2006 New Year's Resolutions

Two more days, 2005 will be gone in the passage of time ! I guess I need to look back and reflect upon events during the previous 12 months. More importantly, I need to look forward to the next 12 months and resolve to adopt changes in certain aspect of my life. Here goes my dozen RESOLUTIONS for 2006.

1. QUIT smoking
2. REDUCE coffee intake
3. MORE TIME with family
4. MORE TIME for reflections
5. ADOPT healthy diets
6. REVITALIZE my network of friends
7. LOSE some weights
8. INCREASE my investments
9. REDUCE my debts
10. VOLUNTEER in charitable works
11. RELAX more and WORRY less
12. MORE faiths in God

Good luck to me....... ?

The Brokened Promise

I knew not your name nor your face,
but you are my son's classmate and friends.
Christmas is a day of reunion,
cerebration, and merry makings,
but cruel fate has dealt otherwise.
God has fated you to be at his side.
At 19 years old,
you are just too young to say good bye.....

As my son conveyed the news to me,
I can sense from his body language,
that he is sad and felt a sense of lost.
For the first time in his life,
he has lost a friend in such a painful manner,
he has lost a friend forever.
In aimless desperations,
he bought all local newspapers from the news stands,
trying to find news reports on that cruel accident,
trying to understand
how this tragedy can happened to his best friends.
Your death has made a colossal hole in his young heart.
He is saddened,
he will remember you for the rest of his life...

I feel the pains of your parents,
such youthfulness, talents, and so much to offer !
This fated short journey of life,
a shining soul has been recalled to be with God.
You have gone to the land of no griefs and sorrows,
you are now in the promised land.

Life must go on in this tormented world.
I pray to God, to heal the pains and sorrows of your parents.
In death, you shall live forever in our hearts.
Yong man, Goodbye. May you rest in peace.

Digital Drugs For Teenagers ?

What is wrong with society nowadays ? Lately, there are too many incidents of rapes, kidnaps, murders, assaults, and various socially unacceptable acts committed by youths. In a very definitive stand, these unacceptable acts are caused by breakdowns of family institutions and decaying of moral values. But what causes the breakdowns of family units and decaying of moral values ? There are many factors, but one of the factors that we overlooked is, the addiction and over indulgence in inappropriate online games !

Walking into any home, you will not be surprised to see teenagers or youth locking themselves in the room indulging in hours of serious online games. Some parents have the misconceptions that their teenage children are IT savvy, nodded their approval, and in the process, unknowingly assisting teenagers to slowly acquire addictions from unbalanced exposure to online games. Are these “tech savvy” teenagers psychotically invulnerable to the never ending fantasy cleverly crafted by the online games providers?

Should parents take comforts to know that their teenage children are at home playing online games and not loitering in pubs, cyber cafés, night clubs, etc. ? Would the home then be a safe place for teenagers characters development ? The safest place is the most dangerous place ! With the availability of broadband Internet connections, digital poisons are being delivered right into the rooms of our teenagers – pornography, dangerous liaisons, online games, etc. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

As a parent, looking back, reflecting on my childhood days, and drawing analogy to the present, I believed I am not wrong to state that the process of parenting has not changed much, However, the environment has changed drastically over the past twenty years. Teenagers nowadays spend a significant proportion of their time on the Internet playing some sort of online games or others, at the cyber cafes or at homes. At that tender age, do these teenagers has the right mental strength and emotional stability to withstand misinformation, pornography, violence, propagandas, and addictions ? Are parents in this “Digital Age” equipped with the awareness and knowledge to assist these teenagers to made balance use of the Internet ?

Computers and Internet are necessary tools to assist teenager to acquired knowledge. However, with these tools, teenagers are also expose to undesirable online games especially Massively Multi player Role Playing games. Some of these online games are addictive, violent, and its contents are inappropriate. Consequently, addiction and social ills are natural manifestations. Within this digitally polluted environment as a background, there is no stopping for teenagers or youth to be uncounciously influenced and seeking avenue to act out their criminal fantasy in the REAL world ! When these unfortunate incidents happened, the simple minded and the biased interest groups with ulterior objectives will quick to jump to the conclusions of bad parenting skills and hypothesized lack of love and weak family foundation as the cause. However, are we being fair to blame the parents for this new form of digital illness ? Do parents in this digital age has the capability to fight the onslaught of these digital poisons that constantly negate the fundamental moral values ?

In our relentless pursuit to develop and establish world class ICT infrastructure and encourage its citizens to be Internet savvy, we have unknowingly failed to assess our own mental maturity and psychological readiness to embrace the Internet technology. Has our planners seriously look into the social impacts resulting from the abuse and unbalance use of the Internet technology ? Is there a cyber wellness program being developed in parallel to ensure knowledges gained are supplemented by conventionalisms ?

In the early seventies, drug abuse and addiction was a serious social illness, and it has left a trail of social destructions. The authorities introduced firm measures such as death penalties to curb drug abuse and illegal trafficking. In certain extend, these problems has been controlled. In these modern digital age, teenagers’ and youths’ minds are constantly being poison by certain online games – the digital drugs that let you fantasize, acquired virtual strength, virtual friendships, mass killings, violent, etc. We have people in business attires, paid online games reviewers, online games subscription outlets, and people with vested interest constantly pushing online games in various media and physical locations to teenagers. They have a very simple objective - the more people are addicted to online games means more profitability. Do these people actually realize these selfish profit motivations caused miseries and sufferings to many families ? Do they care about the wellbeing of our youth ?

I read an online article by a woman game magazine editor encouraging young girls to involve in a new online games without proper researching on the background, appropriateness, and motives of the online games. Enticing them with the advise that they can make more friends and built camaraderie thru this game. But, a quick research of reference also shows that the game epitomize the the pursuit of self satisfactions through negativism. Leaving aside my over sensitive unqualified judgment, I must emphasize that, it doesn’t matter how many online friends you have and how good you feel. They are not real friends ! but a beginning of a journey of fantasy that eventually leads you to addictions and social isolation. In a letter to an Editor of a local news daily, a writer claimed that cyber cafés are actually a good daycare centre. I have also read articles by people claiming to be a “serious gamers” excelling in academic and work performance. The truth is, we have yet to come across an addict that can perform these achievements. These are typical examples of absurdities by people with vested interest to mislead parents into helping teenagers or youths to acquire online games addiction. It is these type of constant bombardments of false claims that attract teenagers to escape into the world of cyber fantasy.

We also heard of severe cases of on-line game addictions that leads to fatal ends. For example, “In April 2003, a 21-year-old Hudson youth who was addicted to online games killed himself. His mother said the youth would sacrificed everything so he could play for hours, ignoring his family, and losing himself in a the virtual world where millions of people worldwide adventure in a never-ending fantasy. “It is like any other addiction, “ said the mother. “ either you died, go insane or you quit. My son died. “, In another example, “ A Korean youth, who was also addicted to online games was found dead after long hours of playing online games.” There is also an infamous Snipper in United State few years ago who randomly shoot people to death purely because he wanted to act out his fantasy ! And recently, there is also a reported case in Malaysia of a 16 years old teenager who committed sucide due to alleged over indulgence in online games. There are also many reported serious incidents resulting from online games addictions in various part of the world.

Parents and Schools by themselves are powerless to prevent youth from acquiring online games addiction. Online games is a multi billions dollars industry. As a result, the online games companies are equipped with arsenal of direct and indirect marketing tools to launch multi faceted campaigns to attack the young minds of teenagers. If the teenagers are addicted to the games and suffered the consequences, the online companies through their biased interest agents will be quick to disclaim responsibilities, but point their fingers to blame the parents for not controlling and monitoring the teenagers activities.

I have yet to come across an online game company publishing health statement to warn the public of the potential risk of addiction. We have government agencies to review, monitor, and regulate movies and publications to protect public interests. But we have yet to see the same being applied to the online games industry.
For healthy embracement of Internet technologies, the government must adopt and roll out an Internet wellness program to regulate and control online games in a very discipline manner. I would like to suggest the government look into the following aspects seriously :

• Ensure All online games are reviewed and classified by appointed agencies ( such as Censorship board ) prior to its release to the general public.
• Ensure online games companies labeled the games according to the classifications and release it with attached warning messages.
• Make it illegal for online games companies to sell the games or subscription to those under the age of 21 years old.
• Blocked all online game ports at the ISP from 10:00 midnight to next morning 10:00AM to ensure that teenagers can not access the game and have proper sleep and rest.
• Ensure online games companies contribute a percentage of their revenue to fund an independent Internet wellness program to care for online games addicts, and to conduct educational program to assist the public on the balance use of Internet
• Conduct talks and public awareness campaign to warn teenagers and parents on how to identify unsuitable online games, and the dangers of online games addictions.

Online games is a multi billions dollars industry. The online games companies must have the social responsibilities to conduct self regulation to develop the industry as an healthy entertainment industry. It is also the responsibility of online games companies to ensure addictive games are removed from the shelves. The authorities must also initiate steps now to introduce legislations to regulate the online games industry. This is basic human rights.

One less teenager addicted to online game is one more soul saved !

In the spirits of Christmas & Chinese New Year

While we look forward in anticipation for Christmas and Chinese New Year, please give some thoughts to those who are not so fortunate. Allocate a little bit of your spendings to charities. If you are not able to decide which charitable organizations to donate, the followings are some suggestions :

Shepherd’s Centre Foundation

(home for orphans and the terminally ill)
Address: 23 Jln Besar, Tmn Hiew Piew, Semenyih (main foster home)
Contact person: Founders Pastor Jacop and Pastor Bridget, 03-8723 1213/6770
Needs: 120 sets of bed sheets, blankets, pillowcases; cutlery, crockery; refrigerator, washing machine (10kg).

Rumah Sayangan

(home for underprivileged, abused and orphaned children)
Address: 14 & 16 Jalan Siput 3, Taman Billion, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.
Contact person: Susan Looi, 03-9131 4339 or 019-258 3747.
The home, set up in 1989, has six girls and 11 boys between five and 21 years old.
Needs: A small car or van to send the children to school, fruit blender, water filter, food freezer, wall or table fans, schoolbags, writing materials and exercise books, sandals and slippers as well as milk and canned food.

Phillys Caring Home

(home for the old folks)
Address: 19 Jalan 12/12, 46200 Petaling Jaya.
Contact person: Home founder and manager Phyllis Nathan, 03-7956 0799.
Needs: Mosquito netting for its rooms, cushion covers, curtains, stove, adult diapers and daily provisions like rice, sugar and foodstuff.

Terlipok Hostel, Sabah

Run by the Good Sheperd Sisters for poor students from the interior. Needs donations of 10 beds costing RM5,000 and a RM800 dining table. Interested donors please contact Sister Sandra at 019-811 1673.

( source : the Star December 19, 2005 )

Human Rights or Human Wrongs ?

Bernama, the national news agency of Malaysia, reported on December 15th 2005 that several Senators have called for actions against the Member parliament for Seputeh, Teresa Kok. Apparently, the group of Senator are unhappy that the honorable MP has expose the infamous “stripped and ear-squat” video clips and also brough up the case of four Chinese women who alleged mistreatment by the Police.

I admired the courage of Teresa Kok for bringing up to the attention of parliament of the alleged conducts unbecoming of the Malaysian Police and the violations of human rights. As a result of her courage, an Independent Commission was set up by the honorable Prime Minister to investigate the allegations. Yang Berhormat Teresa Kok, I salute you for your selflessness and courage in public service. History shall remembered you on your righteousness and the difference you have made to make Malaysia a better place.

As a result of this allegations, the facts has established that the infamous incident of “stripped and ear squat” did happened in a Police station in Petaling Jaya. However, instead of debating on (1) whether forced “stripped and ear-squat” is within the legal power of police, (2) whether forced “stripped and ear-squat” violate human rights, and (3) if forced “stripped and ear-squat” is a normal practice of the Police, is it still relevant today, and should it be abolished ? However, objectivity has been sidelined, The senators now chose to accuse the honorable MP of ulterior motives. These senators also now trying to shift the attention to racial lines by pointing to the fact that the woman depicted in the video clip is a Malay woman. My dear Senators, do we as a concerned citizen really care about the nationalities of the woman depicted in the video clip ? A violation of human rights is a violations. Please be sensible to avoid using racial parameters to justify human rights violations. The Senators has also claimed that the honorable MP has ulterior motive in exposing the issues. What ulterior motives are these Senators talking about ? I would like to suggest these Senators stop fanning conspiracy theories because there are none. The outpouring of public outcries in this case is not about racial issues. It is about whether the actions taken by the Police violated basic human rights ! Malaysian has expressed their disapproval, loud and clear! Dear senators, are you hearing without listening ? Go and re-educate the wrong doers ! Don't bring down the good men and woman.

Let us all honestly dig deep into our hearts, let us all evaluate our appreciation for humanity in totalities. Let us all not be blinded by our personal and emotional preferences, let us all not be champions along communal lines, let us all look at humanity with fair eyes and righteousness. Let us all appreciate and cultivate the respect for human rights.

Lest we forget, we aspired to be Global Malaysians with Global mentalities in this global village. Be open minded and be fair to all irregardless of whether they are Malaysians or foreigners. Our words in international arenas must be consistent with our local actions in Malaysia.

Private Security Services or Gangsterism Incorporated ?

I live in a working class neighborhood in USJ, Selangor Malaysia since 1993. It is a very peaceful and friendly neighborhood with mixed racial compositions. Most of the residents here are fairly well educated and law abiding citizens. For the past 10 years or so, I have hardly seen any uniformed police patrolling in this neighborhood, because it is a very safe neighborhood. Of course, on and off, there are some small incidents of isolated break-ins and some petty crimes, but relatively speaking, the neighborhood is still relatively peaceful and safe.
About 2 weeks ago, a group of Indian youths approached every house in this peaceful neighborhood to collect “monthly security fees”. The psychology employed by these youth is every simple - “ We know where you live. If you don't pay us. You may have security problems”. While washing my car in he car porch. I was approached by 2 Indian youths telling me that they are “authorized” to collect “security fees”. They also claimed that “their company” is authorized by the local police station and the “Jawatankuasa Penduduk” ( resident committee ). I politely informed them that there is no Jawatankuasa Penduduk in my neighborhood, and that I need to verify with the local police station first before making payment. The two Indian youth left, but 10 minutes later, four Indian youths on motorcycles came and park their motorcycles in front of my house with the engines running and at the same time shouting Indian languages at each others. I believed they are trying to intimidate me into paying. As far as I am concerned, these Indian youths are probably gangsters trying to establish territorial control. I was left with no choice but to politely asked them to leave and threatened them that I will contact the police station as their actions are disturbing the peace of the neighborhood
The left reluctantly. But before they left, one of the Indian youth told me that if I don't pay, I may have masalah keselamatan ( security problems). These Indian youths actions remind me of old die hard gangster who go around collecting “protection monies”. But what disturbed me is, these Indian youths are now one class above the rest, they incorporated a company, and go around the neighborhood issuing “receipts” and put up marking on your front gate for “security fees” collected.
The next day, I contacted the Jawatankuasa Penduduk of the local town council ( the MPSJ ) regarding the incident. I was advised by one of the officer not to make any payment to these Indian youths. I guess, maybe his fear is, if everybody start paying, other gangsters may also imitate to incorporate a company to start collecting “security fees”.
Since that day, the Indian youths has been coming around after mid night daily on their motorcycles riding pass the front and back of my house and intentionally step on the accelerator to generate loud noises to disturb the quietness of the night. As far as I am concerned, petroleum is pretty expensive nowadays, it doesn't really hurt me if these idiots want to burn holes in their pockets. Or perhaps, they are trying to irritate me for standing up and say “NO” to them. But whatever it is, I have this little message to them - “ YOU CAN GO TO HELL !”
To these Indian youth, I still have confident in the local police to safeguard and protect the peace and security of my neighborhoods. Indirect gangster's strategy is not going to work. For the sake of peaceful co-habitation, please go look for another job or another business to do. It is people like you wanting to live like a parasite, are making the society sick. My advise is, no matter how much your attempts to legitimize a morally illegitimate business, at the end of the day, it is still an illegitimate business. By perpetuating your intimidations and harassment, you will have to live with your guilts for the rest of your life.
Hmmm...I love sipping coffee and at the same time enjoying the acrobatic and dramatically eloquent shows put up by these Indian youths. Perhaps, they are send by GOD to entertain me in my otherwise very dull and boring life ! Thank you very much for the shows.

How many more lives must be destroyed.........

I read with sadness a news report in today's New Straits Time ( 15th December 2005) regarding a 16 years old teenage boy who committed suicide - Computer loving teen electrocuted. The probable cause as highlighted in the news report was over indulgence in computer games.

Few years ago, I was unlucky to have the personal experience of having my son addicted to online computer games. I was lucky to have the computer knowledge and awareness to detect his games addictions. By the grace of God, I was able to initiate early intervention actions to help my son control and kic his addictions. Believe me, It was a very painful process. And I sincerely hope no parents should go through these experiences.

I still remembered I wrote an opinion letter in a local daily to warn parents to observe and take precautionary measures to prevent teenagers from falling into the trap of games addictions. To my surprise, I was ridiculed and insulted by several people verbally and in prints. Some even call my handphone ( I wonder how they got my handphone numbers ) asking me to shut my mouth and call me stupid man. I forgive them, because I know they are not aware of the pains I went through trying to help my son coping with the game addictions. I believed these people who ridiculed me are probably people with vested interests in online games businesses.

Since then, I have gone on my personal crusade of advising parents and to make them aware of the need to control and limit the hours their teenaged children spend on online/internet games. It doesn't really matter to me whether these parents take my advise. As far as I am concern, If I can help a teenager to control his gaming habit, then it is a soul saved.

Parent beware. Internet / online games are multi billion dollars industry. Therefore, it is not surprising the online games companies have all the indirect resources to preach the "wholesomeness" of online games through various mass media and means. They will quote unsubstantiated research to hookwinked us into believing that on-line games promote racial integrations, team works, computer skills, etc. They will also conveyed subtle message to you that it is better to keep your teenaged children at home playing on-line games then letting them roaming in the shopping complexes, etc. I would like to put forward to you that these claims are all fallacies. They are all claims with purported objectives of protecting their profits motivations without any concern for the negative social impact.

Let me share with you one very disturbing observation in my little crusade against games addictions. I have encountered several parents who proudly announced to me that their children are very good with computers because their teenaged children seem to be able to tap the keybaord with furious coordinated speed and precision. On closer observation, these teenagers are actually playing computer games. Very sad indeed. My opinion is, ability to tap keyboard is not an indication that you are good in computers.

It is my sincere hope that, the relevant regulaotory agencies can take the initiatives to at least seriously look into the possibilities of implementing the following suggestions to help teenager control their gaming habits :

• Regulate cyber cafes with regards to minimum entry age, Operating hours, and limit the availability of online games.
• Implement rating system ( similar to movie rating categories ) for all online games to help parents identifying suitable games for their children.
• Maling it an offence for online games company who sell violence and addictive games to teenager under the age of 21.
• Impose curfew hours by blocking all game ports and game servers from 10:00pm to 10:00am the next morning

It is also my sincere hope that the relevant regulatory agencies start looking into the possibility of developing an internet wellness program to help the general public adopt a more healthy and hoslistic approach in embracing the internet technologies. In Malaysia, perhaps, the Kementerian Pembagunan Wanita, Keluarga, dan Masyarakat should take the lead role to champion this Internet Wellness Program.

To the Yap family who lost his teenage son. I shared with you your grief and pain. May God with his almighty grace bless the soul of your son. May God forgive those who make a living out of other people's miseries.

Monyet See Monkey Do....

( cartoon from www.bennyloh.com )

Honour Thy Monkeys ?

The term, MP, stands for Member of Parliment. But of late, some of the members of Parliament in Malaysia would like to define themselves as Monkeys of Parliament ! Maybe the parliament should allocated some funds to hire monkey trainers from the circus to train these monkeys on human culture. On second thought, forget it. It would be a sheer waste of public funds resorting to train monkeys to behave like humans.

How can a nation gain respect when the elected MP's resort to hitting each other with crude languages and foul manners to degrade the dignity of the Parliament. As a citizen of this beloved Malaysia, I watched in embarrassment the crude languages used by some of these monkeys. Derogatory terms are being used such as calling the opposition leader as “Ah Pek”, calling the Malaysian of Indian origin as “Keling”, calling another MP as “monkey”, etc… All these languages are being used in the highest legislative Parliment by some MP without shame and decorum. Such disrespects to the institution of parliament has been demonstrated by these elected legislators. What else can be expected from the regulatory agencies enacted by the parliament ? monkeys see monkeys do. When these doctrines are filtered down to the grass roots, what we get is the mentalities of See no evil, Hear no evil, speak no evil, and do no evil.

Maybe Charles Darwin was right. Some humans do evolved from monkeys. And due to environmental influences, some have retarded evolution – their brains evolutions stopped at the monkey’s level. Putting these monkeys back into the jungle, you will see them enjoying themselves swinging from tree to tree shouting at each others.

Maybe we should pay these MP allowances in kinds rather than cash – banana and peanuts. Sometimes, when I visit the zoo looking at the monkeys I do get very confused wondering whether these monkeys are actually monkeys or legislative monkeys. Because they do walk upright on two legs.

I need to go for my coffee break now. Any monkeys out there know how to appreciate really black coffee ? Never mind, I doubt the monkeys are cultured enough to sip coffee. Nevertheless, if some monkeys insist on coming along, they can have my banana….

Coming Home.....

Time flies…..

While doing some mental preparations to mark my father death anniversary. I realized I have not been keeping in touch with my younger sister for quite sometime. The last time I met her and her husband was more than 10 years ago. My son was probably 9 – 10 years old then. Now my son is approaching 20 years old. It was just like yesterday. Time does flies and it indeed just slip through the passage of life just like that ! Ten years ago, my son was just a little boy. Now, he is a young man. Ten years later, I probably will be a grandfather.

I search through my backup files for my younger sister’s email address and found it. Send a short email to her with the hope that she has not changed her email address. Local time here was around 1:00AM in the morning. I was so happy that within 10 minutes my brother-in-law reply my mail and followed by my sister few hours later. I read the emails a few times to make sure I understand the contents and don’t miss any words. I am glad both of them are doing ok in United States. I hope God will continue to bless them with good health and happiness.

I guess it is part and parcel of life where family members parted way in search of better life. In our busy schedule of daily routines, we conveniently de-prioritized the needs to keep in touch. Technologies ( email, web cam, skype, etc. ) has make it easier for people to communicate with each other from various part of the world. But technology has also make us strangers to each other. I do sincerely hope to see my younger sister again in the immediate near future. I definitely do not wish to wait ‘til I am a grandfather.

Hal & Gaik Sim, if you read this… See the Chinese character in the above picture ? That is our family name. I believe it is time now for you to come back to Malaysia for a visit. You still have nine brothers and sisters, 15 nieces and nephews, 7 brother/sister-in-laws, and many cousins in Malaysia. You are always welcome to stay in my house.

Protect this little boy....

I received this email today.

Dear God,

I promised I will never wate my food no matter how bad it taste and how full I may be. I pray that he will protect this little boy, guide and deliver him away from his misery. I pray that we will be more sensitive toward the world around us and not be blinded by our own selfish nature and interests.

I hope this picture will always serve as a reminder to us that how fortunate we are and that we must never take things for granted.

Dear friends,

Please don't break. Keep on forwarding to our friends on this good day. Let's us make a prayer for the suffering in anywhere any place around the globe and send this friendly reminder to others. Think and look at this..... when you complain about your food and the food you wasted daily.

A Racist's Human Wrongs

The other day, I was asked to comment on an article INTERMISSION: Let’s not miss the wood for the trees which was published on NST on December 8 2005. I have read the article. My God, some Malaysians do have very sick mentality and have total disrespect for human rights. My realization is, I did not know maggot do have small pea brain between their legs, and indeed can also do noisy and smelly farts. Well, what else can I say ? Fagots do think and act alike, fools seldom differ.

Malaysian Stocks Market

The local punters and retail investors of Malaysia's KLSE. Notice the black & red color underwear ? I think it is refering to Taiping Edwardians.

( cartoon from www.bennyloh.com )

What a Beautiful World......

As a middle age man, you thought you have seen and experienced everything. But let me put forward to you, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Like Charles Dickens said “It is the best of times, it is the worst of times” . Be a bit more observance and look around you. What has happened will continued to happen. What is going to happen shall become realities… The best that has happened is only a temporary moment that lapsed into memory, the worst is yet to come…

The destructive talents of man knows no limit !

Somewhere along the line, environment maketh the man. As we gained more knowledge, we gained more confident. We becomes a product of evolution rather than creation. Some of us believe we are greater than God ! We make fun of religious people. We have our own selfish interpretation of God’s words. We kill each other in the name God. We declared “holy war” in the name of God. Since when man is given the priviledge to make decisions on behalf of God ? What else are man not capable of ?

The clever shall continues to manipulate the stupid and the ignorant. The greedy shall continues to steal. The corrupt shall continue to be dishonest. The deceiveful shall continue to manipulate. The strong shall continue to bully the weak. The majority shall continue to impose their collective wills on the minority. The might shall continue to be right. Rules are meant to be broken. Promises are meant to be unkept. For mismatch of ideological, political, economical, and religious beliefs, man will continue to declared war on each other. Man will continue to kill other…… the vicious cycles shall continues. What dignity does mankind have anymore? Will mankind ever have a happy season under the sun ?

As an individual, we can make a difference however small our effort. Let us put our right palm onto the left of our chest to feel our heart beats. For a moment, listen to our heart beats… There are long pulse, and there are short pulse. There are soft beats, and there are hard beats. There are unity and harmony in the diversities of beats. This is the essence of life – unity and harmony in diversity. Let us follow the call of our hearts. Take a small step forward now to begin the thousand miles journey of promoting human dignity.

I just wonder why my coffee taste so bitter this morning………

Judging a Man's Personality by the Color of His Underwear

From the color of a man’s underwear, we can actually predict his personality ! The followings are my analysis :

White - A very conservative man. He prefer status quo.

