Some weeks back, Bill Gates or BillG (dats his e-mail add in MS) decided to leave MS for good, meaning he is leaving the operations of MS for good. He is still part of some of the projects and he will be a part time Chairman and BOD member. However, he is leaving nonetheless. There has been a lot of press out on Bill in de past and he has been labeled a genius by loyalist and anything from the evil one to the anti-Christ by cult people. People who can't compete with him or MS.
I for one mourned his leaving MS for 2 reasons. For those of us who were with MS during the trying years where we competed with everything on the IT market, he was simply inspirational. He refused to let us be berated, lose focus and be de-moralized. For those of us too young to remember or just to IT-phobia, pre-Win95 was scary. MS Office had only 33% market share compared to WordPerfect. Windows NT was only 25% to Novel's NetWare. Exchange was almost non-existent as WordPerfect Mail and Lotus slugged it out. IE was hardly 10% compared to Netscape's huge 90%. SQL Server was another non-entity.
Coming to work was like going to war but Bill and team and all our managers, made it fun, inspirational and most of all, pretty darn fist pumping to see our actions and activities through. To go to battle with someone like Bill and come out not only unscathe and alive but totally victorious and successful is an experience you cannot compare or put in words. This feeling is not shared by everyone in MS. Only those of us who went through those formative years. I contacted by god-brother in Seattle who works for MS at Corp HQ, and he feels the same. Not everyone can share your sentiment. Its like losing your meat pattie when you ordered a Big Mac and you are ready to sink your teeth into some juicy burger when you realize the lose. But seriously, its like losing a limb and losing that inspiration.
The other reason is that anyone worth their salt in IT, can understand that it is an end to an era. He started the PC revolution which really turned things around. He has left us where we can only dream of. The PC era created millions and millions of jobs around the world. It created jobs for those cretins who criticize him and his so called unfair business practices. A genius is never fully appreciated in his time but I think Bill got his fair share. He is now working full time on his philanthropy work ensuring children get the right education and health benefits.
I had my best years in Microsoft which I will never forget and I will take with me. Much of it goes to my co-workers and managers but there will never be another Bill Gates. Goodbye Bill, thanks for the memories, for the era.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Vietnam Pho adventure
Vietnam has been a phenomenon in economic and social standings in recent times...ok maybe economic and political standings........ok....maybe a place where they have factories churning out trinkets and fake stuff@!@#@#
Anyhow, that was what I tot until I visited Ho Chi Minh City for an IBM partner conference. I was quite amazed that a country so ravaged by civil war/Vietnam War has picked itself up and is now producing trinkets and fake stuff. I also found out that many humongous organizations have set ups there to product their stuff like the outsourcers of iPod. Which brings me to the questions of...How do I get a job in Apple? and isn't the word "ravage" used a lot in mills and boons books?
Maybe it was the weight of work while I was there but I didnt really njoy myself very well. The people are just finding ways to fleece you or take as much money from you. Very little is honest and sincere. Cabs agree one price before they take you and another when you arrive. Same with some of the vendors. It was quite disappointing. Maybe i expected it to be more like BAngkok, where it was a lot more honest and friendly.
That is not to say that there wasnt any highlights. I took a little tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels which was super depressing. For someone my size, I had the very real danger of being stuck in the tunnels. You gotta give it to de Viet Congs who lived and fought in the tunnels. After that I went to a war museum which was equally depressing! Wait, this paragraph was supposed to be highlights...ok next paragraph.
The girls were simply gorgeous and sweet. Most can speak fundamental English and are genuinely friendly. Most are also looking for a lover. They are not all after your money as some just want someone to love and love them back. I learned that my looks was a bit unique from 2 waitresses and a hotel door..person. I thought I looked local but they said I looked like a Bollywood Star...well hello Mr Salman Khan. Ok a kinda pudgy and aerodynamic one. So I actually had offers from sales girls, hotel guest and one waitress. I tot they were working girls but they only wanted company...wait a minute...that would make me a gigolo.....
I walked back to the hotel late one night and it was a 10 minute walk. In that time, I was stopped by 6 beautiful, sweet, young things on a motorcycle and was offered a ride "home". I think they are "working" girls but I obviously wasnt interested to find out. So it was a good ego trip for me. The other highlight was that the Ms Universe pageant was held there at the same time and the hotel I stayed in was the sponsor. So I had breakfast with ALL the Ms Universe every morning!!! It was kinda cool but they were generally too tall for me and most came with their mothers. So we just looked, some oogled at them from afar. I am sure they thought I was a Bollywood Star but I was too tired to approach them.
Anyway, the event went well and I had tons of food. Not becoz I was a pig but they servings are just large. One dinner I tell you this is really what we had. We each started with a plate of spring rolls which we rolled ourselves. Then we had a very large (about 8 inches) river prawn followed by a meat crab. Remember this is each of us!! Then they tell us that was the appetizer!! Claypot rice with beef followed with vegetable and then a hot pot with all kinds of seafood (prawns, scallops, crab, clams, etc). Of coz there was dessert you oaf!
Shopping was good, cheap but not always friendly. Coffee was good and I do like the food in general. There really wasnt much to do and I didnt think it was kid friendly. I don't think I will go there again but it did leave me good memories. Sigh...such a drag having to go back to shooting my new film in Delhi.
Anyhow, that was what I tot until I visited Ho Chi Minh City for an IBM partner conference. I was quite amazed that a country so ravaged by civil war/Vietnam War has picked itself up and is now producing trinkets and fake stuff. I also found out that many humongous organizations have set ups there to product their stuff like the outsourcers of iPod. Which brings me to the questions of...How do I get a job in Apple? and isn't the word "ravage" used a lot in mills and boons books?
Maybe it was the weight of work while I was there but I didnt really njoy myself very well. The people are just finding ways to fleece you or take as much money from you. Very little is honest and sincere. Cabs agree one price before they take you and another when you arrive. Same with some of the vendors. It was quite disappointing. Maybe i expected it to be more like BAngkok, where it was a lot more honest and friendly.
That is not to say that there wasnt any highlights. I took a little tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels which was super depressing. For someone my size, I had the very real danger of being stuck in the tunnels. You gotta give it to de Viet Congs who lived and fought in the tunnels. After that I went to a war museum which was equally depressing! Wait, this paragraph was supposed to be highlights...ok next paragraph.
The girls were simply gorgeous and sweet. Most can speak fundamental English and are genuinely friendly. Most are also looking for a lover. They are not all after your money as some just want someone to love and love them back. I learned that my looks was a bit unique from 2 waitresses and a hotel door..person. I thought I looked local but they said I looked like a Bollywood Star...well hello Mr Salman Khan. Ok a kinda pudgy and aerodynamic one. So I actually had offers from sales girls, hotel guest and one waitress. I tot they were working girls but they only wanted company...wait a minute...that would make me a gigolo.....
