MSPJ fixed my lights!
Posted: 25th January 2006 by Jacky Yong in Current Affairs, Silly meTags: lights, MPSJ, Serdang
To my greatest surprise when I went back home last night, there was street lights!! They either assigned more than one light supplier this time, or someone in MPSJ read my blog!
I shall see if this continues, because this morning when I went to work, and the street was still dark, the lights are off!! Hmmm….. fishy…..
Are you as Civilized as you think?
Posted: 25th January 2006 by Jacky Yong in Current Affairs, Silly meTags: civilize
When we talk about civilization, it’s not about technology, or the high-rise we build, or the scientific discoveries me made. It’s about the way we live, how we talk to one another, making decisions that would avoid conflict at all costs. You don’t go to other people’s country, accusing them of having a Weapon of Mass Destruction, steal their oil and call yourself civilized! From the beginning of time, the Europians have been having this false assumptions that they are the centre of everything. This is evident with them calling countries east of the Mediterranean sea “Near East”, Asian countries west of India “Middle East”, Asian countries east of India “Far East”, and North America, the “New World”. The ancient Europenas thought that they were the brightest, most advanced, most civilized people around. The suffixes -ese and -ian were the indication of these. The more derogatory -ese were applied to Chinese, Japanese, Nepalese, Sudanese and Vietnamese, while Americans, Australian, Canadian, German, Italian, Norwegian and Russian gets the upper class treatments. In fact numerous fact already points that China was the first in the world to sail around the world, with what was touted as the biggest sea fleet of the time. General Zheng He, who made a pit stop at Malacca in 1409, discovered America, 70 long years before Christopher Columbus did. China has Japan’s history began more than 5000 years ago, when the Europeans were still in the Dark Ages.
This lop-sided thinking is not only evident among the Caucasians, most Asians do too. I have a number of lady friends of mine who wouldn’t lose a wink about marrying a Westerner, their so-called “civilized men”, who are nothing more than a reject in their own country for failing to find a life partner of their own type.
The truth is people of the third world countries, Asians in particular, have nothing to fear of the Westerners. They do not have to depend on them for everything. When the United Nations proposed that the Security Councils be opened to more Asian countries (I think China, Japan or India), America was the loudest to reject, because America knows that these countries are forces to be reckoned with.
So make a stand for yourselves. Not all European cars are good cars (although I’m not saying Malaysian cars are good! =). Not all German standards are better standards (think, the TUV certification our Savvy gains), and not all Western men are smart.
I stay in Seri Kembangan, near Serdang, an area which is governed by MPSJ (Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya). Some of you may be wondering, isn’t Serdang and Subang miles apart? Yes, in fact they are not only physically located differently, they are managed differently too! The state of both township looks severely apart. While Subang may be a booming township with lots of modern facilities, Serdang looks like it has just came back from a time machine from 1945!
Allow me to elaborate my point. First of all, I’m sure that most of you will have heard of the Great Serdang Jam. Oh, it’s just the eternal queue of angry drivers along the road from Taman Universiti right till Mines, that’s a fucking 2 kilometres of crawl! “What’s the big deal?”, some of you might ask. “Subang is also jammed wat?” That my fren, is true, but Serdang’s jam start from 6 am right till 10 pm, through only ONE friggin’ lane, thru 6 traffic lights, and becomes worst on Sunday mornings! Yeah, Sunday mornings is when everyone goes out to the pasar for breakfast. Which is one the reason for the jam, in my opinion. I’m tired of listening to MPSJ’s empty promises to shift the market somewhere else.
How about the street lights? Very evident as you drive from Puchong at night, paid the RM1 toll at the end of the LDP, and towards Serdang. You suddenly felt that you have left civilization. I dunno if you are aware of a Pasar Borong Selangor in the vicinity. Yes, the name suggests that it’s a huge market where all grocerers in Selangor gather for trading vegetables, meats and stuffs. And in fact it is. The huge market is open 24 hours a day, and dare I say, 365 days a week. For a market that significantly important, sad to say, the roads leading to it is badly lit. Not a street light in sight, especially at the dangerous U-turn in front of it! Oh yeah, I remembered, there are only 3 light makers firms that can supply to the government! (The Star story published on 18 Dec 2005 http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/12/18/nation/12902594&se…)
Oh, there’s a rubbish dump in front of the Pasar Borong too, how could I forget? Everytime I wind down the window of my defective Proton Iswara (that’s another blog!) to pay the RM1 toll at the LDP, I can’t help taking in the burst of fresh air there. Seri Kembangan (specifically the Air Item Forest Reserve area) has been turned into one large rubbish dump for the whole of Klang Valley. If you notice the name, it’s a FOREST RESERVE area! Who in the right mind would even think of even dumping our rubbish in a forest! It makes me feel that somehow Seri Kembangan is just an unwanted step-brother of Subang and Puchong; you only have obligation towards it, not love. I have also heard of talks to remove it, but promises, promises, promises….
I haven’t really taken a bus yet in Seri Kembangan, but I heard that in order to go to Subang or Puchong, one will have to take a bus to KL, and then only go to Subang. How ridiculous is that, when they are reachable using LDP? But then again, our transportation system in the Klang Valley sux anyway, why else would our roads be so jammed every morning? All in all, I can’t help but feel Seri Kembangan and Serdang desperately needs a different municipal to govern it. MPSJ is seriously overlooking its responsibility where it is needed most.
Drape the Pyramid?
Posted: 3rd January 2006 by Jacky Yong in Current AffairsTags: drape, malaysia, pyramid
Why on earth does Malaysia thinks that they can simply drape some fabric over the thousand-year-old pyramid of Giza in the first place? (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/12/30/nation/12986270&se…) What were our leaders thinking when they thought of that project? This is definitely not a good idea to “raise the profile of Malaysia to world”. And neither do dropping a Proton into the freezing South Pole, or arranging a few thousand RM1 coins, or baking the longest lemang. These are all cheap stints making Malaysians look like desperate sore-losers.
Somehow the thinking of our leaders must change. These stints are not only meaningless, they waste money, all RM200,000 that could instead gone to the betterment of Malaysia. THINK better transport system, liberization of the telecommunication system, safer roads from snatch thieves, and more efficient education system. From the way things are going, we will still be stuck in 3rd country mindset way into year 2020 and beyond. The spirit of Malaysia Boleh has definitely gone out of hands!
Let’s just step back and think for a moment. Is draping some flags over the pyramid going to make the world aware of Malaysia? While they are at it, why not drape the Eiffel Tower, or the Great Wall of China?
Has anyone seen the movie? Not to sound too exaggerating, I’d rate it as the best HK movie I’ve seen this year. In fact all 3 HK movies that I’ve seen this year are good, the previous ones being the two Andy Lau films ( I forgot their names, appreciate if anyone could refresh my memory). But this is a darn special movie, truly a different tone to the previous two. Great artistic touch, good cinematography, excellent fight moves! It totally redefines the term macho-ism, but I must say that the story of the movie is a bit too predictable. The big bad boss always has a great sidekick, and he (the sidekick) always losses before the big fight between the big boss and the good guy. That aside, I’d recommend u to go watch it. I might even give that sissy Jacky Cheung’s musical a miss. And trust me, I am a big fan of Jacky Cheung!
Date, 8th January 2005. Place, RHB Centre. Time, very early in the morning. We were preparing to go to Colmar Tropical, Bukit Tinggi, Pahang for our annual company trip.
