Just A Musing

2011-03-05T17:42:00.000+08:00

Power up!

2010-02-28T13:19:00.002+08:00

I spotted this on the way to my aunt's house, it's kinda cool, really, especially if u've witnessed yourself how slow old people or disabled people take to cross the road...and drivers (who are typically younger) would be revving their engines impatiently behind the wheels because the traffic light says 'go'.

But, the first thing that came to my mind is like this tapping device thing is like some power up...so, yeah, if u can imagine yourself playing a video game, or cattan, it's some power card that gives you the edge over others.

My recycling project

2010-02-03T15:15:00.003+08:00

So, i'm in this extra curricular activity. And we wanna tell the NUS community about recycling and all. So, I thought of putting a presentation online. But putting power point slides is probably not heard of, unless u're expecting ur audience to download, open, and yeah. it's a hassle.

so, a course mate introduced me to prezi.com, which looks impressive.

this is my work:

what do u think?

What do you get when vodka meets watermelon?

2009-11-17T09:26:00.002+08:00

So, my bro was telling me that he got drunk after eating watermelon...

what a brilliant idea.

was trying to get 1 of our friends to go a lil high and get him talking, but he doesn't like to drink alcoholic stuff because the taste sucks. So... i think watermelon should tame his taste buds a lil...

wicked sick... i call it!

The truth hurts... Really?

2009-08-21T21:33:00.002+08:00

I think it's often said that the truth hurts, especially when revealing a truth to someone which is socially/publicly perceived as negative, ie ugly, fat, pimple-ish, etc.

Part of the problem is public perception and social standard, and of course this refers to one's physical appearance. This short thought is limited in its application, for it certainly can't be applied to truth revealing mediocrity, for mediocrity should rightly be perceived as negative. Having said that, mediocrity refers to a non-committal attitude to excel to one's best effort. For even some have put in all effort and resources, but yet fall short of "results" which generally perceive as the litmus to the hard work behind it.

200 pounds beauty, a Korean show, certainly reveal how much lies and deception create a broken and unmeaningful life, although it was thought that the utility would outweigh the consequences of living a life of deception.

2 climaxes, I would say. firstly the climax of achieving the goal of living a life of deception - getting what was desired that was perceived not attainable when living a life of truth. This followed by the consequences of deception - breaking ties with what was most meaningful, genuine relationship.

the 2nd climax is reconciliation with truth. Bringing all lies to 'limelight' and admitting to her shortcomings. Not only she inspired her fans to be confident in their own identity and the concept of "God is the only one who can do everything; We humans do what we're capable of." she also healed her broken relationship with her dad, friend and dog.

Sometimes we wonder "why must people take diet pills? why should they do plastic surgery and hurt themselves? why do people commit suicide (relationship issues)?" But all the more we should ask ourselves "How have we portrayed ourselves to the extent that it makes others feel worse than they already acknowledge?" Although out of weakness, a victim of self-abuse to attain public expectation resorts to such drastic decisions should not bear the burden of absolute blame on himself/herself. We must remember that this pressure received was formed by a collective agreement that he/she is not 'one of us'.

This reminds me of Varsity Christian Fellowship (VCF) Freshmen Orientation Camp (FOC) 2009. The speaker rightly impressed in our hearts and minds the concept of a Shalomic Kingdom - one that empowers and enables one another. The public perception above is bad enough to people who fall in that 'negative' category, rubbing salt into an open wound would just be plain sadistic.

This Shalomic Kingdom does not mean that we ought to lie to fat and ugly people. No, lying would just make things worst. Rather, in as much as we know that they acknowledge that they are so, we accept them as people created in the image of God and formed by God, just as much we receive people who are more 'positively' perceived. For if we do not treat everyone equally, are we reflecting the Truth of Christ dying for ALL?

Beyond receiving people such as these, we inspire, influence the public to reshape their worldview, to reevaluate their attitude towards them, we empower these people who are prone to self-pity and low self-confidence to rise up just as others who were more advantages because they fit well into this 'public perception' mold.

How is 1Malaysia diff. from Malaysian Malaysia?

2009-06-29T00:33:00.002+08:00

U'd probably be asking... what on earth is Malaysian Malaysia? Precisely, it's never heard of. unless u study ur history more in depth. Malaysian Malaysia was mooted by Lee Kuan Yew, the then party leader of People's Action Party, when they contested in the General Elections in Malaya when Singapore merged.

Guess what?

PAP won the bangsar seat against MCA. the rest is history.

So, the million dollar question is, how does Najib's slogan differ from LKY's slogan? Problem is, if it doesn't differ, then Najib is definitely changing the direction of UMNO, and the members shudn't be happy at all.

If there's a diff. What?

Personally, I don't see any difference at all. When we're called Malaysians, then are we not one? Only when we start differentiating chinese from malays from indians from ibans from etc. etc. then we have many! But if we're 1Malaysia, is it not also Malaysian Malaysia?

Then maybe one might say "no, no, no, no, no. 1 Malaysia still protects the interest of the Malays." Wait, doesn't that reasoning translates to 1Malay? or 2Malaysia?

Although, I would admit in the past I am in agreement to recognize the Malays to have special position because they do not abuse that recognition to the point of racism and racial polarisation. In today's context, to give anyone party special treatment tantamounts to racism.

I would love to recognize them as one of the original people, but not in expense of the recognition of chinese and indians and all other malaysians, whose citizenship is guaranteed under the Federal Constitution, it will never make us immigrants.

I suspect, that Najib's new slogan was made in lieu that majority of the new generation is ignorant to that historical fact. So far, not many of my circle of friends know about "Malaysian Malaysia", besides the Singaporeans. Well, what is this ignorance that benefits Najib? I'm not too sure yet. Maybe I'm wrong about the whole ignorance thing.

A random thought

2009-06-28T01:00:00.002+08:00

So about 1000 thoughts are processed a second...and this was what came out

"If ignorance is bliss, then it isn't that blissful after all. Because it was a blissful thing not to be ignorant that ignorance is bliss."

Is that a catch-22? C=

What if you have a clone who could save your life?

2009-06-17T20:30:00.002+08:00

The Island. Directed by Michael Bay.

It's an awesome show. I remember Yale interviewer was asking me if I had watched this show after I told him I wish to go into stem cell research and cloning stuff. Too bad, I hadn't watch it that time. But now I have, and now I know why he asked.

So, basically, scientists managed to clone humans, a full clone, inclusive of soul and spirit, the intention? To harvest their organs for the 'rubber stamp' which is dying of whatever disease, or an advanced botox treatment.

However, scientists were not able to create humans without any soul and spirit without producing defective organs, in other words, the clones must be fully human, in order for them to save their 'rubber stamp' or owners.

How do they keep these cloned humans from knowing the truth? brainwash them from day 1.

However, one clone, the 'echo' batch had some irregularities, and the main character, lincoln, obtained some past memories that his owner had. It baffled the scientists (it is possible, perhaps the cells which was harvested from the owner somehow contained some information on neuron networks in the brain which formed in the clone.). Anyway, he became curious about everything and sought the truth, and he found it. Sounds familiar? Yeah, but i kinda forgot from where of the Good Book. what more, it set him free. Now THAT is 100% identical.

Ok. just go watch the movie and u'll know the rest of the story.

So, the company was running with their clients thinking that their clones are in a vegetative state. of course, it was false. So, since the clients were ignorant, are they wrong in purposely 'creating' life only to kill for their organs? Or is this reponsibility solely lie on the company? I think the clients made a conscious decision that they weren't creating life, but it's just like making insulin out of bacteria for the good of mankind, making organs to keep them alive. However, for the company to continue with the business despite knowing that it was wrong (hence deception and secrecy), they gained the money but ironically lose their souls (remember, they ARE creating souls).

Another thing is about 'truth'. What is truth and how can one determine what is truth? Must it be all empirical (experience) or can truth be founded on faith, which is not necessarily empirical? Although in this movie, it is like an individual in an atheistic society who found god, by traveling OUT of that society or confinement, and SAW the truth before his eyes. (the story can be likened to Plato's Cave). However, today, the debate of whether God exists is a never-ending one (well, not exactly for individual sense, it ends when the individual dies). For we all know that God today is not observable in this dimension, but the next dimension. So, how is one to escape to the next dimension? death. Well, it ends there, he can't really come back reporting, unless he was raised from the dead.

However, we know in historical records, God did come to earth, perhaps not once, but many times - he came in a Person, or Jesus Christ. Although we do not today have the privilege to see Jesus personally, it really doesn't make a diff. Look, even in those days, the Jews were in unbelief, except a few. The pagan worshipers were also not convinced, until at that final moment (the Roman guard). Even so, those who had close encounter with Jesus during his lifetime and after his death, were still ignorant. One might reason that 'why should we believe in Jesus if we don't see him?' would be struck speechless that it doesn't make a diff whether or not one sees Jesus in person. What is important after knowing that Jesus exist is to know WHO Jesus is. How? go read HIStory. After knowing all these, your response would determine who you are. Christian or not, the choice is in your hands. And for that, we each regard as truth, as though we had traveled beyond our world and discovered God, would you share that truth with others to set them free as it set YOU free?

Anyway, go watch that show.

Fiddle on the Roof Top

2009-06-14T23:44:00.003+08:00

"TRADITION!!!" "Change is happening!" "See the world!"

are the central themes of "Fiddle on the Roof Top." The show revolves around this particular Jewish village somewhere near Russia. Probably the exiles found the village. I didn't watch the beginning, but I know it also revolves around a dad, mom and 5 daughters. Generally, since they are living with Gentiles and learned Gen-Y Jews, the village was being bombarded by change, and they refused to change.. often chanting "Tradition!!!"

So, as tradition speaks, a daughter will be matched with another boy, and the boy is obliged to request the girl's dad for her hand. Generally, the matchmaker gives the 1st level of approval, then the dad (or more like mom, since mom coerces dad to approve it, because she's convinced by the matchmaker).

So, there's this old butcher whose wife died... and he wishes to marry someone. The matchmaker matched him with the eldest daughter. Meanwhile, the eldest daughter is in love with the Rabbi's only son, but the Rabbi was a real chicken and did not asked the dad while he had the chance. So, dad went to see him (well, it was a whole big joke, he thought the butcher wants his milk cow). and anw, gave approval.

Then both the daughter and Rabbi came begging...and the dad reasoned with God, and saw the happiness of his daughter through her eyes...and approved.... oops! "OH NO! What am I gonna tell the Butcher?!"

But the biggest problem is his wife.

And he made up a dream where the butcher's wife came back to life and threaten to haunt their eldest daughter if the marriage with the butcher ever takes place. So the wife was convinced. Smart guy.

Then the 2nd daughter fell in love with a learned Jew. this couple was 1 level more outrageous than the 1st. They disregard the Dad's approval, and just asked for his blessings - "We're not here to ask your permission, whether u approve or not, we're getting married. we just want your blessing." then the dad funnily reasoned with God "anw, whom did Adam and Eve got their permission from?" and the dad responded "I give both my approval and blessings" happy.

Then the 3rd daughter fell in love with a Gentile and wanted 2 marry him. This time dad said "I can bend against my tradition, but bending it too far, i'll break!" so no. and the daughter ran away and married a Gentile who was Roman Catholic. And dad disowned her saying "She's dead"

Anw, the dad eventually accepted her, at the end of the movie.

While all these were happening, he lamented a lot of life's difficulties he was going through - poverty, eviction by some unknown government, etc. so, the movie had many themes, but rich in lessons.

So, the moral of the story is: "CHANGE HAPPENS!" nonetheless, traditions are important. It reflects how man deal with change. It depends how much one could bend against tradition. For the dad, marrying the Gentile was the snapping point, and thus the strict "NO" and disowning of his daughter, but which came in forgiveness, not so much to say he gave in to agree with this particular change, but to keep the family together.

You see, in as much as one as adamant to resist against change, one culture could remain static in all aspects, but one thing changed, or was added on - the need to resist change. So, you got like 101 things in your culture, and now is 102. So it has changed.

So, how do you face change? Do you prepare to accept change or do you let change break you? Either way, you're gonna change, the former, would lead to a smoother life, while the latter, a bumpier ride.

Go watch it.

(A sneak peek.)

All about advertisement

2009-06-05T22:06:00.001+08:00

McDonalds Malaysia is truly ingenious with their marketing strategy with their attempt to make a strong presence on Facebook.

Indeed, social networking sites are lately targeted by companies to sell their products across both the older and younger generation, especially facebook. If you haven't notice, with the help of high internet penetration and user-friendly platforms, even the wiser folks like my dad who just retired uses facebook.

So, in any case, McDs is giving out iPhones to the best campaigner of their recent McValue LUNCH deals. Hope I get it ^^!

p.s. you can show your support by leaving a "honk!" comment on my wall post on FB.

Jo! I found our favourite episode of Whose Line!

2009-06-05T09:44:00.002+08:00

Those were the Caltex days...haha!

Who is the rightful Perak MB? – empiricism versus rationalism.

2009-05-28T23:48:00.001+08:00

One day as I enter the lecture hall for my elective philosophy subject, I was in for a surprise and probably one of the best lectures I ever had – I learned something new! All out of a simple story. Thanks, Prof. John Holbo.

Back in 1596, when mankind was still figuring out a lot of things, some of which are figured out today, including the Solar System and existence, a guy name Johannes Kepler, chanced upon a geometry solution to why the Solar System has 6 planets (yes, they thought there were only 6 planets, probably influenced by the Creation in 6 days story) and not any other number.

(Imagine 3-D from now on) Starting with a sphere, we place Saturn on its periphery, and squeeze a cube into the sphere, and then another smaller sphere into the cube for Jupiter, repeat procedure with a tetrahedron for Mars, then a dodecahedron for Earth, then an icosahedron for Venus, an Octahedron for Mercury and finally – the Sun! And we’re done constructing a thought out Solar System.

Of course, you might say “What nonsense!” That, is thanks to observations done by other scientists. Kepler was a rationalist, but the scientists were empiricists – which discovered what our Solar System is and is currently exploring the whole universe, all by observation or as our favourite Wikipedia puts it ‘empiricism is a theory of knowledge which asserts that knowledge arises from experience.’

But wait, what does this have to do with ‘Who is the rightful Perak MB?’

After reading the analysis of this case by learned formal Court of Appeal judge, NH Chan, I could see to some degree that one party’s legitimacy stems out of rationalism, while the other stems out of empiricism. Although, I must qualify that the party which ascribed to rationalism is not entirely dependent on rational thought. But what they did try was to rationalize what is found out of experience, or in this case, the State Constitution.

I was once at lost when the crisis began. I had mixed feelings, for I supported elected representatives to jump ship, but merely so that the opposition could take over. Never did it occur to me that this allowance is a two-way motion – even BN can take over Perak, with the method I personally approve. Therefore, I took personal initiative to follow up this case, including reading the actual written judgement by High Court judge Abdul Aziz. Rather than stand by the side of rationalism and theorize my opinion, which is bound to be biased to the opposition in any case.

Before I move on, I would like to make a comment on a recent forum titled ‘From May 13 to 1Malaysia’ held by the opposition in Dewan Sivik Petaling Jaya, of which NH Chan was one of the speakers, who did not receive much attention, because the audience was there for a ‘ceramah’, not a forum. I express much doubt on whether the general opposition supporters know consciously why they are supporting them besides blind agreement that corruption and its like is rampant in Malaysia without hard cold facts after attending the forum and a very mob-like audience, which cheered for key phrase such as ‘Nizar adalah MB yang sah!’ and the likes and jeered when the murder of a Mongolian issue was raised again.

I once held the opinion that Nizar was the rightful MB of Perak, only because I supported the opposition, and because the general consensus is that he should be. With such convenience, why should I bother to find out ‘WHY?’ After all, what are the chances of the majority forming a conspiracy? Close to zero? But I was wrong, I was following the mentality of Polemarchus in Republic I by Plato which stands by ‘justice is helping friends and harming enemies’. Which could just act blindly, even if the friends were unjust.

Now I know what Nizar actually pursued in the High Court, and why he is still the rightful MB of Perak, as so the verdict was given by the High Court, and the Court of Appeal, from the read out judgement, has probably ‘agreed’ with the High Court’s ruling, but is not well understood by the general public, except that it is understood that the Court of Appeal ‘overturned’ the High Court’s decision.

The Court of Appeal held the view that:
• Dissolution of the State Assembly was the royal prerogative.
• Dissolution was made under Article 16 and not Article 36 of the State Constitution.

The latter point is the only point that was disagreed upon, and is the crucial point to determine the verdict of the case.

From the written judgement of the High Court, I come to an understanding that Nizar was seeking for an interpretation of Aritcle 16 (6), which requires him to resign when he has lost the confidence of the majority in the State Assembly, and is not granted dissolution of the State Assembly. Of which the case was that he actually requested dissolution under Article 36, written to the Sultan of Perak. But the media quoted Article 16 instead. Nonetheless, if a doubt arises and that Article 16 was intended, there was no evidence of a no-confidence in the State Assembly, except the opinion of the Sultan, which in Article 16(2) allows the Sultan to exercise his discretionary powers to determine who is ‘likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Assembly’. By rational, if BN falls in that category, certainly PAKATAN can’t command the majority too, right? I believe, this is the case for BN. (but of course, one has forgotten that a deadlock could exist)

On the other hand, Article 16(6) provides that the MB must ‘cease to command the confidence of the majority…’ and must resign unless granted dissolution by the Sultan. By rational thought, this is established. But empirically, the Constitution, taken as a whole, of which the learned High Court Judge quotes from NS Bindra’s Interpretation of Statutes 9th Edition, to establish the necessity to take the Constitution as a whole, states that (I quote from the written judgement, pg 58):
• “Article 16(5) Perak State Constitution states that the Executive Council shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly (LA).”
• “Article 16(2)(a) the MB is appointed to preside over the Executive Council.”
• “Article 16(6) speaks of ‘If the MB ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the LA…’”
• Therefore, “it is the LA that determines whether it has confidence in the MB as the Head of the Executive Council… through a vote of no confidence against the MB.”
Both cases were different in that BN thinks that the MB holds office at His Royal Highness’ pleasure, and therefore can be dismissed or determined that the MB has ceased to command the confidence of the majority (well, since the Sultan can appoint a MB, why can’t he dismiss one?). And therefore, since the Sultan has not acceded to the MB’s request, he should therefore resign or be dismissed.

But that is contrary to what Article 16(7) says – “a member of the Executive Council other than the MB shall hold office at His Royal Highness’ pleasure…” and therefore:
• The Sultan’s prerogative cannot determine whether the MB has lost confidence of the LA.
• The Sultan cannot dismiss the MB.

Therefore, I challenge all Malaysians out there, who might have been like me, who theorized and rationalized without any hard facts to now “Turn over that rock and see what crawls out.” – Aristotle. In other words, read the constitution, read the written judgements before taking a position.

I am just reiterating what NH Chan wrote in his analysis, of which he expressed his puzzlement as how does the decision of the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s verdict. I too, after reading his analysis is now like a victim of a stingray, who is paralyzed and numbed to the findings of the Court of Appeal. But perhaps, once the written judgement is released, I might be alleviated of my paralysis and numbness.

Together?

2009-04-25T10:11:00.001+08:00

Hmm...never thought this word can be seen as a fusion of 3 other words and they make sense!

To-Get-Her! hahahahhaha...makes sense for guys.

anw, stumbled on a TV guide and a Taiwan drama's name is such.

Spidey @ NUS

2009-04-23T16:13:00.001+08:00

This, remains a mystery. At least, now I know there's some life in NUS. hahaha.

Murder is not what you think.

2009-04-22T23:40:00.001+08:00

The unjust murder of one person, is the murder of many.

-Jason Lai

(I think i should immortalize this saying)

Huh?????

2009-04-18T23:02:00.002+08:00

To: All Residents
Prince George’s Park Residences
FALSE FIRE ALARMS
There have been a number of cases of false fire alarms at PGPR caused by residents’ behaviour or activities within their rooms.
Such occurrences are undesirable as it reduces residents’ alertness in time of real fire and posed a nuisance to residents.
Some alarms were caused by overheated food due to unattended cooking.
Please be aware of your responsibilities under Paragraph 11 of the Housing Agreement.
Do
•Cook and prepare food in the kitchen area
•Ensure corridors are clear of clutter
•Allow ventilation to prevent build up of steam in the common bathroom
•Be a good neighbour and ensure correct behaviour is adhered to within your cluster area
Don’t
•Cook, Smoke, or use naked flames in your room
•Use incense sticks, candles mosquito coils or sparklers in your room
•Adapt or alter electrical outlets or appliances.
•Over load electrical circuits.
•Be involved in inappropriate behaviour or activity that can lead to a false fire alarm.
To avoid inconvenience to yourselves and for the benefit of all residents in the cluster, we seek your co-operation not to conduct any activities that may activate the fire alarm system linked to your room and not to leave your cooking unattended.
Regrettably, disciplinary action would be taken accordingly against the defaulting party.
Yours faithfully
Management
Prince George’s Park Residences

Look at those statements in bold...do they make any sense at all???

Ensure corridors are clear of clutter

What on earth has clutters on corridors got to do with triggering false alarms??? I just can't seem to imagine any normal circumstances that will lead to a false alarm...(shoes are the common clutters) suppose a shoe decided to fly and break the fire alarm switch???????
Or, I guess, they think that some of the clutters would catch fire, and thus set off a false alarm...wait..false alarm? wouldn't that be a REAL alarm???

Allow ventilation to prevent build up of steam in the common bathroom
This is reasonable...problem is...we can't do anything to prevent steam build up, it is not as though we are equipped with any ventilating tools to assist us in this...thus the statement is pretty much redundant and hence falls on the responsibility of the management to do something about the toilets.

Adapt or alter electrical outlets or appliances. & Over load electrical circuits.

Ok, things are getting weirder...wouldn't that lead to a real fire/short circuit??? I just don't know what to make of this. (remember, it's about false alarms)

Be involved in inappropriate behaviour or activity that can lead to a false fire alarm.

The mother of all weirdness.... What on earth inappropriate behaviour?? it sort of suggests a couple being carried away while making out and accidentally breaks the fire alarm switch...at least irresponsible behaviour wouldn't sound as weird.

I just don't know what else to say...

Shall we pray for the weak to be strong?

2009-04-09T23:21:00.003+08:00

DUH.

Was just talking to this Singaporean parent as he fetches me back to campus.

'you know, Singapore is here today, successful and prosperous, only because Malaysia couldn't put their act together.'

I was thinking, 'ah, now I see the arrogance of Singaporeans...finally...'

'Indeed, the Malaysian government must change from their old ways. It's very unfortunate that we are like this now.' I replied.

'Yeah, and the Singapore government gets it all right , they are all brilliant people, just imagine how much they can contribute to Malaysia! But of course, we got 'em.'

He continued, 'If Malaysia manages to get out of their mess, Singapore is doomed!'

I thought, 'too bad then. Since you guys are good at surviving, go figure.' (of course, i wouldn't wanna hurt his feelings, since he offered me a ride back, saved quite a bit of trouble, and since we're having a conversation, not an argument, i'll just let him swipe at the Malaysian government, since they deserve it anyway.)

So, I was just thinking, how is it possible for Singaporeans to pray for justice, righteousness and equality to prevail in Malaysia? By so doing, based on their assumptions that if Malaysia gets on her feet, Singapore is doomed, would pretty much hinder them to genuinely pray for such a thing, I can understand.

Hence, the paradox. Though they have so much faith in their government, and depend on them entirely, the true picture really is because of Malaysia's position as a messed up country. Effectively what my friend is saying, we don't really have faith in the Singapore government, we have faith in the Malaysian government to continue to mess up.

But indeed, their doubt (of a third or more possibilities of events if Malaysia were to rise) hinders them to consider the Person of God, desiring to see justice and righteousness anywhere at all, whether Malaysia or Zimbabwe. We ought to continue to pray for these to prevail. Furthermore, we ought to be aware, rather than ignorant, and encourage our brothers and sisters to be concerned for such issues. One person can't handle all, so share the burden, and uplift each other.

Well, then he continued 'you Malaysians studied for about 12 years in expense of Malaysia tax payer's $$, and Singapore just spend 3 years worth, and we gotcha! how smart of us!'

I thought, 'yes, yes. but not that I would stay here. I just wanna get out of here QUICK!'

well, but in the end, the whole conversation begets a question, 'Should we bright Malaysians come back to serve the country despite of it being messed up?'

My opinion is - We are not obligated. God's calling? Define God's calling for me before you consider your answer. I don't like the idea if one imposes 'fear' of God by invoking that all Malaysians overseas are bound to God's calling to serve in Malaysia. In fact, for people to encourage bright Malaysians overseas to come back by citing the reason "it's God's calling" must define God's calling effectively that his/her audience very well understood what that meant. I think it is very irresponsible to stir a false fear for God because the definition of God's calling was vague, in that these Malaysians feared God because of a misunderstood definition of God's calling and caused unnecessary anxiety.

It is like a person feeling guilty for singing out of tune or sung the wrong words during worship, and endlessly asked for God's forgiveness for that, only because someone did not educate the meaning of worship correctly.

Fine is a weak word.

2009-04-09T23:19:00.003+08:00

'How are you?'

'I'm fine.'

'As fine as a needle?'

'no, i'm finished (fine is a musical terminology for finish, ie end the music).'

BUT, my econs lecturer said:

"Singapore has a FINE government."

Go figure.

Ignorance is bliss...

2009-04-09T17:46:00.002+08:00

But what about assumptions?

Assumptions may not necessarily denote ignorance, although it does, in some sense set the basis for arguments without any backing. One can imagine a levitating platform.

'Assume Caleb is a cow. Cows get mad cow disease. Caleb gets mad cow disease.' Although all 3 sentences are consistent with each other, it not necessarily denote truth. Just whether the sentences follow or not. Perhaps you may say 'Caleb gets mad cow disease' is correct with respect to the assumption.

Well, but that assumption is certainly plain ignorant.

'Assume that diversity of life came out of evolution. Human life will not be in danger despite global warming, since due to natural selection, the humans immune to pollution will survive.'

Ah, is that assumption ignorant? Not entirely, since through observation, one can theorize the plausibility of evolution. Nonetheless, many concepts in biology stems from the theory of evolution. If anything goes wrong with that theory, all our text books will definitely need revision.

Anyway, saying that you are busy and thus can't reply a message occasionally, and then replying occasionally and not replying at all occasionally would be an effective way to psyche a person to think that you are busy and thus can't reply. More so, that person would ASSUME that you are busy, and thus won't feel 'dumped'. But how long will that last? Until the foundation crashes on the floor, since there isn't anyhow possible for a foundation could levitate.

Assumption is destructive.

therefore, ignorance is not assumption.

Economic Crisis explained

2009-04-07T16:03:00.001+08:00

haha...my econs lecturer used this to start his lecture. at least now i understood wat ppl meant 'creative accounting'

why do people lose?

2009-04-01T01:23:00.002+08:00

yeah, emo emo.

so, i'm stuck in this pressure island because i lost in the race to study in US (well, like by a centimeter into Wesleyan, which now i know is a super liberal university, but if it gets me to the States, i wouldn't mind, but NUS= No US, is where I am)

but at least, this badly discouraging, dissatisfied and regret feeling would be something to cheer a friend on who got nothing but one university in the States, Wisconsin, which is quite a reputable university anw (and yes, that person is emo-ing, which is incomprehensible by me, since if i were in his shoes, i would be jumping up and down, can't wait to fly to the States.)

Yeah, I regret not applying to the UCs, I should had, and I would had probably gotten in one of them. Probably San Diego, which is ranked better than NUS, and perhaps things wud be different. but that's the past, can't do much bout it. at least i know someone else 'took' the place that was meant for me, if i applied to the UCs, and that would make that person happy =).

Well, so, in a sense the people who lost can encourage the relative winner to move on, when they should be able to do so themselves.

So, Kenneth, Wisconsin for you, period.

women woo men... duh!

2009-04-01T01:16:00.001+08:00

but men woo women.

Mind, Heart, Soul and Strength

2009-03-28T10:18:00.002+08:00

Luk 10:27 ESV
(27) And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

ever wonder what is 'heart', 'soul', 'strength' and 'mind'?
Strong's Dictionary defines:

heart - kardia: literally the organ and figuratively the thoughts or feelings (which the Hebrew philosophers would include the 'mind', that's why in the OT, you won't find the 'mind' present in the above command)

soul - psuche: breath, that is, (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151(pneuma), which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other from G2222(zoe), which is mere vitality, even of plants
(ignore the G2222 etc, they are codes to words)

strength - ischus: forcefulness (literally or figuratively): - ability, might ([-ily]), power, strength.

mind - dianoia: deep thought, properly the faculty (mind or its disposition), by implication its exercise: - imagination, mind, understanding.

So, what does it mean to love the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind? Is a man made up of these 4 components only or more? or Jesus is just paraphrasing from a Hebrew scripture to a Greek scripture to picture the whole being of a man?

am I human? maybe not, currently. I think i've exercised the aspect of the 'mind' too much while omitting the 'heart'. The logic, which is rigid and not able to tolerate illogical things has perhaps dominate my life for awhile. The heart, i suppose, is the aspect to tolerate illogical things, and seek to loosen out the rigid mind. A balance of both, would make life, sensible, i guess.

I suppose, without the heart, one is not able to communicate with others. one is not able to make long lasting relationship, because most, if not all has not omitted the aspect of the heart. If everything got to make sense guided by certain rules, if relationship and friendship is governed by that, sadness, happiness, joy, depression, achievement, failures, is most likely absent or never perceivable.

Anyway, i don't know wat i'm talking about. just being a typewriter of my thoughts.

Code Geass

2009-03-26T13:11:00.002+08:00

AHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhh....

juz when i thought i won't watch any other anime besides naruto to avoid addiction, i have fallennnnn.........

oh well, my neighbour saw my monstrous list of videos in my 500GB hard drive which smith gave me, and 'Code Geass' caught his attention, saying its a super good anime series...

so, my pledge to watch naruto only was at the back of my mind and one day... while i have nothing to do, i thought 'y not give it a shot, its just another anime, it won't be THAT good i guess (cuz my neighbour likes shows like euro trip, scary movie and all these mindless slap stick movies)'

NOT.

I'm stuck with it, and it seems like i cant stop till i'm done with it. a total of 2 seasons.

Code Geass, is a wonderful thought experiment translated into a series. You should watch it, if u r prepared to spare about 5 hours a day stuck to it. hahaha...

hmm...puny punny

2009-03-23T02:22:00.001+08:00

So I was at Ps. Khin Wee's house the other day...and i needed to check my mail.

Me: I need to check my mail.
PKW: How about your feMAIL?
Me: er?
*pause*

*pause*

Me: I don't have feMAIL, I got 'Gemail' (Gmail lah!)

*pause*

*pause*

*pause*

all: HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

The sad thing is, the youth in my church here don't like puns, they think it's lame. More often than not, they call me lame...

but the thing is... THE LAME WALKS!

so...they wanna kill me instead.

The Matrix

2009-03-23T00:57:00.003+08:00

Interesting... I think i've watched it for the 4th time...and i do suppose everytime i'll get a new thought and able to analyze the philosophy behind the Matrix better.

Well, the Matrix assumes that everything must be at a balance, and hence the Architect. if there is a +1 then there must be a -1. This is consistent with Einstein's theory of equilibrium - everything in the universe balances out, there is always an opposite of everything.

So, the Matrix proposes a thought experiment. Suppose that everything must be in a balance, then there must be someone or something that governs the balance. However, if there is someone or something that governs the balance, there will be an opposite - the one who unbalance the equation - the Oracle. and, in a sense, we got a contradiction.

Yeah, so in the end, its the battle of who wins. haha... but nevertheless, the authors of the Matrix proposes that it all boils down to choice. and they elaborated it in detail in the 2nd part of the Matrix when Neo had a lengthy conversation with the Oracle.

go and watch again, if you like. haha

NEPAL!!!

2009-03-19T19:52:00.001+08:00

So, I'm going to Nepal again this June. tentativly 16-26 June! soooooooooooooooooo....anybody interested to join me?

My 1st handmade webbie

2009-03-08T15:33:00.002+08:00

Haha...so i am currently attending this IT course that teaches me how to do web designing...its quite cool...so i used Microsoft Publisher to do this.

Weeeeeeeeeee

2009-02-26T13:10:00.003+08:00

"early bird catches the worm."

hmm...catch the worm? what for? not that I want fish, nor do i want to consume worms, I'd rather have the early bird for breakfast.

写华语！

2009-02-23T16:14:00.002+08:00

wahahahahaha! 虽然我的好朋友，司秘特 (smith) tag 我用马来文写这个post, 我决定用华语写吧！hahahaha! 还不错！我以为我正的不会写华语了，但是这证明我还会。

好啦，我admit我一定写不出来如果没有这个program帮我认识这些汉字。

好吧，让我开时写故事。今天，我去了Sentosa Island。我和几位教堂朋友和他们的澳洲朋友去那儿。我的教堂朋友是:William, Henry 和 Joash. Henry 带了Terry, Lee 和 Charles. Terry 和 Lee 是从中国来的，whereas Charles 是新加坡人，现在当兵。

本来，Joash 说八点半在MRT站等他，但是，我们都睡不醒，结果我们都迟到了。

我们就十一点到了Sentosa Island的沙滩玩volleyball.Terry 和 Lee 去别的地方走走，应为他们没来过这里。就留下我们五个人玩 - 3vs2。我们玩了一会儿，一个中国人，Bobby, 就和我们玩。那我们就能玩3vs3 吧！过后，我们见到Charles的兵友(army friend)我们就一起玩。好玩哦！

过后，我们吃午餐 - Ham+Cheese Sandwich (肉cheese面包??) 我们也在那儿拍照，和Merlion拍照，做了各种各样的动作，好奇怪。突然，我想起了一个办法。我用朋友的sunglass方在Merlion的脸上拍照。Merlion 看起来来好醋(cool)。我下次就post那个照片。

过后，我就回去hostel pack衣服准备回家！好爽哦！我塔飞机回家！

好吧，我已经很累了写这个post。aih...我所学的华语都下垄沟。好吧，如果你是华人而且还能读到这里，你就不是香蕉人。Otherwise, you're a BANANA! 或者你不是华人，但可以读的话，我就说你好爷。 Well, if you're not chinese and you can't understand a thing, then that's cool.

从我来 NUS读书，我才发现到学语文好重要。因为我会用三个语言交往，我好容易就会和别人交往。我来到了这里，我才会感谢主，给我学三种语言。

好啦。再见！

Adjectives

2009-02-14T09:36:00.002+08:00

So, I wrote something (for my college application to the States) in relation to the below post:

Adjectives are commonly used today and people in general use them to describe something or to express themselves. I believe adjectives are far more complicated than this when we consider how something is awarded with a particular description. Honestly, I'm not sure why I started my essay like this, it's kinda weird saying adjectives are commonly used, when it is always used. furthermore, I'm just stating the obvious. And what on earth is 'awarded with a particular description'???? blah... i guess i've changed... intellectually, that is... BOL! I think I should write like this instead:
We describe and judge things and people everyday - the pencil is short, the girl down the street is beautiful, that man is fat, etc etc. Although we may not openly express offensive description, but we often do so in our hearts. Indeed, they are necessary.

We cannot for sure say that the earth is big, when the sun is far bigger, neither can we say the sun is big when other stars in the universe is far bigger! what more when we say a sumo wrestler is big! This is just one of the simple example that we should consider. How is it then we are able to give a description that is universally agreed upon? I suggest that adjectives such as big and small, wide and thin, tall and short, etc are understood with an objective scale. I propose that these adjectives be called objective-scalar adjectives Basically, they are described/judged very objectively, there's no subjectivity to determining who is big or small. The objectivity is basically relativity by superimposing 2 objects to determine. What do I mean by scalar? Simple! when one is to describe how small the latest cell phone is, it is superimposed to another cell phone model. With such comparisons, instead of individual descriptions which is already sufficient by measurement units., there will not be any dispute of that statement. A common scale unanimously exists in the mind in order to understand such a statement. ie what is long/short.

That covers a group of adjectives. There is a second group which is much more complicated. I would call them the subjective-scalar adjectives. Adjectives such as beautiful and ugly, smart and stupid, wise and foolish, etc fall under this category. To understand what I meant by subjective-scalar, three questions are taken in consideration. They are: by what standard do you consider a person or thing is beautiful, wise or smart? What is the threshold to categorize them? And, how would you know for sure that others do not differ in opinions on the very same matter? While tall and short is objectively understood within a common scale, the former is not as simple as the latter, it depends on how his or her scale is shaped in their minds, a subjective scale of comparison.

If one’s scale is shaped, what are the moulds? I believe the primary mould is the cultural mould. Since Malaysia is known for her diverse culture, I shall use her as an example. If you have an opportunity to visit Malaysia’s heritage sites, it is very noticeable that these buildings differ very much in designs although they are erected around the same time. I believe that any ethnic group would certainly erect a building that is worthwhile and beautiful instead of a shabby one. especially custom made ones Although the building seems attractive to the designers, but it may not be so to the other groups. This diverse opinion enables us to recognize by whom a particular heritage building is erected by. In fact, in terms of wisdom, it is shaped culturally too. While most ethnic Chinese are mostly thrifty and are out to make money, the ethnic Indians are rather moderate in their finance management, and as for the ethnic Malays, most of them have the ideal of short term gains. In this area, wisdom in finance management is disputable amongst them. I was just sooooo ignorant.

Another mould is the peer pressure mould. We, who naturally seek understanding from others, subconsciously are being shaped by the ones we expect from. A typical dispute would arise is when ladies who love to shop for clothes chooses discriminately ?????????? for clothes that attracts, or make them look attractive. While some individuals view a set of clothes that is wrapped, draped in lace, ribbons on many odd places and designs too exaggerated I'm just bad at descriptions as attractive, others beg to differ and settle with a simple, lovely design. Youths too amongst group dispute certain conducts in their daily lives. While some view that breaking the ‘minor’ rules, such as illegal underage admission, making a ruckus in class, etcetera is ‘cool’, some view it as annoyance and ignorance???, something that is ‘not cool’. This is very subjective, subjected to the worldview of one’s peers.

Another factor that determines the subjective nature of the adjectives would be the tolerance factor. I suppose that the bigger tolerance for something would attribute a more positive adjective. For example, when we communicate with a person and he speaks unintelligently, assumably that we have the dignity of high intelligence, we tend not able to tolerate such ‘nonsense’ and label him or her stupid. Another example is when girls have an ideal picture of a boy who is handsome, jaw-dropping BOL! good looks; they will judge another boy’s appearance base on their level of tolerance benchmarked by the ideal picture. Therefore, the subjective-scalar is predetermined by one’s mind and expectations.

When using adjectives, we tend to form differing opinions and diversity. However, in the midst of diversity, there is one thing in common. We all agree and recognize that some things are big, some things are small, some are long, whilst others are short, and some are beautiful, some are not; we all have common extremes in our scale that we recognize. Although having dissected adjectives quite thoroughly, I think in the end, we use adjectives according to what our consciences tell us. Having the ability to judge what is right and what is wrong, we in our own unique consciences believe what is best for us.

Ok, so that's what I wrote for my college application. The concept was all self-thought, no reference to any materials whatsoever. And in my all time award-winning ignorance, I found out this isn't new at all. In fact, Plato wrote about this....some 2000 years ago...............

"Socrates: What sorts of things might we argue about that would make us angry and hostile towards one another, if we couldn’t reach agreement? Maybe you don’t have an immediate answer, but let me suggest something. See whether it isn’t these things: justice and injustice, beauty and ugliness, good and bad. Aren’t these the very things for causing disputes which, when we are unable to reach any satisfactory agreement, make people become enemies, whenever we do become enemies—whether you and I or everybody else?

Euthyphro: That’s just how it goes in arguments about such things, Socrates.

S: What about the gods, Euthyphro? If in fact they get into arguments, won’t they be about these sorts of things?

E: That must be how it is, Socrates.

S: Then according to your argument, good Euthyphro, different gods consider different things to be just, beautiful, ugly, good, and bad—for they wouldn’t be at odds unless they disagreed about these things, would they?

E: You are right.

S: Each of them loves what each considers beautiful, good, and just, and each hates the opposite of these things?

E: Certainly."
-Euthyphro, by Plato, translated by Prof. John Holbo

So, as you can see, it is precisely the same argument I proposed in my essay. No wonder I didn't get into Harvard.

anw, when Jamie Hyneman said "the problem is, I'm looking at a bunch of photos of women and try to objectify them."
Precisely, we objectify them by beauty and ugliness, as subjectively as we can. In fact, I think one of the first things when considering a guy or gal (especially in our teenage years) is their looks. We have literally tagged them with their physical appearances, somewhat like objects. It's like saying, that wax statue is beautiful.
The problem is, that is WHAT humans are - beautiful, tall, thin, long-haired, blue-eyes, 8-packs, etc. It is after spending time with a particular person, we discover WHO they are - how they express themselves, character, personality, reaction to certain opinions, what they love/hate, etc.
So, today is Valentines, WHO are you loving (agape) today? For that "'WHO' will be just as sweet by any other name or appearances (WHAT)." - Adapted from Shakespeare.

HAHAHA!

2009-02-12T22:02:00.003+08:00

"So, the problem is, I'm looking at a bunch of photos of women and try to objectify them..." - Jamie Hyneman, MythBusters.

I wrote something related to that problem. Maybe i'll type it out when i got the time.

but yeah, objectifying people is sad, but it's unavoidable most of the time.

I have a dream...

2009-02-08T21:34:00.000+08:00

And so, I woke up at 7.30am today...although it was really not supposed to, because i slept at 3am before that...that comes to about 4hrs of sleep...i needed another 4hours...

so, i attempted to sleep, and so i did...and had the weirdest dream...but it wasn't classified as weird after the dream... it was a nightmare...or morningmare for that matter, since i dreamt it in the morning...

it goes like this:

I saw my dad, in the house, like really wandering around, doing things and weird things for the sake of doing things... it was as though he had nothing else better to do, but I don't know y he had nothing else better to do...I saw him like he was standing outside in the garden and was watering a river (of course my house doesn't have 1, and the house doesn't look like my house at all...its a dream, you see...my mind was creative XD), and was wondering what on earth is he doing watering the river...and found that he was actually watering some coy fish (very creative, indeed), and the coy fish grew and flew!

next, i was actually standing by some water pumps, which my dream kinda told me it was used to pump water to some fish pond...and I was trying to fix it back to the pipe...and my dad saw me..and he said "why not throw it up in the sky and see what happens when it lands on the floor?" (duh...its just gonna...fall and maybe break and maybe make a small mark on the garden)

and that's when i woke up...because I could literally feel my neurons breaking down due to the lamebidity of the whole illogical dream world I was in...

and this was what struck me...

My dad is retiring in 4 months time...his company ain't gonna extend his retirement age...and that would mean...he'll be literally home from morning to evening 4 days a week...and i'm really not sure if he has any brilliant plans to spend his time well.
You see, my mom works in church from Monday to Friday except Tuesday...and my sis full time and my bro in UniTenaga @ Bangi...and I'm in Singapore...so my dad WILL be alone...and I wouldn't want to hear from my mom "you know son, your dad threw the water pump up in the sky just to see what happens when it reaches the ground..." THAT'S the LAST thing I wanna hear.

Thing is, even my granma in Sitiawan is better off...she has her chickens and rabbits to take care of, and her neighbours and a shady tree to chit chat and gossip about. my dad doesn't have any of those except his TV and computer and his camera...that's all...and that's not good for his body muscles and his brain...furthermore, he can't be climbing mountains 10hours a day...that's crazy...my mom wouldn't allow, anyway.

I sound like a naggy mom...but that was what I felt immediately... So, applying to US is absolutely nono for me now...unless, i'm convinced that my dad has plans to use his time well.

So, if you would, pray for me and my dad...and perhaps drop in some suggestions that I could encourage my dad to pick up after he retires.

This post stays on top to remind me of this 'predicament'. pardon me.

A Bible Journal

2009-02-05T19:00:00.002+08:00

So, you can visit my Bible journal at the link on the right. Find 'Bible Journal'.

Enjoy

Digress...

2009-02-02T23:13:00.002+08:00

What happens if you were the only witness to a murder and the criminal being your parents? What would you do? Will you remain silent about it and deny any links between the crime and the criminal? or will you remain silent until CSI finds its way to your parents (but a testimony is still required to charge a person of murder, mere DNA evidence is not absolute), or will you bring them to court? or would you murder your parents and take responsibility of it anyway (sounds like a psychopath)?

BUT, what if the crime wasn't murder but just petty theft, like a PSP console which eventually silence you because you'd want it? would you take that 'bribe' or turn your parents in?

BUT, what if it's just jaywalking, would you call the cops just to fine your parents? or perhaps take a video and upload to You Tube, and then send to the cops as evidence and bla bla bla, whatever it takes to prosecute your parents? or perhaps you would just tell them that it's wrong (perhaps it's their 1st time in Singapore) and move on with life? or perhaps you'll just be silent about it?

but anw, all these are hypothetical situations...share what you think you would do, and why do you think you would do that, and why do you think that should be the way, and what issues do you think would arise if you do that? and how would you deal with them.

So I was suppose to post smth on evangelism....
CAN'T YOU SEE? well...a digression...but I hope I might converge into that topic somehow....

haha...

2009-01-12T15:49:00.000+08:00

He (Dr.M) tells Malaysians to quit their jobs at McDonald’s and Starbucks If they quit their jobs, is he going to employ them at his bakery, ‘The Loaf’

-Voxpopuli, Malaysiakini

Welcome to Singapore...

2008-12-05T17:46:00.001+08:00

There once was a very good old barber in New York . One day a florist goes to him for a haircut.. After the cut, he goes to pay the barber and the barber replies: "I am sorry. I cannot accept money from you. I am doing community service."

The Florist is happy and leaves the shop. The next morning when the barber goes to open his shop, there is a thank you card and a dozen roses waiting at his door.

A policeman goes for a haircut and he also goes to pay the barber after the cut. But the barber replies:
"I am sorry. I cannot accept money from you. I am doing community service."

The cop is happy and leaves the shop. The next morning the barber goes to open his shop, there is a thank you card and a dozen donuts waiting at his door.

A Singaporean software engineer goes for a haircut and he also goes to pay the barber after the cut. But the barber replies:
"I am sorry. I cannot accept money from you. I am doing community service."

The Singaporean software engineer is happy and leaves. The next morning when the barber goes to open his shop, guess what he finds there...

Yes, try to guess.

Next... 'Rethinking the Gospel call'... some serious salt next time...

weird...this blog has weird content..

2008-11-27T19:19:00.002+08:00

so, u must be wondering y the purpose of my blog had taken a 540 degrees turn...yes, 540 degrees...

well...i've got things to write...but its gonna take awhile..and my last paper is due soon...

so tune in to Musings after my exams...where thoughts are thought of....

Thai ads are the best...

2008-11-27T19:16:00.002+08:00

Wanna cheat in exam?

oh.. this video was from my fren..so thx Kev

Want to ice skate in SG?

2008-11-27T02:00:00.005+08:00

Haha...so I went to buy my bus ticket home from Novena Square...and guess wat i saw..

Desperate SG-ians who wants to ice skate! haha...guess if it is ice they use or not...if not, guess what it is...

and the size is the size of a badminton court...

Just another musing...

2008-11-21T22:41:00.005+08:00

An atheist spends his life proving that God doesn't exist...but a theist spends his life showing that God exists...and an apologist entertains the atheist...

Tanah tumpahnya darahku....

2008-11-16T16:02:00.002+08:00

u guys shud see this malaysiakini comic by zunar.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/cartoons/view.php?id=MTIyNjU0NzEyNw==

just so true...of course...the background of that is the recent candalight vigil near amcorp mall where riot police had no regards for the sanctity of the National Anthem (well, but then again...in skool, no one really cares...). nevertheless, our royal police shouldn't show such defiance.

i salute those who 'tumpah darah' for the sake of the country and the original good intentions of the social contract which has been colonized by irresponsible people.

Who? Which Joseph(f) do you refer to?

2008-11-10T23:02:00.003+08:00

What’s that in a name? that which
we call a rose
By any other name would smell as
sweet… - William Shakespeare

My Microbiology prof. used this quote to introduce nomenclature for microbial diversity...which was...something not expected, and certainly the last thing you would expect from a prof. in other words - 'swt' haha...

But anw, the quotation above is quite meaningful in that it relates to the topic of this post! a rose, so we call, and at the sound of 'rose' we imagine a black-red flower, a valentine's favourite, looks passionate, smells passionate (makes u high?), but..."ouch!" thorn pricked me.... and u blame d flourist for not de-thorning the rose properly.

so, the name 'rose' immediately conjures the above imagery. the name 'ferarri' conjures the all time famous red car with a macho horse seal at its bonnet, the name 'vinci' tells the girls 'its time to shop! (not for pants)' and the guys 'a hole in my pocket...'. just by a name, it will relate us to something we are familiar with.

'david sunuwar'

who is that? u would ask...

'man bahadur SYANGTAN (sounds and looks like syaitan, the 1st time i saw)'

whoa! a devil in some religion?

'spinelli's coffee'

another coffee bean wanna be?

so, a name functions to help us relate to something. but, prior to that, we must know that something/someone, otherwise, we end up clueless.

but what happens when you have 2 individuals with the same first name? ie Josef and Joseph. 'Joseph, u left your pencil box!' "which Joseph?" comes the reply, 'oh! the joseph with the ph...(although josef is most likely to leave his pencil box behind, but then again, if he has 1 to begin with)' so, with individuals which names sound the same, we'd probably identify them by the spelling or otherwise family name. but sometimes, we refer to that person exclusively by his/her personality.
'Sarah!'
"which sarah?"
'oh, the one who always gives bookmarks to encourage people.'
"ah...sarah chan you mean?"
'yeap!'
so, it depends.

so whats the point?

"Dear God, I come before you humble for I am a sinner. It is in no way by merit nor works can I be righteous, but yet by Your grace and mercy, you came to die for my sins that I may be made the righteousness of God. Thank you for your love for me, thank you for your abundant blessings. teach me to bless others with all you have given me, that you may be glorified. help XXX for he is sick, he has exams tomorrow...Amen"

Which God do you refer to?

From the prayer above, it is definitely God of the Bible.

"Dear God, please bless me as you have always promised, i've always wanted to be a millionaire so that I can enjoy everything in this world...please!!! oh...and that guy i met today, he is such a pain...do something about that guy, will ya? I'm pretty sure you can, since all things are possible with you, ya? Amen"

Which God do you refer to?

I'm not too sure bout this. probably a god who is suppose to treat me as master.

