Stop The War!!!

War is inhumane.
War is an act of injustice.
War is an aggression of the strong nations
against the weak nations;
War is an immoral act against humanity.

Respect the weaker nations.
Respect their political beliefsRespect their way of life,
Respect their culture, Respect their religion.

In order to have self respect, you must respect others.
Why send innocent young men to the battlefields to die?
Please send your army to poor country,
or to the villages, to plough the land,
to sow seeds for foods, to enrich the poor nations,
to built better understandings among nations,
to lay foundation for a better world.

I can't understand,
why there are so many "religious bigots" out there,
willing to use religious beliefs as an excuse to initiate war.

I can't understand,
why there are so many "politicians" out there,
willing to use war as a platform to launch political popularity.

I can't understand,
why there are so many "patriotic citizens" out there,
willing to be blinded by the immoral politicians to go to war.

As a father and wage earner
in this harsh economic environment,
I am weeping in my heart with my bended knee.
In this the world we has been working so hard to improve?
Do we want our children to live in a world
full of threats and uncertainty?

Help the poor.
Respect other people's way of life.
Have mercy for the minority.

PLEASE STOP THE WAR!!!!
Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister,
Mr. Defense Minister, Mr. Foreign Minister, Mister......

Namo Amithaba Buddha

Coffee Causes Cancer and Heart Diesease ?

Times and again, I have been told that Coffee is bad for me. My wife had been resorting to hiding my coffee bags and replacing my Nescafe bottle with Milo. Honestly, I am not addicted to coffee, but I do sincerely love and enjoy drinking black coffee. To me, anything in black is "high Tech" and black is beautiful. And to most people of Chinese origin, at least, that was what my late mother told me, any drink in black colour is a healthy drink ( Ang ang beh hai lang, All All car si poh) ! So, as a man of tolerance, and in order not to belittle or offend my lovely family members, I take my coffee drinking habits elsewhere or in their absence. Coffee drinking is in fact a lonely man's pleasure !

This morning, while relaxing in a spa in Shah Alam, I chanced upon reading a small article in a local newspaper stating that a research organization has concluded that drinking 5 cups of coffee a days can help to decrease the chances of acquiring the dreaded cancer. That sounds refreshing ! On reading this article, I immediately summon the service personnel to make me one cup of nice hot aromatic coffee. Hmm... this is probably my best coffee for the day......

Let me rehashed and share with you some of the articles I read :

1. "New York, NY - October 21, 2004 - New research has uncovered coffee's significant, potential properties in lowering the risk of certain cancers, according to toxicologist and food-safety expert Eileen Madden, PhD. in a presentation at Coffee and Your Health: Surprising Findings, a symposium for science writers held today at the New York Academy of Sciences. Dr. Madden also notes that these newer findings tend to support a growing, wider scientific consensus on coffee's predominately healthful properties, in a major turnaround from old conclusions reached by flawed methodologies. According to Dr. Madden, When all of the available research is evaluated together it seems to suggest that coffee is associated with a decreased risk of colon cancer."
2. "A paper just published by researchers at the renowned Mario Negri Institute in Milan reviews all the scientific research on coffee and colorectal cancer to date, and concludes that coffee consumption not only does not have a causal link to cancer, but that regular coffee drinking seems to be related to a decreased risk of colon cancer as great as 25%."
3. "http://www.mercola.com - Coffee and Colorectal Cancer - Data from two large prospective studies to explore the link between coffee, tea and caffeine and colorectal cancer during close to 2 million person-years of follow-up. Among people who drank caffeinated coffee or tea, no association was found with colon or rectal cancers. However, those who drank two or more cups per day of decaffeinated coffee had about half the risk of rectal cancer (12 cases per 100,000 person-years of follow-up) as those who never drank decaffeinated coffee (19 cases of rectal cancer per 100,000 person-years of follow-up).
4. AP WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2002 - Caffeine, the chemical stimulant in coffee and tea, has been found to lower the risk of skin cancer in laboratory mice. A study suggests that a skin lotion spiked with caffeine or with another compound found in green tea can reduce by more than half the number of cancer tumors on the skin of hairless mice exposed to brutal levels of ultraviolet radiation, said Dr. Allan Conney, a professor of cancer and leukemia research at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. "We had between 50 to 70 percent tumor formation inhibition in the mice that were treated with caffeine or with EGCG (the other chemical compound)," said Conney, senior author of a study appearing this week in the online site of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
5. National Cancer Center in Tokyo analysed a 10-year study of 90,000 people in Japan. They found that middle-aged and elderly people who drank coffee daily had half the rate of a common liver cancer compared with less frequent consumers (Journal of the National Cancer Institute, vol 97, p 293). And the more coffee people drank, the lower the risk. It is not clear if decaffeinated coffee has the same effect, as few people in the study drank it. "There is caffeine and antioxidants in coffee. Maybe both or either are protective,"
6. Mayo CLinic - Coffee has a long history of being blamed for many ills — from the humorous, "It will stunt your growth" to the not-so-humorous claim that it causes heart disease and cancer. But some recent research indicates that coffee may not be so bad after all. So which is it — good or bad for your health? The best answer may be: It doesn't seem to hurt and it may help. Regarding other health effects of coffee, some evidence suggests that drinking coffee may protect against type 2 diabetes and colon cancer. But there is much more evidence of a protective effect from fruits, vegetables and whole grains than from coffee. So don't be afraid to enjoy your coffee as part of a healthy diet that includes a wide variety of foods
7. http://www.JewishWorldReview.com (KRT) Getting buzzed on coffee can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer among women who have a family history of the illness, new research shows. Women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations — found frequently among Jews of Eastern European descent — lowered their risk of breast cancer when they drank caffeinated coffee, according to a study of 1,690 women in four countries. Women with the gene mutations who drank six or more cups of java a day cut their risk of breast cancer by nearly 70 percent compared with those who didn't drink coffee at all, said the study leader, Dr. Steven Narod of the University of Toronto. Women with BRCA gene mutations who drank one to three cups of coffee daily lowered their risk by 10 percent, and those who drank four to five cups cut their risk by 25 percent, according to findings published in this month's International Journal of Cancer
8. Study showed heavy coffee drinking did not increase the risk of heart disease. Researchers from the Harvard Medical School headed by a Spanish scientist investigated data of over 120,000 participants from two large-scale studies: the Health Professionals Study and the Nurses' Health Study. Coffee consumption, cholesterol levels and heart disease incidences were analyzed. After making a long list of adjustments, researchers found that coffee drinkers did not have a higher risk of heart disease, even among the heavy consumers who drank more than 6 cups daily. The results of this study were published in the Circulation journal in May 2006.

In conclusion, I do not know much about statistical modelling or medical & clinical research. But for me, one thing I am very certain about the positive effect of coffee is, it makes me more alert, more practical, more tolerance, more philosophical, and with a sense of sarcastic humour... And, coffee drinking is one of the greatest civilized habits of mankinds for thousands of years ! Moreover, which great man and great thinker does not drink coffee ?

Now, having state my facts, would the health nuts leave me alone to enjoy my cup of black aromatic coffee ? The unwelcome nagging is causing me migraine....

May you live a healthy life. May the big fat laughing Buddha smile on you...... Namo Amithaba Buddha.

The Tao of Coffee

In the morning,
serve it to me in my old coffee cup,
serve it hot, thick, and black.
Serve it with a piece of toasted bread,
leave me alone, and
I shall make it throught the day with smiles.

In the afternoon,
serve it with ice cube,
serve it in a tall glass.
Serve it with my favorite pastries,
leave me alone,and
I shall face the rest of day's challenge with calms.

In the evening,
serve it with milk and sugar,
serve it with a piece of biscuit.
Let the freshly brewed aroma reaches my nose,
let the caffeine sooths the tireness of my mind,
and tendering my solitude.
Leave me alone, and
I shall contemplate the day that is done,
with my with half shut eyes !

Give a man a cup of coffee,
he will spend an hour enjoying your jokes.
Teach a man how to brew coffee,
he will spend his whole life
making a fool of himself.......

Gifts from a caring government ?

In March 1st 2006, the price of petrol shot up by almost 20%. In May 25th 2006, the government has announced that Electricity rate shall be increased by approximately 12%. As usual, the standard reasons are being recycled to explain the “unavoidable” price increase.

The government has explained that 60% of the consuming households will not be affected by the price increase because the electricity consumption is quite minimal. “We care for the poors”. So now, I am the well-off balance of the 40%. Our caring government now said it is justified for people like me to pay higher rate to compensated the losses incurred by TNB !

I like to say this to you. I am a hardworking Malaysian. To overcome higher overheads due to increasing expenses forced upon me such as higher petrol price, assessment rates, lower take home pay, and other higher determinants of cost of livings, I end up having to work longer hours and most of the time, up to two or three o'clock in the morning. Naturally I have to incur higher electricity charges. So now, the power that be has concurred that imposition of higher prices is fair on hardworking people like me, simply because I choose to work harder and I am in the minority group ( remember, I am in the 40% group).

Look like the best solution cut down electricity costs is, maybe it is not such as a bad idea, by implementing the following measures :

• Force a half working day policy and make all employee take 50% pay cut
• Go to bed early at 8:00pm to have some fun on the bed rather working past mid-night to contribute to the economic well beings of others.

Come to think of it, I felt like a sitting duck and easy target. It is always okay and patriotic for big corporations to raise prices to cover losses and operational inefficiencies. But it sound like a dirty word and unpatriotic for small businesses to raise prices to cover overheads.

You want level playing fields ? Now let's play fair. Stop echoing your sickening patriotic statements to me when you don't mean it. You want hardworking Malaysians to be prudent in managing their expenses ? Why not ask the GLC to show us how prudent they are ? I have enough of all these double standards and price discriminations.

Everything else being equal, look like the water, sewerage charges, municipal assessment, telecommunication charges, etc will also likely to be increased soon using the same standard recycles reasons.

Well, what else can I said........ ?

If you asked those who are not affected, of course, the tariff increases are justified because ultimately it is the 40% of us that contribute to the bulk of Malaysian economy, are ultimately going to suffer. Maybe it is about time we starts removing the air-conditioning units from our home and office and replace them with hand held fans and use candles instead of florescence lights.

And, “We have the poors in Mind” ? This statement supposed to make me feel guilty for my unwilingness to pay higher prices ?

I am not disputing the rights of TNB to increase the electricity tariffs. By all means, please increase the tariffs if that is an unavoidable things to do. But please justify the actions meaningfully, and please refrained from using price differentiation to punished sitting ducks like me. How much more harder you want hardworking Malaysians to bear with all these economic inefficiencies of the national resources ?

Namo Amithaba Buddha

Heaven on Earth

As a Buddhist practicing taoism living in this multi-religions world, many a times, I have encountered commandment like advise such as “God want you to do this or that”, “It is a divine instructions..”, “It is a God's word..”, etc. I also encountered well intention followers of other faiths telling me that their God is the only true God, their religion is the true religion of God, and I am idols worshipping. In short, I should repent, and follow the true path of salvations, or whatever that has been thrown to me.

Frankly speaking, I am not doubting the capabilities of those who claimed to have masterful knowledge of the holy and divine words of God. I am also not doubting the super natural capabilities of religious people who claimed to be able to communicate with God directly. However, I am not discounting the possibility of these people's hallucinations to make these assertive claims. On the other hand, I do occasionally doubt the credibility of these people who made these claims. Having said that, I am also not doubting the honest intentions of followers other religions who sincerely seek and pray for my salvations. In short, you can believe in what you want to believe, but please refrain from meddling with my life and interfering with my beliefs. I do not wish to subject myself into intentional or unintentional misinformations.

But please don't take me wrong ( as in Bush's make no mistake about it ), I believed in God. Out of respect for other religions and their way of life, I accept the fact that all religion leads to the same God. It is just a matter of how we present ourselves to God. Human beings, through adaption to the environment, has deviced many ways of “communicating” with their chosen God. Some Choose to go to Church every Sunday morning to made confessions and pray. Some choose to go to places of worship every Friday. Some choose to pray 5 times a day. Some choose to only offer prayer on the 1st and 15th day of the lunar calender, some have very complex ritualistic procedures, etc. It is not my rights to question whether their approach is right or wrong. As far as I am concerned, whichever ways that are comfortable to them, then so be it, and it should be the right way. After all, isn't the almighty God is all encompassing and multi-linguals to accept all humble prayers and offerings of human kinds in whatever forms they choose.

