Earth hour - switch off the right thing

I have not been writing for some time. In general, I have a million and one reasons. Regardless of the number of reasons, I am sure you would not believe any one of it, then why waste time on explaining the reasons...................

Last Saturday, 28th of March was the earth hour, when all were encouraged to switch off the use of electricity from 8:30pm - 9:30pm.

1st thought, it was a sure "WOW" thing human can do.

There were pre-discussions, discussions, mocked-up run, dry run, trial run, attend briefing, conduct briefing, convey message to all, put up notices, announcement in the PA system, email reminders, telephone reminders, SMS reminders, MMS reminders, fax reminders and may be telegrams, walkie talkie, morse codes and so on.

As the day came, excitement shot through the roof. Everyone confirmed to every other people to make sure they participate by switching off as much as they can. Then in the afternoon, everyone re-confirms the agenda to everyone again......then later in the evening, with a harder tone, asks everyone to make sure you participate.......at around 8:00pm, everyone starts to receive threatening calls to make sure we participate and save electricity and save the planet.

I solved all the above problems by switching off my cellphone.......................total peace.

To support Earth Hour, you should switch off the right thing......the over used cellphones.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/National/2519390/Article/index_html

Subra

August and September people, let’s shower this world with love and happiness.

To those who knows me will know that I am a little “human” type of person. Are there other types? Yes, you may ask and you may object. I define human as those who are related to the word “humane”. On a one-dimensional scale, we can categorize people into 2 main categories; humane and others. Forget about the others category.

Okay, regarding the people with humane qualities: type “humane” in MS Words and check the thesaurus for this word. You will see many feel good words.

If we try to see who are the people in this category, you will notice that you can name million and one people from all over the world. Yes, you are indeed very observant person and you are able to see the real quality of the people. If I ask you to see the similarities among the people you have named, you may in a way, identify a pattern.

Similar to the 7 habits of the highly effective people (by Stephen R. Covey), we can identify similarities in people whom we define as good people (that are humane).

I tried to carry out this observation among my own family members. My family means including the families of my 2 brothers. The list consists of my parents (2), my elder brother’s family (4), my family members (4) and my younger brother’s family (5); total=15.

Among all these people in my family circle, I will only recognize 9 people as good people. They are my parents(2), my son (1), my daughter(1), my sister-in-law (1), my nephews(2), my niece(1) and myself as the best. What is similar among us…………..we were all born in the month of August and September. Among the 15 members in my family, 9 great people were all born in August and September.

You say this has no basis………..Obama was born August. He is good right. Not enough !

Wait till August 2009 and you will see 2 more great people being born in the outer ring of my family circle.

We are waiting for one to be born in Kuala Lumpur…….my father’s younger brother’s first son’s 3rd child.

The other should be arriving in US to my father’s sister’s son - 2^nd child.

As I told you in the 1^st line, I am a little “human” type person. I love to be in a gathering of people especially gatherings of family members, it makes the gathering even more memorable.

August and September people, let’s shower this world with love and happiness.

Subra

Today you have pain, tomorrow you will have joy.

This morning (19^th of Feb 2009) I had the privilege to ride a motorcycle on the Penang Bridge from the mainland to the Penang Island. The Penang bridge requires the users to pay a toll of RM7.00 (the payment is only collected at mainland side).

You may ask what is so special about riding a bike on the Penang bridge.

You would agree with me when I tell you that you will be able to witness a great phenomenal reality framed in time. Exact to the words I used, the scenario was indeed a framed picturesque.

About 2 kilometers before reaching the toll booths, we can see lines of vehicles queuing up. You must note all the details here. When I say lines it doesn’t mean straight lines but a little jagged. Okay, I can hear those who use the bridge on daily basis will not agree with the term jagged, they prefer to say “interlaced” lines……in simple English, it means vehicles cutting into other lanes indiscriminately ….. you want a more appropriate word….erratically. There are 20 toll booths. Simple maths, you should have 20 lanes, but in Malaysia “toll collection” technology”, we have 7 lanes with 20 booths. It is neither innovative nor extraordinary but, rather a practical way of making you feel that you are moving fast, where in fact you are at the same place for a very long time.

After paying the toll, the 7 lanes magically become 2 lanes. This is where you will find your “squeeze yourself” skill come into play. You will see small cars tip toeing in between 2 big vehicles. At one moment I was wondering whether the small car was actually small or it became small after being squeezed by the big vehicles.

With all the acrobatic maneuvers, you will see victorious drivers smiling when they take the lead and enter into the 2 lanes.

This is the normal life you will see on the Penang Bridge, but this morning it was quite different. I am sure all have heard about the bridge expansion project. They are building the 3^rd lane. At the mainland area, there is an approximate 2-3 kilometers of 3^rd lane ready for use. This morning the short span of the 3^rd lane was opened. Yet, the vehicles were queuing up and to be specific, it was even worse than the normal days.

This is where my privilege of going on the bike prevailed. I managed to dance using my bike and swam through the thick piles of vehicles with a smoothness of a silkworm. Throughout the path till I reach the toll booths, I saw very little movement of the vehicles. Simple logic, there must be something holding everyone at the other side of the bridge.

My bike was still breathing well and had youthful energy to dance and swim again. From the 7 lanes area, I am now at the new 3^rd lane area. I was indeed very proud to be on the newly built 3^rd lane. My thoughts paused and thought for a while, why aren’t the vehicles moving even with the opening of the 3^rd lane? To know the answer, I know that I had to move forward.

As I moved further I saw the 3^rd lane coming to an end I can see the vehicles merging into the old 2 lanes. Although this can be a cause of the slow traffic, I still thought there should be another better (worse) reason. After traveling another 4 kilometers, the 2 lane traffic was forced to merge and be 1 single lane. And this is the main reason why the entire traffic on the Penang bridge was damn slow.

I wonder whether the contractors were trying to equal the equation, you add the 3^rd lane in the front and deduct 1 lane from the existing 2 lanes in order to make the equation equal. Not to disturb the “ying yang” of the bridge I guess.

I was fortunate to be on the bike today and not as frustrated as the guys in the vehicles that were either not moving or just moved a little. Since I was always moving, I didn’t feel the boredom that could lead to frustration, anger and violence.

I can smile and write this with cheers because I could see the entire scenario from the beginning to the end. I hope we all can bear these kind of frustrations a little longer till they get the entire 3^rd lane opened completely.

If you add something, then you should subtract something…..to make it equal.

Today you have pain, tomorrow you will have joy.

By the way, the picture of the Penang Bridge is a dream situation which every user would like to see.

Subra

Checkmate or are there any other moves?

I like politics because it is a test of a man’s ability to understand a group of humans, convince that group of humans, manipulate that group of humans and make that group of humans agree with the man on whatever the man decides to do.

Now replace the word “man” with any political party’s name.

Does it make sense now? Surely it does.

To understand this further, you have to refer to the happenings in Perak State Government (a state in Malaysia). If you have been following politics, you will know that Perak was ruled by PR (opposition party) with a slim majority of 31 against 28 in a 59 seat assembly.

The BN (ruling party) played it’s game by asking their own member to jump to the opposition and then later jump back with 3 more PR members. This makes BN having 31 members against PR’s 28. The whole scenario has changed. The government was handed over to the BN in name that it commands majority seats in the assembly.

Embattled in this rather funny situation, the PR guys started a series of counter strikes. One of them is the suit filed by the PR Chief Minister. Among others, is the silent bomb by the speaker of the state assembly, that is a member of the PR.

This speaker, coolly suspended 7 members of the BN (the newly appointed Chief Minister and his 6 executive councilors) for a period of 12 to 18 months.

Apart from this the speaker also not going to allow 3 members whom jumped from the PR side to the BN side.

I think by now, you should have taken out your “super high tech” calculators. Start calculating.

PR has 28 members, BN, which had 31, will not have 7 for the next 12 months, and most probably will never see the 3 party hoppers in the state assembly again – that leaves only 21 to carry on with whatever they can carry on.

In my view, the assembly looks like a hung assembly with no parties holding the simple majority. I don’t know law very much but I think you cannot win “a confidence motion” or even “a no confidence motion”. What will happen?

Surface analysis – dissolve the assembly and call for a fresh snap election.

Or, a super genius from BN should come out with a sophisticated counter movement that will lift off the checkmate done by the PR.

Politics makes life livelier ….. Wait and see for the next move. Checkmate or are there any other moves?

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/18686-perak-speaker-suspends-entire-exco

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/18701-perak-speaker-has-suspension-powers-says-legal-expert

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/18694-perak-bn-says-suspension-is-against-rule-of-law

Subra

Whose decision is it really?

When you see the word decision, I am sure you will know that this article is about politics, a subject that I did not write in this blog for a long time.

All attentions (Malaysians) are on the state called Perak in Malaysia, simple translation; the SILVER STATE of Malaysia.

The ruling government “is” or “was” a coalition government called Pakatan Rakyat (PR) which is an opposition party in the Parliament. The majority held by them was very slim. Total seats were 59 and the PR coalition government had 31 against 28 (Barisan Nasional {BN}).