Implicit idolatry, so dr. leong tien fook puts it. before i go into what implicit idolatry is, i'll explain its antonym - explicit idolatry. explicit idolatry basically is something that shifts one's focus away from God, ie money, cars, girls, guys, anything under the sun that draws our worship from God.

implicit idolatry is worshipping a god of your own imagination. As I have set the stage earlier, we relate a name to a person/thing based on description, personalities, physical appearance, etc. likewise, when we call on God's name, who is this God that you refer to? Do you know Him? Some, have the wrong idea of who God is -
"God! bless me only! you never said suffering!" (err...).
"you're not healed cause you don't have faith in God!",
"you're gonna perish because you eat pork",
"oh God, what do you want me to do to find favour in You? I just don't think I'm going to heaven just yet, eventhough I know you died for me...please, have mercy!",
"God, I know you love me, but I just can't love this brother...please take him away from me. I just can't forgive Him."
"why am I so sure i'm going to heaven? I go to church, I give (10+1)% of my earnings to compensate Bible reading, and you know, I always blog good things!"

every sentence has a reference to God. the same universal name used for all other religion, but looking at how each prayer or conversation is structured, you can somewhat infer the God he/she is referring to.

Do they reflect who the God of the Bible is? you decide.

Nevertheless, in order that we do not fall victim to implicit idolatry, we have Die Bibel well...thats 'the Bible' in German...haha...almost caught you there right?

God's Word is truly a divine revelation for all man, He is the main character in the Bible, and we are able to examine God's character, personality, likes and dislikes...we are able to examine who God is! and it is in the Bible that we learn about Him, and through faith in Christ we speak to Him in prayer. It is the knowledge of who God is that I know who I am worshiping, who I am tithing to, who I am loving, who I am grateful to, who I look forward to be in fellowship with. The essence of knowing who God is is so important for a faith that is personal!

The church in Colosse once struggled with 'hollow and deceptive philosophy' (collosians2:8) which were being preached by false prophets. and further hints were given in the later part of Col2, which when you read you may catch a few hollow and deceptive philosophy
1. legalism
2. self-centeredness (worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,)
3. ascetism
4. work-centered salvation

These philosophy was so high sounding, that many of the colosse church were 'kidnapped' from the truth in the Bible. this hollow philosophy is like 'high sounding nonsense'
These philosophy penetrated the church that they have forgotten their foundation which is in Christ who has made them complete, and that there is no more need to earn favour in God's eyes! rather, it was favourable in God's eyes that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus!
"For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. " (col 2:9-10)
Paul had to remind them of the basics and reject such philosophies that were attacking the church.

Today is no different; same shit, different smell. we've got 'prosperity gospel', 'the faith movement', 'new age', 'scientology', etc. (I have not reviewed their teachings in depth to comment yet). there are many more, in fact, we may have in our own futile imagination conjured a god in our minds and think it is true without any substantial support from the Bible (and I mean real support, not selective, misquoted scriptures). how do we overcome this?

1John 4:1 - 1Jn 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."

We should be wary and take pains to 'test the spirits' to make sure what we learn is not false, but a revelation from God Almighty, 'for many false prophets have gone out into the world'. in order to do this, we must know what is truth, and truth is in the Word, and to know the truth, we need to study the truth, that truth may be embodied and internalised in us, to be at our disposal at any time to 'test the spirits'. how to detect a false currency? get a real currency.

there are 5 steps which dr. rev. mark chan, a pastor in the church i attend here, suggests:
1. Is Christ the central figure in his/her teaching?
2. Where is Scripture properly quoted in his/her teaching?
3. Is there self-centeredness?
4. Is there accountability in his/her teaching? (meaning non-dictatorial)
5. The fruit of the Spirit.

Whichever the case, we must have God's Truth in us.

Honestly, this is a lifelong journey, and as a church, we are all in this together, we share with each other in cell groups and bible studies what certain passages mean to today's circumstances and we learn from one another and from God through the Counselor. if any of us are too slothful to study God's Word and to know Him, we may be in danger of implicit idolatry or kidnapped by high sounding nonsense. Therefore, let us all be committed to study God's Word with diligence, with faith, with the help of the Holy Spirit, that we guard ourselves with God's truth and not 'according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.' (col 2:8)

What’s that in a name? that which
we call a rose
By any other name would smell as
sweet…

it is not the name that counts...it is WHO that counts.

Hope is the greatest of all evils

2008-10-26T23:16:00.002+08:00

'Wohohoho! Jason has turned crazy!' might probably be your 1st thought in reading the title, since hope described in the Bible ain't anything like the title.

Hope, has been described in many ways, and one of my favourite is the poem by Emily Dickinson - 'Hope is the thing with feathers'

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

well, what else has feathers? a bird of course! probably in this description, a resilient bird, is big bird from Sesame Street! haha... but let's look at reality; hope can be delusional, thats when it is the greatest of all evils.

but, on one condition of course. i'll go to that later.

Let's analyze how does hope come about. Define hope:
1. The feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best: to give up hope
2. a particular instance of this feeling: the hop of winning.(www.dictionary.com)
3. grounds for this feeling in a particular instance: there is little or no hope of his recover.
4. a person or thing in which expectations are centered: the medicine was her last hope.
5. Something that is hoped for: Her forgiveness is my constant hope.

the 5 definitions show the different ways hope can be used. but for number 4, it somewhat defines hope. expectations.

Before a hope can be conceived, there must be a suggestion, a suggestion that points towards something in the future, something desirable, something to be looking forward to. for example, belonging to the gal/guy you liked, or perhaps for some shares to go up in times like this, or perhaps like the Bible uses hope - hoping for Eternal, Perfect fellowship with Christ.

but, what makes a person convince that this suggestion is true? for example, in this financial crisis, it is fair to say that it is hoping against hope to see your investment flourish. for a person to hope that his investment flourish in these times, is most likely he has no intellectual basis or reasoning to back his certainty of returns (ppl who invest are ready to lose, but not lose for no reason). So, why did that guy invest? he'd probably tell you he is desperate to 'hopefully' get some cash to sustain his family, when he doesn't, hope... based on wishful thinking, blind belief, dead truth, becomes delusional, and it breaks a person into pieces.

In other words, hope has a basis of truth, a truth that causes a person to look forward to something, to expect something of great value, something worth waiting for. without any truth in the suggestion, why would you hope? for example, if i just blankly say 'put 1,000,000$ in my bank and you'll reap 10X more!' the suggestion is million bucks with 1000% returns, the hope here is the expectation of 1000% return in investing a million bucks. but immediately you are able to bust that false suggestion and will not invest a million bucks (or perhaps u'd write 1,000,000$ on a piece of paper, as a pitiful gesture).
consider that I give a really good argument how your million bucks in my bank will have a 1000% return: you either buy the idea or call the bluff. if you buy the idea, your good ol' pals are out there flooding your phone with warnings. suppose it is still the truth to you, and you thought to yourself 'wait till the day i say to my friends "in your face, suckers!"'. the 'truth' convince you to hope for the 1000% returns. it is probably 'truth' because you have not investigated my claims sufficiently (you are probably only greedy for the $$$, and thus blinded to all rational reasoning your friends offer). in the end, i'm the happy man, you're the broken fellar.

Hope, is somewhat built on truth. what is truth? whatever that is true, duh. but then again, in this world, there's always grey (not Grey in Grey's Anatomy). I shall categorize truth in 2 parts: absolute Truth and relative truth. Absolute truth is the type of truth where it is there or absent. relative truth is how close are you to the truth? ie, i say a circle is a square, I am not lying, i'm just far from the truth. hence, relative truth. but in the case of absolute Truth, it is absolute, the truth is there or absent, no relatively absent. This truth, I would like to believe, is a truth that is of a higher order. When Jesus said:" I am the truth, the way and the life..." can that truth be relative? it can't be, because Jesus is either alive or never alive, He can't be relatively alive. On that note, God's Living Word is the absolute Truth (I believe. You're free to choose what to believe) and I say it confidently, not because my pastor says it, but because I can testify the reality of Christ living in me, most of the time through horrible times (like now), I have to admit, Christ seems 'not needed' when times are good, and I pay lip service more often saying 'praise the Lord!'
Look around you, be amazed by the splendour of all natural things around you, I am always awed by the trees, birds and every living things all so sophisticated and full of ingenuity, knowing that nothing can't create anything, there must be a God who created all living things through creative means (for us to discover!).

Again, truth can only be true when it embodies in a person. What do I mean? If I blindly except statements from another person, without evaluation, I would either be unfortunately conned or fortunately blessed. In other words, for truth to take root in a person, he/she must have the opportunity to examine the facts by the presenter. And God patiently gives you the freedom to examine all the facts that can be found in the world, be it Bhuddhism, Hinduism, Christian(ism?), Islam, agnotism, atheism, etc. God blesses you with freewill of choice. You evaluate, then choose.
If a person is convinced and convicted that what is presented is truth, he is able to present it to others with understanding without parotting the formal presenter. Then truth takes root, and in some cases, worth defending for.

Hope may be built on truth, but if truth has not taken root and reality in you, the hope is delusional. When trying times come, all that you hope for breaks you into pieces, some till the extent of death. Therefore, what is this truth that Christians build their hope of Eternal Life on? It is on Christ, who claims to be the Absolute Truth. A truth that leads to a future hope of Perfect and Eternal reconciliation and fellowship with God, of whom we have transgressed and saved by, A truth so real that some are driven 'nuts' to tell this Good News to others, in hope that they too will be so joyful to know that there is such hope, and that they share in the joy.

'I am a fool for Christ, whose fool are you?' (I remembered this quote from Nicky Gumbel in Alpha Course)

honestly, whose fool are you? are you a fool for the world, earning riches and pleasures with your life on the line without knowing that putting your life on the line for all those things would mean you lose everything eventually? I have to say in many areas I am a fool to the world and to the sinful body and its desires. It is a long journey. but for the love of and for Christ that envelopes me and assures me, it puts me to shame and frustration, which in joyful hope and expectation, looking forward for the Day when Christ comes again, redeeming me fully from the sinful body that frustrates me, a day to celebrate, a day worth doing anything to secure a wonderful celebration with Christ.

Hope can be delusional, and for the first time i'm expressing my feelings in this blog (shows how severe it is...haha) - I fell victim to a delusional hope, many many times...without fail, hurting me down to my very core...and i'm wondering when I'll learn my lesson. but then again, it often happens when life gets too comfortable. I'm brought down to my knees. 'praise the Lord' i'd say, lest I forget Him forever in seeking to secure comfort always.

Of Hearts and Minds again...

2008-10-04T20:02:00.002+08:00

so, previously i was pondering how does the hearts and minds differ?

I referred to Pharaoh's case where God hardens Pharaoh's heart and not his mind whereas Paul in Romans 12:2 urge Christians to renew the MIND to be transformed. so, it was pretty puzzling as to why this difference occur.

I met this theologian who came to speak in NUS. his name is L.T. Jeyachandran. he was speaking on loving God with all your hearts, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your minds and pointed out that we are to love God with all out being instead of separating ourselves into a few different components.

So, mr LT gave me the answer...

it was a semantics issue. according to him, Hebrew philosophy did not distinguish the function of the heart from the mind. one example is Proverbs 23:7. isn't it funny to think with your heart? basically the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek. and Greek philosophers identified that the initial understanding of what the heart is needed to be revisited and hence introduced the mind. thus, Paul did not differ from God, rather, he was right that renewing the mind would transform our whole being.

so, how do these 4 different parts differ? i think it is by their functions.

lets consider 'strength'. well...it is pretty straightforward in that it refers to our physical.
soul: this is pretty tough, but i do think it refers to feelings such as joy, happiness, romance, sadness, compassion, etc...all d feelings u can think of. (i gotta find out if spirit and soul are interchangeable)
heart: i think this has to do with the will. in that sense, it kind of make decisions and also execute the decision, not just mere i think i will do this or that.
mind: well...basically u use the mind to think...also, the mind stores worldviews, believes, truths and falsehood and any information. the mind can't store the feeling of sadness, but knowing of smth can trigger sadness or whatever feelings.

but these 4 components are certainly more complicated than what i do think it is so far. i'm pretty sure that u can conjur a hybrid of heart and mind which gives u smth else that i don't know now.

well...so, when Jesus said:" Love the Lord your God with all your hearts, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind..." Jesus urges us to love God with all our being integrated in one body...our whole living being. what is a living being? living being is not just as long as you are breathing, u are a living being...thats just a definition on the physical. living being is a person, which God has created, living on this earth, breathing, making decisions, enjoying companions and friends, enjoying the food, overcoming difficulties, becoming stronger, learning, etc etc etc etc...basically, a person who is conscious that he is alive and living life on this earth.

therefore, to love God with all your hearts, soul, strength and mind means, ur living ur whole life loving God, which will be reflected by ur interaction with ur neighbours - love your neighbour as urself. precisely what Paul suggests - offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Him, this is your spiritual (reasonable) act of worship.

the word reasonable has to be well defined in order to have full appreciation for Paul's urge. the degree of reasonablility depends on the recipient. if the recipient is a good man, he deserves a certain degree of good treatment, depending how one views of him. for example, if u are a fan of this rock band that u love very much, and by God's blessing, u were hired to be their personal assistant. so, u r required to serve them reasonably. of course, because of ur passion for them, u'll give in like ur very very best.

replace that rock band with God. Remember, it was until u knew the rockband that u grew fond of them, because u know them. have u heard of Benjamin Britten? do u love him? even though u say u love him, it is definitely false love, because u can't love an imaginary person. so, do u know God? do u know God to the extent that u understand what 'reasonable' meant in Paul's urge? God is way awesome than anyone can comprehend, God is the King of kings, God is the creator of heaven and earth, God is our Saviour, God is Lord of lords, God is so great, that we sometimes describe God with poetry, but God surpasses all that we purely intend to express too. in view of that, and certainly in view of God's mercy, offer your body as living sacrifices, HOLY and PLEASING to Him, this is your REASONABLE act of worship.

on that note, although God is beyond description, that does not mean you can't know Him. yes, we won't know Him entirely, but when we know He is there, and we seek to have a relationship with Him, started off as acquintances...and then a nice friend...then a good friend...then a close friend...then we become more and more intimate with God. u certainly know Him. it is like we know the universe, that is full of mystery, but not entirely.

so...back to hearts and minds again.

well...i'm pondering now if the mind is the major agent of change of the other 3 components of our body. since Paul says 'BE transformed BY the renewal of your mind...' who renews the mind? the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the moment we confess our sins and humbly submit ourselves to the grace and mercy of God. the Holy Spirit then dwells in us and we no longer live by our sinful nature but by the Spirit.

so, the Spirit will renew our minds which will transform us (I'm not sure how to describe/define the word 'be'. but when u read the sentence, the word 'be' suggests an imperative...followed by the word 'by' which leads to a suggestion of how to be transformed.) so, base on Paul's urge, it seems to suggest that our minds manipulate the other 3. but can the converse be true also? can the heart change the mind? can the strength change the mind? can the soul change the mind? but i certainly do know that the mind can change the other 3, but not all the time. for instance, i may think and actually believe that studying is just plain uncool to do. I would naturally rebutt at someone who suggests i study a lot. but as time progresses, i realize how wonderful studying is...especially gaining more and more knowledge as i study and the excitement of discovering new things. then, when someone suggests that i study a lot, i would naturally say that it is just awesome to know more and more and more knowledge! see how it transforms a person?

well...it doesn't work when we refuse to allow the 4 components to work and link together into 1 body. for instance, some people's mind thinks and believe they should quit smoking because it is uncool and bad for health. however, some never took the effort to quit, the heart is not willing to quit. but some took the effort but progressed slowly, that is when the 4 components are working together to kick ass, eventually he quits smoking.

but then again...can the heart/strength/soul change the mind? I am not too certain about this. mayb some of u can shed some light.

another long post...

eek...blog tag...

2008-09-04T22:02:00.004+08:00

This is the 1st time i'm getting tagged...and i dun really like the idea of being tagged...sounds like i'm in a live human experiment (think joker @ dark knight)

I'm doing it anw because i read jo's blog (bah!). but at the same time...jo, i might see u @ USA in 2010. I'm trying to do a student exchange for 1 or 2sem at US. hopefully i can find somewhere at san fransisco! hohoho....and the final part of my grand plan is work-travel in US during summer break! Jo, good idea?

People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any questions that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

Tag 8 people to do this quiz(if u can) and those who are tagged cannot refuse.These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. Continue this game by sending it to other people.If u really dont wanna do this, dont(if u have somethin better to do, like study or work).If u hate someone, maybe its time to forgive them, THINK ABOUT THAT.

) Are you allowed to have a bf/gf?
Allowed by whom? hmm...

2 ) Describe urself in one word.
JASON simply that.

3 ) Who would you pick, someone who really loves you, or the one you love?
The one i love...i may not necessarily know the one who loves me..(eek!)
i'm getting a bit mathematical here. ie, if i love someone, i definitely know that someone, but if someone loves me, it is not necessarily true that i know that someone.

4) Have you ever loved someone BEFORE but never had the courage to tell him/her?
hmm... its the Jason Dilemma i guess.

