The increasing oil price will sink the economy!!!

Well, I am shock and being caught really by the sharp increase of the diesel price... This is not the diesel price for our 4 wheel drive or the subsidised price for the fisherman.... This is the diesel that we use for industry... When I secure a project last month, the price of diesel is somewhere around RM2.20 per liter, but today it shoot up to an average RM2.80 - RM3.00 per liter which is about 30% increase in the price and it is not yet stable... It surely will go up again and it will be very hard to come down...

When the price of diesel goes up, everything will go up also, the transportation charges, the chemicals, the logistic and other prices will also goes up... And strangely, the government in the main stream media (MSM) has nothing to report on this... What is the government strategy to address these issues? At the rate we are going, the oil price can reach the USD150 barrel and can further sky rocket to USD200 per barrel... The Nigerian pipeline blast, the slow refinery output around the world and the resistant of OPEC to increase production of oil definitely will contribute further to the increasing oil price....

I hope the government can address this issue and concentrate on the socio-economic issues. With these economic situation, I really wonder how the people with RM450 per month income can survive... Maybe there is a need for the government to look into these matters carefully and really plan a solutions to help these people...

The government can do a lot of things... Looking at the way government spend the money, I think our government is not short of money... They can built the crystal mosque, throw a concert and invite various artist, organize a dinner for TSA and others, offer them the ex-Gratia, sent a person to the space, buy a new jet plane, buy submarines, built the eye of Malaysia, organize the monsoon cup, renovate the PM house and bla..bla...bla.... If the government can really address the issue and start focusing on making initiatives for the poor, I believe this country can become more prosperous... These people who are at the end of the income cycle, whose earning are below RM1000 per month are those who really work with their sweat and work very hard..

Last time I try to run a small contract for a big palm oil plantation company... We do the weeding, herbicide, fertilizing and other related service... But after doing the project for 6 months, I really cannot afford to subsidised the project has to stop it, due to a lot of bureaucracy and other "you know what" problems.... There is hardly any profit margin, and I can only manage to pay the workers maximum RM700 per month (since the workers work base on specific rate, some may get lower salary)... I wish I could pay more, but the standard rate is very low that even I cannot even pay myself... The work is really a socio-economy work and some sort of corporate responsibility... The project is definitely a loss and but I learn the hardship of those people who really on the end tail of the salary chain... They wake-up at 4.00a.m. then go to the palm oil, work until around 2.00 p.m. or 3.00 p.m. and getting around RM500 per month... If they want to get more income, they may work additional hours up....

Although I am no longer involve in the plantation business, I really hope that the scenario will be improve and these people will get a better pay and a better life... Sometimes, when I think about it, I just wondering how can we really solve these economics problem...

But again, the socio-economy issues is getting bigger and need to be addressed accordingly.

I really hope that the government could really look into the issue... Of course, when you are drawing RM30k per month, you may forget that there are people who are really desperate and willing to beg for money to survive....

Metallica - ...and Justice for All

...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

Halls of justice painted green
Money talking
Power wolves beset your door
Hear them stalking
Soon you'll please their appetite
They devour
Hammer of justice crushes you
Overpower

The ultimate in vanity
Exploiting their supremacy

I can't believe the things you say
I can't believe,
I can't believe the price you pay

Nothing can save you

Justice is lost
Justice is raped
Justice is gone

Pulling your strings
Justice is done

Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim, so true, so real

Apathy their stepping stone
So unfeeling
Hidden deep animosity
So deceiving
Through your eyes their light burns
Hoping to find
Inquisition sinking you
With prying minds

The ultimate in vanity
Exploiting their supremacy

I can't believe the things you say
I can't believe,
I can't believe the price you pay

Nothing can save you
Justice is lost
Justice is raped
Justice is gone

Pulling your strings
Justice is done

Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim, so true, so real

Lady Justice has been raped
Truth assassin
Rolls of red tape seal your lips
Now you're done in
Their money tips her scales again
Make your deal
Just what is truth,
I cannot tell
Cannot feel

The ultimate in vanity
Exploiting their supremacy

I can't believe the things you say
I can't believe,
I can't believe the price we pay

Nothing can save us

Justice is lost
Justice is raped
Justice is gone

Pulling your strings
Justice is done
Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim, so true, so real
Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim, so true, so real

HONESTY, INTEGRITY AND SINCERITY

As a Malaysian citizen, I wish to see a reform government in Malaysia. I would like to see a government that consist of people with a high degree of honesty, integrity and sincerity and other positive moral values. How nice if we have representatives of rakyat who are really trustworthy, sincere and honest?

I believe strongly that to restore the judiciary, we need high degree of honesty, integrity and sincerity in the government, in the cabinet, in the court, in the parliament, in the office, in the government department and on the street... How can we ensure that every decision made by us is a fair and just decision without any bias or without any influence from others...

From my observation, when dealing with family matters, we do make decision base in some form of distribution of powers, of course the father usually have the most weight in the decision making process, followed by the mother, and maybe each children have a fair vote... We usually have this kind of power distribution or norms because as a father, he will be the person who has the biggest responsibility for whatever happen in the family... If the father make a decision, even though he make the decision based on consensus of all family members, generally he will still shoulder the responsibility of the decision.... We seldom heard a case (although sometime its happen) people blaming the children for any bad decision...

From my point of view, it is very important for any decision making process to be made with the high degree of honesty, integrity and sincerity since it can eliminate all the negative spin-offs from the decision... we must also have other positive criteria as well such as transparency, flexibility and others which make a decision is much more credible and reflects the balance of mankind.

However, defining these moral values, trust, integrity and sincerity is not and easy task.

In a popular analogy of sincerity, it is describe that sincerity is like an ant on top of a black stone during a dark night with no moon (seekor semut hitam diatas sebuah batu hitam dimalam yang gelap)., meaning that it is very-very difficult to attain a true sincerity even if we think that we are sincere.. We must first forgo the self interest, the conflict of interest, the advantages and every other factors that may be perceive as a benefit or profit to us... We must ensure that we act in a manner that will only improve the situation without any thinking of reaping the benefit for ourselves... Well maybe someone religious can explain this better...

But, can we have a government who are base on honesty, integrity and sincerity? Can the Rakyat enjoy a government who are working towards improving this country to ensure that everybody can enjoy a better life. Does this country have the necessary resources? Human resources, monetary, natural resources, logistic, economy resources to develop a country with honesty, integrity and sincerity... Sometimes I observe how some members from a political party sacrificing their time and money and yet, it is the leader who enjoys these sacrifices... The party members without any dreams of becoming chief or exco but work hard to ensure the success of the party, but the leaders enjoys all the privileges and benefits...

I believe if there a strong emphasize on the need to promote honesty, integrity and sincerity, maybe this country can propelled into a more dynamic and progressive country... Well to do that maybe there will be stages where slowdown, change of lifestyle and re-engineering process which will take place, but if it is for the betterment of the country and for a better future, I do not see why we cant make these changes...

Maybe there is a lot of different of managing a government, a non-profit organisation and managing a profit-driven company... A government care about the people, an NGO cares about their agenda and a company cares about the money... But at the core of these organizations are people who have the heart and the brain... All decisions are made by people and people always have the ability to choose... It is the people who make decision to change, improve and to care about others...

So how can we promote these moral values? Maybe we can start off by making an effort to discuss more on the issue, promote it within our family and starting making our personal decisions base on these moral values...

Pig Farming and Pigging

Pig is a sensitive issue for Muslim and Malays... Everytime there is issues on pig, almost every Malay Muslim will find it as a high priority concern...Malay Muslim have a very no..no.. thing with regards to pig... A bad malay muslim sometimes do the haram thing like consuming alcohol or berkhalwat, but to eat a pork meat is a no..no..no...

But for the oil and gas people, pig give a different meaning... In the oil and gas industry, you do the pigging process and use a pig to clean the piping system... The pigging process is a very useful process to clear up unwanted blocking or contamination inside a pipeline...

In the oil and gas industry, you have a wide range and variety of pigs... You have a foam pig, brush pig, magnetic pigs and others... You will have a launcher to launch a pig and a receiver to retrieve the pig. Although the thing is call a pig, it is very much different from the pig that people breed for meat...

Actually I do not have any clear information on the project.. Some say it was pre-approved by BN, some say it was approved by the new PR government and some say it is still pending. But whatever the issue is, maybe we need to look at a more positive perspective. The decision by new Selangor government (is that is really the case) to go along with the pre-approved project during the BN tenure is a very fair move since the deal have been fairly approved and it is not fair if suddenly the new government want to cancel it... Well, for me personally, having experience staying in an area where people do pig farming, the situation is not good... The smell from the farm can be very bad and can destroy your appetite... There are also a lot of environmental problems associated with pig farming...

But with regards to business, I think pig farming is a good business... Compare to breeding the cows or goat that the most give you two offspring, the pig can give birth up to 15 offspring, which is surely a good business... You get a very high return from the farming... Well, as a Muslim, I definitely have to skip this high potential business option...

But then, the negativity surrounding the pig farm is also great, to the extend that it can really-really affected your daily life... Hence... it is very important to ensure that if there is any pig farming industry, it should be carried out with great care... It is easy for us, if the pig farm is far away from our house and we are not affected, but for those who are directly affected, it can really become an everyday problem....

I believe apart from the assurance of the investors to deploy the latest or the ground breaking technology from Germany for the pig farming projects, it is very important that strict regulation and adherence to the EIA, environmental regulations and sensitivity of the community surrounding the area... The pig farmers need to ensure that the people in the surrounding area does not complaint and feel comfortable with the project... Maybe the government need to establish a good guideline as it can have the power to suspend the operation or to reevaluate if there are any issues arising from the farming projects...

Again I am not supporting the pig farming industry... Only if we cannot do without it, at least we need to make sure that any party involved directly or indirectly are not affected by the negativity from the farming industry...

As we can see in the oil and gas industry, it is a very high risk project, but with the high commitment of the industry players, it is considered to be a safe and environmentally sustainable projects. If the pig farming industry really can display a high quality of Health, Safety and Environmental implementation, I do not see why the project cannot be executed...

At the end of the day, I think if the pig farmers are very committed to ensure that all the issue will be addressed correctly and all concerns are dealt with, maybe pig farming can be allowed.. Anyway, I must admit that I would very much prefer that we do not need to have a pig farm.

Pigging the pipeline is OK, but pig farming, well, can we have a better option?

Mengimpikan Sebuah Negara Yang Cemerlang.....

Politik Malaysia kini bukan lagi didominasi oleh berita-berita yang boring, tetapi penuh sensasi.. Hampir setiap hari ada saja berita yang menarik untuk dikongsi dan dibincangkan.... Sememangnya perjuangan Dato' Seri Abdullah sebagai PM Malaysia belum selesai...sukar untuk diselesaikan.. Macamana mahu diselesaikan jika setiap hari ada saja isu baru yang melanda...

Nampaknya kesan ekonomi belum lagi nampak diMalaysia, walaupun terdapt bunyi-bunyi kemerosotan dan kelayuan busra saham Malaysia, rata-rata senario ekonomi masih lagi berjalan seperti biasa... Tiada lagi kedengaran isu-isu ekonomi yang besar... Mungkin isu beras.. Khabarnya, negara-negara jiran sudah mula terkena masalah kekurangan beras dan dijabgka akan merebak ke Malaysia... MUngkin kita kena pulak makan pizza, spegetti, roti dan jagung buat masa dua tiga bulan lagi...

Tetapi khabarnya Samsung sudah berminat nak buka sebuah kilang baru semacam kilang Intel di Penang... wah, nampaknya kerajaan baru sudah ada peminat...

Dari segi politik, terdapat pelbagai percaturan politik baru yang timbul... bermula dengan pertembungan dalaman antara UMNO sehingga risiko berlaku penghijrahan MP untuk membentuk kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat.
Kem-kem yang bertelagah nampaknya sudah mula berbalas-balas serangan dan pertelagahan kali ini bukan main sengit sebabnya terdapat pelbagai kem yang bertelagah, bukan pertandingan dua penjuru atau tiga penjuru... kali ini pertelagahannya ada pelbagai penjuru dan jika terdapat pihak yang tersilap langkah, kem-kem tersebut akan dihujani dengan serangan yang datang dari pelbagai penjuru...

Tetapi, setakat ini, semua serangan-serangan itu telah berjaya ditangkis dan tiada pihak yang nampaknya menerima kesan dari serangan-serangan tersebut... Al maklumla, serangan-serangan kali nie tak banyak menggunakan "ammunition", cuma perang saraf aje....

Tapi apakah ini yang kita mahukan... Apakah ini senario politik yang diimpikan oleh Rakyat?... Memangla kita kadangkala teruja melihat situasi politik ini, tetapi ianya tidak banyak membantu Rakyat secara positif... Petani-petani dan pekebun-pekebun serta para peniaga-peniaga tidak mungkin selesa dengan keadaan ini... Bagi rakyat, rakyat ingin melihat sesuatu yang positif yang memberi manfaat kepada rakyat... Lebih banyak perancangan atau pun lebih banyak inisiatif daripada pihak kerajaan untuk memajukan sektor-sektor mereka dan seterusnya merangka pelan pembangunan yang akan menggerakkan ekonomi serta memperbaiki keadaan sosio-ekonomi Malaysia...

Semalam kita dikejutkan dengan satu lagi kes tragis di Kelantan bilamana seoarang gadis telah dianiaya dengan kejam hanya kira-kira 500m dari rumah... Kita mungkin tidak ambil peduli kalau ianya tidak berkait dengan kita, tetapi kita tertanya-tanya apakah Malaysia ini sudah tidak selamat lagi?

Perebutan kuasa politik biasanya hanya menguntungkan sesetengah pihak sahaja... Biasanya pihak yang menang dan mendapat kuasa... Di Malaysia, kebanyakkan persepsi politik ialah untuk mencari makan, buat duit, mencari keuntungan.... dulu---> "kalau nak senang bisnes kena la join UMNO"... mungkin sekarang kena join PKR atau PAS atau DAP di Selangor, Penang, Kedah dan Perak....

Halatuju politik Malaysia nampaknya masih lagi kabur... Walaupun setelah sebulan berlalunya pilihanraya PRU-12, tetapi yang jelas, arah politik negara terlalu samar, kabur sehingga tidak nampak apakah yang bakal menunggu diseberang sana... Apa yang akan berlaku 3 bulan, 6, bulan, 9 bulan atau 12 bulan dari sekarang sememangnya tidak dapat diduga... Ia bukan lagi senario politik seperti 30 tahun yang lepas, tetapi senario politik yang bercampur aduk antara kematangan dan pengenalan... Selepas 30 tahun dengan sistem majoriti 2/3 undi diparlimen, kini kita berdepan dengan situasi yang agak kabur...

Apakah mungkin jika situasi seperti ini terus berlaku, maka Rakyat akan kembali kepada sistem 2/3, yang mungkin nampaknya lebih stabil dan lebih harmoni...

Pemikiran orang kampung amat berbeza dengan pemikiran orang bandar... Orang kampung sudah biasa hidup sederhana, bersusah sedikit adalah lumrah.... Bagi mereka, setiap kebaikan atau rezeki yang ada adalah rahmat, dan bersyukur dengan apa yang ada... Orang kampung tidak bercita-cita besar untuk membina banglo besar dan tidak berlumba-lumba untuk memiliki kereta mewah... mereka pun tak teras irihati asalkan setaip waktu ada makanan dimeja makan... Tetapi orang bandar terdedah dengan pelbagai cabaran, pelbagai tekanan dan pelbagai isu-isu... Kalau kat kampung RM1500 sudah selesa (selesa bukan kaya), tetapi kat bandar RM1500 mungkin hanya cukup untuk membayar sewa rumah dan kos pengangkutan...

Sejauh ini, saya tidak nampak banyak isu-isu kaum yang tercetus., tetapi saya rasa sikap tolerensi dan sikap menghormati adat, sopan, susila serta sensitiviti sesetengah kaum perlu terus dipelihara... Isu-isu seperti menternak khinzir, membina dan merobohkan kuil serta isu-isu sensitif lain perlu ditangani secara berhemah agar tidak menimbulkan rasa tidak puas hati dikalangan Rakyat...

Rakyat inginkan suasana harmoni, dinamik dan membangun dan ingin melihat Malaysia kembali menjadi Harimau Ekonomi Asia... Apa yang rakyat perlukan ialah sebuah kerajaan yang mampu merealisasikan impian ini dan membawa perubahan positif yang menyeluruh...

Sebagai sebuah negara, apakah pilihan kita? Apakah kita terus masih melihat kebelakan dan mengungkit-ungkit kembali kisah-kisah yang telah berlalu 10-20-30 tahun yang lepas atau melihat wawasan kita 10-20-30 tahun kehadapan...

Apa akan jadi kepada Malaysia 10-20-30 tahun kehadapan? Apakah bentuk Parlimen dan sistem Politik kita? Apakah bentuk ekonomi kita? Apakah bentuk sistem kehakiman dan sistem perundangan kita? Apakah bentuk sosio-ekonomi dan politik Malaysia... Apakah sistem pendidikan kita? Adakah kita akan menjadi contoh kepada negara-negara lain?

Apakah model negara yang cemerlang? Apakah wawasan kita untuk menjadikan Malaysia sebuah negara yang cemerlang? yang dinamik?

Father and Son

This songs reminds me a lot of my younger years...

Those days when we always think that our parents are not very supportive of us.....

Father
Its not time to make a change,
Just relax, take it easy.
Youre still young, thats your fault,
Theres so much you have to know.

Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but Im happy.

I was once like you are now,
and I know that its not easy,
To be calm when youve found something going on.

But take your time, think a lot,
Why, think of everything youve got.
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.

Son

How can I try to explain,
when I do he turns away again.
Its always been the same, same old story.

From the moment I could talk,
I was ordered to listen.
Now theres a way and I know that I have to go away.

I know
I have to go.

Father
Its not time to make a change,
Just sit down, take it slowly.
Youre still young, thats your fault,
Theres so much you have to go through.

Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but Im happy.


Son
All the times that I cried,
keeping all the things I knew inside,
Its hard, but its harder to ignore it.

If they were right, Id agree,
but its them you know not me.
Now theres a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go.