A Must Read. Period.

Reading articles like these always make me feel justified for recommending the Sun newspaper to everyone. (www.sun2surf.com)

the articles are neutral, and the comments by the like of Citizen Nades, Nuri Vittachi are all constructive, sensible and pack a punch. And this article, by Yeo Yang Poh published on Monday, 3rd August 09.. is another stellar piece that makes you think and concur.

______________________________________________________________________________

WHY march, when the government has said that it will review the Internal Security Act? Why march, when there are other very cosy ways of giving your views and feedback?

One would understand if these were questions posed by nine-year-olds. But they are not. They are questions posed by the prime minister of this nation we call our home. Answer we must. So, why?

Because thousands who died while in detention cannot march or speak any more. That is why others have to do it for them. Because persons in the corridors of power, persons who have amassed tremendous wealth and live in mansions, and persons who are in the position to right wrongs but won’t, continue to rule our nation with suffocating might. And they certainly would not march. They would prevent others from marching.

Because the have-nots, the sidelined, the oppressed, the discriminated and the persecuted have no effective line to the powerful. Because the nice ways have been tried ad nauseam for decades, but have fallen on deaf ears. Because none of the major recommendations of Suhakam (including on peaceful assembly), or of the commissions of inquiry, has been implemented.

Because the proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) is not in sight, while corruption and insecurity live in every neighbourhood; and (despite reasoned views expressed ever so nicely in opposition) Rela (people’s volunteer corps) is being brought in to make matters even worse. The proponents in “Su Qiu” (remember them?) were not marchers. In fact it is hard to find nicer ways than “su qiu”, because the term means “present and request” or “inform and request”. In terms of putting forward a view or a request, it is the height of politeness.

Yet they were labelled “extremists” – they who did not march. And now you ask, why march? Because you gave non-marchers a false name! You called them the “silent majority”, who by virtue of their silence (so you proudly argued with twisted logic) were supporters of government policies since they were not vocal in raising objections.

You claimed to be protecting the interest of the “silent majority”. Now some of them do not want to be silent anymore, and you are asking why? Yes, because double standards and hypocrisy cannot be covered up or explained away forever; and incompetence cannot be indefinitely propped up by depleting resources.

Because cronyism can only take care of a few people, and the rest will eventually wake up to realise the repeated lies that things were done in certain ways purportedly “for their benefit”. Because the race card, cleverly played for such a long time, is beginning to be seen for what it really is – a despicable tool to divide the rakyat for easier political manipulation.

Because it does not take much to figure out that there is no good reason why Malaysia, a country with abundant human resources and rich natural resources, does not have a standard of living many times higher than that of Singapore, an island state with no natural resources and that has to import human resources from Malaysia and elsewhere. Because, in general, countries that do not persecute marchers are prosperous or are improving from their previous state of affairs, and those that do are declining.

Because Gandhi marched, Mandela marched, Martin Luther King marched, and Tunku Abdul Rahman marched. Because more and more people realise that peaceful assemblies are no threat at all to the security of the nation, although they are a threat to the security of tenure of the ruling elite.

Because politicians do not mean it when they say with a straight face or a smile that they are the servants and that the people are the masters. No servant would treat his master with tear gas, batons and handcuffs. Because if the marchers in history had been stopped in their tracks, places like India, Malaysia and many others would still be colonies today, apartheid would still be thriving in South Africa, Nelson Mandela would still be scribbling on the walls of Cell 5, and Obama would probably be a slave somewhere in Mississippi plotting to make his next midnight dash for the river.

And because liberty, freedom and dignity are not free vouchers posted out to each household. They do not come to those who just sit and wait. They have to be fought for, and gained. And if you still want to ask: why march; I can go on and on until the last tree is felled. But I shall obviously not. I will end with the following lines from one of the songs sung in the 1960s by civil rights marchers in the US, without whom Obama would not be able to even sit with the whites in a bus, let alone reside in the White House:

“It isn’t nice to block the doorway It isn’t nice to go to jail There are nicer ways to do it But the nice ways have all failed It isn’t nice; it isn’t nice You’ve told us once, you’ve told us twice But if that’s freedom’s price We don’t mind ...”

(Yeo Yang Poh is a former Bar Council president.)
_____________________________________________________

Hmmmm..

PM also annouce that 100 unit of AS1M will be given to all university 1st year students, this is something very fishy, why not given to all students including secondary & primary school students to encourage saving habit? (if the motive of the government is to encourage saving then it shd be start in primary school as this habit shd start young). Is that because the university students are mostly above 21 years old and they can vote in the next General Election. Sound like next GE is around the corner......

Like what others mentioned in this portal, there are too many funds raised from PNB for this year. 2bil of ASW, then 3.3 bil of ASM, and then 10bil of AS1M, all happened within a year, and this never happened b4.

but the thing is there is no transparency on how and why the government need to raise the fund??? and where the fund will use for? to promote unity and 1 Malaysia? then why impose quota like what we have in our local university education systems nowadays?

somemore this is not capital guaranteed, more risks than any previous bonds/funds.


I'm seriously thinking about this one....

Time of our life!

At 12hr 34 minutes and 56 seconds on the 7th of August
this year, the time and date will be


12:34:56 07/08/09


Will this ever happen in our life again??!!!!

ENT posting- University of Nottingham Musings 1

Its been a week since I left Malaysia..

Let's see what's changed..
Well... My hair has grown a wee bit longer... my skin a lil dryer... my intestines have gotten used to not having rice and I've given up converting the money I spent to M'sian ringgit..

Here's some perspective...
I bought this sandwich 2 pieces of bread with bacon, tomato and lettuce
It comes up to 2.50£...
Bought this Milkshake for 3.95£
went into a toilet for 30p (0.3£)

1£=RM5.87 (from my local Exchanger in Muar)

So technically a toilet trip costs your RM1.60 :-(
A simple meal can cost up to RM25
While an elaborate one can cost RM70... shucks...

The train from London to Nottingham costs 29 pounds...
= RM170!!!

The taxi we took from The rail station to Nottinham campus..
cost us 6.60£....= RM36!... -.-""

Just heard the Faculty would be slashing our RM10000 down to RM8000..
Which translates into 1361£ only! Shucksssss...GERBYYYYYY

Saving money... selling blood...

Oh well... It is crazy when you convert you see..
but if you earn your wages here... you're fine...

The median Wage is around 36,000£ per year..
which is what malaysians get as well... 3000 per month...

Difference is you can get a bottle of Pantene shampoo fro 1.6 pounds..
And you get Nikes here for 19 pounds onwards...
Oh.. and you can get a CAr here for 1491£... and I'm not sure whether that's first or second hand!~yup RM7000

that is inflation for you. Malaysia's inflation rate is off the charts... and Najib says its all fine.

To buy a decent compact car, peugeot, ford,... may just cost 4000£= 2 months wages...
To buy a not so decent car in MAlaysia you'd need 40000= a year of wages...

To earn what an average briton earns per year...
You need to work 6 years!

I'm not saying I'm looking forward to settling here though...

Home is still home And I love my Lil Muar town as well as our Malaysian food!!!! Miss Chinese food.... yum yum...
Petrol is 1.31 pounds at someplaces...

hmmmm... I'm in The Queen Medical Campus for the 2nd day..
So far its pretty good!
Got a lot to talk about.. the systems and everything... but let me just clue you in on this one..

Currently I'm attending the Clinic with 4 people...

the Doctor,
the patient,
the nurse and
me...


Teaching and learning is on a ONE on ONE basis!
That... is the best thing!
They only have 8 ENT students per posting! Gracias! oh well wrong language... as they say .....
"LOVELY!"

cheers

Tentative: Environmental Carnival

Please Have a read through and give me your comments!

Thank you, and forward the message to people who you think may be interested in implementing this!
A copy of this document is available in Word format, downloadable at
http://www.4shared.com/file/114393696/5e664d21/Proposal_Environmental_Carnival.html

Potential committee Candidates!

Sinchee
Wen Ying
Chai peng
Huan Yan (Ming wei)
Rachel
Hui Fang
Jane
Bin hoo
Wu hui
Jia Ying
Hui Fang
Yan Chin
Ru hui
Zhi yi
Ying Quan
Siew Khing
Su yan
Soon Hooi
Thomson

please suggest additional candidates, especially our Malay and Indian friends who you think maybe interested! Also any 3rd Year or 5th Year Students that are active in Tzuchi Association
Repost this note if you can. :-)

Details of the programme

Proposal Of Environmental Carnival

1) Environmental Movie Screening
Entrance ticket = recycle items e/g 2kg of newspapers etc
(Get tickets and a badge in exchange)

Choice of movies
An inconvenient truth by Al gore
11th Hour by Leonardo Dicaprio
“Home” by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

- A research on the respective movies should be made with a summary
- it should be included with a Q&A session

(consider including Subtitles in Malay and Chinese )

2) What each of us can do (a multimedia presentation after the movie)

Title: A drop in the Ocean?
- hand outs will be given during the presentation
- detailing small lifestyle changes that students can make living in the hostels.


3) 2nd Multimedia presentation
- Recorded Video- “When I was small”
- detailing what has changed from the 1980’s till now in terms of the weather, the
environment and human relations etc
eg- when I was small our childhood was filled with kite-flying, hide and seek, now everyone has their hearing plugged up with earphones

When I was small we had tadpoles and guppies in drains and rain puddles… now we only have mud and sludge

We will collect video/ Audio/ Blog recordings of these memories
This effort is a joint effort between UM, USM and UKMMC (organized by E=MC2)
If it is successful, we have journalists in our ranks that can help publish our effort to the Mainstream Media
if that doesn't work out, we will always have YOUTUBE :-)

4)Exhibition of Environmental Products
- What are the products that are relevant to us students or doctors
- What can attract the companies/ societies to come
- Research on the exhibition during the Eco Film Festival organized by the Eco Knights
http://www.ecoknights.com/content/blogcategory/29/66/
- Bazaar? What should be sold?

Exhibition of Environmental NGOs and groups

5)Contests? Research on the feasibility of a contest.
- any interest?
- theme
- Sponsorship of prizes?



6) Changes in KTDI (cooperate with JAKSA Ktdi)
- polystyrene and plastic bad use
: Information : The danger of Polystyrene.. contact with heat become styrene, a
Carcinogen
: Encourage students to bring their own Tupperware to buy food from café’s or dine in
to enjoy discounts
: If opt for polystyrene must pay 20 cents extra (implemented in USM)
: Consider alternatives to Polystyrene ( a biodegradable type made from Palm oil waste)
- Introduction of Vegetarian food to other Ethics
(You are What you Eat)
Incorporate Ethnic Relations, as in a Forum ala Interfaith Forum held in Dk1 KCKL
when we were in 2st Year :
Title : What is Halal food, what is Vegetarian food?

Successful implementation in Wahid, move on to Kazema and Besta


Installing a recycling centre in KTDI itself, (area behind Kafe/ Underneath Surau)
- Funds
- Sponsorship
- Collection servuces
- Cooperate with Rhea Corp

7) Additional programmes (recommendation from Prof Harlina)
A visit to Radicare Waste disposal facility for Medical Students
include visits to other centres/ places on the one day trip


Selection of the Date of the event
- Away from Exams and holidays,
- Ensure no clash with other programmes.
-maybe as a complementary programme in a mega programme such as Warisan Mesra?

Publisiti- PERSIAP (facebook and blog)
- KTDI (JAKSA)

Can incorporate Merit in this programme?
I will try to discuss with Fadhli

(Incorporate this the Racial Harmony theme ?)


Download the word file to Email to your friends at
http://www.4shared.com/file/114393696/5e664d21/Proposal_Environmental_Carnival.html

Thank you very much,

sincerely Kuan Yew

Can't get enough of Transformers? Get Screensavers!

Fanatics of Robotics .. here you go!!
Not forgetting the legions of the fans of the vixen out there (who should be by now much relieved to know that she IS NOT a transexual)
--scroll to the end of that page--



BUMBLEBEE Screensaver

I don't know why... but the Bumblebee one is WAYYYYY cooler than Optimus Prime!
They are only 8Mb per file :-)


OPTIMUS PRIME Screensaver

Or.... Drool Over this one!



click to enlarge and save! Its for a desktop 1680 X 1050 pixels in size!

USB drive Malware Removal (even before you use it!)

People Hate me.

They Claim I am Troublesome, picky and a worry-wart!

Well I am not wrong to protect my "virgin" at all costs!

Won't you protect your sweet daughter from cold clammy (and hairy) fingers?


Well this virgin in question is my Desktop computer.
Its a virgin because I refuse removable drive entry into any of its 8 USB interfaces!

So any files they want from me /want to give me will need to come in the form of a CD/DVD!

Now, the problem with Pen/Thumb/USB/Flash
*pant pant*
drives are that some viruses are autoexecuted the moment you plug the memory device into your PC/MAC/Laptop/Netbook
*pant pant pant*

What it means is it may not be safe even to plug it into your Computer system even if you do not execute files within!


--intoducing the scary USB drive of death!--

The modus Operandi of Malware is that it contains an Autorun.inf file that automatically runs a file/program without you the user having any control over it.

I stumbled accross an Anti-Malware application for this purpose at this website

However I decided to scout around for alternatives from more trustworthy sites..
such as CNet's Download.com

and presto you have Autorun Eater at a measly 1.6MB for download, Here.

I guess I am fussy afterall.. Even after installing it.. I'm still having a moral dilemma whether to allow my PC to be Violated.

Condoms for USB drives maybe?

Mozzies! Shoo Shoo

We ... students of KTDI are in danger...
because the area is a Dengue Hot-spot...

and a few of the medical students have fallen victim to the black and white portable syringes... poor Yong Kang

-Hypodermic Needle Included!-

In the tiny room of mine...
I have the dual problem of extreme heat...
and extreme Mozzie mania...
Mosquitoes are attracted to UV light, Carbon dioxide and Heat
Ah.. I have the latter two in abundance...
Small wonder why my room is Mosquito central..

Ah even got a name for my room
MOZZIE SAUNA

Well... I don't like killing anything uneccessarily..
but the mozzies are an exception...sigh
(Karma dun get me... I don't kill them when I'm in their territory-jungles etc
Oh well I try not to)
So I was passively swatting...
then came the electric racquet..

tried playing Mosquito repelling frequencies downloaded from the internet in MP3 format..
didn't work.
Reason given by 'experts'- MP3s are stripped down versions of audio files.. where inaudible (to humans) noises are filtered out to make the file tiny.
the ultrasonic waves are of course lost in translation...

Played the file on my PC thruout the night.. My housemate SH tried it too..
No workie..

K.. so A file doesn't work..
so I go for the plugged in version...





It claims to cover an area of 25m square..

Sadly... Plugged in 30cm away.. it failed to deter the mozzie pleasantly feasting on my arm!
Shucks..
wasted RM13 on this thing.

Oh well.. the real deal that is supposed to work cost RM169 in ace hardware...

Well... next up...
carbon dioxide traps
from the fermentation of sugar by Yeasts...

Wish me luck!

Photo Of Mosquito taken by Nikon D60 kit lens, in Redang.