Another Round of Privatisation???

I don't know about this. I kinda troubled by the statement on privatisation in PM's budget speech. And of course, I am not an economy expert but speaking from a layman's term, I am quite puzzled with this.

Excerpt from Bernama...

Najib, who is also the Finance Minister said to ensure this, the government will privatise companies under the Minister of Finance Inc (MOF Inc) and other viable government agencies.

call me an extreme skeptic but that translate to me as "privatising" the money-making agencies to the "selected few"

"High impact projects by the private sector will be undertaken jointly with the government.

high impact translate to me as high risk, high investment. so for these kind of project, government will "join force" to shoulder the risk. another PKFZ in making?

Sigh~~~

Man and Wife - Tony Parson

Just finished the book. A look at what being together means.

Rome (Roma), Italy (2005)

A "return" post for Cruel Angel

As I browse my previous posts, I found this and it reminded me that I am not able to attend the wedding dinner (or a prison-entering ceremony as he put it) of this dear friend of mine. So, I repost this and wish him a HAPPY MARRIED LIFE in advance and I offer my prayer to his wife-to-be, Lilian hehehehehe......

ORIGINAL POSTED March 23, 2007

I have never been a starring or centre character of any media production, be it electronic or printed ones and thanks to my dear friend Alan Cruel Angel, I am the focal point of one of his post in his post (see below):

http://thesisofacruelangel.blogspot.com/2007/03/roomate-from-hell-this-guy-name-is-chin.html

So, to show my appreciation, I have to "return post" 正所谓， 礼尚不往来， 非礼也 !

This guy's name is "Lai Ai Lun". He used to be my worst nightmare though I don't really "HATE" him that much. I was surprised that my essay was photostated by his resourceful mother (how his mother get that essay is really a wonder!) as his reading material and that really freaked me out!!! We were classmates since standard one and YES, we are totally different in lots of ways! Yes, he got the last laugh cox his blog has more reader than mine and most importantly HE'S EARNING BIG BUCKS IN TUPAI !!!!!!!!!!! So, to all the students out there..... IF YOU WANNA EARN BIG BUCKS, FORGET ABOUT BEING TOP STUDENT ETC BUT GET A GOOD PAYING JOB BECAUSE IF YOU ARE NOT BORN RICH, NO MATTER U STUDY AS A DOCTOR OR LAWYER OR WATEVER, THE MONEY JUST WILL NOT COME TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Taken in the Stella Maris hostel during Form 6 (1997). Nope, the flower was actually a gift for Emily (I think, if my memory doesn't fail me) for her birthday

He's having fun practising his prank to be perfect, I have to pretend to be perfect because I am the Head Prefect.

He always copy my homework, I always copy other people's homework.

He always looking for ilham by playing blackjack, I am pretending to have all the ilham and be a smartjack.

He always asking morally-challenging questions such as, "If Brother C%$#l&* gives you 1 million to &^%$ you, u want or not?", I am listening to my walkman and offering answer such as "Please spare me some peace, can or not?"

He is everybody's cool man, I am seen as trying-to-please-everybody-man.

He is seen as somebody with attitude, I am seen as somebody without one.

He had fun by challenging rules and becoming warrior, I was deprived of fun and becoming a teacher's servant.

He had the blessings of God to wash his clothes, I has my two hands to wash my own.

He soaked his clothes in Dynamo for weeks, I have to stand the stinking smell of the oversoaked for weeks.

He had Lim Wai Keong to accompany him to study for STPM by playing 2-person blackjack, I have everyone to accompany me in the study room while I was sleeping.

He didn't get direct to uni but earn more pounds in Tupai, I got entrance to uni but spend most of my time dreaming of earning big bucks in Tupai.

He is funny and hilarious as a speaker, I am boring, formal and dull speaker.

He tries to be every girls playmate and hitched some playmates himself, I am some girls' soulmate and got myself as my own playmate!

Taken during the 2nd day Chinese New Year in 2007. Thanks for his "coklat berkurma" from Tupai, though most of it was eaten by those who came to my house that day.

After 9 years,

He got a tummy, I got a life as boring as a mummy.

He may look like an uncle but with a fat dompet, I looked like an uncle way long time ago with a flat dompet.

He may be one every mama sue in law, I dun think I will have a mother-in-law.

He never takes life seriously and have fun, I take life seriously and deprived of all the fun.

He writes his blog funnily, I write funnily unfunny one.

By now, you should know why he used to call (maybe still) himself ALAN THE GREAT (in-line with Alexander the Great I'm sure). I salute his creativity, which is spontaneous and spot-on most of the time. Well, his mom used to thank me when we met in the street in our little Sandakan town for taking care of her son, Alan the Great during the Form 6 Benildus House time but I think I should thank her instead for an interesting roomate.

Venice (Venezia), Italy (2005)

Florence (Firenze) 2005

Can't wait for my next travel trip..........

When and where?

Learning From TV (# 7) - Six Feet Under

I am having the re-run of the Six Feet Under again. So, it's gonna be a dark and gloomy season again. Some memorable quotes from the series:

Brenda (played by the mesmerising Rachel Griffith) talking to Nate (Peter Krause) at the cliff where they're gonna have their wedding ceremony held.

[Brenda]:

All we have is this moment....

right here, right now...

The future is just a fucking concept that we use to avoid being alive today.

So.... be here..... now.

Maggie (step sister of the Fisher family when her father married the creepy Frances Conroy and Ruth, the mother) told Nate.

[Maggie Sibley]:

I know that if you think life's a vending machine where you put in virtue and take out happiness, then you're going to be disappointed.

Nate and David (both the Fisher's brothers) having conversations about David's constant grip with pain:

[Nate] :

You hang on to your pain like it means something, like it's worth something. Well let me tell you, it's not worth shit. Let it go. Infinite possibilities and all he can do is whine.

[David] :

Well, what am I supposed to do?

[Nate] :

What do you think? You can do anything, you lucky bastard, you're alive. What's a little pain compared to that?

[David] :

It can't be so simple.

[Nate] :

What if it is?

Come to think of it, Six Feet Under's not all that gloomy after all right???

2010 Budget and Me : I Wanna Move to Iskandar

1. Max Income Tax Rate dropped from 27% to 26%. (Hmm... am I in the bracket?)

2. Personal Relief increased from RM8000 to RM9000 (means additional RM1k in disposable income?)

3. 15% tax on employment income for those who work and reside in Iskandar??????? (what are we waiting for??? move our asses there!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

4. RM50 annual fees for credit card (ok.... gotta cut all those plastic now!!!! is imposing annual fees gonna deter people getting plastic? and RM50 goes to the bank that already amassing lots of profits from all the charges/fees that they currently imposing???? government should impose stricter conditions to weed out people who's not eligible to get the plastic instead!!!).

ERROR: OK, my bad!!! The RM50 goes to the government and not the banks. Sorry for that.

5. RM500 for broadband subscription fee in 2010-2012 (what about the speed? 50% penetration? just open up the monopoly to get Streamyx buck up!!!)

Itu sahaja? By the way, one glaring item that missing from the budget this year is BONUS for government servant. So, I think there'll be no general election, at least not in 2010 but again, to pump up the feel good factor, some sort of bonus will be announced on the eve of election as usual. Having said that, you know the government is really tight now, squeezed between satisfying the want of the oversized civil service and feeding the greed desires of the cronies grabbing for projects and "tenders". As RPK said, the "evaporating" expenses costs the country more than anything else. And to think that this kind of "evaporating" expenses go into the pocket of the selected fews really boils your blood, even on a beautiful Saturday morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would say... Cis, bedebah!!!!

The Weepies - Gotta Have You (2006 : Say I Am You)

anyone find that the tune sounds eerily similar to one of Tanya Chua's song?

New Malaysian Essay 2

Shahnon Shah's , Amir Muhammad's and Amir Sharipuddin's are the most enjoyable in this volume.

Chacun Son Cinema (2007)

This has been in my collection for quite some time. It was commissioned with 34 directors submitted 3-mins entries to commemorate the 60 years of Cannes Film Festival. With that premise, you know you will see many big names i.e. David Cronenberg, Lars von Trier, Tsai Ming Liang, Zhang Yi Mou, Ken Loach Gus van Sant, Wim Wenders, Walter Salles, Theo Angelopoulos, Oliver Assayas, Chen Kai Ge, Wong Kar Wai, Abbas Kiorastami, Jane Campion, Takeshi Kitano, Atom Egoyan, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love the one by Roman Polanski (forget about his paedophile crime for a while) the most, it's pure gag and a funny one, suitable for the 3-mins instalment. The one by Lars von Trier also is memorable. And speaking of von Trier, you might find Inarritu's work is kinda similar to the one found in von Trier's Dancer in The Dark though Inarritu's version didn't fail to evoke emotions.

I was kinda looking forward to the Coen brother's work but it's not found in the DVD because the brothers were late to submit their entry. However, thanks to the YouTube, it's here.

With Josh Brolin at the helm and a familiar face, Dr. Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith) from Grey's Anatomy.

Friends Who Travel XI

Steve (UK) and Liz (Sweden)

Had a good chat with them when I offered them a ride from the roadside of the Kinabalu Park to Sandakan. Thanks for the company during the 4 hours ride! And nice evening drinking at the Balin as well!!!

Happy Travelling!!!

Everything - Buble

Buble will have his album coming out soon (or was it out already?).

Meanwhile, Everything for you. M

You're a falling star, You're the get away car.

You're the line in the sand when I go too far.

You're the swimming pool, on an August day.

And You're the perfect thing to say.

And you play it coy, but it's kinda cute.

And when you smile at me you know exactly what you do.

Baby don't pretend, that you don't know it's true.

Cause you can see it when I look at you.

[Chorus:] And in this crazy life, and through these crazy times

It's you, it's you, You make me sing.

You're every line, you're every word, you're everything.

You're a carousel, you're a wishing well,

And you light me up, when you ring my bell.

You're a mystery, you're from outer space,

You're every minute of my everyday.

And I can't believe, uh that I'm your man,

And I get to kiss you baby just because I can.

Whatever comes our way, ah we'll see it through,

And you know that's what our love can do.

House Keeping in PR

Anwar Ibrahim MUST do housekeeping in his own party. People like Zulkifli Noordin should be taken to task. PAS should do the same to its member such as Hasan Ali. Further delay will definitely affect the future of the PR coalition.

2nd Place in KK Challenge 5 Treasure Hunt

De'StoneS got #2, a whopping 15pts behind the Sabah champion, Main Tembak.

Personally, it was a satisfying result for us mainly we "sort-of" overcame our phobia for the treasure questions. However, I still feel that our performance left a huge room for improvement, which is exactly what we are doing all this while and will continue to improve ourselves.

More on the hunt here on Corny's blog.

The Star : Angry Earth

As of now....

Padang : 529 confirmed dead. Thousands more feared to be dead due to the widespread damage. (2 quakes)

Philippines : At least 246 dead after Typhoon Ketsana and now bracing for Parma. About 2 million affected and 567,000 evacuated.

Vietnam : At least 74 dead due to Ketsana

Cambodia : At least 9 dead due to Ketsana

Samoa : About 150 dead confirmed. (2 quakes)

No wonder The Star newspaper put the cover page title as Angry Earth. I hope that it will not turn into Furious Earth.

Speaking of which, Malaysia is a blessed nation to be out of the Ring of Fire which will put the country from the risk of having earthquake or serious tropical typhoon. And looking at the videos of the rakyat of the above countries facing the destuctive power of nature made me be thankful for living in such a blessed nation. However, I think it will be a disrespectful and ungrateful thing to do to just ignore the blatant corruption/wrong-doings/financial scandals/misusing public funds displayed in our eyes. Let's not be a part of them and do the right things to make sure they do not happen again!!!!!!!!

HH....Are You Serious???

Gosh... I read in some blogs that award the joker of 2009 prematurely to Hishamuddin Hussein due to his excellent performances in 2009 so far with no one worthy to challenge him in sight, due to some serious challengers retired, i.e. Zainuddin Maiddin and Nazri seems quite low profile these days.

His latest remark on Good Guilty vs Bad Guilty totally snatched the award hands down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paid The Price With No Regret : The Resurrection of Jesus (Isa)

From Malaysiakini.......the former chief minister of Negri Sembilan and federal minister, Tan Sri Isa Abdul Samad answered when.......

Asked how he would deflect attacks by the opposition which would be using the issue of vote buying which had caused him to be suspended by Umno, he said: "I did not commit a crime, but had violated the party elections' code of ethics.

(Wow.... that's a big ball for a small man!!!!!!!!!)

"I have paid for it for three years, so the issue should no longer arise. People have accepted cases involving crime and some of those involved have gone on to become chief minister, minister and there are also those aspiring to become prime minister. You have all, so what's the problem?"

(I agreed one deserved being given a 2nd chance if one paid the price and take responsibility of the wrongdoings by admitting the wrongdoings but what Isa said 100% didn't show that he feels what he did is wrong - well...in a way, maybe he didn't feel he did anything since it's what his other colleague doing in his party!!!!)

(Also the question of having paid the price is definitely questionable as the "punishment" is only by his party but money politics/vote buying is essentially corruption and as usual in Bolehland, the MACC or its predecessor, ACA didn't see it fit to get to the root of the matter. So, UMNO disciplinary is above MACC or ACA for what we see here).

*bolded are my emphasis and italics are my opinion.

*** half of the title, i.e. The Resurrection of Jesus (Isa) is borrowed from Jed Yoong. love that word play, Jed!!!