First World Infrastructure?

Bridge of death

Bridge of Death Claims another life

For umpteen years, residents of Pengkalan Pasir Village, 6km from Kota Baru, Kelantan had been appealing to the authorities for the repair of this bridge. On February 14, 2005, this bridge claimed its second victim. 5-year-old Noralili Mohd Yusof fell into the canal through a gap between the rotten planks. Last year alone, one villager was killed and two others broke their arms and legs. Perhaps, now the authorities may act.

When Norlili Mohd Yusof drowned after falling through a wooden bridge in February, the authorities swore such an accident would not happen again.

But four months after the five-year-old’s death at Kampung Kok Pasir, a similar accident has claimed another life.

Last Monday, Khatijah Rahmatullah, 65, died after part of a wooden bridge in Kampung Dendang, Ketereh gave way on Monday. The widow’s body was found floating in the canal at 2.30pm yesterday. Khatijah’s son, Mohd Kamal Mohamad, said his mother was returning to a relative’s house after visiting him when the incident occurred at about 8.30pm.

"She comes to my house every night to see my children and then spends the night at a relative’s place," he said.

The incident has once again highlighted the problem of old and rickety wooden bridges over irrigation canals in the State. But an added complication has emerged in the wake of Monday’s incident.

It appears that some bridges were maintained by the State Drainage and Irrigation Department and others by the Kemubu Agricultural Development Authority (Kada).

State Public Works Department director Lim Chow Hock said efforts were being made to repair all bridges maintained by the department. He said while the bridge at Kampung Kok Pasir had been repaired, that at Kampung Dendang came under Kada’s jurisdiction.

When our Prime Minister was addressing the recent civil servants at Kuantan recently, he mention that Malaysia had first class infrastructure and third class mentality. It seem only a half-truth; for we have good infrastructure in the cities but not the kampung; and we have fourth world mentality ........

Petrol & Diesel Price Up Again?

Petrol price Up Again?

In less than 2 years in office, Prime Minister Pak Lah has been ruling in the world of economic & likely, political uncertainties. The price of crude oil have risen sharply over the last two years from USD26 to the present price that lingers in the USD60 region.

In view of this development, without doubt, the domestic fuel prices has caused increase of far greater amount of subsidies.

Recently, the Prime Minister has given a broad hint that the retail price of petrol could be revised because of the high price of crude oil.

“We have to make preparations, and if they are tough and a little terrible, we all have to be patient,” Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said when asked whether the Government would increase petrol prices. He was speaking to reporters at the end of his visit to the Integrity Institute of Malaysia here yesterday.

Petrol prices went up by 10 sen a litre last month. Abdullah, who is also Finance Minister, said the Government would also have to review this year’s economic forecast. “We have to make new forecasts which take into account the high price of petroleum,” he said.

Bank Negara had earlier forecast that the Gross Domestic Product this year would be between 5% and 6%. Asked whether petroleum subsidies would be removed, he said that was not something which was impossible. He said action was necessary as the price of petroleum was very high now. The price of crude oil surged to a record US$60 (RM228) plus per barrel on June 20.

Without doubt, with the increase in crude oil, we should in norm, see a parallel increase in the price of fuel. But then, we should not forget that Malaysia is a net exporter of crude oil. The phenominal increase in the price of crude oil would have also in parallel, increase the revenue of Petronas, which is a wholly owned corporation of the Malaysian Government and the citizens of Malaysia.

But, the way Petronas has behaved, it is as if they are privately owned. It must be remembered that the wealth of Petronas is also the wealth of the nation, as these wealth should be utilized for the benefit of the nation as a whole, including consideration for using part of the gains to offset the subsidies.

In reality, Petronas would be managed integratively with the Federal Reserve, i.e. Bank Negara, and that the nation should not need to borrow extensively externally to fund domestic economic development, as is done thus far.

Somehow, the wealth of Petronas is taken to act as if they are privately owned by individuals, benefitting selective group of people, and played no part in nation building, apart from using the money for rescue operations for failed banks caused by malpractices and mismanagement and also propping distressed financial institutions; plus some individuals.

In a nation that is blessed with black gold, a gift from God, it have brought in tremendous amount of wealth, which have not shown to have been used for the people of the nation. There isn't any transparency on the subject organization.

It is a mockery of a system that has a vision of an developed nation in the year 2020.

Compulsory training for civil servants

Civil Sevants Compulsory Training

All civil servants have been instructed to undergo at least seven days of training annually to improve their competence, under a new Public Service Department requirement.

In a circular issued early this month, the PSD said civil servants would have to undergo training and re-training under the Public Services Human Resources Training Policy. The policy, which took effect on Jan 1, is in line with the Malaysian Remuneration System introduced by the Government in 2003.

The onus is now on ministries and government departments to set aside one per cent of their allocation for training.

Formerly, ministries and departments decided who to send for courses, but it was common that "many public servants did not go for a single course", PSD public relations officer Hasniah Rashid said when contacted.

Government offices will now be compelled to see to the training needs of all staff, record details of their participation and evaluate the effectiveness of the courses.

The policy is to ensure that every civil servant has the appropriate attitude, skills and knowledge, through planned human resources programmes based on competency development and life-long learning, the circular says.

Secretaries-general and department heads will have to ensure that their staff undergo training courses at five levels: pre-placement, basic, mid-level, continuation and transitional. They will also sit on the national Public Sector Training Council, which will be headed by PSD director-general Datuk Ismail Adam. It will study and approve proposals to improve the policy from time to time.

"The council will also assess the needs of public training institutes and monitor the quality of their programmes. It will set guidelines for co-operation and linkages with foreign training institutes and international bodies on policy implementation," the PSD said.

The panels to be set up in each ministry and department will be in charge of identifying and planning training for the officers and monitor its implementation.

The PSD will continue to organise pre-service training, short courses such as the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard University and Oxford University, local or overseas courses longer than three months, and courses sponsored by foreign countries or international bodies.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Is training or the lack of it the main reason of systemic administrative weakness related to the lack of competency of civil servants? Oh, my God, please leave me alone.

The fundamental doctrines of Competency comprises the profound trinity: KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ATTITUTE.

7 days of training per annum will never provide an individual the food to develop competency at all; neither 14 days or 30 days per annum.

To achieve competency of knowledge, each individual have to go through a journey of continuous learning of each knowledge area - technical, operational, analytical psychological, physiological and philosophical, not forgeting spiritual.

As regard to skill, no matter how much time you spent on training, as long as you did not practice it daily, and "you don't know what you don't know", your skills will remain what you had been. Apart from this, skill training may be carried out by outdated, outmoded and pusillanimous trainers and the participants may just be there for the sake of compliance. Look at the teachers in schools and uiniversities, and you can find the answer to this point. In an environment of mediocrity, only the mediocres are engaged to impart and transfer their knowledge and skills to another mediocre. Example, look at the universities where the lecturers are teaching business management subjects and they had been teaching the subject since they graduated from university; they had never work for any corporations in their life-time; maybe a year or two, but it won't suffice. I have spent more than 8 years in university life and my lecturers gave case studies of organizations such as Coca-Cola, IBM, GE, etc, all of which, they had never had any experience working within those organizations. All they know and what information they had were culled from text books and from writings by journalist, not from the CEO or senior executives themselves.

In Elite Ivy league universities, students and researchers are sent to selective organizations to get first hand experience, to conduct research on a typical subject matter before they can complete a thesis or to graduate. Take Michael Porter as an example, where he did the research on strategic management pertaining to competition and competitive advantage and he has to spent years in his research on various conglomerates and institutions to complete his thesis.

Attitude? OH, My God! It cannot be taught. You cannot learnt. It is upbringing and culturalistics and environmentalistic. Who say cannot learn? Oh, sorry, you can learnt only with one condition, i.e., you must have had suffered fatally in an incident or over recentbusiness collapse, or had just recovered from a cronic disease; yes, you will surely learn and your attitude will improve radically. You can see, those who have lost their empire during the economic crisis few years back, (absolutely must be their own -they are the real owners, not proxies), then these people had learn a good lesson, and will be a changed person - they had acquired wisdom, the Profound Knowledge of Business Management.

But if the empire was presumably theirs but they had not actually paid to acquire it - money if not from their own pocket, not from their own blood and sweat and tears, then the failure they had been thru'; oh, it would not be any lesson at all; they will repeat it again, soon, in the not too distant future. The case of Bumiputra Bank is a clear example - it had to be bankrupted twice. Perwaja Steel is another example; it had to be rescued three times [Period].

So, 7 days training to improve competency? Let me tell you - you won't get competency but you will get some knowledge; sorry, not knowledge, just mere information of knowledge; so that you can talk about it and preach about it to others, without pragmatism and objectivism, and without profound knowledge.

Good Luck to PSD and the Civil Servants. Enjoy the training provided; it is free, absolutely free! Take it as a 7 days holiday away from work and stress, bring your family along during the training; and pay the trainers well, please.!!!!!!!

Mamak Restaurant is our Pop Culture?

Mamak Restaurants - A New Malaysian Pop Culture?

Adstracts from:

HARDCOPY: Mamak restaurants add to pop culture
By Syed Nadzri, NST

A NEW wave of Malaysian restaurants in the form of chic unconventional mamak cafes are mushrooming all over the place — in most cases occupying strategic corner shoplots in housing estates, heritage bungalows near popular nightspots or even disused cinemas.

And instead of the usual names that were so characteristic of the eateries, like Bismillah Restaurant or Restoran Rahman, we now have Canai n Such, Mamak Bistro, Pelita, Ayza, Original Nasi Kandar and many more fancy names, each offering the same kind of Malaysian favourites, but in a "cool" and trendy ambience that attracts the young like ants to sugar.

These are mainly Indian Muslim or mamak joints — nothing derogatory about the term because "mamak" means uncle and it is, in fact, a term of endearment particularly among Indian Muslims and Malays in Penang. Even Mamak Bistro shouts its name on the billboards and it is hugely popular. The explosion is most evident in the Klang Valley and Penang.

What’s interesting about these restaurants is that they know how to attract the customers, particularly the young crowd and the yuppies — big screen TVs with amplified sound systems ideal for live football, comfortable chairs and tables not unlike the ones at Starbucks, brightly-lit interiors with clear colourful menu boards on the wall and ample outdoor tables.

I asked Muslim Restaurant Owners Association of Malaysia president Jamarulkhan Abdul Kadir the other day about what is causing the mamak restaurant boom and his answer was simple: A supply and demand situation. He said the concept of the restaurants works on young people — food and entertainment blending just nicely with the environment.

"Many of the restaurants offer a sidewalk café kind of environment at just a fraction of the prices in the designer coffee shops," he added. "Where in the world can you get a piece of roti canai for 80 sen and thosai for RM1? Only in Malaysia. In India you pay 35 rupees for thosai and that’s about RM3. By being a 24-hour operation, we provide a cheap alternative to pubs, discos and clubs. Many young people flock to our restaurants to watch live soccer matches, just as some do in pubs and bars. Ours therefore provide clean fun because we don’t serve alcohol and we are too open for undesirable activities like drug-taking by our customers."

The restaurants also appeal to working professionals — not only those looking for quick meals but business lunches as well. According to Jamarulkhan, he has seen many business deals being concluded across the tables of mamak restaurants after fish-head curry treats. Jamarulkhan, who runs the Restoran Syed chain, however said opening a new wave restaurant requires a lot of investment.

"Those days, you only need to spend about RM30,000 to start a decent restaurant. With this new concept, you need something between RM300,000 and RM1 million. "But the returns can be good."

Jamarulkhan said many of the owners of mamak restaurants are carrying on a family business into the third or fourth generation. Although some of the restaurants have many branches, they are not a franchised trade.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

So, is Mamak Restaurant our new Malaysian Pop Culture?

I do not think so. Many at times, it is a matter of convenience and simplicity whenever a group of people wants to meet and to find a place to chat, and at the same time, you can have a nice hot drink, something to eat, even at times, to watch football or Formula 1; and Mamak's place can smoke-lah.

The advantage of these Mamak Restaurant is that they not only provide all the basic needs for groups of people looking for a place to lepak, or to chat, they also provide good service, open-air seatings, and are often spacious - they occupy all the car parks and walk-ways in front of their shops. Tak ada salah-lah! Semua pun macam tu! Bandaraya enforcement.... no problem-lah!

But the food aren't cheap ... you know why-lah ...got to pay rent and for Kudusism security services also (protection money -oh). [Period]

Direct Competition for the Mamak Restaurants are the burgeoning number of Food Courts and Hawker Centers. Again, you can see that these food courts provide many varieties and choices of food, drinks, LCD projectors and Large-screen, etc. The non-Muslim in particular may want an alcoholic drink which are available at food courts.

The Muslims of course would prefer the Mamaks in view of the fact that it is Halah. Food courts tend to be multi-racial in nature.

Are Mamak restaurants and food courts becoming Malaysian Pop-culture? I doubt. It's more a convenient place to meet in groups and are less expensive than pubs, karaokes, discos, etc. Furthermore, times are bad now as there are no more mega projects; so have to cut expenses as our wallets are taking routine slimming courses; we now have less disposable income to lepak - so, no more pubs, coffee-house, etc - road-side stall is Ok-lah!

Long live, the Mamak Restaurants!

Major Institutional Investors’ Slip-Up Once Too Often

PSCI AGM Fiasco

Analysts and Fund Managers were baffled at the PSC Industries Bhd’s (PSCI) shareholders’ meeting, the outcome of which revealed that the country's biggest corporations are being derelict and the whole episode looks farcical.

The three musketeers are Boustead Holding Bhd, Danaharta and Telekom Malaysia Bhd – which together holds a total of about 42% of PSCI – were denied entry to the meeting due to non compliance of the AGM rules.

Interestingly, Monday’s turn of events were similar to what happened 3 years ago when Telekom squared off against Tajudin Ramli at the –Telekom-Danaharta-Celcom take-over saga. At the shareholders’ meeting, Tajudin blocked proxies of Telekom due to incorrectly-filled forms, a move that allowed Tajudin to retain control of TRI’s board. TRI was then the controlling shareholder of Celcom.

Ignorance, once too often? All these organizations have scores of legal advisors and experts to know what they need to comply to attend this AGM. It just goes to tell what are the attitudes of the experts we have produced. Even a company secretary will know the requirements.

Malaysia Boleh; GLC lagi Boleh!!!

Cardinal Sin is back with God

Cardinal Sin is Dead-BBC News

BBC News

Cardinal Jaime Sin, the influential former leader of the Philippines' large Roman Catholic community, is finally passed away.

He had a history of illness, having suffered from a reported heart attack last year, and was aged 76. He retired in 2003 after nearly 30 years heading the Manila Archdiocese.

Cardinal Sin was taken to Manila's Cardinal Santos Medical Centre with a high fever on Sunday evening and suffered multiple organ failure, said his spokesman, Father Jun Sescon. He died there at 0615 on Tuesday (2215 GMT Monday). Speaking on Philippine radio station DZBB, Fr Sescon called on people in Asia's largest Catholic country to "include in their prayers the soul of Cardinal Sin".

His successor as archbishop, Gaudencio Rosales, presided over a wake at Manila cathedral and led a packed congregation in prayer. Church officials are consulting with the late cardinal's family about funeral arrangements.

Cardinal Sin espoused a conservative vision of Catholicism, and after the election of the new pope in April he described Benedict XVI as a "bright and good man, and a good friend".

Cardinal Sin played a key role in the Philippines' transition to democracy following the lengthy dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. He played a key role in the toppling of both Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Joseph Estrada in 2001.

He met Marcos once a month, regularly attended social events with Marcos and his wife, Imelda, and, when requested, would say Mass at the presidential palace.

To criticism of such contacts, Cardinal Sin would say:

"If I don't attend to their spiritual needs, who will?"

Known for his sense of humor, although his name prompted many jokes – a cardinal sin is one of the seven deadly sins – Sin himself made light of it. He often referred to his residence as "the house of Sin."

And his wry sense of humour was often in evidence. He once related that when President Marcos expressed his admiration of the United States' ability to produce a speedy election result, he told Marcos that:

"He should admire the Filipino people - they knew the election results before the election."

But in the 1980s, he became increasingly critical of the regime and in 1986, played an influential role in a "people power" uprising that led to the removal of Marcos.

