Happy Independence Day, Malaysia.. Merdeka!!!

Happy 51st Merdeka day to all Malaysians.. This year has been a very unique year for Malaysia as we as a nation are maturing and starting to free our mind from the authoritarian control and brainwash from the Malaysian government as previously before. Below are some unique quotes from bright minds that best describe our merdeka day this year:-

"The great civilisaton of the past do not have democracy and yet they became great.It's not necessary that the system will work for everybody. But if you have a bad leader , even the democracy system would fail. You must remember that in this democracy country which dropped atom bomb.. killing two hundred thousand people." - Tun Dr Mahathir

"Freedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them - and then, the opportunity to choose." - C. Wright Mills

"Human history begins with man's act of disobedience which is at the very same time the beginning of his freedom and development of his reason". - Erich Fromm

Petronas Ad on Merdeka Celebration. Very touching :)

PM unhappy with Komuter, LRT services

KUALA LUMPUR: The Prime Minister took a ride on the Komuter and LRT trains and was not impressed. In the journey from Serdang to Masjid Jamek using the two train systems, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi got a first-hand look at the congestion problem, especially during peak hours. He also talked to passengers to get their feedback on the services provided. He said later that the operations of the two train services were not systematic and there were also insufficient coaches.

Read it here, excerpt from The Star online today.

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FINALLLLLYYY.. after 1,000,000,000 gazillion complaints about the poor public transportation in Malaysia, Paklah finally understood the complaints. That is of course he himself needs to actually take a ride and feels it first hand. It shows that the 'Rakyat' complaint before this about the poor public transport have fallen to deaf ears. What's next after this, Paklah goes to 'kedai runcit' to buy grocery items such as rice, cooking oil, chicken and etc. and finally realize that the price has gone up tremendously as shouted by the people all along. He then finally feels 'unhappy' about this and finally do something about it.

War, Innovation and Domination

War by the definition of Merriam-Webster dictionary is "state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations." It is funny that our culture can tolerate on things such as 'War'. The act of war or agression by certain party towards a sovereign nation is something that have been in our history dated far back to ancient history. The only thing different is the evolving weaponry that is use in war from just plain of rocks to more efficient weapon that can kill hundreds of human instantly. But the same underlying principle of war is still the same and that is to kill many people as efficient as possible.

Interestingly enough also, if you look at history, some of the greatest innovation ever created by human is because of their desire and effort to win the war. Technology such as rocket propulsion and Internet was first created for military purposes. Many inventions that you found today are the result of war. It is not the war that actually caused this great invention but more of the competitive nature of that war. It forces people to think and create technology that gave competitive advantage to either sides in winning the war. Upholding the sovereignity of a country and the greed of power have strangely give catalyst to the development of technology. But with that catalyst, many innocent people have been sacrificed. So, is it worth it?

Below are a video tape of Tun Dr Mahathir on the criminalisation of war that I found on youtube.

Fly Jalur Gemilang the correct way

Federated Malay States (1896 to 1950)

Malaya (1950 to 1963)

Malaysia (current)

Above are our beloved flag design evolution over the years. The Malayan flag was actually designed by a person named Mohamed Hamzah, a 29-year-old architect working for the Public Works Department (JKR) in Johor Bahru back in the 1950s. He won by submitting the design in a competition. Some said that during that time, Communism was a great threat to the nation and Malaysia are seeking favour from America to ward off this threat. America at that time was heavily fighting communism in Vietnam. Therefore, Tunku Abdul Rahman wanted our flag to have some similarity to the American flag. Therefore, you can see that we have the same red and white stripes like the American flag. Nevertheless, our flag is the pride of our nation. Regardless of race, politics, or religion, we have the same flag to be proud of. So, as we celebrate our independence day this August, please do not fly the flag upside down as being promoted by some people. In the country history, many people have died trying to uphold this flag as it represents our sovereignity. For us to fly it upside down will only bring insult to all the people who have sacrificed and died for this country and uphelding this flag. Fly the flag with pride because as a Malaysian, this is the only flag that we have that represents our identity. Long live Jalur Gemilang!

The 4th Floor Boys and The Ivory Tower Syndrome

The Perdana Putra building can be claimed as one of the famous and beautiful building in Malaysia. The building itself portrays grandeur and carries a self of pride for Malaysian Government as the Prime Minister’s office and DPM’s office is located there. It is somewhat similar to a White House in the USA. But, I do not want to elaborate on the building but more on the working environment there. Having worked there myself for three years, I have to say there is a certain eliteness of having an office there and having to come to work in that building. Minus all the VVIPS, you can actually see the pride of every personnel working there from tea lady, security guard and up to the higher ranking officers. There is this ‘feel good’ feeling that you are on top of everybody else in the government because you are there in the Perdana Putra Building. Nevertheless, due to the high security there, the building has limited access to the public and therefore it has created a very contained working environment. Just imagine it, many important policy decisions sometimes take place in that building but the working environment there is very contained and the eliteness of the building akin to a palace is making it worse in terms of policy decision.

In my personal opinion, the Perdana Putra building working environment has created what I call an “Ivory Tower Syndrome”. The Ivory Tower Syndrome is the implication of a person who are so deeply drawn in their place or area that they often can’t find or associate with laymen outside their ivory towers. The so called ‘4th Floor boys’ that worked there are not policy makers and not that influence able outside, but inside the building, they are closed to the two most important person in Malaysia that makes decision for the country. Therefore, no wonder that Pak Lah sometimes makes decision that seems really out of touch with the current reality of what the Malaysians are facing. Pak Lah and Najib have surrounded themselves with a group of people who feels they are an elite group and deserve to be in an ivory tower and people outside the ivory are a mere peasants. Is this a feudalistic thinking in a modern day government of Malaysia?