Telok Bahang

Most of my trips to Penang are usually quite boring - visiting shopping complexes, coffee shops and staying at home. It was my first trip to Telok Bahang last weekend. I like the view of Telok Bahang because it is more remote and looks like a smalltown that I am originated from.

Based on recommendation of some experts, I decided to convert the photos to black and white. Simplicity is beautiful sometimes. I am not sure whether these photos are beautiful or not as I am struggling with the camera. I still damage 90% of the photos. This time I spoiled them because I was still crap at taking nightscene & the raindrops on the camera lens screwed them up.

September Gurls

September has just passed by a few days ago but I decided to check out a 70s band greatly praised by my friend, Joe Kidd, many years ago. The first song that caught my attention was "September Gurls". To those familiar with the band, Teenage Fanclub, it's very obvious that they are influenced by Big Star. Many artistes today still claim that they're influenced by Big Star. I love the melody of "September Gurls" which is simply amazing and beautiful. It is a very well written song.

Big Star was formed in 1971 when I was still a toodler sucking my thumb. They were not really big stars then. The band splitted up in 1974 when I didn't even know ABC. A new line-up of Big Star featuring original members Chilton and Jody Stephens was formed in 1993, and released a new album in 2005 called "In Space". I have yet to check out their new album but I will surely do so in a matter of time.

Here's a video clip of Big Star's "September Gurls" and the lyric:



September gurls do so much
I was your butch and you were touched
I loved you well never mind
I've been crying all the time
December boys got it bad.

September gurls I don't know why
how can I deny what's inside
even thought I keep away
maybe we'll love all our days.
When I get to bed
late at night
that's the time
she makes things right
ooh when she makes luv to me

Crappy External Portable DVD Writer

My entire Raya holidays were spoiled because of the purchase of a stupid external slim portable DVD writer. My wife was the purchaser but I was the one who had to struggle troubleshooting it. I was disappointed and didn't have a good feeling that she came home with Panasonic DVD writer instead of LG or Samsung one.

The exact model of the portable DVD writer was Panasonic SD-100A. Initially, the drive could not be detected, so I blamed it on the USB2 hub. After connecting directly to the laptop, I managed to install some software but when Nero CD supplied by Panasonic was used, it failed to read. The Samsung DVD writer of my PC had no problem reading the Nero CD though. When I tried accessing the CD with the portable Panasonic DVD writer, it failed again and again. However, after several attempts, it managed to read. When I was trying to install Nero happily, it hit I/O (input/output) error. Being dissatisfied, I tried with another software CD. When installing half way, it hit the same I/O error. It was very obvious that the CDs used were ok but not the portable DVD writer.

As a conclusion, Panasonic SD-100A is a crappy product. I discourage anyone from purchasing it. My wife sent the DVD writer back for exchange but the same problem occurred for the second DVD writer too. She will be sending it back to the shop again tomorrow. Since the shop only has Sony and Panasonic products, I hope she will come home with Sony one, although I am not a Sony fan either.


Latest Update As of 4th October 2008:
The shop exchanged for the same model of DVD player. Surprisingly, it worked this time. The differences we noticed with the previous 2 players were the torn boxes and even the Nero CDs provided were different. Probably someone had rejected them before. The current one has a new box in good condition coming straight from their store. I am not sure whether the product has bad quality control or the shop was trying to get rid of rejected players. I am a bit doubtful that it's due to bad quality control because it's a Japanese product and the Japanese are generally very strict about it. To be safe, I would still encourage people to stay away from this product. It's a lesson for Panasonic to be careful of selecting their vendors if it's not the fault of their product. Even though the shop had no problem exchanging the goods but exchanging it three times is unacceptable. Please bear in mind that our grandfathers do not sponsor petrol and parking fees!!

The Star That Doesn't Fade

Mazzy Star - This is an American dream-pop band that didn't suit my music taste in the 90s. They were too mellow and too "country" for me (Yeah, I hated country music before). I only discovered the beauty of the mellowness and the great voice of the beautiful Mexican-American singer, Hope Sandoval, in the last 3-4 years through the song "Fade Into You" & "Happy". Their music is dark and sad usually, just like the songs of Portishead, although Portishead is from a different genre - trip hop. Mazzy Star was active in the late 80s to 90s but I stopped hearing from them from year 2000 onwards. The band does not officially split-up and I hope they will continue to release more album in the near future to add up in their list of the current 3 albums: She Hangs Brightly, So Tonight That I Might See & Among My Swan.

Here are some video clips from the star that never fades...

"Halah":



"Happy":



"Fade Into You":



"Flowers In December:"

Musical Adventure

A number of friends often ask how I managed to find out about so many unknown bands. The answer is simple: Explore Music With An Opened Mind. Without internet, we explore the bands at the friendly record stores that are willing to let us try the CDs. Trust me, it is a time consuming activity and requires a dedicated passion. If you come across any CDs you dislike, just skip them. The main problem is when there are too many CDs you like - more cash flow going outwards. Sometimes, you need to be a regular at the stores and be friendly to the salespersons. If you're lucky, you may come across a salesperson who "clicks" with your taste of music and they could be very helpful in your exploration by supplying hints and suggestion. I know it is very rare for alternative music in Malaysia. I only come across 2 salespersons who are really helpful for the past 20+ years. Honestly, I also rarely come across people who are as adventurous as my friends Joe Kidd, Wei Chuet and myself. Anyway, that's why it's called "alternative music" - we are the rare alternative species! With the availability of internet, music exploration is HEAVEN!!

This morning while checking out an old music video of Chapterhouse, I discovered a noise-pop band named Thrushes. The band is originated from Baltimore, MD, U.S. Yes, it's very common to find dream-pop, shoegazer, noise-pop bands from the U.S. these days being influenced by the 90s British bands. I find this new band interesting although relatively unknown. I could hardly find any information about them online except for a few video clips and their website. They remind me of all the shoegazers of the 90s. I am very impressed with the music of Thrushes. I am now thinking of ordering their album online. If you're adventurous and willing to explore alternative music, this could be your starting point:

A Link to the website of Thrush

Thrushes with "Trees":



Thrushes with "Heartbeats":



Thrushes with "Aidan Quinn":



As a true music fan, the exploration does not start and end at only new bands. You should also stray beyond the border to old bands. It's like a box of chocolates, you'll never know what you're gonna get...like the saying of Forrest Gump. Here are some video clips I have been exploring.

1. The Charlottes with "Liar" - a shoegazer band that was unknown to me until this morning. I could not find any information about this band at all. By the way, to those wondering why these bands are called "shoegazer", check out this video. It's a shame that the video is half way through when it is cut off. #@*%



2. Chapterhouse with "Pearl" - this is another old 90s British shoegazer band that I have almost forgotten.



3. Fleeting Joys with "The Breakup" - this is another unknown band that sounds like My Bloody Valentine to me. Still unknown to me. They sound so similar to My Bloody Valentine that I do not hesitate to call them as My Bloody Valentine's copycat.

Good Old Rock N' Roll

Ever since I re-discovered my childhood song, Walk The Line, by Johnny Cash, I realised that the roots of my music taste was based early Rock N’ Roll, Rockabilly and Country. Therefore I started to dig for the roots and re-discover them.

I remember growing up watching the tv sitcom, Happy Days, in the 70s. I always thought the character of Fonzie played by Henry Winkler was cool. When watching the sitcom, I was indirectly exposed to Rock N’ Roll especially “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley & His Comets. The Rock N’ Roll genre eventually grew on me slowly as I discovered Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Wanda Jackson, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, etc, over the period of about 20 years in my life.

At the same time, I heard Country, Rockabilly and Rock N’ Roll stuff from my dad’s or sister’s vinyl records and cassettes when I was a kid. The genre of Country, Rock N’ Roll and Rockabilly often overlap one another and a lot of singers hopped around those genres. The singers I remember listening from my family’s music collection was Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Connie Francis, Wanda Jackson, The Beatles, The Shadows, etc. Some time in the 80s, I discovered Patsy Cline and Brenda Lee on my own. “Crazy” by Patsy Cline and “Rock Around The Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee caught my attention. I believe I heard them in movies initially. What makes these 2 singers and these 2 songs special were the melody and their excellent female vocal.

I believe Wanda Jackson is almost forgotten in today’s music industry. I remember asking my sister about Wanda Jackson when I was about 10 years old about Wanda’s voice. I thought those songs were sung by a kid. Yes, I do agree that Wanda Jackson has a very unique voice that makes her sounds wild and rebellious. Honestly, I had never seen any photo of Wanda Jackson before yesterday. I used to imagine her as a black lady that dressed up in black leather jacket like Joan Jett. Yesterday, I was shock to find out that she was beyond my imagination based on the following photo and she was not wild at all:



Buddy Holly has been an inspiration to a lot of artiste today especially alternative music. He was another rocker that did not look like a rocker. He looked like a nerd with the big old fashion spectacles. I believe a lot of nerd punks today have been greatly influenced by him – making rockers look cool in nerdy spectacles. His hiccup style of vocal is distinctively unique. Today, any singer who sings using this method will automatically be associated to the great Buddy Holly by default. Unlike Wanda Jackson, Buddy did not live very long. It’s a pity that he passed away in a plane crash at such an early age together with the other 2 legends, Richie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

The Forgotten One

There are some 90s shoegazing bands that I have almost forgotten although they're some of the early indie bands that I used to be crazy about. They just sank and faded somewhere in my memory over the years. Lately they happened to re-emerge from my memory and I started to check them out in YouTube. Surprisingly I could not even remember their songs these days. Sign of old age I guess. One of the bands is Pale Saints.

Pale Saints with Half-Life:



Pale Saints with Blue Flower:



Pale Saints with Throwing Back The Apple:




Pale Saint with Sight of You:

I love this song. I think it's very beautifully written.



Sight Of You
the sight of you
the sight of you
makes me feel blue
makes me feel blue
the things you said
the things you said
make me feel bad
my heart is sad

i think of him
i think of him
soaked all in red
i wish him dead
you say that he
you say that he's
nothing like me
but how can that be?

what can i do?
what can i say?
the world was large
and i felt very small
what's gonna happen?
how will i know
when things are back
the way they used to be before?

the sight of you
the sight of you
makes me feel blue
i feel so blue
the things you said
the things you said
make me feel bad
my heart is sad


Pale Saints with Kinky Love:

Cansei de Ser Sexy Is Not Tired of Being Sexy

I was introduced to a Brazilian indie electro new wave revival post-punk band by chance when I was on a radio show with a former Traxx FM DJ, Maya, about more than 1 year ago. Maya bought the CD all the way from the U.K. when she visited the land of punk. The band was Cansei de Ser Sexy with the abbreviation C.S.S. for those who could not pronounce the band's name. The album was a self-titled album. It was love at first hearing for me regarding Cansei de Ser Sexy. Most of the songs were very upbeat. I was a little bit surprised that the traditional grunge label, Sub Pop, was the label of this indie new wave band. It was not a complete surprise for me because Sup Pop also signed up some indie shoegazer bands that could be categorised as very close to dream-pop such as Velocity Girl and The Spinanes. Since the era of grunge had cool down over the years, it's pretty normal for an indie label like Sub Pop to explore beyond the territory of grunge.

The year is now 2008. Getting any album by Sub Pop or any indie record label is obviously not an easy task in Malaysia but I managed to get it by crook or by hook. Yes, I managed to get the new album of Cansei de Ser Sexy called Donkey. It's not love at first hearing for this album but don't get me wrong, it's not a bad album after all. As usual, most of the songs of Cansei de Ser Sexy are very upbeat. There is no such word as boring in the dictionary of Cansei de Ser Sexy. The songs do not hook you up like the first album but they will grow on you. I love one of their weird songs called "I Wanna Be Your J Lo". It's a strange song with very strange new wave beat...not a cup of tea for everyone but it suits weirdo like me. The other songs I enjoy are "Left Behind" (their first single from this album), "Let's Reggae All Night" & "Beautiful Song". Some of the short songs from this album such as "Hollywood" and "Sô Lora, Sô Burra (Disk Putas)" clearly show their punk roots. They remind me of the early Huggy Bear, Bikini Kill and other riot grrl bands from the early 90s.

Here are the video clips from the old album (Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above) and new one (Rat Is Dead (Rage)):

Race & Religion

It's very sad indeed that in modern days, the world is still generally divided by race, religion and politic. The races and religions are not to be blamed but we may blame power greed irresponsible politicians and the evil of human’s brains. The situation is very obvious throughout the world regardless whether you're in Malaysia, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, China, etc. There is no denying that racists and religion fanatics are still walking among us. The world thought that when the greatest racist in the world, Adolf Hitler, was dead and when Apartheid was crushed, the world would be free of racism. Unfortunately, it was just a dream of mankind.

When we were kids, we didn't bother about race, religion and politic. We played and befriended anyone. As we started schooling, we were slowly being brainwashed by friends and the segregation started. The segregation could be based on race, religion or even informal "gang". The "gang" I am referring may not necessary related to gangsterism – it can be just a group of kids with common idea/opinion/interest that other groups may not share. I hated this when I was in school because I wanted to remain friends with other races and I wanted to learn more from other races, instead of isolating myself and stick to one particular group of friends. In fact those days, at Standard One/Primary One, one of my closest friends was someone outside my own race that was sitting next to me. Maybe my exposure to someone outside my own race at such a tender age has led me trust them. I am thankful to have this particular friend who has unknowingly shaped my perception towards other races in my life.

Sometimes I question our education system. Has it failed in educating us to unite as one human race? Does it deserve to be called education in the first place if such a basic goal is not achieved? Education is not just meant for generating income in a capitalist world. The more important element is humanity. It is supposed to teach us not to act like a bunch of wolves or wild boars. We do not deserve to be called human if we act like animals. If our education system fails, there is a danger of having another Adolf Hitler on this planet and there is a possibility of World War 3. Do we want that?

I was so surprised about what I heard from a Muslim friend lately. My friend’s 6 year-old niece overheard his children speaking in English. She asked why they spoke in English and English was meant for non-Muslims. Obviously my friend was shock to hear that and asked her who told her so. She gave him a greater surprise when she said that her kindergarten teacher told her that. I wonder whether her kindergarten teacher should be fired or should remain in the kindergarten …. as a STUDENT. It was fortunately that someone in the family could teach the 6 year-old child the right thing from the wrong. I am now very curious about the fate of other children in the same kindergarten that were given wrong advice.

I am also aware of some families that cultivate racism in their children directly and indirectly. Sometimes a scare tactic used could give children wrong impression that other races cannot be trusted.

For example:
A Chinese family member tries to scare a child to prevent him/her from loitering outside the gate by saying “Indians will catch you if you go outside”.

A simple scare tactic like this may lead the child not to trust all Indians. What will happen if one day the kid needs help and the person offers to help him/her happened to be an Indian? This kind of small issue may lead to a major issue because the children may grow up to be the leaders of the country one day. The way we shape our children is the way we shape our country.

Ideally in a multi-racial country like Malaysia, we should be known as Malaysians rather than Chinese, Malay, Indian, Kadazan, Eurasian, Dayak, etc. Race should be removed from the identity card, forms and even our CVs. Race based political parties should not exist. You may accuse me for trying to get rid of race but what's the point of having a race if we're dead because of racial riot? Sometimes I question the necessity of struggling for race and religion because if everyone fight and struggle for his/her own race and religion contradicting with another person's race and religion, aren't we creating a conflict? Don't you think it's more proper to struggle for your country as Malaysians? I know some narrow minded Malaysians may not agree and accuse me lack of knowledge about race and religion. Those people are dangerous and considered extremists in my opinion because they're more likely to be the ones that sparkle racial/religion disharmony in a country, comparing with a non-religious person who mixes with anyone regardless of skin colour and religion.

Hard To Be Polite In The City

Sometimes, I find myself hard to be polite in the city. Sometimes you get an odd stare for being polite and sometimes some pretty young things will mistaken you as a pervert. Once I greeted a security guard "good morning" inside a lift. I got a blank stare in return. Those days, I had just returned from a smalltown in England and I was used to the culture of greeting people I saw in the morning including strangers. It was a norm to thank the bus drivers as well. I miss those kind of politeness in Malaysia, especially in the city like Kuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya. Certain people say that the Westerners are not sincere in their politeness. In my opinion, who cares? It's better than being rude.

Today, I was coming out from a junction at a petrol station/gas station. I noticed a car purposely increased the speed to prevent me from coming out. When I was driving behind it, I saw a brown skinned hand coming out of the car with a middle finger. Since it's a muslim fasting month and the driver was a muslim, I had to prevent him from destroying his purpose of fasting. So I returned him the international hand signal. I was just doing him a favour.

Once a friend told me about a Canadian using his car horn less than 3 times in his life. In Malaysia, I guess an average driver may have to use at least 30 times per year. Are we the impatient rude Malaysians? Obviously, we cannot beat drivers of certain countries but bear in mind that in some countries, they do not honk at anyone of of anger the way Malaysians do. Sometimes, we are forced to use the horns because there are simply too many psychotic drivers on the road who think the road belongs to them.

Freedom Writers

I was watching a movie at HBO channel in Astro today that I came across by luck - in other words, I was just browsing the channels when I found the movie. The title of the movie was called Freedom Writers based on a true story. The movie was about a dedicated teacher that went against all odds to teach her students something beyond the text books could teach - day to day life! It's rare to have a dedicated teacher like Erin Gruwell. I would say I have personally come across very few teachers like her.

Somehow she reminded me of my former Biology teacher, the late Mrs. Cheah Chin Beng (we called Puan Cheah). I was one of the weakest student in my class those days. Although it was a top class, my motivation to continue studying was very low because I could not compete in the class. I felt like an alien in the class because of my examination results and I hated almost all the subjects besides English, Geography and Malay. My request to be transferred to another class (both the second class and art stream) was rejected by the headmaster. Although Mrs. Cheah was not the form teacher, she noticed it the way other teachers failed to do so. One teacher even insulted me by asking me not to attend her class for failing Chemistry all the time. Mrs. Cheah called me up one day after school to discussed about it and she asked the top student in my class (now a doctor) to teach me. Due to her effort, indirectly she gave me the encouragement to struggle and passed my SPM (government exam) with grade one unexpectedly. She was a unique teacher graduated from Australia. She was a very opened minded person that could joke about it when the Biology lesson touched the topic of sex (other teachers might skip the subject). I still remember that she warned us that the topic was not meant for practical at our teenage years and it drew laughter in the class. I am also aware that she helped a student who didn't have sufficient to buy books. She was the most caring and helpful teacher that I came across. Unfortunately, she didn't live long enough to see most of us graduated. She passed away falling from the stairs when I was in the college. Good people does not live long sometimes.....

The movie also indirectly touched the topic of freedom in writing the way bloggers like us do. In the movie they used diary but we use internet. Sometimes the authority would find ways to block us from writing something straight from our hearts. It's not fair to prevent people from being sincere even if it's a criticism. That's the reason I loath Internal Security Act being used against bloggers in Malaysia. It's undemocratic and against freedom of speech. If the people are well educated and have the appropriate brains, they should be able to think whether the stuff written by bloogers make sense or not. It's unnecessary to lock the bloggers up in jail.

The following is the link to Freedom Writers Foundation:

Frredom Writers Foundation

Because You Said So?

I was watching a movie at Astro, Because I Said So, just a few minutes ago. The comedy was about an over-protective mother (Diane Keaton) that was trying very hard to be a matchmaker of her own daughter (Mandy Moore) but ended up with bad consequence. It's neither the best movie nor a bad one, but it has a special meaning to me and it sends a very powerful message to the viewers.

I can easily relate this movie to any over-protective parents. Generally, I find Malaysian parents being over-protective. Every parents want their children to be doctors, engineers, lawyers and all the boring occupations. They may be shock with anger if their children say that they want to be an artist, singer, barber, firefighter, etc. I have personally gone through similar experience when I told my grandmother that I wanted to be a soldier - I was beaten up by my mother. From a soldier, my ambition eventually proceeded to scientist (a mad scientist), pilot (actually a military pilot), singer (actually a punk rocker), linguist, astronomer, inventor, etc. None of them came true. I ended up with a boring occupation eventually for the sake of making money to pay for loan. Crap, isn't it? I believe parents should let their children do what they wish. Even if they screw up doing silly things, they will find out and learn eventually. If the parents do not give them the freedom, they will never grow up. Call me Western minded if you wish, but don't you think Westerners are more creative, innovative and more willing to open up their minds, comparing to Asians?

From the movie, I can also relate it to the current Malaysian leaders. Malaysian leaders are generally over-protective. Look at the way they over-protect some of the Malaysian companies (every Malaysian should know what I mean). They also over-protect themselves - they cannot stand any criticism and threaten the people with Internal Security Act. In my opinion, being over-protective absolutely does not grant any benefit to the general Malaysian population. We will never grow this way. I hope some of the politicians will grow up or step down some day.

The Rave On Ronettes

Here's another Danish indie band I have admired for the last few years, The Raveonettes. The duo consisting of Sune Rose Wagner (on guitar, instruments, vocals) and Sharin Foo (on bass, guitar and vocals). The name of the band is originated from Buddy Holly's song, "Rave On" and The Ronettes. You may notice some Buddy Holly and The Ronettes influences in some of their songs. The other more obvious influence that I notice in this band comes from the famous British noise-pop duo, The Jesus & Mary Chain.

Honestly, I came across this band by accident years ago on the internet when I was surfing for noise-pop & dream-pop material. Yeah, I am a sucker for noise-pop and dream-pop. I used to confuse them with The Ronettes due to the name similarity and furthermore some of their songs have 50s and 60s influences. The only difference is they incorporate more noise.

Here's a video clip from the great Raveonettes with the song, Heartbreak Stroll.



Lyric:

Take A Little Time To Get To Know Me
The Night Is Open Don't You Feel The Same As I
Cause I Can Do Everything
A Heartbreak Stroll With Someone Special
The L.a. Lights Will Never Be The Same
Tonight I Kill Those Memories

Get It All Now Cause I'm On The Prowl
Come On Baby Right Now
Get It All Straight Cause You're Whistle Bait
Come On Baby Right Now
Come On Baby Right Now

Feel The Earth Move When You're Shaking That Thing
Hard To Be Around When You Got Nothing To Gain
I Gotta Go Home And Sleep It Off

Be The One

Due to lack of good radio show in Malaysia, I have started listening to online radio shows of the U.K. I am returning to my roots. Yes, British radio station was my roots. Malaysian radio shows did not suit my taste in the late 80s and 90s, so I tuned in to BBC, Voice of America and Singapore's Perfect 10 at short wave frequency. Those were the radio stations that got me exposed to The Cure, Jesus & Mary Chain, New Order, The Smiths, Nirvana, etc. In the mid 90s, I was studying in the U.K., so obviously I listened to BBC's Radio One daily - my favourite radio shows were hosted by the late John Peel (alternative music)& Andy Kershaw (world music). Unfortunately, both of my favourite British DJs are no longer on air - John Peel has passed away years ago & Andy Kershaw has some personal problem with his relationship.

Last night, I came across the song, Be The One, by the British duo, The Ting Tings, at Zane Lowe's radio show at BBC's Radio One online. The Ting Tings are Jules De Martino (drums, guitar, vocals) and Katie White (vocals, guitar, bass drum). They are basically unknown in Malaysia but they are considered the hot new band in the U.K. The genre of their music is basically a mixture of indie-pop, dance and tiny bits of punk. Their album is generally too cheesy and poppish for my taste but Be The One caught my attention. It's something that could cheer me up after having a depressing week due to the political situation in Malaysia. The guitar of this song reminds me of New Order. The female vocal is sweet but not cheesy here. This is also a more matured/serious song from their album in my personal opinion. I hope The Ting Tings will generate more songs like Be The One in the future.

Here's the video clip:



Here's the lyric in case you wish to sing along:

You say it's not what you do,
It's what you're thinking of
Well I think it's just an excuse
It's what you put across
And I don't wanna be the one
Only overjoyed
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Making all the noise
Yeah I don't wanna be the one

So make sure you're thinking it through
You've let me down again
Offer me something
I know you really meant
Cuz I don't wanna the one
Only overjoyed
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Making all the noise
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Hey!

What you gonna offer now?

I don't wanna be the one
Only overjoyed
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Making all the noise
Yeah I don't wanna be the one
Hey!

What you gonna offer now?
What you gonna offer now?
What you gonna offer now?

This was not my idea
Don't you keep me waiting
This was not my idea
Don't you keep me waiting
This was not my idea
Don't you keep me waiting

Internal Security Act

It's sad that the government has decided to use ISA (Internal Security Act) against fellow Malaysians again.

ISA is an outdated "tool" used by our former colonial master to overcome the attack of the communists in Malaya decades ago. When Malaysia got the independence from the British, ISA was carried forward to the new born country because it was still threatened by communists. However, when the communists put down their arm struggle, the relevant authority decided to keep ISA. The reason was obvious - it was a great "tool" to crush the enemies. What other better "tool" was available better than arrest without trial?

In my opinion, ISA is very undemocratic and it is against the principle of human right. It has no difference from dictatorship. It is an extremely dangerous "tool" used against the innocents. In the post-communist threat era, ISA had been misused very frequently to crush political opponents. This is very unprofessional from political point of view. It's a dirty tactic!!

The call for the abolishment of ISA by opposition parties, various NGOs, the government of U.S. and even some members of the ruling party has been ignored for decades. In the modern era, the tool used to suppress the communists has turned even more dangerous than Communism.

I salute the minister, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, from the ruling party that threatens to resign if the government continues to use the ISA against political dissidents. His action proves that he is a responsible leader that cares for the well being of the nation. He is a good example that more Barisan Nasional leaders should learn from. I hope his sacrifice will not go to waste. The ruling party often loses good responsible leaders. It's ashamed that Datuk Zaid Ibrahim is also undergoing suspension for criticising the UMNO Disciplinary Board which was considered as insulting the party. When will the party learn to accept criticism? No wonder the popularity of UMNO is fading!

Free Teresa, Abolish ISA Online Petition


Download MP3 of Carburetor Dung dedicated to ISA: Hanturaya Putrajaya


Lyric (Courtesy of Carburetor Dung):

Suara mu yang lantang melawan, siapa punya?!
Rumah mu yang indah tersergam, siapa punya??!
Hidup mu yang kenyang senang-lenang, siapa punya???!
Kebebasan mu yang ada, siapa punya?!

Cuba-cuba naikkan suara,
Aku heret, aku ikat, aku tangkap, aku sumbat!
Cuba-cuba naikkan kepala,
Aku ketuk, aku lepuk, aku luku, aku cantas!
Cuba-cuba celikkan mata,
Aku cucuk, aku sembur, aku genyeh, aku jolok!

Jangan lupa!
Aku yang berkuasa!

Pagi hari kan ku terkam!
Pintu rumah kan ku terjang!
Kan ku berkas, kan ku bungkus!
Kan ku heret mu kedalam!

Jangan kau lupa!
Jangan kau alpa!
Ingat lah semua!
AKU YANG BERKUASA!

Traitor

Based on the legend of Hang Tuah, I remember my History teacher taught us a very good lesson about who was the actual traitor. It's sad that the younger generation may not get to learn this due to the fact that it has been removed from the text book. The reason for the removal is full of speculation and I do not intend to elaborate here.

Being the more fortunate one that had the opportunity to be taught about the legend, I would like to share my personal thought. I believe Hang Tuah was the actual traitor - the traitor of friendship. When the Sultan ordered Hang Tuah to be killed for messing around with the Sultan's concubine, the Bendahara betrayed the Sultan by hiding Hang Tuah instead. I admire the courage of the Bendahara. When Hang Jebat heard about the fake news that Hang Tuah was killed, he ran amok and went against the Sultan. He did it for the sake of friendship. Unfortunately when the Sultan found out that Hang Tuah was alive, he ordered Hang Tuah to kill Hang Jebat. The "blind" Hang Tuah obeyed the Sultan and killed his friend. The act of Hang Tuah truly showed he had no compassion towards his friend. He could have done what the Bendahara did to him by hiding Hang Jebat. In this event, I consider the Bendahara and Hang Jebat as the true heroes - they cherished their friendship. As for Hang Tuah, he was just a puppet of the cruel Sultan. The biggest villain was the Sultan who misused his power.

I hope someday the young generation will somehow managed to learn from this legend from somewhere. History and legend are not for us to read and sit for an exam. We have to learn from the mistakes and prevent them from happening to ourselves. Sometimes I still see people repeating the same mistakes in the real world today - people that behaves like Hang Tuah and the Sultan. This is very sad indeed!!

I dedicate this article to my favourite History teacher in secondary school, Cikgu Zainol. I will always remember the lesson he gave us.

Tasteless!

Some people find the latest movie of Adam Sandler, Don't Mess With Zohan, tasteless due to the sex scene and making fun of Isrealis and Arabs being offending. In my opinion, a lot of movies by Jim Carrey and Stephan Chow are equally tasteless. However, there is something about this movie that is very meaningful. If you observe the movie and use your brain a bit, the movie is not just about making fun of the Jews and Arabs. At one part of the movie which the Jews and Arabs started talking politics, it showed that they are so similar and they have something in common. The movie also shows us that Jews and Arabs can live together peacefully if they try hard enough - there is hope for peace! This is something that Malaysians should learn from this movie that many Malaysians find disgusting and angry with the censorship board for not banning it. I am not praising the Malaysian censorship board though because they did a major mistake for rating the movie as suitable for all ages of audiences.

Related to the topic of tasteless, I find the agenda of the politic and social issues in Malaysia very tasteless these days. We have too many stupid leaders and politicians running the country. There are so many leaders from the ruling party saying things they should not have said and do things they should not have done - their behaviour show that they are childish and stupid.

Example Number 1: When non-Malays asked about the special right of the Malays, a "smart guy" said non-Malays had no right to question it. Are we living in a country run by a dictator? Is this a Malaysian Apartheid? You call this equal right? As a good leader, this kind of question should be tackled smartly and not just sweeping it under the carpet. I dare to bet that a few years down the road, someone will ask the same question again. The question may not come from a non-Malay, it may come from a Malay. I have come across some Malays who are actually smart enough to worry and think something is not right about it. I am not trying to cause any racial tension - I would not want that. I personally have many good Malay friends and I don't want to lose our friendship and trust....all because of race. It's not worth it!

Example Number 2: A "Mr. Smart Guy" called non-Malays as immigrants. However, it's only true for the ancestors of non-Malays. Why bring up this issue when it has nothing to do with the current generation in the first place? Isn't he stupid enough to create trouble for himself? If we trace back the roots of Malaysians, I wonder how many Malaysians are not immigrants based on history. Chinese came from China. Indians came from India. Malays came from various parts of the world (i.e. Arab, Indonesia, China, etc). Even some of the natives were immigrants. Why dig for the roots of our ancestors? If "Mr. Smart Guy" is smart enough, he should focus on the current issues and solve them. We don't need any leader that talk rubbish.

I am pretty sure that these kind of nonsense coming from Malaysian leaders and politicians will never end unless we kick them out of their power to keep their mouth shut permanently. We don't need these leaders/politicians, do we?

The Death of Alternative Music On Malaysian Airwave

29 August 2008 Midnight was the day alternative music died on Malaysian airwave. 28 August 9pm - 12am was the last Alternation radio show hosted by the DJ, Maya, at Traxx FM. I could not think of anyone from Traxx FM qualifies to replace her. I am pretty sure that the show is considered dead since Maya is no longer with Traxx FM. I was almost heart broken when Maya sent me an SMS telling me about the bad news days before the last show was taken place. Of course, I listened to the last Maya's radio show for the last final 3 hours. The last 30 minutes was a mixed feeling of sadness, anger, frustration and happiness - happy because Maya would be leaving the "evil" radio station.

I consider all Malaysian radio stations "evil" because they often make my favourite genre of music a scapegoat all the time - they get rid of the DJ and the show to prove their power. Before the 90s, there was completely no radio show in Malaysia that was catering for alternative music. I don't consider playing one or two Green Day or Oasis songs in one radio show being good enough because it obviously won't satisfy the thirst of any alternative music fan.

Here are a list of scapegoats:

Scapegoat Number 1:
When Time Highway Radio was established, we had Fly Guy playing some interesting alternative music (something out of the norm those days) in his program mixing with other commercial stuff. As I mentioned previously, this was not good enough. At the same radio station, there was a DJ named Kamil Othman hosting a once a week evening show catering for rock music in general. Every now and then you would hear alternative music. I even sent him an email telling him about my taste of music and he wanted me to be in his show but I "chickened" out by giving various excuses - I still feel bad about it. One fine day, I found his radio show disappeared from the airwave.

Scapegoat Number 2:
Several years down the road, ever since Kamil's radio show was terminated, I stopped listening to Malaysian radio stations. No, I didn't hate radio. I was one of the members of Radio Society back in university days trying to set up a radio station, how could I hate radio? I just hated Malaysian radio stations. I happened to come across on the media that a rather new radio station, Red FM, had an alternative radio show name Clash (It could be named after the legendary band The Clash). The show was hosted by Zack Yusof and Daryl Goh. At one point, I found the show being moved from one time slot to another. This gave me an idea that the show was in trouble. Eventually, I was right!! Red FM got rid of the show!!

Scapegoat Number 3:
I have already mentioned above. This is of course Traxx FM's Alternation radio show hosted by Maya.

I wonder why alternative music has been made a scapegoat all the time in Malaysia. The authority gives the bands headache and radio stations hate them in a funny way. Being the most creative and opened minded music genre, does it instigate fear to the management of radio stations and the authority? Why the British, the American and other foreign countries could even have radio stations fully playing alternative music but Malaysian cannot even keep a radio show for alternative music for more than 5 years?? The Malaysian radio stations often accuse that alternative music radio show generates no money but have they tried their best to get any sponsor or advertiser? I doubt so!!

I don't see any hope for serious music fans to keep listening to Malaysian radio stations. Not just alternative music! Jazz, classical, blues, classic rock, etc suffer the same fate. The never growing up Malaysian radio stations are only suitable for teenagers listening to Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears and all the crappy nonsense!!!

Micro Fish In Macro Mode

Here's my experimental photography shot using Olympus E-520 with Zuiko 35mm macro lens. I am very satisfied taking photo in macro mode for the first time.

Below are a group of tiny beautiful Ember Tetras which are very hard to capture with a compact camera in macro mode - I have never successfully taken any good quality photo of Ember Tetra in the past.

There's no regret for heading for DSLR!!!

Tanks - After Minor Rescape

Cut off some of the Marsilea with green spot algae and moving the position of Marsilea over the weekend. Also throwing away some Spiky Moss with hair algae. If you see carefully, you will notice some sections of the moss are brown. Those areas I overdosed with Seachem Excel unintentionally - I was trying to get rid of hair algae but unfortunately I killed the moss as well. There are three different moss in the tank - Taiwan Moss (Right), Spiky Moss (Middle) and Christmas Moss (Left).


The following is another tank that I have my bitter war with hair algae. It gives me the impression that moss is a hair algea magnet. Hair algae seems to love living side by side to moss. I consider moss as a very high maintenance plant. Honestly, I almost threw all the moss away because of my frustration with hair algae. I threw over 70% of the moss which covered almost the entire tank during the weekend.

Trouble With Tenaga Nasional Berhad

I received a notice for not paying the electricity bill on time from our "favourite company" TNB. That's a mistake on my part. However, I managed to settle the bill before receiving the notice.

In the notice, there was a number to call - 03-79557733. In order to inform them that my bill had been settled, I called them. Totally, I called them 4 times. Each time, there were at least 5-6 ringing tones with nobody picking up the call.

Finally, I decided to let it continue ringing. Eureka!! The call was routed to the call centre after countless number of rings. The customer service that picked up the call amazed me. Here's my conversation with the "woman", it may not be 100% accurate but the the incident is accurate:

Customer Service: "Hello"
Me: "Hello, saya terima notis pemotongan....." (Translation: Hello, I received a termination notice.....) [I was interrupted half way when the call was being transferred]

My goodness! How rude was the customer service representative! She didn't even ask me to hold on. She just cut me off in the middle of conversation. If I knew her name, I would have given her a headache by now.

Thank goodness. The following guy who picked up the call was very pleasant.

Coming up is "Trouble with Telekom Malaysia"...stay tune!!

I Walk The Line

Tanks I Admire

The following are some tanks I admire from a fellow friend from Portugal that I met at MAC forum, Filipe Oliveira. I believe he has a very natural talent and very willing to try different varieties of aquascaping. What you see here are just the tanks I admire. He has more beautiful tanks at his blog, http://faao.blogspot.com/

Comparing my tanks with his, it's like Heaven & Earth.

Thanks to Filipe for the permission to post his tanks here.

Another Video Clip of Fish Tank

Another 2 feet (15 gallon) tank with mostly Moss and Marsilea.

Aquarium Videos

The following are the video clips of my various tanks. Not all of them are here though. Sorry about the bad quality videos. Thanks to the lousy camera.

"Kuih Kapek" of Good Old School Days

Back in the 70s, I remember before I started schooling, my dad sometimes brought back some "kuih kapek" (also known as Love Letter) from school. I don't mean the Chinese New Year type. The one I refer to is the big triangle one with a piece of newspaper hidden in the "kuih kapek". If you're lucky, you may find 10 cents wrapped in the tiny piece of newspaper. Nowadays, people may consider the newspaper as unhyginic but those days who cares!! My love for this "kuih kapek" continues from pre-school, primary school, secondary school, college and university days till now. The "kuih kapek" become rare since the late 80s. I guess it's almost extinct or already extinct today because I have never seen the big triangle "kuih kapek" for the last 10 years.

I miss those "kuih kapek" that taste like fortune cookies commonly used in Chinese restaurants in the U.S. I guess due to the taste similarity, I love the taste of fortune cookies too.

Recently my wife found the "kuih kapek" at pasar malam (night market). The shape is rectangle rather than triangle. The taste is not as good as it used to be but good enough to fill my urge. Meanwhile, my hunt for the large triangle "kuih kapek" continues....

Glugea

Glugea is a rare fish disease. It's the first time I have seen it with my own eyes. The disease looks like bubbles on the body of a fish. Once burst, it will spread the disease to other fishes. So, it's best to separate infected fish from the main tank. There is no cure for the infected fish but I don't have the heart to terminate the life of any fish myself. I have no idea why my Kuhli Loach is infected by this disease. Hopefully, the disease has not spread to other fishes.

Here's my poor Kuhli Loach that is suffering from Glugea. I hope it will die as soon as possible to avoid suffering.

Be More Liberal, My Malaysian Friends

The political situation in Malaysia is so shameful lately. I have nothing to be proud about the politicians based on their childish ways of accusation & blame for the sake of politics, instead of doing their duty to improve the lives of the common people. I can observe that the country is currently stagnant or rather going down hill. It's very sad indeed!

I am pretty sure that most of you are aware that the local underground band, Carburetor Dung, has gone "upper ground" now. Thanks to the media. Thanks to the conservative people. And of course, not forgetting the boxer short stunt. The incident showed how narrow minded and conservative are some Malaysians. Tell me, what's the difference between a boxer short and a short??? Does a boxer short shows any bare skin of the butt? Yeah, you can say that showing the boxer short stunt is not a part of the culture of Malaysia. What about throwing bottles and whacking people? You have created a bad name for PKR by doing the stupid act - now who is laughing? Obviously BN! I am not defending the band because one of the band members is an old friend of mine. I am voicing out because I am sick of of some Malaysians who are extremely narrow minded. "Macam katak di bawah tempurung" (a frog in a coconut shell). I don't blame this incident on the political leaders but I blame this on narrow minded individuals.

People!! Even if you intend to turn this South East Asian country into an "Arab" country, please bear in mind that some Arab countries are even more liberal than our society. I have Muslim friends travelling to Jordan telling me the women in the city are more liberal in their dress code than Malaysians. Those living in rural areas are different story though. Do we want to learn from those coming from rural areas? Stoning an unmarried couple to death because they held each other's hands? Thank carefully!!! In a multi-cultural country this is not acceptable. By the way, imitating Arabs is not a local culture too.

Grow up and be more liberal, my dear friends!!

Aquarium Tanks (Not Military Tanks)

Here are some pictures of my tanks....

3 Feet Tank (50 US gallon):

A Closer View:

Taken with Flash for Clarity(but annoying flash):



2 Feet Moss Tank (15 US gallon):













2 Feet Jungle Tank (15 US gallon):

Fish Food Used (Frozen Blood Worms has been excluded from the photo):

The Curse of Mamak Restaurants and Soccer

Every soccer season, I would be cursing the nearby Mamak restaurants and soccer. Why? They gave me sleepless nights, not because I was watching the matches but I was awaken by the noise of the bloody soccer fans at the Mamak restaurants at odd hours like 4am. Complaining to the building management, security guards and even police are useless. If I have the money I will shift away.

The law of forbidding pubs, night clubs and karaokes to close before 12am should also be imposed on Mamak restaurants with tv sets. Why the double standard? The noise from Mamak restaurants is equally noisy!!!

It's worse when I was scheduled to do a 7 days X 24 hours support. I really need my sleep!!! Bloody Hell!!! F*ck the soccer match, Mamak restaurants and big mouth soccer fans!!! F#ck them all!!!

I wonder why some people are so inconsiderate. I wonder why all these people don't have to work and able to watch soccer in the middle of the night. Are they pimps or just c@ck shakers?

Here's my curse again!!! I wish the Mamak restaurants will close down as soon as possible. My boycott on Mamak restaurants have started!! No more oily food!!!

Poor Decision By Our "Big Boss"

I personally think that it's another very bad decision by our "big boss" to hike the price of petrol and electricity. His action showed us very obviously of his poor leadership. I have to agree with Tun Dr. Mahathir that's it's time for him to step down. Ever since he took the top post of the country, how many times have the prices of all kinds of goods gone up? He's good for increasing inflation rate and nothing else!