Known for his ready wit, he once said of the corruption which persisted after Ferdinand Marcos was ousted:

"We got rid of Ali Baba but the 40 thieves remained."

The cardinal never made any secret about his view that religion had a role in affairs of state.

"My duty is to put Christ in politics," he said at his retirement ceremony. "Politics without Christ is the greatest scourge of our nation."

He was once called "the divine commander-in-chief" by former President Fidel Ramos for his ability to marshal huge protests. Current President Gloria Arroyo described him as "a blessed man who never failed to unite Filipinos during the most crucial battles against tyranny and evil".

"Cardinal Sin leaves a legacy of freedom and justice forged in deep personal courage," President Gloria Arroyo said in a statement.

May God Bless him! Amen.

Catch Snakes, Not Money Politics!

MB & Snake Catcher

Syed Razak: Catch snakes, too
BY SIRA HABIBU, The Star; June 28, 2005.

First, the Mentri Besar Syed Razak Syed Zain advised Kedah assemblymen to eat healthy food in order to stay fit and serve the rakyat well. Now he wants them to learn how to catch snakes.

In addition, he had made it mandatory for them to learn how to be paramedics and experts in land and water rescue.

"Elected representatives must pass the acid test of being able to help people in distress, including knowing how to catch snakes, perform first aid and carry out rescue missions on land and water. It is mandatory for Barisan Nasional assemblymen and department and agency heads to join the civil defence corps to acquire such skills," Syed Razak told reporters after Malaysia Civil Defence Department director-general Datuk Jamel Ariffin and Kedah Civil Defence director Mohamad Abdullah made a courtesy call on him yesterday.

Syed Razak, who is recovering from paresis, said besides training them to carry out rescue operations, the move would inculcate self-discipline and the spirit of teamwork.

"I want leaders and officers to know what to do when they come across accidents or drowning cases. Otherwise they will be standing there watching helplessly as victims cry for help."

Syed Razak believed that it was also necessary to learn how to handle snakes in view of the high reptile population in the state.

"All the state executive councillors have joined the Civil Defence Force. They have been accorded major honorary titles," he added. Syed Razak, an honorary Kolonel in the Civil Defence Force, also invited PAS assemblymen to join the uniformed body.

"Beginning next month we want all assemblymen and officials to march together once a month on Wednesdays after the state executive council meeting. I plan to join in the march in August. Hopefully my condition would be better by then," he said.

Well, UMNO Disciplinary Board is now playing the snake and ladder game with money politicians. Enjoy your game, sirs!

Cin-Cin, Cai-Cai!

June 28, 2005, NST CINCAI

PM: Discard 'cincai' attitude
By Shahrum Sayuthi, NST

Pak Lah calls all civil servants not to take their duties and deal with problems in a CINCAI way.

Pak Lah wants all civil servants to take their duties seriously and deal with problems with compassion and fairness towards all involved.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, addressed this message in a gathering of civil servants in Kuantan, Pahang.

According to Pak Lah, these were the core principles of positive action applicable to all, including himself.

"It does not matter whether we smile or scream when taking action, as that is just a matter of working style. What is more important is that our decision must be acceptable to all, even if not everyone is going to be happy about it. This advice is not just for all of you as I am also listening to what I say. I don’t want anyone to say I don’t ‘walk the talk’."

Also present at the gathering, held at the Sultan Ahmad Shah Silver Jubilee Hall here, were Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob.

The Prime Minister call on those given the task of handling an organisation not to shirk their duties even if it meant making unpopular decisions.

"It is not a pleasure doing such a thing but this is our work and we cannot avoid responsibilities. It is irresponsible for us not to do what is required of us just for the sake of making everyone happy. As a leader, if we are not willing to do it, we should resign. We might as well go and plant vegetables somewhere so that no one will be angry with us."

Abdullah also told the 1,000 civil servants present to ensure that projects to be implemented must truly benefit the people. "If it turns out that a project is not really necessary, maybe it should be shelved for the time being."

He said government departments and agencies needed to thoroughly assess the impact of every project, and their implementation must meet the needs of the people.

"We must discard the cincai (slapdash) attitude and get to the bottom of things to improve our services to the people."

Abdullah also reminded civil servants to discard their "third-class mentality" and provide quality service in keeping with the first-class infrastructure provided by the Government.

He said they must strive to improve their performance as there was "no such thing as no room for improvement". "You must value-add yourself so that you have the necessary knowledge to improve your work and also observe good values."

Abdullah also stressed the need for civil servants to improve the governance delivery system. "Just imagine yourself in the place of members of the public trying to get your services. It is indeed frustrating to hear about things such as people having to wait for years to get their house ready, or if ready, was not built according to specifications. They have the right to be angry and, in fact, I am also angry about such things."

Abdullah said civil servants should always bear in mind that the Government would have to bear the brunt of the people’s wrath if they had to put up with unsatisfactory services.

"Every day I read of people cursing us politicians and administrators for the bad services they have to endure. That is why I have to keep on reminding everyone to improve their performance."

Will the civil servants take heed of this advice? For 48 years they had been cultured in a colonial environment, accumulated the wealth of habits as described and now, we want them to change? And we now have five days week to change? Change what? Enjoy the weekends lah!

Billionaire John Walton Crashed & Died

Billionaire John Walton Crashed

John Walton, a billionaire heir of retail giant Wal-Mart, died when the small home-made plane he was flying crashed in a national park in Wyoming, authorities said.

A park spokeswoman said Walton, 58, was an experienced pilot who was flying a home-made aircraft with an aluminum frame and wings wrapped in fabric similar to heavy-duty sail cloth.

"This was an experimental, very lightweight aircraft," the spokeswoman, Joan Anzelmo, told AFP. It weighed between 400 and 500 pounds (180 to 225 kilograms), she said.

The Park Service's statement described it as an "ultralight aircraft with a small, gas-powered engine.“ Weather conditions were good at the time of the crash, Anzelmo said.

Walton, the second son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, was the world's 11th richest person with a net worth exceeding 18 billion dollars, according to Forbes magazine. He had been a member of Wal-Mart's board of directors since 1992 and lived in Jackson, Wyoming, a town known as a resort for wealthy Americans.

Sam Walton is an American folk hero who parlayed a single dime store in a cottage town into Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world. The astonishing and extraordinary success story about Sam Walton was the way he built his empire with a good old-fashioned style which inculcate a basic value system. In Sam's philosphy of business management, "What’s really worried me over the years is not our stock price, but that we might someday fail to take care of our customers, or that our managers might fail to motivate & take care of our associates. I also was worried that we might lose the team concept, or fail to keep the family concept viable & realistic & meaningful to our folks as we grow.

Another aspect of his philosophy is that: "Lip service won’t make a real partnership – not even with profit sharing. Plenty of companies offer some kind of profit sharing but share absolutely no sense of partnership with their employees because they don’t really believe those employees are important, but they don’t work to lead them. The real challenge for managers is to become servant leaders."

In regard to competition and globalization, Sam was of the view that: "If business is going to prevail, and be competitive, we’re going to have to get accustomed to the idea that business conditions change, and that survivors have to adapt to those changing conditions."

Sam Walton finally rested in peace in 1992. His second son, John Walton took over control of Wal-Mart. John Walton was an earnest philanthropist and had played a leading role in guiding the Walton Family Foundations contributions to elementary and high school education, including scholarship programs to provide parents with greater choice in education

John also served as a medic in the US Army Green Berets during the Vietnam War and was awarded the Silver Star "for saving the lives of several members of his unit while under intense enemy fire," the company said. He worked as a crop duster in the 1970s and as a boat builder in 1980s and 1990s.

Walton formed the holding company True North, which includes businesses ranging from advanced composites to boat building to venture capital investments, Wal-Mart said.

John Walton is survived by his wife Christy and their son, Luke; his mother Helen; and his siblings Rob, Jim and Alice.

I express my heartfelt grief and condolence to the family of John and may God have his comforting hands on them. Amen.

Paulo Coelho, The Mystic Who Make You Dream

Paulo Coelho

"On 29th May 2002, just hours before I put the finishing touches to this book, I visited the Grotto in Lourdes, in France, to fill up a few bottles with miraculous water from the spring. Inside the Basilica, a gentleman in his seventies said to me: 'You know, you look like Paulo Coelho.' I said that I was Paulo Coelho. The man embraced me and introduced me to his wife and grand-daughter. He spoke of the importance of my books in his life, concluding: 'They make me dream.'"

Those are the words from Paulo Coelho in the preface of 'Eleven Minutes', the life-enhancing book that have cause great impact to millions of readers.

'Eleven Minutes' tells a story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heart-broken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that 'love is a terrible thing that make you suffer...'

That set the stage of her journey to discover love, fame and fortune which leads her into the world of prostitution. Maria drifts further and further away from love while at the same time developing a fascination with sex.

Eventually, Maria meets a handsome young painter and she has to consider which way she wants her life to be, that is, either to continue to pursue a path of darkness and sexual pleasures, or to risk everything to find her own inner self and the possibility of sex in the context of love.

In this novel, Paulo Coelho explores the sacred nature of sex and love and prejudices.

I began fascinated with Paulo's writing after reading his book, 'The Alchemist'. I used to dislike novels about fictional romance and have always prefered management books. My friend Mohd Adib drag me into the world of Paulo Coelho when he persuaded me to try read The Alchemist. To nurse my curiosity, I pick up that book and drag myself to read it. Thereafter, I have never turn back on any Paulo's book. I was totally intrigued by the beauty of Paulo's writing and no words can describe this discovery of profound knowledge.

The Alchemist established Paulo's worldwide fame. The book has already achieved the status of a modern classic, universally admired. Considered a timeless story, it will enchant and inspire a whole new readers from generations to come.

Other titles by Coelho include Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), Maktub (1994) - a compilation of his daily columns, By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994), The Fifth Mountain (1996), The Manual of the Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika Decides to Die (1998) and The Devil and Miss Prym (2000).

'Eleven Minutes', was no.1 in the 2003 annual list of Publishing Trends, which every year establishes which fiction works sell more copies worldwide.

Coelho’s latest novel 'O Zahir' reaches the Brazilian bookstores on April 2nd 2005. It is already the number one in the bestseller lists of all 83 countries in which it has been released; the only exception is in Germany, where it is number two, behind Da Vinci Code (another great novel). O Zahir was published in 83 countries and in 42 languages throughout the globe.

Coelho was born in 1947 in Rio de Janeiro. He grew up in a deeply religious household and was educated by Jesuits. Paulo Coelho has led an extreme rebellious during his youth.

Paulo was determined to be a writer from his early years. When Coelho was 17, his parent sent him to an asylum because they thought he was psychotic. "My parent thought I was psychotic because I read a lot. I was very shy and I didn't socialise very easily. My parent were desperate. They didn't want to hurt me, but they didn't know what to do," Paulo relates.

Coelho escaped from the asylum three times and was eventually released in 1967. He then enrolled in Law School, only to drop out to become a hippy. He also wrote popular song lyrics for some of Brazil's famous pop music stars, including Elis Regina and Raul Seixas. Shortly after, he worked as a journalist.

Then, in 1974, Coelho was arrested for 'subversive' activities by the authorities (the authorities saw Coelho's lyrics as leftwing and dangerous).

In 1986 Paulo Coelho walked the Road to Santiago, a medieval pilgrim's route between France and Spain. He would later describe this experience in his book, The Pilgrimage, published in 1987. The following year, his second book The Alchemist established his worldwide fame.

Paulo Coelho have the Guinness World Record for most translations (53) of a single title (The Alchemist) signed in one sitting (45 minutes). The record has been attained as a result of an international book signing hold at the Frankfurt Book Fair (2003).

Coelho's books tend to feature some sort of spiritual quest.

In his words: "I write from my soul. This is the reason that critics don't hurt me, because it is me. If it was not me, if I was pretending to be someone else, then this could unbalance my world, but I know who I am."

"Many people love my work, some hate it, but I've never stopped to think about it, and I'll go on without giving a thought - what really matters to me is to know that I can share my soul with those who understand me."

"I'm a human being, in its full condition, with its positive and negative sides. But I keep my ethics and when I break it, I'm not ashamed to apologize. I think that people waste a lot of time trying to improve themselves - and they do it by following other people's patterns. What's the meaning of being better? In my opinion, it is the constant daily struggle in search of my own dream. Man improves himself as he follows his path; if he stands still, waiting to improve before he makes a decision, he'll never move."

Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired millions of delighted readers around the world. His story is told in dazzling simplicity and wisdom. His writings is a must read! For those who have not yet read any of his bestsellers, you should start reading his first charting novel - The Pilgrimage and The Alchemist. Eleven Minutes is also a must read.

Enjoy reading!!!!

Syariah Whipping v Criminal Whipping

nst.com.my; June 27, 2005

The pain is in the shame
By Aniza Damis


Whipping under Syariah law is actually rather light. It is not flogging or flaying, and broken skin is not allowed. So says Wahid, (not his real name), who metes out 100 strokes every week as a Kajang Prison whipping officer.

"Syariah whipping is more like caning naughty schoolboys. In Syariah, the punishment is not in the force of the whipping, but to bring shame."

The issue of Syariah whipping has raised a storm since two brothers were sentenced to six strokes by the Pahang Syariah court two weeks ago for drinking stout in public.

Under the Criminal Penal Code, caning is physical punishment in the strictest sense, and the officer must use as much force as he can muster.

The power behind an ordinary whipping comes from the wrist, arm, shoulder and the swing. For Syariah offences, it comes from a fairly limp wrist.

The rotan used in Syariah whippings has the diameter of a little finger, and is thinner than the one used for criminal offences, which is as thick as a thumb. The officer has also to exercise a great deal of restraint.

"In Syariah whipping, you cannot even raise your hand so high that your upper arm moves away from your armpit." An imaginary book clutched under his armpit would not drop, he said.

"Whipping convicts is much more difficult, because you really have to do it with a lot of ‘power’. The harder the better. If he holds back even one notch, the officer fails in his duty.

"That’s why all whipping officers are tall and big bodied," said Wahid, 35, who himself looks like a military commando.

He has been whipping convicted criminals for eight years. All strokes of a caning sentence must be executed in a single stretch with about 10 seconds between each. The highest number of strokes for a criminal offence is 24.

"You have to be very focused, because there is a very small area to hit. The area of the buttocks is 10 inches by 8 inches. If you don’t hit it exactly right, you might hit part of the (wood) frame.

"This will be counted as a stroke anyway; except that the prisoner has not got the full force of justice.

"And, when you have made contact with the buttocks, you must drag the tip of the rotan along the skin to break it."

Convicts are bound standing to a wooden frame to be caned. A record officer tells the whipping officer how many strokes to give and keeps count.

Syariah whipping only requires a man to stand and a woman to be seated.

Whipping officers don’t see the prisoner’s face and do not know what he is being punished for.

"I’ve been told that the first stroke is like getting an electric shock. You feel hot in the ears and eyes before the full impact of the pain hits you," Wahid said.

Some prisoners have collapsed after just one stroke, while others have been known to still take a few steps after being given the full 24.

While a Syariah whipping may be milder, it still requires a great deal of discipline and training.

"Prison officers are called to execute Syariah whippings in Kelantan because we are trained to do it."

It can be administered by a civilian, but it is not a realistic move.

"I think it would be very difficult, unless you practise often.

"Even (someone) who has witnessed whipping many times wouldn’t be able to do it properly."

A Syariah whipping would not need a great deal of accuracy, not being limited to just the buttocks. But Wahid feels that somehow, it would be an imperfect execution.

"It would be lacking in skill; in art."

So, my dear, don't worry. The whipping is mild and is like canning naughthy school girls and will be exercised with a great deal of restraint. In fact, sometimes, parents cane their children harder than the Syariah punisher.

Break Your TV To Get Wife's Attention

The Star Report June 27, 2005;


INDIAN TV serials can cause domestic problems when housewives are so caught up with the drama that they neglect their husbands, Malaysia Nanban reported.

One husband in Johor Baru was furious because his wife was too absorbed in the popular Tamil serial Metti Oli and did not hear him calling her to unlock the front gate when he returned from work.

The husband had to break the lock to enter the house and when his wife still did not take notice of the husband's presence, that was the last straw for him.

He went berserk and pushed the TV set to the floor and shattered it. It was only then that the wife realised her husband was home.

So, the wife now has no more TV and have to watch her husband perform.

Is that the only solution to a problem? What would you do if your wife take no notice of your presence when you got home? Likewise, what would wife do if husband paid no attention to wife?

In this case, the chosen solution to the problem will lead to another more potent problem. First, the husband will have to loosen his purse and pay to buy another TV, or else, the wife will go to her neighbour's house to watch the movies. Secondly, he will also have to repair the gate and lockset. And thirdly, he will have sour meals at home.

To correct a wrong, you do not use another wrong. Two wrongs won't make one right; whatever it is.

Can We Have Mature Dialogues?

nst.com.my; June 27, 2005

Gerakan President Dr. Lim Keng Yaik calls for an open-minded, intellectual forum should be established to discuss national issues considered too "sensitive" for public debate. According to Dr Lim, a "national dialogue initiative centre" would be beneficial to address pressing sensitive issues such as economic, racial and religious affairs.

These dialogues could involve the participation of politicians, non-governmental organisations and academicians of various backgrounds and communities to provide a greater multi-cultural dimension.

"Because of their sensitive nature, these dialogues can be held behind closed doors.

"They can be carried out in a matured, intellectual manner, free of unnecessary emotion," Lim said after opening the State Gerakan conference here.

He also suggested inviting famous personalities such as Nobel Prize winners to present their views on relevant issues.

The views and conclusions of the dialogue, however, should be noted, recorded and publicised for reference or research purposes, he said.

"This would be a good intellectual exercise and it can promote inter-racial harmony."

Lim said the Gerakan could organise such dialogues and offered the party’s soon-to-be-ready headquarters as the venue.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Will the dialogue serve its purpose and bring about a better solution to our problem?

I may be paranoid, but I doubt. Fundamentally, a dialogue can only be effective if the system management is desirous of a solution to a problem. The juxtaposition in the various sensitive issues that had crop up the last couple of days were not because we had a problem that need to be solved. It can be seen that, in the first place, the problem was created to satisfy the emotions of some.

Taking the case of Crimea U as a case-study; first, there were students from the Art Stream, who had failed their SPM exam, and had applied to study medicine. This application was processed by the Education Ministry and upon vetting thru', the ministry granted approval and issued the 'Certificate of No-Objection that facilitated the aspiring students to study medicine in Crimea U, presumably, their qualification must have fulfilled the academic criterias set by the ministry.

Then, came the Medical Council (MMC), a division of the Health Ministry. The reason given by MMC for the de-recognition of Crimean Medical Degree is that Crimea was alleged to have accepted Art Stream students to read medicine, and include those who had failed their SPM. Paradoxically, the acceptance by Crimea was in accordance with the criteria set by our Education Ministry.

The question arose is the juxtaposition that Crimea should have set a higher standard of criterias when accepting potential students to read medicine.

But for another Malaysian ministry to tell Crimea U. that's this the way it should be, is in another way of saying, "Don't bother about our education ministry. They are NUTS and they approve anything they deem fit without following the rules and regulations. We in the health ministry strictly follow the highest criteria."

What we can observe clearly from this episode is that: the various ministries do things based on their own set of criterias and these criterias can be contrasting and divergent in its ideological objectives.

The system management is not manned by morons and we have to presume that they know what they are doing.

So, what's the problem?

Answer: there is no problem. What we see is what was done objectively; not subjectively.

Next Poser: What will happen?

Answer: We will be reaping what we sow.

In the words of Einstein: "The problem cannot be solved at the same intellectual level of thinking by the same people who made them."

So, coming back to Dr. Lim's proposal - "Will a dialogue which include inviting famous personalities such as Nobel Prize winners to present their views on relevant issues help resolve our problem?"

In my sincere opinion, I doubt absolutely. We cannot have an intellectual discourse without the presence of intellectual mentality from system management. Any proposals or suggestions can only be digested if the brains of the system is intellectualistic and there is an absence of calcified out-dated idiosyncratic ideology. The absurdities and idiosyncrasy that had persisted is not ignorance but carefully directed so as to mould a complex dysfunctional system of management. It is what was wanted and that's what we get. Anything lesser than this complexities is considered as failure in its own strictest sense.

Marina's Marinara

Marina Yusoff

Towering problem for Marina
June 26, 2005, The Star

"EVERYTHING is for sale, including me!" Hajjah Marina Yusoff said half-jokingly when SC Cheah, The Star reporter approached her at the darkened lobby of Menara Marina recently.

Time is running out for Marina Yusoff, the former magistrate, lawyer, politician & an astute entrepreneur (Wanita UMNO leader, and later Semangat 46 leader). She has until the end of this month to pay Danaharta Urus Sdn Bhd the redemption sum of RM122.77 million in cash. Failing to do so, Danaharta may commence action to recover the debt, and she may lose ownership of Menara Marinara, the 36-storey mixed commercial building in Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, which Marina believed to be worth approx RM350.

Over the last 10 years, the project has always been in complex and onerous situation. The project started sometime in 1994, which happen to be almost at the same time the neighbouring project, Wisma Semarak of Telekom started calling for tender for the piling works. If I remembered correctly, Wisma Semarak started the piling works in 1996 and the main building works commenced on 1997, and completed in year 2000.

Both these two projects seemed to faced a lot of difficulties during the construction period - Bad Fungshui or whatever you believe it to be. To add to the difficulties, the economic crisis in 1997-1998 affected the main contractors financial cash flow and disrupted the work progress(both the main contractors are Public-Listed companies - CP Bhd for Marinara and Mancon Bhd for Wisma Semarak).

While Wisma Semarak was finally completed in year 2000, Marinara Tower was still struggling. The project stalled when Pekeliling Triangle Sdn Bhd, the developer and the flagship company of Marina, decided to terminate the main contractor's contract. CP Bhd, the main contractor brought legal actions against Pekeliling Triangle Sdn Bhd.[Period].

Whatever it is, the project did not have a good start, and Marina's hope is that the bad patch will end soon, and that she can recover her investment. Will she? It's going to be extremely tough.

Best of luck, Marina!!!!

Ferrari Disaster

Ferrari disaster

The Star, June 26, 2005 report.

He had bought a reconditioned red Ferrari F355 four months ago and yesterday drove it to Sungkai on one of his balik kampung trips.

But tragedy struck when Major (Rtd) Mohd Ali Hanafiah Ariffin's car crashed into an oil palm tree and burst into flames at 3.15pm at the 73rd kilometre of the Federal Route 1 (Bidor-Sungkai Road) in Bidor.

Mohd Ali, 43, managed to get out of the burning car but not his brother-in-law Ahmad Fozee Abdullah, 46, and his (Ahmad Fozee's) three-year-old son Mohd Amin, both of whom were in the front passenger seat.

Mohd Ali's foster brother, Zaime Elias, said Mohd Ali had returned to his kampung here from Shah Alam in Selangor and they were supposed to have met here. Mohd Ali called later to cancel the meeting saying that he was going for a ride in the car with Ahmad Fozee. He was driving to his family home at nearby Taman Syarikat when the accident occurred. The bodies of Ahmad Fozee and his son were flattened and burnt beyond recognition. “The boy was sitting with his father in the front passenger seat,” he said.

To the family of Ahmad Fozee Abdullah & Mohd Amin, I sent my deepest heartfelt empathy and condolence for the unfortunate incident.

To Major (Rtd) Mohd Ali Hanafiah Ariffin, I am sorry to hear of this bad news, and I know how difficult it will be for you to live with the shadow of the mishap.

To all others who owns fast cars such as ferrari, BMW, Porsche, etc, we must learnt a lesson not to take our life and at times, of others, for granted. We may not value our own, but we should consider the life of others, be they passengers, padestrains, cyclist, etc.

Sometimes, for the joy and fun of a few minutes, and many at times, not due to our own negligence or concentration, we may still cause insurmountable problems to others.

Lets pray for the deceased and comfort those who have lost their love ones. Amen.

STPM Results: What a Relief!!!

STPM Results 2005

What a relief for the education ministry director and officials!!!

This year, the STPM results shows a large drop in the number of straight 'As' students. Only 362 of the STPM holders scored with 4As and 5As, a drop of more than 50% as compared to the 767 last year.

However, the good news is that matriculation students with a CGPA of 4.0 had increased to 1,263 as compared to 1,247 last year.

Now, the ministry of education can celebrate and breath easy. They can hope that next year, if the STPM figure will drop further, maybe, to less than ten percent or possibly zero percent, then, all the places for the critical courses in the universities, particularly, medicine, pharmacy, engineering, law, accountancy and economics, can then be awarded to all metriculation students as their numbers are expected to increase each year as the system will ensure that their results will be better and better each year.

The percentage of Bumiputra vs non-Bumi for admission into public universities is 62.4% (Bumis), 32% (Chinese), 5.6% (Indians) of a total of 39,976 candidates admitted.

In fact, the number of students admission into public universities as published in the newspaper (The Star) did not include those students admitted at KUIM, UIAM, UiTM, and Islamic Studies faculties of UM and UKM. It also did not include those scholarship holders who are sent to overseas universities.

Should their numbers be included, then UMNO Youth and Khairy will see a better and accurate distribution of admissions; and they can smile relentlessly. Khairy claimed that UMNO Youth's survey prove that last year's admissions to critical courses in public universities was unfavourable to Bumis, but the table published in The Star suggest otherwise. The Year 2004 record (which also exclude those students admitted to the 5 Universities named-above) shows that 3,145 Bumis (59.7%), 1,884 Chinese (35.8%), and 240 Indians (4.6%), were admitted into critical courses. Should we add up those from UiTM, UIAM and KUIM, and those shipped via scholarships overseas, the numbers and percentage should reflect about 80-85% Bumis, and probably, less than 3.5% Indians, with those from metriculation forming the extreme bulk.

Therefore, competition for the 910 places for medicine in public universities was less intense this year – all 361 STPM (assume all 361 applied for medicine which is not correct) and 549 matriculation students with a CGPA of 4.0 who applied were successful.

Higher Education Management Department director-general Prof Datuk Dr Hassan Said said of the 910 places for medicine, 595 went to students with a CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) of 4.0.

“This means that there are 315 students with a CGPA below 4.0 who were offered places for medicine,” said Prof Hassan. However, he could not provide the cut-off point for the course.

Prof Dr. Hassan said even those with CGPA lower than 4.0 managed to secure places for medicine this year. "We have got some with 3.8 and 3.9. We have created more places this year and the number of those with a CGPA of 4.0 is less."

Wow, how accomodating Dr. Hassan has become. Thank you, very, very much, sir!

So, for the first time, over the last two years, we will have those with CGPA of 3.8 studying medicine in public universities. So, hypothetically, if most STPM students scored only with CGPA of 2.5 to 3.0, then Dr. Hassan should be able to include some students with 2.5-3.0 CGPA to read medicine.

Last year, more than half of the record number of 1,774 matriculation and STPM students with a CGPA of 4.0 competed for 779 places. The cut-off point for medicine last year was a CGPA of 4.0 while the year before it was 3.88.

Unlike in previous years, the cut-off points for critical courses this intake were not made available due to technical setbacks. Neither could Prof Hassan give a breakdown of the number of applicants from matriculation and STPM and the success rate of the two groups.

Applications for places in public universities were up by 22.2% – from 85,966 last year to 105,014 – with 64,877 students qualifying for entry.

Final Blessing at 82

Final Blessing at 82

chinadaily.com reports:

Chinese American Nobel laureate of physics Chen Ning Yang, 82, is engaged to a 28-year-old Chinese woman, whom Yang called the "final blessing from God."

Yang and his fiancee Weng Fan endorsed their engagement through a telephone call and set a date in next January for their marriage. There is no public engaging ceremony as the two are now parted, with Yang in Beijing and Wen in Guangzhou working on her master degree.

They first met at Shantou University, South China's Guangdong Province in 1995 when Yang, then accompanied by his late wife Chih Li Tu, elder daughter of late KMT general Du Yuming, attended an international physics seminar. Weng then worked as an interpreter at the seminar and happened to receive and serve the Yangs during the meeting.

Yang was deeply impressed by Weng's considerate character, savvy and excellent command of English. Wen was then a freshman of Guangdong Univeristy of Foreign Studies. The two reestablished contact in this February and then fell in love with each other.

It will be the second marriage for both of the two. Yang survived his first wife Chih Li Tu last year. Weng got married shortly after graduation and soon got divorced. Since late 2003, the famed leading scientist has been giving regular lectures exclusive for freshman in China's elite Tsinghua University.

In 1957, Yang won and shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Lee Tsung-dao "for their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws, which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles."

Well, 82 matched 28 -Yin and Yang fungshui???

Kas Kas BN Parliamentarian

kas kas

After few days of heated warring debate between the Barisan Nasional MPs on the Crimean U, culminated by the suspension of a deputy minister, Barisan MPs found themselves mouth-cuffed and brain-cuffed and what's left is to pick up non-confrontational issues. They now turn their attention to the mamaks in Malaysia.

The parliamentary debates now centered on the issue of mamak restaurant. The issue is that mamak is doing too well and are running 24 hours business which may be bad for Malaysians who may lepak till the wee hours of the morning and may get themselves addicted to the delicious mamak food. The hypothesis centered on the presumption that Malaysians are getting addicted to mamak food because the food contains addictive kas kas, which works like cannabis.

Barisan MPs were told that kas kas herb used to make mamak food tasty are addictive and wants the government to ban the herd as they believe this herd is equivalent to Cannabis.

“That is why a lot of people think that mamak food is so delicious,” said Mohd Said Yusof, the BN MP for Jasin, at the current Parliamentary session.

Mohd Said call the government to look into the increasing number of mamak restaurants, especially those who operate 24 hours. His concern is that the youth are using the place to lepak into the wee hours of the morning.

The opposition members voiced their grief that BN MPs are now wasting everybody’s time by indulging in tit-bites and mamaksans.

So, since BN parliamentarian cannot question any wrong decision by any government department, they have to pick up some mini-issues not related to the system failures. So, the unfortunate party now is the mamak community and more unfortunate is that they don't have Mahathir to defend them anymore.

Next probable debate parliamentary issues on the line: tasty hawker food is unhygenic, garbage collectors increasing because of jobless grads, wet market are getting dry, public toilet needs landscaping to attract people to use it, private toilet must be licenced because DBKL needs contribution, dress-code of air-stewardess must be scanned, hair-code and headscarf fine to include non-muslim, toilet-papers missing in public toilet and found sold in pasar malam, baby-sitters must attend courses conducted by CIDB and to be accredited, how to spent the newly offered weekends doing a diploma course, how to spent a healthy life without spenting money and screwing up your credit-card, how to earn little, but spent little, and how to blame others for your own weaknesses.

Since there is no mega projects to shout about, no economic priming to debate, and nothing innovative for the parliamentarian to boast about, the attention must now be redirected to trivialization of nonsensical issues, knowledge re-management and to make them huha in order to submit their report-cards to score-points in parliament.

Welcome to the recycling world of creative problem generation, and then innovative solution making. This is the keyed 'preformance' - the new system of measuring the directed area of performance of the public sectors and parliamentarians.

New Ways for Revenue Generation: Scarf Fine

scarf fine

Some States have suffered constrains of revenue, due largely to the federal-erected barriers. So, they have to resort to whatever available source of income or to innovatively and creatively create some.

So, in Kelantan, any woman not wearing headscarves at their workplace will be fine of RM50 by the Kota Baru Municipal Council (MPKB). For the first five months of the year, 80 women, mainly shop assistants, were fined RM30.

Azman Mohd Daham, the council’s public relations officer, said: "We have been considerate for almost three years but it is time to impose the maximum compound. We hope it will create more awareness. The women were mostly found not wearing headscarves at night and during weekends as they thought that enforcement officers would not be around to check on them."

He said the licensing unit would continue to conduct regular checks at these premises to ensure that the regulation is adhered to. Kelantan under Parti Islam SeMalaysia (Pas) for the last 15 years had passed several rules and regulations which dictate the dress and behavior code for women. Many of these rules had not gone down well with the women. A resident, Norzakiah Ahmad, said it was not a good idea to force someone to wear a headscarf as it was an individual’s right. "I disagree with the council’s move. They should give priority to other areas," said the 45-year-old housewife.

What to do? No project, no income. So, have to be innovative and creative to seek source of revenue. At the same time, they are also 'educating' the women to 'behave' the way the system thinks its good and fitting for its people. The system decides to dictate the behaviorial aspects (of what is good and what is bad) and have taken it as an anointed 'duty' to police these 'behaviors'. Individual rights are now system obligations and the system had empowered and appointed themselve to be the chosen 'directors of health' presumably delegated by the omnipotent.

The Day Democracy Died

Sothi suspended


Datuk S. Sothinathan paid a stiff price for breaking ranks with the Government in Parliament yesterday: He was suspended for three months as Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister. This is the first time such a punishment has been meted out to a senior Barisan Nasional component party leader who is also a member of the administration.

Indeed, it emerged last night that some senior administration officials believed the only suitable punishment for breaching one of the cardinal principles of the BN — that of settling disagreements behind closed doors — was dismissal.

Sothinathan, 45, MP for Teluk Kemang, declined to say very much. "Yes, I received a phone call regarding my suspension, and I don’t have anything to say about it.

"I only want to say that for the next three months I will concentrate on my party work. I will also spend more time in my constituency."

Other senior MIC politicians were also sparing with their comments. They were trying to clear the confusion among MIC members across the country and douse an emotional response from the rank-and-file.

Sothinathan crossed swords with Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad over the de-recognition of the Crimea State Medical University (CSMU) by the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC).

During a heated debate on the issue, Dr Abdul Latiff said that all but one of the BN component party chiefs had accepted the MMC decision. The exception he referred to was MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.

This remark upset Sothinathan, who stood up and said: "We (MIC) are the party in Government representing the Indian community. It is our duty to right a wrong when it happens."

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that as a member of the Government, Sothinathan should not have taken a stand critical of the Government.

"It is a breach of party discipline," Abdullah told reporters. Abdullah said Sothinathan, who was the MIC secretary-general, could be the first member of the Malaysian administration to be suspended for disagreeing with the Government in Parliament.

"There is always a first time for everything."

The Prime Minister has received the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for Sothinathan’s suspension.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Nazri Aziz said that: "What happened was unprecedented. He broke ranks from the front bench... he was at fault and that is why I think action was taken against him."

During the three-month suspension, Sothinathan’s seat in Parliament would be moved to the back benches from the front bench.

He said the suspension was a warning to members of the administration not to go against the Government’s position or policies.

"If you are a member of the administration, it is your duty to defend the stand, decision and policy of the Government. "You cannot have your cake and eat it, too. If you don’t agree, then you can always resign and speak as a backbencher," Nazri said.

Deputy ministers are bound by the principles of collective responsibility under existing code of conduct and ethics for administrative officers, said Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Samsudin Osman.


Ministerial Responsibility

Tan Sri Shamsudin said the Cabinet discussed yesterday the issue of Datuk S. Sothinathan questioning the decision of the Malaysian Medical Council regarding the Crimea State Medical University.

Following the meeting, the Cabinet decided to get the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to suspend for three months, with immediate effect, the duties of the Natural Resources and Environment deputy minister.

MINISTERIAL irRESPONSIBILITY, The New System of Government?

The Doctrine for the Convention of Ministerial responsibility is basically adopted to ensure the proper accountability of government in Parliament. The doctrine consist of Collective Responsibility and Individual Responsibility.

Collective Responsibility means that members of the cabinet and ministers as a whole, are answerable and accountable to Parliament, and that they must collectively support the final decisions made by the cabinet inorder to show unity by vote or speech, in and outside Parliament.

However, in this case, the Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister, Sothinathan, had only reacted during a heated debate on the Crimean issue, when Dr Abdul Latiff said that all but one of the BN component party chiefs had accepted the MMC decision. The exception he referred to was MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu. This remark upset Sothinathan, who stood up and said: "We (MIC) are the party in Government representing the Indian community. It is our duty to right a wrong when it happens."

In the context of the application of collective responsibility, we have not seen ELSEWHERE that a minister is reprimanded thru' the exercise of this royal prerogative for a situation whereby, a wrong decision made by a department was held to be a FINAL CABINET DECISION.

Doesn't this sound ludicrous and preposterous?

Aren't the application of collective responsibility used to cover-up culpable decisions?

My God, what have you done to my Prime Minister such that he had gone berserk and vagarious?

In a another news report, the Higher Education Ministry today confirmed that it had issued Non-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to Arts stream students who failed their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination. Minister Datuk Shafie Salleh said the students were given the NOCs to enable them to gain entry into the Crimea University in Ukraine to realise their dreams of becoming doctors.

(see: Shafie: We issued the certs )

An NOC is a prerequisite for entry into any university abroad offering medical courses recognised by the Government.

"According to Higher Education Department director Professor Datuk Dr Hassan Said, whom I met this morning, these students were issued with NOCs although they failed their SPM," Shafie said.

"This was because they had additional certificates that carried more weight or were equivalent to the SPM," he said before chairing his post-Cabinet meeting at his ministry today.

He said the "additional certificates" were among those awarded to students who passed the SPM Mathematics and Bahasa Melayu papers in July after having failed in the subjects previously.

He said the issuing of NOCs in this manner was in accordance with ministry regulations.

"Although they had failed their SPM examinations, they could still gain entry into universities as their other qualifications showed they were qualified."

Shafie said the ministry would stop issuing NOCs for this particular university beginning Jan 1.

PUZZLED?

The system of education has always being, that 'O' level exam (SPM) is not modular, but strictly required that all candidates must pass certain mandatory subjects and pass the minimum number of subjects, and have achieve a mimimum aggregate score to be awarded the SPM certificate. What it also mean is that, if a student fails the full exam, and later, resit the few failed subjects, he has not fulfilled the necessary requirement to qualify himself a 'O' Level certificate. What is required to fulfill the criteria for 'O' level is, you have to resit the whole exam, i.e., all the subjects at the same exam.

If someone had failed the SPM ('O' level), he cannot sit for his STPM ('A' level). Maybe, he can have some other kind of certificate, but entry qualification to universities, in particular, Medical Doctorate courses requires the minimum entry qualification, i.e. 'O' level (from Science Stream) plus, probably a pass in pre-university education examination. And, in the case of those medical students who are accepted into Malaysian Universities, the requirements presumably is 10As and above, in SPM, and from Science Stream ONLY!!!!.

Here, we heard of a case where the Ministry had approved someone from the ART STREAM who had failed the SPM and yet approved to further his medical studies in U. Absurd, rediculous, & vagarious?NO! NOT YET!

The MMC decision not to recognize the medical degree from University of Crimea was attributed to the fact that it had accepted medical students who had failed in the SPM. The Higher Education Ministry today confirmed that it had issued Non-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to Arts stream students who failed their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination. Higher Education Minister Datuk Shafie Salleh said the students were given the NOCs to enable them to gain entry into the Crimea University in Ukraine to realise their dreams of becoming doctors. The Minister said these students, "Although they had failed their SPM examinations, they could still gain entry into universities as their other qualifications showed they were qualified."

So, what's the problem? Where's the problem?

Isn't the decision of MMC a direct act of contempt, and a slap in the face of the minister of higher education? The decision of the Health Ministry is contradictory to the decisions of the Higher Education Ministry, and the cabinet agrees to both decision simultaneously?

Did we have a problem? I don't think so. The philosophical and ideological aspects have different tangent and have moved to the outer realms beyond the rule of wisdom into a world of arbitrary conduct manned by a system of governance of absolute absurdity and discretionary rule of law in our motherland.

God forbid that we are returning to the dark age period.

MB's Gesture of Friendship

Sign of Friendship

This picture was captured from a video online.

The gesture looks friendly, and welcoming.....????

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark sent packing from parliament

Video of PM sent packing from Parliament

Both the Prime Minister and the opposition leader were thrown out of the house during question time on Tuesday for interjecting while other members were speaking.

Helen Clark was the first to go after she yelled out a comment to the National MP Nick Smith while he was asking a question.

A short time later Don Brash was told to leave the chamber for calling out to Foreign Minister Phil Goff while he was speaking to a point of order.

Speaker Margaret Wilson told the house that the rules about not interjecting during questions or points of order apply to everyone.

Dare the speaker of the Malaysian Parliament act the same if he faces similar situation? The record shows that speaker only have balls to do such when faced with the opposition members of Parliament.

Marina Mahathir: The surREAL Malaysia?