I walked back to the hotel late one night and it was a 10 minute walk. In that time, I was stopped by 6 beautiful, sweet, young things on a motorcycle and was offered a ride "home". I think they are "working" girls but I obviously wasnt interested to find out. So it was a good ego trip for me. The other highlight was that the Ms Universe pageant was held there at the same time and the hotel I stayed in was the sponsor. So I had breakfast with ALL the Ms Universe every morning!!! It was kinda cool but they were generally too tall for me and most came with their mothers. So we just looked, some oogled at them from afar. I am sure they thought I was a Bollywood Star but I was too tired to approach them.
Anyway, the event went well and I had tons of food. Not becoz I was a pig but they servings are just large. One dinner I tell you this is really what we had. We each started with a plate of spring rolls which we rolled ourselves. Then we had a very large (about 8 inches) river prawn followed by a meat crab. Remember this is each of us!! Then they tell us that was the appetizer!! Claypot rice with beef followed with vegetable and then a hot pot with all kinds of seafood (prawns, scallops, crab, clams, etc). Of coz there was dessert you oaf!
Shopping was good, cheap but not always friendly. Coffee was good and I do like the food in general. There really wasnt much to do and I didnt think it was kid friendly. I don't think I will go there again but it did leave me good memories. Sigh...such a drag having to go back to shooting my new film in Delhi.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Can Bill Gates dance?
This is the burning question that is on everyone's mind. Who cares that million are dying needlessly but can the richest human being on the planet dance? Does he pay others to dance for him? Does he pay people to say he can while he just laze around doing...nerdy stuff! The answer is...no. I worked in Microsoft for almost 10 years and I have had the fantastic pleasure of meeting the King of the Revenge of Nerds. In a nutshell, he is just like a geek. A person that is brilliant, thinks many steps ahead of everyone and is just excited about new stuff. I remember reading the founder of Hotmail who said he was not impressed by Bill (we are on first name basis) in their negotiations. He asked very ordinary questions and seemed very shallow for Bill Gates. Let me tell you, he is like that when he is disinterested or he already knows all that needs to know about the subject.
He can be very impatient and even bad tempered. He speaks in a high pitched school girl voice and can put you to sleep faster that 10 elephant tranquilizers but the guy has presence, character and a lot of respect. So one year during our annual get together, I had the pleasure of being on the dance floor with Bill. Every year we congreagate at a different US city for our annual conference. So you get about 5,000 Microsoft geeks raiding a different city.
That year, we had it in San Francisco which is my favourite city to date. We were at our annual party, partying to Huey Lewis and the News. I was dancing with a new found female friend from Israel when I dance a little too enthusiastically and stepped on someone behind me. I turned and realized that my shoes just stepped on about USD7 billion. I had stepped on Bill Gates' toes.
I stammered heavily and was lost for words for about 30 seconds when my dance partner apologize for us and shook his hand. After cranking my jaw close, I managed a very feeble sorry. He was real cool about it and asked where were from. When I said Malaysia, he asked how was Mahathir (whom he met at de IAP meeting) and a bit about the MSC. We actually then spent the rest of the nite together with his "homey and posse". It was very cool and he had a great sense of humour. I tot he was also very cool for hanging out with his lowly staff from an obscure country like Malaysia.
So no matter what the press or his competitors say about him, Bill Gates is one of the coolest and definitely more approachable persons i know.
He can be very impatient and even bad tempered. He speaks in a high pitched school girl voice and can put you to sleep faster that 10 elephant tranquilizers but the guy has presence, character and a lot of respect. So one year during our annual get together, I had the pleasure of being on the dance floor with Bill. Every year we congreagate at a different US city for our annual conference. So you get about 5,000 Microsoft geeks raiding a different city.
That year, we had it in San Francisco which is my favourite city to date. We were at our annual party, partying to Huey Lewis and the News. I was dancing with a new found female friend from Israel when I dance a little too enthusiastically and stepped on someone behind me. I turned and realized that my shoes just stepped on about USD7 billion. I had stepped on Bill Gates' toes.
I stammered heavily and was lost for words for about 30 seconds when my dance partner apologize for us and shook his hand. After cranking my jaw close, I managed a very feeble sorry. He was real cool about it and asked where were from. When I said Malaysia, he asked how was Mahathir (whom he met at de IAP meeting) and a bit about the MSC. We actually then spent the rest of the nite together with his "homey and posse". It was very cool and he had a great sense of humour. I tot he was also very cool for hanging out with his lowly staff from an obscure country like Malaysia.
So no matter what the press or his competitors say about him, Bill Gates is one of the coolest and definitely more approachable persons i know.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Funny Friends
These are friends who just come along, dumb as a lamp post but just can't help but brightens your day. I have a collection of stories of friends who have just killed me through the years. Here are some of my favs:-
1) My friends grandma who doesn't speak a word of English decides to visit her while she was studying in the UK. At the airport she accidentally walks into the strip search lane. So picture this white haired "ah-soh" that you see at the market, in he floral blouse, pants being groped by female officers. She apparently rushed out screaming!
2) Same grandma goes to the butcher and wanted to buy pig's brain. Accordingly to old wives tale, pig's brain is supposed to cure low blood pressure. I personally think that those old wives didn't have much to do and just wanted to see how dumb asses will believe it and actually go through with it. Anyway, coming back to our globe trotting single language speaking 70 year old. She proceed to tell the English butcher in Chinese that she wants pig brains. Surprisingly the Caucasian buthcher didn't understand her. So she pointed at the picture of the pig and pointed at her head to indicate brain. The butcher, who must have been a charade champion smiled and told her to come back the next day by pointing at the calendar. Grandma comes the next day to see the biggest pig head waiting for her.
3) Once a colleague was sitting at the steps of Menara Amcorp depressed. She had parked her car in the open space and how couldn't find it. Now, this character is not exactly the sharpest tool in the tool box. So i asked if she may have parked in the building and forgot about it. You may ask how is it that she can forget such a thing but she is kinda few cards short of a deck...if you know what i mean. So i took her going up AND down 4 parking floors and still couldnt find her car. So i left her at the steps and decided to keep her company while she waits for her husband to pick her. She was already talking about what car to buy, what colour, repayment amount, etc when she reaches into her handbag and finds a KLCC parking ticket. Staring at it, she remembers that she drove to KLCC and forgeting that she drove, she took the LRT back to Amcorp. I can laugh about it now but i was quite homicidal then and I was pretty sure any judge or jury would have acquitted me.
4) A klutzy but brilliant classmate in secondary school who use to eat with his chopsticks upside down for many years before we pointed it out to him. He always tot that he pieces keep falling off his chopstick is becoz he can't manage it very well. Same lovable guy who one day during our puberty years was sitting in a conversation where we asked our girl classmates on the method of using Tampax. We could understand the normal sanitary napkin but how the heck did the Tampax work? He very innocently said, "You just take a hammer and whack it in". While we weren't sure how it worked, we were pretty sure that was not it. Our girls were just horrified. WE later found out he thought we were talking about tent peg and asked how to put it into the ground to build a tent.
5) A colleague once took out her mobile phone and complained that it didn't work and wasn't sure if it was the network or the DAMN phone!! We later found out it was her home cordless phone.
6) Another colleague's mom, once hailed a taxi at Sg Wang. When it didnt stop, she chased after it and hit the back of the car with her umbrella. The taxi stopped and 2 men stepped out to see what the commotion was about. My colleague got a call from the police saying his mother was lost. His mom had hailed a police car thinking it was a cab.
1) My friends grandma who doesn't speak a word of English decides to visit her while she was studying in the UK. At the airport she accidentally walks into the strip search lane. So picture this white haired "ah-soh" that you see at the market, in he floral blouse, pants being groped by female officers. She apparently rushed out screaming!
2) Same grandma goes to the butcher and wanted to buy pig's brain. Accordingly to old wives tale, pig's brain is supposed to cure low blood pressure. I personally think that those old wives didn't have much to do and just wanted to see how dumb asses will believe it and actually go through with it. Anyway, coming back to our globe trotting single language speaking 70 year old. She proceed to tell the English butcher in Chinese that she wants pig brains. Surprisingly the Caucasian buthcher didn't understand her. So she pointed at the picture of the pig and pointed at her head to indicate brain. The butcher, who must have been a charade champion smiled and told her to come back the next day by pointing at the calendar. Grandma comes the next day to see the biggest pig head waiting for her.
3) Once a colleague was sitting at the steps of Menara Amcorp depressed. She had parked her car in the open space and how couldn't find it. Now, this character is not exactly the sharpest tool in the tool box. So i asked if she may have parked in the building and forgot about it. You may ask how is it that she can forget such a thing but she is kinda few cards short of a deck...if you know what i mean. So i took her going up AND down 4 parking floors and still couldnt find her car. So i left her at the steps and decided to keep her company while she waits for her husband to pick her. She was already talking about what car to buy, what colour, repayment amount, etc when she reaches into her handbag and finds a KLCC parking ticket. Staring at it, she remembers that she drove to KLCC and forgeting that she drove, she took the LRT back to Amcorp. I can laugh about it now but i was quite homicidal then and I was pretty sure any judge or jury would have acquitted me.
4) A klutzy but brilliant classmate in secondary school who use to eat with his chopsticks upside down for many years before we pointed it out to him. He always tot that he pieces keep falling off his chopstick is becoz he can't manage it very well. Same lovable guy who one day during our puberty years was sitting in a conversation where we asked our girl classmates on the method of using Tampax. We could understand the normal sanitary napkin but how the heck did the Tampax work? He very innocently said, "You just take a hammer and whack it in". While we weren't sure how it worked, we were pretty sure that was not it. Our girls were just horrified. WE later found out he thought we were talking about tent peg and asked how to put it into the ground to build a tent.
5) A colleague once took out her mobile phone and complained that it didn't work and wasn't sure if it was the network or the DAMN phone!! We later found out it was her home cordless phone.
6) Another colleague's mom, once hailed a taxi at Sg Wang. When it didnt stop, she chased after it and hit the back of the car with her umbrella. The taxi stopped and 2 men stepped out to see what the commotion was about. My colleague got a call from the police saying his mother was lost. His mom had hailed a police car thinking it was a cab.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Urban trash - You suck!
There are times when you wonder if people are just born without the ability of being civil and nice to your fellow human beings. It's like when God was handing out caring and thoughtful genes around, these people were pulling the wings out of flies or tying firecrackers to the tails of lizards. Either that or their genes were just mutated by to the point they don't feel human suffering or has the ability to be connect to those around them. Hitler and Satan worshippers have the same genes. Some of the things these people do, just wanna make you push them down a razor blade and forcing them to use their testicles as brakes.
Some things that piss me off:-
1) If you feel that by blowing up innocent people and children is a justified mean to tell the world your plight - YOU SUCK!!!
2) If after doing that, you feel the need to misinterpret and hide behind religion - YOU SUCK and deserve to be grilled with Swiss cheese over a slow burning fire in HELL! 71 dark haired virgins may ass!
3) If you feel the need to kidnap children and torture and kill them - Oh Boy! Have they got a place for you down south!!! You can take the Hell Express, no need to wait in line. All aboard!
4) If you don't hold doors for people behind you - YOU SUCK!
5) If you don't hold the elevator door for people trying to come in - YOU SUCK! You deserved to be peed on if the door slams on the person coming in.
6) If you don't give up your seat for a deserving person - YOU SUCK!
7) If you don't give way to pedestrians crossing - YOU SUCK!
8) If you don't say thanks to the cars giving way to you as a pedestrian - YOU SUCK!
9) If you smoke in a non-smoking area - YOU SUCK!
10) If your smoking irritates others and you don't care - Boy do YOU REALLY SUCK!
11) If you finish a meal and take your time leaving while others are waiting for your table - YOU SUCK!!!
12) If you don't say "Thank You", "Your Welcome", "Please" - YOU SUCK!
13) If your kids don't say it - YOU SUCK BIG TIME!
14) If you see that your kids don't say it and you don't do anything about it - YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE DISEASED CAMEL VOMIT!
15) If you are a racist - YOU NEED TO STICK A HOT COW POKE UP YOUR RECTUM!
16) If you are in the service industry and you don't take the trouble to please your customers - YOU SUCK!
17) If you are deliberately being rude to a service person - YOU ARE AN ARROGANT SON OF A BITCH!
18) If you don't mean what you say - YOU SUCK!
19) If you speak loudly on the phone in public places - YOU SUCK!
20) If you are cut queue - YOU SUCK!
21) If you waste water or electricity - YOU SUCK!
22) If a car follows you because they need your space and you don't tell them where is your space or deliberately lead them on - YOU SUCK!!
23) If you don't wait for people to leave an elevator car before you barge in - YOU SUCK!
I think it is important that we are very aware of our surrounding, of the people around us and how our actions affect people. If we all did a small part, I think life will be very bearable. Gotta go hug someone now.
Some things that piss me off:-
1) If you feel that by blowing up innocent people and children is a justified mean to tell the world your plight - YOU SUCK!!!
2) If after doing that, you feel the need to misinterpret and hide behind religion - YOU SUCK and deserve to be grilled with Swiss cheese over a slow burning fire in HELL! 71 dark haired virgins may ass!
3) If you feel the need to kidnap children and torture and kill them - Oh Boy! Have they got a place for you down south!!! You can take the Hell Express, no need to wait in line. All aboard!
4) If you don't hold doors for people behind you - YOU SUCK!
5) If you don't hold the elevator door for people trying to come in - YOU SUCK! You deserved to be peed on if the door slams on the person coming in.
6) If you don't give up your seat for a deserving person - YOU SUCK!
7) If you don't give way to pedestrians crossing - YOU SUCK!
8) If you don't say thanks to the cars giving way to you as a pedestrian - YOU SUCK!
9) If you smoke in a non-smoking area - YOU SUCK!
10) If your smoking irritates others and you don't care - Boy do YOU REALLY SUCK!
11) If you finish a meal and take your time leaving while others are waiting for your table - YOU SUCK!!!
12) If you don't say "Thank You", "Your Welcome", "Please" - YOU SUCK!
13) If your kids don't say it - YOU SUCK BIG TIME!
14) If you see that your kids don't say it and you don't do anything about it - YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE DISEASED CAMEL VOMIT!
15) If you are a racist - YOU NEED TO STICK A HOT COW POKE UP YOUR RECTUM!
16) If you are in the service industry and you don't take the trouble to please your customers - YOU SUCK!
17) If you are deliberately being rude to a service person - YOU ARE AN ARROGANT SON OF A BITCH!
18) If you don't mean what you say - YOU SUCK!
19) If you speak loudly on the phone in public places - YOU SUCK!
20) If you are cut queue - YOU SUCK!
21) If you waste water or electricity - YOU SUCK!
22) If a car follows you because they need your space and you don't tell them where is your space or deliberately lead them on - YOU SUCK!!
23) If you don't wait for people to leave an elevator car before you barge in - YOU SUCK!
I think it is important that we are very aware of our surrounding, of the people around us and how our actions affect people. If we all did a small part, I think life will be very bearable. Gotta go hug someone now.
A crappy Krabi!
This weekend was my first outing with my new colleagues. I have recently joined a new IT company whom I am proud to say is a GIANT! I hope they are proud to have me....ok we got the necessary polishing out of the way.
Anyway, forging a good rapport with your colleagues is ALWAYS a very important agenda in anyone's career. Some may see it as shoe shining or ass-kissing, some may see it as selling out your principles and some may even see it as an act of cowardice and selling out to the establishment. Me? I just want to get along and do my job. Anyway, being the shy person that I am (yeah right!), I was invited to the team's outing in my 2nd week on the job. I was honoured and of course very self conscious. Will I fit it? Will they like me? Will they understand my humour? Will I snore too loudly? It was decided we will go to Krabi which is a new beach resort in Southern Thailand. Krabi is about 2 hours ferry ride from Phuket. I have never been there, so I said ok.
We took the single flight was KL to Krabi via Air Asia. I was expecting the worst whenever I fly Air Asia as I don't always have good incidents with these guys. At best, I will not have any incidents. At worst, I have to wait 6 hours to take the next flight because my flight was canceled, yes canceled!! Not delayed but canceled. Thanks goodness this trip was uneventful which is good for Air Asia.
The 9 of us piled into a very comfortable van and we were taken sight seeing along Krabi new town, old town town and Ao Nang (where our hotel was). The sights were extremely fascinating as the first it struck us that Krabi was exactly.....like any blinkin' beach resort in Thailand. It looked like a mini Phuket or Pattaya. It even looked like Sitiawan or Kajang. Take your pick. Difference was, the food in Sitiawan or Kajang was excellent and food really sucked in Krabi.
We ordered some 8 dishes for lunch but it wasn't enough as the Thais have only one size for every dish, which is starving midget size! Every serving was enough to feed a hummingbird. The only good thing about the serving size is that it tasted bad so that we didnt have to eat too much of it. But lunch is lunch and we were hungry. I think the closer you get to the sea, the worst the food gets.
Thanks goodness the hotel was actually quite beautiful. It was clean, new and very well decorated. Surprisingly we had Astro. Didnt quite understand that. Our hotel was called Krabi Thai Village and it is definitely worth a visit. Only problem was, it was located about 15 minute walk from Ao Nang town. So walking in and out wasnt very appealing and we did a really cool thing. My colleague Deric suggested we rent motorbikes at just TBH200 a day (I dont know what the Thai Bhat symbol is but in this blog it is TBH). For this city slicker who went everywhere in a bus and then in cars, the motorbikes was a superb experience. I can now appreciate and understand the novelty of all those bikers going around for long trips (not those idiotic Mat Rempits) with not a care in the world and only the road to guide and rule you.
For 2 days we went everywhere in our bikes. The town like I said was like any beach resort in Thailand but much milder on the "girly" stuff. Krabi has it fair share of pizza, steak, burger restaurants. It has its knock-off merchandize stalls, massage parlours, ATM currency exchange and convenience store. The one thing that was hard to find was a Thai restaurant or a Thai hawker. The bars had the gwai-los and Thai "working girls" but at least they didnt come out into the streets to grab you like they do in Phuket, Bangkok or Pattaya. When I was in Pattaya with my cousins, the 2 guys were walking back to our hotel with 5 kids after leaving our wives shopping and we were almost dragged to come in despite the kids. Surprisingly they have a small play area for the kids and a BIG play area for the daddies. We politely declined (really we did. I dont know about my cousin but pushy women scare me). Anyway they didnt do so in Krabi. If anything I saw a lot of couples. Young and old, holding hands and just not caring about anything.
Krabi does give you that feeling of relaxation and not having a care in the world. We were rushing a bit since we wanted to go for our massage and shopping. We managed to do all that. We even chartered a boat to take us out to the islands to do a bit of snorkeling. We were taken to 3 snorkeling spots. Shallow waters, not so shallow and deep waters. They all looked the same. The same fishes, same corals, same tourist. There were these small yellow fishes who will come in schools to eat whatever you throw at them. Since we will be throwing bread and shit at them, I think they have lost the ability to find food for themselves. However, whenever I am snorkeling I avoid them like the plague. From under the sea it looks like a scene from the 70s movie Piranhas coming at you but instead of a meaty threat it is a piece of bread, banana or someone's shoe.
We were thrown in a hearty lunch which taste like prison food at the famed Phi Phi Island. The sauce was watery, the gravy was watery and the whole experience was repetitive and boring. Phi Phi Island was actually a good place to get complacent and lazy. Nothing to do but just lie by the beach under a shade and go to sleep until dinner time or until the bugs have sucked your blood dry. I thought this was money very poorly spent and the only saving grace was the company of my colleagues and now friends. They made it not just bearable but very enjoyable.
As we were coming back, we were already planning our next trip and it these guys stay my friends, no matter how long I stay at my new company, I know I will definitely enjoy myself. Also I am going shopping for a bike tomorrow.
Anyway, forging a good rapport with your colleagues is ALWAYS a very important agenda in anyone's career. Some may see it as shoe shining or ass-kissing, some may see it as selling out your principles and some may even see it as an act of cowardice and selling out to the establishment. Me? I just want to get along and do my job. Anyway, being the shy person that I am (yeah right!), I was invited to the team's outing in my 2nd week on the job. I was honoured and of course very self conscious. Will I fit it? Will they like me? Will they understand my humour? Will I snore too loudly? It was decided we will go to Krabi which is a new beach resort in Southern Thailand. Krabi is about 2 hours ferry ride from Phuket. I have never been there, so I said ok.
We took the single flight was KL to Krabi via Air Asia. I was expecting the worst whenever I fly Air Asia as I don't always have good incidents with these guys. At best, I will not have any incidents. At worst, I have to wait 6 hours to take the next flight because my flight was canceled, yes canceled!! Not delayed but canceled. Thanks goodness this trip was uneventful which is good for Air Asia.
The 9 of us piled into a very comfortable van and we were taken sight seeing along Krabi new town, old town town and Ao Nang (where our hotel was). The sights were extremely fascinating as the first it struck us that Krabi was exactly.....like any blinkin' beach resort in Thailand. It looked like a mini Phuket or Pattaya. It even looked like Sitiawan or Kajang. Take your pick. Difference was, the food in Sitiawan or Kajang was excellent and food really sucked in Krabi.
We ordered some 8 dishes for lunch but it wasn't enough as the Thais have only one size for every dish, which is starving midget size! Every serving was enough to feed a hummingbird. The only good thing about the serving size is that it tasted bad so that we didnt have to eat too much of it. But lunch is lunch and we were hungry. I think the closer you get to the sea, the worst the food gets.
Thanks goodness the hotel was actually quite beautiful. It was clean, new and very well decorated. Surprisingly we had Astro. Didnt quite understand that. Our hotel was called Krabi Thai Village and it is definitely worth a visit. Only problem was, it was located about 15 minute walk from Ao Nang town. So walking in and out wasnt very appealing and we did a really cool thing. My colleague Deric suggested we rent motorbikes at just TBH200 a day (I dont know what the Thai Bhat symbol is but in this blog it is TBH). For this city slicker who went everywhere in a bus and then in cars, the motorbikes was a superb experience. I can now appreciate and understand the novelty of all those bikers going around for long trips (not those idiotic Mat Rempits) with not a care in the world and only the road to guide and rule you.
For 2 days we went everywhere in our bikes. The town like I said was like any beach resort in Thailand but much milder on the "girly" stuff. Krabi has it fair share of pizza, steak, burger restaurants. It has its knock-off merchandize stalls, massage parlours, ATM currency exchange and convenience store. The one thing that was hard to find was a Thai restaurant or a Thai hawker. The bars had the gwai-los and Thai "working girls" but at least they didnt come out into the streets to grab you like they do in Phuket, Bangkok or Pattaya. When I was in Pattaya with my cousins, the 2 guys were walking back to our hotel with 5 kids after leaving our wives shopping and we were almost dragged to come in despite the kids. Surprisingly they have a small play area for the kids and a BIG play area for the daddies. We politely declined (really we did. I dont know about my cousin but pushy women scare me). Anyway they didnt do so in Krabi. If anything I saw a lot of couples. Young and old, holding hands and just not caring about anything.
Krabi does give you that feeling of relaxation and not having a care in the world. We were rushing a bit since we wanted to go for our massage and shopping. We managed to do all that. We even chartered a boat to take us out to the islands to do a bit of snorkeling. We were taken to 3 snorkeling spots. Shallow waters, not so shallow and deep waters. They all looked the same. The same fishes, same corals, same tourist. There were these small yellow fishes who will come in schools to eat whatever you throw at them. Since we will be throwing bread and shit at them, I think they have lost the ability to find food for themselves. However, whenever I am snorkeling I avoid them like the plague. From under the sea it looks like a scene from the 70s movie Piranhas coming at you but instead of a meaty threat it is a piece of bread, banana or someone's shoe.
We were thrown in a hearty lunch which taste like prison food at the famed Phi Phi Island. The sauce was watery, the gravy was watery and the whole experience was repetitive and boring. Phi Phi Island was actually a good place to get complacent and lazy. Nothing to do but just lie by the beach under a shade and go to sleep until dinner time or until the bugs have sucked your blood dry. I thought this was money very poorly spent and the only saving grace was the company of my colleagues and now friends. They made it not just bearable but very enjoyable.
As we were coming back, we were already planning our next trip and it these guys stay my friends, no matter how long I stay at my new company, I know I will definitely enjoy myself. Also I am going shopping for a bike tomorrow.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
We need to climb trees
Every once in a while somthing in life has a knack of pulling us back to our sub-conscious comfort zone and we won't know about it until we experienced it or when we are smack in the middle of it. We may even feel real upset about doing it. The mere thought of it will drive you the blood pressure high enough to pop any vein in your skull. You will toss and turn, every sense in your body tingling ending up with you going to the toilet every 45 seconds until u have nothing to pass but wind. But when you are there, you just can't help realizing that you enjoyed it before so much that it is actually a part of you that you either forgot or stopped entertaining. Does that make sense?
Such an event happened some time early last year. Our families were invited to an outing at a waterfall somewhere called Sungai Ruan, near Raub. So with my family from Kuantan and Singapore, set out to this waterfall so magical that we had to drive out of state to see. I guess nearer falls like in Templer's Park were too unadventurous. So here i was dreading the thought of going back to nature or sleeping without air-conditioning, like i was born in an air-conditioned womb...though for the foetus it probably felt that way, or going to a place where there were no running water, so you have to wipe your butt cheeks with makeshift leaves or even (heaven forbid) we go somewhere without cable TV!! I couldnt sleep all night, cursing myself for agreeing to this trip to purgatory. so i tossed n turned n went to the bathroom about 2.3 million times.
Morning came, we saddled up and headed out to an uneventful journey. We reached Raub in time for breakfast and met with our 4x4 tour guide....hmmm....getting dodgy here. We were taken to our bungalow and it was a huge 1-storey bungalow with about 7 rooms, a kitchen, couple of baths and cable TV!!! Yeahhhh!!! things were looking up. We then realized that this trip needs to be done in a 4x4 as the terrain and path (yes path, not road) is very rough. I was very perked up when I heard about it, i dunno if it as my macho instinct acting up on the 4x4 thing or just residue of the joy from seeing the availability of running water and cable TV.
We waited until mid morning, changed to our mountain gear (for me it means wearing underwear. You dont want leaches getting in there easily. Dont say I didnt warn you) and chose our 4x4 vehicle. There were about 18 of us including our kids. I chose the longer truck and off we went. It was a good drive and we looked like labourers being herded to the rubber plantation or something. The drive up was really cool, filled with 2 very manly adventures. First the bridge we were supposed to take was washed away by the rain (by the way it was pouring during our drive up. How cool!!! Long time since I stayed out in the rain), so we had to plough through the raging river. It was only tire deep but us city slickers thought it was cool and manly. Like those old beer and cigarette commercials from the time we could have those on TV. Do something manly (sometimes read stoopid), drink a beer (Why do you think you are doing something stupid...DUH!).
We then came to a land slide where the road was blocked by a mountain of mud. The trucks had to scaled a 10 feet 35 degrees slope of mud to continue. The shorter truck crossed it with minimal fuss. We at the longer truck were cheering and taking photos while bumping around like beans in a boy-jumping-pogo-stick's pocket. Thank God for modern cameras. When it came to our turn, our truck got stuck right at the summit of this slope, refusing to slide down the to other side. It was too long. We had to pull the winch from the other truck and then get it to pull our truck. So the drivers got down and started doing their thing, while us city slickers continued to take pictures and feeling really cool we were in this predicament. the passengers of the other truck were so jealous of us...HAHA...too bad!! Nyeah, Nyeah.
So the pulling and tying of the winch was being done by our guides while wishing they could just roll all of us over the cliff. When done, we were still posing and having fun while the guides saw the cliffs as more and more inviting. Finally we got down, sliding and tumbling, getting mud on us all. The winch pulled our truck free! Hurray!! WE got on and came to the waterfall slightly after lunch. The water was superb, the scenery serene and the lunch really, really horrible. We gobbled it and sat around contented. All then jumped into the fall and I immediately jumped out coz the water was about 10 degrees after the rain. Me and the kids got in again and i was showing them all kinds of stuff. It was then i realized that my city kids have not seen a lot of nature and it was also the time that they saw dear old dad as pretty knowledgeable. I gotta enjoy it while it last coz when they hit teens.....
We stayed a while and had the same exciting trip down. Thoroughly exhausted and leach inhabited we reached our bungalow to shower. We were then invited to the orchard behind the bungalow, which we didnt notice when we came. It wasnt big but it had a small stream, a pond, a wooden bridge and lots of trees. RAmbutan, mangosteen, langsat, cocoa and mangoes. My kids came to me and ask if they could climb trees. I felt so embarrassed as I realized that my son aged 10 had not climbed a tree before. When they did, my wife was very protective but kids being kids, they took to it instinctively. Even my then 6 year old girl. I remembered my first tree climbing and I know what joy it was...if you didnt stumble on a nest of red ants.
It was also that time I realized that I was having a WHALE of a time and was stumped. I sat by the stream and recognized that part of the reason was because this reminded me of my roots. I was born in a poor family and we had trees and streams all around us to keep us company. None of that XBox or game boys to entertain us then. I am glad I made that trip and it gave me time to come back to myself and gave my children a little appreciation of nature and stealing others' fruits.
I think from time to time, no matter where we are or how old we are, we should take the time to climb trees....but make sure you have your underwear on.
Friday, April 18, 2008
I can order Chinese food - Vote for me!
Being an Indian was quite exciting and wierd to say the least, the last 18 months. We were always marginalized, like how they refer to us as "kelings"(even "mamak" is considered deragatory), how we are always the last to get picked for anything (govt funds, school activities, astronaut program but first in line for LLN and plantation jobs....no wonder we drink!), how those poor Indians who can't speak Chinese are always ordering the same dishes in Chinese restaurants. You know what I mean. You walk into a Chinese restaurant and if you see an Indian family sitting down to dinner, they will ALWAYS have the sames dishes....Fried Rice, Egg Foo-Yong and Sweet Sour Pork. They may get lucky and order something good once in a while. I know I am generalizing but I don't care. It's the same Indian folks who eat soupy noodles with a fork!!! Now you Chinese don't get too cocky. You are the same bunch of goobers who eat banana leaf rice or roti canai with fork n spoon! After 50 fricking years, we still can't get the damn thing right. Though I must say, more of the younger generation are getting more assimilated. Good for you! I know the chopstick is a funny invention but learn it man....its fun #$%&^
Anyway, despite some of the crazy things that are happening, we did get some excitement too. For one thing, the Hindraf guys got Thaipusam as a holiday for the folks working in KL. All dat hullabaloo also got Samy booted out. Which makes me wonder that we may actually have a good chance of getting the USD1Mil that Hindraf are suing the British Govt on behalf of every Indian. I ain't gonna repeat the story, read my earlier blog. Which brings me to my point and that is, the Indian community needs a leader. A leader with real hair, not just planted ones.
There isn't one right now and it seems that we have placed our hopes on the opposition (PR) to do it for us. The good news is that PR is advocating for a unified Malaysia regardless of race. The bad news is, will it ever come to fruition? Everyone seems to be pining their hopes on Anwar or his wife as the next Prime Minister to get this going. Let's face it, Anwar was the result of the old UMNO system and he was the one who started all these corruption shit! Don't forget he did applaud the courts decision on Lina Joy. PKR who initially attacked the govt policy deemed to marginalize Mandarin n Tamil schools, did not say anything about in their election manifesto.
So I think it is time I throw my hat into the ring, which brings me to rethink that statement....Malaysians don't wear hats. So, I nominate myself to be the leader of the Indian community. Indians, stand up and vote for a change in the status quo. You don't need a leader who is a politician or speaks the language or a rich person or even a person who is famous. You need a leader who cares, who understands the issues and who is on the ground (especially after a night of partying). I am all that and more. I will pin for more Indian movies in the cinema, movies where you can get shot in one city and die all the way to another...singing a few songs on the way. I will not forget the thunder, lightning and rain to accompany the dying hero. I will call for an abolishment of calling us Keling or Mamak. We will known as Mocha Choco. That's Choco (CHALK-co) not Coco. Coco is a name of pet, you ignorant ingrate.
But most of all, and I will use this value to the fullest, I can order EXCELLENT Chinese food!
Anyway, despite some of the crazy things that are happening, we did get some excitement too. For one thing, the Hindraf guys got Thaipusam as a holiday for the folks working in KL. All dat hullabaloo also got Samy booted out. Which makes me wonder that we may actually have a good chance of getting the USD1Mil that Hindraf are suing the British Govt on behalf of every Indian. I ain't gonna repeat the story, read my earlier blog. Which brings me to my point and that is, the Indian community needs a leader. A leader with real hair, not just planted ones.
There isn't one right now and it seems that we have placed our hopes on the opposition (PR) to do it for us. The good news is that PR is advocating for a unified Malaysia regardless of race. The bad news is, will it ever come to fruition? Everyone seems to be pining their hopes on Anwar or his wife as the next Prime Minister to get this going. Let's face it, Anwar was the result of the old UMNO system and he was the one who started all these corruption shit! Don't forget he did applaud the courts decision on Lina Joy. PKR who initially attacked the govt policy deemed to marginalize Mandarin n Tamil schools, did not say anything about in their election manifesto.