The BN guys just needed 2 guys from the PR to defect and give BN a simple majority to overturn the PR government and form their own government.

To everyone’s surprise, 1 legislative member from the BN side jumped from the BN camp to the PR camp. Everyone was wondering why, but rather than spending / wasting time thinking why this happened, the PR was so happy and celebrated. Now PR has 32 against 27, any sane mind would have considered this as a structural reinforcement for the PR government.

Suddenly 2 PR legislative members were missing, then there was 1 lady saying she is not defecting from the PR side. In this chaotic situation, the PR government made a decision to dissolve the existing government to pave way to a fresh election to get firm mandate from the people.

While all these were happening, the 2 missing members together with the lady member declared that they have quit their parties under the PR coalition and now stand a s an independent members.

You need to pass at least university maths to understand all this. Now the numbers stand at PR 29 against 27 BN and 3 Independent. Just when everyone thought they can put back the calculators, the guy who switched camp from BN to PR now have switched camp again. This time from PR to BN. Yes, please use your calculators again. The numbers have changed to PR 28, BN 28 and Independent 3.

Now who can form the new government? Is it PR or BN? All depends to whom the 3 independent members throw in their mysterious support.

People chose a candidate to represent them based on 2 major reasons. One is, which party they belong to because the party reflects their struggle and vision. The other is, who the person is, what type of a man is he. Based on these 2 major reasons, people decides their vote.

We can sum up the deciding factors into the 80/20 ratio, which in my opinion, 80% of your decision should be based on the political party the candidate belongs to and 20% for the candidate himself. Relenting on this ration, a candidate should never change his political party. If he decides to leave the party, he should resign from the position that he won using the party’s name.

Very rare you see candidates winning on their own caliber (it has happened in Malaysia where independent candidates have won). Only a few have achieved these kind of remarkable triumphs. But people should remember that their candidate could not achieve anything more after winning the election (correct me if I am wrong, my knowledge about successful independent candidates are limited).

Therefore, when the people cast their votes believing that they have voted for a guy of party A turns out to be jumping camp to party B. I like the candidate but I don’t like the party B. Now did I, as the citizen of this Malaysia, got a fair chance to vote my favourite candidate and favourite party member to rule the land I belong to?

It looks like, I just can vote but the outcome is all in somebody else hand. It makes every voter thing, whose decision is it really?

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/97547

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/17590-bn-set-to-form-perak-govt-as-sultan-defers-decision-on-dissolution

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/baradan-kuppusamy/17609-a-hollow-victory-for-bn

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/malik-imtiaz-sarwar/17549-making-sense-of-the-perak-controversy

Subra

OK, Geysers also tells us something

OK, Geysers also tells us something.

In my article “Lakes, Rivers & Water Falls….”, I defined water falls as water dropping from a higher point to a lower point. I also added a note that hopefully there is none the other way around.

Since I am always surrounded by genius minds, some told me to check on geysers. They go from down (inside earth) to up.

I agree that this can be also seen as a reversed water falls. Let’s not worry so much on the technical definitions. The main point is, what is it saying? Nature may have it’s own definitions, but mankind is given full authority to interpret as he wants.

Therefore, in my own view, I associate geysers to our own problems that are kept locked inside us. These problems that are kept within us are like gas chambers that hold high pressure. Although our body and mind can has a very high threshold, it is always better to release the pressure at right time. Keeping them longer may destroy the body and the mind that is keeping the pressure.

I don’t know much technical details about geysers but I think I have explained in simple manner what it is trying to tell us. Take time to spill out the things that are bothering you. Find a nice person (friends) and say it out.

OK, since we already know what the geysers are telling us, why not learn a little about them. Visit http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/tours/fountainpaint/images/geyser_works4.gif

Subra

Lake, River and Water falls - What do they say?

Although all the 3 have one thing in common, which is water, but all 3 are called with different names. It is because of the condition of the water, the state of the water defines its name.

The stagnant water is called as lake (there are other names which brings slight variation to the term). The flowing water is called river where, water starts somewhere and goes to the sea. The flow is mostly smooth and consistent (again, there could be situations where it is also known as white waters where the flow is strong and fast). The water fall, as mentioned in its name, is where water drops from a higher point to another lower point (hopefully there is none the other way around).

We can say that the creator of the world placed the most important item for human (that is water) almost everywhere in this world. The creator also made them in many condition in order to suit man’s need.

Apart from consuming the water for livelihood, the creator has made water to support other life forms in order to sustain man’s need. Supply of life forms in the water that is consumable for man, support agriculture and also sustain man’s need to be clean.

Apart from all these basic essentials that are visible to man’s naked eyes, there is one more thing which happens without man noticing it. It is the nutrition that is supplied to man’s emotional need.

Have you ever wonder, how soothing it is to sit by the lake and ponder our life against the backdrop of calmness found in the lake.

Sitting at the riverside and letting our thoughts dance to the rhythm of the flowing river.

Standing at the edge of the water falls and associating our feelings to the water that falls from a height, splashed into million drops and dissolving into the calm collection of water.

The creator did not only provide what man needs to live a basic life but also to live a wonderful life with peace and harmony. The creator provided all the necessities for man to fulfill his physical needs and emotional needs.

Only problem is, we are always on the wrong frequency with nature. Don’t ask me why, ask the Lake, River and Water falls and listen to what they say?

I follow www.rainfield61.blogspot.com very passionately and I noticed him writing about trees that talked to him. I guess that, the creator has worked overtime to make sure human life is well taken care in this world.

Let’s say thanks and preserve the world.

Subra

Learn from the nature

I heard an interesting phrase in the local THR radio. The phrase sounds like this, “A baby born to live an expected 100 years comes to the world crying, but a flower that is expected to live a few hours to few days comes in with a cheerful blossom”.

Somebody sent this phrase the radio station via SMS and they aired it. It was really a great thought provoking phrase.

In my earlier article, I wrote about flowers that has a never ending objective. Here it is interesting to note that flowers teach us another valuable lesson.

Although it has a short life, from the stage of being bud to a full blown blossom, it is really beautiful and it seems to be smiling all along.

Human cry when they are born, they cry occasionally there after for many million reasons (some says it is healthy to cry, let them cry too for that reason).

Should we laugh all the time, or should we laugh a little and cry a little, or laugh a little and don’t cry at all….there is no right or wrong answers,. Human are born with many self empowered authorities. Unlike the nature’s children (flowers and others – non-human), human doesn’t live on a routine life style. Human will change everything – himself and the nature around him, thus creating opportunities for mistakes that hurts himself and his surrounding.

Striking a balance is an achievable target for human. The best we can do is learn from the nature and live the best life we can.

Subra

Teacher……….One God, many forms

Last weekend I met a few old extreme friends. You may wonder why the word extreme is used for these friends. These particular friends are the type that won’t lose in any type of argument. After recalling so many “missed” events, I thought of starting the war. It is nothing wrong to start a war between “very well” known friends. This particular group is a matured group and they know their limits and they know how to reconcile back. I have seen arguments going to the centre of the earth and they come out laughing their hearts out.

The point for the argument was simple, “How many teachers are there?”

We didn’t put it to a debate of whether there is “teacher” or “no teacher”, all accepted that “teacher” existed. We turned dice on, “How many teachers are there”.

One was the smallest number (since Zero was not accepted in our argument). Countless was the biggest number. The arguing group was from a vast knowledge based people. I even had a Phd. in the team.

1. There have to be many teachers because we have so many things to learn.
   

In the 1^st round of argument everyone accepted that there are many teachers. One teacher most probably cannot teach a lot of subjects. The most one teacher could teach is around 3 or 4 subjects (there could be more, but let’s keep those teachers in a safe place).

2. If there are many teachers then whom should we choose?
   

Such a simple question was twisted at the beginning of the argument. We should get the maths teacher, no……., we should get the science teacher, no……., we should get history teacher, no…….., and the argument went on with many strong prolific reasons. Then one smart guy asked, who is the student?

You see, there can be many answers, but if you want a right answer then you need to know what is the right question. The question was not complete. The question should have been re-phrased to, “Which teacher should be selected for the student who has interest in science or maths or geography or music or language?” The interest of the student must be taken into consideration.

Looks like we have settled the argument in a simple manner.

Now for the fun of it, try to replace “teacher” with “God”.

Is the one God or many Gods?
Which God should I select?
All depends on what I want?
There are Gods for every aspect of human’s life.

I just relate this writing to Hinduism because it I have some fundamental knowledge in it. There is nothing against any other religion and my respect to all other religion are equal.

Hinduism believes in one God that exist in many forms. True to its core, God is similar to a teacher, there is only one teacher, this teacher takes many type of forms to teach what we want to learn. Every subject has a different approach in conveying its message, therefore the teacher should equip themselves with proper accessories in order to teach. That is the reason different Gods in Hinduism are displayed with many accessories.

OK, how about those who says there is no God? Don’t they have any teacher?

Actually there is nothing wrong to say that there is no teacher, their actual teacher is the nature and that is the one thing that no one can deny.

GOD, religion and nature are a guide to our well being in this lovely world. There is no scale that can evaluate and give you a result on which is better. All has different names and different approaches. In these many differences, one similarity lives on….that is "Do Good and live happily".

Teacher……….One God, many forms

I attach a link “Tribute to a teacher” which describes a teacher and how the teacher has shared. Let your mind ponder on these issues and you will see the connection on this topic.

http://www.knowledgebase-script.com/demo/article-418.html

Subra

Fairy Tale

I came across a blog with a nice simple and short story, indeed, it was a very short story, maybe it qualifies for the award stated in the name of the title itself "worlds shortest fairy tale".

http://www.dreamwalkersworld.com/2008/11/worlds-shortest-fairy-tale.html

The short story was based on the format used by bestsellers. They have part 1, then part 2 in order to make more money.

In this story, the author says that the girl lived happily after the boy said no to her marriage proposal.

Part 2 in my opinion shall hold the underlying truth where the boy also lived happily after when the girl didn't insist on hime getting married with her.

This reminds me of a Tamil movie which showed 2 lovers who were in deep love and got married, but later due to irreconcilable differences got separated. It was a shock to all on why they wanted to get separated. It was very clear to all their friends that they were an ideal couple. They understand each other very well. Then why did they got separated?

The answer was very simple, they understand each other very well therefore they came to a unanimous agreement that they agree that they connot get along well.

Confusing......no, it is crystal clear.

The understanding between them was very clear and they respected that understanding. Give some thoughts on it and you will see the true view prevailing itself. Many are cheating themselves saying that they understand each other very well and are staying together. Most are just forcing themselves. Hope I didn't stir any "good" & "understanding" couples.

For a successful companionship, the best method is to refer to Stephen R. Covey's 7 habits of effective people - Seek to understand first, then to be understood. You try to understand others first and don't expect others to understand you first.

Anyhow I liked the "shortest fairy tale" very much for the kind of multi angle view on the subject. Thanks to Meleah and Dreamwalker.

Refer to the cartoon on "no confidence" vote described in th attached cartoon. I saw that cartoon in the drybonesblog. Give some thoughts on it and you will see the relevance to the word "understanding".

Subra

http://mommamiameaculpa.com/?p=1439
http://www.dreamwalkersworld.com/2008/11/worlds-shortest-fairy-tale.html
drybonesblog.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html

Live with an objective that never ends.

I have a lot of table roses (Japanese Rose) in my house. I grow them not because of passion or love for gardening or interest in the environment, but just because it is the easiest thing to plant and grow.
I have wonderful colours in my collection. The best part of these flowers is, it blossom at around 9:00am and wilt by noon. What a short time to show off its glamour and beauty. It makes me think whether its worth to blossom and live a life as a flower just for a few hours. What glory can it gain in such a short period. Most of us leave the house before 8 and only return in the evening. We can only see the buds early in the morning before its full blossom.
I understand that orchids stay up to 2 to 3 weeks. Naturally its beauty is incomparable in the flower kingdom. To the title of being the most beautiful flower, it stays long to contribute to visual desire of man.
Although both table roses and orchids have one thing in common, which is its unique beauty but both have totally different life cycles. One stays for only few hours and the other for weeks. Yet, something makes both of them feel useful to this world and mankind.
Both knows that as a flowering plant, it should keep on giving new blossoms as the old one withers. Regardless to the life cycle of the blossoms, the plant continues to paint the world with its blossoms add a smile to every human in this world. The objective of the plants are not just to flower once but evertime the old one falls. The cycle never ends.

Live with an objective that never ends.

Subra

* The pictures are not mine

Man and his dollar sense.

It is quite surprising to see how much a man’s life is entangled in the world of “dollars” and “cents” (use your own country currency for the phrases).

I have seen people who has money that can only make them swim through their life on daily basis and I have also seen people who has money that can drown them. Let’s term them as “1” for those who live on daily earning basis and “10” for those who live in a world which fits a king (damn rich).

Most of the people I had known from the category “1” are sincere and lives a faithful life (here I am referring to only those whom I specifically know). I do have a lot of friends that comes from the category “10”. These are the people whom I admire the most.

Please note that I am a true believer of the “Ying Yang” theory. If somebody says that you can learn a lot of good traits from the rich people, I also say that we can learn a lot of bad traits from these people. Simple philosophy, learn the good and practice them, learn the bad and avoid from practicing them.

I just wanted to narrate a story on how a well to do people behaved and what should we learn from them (actually learn what we should not do when we have wealth).

The conversation with this person was rather unique. When I asked them how was the journey. Their answer: We paid RM300.00 for a service that was only worth RM120.00.

How was the food? Answer : The coffee was only worth RM0.70 but we were charged RM2.50, the meal could not be a single cents more than RM3:00 but we had to pay RM7:50. The canned drink was OK but they charged us extra RM0.20 compared to the local grocery store. How did you come to work this morning? I took the RM15.00 taxi. What movie did you see last weekend? I saw RM10.00 movie at the mall. You had a haircut, nice! I had my haircut at the city centre for RM40.00

For these people, everything seems to be translated to “dollar” and “cents”. Everything is referred in relation to dollar and cent. They won’t understand if you don’t include the cost of the product or the service you receive. Money, money, money……………everything had to be said in terms of money.

This person caught me off balance when he asked me why am I writing in the blog. I told him that I get to practice my writing skill, improve my language and it gives me satisfaction.

This person laughed when I said I get satisfaction. He asked me, “Do you get paid for this?” I said, “No”. And he said what the hell you are writing for?

Should we get paid for everything we do? Can’t we do anything if there is no money in it? I was ready to put up my arguments on this issue but I got a lightning strike in my mind saying that it will be like talking to a wall with this person.

Every thing we do (good or bad) will return to us in many ways. Some are returned in the form of money and some are returned in other forms. Many people appreciate all that comes to them regardless of what form it comes back but some will only accept if it comes in the form of money.

I am not saying that money is not important but we should not lose our sense of being a human with feelings. Man should know his dollar sense limits.

Subra

Judgment by judges, beyond politics

Writing openly about ISA (Internal Security Act) detention is something sensitive in Malaysia. It is even worse if you do so about an ISA detainee. It shall be nightmare if you talk about the Minister who signed the detention.

Therefore all are refrained from discussing this matter. If no one is talking, then the whole issue becomes one sided story. The authority talks, the rest listen. No questions can be asked because ISA is a prevention act.

On the 12^th of Sept, a journalist, an opposition MP and Malaysia Today editor were arrested under ISA. The whole country cried foul. But the decision was defended and upheld firmly. Anyhow, the journalist was freed within 24 hours and the opposition party MP was released a week later. Unfortunately the editor was kept much longer.

There were legal tussle between the editor’s legal team and the authority for some time. Surprisingly, on the 7^th of Nov., the editor was released by the court. Surprise is the most appropriate word because, in general, the courts are deemed as an extension of the government and the government shall decide based on political pro and con.

It is my personal believe that, all Malaysian courts’ verdict are weighed against the effect and impact to the ruling government.

Hopefully no judges are reading this. I think that I am not totally wrong when I say, all verdicts tend to lean towards ruling government. Or, at least, the verdict doesn’t create damage to the ruling party.

The verdict on the RPK (the editor – Raja Petra Kamaruddin) was something very surprising because it puts the Minster and the authority in hot soup. The detention order was found to be non compliance with the related act. Rakyat (people) now questions the ability of the Minister and the authority in making such decisions.

Even worse, the Minister and the authority now have to challenge the court’s decision in order to protect their mistakes. They may also find other ways to detain RPK again. Rather than finding the right act and method to detain RPK, I hope the Minister and the authority will spend more time and effort to investigate the facts on why RPK is considered as a threat and justify it.

RPK’s release is a milestone in Malaysia courts (I guess), it was indeed a great surprise and I remember reading that RPK himself was surprised. This incident proves that judgment by the judge was beyond politics.

Subra

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/11957-raja-petra-freed

Man calls this creativity and innovation

As you all know, all human beings want to live an enjoyable life in this wonderful natural world. Whoever designed this world and the life form has designed it in perfect order. The designer, who is called as GOD or an unknown force or an unknown energy is accepted to exist in one way or another. Regardless of what it is, let’s just call it as “the designer”.

The designer made the world and the life form, in a way where both need each other for survival. The designer also fulfilled the “sufficiency and compatibility” aspect by preparing remedies for unforeseen situations. In simple English : designed “natural” medicines” apart from the “natural food”.

Whatever man needs to live a simple and peaceful life, are readily available in natural form. The designer gave the man an efficient brain in order to run the “life form” which it lives in. Addition to that, the brain also has the capability to handle the so called “unforeseen situations”.

Remember, the brain should act and re-act to natural requirement of the life form in accordance to the environment surrounding the life form.

Anyhow, it is difficult to say when and how man started to “abuse” the brain in order to “over drive” the designer’s natural world.

Man started to demand more from his environment. The “brain”, which, normally responds to the natural requirement of the life form and the natural effects of the world, is being triggered to think on pursuing things which are being artificially deemed necessary for life forms in this world.

Since the brain is capable of fulfilling man’s “artificially” created demands, the man, started to push the brain even harder to achieve more, actually, abuse more. Artificial requirements now change to greed and ego. Man wants more and more. Man forgets the equilibrium balance between life form and environment. The general theory of “yin yang” is relentlessly destroyed.

Man is abusing the environment.
Man thought he is in control over environment.
Man sees the environment as his slave to his insatiable desires.
Man feels that, environment cannot fight back.

Man calls this "creativity" and "innovation".

But,

Man forgot that environment doesn’t fight back but obliterate without mercy.

Use the brain to “create” without destroying the nature,
Use the brain to “innovate” without interrupting the nature.

Read below link to get the feel of how development without environment protection damages everything.

Subra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction

Ways of looking at things : Positive and Negative

Last week, we had a small Deepavali party ( a Hindu annual festival held to celebrate the victory of "good" over"evil") in my brother's (Sundar) house in Penang. We invited many friends. I was surprised to meet a few of my very very old colleagues from my company.

An interesting scenario happened when I met these 2 guys. I think the last time I met them was around 2-3 years ago. The 1st responded, "Wow, Subra is it you? You look so different. My God!, you changed a lot."

The 2nd responded, "Subra nice to meet you again, you look the same. you never change a bit".

Totally confused.

2 ways of looking things : Positive and Negative

Positive :

-The 1st guy wanted to make me happy by telling that I changed a lot and look more "matured", more intelligent", "more majestic".......I know you are getting jealous.

-The 2nd guy wanted to make me feel that I am still as young as how I looked few years back.

Negative:

- The 1st guy intended to tell me that I changed from being a good guy earlier days and now I look pretty messed up.
-The 2nd guy intended to tell me that I never changed and still behave clumsy the same way I did a few years back.

Now , for the actual impact of the 2 contrasting comments - all depends on how I want to interpret. I chose to take it positively. I am a changed person - by look and thinking, at the same time, I am a person who did not change - by my good character and jolly good behaviour.

How the other person interpret seems to be lost in my analysis. I was happy for many reasons on that day:-

- it was Deepavali time
- I met long lost friends
- both had opinions on me
- and I see both opinions to be positive about me.

I am happy and I am sure my day will be great throughout.

There are always many ways of looking at things : Positive and Negative, but you can choose only 1, choose wisely.

Subra

He who shouts the loudest is RIGHT & GOOD

I went to a “Bank’s” automated centre in Penang. I saw a”KWSP” (EPF=Employee Profident Fund) statement printing machine there. Since the machine was there, I thought of trying to print my EPF account statement.

The steps were simple. I have to slot my “MYKAD” (Identification Card), wait for the verification, then place my right thumb on the scanner, wait for while, then click (touch the screen) for the statement printing. Like a magician’s wand, the statement came out in a standard A4 size paper. Wow, great technology, great use.

I don’t have to go to the EPF office to get the statements. I love technology.

After printing this year’s statement, I saw an option to print the 2007 statement. Nothing to lose, I clicked (touch the screen) the option to print the 2007 statement. The automated equipment did it’s sound effect, colourful screen changes, beeping sound and I looked at the slot where the printed statement should come out, nothing was there. I waited for a while, nothing happened. Waited a little longer, still nothing happened. Then there came the famous words, “Machine Temporarily Out of Service”.

Now I was in dilemma, did the machine print my 2007 statement? If yes, it would be stuck inside and the person who is going to repair and reset the machine will have full information about my EPF. I wasn’t feeling very comfortable. I asked the security officer to ask the bank officer to help me to get the stuck paper out. The security officer said nobody can help now, the bank will do it later.

It was only around 4:20pm. I was in the midst of deciding whether to make the issue big or not. At that moment another guy came in and straight away went to the EPF machine to get his statement printed. The moment, he saw the screen saying out of order, he cursed the bank and shouted to the security officer.

Guess what happened, the security guard went inside the bank and brought out an officer. That officer went into the bank again and came out with another officer. They opened the machine and removed my statement which was stuck. They handed me my statement, then reset the machine and locked it again.

I thanked the bank officer and the security guard, but neither replied or cared to respond to me.

The guy who came after me created a chaos, didn’t even thank anyone nor appreciated the help rendered by the officer. He cursed them further.

The officers apologized to this guy.

Now,
I asked nicely, no action.
The guy shouted, immediate action was taken.

I thanked the officers, they didn’t acknowledge.
The guy cursed the officers, they apologized to him.

I think the phrase, “He who shouts the loudest is RIGHT and GOOD”, is true to it’s core.

Subra

http://www.kwsp.gov.my/index.php?ch=p2index&pg=bm_p2index_service&ac=3&task=kiosk

If I can reverse the time.......

I am very sure many of us did wish that we could reverse the time in order to amend back some mistakes we made in the past. Just imagine if we really had such a mechanism....wouldn't it be wonderful.

Don't you think everyone in this world would be happy. Every mistake you make, you reverse the time and amend it again. Another mistake another reversal of the time and another amendment, that's it, everything is corrected and all are on the right track.

Surely nothing can be wrong anymore isn't it?

But before you think on the feasibility of this wish coming true, can we define what is right and wrong. Yes, if you can unanimously get a list of right and wrong, then you can ask for the time reversal equipment. What is right to one person can be wrong to another person and what is wrong to one person can be right to another person.

I think we are getting to something now. I make a mistake, reverse the time and amend the mistake. With a great smile of achievement I carry on with my work. Then came a man who is not happy with the amendment I made because it effected him. Therefore he would reverse the time back and amend my changes according to what he wants.

All this will continue and many of us will be engaged in reversing the time and amending what we have done in the past. Neither of us will bothered to think on how to correct the mistakes from happening again.

We will choose to sit on our mistakes and spend time thinking on how we could have avoided the mistake then reverse the time and amend it. All these regrets and time spent to do the reversal act dampens our vision to move forward.

Once you know it was a mistake, analyse what went wrong, think on how to avoid it or prevent it, then move on...don't stay on the mistake for too long, many other things are happening and if you missed it, then you tend to miss more.

Think again.......If I can reverse the time.....it will be a disaster.

Change and excitement - What we wanted and what we got!

We were all eagerly waiting for changes.

Changes that happened:
4 states changed hand.
Many seats in the parliament changed to opposition members.
The perspective of democracy changed.

Changes that did not happen:
Policies and tactics (which are base words for politics) used by ruling government did not change.
Mentality and thoughts of the ruling party did not change.
Information disseminated to the public is still based on "I talk you listen-don't ask, don't think".

Think back on what we (the rakyat) wanted.
We wanted real change in the arena of politics.
We wanted to see the political parties and the politicians change their view and their stand on the race based political system.
We wanted to see some initiatives triggered to realize these changes.
We wanted the opposition party to take over the government from the ruling party in order to give a wake up call to the ruling party.

We thought that the ruling government will understand possibility of the opposition party's intention to take over the government may happen.
We thought ruling party will think for the benefit of all the people in Malaysia and do something to correct the wrongs and re-align the path for betterment.

But what happened was:
Ruling party is just struggling to keep their job by taking care of the few who decide their immediate positions (positions in their party and the governmental positions that come together with the party's position) - "rakyat" is forgotten.

Opposition party made fantastic promises and indeed staged a good performance till they tumbled on their own deadlines.

I am not complaining on the opposition party's "missed" deadlines, but I feel that, the dates were committed by themselves and were not imposed by the rakyat.

If I ask you to dig a 1000 feet hole within 3 days without knowing your capabilities and your equipment, your failure to dig the hole can be shifted to me. But if you yourself committed that you can dig the hole within the specified time frame, your failure is 100% yours - knowing your own capability and your resources, your commitment should be realistic.

We wanted changes, but both parties (ruling and opposition) gave us some excitement, not the real change.

See it for yourself : What we wanted and what we got - Change and Excitement !

In everything you do (in work or life), bring in the change and not just the excitement.

Innovation - an extension from an existing idea

My nephew Yoga Nadaraajan (my elder brother's son) who is studying Form 4 (10th year of studies) in a well known St. John School in KL was featured in a local language monthly Magazine called "FOKUS SPM". (Yoga is the one on the top right).

He and his team of 3 "bubbly" guys (except Yoga) made a protoype system using "LEGO" sets and other materials. The LEGO set is an advance set which consists of motor systems, programming units, sensors, actuators and so on. It is indeed an advance automation system.

It is interesting to see the kind of effort put in by these guys. Although I don't know about the other 2 guys, but whenever I talk to my nephew Yoga, he will be always saying something about his project and his 2 friends. At a time where friendship is just found in SMS, I saw the automation project bound all the 3 and their schoolmates very closely.

The project they were engaged in was (I think) an innovation from the existing SMART tunnel in KL (refer below link). These guys incorporated the traffic problems as well as the environment protection, energy conservation and others in their project.

The article is in the local language (Bahasa Malaysia). Therefore if anyone wants further details, please contact Yoga at yogaanna@gmail.com

Creativity and Innovation are inter related, there could be many definition for innovation, one of it is; Innovation is an extension from an existing idea. The SMART could be great but these guys' SMEPP will be greater.

http://www.smarttunnel.com.my/smart/index.html

Subra