Our man in Blue...

These happen two weeks ago. At 10:30am that morning I went to the  Ampang Police Station to make a report of a lost document. On arrival at the station I enquire as to how to do a report since it is not always that one go to the Police Station. I was told by a Police Officer there to take a number at the counter. I went in and as I was about to take the number [since there was no one else] the Policewoman at the counter ask me just to sit down and did the report on her computer. In just 15 minutes the report with copies was done. She then took me to another room to get it stamped and pay the RM4.00[for two copies]. I thank her and went home happy that the service was not only courteous but fast too. I want to thanks the PDRM  for a job well done. 

Have a nice day.

Your One Vote [Malaysia 13th Election]...

The 13th General Election for Malaysia would be held on May, 5, 2013.

Folks, in a democracy it is the vote that put a person in charge of the country. Anyone who gets a majority, even with one vote would be elected to be a Member of Parliament or the Member of the State Assembly. So it is important that we as citizen of this country Malaysia understand that the one vote of ours does made the difference. So in an election, be it the by-election or now the General Election that happen once in four or five years we must take our vote seriously and vote with wisdom.

In the March 8, 2008 the citizen of Malaysia showed that they do understand that their votes does made the differences. In that election they voted for change. As can be seen at that election and the other by-election your votes do made the difference. Folks we are going through a changing time and as usual some people like change and some does not want at all. It is the same in a democracy. What we want is a democracy not a dynasty where leadership is pass down from one person to another but a person that is elected by the people. Only in a true democracy that we get to see the person whom we elect became the leader.

Our founding father found this country as a secular democracy and it has work so far. It does brought prosperity to the rakyaat but since it is the rakyaat money that are been use to develop this country surely we want accountability and transparency in it uses. To get that we must elect the right person to provides the leadership. A person of integrity to the nation leadership; whether it is at the state level or the federal level. In this coming election it is for both the federal level as well the state level. Only a person with integrity would provide us with good leadership. So this time you go to the poll do use your vote wisely. Remember that one vote of yours does made the difference.Your vote and my vote make two votes and that goes on and on until the polling is closed. 

So come this May 5, 2013 do go and vote wisely.

Have a nice day.

A Beautiful Heart....

Someone posted the image above on Facebook and because the message is so beautiful I had shared it on my Facebook wall as well. And now for the benefit of my blogger friends I am sharing it here too. Its the beautiful people like that man in the image above that made our world such a great place to live to enjoy life. It is being human as a true human being that touches the hearts of us all. Give whatever we could so others including the other species on our planet are able to continue to enjoy life; for without the other species lives on planet earth would not be as beautiful as we all would want it to be.

Have a nice day.

Sarawak State Election...

Sarawak goes to the poll on April 16, 2011 to choose their State Assemblyman for the next five years. Please vote with wisdom, for the future of the state is now on your vote. 

Have a nice day.

Of Ah Kow.. a Malaysian story...

Folks, I got this in my email. Since it is a good story with so much truth in it, I am sharing it here for all to read:-

The Story of Ah Kau, the Newspaper Vendor.

Ah Kau is a guy who sells newspapers every morning next to your apartment, and you are one of his daily regular customers. Before dashing off to your office every day, you will go to his small stall and buy The Star newspaper. Wearing a newly pressed shirt, a tie, and a pair of Clarks shoes, you grab a copy of The Star, pay RM1.20 and exchange smiles with Ah Kau and greet him.

"Apa macam Ah Kau ini hari? Bisnes ada baik*?" The normal greeting like you do every day. Yes, Ah Kau doesn't speak English. He speaks Chinese and knows a little bit of Malay. He speaks a little bit of Malay but with a very thick Chinese accent.

"Biasa saja... ini bisnes aa, kadang kadang baik, kadang kadang tada untung oo**...."

"Biasalah hidup. Kadang kadang ok, kadang kadang tak ok***." You give Ah Kau a pat on the back. You smile and walk away and get into your car. You start the engine and start driving to your office, a multinational semiconductor company located in a premier industrial area. You are a young and promising finance executive and the future looks bright for you.

A year goes by and things look pretty good on the track. You decide to marry your fiance and have your new wife moves in to your place. Both of you feel happy because you can save more money as the two of you will be sharing one apartment and can live as one.

Ah Kau is still selling the newspaper as usual. Sometimes in the morning your wife gets the newspaper from Ah Kau instead of you.

