A Malaysian getting famous for the wrong reason

NEW YORK: A Malaysian man, charged on Thursday with hacking into computer networks of the US Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) and a defence contractor, was caught by Secret Service agents while selling stolen credit card numbers for US$1,000 (RM3,200) at a diner in New York.
Court documents released by US prosecutors said the man, identified as Lin Mun Poo, 32, was arrested on Oct 21, hours after arriving in New York.

He was indicted by a grand jury on Thursday on four charges, including hacking into the system of a US central bank branch in Cleveland, Ohio.

“In his post-arrest statement, the defendant admitted compromising the computer servers of a number of major financial institutions and companies,” US prosecutors in Brooklyn wrote in a letter to US District Judge Dora Irizarry, who was assigned the case.

It said Lin admitted exploiting a vulnerability he found in the bank’s computer system.
“The Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland, Ohio, has confirmed that an FRB computer network was hacked in June 2010, resulting in thousands of dollars in damages, affecting 10 or more computers,” the letter said.

A court hearing for the judge to consider a government request to continue to detain Lin was postponed. No new date has been scheduled yet. Lin’s court-appointed lawyer was not available to comment.

Lin is a Malaysian with no professional or family ties to the US, the letter said. He arrived at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport from Europe with a round-trip ticket, planning to return on Nov 22. “Within hours of his arrival at JFK, US Secret Service agents observed the defendant selling stolen credit card numbers for $1,000 at a diner in Brooklyn and arrested him shortly thereafter,” the letter to the judge said.

Other allegations against Lin include possession of more than 400,000 stolen credit cards and debit cards on an encrypted laptop computer that the agents seized. If convicted, he faces a potential maximum prison sentence of between six-and-a-half years to eight years. - Reuters

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It's quite funny to first heard of this news. It is a bit of a mixture of between being proud that a malaysian is highly skilled enough to hack into pentagon and in the same time being embarassed that because it is a criminal act. However, I have to say that this guy is one super hacker as hacking into pentagon is not easy. It needs skill and knowledge that you cannot learn from anywhere but through trial and error and also some serious experiences. This can also be a case of a malaysian getting famous in the world arena but really for the wrong reason. The same as the case of another Malaysian, Jho Lo, a businessman who was in the limelight because of the excess partying with hollywood celebrities such as Paris Hilton.

The Theory of Broken Window

The theory of broken window suggests that a high concentration of petty crimes can lead to a higher and bigger crimes. The theory are made based on the observation of James Q Wilson and George L Kelling in New York transit. From their study, the reasons why crime rates are very high especially in the subway area was due to grafitti and vandalisme to the subway train that went unnoticed or ignored by the authorities. Because it is ignored or considered as small and petty crimes, the vandalisers there sees it as a signal for them to become more aggresive and starts to do much more serious crimes.

The theory also suggests that in order to reduce crimes, you must tackle it even at the earliest stage and that is at the broken window stage. By fixing the window immediately, it will leave the message to the would-be criminals that no rooms for law breaking is allowed here even for small crimes as broken window.

How does this relate to Malaysia? In my perspective, in order for the police and authorities to reduce the crime rate in Malaysia in a drastic manner is to focus more on the 'broken window' and take care of it immediately. Among the 'broken window' that worth mentioning is the dvd/vcd pirate sellers. Here in Malaysia, it is a norm to see this particular vendor selling the pirated dvd of the road or 'pasar malam'. They are breaking the law in broad daylight and it seems that the authorities just simply either don't care or considered it as petty crimes so it is not worth their effort to crack down their operations. However, if we follow the theory of the broken window, it leaves the impression that is ok to bend the law, and this will lead to higher crimes.

High Income Economy equals Highly Focused Nation

The prime minister, Dato' Sri Najib have mentioned again and again that for Malaysia to achieve the vision of a developed nation by 2020, we must strive to become a high income economy. What is a high income economy? A high-income economy is defined by the World Bank as a country with a Gross National Income per capita of $11,906 or more in 2008.

By an analogy, if an average person who has a salary of RM3,000 to RM10,000 is considered a middle income, and RM10,000 and above is considered high income, what he should do in order to get that range of salary? Of course the first thing that he can thought of is to get back to school. A Master degree might get him there but a phd will definitely get him to that range. But this approach may take some time, and probably not cost effective.

Another option is some refocussing on his strength and skills. If he works now as an engineer, he still may be trap with that middle income, but by becoming a specialist engineer, he can get to that range. All that he needs is to focus on one niche area and be good at it. Malaysia can do the same. Look hard into what Malaysia is good at, focus very hard on it, be tremendously good at it and the global market will bend down to your knees and will forever be at your doorstep. Look as an example, Japan become a developed nation by focussing on automotive and electronics. Malaysia needs a niche area where the nation is already good at, focus all its resources to it, and become a specialist whereby all the global market recognise and will source it in Malaysia.

Politics is all about perception

If you watch closely all Anwar Ibrahim's speeches, you can see the pattern of his speeches. He tends to repeat the same topics that he knows people would like to hear. He will also know what keywords that triggers the emotion of people and audiences. He also knows what keywords that are current and sensational. Such keywords are like 'altantunya', 'price hike', 'toll hike', etc and he rarely uses bombactic words. As for the leaders of UMNO / BN, you can see that their speeches are sometimes full of keywords that sometimes feels out of touch of the common people. Eventhough the keywords of their speech is important such as 'knowledge based', 'innovation', 'sustainable development', it rarely touch the heart of the majority of the people. And I am starting to see the same pattern used by our new prime minister, Dato' Seri Najib. He must acknowledged that his main competitor is Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim and he is still winning in terms of creating the perception that he is more closer to the rakyat compared to Najib. If BN wants to win PRU13, perception management must be given due priority. Even the word 'turun padang' is actually an insult to the people. It is very feudalistic and seems to inspire that the minister is sitting on a throne and have to come down from the throne to join the peasants in the field.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery

In Malaysia we seem to have an imitation crisis. When the United States come up with the Silicon Valley that gave birth to great companies such as google, ebay etc, we came up also with our own version of the silicon valley at Cyberjaya. It supposed to create ICT companies that can compete in global scale and also captures outsourcing job such as what has happened in India. But, Cyberjaya now seems to be housing many global call centres. So much for the outsourcing job. We also try to imitate the success of Indian companies who has been very successful in attracting outsourcing job from the rest of the world. 

When Paklah announced that we should be 100% self sustained in terms of food production, dozens of visits have been organised by government agencies to Holland; who has a successful food valley. (Not forgetting the Member's of Parliament's visit to Taiwan :))  Now with the wind of change that we can see in America whereby they could be having their first black American for president, would this form of leadership from the minority population of the country would be imitated here in Malaysia? hmmm.. only time would tell.

 

Global Recession - Malaysia in Denial

It's funny when an anticipated event will still caught people by suprise if it did really happened. That's what happened when the US faced an economic meltdown eventhough pundits have warned on this as early as 2006. What the global community was caught off guard was the severity of the recession. Many economists predict the recession will be as worse as the 1930's depression. Please note that the 1930's depression has led to world war two. 

A recession can be defined as a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy and last more than a few months or by technical terms two quarters of the year. Recession impacts the real GDP, real income, employment, and industrial production. A sustained recession may led to an era of depression. 

With the global financial crisis looming, it is suprised when the top honchos that led the financial matters in this country are saying that we will not be affected as much as the other countries. This statement reminded me about a quote Harry Truman once said about recession 'Recession is when a neighbour losses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.' Malaysia has not yet felt the full brutal effect of the global wave of recession and therefore we are still in denial. The wave will reach our shores next year and we have to be prepared for it as it can be worse than we have ever encounter before. 

R.A.H.M.A.N Theory

There is a theory that has been going around since Tun Dr M's era of premiership. The theory is that the first alphabet of the name of the Prime Minister of Malaysia will follow these alphabets R.A.H.M.A.N. And quite coincidently, our first prime minister is Tunku Abdul RAHMAN. The theory is quite freaky if you think about it. Now that Paklah will hand over his job to Najib in March next year, it will make the theory into reality. When the theory arised during Mahathir's era, many people think that the A after the M must be Anwar. But, alas, the A are destined to be Abdullah instead. Now, many people believe that the N after the A would be Najib. But, nothing is confirmed in politics. Najib maybe seems to be heading towards the throne, but until March next year, we can only wait and see. Probably, the N can be Nik Aziz or Nurul Izzah :) hmmm...

Of Colors, Racism and Asabiyyah

A collaborative team led by scholars at Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin Universities has done an extensive research on the origin of human being by DNA analysis. The research confirms the “Out Of Africa” hypothesis that all modern humans stem from a single group of Homo sapiens who emigrated from Africa 2,000 generations ago and spread throughout Eurasia over thousands of years. These settlers replaced other early humans (such as Neanderthals), rather than interbreeding with them. You can read more about this here.

I bring out this topic due to the recent frascos and racist remarks done some of our damn politicians such as Ahmad Ismail. He may have saying the facts about the Chinese was once an immigrant, but so do your ancestors. If the study above are correct, we all originated from Africa and have the same great, great, great grandfathers. Even in the Quran and Bible, it clearly stated that ALL HUMAN BEINGS originated from Adam and Eve. So, what makes us all different? We all have the same red blood and DNA. The only difference is the culture and religion that we strongly hold to. Besides from that, eventhough we have different color skins, we are practically the same. No race is above others. No race is far more superior than others. Arab is not superior to Non Arab. White people is not superior to Non White People. And the same goes here in Malaysia. It is only just a perception that the Malays are not competitive. It is only just a perception the Chinese are good at business. As a human being, individually, we have the power to achieve anything that we want as long as we set our mind to it. In my opinion, the only superior person, is the one who learn the most, work the most and humblest the most, regardless of culture, race or religion.

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 :)

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?

Remembering The Naning Wars

If you read the history of Malaysia, many of us would know that the first resurgence of the British occupancy in Malaya came from a man named Dol Said. Dol Said or in full Dato' Abdul Said was a 19th century Malay leader of an area called Naning, which was then part of Malacca on the Malay Peninsula. He opposed taxation by the British's taxation policy in the area and refused to pay it. This was a direct cause of a conflict known as the Naning War. (source: wikipedia)

The Naning War is fought by Dol Said and his men through mainly guerilla tactics and also with aid from other Malay allies such as Seri Menanti, Sungai Ujong, Johol and Muar. These unity and some brilliant tactics by Dol Said have made Naning impenetrable. The British have sent huge amount of soldiers to recapture Naning but has been defeated in each battle.

The British in realising their defeat changed their tactics. They realise that the united front of Dol Said and his allies was the main reason they cannot recapture Naning. They then conspired with Yamtuan Muda Raja Ali in Rembau and also with other Malay alllies that once supported Dol Said. Rembau have also agreed to send 600 troops to assist British in attacking Naning. In a battle led by Colonel Herbert, the British finally secured victory as all the Malay allies have betrayed Dol Said and sided with the British. The battle have forced Dol Said to retreat to Sri Menanti before surrendering himself, effectively ending the war. British then combined Malacca and Naning. Dol said was given a home in Malacca.

Dol Said and the people of Naning was betrayed by the Malays of Rembau. The Rembau Malays and their descendants now enjoying the spoils of war and from the blood shed by the people of Naning.

Naning war have shown us that with a united front, we can defeat the enemy no matter how big they are. British at that time was a super power with empire spanning around the globe but was defeated by Dol Said and his men. They only lost because of the betrayal of their own people. This same pattern can be found in many countries histories. In one hand, you have this true freedom fighter and a leader who wants nothing but freedom for the country. In another hand, you have leaders who turns greedy and willing to sacrifice their country as long as their pockets and interests are well been taken care of.

And I am pretty sure also that here in the present day of Malaysia, we do have politicians and leaders who would willing to sell the country to foreign powers as long as their greedy needs is being taken care of. Honestly, we are witnessing it right now in our current political scenario. So, it is our job to make sure these kind of leaders do not get elected or stay in the corridor of power. God bless Malaysia.

Complacent Malaysians

Malaysians, regardless of race, has become complacent. What I mean by complacent is that Malaysians will always expect the government to handle their problems and to protect their futures. We kinda like a spoilt brat who always assume our parents knows best and will protect us and solve any mischievous things that we have done. We as a nation have put too much faith in politicians and MPs to solve our problems. Why I came to this conclusion is based on the recent events that occured lately. The oil price hike, food price increase, the toll increase, the general election, and even our deterioting relationship with different races in the country has been pinpointed to the government (more so to Pak Lah).

I am not defending the government here but it seems that we blame the government on almost everything. We have to realise that many problems occured today cannot be solved by the government (They are humans anyway). The MP can quarrel from dusk till dawn in the parliament, but in reality it is really up to us to solve our own problem. We have developed a entitlement mentality whereby we always expect the government's handout to solve our problem. With all the complaints on the government for the food price increase, we still have extra money to vote for our favourite singer in reality tv such as Akademi Fantasia, One in a million, Gangstarz and etc. We complaint about the flash flood occured in the city but yet some of us still throw away thrashes in the drain. We blame the government about the racial disunity but actually it is really up to us to bring that racial divide closer. Simple, start being nice and trustworthy to each other. Changes are occuring everywhere in the world and not just Malaysia. On my personal view, we are at the tipping point of either another global recession similar to the 1930's or something entirely new. When it happens, if we are not ready, we have only ourselves to blame.

Malaysia and the Global Climate Change

Malaysia is without doubt a country that is surrounded by seas. The South China Sea and the Malacca Straits to be exact. With all the hype of global climate change what does that got to do with us being surrounded by seas if you might ask. Well, a lot since if the temperature of the world keep on increasing, sooner or later, the ice in the arctic will melt. The after-effect of that is the volume increase of sea water in the world. That would mean some of our Malaysia's land can be submerge underwater by 15-20 years time. Imagine in the future, there is no longer Port Dickson, Langkawi, Tioman and other fantastic beaches that we have. All will be gone by the time we declare ourselves a developed nation. Hmm.. a developed nation with 20% less land mass I suppose.

Just a block of ice but a deadly threat to our future

The climate change is not a conscious matter that we have the option to deal or not to deal with. It is deadly serious and will effect deeply in our lives and our children's lives if we fail to pay attention to it now. Live a more greener life and yes, one person can make a different.

Article 153 - To be or not to be

Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia grants the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia) responsibility for safeguarding the rights and privileges of the Malay and other indigenous peoples of Malaysia, collectively referred to as Bumiputra. The article specifies how the federal government may protect the interest of these groups by establishing quotas for entry into the civil service, public scholarships and public education. It is often considered to be part of the social contract, and is commonly cited as a legal defense of ketuanan Melayu — the belief that the Malays are the "masters" (tuan) of Malaysia. - Source: Wikipedia

So, based on the facts above what can we conclude? The article was drafted back in 1957 where at that time, most chinese and Indian population were immigrants. Malay rulers back then questioned the loyalty of chinese and indians. In trying to understand the reality back then, just imagine that you are an owner of a big house with big families. The house was built by your great, great grandfather and was passed down through past generation until now. Even all the things inside the house was either yours or was inherited. But due to some technical reasons, your house was being takeover by a third party. This third party starts to rent out the rooms in the house to people you don't know. Like it or not, you have to accept the people because the house is no longer yours. So, life goes on. You mind your own business, the guest in the house mind theirs. And suddenly, the third party decides to give back the house to you. With all the excitement in the world you accept that decision. Merdeka!! you said. But wait, what about this people that the third party have brought in? They starting to grow in numbers. What do you do? Throw them out? But they have been quite useful in the house. The rent money from them is also a bonus. You can use the money to renovate the house. So, the logical decision is to let them stay. BUT, with a condition. The guest must always acknowledge that the house is yours and not to touch your things. You do your own business and the guest do theirs. And any priviledge to use the television or bathroom must be given to you first as you are the owner of that stuff. It sounds fair right. That is how I view how the article 153 came about. It is the most logical decision to make at that time.

BUT, that's 50 years ago. It has been a long time. The house has become bigger and better than before. Any repairs and renovation in the house is done together with you and your guest. The guest has now become somewhat of a extended family to you. Now, is it fair to treat your guest as a status of a guest eventhough they have been with you through ups and downs for 50 years? You and your family still have the priviledge for the use of television and bathroom eventhough the television and bathroom is now brand new and the cost of buying it is shared among you and the guest? It's been 50 years.. and in my personal view.. there should be a new approach for that relationship. It's been 50 years.. Malaysia should have a new approach on its social contract. Don't you think?

The Proton Saga : The Empire Strikes Back

I am without doubt the most loyal customer of the Proton car. I have never own any car brand besides the car produce by Proton. Well, the first car I bought right after I graduated in 2001 is the Evo wannabe 'Proton Wira'. And I bought it without any hesitation. The only reason at that time.. I have no choice. Others are simply to costly. Now, zoom in to the future that is today. Graduates who just finish their study can now able to choose from a lot of car brand. The price of other car brand now can compete in a fair market with Proton. Kudos to Paklah's administration for this to happen. Proton has been milking the malaysian public far too long. Proton should now have be strong enough to compete with the world. Honestly, despite many others are saying, I do think Proton has a slight chance of survival. Yes, the global car company such as Toyota, Honda, VW, Ford has been bigger and ever than before. They are gobbling up every other small carmakers in the world. Proton is like only a side dishes to them. But, if they did it right, choose the right partners and niche market, I believe that Proton someday will in turn gobble up the big players. Who knows, in the future, Volkswagen whose the one that will be owned by Proton.

Future Proton Car?