Project Log 6: Some thoughts on EV

Have not been updating on my Electric Bicycle. This would be the final project log and from the project, it gives me some insight about Electric Vehicle.

I have tried cycling on the Electric Bicycle from house to work (about 20 Km distance) and the battery died half way (about 12 km into the journey). One of the reason is that I did not start the journey on a full charge of the battery as a rough calculation shows that the 24V 8AH battery on a 500W motor at 50Km/hr speed should give me a range of (24*8 * 50 Km/hr)/500W = 19.2 Km to get me to at least about 1 or 2 km away from my office. I was wrong.

Anyhow, I managed to get myself to a bicycle shop nearby and have the shop help me to check the bicycle for me. It turns out that the bicycle needed to be tuned and some screws were missing. Lucky that it didn't fall apart before I reached the bicycle shop. Anyhow, with the help of the bicycle shop the bike is probably tuned and all screws are tighten. It works now but I think the 8AH battery pack could not give me 19KM range. I would need to order a bigger AH battery pack before I attempt to cycle to work again using the E-bike.

One thing though, the journey was a bliss and it was absolutely enjoyable until the battery dies. Then I have to sweat... not a nice feeling to have in a morning that you suppose to go to work.

For the moment, I am using it for near distance traveling around my residential area like going to the shop lot, pasar malam and friends houses nearby. Contemplating whether wanted to bring the bike to the office and use it on campus. It would be cool to show it off to the students and colleagues.

Some thought on the Electric Vehicle and even Hybrid Cars based on the insight I got from my electric bicycle.
1) Motor technology is there. We have motors that are fast and powerful enough to power cars and even trucks. On this part it is definitely feasible to use electric motor to run a car in place of the internal combustion engine. There is an advantage in using motor also: motor would give much higher torque at low rpm compared to engine. That's mean the electric car would accelerate faster.

2) The downside is, battery technology is not quite there yet. Here internal combustion engine absolutely wins. Engine needs petrol, so a car with internal combustion engine only need to carry a fuel tank. The best part of carrying a fuel tank is that when energy contain is low, i.e you are running out of petrol. The fuel tank would become lighter hence the engine consume relatively speaking less fuel to move the lighter car. But the weight of the battery doesn't go down when it is drying out. Worse is when the battery died, you don't carry an empty fuel tank. You carry the full weight of the dead battery.

There is another downside to battery also. The charging time. For an 24V 8AH battery, the charging time is about 2 hours to bring a bicycle of about 35Kg and me (about 63Kg) for a distance of about 12 Km. With petrol car, it probably takes about 10 seconds to refill to go the same distance. Long charging time is definitely the disadvantage of Electric Vehicle.

The good news is, innovation and progresses is being made every day in Battery technology. Though it's not quite there yet, but we are getting there. Also, there is already a work-around technology for the slow charging time of battery. Solar power charging. Think about it. Most cars owner drive to work then parks their car for half a day until they drive it for lunch then park their car the remaining of the day until they drive it home. So, with solar panel fitted to charge the battery, the electric car could be made more practical perhaps even without the need to ever to plug it in for charging. Unless it is a rainy day where there is no sun.

My take is, EV is not yet the way to go now. But it will be in the near future. How near? I can't really tell but I would check it up regularly. If I have to guess, I would guess 10 years. Perhaps even nearer, by then the technology would mature and everyone will want to buy one.

Tyrants of Malaysia... Beware!

Tyrants Beware!!

Pay no attention to the people in the street.
Crying out for accountability.
Make a joke of what we believe.
Say we don't matter 'coz you disagree.

Pretend you're kings; sit on your throne;
Look down your nose at the peasants below.
I've got some news; we're taking names...
We're waiting now for the judgment day.

I am the people of Malaysia.
One voice united we stand.
I am the citizen of Malaysia.
One hope to heal our land.

There is still work that must be done.
I will not rest until we've won.
I am Malaysians.

You preach your tolerance but lecture me.
Is there no end to your own hypocrisy?
Your God is power; You have no shame.
Your only interest is political gain.

You hides your eyes and refuse to listen.
You play your games and abuse the system.
You stuff your pockets while Rome is burning!
I've got a feeling that the tide is turning!

I am the people of Malaysia.
One voice united we stand.
I am the citizen of Malaysia.
One hope to heal our land.

I will not give up on this fight.
I will not fade into the night.
I am Malaysians.


Copied and adopted from the lyrics of this song:

To be or not to be kind

This is not an attempt to be Hamlet. But it dawned on me that as a human being, we would be subjected to the same dilemma over and over again in our day to day life.

Take for an example, it is a common scene in Ipoh that when you eat in a popular eatery outlets, you would come across beggars. Whenever one appear in front of me, I would always struggle with the dilemma to be or not to be, charitable.

So far, I have been charitable more often than been not charitable. Some local friends would told me that I have most probably wasted my good intention. But I know better. My intention of being charitable is not noble, it is a selfish one.

The sole purpose of me giving some changes or 1 or 2 ringgit to the beggar, was not to hope that those small amount of kindness would make their life better. It was a selfish act to make me feel better about myself. If I were truly wanted to make an impact or to really want to change the life of these beggars to the better. I would have to do much much more and commit much much more of my time, resources and effort. But still, I struggle with the dilemma knowing full well that I would more often give than not giving. The reason is probably that my intention is and will be a selfish one.

There is another beggar, an old lady, whom is dumb (couldn't speak aside from making some ee ah) and could often found her lying outside one coffee shop where I like to go have my lunch. She's one energetic old lady. And would make loud fiery noises when I pass by her on my way to the coffee shop for my lunch. Initially, I didn't know why. Then I noticed that the lady in the coffee shop would occasionally give her some food and small changes. So, I finally understood why the noises. If I pay attention to her she would stretch out her palm. If I ignored her then, she would make even louder noise. Almost like demanding that I should give her some money. So, out of the same selfish reason, I decided that I would give her whatever small changes I got from my lunch. Whenever I drop her the few tens and twenties cents, she would give me a big grin. Some times, I do not have any changes, I would ignore her and she would make those loud noises again. The lady in the coffee shop had at one time told me:"Ignore her, she's like that." But she herself would be giving that old lady beggar.

That made me ponder, out of many years that I have frequent this coffee shop for my lunch. I have missed this little kindness. Was it because of my ignorant or an conscious choice of ignoring what I do not want to see? I do not know.

My little selfish donation pale in comparisons to the volunteers on the Freedom Flotilla. These people are going all out of their ways to face the open seas and the Israel Defense Forces to try to show some human kindness to the blockaded Palestinians.

This is an extreme example of to be kind to others. These people should be applauded, as they have acted as individuals where states of powerful nations have failed. They were the torch carrier of hopes for humanity. The torch of fire that light up the kind part of humans being, we are not a species only capable of ruthless plundering and killing in the international front. They represented an international efforts undertaken by individuals to show some kindness in this cold cruel world. They were assaulted by IDF in international water. There is no legal standing and definitely no moral standing on the Israel side on the attack. The attack on the Freedom Flotilla is an attack to human decency. It is barbaric and should be condemned by all.

The only way out for Israel to show that it still has some human decency in them, is to remove the blockade and allow the Freedom Flotilla to reach Gaza.

Project log 5: It's working!!!

Ok, I have finally managed to secure my kit from the Custom Office in Ipoh. They detained the package because they wanted to levy a 10% duty on my purchase. The thing is, by procedure they must send me a notice to notify me. None were coming. If I didn't follow up the shipment myself, they would have confiscated the package after one month. And that is exactly what happened to a businessman I met in the Custom Office on Friday, (21st May, 2010).

Anyhow, I got my kit on Friday, proceeded to get myself a Mountain Bike minus the crank. I will up load some photos in due time.

The installation of the kit was anything but easy. There were no instruction menu, and I pretty much have to guess which part goes where and what is connected to what. It took me 5 hours to complete the installation.

First trial run on Saturday (22nd May, 2010), ended with a broken battery connection. What happened was that the battery wire got entangled with the crank shaft and the connection was ripped off from the battery. So, I have to repaired the broken link. Took me two hours to come up with a solution, I basically screw it up (literally!).

With the battery repaired, I had my third run. This time all wires are secured properly so that it won't dangle and got entangled with the crank shaft again. It was run smoothly and I got bolder. I decided to run a small errant with my new e-bike at the shop just outside my residential area. The chain got derailed. Corrected it, it derailed again. After limping the bike back, I did a more thorough inspection and found that the alignment between the motor gear and the crank gear is out. So, I have to adjust the alignment so that they aligned properly. Also the tension-er of the derailleur at the rear wheel is pulling way too much and so I decided to move the free plastic wheeler to a position so that the tension-er do not have to pull too much. After this minor tune up, the bike ride is awesome!!!! I could even chase motorbike without pedaling.

Theoretically, it could reach 50 km/hr without pedaling but I would be guessing. As I do not have a speedometer.

On Sunday, I test run it by cycling from my home in Pusing all the way to Bukit Kledang. It took me less than 15 minutes to arrive at the foot of the hill. Then I made a mistake, by attempting to climb the hill on the bike. The battery went dead at about 2/3 of the way to where I would normally stop. Pushing the bike uphill is a torture. I estimated it weight at least 17 kg. Lugging the bike up Bukit Kledang is no small feat.

Then, it become worse. I have to cycle back. On the journey back, I noticed more tuning is needed for the bike. With the electric motor assist, I would not have noticed this out of tune parts. Mainly the pedal is not align properly hence making pedaling feel, well, not balanced. I would have to fix that tonight.

All in all, it's a great experience and I gained much insight into the working of a bicycle and motor. I would need several more trial runs before I would use this bike as my commuting transport to work, which is my ultimate goal for this bike.

Project Log 4: Malaysia Custom Office

My hunch was right, I was given a run around. I called the number given, the customer service consultant told me that my parcel has been released to Ipoh Poslaju and asked me to contact Ipoh Poslaju Office without giving a telephone number to call.

So, I went online, search through the Pos Malaysia website and found their customer service number (1-300 300 300). I called the number and this time the Poslaju customer service consultant told me that the item is in Ipoh but detained (ditahan) by Malaysian Custom. The consultant ask me to contact Ipoh Poslaju office directly to get more details about the package. This time, she is kind enough to provide me with two phone numbers.

I called the first number, no one pick up the phone. So, I tried the second. Same thing happen, no one is picking up the phone. I have to repeatedly calling the two numbers multiple times, and every time I call I would let the call ring and wait until the automatic switch of Maxis or Telekom cut me off. I was only managed to get hold of a person on my fifth try. The whole process lasted more than half an hour. Anyway, I was counting my blessing because I manage to get hold of a person just at exactly 5 pm. Gave her the tracking number and she told me that my package is being held by the Custom Office in Ipoh. She then provide me with a phone number (yes another one) and told me to ask to be connected to the custom office.

So, I call the number promptly told the operator who answered my call to connect me to the custom office and I was connected. Another lady pick up the phone and I told her that I wanted to make an inquiry about a package I purchased from Taiwan. She immediately told me that "Oh! It's already 5pm, no one will be in to service my inquiry." She also told me that I have called the wrong number, I should call another number which would connect me directly to the person in charge of such inquiries. Yes, another phone number to call.

Couldn't wait til tomorrow morning to find out what happened I decided to call the number today. This time a guy pick up the phone. Wow! It's 5:15pm and there is still people working in the Custom Office, that's nice. But the first thing that he said over the phone is:"Sorry, it's already 5pm I want to go home." Ok, fair enough, so I asked him what time I should call tomorrow morning. The answer is 8:30 am.

So, there you go. Given a run around for almost an hour over the phone and still do not know what happened to my package. Sigh...

Project Log 3

The package is still sitting in the Custom Office, it has been sitting there for 6 business days already (since 13th May, 2010). I have checked on their website, where they have declared in their customer service standard that such inspection should only take a maximum of 4 working days. So, I wrote an email to make an inquiry on the status of the postal by air parcel.

The reply was a standard answer to refer me to the courier service provider and saying that if the parcel was to be held (ditahan) they would send me a notice. There were no meaningful information regarding the status of my package at all, after reading the 4 paragraph replies I still have no idea what happened to my package. Is it being held for legal issues? Has it been released from inspection? How soon the custom office will release the parcel? Nope, there wasn't any of such information given. It does, however, provide me with another contact numbers that I should call to make further inquiry. Typical Malaysian style bureaucracy, being a Malaysian for the last 30 plus years, I could spot a "give me a run around" attempt from a mile away. Sigh...

Given that this is the only recourse I have, I have no choice but to make the phone call. Will do it later today (20th May, 2010).

What's the point of paying a bundle for an express courier by air service, when the Custom Office is the bottleneck of the whole delivery system?

Project Log 2

I have placed the order of the electric bicycle conversion kit on Monday (10th May, 2010). The seller had confirmed that they had posted my purchase and emailed me a tracking number. Hmm... that's pretty efficient.

Today is Friday (14th May, 2010), I have decided to check where is my parcel. So, I hop into the Taiwan Post Office parcel tracking website, and key in the tracking number. The information provided is very complete. What I found is that the parcel has left Taiwan on a flight and reached Malaysia on Wednesday (12th May, 2010). The latest reported where about of the parcel is, read, Malaysia Custom Office. So, the parcel is sitting there for 2 days already.

I will check back and this would be a good opportunity to see how long does it take for the Custom Officer to inspect electrical components purchased from Taiwan before releasing it to the purchaser.

Project log 1

This is a project log on the progress of an electric bicycle project I have decided to embarked on.

First, I have purchase the equipments and tools for the project. I have found and online site in Taiwan that sells a complete kit set for my project. It should be simple enough as the kit is complete with everything I needed to turn a normal mountain bike to an electric driven bicycle. Albeit I have read that the batteries that come with the kit might not be the best in the market, but since this is my first attempt on such a project, I have decided that I would stick to the original kit battery and test it out first.

The first attempt in purchasing the complete kit bought me to Paypal. I used to have a paypal account some years back, but since I seldom made online purchasing via paypal, I have forgotten how to log in to my old Paypal account.

So, I registered a new account and to my surprise I could now linked my credit card to Paypal, so instead of buying credits in Paypal first I could now charge any purchase made via Paypal to my credit card. Sweet! This means I would no longer need to keep some money in Paypal for future purchase.

However, for security reason, Paypal imposed a limit on my credit card transaction until I have confirmed with Paypal that the credit card really belongs to me. And in order for me to do that I have to wait for the credit card statement as Paypal will charge a small amount of money in my credit card and provide an activation number with the charges. This way, the activation number would appear in my credit card statement together with the charges made by Paypal. On it's activation website, Paypal promised to refund the money after I have confirmed the card.

That's not bad, the only problem I have with such a set up is that I will not be able to satisfy my gratification of actually buying the things I want to buy now as the total purchase cost is beyond the limit set by Paypal now. I'll have to wait for my credit card statement before I could made my purchase. Sigh.

For a Better Malaysia

If you believe in justice, give Pakatan Rakyat a chance. It is already a foregone conclusion that the current UMNO regime is responsible for the demise of the independent Judicial system in Malaysia. The day Tun Haji Mohamed Salleh bin Abas was dismissed is the day the Independent Judiciary died in Malaysia.

Now, what is served in the court is more often injustices than justices. If you think that BN can change, "Mampu berubah" so they proclaimed, then you need to do a reality check.

Cases in point: the Perak fiasco and the infamous Sodomy II trials. From these two show cases, injustice was clearly done, when judgment can be overturned in less than 24 hours time to keep the UMNO guy in power, and when the accused have to prove his innocent rather than the accuser have to show evidence of guilt. The spirit of the law where innocent until proven guilty had not been upheld since Sodomy I. So, how long do you want these injustice be still done? Give Pakatan Rakyat a chance, so that there is chance for Justice be done.

If you believe in having a safe society to live in, give Pakatan Rakyat a chance. How many 15 years old kid have to die before you would open your eyes to see the brutality of Polis Diraja Malaysia? How many people have to die in custody in the dark and dirty lockup of the police station before you are angry enough to do something to rein in the Polis Diraja Malaysia? How many women to get shot at before you start to hold the Polis Diraja Malaysia accountable for their actions?

If you want an Independent Polic Complaint and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to rein in the out of control Polis Diraja Malaysia, give Pakatan Rakyat a chance.

If you want a cleaner government, give Pakatan Rakyat a chance. Over the last two years, both the Penang and Selangor State Government had reported substantial saving with some municipal councils reported a complete turn around from budget deficit to budget surplus under the management of Pakatan Rakayt. Whereas, in the Federal Government under the UMNO Regime, budget deficit continues. Hundreds of Billions of Malaysian Ringgit are unaccounted for under Barisan Nasional (read UMNO) rules. To put the magnitude into it's proper contrast, RM 200 millions is enough to built a University campus for 2,000 students. RM 100 Billions is enough to build 500 such universities. So, RM 100 Billions is enough to build university to offer university degree to 2,000 X 500 = 1 million students. More than enough to offer a university placement for every secondary school students graduating, regardless of their SPM results. So, if a cleaner government is what you wanted, give Pakatan Rakyat a chance.

If you believe in equality and equal opportunities for all Malaysians, give Pakatan Rakyat a chance. What is happening now, is institutionalized Racism. The Malays are told that they are poor because of the Chinese and the Indians, despite the fact that UMNO (Read: United MALAY National Organization) is the one ruling the country since Independence. UMNO and its irks, never fail to remind the non-Malays that they should be grateful because they were conferred citizenship. They always repeat the claim that the Malays had made the sacrifice by conferring such citizenship. Conveniently neglect to mention that the non-Malays too had worked hard to fight for the Country Independence and that the non-Malays in Malaysia todays are all born and grew up in this country, and they only know this country as their birthplace. They also never openly acknowledge all the blood and sweats spilled by the non-malays in building up this beautiful nations called Malaysia. So, if you believed that racial discrimination is wrong, give Pakatan Rakyat a chance. For racial discrimination is all that BN stands for.

If the government is the board of directors entrusted by the Rakyat to manage the country, our current board of directors sucks. They swindle the company funds and made blunders after blunders in the running of the businesses of the company. As a share holders what do you do to these directors? You would sack them and replace them. So, for a better Malaysia, kick BN out and give Pakatan Rakyat a chance.

The known devil has grown to become too evil to be entrusted with the country any longer. Give Pakatan Rakyat a chance, vote for a change of the government so that Malaysia may start to reform for a better future.

Police in Malaysia

I have been intending to write about what happened to Aminulrasyid Amzah the 15 years old boy shot dead by Malaysian Police over an obviously joyride gone wrong.

I have been questioning the modus operandi of Malaysia Police force for sometimes. Whenever I read or heard of a news where policemen have shot dead purported criminals, I can't help to notice that in many of these reports, the police often report that they found a number of parangs (machete) and 1 or 2 guns in the possessions of the deceases, but made no mentioning of whether shots were ever being fired by the purported criminals. In many of these cases, the guns and parangs were always found inside the car or found in the boot of the car.

I have always been suspicious of such reports as I have read and heard many times in the news that police shooting dead criminals but it has been a long time since I last heard of Malaysia Policemen being shot at. The Home Minister statement that it's unfair for the public to be criticizing the police for the shooting of the 15 years old teenager, whereas we were not concerned when the police were shot. But do check back the news, when did the last time a police men got shot in Malaysia?

I checked the figure here and here. The numbers said that over the past 20 years, Malaysian police had shot dead 579 suspected criminals. Meanwhile there were 19 police officers shot dead in the same period. I am not saying that there should be more police men killed in the line of duty. What I am saying is that the numbers do tell a story, especially a tell tale sign of the modus operandi of our Police force.

Now, that there are more witnesses coming out to collaborate the testimony of the second witness (the other 15 years old boy in the car chase). The lies of the Police that the boys had tried to ram the police with their car is falling apart. The credibility of the police, or whatever is left of it, takes another serious blow.

Then I read this in Malaysiakini. First off, I have not expected the "special panel" formed to be any more "special" than a royal commission formed before. Where I still vividly remembered how the police had threaten to let the crime rate rise, if the government proceeded with the forming of the IPCMC as per recommended by that Royal Commission. If a Royal Commission could not get the police to straighten up, what could we expect from a so called "special panel" that has no jurisdiction and any legal standing based on established law?

Then I found this video. The 12 years old teenagers in the video were lucky that they were not in Malaysia. Else, we'd have another 12 years old "criminal" shot dead.

Another question in my mind is if we, as a society, should be held responsible for Aminul's death. I think as a whole, we are indeed partly responsible. We did nothing to rein in the police over the many extra-judiciary killings of "suspected criminals". Many of these shootings were not properly investigated because there were not enough public outrage.

Finally, we might have a catalyst case to push for change but the government of the day is smart and cunning. The formation of such a "special panel" shown their ingenuity to come up with ideas to divert the public attention. Nevermind that such a panel is powerless to do anything to the police force. I do not even expect the panel would be able to get any police officer charged for any crime.

By any international standard, the police men in the scene should all be immediately suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. But alas, they were only reassigned to desk duty. The defensive attitude of the Home Minister, the Inspector General of Police, and the Selangor Police Chief also shown that the police and the government is not interested at all in finding whether the shooting was justifiable or not. Their attitudes shown that they just want this to be gotten over with and the sooner the public forget about this the better.

Of Lies and Liars

Nazri Aziz managed to get himself into the lime light again. He had accused Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand of being a liar: “She lied in the inquest and she is lying now”.

I remembered once read a Buddhist story, where the moral of the story is:"When your heart is filled with shit, you will see shit everywhere."

Nazri Aziz had in countless times, shown himself to be a much more well established pathological liar. Perhaps it is because his heart is filled with so much lies that, the first instinct he had of others is that they had lied.

It seems to be that UMNO had lied so many times that they no longer have the capability to differentiate between what is the truth and what constitute a lie.

Another example, the smear campaign on Zaid Ibrahim. One BN blogger, purportedly have a picture evidence that Zaid Ibrahim is an alcoholic. Which turns out to be a blatant lie, where the blogger (read liar) doctored a picture from the Nutgraph and produced it as an evidence.

It might be true that all is fair in the affair of war and love, but running a smear campaign by splashing doctored picture on the internet is low. It is lower than hitting below the belt. I do not know how much lower BN could go and I am waiting with baited breath to see if they will set a new record.

Liar, liar pants on fire, nose is as long as a telephone wire!

The rise of Oligarchy in Malaysia

Merriam Webster Dictionary define Oligarchy as:-

1. government by the few;


2. a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes;

Watching the political development in Malaysia, from the bizarre right down to the idiotic turns of events, have made me ponder if Malaysia indeed practices democracy.

Take for example, how our Prime Minister is elected. But wait, he wasn't elected! Yes, he is an elected member of Parliament, but there were no election mechanism at all that would determine if Malaysians in general, and UMNO party members in particular have chosen him as the Prime Minister of Malaysia! He had ascended to that seat by means of a "power transition" between him and former prime minister Abdullah Badawi.

The manner that "power transition" was being handled made me wonder if the Prime Minister seat is the heirloom of these few selected families, just like how oligarchy works.

Since our Second Prime Minister Tun Razak, the seat of Prime Minister had and have been from only a few closely knitted individuals many of them from the same family: they are related to Tun Razak.

Third Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn is the brother in law of Tun Razak.

Our current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib is the son of Tun Razak. The Razak family indeed have a stranglehold onto the Premiership of Malaysia Government today.

Our Home Minister is Datuk Seri Hishammuddin (the son of Tun Hussein Onn).

Khairy Jamaluddin (the son in law of the Fifth Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi) is currently the youth chief of UMNO. (The strongest party in Barisan Nasional, the ruling coalition in the government.)

Datuk Mukhriz, the Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry is the third son of our Fourth Prime Minister Tun Mahathir.

If we Malaysians allow the status quo to remain and let the Barisan Nasional regime to continue ruling Malaysia, we could expect that Datuk Seri Hishamuddin, Datuk Mukhriz or Jamaluddin to one day to ascend to the throne of Prime Minister just like their dads. The ascend would be in the form of power transition plan just like how their fathers (or father-in-law) ascended to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The power to rule will be in the hands of the Razak family, the Abdullah family, and the Mahathir family. The transformation from democracy to oligarchy in Malaysia would then be completed and these families would be the new ruling elite class of oligarchy Malaysia.

We, Malaysians might have to chant long live the Prime Minister one day...

14 Reasons why we should vote BN out.

1) RM482 million Shah Alam Hospital.

2) RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone.

3) USD$3 billion Perwaja Steel.

4) More than USD$6.2 billion loses by Bank Negara Malaysia in speculative forex trading.

5) USD$1 billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) Scandal.

6) RM270 million Terengganu Stadium with a collapsed roof.

7) RM1.14 billion cost overrun of the RM6 billion Ipoh-Rawang double track project.

8) RM100 billion wastage via Proton and a string of financial scandals with Tun Dr Mahatir as PM and BN at the helm as government of Malaysia.

9) RM270 billion wasted by the BN government when Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi was PM.

We are not done yet, there are still the Malaysian Military Scandals:

10) The RM50 million missing Jet Engines.

11) The RM6.75 billion leaky Naval Patrol Boats.

12) The overpriced Eurocopter. We spent RM2.3 billion for 12 units while, Brazil only spent USD$1.2 billion (RM4.5 billion) for 50 units.

13) The 1 billion Euros Scorpene Submarine that cannot dive with 114 million Euros commission paid to Perimekar, a company controlled by Abdul Razak Baginda, confidante of PM Datuk Seri Najib.

14) The lucrative RM3.2 billion Sukhoi Jet Fighter deal with RM308 million missing commission.

Isn't this enough reasons (billions) to vote BN out?

To the staunch BN supporters, how many more billions are needed to convince you that Malaysia can no longer afford to let BN rule the country? When you have caught your house maid stealing from you, would you continue to keep her as your housemaid? If you would not keep a house maid that is stealing from you, then why continue keeping BN as our government when we have caught them stealing billions?

我是什么？

我有个名字，可我并不是我的名字。在某个程度上我的名字代表了我，可它并不是我的一切和所有。我的名字只是我的代号。一个方便别人称呼我的代号。

我有个形象，可我并不是我的形象。我的形象会影响别人看我的眼光，可它并不是真正的我。我的形象只是我带给别人的印象。一个虚无缥缈的假象。

我有个职业，可我并不是我的职业。我今天可能是个教师，可我可以辞职，可以转去做一个工程师，可以自己出来创业，做一个老板。我的职业只是我谋生的方法。

我会沉迷，沉迷于很多东西。有时，我会是个书迷；有时，却又会沉迷网中；有时，也会忘我与电游中；也曾经通宵追过电视剧。我已了解，这是我在逃避现实，当我在沉迷时，我正陶醉于我自己的世外桃源。忘我于我的乌托邦。可现实是逃避不了的，我终究还是要回来面对。所以，沉迷的我不是我。

我会迷惘，不知所措，那是因为我不认识我自己，不了解自己。我到底是谁？我是什么?


读张德芬的＂遇见未知的自己＂有感而发。

A glimpse into the attitude of SESB

Dr Daniel M. Kammen, an energy researcher claimed that Sabah’s palm oil industry produces enough waste to generate up to 700MW of electricity based on the 2008 palm oil production statistics and conservative growth estimates in the recent forum on energy options for Sabah organised by Green Surf.

Present in the same forum was one Abdul Nasir Abdul Wahid who represented Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), who, instead of listening to the claim made by Dr Daniel M. Kammen and at least appear to be interested into what this energy researcher has to say. The good representative from SESB insisted that the biomass approach to generate power was not viable to generate 300MW of electricity needed in the state’s east coast.

From this reported attitude of Abdul Nasir Abdul Wahid in the star online, it gave me a glimpse of the attitude of SESB towards Sabah electricity crisis. It seems that SESB is hellbent to go ahead with their coal fired plant, despite the opposition from the people. It is ironic that the SESB is so dismissive of renewable energy from palm waste as there is actually a United Nation Development Program (UNDP) in Malaysia developing Biomass Power Generation and Co-generation in the Palm Oil Mills.

The mere existence of the UNDP had itself lends credit to the claims made by Dr Daniel M. Kammen of the potential of Palm waste in renewable energy for Sabah.

It buggers my mind that how and why would SESB adopt the attitude of completely overlooking researches done in both private institution and in local universities, namely UM and USM on the huge benefit and potentials of palm waste for renewable energy generation. One such research that the Malaysian Palm Oil Board is also currently undertaking and the report will be readied in a month time as reported by the Plantation, Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok via Bernama.

Sometimes the stubbornness of SESB in pushing the coal fired plant made me wonder if there were unspoken vested interest hidden in their endeavor. It would be extremely hypocritical for Sabah to support the Earth Hour come Saturday night (27th March, 2010), when our very own Electricity Company is pushing for a new coal fired plant.

Justice in Malaysia

Is it still possible to get justice in Malaysia?

Day in and out, from what is published in the news, what we have been served is injustice.

The injustice of the Perak debacle.

The many injustifiable deaths in police custody.

The injustices committed against the many ISA detainees.

The injustice that was just served today: Ex-ISA detainee loses RM2.5mil award, ordered to pay costs

There is also a trend that could be observed. Many cases where justice had been served in the High Court, the reverse will then be done swiftly in the Appellate Court, case in point: the Perak MB case, not only that injustice was done swiftly but quickly as well, in less than 24 hours.

When will we see justice be finally served? Will that day come at all?

After seeing what is unfolding with the Sodomy II and the chest thumping of PERKASA ilks, I shudder to think about the future of Malaysia. The downward spiral trend is clear to all but the blinds. Correction, even the blinds could see that Malaysia is becoming another Zimbabwe, if, we are not already there.

Let's vote out BN and stop the rot.
Let's vote out BN and give Malaysia hope!

1 Malaysia, People first but no referendum for something that affect every citizens

It's ironic how the BN government action and its speech is in direct contradictory. The 1Malaysia slogan is:"1Malaysia, people first, performance now."

Yet, when it comes to something that will affect every single one Malaysians (i.e. the people) like the GST (Goods and Service Tax), "There is no referendum. Parliament is the best place to decide." That's what BN government said.

So, People should come first, but when comes to a new tax that would burden every single people on the street, people have no say, Parliament will decide, where the BN government have the majority, where the BN government can bulldoze the tax through and there is nothing that the people (whom should have come first) can do about it.

Talk about walking the talk...

The Story of Brown Country, Episode 1: No, we have no rats, the rats are all opposition!

There was a serious rat problem in this Brown country. The populace have tried many methods to solve the problem, they tried rat-poison, rat-trap, rat-glue and even had run a RM1 one mouse campaign. All of these didn't work. There are still over-population of rats in their country. So, after much pressure from the people, the government of Brown country finally decided to seek the advice of an international consultant. Of course the consultant didn't come cheap, rumors have it that they have to pay Millions of RM to get this consultant's advice.

Anyway, the consultant came to the Brown country. After looking at the situation Brown country is in, the consultant concluded that the country have two options:
1) To run an image campaign to tell the people that the country didn't really have a rat problem. Everything is fine, there are no overrunning of rats in the country. There are no rats stealing people's food, there are no rats contaminating the water source, no rats biting off people's clothes, all these rats problems are political ploys of the oppositions. In fact, the rat problems are the doing of the oppositions. If the oppositions are all locked up in jail, then the country would no longer have any rats, because all the oppositions are the rats.

Without hearing the second options offered by the consultant, the government of Brown country jumped with joy and jubilation. "That is IT! That is what we would do!!" The PM of the Brown country government said.

So, that is what the government do. They run media campaign on newspaper, TV, and Radio, reporting that the rats are the oppositions. If the oppositions were gotten rid of there will be no rat in the country.

The people believed the government, so for 50 over years, the opposition in Brown country were the rats. Who, in their right mind would want a rat to run their country? So, in these 50 years, there were no hope for the opposition. For there were no one, whom would listen to the opposition. After all, who would listen to what a rat have to say?

Then the people started to realized that the rat problem has become worse, in fact, it's such a big problem that the people do not need to look for a rat to find a rat. The rats were so rampant and bold that they are parading in front of the people! As if to telling the people there are nothing you could do!

The people become enraged, they demanded that the government to do more to show some results in catching the rats.

Being a democratically elected government, the government of the Brown country have no choice but to do something, so they decided to form an Anti-Rat Agency (ARA). A special investigation agency with the power to investigate rats but have no power to prosecute rats. The power of prosecutions lies with the AG, the government explains, "But don't worry, the AG will prosecute based the finding of the investigation of ARA."

The people sigh with relieve, finally there is an institution to deal with rats.

For sometimes, rats are being caught, then the people realized something. All the rats that are caught are all small rats. The big ones always got away scot-free. So the people started asking the government:"Why is the big one always got away?"

The government assuring the people:"NO, that is not true, the ARA is independent, it doesn't matter if the rat is big or small, all will be investigated."

So, the ARA went to work, now they are investigating the big rat. Then the opposition making noises, "Why, is the ARA only investigating the big rats in Opposition? Why is it not investigate the bigger rats in the government?" Ask the opposition.

The government responded: "That is not true! The ARA is investigating all the rats be it big, small, governmental or from opposition!"

But the people sees what happened. They finally realized that the biggest rat in the country is the government! So, the people decided to send the government a big message. The people put more opposition into the parliament. Now, the opposition become stronger, much stronger than the government of the Brown country have ever experienced. The government suddenly realized that they need to do more to show the people that they are serious in tackling the rats problem.

So, the government reform the ARA in to BARC (Brown Anti-Rat Council). BARC will have more power than ARA, but still hold no prosecution power. The government also promised the people that with BARC, rats will have no place to hide.

True to the government's word, BARC was given a free hand to work. But only to target the opposition. BARC have gone further than ARA. BARC have gone to the extend to make rat out of a non-rat in the opposition. BARC in their pursuit of the opposition, oops! correction, rats. An opposition figure died in their office.

Suddenly, BARC is in deep trouble. People are now suspecting that BARC have committed a murder. BARC, together with the police, and the governmental pathologist have come out and desperately trying to tell the people that the man committed suicide. BARC have nothing to do with the man's death. But BARC couldn't afford a reasonable explanation how would a man choose to end his life the day before he was going to marry the love of his life.

Under intense pressure from the people, the government open up a coronal court to investigate the cause of death of the opposition figure in BARC office.

The coronal court session is still in progress, and it's anyone guess what would be the outcome. But the modus operandi of BARC remains the same: "There are no rats but those from the opposition."

For some (read PERKASA and it irks) anything that is universally good for the country is a threat to the Malays.

I read, Ibrahim Ali (PERKASA president) media statement with interest. Particularly on the part about market economy is a threat to the Malays and how the Chinese bogeyman would take over the country (Disclaimer: These are all Ibrahim Ali's word, not mine).

Nevermind about the possibility and the truthfulness of all things claimed by PERKASA and the likes.

Nevermind also that the views expressed is unimaginably narrow and racist in nature.

All that is to it is to suggest something that would move the country (read Malaysia) forward, and you would have the likes of Ibrahim Ali jump up and say, "No! you can't do that because that is a threat to Melayu!"

Let see, opening up the market, that's a no-no, as Ibrahim Ali said it, market economy is a threat to the Malays.

What about globalization? Would we be able to face the onslaught of globalization with the continuation of NEP? That is a non-issue to PERKASA because you wouldn't hear anything constructive from them on how to prepare the country and move the country ahead to face the imminent fierce global competitions.

These people is only interested in free hand-outs, free APs, free highway toll concessions, and free lucrative government contracts.

Anything that is good for the country that would take these free things away from them would be responded with "that is a threat to the Malays!".