Brainwashed Idiots

Yesterday some people really pissed me off and I can't get it out of my head.

I was with my wife and we got into this conversation with some people. I won't elaborate on the whole discussion but here are two things they said, which really made me mad:

1. Malaysia is not Islamic.

This is open to discussion but their reasons which i found really stupid:
- Muslims do not follow all the sunnah of the Prophet pbuh, like taking wuduh (abulations before praying) too fast.
- Azan is not loud enough in Malaysia.
- There are cinema halls.
- Kafir (non believers) control the country.
- Women do not cover themselves.

To them these are the most important issues. What about working hard, no corruption, not cheating people, education, etc. Not that important.

2. I converted to Islam because of marriage.

One guy actually had the guts to say then when I explained that I was a convert (or revert) to Islam. Thank God I kept my cool or I would have wacked them right there.

According to them, most people who convert have an ulterior motive. They could not comprehend that people would convert because they loved the religion. They kept quiet when I told them that I converted 2 years before I married. I also reminded that all the followers of the Prophet and the earliest Muslims were all converts and not born Muslims. Malaysia is also one of the countries with the highest number of converts to Islam as compared to some other so called “more Islamic” countries.

They realized I was getting angry. Or I guess our reasoning was getting through their thick skulls. They then started praising Malaysia and agreed that Malaysia was a model of a progressive and peaceful country. They said, “Yah! Yah!” “That’s why god protected Malaysia from Tsunami.” According to them the Tsunami was sent by Allah (God) to punish the wayward Muslims in Indonesia. WHAT!

What about Palestinians? Earthquake in Iran? War in Afghanistan, Iraq? Are the Muslims there being punished too for being wayward?

I realized then I was talking to a couple of complete idiots who had been brainwashed by their so called Ulamas.

Freemasons in Malaysia

The Star Wars fever is still running high and I plan to catch it this weekend (finally). I wanted to watch it on the big screen and is the reason why I avoided the temptation of buying a shaky pirated DVD copy.

However, I am also eagerly awaiting 3 other movies, namely Batman Begins, Fantastic Four and the Da Vinci code.

In case you are not aware, the last movie is based on Dan Brown’s bestseller about a Harvard professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) who stumbles on a thousand’s year old conspiracy.

Anyway, last week as I was going through Ipoh (again), I noticed this regal building. The thing that caught my eye was a conspicuous symbol on the compound walls - symbol of the compass.

"What has this got to do with the Da Vinci Code?" you may ask.

Well, during the height of the Da Vinci Code craze, I did some research on my own and found out that the Freemasons (the secret society mentioned in the book) have branches and members in Malaysia. Before you think that I have gone bonkers, there was an article in the Star, whereby their Grand Master came out to talk about their “Fraternity”.

It was mentioned that they have branches in all states in Malaysia apart from Kelantan and another.

Their contact address in Kuala Lumpur:
Dewan Freemason, 213 Jalan Tun Razak, 50400, Kuala Lumpur

Update:

DEWAN FREEMASON, No.15, Jalan 18/16,
Taman Kanagapuram
46000 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

I found out that there is another Dewan Freemason (Emerald Lodge) at Bukit OUG, Jalan 3/155, 58200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I am not sure about that building in Ipoh though. Very little is known about the society even though there is a lot of information about them on the net. Like for example, some mention that almost all the American Presidents were a member of the society as well (However, excluding George Bush Sr and Jr),  as were most of those who wrote the US Constitution.

Really makes me wonder who these people are and what they do.

Links on Freemasons in Malaysia:
- Freemasonry in Malaysia
- Unveiling the history of the highly secretive Freemasons in Malaysia
- The truth about Freemasonry

(Several dead links were removed and other new ones added on 29th of Oct, 2020)
Updated: 29/10/2020.

Star Wars and American Politics

I was reading this article in Yahoo UK talking about the "political messages" in the latest and final episode of Star Wars.

I found it interesting that some people read into Anakin Skywalker's warning to Obi-Wan Kenobi "If you're not with me, you're my enemy". The article mentions that it reminded many of Bush's post-September 11 declaration: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."

However, it was not the first time such a phrase was used in movies. In the epic MGM Technicolor blockbuster Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1959) Roman Tribune Messala (Stephen Boyd) offers Juda Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston)and ultimatum: either Ben Hur was with him in eliminating the Jewish rebellion or against him.

See the movie (if you have not) for the rest of the story.

A Great Guy

Yesterday afternoon, I was engrossed in my work when I received a call from a friend (and distant relative). He said, “I have some bad news. Dato’ has passed away.” I was shocked for a while and even though I knew whom he was talking about, replied “Who?”

Brigadier-general Professor Dato' Dr. Ahmad Fawzi Mohd Basri passed away at 4.47pm yesterday afternoon at Hospital Selayang, Kuala Lumpur. He was buried around 11am this morning at the Muslim cemetery at Kampung Hijrah, Jitra, Kedah. He was 56.


He was also one of the hardest working people I had ever known in my life. Even though some people accused him of being too strict, I guess one needs to be if you were in a position like his.

He was the vice-chancellor of Universiti Utara Malaysia, a position he has held since Oct 2, 2001. He was also the National Service Training Council chairman.

He is the first vice-chancellor of a public university to hold the rank of brigadier-general in the Territorial Army, which he had served for 30 years. According to him, one thing he learnt from the Army, was loyalty to the organisation (UUM) and giving it the highest commitment.

Dr Ahmad Fawzi's started his academic career in 1972 as a tutor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He joined Universiti Utara Malaysia as a lecturer in 1984. He became UUM's deputy vice-chancellor (student affairs) in 1997 and was later promoted to vice-chancellor in May 2001.

You can view his profile in the university website here (It might not be active for long).

His death really took me by surprise because he was recovering the last time I saw him. He put his full faith in me when others thought otherwise and I tried my best not to let him down. I will always be indebted to him.

Al-Fatihah.

Rebranding Telekom

I was not sure what Telekom's new logo meant or what their rebranding exercise was about. Some of my friends thought that it represnted Telekom malaysia with the symbol of either a bird or a turtle on the top. We were all wrong.

According to Jalilah, who's an Assistant Manager with Telekom at Melacca, the new logo with the alphabets "TM" represents the new group image comprising of three colours of orange, blue and red. Orange represents TM Net while the red represents Celcom. I didn't even realise that the two curves were of different colours.

Their website emphasizes that "this change emphasises a more fundamental approach towards instilling a customer service oriented culture amongst TM employees".

I was really pleased to note that they have placed "Customer satisfaction" as the "cornerstone of this new brand identity". I really hope that this is not mere talk and really translates into action.

One change which I really hope for is faster and cheaper broadband access. Or if they can't, let others who can, into the market.

Recyled Old Handphone

I spend most of my time working in Kedah and spend weekends with my wife and kid in KL. My parents stay in Kota Baru, Kelantan and I do contact them several times a week. As a result my phone bill is killing me. RM50 lasts only about a week. This is because I am still using my old Celcom number, which was registered in KL. So all calls I make here is treated as outstation.

In the end I finally got myself a Digi prepaid card, which only cost me RM18. No I can stretch RM30 for about a month. I was also pleasantly surprised when I discovered that International calls made using Digi were also considerably cheaper. For example, a few minutes call to Norway cost me only about RM2. However, the only problem was when I had to change sim cards. I would have to shut off the phone, disassemble everything and then exchange cards. I had an impulse to buy a cheap phone from the several handphone shops around here but put it off.

Last week while going through my storeroom, I noticed my old handphones in a box. The last one I had used was a very tough Siemens M35i, which was a present from my wife before we got married. It been with me through thick and thin and had even survived a dunking in water after it slipped from my hands into a drain once. Eventually like most handphones, it outlived its fashionable life. And I finally joined the rest of the crowd by buying a Nokia.

I suddenly had a thought – why not use this phone for the Digi sim card. I checked it and it was still working but the battery even when fully charged ran out after about half an hour. Yesterday, I went around a bit, going from one handphone shop to another searching for a replacement battery. I finally bought a lithium-ion battery (the original was nickel-hydride) for RM25. I was delighted. The phone still works fine. Now I have two phones - one to make calls in Kedah and the other for use in KL. However, I leave the Siemens in the office as I don't want to go around lugging two phones.

Abandoned Houses in Ipoh

I usually stop at Ipoh on my weekly trips back to KL. Over the years, I have noticed the development that has taken place there. It is still a small and sleepy town but they have a new bus stand away from the town now. I have heard that the recreational water park is quite popular. New housing estates are coming up everywhere. The Jaya Jusco supermarket has been running for quite sometime. They also have a brand new Tesco hypermarket. On the outskirts of the city I can see that the limestone hills are gradually disappearing.

Looking out of the bus window, I realized that Ipoh has quite a number of abandoned houses scattered around town. Most of these are colonial type bungalows. Some are old Malay houses on stilts. Their compounds are overgrown with undergrowth and they look a bit creepy. I would just imagine what happened to the owners of the houses. Did they move overseas and leave the place neglected. Or maybe all the residents died in an accident or something. Did the residents commit suicide and people refused to live in the place after that?

Yes! I realize that I have an overactive imagination but yes what else can I do on a boring 7 hours journey.

Project Pudu

Yesterday evening as I arrived in Kuala Lumpur by bus, I noticed that work on the Plaza Rakyat has resumed after several years. This project next to the Pudu Raya bus station, stalled during the Asian crisis and was left vacant since then.

This might change Jalan (Street) Pudu's reputation as the most ugliest road in KL. However, I am am a bit worried that a new shopping centre might not do anything to improve the terrible traffic jams so common along this road. In fact it might get worse.

Besides, the various buses coming to and fro, the traffic jam is caused by Taxis and private vehiles parking illegaly in the front of the bus station dropping up and picking up passengers. I guess I am guilty too as my wife would sometimes just park in front to drop me off. However, the taxis (most of them don't use the meter)are worse as they have made it their official pick up point. I often see poiceman there, some of them handing out tickets but it seems that it is not working.

Any suggestions?

Dear Systems Analyst

I am sure some of you must have read this before, forwarded by a friend. My wife sent it to me yesterday. Is she trying to tell me something? Hmmmmm!

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Dear Systems Analyst,

I am desperate for some help! I recently upgraded my program from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0 and found that the new program began unexpected child processing and also took up a lot of space and valuable resources.

This wasn't mentioned in the product brochure. In addition Wife 1.0 installs itself into all other programs and launches during systems initialization,where it monitors all other system activities.

Applications such as "Boys' Night Out 2.5" and "Golf 5.3" no longer run, and crash the system whenever selected.

Attempting to operate selected "Saturday Football 6.3" always fails and "Saturday Shopping 7.1" runs instead. I cannot seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background whilst attempting to run any of my favourite applications.

I am thinking of going back to "Girlfriend7.0", but de-installing doesn't work on this program.

Can you please help?

---------------------------------------------------------------------
AND THIS IS WHAT THE ANALYST SAID:
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Customer,

This is a very common problem resulting from a basic misunderstanding. Many customers upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0 thinking that Wife 1.0 is merely an UTILITIES AND ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM. Actually, Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM designed by its Creator to run everything.

You are unlikely to be able to purge Wife 1.0 and still convert back to Girlfriend 7.0, as Wife 1.0 was not designed to do this and it is Impossible to uninstall, delete or purge the program files from the system once it is installed.

Some people have tried to install Girlfriend 8.0 or Wife 2.0 but have ended up with even more problems. (See manual under Alimony/Child Support and Solicitors' Fees).

Having Wife 1.0 installed myself, I recommend you keep it installed and deal with the difficulties as best as you can. When any faults or problems occur, whatever you think has caused them, you must run the C: \APOLOGIZE\FORGIVEME program and avoid attempting to use the *Esc-Key.

It may be necessary to run C:\APOLOGIZE\FORGIVE ME a number of times, and eventually hope that the operating system will return to normal.

Wife 1.0, although a very high-maintenance programme, can be very rewarding. To get the most out of it, consider buying additional software such as "Flowers 2.0" and "Chocolates 5.0" or "HUGS\KISSES 600.0" or "TENDERNESS\UNDERSTANDING 1000.0", or even "EatingOutWithoutTheKids 7.2.1" (if child processing has already started).

DO NOT under any circumstances install "BarGirl 2.1" (Short Skirt Version) or "OneNightStand 3.2" (any version), as this is not a supported application for Wife 1.0 and the system will almost certainly crash.

BEST OF LUCK!

Your Systems Analyst

Latest News on the NS Dodger Saga

Just read on the Star Online website that NS dodger Ahmad Hafizal Ahmad Fauzi was freed by police today morning. A representative Perlis MB Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim paid the the fine at the magistrate's court.

I guess this is good news for all those guys who skipped the National Service. The authorities won't be be in a hurry to jail them this time around. If you have a valid reason like this guy I guess you can walk away with it, however, if you don't, too bad....

Brand Loyalty

As compared to other people, I always prided myself as one who was not being brand loyal. I do buy branded stuff but I buy any as long as they are good – based on reviews, recommendations and past experiences. I try not to fall into the Fad trap - buying something because it is “IN” right now.

However, I may be wrong. Last week I wanted to go to Jaya Jusco store at One Utama, Damansara to redeem my RM50 voucher. My wife was a bit pissed off with me and accused me of worrying about that "stupid voucher" over other more important things - like paying off credit card bills. I knew she was right and so off we went, settling our debts and in the end didn’t have enough time to visit the stores.

I suddenly realized that we have been shopping at Jaya Jusco stores a lot, either at Mega Mall or at One Utama. One reason was the J card. Using this loyalty card, they have successfully built up a pool of loyal customers. Last year it was estimated that they have around 375K principal members and more than 200K supplementary card holders. It is estimated that out of these, around 75% are active members (Annual report). That’s a lot of customers and any company would be envious of that.

I always thought that my father was not brand conscious. He’s a very down to earth and practical guy. It may be true about clothes (as long as they are comfortable), electronic goods (no extra frill needed), etc. For example, he has been using the same Siemens handphone for about 4 years now, while I have changed several in between. No need for colour screens, MMS, games or polyphonic tones or whatever for him. According to him, it is working fine and he only needs it to make and receive calls. I also noticed that he only buys Citizen watches. Not very fashionable but my mom has one and so do I. My younger sister who came back from Australia recently, also received one as her birthday present. According to my father, they are dependable and reasonably priced. Furthermore you don’t ever need to change batteries for the rest of your lifetime. I can’t argue with that but in a way, isn’t that being brand loyal.

FYI, Citizen Eco-Drive watches uses an amazing power generating and storage system whereby solar photovoltic panels on the dial use light from any source to generate electrical power. This energy is then stored in a special energy storage cell, which powers the watch.

Prices Up

Despite the Govt.'s call to businesses not to increase prices and absorb the increase in costs due to the recent increase in fuel prices, it is clear that almost everyone has ignored the call.

I was shocked to find out that bus tickets to Alor Star from KL by almost RM5. Fortunately, I had bought the tickets earlier before they increased the prices. My friend was not so lucky and he was grumbling: “a 20 sen increase in fuel and tickets go up by RM5”. That means extra expenditure for people like us who have families in KL and work elsewhere.

I feel that some of these companies are taking advantage of the situation to exorbitantly increase the price of their products. Forget about absorbing the costs they are looking at it as a way to increase profits.

Dr. M in the News

Tun Dr. Mahathir raised a very interesting question at the launching ceremony of the UK based, Islamic Relief Worldwide.

He asked, "Why is it all right to receive contributions from non-Muslims but wrong to contribute to non-Muslims?"

I remember one story, which my mother-in-law related to me sometime back. This lady (a family friend) came to her and enquired whether she knew of some organizations to which they could donate money (charity). So my mother-in-law told them about one school in Sunway who taught special children. The next question the lady friend asked was whether the school was run by Muslims because she wanted to donate money only to organizations run by Muslims.

It was sad when educated people start talking like that. It’s ironic because the school takes in children of all races and religion.

I have come across several people who want to help but only people of their own ethnic group or religion. Fortunately, there are many others who are not.

...

FYI, another new version of Firefox has come out. Remember to remove the previous version before you add the newer one.

Proposal and Penang

Being rejected is hard and I not talking about love relationships here. One guy thinks that my proposal is not that interesting or that important. However, I feel otherwise and I am still trying to go ahead with it. So I tried to get through to a lady who may have a better opinion about my project but haven’t received any reply as yet. Here’s praying that I get the funding or our plans could go down the drain.

Anyway, I have to drive down to Penang sometime later this month. Have to meet up with some people and see how they are doing. I have only been there once and have no idea where to go first. Have to get Penangite Rajoo’s help to draw up a schedule. Don’t know whether I will have a chance to meet up with some of the bloggers out there.

I just realized one thing. Malaysia is among the few countries (maybe the one and only) where places can have more than one officially recognized name. Take for example, Pulau Pinang (in Malay) and Penang (the common English version). Melaka and Melacca. Alor Setar and Alor Star, Kota Bahru and Kota Baru. Can you name others?

Taxes n Bollywood

I hope all of you paid your taxes on time. Well I was among those who waited until the last minute (well almost). My tidak apa attitude is getting worse.

On Friday morning, I photostated all the necessary documents and drove down to the LHDN (The Inland Revenue Malaysia)office at Kelana Jaya. My mother-in-law told me that it was somewhere near the MAS academy. I had no idea where it was but when I saw a traffic jam near the academy, I knew I was going in the right direction. I found the place to be in utter chaos. There were hundreds of people moving around and queuing up for god knows what. I asked around a bit and learnt that as I had already filled up my forms, all I had to do was just drop them off with the ladies sitting at a table outside.

When my turn came up, the lady went through the completed forms. She was a bit annoyed with the fact that I had used pencil to fill up the forms and asked me to redo it using a pen. I apologized and redid it using my pen. I then found that I had to have copies of the forms. Fortunately I had already made the copies but they were in my car. So off I went – took the lift again to the 3rd floor, walk to the stairs, go down to the parking lot on the first floor, get the copies and then back again. I finally got my documents chopped and it took me altogether 45 minutes.

In the evening, I picked up my sisters Di and Jules and Jules’ boyfriend, Fred. I am not much of a theatre person but my sister Di had bought us tickets for the musical ‘My Bollywood Summer’ and we agreed to accompany her. Starring singer Nurul in the lead, the musical was staged at Panggung Bandaraya, Sultan Abdul Samad Building, Jalan Raja, Kuala Lumpur.

Written and directed by stage personality Sabera Shaik, the storyline is fairly simple. Aishah (singer Nurul) a young Malay girl dreams of making it big in Bollywood and actually goes all the way to Mumbai to make her dreams a reality.

We were a bit late (waiting for my sisters to get ready) and the play had already started by the time we got there. It was quite embarrassing and I made a note to myself – never be fashionably late at such events.

Nurul’s a good singer and she performed the songs quite well. However, I can’t say the same for her dancing. She went about her dance routines quite mechanically. Maybe it was due to the fact that there were many other professional dancers in the cast who out classed her.

A few characters in the drama stole the limelight away from the lead actors. Chedd Yusoff who played Nadesh, the goonda and Pavan as Deepak the gay director. I have known Pavan since his Help Institute days and he was really hilarious in his role. Sham Sunder also did a great job as Sunil, the ‘dirty’ director with a casting couch.

Overall, it was an enjoyable show. It was quite fun but got a bit draggy near the end. Maybe because it was too late and we were too tired (the show ended around 11 pm). I had fun annoying my wife with a thick Indian accented english until the novelty wore off.