Since I believe in God, naturally I also believed in creation. Simply put, all life forms are created by “supernatural being” or God. “God” has given all human being a brain and the ability to adapt to our environment. Our purpose in life is to made positive use of our brains. Our abilities, or our inabilities to made use of our brain in a logical manner ultimately decide whether we live in hell or heaven in this life or thereafter.

God gave heaven on earth for those kind souls who are capable to make positive use of their brain. Likewise, human beings also created hell on earth for their stupidity and inability to use their brains.

What is heaven ? Heaven is an environment where we are capable of positively using the power of our brain to create and adopt innovations and inventions, resulting in material wealths for a comfortable life. And in parallel, the adoption of spiritual righteousness where compassionate and peaceful minds can create peaceful speech and peaceful actions towards mankind's and the environment. Heaven is a place where we ensured no harms are done to our family and friends. Heaven is a place where there is respect, love for life, where we do not need to defend our way of life, and our greater propensity to accept others' way of life. Heaven is place where all good things humans can possibly defined are indoctrinated.

Hell is a consequent of humans stupidity in allowing oneself to be mislead into intolerance, hatreds, revenges, and disrespect for others. It is our willingness to be blinded by misinterpretations of divine words to lead each other into a world of insecurities and sufferings, resulting in human beings resorting to animalistics behaviors of rapes, murders, tortures, oppressions, discriminations, racisms, territorial control, and all forms of violences. Hell is a place where followers of one faith murdering followers of other faiths to established their superiority in numbers. Hell is a place where the majority deprived the minority of their rights. Hell is also place where the minority insists on the majority to accept their way of life.

In this life and on this earth. The power to decide whether we want to live in heaven or hell is our choice. God has given us the brain to decide for ourselves. Irregardless of what religion you professed, the right things to do is to refrain from dictating or influencing how other people should present themselves to their Gods. Believe it or not, our “sincere” or “over jealous” attempt in “convincing” or “converting” other people to accept our way of religion is the main cause of most of the problems in the world.

Here, I am not questioning the authority of religions. But I am questioning the stupidity of the so called learned religion people who willingly allowed their religions to be put into a position of creating negative energy of destructions and violences. Whether we like it or not, and as a matter of fact, bulks of the world problems are cause by religions. I am not doubting the religious people of their ability to communicate with their God directly. If anything I do is not to their likings, please refrain from invoking or referencing “divine words” to ridicule me. It would be morally appropriate for them to communicate to their God and ask their God to advise me. After all, isn't that God is all almighty and capable ? In the absent of their failure to seek their compassionate and merciful God to approach me, I believe it would be socially correct for them to shut-up and keep their religions to themselves. As far as I am concern, until such time I hear from God, I would like to submit myself to man made secular law and constitution of the country I reside.

Om Mani Padme Hum Hri. May my big fat laughing Buddha smiles on me, for I am living in Heaven now enjoying all the earthly materials. My heart shall be my temple. Namo Amithaba Buddha....

Note : This is just a harmless rantings from coffee intoxications. Don't take it too seriously......

Taoism For Technician

What it takes to be a Malaysian ?

My father,
he was born in China.
At young age, he was brought to Malaysia.
Never know much about his younger days,
because he was never good in telling stories...

As a young boy,
my father used to take me to the local cinema,
whenever Malaysian flag was displayed on the big screen
and the national anthem was played,
he asked me to stand straight,
and he stand tall next to me in complete silence.
He was proud that he is a Malaysian.

I remember an incident years ago..
when an arrogant and ill mannered man

shouted at him at the wet market
“ Ah pek Cina, balik tongsan lah !” (“ Chinese Old man, go back to China !”)
With dignity, he replied with a forgiving smile
“Encik, Wau orang Mah-Lai-Ah. Nenek moyang Lu datang dari mana ? Indonesia kah ?”
(“ Mister, I am a Malaysian. Your ancestor came from where ? Was it Indonesia ?”)
As a true Malaysian,

my father is a very forgiving man,
he was never offended by racial slurs.
However, he did advised me to walk away from ignorant racist.
In his words, “Never pick a fight you did not choose to start”,
“ One less hatred is one less burden and one happiness gained” and
“let the racists carry the burden of their own hatreds till their death.”

He was probably one of the first to join the Home Guard
to defend the security of Malaysia.

He donated his savings generously to worthy causes.
Race, religion, and creed was never his parameters of judgement.
He was never selfish and lived his life with dignity and humility,
he believed in contributing back to his adoptive country.

He held Tunku Abdul Rahman in high esteemed,
in his word, “Tunku is a fair man that care for all Malaysian”

He shed his tears of joy

when Tun Abdul Razak visited China to established diplomatic relationship,
In his words, “Tun Razak now understands not all Mah Wah ( Malaysian Chinese) are communist”
and “for far too long, we have been treated unfairly.”

When the first Proton car rolled out from Shah Alam
He beams with pride that “now there are Malaysian made cars on our roads”
and with the same pride, he told all his friends that “my son works in proton saga”

My father,
he was born a Chinese national,
his wrinkled eyes traced the life of hardship as a Malaysian.
At times his dignity and steely determination to overcome
unfair treatments of his adoptive country tore my heart.

But despite all that,
he standby and stand-up for his adoptive country,
he identified himself with the adoptive country,
he died as a proud Malaysian.

He may be poor,
but he is rich in national prides.
He may not be a religious scholars,
but practiced righteousness and tolerances.
He may not be well educated,
but he is learned on life's moral principles.

He brought up his children to accept and respect cultural diversities.
He brought up his children to become responsible Malaysians.

I am born a Malaysian,
I may not be the prince of the land,
But I am a true Malaysian.

If any of those selfish mental retards
still wants to question my nationality with ulterior motives,
and attempt to racialize my rights in this land of the blessed,
they are answerable to my father's “nenek moyang lu datang dari mana ?”
( “your ancestors originated from where ?”)
Be truthful, don't tell me you don't know where your ancestors came from ?

With significant progress and development,
Malaysia is what it is today not because she is lucky,
Bur because there are also groups of extremely
hardworking, unselfish, tolerance, and determined minorities,
willing to sacrificed, worked hard, with pride of not accepting on hand-outs,
and refused to live like parasites,
have contributed to the economic miracles of Malaysia.

Don't let greeds and inferiority complex blind you,
don't carry the burdens of your misguided hatreds till your death.
Be a man at peace with the environment,
sow no hatreds against other races and religions,
respect the rights of others, play fair, and live a contented life as a peaceful Malaysian.

Rakyat hidup bersatu dan Maju.
Be a responsible and ethical Malaysian.

Blessed are the Coffee Drinkers.....

Blessed are the Coffee Drinkers,
for they shall be known as
the children of modern civilization.

But I say to you that hear,
love your coffee,
do good to those who are addicted,
bless those who serve you the cuppa.
Pray for those ignorant souls who condemed coffee.

To those that refused to drink coffee,
offer your mocca to them,
and from those who take away arabica from you
do not withhold your latte to them.

Give coffee to everyone
who begs to quench their thirst,
and of those who take away your cream,
do not ask for them again.
For you do not need cream
to make your coffee taste better or smell better.

And as you wish
that others would serve you their favorite drinks,
serve your most priced coffee to them.

And when you are asked “Coffee ?”
Say “Yes, Please!“

May the big fat laughing Buddha smiles on you...
Namo Amithabha Buddha.

Pi Mai Pi Mai Tang Tu

I am amazed by the bizarre decision of the Penang State Education Department to discourage teachers and students from participating in a noble project to instill greater mutual respect and awareness among students from various races and cultural backgrounds. Stupidity and absurdity knows no limit. Of course, it is a known fact that human being with pea brain always resort to stupid acts to gain notoriety. If I understand it correctly, the project, organized by Korad Adenaeir Foundation and Malaysia Interfaith Network, is aim at fostering nation building and social integration by inculcating greater understanding and tolerance of cultural differences among various races in the country.

On one hand, we have the national political leadership crying out political statements and beating all sorts of noisy drums to state the important of harmonious cohabitation by Malaysians of all races. However, when a noble program was initiated from the grassroots community to achieve this objective, it was conveniently discouraged by the government machinery. Was it due to ignorances, biased preferences, or perhaps fears ? But for whatever legitimate reasons they may come out later, it gives the impression that the government is only interested in playing lip service and not sincere in wanting to see future Malaysians living in a united country. Rakyat hidup bersatu dan maju ?

Why the Islamic Education Sector of the Penang State Education Department is against the initiative that aim to foster better understanding of the various races in Malaysia ? Co-incidentally, an event organized by Inter-Faiths Forum to have better understanding of constitution of Malaysia in relations to rights of all Malaysians was also sabotaged and prematurely ended by mobs.

Perhaps it is about time the Penang's Chief Minister office and the federal Prime Minister's office shows its sincereness in wanting to promote national integration by removing the real obstacles. In this case, remove the “little Napoleons”, to paraphrase our Prime Minister. Please demote them and transfer them out to far away remote villages to minimized the damages that could have caused by them.

Malaysia has achieved 49 glorious years of prosperity and harmony. Where do you see yourselfe another 49 years down the road ? I guess most of us would probably by dead by then. The good life we enjoy now is the result of goodworks done by our previous generations of Malaysians. Let us not be so selfish and blinded by our own personal biased preferences and selfish communal greeds. Let us start some goodworks now for our future generations. 49 years from now, I shall look down from heaven and see a prosperous Bangsa Malaysia living harmoniously and happily in a blessed land called Malaysia.

49 years from now..........

Abrupt end to social integration programme
18 May 2006 Sharanjit Singh and Himanshu Bhatt
The New Straits Times

GEORGE TOWN: A project to promote mutual respect and awareness among students for the different cultures has come to an abrupt end — all because the Penang Education Department did not give its sanction. A circular from the department has gone out to all schools in the State, cautioning teachers and students from participating. This is despite the fact that the project, organised by Universiti Sains Malaysia, Konrad Adenaeur Foundation and the Malaysian Interfaith Network, was launched by Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas on Feb 4. The circular has resulted in students’ participation to be discontinued for now. The programme comprised a series of forums, exhibitions and guided walking tours for students around heritage sites of various religious communities as part of their extra-curricular activities. The programme was part of efforts to inculcate greater understanding of cultural differences among various communities in the country under the Penang Global Ethics Project. The Penang Heritage Trust (PHT) was entrusted to help implement the guided walks for students and those interested to visit and learn about heritage sites on the island. One of the main activities was a guided tour for students along the "streets of harmony" in Penang. It comprised tours of Jalan Masjid Kapitan Kling (formerly Pitt Street), where some of the country’s oldest religious buildings — a church, a mosque, a Hindu temple and a Chinese temple — are located. PHT president Dr Choong Sim Poey said some 400 students from 13 schools had participated until the circular was issued and the project stalled. "The programme was very popular among teachers and students. The information given was constructive and educational," he said, adding that it was meant to help foster nation-building and social integration. Choong said the PHT was disappointed that a circular from the department was issued without consulting the organisers. In the circular, signed by the department’s Islamic Education sector chief, Umar Aziz, all school heads were informed that the project had not received any approval from the department. The heads were told to report students or teachers involved in the programme to the department. Choong said that the event was a bona fide programme to promote history, culture and integration, and should be allowed and encouraged. He said the department was not approached about the tours for students because the activities were extra-curricular. The New Straits Times has learnt that Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon has been informed of the matter and that it is to be discussed by the State Executive Council soon. Umar and other department officials could not be reached for comment.

Entrepreneurship - Lesson Well Learned

When I started my business, I always believed that a person past records and current professional outlook are mutually exclusive. How wrong I was !

I started my business on a shoestring budget. However, I was very passionate about the idea that my business should deliver products and services on the basis of “best quality & best price packaged with best after sale services”. The first three years saw me selling off my house and car and without any paycheck to sustain the business. It was tough but in way I was successful in creating a reputation for the business.

The business grow from a turnover of RM 180K to RM 5Million a year, I thought it was the time to step back a bit and relax. I start hiring so called “professional” manager to run my business. I hired a senior manager. Prior to hiring him, I was told by his ex-colleague of his suspicious track records. I refused to believe them on the simple reason that a person should not be judged purely on his past to decide his future professional performances.

Needless to say, the first year was okay. I guess I do have my weak spot. I began to trust him too much to the extend of leaving all the day to day operations to him. Probably because I need to take break from the sweats of the early years. However, on the 2nd years, I start to receive calls from customers claiming that we priced ourself too high and start losing business. At the same time, the business also starting to have problem making payroll and missing the dateline to pay strategic suppliers.

Not sounding to be too alarmed. I begin to conduct personal investigations. At the end I was shock to find out the followings hanky panky :

• my trusted manager negotiated with some suppliers to have a cut from purchases made resulting in the company having higher costs of goods and thus becoming uncompetitive. We lost almost 60% of our existing customers
• my trusted manager extending unauthorized credits to his friends to make purchases without collecting a single cent. The bad debts cost the company approximately RM 100K.
• my trusted manager worked with his friends to siphoned off company businesses and passing strategic project information resulting in the company started to lose most of the project we bidded.
• my trsuted manager made unauthorized payment with fictitious claims.
• my trusted manager signing and authorizing Delivery Orders without sighting the goods

I estimated the whole fiasco cost the business no less than RM 500K. There is no way I can recover the losses. The only option I can take is to cut off the cancer and move forward to minimized the damages. I finally has no choice but confronted him during Chinese new year eve. Of course he denied the wrong doings but finally admitted to his guilts. We have a gentleman agreement that he be allowed to leave quietly. This I did to remove the cancer and some of the sidekicks associated with him as soon as possible. The subsequent one and a half years was no less easy. I was threading on a very frightening position. The company was running on negative cash flow again with all our major customers switched to competitors. The company's tank was dried and I have no money left. The company almost went bust. Needless to say, I was a very lonely and desperate CEO. But somehow, through the dedication of some remaining loyal personnel going all out, we managed to secure most of our old customers back and gain new customers. I was indeed very lucky this time because out of this unfortunate incident, we come out stronger with less overheads. I am now back on course to achieve my targetted turnover.

The funny thing is, my fired ex-manager did called me a few times after the company is back on track wanting to deal with me on passing some of his current company's projects to me for a cut on commissions. Old habits does indeed die hard. I guess some people have no ethical outlook at all. Money does do all the talking sometimes !

The moral of the story is, as an entrepreneur, you need to be in control of every aspect of the operations and not to be too trusting. Set the direction and procedures, and made it fully complied by everybody. You only got yourself to blame if you leave any room for your personnel to be tempted to commit breach of trust. Do not allow your suppliers to find excuses to pay incentives to your personnel. Cut off the suppliers if you have the slightest suspicions no matter how legitimate the case was presented to you. And another point I need to highlight is, before hiring any key personnel, please do not allowed yourself to be sweet talked by their fictitious accomplishments. Do a thorough check on all his previous employers and associates. And equally important is, no matter how trusting you are, never, I repeat, never let your personnel to have free hand running your business. You should be the driver, you decide the direction and policies, do not take the easy way out by allowing your personnel to decide on your behalf and let them to have “freehand”.

Entrepreneurship is a long term passionate commitment and not for the faint hearted.

Journey of Purpose

Life is a journey
of many splendours.
No matter how uncertain the future lies,
Let's not belittled the power of dream.
Dream radiates a warm feeling of hope.
Hope enable us to cultivate a sense of purpose.
Purpose delivers the wonderful attainment of enlightenment.
With enlightenment, contentment of life is derived.

life is a journey
full of challenges,
face life every challenge with determination.
Do not surrender to obstacles,
do not cut short your journey,
as long as you still hold your last breath,
shoulder on to achieve your purpose.

As you journey through life,
take times to look around you,
appreciate every event unfolds around you.
Everything happens with a purpose,
be at peace with your state of being,
take note of where you have been,
and contemplate where you are heading.

Enjoy every little progress you achieved,
and learn from every mistake you made.
Do not be afraid of to take risk,
without risk, there will be no progress,
and life will be meaningless.

Live not in the past nor the future.
Live not in the shadow of others.
Live not comparing yourself with others,
you are unique in your present state.
Learn from the past and plan for the future.
live the present to the fullest.
Live a meaningful life of no regret.

Another rantings from coffee deficiencies.......

Terrorisms

Give a thief a gun;
he became a desperate criminal on the run.
Teach a desperate criminal the religious preachings;
and you have initiated a cell of global terrorists.

A criminal becomes a terrorist
simply because there are support
from religious fagots, racists, and ill-intend groups
not because he was victimized or persecuted.

A terrorist kills in the name of God
not because he is committed to God
but because he is disillusioned with his faiths.

A terrorist destroys and damage properties
not because he is fighting for the honour of his religion
but because he need to seek attention for his perversions

A terrorist commit suicide bombings
not because he is not afraid to die
but an admission of his desperations
that he has lost hope in his God.

A terrorist tortured defenseless victim
not because it is act sanctioned by his religion
but because he need to intimidate others
to gain criminal authority
and false sense of superiority.

A terrorist commits rape
not because he hold power over women
but because he is mentally disturbed
and sexually deprived.

A terrorist commits murder
not because he seek justice or righteousness
but because he is a coward
unable to face the modern realities.

A terrorist harasses and intimidates
not because he is religiously knowledgeable
but because he is intolerant to and afraid of other religions
and he is morally incapable to accept his inferirity complexes.

So, can a terrorist proclaimed himself as God's warrior ?
Well, only a lunatic resort to this desperate claim on behalf of his God.

A terrorist is nothing but a criminal
masking behind the name of religion and race
to seek the support of the uneducated and biased interest groups
to conduct despicable criminal activities.
So now, please tell me again,
what are the root causes of terrorisms ?

Oh my merciful big fat laughing Buddha,
he who do good shall reap good
he who do evil shall reap evil
please forgive those who caused sufferings to mankinds

Perverted Morality.....

I read this news article in the New Straits Time today. Sad and Anger was my primitive emotion. Honestly, it is beyond the descriptive of words to describe this sorry affairs of misguided human beings trying to impose their perverted morality on defenseless men and women. These noisy minority followers of despicable cults going around trying to gain awareness of their misguided preachings and teachings.
The modern history of mankinds is riddled with shames and contaminated humanity because there are always half-past-six “political leaders” aiming to gain popularity and niched acceptance by resorting to be champions of these misguided racists and religious fanatics.
What morality is these misguided criminals trying to propagate ? It sound like they are just a bunch of lawless gangsters aided by uniformed personnel going around places to hunt for and bully innocent victims. Perhaps they derived perverted pleasures in persecuting minority and defenseless human beings. I guess this is part of their cannibalistic teachings and upbringings. And they want the world to respect this despicable behaviors !
My misguided barbarians, you can believed in whatever you want to believe and you pray to whatever God you decided to name. For that matter, you can also believe and pray to the cow dung in your backyards. You can shout to the whole world that there is no other shit mightier than your holy shit. You can also rub the cow dung on your face and body. That is your rights. But for heaven sake, please don't dig the cow dungs and throw it to wherever you go ! Because you are polluting the environment we live. You showed no respect and intolerance to other people lifestyle, behaviors, and beliefs. You sincerely expect well mannered, civilized, and cultured people to accept your cannibalistic and hedonistic lifestyle and beliefs ?
Maggots occasionally craw out from shit holes for air and eventually will die in shit holes. Of course, they are full of shit and smell of shit. It is okay for you to live with shitty lifestyle and beliefs. But don't expect other people to accept your shit holes as habitat.
When cultured, well mannered, civilized, and God fearing human beings pass by shit holes, the natural thing to do is to SPIT at the shit holes and the maggots. Don't blames others for not respecting your way of life because you choose to be faeces and definitely you deserved to be treated like a piece of shit.
I am sicked and tired of these misguided moral minority using bullying tactics to demand the whole world accept their SHIT as fragrances.
Who has higher morality ? A prostitute who sell her services to wiling customers, or, a misguided forked tongue religious fagot forcing others to accept his prostituted cult.

'I am not a prostitute'
The New Straits Time
12 May 2006 From Amy Chew in Jakarta

"PROSTITUTE!" shouted the jeering crowds as a frightened housewife was led out to a show trial enforcing a controversial morality by-law.The evening before, on Feb 27, Lilies Lindawati was detained by officials of Tangerang, 35km west of here, while waiting for a bus home after dark, an offence under the local authority’s anti-prostitution regulations.With Lilies in tow, the officers went on to round up 28 other women. A 63-year-old woman buying rambutan on the roadside was arrested, as were two young girls eating at a stall. They were bundled off to City Hall where they were held for a night and brought to trial the next morning."There is lipstick and compact powder in your bag. That means you are a prostitute," said the judge, who spoke through a microphone at a makeshift court on the City Hall grounds.Crying, Lilies replied that it was common for women to carry lipstick and compact powder. "But he refused to accept my explanation," said Lilies as she sat on the floor of her one-bedroom house, which she shares with her husband and two children. "It was so humiliating. I am not a prostitute. I wasn’t even using make-up." During the last general election in 2004, Islamist parties failed to secure a majority in Parliament. But in regional and provincial elections, Muslim conservatives have won in some of the local legislatures, after which they wasted little time in enacting Syariah by-laws.The by-laws violate the Regional Law which states that matters pertaining to religion can only be decided by the central Government. But a weak central Government has allowed such by-laws to emerge in many parts of the country."Under the regional autonomy law, matters of religion lie in the hands of the central Government, except for the province of Aceh," said former regional autonomy minister Professor Ryaas Rasyid. Aceh was accorded a special status in 2001 as part of the Government’s effort to ease separatist tensions. "By-laws which violate the law should be abrogated. But the Government is not doing that because it is weak and does not know what to do," Ryaas said.Lilies was fined 300,000 rupiah (RM123). She could not pay the fine and was sent to jail with nine other women who also could not afford the fine.She lodged a police report against Tangerang mayor Wahidin Halim for wrongful arrest and defamation of character. She is also suing him for 500 million rupiah with the help of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association.Her husband, Kustoyo, 41, was forced to sign a statement by the school that employs him saying that he would not support her in her legal battle."I was told to just give in, that as rakyat kecil (small people), we will not win," said Kustoyo, a teacher of 20 years. "But I will support my wife. Smearing my wife’s good name is the same as smearing mine."The debate over the country’s controversial by-laws and draft Bills has seen human rights campaigners, pluralists and moderate Muslims pitted against conservatives.Women and human rights activists who staged a peaceful protest against the by-laws last month were attacked by conservative Muslim groups while, they allege, police stood by and did nothing.Women protesting controversial laws, including the draft Anti-Pornography Bill which bans the exposing of belly buttons and bare shoulders and kissing in public, say they have been terrorised.The battle will be long and arduous. But as Lilies the humble housewife has shown, there is no compromise for freedom and honour, and that courage makes giants out of mere mortals.

Coffee for Terrorists !!!

Root of Terror Justifies Terrorism ?

World must confront root of terror ? Really ?

“The fight against international terrorism will not succeed unless the world confronts the factors that draw people to take up arms” - said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The Prime Minister said difficult decisions were necessary and this would require political courage. “As long as we continue to deny or confuse the issues in order to avert attention from the real ones, insurgency and terrorism will persist. They may even grow.” May 10 2006, The Star.

This is really interesting ! What are we trying to imply ? Now tell me what are the root causes, issues, and factors of terrorisms ? Let's be honest about it and let us not be in self denial mood. Let me put forward to you this point blank observation. As far as I can observed, the real roots causes of terrorism is INTOLERANCES of one religion against another, one race against another, and one culture against another, and one political belief against another.

Yes INTOLERANCES ! We believe in what we want to believe and we refuse to accept what other don't believe. We refuse to accept the cultural heritage of others because they are against our beliefs. We think it is okay to rob the wealth of hard working people because we believe they deny us our wealth. Etc.

Talking about the elusive political courage, do the existing political leaders of the world has the political courage to admit that the people they represent are guilty of intolerances ? Do they have the political courage to carry out the followings :

• Secularism in Government administration.
• Allow the freedom to practice and conversion of religion.
• Openly declare the equal status and fair treatments of all religions.
• Accept equality of races irregardless of whether they are the majority or minority.
• Equal support, preservation, and promotion of all cultures and ways of life.
• Allow the freedom and adoption of all political beliefs and speech by its citizens.
• Eliminate racisms, discriminations, and favoritisms in all government administration matters.

Let us not missed the points. As long as political leaders are blinded with biased preferences, terrorism will continue to be develop into sophisticated crime on fertile bed with indirect moral backing from misguided people. Terrorism is a crime against humanity. A crime is a crime. Let us not be so stupid to indulge ourself with misguided false beliefs to indirectly promote terrorisms. Let us refrained from giving pathetic excuses that eventually end-up encouraging more terrorisms.

If a bank robber or murderer committed crimes. Should we apply pressure to encourage the judge to be more lenient to the criminal because he is poor, uneducated, or whatever reasons ? With biased preferences, should we go around influencing others to make the criminal look like Robin Hoods and romanticized his criminal misadventure ?

A terrorist is a sophisticated criminal. This is a fact. Let us be fair to all humanity by not giving excuse to terrorists to gain moral support. If we continue to seek to influence others into believing non geniune root causes of terrorisms, then we are the most guilty in the promotion of terrorisms.

I guess the most honourable way to project ourself as genuine in combating terrorisms is to practice what we preached and be honest about the root causes.

It's a Poodle world....

We are from the "Toy Poodle" family....
Two years ago, we are still little puppies.


















Then....
We grew up to became real cute teenagers...











She is our Mama
Our master called her Pixel
She was adopted by a Pastor about a year ago...
We don't know where she is now.
















This is me.. Billy Boy
I am now a handsome young man..


















This is my sister... Candy Girl
She is now a very graceful young lady....

Our story shall continue....
watch out for stories !













====================================================================

Differences Beween EAST and WEST......

So much animosities, so much hatreds, and so much mistrusts between the EAST and the WEST. What are wrongs with these little species called homo sapient on this beautiful mother Earth ? Here comes another incoherent rantings from a coffee intoxicated western educated oriental wise old man.

The sun rises from the EAST, and sets on the WEST.

The EAST read from Right to Left, but the WEST read from Left to Right.

The EAST perceives the WEST as decadent.
The WEST perceives the EAST as intolerance.

The EAST accept authoritarian rules but idolized democratic leaderships.
The West accept democratic rules but idolized authoritarian leaderships.

The WEST working in the EAST is called “Expat”.
The EAST working in the WEST is called migrant.

The EAST excels in complexities and contradictions.
The WEST excels in simplicities and logics.

The EAST believe in Saving for the FUTURE.
The WEST believe in borrowing from the FUTURE.

The EAST subscribes to the power of supernatural.
The WEST subscribes to the power of science and technology.

The EAST glorifies the PAST,
but unable to control the PRESENT.
The WEST control the PRESENT,
and dictate the FUTURE.

The EAST is poor and interdependent.
The WEST is rich and independent.

Life is good in the WEST- Heaven is On Earth.
Everybody wants to go to Heaven,
but nobody wants to die.

Life is a constant struggle in the EAST - Hell is on Earth.
Everybody is more willing to die,
as a one way ticket to heaven.

The EAST and the WEST run in Parallel lines.
EAST line will never meet the WEST line.
Forcing the EAST to accept the WEST,
or the WEST to accept the EAST,
shall create instabilities and animosities between two parallel cultures......

So, will there be a crash of civilizations ?
When there is, that shall be the end of the world.
Will GOD help you then ?
One thing for sure, he ( or perhaps She ) shall smiles on you,
and said “oh my dear child, I told you so !”

Bring Me No Flowers.......

Life

is like a game of cards,
one by one

the card is opened by unseen hand.
Although my heart is filled with love for you,
but soon the rhythms must halt.
I must whisper a quiet goodbye,

and journeyed to the promised land

Looking back,
I’ve tried my best,
to provide the comforts and love.
Honestly,

I have unselfishly tried my very best.

I leave behind my love,
please keep it in a little corner of your hearts,
and cherish it among yourselves................

Do not weep at my graveside,

do not bring me flowers.
I can no longer feel

with my eyes closed,
and my soul in eternal rest.
Just pray to GOD

that he will guide me to the promised land,
where I can be together again with my beloved parents.

Thank you for everything.
Although Life is a difficult lesson imperfectly learned,
But I have lived a meaningful life.
A life of no regrets!

I pray that God grants you the strengths,
to continue living with honesty, generosity, & love.
And to live a meaningful life,
and a life of no regrets.

Inner Peace ?

Find a quiet place
at the seaside,
in the mountain,
or may be in your bedroom,
Make an attempt to
listen to your heart beats.
Close your eyes,
try to reach down
deep inside your heart.
Do you see someone
that you have betrayed?
Do you see the very same person
who offer you encouragements,
comforts and helps?

Have you been fair
to the very same person?
Why pray to GOD for Guidance?
When you yourself
are infested with lies, hatreds,
and lack of respect for fellow human beings.

Why pray to GOD for prosperity ?
When you yourself are corrupted
with greed that rendered you morally bankrupt.
Why pray to GOD for trustworthy friends ?
When you yourself are deceiveful deep within.
Do you honestly think
you can deceived GOD by offering insincere prayers?
The answer lies within you
You reap what you SOW.....

You have the power
to undo your wrongdoings.....
Start TODAY,
Send a sorry note to those you have wronged......
Spread some kind words about your friends....
Conduct actions that are consistent with your prayers....
Most important of all,
have peace with yourself
and dignify your self respect!

Lest we forget and not forgive ?

Reading a letter by one Irwan Jamil from Singapore to the New Straits Time regarding Chin Peng seeking the International Court to compel Government of Malaysian to allow for his return. Irwan has also made various allegations of Chin Peng's brutality and arrogance during the Civil War ( the state of Emergency ) period in Malaysia – Hard to forget those years of brutality. NST May 3rd 2006.

Reading through various collected documents on this dark chapter of Malaysia, Chin Pend did indeed responsible for various deaths and violences. But we must remember that, during those period of times, Malaysia is in the state of “Civil War”. It is basically a war of ideological differences – of communisms against democracy. Malaysians has choose democracy. The reality is, in any civil war, there is no rights and wrongs. The political reality is, the victors became the heroes and the losers became the villains. Chin Peng and his followers lost the ideological wars and retreated into the jungle of Thailand to wait for opportunity to relaunch their communism ideology into Malaysia. The process of democratization of Malaysia has resulted in deaths and casualties. Brutal as it may seemed. But essentially, these are the price past Malaysians has to pay for blindly following misguided leaders who refused to accept the political realities.

A peace talk was held between the late Tunku Abdul Rahman and Ching Peng on Dec 28th 1955 to end the “emergency period”, but failed. An intermittent clashes occurred between government forces and the Malaysia Communist Party. The late Tun Abdul Razak made a successful visit to China in 1974 resulting in the late Mao Tze Tong declaring the non recognition of the MCP and advising Malaysian to display allegiance to the country. As a result, the Barisan National had a sweeping victory in the 1974 general elections and The MCP's morale was crushed. Subsequently, the previous Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Mahathir has successfully negotiated a peace settlement in Hadyai Thailand in 1989 with Ching Peng to formally end the hostilities.

I believed a term of the Peace Accord is to allow Ching Peng to return to Malaysia to live his remaining life as Malaysian.

As Malaysians, we must all now close the dark chapter of violences and terrorisms and move forward to become a progressive and tolerance nation. Chin Peng has served his purpose in the history of Malaysia. Looking at his positive contributive side, he did received a QBE for his efforts against Japanese's aggressions, but the QBE was subsequently withdrawn because of his anti-colonist stand. Whether he is a “patriot” or “terrorist” towards the independent and formative years of Malaysia is not a point of contention in this venue.

The important issue here is, the government of Malaysia has striked an agreement with Chin Peng. Are we sincere enough in wanting to honour the agreement ? What is past is past. Let us close ranks now, forgive and forget, and move forward. Let us behave like a true gentlemen. Lest we forget, we must honour our agreement.

Let us all not be sieged by the mentalities of conveniently forging agreement with no intention to fulfill. Let us all not be so vindictive. I said, let this old man come back. After all, his is still a Malaysian. Deliberate attempt to refuse a Malaysian to step on the soil of Malaysia is the most despicable act against the constitution of Malaysia.

Negara ku. Tanah tumpah nya darah ku..... Rakyat hidup bersatu dan maju.... and I have a dream for my future generations living in a peaceful, progressive, moderate, prosperous, and tolerance Malaysia without the need to shed a single drop of blood on the soils of this beloved mother land.

Intolerances of Religion

My way....

Murders, Violences, Wars,
Intolerances, Hatreds, Terrorisms,
Persecutions, Rapes, Pedophilings,
Incests, Slavisms, and
despicable acts against humanity,
are committed in the name of God.

In the name religion,
humanity no longer understand itself,
humanity has no clues where they are heading,
what paths to follow, and
the how it will end.

As a sane and educated man, and
with deep conviction to love for humanity,
I have concluded that religion
is the root to all evils.
However, I respect your rights
to practice your faiths.

I do not denounce religion,
but I have my rights to discard root of evils.
I now believe in leading a secular life.
I do not need holy books or scripture,
My habitat shall be my holy book.
I do not need places of worship,
My heart shall be my temple.
I do not need a clergy or priest,
My conscience shall be my guidance.
I do not need to seek spiritualisms,
For the path beneath my feet shall lead me to the Dao.

I am now a “Dao Jia”,
the practitioner of Dao,
the believer of cosmic relativity and mother nature,
the reason of beings,
the philosophy of life,
the way of righteousness,
the attainment of knowledges, and
the beginning of compassion,
simplicity, and humility..........

I shall be master of my own destiny,

living in harmony
with mother nature,
respect for humanity, and
the love for life.

Peace be with you........

Who farts better ?

"The Chinese must analyse what PAS has achieved in the 10 years it governed Kelantan, MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said." - The Star, Sunday April 30th 2006.

Mr Datuk Seri, please refrained from the divisive racial segmentation of Malaysians. Malaysians in general would like to be called Malaysian. Not Malay, Not Chinese, Not Indian, Not Iban, Not Kadazan, Not Dayak, etc. You politicians hearing without listening ?

Mr Datuk Seri, as a Malaysian, I would like to remind you that, you, as a “national leader”, please refrained from the underhand tactics of using disgusting political habits of inciting racial sentiments to gain popularity. Instead, the question I would like to put forward to you is, what has MCA & BN achieved in the 10 years of federal administration ? Tell us what MCA has achieved for all Malaysians ?

I am not a supporter of PAS. But my observation is, the PAS government in Kelantan is a fair state government. Yes, the PAS government is fundamentally Islamic, but they are not pretentious of their noble intentions to infuse moral values in the daily administration of the state. They are moderate and progressive in propagating universal religious values. At least, majority of the PAS members are highly qualified intellectuals. You have problem with that ? Mr Datuk seri ?

The Kelantan state government has no perception problems of money politics and corruptions. They do not have infightings within the party that disrupt the administration. They are God fearing, In another word, with the limited resources and lacked of support from the federal government, they tried their very best to serve the people in the most honourable way. When they loose in elections, they bow out like a true gentlemen. I would like to believe that they are one of the cleanest state administration in the country. You have problem with that ? Mr Datuk Seri ?

In the last 10 years, the fundamentally “Islamic” state government of Kelantan don't go around demolishing places of worships of other faiths. In fact, the largest Buddha statue is found in Kelantan. The Kelantan state government don't persecute followers of other faiths.

Let me recapped what happened during the recent debate in parliament :
The PAS' MP Abdul Fatah made a uncalled for remark against Divorcee, and he was immediately reprimanded by his PAS MP's and colleagues. This is what we called a moderate, progressive, and mature political party that is sensitive and responsible to all Malaysian.

But when the BN's MP for Jerai ( I don't know what his farting name is) unilaterally challenge the secular constitution to interpret Malaysia as an Islamic State, and his farting noise of “you tidak suka, you keluar dari Malaysia” ( you don't like it, you get out of Malaysia ). Sad to said, none of BN's MP's has the gut to challenge his seditious statement in parliament ! The faces and prides of the founding fathers of Malaysia has been slapped by insensitive and irresponsible racial pariah. Kacang memang sudah melupakan kulit! For your information, PAS' members of state assembly don't challenge non Muslim to get out of Kelantan. Was that buah jerai also the one who used derogatory words on Malaysian Indians ? Again, I do not see any BN's MP telling him to behave decently. So, Mr Datuk Seri, is BN doing any better than PAS ?

Malaysia is a beautiful country and majority of Malaysians are fair, moderate, and progressive people. Majority of Malaysians are also religious, but not fanatical. But in any country, there are bounds to have political maggots who occasionally craw out from shit holes, pretending to be champions along racial line to create and incite fanatical racial and religious sentiments to gain popularity. I wonder what kind of “real” development Malaysians will enjoy if these politically bankrupt politicians are allowed to fart around with smelly languages to pollute the racial harmony in Malaysia.

An unconsciously incompetent people will always go around inciting disharmony and glorifying their non achievements ! SAD, but that is human nature. Do I need to say more ?