So I think it is time I throw my hat into the ring, which brings me to rethink that statement....Malaysians don't wear hats. So, I nominate myself to be the leader of the Indian community. Indians, stand up and vote for a change in the status quo. You don't need a leader who is a politician or speaks the language or a rich person or even a person who is famous. You need a leader who cares, who understands the issues and who is on the ground (especially after a night of partying). I am all that and more. I will pin for more Indian movies in the cinema, movies where you can get shot in one city and die all the way to another...singing a few songs on the way. I will not forget the thunder, lightning and rain to accompany the dying hero. I will call for an abolishment of calling us Keling or Mamak. We will known as Mocha Choco. That's Choco (CHALK-co) not Coco. Coco is a name of pet, you ignorant ingrate.
But most of all, and I will use this value to the fullest, I can order EXCELLENT Chinese food!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Wild Stretch - The art of butchering and commerce
Easter has come and gone and I am still very much in the spirit of the most religous time of christendom. Some may think it is Christmas but with Christ dying on the cross and rising, only do we see the true birth of Christianity. Without it, Christ is just another prophet like Moses, Elijah or Daniel. Anyway, I am not going to talk about Christianity in that context. In the spirit of Easter, I just appaled and of coz super surprised as to how some things have come about.
For example, we have the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion and his rising to heaven on the 3rd day. How in all things pure did we arrive at chocolate coloured eggs and easter bunny??? What is the co-relation??? The internet list the reason as the early church using pagan celebrations of fertility to accelerate the assimilation and acceptance of Christianity. I can understand that since all rabbits do is..welll...u know. And the egg is a another sign of re-production. Thank goodness nobody thought to the placenta! Dat would be fun eh? "Come on kisd, let's all go look for the Easter-assimilated-pagan-symbol-of-reproduction, the placenta.". "I found it!! It's this brown looking...EEEAAARRGGHHH!!!".
But how long ago was this shit??? Some 800-900 years ago?? Someone must have come to their senses by now? Since is a pagan thing from Roman, Saxon and Celtic times, how come only the US seems to be flourishing in it? I think there is some sort of similar celebration in England but it is mainly in the US (the Brits are wierd anyway...they are the ones who created a new religion so that their King can satisfy his lust for women in the name of finding a heir). So much so that sometimes churches in Malaysia will organize something similar as children's activities during Easter Sundays. Isn't that a wild stretch? Rabbits, eggs and crucifixion of Jesus?
Even kids are going "Rabbits don't lay or eat or are even remotely interested in eggs!!". I am also quite pissed at the using of Xmas trees and Santa to represent Chrismas, the birth of Christ. Unfortunately I am also taken in by de Xmas tress thing where I will religiously put it up during Xmas and not taking down the next year, when it is time to put it up again. It gives some sort of ambience and happiness but make no mistake...I m pissed about it.
So people, I strongly urge you to stop all these practices of using pagan symbols in the internet age where information is readily available to the masses on how things should rightly be. Stop wasting your money buying Santa suits, trees, rabbits, eggs, etc. Start doing something for the poor and unfortunate, which is what Easter and Christmas is about. Save up your cash and send them to me....the poor Chindian that is lost in all this cultural confusion and I will save you some chocolate eggs and rabbit meat.
For example, we have the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion and his rising to heaven on the 3rd day. How in all things pure did we arrive at chocolate coloured eggs and easter bunny??? What is the co-relation??? The internet list the reason as the early church using pagan celebrations of fertility to accelerate the assimilation and acceptance of Christianity. I can understand that since all rabbits do is..welll...u know. And the egg is a another sign of re-production. Thank goodness nobody thought to the placenta! Dat would be fun eh? "Come on kisd, let's all go look for the Easter-assimilated-pagan-symbol-of-reproduction, the placenta.". "I found it!! It's this brown looking...EEEAAARRGGHHH!!!".
But how long ago was this shit??? Some 800-900 years ago?? Someone must have come to their senses by now? Since is a pagan thing from Roman, Saxon and Celtic times, how come only the US seems to be flourishing in it? I think there is some sort of similar celebration in England but it is mainly in the US (the Brits are wierd anyway...they are the ones who created a new religion so that their King can satisfy his lust for women in the name of finding a heir). So much so that sometimes churches in Malaysia will organize something similar as children's activities during Easter Sundays. Isn't that a wild stretch? Rabbits, eggs and crucifixion of Jesus?
Even kids are going "Rabbits don't lay or eat or are even remotely interested in eggs!!". I am also quite pissed at the using of Xmas trees and Santa to represent Chrismas, the birth of Christ. Unfortunately I am also taken in by de Xmas tress thing where I will religiously put it up during Xmas and not taking down the next year, when it is time to put it up again. It gives some sort of ambience and happiness but make no mistake...I m pissed about it.
So people, I strongly urge you to stop all these practices of using pagan symbols in the internet age where information is readily available to the masses on how things should rightly be. Stop wasting your money buying Santa suits, trees, rabbits, eggs, etc. Start doing something for the poor and unfortunate, which is what Easter and Christmas is about. Save up your cash and send them to me....the poor Chindian that is lost in all this cultural confusion and I will save you some chocolate eggs and rabbit meat.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The elections...what can I say?
i know it has been ages since I wrote and definitely too long since our general election. what can i say!! Whatever happens, we are at the threshold of our country's history as the situation we have is not something we have experienced before. I bet the oppositions are going still dazed still thinking..."we bloody won??!?". Anyway, this had to happen with all the bullshit that we were getting from the Govt. If it didnt happen, we would have been royally screwed as well. The Govt will just say, "Look, let's just keep up our ways and screwing the people. 2 weeks before election, we will come up with some goodies and STILL win. That's how stupid Malaysian are.". Let's hope the 5 million idiots who registered but didnt vote and those who didnt register will change their minds now. See? You can make a difference.
So these results are good for the opposition because the pressure to perform is on them now. If they screw up, they know we are not going to vote them in again! Sure they got the job because the ruling party is a bunch of nitwits but they got the job all the same. So its time to perform. Having said that, I have mixed feelings about who won and lost. For example, I am really pissed that Khairy won and by cheating as well. Whether it is by army votes or phantom votes, it's definitely by cheating. Come on, he loses the first count by 80+ votes and on a recount wins by 3000+ votes??? This so called graduated from Oxford or Cambridge or whatever doesn't even know how to cheat!!! I am also upset that Rafidah won but happy she wasn't made a minister. She responded by saying if she knew she wouldn't be made a minister, she wouldn't have contested. I feel sorry for the people who voted her. Your MP just wants to be a minister and not to serve you. So sorry if you thought otherwise.
On the opposition front, I am very miffed that Anwar's daughter and wife won. I am sorry but I don't have sympathy for people who have been benefiting from the other side but now claims to be a hero or reformer just because she didnt get along and got kicked out. He was not shouting reformasi when he was in UMNO, he only did it AFTER he tried to challenge the leadership by getting "pal-ly" with the Americans. Also I find it very hard to believe that he didnt do those things. It is so easy to frame someone on corruption (pls dont even begin to tell me he isnt corrupted) than to mention sodomy. You can't make these things up. Mahathir and his cronies are not that creative. Now the daughter (who is too hot to have a father like Anwar and thank god didn't hook up with Khairy), is going to step down for him after April. Geez!!!
I am also sorry that Samy lost the way he did. I really dislike him but he has done a lot for Sg Siput and should have just gracfully stepped down like Ling Liong Sik, Lim Keng Yaik and all those who left before him. The problem with Samy is that all his good work is very personal and is not expandable. Sure he got us Indians a college (some got forsaken place in melaka. who the heck wants to go there to study??), some hardcore poor got some benefits and handouts and some folks got low cost houses and so on. He was unable to replicate it on a national level and make it big scale. He also did not groom a successor. There is no one to take over and now MIC is slowing becoming irrelevant. After all Hindraf got KL-ians a holiday on Thaipusam. I may have been a little hard on Hindraf in my earlier posting but looks like they made a difference for the opposition. I am still against violent protesting though.
I was also said that Chew Mei Fun lost. She has the same issues as Samy. Very ground level and very personal but unable to replicate to a higher level. She is so...so...aunty (no disrepect to the aunties). She doesnt really make any impact in parliament or MCA but she is a hard worker nonetheless. I am also sorry that Shahrizat lost and its the same for her. Too much in the shadow of Rafidah (who looks like a really ugly mutated bull frog....no disrepect to the bull frog).
I must say that the best loser or a real gentleman in all this is Koh Tsu Koon. I really didnt think he deserved to lose but there were just too many failures connected to his administration. I feel for him and he took it really well and was very calm and cool about it. He made a press conference citing a smooth transition of power, he introduced the council member to Lim Guan Eng and he was even in the swearing in ceremony. I think he would have been a good advisor and addition to DAP. Sorry Tsu Koon but you were just too nice and had bad advisors.
I am also SUPER glad that Khir son of Toyo lost the government in Selangor. It was cool that he won his seat so that he now has to start work at the state government but under Khalid! A former menteri besar reduced to to a mere backbencher. i bet he will have a lot of friends there. and wat about Zakaria Deros, the council member who built a RM8MM house on top of illegally acquired land? I am sorry that he died (i am never one to revel in someone's death) because that means he cant get down on his knees and apologize to all the poor people he swindled the land from and then go to jail for it.
Like I mentioned earlier, whatever it is, it is going to be a new era for us. We have never been in a situation where the opposition ruled and I think we will see some interesting things happening. I think Lim Kit Siang needs to shut up and focus on his work instead of just mouthing off stuff like boycotting the Perak's signing in at the palace. He has to remember that he is now in a position of power, something he couldnt do or achieve. So if they play it right, they can go far. Let's all pray and hope for a better Malaysia now.
So these results are good for the opposition because the pressure to perform is on them now. If they screw up, they know we are not going to vote them in again! Sure they got the job because the ruling party is a bunch of nitwits but they got the job all the same. So its time to perform. Having said that, I have mixed feelings about who won and lost. For example, I am really pissed that Khairy won and by cheating as well. Whether it is by army votes or phantom votes, it's definitely by cheating. Come on, he loses the first count by 80+ votes and on a recount wins by 3000+ votes??? This so called graduated from Oxford or Cambridge or whatever doesn't even know how to cheat!!! I am also upset that Rafidah won but happy she wasn't made a minister. She responded by saying if she knew she wouldn't be made a minister, she wouldn't have contested. I feel sorry for the people who voted her. Your MP just wants to be a minister and not to serve you. So sorry if you thought otherwise.
On the opposition front, I am very miffed that Anwar's daughter and wife won. I am sorry but I don't have sympathy for people who have been benefiting from the other side but now claims to be a hero or reformer just because she didnt get along and got kicked out. He was not shouting reformasi when he was in UMNO, he only did it AFTER he tried to challenge the leadership by getting "pal-ly" with the Americans. Also I find it very hard to believe that he didnt do those things. It is so easy to frame someone on corruption (pls dont even begin to tell me he isnt corrupted) than to mention sodomy. You can't make these things up. Mahathir and his cronies are not that creative. Now the daughter (who is too hot to have a father like Anwar and thank god didn't hook up with Khairy), is going to step down for him after April. Geez!!!
I am also sorry that Samy lost the way he did. I really dislike him but he has done a lot for Sg Siput and should have just gracfully stepped down like Ling Liong Sik, Lim Keng Yaik and all those who left before him. The problem with Samy is that all his good work is very personal and is not expandable. Sure he got us Indians a college (some got forsaken place in melaka. who the heck wants to go there to study??), some hardcore poor got some benefits and handouts and some folks got low cost houses and so on. He was unable to replicate it on a national level and make it big scale. He also did not groom a successor. There is no one to take over and now MIC is slowing becoming irrelevant. After all Hindraf got KL-ians a holiday on Thaipusam. I may have been a little hard on Hindraf in my earlier posting but looks like they made a difference for the opposition. I am still against violent protesting though.
I was also said that Chew Mei Fun lost. She has the same issues as Samy. Very ground level and very personal but unable to replicate to a higher level. She is so...so...aunty (no disrepect to the aunties). She doesnt really make any impact in parliament or MCA but she is a hard worker nonetheless. I am also sorry that Shahrizat lost and its the same for her. Too much in the shadow of Rafidah (who looks like a really ugly mutated bull frog....no disrepect to the bull frog).
I must say that the best loser or a real gentleman in all this is Koh Tsu Koon. I really didnt think he deserved to lose but there were just too many failures connected to his administration. I feel for him and he took it really well and was very calm and cool about it. He made a press conference citing a smooth transition of power, he introduced the council member to Lim Guan Eng and he was even in the swearing in ceremony. I think he would have been a good advisor and addition to DAP. Sorry Tsu Koon but you were just too nice and had bad advisors.
I am also SUPER glad that Khir son of Toyo lost the government in Selangor. It was cool that he won his seat so that he now has to start work at the state government but under Khalid! A former menteri besar reduced to to a mere backbencher. i bet he will have a lot of friends there. and wat about Zakaria Deros, the council member who built a RM8MM house on top of illegally acquired land? I am sorry that he died (i am never one to revel in someone's death) because that means he cant get down on his knees and apologize to all the poor people he swindled the land from and then go to jail for it.
Like I mentioned earlier, whatever it is, it is going to be a new era for us. We have never been in a situation where the opposition ruled and I think we will see some interesting things happening. I think Lim Kit Siang needs to shut up and focus on his work instead of just mouthing off stuff like boycotting the Perak's signing in at the palace. He has to remember that he is now in a position of power, something he couldnt do or achieve. So if they play it right, they can go far. Let's all pray and hope for a better Malaysia now.
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