Yellow - A very loyal man. He is loyal to his family and a patriot
RED - A vary aggressive and compulsive man. He knows no limit.
Purple - A very poetic man. He loves art & literatures.
Green - An environmentalist. He like natures and love outdoor activities
Black - A very fashionable man.
Orange - A very kinky man
Blue - A very honest man
Mixture of Colors - A very confused man.
Silver or Gray - A very materialistic man.
Gold - A very insecure man

What if the man doesn’t wear any underwear ? My advise is, be very afraid, and ask your daughter to stay very far away, I mean really very far away, from this man. This man is an animal !

Barking Dogs' and Meowing Cats' proxy War !

Recently the local Town Councils in Malaysia attempted to implement the control of pets ownership in their municipalities. Dogs has been singled out as the major nuisance. One of the local town council, Majlis Perbadaran Subang Jaya ( MPSJ) annouced the possible implementation of making it mandatory for Dog owners to obtain certification of dog training before dog ownership license can be issued. The annoucement met with substantial pouring of opinions against this new rullings. They are also questioning why cats owners are not subject to this new rullings. My opinion is, both the cats and dogs are equally annoyings when they are not properly taken care of !
In malaysia, most people own pets for the sake of owning it ! When comes to resposible mangement of the pets, most pet owners are guilty of abuses. Taking into considerations that most Malaysian live in terrace house with a land area of 22’ x 75’, I am not a health expert, but my feeling is, it is not healthy at all for human beings and pets competing for the small limited space.
I live in a neighbourhood where everyday I am subject to enviromental abused caused by the pets. Sometimes I do get migrane caused by the constant barking of dogs and meowings of cats on heats. For evening walks, I do occassionally stepping on to the droppings of dogs and cats. With the cats, they also dropped smelly droppings in my small patch of gardens and balcony, and scavanged my garbage compartment no matter how secured it is. Of course, we can not blamed the cats or the dogs. These are the works of selfish irresponsible pet owners.
In a multi-racial Malaysia. It is predicatable that, for pet ownership, the Malaysian Chinese keeps dogs as pets, the Malaysian Malays keep cats as pets, and the Malaysian Indian keeps both cats and dogs as pets. The pets ownership issue can be potentially a very sensitive issue. Isn’t it fun living in Malaysia ?
I would like to suggest to the local town council to consider the following reccomendations when formulating their policies on pet ownership :

• Before issuing pets ( dogs & cats ) licenses to pets owners, the town council must ensure not only the pets need to have certifications of trainings, but the pet owners must also have certificate of competency in responsible management of pets.
• Allocate “pit stop” in public park to allow pet ( maybe the owner also) a proper place to answer the call of nature. The “pit stop” must also have simple instructions to teach the pet owner how to dispose those droppings.
• When qualified pet owner apply for pet ownership license, the town council must advise the pet owner not to keep dog if the neighbour is a Muslim, likewise, not to keep cats if the neighbour is a non muslim.

When comes to pet ownership control, I am puzzled why most of the local town councils seemed to have “dislikings” for dogs. After all, dogs are men best friends. To me, the pet owners ( for both dogs and cats ) are a nuisance when they do not give proper management of the pets under their custody. Go, go, go… go after the pet owners, not the pets !

Another irrational self mumblings from lack of coffee! I need black coffee to make me think straight….

Racisms or Venting of Frustrations ?

I accept the fact that racism is the worst crime against humanity. As far as I am concerned, people who practices racisms, whether intentionally or untintentionally, in words, thoughts, and deeds are the most despicable maggots on earth. But before we point fingers, we must be able to have the courage to conduct self criticisms and see humanity as a whole with fair eyes.

I remembered, once upon a time, my office, which is predominantly consists of Malaysian of Chinese origin, are doing well. I decided to increase head counts, so potential candidates are called in, interviews and selections were conducted. The whole process was a very fair process. After all, we are only interested in hiring the most suitable candidate for the business. The end result is, We selected a young Malaysian of non-Chinese origin. To me race was never used as a selection criteria. What impressed me about this young man is, he is motivated, very optimistics, willing to take on the challenge, and he has the academic qualifications to back him up. So he was hired.

The first day this young man reported to work, my nighmare begins. Unknown to me, some of the existing personnel I have in the office started a “silent” protest. They are unhappy I hired a personnel of another racial origin. They start go slow in their work, reported to office late, badmouth the company at customers’ premise, and all nonsense you can think of, they did it ! A customer even call me up and angrily accused me of being anti-chinese! I am a Malaysian of Chinese origin, how can I be anti-Chinese ? After more than 6 months of antagonizing indecision trying to deal with these monsters, I decided to call up the 4 personnel and encouraged their voluntary resignation. Another fresh recruitments was conducted and new personnel recruited. Again, racial parameters was never used as a factor for hiring. After slightly more than 6 months, the company business are back to normal, and infact improved substantially.

The question I like to asked myself is, was racism at play here ? Am I a racist for not hiring a Chinese ? I don’t think also. I have done things in a very fair manner, and yet I was called a racist !

I read a lot, especially articles in the internet and opinion expressed in community forums. I encountered a community forum participated mainly by a few Malaysian Chinese, it is sad to note that, there are misguided opinions claiming that the non malay in this country are being discriminated, indirect insinuations and racial slurs expressed by the forumites to make fun and degrade the Malays. Is it fairs ? Every action attract a reaction. If you want to be treated fairly, you need to initiate the actions to give fair treatments to others also.

These small group of misguided individuals claimed that they are being discriminated. But at the same times, through their words, actions, thoughts, and deeds, they are also discriminating others. These are the people who made life difficult for all Malaysians. Their actions have indirectly tarnished the credibility of the majority of the Chinese in Malaysia. Frankly speaking, majority of the Malaysian Chinese are very hardworking people, the work 7 days a week, they never seek or expect government handouts, they are flexible, some even ventured outside malaysia and almost every corner of the world to seek better opportunities. They have sacrificed the most to bring Malaysia to economic prosperities and yet they have never uttered a word of complaints. It is very sad that there exists a small group of Chinese waiting idlely for opportunities and expected to be given VIP treatments, when things doesn’t work out on the favour, they eagerly shout racisms and discriminations to make known their frustrations. Eventually, I would not be surprised if they are marginalized.

It may be true that some Chinese in this country are discriminated. But those are isolated cases. It doesn’t means that all Malays are racists. And it definitely doen’t means that all Chinese are being discriminated in these country.

As a Malaysian, I would like to advise these small group of people that, sometimes, discriminations and racisms are actually in our own state of mind ! If we always felt that we are being discriminated, no amount of reasonable explanations is going to alter our state of minds. But in our eagerness to seek justice, we need to be fair to others. Asked ourself, what justice we are seeking ? and we are seeking justice for who ? But whatever we do, we must remember the social contract that was forged by our forefathers prior to independent more than 45 years ago. As Malaysian, we must honour that commitment for the sake of our future generations.

I want to state that I am not anti-Chinese nor am I pro Malay. I have rooted myself in Malaysia and accepted Malaysian way of life. I accept the shortcomings of the constitution of Malaysia. I know, in times to come, the constitutionalities shall improved. I am also grateful to Malaysia for giving me a place where I can relate to, which I call it HOME.

Honestly, through my years of working experiences, I have worked with many Malaysian Malays and other ethnic origins. Malaysian are the most friendly people, well mannered, and cooperative. I have only encountered small incidences of racisms, but those are isolated incidences. But then, if we understand the situation correctly, these racist incidences are actually perpectuated by a small group of misguided maggots. Why make it a big issues ?

For my stand and principle, sometimes, I have been ridiculed. I take it. I accept it. I move on with life. I believed I have made bigger sacrifices to the positive nationhood of Malaysian than these small group of of misguided souls fantasizing and shouting racisms and discriminations. Should I feel guilty ? No ! While I see a table full of delicious sea food dishes on the table, these small gourp of disruntled and misguided souls see only fish bones in left over foods in the garbage can. Of course, when you swallow bones, the naturally tendecy is, you will vomit blood ! Who can you blamed ?

For those pretender wanting to be hero of the community along racial lines. They are actually the worst racists and rebels without a cause. The late Tunku Abdul Rahman, the late Dr Tan Chee Koon, the Honourable Prime Ministr Abdullah Badawi, the honorable Lim Kit Sian, etc. These are the true Malaysians who had sacrificed for Malaysia. Let us emulate these true Malaysians. Let us give and take, let us all work together as Malaysians to make Malaysia a better place for the world.

Is there Racisms and Discriminations in Malaysia ? As a Malaysian, I would like to put forward to you that there are no discriminations in this country. Living in a multi-racial country like Malaysia do have occasional teething problems, but overall it is a peaceful country where the all races lived in harmony. We should all stop harping on isolated incidences and move forward. Let us all work harder and complaint less......

Remembering Rosa Parks - Racism

50 years ago on Decemebr 1st 1955, Rosa Parks stand-up to her rights by refusing to vacate her seat on a public bus for a white man. Her steely determination, courage, and “civil disobedience” to make a difference galvanized America’s civil rights movement, and gave momentum to the awareness of the evils of racism. She fought for justice and she changed the World !!! Rosa Parks died on Oct 25, 2005 at the age of 92.
Her contributions to make this world a better place is inmeasurable. I have my greatest respect for this “little” women. She is the icon of human dignity of our times. May her legacy lives on. Let us all make a little extra efforts to mark her death as a new beginning of greater awareness and eradication of this crime against humanity – Racisms.
On our part, to make a personal difference in this world, only takes a little efforts from all of us. We should make that efforts to understand what is “racisms”, having understand that, take the initiative to respect people of different faiths and ethnicities. We should also refrain from making fun, incite hatred, discriminates, whether directly or indirectly, in words, thoughts, and deeds against people of other faiths and ethnicities.

Wikipedia, the free encyclodia, defines racisms as :
“Racism refers to the beliefs and practices that assume inherent and significant differences exist between the genetics of various groups of human beings, that assume these differences can be measured on a ranked, hierarchical scale, and that result in the social, political, and economic advantage of one group in relation to others. Racism as a term is usually applied to actions by a dominant group in a society on others. Weaker groups are unlikely to practice racism publicly on a more dominant or powerful group, as they would effectively be unable to. This highlights the difference between oppression and repression.
In general, racism separates groups of people on the basis of race with the intent of viewing one race as more valuable and others as less valuable. The belief that the character and abilities of individuals are correlated with their race is not necessarily racism, since this can be asserted without implying an inequality in value, though whether or not all racialism implies racism is a matter of some dispute. But the application of this belief in dealing with members of that race, especially with little regard for variations within "races", is known as racial prejudice. Granting or withholding rights or privileges based on race or refusing to associate with persons based on race is racial discrimination.
Sometimes racism refers to beliefs, practices, and institutions that discriminate against people based on their perceived or ascribed race. There is a growing, but somewhat controversial, opinion that racism is a system of oppression — a nexus of racist beliefs, whether explicit, tacit or unconscious; practices; organizations and institutions that combine to discriminate against and societally marginalize a class of people who share a common racial designation, based on that designation.
In some countries, accusations of racism are alleged to be used by supporters of cultural relativism and political correctness to stigmatise their adversaries due to the association between racism and extreme violence in parts of the twentieth century.
Since the last quarter of the 20th century, there have been few in developed nations who describe themselves as racist, so that identification of a group or person as racist is nearly always controversial. Racism is regarded by many as an affront to basic human dignity and a violation of human rights. A number of international treaties have sought to end racism.“

As I look Back (3) - University Of Guelph

I came to University Of Guelph in the Fall of 1980 at the age of 20 years old, about my son age now. I graduated in 1983 from the College of Physical Science with a degree in Computing & Information Science and Business Administration. If my memory served me right, the Prime Minister during that time was Pierre Trudeux, Bronco Billy just won the presidency of USA, and Gas (petrol) sometimes go as low as 4 cents per gallon! I remembered attending the Queen’s concert in CN Tower and came out dizzy with my body smell like marijuana. More than 20 years has passed, my recollections of places in Guelph is fadings..

I still remember the lush green lawn of the campus, probably more than 400 hectares large, the “rowdy” pubs in the campus, the old Scottish building architecture, the university centre, the arboretum, the computer labs where we used to punch card doing JCL, Cobol, etc… The academic population then was about 20,000.

I most appreciate the helpful professors and local Canadian students who go all out to help foreign students like me to adapt to the local surroundings. Canadians indeed are the most friendly and peaceful people in the world.

Overall, my three years spend in Guelph is the most memorial experience of my life time where I learn to be independent, managing my life away from home, and appreciate the diversities of cultural backgrounds. It is also in Guelph where I learn to appreciate simple food like donuts, muffin, pizza, bread with maple syrup, etc.. One thing worth mention here, Johnston Hall served the best barbeque ribs….

Needless to say, I went in to Guelph as a naïve young man but came out three years later equip with knowledge and confident, a sense of direction, and the motivation to confront uncertainties. Thank you very much, University Of Guelph.

Any University Of Guelph’s graduate out there in world ?

As I look back (2)

December month is the most dreadful month of the year ! Business is slow ! Sign of bad times ahead ? No. It has been like this for the past 10 years. On the cheerful side, it give me lot of times to let my mind wonders around….

I remembered, many years ago, probably 15 years ago. I was promoted to become a Sales Manager for an IT company. The Company decided to hire a young Junior Secretary for me….

On the first few weeks, she was very diligent in screening all incoming calls before transferring the calls to me. However, after the first few weeks, one day, I notice the incoming telephone calls was left unattended. At the same time, I presumed she was busy typing documents…. So, I picked up the calls personally. However, after probably more than 10 calls during the day, the curiosity got the better of me. I walked out from my room, and asked her in a very stern manner “ Why are you not picking the calls ?”

Guess what, she replied “ Boss, all the calls are for you ! Why can’t you pick it up yourself ? “

Life sometimes can be humorous if you look at slightly different perspective. Hmmm…. I think I need a coffee break now.

Online Games Addictions

About two years ago, I discover my teenage son was spending too much time playing online game. The game was distributed “free for trial” by a online game company outside the school gate. Which I later found out that his over indulgence in online game is what we now commonly called “game addictions”.

To help my son gain back control, I did a lot of research on the net, talking to gaming companies, seeking spiritual guidance, etc. The bottom line is, you end-up receiving contradicting advises! you end up in a state of perpectual confusions and indecisions. It was the most painful period of my life as a parent.

I am not against online games. Online games is basically a form of cheap and fun entertainment if the player is in control of the time spend. But the reality is, how many teenager can have that kind of self control given the fact that they are easily led to believe that they can made lots of friends and gain more respect as the climb to higher ( and higher, and higher ) levels of the fantasy world. Whether we like it or not, playing online games for teenager can be addictive.

Just to share my experience, if your children are having the following behaviors, you need to watch out and intervene early :

• Sleeping in class, not attentive in schools, and not doing homework, skipping classes
• Feeling restless when not in front of computer,
• Neglecting family member and friends,
• Take quick meals and always rush back to the room
• Unable to stop playing the game and craving for more time
• Always look tired, sleepy, and disorganized

I have tried all soft approaches including diplomatic talks, negotiations, cut short my work hours to be at home early, etc. It just doesn’t work. Finally, I took the hard approach to disconnect the internet connections. But the problem is, his friend’s father took side with him and telling him that what he do is not wrong. Out of frustrations, I prohibit him from going to his friend’s house, withdraw him from the college, and curfewed him at home for three months. I believe he was very disappointed and shocked. Later I enrolled him into another college, put him up at the college’s hostel, and set my limits. This hard approach seem to work. For a start, he become more responsive and socialable.

I hope he will not go back to the online game habits. I am not an emotionally expressive person, but I do hope my son know how much I love him. I know it is impossible to know what he is doing all the time without being intrusive. Even if he does, I hope he is able to exercise control of his gaming habits. On my part, as a parent, I just have to keep up with times, to be in control and consistently firm with my actions. The rest, I leave it to God.