, Petaling Jaya. FYI, I was a classmate with Benjy's sister, Elza Irdalyna.. As far as I concern, she has been in a few dramas. So, I should be proud that I was in the same class with an actress. Perghh.. :)

So, we frequently saw Elza's brother, Benjy fetching her from school. I clearly remember him coming into classroom talking to his sister's friend including me. I would say he is one loving and caring brother. Always with a smile on his face. He always kissed her sister on the forehead every time he left her sister. We all in that classroom were like, owwwww... sweet brother. That time, he was young, slim and handsome.

Elza, in fact, always talk about her brother. I must say he is someone who cares about family. I read in some news that he was always with his mother, taking care of her when she was sick. Now that proves he is a family man.

So now, I am writing this because I think I know Benjy. Just imagine a mother who loves her son so much but then she has to consider her son's fate to be accused as a drug dealer. She has to bear some 'mulut hantu' who like to 'mengumpat'. And she is still in the process of fighting her cancer.

Kasih ibu. Tetap kasih ibu..

We hope for the best Benjy!

New Economic Model. Hmm...

2010-04-04T03:52:00.000-07:00

New Economic Model (NEM). Wow! As an Economic student, I am rather thrilled to 'articulate' something about this new plan from our Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak.

Before that, I would like to stress that I am just an Economic student. I suppose that I am nobody to actually say or comment anything as a regard to the new Economic Model, a model proposed by our PM , a graduates from University of Nottingham, UK with Bachelor of Industrial Economic who served in Bank Negara and Petronas before joining politics and already served the nation brilliantly for more than 30 years.

The model, as we all know it is a result of Majlis Penasihat Ekonomi Negara (MPEN) as well as other economist around the world who have been invited by the PM to work together in initiating this model.. I should be proud of the VC of USM, Tan Sri Professor Dzulkifli Abdul Razak to be one of the members.=)

To our PM, I believe that this is one of your great efforts in sustaining economic development. We are always behind your back.

However, I would really appreciate if I can convey some thoughts by one of my lecturers. which is a professor in Economy and was one of the gears in planning the economic strategy during Tun Mahathir's era.....

"the plans and strategies have been proposed long time ago"

.......that was what my prof said right after the NEM was announced. To comment about that, I think that the Prime Minister is aware of rescuing all the plans and and strategies from all the 'bijak pandai' which in can help to create a new way of sustaining the economy. That is why he constructed Majlis Professor Negara recently. I would write about that in my next post. =)

For me, this New Economic Model brings no harm to our economic development. I have been reading critics and negative comments about this model. As I said, I am nobody in giving comments on this matter.

I just believe that, in assuring a sustainable development, we should not stick to the old plan. We should create a new one. As written in the Blue Ocean Strategy book, we should create a new market in order to minimize the competition and make it stay relevant. You guys should read that. That is why USM has been chosen as Apex University. We lead. We do new things.

For NEM, the same thing may be applied. The government are looking for new mechanisms and ways in developing our economy. As for the critics, they might be true. I am sure the government is taking them into consideration as well.

I said, I am nobody to comment about this. But as a student with knowledge limitations, and one of the 25 millions Malaysians who are going to get the impacts of this model, I think that the objective of the NEM is for Malaysia to join the ranks of the high-income economies, but not at all costs.

The growth process needs to be both inclusive and sustainable. Inclusive growth enables the benefits to be broadly shared across all communities. Sustainable growth augments the wealth of current generations in a way that does not come at the expense of future generations.

A number of strategic reform initiatives have been proposed. These are aimed at greater private initiative, better skills, more competition, a leaner public sector, pro-growth affirmative action, a better knowledge base and infrastructure, the selective promotion of sectors, and environmental as well as fiscal sustainability.

The next step of the process will be a public consultation to gather feedback on the key principles and afterwards the key recommendations will be translated into actionable policies.

Overall, the New Economic Model demonstrates the clear recognition that Malaysia needs to introduce deep-reaching structural reforms to boost growth. The proposed measures represent a significant and welcome step in this direction. What will matter most now is the translation of proposed principles into actionable policies and the strong and multi-year commitment to implement them.

AHAH!

2010-03-29T01:12:00.000-07:00

It has been a while. There are things in my mind that I wanted to share. TOO MANY. Too many until it demotivates me to write. Haha. But then yeah. My mom just told me a second ago: BIRTHDAY NIK ARSHAD ESOK!!

Now that REALLY is giving me a spark... =)

Nik Arshad Sulaiman bin Nik Mohamed Husni
My naughty nephew. OH man. he is going to turn 3 years old tomorrow?

This is him during 1 year old. Still nampak baik... But a little bit grumpy. GRUMPY baby just awake.

Still looks like very the baik... Sleeping tiger

During his first Aidilfitri. Excited Papa at the back.

This is Sofia's favorite.

Now. This is one of his recent pictures.

Tyco hairstyle...

So, that is my beloved nephew. Nik Arshad Sulaiman. As a kind-hearted and macho uncle, I'll pray for his future. We all love you DUDE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

You are one of the MEN in the family!

Study comes FIRST.

2010-02-02T02:00:00.000-08:00

These are the list of subjects and the total of credit hours I take this semester:

Project Analysis/ Cost Benefit Analysis - 4
Economic Development- 4
Statistic For Economist- 4
Malaysian Economy- 4
BM-2
BI-2

Total: 20 credit hours.

I am taking 4 major subjects with 4 credit hours. I don't know what people think. But it is kinda heavy for me.

Lots of subjects, means lots of hard work, determination and focus on it. But to be frank, my focus on academic for this semester is easily distracted. I haven't got my rhythm yet. No yet study notes, no yet library, not yet even reading text books.

Well, studying Economy is all about reading, facts, knowledge, critical thinking. I went to a tutorial this morning. I was blur! Damn it.

This semester, responsibilities are about to be dumped on my shoulder. " Jadi MPP busy weh" That is what I have been hearing. It looks like it. Busyness has been a close friend to me, BUDDIES, DEBATE, ect. But MPP busy? I'm about to experience it. It may be the same. It may be worst.

I started to realize the pepatah " guru kencing berdiri, anak murid kencing berlari". Guru is a role model to the anak murid. If the guru do wrong (kencing berdiri), well its either the anak murid kencing berlari, or the anak murid kencing balik kat muka guru tu. I dont mind with the anak murid kencing berlari. But I totally afraid of the anak murid kencing balik kat muka guru.

People are looking, staring, criticizing, and analyzing now. I know.

Tomorrow morning, Majlis Penyerahan Watikah Perlantikan Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar during the Vice Chancellor Speech. Meaning, i have to skip class again. Pffttt!

Kalau aku pandai manage masa ok kot.

Three things I don't wanna lose out of busyness:

1)Academic
2)Sofia
3)Friends.
4) Family.

* List above are not according to priority.*

All are extremely important.

We will see.

Jangan Faham.

2010-01-22T10:56:00.000-08:00

Apa bezanya Leader dan Follower?

Let me tell you. Leader is someone who lead a team to fulfill a goal.

It may not be the exact definition. But basically that is it.

Follower is someone who follow a leader do what the leader has instructed him or her to do.

This is again not the exact definition. But basically that is it.

I repeat my question: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENT BETWEEN A LEADER AND A FOLLOWER?

One thing only: The leader will make the decision. Others follow. That's all.

And to convince the team to follow his or her decision, a leader must speak, wear, and act convincingly.

So my point is: In order for you to convince others, appearance is very important.

And appearance is subjective. I repeat: SUBJECTIVE.

Don't be so stereotype that a leader must wear this and that to show he or she is a leader.

Trust me, that makes a huge wall between leaders and followers.

See you around.

Tak paham? aku pun.

Bahasa Melayu

2009-11-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

This is my expression of my thoughts and concerns about the present and future state of the national language in Malaysia.

I feel that Bahasa Malaysia (BM) has been sidelined over the years. Sadly, many shopping centres and other such public places only provide signages and posters in English.

It doesn’t impress tourists that we forsake the language which identifies our country. Rather, it makes them curious of the fortunes of BM in its own hinterland.

In other shopping destinations in the world like Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo, signages are available at least bilingually, in their respective national language and English. Why isn’t it the same here? Or why not multilingual if possible, considering that we are multicultural and many of the tourists in KL are Middle
Eastern and East Asians, too?

On the Internet, I also can barely feel the dignity of BM among local and localised websites. I notice that our localised websites of most international brands are only in English, while virtually all localised versions for other countries, including our neighbours, are readily made in their respective native language, if not bilingual or multilingual.

Not only that, the websites of NGOs, societies and even local businesses and government-linked companies
like Telekom Malaysia Bhd and Petronas are only in English.

We should not wait for some sort of legislation to enforce the use of BM. Instead, let’s use our hearts and minds to voluntarily uphold the dignity and sovereignty of BM in Malaysia, and eventually celebrate
multilingualism in our country.

Will hosting a website in two languages cost double?

Kudos to Facebook, Friendster, Carrefour, Wikipedia, etc to make it a point to provide websites in BM without anyone compelling them. The same should be said for Nickelodeon, Disney, Cartoon Network, Discovery and

History Channel who provide BM audio feeds. Also, Walt Disney’s businesses in India has been dubbing a whole catalogue of its animated features into Hindi despite English being an official language there. I hope the same can be done in Malaysia.

Let’s value English to not only move our nation forward, but also use this knowledge of the ‘international’
language to enrich and strengthen our own language.

Yup, I'm using English right now. Tapi Bahasa Melayu masih bahasa terhebat!

Perut

2009-11-25T06:23:00.000-08:00

Perut..
Kenapa engkau perut?
Kenapa perut bukan bulan?
Kalau bulan pun buat apa?
Kerana perut dan bulan tiada kena mengena..

Perut...
Perut bukan seekor kerbau!
Memang tak logik jikalau ianya kerbau
Kerbau ada perut juga..
Bagaimana perut kerbau itu adalah perut?
Apa ini??!!
Aku tidak mengerti sama sekali..

Perut..
Perut itu adalah abstrak
Umpama lukisan Monalisa
Perempuan hodoh pun mahal nilainya
Perut hodoh?
Mahal isi kandunganya..
Ada nasi didalamnya..
ada daging lembu, rusa, buruk puyuh..
ada kicap, budu, tempoyak...
Itulah perut..
Yang hodoh.. tapi banyak kandunganya.

Kini tengok perut anda!
Ambil pen dan tuliskan baik-baik diatas perut itu..
"SAYA BONGOK, TAK ADA KERJA"
Kerana apa?
Kerana anda telah membaca post ini yang ntah hapa hapa.

HAHAHA...

Memang post kali ini tak berilmu. Gua stress sket.. huhu..

Spondantenineouse.

2009-11-09T17:55:00.001-08:00

I heard a funny story last night.

" Dia nampak lelaki tu masa main bowling. Mereka tak pernah kenal and cakap. Tapi minggu depan dia akan jumpa dan terus ajak kahwin. Dia cakap itu hidayah dan petunjuk."

err.. I don't know what to say. A muslimah saw a guy at a bowling centre which happens to be her friend's friend. And she never talk to him. The guy don't even know her! Yet, she's so certain in getting him as her husband.

And she said, it's a hidayah...

Well. There's nothing wrong according to Islam. Good luck to her!

I can never imagine my life to be a spontaneous one. No!

What if...

2009-11-09T06:20:00.000-08:00

I remembered one day, that we were throwing a birthday party to a friend. And at the same time on a different occasion, my dad was busy sending out card invitations for my bro's wedding. So, basically. we were doing the same thing which was asking people to attend your occasion. Same thing.

What my dad did was, he searched for all the contact cards, telephone numbers, numbers that are in his communicator, specially ordered bunch of invitation cards, rechecked all the contacts, ect ect..( you know the process ). He made all that in less than 3 days. Its a well done job for inviting over 1000 guests for the wedding. Knowing my dad, his efficiency is unbeatable.

On my side, which is for the little birthday party thing, what I did was I opened my Facebook account, made a few clicks and typings. And its done. I made that in less than 3 minutes.

What I am trying to say is, yes there are differences in how the older people like my dad trying to stay connected to their friends, compare to the youngsters like me. We are living in Facebook, Friendster, Myspace, Tagged world now. We can know what exactly happened to our friend who lives at the far end of the world. Compare to our moms and dads (well I should say most) they are still using the old way to stay connected to their friends. I am sure that they are still struggling to say 'hye' to an old friend they haven't see in 10 years.

Now, the point is. We can see how effective the youngsters getting connected with each other and how easy we can understand our friends and people in this Facebook network. We can share everything, laugh tears, problems, happiness in just a couple of clicks and minutes. And in what I see, the Facebook culture among the youngsters are growing rapidly. I can say that some 'Facebookers' are like living in the cyber space. They are connected to the internet like every second, minute and hour. They are with their friends everyday! This matter also as the result of how sophisticated the mobile phone gadgets now days that allow you to bring that 'palm sized' computer with internet wherever you go and whenever you want. It just explain how crazy the technology influences us.

Now, thanks to technology. We have a brand new way to meet people, and be friend with them. I hope this will bring good benefits to the whole human race.

Let me tell you what I think...

Shimon Peres might not has FB. So he can't has the easy access to be friend with some good muslims. So he hates Palestine people.

George W Bush might not has FB. So he was lack of Iraqis and Afghanistan friends to say to his ears slowly,"Don't attack us.. we are your friends"

BN leaders and Pakatan leaders might not has FB so they can't say 'hye', 'poke', 'write on walls' kind of thing.
As the result they are so stress up in finding ways to stay apart

I'm not saying that all these people should have Facebook, and there goes a better world. No. What I'm trying to say is, let us be all friends. In one network, and share our thoughts together. The network that I should call 'Earth' or 'Malaysia' ect. Staying close which each other are the best way.

I wonder... In 30 to 40 years time when this world are conducted by my generation. So everybody might has Facebook. So love and sense of connecting are easily spread out at that time.

So, we should wait for this old current generation to all die first. Yeah!

3rd November 2009

2009-11-05T11:42:00.000-08:00

It was a pretty normal night. Just like any other night where I had the desire to get rid of my hunger. It was a full moon night which was perfect for lovers to share their romantic time under it. A beautiful night for them, but unfortunately wasn't a good night for me.

'kruk-kruk' my tummy... Lapar...

'tut.. tut..' message berbunyi.

"wey, jom makan"

'okeh, aku sampai'

Had a RM20 nasi beriyani. Worth eating for someone who starved the whole day.Another RM20 shisha, completed the perfect dinner. But it didn't actually cater the night for me.

Building 'human faces' and a 'Taj Mahal wannabe sand castle' under a full moon night on the beach was awesome. Despite the ignorance of the uninvited so-called spirit, smile can still be curved on our face with the flash of hand phone camera.

'Bro, aku ade citer...'

'ok. aku sampai'

Simple mathematics, one plus one equals two.

This 'two' went to meet another one. So, two plus one equals three.

Confused? YOU SHOULD.

So these three went back to the 'construction area' of 'Taj Mahal' wannabe. The road was there. It was just full of options on how to get there. We chose the wrong one. In the quiet and dark night. Nothing dangerous can be predicted.

Traffic light. It was red. Being a good driver, I stopped. The 'boom-boom pow' song entertained us while waiting the light to turn green. AND IT WAS GREEN. Green to go. But never ever trust the green light now.

The car moved. Was trying to pass the quiet and scary crossroad slowly. No light, no sound, nothing. Only the sound of my car's engine.

BOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!! SCRETHHHHHHH!!!

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I thought my engine blew out of sudden. The left window broke into pieces and I remember the first word came out from my mouth: "Ya Allah! APE TU??"

I stopped the car. Only to see the left side of me was full with broken glasses. I was still in the state of " what the fuck is happening??!!!"

I went out of the car. I heard dogs barking here and there and i know at that moment, something bad has happened. I saw a couple meters back, two men. One man was inebriated while holding the pain and another man was lying on the tar road. He was lying still. No movement. There was a crowd in a split second who pointed to the man and said, " Mati dah ni. Mati dah ni wei!!'

I ignored the words. I went to my friend who was beside me at the passenger's seat.

'Bro, ok tak, bro... ok tak weh?'

'ok... ok kot...'

A glance at her.

'ko ok tak?? ok??'

ok.. ok.. ko ok?

Being in a fright situation while seeing his face covered with blood and can hardly open his eyes wasn't an OK feeling to me. Plus, there was probably a dead man behind me. I saw the other guy was running. Running away. It was a panic attack on me. A very bad one.

'adik, yang sorang tu dah lari. ni saye jumpa kad ID dia. macam orang Myammar ni. Pasni, polis datang, adik bagi kat depa.'

In such a chaos situation, there was still a kind hearted man helped us out. As I can remember, he's half blind. His left eye looked like a small rock.

It was a terrifying night. The night I should never forget. Hutton Road, Penang.