I spent quite some effort in my years of academic career trying to impress upon by students and participants that reading a wide range of books, from novels to management to philosophy and psychology, and must include physiology, is the ONLY way to build up their knowledge competency and widen their perspective and perceptions, which ultimately form the core of their ideology which dictates their day to day life. This is one of the effective way to help us discover profound knowledge.

In between these discussions, I was asked often whether there is any author or writer that I had the highest admiration and whether I can recommend some reading materials or books.

Often, I would suggest books by authors such as: Peter Drucker, Edward Deming, Charles Handy, Ayn Rand, John Grisham, Sigmund Freud, Shakespeare, Paulo Coelho, Paul Krugman, Milton Friedman, Thomas Friedman, ... and it is impossible for me to exclude one writer who has the greatest respect in my life - Marina Mahathir.

Thankful to The Star, we have her bi-weekly column, i.e. Musing with Marina, which is a class erudition and out-lay the pragmatic wisdom from a woman made-in-Malaysia.

Herebelow, I took the liberty to reprint her latest article, entitled:

The Real Malaysia

June 15, The Star

Sometimes life is like a movie script. Let me tell a little story about Malaysia that should really make it onto celluloid.

The other day a young Indian fellow called Mike, who happens to work for me, finally got married to his girlfriend Zai, a Malay girl. The wedding reception took place in a suburb of KL at Zai’s parents’ home.

Or rather, as is normal in our city, on Zai’s street. The whole street had been cut off for the wedding, decorated with arches and tents, turning it into a street party that Sunday.

Despite the heat, the entire neighbourhood seemed to have turned up for it as well as many of Mike and Zai’s friends and colleagues.

Pink was the theme colour, ranging from what the bride and groom wore, the matching outfits that the bride’s family could be identified by and the yards of pink satin that swagged the pelamin, the windows of the modest single storey terrace house, and the bridal lunch table.

A local band entertained with the latest Malay pop songs while everyone tucked into the nasi minyak buffet.

What was fascinating was the fact that the wedding was really a microcosm of urban Malaysia.

Here was Mike, who is Indian, marrying his Malay girlfriend after a long courtship. Their friends and neighbours were of all races who came and went as is customary, helping themselves to the food and adding to the pile of presents for the newlyweds.

When Mike, resplendent in pink songket, accompanied by his sari-clad mother arrived, they were greeted by the requisite kompang and a short silat demonstration.

Despite the humble setting, Mike and Zai’s wedding lacked for nothing in terms of all the essential elements.

When they sat on the pelamin, Mike’s mother began the merenjis ceremony with a little Indian tradition.

She gave Mike a gold chain to put around Zai’s slender neck and then she herself placed another gold necklace on her new daughter-in-law who responded with a respectful kiss of her hands.

Then everyone followed suit in the usual manner, sprinkling scented water on the couple in the traditional blessing.

What makes this a particularly quirky slice of Malaysia is the fact that Mike happens also to be a champion bodybuilder (he is the bantamweight Mr Malaysia).

His fellow bodybuilders, of course, also came and we were treated to the sight of a good number of crew-cut guys with very impressive muscles and tiny waists.

And just to prove that Malaysians can be disciplined when they want to be, all these guys sat together and ate only grilled fish because they have a competition coming up!

(The groom himself didn’t take a day off from his strict diet just because it was his wedding either.)

Observing Mike and Zai’s wedding, aside from thinking it would make a great movie (an interracial romance between a bodybuilder and a Siti Norhaliza look-alike; how’s that for an original premise?), it made me wonder what the real Malaysia is. Is it the Malaysia as envisioned by some of our public figures, divided by ethnicity and religion, full of territorial claims? Or is it this simple portrait of neighbours and friends brought together by a wedding, that reliable social unifier?

When people make hateful claims about the superiority of one way of thinking or belief over another, I wonder what it means to families like Mike’s and Zai’s where people of different beliefs have become related? I remember listening to a Christian woman once talking about her Muslim son and grandchildren and wondered how could she possibly be unmoved by laws that affect them.

In Malaysia, we are not as homogenous as we like to portray ourselves and many of us do have relatives and close friends who come from different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds.

Our kinship ties are forged by marriage and shared interests and these can be strong. To try and differentiate us through state policy would be akin to trying to cut through a piece of silk cloth, so beautiful in one piece, ruined when torn.

Maybe if we started making movies that did reflect real life, we would have a more realistic approach to social harmony. If it wasn’t completely true, nobody could make up Mike and Zai out of their imaginations. We keep thinking, through our movies and through our approaches to governance, that Malaysia is a uniform and obedient society that conforms to some politician’s or bureaucrat’s dull black and white dreams.

In fact, it’s far better and more colourful than that.

What we need is to always ensure that it is these simple portraits of real life that are constantly polished and shined. Otherwise life in Malaysia would be very drab indeed.

Starving Musician

Starving Musician

Child musicians in the uprising? Are they grooming a new breed of talents in China - the musical beggerism of tomorrow?

As China becomes more industrialized, and the economic activities expanding at a fast pace, the wealth distribution gap gets bigger and more insidious each passing days.

This is largely attributed to the unequal economic wealth distribution within the country. Most of the major economic activities which helps to uplift the social-economic livelihood of the population tend to be centered at large cities such as Shanghai, Shenzen, Beijing, Kuangdong, etc.

Apart from it, it largely benefitted the civil service kleptocratic sector, and those that have political linkage. The commoners and those living at the outskirts are leftout or to scramble for the crumps; hopefully, it is sufficient enough to fill the stomachs.

Poverty level remains high and social economic disparities are not getting priorities within the system management. Unless greater attention is made by the political masters, the social beggerism will become more widespread and in the years to come, will be uncontrollable, transforming into a social epidemic, leading China back to where they came from - the warring states of uncertainties.

Crimean Victimimized

Unfair Punishment

JUNE 20, 2005, NST

Show proof, and don’t make blanket statements that will worry more than a thousand students at the Crimea State Medical University (CSMU) and their families.

"I challenge the Government to provide statistics on the number of unqualified Malaysian students versus those who are (qualified)," said K. Balasingam, who has a son in his third year at CSMU.

"It’s not fair to punish everyone because of one or two or three students."

He said if it was true that the university had lowered its entry standards by accepting arts stream dropouts and academically poor science stream students, the Government should prove it.

"If the students are not qualified, the Government should take action on the students themselves, their agents or the officials at the Higher Education Ministry or the relevant department who approved the students’ application to Crimea," he said.

On Friday, the Government decided to de-recognise the university from Jan 1 next year. The Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) said it would not recognise students registered and admitted to medical and pre-medical courses at the university.

One of Balasingam’s main worries is that his son, Dinesh Francis, who obtained 8As in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination, would return after completing his studies to find a stigma attached to his CSMU qualification.

"Most European universities recognise CSMU, as my son found out when he was surfing the Internet for an affordable university," he said.

Students face a relatively strict admission process to the university, Balasingam said. He said an agent in Malaysia sent registration forms to students, who filled and returned them to the agent for forwarding to the university. On approval, the university sends a letter of invitation, without which the Ukraine embassy will not issue a visa.

"So the question is, how did the arts students or poor science students get accepted in the first place?"

Last year, Balasingam, a former hockey player, visited his son at the university and was pleased with what he saw.

"I saw three of four classes at the university in which there were only 15 students to a lecturer. Furthermore, the learning environment is good. There are no pubs or clubs there and it is a nice town for students."

He was there for five days with his wife and they spent time with his son’s classmates, mostly Malaysians, met with the university lecturers and visited the library.

"My son is going to be a good doctor one day. Malaysia is going to lose a good doctor because I will ask him to work in the UK although I want him to come back and serve his country."

Management consultant Shan Thuraisingham, who called the New Straits Times to comment on the issue, said the MMC had been peremptory in deciding on qualifications for students studying .

"If it had any qualms on de-registering the students from the university in Ukraine, it should have referred to the Public Service Department as it is the authority on such matters," he said.

"The MMC has gone beyond its jurisdiction by registering and de-registering universities."

He added that there was no reason why students from the arts stream could not be given the chance to take up medicine. Shan said this was not the first time that such a situation had occurred, as the Government had had problems in the past recognising medical qualifications from Manipal in India, but that had been resolved at the Cabinet level.