11.161 L of RON97. Right…..

Was Putrajaya mourning the loss of Yang Di Pertuan Negeri of Negeri Sembilan? Or it really is not a place to spot fireworks during new year’s eve? It was disappointing that we assembled too late (around 10pm) to go to The Curve or OU or KL from Cyberjaya, so Putrajaya may not sound too bad, except that there aren’t anything to watch aside from rempits err, rempiting. Zzzz….

Anyway, a browse through some 2008 cherishable moments:

GACC 2008

Describe listening “BANKAI!! TENSA ZANGETSU!!” from the seiyuu himself, Masakazu Morita. Epic. A handshake with him? Epic. Unable to be among 100 to get his autograph? Phail… T_T

That’s Games, Anime, Comic Circle, held annually at MMU Melaka. It was kinda crowded, but that actually is a good indication that otaku-ism and gaming is quite popular here. Hopefully, next year will be held in a bigger place, and a female VIP guest perhaps? It’ll be seriously cool if they can get Rie Kugimiya coming this year *wishful thinking* [ ^_^ ].

8th March

YB Hannah Yeoh (Subang Jaya ADUN) and YB Loh Gwo Burne (Kelana Jaya Parliament) did the impossible. And YB Tony Pua. And YB Nik Nazmi. And more. Now, if any narrow-minded fools still ask me why I “support” DAP, well….. YB Hannah-chan kawaii desu nee~? <3

Anyway, fast forward to today, I believe most Subang Jayarians are rather satisfied with her.

Penang Trip

Epic nasi kandar Line Clear is epic.

The Dark Knight

Ya rly, y so srs? Well…..

Ironman’s hero drives an Audi. Sorry, but today, BMW is no longer the cock’s choice of automobile anymore. It’s Audi. And since batman drives a batmobile and a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640, he’s much, much cooler than that cocky….. tinman.

Code Geass R2

Most entertaining series of the year. Yeah!!!

The Tower of Druaga: Aegis of the Uruk

The dawn of a new era of watching anime: streaming on youtube, crunchyroll n another site I forgot, provided by the anime studio themselves. With pretty good subtitle.

As for the series itself, hmm….. rather average, but pretty enjoyable. Loved its OP, Swinging by Muramasa.

PD trip with family

There’s a twist: we stayed at The Avilion this time around. Very nice place. Spotted a Civic Type-R european version with Singaporean plate number.

Soon-to-be “Datuk” Aya Hirano

Well, it fits her, agree?

See, wearing tudung CAN be cute.

Lucky mak cik.

Pictars sauce: her blog.

Aya Hirano (Suzumiya Haruhi – The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, Konata – Lucky Star, Misa – Death Note), has never been to anywhere outside Japan, US, and Bali (Indonesia) from what I heard. For appreciative enough to visit us for her 3rd DVD and photoshoot for a February issue of a magazine she’ll be featured, we might next hear Datuk Bandar KL recommending her to be given Datukship just like Datuk Shah Rukh Khan. Think I’m joking? She’s an otaku’s Goddess, just look at this, this, and this. I just gotta take it from linkinstreet:

“Jesus fucking christ, if the USA were THIS motivated they would have captured Saddam 5 years ago, and Osama 3 days after 9-11.”
- Epic comment by DmonHiro, presumably an American.

Phew, this has been delayed too much even if I first drafted it on 1st Jan, so sorry that this post seemed rubbish as it goes… not even beyond halfway. I’ll perhaps update it eventually with more pictars n events that I missed here, but I’d thought I just have to publish it now before it gets too stale.

Anyway, what’s in for 2009? Well, for a start, this 28th-31st Jan, I’ll be heading to Jakarta with Fariq, Aida, and Aida’s mom….and hopefully Alif and Fawwaz (aka Tomok)!!! Aida wants to look for some nice clothes, we’ll also be heading to Bandung as well. I’m so excited as this’ll be my first time riding a plane since 2001 to London, and this’ll also be my first time ever to ride an Air Asia plane. Immediately however, I’m facing a problem: I have just returned from Subang Terminal to try n renew my passport only to see the system is down, and according to a phone call to Shah Alam’s Immigration, the whole country’s system is down too. They’d better get it up hopefully by the end of this day, I WANT to make it for the return all-inclusive rate of just RM422!! A check to MAS showed a ridiculous RM1,221 for a similar flight 0_o But oh well, 5-star service n rather last-minute booking, so it’s kinda understandable. I experimented with a date 2 months in advance, MAS rate is three hundred something, so MAS do have cheap flights too. Well, it’s not like I’m goin 2 months later, but it’s just that I know it is possible for MAS to be cheap too. Yeap.

The best book…..evar. And I have it, the hard cover version. For just GBP10, YEAAAAHHHH!!!

The only problem then would be volume 1, which is the only “The World According To Clarkson” series that I have in paperback, heheh. Bah, I should check out what “Born To Be Riled” is all about, whereas a flick through of “Don’t Stop Me Now” revealed that it was a collection of car reviews he wrote for Sunday Times, which means I’ve read most of it as part of my Sunday morning reading. Nevertheless, I might want to buy it later to complete my precious collection of JC’s books lolololol. That’s right, I have “I Know You Got Soul”, “Motorworld Clarkson”, “Clarkson On Cars”, “The World According to Clarkson”, and “The World According to Clarkson 2: And Another Thing…” (hard cover, costed me RM104.50. The rest are paperback) I’m proud of them yohohoho, much like how environMENTALists are proudly parking their “I told you so” face when the news of Antartic being an island now was out.

“The World According To Clarkson” series are in fact, a collection of Sunday column he writes for Sunday Times too. Judging by the pattern of archiving every two years IIANM, we’ll next see “The World According To Clarkson 4″ around early 2010 I suppose. It doesn’t really matter getting newer volume(s) I suppose, unlike other chronicled book like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, etc where you’ll definitely need to start from volume 1. Of course, it is a non-fiction unlike others, although err….it’s filled with lots of fictional metaphores n sarcasm the Clarkson way. But hey, THAT is the very reason we all love him soooo much. While other motor journalists talk of torques and boot space to justify the car they like (which are often sheez), JC will say “it’s rubbish” if it’s rubbish, and proceeds to make a one-liner that’s enough to tickle many for hours. Better still, Clarkson can talk about the social issues that bogs down Britain. Way doooooown from the days when they were err…..better.

Back here in Malaysia, our Malaysian JC has been arrested in ISA for over a month already. Which gives all the more reason why we’re gonna have recession. That. is. inevitable. In Britain, loudmouths like JC makes sure the people are extremely tough on the govt for every stupid thing Mr Brown did (even though JC lashed out more on the people than on Mr Brown). Here, it takes a disaster, maybe (political or innocent children) death for those idiots to realise how stupid they are. That said, I fucking hate National Service (thank God I was never selected).

I mean seriously, I’ve never read a front page news as stupid as today’s The Star for a long time -the one about Jalan Alor becoming Jalan Kejora. Right, if a non-muslim MP changes road sign in arabic letters no modern Malaysian use anymore into Martian letters, she’ll get ISA, but if the KL mayor fancy spreading Bukit Bintang stardom into the whole city, it’s all right even if it’s at the cost of confusing some Austweeeyians. Somebody please shoot the mayor. Sadistically.

On another matter, I came across a J.Drama title that might be familiar with “Attention Please”. It’s called “Shinkansen Girl”, Misaki-chan all over again, except on a bullet train? Well, ‘fraid not, cuz the main heroine is played by Becky, and I know her from Nodame Cantabile SP as Tanya, the Russian pianist (even if her father’s British and her mother’s Japanese). Argh….why’s nobody subbing it on Crunchyroll zzz =.=

Air stewardess ja nai, Ka been At ten dan to da.

Attention Please is about a slighty tomboyish and rather bullheaded heroine who starts on a journey to become a Cabin Attendant. Everyone around her seems to think that she’s not suited to the job and will ultimately fail. But to what limits is she willing to push herself?

Title: アテンションプリーズ
English: Attention Please
Episodes: 11

Broadcast network: Fuji TV
Broadcast period: 2006-Apr-18 to 2006-June-27
Theme song: “OH PRETTY WOMAN” by Kaela Kimura

CAST

– Ueto Aya as Misaki Yoko
– Nishikido Ryo as Nakahara Shota
– Maya Miki as Mikami Tamaki
– Aibu Saki as Wakamura Yayoi
– Uehara Misa as Hirota Saori
– Koizumi Koutaro as Tsutsumi Shuusuke
– Kohinata Fumiyo as Sakurada Shinya
– Otsuka Chihiro as Sekiyama Yuki
– Nanase Natsumi as Kinoshita Asami
– Ootomo Minami as Higashino Haruka
– Yoo Min (Fueki Yuko) as Asou Kaoru
– Takahashi Mariko as Kagawa Reiko
– Koichi Mantaro as Watanabe Makoto
– Asano Kazuyuki as Wakamura Shozo
– Inoue Jun as Dazai Shinichiro
– Mano Yuuko as Murayama Mizuho
– Hoshino Natsuko as Takemoto Rie

Phew, I haven’t watch an enjoyable Jdrama, let alone a new one, for quite awhile since The Last Lawyer, which admittedly is kind of a disappoinment. I was attracted to it solely because of Abe Hiroshi, which has gotta be the best Jdrama actor ever!! Well, the good news is, his acting is brilliant as a poor lawyer (he’s always more suitable as a poor or very pitiable clownish character, doesn’t he?), but the plot kinda lacked variety aside from solving cases, I mean like, I was expecting to see more than that (it’s Abe Hiroshi goddamit!! Why can’t they explore more of his character outside his career?), and then the bloody sub!! OMFG, it’s the most rubbish subbing ever, I ended up hardly understanding half of the the series, as if it’s not made hard enough with almost every actor/actresses speaking 93656234 words/sec. Fansub, really is the way for subbing, while official ones deserve to make losses for their lackadaisical attitude towards helping non-Japanese speaker like me to understand it (I bought a pirated one btw since downloading it is painstakingly hopeless, which is ripped from official DVD).

Anyway, moving on, I encountered this great series at 8tv on one Sunday afternoon. Thank God, I’m absolutely an Ueto Aya fan now!!! Aya-chan kawaii~~!!!

Beyond Misaki Yoko, this series is a great look into the way Japan Airline (JAL) run about their business Japanese style. The cabin attendant training, strict to miniscule details like how to bow, hand positions when serving passangers etc; the maintenance technicians, a single pen lost in the hangar means no work at all continues to prioritise safety. Uncountable apology bows and “mosyiaki gozaimasen” is as routine as breathing to them. One has to wonder…… all looks very strict and efficient, just how greater other airlines are to be able to outwit the Japanese? That includes us, Malaysian (MAS is ranked 6th best airline 2008)!! For this brief moment, it does make me proud to be Malaysian!! Malaysia boleh~!! I mean it, I’m seriously not being sarcastic there!!

Whenever there’s a motoring discussion, the Japanese’s achievement would be attributed to their culture of excellence and hard work. It pisses me off sometimes that some people chose to conveniently lay the blame on culture. While there may be truth to it, culture can be flexible and changable. They want change, they got it. Proton has never got any better than today since a man from Daihatsu proxy in Malaysia came and “Japanise” it. But when it does happen, they refused to acknowledge it at all.

Perhaps then, Proton can learn something from MAS. Manufacturing-wise, they should continue the Japanisation process, but service-wise, MAS demonstrate that we can put the Japanese to shame. Proton can go beyond the Japanese car manufacturers then theoretically, yohohoho. Hang on, actually…..it maybe can lol!! Gambatte Proton!!

MAS certainly puzzled me. Back in 2005, they posted RM1.25billion in losses, but last year they made their greatest profits ever at RM852million. That said, the losses still left them severely affected 3 years ago, well, any company would. It takes someone very crazy and stupid to dare go and save it. Somebody with a can-do personality like Misaki Yoko perhaps? Erm….more like Malaysia Boleh spirit I reckon yohohoho. Kudos to Datuk Idris Jala, your ability to turn it around is certainly a feat recognised as world standard, even awarded. That certainly made me respect him to a level of how much I respect Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin, the current Proton MD, who is probably the man I respect most in Malaysian corporate world. Today, MAS is ranked world’s 6th best airliner by Skytrax for 2 years in a row. Interestingly, back in 2005 when they had their worst financial year, they were still able to be ranked world’s 6th best airliner. MAS is still among the only 6 airliners which have 5-star airliner ranking alongside Singapore Airline (SIA), Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong-based), Asiana (Korea-based), Kingfisher (India-based), and Qatar Airways. Attention Please is like a JAL advertising to the world of how efficient they are and all when the Japanese do it their way. MAS went billions in losses, then went to even awarded the Phoenix award for the world’s best airline-turnaround story in 2007 by Penton Media’s Air Transport World, and all along throughout, consistently maintained to be among the elite 5-star airliner and in top 10 world’s best airliner. MAS’s achievement made JAL look very, veeeery average. Amazingly stunning.

Right right, now here comes the cynics, yes, I know, many would disagree of MAS’s recognition because they’ve eaten cold meals with little variety to choose from, too much cost-cutting here and there, etcetc and the fact that AirAsia pwned them domestic-wise and that if AirAsia to run all the international flights MAS do, MAS can be completely written off. But think about it: if even with all those issues in MAS makes them 6th best, ironing the problems out woud definitely get MAS ranked better, maybe even beating the 2008 world’s best airline, SIA perhaps? It needs better governance then, which means to ask the invisible hands of federal govt and their cronies to completely GTFO and allow MAS to run purely business-like befitting of its premium 5-star airliner recognition, not cutting corners which affected their service due to the need to cover their “leakages” caused by those invisible hands, which have also messed up our currency value against USD. Tony Fernandes sees that in SIA, so DSAI, this is definitely what you must attain as the soon-to-be 6th Malaysian Prime Minister: Competitive, Accountability, Transparency (CAT) government. You’ve promised to be a good, non-hypocritical muslim, right?

All hail DSAI!!
All hail DSAI!!
All hail DSAI!!

Wow, I’ve gone that far analyzing the aviation industry after watching Attention Please…..and able to discover that Malaysia do have quite something, yaay *clap*clap*. Definitely a much needed positive morale boost, what’s more at times when the current govt is getting stupider by the millisecond.

Attention Please is subbed by Kioku fansub, or you may watch it at crunchyroll subbed by Killar. It has 11 episodes plus 2 specials where they went to Hawaii and Australia. Some screenshots from Australian Special:

Misaki-chan, nice shirt there. She was first introduced as a lead singer of her band group which eventually disbanded in the first episode, and to my surprise, Ueto Aya is a singer in the real world too -she has sold over 800,000 copies of all her albums and singles combined!!

Tsutsumi-kun, the playboy co-pilot played by Koizumi Koutaro. Can you actually believe he’s the ex-Japanese PM, Junichiro Koizumi’s son?

Sekiyama-chan banzai!! Wow, I’d really wish I can be like her……doing that to our PM’s son-in-law…..except maybe with a sledgehammer + chainsaw + lightsaber.

So he’s not been flirting around actually since being together with Sekiyama-chan. All he did, is so that he can be a captain when facing Sekiyama-chan’s father, a captain himself. Bravo, Tsutsumi-kun!!

Sekiyama-chan proposed <3<3<3 …well, sort of. Gotta wait for Tsutsumi-kun to become a captain, desyo?

Misaki-chan, you’ll need to defeat Asiana Airways then, the current world’s best cabin staff. Your company meanwhile, needs to surpass us first before going against SIA. Are you up for it? Bwahahahaha. Quite nice uniform they have though, gotta love their scarf especially…..but hey, MAS’s kebaya uniforms are great too

Singapore’s there!! Where’s Malaysia?!?! Boohuhu… and… do Saudi Arabian and Chinese cabin attendants really wear like that in airplanes?

It’s the fasting month, and yet, it doesn’t feel like it at all. Not when even the Islamic bodies are out on assault against Raja Petra aka RPK. Apa ni, pi la berdakwah to “pendatang”, pi la buat forum utk kembalikan orang Islam balik ke “jalan yang benar”, ni diorg pun mau main game politikus. Kata bulan posa masa utk cari pahala berlipat ganda etc, ni pi cari pasal ada la. poorah.

Thank God I found this book. This is probably the best thing I have stumbled this month, a great anecdote to those who’re convinced that our country is becoming the next Zimbabwe. Lydia Teh, begs to differ. She has successfully chronicled the everyday events and happenings of a typical Malaysian life, and point the funny aspect of it. As the saying goes, “rock rain” is better than a “gold rain” after all.

Like say, she wrote about her American expat friend who noticed that we have an obsession for food, I reckon that if she had written a prequel book, she might realise that Malaysians are now obsessed with blogs and politics (heck, she even wrote about “confessions of a blog addict”, but it had nothing related witht the fact that Malaysians are now the world’s most populous blogger). Now, even Tony Fernandes is a blogger. He must be the first CEO blogger I suppose. Hip hip hooray!! Bloggers unite!! His call for Malaysians to be more positive is very timely, absolutely fit to be his first official post entry.

On to another blogger, Raja Petra. As he puts it, Malaysia Today’s “death” is only a signal that we’ve won!! Yeh, yeh, kita menang!! Home minister had been saying ‘warning letters’ had been issued ‘many times’ and they were all ‘ignored’, so how come he couldn’t specify how many? Present an example of these ‘warning letters’?

He also said RPK had been ‘insulting Islam, muslims, prophet Muhammad’, I couldn’t help but laughing from noon to break fast time. Make your own conclusion on who’s the real people who’ve insulted ‘Islam, muslims, prophet Muhammad’ so badly, they’d refuse to apologise to the Malaysians of Chinese ethinicity for calling them ‘pendatang’ (immigrants).

Well, that’s Malaysian for me. And seeing the positive side of every event. HONK!!!

Raja Petra Kamarudin aka RPK, well known for his website Malaysia Today, caught the nation’s attention when he was arrested for the article he wrote titled Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell. Today probably, he’ll be released after he met his wife and agreed to bail out.

What a short but mostly interesting drama. The timing couldn’t have been any better, right after the World Press Freedom Day (3rd May), so the world would’ve noticed our stance on media freedom and understand better than ever of the current situation. “Action speaks louder than words”, so Najib’s denial is just a Pink Elephant, if it’s not obvious enough already to most of the readers. “This is not politically motivated,”? Kusahkenna.

It’s a surprise to see some people are very excited to call RPK an evil person and his punishment is deserving of his act. We’ll see about that. What more, it comes from a mouth that supports people who’d recognise RPK, me, and 500,000++ other Malaysians as a “monkey”, “sniper”, “jobless widow”, “goblok” etc.

Heh, this I have to say for them:

They say that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Well, weave your own conclusion, I guess we already know who’s the real victor in this little drama, and if things proceed as it is until 2012 or 2013, we’ll see a new govt for GE13. If they think by becoming “goblok” themselves and organising a program that talks with “monkeys” live can cushion or even steer away their downfall, well, only time can tell.

But I suppose that’ll be nice too. The political drama here will be faster paced, and when the time comes for PR to fall sometime after they’re done for, the stakes will be higher. The drama and psychologies will be more interesting than Death Note and Code GEASS combined by that time, kuhkuhkuhkuh. By that time then, the self-fulfilled prophecy will come true, that “all politicians are the same” will come true, with a new definition to it. For now, the situation is a bit one-sided, just as it was for the past 50 years, then for the next how many years for PR, and then finally we get to elect “actors” for Malaysian political arena, the Death Note edition. Hell, it’s about time.

Things just keep getting better, if one wants to look at it as such, eh? Pop corns, anyone?

Heheh, I found a rather interesting topic about how the new generation of Members of Parliament (MP) come to the Parliament in normal, basic cars like Proton Wira, rather than chauffeured in S-classes or 7-series. YB Jeff Ooi who had his Wira towed since he parked it outside the Parliament, gets the attention as the police told him there’s “no parking space inside”, even when he has a VIP parking since he’s an MP. The topic went on to discuss about how security guards’ biased treatment on locals who appear to look poor, while foreigners seem to be given a better treatment. I then poked the thread starter of whether it’s fine to have your leaders arriving at the Parliament in a motorbike or walking there, presumably they took the public transport. As a leader, it’s kinda awful if he/she can’t afford a car, unless he/she goes by the name Mahatma Gandhi. His reply is that MPs should be judged by what they do, not what they wear, drive, or how big their house is. While that is true, I feel that I ought to give him the other aspect to determine a good MP, and I told him back this:

“Hoho……when I said “they’re leaders”, they ought to “lead by example”. Having nice homes and cars may be a good thing if it can motivate people to work hard to become rich too. More so by the leaders, since they’ll touch more people’s lives. So they ought to give advice, encouragement, and guidance to the people to become rich too, hoho. Sharing is caring, and so sharing is also a quality they need to have as a leader. They should share with the people the experience of a great life money can allow them to afford.

Of course, they’d still need to know how to “ukur baju di badan sendiri” (know how to be realistic with your current situation). And of course, the need for transparency for people to know that their nice possessions are not sourced from the people’s tax paid. There can be many ways to become rich and afford to have those nice stuffs legally and morally, without stooping so low to corruption.

Especially in this time of rising cost of rice, mee, flour, (soon) fuel etc and expensive private and overseas college/university fees (since I suppose 99% of forummers here would deem public U as “hopeless”), many discussions would point that “being rich is nice, since they’d be least affected by the rising cost of living”. How about if everyone become rich then? “Lead by example”, leaders should be responsible to teach the people “how to fish”. Giving the people “fish” is kinda short-term, I thank them if they can afford to, like S’gor govt giving S’gorians free 20m3 water soon, but take that away, and you’ll see those who can’t “fish” complain, suffer, and would vote anyone as long as he/she’s not from the current governing party.

Get my drift? A leader must be financially smart, and ought to present themselves as such step by step according to the size of “baju di badan sendiri”, therefore they must have an ambition and goal in life to achieve, not like say, before election drive Kancil, but after election drive a Porsche, then……that leader need to be investigated by ACA…

Who I prefer to respect? The one that is more financially smart and morally righteous. How to tell? By looking at their financial statement, made possible by transparency, and to keep an eye on him/her to know his/her moral compass. Easier to know now with the advent of the internet.

Riding a motorbike, walking, huff…..ride a car at least please, a Proton/Perodua would do good to project a “buy Malaysian” image. Riding public transport may sound noble, but knowing Malaysia’s, that MP could end up having a bad punctuality record.“

What’s your idea of an ideal MP? Does being one means it’s forbidden to own a Merc or BMW, to avoid people thinking you’re wasting the tax they’d paid? If that’s so, then we might as well be a communist country. That sucks, since I’ll have to wave goodbye to my dream Ford Focus ST, Alfa Romeo Brera Spider, Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS, iphone, Asus Lamborghini, trip around the world et cetera. We’re gonna be told to live our life like a bald man that freed India because that is deemed to be absolutely noble. Keyword: absolutely.

“Thou shalt liveth modestly below thy’s means” is the poor people’s interpretation of how life is supposed to be. Unless you’re mentally poor, then go ahead. But IMHO, that’s a bad way of life. You see, the majority of the people I’ve come across in my life are mentally rich, with great ambition and dream to own lovely “worldly possessions”. So why do we have to lie to ourselves that we don’t need it, that we’ll appear ’selfish’, ‘arrogant’, ‘corrupted’ etc if we own it? Aren’t the people driving Ferraris, live in nice villas considered successful (disclaimer: this does not apply to AP kings and cronies) ? Are we successful if we don’t achieve our dreams?

I guess that’s the challenge of dreaming to become rich in Malaysia, you’d get tonnes of holier-than-thou Gandhi’s lifestyle fanboy looked up as wise and noble in the society ranking, while great rich people like Adam Khoo, Robert Kiyosaki, Donald Trump, Jeremy Clarkson are as unpopular and unappealing as collecting dead mosquitoes as a hobby. Yes, I do respect Gandhi for his great sacrifice and effort to free India, but to cultivate his lifestyle today is too impractical. I’d rather be honest to myself that I wanna be rich, and enjoy all the great things the world can offer and share it with the people who want to be with me for who I am. The more, the better and merrier for everyone .

Believe me, those holier-than-thou Gandhi’s lifestyle fanboys will be pushed to the edge financially some time in their life, and more often than not, they’re the kind of people to give in to corruption in that kinda desperate situation. Why? Because they think “money is the root of all evil”, well, that’s what I call a “self-fulfilling prophecy”.

If you’re financially smart enough to make your own million, do you still need to steal from the taxpayers? That’ll be like knowing how to cook with all the ingredients at your home kitchen, and then rob from the pizza delivery boy. This will then be a test of your moral compass and sanity.

So the truth is, “lack of money is the root of all evil”. Just like how when you’re so hungry, you’d steal to fill up your stomach; money matter applies the same principle as well.

Last night, there was a heavy traffic in Semenyih while my friends and I were going out for dinner. A crucial part of the road is blocked by an overturned lorry, that what would normally takes 8 minutes turned to a 30 minutes crawl. There was not a single police traffic there, that someone had to volunteer to handle the traffic.

Today, I discovered that there was no police there yesterday because they were all stationed at Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s gathering at Sultan Sulaiman Club field to mark the end of his exile from politics, the day known as the “Black 14″.

Great. Apparently the police has yet to learn the lesson to forgo the “permit is needed to make a gathering” law. Reports made it clear that the gathering was rather peaceful and it needn’t permit as it was done in a private property anyway, so what’re the police so worried? Instead, they’ve wasted my 60 – 16 = 44 minutes stuck in the traffic for nothing, plus with all the cars moving so slow, it’s bad for the environment too, so where are the environ-mental-ists, aren’t they going to criticise the police for causing more baby polar bears to be drowned due to excessively unnecessary burning of fossil fuel?

That’s my loss. The police, meanwhile, lost more of my respect for them. Buck up, will ya? So much for their claim that they’ll be fair to both side of the political camp, and yet, they’d never done anything this radical when bee anne made protests in Penang, Perak n Selangor.

Yeoh makes dad proud

By LIM CHIA YING

AS THE eldest child in the family, Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh has been groomed from an early age to lead by example and to take her education seriously.

She recalls her parents having high expectations of her to perform well in her studies.

She had to read storybooks as soon as she was enrolled in kindergarten. Then in primary school, her father made her memorise grammar books from cover to cover.

“I remember once when my dad made me walk home from school when I got second place instead of first in class,” recalled Yeoh.

“But I’m thankful for the strict upbringing as it has taught me the need to take education seriously. As the eldest child, I was expected to be a role model to my younger siblings.

“If my dad had not been strict with me, I would have probably grown up without an interest in reading nor would I have cultivated leadership skills,” Yeoh reasoned.

She said her dad was definitely the stricter of her parents, but she understood that he did not come from a well-to-do family which was why he placed such emphasis on his children’s education.

“I know that dad is very proud now to see me becoming an assemblyman. In fact, he has long harboured hopes of me joining politics,” added Yeoh.

She said her 60-year-old father was still working in his own printing business.

“I owe him for my upbringing. Dad always tells me that while he wants to see me become a successful person, I must remember to give back to the society, which is the reason why I joined politics,” she said.

A leader at her church, Yeoh said God was also her source of strength.

“I don’t take things for granted, and I’m contented with what I have and where I am. And I’m thankful to have a husband who supports me all the way,” she enthused.

StarMetro: How much time to do you spend on the computer?

Yeoh: A few hours a day.

StarMetro: Do you blog?

Yeoh: Yes.

StarMetro: Do you have a website?

Yeoh: Yes, hannahyeoh.blogspot. com2

StarMetro:Do you play a musical instrument, dance or sing?

Yeoh: I have a small keyboard at home. I learned to play a few songs when I was in university. I can’t dance. My husband thinks I can sing.

StarMetro:What kind of music do you listen to?

Yeoh: Gospel songs.

StarMetro: Name a favourite song.

Yeoh: Amazing Grace

StarMetro: Name a favourite movie.

Yeoh: One Fine Day starring George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer

StarMetro: What do you read?

Yeoh: Blogs and Christian literature.

StarMetro: What was the last book you read?

Yeoh: Drawing Near by John Bevere

StarMetro: Are you into English Premier League football?

Yeoh: No, but I have a favourite team.

StarMetro: What’s your team and favourite player?

Yeoh: Arsenal, Thierry Henry

StarMetro: If not football, what’s your favourite sport?

Yeoh: Jogging and swimming

StarMetro: What do you play?

Yeoh: Tennis, table-tennis, badminton and handball.

StarMetro: Who is your favourite sports star?

Yeoh: Cheah Soon Kit and Soo Beng Kiang

StarMetro: Got a nickname? How did it come about?

Yeoh: Ginger. My good friend Jochebed decided to name a few of us after vegetables (as we all love vegetables) and because I like ginger, hence the nickname.

StarMetro: What languages can you speak?

Yeoh: Bahasa Malaysia, English and Cantonese.

StarMetro: Do you smoke?

Yeoh: No.

StarMetro: What is the gadget you can’t do without?

Yeoh: Handphone and laptop.

StarMetro: What’s your favourite food?

Yeoh: Chicken rice.

StarMetro: You have a weakness for?

Yeoh: Earrings

StarMetro: What car do you drive and how long have you had it?

Yeoh: Hyundai Getz. Almost four years.

StarMetro: What is your contribution to environmental conservation?

Yeoh: I don’t litter.

StarMetro: Name an idol (dead or alive) whom you look up to and why.

Yeoh: I don’t have an idol.

StarMetro: Any phobia?

Yeoh: Cats!

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A while back, I’ve posted about the price of counting your blessing, and as anyone can see, living in poverty is difficult, and it can only get more difficult.

The govt recently announced about revising RON rating for our fuel, then, Azlano, the Proton Design’s manager, just posted about the rising medical bill, mee price has just increased et cetera. It’s really easy to blame the govt, but in the meantime, what can we do to cope with the rising cost of living? “Change our lifestyle?” What a poor advice by our future PM……

Never mind him, this is my suggestion: get this book. Nao.

To live a fulfilling life, it can only be achievable when you can afford to get what you want in life. Life is so much more meaningful if you can wake up seeing your dream car is in your garage, you can stay in a home that you dream of, you can visit every country that you wish to visit, dine in the most exclusive and prestigious restaurant, cooked by famous reputable chefs that you admire.

However, the rich people have always been under heavy bombardment, especially more so in Malaysia. I believe, if I were to ask any man on the street “what do you think of rich people”, their typical reaction will be:

• AP king
• Corrupt
• Greedy
• Materialistic
• Selfish

And so on, you get the idea.

These people do have a point, and I agree that they can be true. But they can also choose to remain ignorant.

The truth is, there are actually a number of kind and responsible rich people too, who’d share their secret, and more so in the Information Age. This book is one of it, and this book is, as the title implied, why those 2 financial guru want the people from the middle class and poor to become rich too.

One thing in common about both author: they’ve been through the best and the worst of life that money can offer. Yes, today Donald Trump is a billionaire, but little do people remember a time when he used to walk around New York street with his daughter pointing at a random beggar and said “he’s a billion dollar richer than me.” Robert T Kiyosaki, well known for his best-selling Rich Dad Poor Dad book, went bankrupt twice before he finally became a millionaire again. This, certainly made them all the more credible to say that life is better when you’re rich than if you’re poor.

In this book, they share their opinions about the challenges coming in the Information Age. The war in Middle East has triggered the rise in prices of oil worldwide, many “baby boomers” will retire in 2010, the change in pension plan in the US with the 401k plan, the stock market crash et cetera. Scary? No, it’s inevitable, so treat it more like a warning for us to be prepared, very much in a way if you’ve heard there’s tsunami coming ahead. It’s a disaster, it’s unavoidable, it’s a fact, and so it’s only a matter of how one reacts to it.

They agree that these challenges will affect little for the rich, while the ones most affected will be the poor and middle class. The poor will find it even harder to survive, while the middle class will risk losing their jobs. This is because of the advent of internet, Information Age’s most powerful tool. Internet has enabled outsourcing, eg people in the US to hire workers from let’s say, Pakistan for just USD50/week. Surely, that Pakistani wouldn’t mind that pay, which may be considered a lot in his country, but in US? That spells disaster for the Americans, and this scenario applies to any country. More so since China and India is fast rising as the world economic giants. One scary fact Donald Trump notices: 2 years ago, the first Starbucks opened in China. Today, there are more Starbucks in China than in US. TWO YEARS. ONLY. The shift in economic giant power will have an effect to the rest of the world (including Malaysia obviously), and so it is best for us to be prepared for that time to come.

What does it take to be rich then? There are many ways, it can be winning lottery, winning in competition, accepting bribery, marry the Prime Minister’s daughter, but are these the recommended ways to become rich?

For the majority, the answer is no, unless if you’re one of those lucky ones. Keyword: lucky. These ways require luck, it is a shortcut, and thus, one would miss many important lessons of what it takes to become a rich person.

Kiyosaki-sama once wrote (in a different book) about being in a tv show, where the host told him about the craze for being rich the fast way (eg. Americal Idol, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, The Amazing Race etc), and he discourage it and said there’s more ways to becoming rich too. It didn’t please the host, and she then sarcastically attacked him by asking whether his books are about how to get rich the “slow way?” His answer, is a gem that I treasure in my heart whenever I think anything about money: “It’s about the price of becoming rich.”

Yes, becoming rich has a price. Those who aren’t willing to pay it, will only realise their wealth disappear as quickly as they earn it. What is the price of becoming rich?

Read the book then. Yohohoho.

I love this book because it’s rather light-reading material, suitable for leisure read anytime for anyone (yes, even for teens). That means it’s practical enough for anyone to be able to understand it, and then apply. Generally, it is more to do with WHY rather than HOW, which is what most financial advice book lack to address. The WHY is very much needed for Malaysians to change their attitude towards the rich people. True rich people are ones who’re financially intelligent, and it may not be reflected through what house they’re living in, what car they drive, because they usually know how to “measure the shirt on their body”. On the contrary, the ones who look like they’re rich with Rolexes, Guccis, Pradas, BMWs are mostly living their life in the financial red line, as in just like a car engine. They’re usually just a paycheck or two away from becoming broke.

See how desperate some people can be just to pretend that they’re rich? These people are dishonest with themselves, the lack of money is what makes them want to show off even more for people to see and think that they’re rich. Their foolishness and lack of financial understanding is what caused them to prostitute their values (honesty and respect to oneself) in order to satisfy their ego. And give the real rich people a bad image. The real rich people are wealthy people, which according to Kiyosaki-sama , is measured by time. Wealth, is about how long you can sustain yourself. Those posers with high expense lifestyle have an income that’s too small to sustain their lifestyle long enough. That, is why they’ll go broke if they slip. And probably suicide too.

It is all the more dangerous for politicians. Their integrity is at stake. If they believe their integrity is only as valuable as RM10 million, then sadly, they’re financially idiots then for risking something priceless which can devastate the rest of their life. It has been all right in the past here in Malaysia thanks to our “tak apa” attitude of the leaders, in fact, it has spread so much that rich people are probably more hated than mat rempit, but thankfully, their time is almost up. MAKKAL SAKTHI!!

Sceptics would think that the new political landscape will eventually be the ’same old, same old,’ and I do feel there are signs of such. Reading “My ADUN” almost everyday (when are they going to interview Hannah Yeoh-chan~~?!?!), I do can see how the Opposition MPs can be prone to give in to corruption, judging by how most of them believe living modestly is the way of life. Unless they’re all as religiously strong as Mahatma Gandhi or like those Buddhist monks, the temptation of having millions can be too good to let go, if they’re either financially or spiritually weak.

While in the past the people perceives the rich become so by “receiving fish”, the new political landscape should change it so that the rich do become rich because they’ve been “taught how to fish.” That is more honorable and ethical, which would make Donald J Trump and Robert T Kiyosaki proud.

It started with YB Teresa Kok’s posting photos of her celebration with 5 roast pigs, which was later edited out.

Then, Selangor state govt declared the RM100 million modern pig farm project, which irked even more “muslims”. Yes, this is, a case of another MSM hype of the half-truth. Being caution as I always do, it is with great relief that the whole truth is revealed in YB Teresa Kok’s and YB Nik Nazmi’s blog. Apparently, the project was given the green light last January 30th, when Dr Khir Toyo was still the MB. Utusan as usual, forgot to include this in their earlier report, but the damage has been done. Now the new Selangor state govt gets a bad name……o rly?

If one goes beyond what’s being reported, they’d realise that it’s better now than delaying it, causing the cost to rise up in the future, just like that delayed Terengganu stadium which should’ve cost RM250 million but ended up costing RM400 million due to rising construction cost. To disapprove it would be unwise in the long run, for we might end up having to import pig meat which means draining our money to the country that exports it. Then what, “change your lifestyle?”. Or “Polis kata jangan…” wakakakakakak

To bash the current govt for continuing what the previous govt had started, zzz, how hypocrite is that?

There has been the environmental concern addressed by some people, but that is exactly why it’ll use German modern technology. Their superior system ensures all waste will be managed to sustain itself, by re-using it to generate biogas to generate electricity for the farm. That is development to improve the current traditional system. 2-0 for environ-mental-ists’ defeat. They should instead encourage Negeri Sembilan pig farmers to adapt this technology too, but nope, I suppose they’re all in the hospital treating their head for banging the wall around in the dark an hour a day to futilely reduce CO2 emission.

Regarding religious issue, as stressed earlier, the current govt is finishing what the previous govt started, should Dr Khir be labelled as the Malay’s traitor then? Just look at the Indians, they’ve never boycott, protest, burn or kill BK, McD, or Carl’s Jr for displaying beef burgers, or bash the medias for reporting beefs distributed every Hari Raya Korban. It’s shameful we Muslims have to resort to making such lowly statements for something we can’t and don’t eat, but is certainly fine for the other community in this beloved country that’s been poisoned by Bee Anne’s MSM for far too long. So if another Dutch joker is out to make another silly crap to express what they think abt Islam, then learn to sink this into your thick head, Bee Anne: “You reap what you sow”.

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