Memories

This is a picture of me during my university days eons ago with two of my japanese friends. Both their names were Mayumi. We were all dressed up for Spring Break. It was a river cruise. I wasn't really happy but I'll explain later.

Tonight I was watching The Apprentice and the challenge was to have a tailgating party at Rutgers University. Donald Trump mentioned that, "All university students want to do is get drunk and have sex". Well, that wasn't my own experience. After the show ended, I ended up going through friendster and I ran through the search for university and I thought about my own university experience.

I didn't drink much alcohol (I admit it, I can't hold my own liqour). Once, I bought a can of miller lights (those damn TV adverts!) home to drink in my room and the next thing I remember was waking up with 3/4's of the can still full. There was no sex, because only the crazy white people join frats you needed alcohol to get laid at their party. My uni wasn't really good with their football team (That's American football, not soccer). My university was the home of the huskies, they were an iceskating team and they were regular regional champs. However, I didn't quite iceskating either.

The friends I had were Malaysian students and the other Asian foreign students consisting mostly of Mainland China, Japanese, Indonesians, Thais, and countries near the Indian continent.

Anyway, back to my story of the two Mayumi's. Seems that Mayumi's quite a common name in Japan. Both as you can see from the picture are really cute. Why is that, chinese girls are wired genitally to find Japanese girls cute? Anyway... I have to admit I had a crush on the both of them, the worst part was the two girls were dating good friends of mine. The funny part of course was, these two guys were identical twins from Thailand. They had an older brother Joe who could see I wasn't feeling really happy about it. I was sitting by the dockside alone watching the sun go down (damn, so drama right?) and Joe came over and smiled and said he knew what I was thinking and I smiled but we didn't say it. Both of us just sat there and looked at the beautiful sunset. Anyway, the restaurant and the dock, The Pirate's Cove burned down in a fire a few years ago.

Till today, I think I was much closer to Joe. We had the same personalities and the same sense of humour. Once I opened his closet and he had pictures of semi-naked women on it with their personal autographs. I asked him how did he get those and he showed me. He printed a picture of a chick he found on the internet and signed it himself... the bastard.

Once, me and Joe and a few of our other friends when down to the local strip club. I've read about it in the local papers. The local sororities and Christian groups used to protest daily outside it. It seems that some of the gals in my uni were working there to support themselves too. We thought it'll be fun to see it ourself. So we drove there one night to see what was it like.

The cover charge was pretty steep and it came with one drink. They didn't have an alcohol license anymore so it was watered down coke. It was dark and had a heavy smell of perfume. We took seats along the center and we brought small dollar bills with us (hey, we were cheapskate students). The deal was simple, if you put a dollar in front of you, the girl would walking up and down the center would dance in front of you. I think we got it wrong though, because everytime we saw the ugliest one, we'll drop a dollar in front of our friends and have her dance in front of him. Watching our friend cringe when the girl dance for him was much more entertaining.

The girls would occasionally walk up to you and ask if you would like a lap dance. They'll sit on your lap and dance, they can touch you, you can't touch them. I didn't have any money and they had way too much perfume on. When I when to the toilet, all the stalls had no doors. I was wondering why was that, until I realized where I was and I had a good laugh in there.

Anyway, looking back. It's all but memories now. Some were sad, some were fun but they were all me. We are the sums of our experiences and memories.

Computer Sakit

My computer also got fever. There's a slow cancer eating the hard disk, it's got bad sector. Damn. Its got 12kb of bad sector and every program I run has errors. Looks like I have to get a new hard disk. Time to say bye-bye to this hard disk. I wonder what I can do with an almost dead hard disk.

The other sucky part is the computer shops don't open till Thursday. Damnit, I gotta wait 4 days before getting a new hard disk.

Fever... again!

I'm just recovering from a fever. Still feel a little weak. I came down with fever yesterday during Deepavali. The worst part is, I had to work. I had to wake up at 4:45AM, reach the office at 6AM and leave for Klang. I had stay there till 2PM. We had 2 X-Overs, one in the morning and the other one at noon. In between that, I started feeling really weak.

I tried taking a nap in the van but it was parked next to this guy's shop blasting Deepavali music. I was shivering and I tell ya, it wasn't very comfortable. I had to put up with my studio director's endless stream of complains about racism. At that point, I didn't give a damn anymore and I just wanted to go home.

The driver had left the airconditioning running the whole morning and I think it sucked in all the smog because on the way back, my headache got even worst as the airconditioning was blowing in my face.

When I did reach home, the first time I did was wash my face and hands and jumped into bed. For the next 24 hours, I had the strangest dreams and hallucinations. The dreams kept repeating itself. It wasn't anything scarry, just mundane stuff. I kept dreaming I had to make a booking for an OB Van and I couldn't decide what equipment to bring. That dream was in constant loop everytime I shut my eyes. Was driving me nuts.

My nephew and nieces were screaming outside too and that didn't help. I didn't want to sleep but I was just so tired. Right now, I still have a slight headache and my blood pressure is a bit low. I feel dizzy everytime I stand up.

This is a view of Jalan Tengku Kelana, Klang on Deepavali. Notice the cables running next to the motorcycle? We had to lay camera cables along the street. The drains here are full of leftover curry and its foaming too. Really gross. Especially when you're sick and all you want to do is go home where it's safe and 'clean' in your room.

Some Pictures

My niece with my nephew's spiderman head gear. Spider girl ready to fight crime!

Batman and Spider girl, ready to save the world.

I don't eat McDonalds that often anymore, maybe once every 3 months. I watched that documentary Supersized Me and it totally turned me of from eating it. Anyway, I had to eat this one because I was really hungry that day.

Look at what the haze did to the sunset. Took this picture as I was driving out of my office.

The Challenge

Sometimes, I feel like I'm a contestant in The Apprentice. You know, that reality game show with Donald Trump saying, "You're Fired" at the end of each episode. In each episode, the contestants have to do a challenge and every episode is different and that's how I feel my job is like. I'm a jack of all trades, masters of none.

Today, I had to produce a live event and it a medium scale sized program. As usual, nothing when as planned during the show. We plan for the best, but sometimes the Broadcasting God doesn't like you. Maybe we didn't sacrifice any virgins these time... hard time find one these days hehe.

I hate sitting in that little OB 4 van. Its a small truck and a pressure pot with everyone shouting orders at each other. Streams of SMS are coming into my phone; the walkie-talkie is buzzing; the floor manager asking what's next; the hosts can't hear me... I wish I could telephatically just download information into their head all at the same time. Kinda like the collective the Borgs have in Star Trek.

Anyway, things ended okay with some glitches. Audio on ground event was of, but was okay on air... thank goodness. My two main host wandered of after the show and I couldn't find them, so I thought screw it, I'll go of without them then. Phew... as the contestants would say, "I'm ready to step-up" haha.

Miami Vice



Check out the difference in the original Miami Vice series and the movie. I watched it today. I liked how Micheal Mann's directing. He's got a really gritty reality TV style. The movie didn't even have an opening montage. Right after the UIP logo, they started right into the story in a night club. The fire fights in the movie was done really well too. It was like watching a embedded reporter shooting a real police fire fight. If you looked at Gong Li, she when for the natural look without any makeup, she's got that natural beauty to pull it of. I love the lighting in the movie. Lots of low lights, was done very well without any blue gel.

Way to go Micheal Mann! Oh yeah, I didn't like the censored part in the movie. maybe watch the DVD later to see what was censored.

Haze and Buka Puasa

They say you have to 'bersabar' a lot during Ramadan. However, one thing that's getting my blood boiling is the damn haze. The Indonesian president may have apologized, but action certainly speaks louder than words. If it wasn't for the Singaporeans writing to them, they wouldn't have said anything.

Let me put it this way, the Indonesians are trying to kill me. I know, it's harsh but for someone with a sinus problem, that's exactly what they're doing. I'm boycotting all Indonesian products from now on until I see positive steps taken to stop the haze.

I when for a walk in the park at Taman Tun, it was quite hazy. I know, was a bad idea but I needed the exercise. I only made it one round around the park. I really need more exercise!

Look at jogging trek. They tore it all up. It turned into an obstacle course half way around the park. I had to avoid tripping while keeping a constant walking speed.

We had a buka puasa for the team at Restoran Seri Melayu. Not really keen on Malay food, but the company was better then the food.

I have no idea what they were talking about, the background noise was just too loud. I must be loosing my hearing.

Shooting & Editing Workshop

I have an idea I've been toying for awhile now. At work, I teach quite a lot of people how to edit and I really enjoy doing it. So I was thinking, why not do workshops on basic editing and shooting?

So here's what I plan to do and see if anyone's interested.

Shooting & Editing Workshop

1 day workshop (9am-5pm), learn the basics of how to shoot great video with a video camera and editing it with software. If you ever wanted to shoot events such weddings, birthday parties and or even your own corporate video, here's where you can get tips.

Course Outline:
- Understanding how your video camera works
- Framing your shots
- Shot continuity
- How to set lighting
- tips on what accessories to get
- Basic editing with computer software (Windows Movie Maker or Adobe Premiere Pro or AVID Express Pro)
- How to put your movies on the internet

Course Pre-requisite
- Must have your own video camera (preferably, the one you would use for what ever project you're going to do)
- Having your own laptop highly recommended. I will help install the demo version of the editing software on your PC.
- Basic computing skills with Windows XP (if you know what is right click, that's good enough)

Anyway, you can e-mail me at luxern@hotmail.com if you're interested, put "Shooting & Editing Workshop" in the e-mail title. The class size will be small, about 5-8 persons. I'm still looking for a venue to do this, most probably somewhere in PJ. As for the date, it would be after Hari Raya and on a weekend. Do e-mail and let me know your preferred date.

The fees is RM50. This is just the introductory rate. I'm using the first workshop more for feedback to see how the course outline can be improved. The money I'll use to cover my cost for all the materials that I will be providing during the workshop.

Tak guna akal

I read this in The Star today:

Ikim: Sack Takaful man

PETALING JAYA: The Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikim) has called for the sacking of Takaful Malaysia's Syariah Department head for issuing an e-mail banning staff from wishing Hindus Happy Deepavali.
Its director-general, Dr Syed Ali Tawfik Al Attas, said Mohd Fauzi Mustaffa should be sacked because he was not fit to hold the position.

“Fauzi should also repent for his arrogance in thinking that he has the knowledge on the matter,” said Dr Syed Ali in a statement to The Star's Bahasa Malaysia news portal mStar Online yesterday.

He also agreed with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Abdullah Md Zin who said on Wednesday that the ban imposed by Mohd Fauzi was his personal view and based on a narrow understanding of Islam.

In the e-mail that was sent to the staff of the Islamic insurance company, Mohd Fauzi said wishing “Happy Durga Pooja”, “Happy Lakshmi Pooja” and “Happy Deepavali” was deemed as expressing greetings to the Hindu Gods Durga, Lakshmi and Krishna, which he viewed as going against the Islamic faith.

In the e-mail dated Oct 3, Mohd Fauzi said Takaful Malaysia staff were prohibited from conveying their greetings for the three celebrations and other similar festivities because they could be deemed as blasphemous.

He also said those who had uttered such greetings to Hindus should repent immediately and not repeat them.

Not My Believe

I have to say, this month I've done a lot of things that I didn't like to do but I had to do it as part of the job. I believe in the freedom of religion but I draw the line at having to help promote the views of a religion which is not of my own. It makes me very uncomfortable having to do it, but I understand, it's part of the picture and I do see the bigger picture but I don't know how long I can do that. It's starting to get to me. I try to divert away from it by doing other things or offering alternatives.

This year, there's very little coverage in the media on Deepavali. The size of the Indian population in Malaysia just doesn't attract the media's attention anymore, it's all on Hari Raya. I don't find this fair at all. I'll probably try to find ways in my part to promote Deepavali.

Payola

This year I resolved not to go to any of the Ramadan Buka Puasa functions. Every year I get invites to all these buka puasa functions in hotels thrown by big corporations and government ministries. Not that I'm anti-social, it's just that the amount of free stuff they give out makes me uncomfortable.

Just a few days ago, one of the minister gave out RM100 duit raya to the press that came to his buka puasa functions. I was there last year at a 5 star hotel in KL. At the end of it as we were leaving, I passed by him to shake his hand and he handed me a green raya packet. I thought it was a little odd, since they only give duit raya to the orphans or kids. So I opened to see if it was the 2 ringgit that they give to kids and I was shocked to find RM100 bucks in it. This year, everyone was looking forward to going to his buka puasa function again, only this time I avoided it like the plague. I don't think any of my colleagues have heard of the term 'payola'. It's one of the first few things one learn in any mass communication class in the American education system. Payola is basically one who pays for favours. Below is an excerpt from what I found in Britannica

By the 1950s listener loyalty to disc jockeys was so firmly established that the
success of any record depended on the preferences of the disc jockey. To solicit
their favour, record companies began to shower the disc jockeys with money,
stocks, or gifts (commonly known as payola). This widespread practice of
commercial bribery was given national exposure by a federal investigation in
1959.

In Malaysia, its pretty widespread and a common practice for large organizations to give "door gift's" to the press at functions. From the measly pen to expensive gifts such as portable TV's and handphones. The wierdest gift I got was a bra (it was from a Triumph lingerie fashion show). I have a sizeable collection of free pens and card holders. I draw the line at taking cash. The first time someone ever gave me cash was a few years ago. I covered an assignment in Nilai and me and my crew were the only one there (probably because Nilai was too far away). The guy was so glad he stopped me as we were walking down the hotel to shake my hand. In his handshake, he had a wad of money and slipped it into my hand before I knew what to do and he walked away. I was quite shocked. I counted the money and gave my crew their share but I dropped of the rest of my share in a donation box in the hotel lobby.

I have to say, it's getting harder to say no. I must admit, having kept the money and some valuable items given by people too. However, I still draw the line at going out of the way to ask for anything. I don't expect anything as I already get paid to do my job. I hate it when PR people buy souvenirs, hoping that I'll give them more attention. Shit, I'm not that cheap. If they deserve the attention, they'll get it, regardless of what ever they give me.
I don't expect to hold my colleagues to the same standard, they have a different ethics system and I don't think I'll ever force it on them as they're too used to getting free stuff.

Anyway, today I was at the Ministry of Women's buka puasa function at KL Hilton. It wasn't too extravagant. I when late, after they already buka puasa. I was so sleepy, I when home to take a nap first. They gave us a table up front and we spend most of the time gossiping about work and making fun of our bosses. I saw a few tables away my primary school teacher. She was wearing a green saree. She's with the NCWO now and I didn't quite have the guts to go and say hi to her.

Azizah and Wardinah, a bunch of 'posers'

Anyway, another person I bumped into that night was my old pal from college, Idham. We used to be real tight in college but we just lost touch after I when of to the US. I ran into him a few times in Bangsar. He told me he's divorced now and does freelance music arrangements. The dude's one talented keyboard player. He was at the function tonight with a band. The funny thing was, this chick wrote to me at my office e-mail asking me if I remembered her and that Idham had introduced us and when to mamak with her once. She had an interesting name and I asked if her sister had a name like hers too. She asked me how was Idham and true enough, I bumped into him tonight.

Good old Idham with the holy look

Oh, those silly Australian

More funny stuff from Australia

Outback driver caught in reverse

A man pulled over for driving slowly in the Australian outback has been charged with reckless driving - because police found him driving in reverse.
The man was stopped for driving at a little over 56km/h (35mph) on a highway near the outback town of Kalgoorlie.
But quick police work soon established that the car was in fact heading backwards - all the way to Perth, some 550km (340 miles) across the desert.
The driver, 22, told police he chose to drive in reverse when his gears failed.
Police were left baffled as to why the unnamed driver chose not to call a mechanic from Kalgoorlie, the Western Australia gold mining town where his gearbox "cooked".
Instead they listened as he explained how he set off in reverse gear along the Great Eastern Highway in his 1988 Ford.
He was forced to slow down from his top speed of 80km/h because he found himself swerving wildly across the road, police said.
He had already travelled 20km before he was stopped.
Police breathalysed the man, who was found not to be under the influence of alcohol.

Jelly Melly Scare

I saw this story in the BBC website. Hillarious. I can just imagine the look on the fire fighter's face after discovering what it was, "shit, it's just a pile of @%#^$ jelly!"


Jelly sparks toxic waste alert

A pile of jelly left by a road in Germany caused a major security alert after it was mistaken for toxic waste.

A large area near the town of Halle was cordoned off after a "flabby red, orange and green substance" was found by the road, Reuters reported.

Fire officers in protective suits spent two hours inspecting the substance before concluding it was jelly.
"The fire brigade always has to assume a worst-case scenario," a fire brigade spokesman told the news agency.

"We conducted a variety of tests and figured out it was jelly."
The spillage was traced to a wedding party. The newly-wed groom, who was woken up and informed of the alert, promised to clean up the mess.

Want Less

I know, it's late. It's 5:30am but I felt like writing. I just watched Nacho Libre on DVD. Quite a good movie, I have high expectations of Jack Black and he delivered. There's some really funny and weird songs in the movie, I'll try and see if I can download them.

In the movie, Nacho's sidekick says he doesn't believe in God and he believes in science instead. So Nacho takes a bowl of water and grabs his head and sticks his head in the bowl to baptize him, so that God would bless the both of them before a big fight. That scene made me think of what's been going on in my life lately.

I've been contemplating a lot of things. For one, how I perceive the world. I find that my wanting less in life philosophy is hard for many people to accept. Most people want me to be 'normal' and want more like everyone else. I've been reading philosophy and one of the chapters I've read in the Philosophy for Dummies was about death.

For atheist, they shouldn't fear death because if they came from nothing, we go to nothing. If it didn't hurt when we didn't exist before we were born, then it should be the same when we go to nothing. I know, it's a concept that's hard to accept for anyone who believes in God. For me, that would be Nirvana, to escape from the circle of wanting things.

Everyday, we try to save time, try to get that bigger paycheck. Why do keep wanting more? In the end, when we go... there is nothing. Unless, if you believe in reincarnation or heaven & earth. We should stop and take the time to enjoy the moment now, to take a step back and look around to take a picture in our mind so that a few years from now, we'll remember this day, this is who I am.

Assface

Oh man, this story got me cracking up when I read it in The Star.

Haemorrhoid cream not for the face, drugmaker says

By Thierry Leveque
OSLO (Reuters) - German drugs maker Schering warned consumers on Thursday not to use haemorrhoid cream on their faces.
The warning came after a male stylist said on Norwegian television that many photo models used the cream in the morning to get rid of puffy eyes, which the drug company said seemed to have boosted demand for such products at pharmacies.
"This is a pharmaceutical and not a cosmetic," the group's Norwegian subsidiary Schering Norge AS said in a statement, warning especially to keep haemorrhoid cream out of the eyes.
It said the warning applied to its product, Scheringproct, which it said was "a pharmaceutical that is used on haemorrhoids and around the opening of the large intestine".
Copyright © 2005 Reuters

Cars

Now this is just me taking photos just for the sake of taking photos. There's this life sized model from the animated movie Cars in my office. They put it in the lift lobby of the second floor. It greets you when you the lift door opens. Pretty freaky if you see it for the first time. Now they park this little yellow toy bus from Sesame Street next to it, as if the red car is eyeeing it with 'intentions'.

What is wrong with this poster?


I was walking around Centerpoint in the new wing and there was a travel agency there. I stood outside it to see the posters and I saw this one. Anyone can tell what's wrong with the poster? A bit insensitive isn't it? Must have been an old poster the agency stucked on the wall... false advertising!

Stood Up

Damn it, I got stood up! I got an e-mail a few days ago from my university announcing that they're going to have an Alumni activity at Renaissance Hotel today. I drove over to the hotel and walked around looking for it and didn't see anything. One of the hotel staff asked what I was looking for and he said there was no such event today and the closes thing was the Linden university tour yesterday. Damn it! Those idiots must have got the dates wrong or cancelled the thing and didn't let me know.

Paid RM6 for parking in the hotel. Was bloody expensive. Was driving back and mom called to see if I could change the date of the Butterfly Lovers concert ticket I bought for her on Sunday. Apparently, she forgot all about my nephew's concert on Sunday too. Man, I fuming when I was driving home. When I got home, I called KLPAC and they said I couldn't change the date, so I guess my mom has to skip my nephew's concert now.

She liked the musical so much, she wanted me to take her watch it again. I bought two tickets but I told her to bring someone else so she's bringing my sister-in-law's aunt instead. The musical's great but I wouldn't watch it again anytime soon since I already know what's going to happen.

Complain, complain, complain...

Chui Yan says I complain all the time. Sometimes I don't realize I'm doing it. For me, it's just me commenting about something... it just so happen it's all negative (hehehe). Sometimes, it does come in handy in solving problems at work.

Today was a bitching session hosted by my company's Managing Director. They had a briefing on the Non-Linear Editing (NLE) system status at my company. I totally forgot about it, I had to temp produce the show today. The producer on duty had to go out station and I was supposed to sit in the control room. Kinda like letting everything run on auto-pilot and just make sure we don't accidentally fly into any mountains on the way.

Anyway, the briefing and presentation was done by the Engineering department. They played some AVID video clips about what the system could do and all that time I was smirking and scoffing and feeling really sarcastic. I don't doubt what AVID can do, heck don't get me wrong... I love AVID, it's just implementation is always so different from what's promised.

After the briefing ended, they had a Q&A and there was a few seconds of silence and no one asked any questions. I already had some questions written down and let loose seeing that no one wanted to say anything. I basically told them what I had on my mine and soon everyone else pitched in. Well, I won't go into details, but let's just say we weren't a happy bunch of end-users. Engineering Department had all these idealistic suggestions that weren't pratical.

For example, everyone knows that ideally you should do batch capture but come on... if you're shooting a news program, you wouldn't have time to actually take time codes down while you're on the field and come back and preview the tape. The reporter would want to instantly ingest the whole tape which is so much faster than stopping to note time code and capturing again.

As usual, solutions were offered but I'll wait and see if actually bears fruit.

You call this an apology?

I wonder where politicians learn to do apologies. There must be a school of diplomatic language out there that teaches you how to make apologies but at the same time don't make it sound like you did anything wrong.

Take what the Pope Benedict XVI and Lee Kuan Yew for example. Both international statesman and probably have a team of foreign affairs people to write diplomatic letters for them. Both of them recently put their foot in their mouth and were asked to apologize for their statements.

Let's look at the Pope first. The leader of the Catholic Church made a speech quoting Emperor Manuel II Paleologos of the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire. The quote when like this, "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Obviously, the Muslim world wasn't impressed (notice how Muslims are really sensitive nowadays?) and demanded an apology.

Later, he made and 'apology' by saying in a public speech, "I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims,"

These in fact were a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought.
"I hope this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with mutual respect."

Now a lot of Muslim leaders were obviously still not happy with the apology. Basically translated, when the guy said, "he was sorry how you reacted" he didn't apologize for his remarks. He just said "I think you over-reacted. What I said was the truth and I'm sorry you can't accept what I said". What kind of dumb apology is that?

Now let's take a look at Singapore's favourite mentor, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. The dude made a remark at a IMF meeting in Singapore about how Chinese are treated in Malaysia. Read on from the report in The Star today:

Lee Kuan Yew says sorry for comments
KUALA LUMPUR: Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has told Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that he was sorry for the “discomfort” caused by comments he made about how Malaysia treats its minority Chinese.
Lee said that after a decade of troubled relations with Abdullah's predecessor (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) it was the last thing he wanted.
“I am sorry that what I said has caused you a great deal of discomfort. After a decade of troubled relations with your predecessor, it is the last thing I wanted,” he said in a letter dated Sept 29 and forwarded to the Foreign Ministry by Singapore High Commissioner T. Jasudasen yesterday.
“I had no intention to meddle in your politics. Indeed, I do not have the power to influence Malaysia's politics or to incite the feelings of the Chinese in Malaysia.”
A copy of the three-page letter was provided by the Singapore High Commission here last night.
Abdullah had written to Lee on Sept 25 seeking clarification over the latter's controversial remarks that the attitude of Malaysia and Indonesia towards the republic was shaped by the way they treated their Chinese communities.
Lee thanked Abdullah for the letter and said he made the remarks in a free-flowing dialogue session with former US Secretary of Treasury Larry Summers before many foreign delegates attending the IMF/ WB meeting on Sept 15.
He also included in the letter the transcript of the relevant passage as reported by Reuters.
He said that on the bridge and the half bridge to remove the Causeway, Abdullah made the position of the Malaysian government clear that Malaysia respected legally binding agreements and acted in accordance with international law.
“This made unnecessary a reference to ITLOS (International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea) and the International Court of Justice that would otherwise have been unavoidable. This respect for the law is the basis for sound, long-term relations between us,” he said.
Lee said he was explaining to a liberal audience of westerners who wanted to see a stronger opposition in Singapore why the republic needed a strong majority government, not a weak coalition that would hamper it in defending its national interests.
“Singapore needs a strong government to maintain good relations with Indonesia and Malaysia and to interact with Indonesian and Malaysian politicians who consider Singapore to be Chinese and expect Singapore to be 'sensitive' and comply with their requests,” he said.
Lee also pointed out in his letter that Malaysian politicians including Dr Mahathir and many others had publicly warned Malaysian Malays that if they ever lost power, they risked the same fate as Malays in Singapore, whom they alleged were marginalised and discriminated against.
He added that from time to time when Malaysian politicians attacked Singapore fiercely over some bilateral issue but some of them told the republic's politicians privately to just accept that as a part of Malaysian politics and not to react to those attacks.
“Singapore understands the reality of Malaysian politics. We have never protested at these attacks on our multi-racial system or our policies, except to clarify our own position when necessary.
“But we have to explain to our people the root cause of these difficulties in our bilateral relations.
“Otherwise Singaporeans will believe that their own government is doing wrong either to our own people or to Malaysia.
“As for the international audience, with so many foreign embassy staff and foreign correspondents reporting on Singapore and Malaysia, plus tens of thousands of expatriate businessmen working in our two countries, these people will come to their own judgement of the true position regardless of what I say,” he added.
Lee also pointed out that this was not the first time he had made similar remarks and “in fact I had said less than what I had written in my memoirs published in 1998.”
The former Singapore premier said since Abdullah took over as Prime Minister, the relations between the two countries had improved.
Lee also attached a postscript to his letter informing Abdullah that he would be releasing the letter to the media.


Now here's another I'm-sorry-you-over-reacted type of apology when the dude said "I am sorry that what I said has caused you a great deal of discomfort". Why not just say, "I'm sorry that I said that, I shouldn't have done that and it was insensitive of me"?

Probably wanted to save his face. The guy had to explain his remarks by saying, "hey, you also say bad things about my country what and I never complain also! I say a bit only, you make so big noise... okay lar, sorry lar! Nah! Happy?". What lar this Singapore.

Old man shouldn't be allowed to represent countries, they should be shooed out of government and let loose on lecture circuits and represent themselves only.

Grace Park

Okay, today's one of those slow days. I was on Limewire looking for Justice League cartoons and I was browsing someone's server (I like looking up fast connections to see what else they have). I saw some pictures from Maxim and it was of a chick named Grace Park so I thought I'll just grab the whole collection and have a look see.




It was the korean chick from the Battlestar Gallatica series. I've only seen the Pilot episode, but from what I gather she's really cute. Man, she's really hot in the pictures. So I when to look for more of her picture and I came across a publicity shot on wikipedia and man, it was one huge ass picture. I took a look at it and she wasn't wearing any makeup on the picture. She looked totally different from the Maxim photo shoot. I take my hats of to her for daring to do something like that. She's got lots of moles but she's certainly got natural raw beauty.

Anyway, I started up Photoshop and played around with her photo and touched it up. Gave her a more warm glow, hot lips, softer skin. I also tried blue eyes but I guess that was a little too freaky.

Below are the before and after photos. Click on it for the original size.