Hindu priests

A news in a Malaysian daily on Monday April 5, 2010 said that the Malaysian Government has set up an academy in Ipoh so that Malaysian Indians who aspire to be Hindu priests can be duly trained over there. And that, with the availability of this new centre of learning it won’t be necessary to bring in priests from India. Thousands of jobs as priests can be taken up by Malaysians.

The job of a priest is indeed becoming very lucrative. I have seen priests having luxurious houses and cars! Gone are the days when priests are supposed to be immaterialists. One usually expected them to lead a simple, humble life.

Not anymore friends! I have seen them buying lottery tickets! They hope to strike it rich! What then? Are they going to call it a day and just relax at home? No more necessity to work? …. If serving God can be called ‘work’.

Back to the daily, it also mentioned that the priest course would be a five-year course. And the priests will be given various grades. Now, could that mean that God will not accept the prayers or ‘poojas’ of the low grade priests? Or, is it that prayers from a lower grade priest may take longer to reach God, very much like a Malaysian internet broadband. Where are the Indian beliefs and culture heading?

The daily also mentioned that the Minister concerned had said that ‘the Government had been toying with the idea of setting up such an academy for more than 15 years’. I only wish it had played with a different toy!

Malaysia and F1

A lot of brouhaha was made about Malaysia’s Proton entering the F1 extravaganza after it had bought over the prestigious constructors, Lotus. It was said that it would be just a beginning for Malaysia to be in the world’s eye as a developed and technological country. And that it will be good advertisement for Malaysia to get on the world’s automotive stage. From what I saw so far Proton and Malaysia is hardly getting the publicity they hoped. Already three races have gone by and Proton is hardly mentioned. All we can read in the media are the words Lotus, Kovalainen-Finland, and Trulli-Italy.

I wonder if the motoring world knows that Lotus represents Malaysia if not Proton in F1 now!

My no nos when shopping

Things I don’t like when I go shopping.

1. I don’t like to be asked “Yes, what do you want, sir?” immediately on entering a shop. I would like to browse around a while and only contact the attendant or the shop owner when I feel like it. Even when I had said I would like to look around first, I hate to hear the words. “Yes, sir, anything I can do for you,” only after just a few minutes of standing around. I would feel like saying, “Come on, give a man some break, will you?”

2. I detest to be followed by the person in attendance wherever I go. I feel nervous and uneasy with the person standing nearby. I feel like being watched on every move I make. With the person standing nearby even scratching my nose makes me feel very conscious. “Hey! Back off, will you? Go and hide somewhere! Don't be a cctv!”

3. I don’t, especially, like to go to the shampoo section of a supermarket, where heavily made up girls almost pull you by your hand and try to sweet talk to you to buy their products. Not that I don’t like the girls but their leech-like temperament and persistence puts me off.

Proton Mahathir!

Several weeks back there were a few friendly urges by fellow Malaysians to name a car after the Malaysian car, Proton, founder; Tun Dr. Mahathir, the former prime minister of Malaysia being the man. The name 'Proton Mahathir' was suggested. The justification was that other cars were also named after their founders, like Toyota, Honda, Ford, etc.

Well, I just can’t help laughing of the consequences of naming the car Proton Mahathir! You know, like someone might say Mahathir has a good pick up, and the face of the man itself may come up in our mind for a while. One might think, “Why he is 80 years old!

Or one’s utterance of “ My Mahathir broke down” may make someone feel sorry for him, “Poor Mahathir!”

Mahathir himself may die of shame if someone were to say he saw Mahathir emitting blackish smoke! Or, like riding a Mahathir was bumpy!

No sir, better don’t name any car after Mahathir! Give the man some respite, will ya! Ha ha!

Security Guard - An honourable living

It is sad that the government has laid out the criteria that for a security company to get the license approved, the security company should not have guards above the age of 60 years in its workforce. This is very inconsiderate seeing that the security companies had provided a way out for the senior citizens to lead an honourable living by having them work as guards. Though, they may be getting on in their years many of them are quite able to perform the simple tasks of tending to the gates of the manufacturing premises. Moreover, the security line had been one of the main, if not the main, avenue for the seniors to obtain some financial help in their late years. Even that has been cut off now.

It is hoped the government will relax its requirement a little and indirectly be of assistance to these populace in their golden years. Perhaps, if the authorities are wary of the number of thefts and burglaries occurring, the elderly guards could be allowed to work only during the day, as most break-ins at the factories seem to occur at night. Alternatively, the age limit for guard-work could be increased to 70 years, at the privilege of the security companies.

Tiger Woods....a....phenomenon.

Did you realize that, funnily, anything that you say about Tiger Woods seems to have hidden meaning behind it, you know like talking with hints to something else. For example, the other day a friend asked me where was Tiger Woods. I said, “Practicing maybe”, and he had to ask, “Practicing what?” And, when I said, “Golf, what else?” he wondered loudly, “Really?”

Just ponder at this, when someone says Tiger Woods was a great player, someone is bound to say, “Oh yeah? Oh, sure!”

Why do people have to laugh when I said Tiger Woods was the greatest hitter of balls. It put me off my innocent attempt of talking about golf. I mean, he scored a lot of birdies, didn’t he? I have lost count. Someone said it was fourteen. Just fourteen? I can’t believe that! Do you?

Anyway, just try this. It almost seems to be a phenomenon! Just ask yourself or your friend a question about Tiger Woods there always seem to be a different answer waiting behind everything!

'People First'

Folks, we have good news from Malaysia! As we know, we were all brought to think that Islam was a very sensitive religion with a lot of dos and don’ts. Scary punishments were in store for the Islamic lawbreakers. Our brains have been somewhat coerced to accept such facts due to the daily incidents and articles pertaining to Islam from the medias. We were brought to believe that Islam can't really coexist or accept the presence of other religions.

You know what happened in Malaysia on the evening of 30^th January 2010? The next day being the main celebration of the great Hindu festival of Thaipusam the Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor went over to the Hindu temple at Batu Caves in Selangor to wish the mass of Hindu worshippers there their best wishes. And they were two individuals of the Islamic faith!

Now, here is a Prime Minister who has dared to antagonize the extremist thinking of a minority of the Muslims in Malaysia to walk the talk of his favourite slogan – People First. Yes indeed. He has shown the world that people come first to him. Only then religion. Finally, a great statesman has arrived!

Malaysia is into electric trains!

Here is an electrifying news from Malaysia! Visitors and the locals who travel in Malaysia would have noticed bee-like activities going on along the railway tracks in the west coast of peninsula Malaysia. One could see gigantic cranes, bulldozers, excavators, all types of lorries and other utility vehicles of various shapes and sizes moving about at these places. Workers from nations of Asia, especially from Indonesia and Bangladesh and of course from our own nation could be seen working hand in hand to see the project being materialized.

The project is the 329 km electrified double-tracking railway project connecting Ipoh and Padang Besar with a cost of about RM12.485 bil. and is targeted for completion by Jan 7, 2013.

Many good things are in store for Malaysia as a result of this gigantic venture. Already squatting along the railway tracks is becoming a thing of the past. The present squatters have been evicted quite amicably and the land cleared for the project. No more unsightly and health hazard settlements and structures to content with! Flyovers are being built where roads crossed the tracks; waiting for the trains to pass will be just memories! And more benefits to come! We will just have to wait!

A little bit about the company that is carrying out the mission. The Malaysian government has tendered the scheme to MMC-Gamuda Joint Venture Sdn. Bhd. Gamuda specializes in civil engineering infrastructure and township development, with projects and investments in South East and Far East Asia, Indochina, South Asia and the Middle East. MMC Corporation Berhad (MMC) is an investment holding company listed on the Main Board of the Malaysia Stock Exchange Berhad (MSEB: MMCCORP) with main interest in three core businesses: Transport & Logistics, Energy & Utilities and Engineering & Construction.

Bicycles - safe riding

"Turun dan tolak"! (Get down and push!)

That was the punishment a police officer gave me, about 30 years ago, for riding a bicycle at night without lights. The government authorities were then very conscious, and concerned, about all the safety aspects, in the transportation system. They knew night-riding on bicycles without lights posed a grave danger, both to the riders, and the drivers of other vehicles.

Sadly, now, riding bicycles at night without lights is not even frowned upon. The authorities fail to realize, that drivers of vehicles were often caught unawares, that there were moving objects in front of them, and had to get themselves alert, all of a sudden. Accidents, unfortunately, happen, and the driver is blamed and often get whacked on the spot!

Those incidents can be avoided. The government should, once again, make it mandatory for the bicycles being driven at night, to have lights, both at the front and at back. There are millions of bicycles on the road today, what with the increasing number of foreign workers, utilizing this convenient mode of transport. Not only enforcing the rules of the lights will help in the reducing of accidents, it will also enhance the Malaysian economy, in encouraging ‘new’ industries to be set up, in the production of the parts necessary for the lights, such as dynamos, bulbs or any new technological breakthrough.

Bravo Togo team!

What is the world coming to? Even football players are shot at, to be killed! 

The Togo players, who were going to take part in the Africa Cup of Nations, were shot at on Friday, January 8, 2010 in Cabinda, Angola. They did no harm to anyone. Three people died - the driver of the bus the players were travelling in, an assistant team coach and the team spokesperson . The goalkeeper was seriously injured. Eight others were wounded. A separatist group, Forces for Liberation of the State of Cabinda has claimed responsibility.

If the attack on the innocent people was not sad enough, the Confederation of the African Football Nations, has disqualified the Togo team, from taking part in the competition, just because, the Togo team had left for home, in fear, and had subsequently, without thinking, said they were withdrawing. The team, in reality, was in a state of confusion and uncertainty. When, later, they decided to play, instead of praising and commending them, for their commitment to the world of sport, and accepting them back with gratitude, the Confederation had disqualified them! How sad for the Togolese people! How heartbreaking for the world!

Readers’ comments are welcome, whether, the Togo football team should have been allowed to play. Was the African Football Confederation correct, in disqualifying the Togo team?

Oh, my God!

It is ironic that He, the almighty, is the cause for the present troubles in Malaysia. A minority of the Christians in the East coast of Malaysia insists that it had been using the word ‘Allah’ to indicate God, and the Muslims are against it, saying the ‘Allah’ only belongs to Islam. 'Herald', a Christian weekly, had also used ‘Allah’ in its reference to God. The matter went to the high court in Kuala Lumpur and the outcome came out in favour of the Christians. Unfortunately, the honorable judge who gave out the verdict was a non-Muslim, one Lau Bee Lam, a woman of the Malaysian Chinese sect. It is sad that the high court has chosen a non-Muslim to represent it in this ‘sensitive’ matter. Sensitive because anything concerning with religion in Malaysia is considered just that, with grumblings of discontents to follow from all the religions.

As we know, a few churches were thrown Molotov cocktails at, and damaged, by unknown persons, and the actions seem to be in danger of continuing, even after the assurance of Government leaders, to the Christian community.

The Christian fraternity has said they have forgiven the perpetrators for their misguidance. The ‘Allah’ factor has gone to the appellant court. It is hoped that no matter what was the outcome, the Malaysian Christians can be also magnanimous, by respecting the wishes of the Muslim community in not using ‘Allah’ in their scriptures, and in their daily sermons. This will show to the world that they are really strong advocators of peace in Malaysia. May God bless them!

Free like a bird

Of all the living things that God created, I think the birds are the luckiest ones. They are free to fly anywhere and land anywhere they want. Furthermore, they do not have to face the daily misgivings in life that we humans do;

No traffic jams.

No speed trap summons.

No confusion as to in what language to study science and math.

No snatch thefts and fatalities.

No RM50 credit card tax.

No imprisoning without trial.

And…he..he..no need to hear the loud reminders, five times a day, that Islam is the official religion of Malaysia.

I wish I were born a bird. No, not the KFC type!

Obamamania meltdown

Poor Obama! His poll ratings in his nation of USA are already down what with his failure to get the Summer Olympics of 2016 to be held in Chicago, USA, even with the help of his pretty wife. And the recent loss in the gubernatorial races of New Jersey and Virginia to the republicans didn’t help matters. Both incumbent Democrat Governors lost to the Republicans. Now, it will slide even further with the shooting down of 13 soldiers, on Thursday, November 5, 2009, by his own country’s army officer by the name of Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan in an Army base at Fort Hood, Texas. A woman Police Officer, Kimberly Munley is being praised for bringing the massacre to an end, by shooting down the gunman.

Looks like the phobia of Obamamania is more under attack. Hopefully, it won’t be tragic in nature, like the recent dreadful incident.

Surprise! Surprise! The Nobel Peace Prize!

On October 10, 2009 at 6 pm, I was listening to the news in the Tamil language radio station of Malaysia – Minnal FM – when the news reader said that President Barack Obama has been awarded the prestigious Nobel prize for peace. “What the….!” I exclaimed inwardly. It was so sudden! Surely, there should have been some announcements a few days earlier, in the medias, of the people being considered for the award, and discussions and the justifications. Had I missed those? I was disappointed in myself for being so ignorant. A day later, I let out a huge sigh of relief in knowing that I was not alone in being shocked out of my skin! Letters and blogs in the medias were full of expression of surprise.

Let’s face it. Obama had come into the world just as a ‘promise of peace’. He still remains so. The world is not in peace, now. Far from it. Iraq, Iran, Middle east, Pakistan, the Koreas, and Sudan, just to mention a few of the several nations in turmoil, are still in the same situation as when Obama became the President of the United States. All he had noticeably achieved so far was his move to close down the Guantanamo Bay Terrorist Camp and the procedures to pull all his soldiers from Iraq.

Come to think of it. As we are the witness, there is really no enduring peace here on earth. So, the past Nobel Peace Award winners were awarded the prize only for their two cents’ worth of contribution towards world peace. Therefore, Obama also seems to have obtained the peace award for his two cents’ worth of efforts!

Anyway, I think this is a good time to have a look at the past Nobel Peace Prize laureates. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded from the year 1901. Let us have a look only at the winners of the past 20 years.

Source: www.nobelpeaceprize.org

2008	Martti Ahtisaari - Finland
2007	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. - USA
2006	Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank - Bangladesh
2005	International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Mohamed ElBaradei - Egypt
2004	Wangari Maathai - Kenya
2003	Shirin Ebadi - Iran
2002	Jimmy Carter - USA
2001	The United Nations ( U.N.) and Kofi Annan - Ghana
2000	Kim Dae Jung – South Korea
1999	Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) - France
1998	John Hume and David Trimble – both Northern Ireland
1997	International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and Jody Williams - USA
1996	Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta – East Timor
1995	Joseph Rotblat and Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs - England
1994	Yasser Arafat - Palestine, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin – both Israel
1993	Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk – both South Africa
1992	Rigoberta Menchú Tum - Guatemala
1991	Aung San Suu Kyi - Myanmar
1990	Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev – Soviet Union
1989	The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso - Tibet

I hope you have beared up reading my two cents' worth of opinion on the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. No, don't send me the two cents! Ha! Ha! Ha!

No security for the Security Guard

Mention ‘security guard’ in Malaysia, and one would get an imagination of an old man in a black pants and light-brown shirt or blue shirt, opening and closing factory gates, or one who is just sitting, idling by on a chair. And one would also imagine that the security guard is low educated and not capable of doing other jobs. And that is the perfect security guard’s picture one gets in Malaysia. Additionally, one could even picture him sleeping on the job!

Well, ladies and gentleman, I beg to differ. And I speak from experience, having been in the security line for a good 6 years. And good years they were. Me, being a security officer, I enjoyed being in the company of the guards. They were a decent and jovial lot, offering to share their foods and their tasks with you. Their tasks with you? Well, yes. They will gladly offer their job to you for a while, so that they can leave the premises they are guarding, and go for a spin in the nearest town! What do we expect when they are required to work for twelve hours daily, and often more, when their replacements fail to turn up, and the security officer was unable to find a relief guard? Those are the times when they are, unfortunately, found dozing off.

Mind you, the security guard’s job is not just attending to the gates. He has to follow a set of instructions given by the factory concerned, and by his security company, itself. Different factories give out different type of instructions to the guards, but, basically, this is what is required of the guards.

1. He has to write down the particulars of visitors before he lets them in.

2. Lorries arriving to the factory are taken down of the particulars, such as that of the driver, the company he belongs to and the intention, be it be sending or picking up goods.

Some factories require the guard to inform the clerks on duty before he lets in the visitors or lorries, failing which he will get a good scolding. Poor guard! He may have lapsed in his duties due to the coincidental arrival of visitors and lorries at the same time. While he was attending to a lorry, a visitor could have slipped in! No! The factory will not accept the excuse. They will straight away phone the security company, and he will be transferred to another place, the next day!

Well, you didn’t picture this security guard, did you?

One palm oil processing company requires the guard to climb on top of the tanker, through a built-in ladder on the ground, and cut off the seals from the partitioned tank lids. He, then, climbs down the tanker and gives the cut seals to a person at the counter, where the tanker stands. On a busy day, more than 20 tankers arrive at the factory! The poor guard will be tired but he will carry on with the job.

You didn’t picture this security guard, did you?

In another factory, dealing in Industrial gases, the guard has to go up the lorries to count the number of empty gas cylinders coming in and the number of filled cylinders going out. He is answerable to any shortcomings! He goes on doing this security risks to earn a living.

You didn’t picture this security guard, did you?

As mentioned earlier, different factories have different requirements from the guards, but did they stop to ponder that they are, in fact, exploiting the poor guards. And the guards are surrendering themselves for a pittance of 600 to 700 ringgit Malaysia, for 12 hours work, daily! In Taiping, anyway. What about in other small towns?

The Malaysian government has been made aware of the low wages that the guards are taking home, through the normal and alternative media. But nothing has changed. It can build tallest tower in the world, can build state of the art bridges, can enter F1 races, can send men to explore the space, but, ironically, can’t arrange for the guards to be given a decent salary!

Fast and furious!

We have heard of match fixing in sports like football, wrestling, cricket, tennis, to name a few. It surely would have come as a shock to us that match fixing had also occurred in F1 car racing and what a ‘match fixing’ it was!

Nelson Piquet Jr, the driver of the Renault team crashed his car at the 14^th lap of the September 28, 2008, Singapore Grand Prix, as was instructed by some Renault officials, so that it would inconvenient the other drivers and his compatriot, driver Fernando Alonso could win. And Alonso capitalized from it to ‘win’ the championship! This is what I call, in Saddam Hussein’s favorite oft-used phrase, ‘mother of all’ cheatings! Didn’t they have a soul? Was life so cheap to them? Luckily, the driver Nelson Piquet Jr. and none of the spectators were hurt in the crash.

On Monday, September 24, 2009 in Paris, the Renault Formula One team was sentenced to a suspension of two years by FIA (International Automobile Federation). To me the punishment do not seem to be very severe. I wish they had imposed a ‘mother of all’ punishments as suited such a crime, a crime of cheating an estimated 600 million viewers.

By the way, for aspiring car race drivers of the world, there is a crash course waiting at Renaults! Ha ha! Happy crashing!.........oops…happy racing!

Nations doing a dance

Indonesians have been unhappy with the Malaysians for the past few weeks.

It started off with several Balinese artists staging a protest at the Denpasar Cultural Park on Saturday, August 22, 2009. In later days, Indonesians had burned the Malaysian flag and had threatened to harm the Malaysian students studying in Indonesia.

Reason- they have been telling that Malaysia, in a TV advertisement program, had used one of their cultural dances to promote Malaysia to the tourism world. Malaysia denied it saying that it was a Discovery Channel program and it was the Discovery channel that had wrongly used the dance in the promotion program for Malaysia.

The dance in question was the ancient Balinese Pendet Dance of a Hindu community of Bali in the Indonesian state of Java. Indonesia and Malaysia are predominantly considered Muslim countries. Here they are, arguing over a Hindu dance. For once, what a beautiful world that we are living in!

S(n)ide Remarks

God saw the necessity to create women on earth.

Women saw the necessity of the creation of lipstick, lip-gloss, eyeliner, face toners, eye shadow quads, hand and body creams and even blushers.

Men saw the necessity to make millions from them.

What a vicious cycle!

******

In several countries race is indeed a problematic issue. Especially, when you do not know the horses!

******

In the army, ‘Will’ is a dangerous name to have for a soldier, especially when the commander notices that the opponents are too near and rushing on!

The heart wails!

Oh, so you have heartache…eh? Don’t worry. Do not take matters to the heart. Take heart on the fact that matters of the heart can be sorted out without anyone having a broken heart. You say your heart is heavy because your heartthrob and has heartlessly left you and fallen for someone else? And that, after all the financial and moral help you have given to him heartily?

Let me have a heart-to-heart talk with you. We have some heart-searching job to do here now. Well, this is not an immense heart-stopping issue and is not necessary for you to have heartburn. My heartfelt advice to you is to not to blame and condemn your sweetheart that he hasn’t got a heart, to have caused you that pain in the heart. Have a heart. Give him some time to discover your heart of gold. Go out! Mix with your other friends. Do not sulk. Have hearty meals. Joke around. Open up your heart!

What? You have tried all that and still have that heartbreak? Some one help me! I am going to have a heart attack!

Hillary Clinton - a woman of rationale

Hillary Rodham Clinton is one woman I admire because of various reasons. One of them, was her composure during her turbulent times, when the sex scandal between her husband, then President Bill Clinton, and intern Monica Lewinsky was high on the news, on pages and screens of the world’s media. A citizen, from our part of the world, that is Asia, would have thought that, she being an American, and Americans being fierce advocators of liberation and transparency of their citizens, would soon get annoyed, and irritated with Bill Clinton, not to mention the distrust for his waywardness, and would gradually split off with him. This, in fact, turned out to be an anticlimax. She stuck with him through thick and thin, until today. She had just shown a message to the world; that Americans are not as 'trigger' happy as we thought they would be, and they, too, have understanding and tolerance, as was required by the society of the eastern world.

Another thing that made me be attracted towards her is, her motherliness and simple man-on-the-street (or, woman-on-the-street, if you please!) approach and presentation, with her innocent talk and laughter. She is 62, but does not look her age. She looks more like in the age around 40s, with pleasing dimples on her cheeks when she smiled or laughed. (Well, Mrs. Clinton, I will have certainly brought a red blush of happiness on your pretty face with this remark. Have I not?)

I had followed her closely through the media, of her election speeches for the candidacy of Democrats, and they were terrific. However, when she lost to Barack Obama, finally, there was only a tiny speck of disappointment in me for her loss, for I had been also an ardent fan of Barack Obama!

My approval for Obama grew further, when he made Hillary the US Secretary of State, and that I acknowledged gleefully as very appropriate, and well deserved. Yes, it was a very correct choice, indeed. Holding the post of the Secretary of State is no easy task, with all the complexities of the world, and the responsibilities. But she seems to handling it all right and I have a feeling that she is enjoying it too!

Well, she, indeed, has a certain charisma to pull people to her side, as had happened with me. However, there is yet another woman out there, who is making heads turn, wherever she goes. Mine turns, too! She is no other than Michelle Obama! That is for another day!