A Post Worth Reading

The article below was originally written by ME. It was published in The Star on my birthday. Happy reading!

Dress Code for undergrads?

I agree with the view expressed in the articles "Where is the freedom?" (StarEducation, Aug 6) and "Do away with impractical rules" (StarEducation, Aug 13). As a university student myself, I share the disappointment of the students who wrote in.

The emphasis on the dress code in university is too much. University students are supposed to be older and more responsible, and therefore, there should be less need for rules to ensure that we behave.

It seems odd that universities insist on dress codes. After all, if undergraduates are just one step away from full adulthood, why are we being treated like schoolchildren and subjected to constant regulations?

We all understand that undergrads need to dress neatly and appropriately, but that is all that needs to be said. To spell out, in detail, the way they must be dressed would be to put pressure on us.

All this makes me wonder about the priorities of university students - are we in university to study or to worry about dress codes?

Of course, discipline is part and parcel of university life but what is the point of being correctly dressed - by university rules and standards - if you do not have the discipline to complete assignments on time, or are unable to string a decent sentence and defend your ideas?

Speaking of which, lectures in universities are supposed to be conducted in English but most are still conducted in bahasa rojak. There are lecturers with masters degrees who cannot speak English well. Some claim to have graduated from universities overseas but we have to crack our brains trying to make out what they are trying to say.

When I asked a university official, during a dialogue session with undergraduates, about the usage of English in universities, he said that lectures are still conducted in Bahasa Malaysia as many students are unable to understand if lectures are held in English.

I even heard that some lecturers have asked international students to get out of the lecture hall if they want the lecturer to teach in English. Actions like this will obviously tarnish the image of the university as well as the country.

If you want mature adults to spring from our education system, the rules in universities should be appropriate. Only then can our undergrads grow up to become future leaders with the ability to see things in perspective.

Policies, rules and regulations should be revised if necessary, in keeping with the times. We should not always kept quiet and just go with the flow of things - after all, not bringing up an issue does not mean the problem is not there.

CLARE
Via e-mail

Courtesy of The Star - StarEducation, Aug 27

An Open Letter By Tun Dr. Mahathir

Ladies and gentlemen

Citizens of Malaysia

Why did I criticise the Prime Minister?

Because no one else is able to criticise the Prime Minister. He cannot be criticised by his Deputy, his Cabinet Ministers, Umno Supreme Council members, Menteri Besar, Chief Ministers, Members of the Dewan Rakyat, Members of the Senate, Members of the State Legislative Council, Umno members at all levels, Government Officers and anyone from royalty to beggars.

The mainstream media including radio and television are not allowed to admonish the Prime Minister. Pre-paid telephones are now required to be registered so that anyone who transmits SMSes will be known by the Government and action can be taken.

The Internet and the websites will be electronically bugged and action taken against anyone who criticises the Prime Minister.

Anyone who attempts to hold any function that may involve criticising the Prime Minister will be harassed and threatened by the police and Government leaders to force them to cancel the function.

I myself have been blocked using all sorts of means to stop me from criticising the Prime Minister.

1. I cannot be invited by Umno, non-government organisations, associations of government officers or non-government officers, universities or any other institutions.

2. Umno members and the public are prevented from and advised against attending any functions or meetings where I am to speak.

3. All sorts of threats are meted out by police and political leaders to scare anyone who refuses to comply.

4. Every time anything that involves the public takes place, the Deputy Prime Minister and certain other quarters will forcefully advise that any criticism, comment or debate should stop.
Actions that are taken or threatened to be taken include sacking, transfer to remote areas like in Sabah, retraction or cancellation of contracts, harassment by the banks, call-up by the police, the Anti-Corruption Agency and other government enforcement agencies, detained and interrogated repeatedly.

A climate of fear has enveloped this country.

No one dares to comment, criticise or oppose anything that is done by the Prime Minister.

In a situation where no one can criticise the Prime Minister, I have to voice my criticisms on matters that do not concern my personal being, but only those that concern the interest of the religion, race and country.

Because of this, I am abused by the Prime Minister's henchmen including component party leaders, the mainstream media that is controlled by Kali and Brendan and all other government apparatus.

The questions and issues I have raised have not been answered. What is being questioned is my right to comment and criticise. Attempts are made to disparage me so badly that I am made out to be of unsound mind. Repeatedly, allegations were made that the administration during my time was worse.

Their media make out that my criticisms of the Prime Minister are despicable and reprehensible.

Muslims should know that even the Imam can be corrected by those he leads in prayers if he reads or does something wrong.

Saidina Abu Bakar, Islam's first Caliph, had asked to be corrected if he did something wrong, not by foreigners but by the Muslims themselves.

But the current Prime Minister cannot at all be commented upon, criticised or advised. He is almost a saint who is free from any human weaknesses or wrongs.

My meeting with him should be kept secret from the rakyat. And because we have met, I can no longer criticise whatever is done by the Prime Minister.

Because of my statement that I would continue criticising if something that is not good for the religion, race and country is done by the Prime Minister, all sorts of condemnations and insults are thrown by these hatchetmen and the mainstream media towards me.

Because all avenue for criticising the government has been shut, therefore I am forced to come up with this written statement so that it is not spun by anyone.

Sincerely,

Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad

Malaysian citizen and commoner
Oct 27, 2006

source: The Star Online

The Dark Side Of MLM

Warning: Please note that NOT all MLM companies are the same. Do NOT equate them all when ONE particular company abused the actual meaning of MLM. I am NOT against MLM or totally for it. Also note that MLM and PYRAMID SCHEMES are totally different. Here, I would like to share my experience with you the lessons I've learnt from the injustice done to to the selfish society of some MLM companies!

"DRINK COFFEE, TELL STORIES, MAKE MONEY"

The main concept behind every MLM companies. Sound familiar right? Well, don't just read it as it is. Read between the lines, erm, maybe no lines...read between the words then! Its actual meaning is read as "DRINK your own damn COFFEE, I don't care as long as you pay for your own! Now, listen to me when I TELL my fucking STORIES. You most probably never heard of this before because we kept very low profile. Then after you are amazed by my stories, you'll be too excited to even think clearly and hence signed up with me. As a result, I'll MAKE MONEY outta your poor ass!!!" (Excuse my language profanity...I just can't stand it)

Trust me! Usually they twist everything around so that you get to hear what you want to hear! They psycho around and putar belit their words and facts so that you nodded in agreement. After that they show you their marketing plan. Some companies showed poor and unclear marketing plan but they showed big money just to blind you with material temptation so that you don't focus on their blur marketing plan.

There's a self-claimed MLM company actually abused the real concept and thus become the legally illegal pyramid scheme company. They sell the plan, but they ignore the products and services. If you couldn't fork out the RM3,000 basic fee, they'll psycho you to borrow from family and friends! They brainwashed you by saying that "If they are your REAL friends, they'll borrow you the money regardless of what. And if they don't, you know who your REAL friends are" Some of my friends actually fell into their traps!!! Too late!!! One of my friends actually invested RM30,000 to 'get rich faster', so they say.

RM30,000!!! That is a LOT of money!!! If you don't want the money, better give me lah!!! Nabeh!! Why waste it and invest in this kinda crappy, risky and insane bullshit??? And that friend end up broke! Cannot balik kampung, stuck in the city and haven't got his capital back yet! I saw that poor fellow also very the kesian. Another friend, invested the same amount of money to the same company. Ended up losing friends, bad temper, bad attitude.

Be wise when choosing an MLM company that you want to join. Do your homework! Do research about the company and compare prices with other similar companies in the market before getting yourself into trouble. Take every measure and precaution to minimize the risks involved. High risk high return does not actually meant so when it comes to money. BE WISE is all that I can say! It's your money, you can do anything you like with it, I have no say about that but BE VERY CAREFUL!!!

What The...!!!

How many of us actually cringe and wince at the word DIRECT SELLING or MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING (MLM)? Some of us even run away fast fast and hide in the corner, right? As you must have guessed it, today's topic revolved around MLM dan zon-zon yang sewaktu dengannya.

Warning: The names and the background of the people as well as companies are changed to protect their confidentiality. Cerita ini hanyalah rekaan semata-mata even though most of the facts mentioned are all truth, all nothing but the truth. Sekiranya ada kaitan dengan yang hidup atau yang telah mati, yang mahu mati atau yang tak mahu hidup tak mahu mati adalah kebetulan sahaja.

AIL-ken, oHmegatRAIN, Universal TransEXUAL, dEE aXe AnD, Gnu-skin, Sell Tech, cHoral cHalsium, Anergetix, herbaliVe, idealISTIC health, mannaADAtech, seEsilver, starliTE, quiCKstar, oxIfresh, equAnox, gano Axcel, e Axcel, bAi-o-life, Sellfood, lamE bUrger, aImway, coAsTway, HIGHWAY, LOW-WAY, LEFT-WAY, RIGHT-WAY, ANY-WAY...just to name a few. Very familiar, right? Some people even, literally, had an allergic reaction at the mention of one of the names above.

The scenario is like this:

One day, your friend says, "Let me tell you about an incredible ground-level business opportunity" and you are invited to a house or to lunch for 'a discussion'. Funny enough, you feel sick in your gut that there is some hidden agenda or deception point.

"Probably a multi-level marketing (MLM) organization," you'd think.

Very familiar indeed, huh?

Well, MLM can no longer claim to be new and, thus, exempt from the normal rules of the market and the way goods and sevices are sold. They have been tried and, for the most part, have failed. Some have been miserable failures in spite of offering excelent products.

If the product or service is so great, then why isn't it being sold through the customary marketing system that has served human society for thousands of years? Why does it need to resort to a "special marketing" scheme like an MLM? Why does everyone need to be so inexperienced at marketing this! Is the product just a thin cover for what is really a pyramid scheme of exploiting others?

Here, let's do the MATHS:

MLMs work by geometric expansion, where you get, for example, ten to sponsor ten to sponsor ten, and so on. This is usually shown as an expanding matrix with corresponding kick-backs at various levels.

The problem here is one of COMMON SENSE.

At a mere three levels deep this would be 1,000 people. There goes the neighbourhood! At six levels deep, that would be 1,000,000 people believing they can make money selling. But to whom? There goes the CITY! And the MLM is just getting its steam going. Think of all the meetings! All the 'dreams' being sold. Of the false hopes being generated. Think of the money being lost!

SIBU: The Infernal Affair

Well, my last post was a brief introduction about my little hometown SIBU. Here's the second part...

Another thing Sibu is famous for is PIRATED CD, VCD and also DVD! Name me a place in KL where you can find shops that sell pirated VCD like those in Sibu, I belanja makan for 1 month! In KL right, all VCD sellers load up their VCDs into a bag and go around selling the VCDs like direct selling pattern. So much different from Sibu VCD sellers. Sibu VCD sellers are all very the steady one, open huge huge shop and call it VCD Supermarket. They have everything you want - CD, VCD, DVD, PC Games, MP3, Computer Software, DVD-RW, CD-R, you name it, they have it! Where got such thing in KL? Even Low Yatt is a pale immitation of Sibu wan lar...Hmm! I think they scared the Bukit Aman police come and sapu everything all the time lor.

I also heard a lot of comments about Sibu, especially about its PAIKIA! Seriously, Sibu Paikia is notoriously powerful!!! From what I heard, they say, Sibu PAIKIA si beh steady wan...go and burn people's houses and cars, shoot people like shooting wild pigs (wild pigs very famous in Sibu one...remember the babi leg I mentioned earlier?) No kidding, man! They are always in the news. But the police cannot do anything, or rather close their eyes to everything. Some cases just went unsolved! Instead, the police have to cari makan with them, not to go against them! For the police, police punya nyawa also important mar, so better kerja sama with the paikia lor, if not, silap hari bulan, in the middle of the night their house or car or both kena burn down also don't know what happened!

I forgot to mention that the VCD business and the paikia are inter-related. You see, most pirated VCD supermarkets are owned by the paikias. And every time when the police sapu VCD shops in Sibu, it is generally known that it was only a routine mock up by the gangsters and the police. Pretend pretend only lah, for show only. If not the public will say that the police goyang kaki everyday doing nothing. Here, let me reveal the BEHIND THE SCENE of the mock routine episode. Before the authority sapu the shops, those involved already pakat earlier that they display all the out-of-date VCD which was not sold out one then let the police come and sapu all. A few weeks later, they put up all the new VCDs. One stone kill two birds...How very the clever!!

Sibu people, best in doing business AKA jo seng li! A lot of Sibu people in other states or maybe in other countries si beh rich one! No, they didn't kena jackpot or 4D lar. They sell VCD only! Summore hor, they are DAMN STINGY! When it comes to money matters, they'll think a lot and won't part with their precious money even they kena killed! In Sibu, you'll notice a lot of rich people dressed up in shabby clothes and drove 30-year-old car, mana jai when you go to his house hor, WAH! like palace!

Oh ya! One more thing about Sibu police officers, they are so damn hardworking! I don't know about police in other town or state but I'm right to say that Alor Setar has similar species of police officers especially their traffic mata. However, we ain't talking about Alor Setar, and the story about the encounter with the traffic mata in Alor Setar will have to wait till next time. Back to Sibu mata...these over-paid uniformed idiots are way over-hardworking especially when it comes to festive celebrations like Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, Hari Gawai, etc.They want to telan kopi-O mar. Salary not enough, so have to blackmail innocent road users so that can buy more liquor to celebrate Hari Whatever then end up in Male Medical Ward in hospital due to liver malfunction and kidney failure! They usually conduct illegal roadblocks at night, hiding behind some dark bush or corner and randomly stop cars and defame the driver of the offence that he/she doesn't even commit! Talking about creativity! Our police officers have it, to the very advanced level! Sometimes they make it as if there isn't any traffic light in front of you when there is. Sibu mata are SMARTASS!! They really apply the 'The law is dead, human is alive, law is written by human summore' concept and hence the brand new unwritten law saying that you shut them up by 'belanja' them minum kopi-O or else kena slap with whatever offence they could think of...

There, my friends, are some of the uniqueness of Sibu! You'll be amazed, I tell you! Come visit Sibu and you'll know what I mean. No regrets for sure!

SIBU: A Brief Introduction

THE STEREOTYPING

The Millenium Balls (or something like that) along the stretch of Sibu Gateway.

Every time when I mentioned that I am from Sibu, Sarawak, the person who asked would say something like: "Oh! So you are Foochow lah!" more like a conclusion rather than a question and started talking to me in Foochow, if he/she knows the dialect. This is one of the stereotypes that really annoyed me to the bone! Sometimes, or rather most of the time, West Malaysians are so ignorant about Sarawak! This irritates me as well. Therefore, let me enlighten you ignorant West Malaysians out there, not ALL Sibu people are Foochow but most Foochow people are originally from Sibu.

Have you studied the Venn Diagrams? Heard about the subset before? Sibu people are all Sarawakian but not all Sarawakian are Sibu people. Same theory applies. Get me? No? Go drown yourself in the teh-see-peng Rejang River then...

Brief Introduction

Sibu, the Swan City (not yet City status lah, TOWN only) of Sarawak (No, not because there are a lot of swan in Sibu, just a symbol) located at the riverbank of Batang Igan is a small town currently experiencing drastic development to achieve the Garden City concept by the year ....(I forgot already!) and hence the erection of countless landscaping all over the town area!!! It was useless because none of the Sibu folks appreciate them. Only waste our (taxpayers) money!

Anyway, here, everybody seems to know everybody else and everybody seems to somehow, somewhat related to everybody else (Freaky huh?) so just do NOT get married with someone from your own hometown to avoid mutated gene in the next generation! Besides, if you happen to produce X-Men, there will be chaos everywhere and everybody will tend to blame somebody else. So, by then, you better dig a hole and bury yourself alive...!

FOOD

KAMPUA MEE - trademark of Sibu delicacies

Sibu is famous for its KAMPUA MEE. It is a lot different from the Wantan Mee found almost everywhere in West Malaysia. The noodle is made without using so much of boric acid like those yellowish noodle in West Malaysia. NEVER EVER claim that you have been to Sibu if you haven't eaten our ever-famous Kampua! This mouth-watering delicacy is a MUST for those who step onto the land of Sibu.

The current hot plate on the menu of all restaurants and kopitiams in Sibu is CRAB!!! Ready-cooked crab at only RM13 per kilogram is so damn cheap like anything! And you can have your crab cooked however you like it to be - with egg or black pepper sauce or whatever to your taste.

There is a kopitiam near the bus terminal that even served something special: THE PHILIPPINES BABI LEG! No other place in Sibu served any better babi legs than that kopitiam. The roasted babi leg is simply to-die-for with its crunchy roasted skin and juicy, tender meat accompanied by the special aromatic sauce, satisfying with every bite!

Char Mee Sua (Fried Longevity Noodle)

Guess how much this huge plate of steamboat costs? Even my whole family (4 persons) with large appetite had difficulty finishing the whole thing!

Only RM30 for the whole family! Got seafood summore...What a bargain!

The Char Mee Sua and Steamboat can be found at the Ah Bui (Fatty) Kopitiam at Lanang Road. It's CHEAP and DELICIOUS!!! Even if you go to the Syabu Syabu Restaurant at Jalan Foochow there also won't get such a bargain lar (you can't bargain anyway...) Syabu Syabu is more high class than the normal kopitiam but it's not worth to have your meal there. Dahlah expensive, the food not nice summore. Budden got air-cond lor....Somehow, I still prefer the food quality!

The EMPEROR CHICKEN!

Long before your time, in the Southern province of China, only the EMPEROR get to eat this chicken. What's so special about it hor? Well, the chicken is marinated with the many Chinese herbs then wrapped in aluminium foil to enhance the juiciness and the taste of the chicken. Just looking at the pic already got me salivating!!! Yummmm!!!