Makan Meet 3 in Singapore

The evening was 31st October 2009. According to the locals, Singapore does not usually rain that hard nor thunder that loud. It was practically raining cats & dogs when Louis picked me up at around 7pm, with Mike and Alice in the car too. And the thunder and lightning was no less spectacular. STILL, the die-hard Sarawakians in Spore went ahead with the meet-up at Alexandra Village for Hongkong Street Food (you all will have to correct me if this part is wrong!).

And the results of the evening? The photos speak for themselves.

From left to right: Soo Chin Hion, Pui Eng Soon, Albert Chin, Mike Tan aka Hung Yang, Louis Wong.

From left to right: Anne Kho, Irene Tan Kin Lim, Alice Wong, me, Caroline Chin

Eleu came much later, he was attending some military course, but made it all the way to meet us at almost 9.30pm....thanks to Carol, he had a beautifully arranged plate of left-overs to devour into, hehehe.

Group photo, with Eng Soon's family joining us. Carol was taking the snap.

Don't have any photos of the dishes we had cos I forgot to bring my camera, in the excitement of rushing out of my brother-in-law's apartment as soon as Louis called. Could have kicked myself for that. But the food was excellent. If you've never tried bitter gourd with pork ribs, you better fly to Spore, loved it!

Topics of the evening? Too many to mention! But the one that stood out most was Eng Soon's story of TV3 and Kapit....he's now officially the ambassador for Kapit in matters related to the "Akan Datang" case of TV3! Spore/Msia/Sarawak politics, children's education, tax, speeding fines, school days, how to address relatives in foochow (ku-ku & ka-ka), Eleu's "pai-kia" days in SHS, and many more. You name it, we talked about it.

We left the open-spaced restaurant at about 11pm and moved on to McD. Some had gone home already, it was just the 7 of us - Louis, Mike, Chin Hion, Albert, Eleu, Carol & myself. Some more stories till 1am+....I reached the apartment at 2am....luckily didn't have to sleep at the balcony.

A BIG thank you to Louis for getting everyone together to meet. And he's challeged me to do the same if anyone of them Swak-bred-half-Sporean-citizens drop by in Kuching for a visit. So boys & girls in Kuching, plee....aa....se response when your duty calls for you.

p/s it's called Makan Meet 3 cos it's the 3rd meet for our friends in Sg....but then they recalled it might have been the 4th meet....whatever!

Setia - 21 years on

Picture by Choo Choy May

The man who was responsible for that famous (infamous?) patriotic song of our Form 5 year, Tok Rahmat, recently wrote a memoir of his times as Information Minister. You can read the write ups here and here.

Now ailing with cancer, Tok Mat did not hold anything back in his book, and he revealed that the song was actually an UMNO propaganda song to counter the split in the party during Tengku Razaleigh's challenge to Mahathir in the late 80's.

Still, I have fond memories of the song. Stephen Chung and I used to love to sing it, it was emotionally stirring to be reminded that we have this "Negara yang Tercinta" to serve. At the age of 17 and looking forward to go out into the world, it was really heady stuff then.

Now, with most of us reaching middle age, it is easy to be cynical about the song's lyrics. But I prefer to believe that most of us do find it within us to believe in them. Actually, how we felt did not really change. What changed was some people destroying our perceptions about our place in this country. And that realization hurts every time I relive the song.

Malaysia Day Holiday

Finally, it was announced that 16th of Sep will be a public holiday to commenmerate the formation of Malaysia. Yahoo !

Do we really care about the formation of Malaysia ? Do we really care about unity seriously ?

If yes, what are we going to do during this holiday of Malaysia Day ?

Do we need a holiday to show unity ? to remember the formation ? Isn't it all in the mind ?

I tend to agree with Tun Dr. M about too many public holidays we have in Malaysia and do we need another one since we have 31 August for the Merdeka Celebration. How much does the nation lose in productivity for a day of holiday ? Does anyone know ?

Well, with the good intention to share with the young ones....those who were born after 1963 the meaning of this freedom, independence and formation of Malaysia, I believe it is worthwhile, as a start to drill this respect into the minds of the young ones and to remember how the elders had sacrifice their life for the freedom for us.

I hope every one could use this extra holiday to spend meaningful time to share with family members and friends on the formation of Malaysia and how important to keep the fire of unity and patriotism alive...beside celebrating Ardy's birthday ! Also to recover the lost times, everyone must work smarter and harder to provide real productivity to Malaysia, our beloved country. The progressive and dynamic country does not only lies in the hands of the few leaders or politicians...but at the very centre of rakyat's commitment to uphold justice, truth, unity and progress.

How about holiday for Deevapali in Sarawak ?

4th Kiss On The World Title

Congratulation Datuk Nicol, we are proud of your achievement...you are now placed among the greatest squash players on the planet. One, Two & Three, are very tough achievment....you are giving us the fourth title to be proud as Malaysian !

My hope is to see more and more Malaysian be on the top of the world in sporting arena...please do not stop...but give us the fifth title next year ! Keep continue this dream run as we are fully behind you....

Malaysia Boleh !

(the inset photo is the third kiss, taken in last year's victory...as your fourth one, I was not able to find it as yet...I am not able to google it as I believe everyone is in "awe"...especially when you came back from a shock fourth round loss in the British Open)...

I eagerly waiting to be with all my Muslims friends celebrating this Raya...not because of green paus...or food...but for the joy of harmony, love and peace...

For all our Muslims friends of all races....especially for Ardy & Hansac, our blog contributors...Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri...

Tapi...makan, makan jugak...ada green paus...ambik jugak...hehehe...yang pasti, enjoy aje...

Merdeka - what does it mean to you ?

Today, I have been reading a lot merdeka messages from the newspapers, online news both main stream and alternative streams. It is contrary messages from the ruling government and alternative front. Of course, it is normal but for the true merdeka spirit, what does it means really to us ?

A birthday of our nation has a lot of meaning as to our own birthday too! How many of us sing NegaraKu these few days ? (Ah hem...I did !). Do you still feel proud when singing the song ? (with bulu roma tegak ?) If not something is very wrong here. Let's be clear here and I hope you will agree...the height or depth of the prosperity of our nation depends much on the sum total of each Rakyat's true love and support .

Personally, Merdeka means a lot to me...I am a free man and have my rights under the Constitution to do what I wish in achieving my Malaysian dream for the past 37 years !

It is also an appreciation for our forefathers fighting for our freedom especially against the Japanese, Communists and British. It also means that I do not need to go to war or live in fear like some of the other countries in the Middle East or Africa. I dare not imagine if Malaysia is in such a state to live in.

Whilst enjoying the freedom, I do acknowledge the threats of peace within our neighbourhood such as injustice, racial sentiments, in balance distribution of wealth, corrupt leaders and negative external forces. I pray for the resilience and intelligence of our Leaders from both BN and PR to strive for the common good of our beloved Malaysia. The differences in party understanding is norm among the political front (competition makes the community strong) but do not let it be the difference of our understanding to protect our true "Merdeka" from all the threats.

Merdeka ! Merdeka! Merdeka ! Let the shout of Tunku Abdul Rahman always lives in our mind, heart and soul !

A Father's Love

How deep can a father's love for his son be? Well, in the case of the Hoyt family, watch this video to find out:

The Star

Monday August 10, 2009

Kuching braces for water rationing

By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: More areas in Sarawak are facing water rationing, including its capital city Kuching, unless there is heavy rain soon, said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam.

He said to date over 100,000 people were affected by water woes and the problem was getting more acute by the day.

“The rural areas in Sarikei and Mukah divisions in central Sarawak were initially hit, but the problems has now spread to southern Sarawak, hitting the state capital as well,” he said yesterday.

Kuching City has a population of about 500,000.

“More than 100,000 are in dire need of water now. It has become very dry. The most critical areas that need attention are Sarikei and Kuching divisions.

“Water rationing has already started in Sarikei. We will carry out rationing in Kuching as well soon. The water shortage is critical, even more critical than the forest fires and haze situation,’’ he said in an interview.

Dr Chan, who is state Disaster Relief Committee chairman, said rationing could not be avoided because the water levels in rivers and dams throughout the state were rapidly falling, some reaching alarmingly levels.

On the delay in cloud-seeding efforts, he said the aircraft was already on standby, but the operations could not be carried out because of the absence of rain clouds.

“Cloud-seeding will not work with low cloud density. For now, we must conserve the remaining water that we have in the dams and rivers as much as possible.

“That is why water rationing is the only option until we can induce some rain,” he stressed.

Dr Chan, who is also state Industrial Development Minister and state Agriculture Modernisation Minister, said the forest and peat fires raging in northern Sarawak were making the situation worse.

“The fires are spreading fast because the ground is dry,” he added.

Dr Chan, who visited the fire sites near the Sarawak-Brunei trans-boundary bridge, said the fires were getting worse.

He appealed to the public to stop all forms of open-burning, adding that without their help, the fires, haze and water-shortage problems would only deteriorate further.

More than 3,000ha of forests and peat land have already been ravaged by fires near the border, with another 1,000ha still on fire, causing massive air pollution.

Blog To Facebook

Starting mid 2007, I have started blogging upon the invitation of Ah Chiong @ Pat when he started this Alumni blog in running up to our 20th Anniversary Reunion in Feb 2008. It was a hit and months after that, there were so much activities on the blog lead by Pat and the group of Heroes, Mr. Tee, Ivy, WH and myself especially engaging in heaty conversation on various topics. Everyday, I ensure that I will spend considerably time on blogging and can't wait for comments to be sent or receive when a comment being posted. Wake up, I must sign on to see and before sleeping, to read any latest news...Huh, it was a great time indeed beside brushing up the skills of writing, thinking, putting up thoughts in written words or even jokes..

This run until the reunion day in Feb 2008, when Louis and gang found out this blog, and I could remember he had started to invite us to facebook and he urges us to sign up. Frankly, at that time, I was not interested to change as yet. Then, month after month, I learnt that Heroes, Mr. Tee. Ah Too and even Ivy started to hook up to Facebook. My sister also sent me an invitation in early 2008 but I have never responded not until nearly 10 months after that in Oct 2008, I tried to sign up and put in a hello remarks on the status...and then silent again for another 5 months...where I still loyally spent time in browsing blogs putting comments etc. I could notice that the traffic to blog has dwindle down especially from the usual main players..(you know lah) and then through their communication...they talked about mafia, triump, barns...tagging...etc... They have even stopped posting blogs either on this Alumni or their personal blog. What can I said, the attraction of FB is so personal that I think they just could not resist as it is instantly calling them...

In between the 5 months, I was quite frequent online in FB (about fortnightly basis) and didn't quite understand and like it. I have to seek the password revalidation few times as I forgotten my personal password. Ah ha...by March 2009, after having my blackberry...everything that is online is within my palm...so naturally it has now became my pet online programme beside the Malaysian Insider and Chedet.

FB is indeed a great online networking programme, a passing time programme some more, for Heroes, Mr. Tee and Ah Too, it is a gaming programme...a great place to do their strategy games...

If a vote being given for online attraction....
before 2008 - Emailing, flicker...
2008 - Blogging
2009 - FB
2010 - ?

So, guys what is the next online attraction ???

Meet the Killers

I met all the three killers @ White Tiger at Singapore Zoo recently. If you could remember that one of our fellow Sarawakian who works as a Zoo cleaner was mauled by them when he jumped over the fence.

They are still alive and no judgement was passed to put them down for killing a human. Well, they are protected species as only about 4,000 of them left in the world. So, i think based on consideration, it is the fault of the worker to jump into their protected areas and as animal instinct, they just jumped and kill him...so considered manslaughter, the punishment is still jail for life...so I think they are already serving their sentence for life as I do not think the Zoo keeper will set them free to the nature even if they did not commit the crime...:-)

However, as I observe the security of the areas, it seems quite relax and no wonder one could quite easily jump over and I wonder why the tigers could not jump from inside as it could be very easily done too !