A year later a child comes along, and you decide to buy and move into a newly developed condominium just across the street. This place is bigger so it will be perfectly fit for the 3 of you. But since both of you are working, you decide to get a maid to take of the household and your kid.

By this time you're offered a managerial job from another multinational; the remuneration package offered is much better in terms of the pay, contractual bonus, medical benefits, ESOS scheme and a few others which make it impossible for you to decline. So you join this company happily.

You get busier. You realize that you spend less and less time with your family. When your department is busy preparing for the next audit, your working hours become more and more ridiculous. Any internal issues arising in the office means you'll be stuck in the office until 8 or 9 pm. Sometimes, during the weekend, you'll spend your time in your office, buried under paper works and documentations, instead of taking your family for a walk in the park.

One morning, on your way to get your copy of The Star, you realized that Ah Kau is no longer in his stall. So is his rundown motorbike. Instead, there's another young Chinese guy at the stall. "What happen to Ah Kau?" You ask out of curiosity.

"Oh, he is still around, but he is no longer taking care of this stall as he has opened up a new grocery shop down town. I am running this newspaper stall for him."

"Ok," you smile. You feel happy for Ah Kau. "At last he manages to improve his life."

Your normal life continues. A year passes by and at the end of your company's fiscal year, you're rewarded for your effort with a 5 months bonus pay-out by your employer. Wow. Now that is a very handsome reward. You feel your effort has been equally compensated. To celebrate, you decide that it's time to trade your 5-year old Proton Wira to the latest Honda Civic model. It won't be much a problem to you to get a loan scheme from the bank as your pay slip will provide you an easy gateway to access financial help from any bank.

One day, the hardest reality of life hits you right on the face. The company that you've been working for years announces that they're moving their business to China for cost and competitive reason and has asked you to find a job somewhere else. "What?" You scream out cold. "I got a lot of liabilities on the card! Who's gonna pay for my mortgage? My car? My credit card? My gym fees? My bills?" You yell like there's no way out.

This is the first time you feel let down by your own employer. All your hard work seem to go up on the smoke. You feel sick. You now hate your company. On the way home, you stopped by at a mamak restaurant for a cup of teh tarik while pondering about your future. Alone.

Suddenly you saw this new, shiny BMW 3 series being parked nearby. And to your surprise, it was Ah Kau. Yes, Ah Kau who used to sell newspapers nearby your old apartment. "What happened to old Ah Kau?" You whisper to your self.

Ah Kau still recognizes you, and sit next to you, and shared his story. To make it short, Ah Kau had accumulated his money from selling newspapers to open more stalls, one after another. Every new stall is run by his workers so that he focused on opening more and more stalls, which in turn give him more and more money. Over the years, he had accumulated enough cash to open up new grocery store while at the same time buying more assets to grow his wealth. And his current wealth and success is achieved without any loan or financial help from banks and other financial institutions.

There you go. That's the story. While Ah Kau is set to become financially free, you're back to where you're started before. Ground zero .

Before leaving, Ah Kau gives you a familiar quote, "Biasalah hidup. Kadang kadang ok, kadang kadang tak ok." He gives you a pat on the back and walks away.

In reality, if you're observant enough, there are a lot of Ah Kaus out there, that you will see every day and every where you go. The names are different, but inside them is every character of Ah Kau. They might be Uncle Dorai, Ah Chong, Pak Abu, Makcik Gemuk, Pak Man nasi lemak or others.

They look to be struggling on the surface, but if you look carefully and compare with you life, many of them are living with little or no liabilities. They ride an old 'kapcai' bike. They live in an old rundown house. They don't have credit card to swipe. They wear a 10-year old shirt and short. No new, shiny Toyota Harrier. In short, their living means are far below than yours. But what you don't realize is that many of them can save more money than yours, and over the years generate enough money to expand their business, or invest in properties. Their asset columns are much thicker than that of yours.

"SHARING IS CARING".....



Note: Translation:
* How are you today, Business Good?
** Business is like that, sometimes you make money sometimes not.
*** Life is like that, Sometime it is OK and Sometime it is not.

[Sometimes it is spell Ah Kow and sometimes it is Ah Kau]

Have a nice day.

Ramadan and the rays of hopes...

