Today

Did you feel it today? I did… for a good 40 seconds or more. It was much worse than the previous one. I actually felt giddy and had to sit down.

The relevant people kept calling building management, asking for instructions. But my gut feelings tell me building management has got absolutely no idea on what to tell us. In the end, we were told to stay put. Most of us left…

Sand storm in Sydney… Typhoon in Taiwan… Typhoon and tsunami in South East Asia --- Vietnam, Cambodia… earthquake and tsunami in Samoa and Tonga… and just a while ago… earthquake in Indonesia which sent tremors to Singapore and here… Perhaps mother nature was screaming at us. But I wonder who will hear her…

Lastly, certain quarters will be collecting donations for the victims. As generous as we should be, let us be mindful on who we donate to. Let us not forget that in the last tsunami, “certain people” collected a huge amount of donation and it went missing.

Be generous and yet wise, we want our generosity to reach the victims. And now, let’s say a prayer for those who lost their lives…

Picture taken from CNN.

1 year ago… Why I prefer it to fail

Sudden traffic and what say you?

When I checked my traffic this morning, I was shocked to see that it has hit thousands! As early as 10am in the morning! A quick check and I realised that there was a huge traffic flowing from this particular site. It appears my last post was featured Malaysia Today. (Noticed that the link is difficult to access, bypass firewall here).

I am letting you know in advice in case I suddenly disappear. And if anything happens, do light a candle for me ok? :)

Alright, gotta keep this short as I need to sleep early today…

If… you are hired into this position where you will be leading a team. You, being the boss, naturally get much higher salary compared to them and you have to lead them. But you found out that they are all possess a MBA, all more quailed than you. Experience is unknown.

Would you feel damn proud?
Or…
Would you feel in adequate and feel needy to get a MBA yourself?
Or…???

What say you? By the way, I am not referring to myself in case you're wondering.


1 year ago… Singapore snippets

Our country a disgrace?

Upon my return from HK last week, something screwed up during baggage-claim. I will not go into details but it created a lot of frustration. Amidst the ruckus, an elderly man blurted --- “This so silly, such a disgrace!”. With so many gwai-los (“Caucasians”) around, he was probably feeling a bit embarrassed.

Indeed, the usual ramblings by Malaysians...

“Our toilets are horrible. What a disgrace!”
“People send astronaut to do research in space, our astronaut went all the way up there to make roti canai. What a disgrace!”
“Actually right, NASA only considers him as a space-tourist. What a disgrace!”
“Look at our highway resting place - dirty and run-down. What a disgrace!”
“Malaysia has been blacklisted by OECD together with Costa Rica, Uruguay and Philippines. What a disgrace!”
“Oh, Malaysia has been removed. But only to the grey list, what a disgrace!”
“Our country, always in international news for the wrong reason(s). What a disgrace!”
“After 20 years, Proton still can’t get things right. What a disgrace!”
“Worse, Proton Waja heavily criticised in Top Gear. What a disgrace!”
“Simple thing like post-flight-baggage-claim can’t be done properly. What a disgrace!”

Care to contribute some?

But wait a minute. Before you think of any other real life examples, have you ever asked yourself one question, i.e. do you really expect things in Malaysia to be done properly? I mean, you seriously expect the Malaysian-way-of-doing-things to be of good standard?

Let’s say your answer is a big YES. Then, may I ask… On what basis are you having such expectations? Who and what are you benchmarking those standards against? Singapore? Australia? Europe? Hong Kong?

Let’s do some self reflection… we are a country who moved backward from RON97 to RON95… we are a nation who uses the lowest grade of diesel… we are a nation whose national pride is food, and our country tourism’s job is to lay claim on some food... we are a country whose income-per-capita is nowhere near a developed nation… and we are a population who majority does not know what income-per-capita is.

We are a country whose reason in appointing a foreign minister was because he-speaks-English. And, we once had a chief minister whose reason (given in court) for bringing huge amount of cash into Australia was I-no-spegging-enlish, thus unable to read the law… and we are a population where a majority does not know who or what I am referring to because we are a population who prefer to read where is the best place to eat rather than proper news.

Add all that to many other boleh-ness of this country, do you seriously think we should expect things to be better than they way they are now? Let’s not kid ourselves. We should not benchmark our country with a developed nation. In fact, judging by recent events, being considered as a developing nation is questionable.

Let’s go back to the baggage-claim screw up where the elderly man blurted out “… what a disgrace”. The story didn’t end there. A gwai-lo, upon hearing the remark from the elderly man said…

“Hey, don’t be. This is Malaysia, that’s the way it is”

That’s wisdom, from a gwai-lo.

P/S: For the meaning of the post “Delay No More”, check out the first comment of that post.


2 years ago… More tales from conference… Conference dinner tales

Delay No More

I actually didn’t manage to take that many pictures of the food I had in HK. Reason being, the first thought that came to mind was to eat them as soon as they are on the table. They looked so yummy, the instinct to snap a pic only came after the food is half way in my digestive system.

Anyway, I manage to snap this, a very special breed of mooncake. Click to enlarge… check out the DIY… haha!!

Also, there is this new concept in HK, known as “Delay No More”. You can see things like… Do it now, Delay No More… Recycle, Delay No More… Stop smoking, Delay No More… etc.

But, I was informed that “Delay No More” actually means something else. It actually rhyme with a particular Cantonese phrase.

Can you guess what it is? Come… make a guess, Delay No More… hehe…

2 years ago… 3 tales…

Something that happened today

Something happened at the place I work today, and I must blog about it…

It is a high security building. The guards will ask for your staff ID before they let you into the lift lobby. Visitors must register and obtain a visitor pass, not negotiable.

A despatch boy came and wanted to go up the building. The guard on duty stopped him, probably the despatch boy failed to register. No one knows what transpired between them, but the despatch boy left the building.

After a while, the despatch boy then returned with 2 friends. He also brought with him a weapon, alleged to be a dagger. They attacked the guard. An eyewitness said the guard’s head was slashed from the back his head (near the neck), up all the way to the top of his head and the wound ends near his eyes. I didn’t see it, but I was told it was bloody.

The attackers managed to escape, and the guard was rushed to the hospital. The next logical course of action would be to call the police. The building management did that. 2 policemen arrived. My colleague who deals with the building management told me that they (i.e. the police) “refuse” to enter the building.

Now, this is classic… they said that the incident took place “inside a building” and hence, they can't do anything. If the building wants the police to investigate, they have to go and make a report at the police station. Wow, “IF” the building wants the police to investigate. You mean the police themselves are not interested in arresting the attackers? They have been identified by the way.

Oh, I forgot. The police are rather busy arresting more dangerous criminals, such as those who light candles. They are a threat, not those who carry daggers slashing the shit of you.

Lastly, there is a need to think from the attackers’ perspective. There are only 2 reasons why they will act in such a manner. Either they are brainless… or… they know that they can get away with it. Isn’t the latter a worrying point.

But then again, we should not worry because… yes… the nasi-lemak, char-kuey-teow and bak-kut-teh still taste good in this country.


1 year ago… hypocrites aplenty

A first of such

Back from Hong Kong… and we were in Sai Kung, renown for its seafood delicacies. I must say this small town gives you a totally different perspective of Hong Kong. But then again, the people here don’t consider Sai Kung as Hong Kong per se. To them, Sai Kung is part of the New Territory (“San Kai”).

By the way, my bro-in-law was the driver. He has been living here for almost 10 years. Picture below is the convoy to Sai Kung with his mates. Yes, that’s a Porsche and an Aston Martin. Life is good when you are an investment banker in Hong Kong.

Anyway, after lunch and a nice dessert, we went to get the car. I must say, parking here is truly horrendous. Getting into the parking lot and finding a space is huge task. Getting out is equally challenging.

On the way out, there was this pink Honda Jazz ahead of us, looking for car park. The driver tried to squeeze into a few lots but failed. The final attempt was this parallel-park slot. By now, traffic has already built up behind us. And unlike here, there is no way you can drive past the car until it is completely parked inside the slot.

In… out… left… right… left… reverse… forward… tension was building. I think my bro-in-law was getting impatient and suggested… “Eh Zewt, why don’t you go do it”.

It was then that the driver got out of the car and approached us, who were right behind her (yes, it’s a she)…

“Ho jak ah, ho em ho yi pong hah ngo ah?”
(It’s very tight, could you help me please?)

I got it done within a minute and as I walked back to my bro-in-law’s car, I saw drivers at the back applauding in their respective cars. I wonder if this is common in HK.

A first of such experience for me, what about you?


2 years ago… When ARK seems impossible… Once is enough… Choices and regrets… Today, I remember

Away with a greeting

I will be away to the land which has just been struck by typhoon...

So, an early wish to all Muslimin and Musliman sekalian...

Selamat Menyambut Hari Raya Aidilfitri...

Stay safe on the road!!