I think it's very stupid to argue that he did it to lessen the burden of the poor. It's so obvious that the poor will have to cope with the extra burden. Yeah, the less than RM1000 annual rebate is "big deal"! I don't have to be an accountant to show you that his statement above is absolutely rubbish. If you're a person with common sense, you'll know for sure that the price hike of petrol and electricity will surely lead to the price of every items in the country to go up! Food, clothes, transportation, ...you name it...the list will never end. This is what we call inflation! How on earth are the people going to cope? Surely, the rich people will not be affected. Average Joe like us will have to pay for it.

I don't know whether this is what we call capitalism. I hope the wrong decision of the leader will not lead to a big chaos that our forefathers fought against. Once again, I am stating very clearly that I am not a leftist. I would like to warn our leader that this kind of issue often lead to the rise of leftists in various countries around the world. Please do not repeat the same mistake! Learn from the history!!!

If this kind of leadership remains in the country. I am pretty sure that our country will be in a big mess like Indonesia one day. I vote this "big boss" out for sure!

Fish Keeping For Newbie

There are a lot of myths and superstitious in fish keeping hobby. A lot of people started this hobby and learn from their mistakes. The mistakes often lead to the sacrifice of the poor fishes. I have to admit that I am no exception. Those days, there was no internet. However, I hope by sharing the information online, the same mistake can be avoided by other people. Yes, there are also a lot of forums on the internet these days that will be helpful. Some of them are already in my links. So, it's no longer an excuse to repeat the mistakes.

Here are some basic information:

1. Get a bigger tank - It's easier to maintain a bigger tank than a small one. Minimum is a standard 2 feet tank (about 15 gallon) which is also cheap except for branded ones. If disease hits your tank, it will spread slower comparing with a small tank. In additional to that, you will have more selection in terms of fishes, driftwood, rocks, etc

2. Do not change 100% of the water. Fishes need bacteria to live. Just like human, if there's no bacteria in our bodies, we will die! If you don't believe me, please do some research.

3. Get rid of chlorine before using the tap water in your tank. You may add anti-chlorine or leave the water overnight for 24 hours to remove the chlorine.

4. Do not get a large fish for your tiny tank. Some fishes sold may look small at the LFS (local fish shop) because they are still juvenile. They may turn into a giant eventually. I do not recommend an oscar/goldfish/flowerhorn/arowana/etc to be placed in a 2 feet tank. Even small active fishes such as tiger barbs and zebra danios are not recommended for a 2 feet tank - they need more space.

5. Fishes compatibility - do some research before purchasing any fish. Make sure they're not too aggressive, too shy or incompatible with your existing fishes.

6. Planted tank always looks nicer, healthier and more natural, provided you choose the right plant, supply sufficient amount of light, nutrient, substrate and for some cases...CO2 (carbon dioxide). Plants help absorbing unwanted elements discharged by the fishes.

7. It's always good to have a filter. Even a cheap internal box filter run by an air pump is better than none but it's not effective for a big tank. The best filter I come across in Malaysia is Eheim canister filter but you must be willing to pay for the price. I don't fancy the China made filter run by a power head siphoning the water to a box on placed above the tank because the current is usually too strong especially for a planted tank. It maybe suitable if you plan to keep loaches that love strong current but please don't quote me - I have not tried it myself. Furthermore, the power head generates heat increasing the temperature of the tank.

8. There is a debate regarding whether to add salt or not for a freshwater aquarium. My answer is yes and no. It depends. If you have a planted tank, my answer is no. If you keep Mollies, my answer is yes. If you have a bare tank with other livebearers (i.e. guppies, swordtails or platies), it's optional. If you keep cories, the answer is no. In other words, it depends on what you're keeping. However, I notice a lot of LFS (not all) in Malaysia use a lot of salt in all their tanks (not one table spoon or two but a handful of salt). Before purchasing the fish, check with the LFS whether they use salt in their tank. If the species is not supposed to live in brackish (mixture of salt water + fresh water) environment, you will have to slowly reduce the amount of salt over the weeks and eventually stop using it. Species that do not like salt should not be kept in brackish environment in the long run.

9. What are the good beginner's fish? Usually people tend to start with guppy, swordtail, molly, platy, neon tetra or even goldfish. My answer is neither of them. These days livebearers (guppy, swordtail, platy and molly) often carry disease because they're not well taken care of at the farm. So they're no longer as hardy as you expect. I personally think neon tetra is facing the same problem now. Goldfish generates too much waste - it's definitely not a beginner's fish. No tiger barb too unless you only want to keep a group of tiger barbs in your tank. My list of beginner's fishes are:

- Honey gourami (very hardy but it does not like water current)

- Betta/fighting fish (very hardy but it does not like water current and cannot mix with other species especially the ones with bright colour)

- Ember Tetra (beautiful tiny red fish. Best keep in a group or 6 and above)

- Lemon Tetra (they may act aggressive among themselves but harmless. Best keep in a group or 6 and above)

- Head & Tail Light Tetra (greedy and beautiful if you have moonlight. Best keep in a group or 6 and above)

- Yellow Phantom Tetra (best keep in a group or 6 and above)

- Gold Barb (they need a bigger tank because they're very active. Best keep in a group or 6 and above)

- Zebra Danio (they need a bigger tank because they're very active. Best keep in a group or 6 and above. Not the dyed version)

- Harlequin Rasbora (one of the best schooling fish. best keep in a group or 6 and above)

- Espei Rasbora (one of the best schooling fish. best keep in a group or 6 and above)

- Hengeli Rasbora (one of the best schooling fish. best keep in a group or 6 and above)

- Cherry Barb (best keep in a group or 6 and above)

- Glowlight Tetra (best keep in a group or 6 and above)

10. Do not buy any fish that you can spot dead fish in the tank. You could be bringing back disease and sick fish if you do so.


Fishes that I hate and do not recommend to anyone:
1. Dyed fish - a product of mutation and human cruelty by "tattooing" the dye onto the poor fish
2. Water-Bubble Eye/Celestial goldfish - Anytime the eye burst, it will die.
3. Balloon variety of fishes i.e. Balloon molly, balloon goldfish, etc - Another product of human cruelty.
4. Flowerhorn - Another mutant.
5. Blood Parrot Fish - And another mutant.
6. Goldfish in general - they're poo factory.
7. Man-made glow in the dark fish - We have enough natural glow in the dark species. Why create another mutant?

Hidden Facts In Our History

"History is always written by the winner" - this is a fact!!

I was inspired to write my opinion after reading an article from The Star newspaper today (15 May 2008). The article was about a female Malay communist leader, Shamsiah Fakeh. I am neither a communist sympathiser nor a person trying to discredit the country. Some people often accuses me as a traitor for writing negative elements or digging the dark sides of the country and exposing them to the public. I can tell you why I am doing so - I love this country so much that I want the best for the country. If nobody criticises, how is the country going to improve? For instance, when you were kids, if you teacher did not criticise your poor handwriting, how were you going to find out your handwriting was poor?

I know a lot of Malaysians are over sensitive about criticism regardless they're politicians or general public. I hope Malaysians could learn to be more opened-minded. Learn to accept criticism with opened-heart, study the criticism and correct the mistake. The same goes for our country's history. It is unwise to censor the history from the general public. It is more important to identify the mistakes of our forefathers and prevent repetition of their mistakes than sweeping them under the carpet to hide them.

Back to the original topic. I believe our history books have been discrediting the communists for decades in the past. There is a good reason the government has been doing so. The communists killed or murdered a lot of people in the past including their own comrades. I don't believe that the British and the government were the "angels" either. All wars are dirty anyway.

The British "used" the communists to fight the Japanese during second world war. When the war ended, the communists did the greatest mistake by killing Japanese collaborators - I believe this act might have killed innocent people in the process and some leaders might have misused their power. Anyway, the communists deserved to be credited for fighting the Japanese occupation.

The initial motive of a lot of the communists joining the arm struggled was for the benefit of the country - they were merely trying to fight for independence of the country from the British or Japanese. Unfortunately, they were eventually called traitors, murderers and totally being discredited in their struggle. I understand the world is not a fair place but these forefathers of ours deserve a little bit of respect in their unselfish act. Many of them did not do it for fame, money or power - unlike many politicians of today. They deserved to be mentioned in our history despite of some mistakes they did. We can learn and avoid repeating their wrongdoing.

To those who fought and lost their lives for independence, regardless of ideology, I hope you rest in peace. To those who fought and still alive such as Shamsiah Fakeh, I salute you and thank you!!

3 Feet Tank Update: Add Java Fern

I went to AI (Aquatic International) which was an international fish exporter/importer. I was there hunting for Kuhli Loaches - yeah, the snake/worm-liked fish. I was disappointed to find only 2 skinny Kuhli Loaches in a tank labeled "Kuhli Loach". Eventually while observing all the tanks, I spotted 3 fat Kuhli Loaches in another tank's filter. I asked for permission to catch them and purchased them since they looked healthier despite living in the filter. In terms of price, it's almost double the price I normally paid for. Anyway, I could not resist them. They're all under quarantine in a pail now.

I also purchase RM10 of Java Fern. It looked very healthy. Hopefully this time I can keep it alive. I had bad luck with Java Ferns in the past - some of you may not believe me since it's one of the easiest plant to grow.

Here's my 3 feet tank after adding the new Java Fern in the background:

Noisy Midnight Ghosts

There are a lot of noisy "ghosts" at the nearby Mamak restaurants whenever soccer season arrives. They remind me of Poltergeist.

Imagining, you're sleeping soundly at 3am-4am, suddenly you jump out of your bed because a group of "ghosts" shouted "GOAL!!!!" thinking the apartment was on fire. If you're a light sleeper, you could not sleep in the first place because the television set was blasting off really loud in the middle of the night.

I wonder where are the brains of those Mamak operators. It's fine if they want to run their business 24 hours but disturbing the peace after 12am - 7am is unacceptable. Where are the police? Well, I can tell you my experience. I called them once and the response I received was "Biasalah" (It's normal). Isn't it their duty to prevent people from making noise after midnight? I bet the policemen were watching and yelling "Goal!!" in the middle of the night too. This is the reliability of our police force!! They rather waste their time on something ridiculous like arresting people for their dress code.

I think all the Mamak restaurants should be banned from turning on their television sets after 12am. Since they cannot control their customers from making noise, they should not be allowed to switch on the television sets. If they can afford to have a sound proof restaurant, they can go ahead. The midnight noise rule is applicable to night clubs & pubs. I believe this should be applicable to all kinds of restaurants, shopping complexes and shops unless they can operate without any noise.

Rules & Regulation

I personally think that there are a lot of ridiculous rules and regulation in our entertainment and art sector. Sometimes I would laugh my head off talking about it. Those rules and regulation actually restrict the creativity of our artistes. I am not referring to pornography....I am referring to ridiculous examples as follows. They could be the current or the old rules and regulation. I am glad the old ones are history. I hope nobody will repeat it again...let's bury them for good.

1. Supernatural element was banned because they're non-Islamic. I wonder what has happened with the rules now! It's all in the mind of the minister.

2. No Caucasian looks allowed on advertisement. I guess the minister wanted someone who looked like him...ugly!!!

3. No alcohol advertisement. I have no objection but why do I see them these days????

4. Besides four letter words, I believe songs with words such as "cigarette", "sex", "alcohol", etc are not allowed on the radio. Do we need such restriction?? What if the lyric is "we don't need no cigarette!!!"??? Please don't blame the DJs, they're innocent. Trust me, a lot of them don't like the restriction too. Blame the minister and the radio authority.

5. No blues jeans allowed in advertisement. It's considered too Westernise. I didn't realise this until a friend told me. I hope this rule is buried deep down in hell.

6. Long haired men were not allowed on tv. No heavy metal rockers...rockers have to keep their hair short to be on tv. I guess even Jesus was banned

I guess the list will be endless if I don't stop listing them now. I would like to urge those who set the rules and regulation to use their brains wisely and rules & regulation should be consistent. We cannot afford to have a rule added because one minister says so. Remove another rule because the minister says so. Those are not rules and regulation!!! Those are the minister's personal preferences!!!!

Going Aqua

No, I am not turning into an "Ah Kua" (fag). Just sharing my recent aquarium setup.

I started this hobby since I was 5 or 6 years old with some bettas my dad brought home. Although I quit the hobby in the 90s for more than a decade but I have eventually returned to my root. I have to admit I did it the wrong way in fish keeping in the past. Thanks to the internet that I have learned the proper way.

Keeping fish is no longer a cheap hobby because it involves lots of high tech stuff. The hobby is not just about keeping a goldfish in a bare tank. It has grown very advanced these days.

I "adopted" an abandoned standard 3 feet tank from my neighbour. It is now my sixth tank. It's still in a very good condition. Free tank but it's not free to set it up. Trust me, I spent a fortune for it. This tank of mine is considered a low tech setup because it does not even use any CO2 and I am only keeping low light plants with low maintenance. Here's a list of the expenses (minus water bill, electricity bill, fishes, fish food, fertiliser, petrol and time):

1. Used 2215 Eheim filter: RM250
2. Lighting with two 36 watt PLLs: RM200
3. Driftwoods + Rocks: RM80
4. Holland Sand: RM80
5. Plants: I got some of them free and paid a friend RM10 to cover his transport. I have saved a lot due to my friends
6. Stand: RM75
7. Paint & Brush: About RM20 (I repainted the newly purchased stand because of some scratches)

List of plants:

1. Narrow Leaf Ferns
2. Anubias Nana
3. Philippines Ferns
4. A tiny clump of Weeping Moss I think (I added in unintentionally)
5. Subwassertang (sea grass)....hmm, it sounds like German...perhaps it's in German

List of fishes:
1. Yellow Phantom Tetras
2. Boraras Maculatus
3. Kuhli Loaches
4. Cherry Barbs
5. Ottocinclus Affinis
6. Siamese Algae Eaters

Sorry, I hardly count the number of fishes in my tanks.


Thanks to Nasir for the plants, guidance and spending hours with me selecting driftwoods. Also thanks to Sonia for the plants.

During the phrase of testing the tank for leakage:



The tank as of today. Cycling process has just ended: