Losing Weight

I’ve had several people comment on the fact that I’ve lost some weight recently. A classmate asked me yesterday if I was on a diet. A friend whom I’ve not seen for a while immediately commented on this too, when we met up for mamak today. I’ve also noted that my belt has dropped a notch or two in the last few weeks.

I’d love to say that I’ve been to the gym, working out, etc – all very macho things to do for someone who wants to lose weight. Unfortunately, I’ve actually stopped running until June due to a heel injury and am resting my foot for a few months to let things heal proper.

I’d settle for simply going on a diet – eating healthy, lots of fruits and vegetables, etc. Maybe doing some high fibre, high protein, low carb kind of thing. Unfortunately, I’ve actually been eating rather unhealthily and consuming more food in general – lots of ice-cream in fact.

But I’m still losing weight.

I’ve just been working too darn hard. The next four months are not going to get any easier for me. I’m unlikely to be getting much sleep from now until Hari Raya Aidilfitri. It’s just that I’ve got too many things on my plate and I think that I need to drop a few things to stay alive.

I’ll need to to cut-down on my volunteer work next year to free up some time for other positive work. However, I seem to be picking up more random work.

I just have too many fingers and too many pies.

The Voice

After watching the season finale and the winner of The Voice, I have to say that I think that Adam Levine screwed up royally with Katrina Parker. She was clearly America’s choice but got the boot in the semi-finals because of Adam’s scores.

Listening to her performance of “Jars of Hearts” literally brought tears to my eyes. She literally grew before all our eyes from a shy OA to a confident diva belting emotions.

She’s the only one who made me cry.

Yellow Snowball

The only reason that I decided to come home to Malaysia is this – to fight for our future.

If there was one thing that my experiences at Bersih have taught me – it’s that there’s hope for Malaysia yet – one where people treat each other like people, where rights are respected and not trampled over, where one is able to make an honest living.

Our parents generation have failed us and as a result, our generation is saddled with all the mistakes of the past and it’s up to us to tackle the problems one by one. While some take the easy way out, to run away, or to hide elsewhere biding their time, I would have none of that.

Bersih 3.0 marks a turning point in our country’s future. No amount of violence and accusations will distract from this. Our people have changed and the country has been changed forever by this. No way will we be going back to the ways of the past.

All parties of our government need to take cognisance of this. Regardless of who comes to power in the next general elections, the landscape and people have changed forever. Whomever comes to power will have to realise that the rakyat no longer blindly trust the government.

This event also marks the rise of the middle-class, traditionally the drivers of all political change. Thanks to various education and economic opportunities provided in the past, we have a burgeoning middle-class who are educated enough to see through the many lies told by all sides and figure things out for ourselves.

A lot needs to be done to regain that trust and all parties must realise that, particularly our police force, who have become a force of authority to a farce of one. Same goes for the main-stream media whose censorship, distortion and lies only serve to stoke further anger and provoke incredulity.

I don’t know what the future holds but I’m sure of one thing – nothing is going to be the same after this.

The snowballing has begun.

Best Bersih 3.0 Video

Best one I’ve seen so far. I’m sure more will be coming out over next week.

Explanation Required

Watch this official video of the car accident from PDRM.

I saw what seemed like blood stains on the ground, near the driver side-door of the car. I do not know who it belongs to. I thought that it might have belonged to the police.

Now, this other video seems to show someone fighting off the crowds.

Maybe the police came out swinging and defended himself, fearing for his life. But why?

Now, watch this amateur video of the said accident from a different angle.

I saw what seemed like some people flying like bowling pins when they were hit by the police car, which seemed to be trying to brake.

Now, that puts a whole different spin on the story of the car accident.

Was it reasonable for the rally goers to throw stuff at the police car – or was it provoked?
Was it reasonable for the police car to speed away in a crowd – or was it negligent?

Ouch. My head hurts to think about it.

Aduhai Khaled Nordin

I just read this quote in an article in TheStar a few minutes ago claiming that “fewer students will be able to enter universities if the Government offers free education” and “only students with excellent results will have a chance to further their studies.”

Que FACEPALM!

Honestly, what are some of these cabinet ministers thinking (or not thinking). By implication, he is saying that the current system is the one that allows non-excellent students to further their studies. If it was taken away, these non-excellent students would not be able to go to University.

That explains a lot.

It explains why there are so many unemployed graduates in our country. It explains why the lecturers are complaining about the quality of their students. It explains the drop in standards and rankings of our local universities. It explains it all.

Our ivory towers are flooded by people who are not up to par.

As the Minister of Higher Education, he needs to take the necessary steps to ensure that only the excellent students go to university. That is the only way that we can restore the integrity and dignity into the system.

However, I don’t think that offering free education would make things better. I think that if education was free, the situation would only get worse as students would no longer be given the incentive to work hard and graduate fast, since it is free.

I hope that he does not run in the next GE.

Freedom Square

A random thought occurred to me a couple of days ago – the government should just gazette Dataran Merdeka as a fixed location for peaceful assemblies and protests.

In many other countries, there are also such designated spots such as the Parliament Square in London – a square at the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in London that is one of London’s main tourist attractions and also the place where many demonstrations and protests are held.

Our Dataran makes a very good spot to do this. It is close enough to Jalan Parlimen, which leads directly to our Parliament. The square itself has its own history as the place where the Union Jack was lowered in 1957.

It is located opposite the Sultan Abdul Samad building, an iconic building that played many roles over the years. It is also located directly in the heart of KL and features prominently during our national day parade due to the massive road directly between it and the building.

Many cars drive through Jalan Raja into the heart of the city and therefore, protest causes can be easily heard by the people. It’s located close to several LRT stations. Underneath, is a small mall, which can provide amenities, food and the all important foot-traffic as well.

Dataran Merdeka is wonderfully positioned to be the place to protest and hold demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur.