A good PMO guy

A few days ago, a high ranking PMO (prime minister's office) guy asked me out for lunch.

I consider him my senior and friend as we used to work together for a while before he joined the team of DS Najib Razak.

At that time Najib was not yet a PM.

I have always respect him for being a good and honest guy.

Occasionally he would call me out for lunch just to chit chat.



I never call him out. He is married and a very busy man.

It was very nice of him to find time to see me as I know that he keeps a tight schedule.

Furthermore, I'm just his junior and of no rank and stature.

As usual, we talked about our life and of course politics.

I can't tell you all in detail what we talked about as far as politics were concerned.

A lot of classified information.

Suffice to say that as always, he defended his boss against all those criticisms directed at the PM.

I know that he genuinely believes in Najib and had defended him not because he wanted to score brownie points.

After all, I am not one of those people who keep track of brownie points scored by people for praising and defending Najib.

When I told him that I know of a plan by some of his colleagues to kick him out of the PMO, he just laughed and told me that he was aware of it too.

"I am ready for that. If they ask me to leave, I will go. My conscience is clear as I have tried my best for Najib all these years. What ever happened, I still believe my boss is a kind hearted man who on his part is trying his best for this country," he said.

The guy is really sincere.

After all, I know that he is not rich despite working as a close aide of Najib for so many years.

He just works for his salary and nothing else.

Then the conversation turned something like this:

PMO guy: "How about you? How's your life?"

Me: My life sucks.

PMO guy: Why? What's wrong?

Me: It sucks because I don't really have a life except my work. And my work sucks too.

PMO guy: You seem to be doing well at work. I keep track of your work. It's quite okay.

Me: That's what you see. What you don't see is something else.

PMO guy: Tell me what's wrong. I know your big boss. Maybe I can help you.

Me: It's okay. I will try to handle it myself. If I can't stand it anymore, I will just fucking suicide bomb all those fuckers in my office.

PMO guy: Eh, don't talk like that lah. You are crazy or what? Just tell me what's wrong.

Me: I just hate the fucking bullies in my office. They enjoy bullying their subordinates by humiliating the poor bastards in the office wassap group. It's as fucking bad as humiliating someone in public.

PMO guy: Have they ever done that to you?

Me: Not yet, but I am waiting for it. I really going to suicide bomb those fucking bastards if they do that to me. I'm not their fucking slave.

PMO guy: Hush! Stop talking like that okay. Try to relax. People may think that you are an Islamic State terrorist for real. Come on, I will try to help you, okay.

Me: No need lah. I know you are too busy to care for my little nonsense. Najib needs all the help that he can get now. You better be focused on helping him...and try not to get kicked out of PMO. Najib needs all his good people....instead of all those asshole opportunists hanging around him now.

PMO guy: Okay...but do tell me if they disturb you. I will try to work out something. Don't go around suicide bombing people, okay.

Me: Okay....

PMO guy: You have enough money? I mean...last time I met you, you said you were broke.

Me: Could be better. Those fucking bastards gave me a lousy annual assessment that day despite me working my ass off last year. Now, I got just pittance for my bonus. They should have shove it up their arse instead. Real fucking pricks.

PMO guy: Relax, don't lose your temper.

Me: Okay....I will try to fucking chill....

PMO guy: Can I give you some money...I want to help.

Me: No. You try to give me money again and I will really kick your ass.

The conversation went on something like that for almost two hours.

It was actually nice having someone listening to my nonsensical troubles.

I know the guy can't help me, but still I appreciate his friendship.

Well, good luck to him and his Najib.

I think both guys need a lot of luck.

Kota Iskandar's consultants

It looks like the Johor government is also following the trend of hiring consultants for works it supposed to do itself.

Here is a picture I took from the Facebook page of one Tengku Naufal Tengku Mansor, a lawyer and consultant of some sorts,

Tengku Naufal (second from right) is seen in the picture with members of the MedKom, the media and communication unit of the Johor government.

Standing next to him in the batik shirt is a special officer of Johor MB DS Mohd Khaled Nordin and third from left (without tie) is the boss of MedKom.

And this goes with the picture,

Well, looks like it's a new thing in Kota Iskandar these days.

I do wonder how much the state government spent on the consultant just to do  public relation works.

The officers at Kota Iskandar who were supposed to do the work buat apa ya?

And this is just a small one.

Bigger things surely require bigger consultants.

The bigger, the more expensive.

The state government got so much money to spend, I guess.

As far as I know, the previous state administration used to be very careful about spending money on these sorts of things.

Anyway, how transparent was the appointment of these consultants?

Who appointed them?

Well, I will be looking forward to see how the Khaled's administration perform after spending money on these consultants.

Hopefully, with the state government being guided by these consultants, Johor BN will improve its performance in the next general election, particularly doing better than winning 83 per cent of Malay votes as it did in GE13.

I am not counting on it to improve from winning just less than 10 per cent of the Chinese votes.

I don't think the consultants can help BN on that one.

By the way, I was told by someone that Tengku Naufal is the younger brother of Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor. Not sure if it's true. I didn't bother to double check.

What I am sure is that the guy is not a Johorean and doesn't operate in Johor.

I wonder how much he knows about Johor anyway that the state government feels the need to consult him on how to do things.

An interesting but crazy theory on MH370

I read with interest this report in Rakyat Post earlier today,

Expert claims Russia hijacked MH370, flew it to Kazakhstan

Daily Mail also reported it here,

CNN's MH370 expert says Vladim ir Putin ordered special ops

A more detailed report of the same theory is in New York Magazine here,

How Crazy Am I to Think I Actually Know Where MH370 is?

The theory basically said that the missing Malaysia Airlines' plane had ben hijacked by the Russians and flew to a Central Asian country.

I know it sounded crazy. Even the person who is behind the theory said so. But it was still an interesting theory all the same.

The only part which I found hard to believe is that the Russians are behind something like this.

I would have find it more believable if it was said that the Americans are the actual culprits.

They are after all the ones with more capability for such sophisticated hijacking of a plane.

Still, it was just a theory and the motive for such a hijacking seems fantastical.

Anyway, these are what I wrote just days after MH370 went missing,

My hope scenario for MH370 (updated)

Ten steps which include flying along borders

I was then clinging on the hope that I was right with that theory and the passengers and crew of MH370 were still alive and kept at a secret location somewhere in a Central asian country.

That was until it was declared that MH370 was lost in the southern Indian Ocean.

My prayers tonight are for the missing souls, where ever they may be now.

It's all about politicians' ego

My room's air-cond has gone kaput.

And it's so damn hot tonight.

It had been like this the past several days.

The ceiling fan is not doing much good.

I am wearing very little clothing now, but still sweating.

It's the ongoing heat wave, I think.

Maybe I need to take another round of shower later.

Anyway, i am writing this post simply because I got nothing better to do.

It's hard to sleep in this heat.

Actually there is still nothing yet really beneficial to write about the political scene.

None of what is happening now is of any help to the life of ordinary Malaysians.

Does it improve our life that yesterday Anwar's family filed a petition for royal pardon to get him out of jail?

I don't think so.

Who really cares anyway? Right?

The MIC ding dong helping the Indian community?

I don't think so too.

Stupid...

How about the DAP and Pas fight over hudud and other things?

That's to me is just to please their followers. Their tit-for-tat is not going to improve the people's quality of life or lower the crime rate.

How about DAP's rule in Penang? Has it improved the life of the people of Penang by leaps and bounds?

Honestly, I can't see much difference between the life of someone who lives in Alor Star and someone who lives in Penang.

Okay la, maybe in Penang a Chinese may feel liberated because the chief minister is a handsome Chinese guy.

But that does not make life much better by much, isn't it?

Dengar ceramah DAP hantam the Melayu gomen tak improve life, okay.

Syok sikit je. Itu saja.

Really, everything that's happening were almost all about the politicians' ego.

The Umno people are no better.

They are messing things up and showing no sign of improving.

Very tiresome people, actually.

Eh...this is wasting time lah.

I better wait until I am really inspired again before writing a posting.

Don't want to bore you all with my aimless ranting all the time.

Here, better listen to this nice song instead.

Quick look at current political scenario

Back to work today.

Done with the CNY merry making and need to get serious again.

Been neglecting the current political scene for quite a while now.

Checked around just now and found out that it's more or less the same nonsense as usual.

Let me briefly go at them one by one.

There's Pas' Mahfuz Omar trying to capitalize from the noises being made by convicted murderer Sirul Azhar from down under.

That's very silly of him. Trying to win political brownie points over dead people is disgusting.

Then there were also PKR guys still making noises over the jailing of DS Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy.

But not much impact there. The gatherings initiated so far were not very well attended.

People are tired of it, I think.

Even Pas and DAP don't seem to care much.

They are more interested in going at each other's throat.

Yesterday Gobind, the son of the late Karpal Singh tried to live up to his father's reputation of being garang with Pas by warning the Islamist party over its hudud ambitions.

Pas people just told him to fly kite.

Gobind is definitely not his father. Not by the longest stretch.

The DAP's Lim royal family members have not been very noisy....guess still in CNY mode. Too kenyang makan kuih bakul, maybe.

The stupid MIC crisis has cool down a bit.

I rather not comment on that one. Takut kena sue. Not worthwhile to bother with it anyway.

MCA is barking around as usual. Let them lah. What else can they do anyway.

Meanwhile, Umno is still as it is.

I was told there will be no changes at the party HQ as I had hoped for.

Well, what ever lah.

Why should I be bothered too much. I'm not even a member of the party.

Detractors of PM DS Najib Razak from among the pro-establishment crowd are still at it.

Not done with 1MDB, now they shifted also to FGV.

Good luck to them, but I don't think they can achieve much.

The Umno president is too strong within the party.

What else.....err, nothing much....

Oh, the upcoming Chempaka by-election.

Nope, I don't think Umno will field a candidate. Good also, as they will almost certain to lose. Better save the money for something else.

The upcoming by-election in Permatang Pauh is yet to be finalised.

They said Anwar may still appeal to Yang DiPertuan Agong to reverse his sodomy conviction.

But I think if the Agong turned down such a request by Anwar, it would be a big blow to the PKR gang.

It more or less says that even the Agong believes that Anwar actually sodomise his former aide Saiful Azhar Bukhari.

What? Anwar wants to get his people to demonstrate against the Agong after that? Don't be ridiculous, ok.

Hah, that's about it. A very fast run down of the current political stuff.

I find them quite boring, actually.

Same ole same ole.

See lah later, if I find anything more interest, I will do a proper posting to amuse you all.

Need to get back to work.

Otherwise my irritating bosses will come and disturb me pulak.

Cheers everyone :-)

Achtung! Bullies in the building!

I hate bullies.

Maybe it was because I was traumatized by them when I was very young.

I was once quite badly bullied when I was in school.

The irony was that, those who bullied me back then were not kids who were supposedly bad.

They were school prefects.

There was not much that I can do as at that time I was just a small form two kid being slapped around by my seniors in prefect uniform who were in form six.

I grew up actually hating those in authority because of that incident.

As I am a bit older, I adjusted it into hating those who abuse their authority.

It's something that stick with me till these days.

For instance, it's the reason why I despise the Khaled Nordin's administration in Johor.

They are bullies because once they gain control of Kota Iskandar, they tried their best to push out everyone they deemed to be part of the former administration even though they were from the same BN camp.

Arrogant, greedy and power hungry piece of shit. That's what they are in my eyes.

Bullies are indeed despicable bastards, no doubt about it.

They think that the authority they have, empowered them to behave like God to determine the life of others.

I also got a few of those in my office.

They normally pick on those who can't fight them back.

Bullies in my office love to display their power by humiliating their victims in public.

Real pricks.

They may think they are powerful and invincible now, but when the time comes they will not even know what hit them.

Well, never mind. Just want to get that out of my chest for now.

Something happened today that reminded me of all those bullies in my life.

Made me very angry.

Why can't their parents brought them up properly so that they don't turned up into bullies that they are now?

What's wrong with these people anyway?

Really spoilt my mood.

A sad farewell to Tunku Kurshiah College

I took a walk in the neighbourhood with my mother this morning.

We happened to pass by her old school which was just nearby.

My mother can't resist taking a look around the school for a while.

I just followed her around.

She showed me a classroom at the old section of the school and told me that it was her first classroom when she was in standard one.

The high school section of the sprawling complex is dominated by an imposing new classroom building.

It's an independent Chinese school.

My mother told me that it was founded in the early half of the 20th century by the Kluang Chinese community.

The community funded the school till today.

I can sense the pride in my mother's voice as she told me the story of her school.

She told me that once, she had hoped that I would be studying there too.

But it was not to be.

I believe that if she had married a Chinese, she would have had her wish.

It's a long story, which I don't want to tell here.

Whatever it is, I know that my mother loves her school very much.

It's among the most important elements which shape herself as a Chinese.

The Malays call it "jati diri".

My mother's school story reminds me of an old posting in the BIGCAT blog,

TKC: Erasing History, Traditions and Values

It tells the sad story of the decision to move the prestigious Tunku Kurshiah College elsewhere from where it used to be.

And then there is this latest post in the same blog,

Alma Mater

It was written by Tinsel, the second administrator of the blog.

She is a TKCian.

I believe that it is her farewell to her school as she knew it.

I was touched by the last few paragraphs of her post:

But now those school buildings are now occupied by another school and it is rather strange and sad seeing some of those buildings being called by a different name ... okay I confess, I looked up that school's facebook.

I bet the dorms have different names too.

I stopped going further because somehow it is just uncomfortable to realise how affected I am to know that the school where I grew up in looks the same but is no longer the same and that the connection is now truly dead.

Those were really sad words.

What a contrast from the sense of belonging felt by my mother towards her Chinese school.

A new year day and remembrance of what changed Johor (updated)

UPDATES

Apparently some people think someone such as my mother (and to a certain extent myself) has no right to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Read Helen Ang's

Double standards against Felixia Yeap

Lucky for my mother and me that our family members are not like that.

Special CNY greetings for Helen. Cheers sis.

ORIGINAL POST

Things are just stirring to life in this house.

I just woke up and still in bed.

I can hear my mother, grandmother and one of my aunts chit chatting while preparing breakfast or brunch in the kitchen.

The rest were probably like me, still in bed.

Everyone slept late last night.

After the family dinner, there was a mahjong session all the way till early morning.

There were three mahjong tables set up in the house.

It's almost like a mini casino.

Then there were also some drinking going on.

I spent most of the time last night hanging out and talking nonsense with my cousins.

If only they knew that I have been called an anti-Chinese Umno racist so many times in this blog by DAP cybertrooper commenters.

Well, it doesn't really matter to me.

Actually, even the Umno people sometimes called me names in this blog.

I am used to it already.

Being back in Kluang however reminds me of my days when I was still staying in Johor.

It was as if just yesterday, especially with memories of GE13's May 5, 2013, the day the people of Johor were clearly split along racial lines.

On that day, over 90 per cent of Chinese in Johor choose Pakatan while about 83 per cent of Malays remained loyal to BN.

Previously, it had never been as bad as that.

It was the first time that the Chinese in Johor choose to wholeheartedly support DAP and its divisive politics.

The Johor's moderate ways died on that day.

As I sat chit chatting with my cousins last night, I suddenly realized that they were all DAP supporters.

It's the same with the rest of the family.

Even my mother, I believe, voted for DAP.

The only one I am not really sure is my grandmother. She is the most sensible in the family.

I remember the night before the poll when my mother called and said DAP had brought the "wife" and son of Teoh Being Hock to their ceramah in Kluang.

She told me that the audience, who were mostly Chinese broke down in tears as Soh Cher Wei related how her "husband" was allegedly murdered by Umno-linked MACC officials.

Soh Cher Wei

My mother said she cried too.

It virtually wiped out the Chinese votes for BN in Kluang. DAP won the parliamentary seat.

I believe my mother, who had prior to that told me that she wanted to vote for BN because of the moderate approach of PM DS Najib Razak and then Johor MB TS Abdul Ghani Othman, changed her mind because of what Soh said during that ceramah.

I don't think the effect would be the same on my mother and the rest of the Chinese community if Teoh Being Hock was a Malay.

At least the degree of anger towards BN which was perceived to be responsible for his death would not have been so great.

Let's not be hypocrites, and admit that is a fact.

DAP was very smart when they employed the tactics of accusing BN, in particular Umno as being racists while in actual fact, they were the ones who incite hatred against their political foes by harping and exploiting the Chinese sentiments.

I doubt that the damage done to race relations, particularly in Johor will ever be mended.

Now with moderate Johor Malay leaders such as Ghani gone, those that remain are playing the easiest card for them to use - the Malay card.

Just watch closely how current Johor MB DS Mohd Khaled Nordin is doing it with his policies which are appearing more Melayu than ever.

To win back the Chinese votes is too difficult, so he concentrates on maintaining the Malays support.

Well, at least that's on the surface.

Deeper inside, I think he works well with the Chinese.

Read my previous post to discover how Khaled's administration actually treated the Malays and Chinese,

You want to live near a rich people's shit treatment plant?

Therefore, a rich Johorean Chinese shouldn't be too worried.

Only the poor ones need to be careful, as if anything racial happened, they are the ones who will be blamed and kena hantam by the Melayu.

Eh, this posting is getting a bit too long.

Siapa mau baca la panjang-panjang masa ini hari raya tahun baru.....

Anyway, my mother just called, saying that the bathroom is available now for me.

So many people in the house, so we have to take turn to take shower or do big and small business in the toilet.

Okay, I will write again if I have the time.

Selamat Tahun Baru kepada semua, termasuk you all DAP cybertroopers who are monitoring or assigned to troll this blog.

Cheers :-)

You want to live near a rich people's shit treatment plant?

Woken up just before Subuh.

Did the necessary and now about to go out. I'm going to Singapore again for another round of Chinese New Year ferry duty..

Well, my question in the last post

Things they did in Johor since GE13

was not really answered.

The closest answer I got was this one:

Anonymous17 February 2015 at 09:47

Dear Annie,
I think you shouldn't have published something like this, because it's
i. Overly stupid (that's obvious)
ii. Overly seditious
iii. Overly malicious to innocent people (Khaled Nordin)
iv. Overly obscene (laid bare your typical way of asking stupid questions to hide your ignorance).

I am quite sure that one was written in Kota Iskandar.

Maybe I was not being clear.

Let me repeat it again.

What significant new things that Johor MB DS Mohd Khaled Nordin has done ever since he took over the post almost two years ago?

See, I'm not even accusing Khaled of anything. Just want to know what he had done.

I was reliably informed that this blog was monitored in Johor at least by the MB's office.

So, I am giving them the chance to educate me.

If the comms team in Irda (Iskandar Regional Development Authority) wants to help answer the question on behalf of their friends in Kota Iskandar, then they are welcomed to do so.

I know that they are monitoring this blog too.

Just don't give me anything related to what were done to develop Johor by former MB TS Abdul Ghani Othman.

The key words are significant and new.

While they are at it, hopefully they can also tell me whether all the shit at the soon to be luxuriously developed coastline of Danga Bay and what used to be the Lido beach will still be channeled to a treatment plant to be built at nearby Kampung Pasir.

A simple yes or no will do.

Or maybe Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed would like to answer that since the place is part of his constituency.

The last I checked he agreed to the project saying that the shit treatment plant wouldn't smell.

Kampung Pasir residents stage a walkout  when he said that.

I wonder if Jazlan, Khaled boys or the highly paid Irda people would like to live in Kampung Pasir next to where the shit of the rich and famous soon to be living along the Tebrau Straits coastline is to be processed.

Mail, you want to live near a shit treatment plant?

Datuk Ismail Ibrahim, the boss of Irda is sorts of my old friend. So I can be a bit casual with him.

Jangan marah ya Mail. Aku tanya je.

By the way, the shit treatment plant tu dulu ada ke dalam Irda punya original blueprint?

Here are other stories about the shit treatment plant.

Kg Pasir residents kept in the dark

Proposed Sewage Treatment Plant Project Upsets Kg Pasir Residents

Actually, I got bigger questions to ask, but let's start from these small stuff first.

Kalau yang kecik ni pun tak boleh jawab, apa nak jadi lah Johor ni.

Okay, really need to get up and get going.

I will try to keep posting throughout the Chinese New Year celebrations.

If I don't, then you all should know that I'm busy celebrating lah.

Peace, okay.

Things they did in Johor since GE13

Drove down from Kluang to Singapore to fetch my cousins yesterday.

None of my young Singaporean cousins owns a car.

They don't really need a car because the public transport there is really good.

Anyway, to own a car in Singapore can be quite costly.

In the past, when they wanted to go back to Kluang, they took the train from Tanjong Pagar, but now that the station had been moved up north to Woodlands, it's too much of a hassle for them to do that anymore.

I told them just to wait for me to fetch them. Furthermore, they have to bring Chinese New Year stuff and luggage for the week-long stay in Kluang.

I will be making another two trips to Singapore to fetch other relatives before the new year eve.

By the way, as I was driving back to Kluang with my cousins yesterday, I made a detour by going towards Skudai instead of just going along the EDL highway from the CIQ complex on the JB side.

I had wanted to check out JB for a while. Have not been there for quite a long time.

I noticed that the coastal development is ongoing. The reclamation works along what used to be the Lido beach seems to be relentless.

This is the signboard at the entrance of the Country Garden luxurious condominium project in Danga Bay.

Well, at least the Chinese are not being discriminated in Johor. They got big projects here. Sorts of :-)

I asked my cousin sitting next to me in the front passenger seat whether she would be interested to buy a unit of the condo being built by the Chinese developers.

"I'm already living in a pigeon hole in Singapore. Why would I want to buy another one in JB," she replied.

"How about for investment?" I asked again.

"Who I'm going to sell it to later? Another stupid Singaporean? I rather buy a landed property in Johor la. Maybe I will buy a place in Kluang so that I can always visit grandma and grandpa more often. I think that's more worthwhile," she said.

My cousin also asked me back how the luxurious developments along the Tebrau coastline could improve the lot of ordinary Johoreans.

"These are not like the HDB flats in Singapore. They were not being built for the people in mind but instead just for profit," she said.

I honestly can't answer her.

Any of you can help with the answer?

And while you are at it, may I know what this guy has been doing for almost two years since he became the Johor Menteri Besar?

Had he initiated anything new and significant for Johor?

If there is, please tell me.

Or, does he only rely on what had been done by his predecessor, TS Abdul Ghani Othman?

I actually have something "big" to write about Johor, but I'm waiting for the right time to do so.

By the way, I am also wondering, what happened to the Malay reserve land the Johor government said it was going to seize back from the non-Malays some time ago.

Had the Johor government developed those land upon seizing them?

Or was the whole thing just to show how Melayu is the Johor government?

In my opinion, it's quite dumb to try win Malays support that way.

The previous administration never resorted to such thing and yet it won, 83 per cent of the Malay votes in Johor during the last general election.

Well, never mind that.

Again, please just tell me if there were anything significant done by Khalid and his boys on their own since they took over Kota Iskandar almost two years ago.

Ada tak?

Bagi tanah free hold tepi pantai kat Cina tu tak kira tau.

Dah la tu, Cina pun bukan Cina Malaysia.

Kalau bagi kat sedara mara Cina aku pun tak pa sangat.

At least dia orang boleh bagi aku ang pau banyak sikit nak tahun baru ni.

Not letting anything to spoil my mood

Someone asked me yesterday why I didn't write proper postings on the jailing of DS Anwar Ibrahim and the death of Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Well, as for Anwar, I felt that the least said about him, the better.

Despite all the noises that his family and supporters are making, they can't seem to get the attention of the people.

It's nothing like the Reformasi days of the late 1990s.

On the night before the Federal Court sent him to jail for sodomy, Anwar's final round of roadshow to garner sympathy at Padang Timur PJ attracted less than a thousand people.

You need to be there to believe it.

I was there.

On the passing of Nik Aziz, I didn't want to write about it due to two reasons.

1. The man had passed away. A posting on it would had invited negative comments which I wouldn't like to publish.

2. I don't really know Nik Aziz. I only met and talked to him once. That's making me unqualified to write about him as if I really know him.

But if I had really wanted to write about Nik Aziz's death, I would probably had done it like blogger Jebat in his post,

Highly memorable quotes from Nik Aziz 

Well, never mind.

Anyway, I am back in Kluang now for the coming Chinese New Year.

Drove back from KL with my mother and one of my aunts yesterday.

My mind now is on the celebrations.

That's another reason why I don't want to spoil my mood by writing about Anwar and the late Pas spiritual leader.

Spent the whole day helping my grandmother cleaning the house.

Now tired and about to sleep.

I am in this room which used to be my mother's room when she was a young girl.

One of these days, maybe, I will write about her.

The story of my mother is actually very interesting.

I am quite confident it could be turned into a movie.

It got more drama than Anwar's story.

Well, she is in the kitchen now playing mahjong with my aunts.

I can hear the clicking of the mahjong tiles from inside this room.

Actually, my mother is a poor mahjong player.

She always lost a few hundred ringgit during CNY.

It's just for fun, she would said.

Gambling a bit at the mahjong table during CNY is a tradition in my mother's family.

My mother said playing mahjong is a way for her to bond with her family members.

Defending Chinese schools on Valentine's Day

There's this comment at my post,

What some Chinese youths think of Bahasa Malaysia

(Note: Not all the Chinese youths interviewed were educated in Chinese schools)

Anonymous9 February 2015 at 01:12

Remember this from yr friend Annie?

http://bigcatrambleon.blogspot.com/2011/11/message-from-chinese-school-graduate.html?m=1

Yes, I remember that post which was published more than three years ago by my friend Aisya (better known as Ai), who was then the administrator of the blog

BIGCAT

It was in defense of the Chinese schools.

Ai is a strong supporter of PM DS Najib Razak and she was then trying her best to make members of the Chinese community understand that the BN government has no ill intents towards them.

Ai was also trying to tell the Chinese community that they have true friends among the Malays such as herself who was against any attempt to dismantle the Chinese schools system.

  

She was trying to convince the Chinese that the best for them is to continue with the moderate inter-racial relation approach as promoted by Najib and other moderate Malay leaders.

She tried very hard.

Unfortunately, the Chinese community broke her heart when they almost as a whole supported the aggressive confrontational inter-racial methods of DAP during the 13th general election in 2013.

Ai, who had to give up managing her blog due to other commitments but still occasionally wrote in my blog after that, totally quit writing after GE13.

It was another case of a Malay moderate being defeated by the Chinese tsunami of GE13.

Ai actually loved the Chinese culture more than myself, who has Chinese blood.

It was just too bad.

Since today is Valentine's day and I am now in the Chinese New Year mood, I decided to reproduce that post by Ai which defended the Chinese schools.

You can also read it at its original link

A message from a Chinese school graduate

whereby you can also read the comments.

Here is the post by Ai in full as it appeared on Friday, 25 November 2011:

The following is an e-mail I received this morning. I post it here for those who do not have the privilege of knowing anyone who had studied in a Chinese school to understand why those schools are close to the Chinese community's heart.

I'm a chinese school graduate all the way from primary school to uni in taiwan. I'm now working for the gomen. Hopefully my experience can help to clear some misconceptions about chinese schools and their graduates.

1. Chinese school graduates are all chinese chauvinists or communists 


- saying that is just like saying that all muslims are terrorists. Not true and not fair. 


2. Chinese schools (I'm talking about secondary education here, not primary) are rich


 - Not all chinese schools are rich just like not all chinese are rich and not all malays are poor.

And those rich schools are rich, not because the money falls from the sky or they inherit pots of gold from their ancestors. 

Do you know that chinese high schools are registered as non-profit organisations instead of schools? Meaning to say we have to find money to pay for all the opex and capex. The ministry of education doesn't pay for the opex of chinese schools, like how they take care of the national schools. See it this way - chinese schools are NGOs, fund raising is a all year round exercise, just like any other NGOs.  

When I was a student many many years ago, we had to help the school to raise funds to pay for the electricity bills, salary of the teachers etc. As students, we would usually go in groups and knock on every single door in town (sometime we will also go outstation), trying to sell the so call "golden brick", which was in fact just a gold colour wooden block, in order to raise some funds to sustain our schools.

The significance of the brick is that every household contributed to the building of the schools, so every brick used in the school actually represents the hard earned money of the contributors - who come from all walk of lives. 

If I remember correctly, each brick represents probably an amount of only RM1 to RM5. So if you contribute enough, you probably can have a classroom, a library or a building named after you. That's why you will always see names around in almost every corners of the chinese schools, for these people contributed to building the schools. 

This was how, brick by brick, chinese schools were built.

Let me present my mother as a typical example of such contributors. They are not hardcore chauvinist or fervent communist. They are just normal people who feel that chinese school are doing good for the community, so ought to be supported. 

My mom was not rich, just like most of the other contributors, most was not rich at all. She was a hawker selling Char Kuey Teow in a small municipal market in a small town in southern johor. The stall had been around for generations. She had on the wall full of thank-you plates from the chinese school because every year, without fail since my grandfather set up the stall decades ago, there would be a day when all business proceeds go to the school. In fact, you will find such thank-you plates all over the hawker centre because almost every stall would do the same, every year. Mind you, these are all small stalls and these people are definitely not rich. Yet they did it happily - I've never heard anyone ever complaint about having to donate money to the chinese schools.

What amazed me most is that some of the stall owners do not have children studying in chinese schools. Most of them sent their children to the so-called gomen schools because chinese schools are deemed as expensive elite education in the community. 

To go to chinese high school, parents had to pay about RM20 per month which was considered quite a big sum many years ago. I still remembered when I told my mom that I want to study in Chinese highschool instead of going to gomen secondary school, she just plainly reject me because our family just can't afford it (yet she donated to the school every year!!!). Eventually she let me go because I sat for the entrance examination and won a scholarship to study there - I didn't need to pay school fees for the next six years. 

If I may add, my mother didn't just donate to the chinese school, she also pay taxes , all the required bills and also donated to other NGOs including muslim orphanages. 

3. Chinese school graduates have poor command of bahasa / english

Not true, as not all chinese school graduates have poor command of language - just like not all malays are bad in maths.

I don't speak perfect english with an british accent and people always laugh at my bahasa and say that I'm cina bukit. But I never regret going to chinese school - I'm proud of being one actually - because of the education I received, I am able to have multiple language skills that allows me to communicate with different spectrum of communities in malaysia and of course, I always believe that being exposed in a variety of cultures and traditions make me see things in a more balanced and objective manner, which is a definitely a big plus.

4. Chinese schools destablelise the country and create fractions by segregating the children from young age

Selfish politicians are the main cause of all the above. Pls don't use chinese schools as scapegoat. One school system can't solve the problem if we don't fix the system to provide better quality education - then things will only be worse.

Ok, let's say you put in a one school system and eliminated the chinese school - but the quality of education still as bad, what will happen? Parents will send their kids to private or internationals schools, which is already happening now. So, fix the school system, good quality education will automatically attract the mass. If you were a parent, would you want to spend thousands sending your kids to private schools if the gomen education is just as good, and free! No you won't - only stupid chinese parents will do that to support their beloved chinese schools...

-end-

Celcom and me

I was pleasantly surprised when I received this email today,

Hi Annie

Reference is made to the blog  http://lifeofaannie.blogspot.com/2015/02/finally-giving-up-on-celcom.html

Firstly, please accept my sincere apology  for the unfortunate incident  and the experience you had while seeking information to purchase device at one of our dealer outlets recently.

Celcom values each feedback from every customer even though coming from an anonymous blogger. We really hope you would remain as our valued customer and please let us know how we can help you further.

On this matter, we have issued a warning letter to the respective outlet . We hear and agree that behavior such as this,  is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

We sincerely hope you will allow us the opportunity to serve you in future. 

Thank you,

Rohizan Ismail

Head Media Relations

Corporate Communications

Celcom Axiata Berhad

And the following is my reply

Hi Rohaizan,

I'm pleasantly surprised upon receiving your mail.

I really appreciate it.

It didn't really cross my mind that my posting on my bad experience with the Celcom agent that day would received any attention. 

After all, I am just an insignificant anonymous blogger. 

Honestly, I was actually ranting that day because I was very angry.

I am not angry anymore, okay :-)

Actually, despite my threat to go to Maxis or Digi that day, I am still with Celcom.

After I cooled down, I decided not to trouble myself with switching telco.

As I had mentioned, I have been a loyal Celcom customer for more than 10 years.

I'm not the type who changed things I am used to so easily.

Throughout the years, I had met some of your colleagues who had been very nice and helpful to me such as members of your comms team in Johor Baru.

But seriously, I think Celcom needs to do something to improve customer services at your agents' outlets.

After all the guys there wear Celcom colors and insignia.

Actually after the incident at One Utama, I did try to buy the Iphone6 that I wanted at another Celcom's agent outlet at the Tropicana City Mall in PJ

I wanted to buy it from Celcom because the package offered is the best compared to those of other telcos for the same phone.

Unfortunately, the guy who manned the counter said I have to pay in cash and that he only accept credit card for bills payment only.

Well, the phone costs over RM2,600 and I don't like carrying that amount of cash around. It's just inconvenient and not really safe to carry around a lot of cash.

I think Celcom needs to make things more customer friendly.

I also believe that you all need to train your agents to know how to sell your services. Those I met can't even convince me why I should not switch to other telco as they don't seem to be well verse in the services offered. I think I can argue better than them on why Celcom offers the best package of services :-)

I will wait until after Chinese New Year to try again buying the Iphone6 from one of your agent's outlets. Maybe you can point out the one I should go to, to get it.

Oh, one more thing, why la your agents only sell the grey colored Iphone6? Those are the ugly ones, okay. I wanted to buy the silver colored one. Can you ask them to stock up with those?

Thanks Rohaizan. Don't worry. Now that I have your email address, I will kacau you if I got trouble with Celcom services instead of ranting in my blog.

Cheers :-)

春联

As expected, most people are today still all hyped up over the jailing of DS Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy.

Myself can't really be bothered anymore.

I'm already getting tired reading all those Anwar stories.

My focus now is actually on the coming Chinese New Year celebrations next week.

Shopped for some CNY stuff today.

It's more fun than wallowing in the troubles of Anwar and his gang.

Malas nak layan puak-puak ni. Lagi dilayan lagi lah mengada-ngada.

I dropped by the Tropicana City Mall in PJ after work on my way home.

Had dinner at a noodle shop.

Simple wantan noodle with fish balls and apple juice drink. Not exactly cheap but it's manageable.

Then I walked around and bought stuff for CNY which my mother told me to get for the celebrations.

As usual, we will go back to our kampung in Kluang for the occasion.

Actually my mother had done most of the shopping. I was just getting things which she forgot to buy the other day.

The most important I needed to get was the Chunlian.

It's the CNY couplets, also known as rhyming couplets or spring couplets (It's the Chinese character title of this post).

The couplets expressed cheerful or inspiring thoughts for the new year.

It's to decorate the entrance of our house.

Something like this,

Found some young guys selling those beautifully written couplets at a booth.

I can never write the Chinese calligraphy as artfully as those guys.

Choose two of the middle sized ones for RM50.

The messages of the couplets which I bought were more for encouragement and blessings for my family.

It cheers me up being able to be the one to choose the couplets to be placed at the door of our kampung house for this new year celebrations.

I'm really looking forward to the CNY family gathering this time, especially with all  my cousins from Singapore coming back to Kluang too.

Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts :-)