My younger days at Universal Studio California

THE FAITH

In the age of reason there are still a large number of people who have strong faith and defy reason. The recent H1N1 pandemic showed us these people. At least in my area the mosques were filled with people for the daily prayer. No one wear any mask. In my locality one Imam who lead the prayer was even having a flu, a strong one, coughing while reciting the holy Surah.

In one occasion during the sermon between the Maghrib and the Isya the Guru did mentioned about the disease saying about God's will, meaning a person will be safe if the God wants him safe. So the faith goes and the mosque are filled with people even today without anyone wearing the mask.

In this age of reason mysticism, magic, and ghost are still playing important roles in some countries especially in the under developed countries. The Westerners made them as entertainment by making movies hitting the box office like Harry Poiter , the Jumanji and the Pirates of the Carrabean. Many had casted them off their beliefs especially the younger generation.

We see the advance in technology and the development of nations and the conquest of space were brought by reason. And we tend to worship it as god. Many forget God and religion.

But in this age of reason families break apart, social bond lost it's stickiness , weapon of mass destructions have been deployed in a few recent wars, drugs abuses are on the rise and even legalized, crimes and murder on the increase, earth surface are destroyed, ozone layers are thinning and men sexual behaviors are following the animal world. In some countries corruptions and robbing properties from the people are rife.

The enhance and development of technologies are inevitable. We can't run away from them. But we must not let reason carry us all the way until we lost our total tradition and family and social bonding. Faith still has very important role in our life. It is with us when we are old enough and don't have enough strength to work or hunt for wealth. Faith will become our close friend till we depart the earth.

Now let us use our reason and think, why the same people of the mosque would wear the mask when they go to supermarket ? It may not be everyone but many of them will. Why can't they just leave it to God ? Think for the answer yourself.

Even for younger generations faith can help them in fighting crisis and frustration, and would help many of them from drug abuse and rebel against their families and school. Social bond among friends would be strengthened and in fact it could generate economic growth.                                                          (Top)

During my younger days in Disney World Florida

FROM DOCILITY TO SPACE COMMANDER

I was still able to see Chinese women with small feet and traditional dress around when I was young. The women were shy and humble. They were truly beautiful. Women had been docile and they were home makers. They raised and taught kids, cooked and sewed. Mostly did not go to school.

Because young girls seldom exposed themselves at the hearing of their voices shot up our virility. Our manhood were easily arose. Seeing girls did not expose their faces as well. White patches of what we called 'Bedak Sejuk' covered their whole faces. What we boys like to see most was the time they bath with the sarong. Watching the shape of their bodies was a sexual aroma.

Women emancipation among the Malays was not an easy sail. There were gossips and sour faces among neighbors. Somehow everyone began to send kid to schools. Girls were seen to play badminton, took part in school's debate and oratory contest. Then later they became teachers. But when there was a date, rumors would travel fast. Yet men were accepted as still superior.

Today women excel men in many ways. I would prefer lady clerks to men because of their cleanliness and keeping records, neat hand writing, do what as required by the boss. Some could keep secret extremely well.

They began to acquire high level knowledge, became army and pilots and later the space commander. The number of female military staffs are alarming in some countries, indicating the discrimination has totally ended. Not only men are target in wars but also women personnel. You have to shoot both in case of war otherwise they will shoot you. Never think a woman is a woman and should be given a special treatment anymore.

Were women formed by accident ? Observing several opposites like proton, anti-proton, proton-electron, north and south pole, day and night, I think it could not be co-incidences. It was not accidentally happened but made by God. Male-female relationship give ecstatic pleasure and joy. Even sexual intercourse is not an accident because animals and insects do it as human being.

With the modern acceptance of women status in the world's society the reward for men and women should be the same. The punishment too is without exception. What is good for men is also good for women.

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MY 2 DAY VACATION

Before the last fasting month I told my wife that we are going to go for a two day vacation in Kuala Lumpur and stay at a 5 Star Hotel and enjoy the luxury and live like a tycoon. She agreed. She suggested the KLIA Pan Pacific because we stayed there before under the sponsorship of our daughter. We found the breakfast was excellent and enjoyed staying there.

I told her the tentative date will be on the 7th. of October because during the time there will be a Morse code exam at Cyber Jaya. She rang up the Pan Pacicific Hotel to make the booking. She asked for a discount as we were old and retired. "We will give the government price. Cheap." I was excited to hear the rate was below RM400 per night.

On the 6th we cruised slowly towards Kuala Lumpur International Airport. On the way we rested and took meals. At Tapah I bought a packet of Durian for only RM4.00. I eased myself and felt very comfortable. My wife said that her turn would at the hotel.

On arriving I took out all our belongings. I took out the wheel chair for my wife. The porters shove her to the registration desk and I went downstairs to park my Kancil.

I came up. She was done with the registration. I asked about the parking. The first shock was I had to pay RM7 a day. "Not free ?" I asked. Even the staffs have to pay RM5 a day they said. They took the deposit of RM700. "Wow, it is cheaper than what I expected," I told m wife, "I think the parking fee is given back to us. If we pay RM14 it will only be RM360 per day." That is the approximate estimation.

We arranged our belongings when arriving in our room. My wife went to the bathroom. She called me aloud. "There is no toilet...there is no toilet...." she shouted.I rushed to her and was very surprise that I found there was no toilet. I saw a bathtub, a shower room and the sinks for washing our faces. But no toilet. I panicked. If she eased herself in the bathroom where am I going to throw the bowel ? "It cant be ...it can't be...an expensive hotel must have a toilet..."I told her.

I came out of the bathroom and start to open a door by door. Finally I found the toilet and felt very relief. She finally eased herself. When everything was over I asked her to ring asking for the breakfast ticket. "I think there is no breakfast for us," I said. She rang up. Truly enough my haunch was correct. We have to pay RM42 per person per day for a breakfast. "That will be almost about RM100 for a two person breakfast...." I said to her. "Let's go and have a meal at the KLIA and see how much."

After a short rest and a bath we were on the way for a free buggy ride to the airport canteen. On the way I stopped at the counter. "Excuse me Madam, I would like to know how much do we have to pay for the towel we used ?"

                               "Free"
                               "How much for the tooth brush ?"
                               "Free too."
                               "What are the free things and what are not free ?"
                               "Only what is inside the mini bar is not free."

My wife kept on asking the question about the breakfast and they gave reasonable explanations about the various hotel package. Our package is without the breakfast.

At the canteen I ordered Toshe Masala costing me RM3.00. My wife ordered Mee Kari costing us RM6.00 and I bought the 4.50 ringgit Ais Kacang shared for 2 persons. The Toshe was very delicious. My wife said the Mee Kari was fantastic. " I pray that the person who sell the roti canai and the toshe a long life and the whole family will be prosperous for selling the tasty and cheap food." The 13 ringgit meal was fantastic, of course cheaper than RM42.00 Pan Pacific breakfast.

Over all the 2 day vacation was fine. We really relax and enjoy the rest. I still manage to find my way to the MCMC's building and have fun with those candidates sitting for the Morse exam.

(Top)

The picture above was taken somewhere around 1980s in Florida. It shows the antic cruise missile and a few real space vehicles. If you take a paper called Chinese culture in a university the lecturer jokingly will say, "The Chinese was the first to invent the rocket and even applied them in wars." But it was the Russians and the Americans who first to conquer  outer space.

Being a Middle Kingdom where civilization began, the Chinese would not want to be left behind. The nation sent their best students overseas to acquire Western knowledge and learn English language and use Western technology. Finally the Chinese stand side by side with the advance nations.

While the others are advancing leap and bound, the Malaysians are still fighting over language. The politicians take huge sum of money and give a small portion to the people. Many Malay masses are campaigning against Western language. The quality of Kancil and Proton drove local buyers crazy. 

Our achievements are cutting hill tops and build houses for wealthy people, taking away agriculture land and built houses and super markets. Everyone is hunting for wealth under the name of development. While others are raising the standard of education, we are lowering the standard to help the slow learners. Private universities are more interested in making money rather than striving for academic excellence. 

To build up real progress need new minds and thinking. There must be the orientation of polytechnics and other technical institutions. Our attitudes must change. HOD who want easy stuffs to be delivered and lazy to find effective solutions should be replaced.

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The picture was taken in 1972

I went to New Zealand alone. It was around Summer. Yet it was cold.

A FEW WORDS  I STILL REMEMBER

In the 50's under the British rule I still remember the Santa-ribod would come come and clean the drain, cut the grass and spray the mosquito insecticide. I was at the outskirt of Alor Setar. I don't remember where we get the fresh water. But public pipes were around. People would go and wash their clothing and bath there. The Santa-ribod would come every weekend and we boys would look at them cleaning and spraying. My mother used to ask whether the santa-ribod has arrived. 40 years later I know what the word mean. Santa-ribod was a Sanitary Board.

Couple seldom went out together. If they did the husband would walk in front and the wife about 5 feet or more behind. When passing a neighbor's house the voice would come out of the house, face unseen "Nak pi mana tu ? ( Where's the destination ?)". Te usual reply was 'Nak pi moden'. When other people saw couples going out they would say, "Nak pi moden la tu". 'Going modern means to go to town with a wife or going for a leisure or siesta.

Being a clerk was modest enough and considered well to do. The clerk would wear a 'pentalon' as well as 'baju kot', and own a 'kasut bot'. A few can buy a Morris Minor. A car was always kept in a garage and every time the owner had to 'gostan and gohed' in order to go out. A car was an essential item to take a sickly neighbor to 'hospitan'. My uncle never believe in 'hospitan' and a doctor. When he suffered from a tooth ache, he would tie a thread to his tooth and the other end to a hammer and pulled it out.

Old kampong houses were without fences and no 'get'. People only know of 'get kereta api' not the house gate. Most houses built the 'semerup' ( small roof). In the old days the most popular 'rokok sigret' was 'Rokok Tembak' and 'Craven A'.

My friends could still remember many of those old words. I will gather from them and add them later here.

Though there were no TV and computers and automation the old days are remembered as very beautiful and as worldly heaven. Today I live to see crooks and mafia, liars and murderers, amassing sins after sins after being confront by free downloadable sex video.

God help us and don't let me see all the sex video again how tempting they are.

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CEMETERY

Hollywood has always associated cemetery with Dracula and Ghost Stories. In Malaysia a cemetery has been the best choice for couple to make love, more private than the garden.

In recent story I heard while at the wedding lunch, a separate elderly man and woman would go to the dead spouse cemetery everyone. The Muslims would recite a short Surah at the grave yard to ease the soul of the dead. They usually do it at least once a year. The Chinese would visit and clean the parent's graveyard once a year during the Chin Beng. Monthly visit were usually done for recent departure.

The care taker of the cemetery  has been seeing the man and the woman every now and then and then finally one day he shouted aloud, "Throw the net and catch the fish and why wait." The man and the woman heard it and smiled, and on the way home they talk and mentioned the caretaker's word.

The net time they went again and they met again. Then the relationship became closer. As the story goes they decided to get married. The wedding date fell on the same date as I heard the people were talking about it. He is 67 and she is 52.

Cemetery is not a scary placed for young lovers and it has been a place where loves blooms. Dracula has to find a new santuary at the end of the earth, far far away.

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LOOKING FOR OLD SHIRTS

If everything goes well I will take my wife to Brisbane on 12th of December 2009. My wife had wanted to go to Gold Coast for a long time. Because I cancelled the trip to Uzbekistan and Cairo, I switched my destination to Southern Hemisphere where I figure the weather will not be too severe.

As my usual habit, I started to look for the old shirts I used to wear for my trip. I found myself wearing nice colored shirts in the 80's. The previous few trips I only brought a few shirts but mostly T-Shirts bearing my radio call sign. After a vigorous search I found the old shirts but the colors already faded. One red colored with nice looking design was torn near the pocket but the color is still good. I will be taking it for patching and wear it in Australia. Another red shirt seems to be OK. The green one which I wore in Disneyland in the early 80's faded badly. But I still iron it and ready to take it with me.

All together I have more than 7 old shirts used to be worn on my trip overseas.  My beloved NASA jacket will never be left. I bought it for the price of almost USD250 in the 80's. I just love to be a space man but it is a profession for a moron and a dumb person like me. If I can't be one, I wear one.

4 more shirts will be ironed tomorrow. I am not going to wear any of them in the mean time.

The colored shirt I love to wear has a history. I saw it hung in one super market. The price was very expensive then, nearly RM100.00. I waited patiently for the sale. The sale period came. I rushed to buy it but on seeing it did not go down, I cancelled my plan. I waited for another year. After more than 2 years with the price unmoved, I finally bought it.

The yellow shirt is a recent buy. Yet is is about 3 years old. I wear it in Vietnam, Kota Kinabalu and last year's visit to Taj Mahal. I bought nothing new for the last two or three years. Rear colored and nice designed shirt is hard to see these days. So my next trip will be full of the old stuffs worn in the 80s. The distance between the green shirt and the yellow ones above is approximately 20 years. Have shirts , old or new, will travel.                                               (Top)

A 4.90 IS NOT 4.00

My wife in telling people stories always rounded the RM4.99 or RM4.80 as RM 4.00. So are many other people. I never round the 4.99 or even 4.70 as 4.00. I would say RM5.00. Similarly when I computed the flight price of RM329 to Kuala Lumpur, I would round it up as RM500. It is just my style so that my spending is checked.

Business communities find the 9.99, 4.99 and all other 0.99 as a magic figure and even big companies like Air Asia capture attention this way. This is not a Malaysian invention. It is a worldwide gimmick. How many people do actually fell to the 4.99 stuff is unknown.

Rounded up to a higher value will not result in disappointment when you recount your money after the expenditure. The preparedness to spend more is safer. We don't have to borrow when it is not enough. I have friends who like borrow when going shopping. Of course we don't spend more than our estimation or the amount we have in hand.

In my discussion with my wife I would estimate the gasoline expenditure as RM100 to Kuala Lumpur and another hundred for the toll. My Kancil would only consume about RM50.00 for the one way trip. 

By all arguments, of course 4.99 is less than 5.00. But 4.00 is much less than 4.99. If you purchase 10 items with the ninety nine cents tail, it would already be 9.90 cents.

Talking of shopping, we have two ways to do it. Either ask for the price of something we want from as man shops as possible to get the cheapest quotation or buy immediately and DON'T GO AROUND AND ASK FOR THE PRICE ANYMORE. More often than not you will not sleep the whole night. You would regret for the immediate buying. So enjoy your shopping and the thing you buy how expensive it is.

But always remember the 9.99 is not 9.00.

(Top)

POOR MAN CAR - The 1993 Kancil I bought has to go to PUSPAKOM in a couple of months time. I don't know how much I have to pay to PUSPAKOM. During an argument with a few friends, a lady said to me, "Ckgu, they give you RM500 and they take away RM700. Who is smarter ? " So I assume it will cost me RM700.

Though Kancil 660 is a very inferior car, for a poor man and a small town use is excellent. It saves my money. Though I can only afford to own a small car, I have the opportunity of sitting on a few luxurious cars. Some I move with the car and some I just jumped in and taste the comfort.

I think the government should have some consideration on poor people. Free PUSPAKOM inspection for cars below 800 CC. And 1 year of fuel subsidy for those who vote for UMNO only on Kancil below 800 CC. When I said I wanted to vote UMNO because of the RM500, my friends shouted saying that I don't have principle and can be bought easily.

I can imagine cars will pile up at PUSPAKOM. If it takes 3 months to come to my turn, who is going to buy food for my wife. We have to go for medical check up, pay bills, attend kenduri and funeral. And around our area there is no bus service. We have bus stops but no service. If I were to call a taxi, they will charge me a very high price. I loath taxi drivers in Alor Setar. The other day when they want RM15.00 from Sahab Perdana to Lorong Bayu, I chose to walk. I saved RM15 and get some exercise. It was about 4 mile walk.

I saw Bangladeshis walked for miles to save money.

If you want to be a Prime Minister and promised to help poor people like me, I will vote for you. And other Kancil owners will give their votes too. WHICH IS THE BEST PARTY FOR YOU ?                       (Top)

OLD FOLKS

People tend to have misconception about kids sending their parents to Old Folks Home. Not every kid try to shake off their parents though there are some who really sent them there. When children raise their own family and living somewhere else their parents did not want to move. A few were known to hire maids to look after the parents.

Old folks found it convenient to live in the Old Folk's Home because there are friends. Life will not be boring. Some prefer to stay there rather than alone in the house.

Family confrontation is another reason for the parents prefer to stay away from their children. They just can't see eye to eye. Te decision to cut the family ties seems to be the best decision.

The situation is different in a place where I used to visit. At Irvine California I met an old lady on a bus almost everyday riding from her home to the old folk's home. She would go back at about 5 pm. She went there to find company. Home was a boredom.

Longevity may not be absolute good. The main requirement for a long life is good health, enough money and good children. If we are sick, senile and can't remember things it is better for us to die early. We can die without any money. People will still bury us. We don't have to worry about it. But we can't live without money.

Most young people tend to think old folks minds are empty and unproductive. The word senile or 'nyanyuk' carries the meaning of functionless brain. It can't think anymore, cannot solve even a simple problem, forgetful and total helpless. Young people need to do the thinking and managing senile old people.

One of the oldest old folk is Dr Mahathir. At 84 he is still busy making political comments and called those old folks like him to quit politics, This is something special because an old man is calling another old man senile. But Sammy Veloo does not like an old person yet as compared to Nik Aziz. Taking Dr Mahathir's theory than Karpal Singh, Lim Kit Siang and all other politicians above 65 should quit and prepare for the next world. 

Sometimes we are surprise to read the news on a 75+ old man raping a girl of 17 or 18. One of my girls student told us about his 70 year old grand father rape her every night. That would be a good gift of nature. Many impotent old folks wish to have such a gift. The ones with plenty of money can take an 18 year old as a wife and want to live forever.

(Top)

THE CHANGING WORLD

I fought against my superiors when they want to abolish Vocational School. To me the Ministry of Education MOE had been concentrating much on smart students building special and boarding schools to get the best for the country. The nation depend on good brains for progressiveness and technological development.

I was not against the policy of grooming the excellent manpower but I did not like to see poor and mediocre students were neglected. There are students who simply refuse to use their brain to think and solve problems. Their preferences were for practical work. The lesser the thinking the better. Some of them are known as late developers.

Most poor students are not stupid but had been neglected since the primary school days. Students from poor families are commonly slower. The parents are not educated and could not help their kids in many ways. There were dropouts due to poverty and those who find learning are not interesting because either the teachers bored them or they do not have the basic of numbers and reading.

To cater for different categories of students MOE should not only concentrate the focus on the bright. Vocational education and training would provide the hierarchy. Vocational training is for those who are completely disinterested in academic learning. Vocational education is for those who have the potentiality to attain a higher level with a good guidance and motivation.

Thru guidance and motivation students in vocational education had ample skill to master and pass the skill training examination and able to proceed to be engineers. In my experience we found that the mental and attitude revival process can happen in vocational education. We save them as dropouts in academic schools.

I could not see face to face with the policy makers at the MOE level. The Ministry moved out the Principals of the Vocational Schools and wanted to replace them with engineers. Equipments were to be given away. Schools names were changed from Vocational to Technical hence sekolah menengah vokasional disappeared in name.

I wrote a paper, submitted and asked to be transferred out and three years later I retired as a PARIAH. Six years later I was told that the old vocational schools which had acquired the name of technical school is to go back to the original name of vocational school.

Some parts of the world change like a YOYO. The YOYO effect will take place in other disciplines too sooner or later. If they revert back for the good then we welcome them but there are changes which are impossible to get back the original characters.

The moral values of the West has no U-turn. The younger generation does not know where and what is the beginning.

The Malaysians today are too confused and can't think by themselves. The politicians are thinking for them and making them think as the former want. Media is playing havoc and running wild insulting and distorting people's minds.

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THE EVIL MIND

When the evil mind expressed it's ideas publicly with evil intention I can't think what kind of human beings these people are. When the court decided that interrogation should be within the office hours, we hear voices against it. Is it not good not to interrogate people within office hours ? We have to stop thinking like an evil and Gestapo like manner. And the evil enjoyed in hitting people during the interrogation, asking them to undress and laugh at their sex organs.

Teachers were told not to hit students as they have been cases of fatal injuries and even death which may not be due to the teachers action but by the old medical illness of the students. In the case of Teoh Beng Hock, he would not just die that easy as claimed. Do you think they would kill TBH if the interrogation is held during the office hours ? But they could do anything especially between 2am - 3am.

If Patail were to think wisely and think like an honest person, he would not appeal on behalf of MACC. Why he himself offered to appeal and not allowed other lawyers do it ? The history of the late Dugong reminded us of the intent. Patail like other million people to curse him and pray for his demise. Some people are paid and some tenure were lengthened to be evil. Honestly and truly I heard someone used the word Mafia Chief to describe some of those people.

The other day I went to Ipoh and took the opportunity to ask a few people about the Menteri Besar and the response was not too favorable in spite of all the various effort to corrupt the people. The huge image of the MB and his wife for public display would sustain the hatred of the people against him.

When Musa Hassan first stated the court's ruling was only for the MACC but not for the police, I was very surprise to hear such statement from the son of a well known Ustaz. I have heard many young anti government men expressed sadness against his father. Instead of talking about Musa, they talked about his parents.

Big people feel invincible. The laymen see them as normal people. When Najib went to Permatang Pauh during the last election, some rude guys were throwing mineral water at him. They were rude. They should respect their PM. But that's how many people perceive those big and powerful people. The mere thought of revenge is enough. A nation should not let it's citizen to bear even a small seed of hatred and revenge. Strong nations were torn  before by the people. No amount of weapons had stopped the death of Soviet Russia. The Berlin wall fell.

What changes do we see when Najib have been calling for the change in UMNO. NONE. Rakyat Diuatamakan ? At many places they have different doors for the people and the officers, different parking lots for the rakyat and the officers. During the time of the last Anwar's court until today, we see no different in their behavior and voices. They say something and do something else. The evil mind remain.

Just because the Americans are fond of torturing people therefore we can follow them ? Do we forget the Batang Kali mass grave during the British period ? And you want to emulate the Scotland Yard ? We don't give any VIP treatment to suspects but we don't torture them to force the answer that we want. If the MACC think that TBH was guilty, just get the proofs. TBH does not have a house like Khir Toyo and did not go to London every now and then.

When Nik Aziz said he wanted to pray for bad future for Najib if the later cheated the people of Kelantan, the media and the UMNO leaders responded aggressively. Why should UMNO get worry about the prayer unless it believe it is cheating people and God wold answer to Nik Aziz's prayer. Isn't many people do not believe in God and religion and that they continue earning evil money even at the moment.

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FEELING THE PAIN

Prince William did the honor of sleeping in the alley to feel the pain of the homeless English teenage. Then he would really understand the plight of the unfortunate.

There were many stories about great rulers who disguised themselves and moved about the country to see the hardships faced by the citizens.

Compare the street people and the persons with a 24 million dollar mansion. The different in the gap is one thing but the sombong and the arrogance is another thing.

STEALING CUSTOMERS

One day while I was driving, my hand phone rang. I pulled my car by the road side to answer the call. It was from Celcom. The lady's sweet voice told me of an offer made by Celcom which can save about 30% per month. I do not have to do anything but to agree to the package. The phone number will be the same. The offer sound attractive but I told te lady that I need to think about it first and asked her to e-mail me. Before we signed I asked her whether it was not amounting to stealing customers from the other provider. She said NO. Maxis did the same too.

At night I read my e-mail and computed the offer. My phone usage is only RM30 monthly. I don't have anybody to phone to. Sometimes it dragged to two months before I topped up. My annual phone expenditure would be only RM360. If I accepted the offer I would have to pay between RM480-RM600. Your phone expenditure need to be more than RM600 per year before you can benefit from the offer. The net day when the lady called me again, I told her of what I thought. We bid good bye.

Stealing of customers is not uncommon. Sometimes it happen unintentionally and other time it is a deliberate effort. Once there was a competition in phone business but the vendors seek government help to  bar the practice. Public would benefit more in pure competition. But our government give priority to the business community and help them in many ways.

Maxis would continue it's dominance with the introduction of the iPhone. I am sure sooner or later there will be competition which would drive the price down. If Samsung has the technology and the mean to offer easier way to access the internet cheaply maxis or Celcom's customers would be running to Samsung.

China is coming up with a more advance system but people still do not have confidence in it's product. The gadget may be cheap and sophisticated but the quality is extremely poor.

In the mean time to ensure a constant growth and steady income the stealing of customers will continue to happen.

(Top)

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH

My neighbor is poor. The family survive by odd jobs and a little food can be found at my sister's house. The children of poor families become drop out, did not perform well in school, and somehow a few become drug addicts. The Zakat and the Social Welfare people expect those poor people to go to them and beg. Not all poor people go begging. As long as they can have a meal a day that would be enough. They still pray 5 times a day and go to mosque.

I heard graduate teachers grumbling that they are under paid and over worked. They talk of money and money. I was told that politicians use their positions to grab government funds by illicit ways, by the millions and billions. Wealthy people continue to hunt for money. Don't they have enough money ?

The pious and truly God believers always thank God with what they have. Even with RM700 a month they can survive by making adjustment to their expenditures. Home cooking could save almost RM300 - RM400 a month. Traveling  is done only when necessary and by public transportation. The simple thinking folks are at sometimes exploited by the greedy and the powerful, taking away their piece of land at low price using enactments made by the government.

A person earning RM4000 a month said that he is poor and has plenty of commitments. He has to spend money on domestic utilities, cars and petrol, paying housing loan and the maid, financing kids in universities and other expenditure. He asked for the pay raise and bonus, accusing the government to be unfair.

Those with RM20000 of income still demand money and commissions. They device methods to transfer government money into their accounts and go on cheating spree. The hide themselves behind their political posts and the police. They talk eloquently impressing the people using racial card to show that they are nationalists. No amount is enough to them. They forget God or may no believe in one.

Many of us would take 40 years to accumulate the amount of RM200,000. May be our whole life saving. Today one house costs RM500,000 and a car from RM200,000 to RM1,000,000. You find alot of RM200,000 cars on the road. Persons of 4 in a family build a mansion of 10 rooms.

But there are RM27,000 cars which can take up to 4 passengers and having air condition. Taking a good care of the car, it could last us at least 20 years. Thanking God with the little things that we have RM3000 of monthly income would be more than enough. My sister only earns RM700 a month.

Eating-out can be very expensive. If I were to go to Secret Receipe I would have to spend at least RM40, Mac Donald about RM30, Western Food restaurants about RM30. If I were to go to the Night Market for rice + fish + egg, it would cost me RM6 for TWO sets.

With the availability of flexibility in goods and food prices we can choose our live styles to make our earnings enough. We don't have to think of robbing, cheating and stealing. When we are about to die we say the time has come for us to leave the world. At the same time some tycoons and big time robbers are very fearful of death, even hired body guards and took the best medicines to live a long live. I saw a few strike by stroke and can't even move their hands and legs. If they die, it is good for them. But if they continue to live they will live miserably. They would not know what the real happiness is.

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THE ISSUE OF ALLAH

Allah has never been an issue but mankind are. There has been split and misunderstanding among the Christians about heaven and hell, about predestination and the effort as well as will of mankind that finally cause splits into various sects which finally resulted in the mass migration to the new land of America. The biggest remain the catholics and the protestants. Likewise in Islam almost similar course has taken place; hence the Sunnah and Shiah with some differentiation in the teachings.

The sign of the death of religion in the West is shown by the various social laws and enactments passed by the government like the same sex marriage, pre-marital sex, exchange of spouses, the spread of nudists and the number of non-believers are increasing in great numbers. Religious teachings and practices are dying down. Because of the problems in the West the religious people are moving Eastwards and to other non-developed nation.

Many Religious people are known to hunt for wealth and money. Dressing in religious rob has been the best way t make people believe in them. Businesses are using religious tactics to attract money. You begin to hear Islamic Banking, Al-Rahnu, Takaful and many others. All with the aim of either attracting money of plundering it. In the era of Mahathir the big names are know to make wealth and sell the Wakaf Land to the business community. And one Korean priest in USA was making million of dollars for his own.

When the ulama lost their focus and Christianity began to fade in the West, many effect has taken place. To cut short one of the issues is the use of the word Allah in church.

Can Allah be used in church ? You need to examine it in detail and in all aspects. I could not manage it because my knowledge on bible is none and my Islamic knowledge is too very shallow. Yet I have a wild imagination which I will narrate below.

If we take all the bible in the world both the old and new testament, can we found the word Allah in any of them ? I have heard preachers mentioning only Jesus Christ. In movies and media, I don't remember hearing or reading Christian pope even mentioned the word Allah. So I assume Allah does not exist in the Christian holly book. Christ ? YES. But in the Quaran the word is every where.

Then I am asking myself what is the motive for the Malaysian church to use the word Allah when it it not in the bible and had never been used in any other traditional Christian churches ? Isn't Christ figure is drawn everywhere ? The lawyer should have focus in this issue when arguing in the court and asked for the searching of the word Allah in any bible. If there is one and only ONE in ANY bible then any church can choose to use it. Otherwise the motive can invite unhappiness and could be very devastating.

I remember when I first went to school in the States; one lady lecturer told me to go to buy Cosher meat if I need to consume any. As I was told that Cosher meet is a meat belonging to the Jews and the Muslim can eat it because it is considered as halal. A Muslim can marry an Orthodox Christian or Jews without any change in religious status. The Jews as I know believes in the same God as the Muslims does.

As a Muslim I am very sad when the Malaysian Ulama has been sleeping and more interested in UMNO politics until things has become too late. At one time UMNO wanted to throw out the Sultans and to form a Republic. Now it is using the Sultan to pursue it's objectives. No wonder Nik Aiz has use 'Ulama Terompah' for UMNO ulama. I can talk for hours on the misdeed of the Ulama but it would be too sensitive and too bad. In short they are more interested in killing PAS than to look after the welfare of the Muslims and the poor people. They say the Zakat money was highly misused by one Menteri Besar for his personal benefit.

You see they don't even have idea to argue. Bombing is not the answer. Where is the sharpness of their minds ?

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SALUTE TO KOTA SETAR POLICE

I seldom throw nice words on the police force but this time I will. Kota Setar police has been serving well under the government of the day. It was excellent during the UMNO era and now it serves as good as before under PAS.

Everyday I passed by Kedah Menteri Besar's house and found that the police carried out their duty to provide security to the Chief Minister. I concluded that the Chief of Police do understand the law and the Constitution well.

Kota Setar police has shown a good example of non-partisan government servant. But never in my mind I would brand Kota Setar police as PAS supporters because I found them serving well under UMNO too.

I hope the members of the public will observe and see identical happening as I see it. I have nothing else to say but to wish the Kota Setar police force well and keep up with the good work. I salute them.

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WE DON'T SELL HALF

From the younger days I used to buy rice with a half egg. The old famous road side stall near the Empire was called Nasi Ali. The stall was packed with school children buying 'Nasi Satu Telor Setengah'. We would pay about 30 to 40 cents for the breakfast. That was in 1960's. Ali had been away for many years and the old taste of the 'Nasi Lemak' disappeared with him.

The next Mamak shop I used to go is Majid Nasi Tomato at the corner of Jalan Tambang Badak. Then he shifted his shop to Jalan Putera and later back to Tambang Badak. My usual order was '...udang satu and telor setengah..'That was my menu until my head went spinning with high cholesterol and hospitalized for that. I changed to '..ikan kari satu and telor setengah...'

One night I went to Ahmediah, the Mamak shop near the old hospital and ordered 'Udang satu and telor setengah..' I got damn mad when the mamak aid they do not sell half egg. Losing my temper I started to called the Indian Mamak sombong "..mari cari makan dalam negeri orang, act pula...'

Te tradition of setengah only happen to rice and egg. Nobody ever ordered half chicken, fish or prawn. I think the authority must do something and if possible send the mamak back to India. Very ungrateful people.

One other night I stopped at Pasar Malam. My wife asked me to look for Apom Balik. I found one stall and asked for half. "We don't sell half." This time a Malay. I said nothing and walked away saying in my heart "You don't want my money done." I can say to mamak to go  back to India, but what to say to this Malay ? I hope there will be enough curses 44 of them to make this guy go bankrupt.

The half Apom Balik is available at a Pasar Malam near the Pacific. If I were to go a little late, I won't be able to find any left. For a half the price is 80 cents and one piece is RM1.60. Just behind this stall there is another Apom Balik which sells RM2.00 per piece.

I got a habit, good or bad, of praying for the seller who sell at reasonable price and a delicious cooking. "God, let this man be wealthy and his kids be successful in education and everything else. Give them more rezeki." Believe me, that's what I always do.

I remember when I wanted to buy my first car. I went to proton Tiara's sale agent expressing my desire to purchase a Tiara with the government loan. The lady said, "No. We won't accept government loan. You must take our loan.." This was also a Malay company. I walked out. Tiara did not want my money done. Be it. I went somewhere else. About one year later I found that the particular shop closed down. Tiara probably did not believe in the 44 curses.

And in my web page I wrote a topic on the Sombong Proton where a lady in Proton Edar ( ? ) did not allow me to test my wheel chair. And later I heard Proton Edar was taken over. I did not know what happen to the lady. Some of us believe in mysterious things. God gives God takes. There are so many sombong business people and I am sure with the 44 curses they will go too.

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iI WONDER.....

Let's fly like a Superman. We see the beautiful earth blue and white. We look away from the earth and see the sparkling stars like the diamond. And go farther and farther passing the moon, the planets and the sum. How far can we go, how long will it take, how much will we see ? Is there an end to it ?

As we fly until our beard grow longer than ourselves will there be an end ? Do we wonder how it all began ? As our small mind wonder and we can't break out any more, mankind must be told that there is a Creator to what we see. Mankind keeps on searching for it's own origin by wondering to area beyond reason looking for any clue.

The law of chances certainly believe that there should be other places with life like us, and the natural law of physic like our earth and adaptation identical to our earth.  So the searh goes on.

Among the billion of people I am one of those who believe in the Creator of the galaxies and other than things we know. We cannot form any image of the Creator in term of shape or any similarity to mankind. Yet mankind tried to give shape to the Creator similar to the living things on the earth. God cannot be blown by the wind and burnt by the fire, neither mankind can carry with them on an airplane or ship.

People of revealed religion believe in heaven and hell. That will be the destination. While the believers in hell and heaven are shrinking due to the progress in technology and the changing political ideology of freedom and human right.  New generation treated the hell and heaven as mockery and only relevant in making money out of movies. Who believe in retribution after death and in the next world ?

As the Communist once said that religion is just like an opium. It may useful to those who nearing death or someone with deadly cancer. He will a chance to seek the help of God and pray even at one out of a million chance.

The simple people who believe in God are seen as backward, uneducated and aggressive. Their houses were bombed by people who stayed 10 of thousands of miles away. In Malaysia they are duped as the most backward citizens. The believers believe there will future for them. They don't have to fly like a Superman to search for human identity. They don't wonder much more.

Sammy Velu used to say 'Ask the Koran to build road and highway...' And even Mahathir did almost an identical reference. Americans would think people wit rob are dangerous forgetting the dangerous criminals and murderers in it's jail who never wear rob and may not even believe in the Creator.

If we fly far and deep into the galaxies and find no end and no answer what are we going to conclude ?

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WE CALL HER ENYET

When I was a kid both the Chinese and the Malay New Year were full of fun. Our Chinese neighbors were many. A couple of blocks away there were two houses whose households were almost relatives to us. From both house we would hear the kids crying being beaten very hard by their fathers. The front house always beat their daughter. Sometimes she would run to the Malay neighbor's house. Her face was dirty and her nose was never clean. Her hair never combed. No wonder she was the black sheep of the family. We called her Enyet. I don't remember her real name.

When I was in form 1, I heard Enyet ran away from home. Her family did not show any morose. The nearby Chinese temple said she was safe and the parent should not worry. Words passed saying Enyet ran to Penang but nobody knew where.

When I was about to leave school, the whole kampong were rejoiced because everybody was talking about Enyet coming home. I rushed to see the new Enyet; so beautiful and so kind to us. Enyet was married to a wealthy man from Penang. But Enyet did not came back for good because she had to look after her spouse. She promised us that she would come back regularly. Occasional she did. She remembered us. She told her husband who we were.

Several years later her farther passed away. Because we were grown up and went our way we began to forget many things. But this CNY I shed my tears when remembering Enyet and the other dear friends of Chinese origin.

Sadly enough, today we are chasing each other out of this country and becoming so chauvinist. I saw many poor Malays and as poor Chinese. They are being ignored by their own race but used the racial card to gain more wealth for themselves.

If I am already as old as now, I am sure Enyet must be older. She got the most beaten and pain but the God had rewarded her greatly.

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A GOOD MAN

We tend to believe that people of our own race are only good people on the earth and therefore there is a very strong tendency to trust and believe them. Some believe that religious people and the God fearing humans are honest and trustworthy and look upon them as guidance.

The goodness of a man is not visible by his dress and words he uses. There is no short cut way we can know him. Misconceptions can carry on for many long years on end especially when we hear people throwing curse, blames and accusations on them.

While there are numerous jails around the world putting bad people in restrictions, there are many more prowlers who are looking for victims. People cheat and rob in many different ways. The lowest class robbers could finally end up in jails. But there are many robbers who put on religious robs, songkok and even political caps.

Other then the day light robbers and gansters, many politicians and politically affiliated people are known to acquire public funds and the poor men's land thru the enactment of land reform which would facilitate legal robbery. These are bad men, not by the race or ethnic. They can be anybody.

Some philosophy say that a person has a good and a band element in himself. Even a bad person can help the others especially the needy. And the good man could ignore distress people.

To many of us a bad person always give problems to other people. A bad person would create stories and evidence, lies and bluffs all the way. He has no pity over other human. Most of all he is never considerate on anything. He cares for his own interest. He may be a Haji, a Chinese, Indian, American or the Arab.

More often than not our judgment is base on our intuition base on our long observations, and more often than not we may be correct. We perceive Oprah as a good lady because she seems too concern on the unfortunate and try her best to make people happy.

Let me remind you that do not trust people wearing a songkok, a serban ( turban ), a religious teacher or a Haji. This does not mean these are bad people. History has informed us that many kampong folks sell their land temporarily to many Ustaz and Haji to go to Mecca and when they wanted to make the payment the persons made themselves disappear. When promised date was due the farmers land became their land. Also religious people involve in politics were known to swindle public funds. Treat these people as any other normal men, no as our savior.

Notice today banking and other financial institutions are using Arab words to attract the Islam and the Malays. Their basic aim is too make money and they think the word Muzarabah, Tafakul or Islamic are good words to make money.

When the Malays are good at cheating today, the Chinese already have a long experience in many fields. Many wealthy people do not take care of the poor Chinese whose kids who can't read even after 12 years of education. Many are using racial cards like the Malays to boost support for gaining wealth to themselves. How many get the share of the billion of dollars robbed from the PKZ ?

Who really cares about the masses ? Many ideas and projects come from the government servants. There are as many PAS as UMNO, MCA, Gerakan or DAP. They are concerned about the health of the citizens, about the poor parents, jobless and the low income groups. They are planning the better future of Malaysia; the real one not the jargon or political satire. 

Many of us have friends from all races. The politicians are blowing the wind of fire to split us, to burn us.

A good man is not shown by his race or religion.

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 DEVELOPMENT OR GREED ?

God gives me health, a little money to save and the power to travel. Though I have not been to many places yet, my visit to New Zealand, Australia and Holland taught me many things. I did not find these countries savage their greens and hill tops to give way to houses and supermarkets. Any time these countries are not called undeveloped or undeveloped countries. They are more advance than Malaysia.

When trees were fell, hill tops were savaged, water catchments were destroyed the politicians called them development. Our common sense tell us that these politicians and the business men were working hands in gloves. Under the Premiership of Tun Dr Mahathir they pushed for the land acquisition act to forcefully robbed under the name of development. Boon Siew had said the government can take his land for schools and hospitals but not to give away to other business people to make money. 

Developers push for more land acquisition. More and more. Take away the padi land and the water catchment areas. Then they blackmail using voting threat. They are too greedy. The poor politicians are hungry for money and willing to sell their own friends and the country. The poor government officers accept corruption and share in the selling of their own honor.

A big majority of rich and wealthy people would not care of the poor, even of their own ethnic group.

Politicians see chances and looking for opportunities where they can make money. They always come up with justifications and working papers. Building a short cut will be good for people. Then business people would acquire land for a short cut road to  build a toll plaza. Laymen have been asking why not used up the rod tax fund and acquire the land for the short cut and impose no toll ?

Traveling in USA and Great Britain still saw much green fields. And those are very developed countries. When the Green Peace and nature lovers voiced their feelings, the politicians quickly responded blaming the Westerners.

The greed do not care of global warming or the plight of other citizens and animals. They care to feed themselves, their cronies and the tough bunch of fearless bodyguards who are willing to kill if ordered. The political posts are seen as opportunity to help the people by the citizens but seen as opportunity to make wealth by some others. They enact law to rob land and hill, and mountain top. When there is lack of water they ask the people to drink the river water.

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 Flying car route system

 Flying cars are coming whether you got to see them or not. When I drove along the NS Highway way the other day with my wife, I was imagining of cars flying over my heads. But it won't be as easy as we are thinking. It would be extremely difficult to control the traffics. Setting up the height is of course mandatory but we need a flying police traffics to monitor. Great care must be taken to design the landing procedure as to avoid crash. The car must have flashlight to signal landing, speed sign, left-right flash and many more items for safety.

A kind of GPS or Gyroscope has to be build in to ensure the vehicles can only within the routes as shown in the little machine except for the landing. Yet route settings would have to be very difficult. I can fly from my house at Lorong Bayu to Pokok Sena in many ways via different route as I deem fit. Route can change as the wind direction changes.

Somehow human being will overcome the problem. Flying car has to be registered as air aviation and manage like one too.

If the American comes up with the flying machine, why can't the Malaysians ? Aren't we like to follow everything American ?

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MALAYSIANS IN FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES

Sorry I do not have facts and figures on the topic I am writing now. I write merely base on what I know and the mental sampling I took in the year 1982/83 while I was in Indiana University. The Asian students especially the Malaysians were doing pretty well and as competitive as the Americans. The average CGPA was 3.5 and a few get almost flat 4.

Those high performers were either smart or that the Malaysian education system was effective enough to produce high quality students. But for sure we found that schools before the 60's produce people with better students. Passing form three one was very well converse in English. Many good lawyers and doctors were the product of the old education system. Whereas today there are quite a number of form 5 students who can't read.

Today the government is losing confidence in our own created education system, and going abroad to copy and paste at our backyard. They do not balance the Eastern and the Western system as if only the Western system works. If our system is so bad then our students won't be successful in foreign universities. We have Malaysians working in NASA too. We have brains working in other countries.

I stressed much on Korean education system because the nation moved fast in technology. And China and it's success in space and military technology and even Japan it several hardware products controlling the world market.

When we want to go to study a system in foreign nation, we just don't look at the system itself. We have to ask ourselves whether the progress of a nation is due merely to the education system or to the wealth of the nation. A country with an abundance of natural resources and small population can enjoy a high GDP and quality of life. Besides we also need to know the political behavior of the law makers which contribute much to the progress of the land. Politicians who focus their attention on making money will never make good decision on approving policy.

So when we hear the proposition to scrap UPSR and PMR and even SPM, we immediately asked many questions other than the WHYNESS. Is our system is bad enough that our products are not competitive in the foreign universities ?

Or we just don't want to believe in the straight As just because our kids never get good grades ? Or are we not happy with too much tuitions ?

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CUTTING CORNERS

People are saying I am loaded, with plenty of  money because I use to travel outside Malaysia. What they don't know I really had to cut corners and starve to accumulate a little earning for the trip.

One old lady told me when I was a kid that any spending should only be done at the end of the month, not at the time when we got our salary. From day one we receive our pay, we just spend normally buying only essential foodstuffs, move less and no eating out. Towards the end of the month we can see how much of the income is left over.

Though a car is an essential item today I only use a Kancil. I usually filled in about RM30 - RM37 ringgit and that would last me about 5 - 7 days. Auto maintenance could be very expensive. I heard people putting gasoline between RM50 - RM70 a day. I would not want to exhausted my money on a motorcar. And I bought a car by cash payment just to make sure I really pay that much for it. The twenty thousand dollar car must not be paid more than that. Payment by installment eatsay  up our money. To keep RM20000 would take many long years.

I seldom buy dress. Shirts and trousers I bought during my working days are still used. If torn I would take it for repair. If you see my picture when I was young wearing a red batik shirt, you will see my latest recent picture is still using the batik shirt. Shirts I wear are un-ironed which means I save electricity bill.

You won't believe me if I told you that I never go to barber shop for more than 35 years. My wife does all the cropping. I like it because she does it fast and it looks neat. If by God's will I am to marry again, the new wife must be able to carry the barbering job. I would crop my hair 3 or 4 months once.

I don't smoke either. I know that would save about RM300 a month. It is a big sum. 300 X 12 would give me RM3600 a year; a trip to China or Korea. Abstaining oneself from smoking can take for a vacation once a year. Today you see even a Primary school kids smoke and almost 90% of secondary school children do.

The other day my student took me to Hatyai. They went shopping and I help them bargaining. I would always cut about 50% down. Yet I bought nothing for myself. Even on my trip to many countries I do not buy things. In places where the value of money is twice or thrice our money purchasing is almost forbidden, except things in USA where they are cheaper than Malaysia even after the conversion.

Another essential item is the hand phone. Mine cost below RM100. There is no camera. I can SMS and talk. That are all I want. Each month's loading is RM30. When depleted I wait for another month and I would just wait for people to call me. How much do you pay a month ? Even kids use more than me. School clerks used about RM300.

Because my wife wants ASTRO, I take the minimum package. I cut my sports channels and never had a movie channel. During the recent World Cup I got to go to coffee shop if the game was not on TV1. Last time I did subscribe for Sports channel. And ASTRO increased the price I quit the total subscription until they gave me a special one month offer of RM50 for all channels including movie and sports. Finally I settled for the lowest RM50 package.

Yet despite my cutting corners and starving myself, I told my wife that we are to enjoy some luxuries of the wealthy people. We keep for those for a few months and then enjoyed ourselves. We would go to the 5 Star Hotel for a couple of days and taste the comfort of the hotel. We would go for the Sea Food and ate all what we want like the crabs and baked Terubok. My wife dreams to go on a long distant cruise.

I bet most of you would think I have a lot of money.

(Top 21/07/2010 ( Abdul Rahman )