3rd world service : Maxis

Well today is just so unpleasant. I had my phone barred. Yea. How? Beats me.

So I purchase the iPhone right, I took idata 2 package which allows me to buy the phone for RM1599 which I have to pay RM50 per month for 500MB of 3G surfing. I had no choice that came with the plan.

Today my phone was barred. I login to maxis and my un-billed amount. RM273 I called them and guess what? We don't see you subscribe to any plan. WOW. like seriously how did that happen? I don't know. This is the king of line I am talking about here. I had ping pong session with them and they only can check my usage once my statement is out. yea.

They kept asking me do I want to subscribe tot eh 500mb package. I am like erm dude, I thought that was like what I subscribe to. What the heck. Ok so they say they'll get back to me which they did so that's a plus for them and so they called again and I was like Ok dude go investigate but can you un-bar my phone cause I need to use it.

Ok sir, that will be within 3 days.

What? 3 day? seriously? serious serious serious? no way to speed that up?

No way sir.

Doh die.

So in order for us to advance to 1st world we have to

1. Mix up our own plans. For whatever reason tie and un-tie plan and make them confuse.
2. Only can check usage when statement is out.
3. Wait 3 days if you refuse to pay your bill because it has nothing to do with you.
   

So yea. phoneless, not that it matters coz I hardly call etc but what if emergency? HUH? HUH? HUH?

UMNO is not a racist.

I am fine with that statement made by our country's leader. But the following sentence killed it.

"The true meaning of racism would be like apartheid as previously practice by South Africa" True meaning? yea true meaning of racism that is. It is ok if you deny you're a racist but what's the problem here? using APARTHEID as the benchmark is just over the top ain't it my dear PM.

The use of the deep words is very clever. I did not know what APARTHEID was until I dictionary it. It means to be set apart totally sideline like the blacks are not allow to sit in this bus, only can sit the other bus meant for blacks etc. Deep words = people will less likely want to know if they don't.

Of course la UMNO is not racist when you raise the bar that high. Let's say you made enemy with your enemy, turn to a fight, you got angry go to him use a knife stabs him. But, he did not die. The court judge you guilty of murder, you stand up declare

"I am not a murderer. A true murderer would be like I stab someone and they die"

Stupid isn't it? Racist is racist is racist. If you're being spit at, that's not racist because you're not being treated like apartheid. You're just being spit at. Malaysia. We are a nation moving to developed country but so far, we're moving backwards. Backwards we go!

Trademarking food.

If you don't already know, our wonderful tourism minister Dr. NG YEN YEN has made a move to 'trademark' some of the Malaysian food... “We cannot continue to let other countries hijack our food." says her. Alright then, is it ok for us to hijack sushi, beef patties, dim sum, fish and chips and salsa sos? Obviously this kind of statement is very kiasu and not thought off. It will start an international debate and copyrights of food all over the world and then we will have to pay premium to sell it? And we will be seen as one idiot nation just like how we prove that Teh Tarik can be drank in space. Luckily, that idea was abandon.

But now again, a stupid move. I mean hello? Don't we already know where those food came? Now Singapore is outraged that they did not have anything to trademark. LOL. Claiming the best food is theirs.

To get to where Singapore is my friend, is to 1st build the nation up to Singapore standard which is being the 1st world. How you trademark a dish? You simply can't! Unless you find the original creator and trademark each dishes. I can imagine that one day she'll announce that all original creator can apply by filling in forms LOL!
Then again, that would mean that they will have to surrender the original recipe. All in all, this is stupid!

Ok fine, I may be bias coz I am from Malaysia but let's here from the world renown food critic that appears on TV shall we and we shall put to rest all this war between Singapore and Malaysia.



Well said Kanye! Well said. I am agreeing with you the 1st time!

Tear Down The Walls

Those were the brave words of our current PM on Merdeka day in conjunction of 1Malaysia. In the sub-line it says that we must rebuild the bridge between races that our forefather's have built.

But on the same weekend, the march with the cow's head was held in Shah Alam regarding the relocating the hindu temple to a neighbourhood called Section 23a

Watch the youtube



What was really really stupid was that the residence couldn't defend each other. When asked about the cow's head, one of them says it is brought by individual who is angry it is not his doing. He don't know who is that individual. And says yes relocation will bring problems like that in individual. Hello? knock knock.

But finaly questions was this. Where were the police and the FRU? There were none because we are not BN.

Truly, the wall can not be be torn down. At least not in another decade or so because clearly it is separated not only by the colour of our skins, but also who do we pray to...

SMKSU trip

I know this is very very long time ago. But thanks to my not so rajin blog, It has been delayed.

After my Thailand trip, I joined my friends (which I help part plan) in a school trip suggested by none other than Kimberly We are joined by some friends in which we got to know soon after.




We stayed in PD in one big apartment in Casa Rocado.

1st day when we got there we straight go down to Malacca to eat and play. Mana tahu because of our smartness we used the trunk roads to go Malacca and that took us super long.


We were the last batch to eat at Fatt Kee. Their Chicken rice ball is still as good.


My crazy friends.


They all wore jerseys. They are all from different team. Swt


Crazy me


We walked to Red House. The Guys


The girls


Me and my good bud Chen Fei. Since Form 1


Shin Yuen and her poses.


Kimberly emo when we decided not to go up to st.paul's ruin because it was already drizzling and a rain is coming.


After the rain ended, we walk the Jonker walk again


Laterns


Shin Yuen and her poses.


The 'bing tong wu lo' girls. HAHA

After walking around seeing every stall and shop also close liao we go find sate celop we suppose to find that whatever la find so long, got lost so long and gave up and go capitol in the end. We reached at 11 lined up for 30 minutes. Dang


Angku and Fuan Lik queuing


Crazy crowd can? So nice meh?


Kimberly and her poses.


Me and my satay. That's it. We reached back PD at 2 and I slept straight.

Now we all flee? or fight...

What's on 3rd of April? Apocalypse. No, actually it is Najib reigning as Prime Minister. How I wish that April's fool is on the 1st.

Quick you king, do a coup! Well, actually that's pretty hard considered that there are many sultan's here in Malaysia and to do a coup is hard.

Now 'freedom' of speech have to be watch.

Our new PM is not someone who we can play with. Ever wondered how some actors always act as villain and some always act as heroes? It is not because of their acting skill is tremendous but rather they have that 'villainy' look. And with that look on his face, you better be sure not to mess with him.

Ironically, I watched Vendetta again yesterday. I love that show. Whether his action is right or wrong, I still like that show. Not only because of his fantastic use of the letter V but also because of his philosophy of a country.

Here's an introduction he gave of who he is "The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V"

If you haven't watch that movie, go watch it. He have no fear of power and politics and he take everything in his own hands, killing politicians that simply was unjust. Not only that he also manage to demolish the entire house of parliament of London. And his most famous quote were

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

It is an ideology that most people only dared talked in Mamak but don't dare to uphold... Everyone of the citizen is sick and tired of all these gorilla business here. Whether BN no BN also same moneky business... Sometimes I wish we were all V. Blow the entire house of parliament down and rebuild it. No point everyone fight over something that neither side wins. Because whoever win or lose its the citizen that suffers in the end.

"Sex and Race, because they are easy, visible differences, have been the primary ways of organising human beings into superior and inferior groups and into the cheap labour on which this system still depends. We are talking about a society in which there will be no roles other than those chosen, or those earned. We are really talking about Humanism."

"Tak apa, I trust you"

In Thailand, I've learnt that to bribe a cop depending in situation you need to pay 100baht that is equivalent to RM10. In Malaysia however, you can't get away that easily you need at least RM50 to bribe a traffic police.

That is very hard to be blame. An average low ranked cop of any field would earn a total of RM700-900 a month. And no less thanks to the NEP which with many various schema promise a huge percentage of return to any bumiputra and that in turn create a lot of family with many children. The police too, is no exception. With that little to spend and a huge family to feed, it is no wonder that they usually go round with their motorbikes and do sales on their own.

I am not talking about any sales but you know bribing. With that, they'll seize any customers they see potential, approach them and with a smile on that face ask you "Kenapa pakai handpon?" (Why do you use the handphone?). I on the other hand wasn't in a very nice mood and knowing that I am not guilty reply harshly to him. Instead of bersopan-santun, I say "BOS mana ada pakai hanpon? Saya je letak tangan macam ni tak boleh ke?" (Boss, I did not use handphone, I only put my hand like this cannot ar?) This is also part of my habit of resting my elbow on the window pane and putting my hand on my forehead.

He did not hesitate to smile back and say "Tadi I dari belakang dah ikut lama ade tengok you pakai" (I follow behind just now and see you've been using). I had just finish my client duty, on my way back just cleared a distance of jam with harsh and frustrating tone reply hastily.

He then demanded my license and IC of course I would comply to it and toke out my safety belt because Its so hard to reach. And after that he just say... "OK tak ape, I saman you handpon dengan tali keledar" (OK nevermind, I summon you for using handphone and not putting on seatbelt) Ok I was beyond boiling and answer "kenapa pulak saman tali keledar pulak?" (Why you summon me for not putting on the seat belt?) After a while he was "convinced" that I had my seatbelt on before I took out my wallet.

Then he uses his last move to pitch the sales by using threat of course. He said he would summon me with handphone and said "it's ok you can explain to the court later bring your lawyer along" Like heck I would do that. I keep showing my frustrating face and say "IYOH" Then I showed him my handphone call out, received call and missed call and none of them were in the range where he said I was using. And clearly the customer do not want to accept his sales tactic and hastily he said "Tak apa, I trust you... lain kali kalau nak dengar handpon you stop tepi OK?" (It's ok then I trust you, next time if you use handphone please stop at the road side).

I was like what the? I suppose he is afraid too if this goes on I would take his number or probably just walk out and punch him or something. Afterall my license and IC had face you do not want to mess with. And clearly I am buffer than him in every part of my body.

--------

On another occassion, My friend Aaron was also stopped by police with reason that you would really go out and punch the police. He was taking the round about taking a 9oclock turn that is just turning left. He was stopped because he broke the law with police saying he can't do that as it is dangerous. He have to take the roundabout, go one round and exit the place he want to exit. He did not budge at all when police keep saying he want to summon. He was ready to take the summon and the police let him go.

--------

On another occasion, I heard that my cousin is out of jail already. He was sentence to a life sentence for committing crime that is beyond repair. He is a drug lord. (NO kidding my cousins are pretty much 'gu wak chais') and for that freedome all he had to do was pay an upfront of RM30,000 and the case is wiped off. My first reaction was... That's pretty cheap to buy a life. My 2nd reaction was stupid people no wonder they never can get rich. Charge at least 100K - 1M la. Afterall these drug lords are very much loaded what is RM30,000 to them?

Now my cousin is out in the wild selling drugs again perhaps. But last I heard he is no longer in Malaysia. No, I don't know my cousin. I've seen him but never talked to him.

So the moral of the story is, if you know you're not wrong, stand your ground because justice wins in the end and if you're in the wrong, you better have RM30,000** floating cash in your bank because that can buy you out from jail.

**Prices may vary depending on situation
**Price is subject to change without prior notice
**Kamunting jail is probably most likely excluded

Back from Thailand and PD

Sawadikap! Doing back to back journey is tiring but rewarding and definitely maximises your holidays. With lots of experience and lots of photos, I can't wait to blog but currently am very tired to even think of converting and editing the pictures. I'll get to it as soon as I can. Had a great time with my school friends too! Gosh we are 25 gang!

Given up?

Hmm, there is definitely a huge huge difference in generation as I've learn in youth culture. While many people are still speculating the change effect, Many younger people I've talked to seems to give up already. "Sept 16 pass di mar... Nothing happen also" walks of disappointed

The people of today clearly has lack of patience. This one we've got to blame the fast paced society esp when technology advances. You want to learn about something? Can, Wikipedia or Google it. Who goes to the library anymore? You screen is your library.

We want everything instant! Instant noodle, Instant Milo, Instant Messaging. A slight down time in streamyx sends many kids into paranoial-y paranoid. To think of it, it is just one day after Sept 16. And people telling me - "I don't think its gonna change" despite the fact I kept telling that It will.

Others have said. Oh... Zaid is working underground to let people cheer abit while things are being delayed because probably Anwar has nothing yet. The thing is, This is what BN is banking on and probably Anwar has failed to look at this... We want change and we want it NOW! I am all cool though, I would love to have change NOW but I also am being realistic here. I know it takes time as well. So keep your hopes high.

Ok, Let's imagine the senario here. You know for Anwar to be lantik as PM is not easy, 1st the King of the country (yes the King has the power now) Will have to call for a vote of no-confidence in Badawi. All those in favour would have to take a vote and subsequently disolving the Parliament. And then the leader of the most party members will then step up and they will vote him in as PM.

And Why can't Anwar announce the list? It is simple, Abdullah has the last card still - ISA. He nabs people for no reason, and if Anwar announce the list, Anwar will ISA, The newly 31 MP will ISA, Lim Kit Siang will ISA hence Ops Lalang II where everyone will ISA because it is a national threat. PM already give warning to Anwar and says he is a threat to the economy and security.

I just love Msia don't you? Haha. And when that happens, probably another protest will take place. And this time it will be probably one of the biggest protest here in Malaysia. But still, FRU and Police in standby mode shooting everything down. And the leaders of the protest will ISA. Mainly the bloggers like Haris Ibrahim etc etc etc. So who's left? Abdullah and Najib and will probably say...

"Have faith in the current government, we are making progress. Look at our foreign investors. We are making progress and we will bring Malaysia to the next level in economy! We will live in harmony"

That my friend why it has to be done very carefully.

P/S: A while ago, PM says the petrol will probably drop again by year end if the crude oil remains at $109 per barrel. It has now dropped bellow $100 and Abdullah is avoiding the topic. and say our petrol price will probably not drop it is good for us because Petronas can subsidise less. WALAO-eh! Oh on petronas subsidy, I'll probably blog about that another time.

Sept 16

This is it guys! This is life and death. Ok maybe not so serious but this is probably the only solution to this crazy country.

Anwar has finally loaded his bullets and according to him he already sent a letter to PM for him to peacefully hand over the power. (Like the PM will do that, after all he already used his last bullet which is the ISA and nabbing people for no reason)

A blind person would already by now see how stupid they can get. I mean taking your last resort by using ISA? Old trick. Sending people to Taiwan and say it has nothing to do with 'crossing' over? Stupid enough. And now, still claiming "the current leadership is strong enough" BAH~~ he playing chicken and claim that. Right.

The ISA apparently locked down Teressa for stirring 'racial issue' over the frame of shutting down mosque's azan. Wow. Amazing huh? A few days of calling Chinese squatters squatters and 3 year ban on him and a frame of a woman brings the ISA to power. That's how it is guys, The BN.

I am glad that even within BN there are many people who is against ISA, Mainly, MCA. Of course la. Even MCA know who teressa is and she is really innocent 'mo gu' is what they call in Cantonese and I am glad MCA is standing up as well for her. Because like it or not, they are still CHINESE!

Zaid Ibrahim, which I think is the coolest guy around he is the law minister of Malaysia this season. In the past they all hated him because of his 'justice' now he is put into power by PM himself. He said that ISA should be used to do whatever it was set out to do not against civilants. If you guys don't already know, ISA is used to treat terrorist, communist, whatever you get the idea. Don't get me wrong, I agree on ISA totally but not on civilants.

Anyway he said he will quit his job if PM does not want to listen to him. Last I heard, he sent in his resignation letter. HOW COOL IS THAT? a minister willing to give up whaever for justice. A clap for you Zaid!

But today is not about that. Today is the day where Malaysia is Malaysia, it is call the Malaysia day. It is the day Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaysia and to be honest, how many of us here really thinks Sabah and Sarawak does belong to Malaysia? It is distant by sea but that does not mean we don't visit that state. So go on, Air Asia to Sabah and Sarawak and hug someone. I am glad I actually stayed in Sarawak. It is really different and also visit Sabah...

Go on, pray for Malaysia. The pakatan rakyat is coming. Let's just hope they don't mess up like the BN did. Right?

p/s - Oh by the way, those of you on google, go follow me at the side there >> and check out my dad's travelblog..

Congrats Datuk Lee...

Img via (the star)

I remember when I was young and still schooling, parents bribe you to study (now situation is much different)

Mom: you get straight A's la I buy you something what you want?
Me: I want SEGA
Mom: SEGA?

We all put our hope on Chong Wei on Sunday night for the badminton's final. I did not manage to watch the match but was really disappointed at the result. I had hopes on him to bring hope to Malaysia. Others are saying... 'you know how much pressure or not he facing?' 'then the crowd factor ler' then this then that 'give him some credit lah'

When asked why he only got SILVER, he only say 'Lin Dan is too quick, he has improved so much' of course that is better way of saying 'oh I did not really improve after the Thomas cup so I kinda slow la' To give him credit he did have silver so clap clap for you.

But how to improve Malaysia's scene where people just settle for the 2nd best everytime? I mean, yala I don't win gold I don't get RM1 million. I get silver only la also got RM300,000 plus datukship somemore. Why do we reward him (SO MUCH) when he did not get a gold? Motivation? 2nd best bribe? This is why Malaysian could not improve, sikit sikit kena spoil. Win something get money, win state championship get money.

Of course you can say Cari makan for sportsman, Look at EPL they all are paid by the millions and gazillions. Well, but they PERFORM! For Malaysians, yes money still motivates us, but it is not like we really have this mindset of working hard for it. We are very laid back. We want money but dowan work. If it was me, you give me RM300,000 I will not appear for training until there is a match coming up. What more, I am a Datuk wei.

So in the end it boils down to our culture again. Do we really strive to be the best or are bribes and 2nd best reward gonna keep us down? Do we have the motivation to get gold when we kept getting silver? Given a chance to play against Lin Dan, do we have the courage to not only play but hope for gold? All these are factors on why we cannot improve in sports. Yes.

Needless to say, being a real genius I am, I did only manage to get a single A. And thus end the story of bribe. I never got my SEGA in the end. I did not even get a silver prize of any kind. Not even a clap, but another year long of lecture.

The trouble with Malaysians

In one good article in off the edge magazine Feb issue, there is this article on the trouble with Malaysia is actually an book excerpt from the book New Malaysian Essays 1, is actually a very good read. It is very very relevant. Get the book if you can.

image from Amir's blog

Well there are just too many issues/trouble in there that you have to read a few times to get all. One of the trouble listed there is that we're emphasizing a lot on "multicultural race". We say it like we're the only country with multi culture race and we "lived in harmony" And after 50 years we're still showing off about it. Well yes I am proud that I live in a multicultural place but are we in harmony? Do we see beyond the colour of the skin?

One question I always asked myself... Would I vote for other race than myself? It is a very true situation ok... Yes we have plans to bring down BN, by simply not voting for BN but are we able to accept all candidate regardless of race? That to me is still a huge struggle we are trapped in. RACE!!! Because of lack of unity and more disunity for the past don't know how many years, we shy away and always group with our own race.



A look at the ceramahs I have been to tells a lot of story. I went for 3 DAP ceramahs... Huge turn out from 3k to 6-7k and majority - Chinese. Though there are some Indians and Malays and also multi racial speaker. I also went to PKR's ceramah with good speakers but the crowd was less than a thousand. Although PKR is already a multi racial party with a lot of Chinese and Indians, But because of it used to be a frightening party from 1998 the 'reformasi' era, We still can't get out of the mind trap of It is a Malay Party.

This is what I think the opposition are trying to put together. But a lot of work still need to be done. What would you think if Chinese run for PAS? or Malay run for DAP? what you perceive of them? The government now is trying to use that as a treat claiming that PAS and DAP working together. But can we look beyond that and think of Malaysia? Pas has no longer in pursue of Islamic State FYI.

Like I said in my previous post... BN has done too much damage to the opposition. Every page of the paper is on ANWAR now, speaking of negative stuff on him. DAP and PAS "working secretly" bla bla bla. As I grew up, BN has always been the good guys and the rest are all bad. That's what they instill in people's mind.

I now Have to channel it to something I believe should play a part. As a designer, I know for the very fact that branding is very important. Nothing beats a good brand. See a tick? NIKE... 3 stripes - Adidas. Though the icons are simple it carries meaning.

For once! I am siding BN on their logo. The opposition's logos are too frightening. Unlike the BN which played safe and appeal to all. Well at least I see it that way. Look at PAS for example, it is dark green. Nope it is not a colour that Chinese would normally go for. Look at DAP, the image itself looked like a missile and the colour red suggest that it is violent and yes it is a Chinese color. PKR is on the safe side though the colours are less appealing to me. And PSM a fist suggest well we all know what.

While it is clear that the opposing side's message is clear. WE WILL FIGHT... for justice, for hope... The logo's message is very strong. While BN true to its campaign, PEACE! yes when I see their logo, I see peace. No movement, a boring dacing and yes serenity... While in BN itself you have the rest of the party which all have the same boring peaceful logo.

So what am I trying to say? I think it is time and I think they are already working towards a better racial differences. That is why Barisan Rakyat came up. But that is still very much in the making. Whether or not they can really form a government to me it is still a big question. To a citizen like me. YES I want BN OUT!!! yet at the same time, I don't want to see DAP PKR PAS get in and after they form the government is "Now what?" Well the poster is there but I hope that truly one day they'll fly under the same banner just like BN

I understand that they have common goals now, But there are still some principles that they need to work at. And I think we're moving a long that line. But 1st Malaysia needs to take off our racial mask look beyond the skin. Cancel our pre-conception. For we are many race but share a common blood and our hair turns white when we're old. But this is still a long hopefully not too long to settle our differences.

Yesterday at a ceramah, a regular guy came up to speak. HE is really good. He spoke in chinese, cantonese, english, malay and tamil. And his name is Ah Tong. Yes a Chinese. He is so good in tamil that he is better in tamil than any other language including chinese. That's because he lived in an indian community. Just that simple one man pulled every raced together. That's what we want. everybody agreeing with ONE VISION. ONE PLAN. ONE NATION because we are ANAK BANGSA MALAYSIA!

and oh... remember earlier I talked on how we like showing off we're a multiracial country? well maybe in the 50s-60s it worked. We however forgotten that the world is closer now. Look at places like australia, canada... They have more race that we have in Australia - chinese, italians, australians, croations, indians, aboriginies, honkie, vietnamese. So why are we still so stuck up and promote our country so highly that we're "multiracial" country?

P/S I can't wait for the elections to be over really. Like Cassie, I am sick of banners are growing like weeds everywhere so clogged up. No planning and all... pollution of land. and this is a super long post~~

Stuff you probably did not know

Seems like my blog turns into a politic blog now and a hardcore DAP supporter with banners everywhere. Why not? It is my space...

So why do I care so much and promote so much? My girlfriend calls me obsess. Debbie call me gila Hannah Haha. I think I am just ANTI BN. Whatever else is fine with me. So I am more of a rocket and PKR supporter.

So is my dad and my brother (although he is not voting). I believe very well that I want and I can make a choice to change. People are sick and tired of BN. Although I don't know how the new government will run, or how would opposition be like if they are in power, If I don't like, I can take them off again. Because the power is not the government, the power is us.

So for the stuff you probably did not know...

For a simple issue, Did you know that it is ILLEGAL for office lot churches to put up signboard outside their building like any other shop? Well I don't know about the rest of the area but I know in my area (Subang) it is illegal. That is why our church do not have a signboard up because we can't get permit and are not allow to do so.

For the 2nd issue, this is probably unheard of to many people. You can read the whole story here, published by the sun. For short, the churches in Subang Jaya have to pay RM1,000 yearly for permit to run our church if we're in shop houses which are rented. That means nearly every single church (more than 100 churches) in Subang is affected. And the worst thing is our previous so called "Christian" state assembly MCA man - Lee Hwa Beng said it himself. The only church which is legal in Subang is First Baptist because they have their own land, no need to pay.

And for that very issue, the church have absolutely no idea about it until the objection period is over. So actually this problem have not been resolve as I blogged. That means whoever that is going to church in Subang are actually illegal. So that makes me and my fellow church mates illegal Christians. Woohoo... we can call ourselves underground Christians for once!

Simple? Just pay Rm1,000 settle lor right? nope. if you start paying for permit, means there is a possibility of them having power to threaten you. "If you don't do this and this we will not renew your permit to run the church".

So how? Stephanie talking about me having so many political banners nanti kena ISA. So now we're all in danger for going to church nanti kena ISA lol.

Just how advanced are we?

Recently been bogged down with tons of things to run yet the connection in the office is horrible till I can't stand it and finally cleaned my tank in the office. Just hours of internet shortage can send emails piling up and demanding clients asking where's their goods and service.

Yet in the midst of that, we're also planning a trip to Kota Kinabalu in search of the highest hill in Malaysia (It is the 4th tallest in S.E.A btw) I can't believe that too makes me and my friends stress. That's because the information on it is unbelievably hard to get. And mind you it is one of the most famous tourist attraction to Borneo (besides people wanting to see orang utan) .

The government is of course at fault at this. Before introducing VISIT MALAYSIA please clean up your websites. PLEASE do up your meta tag! buy from google if you have to. A search "Climb mount KK" ends TOURISM MALAYSIA site on the 8th page of google. I usually stops the most at the 2nd page. Yet sites like

www.mountkinabalu.com
www.mount-kinabalu-borneo.com

all taken by travel agents if not individual blog sites with absolutely little knowledge offering you details and plans and stuff like that. Being a Malaysian, we're saying we're advancing in technology but are we? Now that we're advancing, I hate sites that are less than AirAsia, book only reserve online... Do we have that? To get information alone is a mission impossible.

After a lot of research and information reading that comes from mostly BLOGS =.= told me to look at certain direction which I did and took me so horribly long time to only know that I have to book a hotel at the mountain's 'pit stop' so I finally found the website after a long time it is at http://www.suterasanctuarylodges.com.my/

Ok 1stly who the heck came up with that name it is so hard to remember that I have to google it everytime I want to go to that website. 2ndly the name alone don't suggest it has anything to do with mount KK does it? silk+sanctuary+lodge huh? Ok anyway too bad they're handling the pit stop~

Then I went to click on reservation. they ask me email them WAH one week di still no reply. Then finally call them to book for JUNE here's how it roughly went...

Me: Erm hello

Them: hello

Me: Can I make a reservation for LABAN RATA (the pit stop)

Them: For when sir?

Me: 23rd of June

Them: One moment... Only 3 beds left

Me: Don't have other beds?

Them: Only 3

Me: What about nearby dates 22nd and 24th?

Them: All fully booked

... after some long conversation ...

Me: Oh is there any chance we can set up camp outside

Them: (giggles) No sir we don't allow that

Me: Oh ok. Btw... what's the price list is?

Them: ok we sell in package (they now sell in package.. packaging nicer to see right) For 3d2n heated room is RMxxx for non-heated is RMxxx 6 meals. One night you stay at the park (foot hill) one night at Laban rata...

Me: oh... what about 2d1n I only want to book for LABAN RATA night

Them: Oh 2d1n got... but subject to availability

PENG!!!!!! what the heck is I got plenty of 3d2n but 2d1n subject to availability? means if I take 3d2n I sure can get 23rd of June? Is it? I figure that my converstation is enough. So I ended the call. In the end I did not get anything but just simple information that YOU CAN ABSOLUTELY save my money by putting it up online and easy to search!

Btw if you're wondering. It is best you book 7-8 months in advance and avoid raining season JUNE-JULY seems favourite and because we're so developed, we decided to have less accommodation at LABAN RATA only 130 beds all in. So you can imagine. But the bright side is, It won't become overpopulated like Genting.

I've been up to Laban Rata when I was young if I am not wrong. Someone drove me up though.

Culture Confusion

A radio ad goes something like this

"What zit gonna be? The American Way or the Japanese Way?.... .... .... Make this a Malaysian Way!"

Have we lost our culture? Trying to be somebody we're not? YES! The Malays will keep looking at the west for influence from Kurt Cobain rock hairstyle to the recent Jay-Z, Riah-a-a-a-na bling bling / less clothes fashion. The Chinese on the majority hand, prefers to follow Naruto and all this Japan. Just few hours ago, I saw a Chinese dude with super styled up hair like Final Fantasy kind of hair. That is probably an hour wasted daily styling.

Who are we? Where do we come from? Have you have friends that goes overseas and come back with a different accent? And you'll hate it. It's like "dude... don't pretend to be them. You aren't them". Its true, no matter where you're born, or how american your english sounds like, your skin is still the same. Sorry!

Which put me to wonder... Do the westerners in turn envy us asians? And tries to be us? Hmm

Just recently I went into debate with rachel about our friend who gotten a few hours of fame on astro. She absolutely despise astro. Very "song" very "chinaman" if you want to call it. Which I agree. But then again, this is our culture. Being song can be a cool thing. HAH!

I use to dislike Malaysian songs, because they aren't nice. Very cheezy. It is like I don't know how to explain, I listened to many worship songs and seriously non of them clicks. NOT a single one. Maybe I already had this mindset about them. Then, I begin to change my point of view. I began to accept the fact that we're who we are. CHINESE! or MALAYSIANS

That's when I began to be more acceptable to local music (exp mat rock) appreciating bands like popshuvit, one buck shot... etc and who can NOT like Jason Lo's old newspaper song. I feel that song is one of the best local music ever! Immediately it clicked. We've got something no other country has. We got all these cultures that passed by us everyday. We got it! the usage of "LAH" "MEH" "LOR" words that NOT a single guai lo that I've encounter could understand such bizzare manglish & singlish.

That's when I took a turn, listen to more local music though some really bad, but still supporting and maybe one day they'll be good. Hope we can all find our place in this world soon. I hope that it'll be the Malaysian way. I end this post with this song written by Jason and Christine. Adios!

5000 peace sign

Alright this one is long overdue, started but did not complete. So am gonna complete this as the Malaysian Affairs once again hit the land.

This article was posted in last month's newspaper that caught my attention.

"5000 youths sign for peace (no more street demo etc...)"

You can read the news here

While this is a good thing, I can't help to think would they still sign for peace 10, 15 years later. Don't get me wrong. I am not against them, and I am not a person who dislike peace and harmony. But like many of them, I grew up with other races. I studied and even had them as my best friend.

Things started to change once I came to know about politics, racial justice, I can't help to think of the unjust treatment that has been put up and how everything gets swept under the carpet. When we're young we're surrounded with different races, play, drink eat together... but once we grew up things seems to change. We have eaten the fruit of the tree of good and evil. We began to discover more diversity, differences and how different races get different treatments thus, dislikes.

So what about the peace sign? Being a student I am sorry to say, there is nothing special about signing for peace. Your votes don't really count. Of course everyone wants peace. Even I. If I was ever schooling again, I would sign all I want. Why not? it is harmless for me to sign for peace and I always do what my classmates / friends does. Of course again, I am young and don't really give a bit of care to all national related matters.

A deeper look into the paper will send you laughing all the way to the moon. The news is reported from IPOH and the signatures handed over to the minister in Perak. DUDE! Ipoh is like almost 200Km away from where the street demonstration was held. What has this got to do with Ipoh kids? Funny? You decide.

Like I said, truths are being covered up, things are swept under the carpet but not well hidden. Got protest in KL ask Ipoh youths to sign for peace and therefore = Malaysians wants peace. That's erm illogical.

That's is why in a way I respect Datuk Chua for owning up. He dared to say YES for the mistake he has done and bear responsibility to it... Not shove it aside, Hide it, go over many arguments, getting special judge, jury, professionals to "analyze" like the Lingam Tape. Just a simple YES it is me. In a way, your "news" will die off faster and you suffer less shame.

And recently, there is also news of those hundred over NGO who has claim that the silent majority has spoken up against street demos. But of course those silent majorities is you and me and we have not spoken anything against street demo. So where does all these comes from? What's their purpose? promoting peace or disintegrating it?

With that. I end this entry. Good Night

How untechnical are Malaysians

I got my iPod back (new) (again) . Despite the fact that I have to load up the songs all over again. I don't really mind actually. But here's the thing. About the screen burn, I think there is a high chance that I caused it that way.

On one side it might look burnt, on the other it looks as if I press hard against it till it cracked. But no matter, I still don't really know the caused so getting it replaced is good. But Malaysians aren't really smart when it comes to this. They don't really know what's going on. They just look see look see oh ok and replace.

I've got dent marks on the metal plate; had part of the "hold" button chiped off. But they did not ask whether I dropped it or not. NOPE. There are tons of tutorial about how to open up the iPod and get your battery replaced, get your screen replaced; but when I asked them could I get the battery replaced? Their answer was "Nope You got to get a new one"

So that's how I know that my iPod will get replaced again. OHWkay you don't really care do you? ;)

I love my country.

Ok so we all know about the BERSIH rally last weekend that jam the whole KL in a chaos causing the bride to be late and us to be late to church. I not blaming the bersih. Just the cops. But the above headline and picture was from today's papers. When I blog about national news I always end up laughing. That's because they are clowning around.

Those guys are the merchant in KL. They lost a lot business on that BERSIH weekend. Just take and read the words they wrote on the cardbord. Hmmmmmm let's pause for a while. AREN'T THEY what you call that... protesting? I especially like the one "street demo not our culture" and the "say no to street demo" ok dudes...

So I've come up with some photography pics (that will look good on you) and ideas in countering protestants.

1st - Don't take in groups... ever! (take individual shots and have them write your point of view like - mr.chan, 45, "I think we should not street demo...")

2nd - Don't write on cardboardsssssssssss... seriously

3rd and most important - Don't take a photo with the fist in the air... NO! NO! NO!

what would make you Q?

With the 50th independence celebration, Malaysian government sure does know how to spend huge amount of money to promote tourism to Malaysia. One of it is the International Fireworks Competition happening from one day to another.

I went for it twice now, and it is absolutely fantastic, but to get there means you'll be going at 8 pm jam with them, walk a kilometer away and yeap you're there. Not to mention you'd have to jam for an hour plus to get back home.

After the my 1st night "Team Australia" I decided to haul some friend with me for Team Italy. So when we went there some friends complaint "JAM" while others "I DON'T LIKE CROWDS" and yea blalering all the way. But things were different after the show.

It was a crowd puller, Even when you see the same fireworks for a few times. Same patterns same flare, and not to mention jams. But what would make you Q for hours? and hours after that? The chance to see something beautiful? Magnificent? I don't have the answer. But one thing is for sure... It definitely beats us Christians who seems to find more excuse to 'Q' for skipping church, for coming late and for yawning in church.

Shrugs.

We have fireworks in church. Really. You just got to pay more attention.

Follow up on "conned"

To understand what I am talking in this post, go to the label cloud on the right and click on Malaysia. Then you'll see the full picture... but it is a lil mixed up but that's okay right?

I had another reply from Pyramid today.

Dear Mr. Tan,
Your e-mail to our Senior GM, Mr. Chan Hoi Choy refers.
We wish to thank you for highlighting the incident to us. We have investigated the matter and the guard on duty at the time and location mentioned has confessed to cheating you of the RM 30. Our HR Department has already initiated disciplinary action against the staff concerned.
We would like to thank you again for informing us. We want to ensure that we stamp out the bad apples that mar the good customer service delivered by the majority of our personnel.
Our PR Department will be in touch with you shortly. We hope that you will continue to patronize our mall and give us an opportunity to serve you better.

Best Regards,

LAWRENCE TEH
General Manager
Retail Operations
Sunway Pyramid Sdn Bhd

. . . . . . . . . .

For the convenience of you, here is what happen, and here is the letter to the GM

Dear Mr.Chan,

I am writing this matter because I have an unpleasant encounter with the car park security guard on 08-July-2007 roughly around 9p.m at level 2 parking.

What happen was I had paid the parking ticket but I have forgotten to retrieve the parking ticket only realising it when I was nearing the exit. I went back immediately but the ticket was nowhere to be found. I then approach the guards who seems to be very helpful, I did not give a 2nd doubt.

He immediately told me that on weekends the lost ticket are charged at RM60.00 I was taken back. He then convince me to wait in my car while he talk to the car park cashier friend of his and after awhile return with a ticket saying he convinced the cashier that he got it for RM30.00 and sell to me for that price. I was in a hurry and did not give a second thought. However when I am about to exit, I saw the back of the ticket and it was written that lost ticket are charged at RM20.00. But I was already rushing off.

I hope that action will be taken for this matter. I know that it is my mistake in the first place and I am not asking for reimbursement, I just hope action will be taken so that this do not happen anymore in the future and I am sure I am not the 1st victim of this case.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
John Tan

Looks like I might get reimburse probably :P God is good, in times of good or bad. Now shouldn't I be writing another email to the Government of china, about that 2 girls that conned my Nokia 3300? the 1st colour phone which I bought from Charlotte?