The End Justifies The Means- Going up Against the Malaysian Mentality.

What are the main causes of traffic jams in Malaysia?

top in the list would be
1)Heavy downpour
2)Flash Flood due to poor drainage due to shoddy workmanship due to cronyism due 2 BN running mlaysia for 53 years
3)Drivers taking too much time avoiding the numerous potholes

and certainly not least- Accidents.

Now you have to understand that in boleh-land
The accident itself doesn't cause musch inconvenience, -as tow trucks arrive at the scene much much earlier than either the fire brigade or the ambulance (some accidents are rigged by tow trunk operators- planting nails on the road etc)-




-it is the 吃饱太得空没事做 folk and the 4D punters who surround the accident scene, actively hypothesizing the reason for the accident, who's at fault, wat's the car plate number, yesterday this number opened in Magnum... while crossing their arms and waiting for things to happen.

now compare this to seeing a burst fire hydrant in a public square,

I don't understand how all those people can just turn a blind eye to it and continue about their own business despite knowing a simple 999 [you can now call 999 for police, emergency services or the fire brigade] can save a lot of water and probably prevent some slippery accidents occuring

"oh I'm too busy"
"Flow, flow lah! not my money also!"
"ahhh,dun worry la, someone else will do it"
"Water come out good wat, Malaysia so hot, cooling effect wor!"

Extrapolate This 自扫门前雪,不管别人瓦上霜 mentality to governance and our community, it will be our own downfall, someday.

So, To combat this mentality, when you need something done, you really must make people take notice by either Inconveniencing them or shame them by advertising to the world the person responsible is not doing anything.

Case in point,

In the Psychiatry clinic of Hospital UKM, Cheras (now called PPUKM)
there was a spoilt tap that runs full blast for a week...
I tried my hardest to turn it off, and hunted high and low for an inlet valve but there weren't any to be found.

I did the next best thing and complained to the PK (healthcare assistant), she told me she has reported it to the maintenance staff... so, OK...

yet Each time I went pass the toilet, the gushing can still be heard... and this went on for two whole weeks.

I made the calculation
the tap takes 4 seconds to fill up a 500ml bottle.
8 seconds to gush out a litre then.

its 24 hrs a day, 60 minutes an hour, 60 secs an hour= 86400 secs
divide that by 8
you get 10800 litres.

2weeks=14 days
10800X14 = HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND Litres of fresh, purified water going down the drain, just because someone wouldn't fix it coz his pay isn't affected, so why bother?

I just couldn't take it any longer and one day, I decide to take things into my own hands.

After a lull in our psychiatry clinic, I sneaked into the toilet...

I need to make ppl notice,

So I kicked the tap to turn it sideways, so it'll flow down the sides and inconvenience more ppl, making ppl notice. But no, the water obediently travelled along the wall and disappeared quietly down the drain.

Undaunted and desperate to do this before anyone noticed, I kicked the inlent PVC pipe below the sink so that it would leak or even better, spray outwards with a little force... and get people's attention.

But that didn't happen either after 2 hesitant kicks.
Khairy was curious on what i'm up to while squatting in one of the cubicles....

so with a "Oh! takde apa-apa...." I gave it a last kick. whee

and the inlet pipe BURST.

"Whee!!!.... errrr...OH SHIT!"

Khairy: "Kenapa ni? Apa berlaku? apa berlaku?"
"Cepat cepat kita keluar! Tandas Banjir ni!!!"

And so we came prancing out of the toilet half wet, and went back into Prof Maniam's clinic
the burst pipe vibrated loudly and violently, with waves lapping the edges of the toilet, and soon we had PKs surrounding the men's WC, shakin heads...and the KJ (head nurse) making frantic calls

And guess what? The whole system was fixed in 10 minutes.

So? Do Tell me the lesson of the story?

why do I bring this up now? because the event happened 8 months ago so no one will trace me, and secondly, because I'm gonna need to do something drastic again, because It has been "raining" outside my balcony non stop for 3 weeks.

Updates soon :-) Have a nice day... and please have more civic consciousness, pretty please?

The Pretending Lion- Of Casinos, Universities, BTN and Medicine-

I recently went on a trip to Singa-Pura, as a promise to my darling little nieces made in January.

I doubt that they remember it but as parenting experts will tell, Never lie to a child or go back on your promise to them, It will have far reaching consequences, and so I kept my end of the bargain.

One thing I found funny was when I approached my friends in Singapore to get a 'visiting ticket', many other non-sporean friends popped up on the facebook post and asked :why do you want to go to Singapore?"

Um, I'm kinda puzzled by this Q and this will be my rejoinder-
Why do I need a reason to go to Singapore?

If anybody is curious, it appears that reasons to go to Singapore fall under the following categories

1- To go the recently opened Casino- Sources say that the Casino has difficuly breaking even due to the high cost of construction. It's estimated that they require a daily patronage of 3500people spending averagely $5000 to cover their initial investment, in the first year

(the cost was $6.59 billion)

the funny thing is that- not only did they not achieve the expected numbers, the universal studios grand opening with lotsa fanfare reached an anti-climax one week into it when the roller coaster ride was honourably X-ed by red and white security tapes. Authorities claimed a technical error needed inspection and tinkering before deemed safe for the public.

To keep These two major setbacks in perspective, whatever number of visitors they maybe boasting, it is important to keep in mind this is prior to the opening of the 2nd casino. hohum... not a very bright outlook, aint it?

2) To buy electronic stuff or to shop down orchard road

3) To study/ or work

4) visiting

Well, I fulfilled numbers 2, and 4 :-)

Met up with Gene in JB where he scooted me oof to his Hostel at the speed of 120km/h (luckily, heavy traffic thwarted his plan to go at 170km/h, his: "usual- everyone in JB use this" speed.
My eyes were tearing at the end of the ride.

while he packed, I got my hands on Starcraft 2! Wooo
apparently somepeople hacked into a demo version and made in widely available for download, albeit without LAN support-

I'm a stickler for copyright, but this time I fault Blizzard for titillating the fans since 2008 with the promise of a :

"summer release", "coming fall 2008", "early 2009", "late 2009" and now its HELLO! we're entering the 2nd quarter of 2010! The fans have been waiting for 12 years GDMT!



I played Protoss, was impressed with the dragoon turned immortal, the warp gets (something like the nidus canal of the Zerg, and of course the arbiter turned Mothership. So far, other than the colossus, there isn't much difference in the units, the zealots got Bruce Lee's Intercepting Fist but having played Dawn of war, their charge is mellow compared to the Kroot's death leap!

And as a disappointment to the many control freaks out there, you no longer have the dark archon, so no more controlling minds for you :-(

Popping down to Singapore, I went over to Orchard road, looking for Ali's electricals in Centrepoint. But, centrepoint has been bought over by another developer who chased all but a few of the original tenants out, and poor Ali was deemed "retired" by the concierge, oh well...

what I'm aiming to buy from Ali, is a spy pen that can record conversations or video, something useful for me to get hard evidence of the hush-hush going on at BTN camps as I will be headed there very very soon.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/44775-btn-taught-me-the-chinese-are-the-jews-of-asia
http://www.harakahdaily.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23431:-btn-dipenuhi-propaganda-politik-umno-unsur-perkauman-sempit&catid=1:utama&Itemid=50

I had a taste of it in Year 3, and this time I shall come prepared.


Turns out that my uncle Steven bought a similar pen for $145, which was over my budget. I was pointed in the direction of Sim Lim Square near Bugis, but on the last day I decided to purchase it over here instead due to price and warantee issues

Arrived at my aunts place much later than I intended as I dropped by a Skater's park and tried catching shots of enthusiasts in action. Bought some Marshmellows, A bottle of Coca-cola Zero and a stick of mentos in Cold Storage. What am I planning for my nieces? not hard to guess!

2nd Day, went to NUS to meet up with E-fly, toured the engineering Fac. As these photos show, they have been very prolific with research and have lots of achievements to stand for it. being holed up in HUKM, I do not know whether our own unis are as productive. I was reassured by Kim Hoo that UTM almost went into the Finals of the Fuel-Cell race but was DQ-ed because they were 2 second off the target time. :-(

This is my 2nd time to NUS, my prior visit being 5 years ago when I interviewed for the medical course. Hmmm, that time, I had 2 rounds of interviews with an Essay thrown in with the title- "your view on Aesthetic Medicine. " that was really tough, I think many would have trouble understanding what the question wanted, including me.

Oh well, I was offered Science in the end, which I did not take up. I felt lucky I was not chosen, for UKM gave me ample freedom to pursue my interests in a relaxed, slow-paced manner. It really is a blessing, and I cherish it.

Photos will be included soon,also in the pretending Lion Part 2.

Raoul In the house

Well, First I have to explain that I am a very seasonal blogger:


Sometimes I blog in quick succession, with 'gap years' in between
Sometimes I write drafts and leave them in the semi-completed state,( i currently have 36 drafts!)
Sometimes I hold up on the sudden spark of idea just a bit too long and well, all the steam just evaporated
sometimes I copy and paste. and leave very little of my interpretation on the post.

oh well, everyone is guilty in at least one of the charges above... we're only human right? :-)

I've been owing multiple blog-posts.. and I promise to clear the backlog as soon as I can.. Blogposts that should have already been posted (which of coz never saw light of day, in chronological order)

-My terengganu trip in april 2009- working with Marine turtles
-My UK ENT posting in July 2009-
-My feelings leading the team in the inaugural environmental carnival 9th January 2010
-My 14 day trip to Indonesia in a R&R (research and relax) trip Feb 2010
-My jaunts to The Balloon Festival, Liu Xuan's Talk, short reunion in Singapore in March 2010
-And finally, my upcoming trips to Cameron and Kota Kinabalu in April

damn, I've got a super long backlog of entries! YIKES

I guess being a jack of all trades can be a real drag.
Having so many interests in so many areas: (check out the labels at the sidebar: There are 22 of them, covering most if not all my secret fantasies)

And having so little time
1) pursuing my interests themselves
2) studying? (bah, don't use this as an excuse, as if you ever!)

and as I told my friends- since CNY till now, I've not had an 8 hour sleep cept on 2 days! most of the time, I get by with 5-6 (despite this being holidays!)

K,K, should really get started now...

First things I'd clear out- is a post on the reason for the name Raoul.

I've never given a full answer to that question, but some would recall I gave myself the moniker around April 2009- prior to starting 4th year.

It actually represents a brand new me, stepping into 4th year of medical school.
I wanted myself to be

bolder,
braver,
eager to take up each and every challenge.

I wanted to make sure I'll be always ready to
try novel stuff,

pick up the mike and let words come forth,
not back down at every given opportunity (and where has that gotten me? LOL!)

the name meant confidence & courage to me

I wanted myself to be less bogged down by friendship matters

Wanted to strike out and continue going against the grain

Wanted to play a bigger part in all the things that I previously did. Wanted to make a difference to the society, the country and the world I live in.

Quite frankly, I don't know whether I succeeded beyond irritating a few people with my Alias
being non-"I'm born with it", Non-christian, non-English (It's spanish)

So please be the judge if you knew me prior to 2009, and let me know if you see any changes. (Any, even microscopic)

Oh and the origin of the name? It came from here.

No Joke

Oh, and Wish me great luck in clearing the backlog. Adios amigo.

You can recycle almost anything nowadays, and get rewarded for it!

Interested in Changing Trash to Cash? Or Cool items, Cameras, Gift Vouchers?
Here's your chance to do it! And you can practically recycle anything under the sun nowadays! Read on to find out!

Heads up! The prizes!




Now, what treasures do you have to find from your home to be eligible for the prizes?





Simple isn't it?
If you're interested to know more about this programme, drop me a line/mail :-)

Give me your details and Email and I'll pass your particulars over to the person in charge.

In BRIEF-
How it works.
Register as a member online here http://recycleandreward.wordpress.com/register/

You'll be given a recycle sack with a calender as a free gift.

Collect recyclable items such as these - separate them in plastic bags

You can then check your Account and Point Details here
http://www.recycleandreward.my/logon

Once you get enough points, just redeem them via this channel
http://recycleandreward.wordpress.com/redeem-prize/

p.s.- Chingfong It's onli Avai in the klang Valley only at the moment :-)

Lights!, Double

My Maiden attempt at interpreting lights, please advise :-)

Single Macro Photo

:-) I think this is my fav macro photo to date

Taken with NIkon D50 18-55mm Kit lens

鄭丁賢•夢醒時分 - Time to Wakie

夢醒時分 The moment when dream is awakend...

鄭丁賢•夢醒時分
2009-12-02 20:49b

你是否和我一樣，發覺身邊的親戚和朋友，似乎少了許多。
I wonder you feel the same as me ; all the sudden I realized friends and relatives around me seems to get less and less.

以往接近過年時，各種聚餐排得滿滿的，而今年，似乎沒聲沒息。
Those years when the New Year drew near, all sorts of gathering appointments almost completely filled the diaries, but this year seems so quiet.

即使是平常日子，電話少了，與大家見面也少了。
Even in normal time, phone calls become less and less, face to face meet up also become much less.

也許，大家各忙各的；或者，目前流行“宅生活”，儘量避免出門。
Perhaps, everybody is busy with their own things, or perhaps, nowadays people prefer to stay in.

也不盡然如此。再想一想，很多老友和親戚，已經不在了。嗟！大吉利是，他們都還好好的，只是離開了馬來西亞。
However, it is not entirely like this, thinking further, actually old friends and relatives are not around any more. God bless, they are still alive and well, they just left the country, Malaysia.

去了中國大陸開工廠；王子不做工程師，移民到澳洲開小食檔；阿風離開本地大學，去香港做講師；青蛙去了台灣，開展事業第二春；還有的到了美國、英國，唔，還有去印尼的……。
They have gone to China to set factory; ah Wang quit his engineer job and migrated to Australia to set up his little food store business, ah Fong left the local University went to Hong Kong as a lecturer. 'Frog' went to Taiwan to pursue his second career life. Others went to Americia, England, even Indonesia...

起初，以為這只是個別現象，逐漸的，旁人也有同樣發現；原來，這不是個別現象，而是社會現象；這不是少數，而是相當大的數目。
At first, I thought these are individual cases, but gradually, people around me realized the same, these are not individual cases but a general symptom of our society. they are not small numbers but the pretty big indeed.

外交部早前披露了一個數字，說明這個現象是多麼真實，多麼貼近。
Department of Foreign Affairs released the figures earlier, it confirmed the situation is real.

從去年3月到今年9月，已經有30萬大馬人移民他國；其中20萬人是今年1月到8月出走的數目。
From March 2008 thru September 2009, a total of 300,000 Malaysian migrated to other countries, among them 200,000 left between Jan - Aug 2009. (in 8 months)

累積下來，已經有超過200萬大馬人移民，接近今天印尼外勞在大馬的人口。
Cummulatively, 2 million Malaysians migrated, this figure is close to the number of Indonesian workers in Malaysia today.

不同的是，移居他國的大馬人，多是專業人士、中產階級。
The difference are, those migrated are mostly professional and middle class people.

他們有很多出走的理由，追求事業發展，為了孩子前途，尋找個人更大空間……，概括一句：對馬來西亞失望。
They have many reasons to leave: pursue career development, for the future of their children, in search of better life and environment... In one sentence, they lost hope of Malaysia.

50年前，大家說，馬來西亞真好，好過香港，甚至日本。
50 years ago people said: Malaysia is very good, better than Hong Kong and even Japan.

30年前，大家說，馬來西亞還不錯，比得上韓國、台灣（不提香港和日本了）。
30 years ago people said: Malaysia is not bad, comparable to S. Korea and Taiwan. (No mention of Hong Kong and Japan any more).

20年前，大家說，馬來西亞還可以，至少超越中國、泰國（不能和台、韓比了）。
20 years ago people said: Malaysia can do lah, at least better than China and Thailand (Cannot compare with Taiwan and Korea lah)

10年前，大家說，馬來西亞再差，還不至於像越南、印尼（中國已是不同級別）。
10 years ago people said: No matter how bad Malaysia is, cannot be worse than Vietnam and Indonesia ok-lah. (China is already in a different category).

今日，越南和印尼的經濟成長率遙遙領先大馬，社會活力和知識發展也勝過一籌；距離愈來愈近了。
Today, the economic growth rate of Vietnam and Indonesia already far exceeded Malaysia, Social activity and intellectual development of the country is also better, the gap between us and them is closing up.

怕甚麼，還有菲律賓和柬埔寨、緬甸。
Why worry? there are still Philipines, Cambodia and Myanmar behind us.

但是，一位經濟學家最近到菲律賓考察之後，認為再過20年，大馬可以取代菲律賓，出口馬籍女傭到全世界了。
However, according to an economist who recently surveyed Phillipines, he think in 20 years' time, Malaysia can replace Phillipines to become the World exporter of Malaysian maids.

半個世紀以來，馬來西亞是在大宅院裡，用封建方式，分配祖宗家業，消耗社會資源，浪費和逼走人才；不談競爭力，忽略生產力，討厭績效制。
Over half a century, Malaysians live in the big old imperial housing complex, closed up and survive on properties left behind by the ancestor; continued to consume up social resources, wasteful, and drove away talents; they never talk about competitiveness, totally neglected productivity, and hated meritocracy.

亞洲金融風暴來襲時，大馬把門關起來，以為避過一劫，有人還自我陶醉，自以為是天才策略。
When Asia economic storm hit in 1997, Malaysia closed their doors, thinking we beautifully avoided a disaster, they even think of themselves as genius, being able to handle the situation so well.

然而，其它國家面對風暴，走出風暴，進行體質改革，跨步向前，登上另一個水平；大馬卻還在原地踏步。
However, just look at other countries in our neighbourhood ; they stood up, faced the storm, and walked out of the storm. They overhauled their system, improved the processes and marched forward ; they moved up to a new level. And Malaysia, still walking on the spot . . !

馬來西亞，該醒一醒了。
Dear Malaysia, it's time to wake up !
We are very very late now !

Push for Change, Vote for Change, Make some Noise, It's your choice!
http://sayaanakbangsamalaysia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=284:kita-semua-pendatang-sabm-roadshow-in-melaka&catid=38:sabm&Itemid=58#CommentForm

For original article, please see link below:
http://opinions.sinchew-i.com/node/12566

SABM Youth Movement- Save our Beloved Malaysia

Dear fellow Malaysian,

Are you happy with the state of our country today? Is our country and
her people truly living up to their potential? What do you think of
Malaysian society today? Should “race” be a major factor in how
Malaysian citizens relate to each other? What unites Malaysians? What
divides Malaysians? Do you think Malaysia needs to change? Why or why
not? What are your dreams/aspirations for yourself? Your country?

Do you love Malaysia?

These are questions that are rarely asked of our country's youths. But
we believe that all of them have a burning answer deep within their
hearts. They may not feel at liberty to share it. Or they may feel
like even if they did, who would listen? So many of these hushed
voices go unheard. It's the greatest loss to our nation...

Well, not anymore.

We believe that the youth of our nation have outstanding opinions
about the contentious issues facing Malaysia today. We want our
nation's youths to know that they are NOT forgotten, forsaken or
frivolous. Because it is their passion that will revive the hope in
our nation to once again rise up and be a shining example to the world
for our peace and prosperity. And this will happen when the youth of
our country choose to stand up and speak out.

That's where BANGKIT comes in.

BANGKIT is a nationwide search for songs written by youths, for youths
and representing the aspirations of the youths in our country. We
believe that they deserve...no, they NEED to be heard. And we're going
to provide the platform for them in the language that speaks to youths
- music!

To prove the point that Malaysians DO care about their country, we are
putting this entire project together with NO MONEY AT ALL!

No money for salaries or allowances
No money spent on promotions/marketing.
No money spent on design.
No money spent on recording.
No money to hire talents.
No money spent on websites.
No money prizes
No money for prizes.
Tak ada, mei you, eelek, zip nada!

Impossible? Maybe...unless you and I decide to believe that it is NOT
IMPOSSIBLE. We can both step out in faith that this project WILL
succeed because there will be more than enough people stepping up to
contribute their time, talents, facilities and resources FOR FREE,
with no other motivation than their passion, creativity and love for
country!

Have we got your attention? If you are inspired and want to join us,
here are the details of BANGKIT:

MECHANISM
- A Bangkit blog will be set up for this event
- Teasers will be spread throughout the internet (March 15 – 31)
- Selections begin, demo cuts of compositions to be submitted in mp3
format (April 1 – May 15)
- Songs will be featured on the Bangkit blog for youths to vote on
their favourites (April 1 – May 31)
- Professional judges will select 10 songs from the 20 most popular
voted songs and results announced (June 7)
- A professionally recorded CD of the songs will be released within 3
months of final selection (Target to be launched in September)
- A concert featuring local artistes will be held to showcase the
selected songs (to be held either in November or December, in
conjunction with SABM's voter registration carnival)
- No prizes will be offered. Just recognition of participants' talents
and the chance for their song to be recorded.

PUBLICITY
- Primarily viral marketing through the internet (facebook, youtube,
twitter, blogs, websites, etc)
- Flyers and posters to be distributed to colleges nationwide
- Exposure through the Mass Media
- Email, SMS & MMS

WHAT YOU CAN DO
- Attach the ‘Bangkit’ posters/banners/videos to your blog or website
and make sure to link it to our blog. We will be releasing a series so
that it keeps fresh and exciting
- Tell everyone you know about this, through word-of-mouth, blogs,
facebook, twitter, email, SMS, MMS, etc. We need everyone in Malaysia
to know.
- Keep updated at our Bangkit blog or the SABM website.
- Put us in touch with people who are willing to contribute for free.

Please support us in our effort to bring the voices of our youth to
the nation and the world!

P.S. As this is still the pre-launch stage, please don't reveal too
much about BANGKIT yet. If you feel a need to explain a bit more about
Bangkit, just say something like something big is brewing in Malaysian
cyberspace and everyone under-30 should watch out for the announcement
on April 1st. We will be releasing more promos and information that
you can post as the official launch date (April 1) approaches.

If you need more information, please email: jombangkit@gmail.com.

For more info please check out our blog at http://jombangkit.org/

And please do feel free to pass this message to as many people as you
know.

Let's rock Malaysian together!

Regards,
Lai Chee Seng
Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia - Youth Outreach Project Team Coordinator