RACONTEUR-ESQUE SCRIBBLINGS

A primary school/elementary level bad joke: Teacher: What is the scientific term used for water? Student: HIJKLMNO Class: Ha ha ha  Bad jokes aside... There has been talk earlier this year that the state I live in will be facing a severe water shortage by 2014 unless the state government allows the federal government to go ahead with their plan of building a new water treatment plant. The state government insists that we do not need a new water treatment plant as reducing the current wastage from the present operational water treatment plants will actually be able to cover the projected shortage. Enter SYABAS, the private water concessionaire who is in charge of the distribution of treated water who shamelessly suggested that water should be rationed from now to prevent the acute water shortage. An article I read * here states that the previous government left behind a very complicated system where water is treated by several different companies, while Syabas is in ...

A first year student stood up and asked the following question: "I have a pen pal from Russia. Am I allowed to correspond with him from here?" I can't remember what was the answer to that fairly odd question, because it happened way back in 1998, when I was a first year student as well. This question was asked during our long and tiresome orientation week where we learned the university song (laughed at it too, of course), and where people droned on about the rules and regulations and explained the many different ways you could get yourself expelled. That was also the time when we all found out about AUKU (University and University Colleges Act) Being 18 and politically ignorant then, my friends and I never did find the act get in the way of our daily lives. Many things have happened since then, and thirteen years later university students are actually rising against the act. For some reason, they believe that political freedom and participation is a must in orde...

Was there a winner on the 9th of July rally for electoral reforms? The answer probably depends on who you ask. While people may argue that the objective of the rally - to march peacefully and handover the electoral reforms request to the King, by hand, that is,  was not really met that day for certain reasons, it can't be denied that the news surrounding the happenings on the day of the rally and the days after that has increased the people's awareness in general. I've always thought that a "government" was something 'by the people and for the people', but when you read/watch the news, something is just not quite right. While the government seems to be 'by the people', it hardly is for the 'people' in a general sense. It's more like *"by the people, for 'some people', and if you're not in the category of  'some people', then it's the government against the people" As (ahem) leaders, self appointed or...

There is a certain country where peaceful rallies require a permit, which will usually be denied in order to maintain peace , or so they say.  Over the past few weeks, the whole country was abuzz with news of a planned peaceful rally, by a group of NGOs who are fighting for clean and fair elections, with 8 reasonable requests. Any sensible Malaysian could see that there was no harm in this. After all, clean and fair elections would benefit everyone in the long run, among them laying to rest the notion that dead people and phantom voters are at large and voting in favour of a certain party, and overall equality for all those who are taking part in the elections. A slightly less than sensible Malaysian though would say that the rally would disrupt peace and harmony among the many races that call themselves Malaysian (sniggers), and selfish business people would complain of loss of income due to the people not being brave enough to venture out of their houses to shop during ...

A lot of people probably don't really think before they speak, resulting in hurting the tender feelings of those around them, especially those who actually care for them, or perhaps saying something so incredibly silly that other people share whispered gossips about them, secretly laughing behind their backs. Small problem, I'd say. And then there are those who say incredibly stupid things to all and sundry by voicing their myopic concerns aloud which then get picked up by the newspapers. Monday was one of those days where the secretary general of cuepacs commented about their (or is it his?) concerns on the “increasing dominance” of female employees in the civil service, saying it would have “long-term implications on the progress and growth of the country.”  It's secretary-general Ahmad Shah Mohd Zin said on Monday that the trend now was that more women officers were being appointed to important decision-making posts. For example, almost three quarters ...

"Will the police check all blogs?" my mother asked the other day as I was sitting on the floor doing something which I can't recall now. Now, that is a classic example of 'borrowing' things to worry about. Mom has always viewed this particular hobby of mine with apprehension because she probably thinks that I sometimes don't know when to keep my mouth shut (which is true sometimes, unfortunately) and I occasionally do exaggerate to her about what I want to write, just to annoy her (like how I used to purposely support the team playing opposite Liverpool when I watched football (or soccer) with my dad) About a few days before mom asked me that question, they had announced on the news (seriously, my mom watches too much news these days much to my horror) that they were conducting checks on contents in blogs and would make arrests if the contents incited hate or were throwing blame on certain parties for a string of what could possibly be defined as planned h...

Over the weekend, while certain people were busy being unintentionally ignorant of the going ons around them, the streets of KL were abuzz with a peaceful rally against the ISA . Now, the keyword here is peaceful, and although we know that things can turn from peaceful to nasty in a matter of seconds (for instance the lion which seems so docile but suddenly decides to attack it's trainer) , the police actually started with roadblocks on Friday night itself. On Saturday, apparently even more police personnel were deployed to various areas where the rally was supposed to take place and there was even backing up from the FRU . It's interesting to note that demonstrations/rallies/marches/protests are deemed illegal in this beloved nation of ours, and therefore despite the numerous press releases and the assurance that this one was going to be peaceful (after all, it is a large group of people marching to give a memorandum to the palace) it was still illegal, and therefore the peo...