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A weblog about life / politics/ impressions of Malaysia through the eyes of a foreigner




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Monday 30 June, 2008
25 Jumada al-Thanni 1429AH

A weblog by Albert. From my home in Yan Kedah. I reside here since 1992. See here to know where Yan is.

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Blog category: all categories. - March 2005
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 Earthquake - by @lbert
  Posted:29/03/2005 - 10:09 - in category: general
I was in Penang when the quake struck. It was a few minutes past midnight.
The whole flat in Mcallum was shacking and swaying for about 2 minutes.
There was news going on on TV noone mentioned anything.
At 12.30 NTV7 had news and they only could mention buildings were shaking. Bernama?? totally silent for hours! This is the national news agency, what a bunch of useless people.
At around 1 the first news in Google, warnings from the US for possible Tsunami.
Malaysia TV...still nothing, i thought they learned a lesson after the previous earthquake, but it seems lessons in Malaysia do not last longer than 24 hours.
But the same goes for Indonesia. Antara did not have any news for hours! TV i dont know.
But here in Malaysia if there really was a tsunami people would have all drowned because there was no proper warning within 1 hour of the quake. Malaysia tak boleh! Do they need hundreds of dead to learn?
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 Holiday. - by @lbert
  Posted:28/03/2005 - 15:47 - in category: general
From April 1 st till May 4 i will be visiting my home country and see for myself what has changed in the 14 years i was not there.
Hope i can give some firsthand feelings from there....
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 Celcom's customer rights... - by @lbert
  Posted:24/03/2005 - 12:02 - in category: general
I recently changed my hp provider from Maxis to Celcom.
This due to the horrible customer service of Maxis, a bigger shit service you cannot imagine!
And they even charge you when you call them!
Than i went through the smallprint of Celcom's Terms and Conditions.

If if was not so bad for the customer you would drop dead of laughing.
These people really think they own the world!

I give you some examples:
Termination:
1) Celcom reserves its right to suspend or terminathe the Service without assigning any reasons whatsover for such suspension or termination.
2. Celcom shall not be under any obligation to refund the Customer any credit balance of the Airtime upon termination.

THIS MEANS: They can terminate when they like and grab your money!

Celcom's Right and non-liability:
4) Celcom reserves the right at any time during the duration of the Services to vary charges without notice to the Customer.

THIS MEANS: They can charge you whatever they like, whenever they like

Furthermore they reserve the right to change any clause when they like and you are supposed to be bound by it.
Well i would love to see these ridiculous rules tested in court.
Hello Consumer Organizations (are there any?)....
| Permalink | 3 comments | Add Comment |

 Ambalat dispute on the map - by @lbert
  Posted:23/03/2005 - 17:26 - in category: politics Malaysia
After a long search i found a map of the disputed Ambalat area (as Indonesia calls it)
Ambalat itself is in Kalimantan about 40 km from the coast.
Sipadan island lays on the border of N6 with Indonesia.
Look at the map and than say who's the rightfull owner?

| Permalink | 2 comments | Add Comment |

 Well done polis... - by @lbert
  Posted:22/03/2005 - 11:49 - in category: politics Malaysia
Great job Polis of Talibanasia! A job well done.
You really have showed us again how to handle a peacefull demonstration in Malaysia.
Just spray them with chemicals, why not shoot them on the spot?
It really shows how much freedom of expression Malaysia has. Great job by a bunch of people that just follow orders of their leaders (do they have any real one?).
It has shown the world again... Malaysia boleh!
| Permalink | one comment | Add Comment |

 Micro$oft monopoly being crushed. - by @lbert
  Posted:17/03/2005 - 19:38 - in category: internet / computers
According to my BiTLOG statistics i keep on my site, the browser monopoly is crushed a lot faster than i ever thought.
Firexfox/Mozilla went up to 30.5% of all browsers, IE went down to 57.21%.
IE 3 month ago commanded 80+%!!
Long live the freeware communitY!
| Permalink | one comment | Add Comment |

 The education crisis (questionmarks) - by @lbert
  Posted:15/03/2005 - 23:03 - in category: politics Malaysia
It seems Malaysia is rolling into another education crisis it seems.
Again bickering over chinese schools and sekolah kebangsaan.
I want to share my view on this.
Firstly the quality of the average goverment school is bad especially in the rural areas, no doubt about that.
But this has nothing to do with the principles of the scholing system.
Quality can be and should be improved.
First we have to look at the Malaysian federal system.
Malaysia has choosen to have Bahasa Malaysia as the national language.
This means among others that its not the Swiss system, where the country has 4 national languages or the Belgian with 2.
Having concluded this, one can jump high or low, but the basic education should be in Bahasa Malaysia!
Chinese is not a national language, so any learning of chinese should be regulated otherwise.

Now we come to the Sekolah Kebangsaan, made for the so called national integration.
But which national intergration, as usual even a sekolah kebangsaan is segregated along religious lines. As is everything is this country.
This is where the system totally fails!
If you make a sekolah kebangsaan than it is without religion involved!
Religion can be tought in the after hours or whenever you want after official school time.
But since 30%++ of this country speaks chinese, we have another situation.
Let me elaborate on this a bit.
I noticed that in this country to many chinese are chinese first and malaysian second.
Opposed to chinese in indonesia or thailand, who are much more nationalistic.
This is where the problem with chinese schools has its base.
(not talking of quality of education)
Since the constitution says the national language is bahasa Malaysia, education should be in that language.
You want otherwise? Change the constitution!
But it would be very easy to integrate for sample Mandarin in the education system.
Malays dont have to scream ayoo ... another language they already have so many subjects ....
Rubish, in europe the average schoolkid has to learn a minimum a 2 languages besides the official language!
Some even have 3 or 4!
So why can't a school teach Malay, English, Mandarin and say Tamil as a voluntairy subject?
A scholing system that wants to integrate should do so, they should have a standard that can NOT be fiddled with.
No religious devide, all races mixed in the same class! They should learn / sport and play together.
And i think this is what the PM also mentioned clearly in his comments.
Only he did not say anything about the religious divide, and at this moment there is to much religion in the national schools.
National schools are for the nation and everyone should benefit, no indoptrination!
Than comes the quality factor.
The quality should be upgaded dramatically.
Rubish like moral education should disappear, teach what is needed in life!
Do not teach for statistics but for education, motivate the teachers!
Teachers that cannot be motivated, or under perform should be sacked.
Yes the teaching profession is like any profession you sack non-performers.
What is the use of all the nonsense with so many A's here and so many A's there.
This is all pushing up to peak (called an exam), and right after that 3/4 is forgotten.
This is not creating knowledge this is wasting precious time.
I would like to test many of those all A achievers after 6 month or so, i think more than half will fail.
The faillure of the system is already clearly explained with all the extra tuition classes.
This is the biggest rubish ever invented to screw the parents out of their money.
Why is tuition needed? This is a malaysian invention no where else copied.
If the education system is good, what do you need tuition classes for?
I have not seen that in Europe, only for the very weak students maybe....
So overhaul this schooling system. Use all effords to create real schools!
As far as the quantity.. well there are plenty of schools in Malaysia.
My area Yan already has (Yan besar/Yan Kechil) already 6 schools spread around if i am not mistaken, might be even more.
Stop all the wasted money on sekolah agama, tamil schools, chinese schools. All these divisions cost fortunes!
Make one NATIONAL school system of high class that excels. If than people still want private chinese schools/ sekolah agama or whatever schools,
please do so but 100% at your own expences!
Right now general knowledge of a lot of schoolkids is a big fat ZERO.
Chinese and Indian have to learn about Islam, but what does the average Malay know about Christianity/Hinduisme/Budism?
If you do not know anything about other religions and cultures you are totally inable to understand things like business cultures in other countries, political situations, and the likes.
In Indonesia an average scholar from a sekolah pesantren has 10x more general knowledge than the average Malaysian schoolkid.
These things are also general knowledge!
But keep in mind this goverment is run by pure politicians, not a single minister is a professional in his ministries tasks, he is appointed because he is a politician nothing else, no specific qualities required other than being a party member of one of the clubs.
After writing this, i by accident stumbled on the interview with minister Rais Yatim on TV1.
I was surprised to here how close his thoughts were to mine. He even openly admitted that the current quality of national schools in general is lousy.
So goverment... there is lots of work to do. Now is the time for bikin serupa cakap!
| Permalink | one comment | Add Comment |

 Foreign workers in court... - by @lbert
  Posted:15/03/2005 - 14:25 - in category: politics Malaysia
About the court cases of illigal foreign workers:
From the Star:

They came with sob stories about supporting elderly parents and young children back home or being cheated by their agents, but the court ruled they had overstayed their welcome and sentenced them to jail for illegal entry.
Some of them would also be caned.

This i find a scandalous outcome. The workers bear the brunt and the employers go free.
Caning is an archaic colonial punishment not allowed under the human rights convention.
Is this called justice? This is class justice and disgracefull!
I still have to see the first employer getting a sentence be alone a real sentence.
On top of that the taxpayers have to pay for their stay in prison, isn't that a joke.
Another Malaysia tak boleh.
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 Just a nice one i got today... - by @lbert
  Posted:15/03/2005 - 12:45 - in category: general
SEND ME TO PRISON PLEASE

IN PRISON.. you spend the majority of your time in an 8X10 cell.
AT WORK...you spend the majority of your time in a 6X8 cubicle.

IN PRISON...you get three meals a day.
AT WORK...you only get a break for one meal and you pay for it.

IN PRISON...you get time off for good behaviour.
AT WORK...you get more work for good behaviour.

IN PRISON...the guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you. AT
WORK...you must carry around a security card or keys and open all the
doors yourself!

IN PRISON...you can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK...you get fired for watching TV and playing games.

IN PRISON...you get your own toilet.
AT WORK...you have to share with some idiot who pees on the seat.

IN PRISON...they allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK...you can't even speak to your family.

IN PRISON...the taxpayers pay all expenses with no work required.
AT WORK...you get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.

IN PRISON...you spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out.
AT WORK...you spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside
bars.

IN PRISON...you must deal with sadistic wardens.
AT WORK...they are called managers

Have a Great Day at WORK!
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 Ambalat dispute is it stirred up? - by @lbert
  Posted:11/03/2005 - 20:13 - in category: politics Malaysia
I now get the strong feeling that the east Ambalat oil dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia is nothing else than an Anglo-Dutch oil companies rift with another Italian one.
I quote from the Jakarta Post:
In the midst of increasing tension over the territorial dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia, it seems that the matter started as a business dispute between multinational oil giants.

Indonesian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Wednesday that the dispute between the two countries began when the first contract holder of the Ambalat block -- located next to the now-disputed East Ambalat block -- tried to get a share of the oil rich offshore area that they had previously surrendered.

Purnomo said the Royal Dutch/Shell oil company was granted operational rights over the Ambalat block in 1999.

For business reasons, the Shell decided to hand over exploration of the block to the Italian Eni oil company, and thus withdrew from exploring the area.

After the oil companies concluded their agreement, Eni -- that was granted oil concession rights by the Indonesian government in September 1999 -- started exploration. Late last year, Eni conducted drilling at two sites in the Ambalat area, and reportedly found huge oil reserves at both sites.

Purnomo refused to reveal the estimated oil and gas reserves in the area, saying that it is a disputed area and the Indonesian government could not share details with the public.

After Eni discovered significant oil reserves at the Ambalat block, Shell, according to Purnomo, wanted to re-enter the area by using the Malaysian government and getting a contract for the East Ambalat block.

"It all began as a corporate dispute. But at the moment, we can't say anything as the case has now escalated into a sovereignty issue," he said.

The minister said that both Ambalat and East Ambalat blocks were Indonesian territory.

Indonesia has sent a letter of protest to Malaysia for awarding oil concession rights to Shell.

"Since it is our territory, we granted the concession contract to (U.S. oil company) Unocal to begin exploration at the East Ambalat block last December," Purnomo said, adding that Unocal should continue with the contract.

According to the contract, Unocal will begin exploration activities in 2006, and must complete a study of the area this year.
Well this sheds a different light....
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 This is the standard - by @lbert
  Posted:09/03/2005 - 11:18 - in category: politics Malaysia
The exco houses for the Selangor goverment show what class is.....
Afterall when you are double Datuk, or triple Tan Sri you got to live in style, preferably at someone else his expences.
They (the villas) even come with a clubhouse....
Where The Star writes:
"As for the clubhouse, he said the excos could become members of the hilltop Kelab Shah Alam by paying RM1,500 monthly."

Even than,isn't this sick paying RM 1500- monthly for a membership. Mind you this is more than the salary of many Malaysians!
There is definitely something very wrong in this country.
I thought the devide in Indonesia between rich and poor was giant, but it seems Malaysia wins again......
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 Konfrontasi 2005 - by @lbert
  Posted:08/03/2005 - 17:08 - in category: travel abroad
A new hobby of Indonesia it seems.
Playing around with war tugs.
Bring back the Soekarno konfrontasi era. Put your claims on another part of Sabah. And of course it is a nice decoy for the Indonesians, put the focus outside the country.
Indonesia learned nothing from its history!
In 1945 after their medeka 1 rupiah was 1 dutch guilder.
Now 5.000.000 of those rupiah's fit into 1 former guilder.
Dont foget that somewhere in the 50's already 1000 old rupiah's became 1 new one.
And on what do they blame it after 50 years of merdeka? Yes, on their former colonial masters.
Soekarno is still a hero allthough he ruined the country!
Well as said before, this country does not want any progress.
| Permalink | no comments | Add Comment |

 Bukit Cahaya 2 - by @lbert
  Posted:08/03/2005 - 17:06 - in category: politics Malaysia
It seems there is no action at all, which i more or less expected.
Some contracters will be hauled to court and fined 50.000- and thats all. The 50.000 to them is the profit of one house! The MB goes scott free of course.
Everybody keeps quiet and lays down, and after a few month its business as usual.
Go and look in 1 year time, the forest gone, a new taman created, pockets filled, environment GONE FOREVER!
Di Malaysia semua boleh.
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 Bukit Cahaya - by @lbert
  Posted:03/03/2005 - 22:10 - in category: politics Malaysia
With interest i read and hear the stories around bukit Cahaya.
This is a high level poker game being played out, if not, no newspaper would have dared to mention it in press controlled boleh land.
The fact alone that it is allowed to be published means that there is something going on in UMNO and maybe even MCA.
We will learn in the coming days where the heads are gonna roll.
Time for the boss to stand up and show he means business!
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