Farewell Mr.Jackson

It was early this morning that I got a sad and shocked sms from a friend. The sms says "Michael Jackson died this morning".......at first I thought it must be some April Fool's day joke but it's not April now. I turned on the TV(CNN) to check as if someone like Michael Jackson passed away it should be on CNN, and he was.
I never thought he would go like this and so soon, I always have this picture of him growing old and passing on in old age. I always visualized this guy as immortal and that one day I must at least go to his concert once! Too late now....
Well, my condolences to his family and kids and I hope that he will find peace now(after all the hoo hah and controversial issues surrounding him) but I know for sure that his legacy, songs and persona will live on forever.
Goodbye Mr.Jackson.......

Here is something to remember him(one for the road) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEgGwEUbclo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4QyZH0EXcQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQyvQWrGE1g&feature=related

Disgusted!

I just found out after reading Malaysian Insider tonight that our country's economy contracted about 7% for the first counter of 2009. It is inevitable that Malaysia will go into recession wrote Malaysia Insider tonight. Bloody hell! If my memory serves me right, I remember hearing 2 top post minister from our government claiming that Malaysia will be protected from the economy downturn. Even our Bank Negara claims that we will not have any problems because Malaysia is "fundamentally sound/strong". During that same time our government keep putting out wrong signals to the people when countries all around the world are telling their people that their country's economy is failing and everyone must be prepared to face the downturn. Even our neighbors Singapore already forecast negative growth since end of last year but our very "capable" PM and DPM keep telling the people not to worry as Malaysia is shielded from this downturn.
Then why now the sudden change of tone! Malaysians that are more aware of the impact already know the government is not being truthful, but I like to think that it is not that they are not being truthful, they bloody do not know what is going on in the first place!
I for one already felt the pinch 3rd quarter of last year when the Raya festive season sales was really damped. I'am in the supply chain industry where every year during the Raya and other festive seasons, we will be running crazy to meet date lines and making sure all goods reach our clients on time but not last year, the hypers, retail stores etc etc were not ordering as sales were very slow. For those who were more daring and started to stock up early, well they got burned because consumers are not buying like they used too and therefore many suppliers who is in the same industry like me got burned because all their money got tied up and the goods are not selling.
Don't the government understand that the more they lie to us, the more disgusted the people will be at them. We are not living in the dark ages anymore and most of us have our ways to find information's and to think for ourselves. Once we know the truth how can the government expect the people to still accept them with open arms? There is not even an apology or statement that they have made a blunder in the forecast and they now have plans drawn up to cushion the downturn. Not even a little sign of admission from the government. I am totally disgusted with their lies, incompetence and "tidak apa" attitude!

Celebration in Perak

UPDATED 12/05/09 : In less than 24 hours, all hopes of ending the Perak crisis came to an end when Zambry got the Court of Appeal for a stay order. What was really the fascinating part about this appeal is the court worked really fast for this particular appeal. Zambry and goons only submitted the appeal in the morning and by 2.30pm, it is heard and approved. How bloody efficient! Anyway, all eyes are on the Sultan of Perak now to undo what was wrong from the beginning. This action by Zambry is good too as I am VERY sure, this will agitate the people of Perak even more.
Finally, there is one brave and good judge that dare to stand up against the might of UMNO to defend what is left of our constitution after last Friday's fiasco at the Perak Assembly Hall. Justice Abdul Aziz Abd Rahim ruled that YB Nizar is the legal MB and Zambry and the 6 BN exco members must vacate their post with immediate effect. Hurraahhhhhh! The judge also ordered for fresh state election to be held so that all this issues can be resolved once and for all.
Hmmm, it makes me wonder how Zambry and his goons feel like now.........to put it bluntly like an ass loh! After making so much hoo haa last Friday, claiming to have uphold democracy, claiming PR exco members to be uncivilized and ya-da-ya-da......even went as far as appointing their own Speaker some more. I guess the biggest ASS now is Ganesan who stupidly went along with the Jelapang "frog".......GOD SPEED!
On a lighter moment, I just read the Jelapang "frog" now have another twist to her pepper spray incident. Yesterday she claims that she was not holding a pepper spray but a key chain. Today she claims that it was not her pepper spray but someone threw the can at her, can you believe her nerve? Anyway, I have this link here if you want to see and decide for yourself if it's a key chain or pepper spray.
Anyway, now that there is at least some light at the end of the tunnel to this entire ordeal, YB Nizar and Speaker S Sivakumar should first start by sacking all those that played a role in this crissis, now that they know who are those that helped UMNO in this coup d'tat. Actually come to think of it, how much money is wasted by PM Najib and UMNO to wrestle this power grab in February. I guess now the Jelapang "frog" and the 2 other PKR "frog" must be shitting bricks now as they are no longer "needed" by UMNO-BN and definitely PR will not take them back anymore, basically end of their political career but hey, if they were really smart , they would have "pocketed" millions for the frog dance and should be enough for them to grow old with.
Today is a good day for all Perakians! A good day for me too! Bad day for PM, Zambry, Hee and the other 2 "frogs" whom I can't remember their names. This picture(right) should stand as testament on how to make an ass of yourself. Let's just see what this group will do next now as I am pretty sure they will not lay low and it might just start to get really ugly unless the Sultan of Perak come clean and make right once and for all. Desolved the State Assembly!

Altantuya : Finale

So it seems the court has officially found the 2 UTK(Special Force) officers guilty for killing and blowing up Altantuya. So it goes down as record that the Altantuya case is solved and the killers will be hang aka death sentence.
I must be getting old but as I recall, even if you did not act in the killing, even if you know or you abet in the process, you are still consider guilty, am I right on this? So, why is the third fella gone scott free and now living in overseas?
According to both police officers, they have no reason to kill Altantuya. They acted on instructions from their bosses to just defuse the "situation" when Altantuya was causing a commotion in front of the third fella's house(who has migrated to overseas with his family now). They claimed they did not kill her. One of the officer's even claimed that he is being made the "sacrificial lamb".
How I personally see this? Well, to a layman's understanding(that's me), these police officers might or might not be the ones who did the final act on Altantuya but one thing is for sure, police officers will not act without specific instructions from "above". I wouldn't know who the "above" is but police officers are grunts or soldiers merely carrying out their duty as instructed. It is all about obey and command, General's gave instructions and soldiers carry out the instructions the best they can. Now, who is the General? Somehow, in this court hearing that seem of no importance, strange?
Another point is, these two convicted police officers are not "koo koo" or psycho's, they have no relation with Altantuya. So what is the motive to kill her and blowing her body up? Are they ex-lovers or did the officers try to harass money from her? I don't think so cause there were no such indications during the hearings. So, why did they kill her so violently. I mean would you go and abduct someone you don't know from the street, kill that someone and then blow that someone to kingdom come? Unlikely right, when you can do something like that, there must be some relation between you and that someone you want to kill so badly. There must be a cause and effect.
Well, again like all "high" profile stories in Malaysia, it will soon be forgotten in due time unless new evidence and better judiciary system are formed. Just like the Lingam case, the free port in Klang etc etc etc......
I sincerely feel for Altantuya's father Shaariibuu Setev, as I am a father also and I too have a baby girl. I would have been devastated if any harm would have come to my baby girl!
God bless us all.

2 Bukits and 1 Batang

In another couple of days, the campaigning for the by elections for the 2 bukits and 1 batang will reach it's climax. I do not know why but these time around, I am not as excited as compare to the earlier 2 by-elections. Maybe sudah bosan after all the hoo haa. I also heard that most likely my area will also have a by-election as YB Eli will likely resign for good, but the people who stay around my area knows that it will still go back to PR, it is just that we have to go for another round of balloting. I personally am hoping the Batang Ai's election will favour PR as it seems that one is supposedly "untouchables" by PR.......or anybody.
Last night, PKR almost wipe out all divisions of PPP in Kedah and from what I read, it is basically closing off all PPP in Kedah. The VP of PPP lead the migration and the first 300 members already "jumped" over. Another 6000 more after the by elections. But my question is, how does this help? Does all this massive cross over really bring about good for the people? Does all this massive cross over help solved the current predicament of people in the 2 bukits? What does all this massive cross over means, bottom line? I really don't know what to think and expect, just have to wait it out to see if it does really make a difference that will benefit the people(of the 2 bukits).
BN seem to be pulling all it's "power house" as the dateline of the by elections draw closer and PM Najib threw a spanner at PR by issuing a directive to release 13 ISA detainees. But unfortunately, many sees this as a political move to garner support for BN and also his ratings. The story was, PM Najib upon appointed as PM, roped in 6 people to do his PR and campaigning for the by elections, apparently these 6 are the best of the best in what they do. Well, let's bring out the popcorn and coke and enjoy the major events unfolding in the next couple of days. On top of that, Tun Mahatir is also out helping BN campaining, what you see during Pak Lah's era. I guess PM Najib is really Tun's blue eye boy!

Penang trip

Well, it's finally the school holidays and my kids been bugging me to go Penang for quite sometime now. So, we all decided to go to Penang last Monday for a 3 days 2 nights stay. I brought my mom along as she too have not visited Penang for more than 15 years! So, off we went.....on to the plane. We will be staying at Parkroyal hotel at Batu Ferringhi as we had some vouchers for the hotel and it worked out good for us all. Upon arriving at the Penang International Airport, we garb a cab(2 actually as each cab only seats 4) and headed for the hotel. It was an easy drive as I was expecting jams and heavy volume of traffic as this was a working day and in the middle of the day. It took us about 30 minutes drive and we finally got to the hotel, checked in and the children all got ready for the pool! Within minutes, my son and daughter were playing in the pool, riding the water slides and jumping between pools(with my supervision of course). I had sometime to catch up with the papers and a glass of cold beer just made my day. For a few hours then, I was relaxed and my mind was not on "issues" back in KL. The kids played around for a few more hours before being "hauled up" by their mother as it was time for makan. That night, we walked out to Batu Ferringhi road and just looked around for hawker centers or similar stalls for local food. They have Eden, The Ship and a few more "commercialize" eatery place but we were more interested in the local stuff like Char Koay Tiau, laksa, Poh Piah etc etc. We found a food court about 200 meters from our hotel, just after The Ship. We sampled a lot of dishes(we order and shared amongst the children and adults). It was good and we had a good time. I am not sure if local Penangites will like it but for us out stationers, it was as good as it gets. Anyway, we still have 2 more days to go around Georgetown and Gurney drive to sample more. The following days my kids got to go for horse riding(my daughter seem to enjoy that a lot) and my son got to try the parachute ride, jet ski(with my supervision of course) and the banana boat ride. We all had a blast and most of the time we find ourselves either eating or having fun at the beach or the pool. As for my wife and mother, they too had a relaxing time, just lazing around the pool area and catching up on naps! Then it was more food and we did just that at Gurney Drive which is always fill with people but I was told that that would not be a good place to go for really good local stuff, well I will need some Penangites guide on this then. But it was good by our standard as we have no comparison to the supposedly good ones. But most important of all, my kids, wife, mother and me, we had a good time together as it's been a while now since we all did something together. It was a good break for us all. On the last day, we dropped by at Ghee Hiang biscuits for some "tau sah piah", which my mother likes alot. So, we bungkus 3 bags full of it back to KL. During the return trip back to KL, I was actually hoping to catch a glimpse of CM Lim as I read he travels by Air Asia and on economy class as well, but that did not materialize. Anyway, all in all, it was a good short break for all of us.

Good week for sports fan

It's been an incredible week for sports fan, locally and foreign. I am not sure if you are a sports fan, but for me, this has been one incredible week! The team(s) that I routed for have been performing really well, and some even above expectations.
If you are a football fan, a Liverpool fan in particular, I am sure you will be one of those people jumping and screaming for excitement as they(Liverpool) took 2 giants down and silence all their critics once and for all. The first win was against Real Madrid, and nobody expected this because Liverpool was really under performing and very inconsistent. But the match against Real Madrid did them justice as they trash the Spanish giants 4-1, yes, I did not type wrongly, they(Liverpool) won 4 to 1. Unfortunately, I did not get to watch the match as it was aired quite late into the night. However, many skeptics still did not think Liverpool have it and that win was one in a blue blue moon, so to speak. Then came the clash of the titans, the match everyone been's waiting to happen, the match between Liverpool and Man.Utd and to make it even more interesting, the game will be played in Man.Utd's home turf. Even the football pundits did not see Liverpool having any chance of winning playing against Man.Utd, let alone in their home ground somemore. The Man.Utd team have not lost a game in their home ground since 2005, they have been very consistent and playing really well. I myself was hoping for a draw, winning was never in the equation. But, hey, when you are smoking hot, you are smoking hot. Liverpool trash Man.Utd 4 to 1, just like Real Madrid. It was sheer joy and excitement seeing the ball hit the net each time Liverpool scores. What makes this win even sweeter is because Man.Utd was so adament thet they will triumph over Liverpool and scores are going to be high. They(Man.Utd) even boast of putting Liverpool out of contention for top spot, putting Liverpool out of their misery(so to speak). So, this win was really spot on and Mr.Rooney, eat your heart out! Sweet, Sweet Sweet victory!
If you are also a badminton fan, you should know by now that our very own Datuk Lee Chong Wei took the Swiss Open by beating his arch-rival Lin Dan. I was really worried as Chong Wei always seem to issues facing Lin Dan and the biggest and worst defeat was during the Olympics final, where Lin Dan literally annihilated Chong Wei. It was 2 weeks ago, this 2 met again during the All England finals and Lin Dan, again prove his superiority over Chong Wei. It is not that Chong Wei is any less competent than Lin Dan, but Chong Wei seem to lack the mental stamina that Lin Dan has. In fact, I personally thinks Chong Wei is in better shape(stamina and skills) that Lin Dan but Lin Dan seem to have the edge when one is pressured. So, back to the Swiss Open final, I was worried that Chong Wei still lack the mental stamina to defeat Lin Dan and the first half of the first set was proving that. Luckily, somehow, Chong Wei managed to muster enough strength and came back from behind and win the first set 21-16. It was really nail bitting as the world top 2 players trash it out, each trying to outbeat, out run and out trick one another. If you have not watch the match, try watching it over re-runs, it has some of the most terrific shots, some are even dumb founding unbelieveable shots and returns! The second set was a outright clear winner for Chong Wei, as he was the dominant one. One can tell that Lin Dan was really frustrated and angry at himself, and he is not playing his usual game anymore. Chong Wei outpaced, out stroke, out trick Lin Dan in this second sets and Chong Wei went on to win 21-16, again, and in straight sets. This is a very sweet revenge for Chong Wei who also lost in straight sets to Lin Dan in the All England and Olympics.
Well done Datuk Lee Chong Wei, you did us proud. I only have one more thing to add, Lin Dan not only lost the match, he also lost his sportmanship. He is one of those sportsman that looses terribly. Lin Dan, you might have win more matches over our Datuk Lee, but you lost more in terms of personality and as a professionals sports person, you are a bad sport!