Many years ago when I first married my wife, we happened to join on a "Cuti Cuti Malaysia" tour to the East Coast and it was a long ride on the bus from Kuala Lumpur. We met a family from Hongkong in the same tour and it was really fun to holiday in the East Coast. Though I had been to East coast a couple of times, it really did not come to my mind that one day I could be residing in East Coast. What impressed me the most about the East Coast states were the clean and white sandy beaches, the serene and quiet picturesque villages with coconut trees, the salted fish stores and also the colourful kites. Whenever I visited East Coast, I bought salted fish for my family as it was really a tasty dish until at later part I was told salted fish is bad for health and could cause nose and throat cancer! My favorite was actually bringing back all those big and artistic kites, hanging them on the walls and decorating my home! Those were the East Coast days!
I remember that we stayed in Rantau Abang for the night and was scheduled to see turtle laying eggs late at night. We all waited till late almost 2 am and there was no sign of any turtle coming up the beach and finally we gave up and returned to the hotel. The sea turtles or the "Penyu" especially the giant "Penyu Belimbing" are becoming very rare and are protected species for our country. The stretch of beaches along De Monicke bay or Pantai Mak Nik that where my East Coast home is, is still a popular spot for sea turtle to lay eggs. The surveillance and collection of turtle eggs are contracted out by the state government so that eggs are to be "harvested" and sent to turtle sanctuaries for artificial hatching before the youngs are released back to the ocean again. There is a bright spot light for the beach volley ball court, that lights up every night to brighten up the whole place and also to prevent couples from having close proximity ( I was told). Now because it is the laying egg season for the turtle, the beam is turned off till November so as to encourage the landing instead of scaring away those egg laying female turtles! That is a very considerate and heartening news to hear about the effort being undertaken to preserve these turtles.
The beaches along that stretch however is in deplorable condition with rubbish, plastic bags, cups and bottles thrown all over the place despite many big dustbins are provided by the Kemaman City Council (MPK). During the monsoon season I was told that all the rubbish were brought in from inland by the rivers. But now we are having dry season and yet all the non bio-degradable plastic containers and bags are seen everywhere. It is clearly the result from inconsiderate citizens that threw all the rubbish after they gathered in the beach for a picnic or participated in some other socializing activities. When I saw this, the first thing that came to my mind was that, what happened to our educational system? Are these people as students once not being told or taught to keep clean and stay hygienic? To start with personal hygiene, one must not spit and also throw rubbish everywhere? To me, this is a real failure of our educational system! Look at what damage they had done to the beaches, it is really an eye sore!
When we used to have those turtles and tigers in abundance in our land, we took things for granted. Now they are gradually dwindling in numbers and becoming extinct! If we do not put in effort to take good care of their habitat and preserve them at the same time, we will lose them all forever.
Please keep those beaches clean so to attract those turtles back here and also preserve our jungles for the tigers to roam again in our land.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Do not overstay our welcome
No matter how noble our cause or reason, do not ever overstay our welcome. This is indeed very true in every sense, be it in the political arena, a corporate position or even in a family. Time changes, we thought we might have gathered enough experience, expertise and knowledge, respect or even wisdom that we perceive that we are always wanted. This is not true because people needs changes and get tired of our ways no matter how useful or how effective we were the way we did things before. There comes a time, there would be more resourceful ideas of solving problems, better and more talented sucessors to take over the helm and leadership of an organization or a nation.
Tun Mahatir was good and his NEP policy had shown great results for the nation and helped many to become well-to-do but the major portion of it now is becoming obsolescence. Even some of the beneficiaries of his policy had scorned at his ideas. A policy is good and applicable only for a certain time frame taking into consideration the citizen's sentiment, the prevailing background and overall ambient setting at that particular time period; it is not going to be a life-long panacea that could solve every problem that a nation faces. Time, with the advent of internet and ever changing external enviroment surrounding us compel us to adopt new changes whether we like it or not and we all have to accept this as a fact of life. We need to constantly formulate our national policies to face up the new challenges of the world. So even a national policy had overstayed its welcome!
It came out recently in the newspaper implying MIC president Samy Vellu has overstayed his welcome too. He should have realized this long time ago when his contemporaries Mahatir, Ling Liong Sik, and Lim Keng Yik etc all had stepped down and exited politics leaving behind trails of legacies for us to remember them while their influence gradually lapses into oblivion. The wisdom of a leader is to know exactly when it is time for him or her to pull out, from a not too late but already perceivable deteriorating situation and be gracefully retired to retain his face and honor!
As parents, we would like very much to stay with our children even when they had grown up and have their own families. One fine day, they will have their own lives with their spouses that our long accustomed to each other life style will not find a place for us to fit in. If we insist to stay with them, trouble them when we are old and sick, thinking that they will respect and honor us as their elderly, we are probably again overstaying our welcome!
That is what life is all about and we have to seek God more as we grow wiser each day! For we know only God will never forsake us and make us feel overstay our welcome. Seek Him and find Him for one day we all have to return to Him and the Lord is always our shelter and refuge.
Tun Mahatir was good and his NEP policy had shown great results for the nation and helped many to become well-to-do but the major portion of it now is becoming obsolescence. Even some of the beneficiaries of his policy had scorned at his ideas. A policy is good and applicable only for a certain time frame taking into consideration the citizen's sentiment, the prevailing background and overall ambient setting at that particular time period; it is not going to be a life-long panacea that could solve every problem that a nation faces. Time, with the advent of internet and ever changing external enviroment surrounding us compel us to adopt new changes whether we like it or not and we all have to accept this as a fact of life. We need to constantly formulate our national policies to face up the new challenges of the world. So even a national policy had overstayed its welcome!
It came out recently in the newspaper implying MIC president Samy Vellu has overstayed his welcome too. He should have realized this long time ago when his contemporaries Mahatir, Ling Liong Sik, and Lim Keng Yik etc all had stepped down and exited politics leaving behind trails of legacies for us to remember them while their influence gradually lapses into oblivion. The wisdom of a leader is to know exactly when it is time for him or her to pull out, from a not too late but already perceivable deteriorating situation and be gracefully retired to retain his face and honor!
As parents, we would like very much to stay with our children even when they had grown up and have their own families. One fine day, they will have their own lives with their spouses that our long accustomed to each other life style will not find a place for us to fit in. If we insist to stay with them, trouble them when we are old and sick, thinking that they will respect and honor us as their elderly, we are probably again overstaying our welcome!
That is what life is all about and we have to seek God more as we grow wiser each day! For we know only God will never forsake us and make us feel overstay our welcome. Seek Him and find Him for one day we all have to return to Him and the Lord is always our shelter and refuge.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Theory of relativity
I could never imagine, let alone understand the theory of relatively that postulates when traveling at the speed of light and time could remain constant or variable. Probably only genius like Albert Einstein and super intelligent scholars could comprehend what it actually means. Does it mean that if we could travel at the speed of light then the moment of time will stay still? It is a mind boggling question though!
When a foetus stays in the womb of a mother, it takes roughly 9 months for the foetus to develop into a full grown baby and ready to be born into a brand new world! To humans like us, that gestation period is just 9 months but to the foetus or the origin of it, the sperm and ova, is their entire life time!
Yes to us the humans, our life span on earth could be as long as 80-90 years old. But to God, it is probably just 8-9 seconds! That is the version of simple theory of relativity that I could understand here!
To the sperm, it travels a long and winding road in order to unite itself with the ova to achieve its set goal or final objective. That long and winding journey to uterus would be equivalent to our life as humans that spans across a time period from child to adulthood, and then old age. It had the same pattern of ups and downs, challenges and difficulties that we faced as we went through life on this earth.
The time will come one day, that we have to break through again into another brand new world when our time here on this present world has ended. A totally strange and unexplored new world that many of us use a life time trying to imagine and figure out what it is going to be like but in vain. God has kept that as a secret but with some clues given.
Yes, no one has ever gone to heaven or hell to return here again and tell us about how life is going to be like in those realms. But God has sent messengers and messages that reveal some of the clips and glimpses on what our future world is in store for us. It would be a place probably that is filled with more excitement that beyond our human imagination and understanding.
Be patient and wait, believe that God has the best plan for you and me, and all of us! Amen!
When a foetus stays in the womb of a mother, it takes roughly 9 months for the foetus to develop into a full grown baby and ready to be born into a brand new world! To humans like us, that gestation period is just 9 months but to the foetus or the origin of it, the sperm and ova, is their entire life time!
Yes to us the humans, our life span on earth could be as long as 80-90 years old. But to God, it is probably just 8-9 seconds! That is the version of simple theory of relativity that I could understand here!
To the sperm, it travels a long and winding road in order to unite itself with the ova to achieve its set goal or final objective. That long and winding journey to uterus would be equivalent to our life as humans that spans across a time period from child to adulthood, and then old age. It had the same pattern of ups and downs, challenges and difficulties that we faced as we went through life on this earth.
The time will come one day, that we have to break through again into another brand new world when our time here on this present world has ended. A totally strange and unexplored new world that many of us use a life time trying to imagine and figure out what it is going to be like but in vain. God has kept that as a secret but with some clues given.
Yes, no one has ever gone to heaven or hell to return here again and tell us about how life is going to be like in those realms. But God has sent messengers and messages that reveal some of the clips and glimpses on what our future world is in store for us. It would be a place probably that is filled with more excitement that beyond our human imagination and understanding.
Be patient and wait, believe that God has the best plan for you and me, and all of us! Amen!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Glimpses of May 13th curfew in a village!
My father commented that time passed very fast and the happiest period during his time was when the second world war was declared over and Japanese occupation ended and Malaya was free! Time is a relative thing, there is a Chinese saying, passing a day like a year, that describes relatively on how time plays a different role in our life when we encountered hardship and difficulties.
We are fortunate that we live in a country that is free of civil war and all races live in harmony. The May 13th incident was one incident long time ago that I could not interpret its political implication very much because I was still a lower secondary school boy. The whole episode started for me when I was half way through cutting my hair in a barber shop and the news was broken that racial riot started in Kuala Lumpur and rumor was spreading that it had already propagated all the way to Teluk Anson. Shops closed their doors while parents were searching the whereabout of their children frantically and gathering them to remain at home. I insisted that I must finish my hair cut before going home and stayed cool and calm while the barber worked his scissor patiently over my head, perhaps still ignorant and naive of the implication of racial riot. Very soon curfew was imposed with information vans blasting out announcement through loudspeakers that reminded villagers to stay inside their home during those specified hours under curfew. Army trucks rounding the village and the barking of dogs sighting strangers, and throwing of stones reminding villagers for doors or windows not close during the curfew hours were common happenings! Most villagers took it quite lightly for they did not understand the full meaning of curfew and some of them including my dad were caught while he went over to the neighbour for a chat. He ended up been locked up with the others in Kampar police station for the night with both sides of his upper arms bruised because the soldiers used their rifle handles to hit him on those portions. Side story was told that the soldiers were from East Malaysia, they made fun of their captives, and chucked biscuits into their mouths during the detention on the army trucks before handing them over to the local police station.
Soon a lot of the households were digging trenches behind their homes for hiding and some nights were spent in more remote homes of relatives of the village. Glimpses of Villagers broke loose and rushed in a hurry to purchase food from the grocery shops and market during certain specific non-curfew hours still remain in my mind. That was the dark history of Malaysia then!
The episode was over when our first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman stepped down and made way for Tun Abdul Razak to take over. After that incident, suddently one day all the schools in Kampar gathered in the big football field in front of ACS Kampar for a event of "Muhibbah". We sang that song but the teachers did not bother to explain to us what is the significance of the event and the meaning of "Muhibbah". I only remember that the "Muhibbah" song was very nice!
As we grow older and see thing retrospectively, though that May 13 was a sad and isolated incident of this country, most Malaysians in general are very nice people irrespective of races. They are just ordinary folks trying to earn a decent living and feed their families. They do not care who rules the country and all they wanted is a peaceful and happy place to raise their children! We certainly dislike and condemn with disdain politicians who try to raise racial sentiment issues for their own gain at the expense of the harmony and peacefulness of this country
May God bless Malaysia, let love, harmony and understanding continue to prevail in this beautiful and beloved country.
We are fortunate that we live in a country that is free of civil war and all races live in harmony. The May 13th incident was one incident long time ago that I could not interpret its political implication very much because I was still a lower secondary school boy. The whole episode started for me when I was half way through cutting my hair in a barber shop and the news was broken that racial riot started in Kuala Lumpur and rumor was spreading that it had already propagated all the way to Teluk Anson. Shops closed their doors while parents were searching the whereabout of their children frantically and gathering them to remain at home. I insisted that I must finish my hair cut before going home and stayed cool and calm while the barber worked his scissor patiently over my head, perhaps still ignorant and naive of the implication of racial riot. Very soon curfew was imposed with information vans blasting out announcement through loudspeakers that reminded villagers to stay inside their home during those specified hours under curfew. Army trucks rounding the village and the barking of dogs sighting strangers, and throwing of stones reminding villagers for doors or windows not close during the curfew hours were common happenings! Most villagers took it quite lightly for they did not understand the full meaning of curfew and some of them including my dad were caught while he went over to the neighbour for a chat. He ended up been locked up with the others in Kampar police station for the night with both sides of his upper arms bruised because the soldiers used their rifle handles to hit him on those portions. Side story was told that the soldiers were from East Malaysia, they made fun of their captives, and chucked biscuits into their mouths during the detention on the army trucks before handing them over to the local police station.
Soon a lot of the households were digging trenches behind their homes for hiding and some nights were spent in more remote homes of relatives of the village. Glimpses of Villagers broke loose and rushed in a hurry to purchase food from the grocery shops and market during certain specific non-curfew hours still remain in my mind. That was the dark history of Malaysia then!
The episode was over when our first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman stepped down and made way for Tun Abdul Razak to take over. After that incident, suddently one day all the schools in Kampar gathered in the big football field in front of ACS Kampar for a event of "Muhibbah". We sang that song but the teachers did not bother to explain to us what is the significance of the event and the meaning of "Muhibbah". I only remember that the "Muhibbah" song was very nice!
As we grow older and see thing retrospectively, though that May 13 was a sad and isolated incident of this country, most Malaysians in general are very nice people irrespective of races. They are just ordinary folks trying to earn a decent living and feed their families. They do not care who rules the country and all they wanted is a peaceful and happy place to raise their children! We certainly dislike and condemn with disdain politicians who try to raise racial sentiment issues for their own gain at the expense of the harmony and peacefulness of this country
May God bless Malaysia, let love, harmony and understanding continue to prevail in this beautiful and beloved country.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
My Mother and all mothers!
Today is the 6th year my mum left us. It is always a sad thing to see elderly persons left us one by one when we ourselves are slowly advancing in age. When we were young couples, we looked at our tender age children and we always think to ourselves, it is going to be a long way before they will grow up tall and strong. How you wish that they could just grow up tomorrow. Now they have grown up to be teenagers, have their own circles of friends, own preferred interest, hobbies and life styles, even their own opinions in ways of doing and handling things. And I realize that time really flies and most of the grand parents are already gone, and we are also having more grey hairs over the years! The golden era of our time had passed and is now making way for this younger generation!
My mum was a great woman though she always nagged. All mothers nag because they are out of concern for their children though it is definitely not a very pleasant thing to be nagged on. I for one do not like to be nagged. My mother used to nag on what kind of food I must eat to stay healthy, and how her grand children should be taken care, and how to stay safe and away from trouble etc. Now all this nagging became thing of the past! As my wife always says to the children, if one fine day we are not around anymore and the children will miss our nagging! This is indeed very true! How I wish my mum could be still around and I would not mind her continue to nag me!
Life is so good and time is so short! Life is a cycle and we have to go through certain unpleasant experience, maybe you could call it a growing up training but it is something meant to be good. We have to take all these with a good spirit and positive attitude. When we see it as something in transient within this limited life span on earth, take it as part and puzzle of growing up and human interaction, then we will gladly accept and laugh over it. Is this not life is all about?
I always remember my mum when she was lying on her sick bed when I told her that I have to leave for Mexico for a couple of years. She never hesitated in anwering me " Go ! And do not worry about me!". She passed away on May 23rd and I had left for Mexico in early August the same year, just 6 years ago.
God bless you and rest in peace, mum!
My mum was a great woman though she always nagged. All mothers nag because they are out of concern for their children though it is definitely not a very pleasant thing to be nagged on. I for one do not like to be nagged. My mother used to nag on what kind of food I must eat to stay healthy, and how her grand children should be taken care, and how to stay safe and away from trouble etc. Now all this nagging became thing of the past! As my wife always says to the children, if one fine day we are not around anymore and the children will miss our nagging! This is indeed very true! How I wish my mum could be still around and I would not mind her continue to nag me!
Life is so good and time is so short! Life is a cycle and we have to go through certain unpleasant experience, maybe you could call it a growing up training but it is something meant to be good. We have to take all these with a good spirit and positive attitude. When we see it as something in transient within this limited life span on earth, take it as part and puzzle of growing up and human interaction, then we will gladly accept and laugh over it. Is this not life is all about?
I always remember my mum when she was lying on her sick bed when I told her that I have to leave for Mexico for a couple of years. She never hesitated in anwering me " Go ! And do not worry about me!". She passed away on May 23rd and I had left for Mexico in early August the same year, just 6 years ago.
God bless you and rest in peace, mum!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Negara ku - Our national anthem
I have great passion and love for this national anthem because it was the very first song that we learned to sing from the school. I acquired this song to my repertoire by hard through mimicking the pronunciation over a period of time during our regular school assembly sessions. The anthem started with the prelude of drum rolls, then the main theme of the song was introduced from the slightly distorted sound of the loudspeakers, here we go our "Negara ku"...
I am extremely upset if not angry, when someone claims this is a copied version. To me this is OUR national anthem chosen by the forerunners of our nation. Yes, this is the land where we " Tanah tumpah nya darah ku!" and our "Negara ku"!
One of the failure of our educational system is, we are taught to shout a slogan but do not know the real meaning of it. The same goes with this national anthem. Why our teachers had never bothered to explain to us the exact meaning the lyrics of our national anthem? Come to think of it, maybe at that time, all the teachers in the non-national schools would not understand what a national anthem is all about. To them, probably it was meant to be just another song to be sung in a routine ceremony where the beautiful "Jalur Gemilang" flag was raised. I doubted very much at that time, at that level of proficiency of Bahasa Malaysia language that we all had, they could ever comprehend the profound and deep meaning of the lyrics of our beloved national anthem!
It took me many years to acquire the skill and command of our national language to understand some of the most difficult meanings of certain portions of the national anthem: (At least this is true for me but I am not sure about the others)
1. Tanah tumpah nya darah ku - As a student, we did not understand why we had to shed blood. To me now, this sentence is the core spirit and essence of our national anthem. It is the duty of all Malaysians to defend the sovereignyy of the nation to the last drop of our blood. That is the implication on the extent of our love towards this country. It does not mean to be violent literally translated, but that would be the spirit of our Malaysian patriotism!
2. Rahmat bahagia Tuhan kurniakan - If we do not believe in God, then the blessing from God is beyond our understanding. In God we all trust! Most of us all are part of the God's kingdom!
3. Raja kita selamat bertakhta - As school kids, we only know that the Prime Minister is the one ruling the country and could not figure out how the role of kings that reign over the country. There was somehow confusion and could not grasp the idea until we grow older.
"Rakyat bahagia BERSATU dan maju" seems simple and straight forward but it took us so many years for us to understand and recognize the need of this "One Malaysia" concept! Our wise forefathers of this land had spelled out this for us long long time ago!
May the great God always bless this country of Malaysia!
I am extremely upset if not angry, when someone claims this is a copied version. To me this is OUR national anthem chosen by the forerunners of our nation. Yes, this is the land where we " Tanah tumpah nya darah ku!" and our "Negara ku"!
One of the failure of our educational system is, we are taught to shout a slogan but do not know the real meaning of it. The same goes with this national anthem. Why our teachers had never bothered to explain to us the exact meaning the lyrics of our national anthem? Come to think of it, maybe at that time, all the teachers in the non-national schools would not understand what a national anthem is all about. To them, probably it was meant to be just another song to be sung in a routine ceremony where the beautiful "Jalur Gemilang" flag was raised. I doubted very much at that time, at that level of proficiency of Bahasa Malaysia language that we all had, they could ever comprehend the profound and deep meaning of the lyrics of our beloved national anthem!
It took me many years to acquire the skill and command of our national language to understand some of the most difficult meanings of certain portions of the national anthem: (At least this is true for me but I am not sure about the others)
1. Tanah tumpah nya darah ku - As a student, we did not understand why we had to shed blood. To me now, this sentence is the core spirit and essence of our national anthem. It is the duty of all Malaysians to defend the sovereignyy of the nation to the last drop of our blood. That is the implication on the extent of our love towards this country. It does not mean to be violent literally translated, but that would be the spirit of our Malaysian patriotism!
2. Rahmat bahagia Tuhan kurniakan - If we do not believe in God, then the blessing from God is beyond our understanding. In God we all trust! Most of us all are part of the God's kingdom!
3. Raja kita selamat bertakhta - As school kids, we only know that the Prime Minister is the one ruling the country and could not figure out how the role of kings that reign over the country. There was somehow confusion and could not grasp the idea until we grow older.
"Rakyat bahagia BERSATU dan maju" seems simple and straight forward but it took us so many years for us to understand and recognize the need of this "One Malaysia" concept! Our wise forefathers of this land had spelled out this for us long long time ago!
May the great God always bless this country of Malaysia!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Blood Test
I took the opportunity during the fasting period while preparing for my colonscopy to do a yearly blood test in the same hospital. Despite all those rectal bleeding and bloated stomach symptoms, the results are simply encouraging. I was told by doctor in China that I have a fatty liver and for many years all the lipid profile data tested was on the high side. I turned the tide this time, probably because of my perseverence and determined effort in doing regular cycling and jogging for the past 4-5 months in my Kemaman home. The effort is rewarded and the effect is obvious, the result speaks for itself.
Just for the records:
Triglycerides - 1.0 mmol/L against a standard of <1.68
Total Cholesterol - 5.0 mmol/L against a standard of <5.2
LDL Cholesterol - 3.6 mmol/L against an optimal of <2.58 though the borderline should be 3.35-4.11
HDL Cholesterol - 1.1 mmol/L against a standard of >1.03
TC/HDL ratio - 4.5 against a standard of <5.0
For kidney,
Uric acid - 0.40 mmol/L against a standard range of 0.15-0.45
Glucose - 5.0 mmol/L against a fasting standard range of 3.9-5.5
For my blood count test, ESR is 26 mm/hr against a male standard range of 0 - 7, which is on the high side. I have this high ESR for all of my past blood tests for many years. I was told that if there is any inflammation in the body then the number will be high. Anyway, I have gum bleeding problem for many years despite all the vitamin C taken and also the annual descaling done by dentists.
From the test results, I still have to watch myself on the intake of high Cholesterol and high Uric content food. I also consume less sugar by avoiding any coffee and soft drinks. Will continue to exercise more so as to expect better result for the next blood test.
Just for the records:
Triglycerides - 1.0 mmol/L against a standard of <1.68
Total Cholesterol - 5.0 mmol/L against a standard of <5.2
LDL Cholesterol - 3.6 mmol/L against an optimal of <2.58 though the borderline should be 3.35-4.11
HDL Cholesterol - 1.1 mmol/L against a standard of >1.03
TC/HDL ratio - 4.5 against a standard of <5.0
For kidney,
Uric acid - 0.40 mmol/L against a standard range of 0.15-0.45
Glucose - 5.0 mmol/L against a fasting standard range of 3.9-5.5
For my blood count test, ESR is 26 mm/hr against a male standard range of 0 - 7, which is on the high side. I have this high ESR for all of my past blood tests for many years. I was told that if there is any inflammation in the body then the number will be high. Anyway, I have gum bleeding problem for many years despite all the vitamin C taken and also the annual descaling done by dentists.
From the test results, I still have to watch myself on the intake of high Cholesterol and high Uric content food. I also consume less sugar by avoiding any coffee and soft drinks. Will continue to exercise more so as to expect better result for the next blood test.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Selling of a property
We are not rich people that own a lot of properties. But somehow in our life time we might buy or purchase 1 or 2 properties for our staying and not for price speculation, even though property by itself might appreciate in value. It is just lucky that if you happen to purchase the right property at a prime location, that area started to develop at a later stage then the property would have appreciate many folds in value. For common people like us, we do not have the extra money to invest in property. Most of the time we ended up renting out our properties because we move our families due to work or some other reasons.
Disposing off a property sometimes could be a better solution if we do not intend to stay in a particular location long term. Renting out is really a hassle as one has to collect the rental every month and some tenants are bad paymasters or some just want to rent for a short period of time that you have to look for new tenant again every now and then. If you are unfortunate your rented out property could be so run down, vandalized or abused so much that the owner eventually has to spend all his/her rental money to touch-up or renovate the house again to livable condition.
Since selling of a house is not a frequent thing that we do, we normally lack the experience in handling such transaction. It would be easier if we pay any property agency 1-2% commission for them to help in selling the properties. If not, you have to be there every time someone wanted to take a look at the house or even to the extent of troubling your friends or relatives to do the job for you. By all means, it is better to pay the commission than to owe someone a favor to help you. In the process of helping, your relationship might just turn sour!
Normally when the Sale and Purchase agreement (S&P)is signed off, 10% of the selling price would be deposited to the seller' s account. Many times the purchaser would want to request for the house key in advance for moving in or to do some early renovation work. Come to think of it, it is understandable and not a big issue to give the house key to the buyer but the implication could be more if the balance of the purchase price is not forthcoming due to some complication. The S&P would normally specify that delivery of vacant possession will only take place after full settlement of the balance payment. I think there is a reason for stating this! It is because normally payment would not make directly to the seller if you opt to be unrepresented by your own solicitor. Payment would normally go to the purchaser's solicitor first. Should the key to the property is given in advance to the purchaser, if there is any complication to the loan release by the financing bank or delay of payment by the purchaser's solicitor to the seller, then the seller would be the only one left high and low chasing the lawyer or the bank for the balance of the purchase price payment. If the purchaser does not has the key then there is the urgency for him/her to chase for the soonest release of payment, either to the bank or from the lawyer to the seller if he wanted to move in to the property. That sounds logical right?
We grumble when we sell a house at a price slightly higher than our original purchase value. No one complains about the selling of expensive vehicles which depreciated the major portion of its value just over a period of 5 years! So it is an advice to young people that it is still better and wise to priortize the purchase of properties than buying vehicles!
Disposing off a property sometimes could be a better solution if we do not intend to stay in a particular location long term. Renting out is really a hassle as one has to collect the rental every month and some tenants are bad paymasters or some just want to rent for a short period of time that you have to look for new tenant again every now and then. If you are unfortunate your rented out property could be so run down, vandalized or abused so much that the owner eventually has to spend all his/her rental money to touch-up or renovate the house again to livable condition.
Since selling of a house is not a frequent thing that we do, we normally lack the experience in handling such transaction. It would be easier if we pay any property agency 1-2% commission for them to help in selling the properties. If not, you have to be there every time someone wanted to take a look at the house or even to the extent of troubling your friends or relatives to do the job for you. By all means, it is better to pay the commission than to owe someone a favor to help you. In the process of helping, your relationship might just turn sour!
Normally when the Sale and Purchase agreement (S&P)is signed off, 10% of the selling price would be deposited to the seller' s account. Many times the purchaser would want to request for the house key in advance for moving in or to do some early renovation work. Come to think of it, it is understandable and not a big issue to give the house key to the buyer but the implication could be more if the balance of the purchase price is not forthcoming due to some complication. The S&P would normally specify that delivery of vacant possession will only take place after full settlement of the balance payment. I think there is a reason for stating this! It is because normally payment would not make directly to the seller if you opt to be unrepresented by your own solicitor. Payment would normally go to the purchaser's solicitor first. Should the key to the property is given in advance to the purchaser, if there is any complication to the loan release by the financing bank or delay of payment by the purchaser's solicitor to the seller, then the seller would be the only one left high and low chasing the lawyer or the bank for the balance of the purchase price payment. If the purchaser does not has the key then there is the urgency for him/her to chase for the soonest release of payment, either to the bank or from the lawyer to the seller if he wanted to move in to the property. That sounds logical right?
We grumble when we sell a house at a price slightly higher than our original purchase value. No one complains about the selling of expensive vehicles which depreciated the major portion of its value just over a period of 5 years! So it is an advice to young people that it is still better and wise to priortize the purchase of properties than buying vehicles!
Volvo 240 - An ugly brick and unaccomplished dream?
It is hard to express why I have a special liking for this Swedish brick-like old Volvo 240GL out of all the better and newer Volvo models. To many it is an ugly squarish and boxy vehicle, but it remains an elegant and sweet beauty for me. Let me explain this a little....
As time went by, I tend to think of some of the things that I could not accomplish during my younger days. While I was a kid, my family could not afford to buy me a piano and send me for piano lessons. When my daughter shows keen interest on learning all these musical instruments including violin and guitar, I therefore had never hesitated to buy her the necessary equipment and pay for her lessons. It was an unaccomplished dream for me to own a Volvo when I remember some of my colleagues from richer families owned that vehicle at young age. This feeling of being poor, born unequal and could ill afford anything despite having a professional degree from a reputable university lingered on for many years!
Volvo has a special meaning to me because the local Volvo concessionaire Federal Auto and its Marine and Industrial Engine division was my very first employer after my graduation. I was offered the job as sales engineer together with my coursemate Mr. Thum Wai Choong who stayed on for almost his entire working career with the company. Only when Swedish Motor decided to take back the franchise for all Volvo brands then he started on his own as the Volvo Penta engine agent for the country. Volvo cars then were driven only by top managers of the company and I could only admire and envy at them.
At the time as young engineer, with my meagre starting salary of RM1,100 could only afford a 5 years old Datsun 160J SSS bought from my uncle for RM5,000 to be paid by instalments. In the early 80s, a BMW 3 series was selling at RM36K, a brand new 240 Volvo would fetch a price of about RM18-24K while the normal Ford laser 1.3 or Mazda 323 were selling in the region of less than RM12K. The owner of the double storey house which we rented in PJ SS2 area was offering to sell us the house at RM180K, and now this house might have been valued at over half a million ringgit. At that time, those amounts were simply astronomical figures for a young engineer like me!
When I was having my graduation ceremony, the company was kind enough to lend us the use of a used 240 Volvo for the special occasion. Volvo 240, with the roaring sound of the big 2400 cc engine and its solid and plush look, was a head turner at that time. I felt extremely proud when I doned my graduation gown and drove my family members around with that Volvo to the campus. At that time there were hardly any big cars driven by parents to attend the graduation ceremony! Perhaps all the rich parents with Mercedes Benz had sent their sons and daughters to overseas universities! I received my mechanical engineering degree scroll from then the vice chancellor Lord President Tun Salleh Abas in the afternoon session of the graduation day while the queen or "permaisuri agong" , who was the chancellor of the university was present for the morning session.
Finishing the graduation ceremony and the photo taking session, it was time to return the vehicle to the company. Got out of the gate of UM campus while the gasoline was running extremely low. I had to stop at the very first petrol station at PJ section 17 to fill the tank. It was embarrasing for me to explain to the pump attendant that I only wanted to fill up RM2 to a borrowed big luxurious vehicle just enough to travel back and return it to the company! (Poor man drives a big car!)
It is part of the fun to go through the various topics of the Volvo Club forum and learn more about the vehicle and at the same time findings ways to restore an old vehicle. And I do not know how to describe the satisfaction derived from this restoration work and also the mixed feelings when you finally own your desired car after so many years! It is a little bit late, but it is still a dream finally came through for me, though both the model of the vehicle and the owner are already getting old!
As time went by, I tend to think of some of the things that I could not accomplish during my younger days. While I was a kid, my family could not afford to buy me a piano and send me for piano lessons. When my daughter shows keen interest on learning all these musical instruments including violin and guitar, I therefore had never hesitated to buy her the necessary equipment and pay for her lessons. It was an unaccomplished dream for me to own a Volvo when I remember some of my colleagues from richer families owned that vehicle at young age. This feeling of being poor, born unequal and could ill afford anything despite having a professional degree from a reputable university lingered on for many years!
Volvo has a special meaning to me because the local Volvo concessionaire Federal Auto and its Marine and Industrial Engine division was my very first employer after my graduation. I was offered the job as sales engineer together with my coursemate Mr. Thum Wai Choong who stayed on for almost his entire working career with the company. Only when Swedish Motor decided to take back the franchise for all Volvo brands then he started on his own as the Volvo Penta engine agent for the country. Volvo cars then were driven only by top managers of the company and I could only admire and envy at them.
At the time as young engineer, with my meagre starting salary of RM1,100 could only afford a 5 years old Datsun 160J SSS bought from my uncle for RM5,000 to be paid by instalments. In the early 80s, a BMW 3 series was selling at RM36K, a brand new 240 Volvo would fetch a price of about RM18-24K while the normal Ford laser 1.3 or Mazda 323 were selling in the region of less than RM12K. The owner of the double storey house which we rented in PJ SS2 area was offering to sell us the house at RM180K, and now this house might have been valued at over half a million ringgit. At that time, those amounts were simply astronomical figures for a young engineer like me!
When I was having my graduation ceremony, the company was kind enough to lend us the use of a used 240 Volvo for the special occasion. Volvo 240, with the roaring sound of the big 2400 cc engine and its solid and plush look, was a head turner at that time. I felt extremely proud when I doned my graduation gown and drove my family members around with that Volvo to the campus. At that time there were hardly any big cars driven by parents to attend the graduation ceremony! Perhaps all the rich parents with Mercedes Benz had sent their sons and daughters to overseas universities! I received my mechanical engineering degree scroll from then the vice chancellor Lord President Tun Salleh Abas in the afternoon session of the graduation day while the queen or "permaisuri agong" , who was the chancellor of the university was present for the morning session.
Finishing the graduation ceremony and the photo taking session, it was time to return the vehicle to the company. Got out of the gate of UM campus while the gasoline was running extremely low. I had to stop at the very first petrol station at PJ section 17 to fill the tank. It was embarrasing for me to explain to the pump attendant that I only wanted to fill up RM2 to a borrowed big luxurious vehicle just enough to travel back and return it to the company! (Poor man drives a big car!)
It is part of the fun to go through the various topics of the Volvo Club forum and learn more about the vehicle and at the same time findings ways to restore an old vehicle. And I do not know how to describe the satisfaction derived from this restoration work and also the mixed feelings when you finally own your desired car after so many years! It is a little bit late, but it is still a dream finally came through for me, though both the model of the vehicle and the owner are already getting old!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Rectal bleeding and colonscopy
When you suddenly find yourself having rectal bleeding, dripping down to the toilet bowl and you simply do not feel good even though it could be just piles or hemorrhoids. This is the third time I experienced for this past 1 year and if one ever searches through the internet, the experts will always advise you to seek medical attention right away just to make sure. I had ignored the previous 2 times on the advice!
Once you see red again, psychologically you doubted your health condition and very much depressed. I felt my lower abdomen was not comfortable and always had that bloated feeling once food or water was consumed. I wonder why the stomach seems to be churning and rolling all the time ! Was the food too hard to be digested, or I chewed too lightly on my food, or my digestive system is having problem? All these negative feelings started to haunt me and I had to seek medical advice to get myself out of this very uneasy situation.
Not surprisingly, colonscopic examination was recommended! Preparing colonscopic examination is a messy procedure. Firstly I had to take 2 doses of laxative to clean up the entire intestine. One day before the examination, 4 pm was supposed to be my last meal of the day with fish porridge and without any meat, vegetables, fruits, cereal, milk etc. and at 6 pm the first dose of intestine cleaning medicine was taken and it took 2 hours to feel the effect and purging of 4-5 times for the next 3 hours before it finally stopped. And the next day about 5-6 am the second dosage was administered, thereafter no more food and drink were allowed. Waiting for the colonscopy with empty stomach and feeling of uncertainty was an agony. On that day, the operation or surgical room was fully occupied and the examination was scheduled at 9 am was delayed to almost 1 pm. When I was inside the room, the beeping of the equipment that measured heatbeats, the display digital screen, and the long rod with its scope for examining intestine seen dangling all the way from top to almost touching the floor level, needles and syringes to admininster sedative medicine lying on the nearby table created a familiar scene that appears only in TV programs that mean serious business. While waiting for the surgeon to come in for the scoping job, I was tossing around on the bed with occasional changing of my lying positions just to relieve my nervousness and smoothen my breathing rhythm .Sleeping on one side of my chest wth my legs curled up in a ready to be examined posture for too long was simply not comfortable.
The final hour came and I said my prayer while the sedation jab was given and I was half conscious and could feel the examining tool forced through, perhaps a narrow portion of my intestine that caused some slight pain. The nurses said I was mumbling something that they could not comprehend. It was finally over after about 40 minutes and I was relieved when the result was declared well and clean with 2 small minute polyps removed. During the same process of the colonscoping, the internal piles were banded and that created an uncomfortable feeling at the anus area and now I could fully understand what the expression of " Pain in the a ..." means exactly!
It is really a great joy to know that you are blessed with a healthy body and all the other things in the world just do not matter to us anymore at that particular moment. I had that exact feeling when this examination was over. Hallelujah and thanks God! My wife and children had a sumptuous meal for celebration!
Once you see red again, psychologically you doubted your health condition and very much depressed. I felt my lower abdomen was not comfortable and always had that bloated feeling once food or water was consumed. I wonder why the stomach seems to be churning and rolling all the time ! Was the food too hard to be digested, or I chewed too lightly on my food, or my digestive system is having problem? All these negative feelings started to haunt me and I had to seek medical advice to get myself out of this very uneasy situation.
Not surprisingly, colonscopic examination was recommended! Preparing colonscopic examination is a messy procedure. Firstly I had to take 2 doses of laxative to clean up the entire intestine. One day before the examination, 4 pm was supposed to be my last meal of the day with fish porridge and without any meat, vegetables, fruits, cereal, milk etc. and at 6 pm the first dose of intestine cleaning medicine was taken and it took 2 hours to feel the effect and purging of 4-5 times for the next 3 hours before it finally stopped. And the next day about 5-6 am the second dosage was administered, thereafter no more food and drink were allowed. Waiting for the colonscopy with empty stomach and feeling of uncertainty was an agony. On that day, the operation or surgical room was fully occupied and the examination was scheduled at 9 am was delayed to almost 1 pm. When I was inside the room, the beeping of the equipment that measured heatbeats, the display digital screen, and the long rod with its scope for examining intestine seen dangling all the way from top to almost touching the floor level, needles and syringes to admininster sedative medicine lying on the nearby table created a familiar scene that appears only in TV programs that mean serious business. While waiting for the surgeon to come in for the scoping job, I was tossing around on the bed with occasional changing of my lying positions just to relieve my nervousness and smoothen my breathing rhythm .Sleeping on one side of my chest wth my legs curled up in a ready to be examined posture for too long was simply not comfortable.
The final hour came and I said my prayer while the sedation jab was given and I was half conscious and could feel the examining tool forced through, perhaps a narrow portion of my intestine that caused some slight pain. The nurses said I was mumbling something that they could not comprehend. It was finally over after about 40 minutes and I was relieved when the result was declared well and clean with 2 small minute polyps removed. During the same process of the colonscoping, the internal piles were banded and that created an uncomfortable feeling at the anus area and now I could fully understand what the expression of " Pain in the a ..." means exactly!
It is really a great joy to know that you are blessed with a healthy body and all the other things in the world just do not matter to us anymore at that particular moment. I had that exact feeling when this examination was over. Hallelujah and thanks God! My wife and children had a sumptuous meal for celebration!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Teenagers hanging out late at night
In big cities, teenagers hanging out in coffee shops becomes a common feature and life-style of this generation.The venue has become a place of interaction and a place to meet friends without making prior appointment. Basically because of the availability of drinks and food, there is no time factor involved whether they are punctual or late, they will order and consume the drinks or food and wait at the same time for the crowd to gather in size. Some coffee shops or stores also provide big projector screen with live telecast of popular sport activities to attract fans and customers of the same interest.
When I was younger, we used to meet at those road side stores that provided home cooked traditional delicacies such as egg tea, water chestnut and lotus seed drinks etc. Sitting on those old rattan chairs was cozy, relaxing and really enjoying good chats with my friends, We however did not go out every night but just remained an activity only during weekends or school holidays. The reasons being we did not have enough money then to hang out every night and our parents were stricter and we know where our limits were!
Staying out late at night always has its share of dangers. The recent shooting incident that killed a teenage boy Aminulrasyid would serve as a warning for us all as parents to show our concern on hanging out late at night life-style of these youngsters. All those tired and exhausted guys after spending a late night are normally in a rush to return home to call it a day and therefore they speed, beat traffic lights and sometimes even drive under the influence of alcohol. Their returning home timing coincides with the time when all those adults who happen to hang out in the bars and pubs are also on their way home. The way or style of driving at late hours is simply getting ugly, aggressive and dangerous! One could read in the news that many fatal accidents did occur during the wee hours of the day when those victims were on the way home after a late and tiresome session with their friends.
As parents, we do not want to stop completely or prohibit our children to go out at night because we think they are going through a stage of adolescence which they need to interact with other people and friends. Before they start a family, that would be the time they could feel and enjoy the freedom the most and we do not wish to deprive them of that privilege. But we DO have a great concern on the way that they tend to go out too frequently and spend too little time at home with their own family members. Eating heavy at night, consuming high sugar content drinks and spending too much money on food could result in obesity, bad health and develop the undesirable and inconsiderate habit of wasting the parent hard earned money! We prefer them to go out perhaps not more than twice a week and be back home before 12 pm. With this as a general guideline, we do not think we are being unreasonable parents!
When I was younger, we used to meet at those road side stores that provided home cooked traditional delicacies such as egg tea, water chestnut and lotus seed drinks etc. Sitting on those old rattan chairs was cozy, relaxing and really enjoying good chats with my friends, We however did not go out every night but just remained an activity only during weekends or school holidays. The reasons being we did not have enough money then to hang out every night and our parents were stricter and we know where our limits were!
Staying out late at night always has its share of dangers. The recent shooting incident that killed a teenage boy Aminulrasyid would serve as a warning for us all as parents to show our concern on hanging out late at night life-style of these youngsters. All those tired and exhausted guys after spending a late night are normally in a rush to return home to call it a day and therefore they speed, beat traffic lights and sometimes even drive under the influence of alcohol. Their returning home timing coincides with the time when all those adults who happen to hang out in the bars and pubs are also on their way home. The way or style of driving at late hours is simply getting ugly, aggressive and dangerous! One could read in the news that many fatal accidents did occur during the wee hours of the day when those victims were on the way home after a late and tiresome session with their friends.
As parents, we do not want to stop completely or prohibit our children to go out at night because we think they are going through a stage of adolescence which they need to interact with other people and friends. Before they start a family, that would be the time they could feel and enjoy the freedom the most and we do not wish to deprive them of that privilege. But we DO have a great concern on the way that they tend to go out too frequently and spend too little time at home with their own family members. Eating heavy at night, consuming high sugar content drinks and spending too much money on food could result in obesity, bad health and develop the undesirable and inconsiderate habit of wasting the parent hard earned money! We prefer them to go out perhaps not more than twice a week and be back home before 12 pm. With this as a general guideline, we do not think we are being unreasonable parents!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
L & M of Malaysia
Nowadays nations prepare to go to war if their natural resources are at stake. Whether it is a boundary, a piece of land, a river, sea or just a mountain. It only indicates one thing, resources are getting scarce! It could mean a wealthy multi-billion dollars oil field, a rich fishing ground or even a strategic position in time of dispute or warfare.
Malaysia indeed needs those oil rich blocks of L & M, and now they have become the sovereignty of Brunei. We as common citizens do not know what had actually transpired! It is pain and anger for Malaysians if someone else snatched our land. One could imagine the insult to China when they had to cede their Hongkog and Macao territories to foreign forces during the darkest time of their history. Sovereignty of a nation was down to the drain!
Malaysian government had approved the go ahead of a nuclear plant in year 2021 and that is already a fact and also clear signal to all of us that Malaysia needs to depend on non-traditional way to harness energy for our consumption. Our energy and power reserves in view of the dwindling supply of oil and gas prompted us to act this way as a contingency measure. Even we might have found oil fields in other countries such as Iran, Iraq or Somalia etc., they are still very much under the sovereignty of foreign nations. From joint-venture standpoint, Petronas might have the technical capability after many years of experience in this field, coupled with our government good relationship with these countries, to benefit from harvesting some of these newly found oil fields in the near future hopefully. The world politic changes over time, and we are not reassured that such joint venture will work forever; furthermore whatever revenue so generated in a foreign land will not help to enrich the coffer of our Malaysian government compared to oil fields found in our own land and territories!
To defend the sovereignty of our country, we have to continue to stake our claims on all the islands and territories whether they are in East Malaysia or the Nansha and Spratly islands in south China Sea. Let time and history take its course and whatever international arbitration procedure might come into play to decide who is the final rightful owner eventually!
Malaysia indeed needs those oil rich blocks of L & M, and now they have become the sovereignty of Brunei. We as common citizens do not know what had actually transpired! It is pain and anger for Malaysians if someone else snatched our land. One could imagine the insult to China when they had to cede their Hongkog and Macao territories to foreign forces during the darkest time of their history. Sovereignty of a nation was down to the drain!
Malaysian government had approved the go ahead of a nuclear plant in year 2021 and that is already a fact and also clear signal to all of us that Malaysia needs to depend on non-traditional way to harness energy for our consumption. Our energy and power reserves in view of the dwindling supply of oil and gas prompted us to act this way as a contingency measure. Even we might have found oil fields in other countries such as Iran, Iraq or Somalia etc., they are still very much under the sovereignty of foreign nations. From joint-venture standpoint, Petronas might have the technical capability after many years of experience in this field, coupled with our government good relationship with these countries, to benefit from harvesting some of these newly found oil fields in the near future hopefully. The world politic changes over time, and we are not reassured that such joint venture will work forever; furthermore whatever revenue so generated in a foreign land will not help to enrich the coffer of our Malaysian government compared to oil fields found in our own land and territories!
To defend the sovereignty of our country, we have to continue to stake our claims on all the islands and territories whether they are in East Malaysia or the Nansha and Spratly islands in south China Sea. Let time and history take its course and whatever international arbitration procedure might come into play to decide who is the final rightful owner eventually!
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