I hope no more future incident as the Zoo, I rate it excellent for keeping it nice, beautiful, clean and interesting for a day out with our kids...

Peace Of Mind

PEACE OF MIND If you were to ask your neighbour,

"What would give you peace of mind?" he might tell you, "A vacation in Bermuda!" or "An extra hundred grand would give me peace!", or "A new Ferrari would make me content!"

But going places – and getting stuff – is usually a temporary solution ... Let's say you buy a lottery ticket and by some miracle you win your dream Ferrari. Today you are content. Tomorrow you are saying, "If I could just catch that little punk who scratched it in the car park!"

Peace of mind rarely comes from getting more stuff. Getting more stuff usually leads to wanting even more stuff!

Peace of mind starts with being grateful for what you have right now.

GRATITUDE is POWER , and here's why..... When you are thankful for what you have - for the friends you have, and for the things you've got, you attract more good people and good things! People who always complain about what they DON'T HAVE, stay stuck. Complainers attract more things to complain about! It is a law of life. It's hard to explain, but you can observe it around you. We get more of what we dwell upon.

" Start by being thankful. Be happy with what you have now, and more will come your way ."

It's practical advice.

IN A NUTSHELL Every time you say a silent "thank you", you become more peaceful – and more contented .

Are You A Solar Battery or A Rechargeble Battery or Normal Battery ?

In a team leadership, which one of you made of ? (it can be a follower type).

A Solar Battery, I would define as a leader who have enormous energy to be able to channel his motivational acts, leadership of guidance to lead the team members. The power that he has can be regenerated from his or her surrounding as self motivational.

A Rechargeable Battery, a leader who can work well with team member with strong empowerment. however, always need reenforcement from another leader for continuous actions. He can be a strong follower.

A Normal Battery, a leader of this sort could not last long. Once he or she had used up the energy, he or she is no longer able to contribute. Has a negative nature of attitude and usually conservative as to preserve limited energy.

So, which one of this analogy suits you ? Whichever level we are in, we must work to improve our leadership towards a solar type. Cast out negativity thoughts without cutting off the reality or facts of situation.

Goodbye, MJ

Like many of us who were teenagers during the 80's, the passing on of Michael Jackson came as a big shock.

It felt as if something dear from our youth days had been suddenly ripped out. During the heady days between '83 and '87, his songs were very much a part of our lives.

I first heard his name being mentioned by a classmate when I was in Form 1. At the time, being out of date, I thought he was some kind of a country singer :) Later on, when my dad bought an cassette tape of the Grammy Awards songs of 1984, I discovered Beat It and Billie Jean, and was hooked.

Despite all his troubles from the 90's onwards, for us Gen X'ers we felt proud to say that we are the generation that had Michael.

My all time favourite song of MJ is "Man In The Mirror", and even today I never fail to get goosebumps whenever I hear it. It came to symbolize what I felt as a Gen X'er -- somewhat cynical and hardened but still determined to make a difference.

RIP, MJ.

Of SPM and Grades

We all read about the recent debate on students who got 15 A's in their SPM and still failed to get a JPA scholarship.

During the 80's (during our time lah, hehe), getting 8 A's was considered a stupendous achievement, and even getting 10 A's was unheard of. And during our parents' time, even getting 5 A's for their 'O' levels was considered fantastic.

I remembered back in 1988 (the year we sat for our SPM), how hard it was to get an 'A' for Matematik Tambahan. A lot of us did well in the school exams (80% and above) and still only managed to get a B3 during the actual exam.

And who remembered how many students in our batch scored an 'A1' for BM? It was actually only one!! Can anyone guess who this guy was? It was none other than Mr. Tee!

So, getting so many A's in those days were really hard. So what has really changed?

One fact that caught my eye was the statement in The Star that an 'A' can be awarded for marks between 60 to 100. That's a huge variance, if you ask me. How can someone who scored 65% be considered to be on par with someone who scored 95%?

And does the fact that students nowadays can score so many A's means they are much more clever and capable than those students from 20 years ago? I seriously doubt it.

I remembered when I entered Uni in Belfast back 1991, I had a culture shock. The professors there were surprised that the Malaysians and the Singaporeans don't really like to attend tutorials, preferring to spend time alone to study instead. Reason? They are scared of being asked for their opinion during those tutorials. Why were we scared? Because we were seldom asked to think.

Another thing that annoyed me during the recent debate was the way some of the students acted as if their life has ended with the rejection. I think I might be branded as heartless by saying this, but I suspect many of them are just disappointed that they are not getting a chance to study overseas, rather than not getting the scholarship itself. The Singapore government offers Malaysians ASEAN scholarships every year that is based on merit, and it is quite straightforward to get if you have the right grades, which all these students have. So, instead of wailing and complaining, why not apply to this scholarship instead? Is it because studying in Singapore is not as glamorous and as exciting as studying in the UK and in the US?

Last but not least, throughout all these years of reunions, we have all seen many of our friends who did not get good grades but still became great successes today. This just goes to prove that grades are not everything in life. There are EQ, a strong sense of determination, ambition, preserverance, innovation, etc that play a big part.

Video Clip of BMs while in KK

This video clip was produced accidentally by the coffee shop worker when I was asking him to take a group photo of us.

It was so natural and we didn't know that he pushed my camera mode to 'video'. We posed for the photo shooting while waiting for our 'pan mee' to be served.

We kept on asking him to press the button and he did... but as we can't see the flash, so we assumed that he didn't know how to operate my camera.

To our surprise, he had accidentally recorded our 'natural' view and moment in the camera....Therefore, I shared this video clip to all of you....:-)

The Best Group Photo Of 2009

" Photo indeed expresses thousands of words..."

and I can resist this great feeling of putting this one on the blog (partly because Ivy was chasing for written report of our journey)....as many of you may know of our Quest to Mount Kinabalu on 1st May 2009 (Chuan Yew was not in the picture as he has moved up very quickly to beat his best time)

I would like to invite fellow BMs to put in their personal heart feeling on this experience together...

MGB : Personally, a great time with BMs...emotionally run through 20 hours of process...though not able to be standing on the platform 4,095m above sea level...(I will be going again very soon...to complete what I have started...of course with BMs...

(below are extras...)

if you want to see more photos, please go to Heroes, Mr Tee, Martin, Tee Too's facebook. You will not be dissappointed....

SHS Homecoming 2010

A few weeks ago, I got the following invite from Hii Chang Kee, one of our former head prefect:

I think this sounds like a general reunion that covers all the different batches of ex-students of SHS. Does anyone have more detailed info on the event?

All the Best to the Magnificent 7

A short note to wish the 7 boys (*cough cough*) a safe and successful climb to Mount Kinabalu this coming weekend (...they will always be 'boys' to us matured, level-minded ladies, ngek-ngek-ngek..).

Leading the team is of course non-other than Big Foot Stephen. The other six are Paul, Ah Too, Kok Sey, Martin, Ngie Chuong and Chuan Yew. Rumours are that they will be visiting some strange-named islands after the climb, you'll need to check with Stephen.

Seven 'batang-s' who have known each other since school days going for an adventure together.....I can just imagine the topics they will have for conversations, or rather, I better not imagine, heh heh.

Let's wish the boys all the best! Take lots of photos ya, we'll be waiting to see them on the blog!

Najib's Cabinet

Najib Cabinet not “lean”, may be “mean” - announcement overshadowed by ghost of Altantuya..................April 9th, 2009

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Cabinet failed to live up to the hype of “lean” though it may be “mean”, setting a dubious Cabinet record of using the “back door of Parliament” to bring into the government the biggest crop of defeated candidates in the previous general election – namely Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun and Datuk Dr. Awang Adek Hussin which does not speak well for the government’s commitment to accountability and democracy.
If Najib wants the Cabinet to be really “lean”, he should have slashed the 32-strong Abdullah Ministers by at least one-third!
All the blurb about downsizing Abdullah’s second 67-strong Cabinet (32 Ministers and 35 Deputy Ministers) has not really borne fruit, as Najib has produced a bigger 68-strong Cabinet with 28 Ministers and 40 Deputy Ministers although there are four Ministers less.
Najib has appointed even more Ministers and Deputy Ministers than Mahathir’s last Cabinet after the 1999 general election, when there were only 27 Ministers and 27 Deputy Ministers, together with 15 Parliamentary Secretaries.
Najib’s unveiling of his Cabinet has set another record, being the worst public relations (PR) disaster in the nation’s history.
Najib’s P.R. advisers should be sacked for it was completely overshadowed by the ghost of murdered Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu after the morning’s High Court conviction and death sentence for policemen Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar for her C4 murder.
The majority of those who watched Najib’s live-telecast announcement of his Cabinet were not interested in his 15-minute statement on KPI (key performance index) for his Ministers, with the Altantuya murder case uppermost in their minds, and all they wanted to know with growing impatience was his new list of Ministers.
Najib’s Cabinet cannot convince Malaysians that the country has a new Ministerial team which can be serious in the three Najib mottos of “1 Malaysia. People First. Performance Now”.
Although Najib does not want to have Ministers with political baggages, there is not only the question as to which member of his Cabinet can claim to be free from baggage, there is the even bigger question as to which Cabinet Minister has more baggage than Najib himself!
Unlike his predecessor, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib failed in his highly-publicised attempt to recruit any prestigious member from the corporate sector to join his Cabinet.
The Cabinet appointment which has evoked the greatest interest is not a Minister but a Deputy Minister – the appointment of Datuk Mukriz Mahathir as Deputy Minister for International Trade and Industry and the conspicuous omission of Khairy Jamaluddin, the Umno Youth leader.
This reinforces public perception that Najib is under thumb of former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as well as raises the question as to why Khairy, who is publicly accused by Mahathir of being corrupt, could continue as Umno Youth leader when he is not fit to be a member of the Cabinet – just like the question asked by Malaysians how Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam could continue to be Malacca Chief Minister when he was not qualified to contest for Umno deputy president because of his involvement in money-politics corruption!
In Najib’s Cabinet, Sabah is the biggest winner and Sarawak the biggest loser – as Sabah has four Ministers while Sarawak only two. Clearly, Najib does not appreciate the Batang Ai by-election victory of the Barisan Nasional on Tuesday.
.............are we such a loser, Sarawakian?

Khir Toyo's Disney tours cost more than RM1 million .... The Malaysian Insider Wednesday April 01 2009

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani

SHAH ALAM, April 1 - Selangor investment arm Perbadanan Nasional Selangor Berhad (PNSB) paid a total of RM1.85 million for former Selangor Menter Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Khir Toyo's Disney tours to both Paris and Orlando in the United States.
The trip to Euro Disney was from 26th till 30th December 2004.
Khir and his delegates first went to Morocco and then had a five day transit in Dubai before going to Paris at a cost of RM416, 863.
The transit in Dubai cost an additional RM10,000. The official delegation spent a total of RM416,000 and a team which went to make arrangements for the trip spent RM366,000.
Khir's second Disney trip was to Orlando from 23rd December 2007 to 1st January 2008, costing RM646, 841.
The delegates were also given an additional USD30,000 "pocket money" and therefore the total expenses for the trip amounted to RM750,000.
The state government paid RM336,531 first class tickets for airfare to Orlando and Honolulu while RM305,800 was spent on accommodations with Khir's suite in Orlando costing RM110,000.
The revelations were made today by PNSB chief executive officer Khairiyah Abu Hassan during an inquiry conducted by the state's Special Select Committee on Competence, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat).