1Malaysia, People First?

1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now. How nice, but wait. What do 1Malaysia government mean by people first?

If 1Malaysia is truly People First, why is it that the 2009/2010 Budget is looking to introduce new taxes some with fancy names to tax more people and to tax people more? GST, RPGT, and Credit Card Tax are the prime example of a 1Malaysia government way of taking care of the people: By taxing more people with more taxes. To widen the government tax base, said the 1Malaysia government. What does that mean?

Let see, before GST, short for Goods and Service Tax, only 1.4 million of the 26 millions of Malaysians have to pay tax. With GST, a baby just out of the womb of its mother will have to pay tax. The moment the mother buy diapers for the baby, the baby is taxed. So, is this people first?

Before Credit Card tax, small business owners and many income earners rely on the Credit Card to pay bills, outstanding payments, and even salary. It's one of the most convenient micro-credit services available from Malaysia Financial Institutions for the people. Now this service has become taxable. Out of nowhere, suddenly there is extra taxes ordinary people on the street have to pay. So, this is how people is becoming first according to 1Malaysia budget.

RPGT short for Real Property Gain Tax, it is not enough that the people have to service a life long loan just to own a roof over their heads, now this has become taxable, adding more burdens to the people. On average, we pay installment of 20 years for a house, after 20 years finish paying the mortgage, when we want to sell the house, we have to pay tax. The cost of the house might be RM200K when we buy it, but after counting in the interests of the house it might have gone up to RM400K, and when we sell it for RM400K, the government is going to tax us for RM200K profit, conveniently forgotten that the RM200K is not profit at all, they are cost incurred by the interests we service in the long 20 years loan. So, this is what 1Malaysia people first mean: tax them of their houses.

NAP, short for National Automotive Policy, a policy that allow the continuation of AP until 2015. What guarantee that the 1Malaysia government would not extend the life of AP in 2015? From the track records of 1Malaysia government, APs of NAP will most likely be continued way beyond 2015, while people have to pay more for cars. With NAP, the people have to pay double of what our Neighbor up north (Thailand) to own the same type of cars. The people have to take up to 9 years loan to own a car now. So, this is how a 1Malaysia government taking care of the people. By making the people to pay double to buy a car and to have to pay life long loans to own a car. Great!

So, we are too poor or too old to own a new car, never mind we still have our old trusty car to use. Wait! 1Malaysia government Budget say we have to have our old cars inspected annually or else, the road tax will not be renewed. So, we will have to cramp through the ever crowded and slow PUSPAKOM inspection before we could renew the road tax of our old cars. That is still not enough, 1Malaysia wants to stop importing second hand car parts to prevent us from repairing our old cars with used parts. It's safer that way, 1Malaysia government said. But wait, how about old cars that can't find new parts? Sorry, we didn't think of that, 1Malaysia government said. So, that's what People first means to 1Malaysia government.

When the Selangor Chief Minister wanted to declassify documents to tell the people what really happens that causes a landslide, costing people to lost homes, money and properties, the 1Malaysia government is threatening to sue the Chief Minister stopping him to tell the people what the people should know. So, this is people first mean, don't let them know the truth according to 1Malaysia. We stop the Chief Minister for National Security, that's what 1Malaysia tells the people. Why is documents detailing a landslide is matter of national security, no one in the 1Malaysia government bothers to tell the people. So, that's how people become first.

1Malaysia government is going to privatize more public services in the future. To cut cost, they said. But wait, 40 over years of privatizations records have shown only 1 trend. Services become worse and become more expensive to the people. So, this is how people first means, by making us pay more for our rubbishes to be collected, making us pay more for water, making us pay more for electricity, making us pay more for using tolled roads, making us pay more for Indah Water to service our Septic Tank, which should have been covered in our water bill in the first place, like in most other country. Well, what could we do? But 1Malaysia is people first.

So, I wonder, if 1Malaysia people first really means people pay first.

Accept but will Appeal?

Politicians really have a way with words. I am speaking of Barisan Nasional's official stands on the High Court Decision of declaring Kota Siputeh Kedah state seats vacant. The High Court had ruled that Datuk Abu Hassan Sarif is no longer the assemblyman for the constituency and declared his seat vacant because he was absent for two consecutive assembly meetings this year.

The consequences of the High Court decision is that there will be a re-election to be held in Kota Siputeh, Kedah.

The funny thing is that BN, correction, UMNO decision is to accept the High Court decision (read ruling) but will appeal. Hmmm... I mean, if you accept a decision (read ruling), will you appeal against it? If you are going to appeal against a ruling, doesn't that mean you do not accept the ruling? So, where is the logic in accepting the ruling then appeal against it? Or put it in another way, why accept the ruling if you are going to appeal against it? Or put it in yet another way, if you are going to appeal against a ruling, can you say you accepted the decision (read ruling)?

Is NAP a Policy of BN to milk the people?

Since the inception of the National Automotive Policy (NAP), Malaysians have been burdened with tolls, expensive cars, lousy public transport system, and debts.

When Proton was launch, we were told a dream that we would owe a car that is our National Pride and that it would be affordable. It turns out to be a nightmare where the car that is affordable is not affordable at all, the car that is suppose to be our national pride is more like an international laughing stock.

Why then is the ruling party: Barisan National continue this people impoverishing NAP?

With the continuation of the NAP, Malaysia have to pay fines to ASEAN as the policy violated ASEAN AFTA, and us, Malaysians have to pay double for what it is worth to owe a car. We have to ask: What is the benefit of NAP to the rakyat on the street?

The answer is clear, the benefits of continuing the NAP is not for the people on the street. NAP would protect Proton and NAP would continue to give NAZA many APs to rack in many billions. It is a Policy that BN cannot do without, they need it to "earn" their billions for their cronies and themselves.

The people cow continue to be milked.

Islamic State is Oppressive to non-Muslims.

Muslims all over the world, be it due to their ignorance or religious fervent, most aspire to form Islamic state in their respective nations. If you ask them why, they will tell you that it is their Allah given duty.

Google Islamic State, you'd hit a lot of websites and blogs dedicated or attempted to explain and describe Islamic States. Sieving through all the information found on the internet, it eventually becomes clear to me that an Islamic State in both it's ideological form as well as its practical form, is inherently oppressive to non-Muslims. Let me show you.

From http://www.readingislam.com in their article the purpose of Islamic State, it said:

every Muslim is to be regarded as eligible for positions of the highest responsibility in an Islamic state without distinction of race, sex, color or class.

There were no mentioning of whether non-Muslim should enjoy the same eligibility. To find the answer I do not have to go far. From http://www.parvez-video.com in its Quran - State Affairs page, it said:

since the very purpose of the existence of this (Islamic) state is the establishment of the Divine System and the enforcement of the Quranic status, it is apparent that those who do not believe in its ideology i.e. the non-Muslims, cannot be admitted to participate in the affairs of the state.

Then I found this written in a Muslim blog describing Quranic State:

The State which is established on this concept is called the Quranic State or you can say Islamic State, which encompasses two groups of people:

(i) The group whose members believe in the Quranic concept of Ideology and

(ii) The group whose members do not believe in this Ideology.

The members of the first group run the administration of this State and also look after the human rights of the second group so that the members of this group are not deprived of any human right.

So, here you go, in an Islamic State only Muslims are entitled to be elected to run the country, non-Muslims are automatically disqualified. This is a form of discrimination, the non-Muslims are discriminated base on their religion.

So, what happened to non-Muslims in an Islamic state? If you were denied the opportunity to be elected so that your voice could be heard in the nation that you are residing in, you have been denied your right to freedom of speech and your right to be represented in the running of the state. There will be no one to fight for your rights and to protect you from any oppressive measures or policy to be taken by the state. This in itself is another form of oppression and discrimination.

It is idiotic to say that the Muslims will be able to understand the needs and rights of the non-Muslims via consultations. The very essence of the ideology where an Islamic State could only be run by Muslim is itself a manifestation of the inability of Muslims to respect the right of the non-Muslims to be represented in the affair of the state. When one of the most fundamental democratic right of the non-Muslims to be represented is automatically denied to them, how then the Muslims would be able to treat the non-Muslims fairly and would be able to protect the rights of the non-Muslims in an Islamic state?

Just take a look around the world today, you could see Alberto Fujimori (a Japanese) elected as the President of Peru, Manmohan Singh (a Sikh) elected as the Prime Minister of India, and Obama elected as the President of USA but have you ever heard of a non-Muslim being elected as the leader of any Islamic state? There is none. In the ideology of democracy, Muslims are entitled to be elected as representative just as the non-Muslim, but in an Islamic "Democracy" non-Muslim is automatically disqualified. In this regard, democracy is definitely a fairer ideology compared to Islamic "democracy".

Actually, the argument that Islamic State is a democratic state is based entirely on the Khalifa (khilafah or Khilafat depending which Muslim Scholar source) of early Islam Community. Since the Khalifa were elective in nature, so the Muslim Scholars argued that an Islamic State is democratic. This is a severe distortion of the word: democratic. Let me use an analogy: The leader of the Communist party are also elected, but you don't call Communist Country Democratic. The reason is obvious, only those from the Communist Party (those who subscribe to the communist ideals) are eligible to be elected. Just as in an Islamic State only the Muslims are eligible to be elected. So, to me Islamic Democracy is as oxymoron as the term Communist Democracy.

If you have been told by Muslims that in an Islamic State, non-Muslims would be treated fairly and they would not be oppressed or trampled upon, then you should read what is ordained In the Quran.

(Sura 6:109): "You revile not those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest they out of spite revile Allah Almighty in their ignorance". The problem lies in exactly that there is an escape clause.

(Sura 9:29): "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." This justified Dhimmitude.

As is seen in what is already happening in Malaysia, there are bound to be inter-religious conflicts, as we all live together in the same country. When conflicts happened between the believers and the non-believers, any questioning of the "Islamic" practices would be deemed insulting to the said religion. So as ordained in the Quran, it would be state sanctioned that the non-believers be put down by force. As the non-believers would be accused of reviling against Allah. As it's seen happening almost daily around the world.

Also, given the ultra-sensitivity of the Muslims today, any attempt at initiating an intellectual dialogue on all things Islam, would be automatically classified as attempts to insult the religion, as is seen in the Malaysia Bar Council forum entitled "Conversion to Islam: Article 121 (1A) of the Federal Constitution, Subashini and Sharmala Revisited" .

Then if you have been told that the Sharia law would not be imposed onto non-Muslims, you would have been lied to. Think about it, if the Sharia Law become the state law, how would non-Muslims being citizen of the state be exempted from such state laws? In fact, from http://www.parvez-video.com:

The non-believers being the citizens of an Islamic State, Islamic laws shall be applied to them. In their personal affairs, they shall be allowed to take their own decisions, subject to the laws of the Islamic State.

Also from http://www.readingislam.com:

In Western democracy, the people are sovereign; in Islam sovereignty is vested in Allah and the people are His caliphs or representatives. The laws given by Allah through His Prophet ( Shari ‘ah) are to be regarded as constitutional principles that should not be violated.

So, these website has already spelled it out explicitly or implicitly for us. Being the citizen of an Islamic State, Islamic Law will be imposed to the non-Muslims. This is a form of Oppressions as the non-Muslims are subjected to religious laws that they do not subscribe to.

Lastly, the formation of an Islamic State would not be completed until the practice of Dhimmitude. All non-believers would eventually be made Dhimmis in an Islamic State as is ordained in the holy Quran (Sura 9:29).

From Wikipedia. Being a Dhimmi in an Islamic states means that you will have less right compared to that of a Muslim, you would be subjected to state sanction humiliation, your house can not be seen bigger than that of a Muslim's house, your testimony in the court is only as good as half of that of a Muslim, you would have to wear distinctive clothes to differentiate yourself as a dhimmi and you would be the first target of attack of any uprising as is seen throughout the history of all Islamic Empires, and your life would worth as best one half of that of a Muslim. In modern day definitions, being treated as a dhimmi in your own country is definitely a form of oppression.

My conclusion that Islamic State is inherently oppressive to non-Muslim is then verified by an article in http://www.islamfortoday.com/. The article said:

Islamic states inevitably treat non-Muslim citizens as less than equal curbing their access to power and religious freedom.

With this, I end my article here.

If you have reached here, you should note that I use no internet source that is anti-Islam or websites that propagate Islamophobia. Feel free to check them out to verify my claims.

Single stream School in Malaysia would not solve racial polarization problem in Malaysia

Tun Dr Mahatir (TDM) is at it again, this time the target is the Vernacular Schools.

What TDM conveniently forgotten to mention is the religious bigotry and racial discrimination being practiced in the national schools.

Ask any parents who had sent their kids to Sekolah Kebangsaan (the National Schools) and ask those who had attended those school. You would hear story how a kid is denied selection into the school football team because he's not a Malay. Some stories are even being published in the newspaper, like the teachers calling pupils names because these kids are non-malays, and stories like how the non-muslim kids are forced to hear Islamic preachings and how their religions being ridiculed in the open. Last but not least, the Biro Tatanegara (BTN) racist propaganda being shoved down the throat of those unfortunate enough to have to go through the indoctrination "courses".

Ask any old forks whom are fortunate enough to have attended schools in Malaysia in the 60's and you would hear why parents then prefer to send their kids to the national school. You would be told that the vernacular schools were not popular in the 60's as they were seen backward and low in standards. Whereas the National School were the choice of the day and many leaders were nurtured there.

Actually, Singapore have shown us that if we had good national schools, vernacular school would die a slow natural death. And that was what happened in the 60's. The vernacular schools at those time were dying a slow natural death, as parents rejected those school and kids were going to the National Schools.

It was BN's education policy that have given life to the Vernacular Schools. The politicized education policy adopted by BN made the standard of the national schools falling faster than a rock sinking to the bottom of the lake hence driving the parents away and the kids to the Vernacular Schools.

If you have bothered to check the history of all these "popular" vernacular schools you would noticed that their surge all started in the 70's. All thanks to BN, lead by the likes of TDM, who politicized education and in the process butchered the national schools.

Long gone the days when the National Schools were the pride of the nations, now when we speak of national schools, we speak of Islamization, racist slurs and discrimination, low professionalism teachers, and low in standards. These are the real reasons that parents do not want to send their kids to these schools, not because they don't want their kids to mix with other races as told by TDM. So TDM is lying through his teeth to cover up his own failure. He's the one responsible for the falling standards of national school as this was happening while he's at the helm of the government as The Education Minister and later the Prime Minister.

It's TDM's Education Policy that have cause the falling and the failing of the national schools that drives the parents away. That's why he is making racist comment now, just to pull wools over our eyes, just to stir up emotions so that we would overlooked the mess that is caused by none other but him: Tun Dr Mahatir, the butcher of our once prided national schools.

Dream of a Safer Road in Malaysia

Roads in Malaysia is not safe. Most roads are built without shoulder and even more built without an emergency lane.

Malaysia Highway Codes and Road Transport Acts are so outdated that, most of our roads and highway looks more like deathtraps than medium of moving from point A to point B. One of the reason why many Malaysians perished in our tarmac roads is that our road is really dangerous.

On the back of my head I could list 6 dangerous features that is found in our roads, expressway or highway:

1. No separate lane for Motorbikes.


2. Dangerous fixtures erected too near to the roads.


3. Lack of emergency lanes on most roads.


4. Lack of pedestrian or cycling paths.


5. Poor quality of construction.


6. Poor planning.

1. Separate lane for Motorbikes

It is truly dangerous to have motorbikes sharing the same roads with cars, trucks, and buses. Every festive season, during the police Ops Sikap, it is always motorcyclists ranked top in number of accidents fatal or non-fatal. And every time, the blame is put on the road users.

It might be true that the road users should bear certain responsibility, but it is also true that there were no concerted effort on the authority part to rectify the issue to help reduce such accidents. In fact, the solution to this problem has been in existence in Malaysia: separate Motorcycle lanes.

Unfortunately, such facility is only found in part of Kuala Lumpur and not anywhere else in Malaysia. Guessed it is easier to ask motorcyclists to drive more carefully than to provide them with a safer road.

2. Dangerous fixtures found near roads

You don't have to spend any effort to find them, they are easily spotted on a lot of roadsides. Lamp posts, electrical and telephone poles, drains, billboards, and towers can be found erected right at the road sides, junctions or in some cases in the middle of the road. Cars, motorcyclists, trucks, buses and vans have to drive with utmost vigilance to avoid crashing into them. In one of the tolled highway on the east coast, drains were built right next to the over taking lane without any space or shoulder to separate the drain away from the road. This is dangerous especially on the highway.

The national Highway Code needed to be updated that not only there must be a guideline specifying minimum distances such fixtures like drains or poles should be positions away from the road, there should also be guidelines established how such fixtures to be erected so that in case of a vehicle crashing into them, the vehicle would not be split into half, killing everyone on boards. Our highway could really be made safer for the user, if poles at road sides are not made from concretes or stainless steel like they are now.

3. Emergency Lane

There should be two emergency lanes for highway and 1 emergency lane for trunk roads and expressway.

The reason is obvious, for highway, one emergency lane for vehicle breakdowns and one for the use of law enforcement or emergency units. For expressway and trunk roads, there should be at least 1 emergency lane for well, you know emergency. Currently, most trunk roads and expressway, do not have such facility.

The existence of emergency lane would make most of our trunk roads much more safer than they currently are now.

4. Pedestrian and Cycling Paths

Our cities and rural areas are not safe for people on foot and people on bicycles. Try walking in any town in Malaysia. Most of the time, you would find yourself walking on the shoulder of the tarmac road or on the road itself because there were no pedestrian paths built. This is dangerous. When will the authority wake up from their slumber and offer the man on his foot or the woman on hers a safe path on the road? Hey, people on foot are road users too!

5. Poor Quality of Roads Constructed.

Aside from pot holes, sinking manholes, dangerous corners and dangerous junctions. We also have to deal with roads with uneven surfaces. A well built and properly maintained roads will go a long way in offering road users a much safer road.

6. Poor planning.

How many times when you are driving, and you found the road merges, not from two lanes to one, but from six lanes to two? Such abrupt lane mergers are extremely dangerous.

Then, when the road are diverging from one lane to two, it diverges in such a way that if you don't change lane, you are ended up in the fast lane on the right, not the slow lane on the left. This contributes to traffic jam. Common sense would tell us that when a road diverges from one lane to two lanes, it should diverge naturally so that the car need not change lane to end up in the slow lane. But alas, you would find the contrary in many roads in Malaysia. This is a manifestation of poor planning, poor designs, and poor construction quality on the part of the authority.

Malaysia Budget Blues

It's that time of the year again, the announcement of the Malaysia Government Annual Budget. This time it is one of those slightly special Budget announcement, as it is the maiden Budget of PM Datuk Seri Najib. However, as usual, do expect to hear a lot of rhetoric and praises from sycophants. And without fail, the "special" occasion turns out to be quite ordinary.

As expected, the media (read Government mouth piece) is filled with many praises and empty rhetoric, like the people budget, or that this is a budget that gear Malaysia towards a high income economy etc etc...

But on closer examinations, there are nothing really new in the budget. It's all same old same old infrastructure development which only benefits developers that have connections with the ruling elites. In fact, there are more bad news than good ones.

The Goods, Sales and Service Tax (GST) is coming. This is bad news, this would means that everyone would be taxed, regardless if you were earning a living or begging for a living. If GST is introduced, the poor would get poorer. Personally I am against the implementation of GST, as it only works to widen the government tax base, in layman terms, collect taxes from more people. GST is a bad tax as it betrays the original intention of taxes, that is to even out wealth distribution in a country. The intention of the first modern tax collected was to collect money from the riches and redistribute the money to benefits the poor. GST done nothing of that sorts. The introduction of GST is in no way would push Malaysia towards a High income economy, it would only burden the poor and forces more people to pay tax.

One of the key ingredient of high income economy is human resource development i.e. education. Malaysia education system is seriously handicapped by BN's New Economy Policy. The racist NEP have costs Malaysia much. The most obvious is the falling standards of Malaysia local universities and also the falling employ ability of the university graduates. These have created another vicious negative cycle: the government is forced to absorb these unemployable graduates into the public sector. Making the bloated civil servants even more bloated, hence costing the government an even higher operating expenditures. In this budget, the government is spending RM 138.3 billion to run the country comparing to only RM 53.2 billion for development. The operating expenditure would continues to grow if the government does nothing to reverse the trend.

What makes me very sick is that out of the RM 138.3 billions operating expenditure, many billions would be lost to corruptions. Every year the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) would report the blatant abuses in government spending. And yet nothing is done to address the problem. In fact, base on the PAC reports, corruptions is so bad in Malaysia that, it is safe to predict that the budget is going to overrun by as least 33%. In other words, expect the government to spend RM 184 billions instead of RM 138.3 billions by the end of 2010 for "operating expenditure". With such blatant mismanagement, the citizen would only suffer as the government would have to find more ways to tax us.

Then I do not know how the government have the chick to call this the people's budget, when GST is introduced, the government is going to make living even harder for the people. Yes, there is the raising of the personal tax relief from RM 8,000 to RM 9,000, but this would only be translated to an extra of maximum RM1,000 x 26% = RM 260 per year or RM 0.71 per day. Not even enough for a teh tarik. And that's for the highest income tax bracket. Then this "grand" relief has to be offset by the credit card tax. I have asked around, on average, Working Malaysian executives are owning 2 credit cards, that's RM 100 per year gone. So that's left RM 160 per year extra money if you are earning RM 100,000 per year. For those lower income earner, tough luck.

Perak State is officially a Police State

I am disgusted. If Perak is any indication, democracy in Malaysia is dying fast.


The police secured a court order barring the people representatives from attending a state assembly sitting. Worse still, democratically elected people representatives are being arrested for trying to convene an assembly!!!


Where do we go from here?


What's the point of election then? Might as well stop the democracy pretense and just let the Perak Chief Police Office (CPO) rule the state as the ultimate ruler.


Perak is once again shown that it is ruled by the police, the head of state is the CPO. Welcome to the Police State named Perak.

When Credibility is Lost

It is interesting to read the various responses of people in regards to the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock (TBH) in the Malaysia Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) Head Quarter Building.


It appears that both the Police Force and MACC have all but lost their credibility and legitimacy. This is bad news for the country. Especially considering the importance of these two institutions.


What ever investigation results posted by the police into TBH's death is questioned and no longer deemed believable by the public. People just don't believe the words said by our police force anymore.


MACC didn't fair any better. Actually, MACC is doing much much worse than that of the police force in terms of their trust worthiness in the public eyes. It boggles the mind that why MACC could not see the blatant double standard platform they are operating on. On one hand, they are aggressively pursuing cases that amounting to RM2,400.00 (yeah, two thousands and four hundred ringgit, you read it right), yet on the other hand, they are doing nothing on cases amounting to millions (RM 30 millions mansion in Shah Alam) and billions (PKFZ). It seems, MACC is more interested in championing their course of losing credibility than their cause of fighting corruptions.


Then, we have a nincompoop (one with a PhD) jumping the gun to question the morality of the decease. It seems that he considered himself qualify to police the morality of TBH because of his ethnicity, and religion background. In my opinion, his ethnicity and his religion inclination doesn't matter at all. He might consider himself pious and religious, but in my eyes, he is not even qualified to call himself a human being. Why? Because he lack one of the most important characteristic of humanity: Sympathy with the misfortune. What he did was tantamount to pouring salt onto the open wounds of the aggrieved family who had recently lost a loved one in questionable circumstances. After being vilified of his actions, He has shown no remorse. Instead he chose to sow mistrust by spilling hate statements.


What offer my hope in this beloved country is that there are many who sees through his shallow and narrow racist rants. People, it seems to me, is beginning to be enlighten.

Time is ripe for Freedom of Information Act

I realized now that why I continue to keep this blog... though I hardly have anytime to update and write in a consistent manner.

I just needed a platform to vent my feelings and emotions.

I google my name recently and to my surprise, I have left quite a foot print on the internet. I have even found a letter I sent to Malaysiakini, which I thought was never published. I was amazed at the impeccable grammar and unbelievable smooth sailing of the logic found in that letters, alas, the credit was not mine. The letter was heavily edited by the hardworking editor in Malaysiakini. You could find the letter here:-

Time is ripe for freedom of information act.

Malaysiakini: CAP wholesale rejection of WiFi based on inconclusive studies

The justification of CAP in opposing the statewide free wifi initiative of Penang state government is based on a precautionary principle and an inclusive scientific report.

The report cited by CAP is itself reporting that the results of studies of the harmful effects of WiFi or similar non-ionizing electro-magnetic waves are inclusive. What CAP failed to tell the public is that in the reports, half of the studies shown some form of harmful effect to cell growth while the other half had shown no sign of any harms caused to cells when exposed to non-ionizing electro-magnetic wave under lab conditions. About 50% of the times, the scientist were not able to proof that WiFi or similar wireless signal waves are harmful to organic cells growing in a disk. That is why the reports concluded that the studies are inconclusive.

So, what does inconclusive study result really means? Well, it's the way scientists are saying they failed to prove that WiFi is harmful and yet they are reluctant to tell the public that it is 100% safe. For history have taught the scientist that it is scientifically impossible to prove something that is 100% safe. All technologies carry with it some form of risk and hazards. The real issue here should be is the risk and hazards as espoused by CAP realistic? For this more studies are needed.

Then why is CAP harping on the "harmful" effect of Wifi? Actually, in my personal opinion, CAP has no concrete scientific backings in its objection against Wifi aside from fear mongering under the guise of precautionary principle. Now, why such harsh words from me? The reason being is CAP application of precautionary principle is based purely on an incomplete and worse still "inconclusive" findings. Putting it in a more layman terms, what CAP is saying:"I am not able to prove that WiFi is harmful, but take my word: it could be dangerous, so because there is a chance that it could be harmful, it should be banned from public space based on the precautionary principle to avoid exposing the public to this possible hazard that may or may not be there." That is all that to it in CAP's stand.

What CAP should have done is to adopt a more re-conciliatory approach. Rather than the current confrontational stand, CAP should have issue cautionary warning on the potential public health hazards WiFi may pose and hence make recommendations to the Penang State Government to include WiFi free zone (meaning areas and places where there is no WiFi signals). CAP could identify critical locations and public spaces like kindergarten, schools, and hospitals be free of WiFi and Buildings be established WiFi safe zone for people who suffered from WiFi hypersentivity. Alas, that is not the case, instead, CAP chose to hurl allegations against the Penang State Government that the government is irresponsible for implementing an "unproven" technology.

Speaking of WiFi hypersensitivity, CAP has itself mentioned there are atmost about 10% of population in countries like Denmark and U.K. are diagnosed with WiFi Hypersensitivity and it is recognized as a form of disability. If such is a case, WiFi hypersensitivity is a form of abnormally rather than a public health hazard. In layman terms, what WiFi hypersensitivity means is there are people allergic to WiFi Signal just as there are people allergic to prawns, animal furs, and penicillin. The way CAP has put it out is such that any prolong exposure to WiFi will make everyone sick. And this far from the truth, as the scientific reports that CAP repeatedly cited have failed to prove just that!

I also take to issue the way CAP have demonized WiFi technology as if it is as poisonous as lead plumbing and asbestos ceiling without any concrete scientific proof. In any case, CAP should voice out more vehemently against the adoption of nuclear energy by TNB. The risk and hazards posed by a nuclear fallout is several magnitude higher than that of WiFi, a non-ionizing radio wave. Mind you, nuclear waste emits ionizing radiations which is proven to cause mutations in babies and cancers in adults.

What Malaysia needs

Actually, Malaysia wasn't doing as badly as what most Malaysians perceived. Malaysia is still one of the most dynamic economic power in South East Asia, despite more than 20 years of economic mismanagement: a testimony to the resilient of the citizens and the wealth of the country natural resources. Malaysia still have the potentials to become one of the Asia Economic Powerhouse if it sorts out some of its internal political, societal, and cultural woes.

Whether Malaysians admit it or not, Malaysia is slowly loosing out to its neighbors. Singapore is decades ahead of Malaysia in terms of social and economics development, and Malaysia is fast falling behind Thailand, while Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam is fast catching up with Malaysia. In terms of Purchasing Power Parity Gross Domestic Products (PPP GDP) Malaysia is already behind all of its neighbors listed above.

Let's look at some Purchasing Power Parity GDP figures, the table below sum up the figures:

2007 PPP GDP figures of Malaysia and her neighboring countries

Country	GDP (in billions)	Per Capita
Malaysia	$165	$6,648
Singapore	$172	$39,952
Indonesia	$1,038	$4,356
Thailand	$520	$8,000
Vietnam	$263	$3,100
Philippines	$467	$5,365

Looking at the figures listed in the table should awake all thinking Malaysians. We are blessed with rich natural resources, so then why are we so far behind Singapore and are now falling behind Thailand?

The answer to the question is obvious to me. We were too occupied with our individual communal interests that we have not developed the most important resources of the country: Human resources.

The reason that why Singapore is so much more advanced compared to Malaysia is so obvious that it's glaring at us right in our face: Human Capital development. While Malaysians are arguing over issue of "Ketuanan Melayu", the Singapore government were busy attracting our talents over. It should be apparent that ex-Malaysians were the one that help Singapore to develop and become the advanced nation that it is today. While Malaysia is pre-occupied with bumiputras, scores of non-bumiputras were lured to Singapore, Australia, U.S., and other Europeans country with better treatments and opportunities offered.

When Lee Kuan Yew were talking about how Singapore could compete with the developed Nation like U.S. and the rise of China to attract the talent pool available in South East Asia, our Tun Dr Mahatir is talking about Malays loosing their political power with no regards whatsoever to the plight of the non-Malays (Senoi, Semang, Kadazan-Duzun, Dayak, Kayan and other orang asli included).

What Malaysia needs is not the like of Tun Dr Mahatir who churns out racist rhetorics. There are a whole scores of political and societal issues that are plaguing Malaysia in an increasing globalized world. So Malaysians need to look beyond the narrow lenses of racism and start focusing on uniting as one to compete with the rest of the World, as Malaysians.

The critical issues that are plaguing Malaysia are as listed below:-

Lack of Freedom of Speech

Institutionalized Racism

Patronage Culture that breeds Corruptions

Lack of Freedom of Speech

This is improving with the current Datuk Seri Abdullah administration. However, the opening up of spaces for public discourse is only temporary as there were no concrete steps in the legislative branch. There are too many laws enacted to stiffened public discourse and too little law enacted to protect freedom of speech. To list them out, there are the Official Secret Acts, the Printing Press Acts, the Seditious Acts, and the Universities and Colleges Acts. The government and the ministers continue to justify these laws with the arguments that people of Malaysia just can't be trusted with freedom of speech as they would abused such rights to libel and hurl false accusations against the government. The problem with their argument is that they are exactly the same excuses used by the communist party to curtail freedom of speech in China.

In contrasts to the scores of laws that denied Malaysian citizens their freedom of speech and expressions, there were no laws enacted to provide and protect such basic basic human rights in Malaysia.

In all developed democratic countries, they have laws that uphold their citizens freedom of speech and the public rights to know like for examples the whistle blower protection acts and the freedom of information acts.

In the California state, they have what they called the Brown Acts where "The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created."

In Malaysia, we have no such laws provided. We need such laws to be enacted and the government of Malaysia needs to enact such a law to show to the people of Malaysia that they are genuinely serving the people. Without the freedom of information acts, all talks of good governance, transparencies, and accountabilities are mere rhetorics with no substances. As corrupt politicians will continue to hide behind the official secret acts, while continuing with their shoddy deals to siphoned off public funds in the millions.

Laws that curtail freedom of expressions must be repealed or, at the minimum, reviewed to minimize its scopes. Official Secret Acts should not be used to charge people for revealing lopsided contracts signed that are against public interests. The printing press acts should be repealed as the acts as it stands now only serve those in power. The day that the printing press act is not repealed in Malaysia, there will not be good governance and there will not be independence of the three branches of democracy in Malaysia. Media scrutiny is the best check and balance against any form of abuse of powers, conflict of interests and corruptions in the legislative, executives and judicial branch. With the printing press act, there will never be true media scrutiny.

The most urgent issue Malaysia needs to address right now is brain drain. Let's be honest, the biggest push factor of brain drain in Malaysia is its racial discriminatory policies and practices. As a normal Malaysian citizens, what we could do is to reject all things that are racist in nature, UMNO, MCA, and MIC included. They are political parties that formed from a racist ideal.

To be continue...

On The 2008 Election of Malays

Reading on what's happening around Malaysia, particularly what developed in the opposition alliance newly acquired 4 states: Penang, Kedah, Perak, and Selangor; I can't help but feel that we still have a long way to go and the changes that I'm hoping for is not going to come easy.

Of the 4 states; Penang, Perak, and Selangor are showing signs of cracks in the newly formed allied government. In Penang, DAP wants to do away with NEP but PAS wanted to keep NEP. In Perak, there are tussle over the Chief Minister Post, DAP CEC is even calling its Perak members to boycott the new CM swearing in ceremony. In Selangor, now appears that there could be a still born non-malay deputy chief minister as the Selangor Sultan is expressing doubt over such arrangment despite the fact that a Malay is made the Chief Minister. All of these events unfolding is a tell-tale sign that Malaysians are still very much racist to the core.

Being and not being a Malays is such a big issue in Malaysia. In this age and day, the general feelings amongst most of the Malays is that if you are not a malay in Malaysia, you are not entitled to the same standing as a Malay in Malaysia. After all, they would say, this is MALAY-sia. So, if you are not a malay, you are not entitled to be a Chief Minister in 9 out of 13 states of Malaysia. And this is stated in the constitution of those 9 states including the opposition held Perak, Kedah, Kelantan, and Selangor states.

The discriminatory constitution causes the most problem now in Perak, as currently amongst the newly formed uneasy alliance of DAP/PKR/PAS, DAP hold the most seat at 18, PKR 7 and PAS 6. The Regent of Perak have given the post of the Chief Minister to PAS, the least represented party in the new government. His intention might have been good but his selection has completely negated the true spirit of Westminster Democracy. So, it's understandable that DAP and many of their supporters are unhappy about it. Most voters voted for a change, but changes are not forthcoming, as the constitution, the system and the mindset of the majority Malays are so deep rooted in racism that I'm afraid that the type of democracy DAP and PKR are fighting for will not become a reality in at least another 10 years.

In Penang, though there are no issue of a racially discriminatory state constitution, cracks in the new government is also showing when the DAP Chief wanted to adopt a system without NEP but PAS is calling for a revamped NEP. Though PAS is only holding one state seat and DAP could form a Penang State Government with PKR, they have to show good will to PAS as they fought a united front in the election. Personally, I don't think doing away with NEP in a sweeping move is wise. NEP to the Malays is like a drug to the drug addicts: If it's withdrawn suddenly, the withdrawal symptoms would kill the addicts. The Chief Minister should instead work out steps in gradually moving away from NEP in a 4 years plan. Giving the Malays amble time to adapt and grow.

The Malay issue has the worst effect in Selangor. Not only that non-Malay can not be a Chief Minister, electing a non-Malay as the deputy Chief Minister has caused some ire amongst the Malays including the Selangor Sultan. In Saying that the Chief Minister position is to aid the Chief Minister, and there would be problem if the DCM is not a Malay as he/she would not be able to officiate the opening of Mosque, which is one of the responsibility of the DCM is a statement that is racist to the core. If the function of DCM is only to officiate the opening of Mosque then, it'd better be reserved for a Malay-Muslim then, from the old Malaysian paradigm, a Muslim in Malaysia is a Malay after all. Also, a DCM that's only good for officiating Mosque opening is not a DCM wanted by non-Malay muslim. The statement is using a part of a function of a DCM to justify racial discrimination against an ethnic minority from holding the post. Now if that's not racist to the core, I don't know what is.

10th November 2007 - Bersih!

I was there!

I boarded the Putra LRT in the Kelana Jaya Station at around 1:10pm, thinking to myself that I would have plenty of time to join the rally by the time I reached my destinated gathering point in Pasar Seni.

The journey was nothing to be shout about, just normal commuters until when the train reached a station before but near Pasar Seni, where I started to see people with yellow t-shirt underneath boarding the train.

The mood of these people are relax and casual, somewhat excited (perhaps nervous?) of the gathering ahead. Then when we reached Pasar Seni, around 2:00pm. We had to stop the Train door from closing 3 times in order to unboard fully from the train.

Outside the Pasar Seni LRT Station, the sky looked very threatening. Black clouds gathered, and it seems a heavy downpour is inevitable. Damn! I lost tracked of the group of people with yellow t-shirt underneath. I was wearing a yellow polo shirt and I wanted to go to the gathering point near the Pasar Seni LRT Station, but I have no idea where it is (for I'm not from KL.)

Checking my watch, it's 2:10 pm. So, I must still have time. Well, since Petaling Street is nearby, I decided to walk toward the Petaling Street and hope that I could catch up with the group.

The sky is pouring and I'm trapped in Petaling Street! Well, since I am to march in a rally, and it's raining, the only logical option is: Buy an umbrella! Duh! So, I entered a convenient shop, didn't pay attention to the shop name. Get myself a foldable umbrella and head back towards Pasar Seni LRT station hoping to bump into the rally, in the heavy rain.

Then, I heard it. The chant:"Bersih! Bersih!" and "Daulat Tuanku!"

My heart was pumping profusely, I felt apprensive. What would happened to me if I join in? Would I be hit by the fully armour riot police (We call them FRU in Malaysia)? Would I be arrested? My mind flashes back to the stern warning issue by Malaysia famous SIL, the IGP, and various powerful politicians. I was scared. 

The idea of retreating pops up in my head. But I decided that I want to at least see the rally. So, I head towards the noise, the chant.

There they are, many of them already shoaky wet, just outside the Pasar Seni LRT Station, heading towards Pasar Seni. Behind them, a platoon of FRU, fully armoured with their shield and baton and tear-gas-cannister launcher. Some even bearing M16-Carbine.  

I'm filled with emotion, the chants moved me but the presence of the police force has intimidated me too.

What would happened to me if I'm arrested?  Would the lawyers standby able to helped me if I'm arrested? Those are the thoughts that run through my head.

Too late to turn back now, I'm finding myself following the rally, unknowingly.

We walked passed several pockets of police officers in their uniforms, whom were consecrating at the coner shoplots. The front rally are chanting "Daulat Tuanku!", the FRU following behind were doing their baton hitting the shield march, sounded like war drum, intimidating but does have a nice rhythm to it, I must admit.

Near Dataran Merdeka, we come across a heavily fortified road block by the FRU. The rally organiser asked us to divert, the rally in the front was continuing chanting "Daulat Tuanku!" and bravely facing the intimidating FRU. While we at the back were enrouting to the Istana following a back route.

On our way towards the Istana, we passed by the Pos Malaysia Building, and several Pos Malaysia Employee gathered there and gave support to the rally. The mood of the rally now is relax and calm, I noticed that the rain has subsided, no longer the heavy downpour when it started.

The journey was uneventful, if there's anything to boast, it would be the meeting of a few well known political bloggers. They appeared worried and weary. One of them worried that the rally line is too thin and tried to get the people to march in a denser crowd. I could understand their anxiety, as the thin line is vulnerable and could easily be broken by any armed riot police or even police. But there were no presence of police on the road we were taking.

We did come across more presence of FRUs and Police force, but they were not on the overpass that we were using, they were on the road underneath. There were police truck on siren trying to get on to the pass but their progress were hampered by the traffic jam caused by the road block set up by the police themselves. By the time I have walked away, they have not been able to get on to the overpass.

Finally we arrived! My God! The turn out is huge! I was amassed. I don't know how many people were there. But the number is definitely more than 4,000 (where some would like you to believe.)

Now that I have finally reached the destination of the rally, we waited, and waited, and waited.

The police helicopter was hovering on top from time to time. I read some blogs counted that there were three but I only saw two. Well, I could be wrong.

Checking out the people present there, there are the olds, the young, and there are whole family there. One such family was of an indian family with an eldery lady sitting in a wheel chair being wheeled to the front of the rally with the crowd giving way for them to pass.

Most of the time, we at the back have no idea what was going on, we'll sit when there're people shouting "duduk!", then when there're roaring in the front, we'll stand up out of curiosity and eager to find out what happened.

I have completely lost tracked of the time, but suddently there's something happening at the back. It's Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, under some protectiong from a convoy of people moving to the front of the rally.

More waiting...

More standing up and sitting down. (Actually more like squating down for me, yeah not a sight to behold.)

Then, there's a hand signal signalling that it's time to disperse. Then someone shouted:"Masjid Negara!". I was confused. Many were confused. An old pakcik said to me:"Tu, cari pasal tu..." (That's looking for trouble...). Nonetheless, thinking that it's the organiser wish and probably they wanted to make some speeches before dispersing, I followed on. Many too. On the way to the Masjid Negara, it then dawn on me the sheer size of the rally. It was people and yellow colour everywhere I see. In the front and in the back. There're definitely multiple magnitude more than 4,000 people there. I wouldn't know the exact number, but everywhere I see, there're people in yellow.

Arriving in the Masjid Negara. One fella in red were telling the people:"Bersurailah, dah habis." (You can disperse, it's finished). Phew, safe and sound.

From there I walked to the Masjid Jamek LRT Station and board the train heading home.

In the whole rally, I was amazed at how well the organizer had planned the rally. It might not have been intended, but I must say, the Bersih rally organizer did appear to have hood winked the police and the FRU. But kudos to the police and FRU forces as well for the police presence I've come across were all exercising excellent restraint on their part. After all, in terms of fire power, they did win hands down.

Ripping DVD audio stream

This is just a record of steps that I have used in Fedora 6 to rip DVD audio.

First, I use dvd:rip to rip the videos in dvd to my hard disk in .vob format.
Then by using mencoder, I encode the audio stream into mp3 format using mp3lame encoder. The command is: mencoder *.vob -ovc frameno -o frameno.avi -oac mp3lame -lameopts abr:br=128 -aid 160
the options used are:
-ovc frameno :- no output video frame
-o frameno.avi :- store video in file named frameno.avi
-oac mp3lame :- output audio coder is mp3lame
abr:br=128 :- audio bit rate is 128 bit
-aid 160 :- audio stream 160, the audio stream of the .vob file rip from my dvd.

Then I use mplayer to dump the mp3 audio stream to a mp3 file. The command I use is
mplayer -dumpaudio -dumpfile audio1.mp3 frameno.avi

Walla! Now, I have an audio file rip from my dvd!

Alchemy is not dead

I'm working in a field that's related to Semiconductor devices,
some what anyway. It's getting more fascinating to me the
more I think about it.

In anyway, what the semiconductor industry doing is nothing 
short of alchemy. Do you know that the chips you used in your 
pc, handphones, pdas, digital camera are essentially made of sand?

I'm not kidding, they are! Let me briefly bring you through the
process of fabricating a chip.

The raw material is pure silicon, essentially pure sand. The sand
is then melted and allowed to go through a process call
crystallization. This itself could be said as a form of alchemy.
In a way, we can say that we have technology to transform sand
into crystal! Albeit not that type that normal people would perceive.

The Silicon Crystal is grown. 
Yes, grown. It is grown from a full pot of melted Silicon. 
(we call the pot - the crucible). To grow a crystal from
a melted crucible full of silicon, we use a small Silicon crystal called
the seed. With the seed, we could grow a single Silicon ingot.
An ingot is single long round cylinder shaped crystal. Magical isn't it?

Of course, an ingot is too big to make the tiny chips that are found
in our computers and electronics devices. It is first sawed into discs.

Then to gain the electrical property we needed, the crystal disc is
undergone a process called doping. Doping is essentially a process
that add in impurities to the pure Silicon Crystal structure. One of
the impurities element experimented by scientists is gold.
But gold has the nasty habit of diffusing into the Silicon Crystal
and disappear. Well, they don't actually disappear,
but more like changing into silicon. 
So, we have found that we could turn gold into sand!
Well not exactly but close.

Anyhow, by doing this doping process we could make the crystal
more conductive or more resistive to electricity. So, switches could be made
by varying the conductivity and resistivity of different areas of the
crystal disc. These switches then formed the tiny electrical circuits that make our computers and other consumer electronics devices. 
Depending on the process, the chip we wanted to make and the size 
of the Silicon Crystal disc, one disc could be used to make many 
little chips.

So, imagine that, the pc you used to type away and to read this blog is actually run by a device that is made of sand!! Isn't that alchemy?

Crime in Malaysia

Crimes have been making headlines in Malaysia. Before it was snatch thieves and loan sharks.
Now it is robberies, frauds, rapes, murders, and kidnappings.

Admit it or not, Malaysia crime rates have been climbing year after 
year for some time already. 

If you have paid attention, we are no longer living in our homes. We are living in our little iron grilled prisons. We no longer feel safe even in our own house, so, we have taken measures to safeguard our home by installing grills on our doors and windows; in doing so, introducing another form of hazards without knowing it: blocking off fire escape route.

Another phenomenon is the popularity of gated communities. People are now preferred to live in a gated communities despite the extra cost incurred. It's no longer viewed as a luxury but a necessities even for common folks like you and me. Essentially, crimes in Malaysia have changed the life of Malaysians.

Now in Ipoh, the situation is getting worse.

Recently, I have had both colleagues and friends, whose house have
been broken apart by thugs and thieves. Yes, you heard me right.
The criminals don't just break into your house anymore. Now, 
they break apart your house too. Ok, I've exaggerated, they were 
breaking apart the gates for the stainless steel bars. Yes, they 
would dismantle your front gate if it were made of stainless steel.
So, house owners in Ipoh, don't just safeguard your house, you need
to safeguard the gates that safeguard your house too!

The question is why. Why is crime rate in Malaysia so high? First,
lets look at the type of crimes that is happening day in and out 
in Malaysia. If you have examined it closely, they were mainly 
crimes of opportunity. (I learnt this from my friend.)
As the term goes, crimes of opportunity is not planned, 
if there were a presence of a uniform law enforcement officer, 
the opportunistic criminals would not have committed the crimes. 
So, what does that should have told us?
Simple, that our police force is understaffed.
There are simply not enough uniformed police men and women
walking beats on the street and residential areas.

Men are Pigs, Women are ... Piglets.

It's amazing that how quick a woman would jump into the conclusion:"Men are Pigs." They do it in different ways. If you've paid attention, the most common form is asking the question: "Why is men...." and the question would "naturally" leads to the conclusion:"Men are Pigs."

So, I ask the question:"If men were pigs, what are women then?"

After some soul searching, books reading, women talking, and movie watching (my favourite). I got an answer:"If men were pigs, women will be piglets."

Why? Here's my take:

1) Just like the cute piglets, women (especially the drop dead gorgeous one) can get away with murder.

2) Like piglets, women are given way too much credits than they deserve. E.g. A piglet clumsy movement is perceived as cute, as in a woman throwing tantrum should be forgiven just because, yes, you get it, she's a woman.

3) Piglets are selfish. If you have had rear piglets before, you know what I mean. They don't care about their siblings, to them, the most important thing is to find that nipple to suckle even if they had to climb over their siblings, just like a woman, do you think she really cares if you have had a good time with her? Of course not! What she cares is if SHE have had a good time! No? Then why do women expect men to bring them to expensive restaurants for dinner and the men should pay?

4) So, what happened when a piglet grow up? Yes, you get it. It turns into a pig. That's normally what happened when the piglets go through the growing up process call: Marriage. No? Ask your married guy friends, how many of their once sweet girlfriend had turned into .... well you get the drift.

Here's what I have come up with so far. So, what's the moral of the story? For men, forget it, no matter what you do, men will be pigs. But men, you could do something about your girlfriend/fiance/wife: Make sure she stays a piglet.

Women and Diamond

Women and diamond are like two highly reactive chemicals. When mixed together, it'll result in violent chemical reaction and in serious cases: explosion. The volatility of the reaction is directly proportional to the size and weight of the Diamond, reportedly measured in carrots. The bigger the number of carrots can be carried by a diamond, the more passionate energy is emitted from the women. However, be warned. When the carrot count is low, men, brace yourself for impact!

If you haven't known this, know this now. Not all diamonds are the same. There are the Poh Kong's Diamond and there are the Tiffany's. Do not in anyway, equate them, not explicitly and not implicitly. Especially if you do not want to be given an unending lecture on why they are different.

Women and diamond... it's amazing how these little sparkling stone could animate a woman. If you haven't done so already, try this. Test it on your girlfriend, date, mother, sister, or female colleague (But be warned never try this on your fiance and wife. Unless you are prepared for another big hole in you wallet.) Tell them that you have no clue on diamond and ask them what constitutes a good diamond. You'd be surprised at the technical terms thrown out by them. They would know things like the measure of clarity, cutting, flaws and how these are gonna make a difference in the price tag.

Another warning to man. When buying diamond for a woman, make sure you have covered all the bases. If you were really close to your mother, don't forget her when you buy a diamond for your fiance. She might not have said anything, but she will remember this and in serious case, might start a war with your future wife. Same goes with vice versa, for god sake, don't ever buy a diamond for your mum without buying one for your wife!

Apparently, I've been told that engagement ring has to come with a minimum size diamond. For some reason, women equate that to eternal love. Blame it to the tv commercials, but you would still have to fork out the cash. Purportedly, the cost of the ring would show your sincerity of wanting to tie the knot with her. More "logical" women would expect the ring to cost around about your three (3) months income. Then they expect you to kneel down with it.

What happened to those guys who are earning less than the U. K. minimum wages? Well, don't worried, not all women are "logical". There are still women out there that doesn't mind how big is the stone on her wedding band, though these breeds of women is getting rarer. Better still, find one that would buy her own engagement ring and wedding band! When you found one, don't ever let her go! She'd be snatched up in no time if you do.

Women and diamonds... men, let's face it, you can't have one without the other.

On Being a single man in the 21st Century

Being a man, a single man in the 21st century is not an easy thing.

On being a man, you are expected to be tough, sign of weaknesses would immediately place a label on a man's forehead: wussy.

On being a man, you are expected to pay. Well, most of the time. For me, it's the test to see if the girl I'm dating were a keeper or a digger, gold digger.

On being a single man, you'd be asked the question:"When is it your turn?" in a wedding. This I presume is not that different for a single woman. In the 21st century, a man and a woman is still judged if he or she were successful in life based partly on whether they are married or not. The social stigma is that if a man or a woman is still single in their 30's, there must be something wrong with them, or worse: gay. (Apology to all my gay friends.) I can't imagine how it would be like for single men and women in their 40's.

On being a single man, most of us don't realized this, but your coolness is directly proportional to the number of opposite sex friends you have. The more female friend a single guy have, the hotter he instantly become in the eyes of the other females. This is the reality, whether you agree to it or not. I've seen girls drooling over obvious womanizers, though they would tell me that these men are jerks. Don't be fooled, if you paid attention, you would notice the dreamy eyes laid on these jerks from the same woman who had just uttered those words.

On being a single man in the 21st century, you are constantly being judged, socially. You are expected to approach the women in club, if you don't, you are a wuss. So, be a man and go talk to that hot woman across the table! Hell, talk to the one that sit next to you. She's there for a reason, and the reason might just be you!

On being a man in the 21st century, we are expected to act like a gentleman when with a woman. We are expected to open doors, pulled out chairs, offer our arms while walking: chivalry is still expected though not mentioned by women.

On being a man in the 21st century, we don't have the luxury to cry. Don't be fooled by people telling you that it's ok for a man to cry. Try do that in the public, and you'd instantly noticed that your social ranking have been drop at least 10 ranks, or worse: You have just been labelled a sissy. Tears and men just don't go well together.

On being a man in the 21st century, we must drive a beamer or equivalent. Else, we are not in a position where we would like our life to be in. This is partly true, as driving a beamer is downright fun! But sadly, how many men could well afford that big lemon! Seriously speaking a beamer is the biggest lemon of all time! Maintaining one is really a pain in the ass. But what to do? Chics digs 'em!

On being a man is really not easy in this 21st century... unless... you have inherited Billions, own a beamer, and have a face that looked like Brat Pitt. Good for you!

It's tough for being a single man in the 21st century. But know this, when the going get tough, the tough get going! Have a good life...