Decrypting the UnDeCyPhErAbLe

Exodus

2005-11-12T20:41:00.000+11:00

Hey guys! Blogspot has served me well, but I've decided to make an exodus to Blogsome now. Lately, I've been hit by spammers in my comments system, selling me everything from sex performance exhancers (no thanks :P), to immigration advice and what-nots. Plus, Blogspot doesn's have a Category feature, which I feel is a very nifty thing to have. So that's why I've decided to kiss Blogspot goodbye, and hello Blogsome! :)

You can get to my new blog through this link.

Long live the jellyfish then!!!

Great Friends = Priceless, Insincere Friends = Aplenty

2005-10-31T19:46:00.000+11:00

Just a short message telling everybody to cherish your true friendships, for as you progress further in your life, you'll increasingly be surrounded by selfish, hypocritical ones who don't even have the balls to tell it like it is to your face. And trust me, this ain't a cliche.

Accounting Joke Heard in Lecture

2005-10-28T01:04:00.000+10:00

Lol, heard this from my accounting lecturer, Mr Portelli. Odd guy, him. I must say, I didn't really like him at first. Thought he was a bit manic and at times, kinda irrelevant. But I think he sorta grew on me. He seems to be a very passionate lecturer, and he seems to just love being an accountant *gasps!* :) Anyway, he got a clapping farewell from us after his last lecture this Monday :)

Anyway, here's the joke:

There once was a business owner who was interviewing people for a division manager position. He decided to select the individual that could answer the question "how much is 2+2?"

The engineer pulled out his slide rule and shuffled it back and forth, and finally announced, "It lies between 3.98 and 4.02".

The mathematician said, "In two hours I can demonstrate it equals 4 with the following short proof."

The physicist declared, "It's in the magnitude of 1x101."

The logician paused for a long while and then said, "This problem is solvable."

The social worker said, "I don't know the answer, but I a glad that we discussed this important question."

The lawyer stated, "In the case of Svenson vs. the State, 2+2 was declared to be 4."

The trader asked, "Are you buying or selling?"

The accountant looked at the business owner, then got out of his chair, went to see if anyone was listening at the door and pulled the drapes. Then he returned to the business owner, leaned across the desk and said in a low voice, "What would you like it to be?" :D

Damn, still waiting to enrol in 'Company Embezzlement 101', 'Tax Evasion 102', and 'Insider Trading 103'.... :P

In Memory of Anty. R.I.P

2005-10-24T18:39:00.000+10:00

Yesterday, while I was in the midst of my perpetual struggle against Finance, I blacked out.

Okok, not exactly, but I did become pretty brain-numb after that titanic struggle to understand archaic NPV crap. Banker I am not...

But I digress. So then I decided to take a short break from that confounded subject, and proceeded to check out what's on on the TV at 12:30 past midnight. Was hoping for some free-TV porn, but alas had to settle with some skimpily-dressed women enticing me to sign up for RSVP.com.au. Initially thought it was some save the animals site, but it turned out to be an online dating/sex partner site. And I sat there thinking, "Why would any hot babes like her have to go on to sites like that to get laid? *ahem, I actually meant: To find her 'soul' partner*?" I think you would probably find more, *how shall I put it delicately*, 'realistic' looking ladies on sites like those than bombshells like her.

So while I was ogling at those women, I suddenly noticed a poor struggling big ant near the wall. After recalling the Buddha's teaching I read to sleep yesterday, I decided to help that unfortunate reincarnate of some fellow by helping it avoid a slow death by starvation. I took a piece of paper, and tried to flicked him onto it. Unfortunately, that nincompoop of an ant prefered to become SuperAnt and constantly tried to leap out of the paper.

Finally, I managed to keep Anty (let's call it that) on that sheet of paper by an ingenious method of gently tilting the paper whenever Anty was precariously hanging on one side of it. What a champ, this brain of mine... :)

So after kicking the door open with my feet, I happily whistled my way to the garden, which I was hoping would be Anty's new home. When I finally reached the place, I realised in horror that Anty was no where to be found! I became into an equivalent of an agitated monkey and proceeded to spin around furiously, looking for any signs of Anty. It was then that I suddenly heard a sickening 'crunch' under by rubber slippers... *Shit!!!*

I had murdered Anty. Nooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

What a way to go. And so much for my Buddhist karmic points....

R.I.P Anty. You will be missed.

Namo Ammitabha

Letter Published In The Star Education

2005-10-23T11:03:00.000+10:00

Hahaha, I can now add this 1 cent's worth letter to my collection of published 'kaypoh' letters in The Star and Malaysiakini :) For this one, I was replying to some previous letters written by some students who weren't happy with Malaysia's inflexible streaming system in high school. For Australians, streaming is a kinda system where students, upon entering Form 4 (Year 9), are forced to choose between 'fixed' packages of subjects: Science stream: consisting of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Additional Maths, Maths and other core subjects, while Arts/Commerce stream: consisting of subjects such as Commerce, Accouting Principles, Economics, Malay and English Literature, etc.

The other thing while I replied in the letter was the preplexing 'superiority complex' that some people in Malaysia: students, teachers, and parents alike, have regarding Science stream students, while the opposite is true for Arts/Commerce students. Weird, huh?

Good PC Strategy Game, Anyone?

2005-10-16T19:04:00.000+10:00

I need a new kickass, mentally-stimulating Real Time Strategy (RTS) PC game. I've been deprived of one since... since... actually, for donkey years now, come to think of it. I think the last RTS game that I was really into was Starcraft, actually. Sheesh, that's a bit sad, wouldn't you say? :P

Anyway, I was wondering whether anyone can recommend me a good RTS game? I've got Warcraft 3, and no offence to anyone who's a fan of it, but it just didn't do it for me, man. I mean, 99 unit cap, what the heck is that??? How can the game maker expect me to feel like an armchair general with that measly number of units? The other thing that didn't go down very well with me was it's graphics. I just don't dig it's bright cartoony style of graphics. And what's with that whole Role Playing Game (RPG) aspect of it? If I had wanted to play an RPG, I would have gotten an RPG game, and not a strategy one. Jeez... Now WC3 is hijacked by the DotA RPG mod, 'nuff said...

Bright, blocky, and ultimately a hybrid between an RTS and an RPG game. Neither here nor there

Anyway, so WC3 was a dissapointment. Then my bro recommended to me Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. And yeah! That's more like it. It's a futuristic sci-fi strategy game that's based on the desktop game with the same name.

What did I tell ya bout the graphics? Eye candy never looked this good! :P

Anyway, first impressions were that it looked stunning. And you can zoom in to insane levels! And heck, it also ran pretty well on my Pentium 4 2.25 GHz, 256 mb RAM, GeForce4 MX 440 64mb RAM system, considering how 'ancient' my system was. *Note to self: Need a RAM upgrade ASAP...* And so yeah, at least it had a generous unit cap. Cool factions (Space Marines, Chaos, Orks, Eldars, and now Imperial Guards), and did I say how great it looked? Heck, it's like an upgraded 3D Starcraft! :)

But alas, for me, there's a 'flaw' in DoW that kinda stops me from fully embracing it. It's just too offence-oriented for my taste. I'm more of a defensive kinda player. Because of the way how the resource gathering system is designed, players are discouraged from base-building, and are instead forced to just attack, attack, and attack.

But man oh man, yesterday, while browsing around gamespy.com, I came across this preview of something called 'Supreme Commander'. And gosh, I totally fell in love with it man! Can't wait to play it when it comes out next year!

Check it out and drool...

It's also a sci-fi RTS game based in a mechanised, robotic conflict, and it promises to revolutionise the RTS genre once it's out. Why? Well, for starters, it's HUGE. Everything in it is BIG. The maps are like 4 times bigger than the maps in regular RTS games. Why's that? That's because it's units are based on a true scale. This means that there is gonna be huge spider-like bots that's gonna really be 20x bigger than the smaller regular mechs. And these smaller mechs can actually walk underneath those bigger mechs. Ditto with naval ships, jet planes, etc. So the map has to be big, to make sure that the armies don't meet each other too early in the game, which would then force them to just fight with their basic cheap units. The maker of SUPCOM wants to give people the chance to tech up, or rely on 'real' strategies to win, and not just massing units and rushing with them. But wait, this designer seems to be my kinda guy! :) He also hates the low unit caps in WC3 and such, and promises to provide HUGE numbers of units counts so that your armies actually looks like a proper army, and not some motley crew of 50+ characters...

Ahh, it seems that SUPCOM has everything I ever wanted in an RTS game. Pity it's only gonna be out late next year.

Till then, what great strategy games can you guys suggest that I get? :)

7 Memes!

2005-09-23T00:55:00.000+10:00

Hell, don't even really know what all this is about! ;)

But anyway, since I got tagged by jon choo, here goes!

7 Things You Plan To Do Before You Die:

1. Get laid (duh!) :P
2. Own an Australian terrier (sooo cute!)
3. Go to the UK and Europe
4. Fall in love?
5. Watch at least a quarter of the "100 Movies You Must See Before You Die"
6. Meet up with my oooold primary school buddies again from SRK Stowell, BM and SK Sri Tebrau, JB to see how they've been
7. Work in a charity

7 Things I Could Do:

1. Start exercising again
2. Pick up chess again
3. Drink less coffee
4. Start honing my pick-up skills?
5. Learn Mandarin
6. Stop regretting past stuff (snap out of it!)
7. Watch The Exorcist, Schiender's List

7 Celebrity Crushes:

1. Elva Hsio
2. BoA Kwan
3. Kate Hudson
4. Lindsay Lohan(???)
5. Avril Lavinge
6. Seth's 1st girlfriend in The OC (the perky blondie)
7. Ryan's 2nd girlfriend in The OC (the bookworm cutie!)

7 Often Repeated Words:

1. Jeebes Christ!
2. Sh*t!
3. God damn it! (for a Buddhist, I seem to be using a lot of Christian stuff here...)
4. No lah...
5. Hi
6. No, I'm not Malay :)
7. Mother f**ker (reserved only for mortal enemies)

7 Traits I Look For In The Opposite Sex:

1. Instant chemistry?
2. Face (not a body kinda person, as long as it's presentable...)
3. Cute?
4. Off-beat personality
5. Sincerity
6. I'm a sucker for long-haired chicks
7. Fun to be with!

My 7 Tags Goes To:

1. Delwyn Lee aka infiDel
2. Dektos Loh
3. Jun Hoe
4. Baga
5. Yeng Yie
6. Rajan R
7. Bao

Which Political Ideology Do You Believe In?

2005-09-19T20:02:00.000+10:00

Hey guys! Just curious to find out which political ideologies/beliefs you guys believe in. Just take the poll on the right-hand side column of this blog.

For those that are politically-challenged, here's a short description of all the ideologies:

1. Liberalism:

Social beliefs: Emphasis on an individual's rights to seek fulfilment in their own way with minimum state intervention. Promotes individuality. Encourages dissent. Tolerant towards minority groups (ie: homosexuals, different religious beliefs and way of life), multiculturalism

Economic beliefs: Promotes free market economy, with minimum government intervention. Encourages entrepreneuralism, does not believe in penalising the rich through higher taxation

Examples: The Democratic Party (US), The Liberal-Democrats (UK), The Australian Democrats (Australia)

2. Conservatism:

Social beliefs:Opposes change. Preserves tradition. Supports the monarchy. Promotes traditional family units (opposes homosexuality). May have a religious tint (Christianity, Islam, Jewish, Buddhist). Prefers a homogeneous national composition with a strong sense of national identity over a fragmented multicultural one

Economic beliefs: Varies. Usually promotes privatisation, free-market economy, capitalism

Examples: The Republican Party (US), The Conservatives (UK), The Liberal Party (a misnomer, trust me) (Australia)

3. Social Democracy:

Social beliefs: Equal rights and opportunities for all, social support system for the underprivileged, secular society, multiculturalism

Economic beliefs: Capitalism (socialism opposes capitalism, social democracy embraces it but seeks to ensure an fairer redistribution of wealth from it through higher taxation on the rich to redistribute to the poor), welfare state, nationalisation (as oppose to privatisation), providing compulsory minimum wages for workers, emphasises on free or heavily government subsidised services in healthcare, education, etc

Examples: The Labour Party (UK, Australia, New Zealand), Social Democratic Party (SPD) (Germany)

4. Nationalism

Social beliefs: Preserves a strong national identity. Patriotic. Strong emphasis on a particular race/langaue/culture/religion. Usually oppose multiculturalism as it dillutes national unity. For Asian countries, nationalistic parties were usually formed during the peak of nationalistic movements to free themselves from foreign colonisation, usually by Western powers.

Economic beliefs: Not restricted to a particular model. The abomination that is the former Nazi Party in Germany advocated a socialist economy, while nationalistic parties in the UK and Australia tends to subscribe to a capitalist economic model. Economic models are not an important aspect of nationalistic parties

Examples: National Party (UK), One Nation (Australia)

5. Religion-based

Social beliefs: The organisation of society based on a particular religion, with differing levels of religious emphasis. Can vary from very strong religious tint that reforms a country's constitutional structure to place a heavier emphasis on religion (parties in government in Iran, Vatican City, Saudi Arabia) to ones that still work within a democratic constitution (Family First Party in Australia, Christian Democratic Union in Germany)

Economic beliefs: Varies. Not an integral part of a religion-based ideology. However, one could safely deduce that they would reject a socialist and communist economic model because of their aethistic beliefs

Examples: Family First Party (Australia), CDU (Germany)

6. Green

Social beliefs: Participatory democracy with a tolerance to a multitude of alternative veiws, increased emphasis on civil rights, emphasis on the environment with forest conservation, animal rights and protection, the legalisation of drugs, acknowledgement of homosexual rights. Social beliefs tends to be more left-wing in orientation

Economic beliefs: Introduction of a green tax that would increase taxation on resource-intensive items, laws to curb pollution and increase environmental protection, subsidies for organic food production, diary farming

Examples: Green Party (Australia, UK, Germany)

7. Communism

Social beliefs: Emphasis on state needs over individual. Protecting the welfare of the 'exploited' working-class from the wealthy industrialists or upper-class capitalists and intellectuals (bourgeoisie class). Extensive state support for citizens, from cradle to grave (ie provides free schooling, healthcare, designating jobs and careers, etc)

Economic beliefs: Overthrowing the unfair capitalist system and replacing it with a socialist system which enables the sharing of ownership of all properties. All production and work will be done solely for the state, and not for particular individuals

Examples: Communist Party (China, Vietnam, North Korea, India) (all gradually embracing capitalism), Left Party (Germany)

So there. All the relevant political ideologies that I can think of right now. So take your pick, which ones do you prefer, and feel free to then vote for it in the poll I made on the right column of this blog. You could also leave a comment here arguing why you think your choice is the best, and what it's merits are. Likewise, you could also argue why you think certain ideologies should be consigned to the dustbin :)

For me, it's still a toss-up between social democracy and liberalism after 2 years immersed in the Australian political scene. But I still think social democracy piqued liberalism by a bit at the moment for mua. A more caring and equitable society seems to me to be more important than pure individualistic gratification. What about you?

USA Has It's First Black President!

2005-09-16T18:31:00.000+10:00

And what's more, it's a woman! :)

Here's what George W. Bush scribbled to Condoleezza Rice during a UN summit yesterday:

"I think I may need a bathroom break? Is this possible?"

I sincerely hope he was given the permission to do so :)

Condi Rice ruling the US and the world by proxy anyone?

Asian Nations: One-Party Political Systems?

2005-09-07T15:44:00.000+10:00

I've been doing some reading in Wikipedia about the various Asian governments and the opposition parties there. More specifically Taiwan, Japan and Singapore's (Malaysia no need laa, since I'd lived there for almost 2 decades liao...) Very interesting stuff.

The thing that struck me while reading about them were the similarities of the governments there. Let's start with Taiwan first.

Taiwan

For those who don't know, Taiwan, or otherwise officially known as the Republic of China (ROC) was the island where General Chiang Kai-Shek and his cadres retreated to after they were defeated by Mao Ze Dong's Communists. Supposedly, Chiang's party, the Kuomintang (KMT), was the one which fought for democracy, while' Mao's Communist Party was the one which fought for a totalitarian state. However, when Chiang's KMT ruled Taiwan, he ruled it with an iron fist as well. Ironically, KMT is also a left-leaning socialist party, although not as far left as Mao's Communist Party.

The KMT

Anyway, fast forward to the future. The KMT ruled Taiwan unbroken from 1950-2000, where it lost to Chen Shui-Bian's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the 2000 Presidential Election, thus ending it's 50 year rule, and transforming Taiwan into a full-fledged 2-party system democracy.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)

This victory was made even more amazing when one considers that this party was only formed in 1991! (although it had been 'unoffically' in existence since 1986). However, with Taiwan employing the presidential system, having Chen Shui-Bian as a President does not really mean that DPP have complete control over Taiwan's policy-making process. In the 2004 Legislative Election, KMT has regain a majority in the Congress (which is the legislative (law-making) arm of this system, consisting of the House of Representative and Senate). This means that President Chen still has to 'entice' members of the opposition KMT to vote in support for his policies. However, this is actually the 'ideal' political situation according to exponents of the presidential system, as it serves as a check and balance to the President (the Executive arm of the government) and the Congress (the legislative arm), with each arm checking the other's power. This is oppose to the parliamentary system practiced in Malaysia, UK, and Australia where elected MPs act both as the Executive (ministers) and Legislative (voting to pass legislations in parliament) arms of government.

The reason DPP won was actually very peculiar. There was some infighting in the KMT between KMT's nominee, Lien Chan, and a disgrunted James Soong, who failed to get nominated to run for presidency by the KMT. He eventually quit the party and ran for the presidency as an independent. In the end, President Chen managed to win 39% of the votes to become president. However, both Lien Chan and James Soong's combined votes actually added up to 60% of the total votes, which actually meant that their infighting gifted President Chen the presidency. However, this is not the only reason KMT lost power. The Taiwanese economy was in a bad shape at that time, and KMT was also preceived to have become aloof and disconnected from the regular Taiwanese people after half a decade in power.

Next, let's check out Japan's political situation!

Japan

Japan has had it's government formed by one party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since it became a democratic country. It's current Prime Minister is Junichiro Koizumi.

Their gay-ass logo...

It has been in power since 1955. However, the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), is no lembik half-comatose party.

Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)

It's rapidly gaining seats in the parliament with each successive election, winning 177 out of the 480 Lower House seats in the last General Elections in 2003. This has denied LDP a 2/3 majority in Lower House, thus preventing it from being able to pass any amendments or changes to the constitution nilly-willy. DPJ is expected to further increase their seats in the upcoming 2005 elections, making the possibility of LDP losing power to it in the near future very real. Again, if this happens, Japan, along with Taiwan, will soon 'graduate' from a one-party into a two-party political system ala most Western democracies.

Again, the similarities of Japan with Taiwan is striking. The reason for the increase in DPJ's votes is the public preception that the government has lost the common touch with it's people. Most of the LDP politicians are musty old foggies, which couldn't relate to the younger generation anymore. In contrast, most of DPJ's candidates were young, urban professionals. And again, the declining Japanese economy and rising unemployment also played a big part in the government losing the support of the Japanese people.

Lastly, let's now take a look at Malaysia's closest neighbour, Singapore.

Singapore

Again, another Asian nation with a one-party political system. The People's Action Party (PAP), has been in power since 1965, when Singapore gained her independence. However, unlike Japan, Singapore's opposition parties are really lembik and weak and have never been a threat to PAP before.

PAP

PAP's present party leader and Prime Minister is Lee Hsien Loong, son of the party's founder and the man generally credited towards transforming Singapore from a third world into a first world country, Lee Kuan Yew. PAP has always won an overwhelming majority in every GE held, winning 82 out of the 84 seats in the Lower House. The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and Worker's Party won the remaining 2. This means that the opposition parties are completely ineffective in Singapore, having almost no input at all in making legislations and laws.

SDP. Main opposition party and the most bothersome to PAP

Worker's Party, with it's toy hammer

There are a few reasons why this is so. One of the major reason why PAP keeps winning elections overwhelmingly is simply because it is an effective and good political party. Singaporeans (the older generation anyway) still feel a great debt towards PAP for transforming the nation into a spick and span, efficient, ultra-modern first world country. Corruption amongst PAP MPs are virtually unheard of, seeing that Singaporean politicians are the highest paid politicians in the world (even higher than in the US). PAP also recruits the best and brightest people to stand for elections, and this translates to having many competent MPs representing their respective constituencies. The people currently see no need for any changes yet, and so they keep voting PAP into power in each election.

However, there is also a dark side as to why this phenomenon keeps reoccuring. PAP has a formidable arsenal with which it can use to silence any opposition parties. It controls the national newspaper, TV, radio and even the internet there, making sure that they gives the minimum coverage possible to any opposition party's activities or policies. It also uses the country's Internal Security Act laws (or ISA), which is an old British relic formerly used to imprison suspected Communist members indefinately during the 1960's, to imprison any outspoken opposition leaders. This thus stifles any alternative viewpoints in the country, and controls the information that voters have access when deciding which party to vote for. Most Singaporeans are afraid to openly declare their support for any opposition party there for fear of imprisonment or getting sued.

Pro-PAP critics have always argued that the sole reason why opposition parties are weak is simply because they are ineffectual. However, pro-opposition critics would then argue back, how can the people expect to judge the opposition parties if almost all news and proposed policies form them are censored out from the mass media? And furthermore, how can they be labeled as ineffectual if they have never been given a chance to wield power before?

Therefore, from the three Asian countries that I've discussed above, I guess some hypothesis can be made on why so many Asian countries have (or used to have) one-party political systems. Some Western political observers have argued that part of the reason for is because of the Asian mindset. Confucianism have thought Asians to respect our elders and superiors, and dissent is seen to be 'rude' and 'disruptive' to society and our 'superiors' and generally undesirable. Hence most Asians tend to prefer conformity to the status quo rather than dissent and individuality. The opposition is thus usually painted as 'disruptive', 'unruly' and a threat to their present way of life by the government of the day, and this is done to instill a sense of apprehension and reservation when those voters are considering voting for the opposition. The second reason for the prevalence of this one-party phenomenon in Asia is that some governments, such as PAP in Singapore and formerly, the KMT in Taiwan, resort to using 'dirty' tactics to maintain their hold on power. Both of these parties have control over the media in their respective countries, and they use this to stifle dissent and censor the alternative viewpoints and policies of the opposition parties. The third reason for a particular party to stay in power for prolongued periods could simply be that they remained effective while the opposition remains impotent. SDP in Singapore suffered a split which resulted in the formation of a splinter party, the Singapore People's Party or SPP due to infighting among it's leaders. This has has distracted it's attention away from competing effectively against PAP and serving Singaporeans, by presenting a viable alternative government for them. And while all this was happening, PAP continued to run the country smoothly and keep it's voters content.

What's wrong with one-party systems? As Lord Acton once said:

"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely"

Hence the desirabilityfor two-party systems to serve as a check and balance to the government of the day.

A Reply to Infinite Bowel on Assimilation in Australia

2005-09-02T20:10:00.000+10:00

Many weeks ago, I decided to scroll through Project Petaling Street's blogroll for fun, and I came across an interesting post by Infinite Bowel, who has commented on my blog on previous occasions before, on the assimilation of non-white Australians in Australia. Then, typical of me, I kinda forgot about it for a month, before rediscovering its bookmark yesterday... :P

Alrightly, firstly my stats. As you've probably already guessed, I'm a Malaysian traitor who has cabutted to Sydney, Australia about 2 years ago. Chinese-Malaysian, accounting student, Permanent Resident (PR) of Australia (but not for long).

Okie dokie, my views on this now. Personally, I kinda agree with many of the things that the writer of that article/e-mail. Before flamling me to death, hear me out first:

Now, being a migrant, even though there is nothing wrong with being proud of your ethnicity (ie: Indian, Chinese, Italian, Greek, etc), if you have already chosen to become an Australian citizen, it's your responsibility to your new country to try and assimilate as much as possible to its culture. It's extremely unfair for you, as a minority, to go around demanding your new country to change it's ways just to accomodate you. Now, when I say that we must try and assimilate as best as we can, obviously there are limits to how much we can do so, according to our race or religion. I don't expect Muslim Lebanese-Australians to drop by the pubs every weekend to guzzle down tons of beer while watching the footy, but neither do I think they are entitled to preach to their youngsters that women who wear short skirts are just asking to be raped, or undermining the secularism that Aussies practice in schools by insisting that their daughters must wear non-regulation headscarves to classes. That view may be acceptable in Lebanon, but it's definately not here. And like it or not, they just have to accept that fact. They must understand that nobody forced them to emigrate from Lebanon/Syria/Iran/Pakistan etc to Australia. They did so on their own choice. They should have researched and learnt about Australia's culture and society, and decide whether they would have any problems integrating into that culture, before making the decision to migrate here.

Yes, obviously, "IMMIGRANTS, and NOT AUSTRALIANS, must adapt"

Here are some more quotes from that e-mail:

"I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians.

However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled when the 'politically correct' crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others. I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to Australia."

'Political correctness' is very prevalent in Australian society at the moment, as can be seen by the public outcry towards John Brogden's racist remarks on Bob Carr's Malaysian-born wife. Unfortunately, there are certain minority groups who choose to abuse this social courtesy by demanding many concessions from their new society just to accomodate them. This can be seen in the article where a Musim woman won her case on taking her driver's license photograph with her head scarf on, or on how a Muslim schoolgirl in NSW insisted on wearing a modified 'robe-like' school uniform that's against school uniform regulations. What about those fiery shieks here such as El Hilaly, who continues to exhort anti-Western rhetorics to his followers, and then defending his actions under his rights for freedom of speech? I wonder how Lebanon/Iran/Syria/Iraq/Pakistan feel about a Christian preacher's freedom of speech there?

And this certainly isn't just confined to the Muslim/Arab community by any means. Asian migrants, particularly those from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, China, etc should also refrain from renovating their houses into 'mega' feng shui abominations. They should understand that those houses clash with the prevalent European' cottage-style' architecture that houses here are based on. Female discrimination in the workplace or while rewarding promotions, and male child preferences should also go out the window if they plan to live here. They should also be aware that the culture of corruption/cronyism/nepotism that may be the norm, or even the path to career advancement or business success in their former countries are not tolerated here in Australia.

And a quote on the issue of language:

"We speak ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, American or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language!"

And surely one can't disagree with this. If you've already chosen to live in this country and become it's citizen, you'll have to accept one of its conditions and that's to learn the language. Now there's nothing wrong about being multi-lingual (in fact, its an advantage), but your first priority has got to be to master your new national language, English. This also applies to Malaysians, all of whom should strive to be fluent in Malay, and not just continuily converse in their own mother-tongue to the extent that they can hardly speak their national language anymore. Frankly, I just find these types of Malaysians an embarassment to their country.

"In God We Trust' is our National Motto. This is not some Christian,right wing, political slogan. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools.

If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture."

Again, I have no problem with this. I mean, regardless of what one's religion is, one has to acknowledge that one of the factors that Australia is where it is right now, is that it's built on the foundation of Protestant Christianity. And even though I have no plans whatsoever to convert in the near future, as I am perfectly content with my present religion of Buddhism, I respect Australia's religious traditions. Furthermore, Australia doesn't force Christianity down the throats of anyone who doesn't want it. Everybody's free to practice whatever religion or beliefs (even aethism) that he or she sees fit, as long as it doesn't harm others. Can the same be said about countries such as Iran or Saudi Arabia? Afganistan clearly showed the extent of its tolerance towards other religions by the blowing up of the centuries old Bamiyun Buddha statues there. Iraqis can't even tolerate their different strands of religious thought from the same religion, the Sunnis and the Shiites of Islam, much less of other vastly different religions. Again, I view the acceptance of Christianity as the 'unofficial' national religion as yet another prerequisite to living, and integrating in Australian society.

And lastly, this:

"But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our Flag, Our Pledge, Our National Motto, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, THE RIGHT TO LEAVE."

Again, how can one argue with this? Obviously, for those people who continue to be unhappy about the conditions here in Australia, they obviously have made the wrong choice coming here, but luckily for them, they are still free to rectify the problem and leave. And if they think Australia is a model of Western decadence, I only have 2 questions for them:

1. Why or why did you come here in the first place?
2. Why didn't you (for Muslims who complain about Australia's moral decay) just emigrate to one of your. in your opinion, 'model' countries of high morality, such as Iran/Saudi Arabia/Lebanon/Egypt/Syria?

We Asians have always loved to label western countries as being morally decadent, racist, white supremist societies nilly-willy. However, before criticizing them, maybe we should cast an eye on our own countries first. How many Asian countries openly promote immigration of various nationalities and multiculturalism? Let's take a look at Japan for our first example. Japan has one of the top 5 biggest economies in the world. They are also the first Asian countries to achieve the label of becoming a 'first world' status country. However, the Japanese also remains one of the most xenophobic and racist people in the world. How many Somalians, Sudanese, Italians, Jews, or Lebanese refugees did they take in during times of strive or war in those respective countries? We shouldn't even expect them to take in people of those ethnicity, if the Japanese didn't even want to take in asylum seekers from Vietnam, China, or South Korea during the 50's and 70's. What about Hong Kong then? The treatment of Indian Hong Kongers (born and full citizens no less!) is just appalling. I've read cases of Chinese Hong Konger landlords who flat out refuse to rent out their property to Indian Hong Kongers, just because of the colour of their skins. And Malaysia? I'll leave that for you to decide. To me, Singapore is currenly the only Asian country which has a semblence of multiculturalism and pro-immigration, as can be seen by their meritcratic practices in many aspects of their country, their multicultural population make-up, and their willingness to take in many foreign expatriates (albeit mostly from Western countries).

So what right do we have to criticize our Western counterparts on this issue? Have we shown that we can do better? From what I can see, the answer is a big fat NO.

And now to reply to some of Infinite Bowel's statements from her post. I will quote some of them here:

"Acting as if every single immigrant is the uneducated, unwashed masses of poor 3rd world rejects?"

Where in the whole letter did the writer imply that? IMO, throughout the whole letter, the writer has written in a respectful manner. Definately no racists sentiments whatsoever. You must differentiate between racist slurs from a person trying to explain why new migrants (whom he welcomes, incidentally) should try their best to assimilate into society.

And no offence, Bowel, but I find this next statement of yours quite offensive to all Australians, new and old:

"Australia is a country founded on the back of convicts. Convicts that were neither particularly religious or pious. Unlike the American Pioneers, Australia's first citizens were not seeking freedom from religious persecution or interested in practicing their religions freely. They were second class free citizens from Ireland and other parts of Europe who could not afford to go to America. They were convicts who were forcibly ejected from their home countries."

Firstly, yes, convicts form part of the early Australian settlers. But it's not only them. Free settlers, mostly from England, also arrived here to take advantage of the bountiful land, as well as the classless society. And this is besides the point, actually. If your using Australia's history to degrade them, I would then ask you, what's history got to do with today anyway? Australia is now a first world country and the envy of many because of their mature political system, their cohesive society, their education institutions, their tolerant and peaceful people, and their vibrant economy. Portugal used to send adventurers such Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gamma out to discover new lands. Now look at them. One of the poorest countries in Western Europe. A fat lot of good their illustrious history did to them. What about England then? Once owning the biggest empire on earth where the sun doesn't set, and now the infant terrible that is the United States of America has surpassed them in almost every respect. What about China? Their glorious past cultures and achievements did not prevent them from going through a period of chaos, humiliation and untimately decline between 1800-1980s.

And if you're generalising that, just because that (most) of their decendents are convicts, they shouldn't be religious, forgive me if I say that that's just bollocks :) Makes no sense, miss... :P

"I don't think Australians today are particularly religious or spiritual. What is this person suggesting, that Australia become a Christian State with no tolerance for those who practice other religions? I hope this is not a view shared by the majority of Australians."

Ummnn... are you aware of how precious secularism is to the average Aussie? Schools, political institutions, and government admistrations are all secular institutions. They decided to secularised their country to avoid civil unrests that may arise from groups that subscribe to different religious thoughts. Where did the writer ever said that Australia wants to become a Christian State in his/her letter? As I've said before, Australia has tolerance by the bucketloads compared to some other countries. Furthermore, you, like me, as Malaysians should be familiar with the situation where we should try and integrate as best as we can to a country's predominant religious beliefs. Why did we have to wear long pants to school and during sports? Why can't I, as a non-Muslim, eat pork in school? Where's Malaysia's tolerance for my beliefs? But are you suggesting that Australia be so tolerant to the extent that they must abolish their tradititional religious foundations into nothingness just so to accomodate certain migrants who WANTED to come here anyway? Like I've said, even tolerance has a limit.

"And you know what, there have always been "pocket cultures" in Australia - look at the Greeks and Italians. Till today, they fiercely identify themselves with the country their grandparents were born in."

Yes, I know. But have any of them tried to impose their culture/beliefs to the wider community? Have they ever insisted on wearing something else, or not complying with Australian laws on the basis of their culture?

Again, no offence Bowel, but I also find this statement of yours shocking, considering that you're also a student in Australia:

"And for the record, I expect the majority of immigrants from Developing countries that go to Australia are actually high income earning immigrants. Especially due to Australia's restrictive immigration policy. If they are not high income, then they are highly skilled in areas that Australians are not. If they are not even of that class, they are the ones who do all the shitty jobs that Australians will no longer lower themselves to do. "

Ummnn.... where do I even start? ;P Of course Australia's immigration policies are designed to take 4 types of people: Rich (to bring in capital and jobs for Aussies), Skilled (such as my parents) to fill the gaps in occupations facing critical shortages, Laborers (like what you said), and Refugees. And I ask you, WHAT IN GOD/ALLAH/YAHWEH/BUDDHA (technically NOT a God! :P) IS SOOOOO WRONG ABOUT THAT??? That's what every country in the world who practices pro-immigration policies are doing! Why would they need anyone else???

And for the record, let's talk about Malaysia's policies on this, shall we? Malaysia doesn't usually take in ANY immigrants for that matter. Unless of course they're from Islamic countries like it's big bro, Indonesia. I recalled many cases where foreign husbands of local Malaysian wifes being refused Permanent Residentship even though they were highly skilled professionals. What about that international champion Chinese badminton player (Han Jian was it?) who met with the same fate? Vijay Singh anyone? And what about our 'labourers'? Can we take in Chinese/Philipino maids/construction workers? Heavens no! Lest they dilute our Islamic country and the nation's racial population ratios. Muslim Indos for us please!

And lastly, this:

"Complaining about Australian immigrants is just a stupid way of cutting off your nose to spite your face "

Maybe you should read that article again:

"I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to Australia. "

And that's more than I can say for the majority of other countries that I've already stated in my examples.

Cheers! :P

Merdeka!!!

2005-08-31T08:33:00.000+10:00

Hari ini merupakan hari jadi Malaysia yang ke-48! SELAMAT HARI JADI!!!

Maaf, tetapi sekarang di luar negara laa...

Tetapi tak apa, saya akan menyanyi lagu Negaraka sekarang...

Negaraku, (untuk 4 hari lagi lah...)
Tanah tumpahnya darahku, (pernah kena tendang semasa bermain bola sepak, luka berdarah)
Rakyat hidup,
Bersatu dan maju, (boleh tahan lah, agaknya)
Rahmat bahagia, (entah apa makna ayat ni)
Tuhan kurniakan, (Oii, saya ni beragama Buddha laa)
Raja kita,
Selamat bertakhta (..........)

Berulang

NSW Liberal Opposition Leader Toppled For Being A Racist

2005-08-30T13:33:00.000+10:00

Hahahahaha!

Rajan, what did I tell you man? I feel vindicated now. My comments about the Liberal Party in this post about how I had the general impression that most of the Liberal politicians are all hillbilly anti-multiculturalism nincompoops was proven to be right when the NSW Liberal Oppositon Leader, John Brogden, was forced to resign yesterday after labelling the former NSW Labor Premier, Bob Carr's Malaysian wife as a 'mail-order bride' :P :P :P

You can read the news report of this here.

Booyah to you Liberals! ;D

Rewind a bit first. Firstly, New South Wales or NSW is one of the most populated states in Australia. In short, it's where all the action is. Sydney is it's capital. NSW has been under the Labor government for almost over a decade now. Liberal is the main Opposition Party here. Bob Carr was the Premier (Menteri Besar) of NSW until a few months ago, when he decided to retire. His wife is Helena something, now obviously called Helena Carr. She is a Malaysian of Portugese-Chinese ancentry. She migrated here during her high school years (not unlike me) and she is an Economics graduate.

John Brogden is the youngest leaders that the NSW Liberals had ever had, being only 33 when he won the leadership. There has never been a better chance for him to win the Premiership in 2007, because of the dissatisfaction that the NSW voters have for Labor's handling of the railway and healthcare system here. And now he apa pun takde liao. Hahahaha! Piiiii mampuslah you mediocre featherweight of a politician! :)

So anyway, in short, again, I have no problems with stressing that all Liberals are scumbags, racists, and basically old fashioned blockheads. Amen.

Forms of Government In Terms of Cows!

2005-08-26T09:20:00.000+10:00

A simplified analogy for describing the different types of governments and their economies around the world. Enjoy! :P

COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and gives you part of the milk.

SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.

FACISM: You have two cows. The government takes both cows and sells you the milk.

NAZISM: You have two cows. The government takes both your cows, and then shoots you.

BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. The government takes both of them, shoots one, milks the other, then pours the milk down the drain.

CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one of them and buy a bull.

ANARCHISM: You have two cows. You keep both of the cows, shoot the governement agent and steal another cow.

Classic Accounting Jokes

2005-08-23T18:32:00.000+10:00

Got this from an accounting website. Enjoy! :)

Accountants aren't boring people, we just get excited over boring things.

Where do homeless accountants live?
In a tax shelter.

Why don't accountants count sheep to get to sleep?
Because they lose count and then take three hours to find the error.

Why don't accountants count sheep to get to sleep?
Because they need a spreadsheet to do the calculations.

Heard at an accounting support group: "It seemed so harmless. I started making journal entries..then, secretly at home, I would post the entries to T accounts, and then I started recording them in ledgers. It just felt so good, and then I started doing financial statements and I couldn't stop....

Why did God create actuaries?
So that accountants could think they had personality. (Lol, loved this one!)

There are only three types of accountants:
those who can count, and those who can't.

Why did the auditor cross the road?
Because he did it last year.

Why did the auditor cross the road?
Because it was in the audit plan.

Why did the auditor get run over crossing the road?
Auditors never do risk assessment well until after the accident happens.

Why did the accountant cross the road?
To bore the people on the other side.
To count the chickens.
Accountants are a lot like chickens.
To get to the other side. Accountants aren't into humor. (Lol, here's another one!)

What does an accountant use for birth control?
His, or her, personality. (Ouch... :P)

What is the difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance?
Jail.

Half of accounting is ninety percent correct calculations.

How do you know the financial statements are finished?
The accountant drools out of both sides of his mouth.

Why do accountants make good lovers?
Because they are good with figures.

What does CPA stand for? (This is the accounting license to practice in Australia)
Certified Public Annoyance
Can't Pass Again

What is the proof that accountants have no imagination?
Naming a firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. (PwC: Humongous major international accounting firm, one of the Big 4)

What is KPMG's idea of "simple advice"(their 1998 advertising theme)?
A several hundred page guide on implementing SFAS 133 - hedge accounting for derivatives and other financial instruments. "Just like your mother's advice".

An auditor qualifying the accounts is like one who arrives after the battle is lost and bayonets the wounded. Of course, then the attorney arrives and strips the bodies. (Lol, liked the reparte on the lawyers on this one... And I think they meant insolvency accountants in this joke)

Top Reasons for Becoming an Accountant

2005-08-23T18:03:00.000+10:00

· The need to repay student loans.
· Your first degree was in English literature.
· You couldn't wait to do your first tax return.
· The other inmates didn't enjoy doing tax returns.
· You don't have to go to law school.
· The school offered free pencils.
· Norm Petersen makes a great role model.
· Fewer essay questions in accounting courses.
· You were expelled from law school for honesty. (Lol!)
· Sixty percent of the accounting majors were female.
· You didn't get a football scholarship to college.
· Addiction to pin-stripe suits.
· Expelled from kinder for lack of creativity during finger painting. (Lol!)
· You get to see all your college friends every six months, at the CPA exam.
· A life sentence is seven years, the CPA requirement is only five years (of course that
would be ten years part time).
· Unable to understand the phrase "consistency is the hobbgoblin of small minds".
· Wanting to boast of being a "Big 4".
· Wanting a name tag big enough to include "PriceWaterhouseCoopers".
· Parents are paying for college.
· Expelled from architecture for considering the cost of a proposed design.

Protest Against VSU

2005-08-03T18:33:00.000+10:00

My uni, along with many other Australian unis, are currently preparing for rallies to protest against the government's proposal to scrap the current compulsary union and student association fees and introduce the Voluntary Student Unionism or VSU.

You see, in Australia, every student has to pay approximately $300 a semester to be a member of the student union. It's compulsory. This money will then be used to subsidise the uni's cafes, bookshops, and other various ammenities. I don't quite mind this part of things, but I do mind this: These fees are also used by the union to fund student leader's (ie: budding politicians) election campaigns and rallies, in addition to also funding aspiring sportsmen and women. Would you like it if your money is taken by someone to further their own personal causes (some which you don't even happen to support)?

The unis, in reply, have said that by introducing the VSU, the government intends to silence the unions and thus suppress dissent (which unis traditionally are breeding grounds to). However, I don't support this view. If students feel so strongly about student unions, why do they have to be made to be members of it? You would think that those unions would be self-sustainable enough.

So anyway, I am in support of VSU and so I guess you won't be seeing me in any anti-VSU rallies anytime soon ;P

Oz Defection Date: 5th of September, 2005

2005-08-02T22:51:00.000+10:00

Ok guys, remember the post when I said that I was thinking of whether I should (a) remain as an Aussie PR and keep my Malaysian citizenship, or (b) take up Aussie citizenship?

Well, I've finally decided (2 months ago, actually) on the latter. Why?

(1) Get access to HECS-HELP (a government loan that local students can obtain with no interest) for the remainer of my university course amounting to about $14,000 (already paid $7000 for the first year)

And... ummnn... that's it, actually.

Now to pay a little tribute to my soon-to-be-former-country, Malaysia.

I wish to thank the Federation of Malaysia for:

1. Providing me with a safe and stable place to grow up in
2. Allowing my family and me to practice our religion and customs in peace
3. Allowing my family (well, my dad anyway) to learn to speak and write in our mother-tongue, Mandarin
4. Providing me with free primary and secondary education
5. Giving me the opportunity to meet, understand, and make friends with people from various different races and religions. We underestimate how unique Malaysia is in this respect. Special mentions should go out to 2 primary school that I attended, in particular: SRK Stowell in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, and SK Sri Tebrau in Johor Bahru, Johor. I feel very grateful that I had the opportunity to attend these 2 schools when I was young, as I feel that these schools are the few remaining ones that really had a good mix of students from various races (Malays, Chinese, Indians, Singhs (okok, I know they're Indians as well), Eurasians, etc etc) and that epitomised a true Bangsa Malaysia spirit. Cheers. I have seen how students from less diverse schools can inadvertly breed ignorance and misunderstanding on the other races or religions.
6. Providing me with an abundance of holidays! Ranging from Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Thaipusam, right through to Hari Gawai!
7. Providing me with the BEST food in the world!!! :) No kidding! How many other countries can boast of having great Chinese, Malay and Indian food all in one? Excluding that poser that is Singapore... (even our Baju Kebaya also they stole for their Singapore Airlines... cheh...) Nasi Ayam Masak Merah, Nasi Gam, Curry Sotong (squids) Eggs near USM, Char Kuey Teow, Kari Mee, Hokkien Mee, Wonton Mee, Hainan Chicken Rice, Mee Goreng, Pasembor, Dim Sum, Sup Kambing (or any other innerts, for that matter), Begger Chicken, Pig's Brain Soup (forgive me, any Muslims who are reading this), Roti Canai... (I could go on forever...)

Well, that's it actually.

Bye bye Malaysia, it's been, all in all, a pleasant experience :)

I'll be clutching my Dharmapadda (just to stand up to all those Christian and Muslim evangelists out there ;) there when I attend the citizenship ceremony on the 5th of September and take this oath:

From this time forward, under God*,
I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,
whose democratic beliefs I share,
whose rights and liberties I respect, and
whose laws I will uphold and obey.

*May choose to use or omit this part

And sing the national anthem:

Australia let us all rejoice,
For we are young and free,
We've golden soil and wealth to toil,
Our home is girt by sea,
Our land's abounds in nature's gifts,
Of beauty rich and rare,
In history's page, let every stage,
Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
We'll toil with hearts and hands,
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands,
For those who've come across the seas,
We've boundless plains to share,
With courage let us all combine,
To Advance Australia Fair.
On joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

Warcraft 3 or Starcraft?

2005-07-25T00:57:00.000+10:00

I am thinking of getting a good original real-time strategy game tomorrow at Parramatta, so that I can play online with a valid CD-key. Any suggestions? Right now, I am thinking of maybe Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos or Starcraft :)

I've heard that WC3 ($50) has quite a low max population limit, does this diminish the game in any way?

Starcraft is a VERY old game now, almost 7 years! However, it's quite cheap ($15), and there are still a lot of people playing it online. I also prefer a sci-fi theme to a fantasy one.

Which do you think I should get?

Positive Discrimination in Oz, Anyone?

2005-07-18T12:43:00.000+10:00

The Sydney Morning Herald recently published an article on the thoughts of a professor from Macquarie University on the different races and their relationships (or lack of it thereof)with each other in an increasingly cosmopolitan Australia.

You can read the article here.

Note his views on Asians, in particular.

For my Malaysian readers, HSC = STPM here

Australia is increasingly turning into a multi-racial 'mini USA', despite being under the conservative rule of John Howard. This is out of nessasity more than goodwill, IMO, because if Australia wants to remain competitive in the world, it'll have to get all the best talents it can find around the world, irrespective of skin colour. It also needs to increase its immigration numbers in order to bring in capital from rich businessmen, and also to tax those new migrants to support their costly welfare systems. However, there is a downside to all this. Despite that professor's racism-tinted rhetorics, he does have a point. Its undeniable that a multi-racial society will have a weaker national identity compared to a homogeneous one, especially for the first-generation migrants such as yours truly.

Another of the professor's claims, on the weakening of Australia's traditional social values and customs, is also not far off. Here are some examples:

- Asian students who prefer to socialise only amongst themselves and remain isolated from the rest of Australian society

- 'Monster-Asian' houses which are based on Feng Shui that those wealthy Asians seem so keen on building. These houses stands out like a sore thumb among the other 'cottage inspired' Anglo-architecture ones in the suburbs

- The decline of rubgy and cricket's popularity due to the rise of 'immigrant sports' such as soccer

And many more examples.

But anyway, I just found the professor's views on Asians amusing :)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2005-07-18T11:34:00.000+10:00

It came out 2 days ago in Sydney. As usual, long lines of little witches and wizards queing up for the book were everywhere.

No review of it yet though from mua ;P My modus operandi in getting books (especially new ones) is to wait until my local library branches stock it, line up among the 30 reserves, before finally getting a chance to read it :)

However, early reviews have not been superlative though. Apparently, this latest one lacks much of a plot, and instead talks more about the early life of Lord Voldemort. Hmmnn... I wonder what's there left to tell about him? Isn't he a model student, head prefect from House Slytherin by the name of Tom Riddle? Half-Blood Prince is also heavy on the romance angle this time, which isn't nessesary a bad thing, IMO :) It's kinda cute reading about Potter's crush on Cho Chang, or Ron and Hermoine's tentative love-hate relationship... :P

You know, I was kinda hoping that since the Order of the Phoenix has all the good wizards gathering en mass, and the Death-eaters likewise, this HBP would have culmulated in a melee between them. Sigh... From what I've read so far, that didn't happen in HBP.

Here's to hoping the last book includes the above and be a bigger success than this one!

Btw, my fav HP books so far are The Goblet of Fire and The Order of the Phoenix :)

P.S: Omg! I'm on the Pennant Hills Library's reserve line as the 22nd person! I guess that means I'll only be getting it next month or so :(

Reloaded: Political Parties In Australia

2005-07-11T16:40:00.000+10:00

Yeah, yeah, I know I've done this before already in my old blog. But hey, what can I say, I like politics :) So here's another 'more comprehensive' dose of Aussie politics for you lucky folks out there:

Ahhh... Politics. What an interesting field, don't you think? Depending on its proponents, it can either stink to high heaven, or it can improve the welfare of a country's people, or particular minority groups that are being unfairly treated.There are many streams of political thoughts, ranging from conservatism, to liberalism, right through to socialism. But here in Australia, there are currently 6 major political parties that are worth talking about.

But before we start, I think I should first explain a bit about the Australian political system to clear up any confusion that may arise while reading this. The Australian political system is fashioned after the British Westminster parliamentary system, in which the leader of the political party which wins the most seats in the House of Representatives (HoR) (Dewan Rakyat/Parliament/Lower House) becomes the Prime Minister and the leader of the party with the second most seats in the HoR not in coalition with the winner party becomes the Leader of the Opposition. However, there are a few differences between them. The Senate (Dewan Negara/Upper House) and the senators here plays a much more important role because they are not appointed, but elected directly by the voters as well, similar to the HoR's MPs. Therefore, the Senate is also usually more than just a rubber stamp for legislations wanting to be passed by the government, as they can easily be blocked by the opposition parties if the government does not have a majority there. It is also compulsory for all citizens aged 18 years or older to vote here.

Another thing to note is that, unlike Malaysia or Britain, which practices the 'First Past The Post voting' system, in which voters only choose one candidate, and the candidate with the most number of votes wins, Australia practices the 'Preferential voting' system instead. This works as such: Let's say that there are 3 candidates competing in an election, Candidate A, B and C. Voters list their preference in regards to all three of the available candidates by placing the number '1' for their first preference, '2' for their second preference and '3' for their third preference. The voter's first preferences are distributed amongst the candidates first, and the candidate with the least number of first preferences votes is then eliminated. This candidate's, let's say Candidate C's, votes are then redistributed to either Candidate A or Candidate B, depending on Candidate C's voter's second preferences. This goes on until a winner is declared. This system eliminates the problem of a candidate winning by a slim majority (which therefore means that a sizeable minority do not support him/her) and the winner will instead be the candidate which is most accepted by the voters (because he/she has won the most first/second, etc preferences). Comprehendo?

And now here are Oz's political parties:

Introducing.... in the right-wing corner..... the Liberal Party!!!

Liberal Party

Homepage
Year formed: 1945
Party ideology: Conservative, neo-liberal, centre-right wing
Current status: In government, in coalition with the National Party
Factions: Wets (conservatives) and Dries (liberals)
Present leader: John Howard (lawyer by profession) - Prime Minister - from the Wets
Duration of reign (of terror) so far: 1996 - present (won 4 general elections (GE) in a row)
Number of HoR seats won in the 04 GE: 74 out of 150
Number of Senate seats won in the 04 GE: 33 out of 76
Number of states won in the last state elections: 0 out of 8 (no states won)

So what heck does this party stand for anyway?: Socially-conservative, free-market economy, increased deregulation of business and government, anti-worker's union, old people, more emphasis on Christianity and family values, anti-immigration and multiculturalism, pro-detention centres on obscure islands for illegal immigrants, pro-monarchy, pro-paid places in unis, lower taxation, favours big businesses, anti-Aboriginal (orang asli here) reconciliation

In a nutshell: A party for rich, religious, old, white Aussies

My 2 cents worth: To put it bluntly, I have no love for this party. I think my dislike mainly stems from the preception that I got from the leaders of this party that they are all anti-multiculturalism and overtly favours the rich. Johnny Howard, especially during his early years in opposition has clearly stated his racist nature and dislike for the increase in multiculturalism in Australia in many of his major parliamentary speeches. There used to be a time where the Liberal Party really lived up to its 'liberal' tag, but not anymore. John Howard is a staunch social-conservative, and when he got into power, he has gradually pushed out numerous of his more socially-liberal colleagues, and replaced them with fellow socially-conservative MPs instead. I also don't like how the Liberal Party is continously providing exorbitant funding to the already rich private schools here, while not giving enough to public ones. I am also especially against this party's education policy of increasing the paid uni places in the unis here, as I think that this practice unfairly discriminates against the poor but otherwise capable students who would lose out on a place to those rich brats. Unfortunately, this party had the biggest election win in its history in the 04 GE, due to the present good economic conditions, the interest-rates rise scare tactics that it employed to scare voters off voting for Labor, coupled with a divided Labor opposition headed by its inexperienced leader of only 13 months, Mark Latham.

And now... in the left-wing corner... the ALP!

Australian Labor Party (ALP)

Homepage
Year formed: 1891 (oldest party)
Political ideology: Labour, social democracy, centre-left wing
Factions: Left (socialists) and Right (social democrats)
Current status: In opposition
Present leader: Kim Beazley (politician) - Opposition Leader - from the Right
Duration of reign: Elek pochi (lost 4 successive general elections in a row)
Number of HoR seats won in the 04 GE: 60 out of 150
Number of Senate seats won in the 04 GE: 27 out of 76
Number of states won in the last state elections: 8 out of 8 (all states under Labor)

So what does this party stand for anyway?: More emphasis on secularism, more socially-liberal than the Liberal Party, pro-worker's unions, favours small and medium businesses, pursuit of a better welfare state, pro-immigration and multiculturalism, higher taxation, abolishment of fee-paying uni places, more funding for public schools, more hospital subsidies, pro-republic, young people and uni students, pro-Aboriginal reconciliation

In a nutshell: A party for the working-class, young, multicultural Aussies

My 2 cents worth: Ever since setting foot in Australia, I have been attracted to this party. Why? Because of their pro stances towards multiculturalism, immigration, increased funding for public schools and the abolishment of fee-paying uni places. I don't know much about their present leader, Kim Beazley, since he only recently took over from Mark Latham last year. But whatever it is, I never took much stock on just a particular politician, as I prefer to vote (in the next elections anyway) on a party basis. This party was also one of the reasons that I finally settled on choosing social democracy as my present political affliation. To me, the Labor Party's past track record has also shown that it is much more willing to engage with Asia, instead of constantly kowtowing to the USA and the UK. This can be seen by how its past leaders such as Gough Whitlam, who abolished the White Australia Policy and initiated relations with China, and Paul Keating, who wanted Australia to become a part of Asia. Alas, this party experienced its worst federal election result in the last GE elections. This was due to the government's effective campaign which potrayed Mark Latham as an inexperienced leader who could wreck the present good economic performance, the aforementioned interest-rates rise scare, and the party's own internal power-jockeying between first Simon Crean and Beazley, and after that, Crean's protege Mark Latham and Beazley. This disunity has presented the Liberal Party with much ammunition to attack Labor.

And now, in the ulu and petani corner... I present the National Party!

National Party

Homepage
Year formed: 1922
Political ideology: Conservative, right-wing
Current status: In government, in coalition with the Liberal Party
Present leader: Mark Vaile (kangaroo catcher) - Deputy Prime Minister
Duration of reign: 1996 - present (won 4 GEs in coalition with the Liberal Party)

Number of HoR seats won in the 04 GE: 12 out of 150
Number of Senate seats won in the 04 GE: 5 out of 76
Number of states won in the last state elections: 0 out of 8

So what does this party stand for anyway?: Farmer's welfare, rural area development and funding

In a nutshell: Farmers and rural areas

My 2 cents worth: The National Party is a declining force. It was never a mainstream party, and it is also gradually losing the votes of its traditional support base, the rural folks, as they are increasingly voting for the Liberal Party instead. This is, IMO, just a fringe or interest group party, and I am kinda indifferent to it, to be honest.

Next up, the oh-so-rightous little party that could, The Democrats!!

Australian Democrats

Homepage
Year formed: 1977
Political ideology: Social liberal, centrist
Current status: In opposition
Present leader: Lyn Allison (politician)
Duration of reign: Elek pochi (never won a HoR seat so far)
Number of HoR seats won in the 04 GE: 0 out of 150
Number of Senate seats won in the 04 GE: 4 out of 76
Number of states won in the last state elections: 0 out of 8

So what does this party stand for anyway?: To provide an alternative to the Liberal-Labor choice, to provide a check and balance to the 2 major parties, young and idealistic people, Aboriginal rights, pro-abolishing fee-paying uni places, anti-mandatory detention of illegal immigrants in obscure islands-prisons

In a nutshell: 'Ex'-powerbroker between the 2 major parties, idealistic

My 2 cents worth: This party was formed by a splinter group of MPs from the Liberal Party in the late 70s. It is one of the few major parties in Australian politics that allows its MPs the freedom to 'cross the floor', or vote against the party's wishes based on the individual MP's conscience on particular issues, thus making it one of the most democratic and free parties around. During a decade before the 04 GE, the Democrats held the balance of power in the Senate with 8 seats, and thus making it the kingmaker between Liberal-National and Labor. This was because Liberal-National (the government) did not have the majority in the Senate to pass their policies, and needed the vote of the Democrats senators to do so, while Labor (in opposition) also needed the Democrats to block them. Thus, both parties had to kowtow to the Democrats and amend their policies to suit the Democrat's stance on various issues. However, the Democrats suffered heavy losses in the recent 04 GE, where their senate seats where cut down from 8 to 4. This was due to the poor leadership of their previous leader, Andrew Bartlett and his drunken antics, and a general swing by voters who wanted an alternative from the Democrats to The Greens. I personally would give my second preference to The Democrats, as I think they're a kinda cool party and I support many of their policies. I also prefer them to be the kingmakers, as I think their policies are more pragmatic, realistic and 'useful' compared to The Greens or, even worse, the Family First Party. Unfortunately, they lost their previous kingmaking power in the 04 GE with the rise of The Greens, and the suprise win of the Family First Party in the Senate.

And now presenting... the tree-hugging, whale-loving, hippy-ish Greens!!

The Greens

Homepage
Year formed: 1992
Political ideology: Green politics, left-wing
Current status: In opposition
Present leader: Dr. Bob Brown (doctor), gay
Duration of reign: Elek pochi (never won a HoR seat so far)
Number of HoR seats won in the 04 GE: 0 out of 150
Number of Senate seats won in the 04 GE: 4 out of 76
Number of states won in the last state elections: 0 out of 8

So what does this party stand for anyway?: Saving the Tasmanian forest, global warming, anti-Iraq war, anti-US Free Trade Agreement, public health, free uni education

In a nutshell: Activists, nature lovers, young people

My 2 cents worth: The Greens was formed at a time when Australians were becoming more aware about the dangers of global warming and deforestation as a result of rapid industrialisation around the world, and especially in Australia. This, along with the voter's dissatisfaction with The Democrat's performance, has resulted in The Greens increasing their Senate seats from 2 to 4 in the recent 04 GE. Many people see it as a kind of hippy party, dedicated to free uni education and the environment (which isn't nessasary a bad thing, btw). It is also the leading advocate for gay and lesbian rights in Australia, as its leader, Dr. Bob Brown, has publicly declared that he's gay, and not afraid to tell people about it. Apart from fiercely championing for liberal social values and the protection of the environment, The Greens seem to fall short on the economic aspect. They do not have a cohesive set of ideas on how to run the economy, and some of their policies also seem to be in conflict with each other. They have been criticized for trying to be a party for all groups. I am a bit wary of The Greens getting too much power to influence government and Labor's policy, as I tend to think they are not a very 'realist' kind of party. I mean, saving the trees and all is pretty cool, but shouldn't we be more interested in whether we'll still be able to get employed when we graduate or whether we can still afford to buy our first house in the future? Thankfully, The Green's (along with The Democrat's) hopes of becoming the kingmaker in policy decisions were thwarted by the unexpected win of the Family First Party.

And last but not least, in the far-right wing corner... the newest kid on the block, the Family First Party!

Family First Party

Homepage
Year formed: 2002
Political ideology: Christian-influenced conservatism
Current status: In opposition, but pro-Liberal Party (government sympathiser)
Present leader: Steve Fielding (sole senator in the Senate)
Duration of reign: Elek pochi (first senator elected in the Senate in the 04 GE)
Number of HoR seats won in the 04 GE: 0 out of 150
Number of Senate seats won in the 04 GE: 1 out of 76
Number of states won in the last state elections: 0 out of 8

So what does this party stand for anyway?: Christianity, family values

In a nutshell: God

My 2 cents worth: Family First burst onto the Australian federal political scene in the 04 GE. Some comentators have said that there is a possiblity that Australian voters did not know much about this party but gave them their second or third preferences anyway because they had a family. Because it freakishly won it's first senate seat, and both The Democrats and The Greens won 4 seats each thus cancelling each other out in terms of kingmaking power, the Family First Party (FFP) suprisingly found themselves in the envious position of being a kingmaker. Because of the Liberal Party's conservative stance, it was assumed that the FFP would be a natural ally to it, and this was proven true when the FFP decided to support the government in passing its policies through the Senate, thus giving the government a working majority of 1 seat (33 (LP) + 5 (NP) + 1 (FFP) = 39) more than the 38 seats (which is half of the Senate). In return, the FFP has ensured that Christianity will play a more major role in the government's policy implementation, and bringing the government even more towards the right.

In conclusion:

Australia has a very robust political system, for a relatively young one. Throughout its history, federal power has always been won through a majority in the HoR alternately between the Labor Party and the Liberal-National Party coalition. However, even though these three parties are the only ones that are capable of winning seats in the HoR, the Senate presents an altogether different story. Minor parties such as The Democrats and The Greens have historically had much more success in getting elected to the Senate, and the public uses them as balance to the 2 juggernaut parties. Thus, even though they may be small, minor parties such as them have had a substantial impact in Australia's political scene. I personally am quite content with Australia's present political scene as I am of the opinion that it caters to a wide range of different political ideologies that the average Australian can subscribe to and identify with. The Australian voters are also quite an intelligent bunch. They try to avoid giving the government a majority in the Senate to preserve their right to object to any dubious government policies, and they also play the state governments against the federal government. This can most clearly be seen in how all 8 of Australia's states are under Labor, even though Liberal forms the federal government. Again, this is to curb any abuse of power or corruption by both parties by constantly keeping them on their toes with the threat of swinging to the alternative parties anytime the voters feel suitably discontent about a particular issue or service from a party. However, after the 04 GE, the voters have given the Liberal-National Party coalition control of both the HoR and the Senate, with a total of 74 + 12 = 86 (over the 76 seats needed to obtain a majority) HoR seats and 33 + 5 + 1 (support from the Family First Party's sole senator) = 39 (equal to the 39 seats needed to obtain a majority) which means that the opposition parties can no longer block any government laws and legislation. This means that the current Liberal Party members are one of the most powerful in Australian history. Overall, the Australian political scene is a stable and vibrant one, and this bodes well for the future of Australia's democracy.

So now, after all that, which party do you support? ;)

Australian Migration 101

2005-07-09T19:17:00.000+10:00

Just thought you'd like some random information on how to defect from Malaysia to Oz for future reference :)

I suprised quite a few people when I literally dissapeared from the face of JB for 2 months, and then reemerged in Sydney 2 years ago. I know, I know, my good and concerned friends (yeah right...) like Del, TQJ, Dek, Kheng Boon, SPY, etc etc were suitably quite worried during my period of 'assumed' alien abduction, and the subsequent anal probe that I had to endure.... But yes, the truth (as they generally are) is much less spectacular than the rumours that surround it... ;)

Anyway, to anybody interested in defecting as well, here's some pointers on the process:

First off, thanks to some former Labor politician dude (go Labor!), Australia, like the USA, UK, Canada, and New Zealand, is basically a migrant nation. Almost half of its citizens were born overseas, with the majority from the UK.

Now, migrant selection into Australia is determined by a point system, which goes something like this: Points are awarded depending on your education level, your occupation and how much experience you've acquired, whether you have any relatives in Australia presently, etc.

Australia is a very weird country in the sense that for a developed nation, it seems to be short of workers in many fields of work. If your occupation is one of them, you'll get more points. These occupations range from professional ones right through to tradesmen's work. Some of the ones that I can recall are:

Professionals:

1. Dentist
2. Civil engineer
3. Accountant
4. Nurse
5. Pharmacist
6. Those occupations that assist doctors, ie: Radio imaging
7. Math teacher (my dad's occupation!)

Trade:

1. Motor mechanic
2. Hairdresser
3. Electrician
4. Plumber
5. Carpenter
6. Chef

You can find out more on the Australian Job Search website here and its immigration website here.

One misleading myth about migrating to Western countries is that those migrants must be some kinda multi-millionaires. Actually, this is only half true. There are three type of migration here. The first is what's called the skilled migration program. The people whose occupations are listed above falls into this category, which I like to call the 'poor man's migration program' :P These migrants are wanted by the government to fill up critical shortages in various fields of work here.

The second category is the one that most people associate with migration. It's called the business migration program. One of my dad's colleage migrated to Melbourne under this program. According to my dad, these migrants are suppose to be the source of capital for businesses here, which means that they'd probably would really have to be millionaires. The capital provided by these people are then supposed to generate jobs for the local Aussies here. I call this category the 'rich man's migration program' :)

The third category is more uncommon than the above two. It's the humanitarian migration program. It's for those war/political prisoners/prosecuted migrants from troubled countries. Maybe I should call this the 'desparate man's migration program' then... :P

Another myth that I wanna try to dispel is that we migrants want to come to Australia more than Australia wants us. That's totally wrong here and I suspect in those other migrant-taking countries as well. Australia is a welfare state, and thus it has a lot of welfare programs that require loads of money to keep afloat. It also has an increasingly problematic and growing baby-boomer (50 and over citizens) generation. Most of these baby-boomers are now in retirement villages (rumah orang tua), and they are VERY costly to support as well. This problem is amplified by the falling birth rates of Australians (as they prefer puppies to babies these days...) ;) . This has resulted in the taxation being gathered from the current and future working population being insufficient to support their elders. This is where migrants come into the picture. The government desperately wants to tax us to death :) My dad now gets taxed 30% of his earnings, compared to something like only 15% when he was in Malaysia. You can get taxed up to 45% of your earnings if they are above about $75,000 per annum here.

So there. Any interested future-migrants, you're more than welcomed here. Just be prepared to switch your surname with your first name, and pay lots of tax to the government :)

Hopping on the train...

2005-07-08T23:42:00.000+10:00

Yeah! Today I decided to show some Aussie spirit and took the train at 3pm to Central. Booyah to you terrorists!

Anyway, as you can see, thankfully all my limbs are still intact and I am still in one piece. Just doing my part to show the terrorists around the world that Australia will not be cowed into hiding just because of them....

Anyway, in case you're wondering why I went to the city today, its to watch War Of The Worlds. If I had knew what it would be like, I wouldn't have bothered putting my life in risk...

Totally dissapointing film man. What was Rottentomatoes.com and the Daily Telegraph thinking when they reviewed it??? Unexciting, uninspiring and not even remotely frightening. Even Independent's Day's a more exciting and better film, IMO. WOTW's aliens looked remarkably similar to monkeys! :) And although I liked the tripods they were in, the way they shot death rays were laughable. It reminded me of some cheap cartoon aliens... :) And I don't even think there was enough action or storyline in it to make my $11.80 worthwhile. Damn...

Vertict: :)

Boo.

London Attacked

2005-07-08T12:22:00.000+10:00

What is the world coming to these days? First the New York, then Madrid and now London. These are the times where no one is safe anywhere anymore from these murderers.

How can these attackers seriously expect to go to heaven when they've passed on? I hardly think bombing innocent civilians of various religions and beliefs indiscrimately will get them a ticket to the high 'H'. More like granting them a 1-way ticket to meet The Dude with the horns, hooves and tail, a Mr Lucifer, in to the low 'H', Hell. I mean, how is it that a Mr. Smith who was just taking the subway to go to the school where he works in is in any way 'threatening' Islam? How then can those so-called wayward 'defenders of Islam' justify the death of poor Mr. Smith as a result of their cause?

Next on these maniac's lists is Australia. These are dangerous times here. The targets could be anything from the Parliament in Canberra, to The Sydney Opera House, to the Harbor Bridge, to our railway and bus systems.

Namo Amitabha...

High School: Streaming System in Malaysia vs Mix-And-Match System in Australia

2005-07-05T22:36:00.000+10:00

When I first migrated from Johor Bahru, Malaysia to Sydney, Australia, I was transported from an environment which practiced the dogma: Science is God, to one which tells its students to "Do whatever the hell you enjoy".

Now, I do not completely support one way of thinking over the other. Each have its pros and cons, definately.

Ever since primary school, my ambition was actually to become a blood-sucking, money-hungry, Godless, soulless LAWYER :)

However, when I reached Form 4, thanks to a combination of peer-pressure, teacher-pressure, the perception that the Science Stream offered a better deal for my future and my growing interest in becoming a nerdy, in love with physics, chem and maths, big bucks CIVIL/CHEMICAL ENGINEER, I opted to be in the Science Stream instead.

Now here's where the problem in the Malaysian education system starts to show. In Malaysia, we have to choose what we want to be at a relatively early age of 15. You wanna be a doctor, engineer, scientist, etc, then go into the Science Stream. If, on the other hand you are interested in becoming a lawyer, accountant, economist, journalist, etc then join the Arts Stream.

But what happens if it's in my case? I had harboured aspirations to be either a lawyer or an engineer at that time. Which stream should I pick? Crossovers into uni courses of different streams to what you've done in high school is a very tricky and risky proposition, especially so in local unis.

The streaming system have also fostered a sort of 'caste' system in Malaysia, in which the Science Stream students are considered superior to their Arts Stream counterparts. This has the effect of directing the majority of bright students into the Science Stream, while dumping those not-so-bright-whose-ambitions-are-to-work-in-pirated-VCD-shops-or-Jalan Wong Ah Fuk students into the Arts Stream. This phenomenon has also scared away many potential Arts/Commerce students who are interested in a career in the legal, accountancy, architecture, or business profession from choosing the Arts Stream. I should know.... I was one of them.

Now we turn to the Australian scene. In Australia, the situation's different. It doesn't employ the streaming system here. Here, you're free to mix and match any 5 or more subjects that you are interested in. This might seem very liberating to my fellow Malaysian students, but there's a dark side to this as well. When I arrived here, I continued to take a lot of science subjects as I still had my eyes on engineering then. Now, as any science student will attest to you, Physics, Chemistry and Biology are no pushover subjects. They are HARD. They are mercilessly PRECISE subjects. Your answers are either RIGHT or they are WRONG. There are no half-rights here.

Now I don't mean to insult the Arts students or anything (seeing that I am technically one now! :D) but you can't argue that Arts subjects such as Economics and English are more subjective compared to Physics or Maths. There are half-rights and a quarter-rights there to be obtained.

Now, from what I've seen and read about here, some Year 12 students (Form 6) here tend to abuse this mix-and-match system by picking 'easy' (again, this is subjective, I know) or what we here like to call 'Mickey Mouse' subjects such as 'Society and Culture', or 'Drama', or 'Music' or 'General Maths' (easy Form 3 level maths), or even something called 'Personal Development, Health and Physical Education' which I'm guessing has to something to do with Pendidikan Jasmani. Also, unis here don't have subject prerequisites for most of their courses, which is manipulated by some students here as I'll soon explain below.

Now seriously, without any malice or bias intended, but realistically, are we meant to think that 'Society and Culture' is suppose to have the same difficulty level as 'Physics' here? That's really a no-brainer.

In Australia, we don't use the grading system or the CGPA for our university entrance results. We do have a grading system which gives us the equivalent of A's, B's, C's, D's, E's and Fails for each of our subjects, but unis don't use that course places allocation to students. Instead, we use a ranking system called the Universities Admission Index (UAI) that starts from 0 up to 100, 100 being that you've done better than all of the students in your state, 80 meaning you're in the top 20% of all the students in the state, and so on. On another matter, this system also provides a very precise method of determining course cut-offs and selection of students into a certain course, as a 99.70 student will get a medical seat in a uni before a 99.65 student. The UAI cut-offs for courses here are determined by student demand. This may not be the case in Malaysia where both of those students could very well have obtained 4A's and have CGPAs of 4.0. So who should be picked then?

So is it fair that Student A who took English, Music, Drama, Visual Arts, and Society and Culture gets a UAI of 99.80 while Student B who took English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, 4-unit Maths (Form 6 Additional Maths) gets a UAI of 95.00?

But the thing that I couldn't stand the most are some of those students who took almost exactly the same subjects as Student A above and obtained very high UAIs who have the gall to apply for courses like Medicine, Dentistry or Pharmacy! That really got my blood boiling! I mean, I marginally can accept it if they had just stucked to picking Law, but this? Man, that's too much... These are the times where being a Science-subject student in Australia comes back to kick you in the teeth.

So that's a major con for you in the implementation of a mix-and-match system. Another major one that Australis is now beginning to experience is the decline in Year 12 students here taking on science subjects, as many of them prefer the less taxing arts subjects. This has resulted in a curious situation, as I'll try and demonstrate now:

Here are some of the general UAI cut-offs of some courses in Australian unis:

Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy's UAI cut-offs are not shown as they are taken into consideration together with a sort of aptitute test and an interview. But its generally accepted that the minimum cut-off for them are about 98 - 100.

This is expected as these courses and their resultant professions are highly paid and prestigious, even though they are science-based courses.

This also goes for the following courses below:

Veterinary Science - 98.45 (although I think vets in Malaysia are paid significantly less than in Australia, as Malaysian society do not value pets as much as Australians, while M'sia's agriculture sector is also not as lucrative or large as Australia's)

Optometry - 98.00

But after these 5 above courses, things starts to become pretty weird for the other science-based courses here in Aus.

But first, a look at the other popular courses here:

Law - 95.00-99.60

Law is tremoundously popular in Australia. Many bright students here want to do law. Think of what Medicine means to a Malaysian student to get an idea of what Law means to an Australian student. And to think that my dream course doesn't even rate a mention in the Education section of The Star most of the time... :P

Commerce/Business/Accounting - 90.30-95.00

The second choice for most people who didn't get Law is Accountancy. Hence the reason why it's also pretty high up here. Now for a little story on why I finally decided to become a boring-grey suited-no social life-no personality-no girlfriend-but relatively big money-bean counter ACCOUNTANT :D Well, my actual preference in Malaysia was something like: Lawyer, Engineer, *Something to do with a nice office instead of a boring sterile laboratory*. During that time, there was pitifully little information in Malaysia on what accountants do, what their prospects are, how to go about becoming a Chartered Accountant (CA), or whether they would eventually manage to get a girlfriend. However, since coming to Australia, the situation has been the complete opposite! There are weekly columns in the Education section of the newspapers and business magazines about accounting news and information, and TV ads on accountants jogging amidst the background of Big Ben in London and asking us to join them. I was fascinated about this previously obscure profession! :) This was helped by the the current reports of shortages of auditors (external accountants) and hence the good prospects that accounting students have right now. Plus, I also found out a Chartered Accountant's degree is usually recognised worldwide without a need to take any more exams to get it recognised when wanting to work in foreign countries, and about how much accountants generally earned. I was sold :P

So my preference was rejigged to something like this: Lawyer, Accountant, Engineer, Gigolo :P

Obviously, I didn't succeed in snaring a UAI of 99.6, but I did managed to get a respectable 90 something, so it was accountancy for me in the end then. But I was happy with it :D However, I can't help but sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a successful gigolo... ;P

Now, my fellow Malaysian students, prepare to be shocked ;) :

How high was my ex-beloved Engineering here?

Civil Engineering - 78.00

Chemical Engineering - 78.00

Electrical Engineering - 80.30

Mechanical Engineering - 85.75

Yeap, these much sought after courses in Malaysia where students need results such as 3A's to 4A's in their STPM only needs a UAI of around 80 here in Australia. Amazing, ain't it? The reason for this is simple: Many Aussie students hate Physics and Additional Maths. How are they gonna cope with the shortage of engineers here then? Simple, Australia knows that these engineering courses are in demand by Asian students from countries like Malaysia, Singapore, China, etc. So they can easily grant these engineering students with Australian Permanent Residence (PR) status and grab them as their own. Thus they don't (yet) have to force Physics and Add Maths down the throats of their own science and maths-hating Australian students. Beautiful, ain't it? ;) Another contributing factor for the lack of interest in engineering here is that its not paid as highly as lawyers or accountants in Australia because most engineering companies prefer to outsource their work to developing countries such as, ironically, Malaysia to cut costs... ;)

More pain ahead for science students back in Malaysia:

B. Sc. (Biotechnology) - 75

Yeap, apparently the big hype on Biotech in Malaysia and Singapore hasn't impressed Australia very much so far...

To to put the icing on the cake, here's what a typically 'ren men' or 'cold door' course in Malaysia looks in Australia:

B. Arts - 83.00

Yeap, you've read right: A degree in Philosophy is harder to obtain here than a degree in Civil Engineering...

Unbelievable? Yeap. True? You betcha.

I'll leave you to stew on that now then... :)

So anyway, as we can see, the mix-and-match system has the propensity to encourage more students to take on business and arts courses at the expense of science-based (and especially physics-based) courses here.

So which system is better? I'll leave that for you to decide ;)

Snow!!! :)

2005-07-05T18:36:00.000+10:00

Back from Thredbo, Smiggins Hole and Perisher Blue! :) Yeap, the tour group that my family and me went on covered all of the 3 main skiing resorts on our weekend tour. And that was the first time my whole family had seen snow. Did you know that snow actually tasted.... cold? :P

So, was skiing fun? Omg... If you want a good workout, take up skiing. It is hell on your biceps and legs. My cousin, siblings and me all took a 2 hour crash course in skiing, which involved a lot of me bowling over some hapless kid or the instructor pulling me up again for the countless time... Not to mention how I kept sliding into mudholes everytime I had to wear my darn slippery skies...

Eventually got some kinda control over those accursed skies. Muahahaha! It's all in the knees dudes... You've gotta bend them to where you want to swerve to :)

Farewel Friends...

2005-07-04T18:51:00.000+10:00

Found out from Del that all my uni-bound friends had dispersed from Johor Bahru to their respective dorms in their respective unis during my weekend in Perisher Blue. Man, I know that I was the first to abandon them in migrating to Oz :P, but heck, I still can't help but feel a tinge of sadness that all my wonderful pals are no longer gonna be in JB these days. JB's gonna feel kinda hollow without them nowadays...

My pals are a terrific bunch! :) I kinda envy them for getting to stay in uni dorms and stuff. In Australia, my uni's pretty close to my home, and so I didn't have to do so as well. Del's gonna join Jun Hoe in UKM, doing Marine Science, Kaki Babi's gonna do Biological Science in NTU, Chee Zhu's heading to NUS to study Science, both of them in Singapore, Ping Yee's gonna joing our old senior Poh Soon and do Vet Science in UPM, and last but not least, my good old pal TQJ is heading for greener (literally!) pastures and going to UMS to study Biological Processing.

I have also heard from my ex-SKST friends what some offers some of my friends got. Tuck Kit has gotten Medicine at IMU, while Yeng Yi got to do Law at MMU. Wi Lian and some other friends are at Melbourne Uni doing Engineering and other Biology-related courses respectively.

All the best of luck to them then!

Going Off to a Skiing Holiday in Thredbo for the Weekend

2005-07-01T21:43:00.000+10:00

Ditto to above title. Departing at 11.30 today and will be back on Monday. Hope I'll be able to see the Abominable Snowman there! ;)

Till then, ciao!

Red Coconut Triad Gang Recruitment Notice

2005-06-28T00:44:00.000+10:00

This is an official recruitment notice seeking new members for the newly formed Red Coconut Triad Gang (RCTG), founded by it's first 'Tai Lou', 'Big Mole Boss' (Me). Presently, this triad gang has two members, 'Ah Beng Del' aka Delwyn Lee, and possibly (but still unconfirmed) 'Gaylo TQJ'. This new and ambitious gang is currently seeking highly motivated and bright people to join its ranks.

The Red Coconut Triad Gang Logo

Currently, the position of 'Right Hand Man' and 'Gang Gigalo' has been filled by 'Ah Beng Del' and 'Gaylo TQJ' respectively. However, this gang is still seeking to fill up the following positions:

'Sei Lou' (Small Boss)

A 'Sei Lou's job is to overlook the operations of various activities, eg racketeering, drug distribution, prostitution, done by the 'fei chai's. Applicants must have a stern-looking face, plus a bit of brains.

'Kei Lui' (Chicken Girls)

A 'Kei Lui' must be female, age between 18-25. Demonstrations of applicants job functions can be seen in Jalan Wong Ah Fook in JB or Geylang in Singapore. Applicants should preferably have a hot body (Elva Hsiao), a cute face (Boa) and low self-esteem. Experience is a big advantage.

'RO' (Recruitment Officer)

A 'RO's job is a very important one. He ensures the constant supply of 'fei chai's into the gang. Applicants should have good interpersonal skills, as well as being able to speak various languages.

'Fei Chai' / ‘Gu Wak Chai’ ('Pai Kia'/'Samseng Kia')

'Fei Chai's are a vital part of this gang. They are the ones who beat the crap out of shopkeepers who refuse to pay protection money, sell drugs to kids, sell pirated VCDs to people, and 'cham' rival gang leaders. Applicants should have long blonde hair and a 'kua ha mek' look ala Chan Ho Nam in ‘Young and Dangerous’. The ability to wield a butcher knife is an advantage but not a requirement.

Interested potentials should drop a comment here, stating why we should pick him or her, and if approved, applicants will be notified.

Review: Initial D

2005-06-26T20:40:00.000+10:00

*Ahem...*

Watched Initial D 2 days ago. And Jay Chou's debut in acting. It was supposed to be Coach Carter, but somehow or other it became Initial D in the end.

How was it? Ummnn.... lemme put it this way. It had its good parts, but it also had its agonizing parts. The good? Unfortunately, NOT Jay Chou. I'm not sure whether its only in the Australian cinemas, but they dubbed him here. I think the fact that he's a Taiwanese, and the movie's in Cantonese was the reason for doing so. What's worse, the voice-over that the director found for him was just horrible. He gave the poor guy such a whiny voice! I've heard a couple of Jay Chou's songs before, and I'm pretty certain that his voice is much better than that.

The real good things about this movie are the cars, some of the more humourous moments, and Anthony Wong. Man, I'm really becoming quite a big fan of Anthony Wong these days, from the first time I saw him in Infernal Affairs. He steals the show whenever he's on, in my opinion. He can be quite funny and cool as well. He play's the drunkard former champion racer dad of Jay Chou's character turned tofu seller here.

The cars and the car scenes are also pretty cool, especially with all that drifting and stuff.

The bad? Jay Chou's cardboard acting skills, his pathetic romance sub-plot and the annoying geeky fat sidekick of his. Sorry JC fans, but Jay Chou can't really act. And what's with that romance thingy? Omg, it has got to be the most pointless sub-plot I have ever seen! How does it contribute to the movie? By finally nudging JC towards a career in racing? I don't even see the connection for this aspect to happen, really. And that ham-acting by that rolly-polly dude that is JC's sidekick, I sometimes wish that I could kick him.... ;P

On a final note, cute guys alert! Girls, you might be interested in the likes of Edison Chen and Shawn Yu (of Infernal Affairs 2) in the movie as well.

Final verdict?

:) :)

And I'm being kinda generous here ;P

Accountancy: Another Slap On Any Idealism I Thought It Had

2005-06-24T23:46:00.000+10:00

Lol! I came across an article on the 'Top 10 Tips To Finding A Good Property Accountant' in the Daily Telegraph's business section yesterday. In particular, Tip No. 4 really got me laughing. Here it is:

4. Ask them if they are an investor themselves and how wealthy they are. If they are not investors (and you are) and if they are not wealthy (and you are or want to be) find someone else..... If they don't want to tell you, they're probably poor, so don't waste your time!

.........

Well, there goes any last perceptions that I had on the idealism of this profession..... Of course, money is important (you'll be a hypocrite to say otherwise ;), but whereas doctors can hide behind the noble veneer of being in the job to save people's lives, lawyers to uphold justice, or engineers to build vital infrastructures for our society, all in addition to pocketing a healthy sum of fees in the process, of course, accountants are kinda stark naked in this respect :P We don't really have any noble facade to present for others to see, I'm afraid. True, true, our associations occasionally wax lyricals about our importance in maintaining the health of businesses and their shareholders, but let's be serious, that pales in comparison to saving lives now, doesn't it? :P

So I guess there's not much room for idealism here in this profession. 'It's all about the money'... Pretty cynical, but hey, if what the above passage says is true, that means that an accountant's success is measured in cold, hard cash...

Well, am I complaining? Hmmnn... It's hard to say, actually. On one hand, when I made the switch from the possibility of a noble science career to the more sordid commerce careers, I was well aware about the lack of 'idealism' in these kinds of professions. But on the other, when the author put it so bluntly like that, one can't help but wonder, is my future line of work really that cynical?

Malaysian Uni Offers Out!

2005-06-24T09:41:00.000+10:00

Good luck people! Tell me all about it ASAP! So far I know Ping Yee's, Chee Zhu's, Pei Yin's, Kaki Babi's, Kok Wing's, Delwyn, Qin Ji's and Poh Kam's now. What about the rest of you guys? Good luck!

Childhood Cartoon Phenomenons: Transformers G1 vs Pokemon

2005-06-21T15:42:00.000+10:00

Okokok, call me immature, mentally-stunted, retarded even (ooi, not that harsh, can?), but one of my most prized childhood nostalgia possesion is an original (that's right, bought it right after a raid in the Giant Hypermarket VCD stalls, in which after they were reduced to selling only original copies of cartoons and Bollywood VCDs) Transformers: The Movie (1986).

I wish to clarify something first though. I absolutely HATE the latest Breastwars Transformers. A pale and dissapointing immitation of how they used to be, in my opinion. I am only obsessed (or used to be) with the so-called Generation 1 (G1) Transformers series in the 80s, where Optimus Prime still transformed into a truck, and Megatron into a gun. Not all that gorilla/dinosour nonsense.

Yeap, for those who had no childhood, or were dumb little babies when this was released, here's what Transformers is all about in a nutshell:

Transformers is a cartoon/comic series which depicts the civil war between 2 different camps of sentient robots (who are able to transform into various other modes, such as cars, jet planes, guns, tanks, and even a radio!), the (get ready for the cheesiness ahead) evil Decepticons and the courageous Autobots. This war initially began in their homeworld Cybertron, but continued to rage on on Earth, where both sides found themselves stranded after an unfortunate accident to their spacecraft in space.

The Autobots

The Decepticons

The Transformers were HUGE during the early 80s right up till the early 90s. I was only a little kid when the Transformers phenomenon reached the peak of its popularity during the mid 80s. However, living in Malaysia does have its advantages. The whole cartoon series was screened on local TV about a few years later than the USA's, and so it became the staple of my TV viewing diet when I was a young, impressionable kid. I memorised almost all of the Transformer characters by heart, incessantly whined to my parents about getting me the latest Transformers toys, and constantly tried to contort myself into a car or gun (without much success, I'm sad to add). The after-effects of this phenomenon can still be seen today, especially among the present 20-30 year old males. The proof?: Next time you see a live Linkin Park concert, pay attention to DJ Joseph Hahn's keyboard/disc scratching thingy. You'll see this symbol:

This is the bad guy's (Decepticons) symbol. Note the cool beak-like mouth :)

Plus, how many times have you seen those T-shirts with either the above logo, or the one below? Long live Transformers! :)

The good guy's (Autobots) symbol. Note the 'I feel soo much pain for the world' weary but determined look

Anyway, I guess the main reason why I was obsessed with the Transformers because of one factor: Coolness. Yeap, everything from the characters in the cartoon, to the premise and the way they transform, right down to how their names sound, is so absolutely coooooooool :)

And now we turn to a more recent kiddie phenomenon. Pokemon. The thing that every little kid was ga-ga over about 4 years ago. Seeing that Pokemon is a phenomenon in its own right, we can now proceed to compare it with the Transformers phenomenon. I don't know about you, but I for the love of my life CANNOT see how kids these days can be content with this:

A yellow rodent with a crooked tail

When kids 15-20 years ago had this:

Optimus Prime, beloved leader of the Autobots. Intelligent, courageous, virtuous, and absolutely fearless. Transforms into a lorry truck

If he's not your cup of tea, then how about this:

Megatron, feared leader of the Decepticons. Cunning, ruthless, maniacal, and merciless. Transforms into a puny gun :) Overcompensating for that, perhaps? :P

Tsk tsk tsk. I pity today's kids. They have no idea what they're missing. Big time.... I mean, how can those 2 cartoons even compare? If you've watch the Transformers movie before, you'll see that it is actually more aimed towards young to mid teenagers, and not little kids. For starters, I find that the language complexity used in those Transformers movie are very sophisticated and cool, such as:

"Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Ratbat... Eject... Operation: Interference" - Soundwave, Transformers: The Movie

"Their defences are breached, let the slaughther begin!" - Megatron

Optimus Prime: "One shall stand, one shall fall"
Megatron: "Why throw away your life so recklessly?"
Optimus Prime: "That's a question you should ask yourself, Megatron"

"Soundwave: Superior, Constructicons: Inferior" - Soundwave

"First we crack the shell, then we crack the nuts inside" - Frenzy

Quintesson: "Quiet, or you'll be held in contemp of this court"
Hot Rod: "I have nothing but contemp for this court"

where as the language used in Pokemon mainly consists of lines such as:

"Pikachu... attack!" - Ask Ketchup (opps, sorry, I meant Ketchum or something like that)

"It's alright. You did great, Squirturtle" (yeah right... loser...) - Ash to Squirturtle, after losing yet another duel...

"Win or lose, I'll always still love you, Pikachu" - Ash, trying to engage in some beastiality

Pikachu: "Pi-Pikachu"
Misty: "No Pikachu! You can't fight in this condition"

Wimps.... :P

Jessie: "Prepare for trouble!"
James: "And make it double!"
J1: "To protect the world from devastation!"
J2: "To unite all peoples within our nation"
J1: "To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
J2: "To extend our reach to the stars above!"
J1: "Jessie!"
J2: "James!"
J1: "Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light!"
J2: "Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
Meowth: "Me-owth! Dat's right!"

*Runs off to the toilet to puke...*

Now bear in mind that these two cartoons were actually targeted at similar audiences. Okok, maybe a lil' bit younger for Pokemon, but hey, 12 year olds watch Pokemon (my bro did) and 12 year olds also watch Transformers during their heydays! So that's still no excuse. So how can one generation of children live on super uber-cool powderful robot dialogues in Transformers, while the other is content and even happy to wallow in the infantile cringe-worthy lines of Pokemon? Very strange....

A few more character comparisons:

As you can see from the quotes above, my favourite character in Transformers has got to be Soundwave. Here's a pic of him:

He's the highly loyal and intelligent Communications Commander for the Decepticons, and transforms into a cassette player (yes, yes, it was in the 80s then!) Why do I like this guy? Well, for starters, let's be shallow first ;P I admit that I'm a sucker for any of the Transformers with that mouth-guard thingy (ie no mouth). I dunno why, but I guess it just looks so much more cooler than robots with mouths. That's one of the reasons why I like Optimus Prime as well. Secondly, man oh man, Soundwave's voice is mad!!! You'll have to watch the movie to understand how he sounds. He speaks in a smooth, digitally-synthesised, robotic kinda voice. Easily the coolest sounding Transformers among all of them :) Plus, he also has 4 sidekicks, called the Cassetticons, which consists of a hound: Ravage, a bat: Ratbat, and the twin tiny robots: Rumble and Frenzy which can all transform into (you guessed it) cassettes.

Compare a character like that to a character like....:

Ash (Tomato) Ketchup. Permanently adolescent hyperactive boy-who-could who wears the same old cap in every episode.

Without doubt, to promote evil, the creators of Transformers always seem to make the Decepticons bucket-loads cooler than the goody-goody Autobots. For example, the Decepticons introduced the 'merging' robots much earlier than their Autobots counterparts. They first had Devastator, the green giant robot which was made up from the Constructicons, the Decepticon's equivalent of engineers and architects. However, my favourite 'merging' giant robot was Predaking, which was the result of the amalgamation of the Predacons, Decepticons can could transform into wild animals such as a lion, a tiger, a rhino, an eagle, and a buffalo. Here's a picture of Predaking:

Predaking laying waste on the puny Autobots

One thing I must add before I go on. One other reason why I liked the Transformers was the effort the creators went into in devising the names for their characters. Many of the Transformer's names doesn't just sound good, most of them descibes the Transformer's personality or characteristic as well.

Soundwave - soundwaves, associated with communication
Optimus Prime - optimus means optimum, prime means at the peak of one's powers
Starscream - Associated with aerospace, Starcream being the Aerial Commander of the Decepticons
Onslaught - As in the onslaught of an army
Omega Supreme - Omega = Big, supreme = best. A very apt name for the one of the biggest Autobot, who functions as the last line of defence for them

The same with the many sub-groups available: Constructicons, Predacons, Insecticons, Aerobots, etc

Anyway, let's see now, what are my other favourite bots from the cartoon? Ah yes, the Insecticons! I just find them unique in the sea of robots which transform into planes and cars. Insecticons are a sub-group of Decepticons which consists of Shrapnel, Bombshell, and Kickback. They transform into a stag beatle, a rhino beatle and grasshopper respectively. Here's a pic of them:

Heck, how can you compare those uber-cool dudes with mutated animals like:

Bulbasour? A kind of blue reptile with an onion on it's back, as far as I can make out...

or....

Squiturtle. A wimpy looking turtle....

Where as the Transformers movie and cartoon consists of the Autobots doing battle the with the evil decepticons for the good of mankind:

Autobots vs Decepticons

...the Pokemon cartoon and movies consists of wimpy stadium fights (in which no one ever dies even!) and lots and lots and lots of nauseous-inducing 'love everybody' and 'don't worry, you've tried your best' themes. *Uugghh!*

Another sappy moment where Ash once again tries his luck with Pikachu...

The original Transformers cartoon and comic lines ended around the early 90s. However, there has been a recent revival for it in the form of Dreamwave Production's comics, which is where I got many of those pictures from. A new cartoon series is also on air right now, called Transformers: Armada, I think, but I don't have high expectations for it. It still can't compare to the original, IMO.

Well, that's all from me on my 2 cents worth of the comparison between 2 iconic cartoons that kids of yesteryear and today watch. Again, I just pity today's kids.... :P

Megatron posing very angkuh-ly over a crushed Autobot. Cool.... ;P

Until next time then.... More than meets the eye! :)

The Asian Men's Dilemma

2005-06-19T01:36:00.000+10:00

Picking up an interesting debate from Rajan's blog, in which he picked it up from CSTan's blog, who in turn got the idea of blogging about it from one of Sarong Party Girl's entry. But in fact, this phenomenon is anything but new.

Of course, I can understand that many of my Malaysian friends would have absolutely no clue as to what I'm going on about. What the heck is the Asian Men's Dilemma (AMD)? Okok, so I made up the AMD acronym :) But the point is, Malaysians can be forgiven for this. However, I have the feeling that our fellow Singaporeans (where there exists a sizeable number of Western expats there), and every Asian community in the Western world would immediately catch on to what I'm on about.

Yeap, the AMD is the name I'm giving for the apparent phenomenon where Asian men are seemingly losing out to our Western counterparts (read: Caucasians) in their bids to snare their Asian bombshells (or from some of the cases that I've seen, mini-firecrackers only laa...) that they've set their sights on. Yeap, walk around any of the global cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, London, New York, etc, and you'll easily spot countless Caucasian guys walking hand in hand with Asian chicks. These type of couples outnumber the Asian men-Caucasian women pairing by approximately 10:1.

Why is this phenomenon happening? Well, obviously, we'll need some Asian female input on this, but I'll just try and give my rojak theory on this in the meantime ;P

From what I've read , apparently, the main reason Asian girls go ga-ga over white guys is basically over the issue of physique. Yeap, to put it plainly, the bigger/taller/muscular, the better. We Asian guys genetically just can't compete with them in terms of height (kinda up for dispute here in Sydney, they're all pretty much my height here ;)), or physical built. We generally tend to be shorter and slighter-built than them. I guess that's just how we're made. A girl on Rajan's website also mentioned that they (or we actually) also tend to prefer Caucasian features such as sharp noses, multicoloured eyes and hairs, etc etc, which Asian men sorely lacked. So that's two strikes now... :P Let's just say that there's a third strike along this line, but seeing how I have some innocent readers among my friends here, I'll just leave you guessing on this one... ;P

But then we move on to the forth and last strike against us Asian guys. One word: Wealth, or the preceivement of it anyway. Because many Western countries are generally more developed and affluent compared to their Asian counterparts, we Asians tend to be thought of as being 'poorer' and less of a guarentee to financial heaven compared to a snared white dude. This can especially be seen in tourist dependent countries such as Thailand, Bali, etc. Now we turn the tables around. The feeling (to some extent) is also mutual the other way around. Judging from what I've seen, there are a sizeable number of Caucasian males who have a preference for Asian girls. I tend to think that this could be attributed to the preception that they have on Asian girls being feminine, passive, demure, pampering, cute with nice long hair, etc. Basically, so that they can once again exercise their masculinity/chauvanistic/beefcake tendencies and experience all that good old fashioned male superiority nonsense once more, something which they find lacking these days in their own independent, aggresive and outspoken Caucasian girls. Yeap, sorry girls, but your fallacies about how Caucasian guys better appreciate your independence, intelligence, outspokeness, etc etc are sadly, just fallacies on your part ;)

Why is this happening? Like what many other people have said before, I think in the end, it all just comes down to cultural exposure. The western TV programs and movies that we are constantly bombarded with indirectly shape how we define 'beauty' or 'masculinity'. Because all the male heroes in Hollywood films are white, tall, have buldging biceps, 6 pack torsos, nice wavy blonde hair and deep blue eyes, we came to associate all this attributes with what makes up machoness and masculinity. Think Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Orlando Bloom, and you'll get the picture. How many Asian male heroes have you seen before in popular Western movies? Hence you can see that there are no such problems in homogeneous close-knite societies such as the Japanese and Koreans societies. Unlike them, Singaporeans, Malaysians, and other Asian societies are generally more exposed to the western media and their pop culture thanks to their fluency in the English language, and hence our preceptions of 'beauty' (or good-lookingness, in this case) are heavily skewed in favour of those Western attributes.

Blame your girls all you want guys, but I do concur that blue/green/brown eyes and blonde/red/brunette hair do make an attractive combination :) There's no denying that. However, saying that, I also do think that the likes of (warning: author is not a homosexual :) Asian men such as:

Tony Leung Chiu Wai (my hero in Infernal Affairs!)

Nicholas Tse (HK bad boy)

Jay Chou (singer/rapper/actor (?) extraodinaire

Edison Chen (cardboard actor, but apparently a lot of girls go ga-ga over this guy)

and a few more like Bae Yong Jun (Winter Sonata), Takeshi Kaneshiro (popular Taiwanese-Japanese actor) and some other Asian stars that I've seen before, but forgotten their names now, are pretty good looking, if I may say so (me being a guy and all). *Time to watch out for gay-bashers now...* :P

Basically, I think we Asian men don't really have a beefcake-on-two-legs equivalent of Arnold Swaz-something or Slyvester Stallone. Our male 'heroes' in movies tend to be more of the cool, Triad-affliated-bad-boy type. Which is totally fine with me man. Give me a cool Triad kia over those two steroids-pumped perhistoric men anytime... :)

But the common cmplaint that girls give on how Asian men seem to be a chauvanistic bunch, wanting them to be the perfect trophy/docile/housekeeper wife/godfriends is very real, in my opinion. After schooling with many of my Chinese-educated in high school, I can safely say that the majority of them wants exactly these type of passive girlfriends. With all respect, I say bulls**t to that! :P I totally believe in equal partners in life. In my opinion, these notions are really out of touch with today's realities. So a lot of the blame can also correctly be laid on the Asian men's feet.

So in conclusion, it's all in the perception that people have on what constitutes to making a guy 'hot', 'cute' or 'affluent'. It can't all be because of the physical side, as you don't see many Asian chicks going after black guys, even though they are generally taller and more athletic. One can then argue that a certain form of racism comes into play here. Well, whatever it is, in the end, this is how society presently works. Of course, nothing's permanent. Before you know it, things may change and new preceptions and generalisations will come to the fore which may completely change the equilibrium once more.

Currently Sold On: Social Democracy

2005-06-17T00:46:00.000+10:00

Had a good read about socialism on Wikipedia just now. Particularly on one of its branches, social democracy. Man oh man, this baby truly rocks! :P Especially so since it's 100% free to use. And its suprisingly pretty up to date as well. It almost instantaneously added 'Deep Throat's identity to its Watergate Scandal when news first broke out about it that it was Mr Mark Felt.

Anyway... I was kinda curious as to what my political orientations were, as I've already ascertain that my sexual orientation were definately heterogeneous. So that's one down... ;)

When I came to Australia, I definately was leaning towards the Labor Party. Why? Partly because of their policies: Promoting multiculturalim (there's currently a Malaysian lady lawyer/politician from Western Australia currently holding Labor's Industrial Relations portfolio now), they seem more progressive and liberal than the government's Liberal Party (I know, I know, the names don't add up. The Liberal Party is only liberal economically-wise, they are very right-wing conservative social-wise), I am all for their reduction/abolishment of university fees, subsidising hospital fees, and their fairer redistribution of wealth among the poorer members of society.

So naturally I assumed that I was a socialist supporter. However, when I read up what socialism was really about, I disagreed with many of their beliefs. For example, I definately don't agree with a centrally-planned economy, as it inherently promotes mediocrity among the worker's productivity as it doesn't provide them with any incentives to work hard (why work harder when a portion has already been allocated to you). I am also totally against left-wing socialism, which becomes communism. However, extreme right-wing parties also mutate in facism, theocracies and nationalism, which is also equally undesirable. So they kinda cancel each other out ;)

On a socialist party's aim of creating a welfare state, I still haven't decided whether I like it or not. On one hand, I've seen first hand how it can promote laziness in Australia. Because some welfare payments here are even higher than a monthly minimum salary job, many people just can't see the point in working and instead rely on collecting their monthly unemployment benefits. However, on the other hand, I've also seen in countries where a welfare system do not exist, such as Malaysia, where jobless, homeless people, for whatever the reason, can literally starve to death on the streets. Or be enticed to go into the prostitution industry. Or be forced to lose their dignity and beg on the streets. Which is also equally bad when you think about it.

So I was in a dilemma. Until I found out about one of its branches, that is :P Social democracy! Why? Here's why: Social democracy is a centrally based ideology in the right-left-wing spectrum, the so-called Third Way. Social democracy has already acknowledge the failings of a centrally-planned economy and instead embraced the free market capitalist economy. However, they differ from liberal parties in the way they redistribute wealth. Social democrats wish for a fairer redistribution of wealth, particularly among the middle class and working class in the form of higher taxation among the wealthy class of people, and less so among the other two classes. They also advocate increased regulatory systems over private enterprises to ensure that they do not exploit and neglect to provide the poorer members of society in the form of public goods, etc. Social democrats still keep the desire to subsidise education, health and public services, which is also what I believe and prefer. Lastly, socialist parties in nature strive towards a classless and fairer society, where differences in race, religion and wealth are considered unimportant and everybody are considered equal. Hence, they tend to promote secularism, multiculturalism and immigration, all which suits me perfectly :) Current social democrat parties are the Australian Labor Party, the British Labour Party, and many other labour parties.

So there, my reasons for currently subscribing to social democracy. I may switch to liberalism in the near future, when I find out more about it, but right now all I know about 'real' liberal parties (such as the Democrats in the USA and NOT Australia's 'fake' Liberal Party) are their social orientations of tolerance and not much else. So for now, its social democracy for me! :P

1st Semester Over!!! 6 weeks hols, here I come! :P

2005-06-17T00:13:00.000+10:00

First off, exams are done!!! ;P Ahhh.... Thought it would never end! The last Managing exam was a joke. Completed it in 20 mins for a 1 and a 1/2 hour exam. Plus it's textbook was just gawd-awful.... A delusional bunch of wannabe-managing guru's writing 40 page chapters which goes on and on, and on, and on, about something that really only needs 5 pages of explaining... Jeez... Can't wait to flush it down the toilet soon... ;)

Yeap, freedom is always sweet. A 6 weeks stretch of nothing but pure and pristine hols now. Ahhhhh...... :P Family planning to go to Perisha Blue soon. It's a ski resort, and this is one of those rare times where there's actually SNOW there! Wow! Never seen snow before yet in my life. FYI, Australia does'nt get snow. Not even in Tasmania, I think. On the not-so-bright side, dad's really been on my back lately in gently kicking my ass in propelling me towards looking for a part-time job soon. *Sigh...* I guess I'll soon be repeating the glorious drugdery of my stint as a cashier at Giant again... What fun! xD

Celebrated today by watching Mr and Mrs Smith with a bunch of my friends. Not too bad, I guess, if you're looking for the standard Hollywood romantic/action/big stars fare. Pleasant enough way of burning off 2 hours of free time anyway. I would rate it as :) :) : (2 and a 1/2 smileys!) For more dramatic acting, I am kinda interested in the buffon that is Russel Crow's latest flick, Cinderella Man. Looks like a good ol' teary-eyed inspiring type of movie, which I seem to have a taste for. And Coach Carter also seems pretty good. Yes, yes, what can I say, I'm a sports movie fan :P Oh yeah, if you're looking for a stimulating movie, I would highly recommend Crash. It's about race relations in Los Angelos. I thought it was bloody terrific.

*Going off to watch Lost now...*

Brace Yourselves: Uni Offers Imminent...

2005-06-10T14:09:00.000+10:00

Dudes and dudedettes, it's finally that time of your lives now. Since I'm already here, my time has already came and gone. And I can thank God (or Lord Buddha/my karma) that the experience was relatively positive. I sincerely hope that all my Sixth Former friends back in Malaysia will be as well.

The meritrocracy system has been in place for about 3 years now, and I'm hoping that it will serve my pals well. You keep hearing all those horror stories from those past STPM students on their uni offer ordeals, and I hope none of my friends will have to go through that ordeal. I am very happy to say that the whole bunch of them, from my primary school days in SK Sri Tebrau right up to the new ones in SMK Taman Johor Jaya (1) and SMK Permas Jaya (for a quarter of Form 6) has performed astounding well! :) They averaged out to about 2A's - 3A's among them, with a couple who obtained straight A's (although not all A1's). Congrats to all of them! I think if I were to stay back in Malaysia and do the STPM, my results would probably be about 2A's or so.

I would be very curious to see what you guys have obtained when you get your uni offers. Please leave a comment here telling me about it when you do, all right?

Cool. Well, I guess all that I can say now is GOOD LUCK to all of you people, and HOPE FOR THE BEST! :)

Institutionalising Secularism in Malaysia

2005-06-09T10:40:00.000+10:00

Why? Isn't it blindingly obvious for our politicians that secularism is the way to go in Malaysia? Its so simple: Malaysia, whether some people like it or not, is fundamentally a multicultural and multireligious nation. It has been so for more almost 50 years now. Its a fact. And I am proud of it for being so :)

But as in all heterogeneous nations, we don't have the luxury of countries like Japan, Korea, Sweden, or Denmark where their people all agree on issues concerning race or religion, as the people there are all largely homogeneous in nature. But in Malaysia, the situation is quite different. We have a multitude of religions among our people. Muslims, Roman and Protestant Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Animismes, etc etc. I am all for people being free to practice what they believe in, and practicing secularism DOES NOT eliminate or threaten that right in any way! Secularism merely means that religion should be kept out of state matters, to avoid conflict of different beliefs or bias when carrying out government functions. Ala separation of the church and state that's practiced in many Western countries, including Australia.

And why is this so bad? To me, if secularism is institutionalised, there would no longer be political parties who use religion to further their causes. In one fell swoop, relations between people of different faiths would be improved tremendously. Not everyone believes in the same religion. A painful but true fact nevertheless. This has immense potential to cause unnecessary conflict when one group tries to impose on to others what they believe in. Just look at the Muslim-Christian civil war in Lebanon. Lebanon used to be the most developed and successful middle-eastern country in the region, and now they're back to square one. Or the conflicts in Bosnia. Or the continuing tensions between Northern Ireland's Protestant and Roman Catholic communities. Were they worth it?

Most of the major Western powers practice the separation of church and state - USA, Australia, Britain, Canada, France, etc. But its not only restricted to Westerners. Turkey and Indonesia (during Suharto's time anyway) also practiced it. And did that make them any 'less' religious in doing so? I don't think so. Turkey has become quite a developed and peaceful country these days.

In fact, I am very suprised that our British forefathers did not try to introduce secularism while drafting out our Constitution. They would have known the pitfalls of sectarian politics, seeing how they too have embraced secularism in their own country. What more with a multi-religious population like Malaysia's?

Yeah, so why not try and eliminate unneccesary potential strife and just secularise Malaysia? It doesn't harm anyone, and it also contributes in improving the whole nation's unity and well-being :)

Chinese Defection to Australia

2005-06-06T15:26:00.000+10:00

About 2 days ago, a China dude, Chen Yonglin, defected to Australia. This youngish-looking chap is actually 37 years old and a diplomat attached to the Chinese consulate in Sydney.

His mug shot

Anyway, I thought it was pretty odd that there are still defections from China at this day and age. I mean, I was under the impression that China is increasingly on it's way towards becoming a rich and affluent place now (if you have the right connections, and live in the major cities anyway), seeing the astronomical amounts of FDI and business opportunities that it's enjoying, akin to what Malaysia experienced during the late 80s right through to the early 90s. You keep reading and watching stories about how once modest farmers and tradesmen are suddenly being transformed into multi-million dollar business magnates.

So its kinda preplexing why a seemingly upper-class young man would suddenly want to defect now. He seems to me to be just the rightly-equiped kind of person to thrive in the new China. China's not exactly North Korea these days, with its bastardised not-very-socialist economic system that it practices nowadays ;)

The reason he gave was that he was a former Tiannamen Square democracy student protester (and hence why he choose to defect on the 4th of June), in addition to being sympathetic to the Falun Gong movement (which incidentally after receiving numerous pamphlets from them in Chinatown, I still have NO idea why the Chinese government banned them and what they stand for..... perhaps because Mandarin is Greek to me? :P) . Hence I gather that he's one of those people who ranks political freedom higher than economic prosperity. Which is quite a rare thing in China, judging from what I see.

But just today, there was news that the Howard government has rejected his application for political asylum. Perhaps the increasing economic trade Australia currently enjoys with its new found (albeit Commie-controlled) chum, China. Just goes to show that the routes to power doesn't just lie in the military (North Korea, Pakistan) or cultural (USA), but a country can also equally as powerful through the economic route. Suddenly, human rights complaints and democracy flies out of the window by these so-called 'defenders of democracy' like the US and Australia, and even by smaller but equally anti-commie countries like our neighbour, Singapore.

Yeap, Australia sold the poor chap out. Immediately contacted his consulate and is now asking him to go back to his country. The poor guy had to go into hiding now. Apparently, if I'm not mistaken, the punishment for defection is imprisonment there. Don't think this would have happened if the guy was defecting from Cuba or North Korea or some other equally impoverished country.

Yeap, Australia, you should be ashamed of yourself. So much for being a 'human rights defender'.

Reitroduction to a wanker friend's new blog ;)

2005-06-01T11:10:00.000+10:00

Ok lah, last time, when I just started blogging, this dude introed me loh. So since he's relaunching his blog now (probably because in his last blog reincarnation, his life was too boring 'til he had to close it...), I thought I'd repay him the favour and intro his new (no substance so must put a huge Gundam robot wallpaper to distract people from that fact) blog! :P

Name: Delwyn Lee (htf did he get a name like Delwyn??? Eh Del, you Chinese or Greek?)
Blog (3rd attempt): xhiinfidel.blogspot.com

Nah, done.

So last night he asked me what I wanted him to write about in it. I suggested an intellectually stimulation discussion on the leftism vs rightism of politics, but he declined and said he wanted to be a budding porn script writer instead. It figures.... ;P

1.5 mb TPG ADSL Plan!!! Zoom! :)

2005-05-28T01:02:00.000+10:00

Yay!!! Got my 1.5 mb ADSL connection from TPG yesterday! Initially was using a 256 kbps plan, thought it was the best thing since vanilla ice-cream liao. Now this..... *salivating...* And why not? TPG is offerring it at EXACTLY the same price as my previous 256 kbps plan, at $49.95/month for 20GB downloads before being throttled down to 64 kbps! They must be crazy or something. Damn powderful man! Downloads from download.com averaged at bout 135+ kbps, compared to 256 kbps's paltry speed of 28 kbps. But nothing can compare to my days of 56 kbps modem *shudder...* 5 kbps!!! What the hell is that? Even my grandmother can hobble faster than that.

*Gone off to find a bowl to collect my dripping saliva now...*

The Power of Minority Parties - Kingmaking

2005-05-25T11:04:00.000+10:00

Remember when I was explaning what and why minority parties in Australia are actually quite powerful despite their numbers in parliament? Well, I've just read about a very good example of their power yesterday.

As I've explained before, Australia has a 2 and a half party system. Labor vs Liberal+National. But the petani National party is just a minor, kinda unimportant one, as the Liberals have enough MPs in parliament to pass any legislation without their help now. The reason they're still staying together is just out of pure curtesy and respect of each other's past alliances.

So by all accounts, just think of Labor = Democrat and Liberal = Republican ala USA here and you'll get the political picture in Australia.

So anyway, this event occured during Gough Whitlam's of the Labor Party's tenor as Prime Minister in 1972. Btw, I am a huge admirer of Gough Whitlam. To me, he was one of the most visionary and courageous leaders in Australia at the time. In just the space of about 3 years into his leadership, the Labor Party and he had:

1. Established formal relationships with China (big no no at that time, when anybody seen cooperating with China is seen as aiding a communist foe and a traitor to the free nations)

2. Abolish the death penalty for Federal crimes

3. Reduce the voting age to 18 years old

4. Introduced language programs for non-English speaking Australians

5. Something like apologized to the Aboriginal community for taking their land (something which the present Howard government has steadfastly refused to do)

6. And the most important of all (to us anyway), the abolishment of the White Australian Policy

Most of these issues were not favoured by the previous conservative Liberal government. So all I wanna say is, kudos to Labor and to hell with Liberal! ;P

Anyway, I got carried away there. As I was saying, unlike other countries, like the UK, the Senate members in Australia is completely elected by the people. There are no government appointments ala the UK here. So usually minority parties do better in the Senate than in the House of Representative, as the Aussie voters like to keep the government's powers in check. During Whitlam's reign, he got the numbers in the HoR, but failed to do so in the Senate. Around that time, the Whitlam government was trying to pass through some legislations that wasn't popular with the Liberal-majority Senate. So the Liberals went looking among the Senate's independent and minority party senators to get their support and bolster their numbers to obtain a majority and block Labor's legislations. It worked when they found out that a siau ultra-petani National Party Queensland State Premier (head of state) called Joh Bjelke-Petersen was a supporter of the Liberals and hated Labor. He put on a National Party member for election for one of the two crucial Senator seats, and that person won. This senator then proceeded to team up with the other Liberal senators and steadfastly and illogically continued to block every single legislation that Labor came up with, no matter what their merits were. This resulted in a constitutional crisis and proceeded to in effect paralyzed the Whitlam government. This eventually lead to the dismissal of Gough Whitlam by the Governor-General and the dissolution of parliament for fresh elections. And thus bringing Gough Whitlam's prime ministership to an end.

And all because of one b****rd lunatic Premier and his one senator henchman.

And that's how powerful minority parties are here. Ahh, the joys of kingmaking :)

Democrats vs Republicans

2005-05-23T17:53:00.000+10:00

Was reading the Times magazine's U.S. Election Special last night, dated November 15, 2004 that I got from Castle Hill Library. George W. Bush's huge mug on its cover page caught my attention :)

Anyway, I know the US 04 Presidential Election has already come and gone, but that still didn't stop the article from being a good read, as it gives a post-mortem analysis on Bush's victory and Kerry's defeat. Complete with sephia pics as well. Its very stricking how the mag potrayed George W. Bush is vibrant colours giving his victory speech, while contrasting that with a slumping John Kerry in black and white. Talk about good photography! ;P

There was a section in it where it showed a map of the USA, where different states were either blue (Democrat controlled) or red (Republican controlled). I didn't realised that there were so many red states! The Republicans took about 30 states from a total of 50. But Bush's popular vote (which is the total number of votes for him nationwide) was only 51%, compared to Kerry's of 48%. So I gathered this means that many of the states that George W. Bush won was won by slim margins. Interesting.

For people whose knowledge on American politics only extends to President = George W. Bush, I think some explanation is in order.

USA has a 2 parties political system:

Republican Party => Think hillbillies, rural folks, white folks (although Condi Rice and Colin Powell are changing this a bit now), old folks, big businesses, CHRISTIANITY, family values, conservative (ie religious zealots)

Democratic Party => Think urban folks, black, hispanic, asian (minority) and rich white people, young people, gay and lesbian people, SECULARISM, liberal-minded, pro-abortion (?), pro-cloning (?), pro almost anything (ie hippies), small businesses, progressive

Another interesting I found out was that the Democrats only do well in the north-eastern and north- western urban states such as Washington, California (duh!) and New York. The Republicans totally owned the central and south states, or ulu ang mo farmer states, as I like to call them, like Texas, Tennasee, Alamaba (isn't this where Memphis is in? Bloody Ku Klax Klan hotbed!), Utah, Nevada and Kansas.

So yeah, it would seem that the majority of American citizens this time around are big on Christianity. And according to the article, the Democrats are finding it tough to make any headway in those central 'heartland' states. Its pretty ironic actually. According to the article, Democrats candidates from its stronghold affluent urban northern states will always find it very hard to win the presidency, as those ulu southern people love God and hate Gays. Plus, they make up the majority of the voters. So the last Democrats who won the presidency in the last 44 years, Clinton, Carter and Johnson, were all southerners, complete with that irritating drawl. Omg! If that's the case, what's the point of the Democrats existing as a political party with aspirations of winning the presidency then? It clearly shows that the majority of the Americans see the Democrats Party as a minority-serving party. Odd then, how they don't just disband, and reform a new more conservative kampung party to capture the heartland states and beat the Republicans. I guess that although in the minority, the young, minority ethnicity, liberal, and gay voters still present a viable and sizable support base for the Democrats, that differentiates them sharply with the Republicans.

All very interesting. Some more stats for you to chew on:

Where Bush had the edge:

White males

Bush - 61%
Kerry - 38% (wow, mensiasuikan man the Democrats...)

Married women

Bush - 54%
Kerry - 45%

Veterans

Bush - 57%
Kerry - 42% (what the...? Vets choose a dude with a questionable military record over a war hero??? I just don't get it)

Once-a-week churchgoers

Bush - 58%
Kerry - 41% (duh...)

Where Kerry had the edge

African-Americans

Kerry - 89% (omg, guess Condi Rice and Colin Powell didn't make much of a difference after all)
Bush - 11%

Hispanics

Kerry - 55%
Bush - 42%

First-time voters

Kerry - 54% (Youths of the world unite!) ;P
Bush - 45%

Not married

Kerry - 59%
Bush - 40%

End-note: During the election, I did not find both Bush and Kerry charismatic and good speakers. Both suck big time. But especially Kerry. Even my kayu branch can give more inspiring speeches than him...

In contrast, I found Tony Blair and Bill Clinton very charismatic speakers. Tony Blair (heard him during the UK Iraqi Commision and General Elections) just exudes a 'likeability' aura :)

Off to the movies .... alone :P

2005-05-20T20:19:00.000+10:00

Yeap, you've read right guys. Today, I have sunk to the lowest echelon so far in my social life. I have gone to the movies alone.....

In my defence, I had not planned on sinking so low at the beginning. Nope, its because of the some (you people know who you are) people's refusal to share my enthusiasm in watching Templar knights bashing up (and also getting bashed a fair bit) by Saladin's sickle-sword-and-cresent-symbol-shields warriors, all in the name of God/Allah. Hmmph!

I just wanted them to know what pain they caused me to endure with their defections. First off, I had to run to the cinemas right after my accounting tutorial, before realising that I had nary a bite for the whole day yet. So I had to run back over to the food court to buy some $2.50 chips from the Kebab shop (which incidentally was suprisingly good!), and smuggle them into the theater in my bag. With a bloated bag on my back, and no comrades in sight, I marched defiantly into the empty cinema lobby. And waited.... and waited..... and waited some more.... Wtf! The movie by now is already 5 mins past its starting time. But knowing how Aussie cinemas bombard its viewers with 15 mins worth of ads before the movie starts, I wasn't really worried.

When the cinema ticket lady finally came out from who-knows-where, I boldly asked for "ONE ticket please!" Could feel her staring at me oddly, thinking "What a sad sad guy, having to go to the movies without neither a significant other, friends or even his siblings. Must be a real social-retard..." *Feeling. soooo. much. pain.......*

Worst was to come. When I finally got into the cinema, where I thought I could then blend seamlessly into the crowd, I found out the 'crowd' consists of about 8 people. Sh*t! So much for blending in. Because I came in late, I became this fascinating creature with which all of the 8 cinema-goers were transfix on. I then proceeded to look for a seat ASAP. Saw a row which had 2 people. Just when I was about to put my bag down beside them to join in their spirit of movie-goingship, I suddenly noticed the cold glare the guy was shooting at me. Realised then that the dude was with his girlfriend, uhhhhh ahhhhhh, he wants to have his special time with his giiiirrrlll.... Wants to demonstrate his non-existant machoness when his girlfriend starts getting scared when the knights starts getting buchered by infidels..... and don't want me to intrude. So who was I to stand in dumb love's way? So I siam pathetically away to find a new seat.

Finally found a seat about 3 seats away from another living organism. Never in my life have I felt so acutely exposed on both my sides..... Thought I heard a snicker from the three girls sitting a few rows behind me then. God damn them all....

So anyway, managed to survived for the next 2 hours.... before running out from the exit just when the lights were coming on again :P

Warning to my peeps: Do not do what I did. Ever. Extremely traumatising.

So, what did I think of the movie? Judging from the juggernaut that is 'Revenge of the Singhs' showing around the same time with it, I don't think it'll have a very long cinema life. But although it can't compare with Gladiator, its much much better than that crap that was Troy. Plenty of knights with interesting armours. Plus different garment colours ;P And I reckon the Taliban-lookalike Saladin is suitably impressive-looking for the Arab general. However, I wasn't very impress with that wimpy-looking Orlando Bloom playing a powderful knight though. Russel Crowe he is not. Anyway, a so-so movie all in all.

Planning to catch 'Revenge of the Singhs' next. Now all I need to do is to find some 'friends' this time around..... ;P

Jay Chou - Ba Wo Hui Lai Le

2005-05-18T23:11:00.000+10:00

Kan nin ne! Baru baru ti thia Jay Chou eh gua, "Ba Wo Hui Lai Le". Ku cha em chai Jay Chou eh gua an neh hoe thia eh! Ma eh kia, wa khe thia "Ba Wo Hui Lai Le", wa khe beh tah han ho leh su kak phak eh lang eh bo eh tha po lang! An neh bo lam pha eh ah? Pa leh tha po eh lang khia phak, si em si? Chau C*b*i, beh tah han, rasa siang ka ai phak si eh lang an neh khuan!

*Takes a shower to cool off*

On Numa Numa, Kennysia, and.... well, nothing else, actually :)

2005-05-13T23:21:00.000+10:00

Haven't posted here for quite a while now, so I figured I'd drop by and share with you guys a couple of interesting things I've stumbled upon recently.

First off, Numa Numa!

Blooarrdy funny video man! My bro introduced it to me today. It's featured on CNN, and it features a US dude lip-synching and gyrating to a Romanian techno dance song. Extremely hilarious stuff!

You can see the original video here

Enjoy ;)

Next up is more hilarious stuff. This time its a webblog, Kennysia.com. I discovered it last month. It cronicles the rantings and life experiences of a Mr. Kenny Sia from Kuching, Malaysia. Along the way, he still have time to boast about the size of his beloved balls, hairy legs, and gay-ish hairdressers (male). Oh yeah, and btw, he has GREAT Photoshop skills! Absolutely hilarious posts!

Citizenship Switch

2005-05-06T17:10:00.000+10:00

In 2 weeks time, I would be living in Australia for exactly 2 years as a PR (Permanent Resident). Under Australian immigration laws, I would thus be eligible to obtain an Australian citizenship. However, Malaysia does not allow dual-citizenship holders, and so if I were to become an Australian, I would cease to become a Malaysian.

Dad said that I could choose to:

1. Take the Australian citizenship
2. Continue being an Australian PR and retain my Malaysian citizenship

What do you guys think?

Sex: Inbuilt Knowledge?

2005-05-04T10:34:00.000+10:00

Warning: 18SX, controversial/taboo subject ahead! ;P

Thought of something very interesting yesterday. While listening to what has got to be the most boring Marketing lecture I've ever had been to so far, taught by a grumpy 70+ old lecturer, who can't stop completing each of his sentences with "and all those lovely things". Grrrr.... Anyway, so my profound insight was: Do we, as humans instinctively know how to reproduce (ei have sex lah!)? What the **** has that got to do with my Marketing class, you pervert, you ask? Yes, yes, boredrom can really do funny things to one's thoughts... ;P

But anyway, hey, try thinking of this in a scientific/enquiring/analytical/*ummnn.... sex.....* manner, can or not? :P Think mature...... (and not manure ah!) :)

So, where were we? Oh yeah, sex. Its pretty thought-provoking really. Apparently, together with food and social belonging, sex is suppose to be one of human's most basic primal needs. But the odd thing is, I definately am sure that I've learnt all there is to know about eating yummy things when I was I was a little balloon-headed infant, and I can tick off the social thingy after I had been thrown into a pool of mini-gangsters in the nursery and found out who I could beat up and who I couldn't, but sex came much later on :) I think one of my first thoughts of how teeny babies were made was when I wisely concluded that it must happen when those people on TV starts kissing and hugging each other (ummnn... remember to wear contraceptives when kissing?).

However, I guess my true enlightenment arrived when I was in my early teens. Can't remember how now, but if I was not mistaken, get ready for this...........

IT WAS FROM AN ENCYCLOPEDIA!!!

What kinda of nerd/geek/freak/bookworm are you???

Ummnn.... yes, sadly. I know, I know, why didn't I take the macho way of enlightenment that other REGULAR guys take, like porn or dirty magazines or something? Haiyah... what can I say lah, so happen that damn encyclopedia, under S, got this powderfully graphic description of the 'birds and the bees'? ;) How was I suppose to know???

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that, unlike eating and such, do humans instinctively know how to reproduce?

I remembered an old movie which starred Brooke Shields, the 'Blue Lagoon' I think. In it, two young boy and girl were stranded on a tropical island. They grew up together with no one else, and finally, they discovered sex :) But I was wondering that if that were true, and there were only a boy and a girl on an island, and there was no one else to tell them these things, and there were no porn or dirty magazines, and, yes, there were no encyclopedias, would they have learnt how? Maybe by the wildlife around them would give them a clue. Hmmnnn....

Anyway, end of this controversial topic :) But it's an interesting thought, don't you think? :P

On Confucianism and Accountancy....

2005-05-02T22:14:00.000+10:00

When I was reading about that globalisation and SE Asia piece, this Confucius dude kept on pooping up. So I did a background check on him with my trusty Wikipedia!

Btw, have I told you guys before how I love this baby? Its free, and its got heaps of cool info on almost anything! The only downside is you can't use it for any serious research as it lacks 'credibility'.

Anyway, apparently, the people of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore kinda subscribe to this guy's teaching. Me thinks the bulk of his teaching involves oldies (but still commendable in parts, nevertheless) notions like a man's gotta be loyal to his ruler, a wife's gotta be loyal to her man, children has got to respect their elders and so on. Its a tad bit conservative, but hey, its the Chinese/Japanese/Korean way of thinking, and I guess that's what we call culture.

Anyway, my reading in my toilet was not in vain though! I read something pretty interesting for myself. Apparently, Confucius made a kind of occupation hierachy in his philosophies. His hierachy goes something like this:

1. Peasants - The highest class in his ideal society as it provides food for the population. I
know, I know, you must be going, what then....? All you Cina people in Malaysia, go to work in
Kedah's padddy fields then! ;P

2. Artisans - Dudes like barbers, tailors, artists, philosiphers, teachers and stuff. Aparently,
arty-farty kinda people. Why? Because, according to him, these people contribute something
to society intellectually and with services. He seems kinda big on what people contribute in
their society in his teachings

3. Merchants - Business people are ranked last! Quite a slap in the face, actually. But when
you read his arguments a bit more, you'd understand where he's coming from. He's pretty
anti-merchants because he says that merchants and business people do not contribute to
society and are only interested in profits. They don't produce anything physical or intellectual,
and they also don't do services. In other words, they're all greedy, unethical mean bastards.

So I was in my toilet cubicle thinking, damn, should have chosen engineering then! But when my brother started hammering the door and jumping up and down, I knew the time had come for me to depart from my present location and seek greener pastures to continue with my thoughts uninterrupted.

After finding my new location between my cupboard and an enigmatic pile of socks, I continued with my pondering. But then I thought, do I really go into that category? I don't think accountants are exactly "merchants" per-se. We just balance their books to inflate their earnings and assets to that they will get their big fat bank loans, while they repay us with an all expenses paid trip to the hottest brothels in town ;) We just do services for them. And they're still part of society, right? Which would mean => we accountants contribute to society then! Confucius would be pleased :)

Malaysia's Niche In The Global Village

2005-04-28T15:28:00.000+10:00

While reading the Financial Review in the toilet this morning, I came across an interesting article on globalisation. Hoohum, it's no longer a futuristic prophecy expounded by economists and business leaders anymore these days. In fact, we're kinda in the thick of the process right this moment. The article talked about Australia's role in the global village. Which got me thinking: I wonder what Malaysia's?

What I think of globalisation? To quote Agent Smith in The Matrix: Inevitable. Simply because its the most rasional thing to do for all those major multinational businesses around the world to do. The painful truth is that globalisation cuts costs, enables goods and services to be sold cheaper, and hence increase their sales among comsumers, and which business don't want more profits? Unfortunately, it also comes with a nasty side effect of ruthlessly pijaking smaller businesses in the process.

I'm not sure when globalisation started in earnest, but I've always thought it came in vogue during the mid 80s till today. Australia has kinda identified (or is still trying) the role its gonna try to play. I think its concentrating heavily and exporting its services sector to the world. Financial, accountancy, legal, medical, pharmaceutical, engineering, marketing and the likes of them. In addition to that, its tourism and education industry are also very big and important to its economy.

So then I thought about Malaysia. What exactly are our major exports? Natural resources is one that I can think of. We seem to have an plenty of petroleum, tin, rubber and palm oil. But alarmingly, that seems to be it! Don't tell me we're on our way towards becoming another Saudi Arabia.....

We used to be huge in the manufacturing sector in the 80s through to the early 90s. Heck, I think that was one of the reasons we became one of the Asian Tigers. It seems as if almost every foreign business wanted to build and invest in our manufacturing plants and infrastructures, thanks to our low labour costs, political stability, and a relatively educated population. FDI just kept pouring in, accumulating to the Superbull Run in the stockmarket in 1993. We were on fire! Unrelentlessly following our predeccesors the 4 Asian Dragons, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan's blueprint to economic prosperity. And then.... Well, we all know what happened after that now, don't we?

But I guess what I'm trying to say is, to compound the Asian Economic Crisis of 97, China has now awoken from her very very very deep sleep. With a vengence, I might add! And with that, our manufacturing sector has gone poof! Elek pochi liao. With their ludicriously low labour wages, many factories here, and in the world for that matter, are relocating to China en mass. And I heard that India's next. In short, we have to move a step up from that phase in our economic stage now. But are we really for the next step? Sadly, I don't think so. Reading the local papers, one can clearly see that it is the government's intentions to promote and elavate our biotechnology, biomedical, and information technology sectors to replace our manufacturing sectors as the new primary economic movers. But alas, I think that we are still far behind in those sectors, judging from the state of our present scientific field. Singapore, however, have already anticipated the need to shift a level up in their economic offering before us, and hey, it has so far been working pretty well for them. They have successfully upgraded their manufacturing-based economy into a life-science and pharmacuetical-based one.

In addition to our collapse in the manufacturing industry, our tourism industry is still light years behind Thailand's, and heck, even Singapore's (judging from what I see in Sydney)! How we can lose to a concrete jungle, I have no idea.... Make more posters, for God's sake!!!

Our agricultural industry is all but decimated by Thailand again thanks to our low productivity and quality. I think I can safely say for many fellow Malaysians that about the only times we eat our own Kedah-made rice was in our school canteens, or hostels.... And as for our durians..... We small, they big. 'Nuff said.

Our services industry is still not sufficiently large enough to serve our own country, let alone to be exported, judging from our chronic shortage of doctors and engineers.

All in all, the prognosis looks pretty bad for the future of our country. Here's hoping that our economy will manage to climb up a notch in the near future!

Gallipoli and the Aussie Spirit

2005-04-26T17:53:00.000+10:00

Every country tries to promote a defining moment in their country's history to its citizens, a sort of glue for the nation, to provide a focal point to the country and its people. In Australia, without a doubt its their Gallipoli campaign during World War 1. What is it? Here's a site on it.

But I'll try to give you a short description of it. Well, like I said, it was during WW 1 where the Australian and New Zealand Corps or better known as the ANZACS, were assigned to kinda invade Turkey, along the Gallipoli beach fronts. Dunno why, but I think Turkey at that time was allied to Germany and Italy (the evil axis...) Anyway, so they landed, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Until finally, their General cannot tahan anymore liao, and so asked his men to CHARGE (!!!) towards the Turkey trenches. And the Turkish troops hentam them cukup-cukup with machine guns until they all mampus. Then a message arrive later to tell them no need to charge. Si messenger...

This moment was crowned by the nation as the moment in its history. The moment where Australia showed the world that its soldiers semua ada balls of steel one. And its celebrated until today, yesterday being a public holiday and ANZAC day.

All nice and good. But the thing I don't understand about all this is: Why are we celebrating a defeat? And not just any defeat, but one which is soo teruk until they were all slaughtered like cows? Another thing which strucked me as odd was the celebrations itself. Its held annually at Gallipoli, Turkey. Ummnn.... May I ask why are the Turks allowing the soldiers who peppered bullets towards their troops to build shrines about their courage, how many Turks they managed to kill, and so on, on their own soil? I would like to see the Malaysians inviting the Japanese to build shrines to celebrate their fallen soldiers on their home soil one day. Or the Chinese asking the Japs to toss in a couple of monuments in Nanking, Beijing, and Shanghai for old times sake.

Odd lot, these Aussies....

1:1 Rebirth

2005-04-25T10:42:00.000+10:00

1:1 He was dead. Now He is not.

Greetings brethens. Due to the unfortunate demise of my old blog (due to me trying to switch its layout, which resulted in it resembling scrambled telur now...) I have thus decided to reincarnate myself with this blog.

Welcome all :)

Long live the jellyfish.