Month: May 2010

I am sometimes thankful that our problems, no matter how dire, are no where in comparison with that of others and I am constantly reminded of the fact that things can always get worse.

This is such a great idea and it doesn’t do any harm when you’ve got a sweet face to go along with it.

One of our youngest MPs has launched her own little newsletter – KANTA! It is a fantastic idea because of a couple of reasons: it by-passes any of the restrictions imposed licensed printers through the PPA; and it gives valuable feedback and information to the constituents with emphasis on the latter rather than the former.

So you see, I think that it is a good idea and that all our MPs should adopt it as soon as they can. Anyone can do DTP these days. There are just so many tools to use that can generate a PDF output at the end. Then, just upload it onto one of the many free file servers and off you go!

Now, that’s just swell!

According to TheStar, our dearest PM and our so-called First Lady, would be at the Buddhist Maha Vihara this Wesak Day. On top of that, a celebrity chef would be cooking up a special dish for the honoured couple as well. What this tells me is that I would need to avoid going to temple early.

You see, I normally do my thing on Wesak Day in the morning. I would normally go to Brickfields, and perform some dana on that day – donating blood and some cash. I don’t go for the prayer or blessing sessions since I’m just there to do my own thing. I may bump into people I know and say a few words but little more. My parents would normally be volunteering and helping out with things there.

Now that our PM is going to be there at 9.30am, I would need to avoid the crowd. This means that I should really get there either well before that or well after. I guess that it is a good idea to get there real early in the morning so that I can get things over and done with. Then, I can have the rest of the day to myself.

I could feasibly cram a few chapters of FF13 into the rest of the day.

Intellectual property in the fashion industry.

http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf

Our previous PM undeniably gave away our Petroleum for a song and some will say that our present PM has just done the same thing with our land in Singapore. While I do not deny that it seems a negative thing to be losing our land in Tanjong Pagar, I shall hold-off on the criticism for a bit until we all know what the deal actually entails. It is the job of our opposition to dig up the dirty details.

No one will deny that Singapore has more to gain from this land swap and joint-development deal. However, I won’t deny them a profit if there is one to be made. What I care about is whether or not we made a profit as well. If this is a win-win situation, then so be it. However, the skeptic in me thinks that this is unlikely going to be the case. Looking at our track record, it is more likely that we come out as losers in the end.

Personally, I am not in the real-estate business and I do not claim to know much about it. However, what I know tells me that things are not quite rosy. We are swapping prime real-estate for reclaimed land. That just does not make much sense to me. Singapore can give us all the reclaimed land we desire, since it is largely reclaimed using sand from Malaysian to begin with. So, we are essentially swapping our land for stuff that was created from our soil.

See the irony.

We are also told that our government investment arm, Khazanah Holdings, will go into a joint-development deal with Temasek. I will give this bit the benefit of a doubt. We must remember that in these things, anything can happen – deals can go south. While we may have the majority share, it also means that we are liable for majority of the losses. I just hope that this deal does well and we get to recoup some of our other monumental losses.

So, I don’t really know enough to say if this is a good or bad thing.

However, I do hope that our opposition does keep a finger on things. I would really like to know how it ultimately turns out in the end. I would hope for the best but knowing the way things are, I would prepare for the worst.

While some people see this as damning evidence of our PM allegedly bribing or buying votes, I see this as something different entirely.

Najib is a much better orator than our previous PM. In fact, he is a much better orator than most of our opposition leaders. He also raised a couple of issues that are actually pertinent to the politics of our nation. Our opposition governments must be seen as capable of doing things and delivering. Unfortunately, I feel that they have squandered most of the opportunities given to them because they do not have the guts to actually bring about change, even if it is just at the local level.

One issue that I see emerging from the different PR-led states is that they all seem to show a different brand of government. While I don’t really know if this is a good or a bad thing, I do see it as a potential issue because I doubt that it would sell very well at the federal level. It is fine having different flavours of government for different states in order to cater to the different needs. However, at the federal level, such flavours would signal a problem.

Well, those are just my 2 sen.

According to Lim Kit Siang’s blog, Pakatan Rakyat is moving to “chart a strategy to remove Sarawak and Sabah as the Barisan Nasional’s fixed deposit states.” According to the same entry:

One important meaning of the Sibu by-election result is that Barisan Nasional cannot take Sarawak and Sabah for granted, which have rendered the next general elections a more level playing field in the contest for national power in Putrajaya between Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional.

When I read that, I went like – WTF?!

This is the exact kind of short-term and short-sighted leadership that we do not need in the country. The PR should not be charting plans on taking away Sabah and Sarawak from the BN. They should be charting plans on how to build up and develop Sabah and Sarawak to their full potential. There is a very subtle but major difference between the two policies – one is long-term while the other is short-term.

Sigh! What can I say except that the PR is just as corrupt and lacking as the BN.

It sucks to be Malaysian these days.