ABUSE

I noticed that lately the process of law have been wrongly used by certain individuals or parties to spite certain individuals or political parties and put them in bad light. This development is not very healthy as the Police and Courts will be over-loaded with trivial cases instead of focusing on hardcore criminal cases which affect the public interest.

Long gone were the days when the public would think twice before started to go to a police station to make a police report against somebody especially when the issues were trivial. Nowadays, some people are so free to go do a police report even the issues do not concern them. This is because there are some political benefits to be obtained by spicing up certain issues in the local newspapers. Lawsuits against defamation between individuals become everyday news.

While the public want to see justice be done by relevant authorities, it must not come through the abuse of the process and the country's image being tarnished. The public has more to lose as the tax payers money is unnecessarily spent to solve cases which only benefits a few selfish individuals.

PARENTS

"I have learned that no matter how bad our parents treated us when we were growing up, we are surely going to miss them when they are gone." one famous person said in an interview.

I just want to share this with those of you who still have parents, to treat them nice and give them proper respect while they are still around, cause one day we are all going to be parents ourselves. Then we will know why they were so tough on us, it was because they loved us and wanted the best for us.

My resolution is to be a better parent to my kids than my parents were to me when i was growing up. Lets all give a try.

THE DARK KNIGHT REVIEW

I went to watch the latest Batman today and left with a mixed feelings.

The plot was great though the movie was a bit too long at two and half hours making my butt numb. There were plenty of actions, explosion, fight scenes and tension. The Joker played by the late Heath was scary and funny at the same time, vey different than Jack Nicholson's version in the earlier movie.

Batman's love interest did not impress me. I think Batman deserves a better looking girl like Kate Bosworth(Superman's girlfriend in Superman Returns) or maybe Selma Blair.

My biggest objection was the person who played the Batman - Christian Bale. I personally think he is not the right person to play Batman eventhough the producer thinks otherwise. To me he did not look so convincing playing Bruce Wayne in the three piece suit. What i hate the most is the bloody voice when he turns into Batman! It is just annoying, his normal voice is just fine..why need to add another dimension to this character when he is in the costume? Is it to prevent people from knowing his true identity or to put fear in his enemies hearts? I think it is unnecessary because Superman only needs a pair of glasses as a disguise without voice change, and yet his beautiful Lois Lane still cannot recognise him...duhhhh!

The Dark Knight's head gear still needs improvement. The face opening needs to be bigger like in the comic book and less angular. In the comic book, more jaw is exposed and the jaw is angular which lends to the tough look of the Batman. He needs to appear taller in the movie with the cape is more prounounced coming from the front.

The part i loved best in the movie was when he jumped from the top of the highrise and flew like a bat.....that was cool, and the Bat Motorcycle, i wish i could get one of those to go to work!

Will i go to the next sequel? I am not sure if the voice still remain the same.

PERCEPTION IS NOT THE REALITY

That day a well known figure in our local political circle uttered an interesting phrase during an interview with the media - "perception is not the reality" and how perception or the manipulation of it is so crucial to do well in the political game.

This is very interesting because how a person perceives a situation will influence his thinking and opinion on the subject matter and can have an effect on his subsequent behavior toward the subject regardless of the reality of it. Perception plays a crucial role not only in political arena of a country but also politics in offices and personal lives of the public. Perception in politics can be manipulated positively or negatively to serve one's interest.

Take the opposition tactics prevalent in the country for example, they keep on harping on the lack of transparency of governance by the government as though the whole government agencies are corrupted, as a result of that the international communities perceive Malaysian government as corrupted. The investors will shy away from investing in Malaysia as the cost of doing business is expensive and profit will be low. The locals are the ones to suffer as they will lose job opportunities. They initiated public demonstration and ignored the Law to give the impression that Malaysia is not under control and in a state of chaos. The government is then perceived as authoritarian when they come hard on the demonstrators. The international communities are quick to condemn my beloved country as lacking democracy and does not allow the expression of opinion. They forgot that the right to live in peace and conduct one's business and make a living is part of an individual rights in a democratic country. Democracy in Malaysia is thriving according to the new Australian Prime Minister as people are more willing to give comments on issues of governance in the local newspapers and electronic media like blogs etc. These are the right places to express one's displeasure instead on the streets which is immature.

Another trend which is prevalent is to make the Police look bad and give the perception that they are not impartial in doing their duties and corrupted to the core. Of course we cannot deny there are a few bad apples that tarnished the Police's image by getting involved in unethical practices like accepting bribes and so on, but this exists in any organization. All sorts of accusation are flying around as you can read in the papers to make the Police looks like a devil. The Police have a SOP( Standard Operating Procedures) which relates to various Laws in carrying out their duties. Some people practically like to be seen challenging the authority of the Police to look like heroes by ignoring summonses to appear at the Police station to give statements, when arrested they are perceived as victims by the public when in actual fact they ignored the process of Law. The Police will be seen as a big bully and a tool of the government if the case is political, forgetting the fact that the Royal Malaysian Police is one of the most efficient police force in the world with high ratio of solving crime.

In an office, internal politics among staff or departments exist. It can be quite destructing to a well being of a company when good performing staffs or department are made to look bad and perceived as no good by jealous colleagues just to cover the weaknesses in their own performance. The situation is made worse by bosses who only listened to one side of the story without establishing the truth of the situation. Some bosses already have a prejudiced view of certain staff or department, no matter what is the truth it does not matter. Some staff get transferred and marginalized due to fake complaints , or resigned and joined the competitors when the situation get really bad. The company will eventually left with a bunch of mediocre staff who only excels in gossips, complaints and lies.

In private lives, the same situation can arise between friends, relatives, lovers or neighbors when people make a judgement on other people based on gossips, accusations or half truths. The relationship will turn sour or awkward. Most of the time, the victims would not know why the other party treat them that way. It is so damaging when perception can be manipulated through false accusations, but as long as human are human with hatred, jealousy and selfishness are in their dark hearts, i do not see how it can disappear soon.

LIFE IS GETTING HARDER

I read an article in the papers the other day quoting a government official as saying that this year the inflation rate will be below 5% based on their method of calculation using price increase for selective controlled items which are deemed essential.

I for one, am a bit sceptical of his assertion because it does not reflect the actual picture for the man on the streets. That day i went shopping for groceries at the Hartamas Shopping Center and was utterly shocked at the increase in price on some of the items. A bag of 5kg rice Jasmin brand used to cost less than Rm12.00 now costs Rm24.90! Now, it does not take a genious to do a simple math of percentage of increase which is more than 100%! We are talking about a basic food which is a controlled item here, which contributes to the calculation of the inflationary rate for the whole country, of course unless the supermarket flaunted the law by increasing the price to such an extent. The same brand 10kg rice is priced at a whopping Rm44.00! A check for other items showed that the price increase is definitely more than the government's estimate. Couple this with the increase in price for petrol, i started to feel the pinch on my pocket is getting more and more. My bill came to Rm195.00!..for a bag of 5kg rice, less than a kg Bulus fish, 8 cans of softdrinks, 2 bottles of 2kg cooking oil, 3 toothbrushes, a colgate, some cheap chocolotes, bread and a Rm19.90 teddy bear! I was scratching my head at the counter as what costed so much as these items usually totalled up to the most Rm120!

I started to wonder whether the government officer got it all wrong, his calculation, methods, references and all. Maybe the actual figure was higher, and might not be good to publish as such, maybe it will cause the public to panic and they started to scrambled to supermarkets to stock up their supplies, maybe it is not good to show the real figure as it will be a political suicide for the government as it will be seen as the economy is not under control, or maybe there are a lot of unscrupulous businessmen who are taking advantage of this difficult times to multiply their profits by increasing the prices and blame the government instead. But what i know is that, somebody better start to explain the discrepancies in the figures so the public know what to expect and plan their lives accordingly.

On the people's part, what are we to do to face the pressure of ever increasing cost of living in the cities? Well, we can start by taking stock of our financial standing against our life style and pattern of spending. The 30 -30 -40 ratio is a good point to start, we can use 30% of take home income to pay our debts, 30% for saving and the rest to support our day to day lifestyle. Our lifestyle also need changing to cope with increase in cost in almost every items nowadays. We should start to split things into essential and desirable. There should be less weekend outings, clubbing, vacations, outstation trips and of sort which are not essential and cost money. I have already capped my outstaion fshing trip to once a year as the rental for boats has increased due to the diesel price increase lately, and not to mention the petrol price i have to pay for my 4 x 4. I am already thinking to convert to NGV, eventhough there is a rumor that even the gas price might go up, but still cheaper than Rm2.70 a litre. I can recover my installation cost of around Rm6000 in one year. However, i have not done so due to the shortage of petrol stations that have NGV pumps. Petronas anouncement that 200 more petrol stations to have NGV pumps is surely a good news.

On the government's part, please start to think forward with policies and strategies that can make Malaysia self sustained. Being nice and do fire-fighting by giving goodies evertime the rakyat shouted is not good enough! I used to be proud when at one time certain parts of the country are green with padi fields and we were less dependent on imported rice from other countries, now look at how much a kilo of rice costs as this part of the economy is not put enough importance! Looks like i have to plant padi in a tray on my balcony from now on if cost of rice keep shooting up.

We cannot blame every cost increase on the oil price, and use Petronas as a scapegoat as the decision to incease the price is with the government, or use the increase of food prices globally as an excuse. What we want to see is a concrete concerted efforts by the government to deal with this present and immediate danger that can destroy Malaysian's society to oblivion. We also need to see solidarity from opposition parties to stop bickering for a while and think of the health of the country instead during this difficult times. We do not want to see a situation described by a UK's MP as "9 meals away from anarchy" becomes a reality in Malaysia.

Please save the country first while you still have one, because i see no point becoming a Prime Minister of a ruined country.

FAMOUS QUOTE

" time does not have the same appeal for everybody" - William Shakespeare

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS

I read today's paper about the US warning Malaysia against politically motivated investigation against the previous DPM and could not help feeling offended in the interfearance in our country's affair. The US is still treating other countries as though we are their colonies and do not have the ability to administer our country and do not practice the rule-of-law after 50 years independence.

This is the country who thinks that she has the moral high ground to tell others to act one way but never practice what she preaches. This is the country who refuses to sign the Kyoto Protocol but goes around complained about global warming while producing one of the highest carbon emission in the world; refuses to ratify declaration against cluster bombs and land mines because she wants to have an edge in military might; talks about democracy and self-determination by the people of every country in the world but has no problem destabilising any government who does not dance to its tune through covert actions or supporting the opposition parties in that country eventhough the opposition parties themselves do not comply with the values that they preached; fabricated evidence in order to justify its invasion of Iraq and practices double standard in a lot of other cases.

It is not fair to assume that the government is automatically guilty of conspiracy whenever it involves the opposition parties without due process in investigation by the Police. What ever happens to the innocence until proven guilty which is practiced in the US courts? Surely, it is applicable everywhere else in the world including Malaysia, right? The same goes for every citizen in Malaysia when an allegation was made by anybody. The trend i see nowadays as though the opposition can make any allegations against the government, the government is straight away assumed guilty and corrupted, and everybody started to jump on the bandwagon including some NGOs, the issues flared up in front pages, Malaysia gets bad publicity, stock market plunges and the man on the streets suffer losses in business.

The government voted by the people is not perfect and so is the opposition. Lets hope that these two parties are not so busy going after each other's throats that they forget that there a bunch of people called the Rakyat that they are accountable to, the People who voted them hoping to see changes that affect their lives for the better, the People who hope to be served by their MPs as promised by them during the election, not wasting time throwing rhetorics in Parliment and elsewhere and accuse each other of all sorts of unproven allegations. While difference of opinion on policies and practices is healthy and part of democracy, lets hope we do not go overboard and lose something bigger - our sovereignty, as there are other countries who are more than happy to intervene in the name of democracy to 'help' the citizen of Malaysia from 'oppression' anytime.

Lets let the process of law take its course without any interfearance from anybody, especially from people who do not practice what they preach.