It is the first of September 2008 and it is the start of the month of Ramadan of the Islamic calendar. With that Muslim in Malaysia and I believe the other part of the world start to fast during the day. Fasting is the state of the mind. In order for you to practice fasting you must be of a sound mind and fast not only by not eating and drinking during the day but you must also practice all the good value and not to even think of getting into doing evil. If you for a second thought of evil or do harm to others in whatever forms then your fasting is useless. So during this fasting month do behave and be a good person, for only that would your fasting be of any use.

In the recent elections many things happen and said by politicians who are against the teaching of Islam, which from the result does not go well with the voters and because of that change continue to happen. We need to put back the political system of the country on to the proper track where good governance would be the norm and value of the system. I believe the result of the March 8 election and the August 26 election would be the beginning of the change to come. We just celebrated the 51st Merdeka [Independence Day] celebration and it is time we get to see good governance in the political system. What the rakyaat [the people] want is accountability and transparency in every deal the government does, after all the government in a democracy is the representative of the people. Thus the people have the right to know.

Like the rays of light above that always give us joy and happiness each morning, it is our hopes and aspiration that the new political changes to come would bring greater joy to the rakyaat as well. Let us hope the future would be brighter as ever, beginning on this auspicious day of Ramadan 2008. Have a nice day.

Of Blogging and the civil society...

The Internet and Blogging are new to our species. For Malaysian the Internet and Blogging are gifts from heaven. We now have the means and ways that we never dream of before. Blogging made it possible for us to share our thoughts with our society and the world at large. Cyberspace and the Internet has made that a reality. The freedom of expression. Not that we did not have the freedom of expression before the Internet. We all have but the mean to disseminate information to the masses are limited. Before the Internet one had to write book or write for the printed media to get one thoughts to the public in the country and the world. With Blogging and the Internet, the process of getting one thoughts to the world audiences became so simple. And Blogging is just one of the mean to an end.. The freedom of expression.

Since this is a new tools to us Malaysian I often caution blogger to use it with great care. And with wisdom. The reason is that this tool gave us the freedom to disseminate information to the society at large like never before. As usual some information are accepted, brush aside or offend people. In a multi cultural, multi religious and multi racial Malaysia there are things that we do not discuss in public. For the benefit of our society we have enact laws like the Sedition Act, the Printing Act, that in some ways seem to be against the freedom of expression. But then we are just fifty years old and in the process of nation building. If we want to progress as we had done during the last fifty years, with the country in peace and harmony, the people getting prosperous day by day and Living a better quality of life than our forefather, we have to expect some restriction in what we call the freedom of the press. Personally I do not believe in total freedom. There must be limit to everything. When the time comes for changes then it would happen but not now as yet, we all have to live with it for the time being and in a way be thankful for the law that we have. For it is these laws that help to keep the peace and harmony in the country.

Information are important for the development of the society. We get to where we are now because of the information that we had gathered along the way. As usual in any venture in doing so sometime we might step on the toes of the others. That are facts that we had to be reckons with. For that is the real world. For once the information are no more the sole privilege of the authority or some organisation. It now belong to all the rakyaat or the citizen of the country. Use it with wisdom it would give us wisdom in return. Sow it with the negative thoughts then we can expect the negativeness in return. So in a word, so we may reap what we sowed. Friends be responsible for what we Blog.

In a way blogging could become a tool for the reformation of the society. But then in any reformation it takes times. It is a process and part of evolution of a country. In any society there are surely people out there, Blogger included who dare to venture one step ahead and at time cross that thin gray line and venture on. That is the nature of our species and had it not been for the few who dare to venture and takes risks, our species would had not be as successful as we are today.

We are a young country and as such need the wisdom to succeed in whatever endeavour and hope for. Blogging could be a very useful tool in getting what we want. So friends Blogger venture on, but be very careful as we tread on. Be adventurous by all means but remember in any adventure you do not really know what you would find on the way. The pathway onward, into uncharted territories are just difficult to know. But if we do not venture, we would never know what's ahead. Success never come easy, but with wisdom and determinations we would eventually get there.

Remember be responsible when we blog. As a blogger myself who surf the net often I know that Malaysian blogger are responsible people and have the love for this country first in their heart. Of course we do makes mistake from time to time but then that is the human in us, for that is the nature of our species.

Most Malaysian Blogger are well educated, intelligent and articulate. I am sure that they all are not naive. They are Malaysian using a new tool, that they never had before to share their thoughts with fellow Malaysian and the world.

To blogger do continue to blog, for in a democracy our thoughts do count. Have a nice day.