THE SPIRIT IS STILL ALIVE

I went to a Hari Raya open house on Sunday which also fell on the Deepavali Day held by my malay neighbour in the condo i just moved in. I hardly know him but have talked to his friendly wife on the way to the lift one day and she invited me and my family to attend.

Upon entering the crowded hall i was a bit uneasy as i didnt know most of the crowds let alone the MC. My neighbour introduced me to her charming husband and we helped ourselves to the buffet line.

I could not help but notice among the crowds the different races of the attendees -Malays, Arabs, Chinese and Indians. It is more glaring that some of the Indians are very cheerful and acting like a co-host welcoming and wishing the guests. I am very pleased to see that the spirit of friendship is still alive and strong among Malaysians despite what has happened recently in relation to the government's decision to ban Hindraf as an unlawful organisation. I guess not everybody in Malaysia prescribes to extreme idealogies and methods to resolve one's grouses. Open House by various ethnics can help bring the people closer and strenthen the relationship and should be continued. We can have our differences but must not allow it to divide us and cause hatred.

To our Indian friends, i would like to wish Happy Deepavali to all.

SELF TERMINATION

As i sit inside my room and stare out my window towards the half bald hills due to the construction clearing, i just wonder why there are so many problems in this world nowadays. How did we get to this point?

There are countless problems that we are facing ranging from the environmental degradation due to uncontrolled developments like the reduction in green areas which contributed to global warning, siltation and choking of our rivers that can kill the fishes and also cause flooding, uncontrolled disposal of toxic waste that ends up in the food chain, human conflicts with countless wars and disputes over land, honor (and women sometimes!), sovereignty, difference in values in religion, race and cultures, politics and the very latest economic meltdown world wide.

We as a human race are going towards self termination. We do not need the Terminator as we are good in destroying everything around us including our fellow human. The most intelligent animal on this planet - us the Homo Sapien are not so intelligent in the long run. Billions of dollars are spent to build things that are destroying the planet in the name of progress of mankind and economic returns with deadly after effects to the environment. Global warming is on the rise and the sea level is increasing. We are destroying the only planet that supports life so far. Instead of spending money to fix this problems on Earth, we spend billions of dollar for a mission to Mars to study why a planet used to support life once became a barren field of rocks and lost its atmosphere. Now there is only signs of ancient rivers and and atmosphere full of CO2. All the water had dissappeared and become ice in the poles. It is ironic, we have to spend so much to find an answer at a distant planet when we can see the problems right here on Earth and have a chance to do something about it before Earth turns into Mars. But nobody want to spend the same amount of money to clean and revitalise this Earth.

Unfortunately, human cannot see eye to eye to do something about it due to their own selfish reasons. Politics and greed are at the center of it all. If there is nothing to gain, there will be no action to change.

We spend billions of dollars to produce more and more advance weapons to protect us against fellow human beings due to our fear and obsession with supremacy but reluctant to spend a fraction of that to help other human beings who are facing problems to get basic necessities in other part of the world like Africa. Wars have become an instrument of business to certain countries to enrich themselves. Human lives no longer have values, casualties in wars are treated as a statistic figure. The mighty feeds over the weak and defenceless.

Human species used to be one until the migration to the various parts of the world. With the creation and evolution of different races, the disparity in values and cultures and religions eventually become greater and greater. Differences in race and religions caused a lot of friction which eventually led to wars. Conflicts become more complicated with the difference idealogy in politics. There are conflicts within the same races and political party, conflicts with different races and different political parties, and the same goes for religions.

In Islamic religion, there are so many sects with different teaching, each claiming better than the other. The Sunnah Sect and the Syiah Sect are at odds with one another and sometimes led to animosity among followers. Christianity is not spared either, there are the Catholics, Protestants,

Lutheranss and Presbysterian to name a few. Other religions have different sects too i am sure. Conflicts happen between different religious followers too as can be seen in the series of Crusade Wars between the Muslims and the Christians in the 11th and 12th Century. The effects is embedded until the modern day among the two followers. Bush called the Gulf War as the New Crusade at the beginning and then changed it to Freedom War, but is it?

Now, it is a different kind of war happening around the world -The Bailout Wars! In the quest to make more and more money by the big banks in certain countries, have mismanaged their loan practices by giving loan to people many times the level the are able to service them. Eventually the NPL(non performing loans) becomes bigger and bigger until the banks themselves requires to be saved as they lost money big time! The US government had to give US700 billion bailout to rescue her economy. This problem has spread to other continents with deadly repurcussion - world wide recession and probably a Depression worse than the 1930. The effects of recession are endless, loss of jobs, houses, family breakdown, increase in crime, increase suicide, depression,migration to better countries not affected and many more!

My my, what are we going to do? How do we solve all these problems that fill every corner of our minds everyday? Do we have the will power to look beyond our differences in race, religion, status, political stance and selfish interests to overcome these problems one by one and save our selves and this planet so that there is hope for a better tomorrow? Can we overcome our animosity and greed to take the first step? I say why not, cause if we dont we are going towards self termination as a species, i am very sure about it!

VILLAINY WEARS MANY MASKS

"Villainy wears many masks, nothing worse than the mask of virtue" said Johnny Depp in the Sleepy Hollow movie i watched last night. Wow, what a great line!

In reality that saying holds true in many instances. We have seen how greed and passion even got the best of the rich and respected members of the society. Some are businessmen, politicians and even royalties. They got involved in many scandals that defies belief. The latest trends is using the mask of religion to gain respect and positions and to support one's cause.

In Muslim countries, putting up a robe and keep a beard automatically earn a respect as you appear to be a pious man, religiouslly trained and should be respected. However, there are many occassions that this technic is used for the wrong reasons to achieve personal agendas. There are syndicates going around collecting donations at local mosques by men in robes claiming that the money will be channelled to the orphanage etc. Sometimes they would go house to house especially in the rural areas where the folks are unsuspecting and naive. Those more sophisticated, would organise to make it look as though they are legitimate religious organisations, by forging fake approvals from certain ministry for their activities.

I wonder whether these people have any conscience and knows what is right and what is wrong. They believe that as long they are not caught right handed it is alright. I guess money and personal gains are more powerful motives that outweigh the risks.

In the political world, especially in Malaysia, politicians also wear many masks to achieve their agendas. Their masks can be changed daily depending on issues brought up by the media and what are there to gain. Today they are in the ruling side wearing one mask, tomorrow they are on a different side wearing different masks. Then there are those always wearing the same masks and always on the same side, the only thing to wonder is whether the masks they wear are actually representing their true selves.

I think the public have to be weary and not to be too trusting nowadays when evaluating other people personalities and beliefs by not putting too much weighting to their exterior facades and the titles they hold. Nowadays we see lot of villains drive Mercedes cars to commit robbery, some cases of misusses of funds by the people with the titles MD, Dato or Tan Sri, and sexual crimes committed by some religious schools teachers with the title of Ustaz. Even there a few cases where some members of the Police Force got into trouble as reported in the papers. But, there are still a lot of good people left in this world to give hope to the human race that all is not lost, good will prevail over evil.

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

" Show me the money!" Tom Cruise said in one of his movies. I am afraid nowadays people are having problems to show their money due to the value of their savings shrinking by the day.

The cost of living is sky rocketing in the metropolitan areas and slowly increasing in the suburbs and rural areas. The prices of essential items are on the rise thanks to the petrol price increase lately. Yesterday petrol price reduction to Rm 2.30 per liter did no translate to an instant reduction in the food items. So the people are complaining and blaming the unscrupulous suppliers for not reducing their prices. Eventually all costs will be handed over to the consumers, that is the nature of the business chain.

When i was growing up in the 70s and 80s, things were much simpler. I was given a 20sen allowance to go to primary school. With that i used 10sen for bus fare to and fro, 5 sen for a glass of orange juice and 5 sen for a piece of cake during recess. During secondary school, my allowance was raised to 50sen and eventually a ringgit by 1979. Bus fare shot to 40 sen to and fro by the end i finished school and went to university in the States. Roti canai back then was only 20sen and a stick of satay was only 15sen the most. A brand new car Mitsubishi Galant was only Rm9000 during the mid 70s! Back then if your brothers or sisters were getting salary around RM1000 plus, it was considered high. Our electricity bill never exceeded Rm20! A liter of petrol was less than 50sen! and best of all it only cost us Rm1.65 to watch a movie sitting in a first class section!

Fast forward to today where we claim to have to have much improved and becoming a developed nation by 2020. A liter of petrol costs Rm2.30 yesterday, a bag of 5kg local rice cost RM18++, a piece of roti canai costs almost a ringgit, a movie ticket cost Rm11.00, an entry car like Kanchil cost around Rm30,000, and a bottle of mineral water is more expensive than a liter of petrol back then! How much things have changed and the value of money has shrunk! An engineer or architect with an average salary of Rm6000 will struggle to pay for car loan, house loan and keeping a kid or two! He also has to struggle with tolls, increase in car maintenance, tax, increase in medical bills etc. Yesterday i was shocked when a clinic charged close to Rm100 for flu medicine for both of my kids! The cost of everything around us jumped by leaps and bounds but yet the salary increase is very slow at a snail pace. A lot of people have to do two jobs to survive. With the recession around the corner, God knows the hardship these people are going to face. Of course, the rich are getting richer by the day and have no inkling of this or would not care less. The irony is that a lot of them used to be poor! The politicians only stick their necks out only there is something to gain. They are more concerned about taking care of their corporate friends' interests. Mr PM asked us to change our lifestyles and save a lot, question is what is there to save?

Tun Mahathir was right, protect the buying power of consumers by making the value of money high, and keeping the cost down. If need be, repeg the ringgit at certain level. The economy is now export oriented, that is why the government does not want to repeg the ringgit because by keeping the ringgit value low there will be more export to foreign countries bringing in cash flow to the country. But with ringgit value low the import stuffs will be expensive for the local consumers thus reducing the paying power and value of money. A right balance need to be found fast by the government to keep the economy healthy and the people happy.

Otherwise, we cant show you the money as none is left to show!

A BIT OF EVERYTHING, A WHOLE OF NOTHING

I came across a saying today in the internet that goes " it is better to have a bit of everything than to have a whole of nothing!".

I find the saying very interesting and powerful.

I see today in Malaysia, there are groups of people who want to be whiter than white in name of absolute democracy and freedom. They are asking for abolition of all sorts of laws perceived as draconian like ISA. They claimed to represent the majority of the population when in fact there are just a minority who have their own agendas.

Everyday they pick on issues to make the government look bad and go on whitch hunt in the blaming game. They claimed they are being oppressed and have no qualm complaining to foreign governments for assistance, so the elected government can be pressured to give in to their demands. Small issues are fanned everyday to become big issues which can cause cracks in this multi-ethnic and multi-religion society. All in the name of justice, transparency and democracy.

But i wonder, if Malaysia is so bad, why still stay and along the way make a fortune for themselves and families? Why people from other countries are trying their best to come here and settle down legally or illegally? Why not these people go to the United States or UK or Australia, the cradle of democracy? Is it because they wont survive there as newcomers because these countries practice double standards, discrimination, tough immigration laws and also not perfect in their administration?

There are no governments on this planet Earth who are perfect, democratic or socialist countries lumped together. As long human are called human, there will be imperfections in making laws, governing and so on. There will be bias depending from which eyes you are looking from. However, imperfections can be improved and fixed with proper discussion, negotiations and trials and errors.

Creating havoc and chaos to get one's wishes may not be the best way in this land. We have come a long way and become more civilised since the last millenium. Street demonstration and crashing somebody festive celebration with demands are not the way to go in Malaysia. It just creates more hate and hate is not a good thing. Negotiations and tactful discussions will bring the best results. Malaysia also got her independence without firing a single bullet. She is a young country of 51years only, surely one cannot expect it to be perfect in every way compares to the more developed countries in the West. Even these countries are not perfect, so be patient.

It is better to have a bit of everything than having a whole of nothing. Malaysia will be nothing if it crumbles under never ending chaos and internal conflicts. We do not want that do we?

DATUKSHIP A.K.A LORDSHIP

I came back to KL from the Hari Raya trip up north a week ago after a week away. I was recharged a bit after a hectic two weeks of moving house and raya celebration. The traffic was not so bad on the highway as most folks had come back to KL a lot earlier.

I find KL is still the same since i left. Malaysia is still the same with a lot of thorny issues cropped up here and there. Latest hot topic is the award of the Datukship (Lordship) title fom the Chief Minister of Malacca to an Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan from India.

Do not get me wrong, i have no personal issue with Mr Khan as i have watched a few of his movies which includes Kuch Kuch Ho Ta Hei and Akbar The Great. I personally think he is one of the best Indian actors in India along with Amitah Bachan and the Kapoors. The issue which is making it hot is why him?

The Datukship or Lordship title is bestowed by the Sultans, Chief Ministers and Federal Territories MP onto outstanding individuals for their achievements and contributions that benefit this country. Occassionally, non-citizens will be awarded also like Datuk Jean Todd from the Ferrari team. In this case, it could be for the intangible contribution like buying an island in the state of Terengganu for his second home which inturn tie the Ferrari name with Malaysia, therefore indirectly promoting Malaysia's name overseas. The act of awarding the Lordship by the United Kingdom government to outstanding individuals is quite similar although not so rampant.

So, it is the power that be's prerogative to give the award after considering certain criteria whether the individual deserve the award or not. The controversy is not on its right to give the award but the person the award is given to. What has Mr Shah Rukh Khan has done to deserve the award? The papers said because he chose one site in the state of Malacca to shoot his latest film therefore indirectly promoting the state's name. Hmmm...we better wait to watch the movie whether the state's name was even mentioned, otherwise it will be a joke on the Chief Minister. But by the same criteria, there are a lot of local actors and movie makers who used Malacca as their movie backdrops, why are they not given the same title? Why are we very quick to award foreigners the prestigious title and failed to treat the locals with the same respect? And to add salt to the injury, Mr Khan never showed up to receive the award which speaks volume of what he thinks of the award. This is not the Oscar award in Hollywood where you could ask your manager to receive on your behalf, this a Datukship award! How would the Queen of England feel if i did not show up for OBE award personally on that day?

I think, the power that be has to be more strict on the selection criteria to award the Datukship title to anybody to safeguard its prestige. The locals who have contributed so much for the nation should be given priority. Those fallen heroes of WWII and during the Communist Insurgency and Confrontation with Indonesia should be awarded and given lifetime allowance to their families for their contributions. There are still unsung heroes among our brave soldiers who are still alive deserve the title more than Mr Khan does. The veterans of the local film industries deserve the title more than somebody who lives in another continent 3000km away. Hell!...i myself also deserve the title for paying thousands of ringgit every year to the taxman for the last 20 years so Malaysia can have development budget to work with and prosper! So how come i am not getting one?

In the 1980s to 2000, i think there was an explosion of Datukship awards to almost any Tom, Dick and Harry in Malaysia which reached a stage like this joke implies " if you throw a stone along the Chowkit Road crowd, most likely it will fall on somebody with a title Datuk!". There were even some cases where some Datuks were found to have criminal background, and the title had to be retracted by the Sultan. There were also cases reported in the papers that a Datukship title can be bought with the right connection which tarnishes its image.

I hope the power that be, be more carefull and give more thoughts before simply awarding any member of the society or foreigners the Datukship title so it will not become an issue. Malaysia i think has the highest ratio of individuals with Datukship title per million of her citizens! Malaysia boleh spirit? or a good entry into Books of Records?