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: