Category: Random Musings

Honda CR-Z Hybrid

Well, I plan to buy a new car this year and the Honda CR-Z is at the top of my list. However, I have a small problem with Honda Malaysia in that, there doesn’t seem to be any unit that I can take for a test drive.

I’ve been to several showrooms in KL.

The first one I visited told me that they did not even have a show-room unit and they sold every single CR-Z that they receive. However, they did drive me up to their store house to take a look at one that was in storage. But that one had dead batteries and I couldn’t play around with anything in it – couldn’t even open up the boot.

The second one I visited told me that they did not have any, even in stock. When I asked how someone could buy a car based on a brochure, the sales person just smiled at me. Fail.

The third showroom that I visited had one in the showroom, which I was allowed to scrutinise in detail. A few things caught my attention – the CR-Z has no spare wheel; and the rear-view mirror has a limited cone of vision.

In place of the spare wheel, the car comes with a sealant and pump kit. So, in the event of a puncture, one would pour in the liquid sealant and re-inflate the tyre. However, if the tyre bursts, one would need to call for a tow.

As for the rear-view mirror, it’s a design issue. The rear-end of the car is just really small. So, one would need to depend on the side-mirrors during normal driving and to depend on the electronics when reversing etc. The car does come with an optional rear-view camera upgrade.

In essence, I’m sold on the car. But I only plan to get it after the budget speech in October. The CR-Z enjoys certain tax benefits at present, which are supposed to end this year. I’d like to see if the government extends it or otherwise.

However, I would really like to test drive one before I buy the car. Preferably one with manual transmission. I was told that there wasn’t a very long wait list for the car, between a fort-night to a month.

I hope to own one either by year-end or thereabouts.

Too Much Freedom

I really like this adaptation of the song.

PS: The guy should have just proposed to her on-stage. That would have been thoroughly cool.

The Voice of China

I’ve got a soft spot for good voices. Hers was my favourite for this specific episode.

This one too.

The whole episode.

Civil Service Votes

A thought came into my head a few days ago, as I was taking my morning shower – “What if the civil service votes, swing?”

Our civil service has traditionally been a solid vote bank for the BN coalition. The generally held view is that the civil servants are a docile lot, with their saya yang menurut perintah mentality. As a rule, the civil service will vote for the government of the day and to protect their own jobs.

The PR coalition love to highlight the alleged abuses of power and corrupt practices that are carried out by many top BN leaders. Cow condominiums and unsinkable submarines are often the butt of many jokes in ceramah speeches. There is a wide perception by Malaysians that our government is corrupt.

What I thought about the other day was this – that the people who have a front-row seat in the corrupt practices are the civil servants. Most people who have never worked for the government before, have literally got no idea of how bad things are. Those working inside the belly of the beast have a much better idea on how deep the rabbit hole goes.

I am sure that there are a lot of people working for the government who are sick and tired of all the excesses.

However, the civil service has always obediently voted for the governing coalition. There are enough rumours of how those who vote against them are transferred to remote positions etc. Therefore, many do not vote according to their conscience but for expedience.

But what if the votes actually swung for once.

If there was ever a time for the civil service to swing, this would be it. There is sufficient momentum in the rest of the country that if the civil service votes swing, the BN coalition would end up being the opposition in parliament and the PR coalition would forever be in their debt.

What many people may not know is that there are actually a lot of PR supporters working for the government. In fact, while most senior leaders of the civil service are loyal party members of the BN coalition, the second line is full of those who are PR supporters.

More than half of my Law classmates work for the government in one way or another. Most of them are police and they openly tell us in class that while they know that the PR coalition would make a better government, they are forced to vote BN to protect their arse.

So, there is definitely a huge support for PR amongst the civil servants, even if it is not overt nor explicit.

But if this vote bank can be tapped, history would be made.

KPOP Gavy NJ

The girls may not be as hyper as some other Kpop groups, but they can certainly sing!

Parliament Dissolved

Finally, after an extremely long wait, parliament is now dissolved!

This got me to think, as I was driving into work this morning, about how the Pakatan Rakyat state governments should have dissolved the state assemblies on 8/March. By not doing so, they essentially lost the moral right to criticise the federal government for over-staying.

This is because the rakyat gave both the federal and state governments, a five-year mandate to govern, from 8/March/2008. Therefore, all the state governments and federal one have been governing without a mandate for the last month or so.

If the Pakatan Rakyat state governments had dissolved their state assemblies earlier, as was initially hinted by the Selangor Menteri Besar, they would have managed to 1-up the federal government by sticking to the principles and not over-staying their mandates.

Furthermore, if they had dissolved their state assemblies earlier, they would have forced the federal government’s hands by essentially shifting the deadline to hold state elections to an earlier date.

But all that’s said and done, I hope that we can get this over and done with as soon as possible. I do hope that the Elections Commission sets an early date for the General Elections and to not wait till May to run it.

Good luck to everyone who will be running!

Cybersex Scam

Cheesy acting, but the message is clear. Scams always work.