5 ) Does it feel good to love?
without love, it is nothing. i think it hurts to love though, but the general outcome is good. ie, it hurts to tell the one you love the truth, although it is the right thing to do because you love.

6 ) What's the best thing to do with the one you love?
KEEP LOVING EACH OTHER

7) What will you say to someone who doesn't want to believe you??

*save my saliva*

8 ) Was ever a time that you tried to learn to love someone?
learn...i wonder if humans need to learn how to love...if God is love, and we are made in His image, does it imply we are love too? something to think about.... (uh oh...)
yes, i'm still struggling to love those that is hard to love.

9 ) What's your opinion about someone who's jealous?
It is not unnatural. and yeah, depends how grateful they be/are.

10 ) What would you say to playboys/playgirls?
You are like playdough.... (O_O) get a shape.

[[ * PART 2 * ]]

1 ) Best place to cry?
in my room. i think thats where it occured the last time.

2) Who do you love the most?
God, eventhough considering many countless things i've done and repeated that are hurtful to Him. Grace abounds all the more.

3 ) Tell us about ur dream last night?
*blank*

4) Ever hated someone so bad?
well jo, you can't understand love if you don't understand hate. ie, you won't understand or know sin if there is no law. neither can there be good, humanly speaking, if there is no evil. hate is the absence of love.

yeap, i sure did last time. sad to say.

5 )The biggest & most hurtful lie you heard?
hohohohoho! is Jason Lai Big and Hurtful? lol....

anw, yeap, but its long gone...i can't jump on eternity and travel back time, in other words, no point dwelling in it.

The last person..
-you had a beer with?
beer...hmm...i dun relli like beer. except heinken beer. the last time was with oei han, pete and others @ huey lynn's hse.

-you went to the movies with?
some NUS dudes. WALL E

-you talked on the cell phone with?
Christopher Oh.

-you hugged?
my parents.... (1, 2, 3....awwwwwww)

-you yelled at?
hmmm....my parents also...hahaha

In the last week have you..
~Kissed someone?
OOoooooo... nope... my mouth is too busy eating or talking...wahahahahha

~Danced crazy?
hmm...dance crazily to a classical song...thats........tchaikovsky maybe...but nop

Think of the last time u were angry, why were u angry?
angry...i think its better to leave it where it belongs....oblivion...

If you could do anything OR wish anything, what would it be?
greed is good huh jo and mich...maybe i'll wish that jo's and mich's wishes won't be granted. (WAHAHAHA)
now ever wonder why God doesn't answer prayers? its not a wish-machine...duh! if it is, the case above would occur. in fact, if you think God is a wish-machine, think again if that's God or an implicit idol of your own imagination.
anw, that wish wasn't serious. I would certainly enjoy more wishes. haha...

If you could have an all expense paid trip, where will you go?
to the mooon! since i've already got an all expense paid trip to heaven.

Would you or have you ever blackmailed someone?
blackmail...hmmm...if you ever receive a blackmail...it will be literally.

Are you old fashioned?
old fashioned...hmm...i dun bother much about my own fashion, so i'm not sure if thats old fashioned or a-fashion (a is a prefix for without), although arguably a person cannot be completely without fashion. even wearing birthday suit is a fashion...it just makes a fool out of oneself. so, dun watch porn! and dun call it a fashion show after u read this....please!

What would be harder for you, to tell someone you love them or that you do not love them back?
this is tough. I hardly express myself. but i think i prefer to say i love you.

What thing would be the hardest thing for you to give up on?
hardest ah...shy la...but i guess guys would know...hahahahahha... but i think as time progresses, my body chemicals would suggest otherwise (this is where the fruit of self-control kicks in, i think its not a good idea to let chemicals control us, take note, US, not our body, both are fairly different if u think about it. ie, you may destroy my body, but i'll be in heaven and i still exist). but for now...lets just not mention it, rather, replace it with *ENGLAND* (Internal FBC joke, those who listened to Dr. Peter Ng on "God's prescription for great sex")

5 Facts About Me:

Adopted through faith in Jesus.
A "Lai" or "Loi"
classical music is music, not sleeping pills.
Thinks...hmm....think....
write long blog entries...as you can see

5 Things that Scare Me:

horror movie. images of disfigured things burn on my retina...
the hardening of my heart.
Jesus saying to me "i do not know you, evildoer!" Matt 7:21-23
celibacy...eek...i hope to start a family 1 day...any takers?? HAHAHAHAHHA
I have no ability to love.

7 Songs Playing in My Head Lately:

Messiah's overture - George Fideric HANDEL
How Great Thou Art
Living for Jesus
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
J.S Bach Flute Concerto
P.I. Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto
Random songs that pops up.

7 Words/Things I Always Use:

notebook computer
handphone
bag
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA or LOL
my bolster!
Bible
yo/hey/hello/lo/ello

I tag...

whoever reads this blog.

Of Hearts and Minds

2008-08-16T18:02:00.002+08:00

I think this is something worth mulling over. How does the heart and mind differ from one another? or they do not? What is the connection between the hearts and minds? How is the heart so crucial or central that a man will fall because of the hardening of the heart (against God), but a man is transformed by the renewal of the mind? Why doesn't Paul suggest transformation by the renewal of the heart, since the hardening of the heart constitutes to the fall of individuals?

I really do not have much concrete answers to these, in fact i have more questions regarding this. but i think I will share a little more when I am able to.

Obedient Animals?

2008-06-06T00:51:00.003+08:00

"ayoooo....your dog is soooooo obedient!" is the usual praise remark i get when my dog sits, play dead, spin, etc like performing a circus show. Well, sometimes she does 'obey' commands given to her but i can guarantee a 100% obedience if a bone is dangled in front of her.

I think we have misunderstood "obedience" in that we often equate it to submission of command only, neglecting the process of choosing to submit. The ability to make choices is a gracious gift from God and it is one of the essence of being made in the image of God:
"So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them."
Gen 1:27

We are different from other animals in this aspect. Animals lack the image of God aka the spirit. Why is the ability to choose one of the essence of the image of God? Simply because the image of God gives us the conscience which gives us the ability to rationalize and thus the ability to make choices.

On the other hand, the complete opposite of freedom of choice is mechanically bound. This comparison is clearly illustrated through a short story i read 2 years ago titled "Compassion Circuit". In a nutshell, scientists in the story strived to create a robot fit with a circuit board called the "compassion circuit" which can emulate closely to human behavior which has the freedom to choose. The shortcoming of this circuit is that it is still mechanically bound in that it follows the '101001' logic; if A is B, then A cannot be C. But in our freedom to choose, A can be C because we choose so.

I propose that animals are mechanically bound and would attribute my dog's 'obedience' to intelligence and instincts. We must not mix intelligence with obedience simply because intelligence are usually gained through a series of experience or exposure.

Obedience should rightfully be used when a subject has the freedom to choose prior to the action. Let's take Adam and Eve's story as an example of disobedience. God in His grace gave men the opportunity to exercise his rights to choose by placing the "tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" in the middle of Eden (Gen 2:9) together with a clear instruction to not eat the fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which happens to be in the midst of a multitudes of other trees! (Gen2:16-17). However, when the serpent tempted Eve and subsequently Adam, both of them had a clear choice: obey the God who created them and the serpent who gave a clear command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or believe in the deceit of the serpent with regards to God and the command He gave as mentioned and disobey God (to buy the deceit is to recognize God is malicious in giving them such instructions to which opposes God is Holy). We all know the outcome of the story. If Adam and Eve are wired like the animals, in that they are mechanically bound, Adam and Eve would simply ignore the serpent and enjoy a big feast of other fruits simply because they are programmed to do so.

When animals somehow "disobeys" in that it does not perform the trick it is instructed to do so, shouldn't that place them in the same position as Adam and Eve? Animals are taught, and in the process of teaching them, they learn rigid patterns and react accordingly. For example, if I dangle a bone in front of my excited dog and shout a command 'sit!' and followed by a push on her butt to sit and when she successfully carries out the routine, the bone is given to her. The subsequent tries will omit the push on her butt to prompt my dog that she must be in a sitting position to get her reward. My dog here will learn it this way: "If there is a bone and if the bone bearer says "sit!" I should be in such a position (wouldn't suppose the dog would understand what sitting means) to get the bone that I love!" Thus, if the next time I shout "sit!" without a bone on my hand, she would refuse and would most likely walk away. This is true to me because to have her spontaneously sit without her 'reward' would require me to hold her down and push her butt down otherwise her attention would be drawn away from me.

If my dog has the conscience and freedom to choose, she would immediately recognize that her rights of freedom is robbed and would call her band of stray friends to kill me. She must be able to rationalize why it is necessary to sit when I say so, then will she obey my command.

Are animals really obedient? Or are they even capable of obedience? I doubt so. This is what make humans different from animals and indeed make us more capable to be caretakers of God's creation. Well, the next time you see my dog sit when asked to, or other dogs for that matter, it is more correct to say that it is a well taught dog than an obedient dog.

Whose side?

2008-02-27T09:10:00.002+08:00

Whose side am I on, in view of the coming General Elections? BN? Opposition?

Neither, I will say. I am on Jesus' side for the country. Well, of course there is no Barisan Yesus to start with. What I meant to say is I will follow what Jesus would do today in Malaysia for the Father.

Jesus, when He came as a man and a Deity some 2k years ago and began His ministry at the age of 30 was rather critical of the government of the day, especially the pharisees and Sadducees, the priestly group. Not only that, He spoke up for the poor, sick, lame, blind, disabled, widowed, abandoned, etc. Nevertheless, this does not mean Jesus is not submissive to the Roman governor and the priestly group which governs the religious issues of the Jews in those days.

Why? Jesus has shown submission in the incident of the spies asking Him whether to pay taxes to Caesar or not, naturally, He answered, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's". He submits to authority because He submits to God.

God, in all civilisation has instituted power to authorities to govern the people justly. Just as how Paul expounds on the topic of submission to authorities in Romans 13:1-7. surprisingly he put this topic after expounding quite a bit on 'love'.
Paul notes carefully that "The authorities that exist have been established by God." and he also imposed various criteria for this authority to be affirmed as the legitimate authorities that God intended to establish, eg.
"For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong." (Do you think it is true to all rulers in the world?)
"For he is God's servant to do you good." (Do us good? esp government of today in msia?)
"He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer." (Did not the authorities of today punish innocent groups/individuals?)
If in any instance that the authorities of the day do not follow any of the criteria above, they are rightly to be notified, warned, spoken against, rebelled (notice the progressive steps, which means I do not suggest an immediate 'take to the streets' approach) so that groups/individuals being sidelined by the authorities do not receive further harm but restoration.

Now, if any authorities do fulfill all of the above criteria, I would boldly say our conscience will prick our actions for going against them because then we must fear the "sword" bore by them. But really, if any authorities could actually follow all the criteria above, it is all ideal and definitely a government that will be guaranteed office, and we all know there is no ideal situation on earth. therefore, it is vital for various commissions that are established to keep the "check and balances" in the government because no one is perfect. However, if such commissions that are established have no teeth, then why waste the resources? and besides, it shows the hardening of the government's heart to refuse to listen to their down-trodden people.

Then, like Christ, He submits to the Father and thus cannot tolerate any discrimination in society, even if it is widely practiced by the authorities, Christ must go against the flow to disagree with them because their actions are not acceptable unto God or the Father who established them.

So, now Christ's ministry has been passed on to the apostles and then to the church to continue to preach the Good News, baptizing and discipling others. So, is the church going to stand with Christ, the opposition or with BN? Let it be that we stand with Christ all the time, and we vote to fulfill our responsibility as citizens of Malaysia. let us vote with a clear conscience that we vote a government that seeks to be the authorities that God intended to establish as mentioned above. No longer shall we have the innocent punished, no longer shall we have any groups marginalized, no longer shall any of us be denied of the Federal Constitution, no longer shall we be victims of corruption on account of tax payers $$, the list goes on.

May the God of all wisdom, knowledge, power and sovereignty bless Malaysia in the coming GE and the nation for the years to come.

Post STPM

2008-01-28T01:31:00.000+08:00

so, x square - 2x + 1 = 0 has 1 root, can you figure out what are they??....the differentiation of bla bla bla.....

thats what I do nowadays...and it is the post STPM days....but, its good money.

Anyway, come to think of it, STPM is LONG GONE. time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana. Anyway, i meant that time has passed really quickly. February is coming, so is CNY, and so is March, of which we'll be enlightened of our performance for our examination....hopefully the general election is scheduled after the release of the results, then....our results will b coloured with BN's symbol; all of us will definitely score better than usual, an attempt to garner more votes from the ineligible voters. sad....

Anyway, giving tuition is somewhat interesting too, it keeps my brain working, and i gain some experience as a private tutor. well, i dun fancy teaching, but neither do i mind it or find it a burden or pain. so, something like in between. and yes, it is GOOD money. nonetheless, I'm not giving tuition for the GOOD money, but more motivated by my goal of igniting the burning interest for education, not education as generally understood by the malaysian society - scoring As is the goal of education, rather I believe education benefits us beyond the As, Bs, Cs, etcetera that we achieve. One may score straight Cs/Ds but yet gain more than one who scored straight As. but of course with the condition that the latter has the dubious understanding of education whilst the former view education beyond his/her grades.

So, anybody wants tuition? Addmaths Form 4/5, RM100 for 4 weeks per person. do contact me via my blog. leaving my hp num here wud get me into trouble.

Anw, I organized a SPM BK intro talk this afternoon, and the speaker was Esther Richards whilst Veron and Wei Zhen gave their testimony of how God has used the subject to blessed them. and it was great! although attended by 2 form 4s. Although prior to the talk, I was already quite stressed by the fact that I know there will only be a few of them attending, and I just felt a little shameful towards the speaker, because the crowd isn't big, whilst I have informed the speaker to expect more than what turned out to be. and to make things worst, the hall wasn't booked, when all along i thought it was booked......so, from 1 to another, it was a great struggle. Nevertheless, by God's grace, we had a great time chatting with the 2 participants. and this talk was rather unique, because it was not publicly addressed, but it was done in a more personal style and both the participants had 100% attention from us and thankfully not afraid of us. I thank God that I did not had to resort to cancellation because the speaker arrived on time, I do not suppose it is any better to cancel than to resume even if there were only 2.

Of course I do hope that both of them would sign up for the subject in their school, all of us would be satisfied and praising God that our goal was achieved. SPM BK, a subject that most Christians took for granted and thus causing a decline in students sitting for it. Still considering? I strongly recommend for all applicable to take the paper, you will be on a memorable and adventurous journey of studying the Word of God, Luke and Acts, which would definitely be an asset for life long, and your walk with God would definitely be blessed. it was also this subject that lead me to discover a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ who died on Calvary and rose on the 3rd day. Praise be to God that by His Grace gave me the faith to trust in Him! Why should I even be able to trust Him when He was my enemy and I was His enemy which inevitably would lead to my own destruction?

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23.

Well, at the same time, I have slacked quite abit in my post STPM days. I just felt that I wasn't doing enough and yes, DOTA is to me a very dangerous game to play. perhaps the abbreviation for DOTA should be : Die Of Tremendous Addiction. Yes, back to addiction....after 2 years of dormancy. I salute to those who does not have a hint of addiction when playing DOTA, that is probably quite impossible for me. Thus, I MUST stop DOTA. can i? Lets hope I can since I've done it once. DOTA has quite drawn my attention away from Jesus, and that is awful. At certain times, even the peace of Christ is not in me! This anguish must be the motivation for me to draw away from DOTA and back to my primary focus in life - living for Jesus.

Living for Jesus, a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do,
Yielding allegiance, glad hearted and free,
This is the pathway of vict'ry to me.
O Jesus Lord and Saviour, I give myself to thee,
for Thou in Thine atonement, didst give Thyself for me,
I own no other master, my heart shall be Thy throne,
My life I give, henceforth to live......O Christ for Thee alone!
- Living for Jesus

This is one of my favourite Hymn. The 1st time when I sang it, I had such tremendous joy that i'm giving my life to Christ! isn't it awesome to give your life to the Creator? what is more? Jesus accepted me! And that alone speaks volume, for while "I am a great sinner, Christ is a great Savior!" - John Newton, Amazing Grace (movie). Would you accept a friend who is irrationally annoying? I bet one would shove him aside and hate him. We, are far worst than being annoying to our own Creator, we, in our sin, stirred His wrath upon us, how wonderful to know that He accepts me or all who believe in Jesus! only because the blood of the Lamb was shed on Calvary that this was possible.

"3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows."

2Cor 1:3-5

God bless you.

OUTRAGEOUS!

2008-01-09T00:31:00.000+08:00

What the BAH!

I still remember the frustration i faced when learning bahasa malaysia since form 1...it had always been quite a pain to me because i just cannot appreciate the language. This frustration further deepens when my BM tuition teacher in form 4 and 5 reveals that examiners would be more impressed with bombastic BM words such as globalisasi, atmosfera, komuniti, komited...etc....generally adapted english words.

In fact, I came to a point whereby i asked my BM teacher that is it not logical to adapt all english words asides functional words such as itu, ini? and she replied...maybe one day in your dreams...ahaha...

What now? Allah is not allowed to be used by non-muslims in this country? and it was a mere overnight decision by a single minister who decided not 2 renew the Herald's publication unless it agrees to strip off the BM section - allegedly for using Allah and other taboo words. But, is it wrong? If not Allah, then what?
This ruling is like telling Christians, "hey you, you can't call abraham, abraham, because we call him abraham too, if you do, it will create CONFUSION." tracing back to the story of abraham, ishmael and isaac, one will understand that Allah is therefore accepted by Jews, Christians and Muslims. We call them the religion of the Book. In fact, it was pre-islamic language, the arabic language to use Allah to refer to the Almighty God of which revealed Himself to Abraham and subsequently his descendants.
So, how should the bumiputra Christians, or CHristians who communicate via BM call this Almighty God? should we ask them to call Him Tuhan? Tuhan merely refers to as Lord, and not specifically the Almighty God. If one were to study the Bible carefully, the Almighty God is always named: "LORD, I AM, or God." Lord and I am being all upper case which refers to the same word in Jewish "Elohim" and Arabic "Allah". Tuhan does not equate to Elohim As far as BM has adapted the arabic word Allah to be part of it. (eg phrase: Ya, Allah Tuhan )
How should these Christians therefore worship with in Spirit and in Truth when such words are banned? I say, there are no alternatives, and with such bans imposed, it very well diminishes true worship amongst affected Christians, which eventually leads to extinction.
Freedom of worship? I think not.

Dear PM, please explain this issue inside out, clarify all the confusion that has led many to tears. first, the Herald was allowed to publish the BM section with no binding terms, and then the following day another abdullah saying that they cannot print the taboo words. What is the case now? PLS CLARIFY! Allow Bibles printed in BM to be brought in, release the educational materials that were confiscated on such flimsy grounds! Uphold the FEDERAL CONSTITUTION! above all, love your neighbours as yourself! if one think it would cause a confusion, do not ban, educate! why clear your path by means of buldozing? Is it too hard to educate fellow Muslims and enhance their background knowledge so they know the distinguishing difference between Judaism, Christianity and Islam? rather than keep them in the dark by banning the use of the word Allah on grounds of confusion?

Why did I bring up the example of my past? Well, I'm just saying how language take words of other languages and make their own. It is, after all, to facilitate communication, of which the bearer of such language can understand each other.

May the grace of God be upon all Malaysians.

Of Xmas, Kerismas, and Christmas

2007-12-26T18:56:00.001+08:00

Looks like we have an addition to Christmas' nickname - KERISmas, perhaps only appreciated in Malaysia.

Well, of course, as a Christian, I wouldn't want to substitute the Christ with Keris nor X (whatever it may mean). But lets look at how these different names do indeed reflect the celebration on the 25th December yearly.

Xmas, of course sounds as though Christ has been X-ed out of the picture. Rather true. We do realize how shopping malls, houses are decorated with Christmas trees with presents "hidden" beneath it. and of course in grained in all little minds - Santa Claus. Who is he? through songs about him, i can roughly guess who he is.

"you better watch out, you better not cry, better not pout, santa claus is coming to town..."

Sounds like someone you cannot express your grievances to...sounds farmiliar? perhaps santa has his own ISA in store for you. i'll get to that when its KERISmas.
Of course everyone wants to be happy and without any negative qi for that matter. But is that possible? Do all of us actually lie on a bed of roses without getting pricked deep or get a minor scathed by their thorns? I think the honest answer is - roses have thorns.
in our darkest hour, bitter times, we always want to have someone beside us to give comfort and encouragement, most of all, love. imagine if you were sad and emo, for that matter, someone comes to you and sings:
"you better watch out, you better not cry, better not pout, XXX is coming to town..."
would you like to meet with XXX? or Santa claus?
Sounds like being sad and emo is an offence before santa.

but 1 would argue that the song actually means do not cry, pout because santa is going to relieve them with presents! But wait a minute, look at how it is phrased:
you BETTER watch out
BETTER not cry
BETTER not pout
it is very commanding, and it precedes the phrase:
Santa clause IS coming to town.
which could other words mean that prior to santa's arrival, all sadness and bitterness must go away! So, santa relieving your sorrows when you were supposed to suppress them in you?

Not such a comforting person, i would say.

Now, i do not mind if X'mas is used as an acronym for Christmas, it is just like saying PTL for Praise the Lord. however, I do recognize that Xmas has became very secular that everyone could celebrate and force their darkest emotion within them anticipating santa's arrival, which of course, never happens, except if you consider your friends as santa claus, showering you with gifts. this secular manner of celebration to me is a sorrowful fact to me because it has wiped out the Savior who receives those who are oppressed, blind, lame, paralyzed, diminished, rejected, marginalized, discriminated, etc. very much the opposite of santa.

KERISmas, is created by Dean Johns in his article in malaysiakini. what a pun. Well, of course it is the "gifts" showered to fellow malaysians that we witness so much injustices and malpractices in malaysia. Keris, of course from hishamudin who without fail jabs the keris into air last year and this year, saying it does not cause any unease to the community. that is either a lie or he is pure ignorant. if i were to take up even a small dagger and jab that in the air, you would experience adrenaline rush which prepares you for "fight, or flight" fight as in self-defence, because i initiate the threat, and flight as in run away because your calculation tells that you can't defeat me (since i'm big sized....). Anyway, either ways, there is an element of threat. not unless there is an evident enemy advancing against us, the raising of any weapons for that matter would coax all of us to garner all our courage and strength to face this evident enemy.
Then there was a politician who claims to represent the voice of his constituency which feel that mission schools are a shameful asset to him/them. he even has the gumption to call to remove crosses and statues within mission schools compounds. whats more? he claims they are funded by churches, such as the vatican, but is there anything wrong with that? I donate money to SMK Taman SEA. is he going to come after me too? I wonder who is playing up racial/religious issues now...opposition or government? who should deserve ISA too? i leave that for you to answer yourselves.

Anw, KERISmas won't be long celebrated.

So, what about Christmas that the whole world celebrates?

Lets look at some texts regarding Christ's birth.

46And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."

Luke 1:46-55

Notice how God differently God treats the proud, the strong and the humble, the weak? God dwells in those who are humble in spirit.

Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Luke 2:10-12

A savior?
There are 2 responds to this:

1. What for? All is well!
2. Hurray!!! I need a savior!

But lets look at what this savior saves us from. Save us from what? In life, is there really life, or we merely face a tough world and end up dead? Sometimes we joyfully welcome another new born baby, but is there something to be joyful of, since we know he/she is coming into a world of suffering? what about death? should we rejoice because he/she has left this treacherous earth or mourn because what comes after death is still yet unknown? hell? heaven?

This life on earth IS full of suffering! so much for not able to cry or pout when santa comes! what is worst? Death comes after that suffering, and many things are not known after that. but, can we be sure what comes after death?

"I am going to heaven! because I did many good deeds." one may say. How sure are you? how bout the bad ones? Even Earl can't make it in his debut "My name is Earl", he ends up with more mistakes while correcting his previous mistakes. Can we acquit a judge who made 9 good decisions and 2 bad decisions? can we indeed pay for our own mistakes that it will not accumulate against us? "the wages of sin is death" death, as in separation from our Creator, of which all mankind has to pay for his own sin. Are you sinless? think again. even a mere anger and hatred against another person is sin. Can we indeed cook an omelet where a bad egg is put in, only to add more good eggs in order to reduce the poisonous effect of the bad egg? is that possible? would you serve that to the one you love?

"I am going to heaven! because God loves everybody!" another may say. true, God loves everybody, but remember, God is also a JUST God and must meet the righteous requirement of the law. He loves us, but hates sin. He must carry out the due punishment of sin, which is death.

"It's up to God to decide" another may say. Good that you know! what are you gonna do about it? In fact, God decides, but He also gave us heaven as a free gift, it is a matter of whether you want to receive it.

free gift? but how? Well, this is where the Savior comes into the picture. Since we all know that we only deserve to be condemned of our sins, which separates us from God, this Savior has came on Christmas Day to save mankind from sin and death. "I (Jesus) came to seek and save the lost". If one recognizes that he/she is a sinner and cannot save themselves and seeks eagerly to be with God, "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" Christ, came and died on the cross, paying the penalty of our sins. He was buried and He rose on the 3rd day, glorious, seated on the right hand of God. That whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life.

The Christmas story, the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior, who came to save all who are humble, meek, oppressed, downtrodden, lame, blind, forgotten, rejected, etc. It only takes a humble heart to recognize one's helplessness and it takes a humble heart to trust in Christ for his/her salvation, believing that Christ died on the cross for his/her sin, giving him/her eternal life.

Reach out your arms to receive the free gift of eternal life, through Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas! May God bless you and your family! Jesus loves you!

Tak Nak! to ISA

2007-12-14T00:51:00.000+08:00

A new campaign should begin.....Tak Nak! to ISA!

ISA, a internal security act which allows detention trial has been applied unto 5 hindraf leaders. And for what? apparently claimed to be a threat to national security. Of course, it is justifiable in the eyes of those who had played up the issues against Hindraf.

beginning with hindraf's national tour to deliver talks pertaining to the Indian community marginalization, they were brought to lime light in the name of sedition. Although some of the claims are rather farfetched in the sphere of our definition of certain terminology used, but nonetheless, Hindraf uses those "farfetched" terms as their punchline to get attention. Of course, using such strategy is taking a big risk, especially going against the norm of definitions, nonetheless, they have successfully gained international attention through their "farfetched" claims.

What's next? Uthayakumar's office was thoroughly searched by the police to catch Hindraf red handed for seditious materials. However, at the end of the day, it was futile, they left the place empty-handed, and I believe with frustration, they'd probably thought "Dang...this guys hide barang larangan better than school students!" Well, of course i write this in view of my experience as a prefect. As long as there are a list of "suspect" classes, we always expect a great haul when doing a spot check in those classes. Otherwise, we'll leave by concluding, "they have passed the barang larangan to their friends in another class", "someone in the prefects' board leaked info", "the teacher coorporated with the students", and of course, all these reasonings rule out the fact that they never actually brought barangan larangan, it was merely their lucky day. And of course, that happens when we are frustrated. "There are no substantial evidences we can bring those Hindraf crooks to court", a most possible statement to be made by police personnels who did the search in Uthayakumar's office.

Then, we have the mass rallies, which, of course has been sensationalised out of proportion by the government, not only have they brought 31 guys to a murder attempt charge, the PM even issued threat to invoke ISA. More than that, they have portrayed those who joined the rally as violent and uncivilised people.

After that, the 5 who are currently detained under ISA were brought in court in and out over a number of times. of course the 1st charge before the protest was not pleasing to the government because they were released unconditionally on grounds that there were no substantial evidences to charge them, mainly because the prosecution team failed to produce an original tamil transcript as evidence, but only a mere translation of what has been said. I support the judge's decision because anyone could temper with the translation prior to submission as evidence. So, after a series of arrest and release on bail, all on grounds of sedition, the police raided the office again. This time even scanning computers and everything they can find there. However, they left the place empty-handed AGAIN.

That incident just reminds me once when we suspected one of our prefects leaked info to his/her classmates. our suspicion began when we presumed that this particular class has all the illegal stuff we can imagine of, but when checked, we left empty-handed. Then the same reasoning process takes place, and by flashback of events, we found that the prefect in that class was acting unusual prior to the spot check, so we interrogated him/her and concluded info leaked. So, we did a 2nd round of spot check after recess, but still was futile. Of course, we couldn't charge the prefect for leaked info, because of lack of evidence. Nevertheless, we warned sternly and let him/her off the hook with a disappointed and frustrated heart. Same shit, different smell. My prefect days. hahahahaha....

So, now, back to my main story. Empty-handed again!!!!???? GARRRRRrrr....I know somewhere behind my mind that they made very seditious claimssss!!!! I must leash out my frustration and dissapointment! ahah! of course! our trump card - ISA.... So it is...the 5 were detained.

Of course, they did not invoke ISA blindly or without strategy. Look at the flow of events, especially on mainstream media. starting with PM's threat to invoke ISA, it was followed by the IGP's baseless claims of Hindraf's linked to terrorists, hence threat to national security, and seditious claims made. if we look through all the allegations made by the government against Hindraf, I am yet to read any evidences materialized to confirm these allegations. All they have is "I know they ..." or "we have info that they ..." Can they produce them in court please? Why detention without trial? No evidence izzit.... Well, of course PM also made statements that he put security above freedom. Dear PM, abolishing freedom is threatening security. When an individual has no sense or assurance of their own freedom, do they feel secure? basically is this, most rape victims do not feel secure, because their fear has clamped down their freedom to move about, the moment they move about freely against their fear, insecurity and paranoia may take over, is there security for that individual? Take this example to a marginalized group. Let's just apply it to the Malays, since the government fight so much for the NEP. the Malays freely express their needs to excel in society and get a bigger pie in equity ownership. their plight was heard as they freely expressed them, and now they feel that their positions are secured. Imagine if the government of those days shut them up and throw them in prison via ISA, the 1st thing is that comes to mind is this "Malaysia is not a safe place for me anymore, others are robbing me of my wealth and well being in this country." do they feel secure? Heck no. Dear PM, robbing our freedom = threatening our security.

Of course my story is hypothetical of what goes on in the mind of those who invoked ISA upon the 5 hindraf leaders. and the side stories of my prefect life just confirm how ugly i was myself... I just hope i could turn back time and change things... oh well, time to move on anyway. Good thing we have no parallel ISA in school, otherwise we'll see alot more disciplinary actions taken by the teachers.

Tak Nak! to ISA once more.

My prayer is that God will give a chance to our authorities to uphold justice in this land. Nevertheless, the end point I hope is justice prevails.

Uphold the Law Please!

2007-12-10T19:01:00.000+08:00

I am utterly upset with current events in Malaysia. Starting from the Batu Buruk incident up to now, Malaysia has been plagued by injustices and violation of Human Rights. Beginning with the Batu Buruk incident, police fired live ammunitions on 2 unarmed civilians on grounds that their lives were threatened. Granted, but how about the devotees when the Hindu temple demolition exercise occurred at Kampung Rimba Jaya? Not only the devotees did not fight back, they sustained serious injuries, were their lives not threatened? Should we not charge those enforcement officers for attempted murder? Then we have 31 Hindraf rally participants denied bail for attempted murder to a police officer, can this similar charge be brought upon the enforcement officers mentioned earlier? Is it true that not a single bystander were wounded by police officers exercising their enforcement during the mass rallies held? I believe there is a missing link that must be thoroughly investigated.

Then we have our Prime Minister rebuking the lawyers who marched on Sunday in conjunction of Human Rights Day. He mentioned that the lawyers are not above the law. That is very true, in fact, no one is above the law! But then again, we have enforcement officers assaulting Hindu devotees as though they are above all else, including the gods Hindus believe in! Then we have many cases of corruption cropping up today, and I am not surprise if there are any corrupted individuals who managed to escape judgment. Are they above the law? I think through corruption they have tried to, and some managed to. And then recently Edmund Bon, a human rights lawyer was arrested on grounds that he has obstructed enforcement officers from removing Human Rights banner from Bar Council building. This is ridiculous, how is it possible that the local authority has jurisdiction over a banner with a legitimate message and furthermore displayed on a private property? Are the local authorities telling Malaysians that we have no fundamental Human Rights that must be upheld and respected? Or is the message on Human Rights sensitive? I would agree that removing this banner would definitely deter foreign investors to invest in Malaysia because Human Rights has no room in this country.

So, can our Prime Minister tell these personnel off that they are not above the law too? I have yet to hear a single word from him after these incidents, especially the temple demolition issue.

Then we have mass rallies handled in a manner that is not pleasing at all. Can we not say that we have gained independence because of active activist who went to the streets demanding for independence? Certainly these activists’ had a good cause! It is about our independence itself! How about the Bersih rally? Was it not a good cause? Seeking for electoral reforms, after many cases of irregularities in recent polls. There may be 1 or 2 irregularities, but can we just rule them as non-essentials? I think to rule them as non-essentials shows that the Election Commission is complacent in improving the system for 0 irregularities. Then we have Hindraf holding a mass rally to voice the grievances of the Indian community. Is that not a legitimate cause? Why did not the government see into the matters of their grievances all along until they have to explode to the extent to ridicule themselves in seeking justice from the British Government?

What other things? The Parliament will soon hear the first reading on extending the tenure of our current Election Commission Chief. As soon as this bill is passed, it is more or less bypassing the Yang diPertuan Agung. This is because after 30 days, the bill will automatically be passed regardless with or without the approval of His Majesty. I am wondering why is it that our Prime Minister has not sought to advice the Yang diPertuan Agung to extend the current EC Chief’s tenure, just like he sought extension of the current Anti Corruption Agency Chief, which was consented by His Majesty.

I am utterly upset. 50 years of independence now means nothing to me. As long as these issues are not well dealt with – fundamental Human Rights being violated which shows that our safety is at stake and subsequently our own freedom. I believe upholding Human Rights is part and parcel of upholding the written law, which would guarantee our safety as a rakyat and our freedom as a rakyat. I would put it this way, laws are formed to defend many aspects of the human race, and one of them is human rights. Laws are written so that the people is free and secure, which allows us to prosper together. However, if freedom is robbed from the people by the authorities, laws are not laws anymore, and when laws are not laws anymore, how then can we be safe?

The "Rich" gotta pay more?

2007-11-11T19:41:00.000+08:00

Our PM has vowed to revamp our fuel subsidies citing that fuel subsidies were unfair to the poor because the rich are paying equally, sounds like a puppet after his son-in-law said the same thing before the PM did. Anyway, I would do the same thing, it is a worthy cause to look at.

However, in view with our NEP aka Never Ending Policy, I am very doubtful of its implementation. All of us form 6s who studies PA will remember the goal of NEP. 1st implementation (1970-1990) was to destroy the racial economic gap - even in early secondary school years, we learn that indians generally are rubber tappers, malays are farmers and chinese are business men. The 1st implementation was probably good, but perhaps from here is where the current problem stems from. Besides that, according to my book it mentions that the policy was to eradicate poverty indiscriminately (as to race) and also encourages the rakyat, especially bumiputera (again, depends on interpretation) in the corporate world. From here, you can judge for yourself. Was it for the cause of unity or for the benefit of one race?

The 2nd implementation (1991-2000) known as the National Development Policy is the descendant of the NEP, hence we keep the latter name. The objectives are many. However, it is structured (according to my book) to be indiscriminate and to eradicate poverty once again. This would mean, the benefit goes to the poor (another term to define). However, if we look at today's society, we must recognize that there are some who are greatly marginalized in society, and this NEP is not at all helping them. Some are still living below RM400 a month line. read this investigation done by Malaysiakini. The benefit went to bumiputeras who were middle class and above, robing wealth that were delegated to the poor. This is done in many ways, ie, Amanah shares. I do not have a good research on this area, but this is happening today.

Now, our NEP which lives up to its name continues on the 3rd implementation (2001-2010). Yes, it is due soon, but I anticipate a 4th implementation, God knows under what name.

So, with this background investigation on how our government of the day define "poor", the fuel subsidy is going to be a tricky one. Do they mean poor as in Malay middle-class men? and "rich" as in non-bumi who are "robbing" their wealth? Why I say "robbing"? This is because most UMNO guys are viewing it this way - those immigrants come to malay land and rob our wealth. Sad isn't it? Some would go to the extend as to say:" Why are the Chinese all over the world?" Well, there are no stupid questions, so to speak, that guy should probably motivate himself instead:"We should have Malays go all over the world!"

Hence, I am quite worried with the new fuel subsidy implementation. If we take yet another wrong step, We make our natural resources another aspect for exploitation in the name of NEP. I hope our dear Pak Lah knows what he is doing and would not follow the flow of the NEP. As we all know racial polarity is building, and it is reaching a point where our country falls behind a harmonious diverse cultural country. If nothing is done, we can no longer humbly say Malaysia is a diverse country, but probably then will be a divided country. Y_Y

Well, then this question arises, what does UNITY mean to you? I have the impression of most UMNO delegates having the ideal that all races are united under the Malay umbrella. Not sure about you though. Yes, that is another way to implement unity, under the umbrella of another. But, if we look at our social contract, does it state so? or is it united as Malaysian? The chinese that came from China have proclaim to call themselves Malaysian, same goes with the Indians. So, what kind of UNITY our government is looking at? I believe it is being united under the Malay umbrella. BUT, I want UNited in InTegritY, and integrity cancels out the Malay umbrella part and integrates all race equally.

Thats my ideal.

God bless.

The power of Corruption

2007-11-09T11:11:00.000+08:00

Today, we witness the opposition questioning the government of the day on many issues (nothing wrong with that!) namely, appointment of our ex-CJ, Augusta shares, Altantuya, rot in the judiciary, CCID's arrest, unfair electoral, etc etc. I appreciate of their hard effort in revealing all these rots in the government that we, the rakyat, may know where we are heading under the care of BN.

We read from www.malaysia-today.com, Raja Petra's stronghold of reporting many rots. Malaysiakini also reports news that are censored in mainstream media. The blogosphere also are up in arms in shaking our government up.

But my question is this. If any of our oppositions have managed to topple the ruling government, will they abuse the power and walk in the corridors of power also? Will they escape from this darkness which they accuse of our ruling government of doing so?

I think those questions are hard to answer, and I personally have no answer for it. Lets take Anwar for example. He is aggressively revealing the appointment of ex-CJ Ahmad Fairuz, this is the responsibility of a rakyat in order to purge all corruption from the government. However, IF he wins the election and be the next PM, one would wonder if he would abuse the same power, but maybe in different ways. As the saying goes "Same shit but different smell/colour" But I hope if the same shit occurs, he (any opposition for that matter) will not sweep it under the carpet (yuck), but instead will clear his name transparently and regain his integrity.

Perhaps, at the same time, we must consider our leaders as humans, and hence, to err is human to forgive is divine. I believe if our leaders have made any mistakes and made known, they should immediately evaluate and admit their mistakes, more importantly assure that they progress away from their mistakes. From our part, we forgive. Why are people favouring the opposition nowadays? I believe it is the part of our government sweeping their shit under the carpet.
Whatever happened to the Kg. Rimba Jaya case? Whatever happened to the murder of Altantuya? Why is the rakyat being denied to hold a peaceful alert and push for electoral reforms? Why are our mainstream media controlled by the government? Why the keris-matic morons in UMNO? What about our CCID who carried out his obligations, now charged for some illegitimate reasons? Why Petronas has 90+% Malay staff and the rest non-Malays? Why are we keeping ISA? Why are we turning New Economic Policy to Never Ending Policy? Oh well...i believe there are more...but I have my limits.

God bless Malaysia.

Jaring the real NET

2007-11-08T16:58:00.000+08:00

I think I have used Jaring's broadband service sufficiently to comment on it.

I am much impressed with the service despite the fact that I waited 1 whole month for it (The delay stemmed up from TMNet's inability to produce a vital document).

Well, so far, I have only experience little/no disconnections at all. The speed is consistently up to par - approx 110Kbps downloading. Gunbound in 0.5 hour. its cool.

Comparing with old tmnet, Jaring the REAL NET provides far better services. the customer service officers are very helpful as they are knowledgeable in troubleshooting your problems, unlike TM, I suspect they do not read from a book when answering your queries.

Oh, not only so. my promo package rate is much cheaper than TM. 69/month @ 1.0MBPS (down) and 512 KBPS (up). approx RM7/month cheaper. coupled with a better service. how great is that?!

No more to frustrating disconnection (no more "leaver" labelling in online games, ie DOTA) No more sudden slow down in speeds, no more router/modem crash (yes, I experience this FREQUENTLY when using TM).

Sadly, I think their promo period is over. (UPDATE! They kept the price as I mentioned above! woohoo!) However, look out for the next promo! perhaps then you can take the opportunity to turn your back on TM and go for the real NET aka Jaring.

True Malaysian?

2007-11-05T23:43:00.000+08:00

"It is a sad sad morning..." sounds farmiliar? It reminds me of Mafia, whenever we start a new day, with bad news that someone was successfully murdered. Well, that was what happened last Tuesday @ Kampung Rimba Jaya. squatters, Hindu temples were all razed without questions. So much for Malaysia believing that all squabbles should be settled over a cup of tea. I wonder what is their cup of tea...

I remember reading in PA (Pengajian Am/General Studies) that Malaysia holds fast the policy of settling issues amicably, most of the time used in speeches during major summits when discussing about a crises in other countries. Sad enough, our government hope others to settle their issues amicably, whilst they settle us with brutality. Kampung Rimba Jaya - Hindu devotees brutally treated via stoning, beating, slashing, etc. It reminds me of Malaysia condemning the Junta's act. Are they still holding true the spirit of unity and tolerance? Or are they as impulsive as teenagers with raging hormones (such as I...hehehe)?

Will this dark episode cause more racial polarisation? While we all are trying our best to love one another, we all break down in hopelessness when our leaders fail us over and over again. When will this stop? Will it reach to a point when we need to define true/false Malaysian? When that happens, more trouble arises as we debate over the word true and false, in order to get ourselves under the "true" category.

I hope one day, being a Malaysian will be congenital in each of us. Education, will play the role in catalyzing our strengths. What is a Malaysian? I leave that to your conscience to answer.

Malaysia belongs to the people, not the government!

2007-11-03T18:20:00.000+08:00

A good write up by steve oh in msia kini

http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/74330

I hope msia kini wont mind me linking this site...

there are other good articles to read also. explore beyond the boundaries!

We gotta wake up! And i'm writing to most of my fellow class-mates that usually look at me as a "political" person. Honestly, if neither of us take heed of our political well-being, or other words social well-being (since the word "political" is becoming a bane amongst us), we are just like fools surrendering freely our country, our home, ourselves.

I remembered when I asked a few random people our age group regarding their stand of the government of the day. generally their response would be "I don't know." why? "It doesn't affect me...or I'm lazy to read...or I'm denied access to such knowledge...or PA is irrelevant to us..." those responds are just as irrelevant as our PA subject. Not entirely though, somehow my dose of newspaper reading coupled with PA did help me quite a bit to understand our ruling system.

We must seek, at least the well-being of our government. I must admit, amidst of all the corruption and blatant use of power is worrying me. Not that those events worry me most, Its that my own "filter", so to speak, is not one that I can rely on for the truth. Can I really say that corruption is on going as our oppositions claimed? The government of the day do give explanations, mainly saying "those slanderous claims (from opposition) is politically motivated." It sounds as though only the ruling government can do "politically motivated" campaigns. because, by uttering those words, its already "politically motivated". True?

But that again, who do we trust? If we say main stream media is not reporting true news, then WHO IS? Its frustrating to wonder, ponder every night on the bed as to which story to listen - malaysiakini and parallel source of news or our main stream media?

the Lingam Tape, CCID Ramli's arrest and charges, scorpene submarine, altantuya's murder case, ISA, $$$$$$$$ (should know what that means rite...)......etc etc.

Even recently in Kampung Rimba Jaya, our fellow Hindus and marginalized rakyat is suffering because their shelter, place of worship were all destroyed ruthlessly, leaving them no where to go because no other lands were allocated to them beforehand. I really wonder, how did BN actually secured so many votes, in view of this!? Should they deserve more votes next round? My stand is NO. they must feel the pinch and wake up that they do not own malaysia, they owe it to malaysia because the people whom owns malaysia trusted BN when they cast their ballots for it.

In saying that, I'm assuming that BN is functioning as though as one owns malaysia. well, with my limited examples, I think I can point out with recent statements from our own PM, de facto law minister, Nazri. I realized they use this phrase alot "its a matter of perspective". Yes, perspectives can be abstract - one may consider proton is a cheap and good car, whilst other oppose to such ideas, and another would consider it as A car. however, whose perspective are they talking about? BN's perspective or the people's perspective?

Sometimes from their words they may play around with it, if they have the intention to be crooks, they'll use this play of words to bail out. consider the following:

"time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."

at first glance, no one would suspect there are 2 ways of interpreting it. however, all would agree that the first half of the sentence would have only 1 interpretation - time passes us by just like an arrow.

consider the 2nd half:
1) fruit (subject) flies (verb/kata kerja) like a (simile) banana(object)
2) fruit flies (subject) like (verb) a banana (object)

both meanings are a world apart, only the banana remains unchanged...

Gosh...I hope ppl my generation would start opening up their eyes (those who are still asleep) and claim their land. the government "governs" (hence the root word of government) the people, as they were given authority from God to not "wave their swords for nothing" (in this context is to govern for the people's good, good thing the Bible doesn't use the word keris) their swords is their power to govern the well-being of the people, not use their swords to stab us for their own pleasures.

at the end of the day....God, bless Malaysia.

Why the Unprecedented Demolition?

2007-11-02T17:59:00.000+08:00

I read with much distress regarding temples being demolished recently. This news is sending strong signals to me that our own authorities do not uphold the Federal Constitution which promises freedom of religious worship and practise, what more the Rukun Negara.

Having given afore notice to the villagers of Kampung Rimba Jaya, stating that their temple will only be demolished once a relocation site is given and confirmed. This act on Tuesday must be censured.

I hope stern action is taken against these authorities who acted ruthlessly against the Hindus. They have desecrated their sanctuary, not only that, they also followed suit the example of the Junta, hurling stones and beating devotees. I am very disturbed by that fact, even though the intention of the devotees’ protest was not of political reform, nevertheless, the manner the authorities is far worse than that of the Junta because we ourselves condemn the Junta’s act.

Why did not the enforcement officers give them a little more time? No, why did not the enforcement officers held on to their promise? Deepavali is around the corner. Can they now celebrate Deepavali with a cheerful and spiritually fulfilling mood? Why did the enforcement officers forced their way through? Do they not know that treating the deities without reverence may bring wrath on them? Why did they not allow the devotees to run a proper ceremony to move their sacred articles before proceeding with the demolition? I am utterly speechless as to how this demolition was handled.

I hope stern action is taken against these authorities who acted ruthlessly against the Hindus. They have desecrated their sanctuary, not only that, they also followed suit the example of the Junta, hurling stones, beating and abusing devotees. I am very disturbed by that fact, even though the intention of the devotees’ protest was not of political reform, nevertheless, the manner the authorities is far worse than that of the Junta because we ourselves condemned the Junta’s act.

This issue was definitely not dealt with reverence and is a great insult to Hindus internationally, that’s if this news is reported all over the world. What’s more? Such acts coming from Malaysia, a multi-religious country. Is that not ironic? I think it is far beyond irony, its a shame to be hypocrites. I believe all responsible for this desecration act must offer a public apology and public declaration of repentance. This is beyond anybody’s imagination

What a PUN

2007-11-02T10:02:00.000+08:00

Man...I got this off my SAT text book...

"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana"

How odd is that???

Verify Authenticity of Burning of Jalur Gemilang Picture

2007-09-23T00:28:00.000+08:00

The Deputy Prime Minister calls for a verification of the video released by PKR regarding the involvement of prominent lawyers in fixing various judicial positions. That is a wise decision to make, instead of being gullible in accepting anything produced from the media. We try to give the benefit of the doubt.

However, I hereby request that the same verification is given to the picture alleging that whoever wearing the crash helmet burning the Jalur Gemilang. I have a three good reasons why this verification is legitimate, just as our DPM has called for a verification of the video.

Firstly, if you noticed in the picture, the people around the 'culprit' were as though in another world, or treating the 'culprit' as invisible. they stood there doing nothing, a very unusual sight you would see. Typically in a flag burning incident, you would see the group joining hands doing some sort of ritual dance, as I do observe that in various such incidences that occur around the world.

Secondly, I disagree how the picture is legitimate when the shadow shown on the picture is directly below the man, when the photographer's flash light should had cast a shadow on the other side, instead of directly below the 'culprit'. In fact, if by chance any of you were to zoom in the picture, you could see certain spots were badly pasted, when I say this, I assume the picture was doctored poorly.

Thirdly, If such a picture brings such danger to a certain individual, such as the video, I believe we should not jump into conclusions but investigate it thoroughly, Instead of tarnishing the image of other parties unnecessarily.

I would like to extend my thanks to whoever that pointed out these errors in the photo. Good investigation done by that person! I hope an equal treatment of the photo be done, just as the DPM calls for a verification of the video.

ECL should stay

2007-09-18T14:50:00.001+08:00

I write in response to Dr Wan Azhar Wan Ahmad’s article, IKIM Views titled “Time to Malaysianise common law system.”

As even the title suggests, we all want a national identity and we want to have “Buatan Malaysia” things to show our Malaysia Boleh spirit. True, we should be independent and stand on our own feet, but how true is it that all Malaysians are truly independent to support ourselves and strive for excellence for the good of the country? Is it good or bad to be temporary dependent on others? Why can we not stick with the English Common Law (ECL) as we continue to establish as a nation? I think it is not the right time to do away with the ECL as our country’s judicial body is not sufficiently mature enough, as compared to the British, their civilization has been established many more years before our independence. As to my view, it is better to learn from others who have far more experience than we do, rather than jump the gun and run ourselves into trouble.

I would also like to comment Dr Wan Azhar’s article that is full of contradiction at the end of his article. I would also say he has a very bias view on this implementation. Firstly, he mentions that “Islam is theologically DISTINCT from other religions” and the later sentence said that “it has a lot in common with other major religions (in reference to worldview)”. Dr Wan Azhar has to be clear that a religion’s worldview is very much shaped by its own theological stands, otherwise, by what means does the Islam’s worldview is shaped?

Secondly, he mentions that “any one religious theological teaching upon the followers of other religions must never be part of that consideration”. I agree with your statement, but I think you do not because you continued in the next paragraph “for a common law system in our pluralistic society...the basis should be Islam, and arguably to a lesser extent, Malay customs.” You see, Islam has DISTINCT theological teachings and now you propose that it should be implemented in our pluralistic society? You got to be kidding me.

Although you continued your sentence with courtesy to include other religions, but you must understand that the term you used is “basis” for Islam teachings to be implemented, it hints that the Common Law should be revolving around Islam and only similar teachings (if there are any, since Islam is DISTINCT) of other religions should be accepted, otherwise rejected.

I hope that if in any event that the judicial body plan to do away with the ECL, it must be done with sufficient research and study, know that the impact on the people will be great.

Grace Abundant

2007-09-03T00:05:00.000+08:00

Grace? is it a gal's name?
sorry, nope.

Grace, the word which usually goes with God's Grace, or grace of God, or by grace, etc.

what does it mean?

I think 1 of the Bible verses explains well:

For it is by GRACE, you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourself, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

it is simply a gift from God whereby:
1) we did not earn it
2) we did not deserve it
3) it is out of God's mercy

firstly, we as sinful men never deserve to be with God because of sin, in which God hates. and so, the gift of Eternal Life through His Son, Jesus is by His grace.

This is why Christians have the deepest assurance in the Holy Spirit that heaven awaits us, simply because of God's grace and through faith. And we eagerly want to share this grace and mercy with others.

and this grace is so amazing, because God chose to give Eternal Life freely to the very creatures that rebelled against Him. How amazing is that?

http://www.graceabundant.com/07album/

you should check out this website. my ex-schoolmates compiled an album of Hymns, appreciating God's grace. read the lyrics of the songs, and digest them well.

Praise our Eternal God, who reigns forevermore!

Merdeka! (after 1 day...swt)

2007-09-01T10:02:00.000+08:00

DANG late again! I guess thats typical me. hahaha...

Yeap, praise the Lord that we have many yrs of independence and many yrs of ups and downs. it is a good sign, as long as our general trend is a bull run.

wait, digress abit...i remembered i was wondering y ppl use bull/bear run. apparently the ppl who came up with the term observed that bulls generally attack his opponent by means of lifting its horns from down to up, hence the up trend and bear run because a bear would swipe its paws down, and hence the down trend. interesting huh.

Merdeka, what an occasion! in fact it is very much interesting this year as we celebrate our 50 yrs old of independence, or 51st Merdeka. some would be wondering eh? 50 or 51 now?
observe carefully. 50yrs of independence is similar as counting how old we are. for example i am born in 1988 so, my age would be 2007-1988=19. like wise, Malaysia is born in 1957, thus 2007-1957=50!.
BUT. how many times have we celebrated merdeka? 51! thats right! 51 times. 1957 is the first time, and so consecutive yrs we celebrate it once a year, and if u work out the maths, it is 51! it was particularly eye catching to see Siemens congratulating Malaysia in this manner.

so comes to my point. Are we excited because of the figure 50 or we are excited because Merdeka means alot to ourselves, or both? I noticed, and correct me if i'm wrong, that we are so easily hyped up by the number 50, 100, 200 and then 1000 that we actually forget that what we are celebrating is what we have achieved today and strive to achieve tomorrow. Are the efforts of our ancestors remembered when we celebrate Merdeka every year? ancestors meaning not only our PMs but also every single party involved in building our nation, dating all the way back when Parameswara landed on Melaka.

Should we thank the British for settling in our land? Why not? It is them who developed our land while we were still coping with the developed world. should we thank the communists? why not? they fought for us against the Japs, and they should be included and appreciated also as they also played a role in achieving independence for us, not directly like Tunku, but indirectly, as part of history.
should we thank the japs too? yes, of course, they drove out the British for a moment which was the turning point for Malaysians passionate to be released from occupation of other nations.
should we thank the many Malaysians as rakyat? we should give ourselves and others a pat on the back and encourage each other to move on forward, drop our burdened past to enable us to move further.
I thank everyone who always view the best for Malaysia, although in different aspects, but nevertheless, each and every one of us has in our smallest yet significant ways contributed to what we have today, just like our little pinky, it is absolutely vital as part of the mechanism for our movements.
i like this verse from the Bible, simple yet rich in meaning:

4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Romans 12:4-5

awesome, isnt it? we may have opposing views in our ways, but if each member of the body belongs to all others, where we have 1 goal, 1 vision, 1 mind, 1 heart. we work towards it in our very own ways, allowing the body to function. if the hand refuse to work with the legs when walking, will the body be able to walk properly with good balance? or the hands need to lift something from the floor but the legs refuse to bend, can we reach it? even if we reach it, we'd hurt the back bone. so, we are diverse in our culture and practices, but if we strive towards a united goal, we can achieve much further.

when mistakes are done, together resolve and get back on track, instead of pointing fingers and putting pointless blames on them.

i think i've reached my limit of writing...tata!

Happy Merdeka anw. May God Almighty continue to bless everyone of us in His own unique and mysterious ways.

Odd

2007-08-11T19:21:00.000+08:00

Hmm....I must confess that sometimes i'm quite a hypocrite.

oh well....i must say the rap below this page is good, and i would say it is real good, mr namewee is talented. although i know most of the time i would cry in dismay, "this is DISTURBING" when i listen to modern pops. but... say tata to that classical guy in me when it comes to this.

but then again....maybe its just me amused by the lyrics.

1969

2007-07-26T15:14:00.001+08:00

Was reading the Sun in school this morning.

it was the article regarding the GE(general elections) in 1969 caught my eye. i'd always like to find out more of our history, especially when it is hotly disputed/truth hidden and revealed. i suppose, mostly history is edited because of power, shame, pride in which mistakes causes desperation to ensure those 3 elements remain.

1969 is widely disputed as our local authorities would openly declare and claim that the social riots are started by the opposition and their supporters.

after reading the 4 articles on the Sun (although with a prepared mind that they are edited to suit politicians' eyes), i noticed a few lines that i would like to highlight.

1stly one of them wrote "they(the then called Alliance, rulling government) are afraid that non-Muslims will become Mentri Besars". this line is written in context of pre-GE in which we could see that the biasness of our politicians then of a view to Malay Dominance, afraid of giving up mentri besar seats to non-muslims. i suppose the ppl then would be able to interpret such a msg the ruling government is portraying as suggested in the book "May 13" in which it mentions that the Alliance had then already begun movement of biasness to the Malays.

after the results of the GE, some of the opposition parties decided to go on a victory march to celebrate their winnings, in which another article claims that they hurled insults at the malays. i suppose that would be true, supposing that the then government had always in mind of not giving up any mentri besar places to non-muslims, it is just a gesture of "look, we proved you wrong!" although in a harsher manner.

nonetheless, it should not be reacted in a way in which prompted the malays (gathering at Harun's residence) to initiate a riot which claimed majority chinese casualties. read more on the "May 13" book to find out declassified documents on this riot, personally it is a reliable account to read.

although i do not live through the period of the 1969 riots, chatting with some seniors who lived through that period will tell u that it is indeed a riot not started by opposition parties but rather started by that gathering itself. the death toll alone would speak. 90% chinese casualty? what makes u think that they started it?

the book also has an interesting insight of a strategy to overthrow our 1st premier off the seat. it is odd, but i suppose it is also a move to ensure the Alliance has more than 2/3 of parliamentary seats to ensure Constitution amendments at will. of course, it later followed by the amendments of the Constitution in which Malay rights, quota, and National language are considered sensitive issues and must not be brought up at any time. of course it is passed because they regained their power to amend it. and later the introduction of the disputed DEB.

oh well, i suppose whats done is done, we cant turn back time anymore. nevertheless, what we have lost, we place them behind and lets make the best of what we have now, to gain greater heights.

There and Back again.

2007-07-25T23:02:00.000+08:00

Random topic that doesn't relate to this....yeap...not a story of the Hobbits.

oh well....i just uninstalled all my com games to curb addiction....so...i guess this is just a withdrawal symptom....wahahha....blogging pulak...long time havent post anything ere...was a lil lazy

hmm...i guess life is full of surprises and challenges. although i would like to have a life that is relaxing and everything going MY way...but i guess that would just make me weaker as the days go by....even now, i sleep more than 10 hrs a day...man...wat a weakling.

its just so odd, randomly issues after issues popped up right after my trip from Nepal...and by God's grace and guidance, He brought me through it, and I've learnt many things about myself, especially my weakness in which i thought was my strength ---- pride and ego. and now i can delight in my weaknesses, for when I'm weak, then I am strong. praise God.

that is so true, i guess whenever we triumph over our problems in Christ, we are made strong later on. what a glorious thought. praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ who enables us by His grace.

tata for now. sleep is what i wanna do.

No time to blog...Y_Y

2007-03-28T21:37:00.000+08:00

Hmm...well...actually i'm juz lazy to blog, but putting that reason as a title would make it more convincing...(if u dun understand...we're on different wave lengths...as my muet teacher comments)
anw, if u got the time, visit my friend's blog. click the link to lauren's blog and read the blog title "what the" ....ENJOY!

Life, why are we created?

2007-03-03T23:48:00.000+08:00

ello...after such a long silence, i think (literally...i think) i managed to fork out some free time to write a post, which maybe a handful of you will read...haha..

well, as u can see the title, it is the most wanted question to be answered by many...well, technically, this question would arise because of the turmoil, suffering, injustice that we face each day, or basically, it sounds as though we are created to suffer. even the wisest man, King Soloman who had mused about life feels that all our sufferings would only gain us vanity, as in, it just boils down to nothing. and also mentions, it is better for those who never lived, for they need not taste the suffering that mankind face.

so, if there is a God, and God created us, and we know that God is good, why then did He created us when we at this stage suffer so much? We gotta look back in History (History is good in 1 way or another). before that, let us first realize why are we suffering, is it because of the degradation of nature: illness, pollution, crime, wars, injustice, etc(so depressing)? But then again, why did these kinda degradation happens? the Bible speaks clearly of this.

17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:17-19

This is quoted from the event after Adam disobeyed God's command of not eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. and as u can see, because of man's deeds, the earth is cursed, and man has to work hard for it. we can thus conclude that the entering of sin in man is the root cause of all the degradation that happens around us.

Besides these sufferings which are basically the consequences of sin, meaning the event that would happen because of sin, there is another aspect to sin, which is the penalty that we must pay for committing it. why? simple, all of us would agree that Judgement Day exists even if we don't have a Bible, and besides, if mankind wants justice through judiciary procedures because of a crime, what more would God require of us because of our sin which He hates?

"The wages of sin is death..." Rom6:23
" but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Gen 2:17

true enough when God warned Adam and Eve. the penalty of sin, any sin, whether small or big, is spiritual death.

Depressing isnt it? not only we suffer of circumstances, we also suffer spiritually. why are we created then? well, in the first place, God made us so that we may have a relationship with Him. Some of you would mock, saying :" big deal la." but consider this, every human would definitely want a relationship with the person he/she admires. right? and the reason of admiring that person would definitely be because of what he/she has done whether great or honorable.

isnt God great? He made billions and billions and trillions of stars! and our sun is considered one of the smallest star in the universe. He made the vast universe that no scientist can ever explain, He made all creatures that even man has a limit in explaining every function. isnt God good? as we always would want it. so, it IS a big deal having a relationship with God. How wonderful to consider God is so wonderful to create us that we may have a relationship with Him.

But then again, with all the sin that He hates, how can He have a relationship with us, since He is Holy? if He does have a relationship with us, He is not Holy anymore, even if we in our entire lifetime commits 1 sin only, we are far from Him. What hope is there now?

there is hope, only because God still loves us. Praise the Lord, He reaches out to us, instead of us futily doing the best we could trying to reach God. He solved this problem which we chose to get into by sending His only Son, to save us.

22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,^[i] through faith in his blood. Romans 3:22-25a

If we by faith believe that Jesus died for our sins, all our sins, whether past, present or future, will be paid for by Jesus on the cross. then through Jesus, we are justified by faith, and thus by grace receive this gift of Eternal Life. it is a gift, for we can never earn nor deserve it, it is a gift because it is only God who can give His righteousness, it is a gift because God loves us from the very beginning.

There is hope, despite all the darkness that we experience. If only we would be humble to realize all these, and be humble knowing we are hopeless and only God can do all things. then only can we succeed in seeking God, only can we receive this gift of Eternal Life by putting our faith in Jesus and not on ourselves.

Good day, and God bless.

INJUSTICE!

2007-02-07T18:09:00.000+08:00

INJUSTICE! Why is there a discrimination of the other races in this country? One fine example is today's newspaper report about the preservation of the MUSLIM Peranakan House but last year, the Bok House was demolished!

Reading the papers about the preservation of the Muslim Peranakan House, I’m quite reminded of what Dr. Rais have done to the Bok House. Demolished, right? Can anyone tell me the difference between the Muslim Peranakan House and Bok House besides their owners and locations? Although the Peranakan House was older, what difference is that? The owner did not in any records made contribution to society but the building was preserved because its architecture value is historical.

Wait a minute, I thought the Bok House was destroyed because it only has architecture value? Why then was it demolished? Not only that, the Bok House as some remembered has the significance of the development of public transport and Ampang itself. This is plain injustice done by our dear leader.

But then again, what are we to do about it? As far as I can see, the authorities should investigate this matter and action should be taken for poor leadership and for such injustice to the society, although it is about history, it still reflects our society of today.

oh well, even failures have 30% space

2007-01-26T17:30:00.000+08:00

I am shocked and concerned after reading the papers that 30% of Uni students who are Bands 1 and 2 holders in MUET actually GRADUATED. The concern here is knowing that my MUET teacher has always stressed that one of the minimal requirements to enter Local Public Unis would be scoring at least Band 3 in MUET.

The question now is how on earth did this 30% actually got the chance to study in Public Unis when in the first place they are not meeting the minimal requirements to enter it? Besides that, the number of these students are too big, it covers almost 1/3 of students who graduated. This really shows how the purpose of implementing MUET in the 1990s is defeated. I wonder if anyone can explain how did the 30% actually got through.

And, another note to ponder, knowing that for the past years complications would occur, especially amongst STPM grads, who can’t obtain a place in Public Unis to study their choice of field. I wonder if those 30% who do not meet the requirements of university entrance could be taking up the space of the former who would deserve a space?

Maybe its already too late to mention these errors made, since the rice has turned into porridge (Malay Proverb) and also its useless to cry over spilt milk. I hope that such an error would not occur in the future to produce graduates who can communicate well in the International Language in their work place, especially when globalisation is much focused on.

Integration with Integrity

2007-01-15T20:14:00.000+08:00

hmm...so, MUET speeking can get quite thought provoking, this would be what i'm gonna speak about 2molo. i'll probably expect pn chuah to stop me somewhere in the middle, because i'm meddling with sensitive issues. oh well....hopefully i won't get such a topic for my MUET exams, because i always can't refrain to think of these things.

Malaysia is very well known for its diversity and this year we are celebrating 50^th year of upholding this cause to live together. But what does it mean to integrate with each other? Our DPM has even tried to define it but failed, he said:” Bangsa Malaysia means we do not evaluate someone by his skin colour, race or religion, It does not question the special rights of the Malays, our quota or anything of that sort.” So, Is it to live harmoniously with each other, live peacefully with each other, live together for the sake of living together? This is the false interpretation of integration because such an interpretation is putting the cart before the horse.

Harmony, peace and togetherness is merely an implication of integrating with each other, it is never the core value of bringing up a society that integrates with each other. What then is integration? Not speaking of Mathematics integration that is very confusing, but integration which means to bring together all our differences into a whole, or into one unit. This definition is an adaptation from a dictionary to our current situation. So, how is it that we can achieve this? By living harmoniously? No, interestingly the word “integrity” is very closely related to the word “integration” thus, through integrity, we gain integration, integration with integrity. Allow me to expand further.

What is the definition of integrity? According to “the Advanced Learner’s Dictionary”, it mentions that integrity is a quality of being honest and upright in character. So, why is it that integrity brings true integration? Plainly speaking, if we are honest and upright to one another, firstly, we are transparent with one another, we consider others first before doing something, we do not hold back any grudges against one another, we emcourage, as in the “em-“ in empower, one another to overcome our individual short-comings in order to succeed together. Integrity is really a character of beauty that should not be missed, honestly speaking, such a value is fading away since independence because of disillusionment by the false definition of integration. Therefore, we have rulings such as limited freedom of speech, sensitive issues, misuse of power, money politics, Never Ending Policy (NEP) and so forth; I shall not expand further on this note as it is “sensitive to the ears”.

How then do we gain such a beautiful characteristic? Let me suggest the act of loving one another. But first, let me define the context of this love. In Greek, there are four types of love, mainly erotas, philia, agapē, and storge. Erotas refers to love that involves romance, philia refers to friendship as in a love for a friend, agapē refers to self-sacrificing, giving love to all - both friend and enemy and storge refers to love within a family. I would in this context focus more on agapē, because this is the very core value that would automatically bring integrating values, besides integrity. Love, plainly allows us to put others first before ourselves. The act of caring for others, no intention to hurt others, no intention of selfishness will be present at all. This then will create an environment whereby we live together with integrity. One party may rebuke the other, but do not end up in a big fight or force them to shut up because there is understanding and humility that allows us to correct one another and thus, eliminating our short-comings and moving on forward.

So, this leads to the law of love – “love your neighbour as yourself.” By upholding this law, we will “do unto others what we want them to do unto us”. What is the difference between that statement with “do not do unto others what we want them not to do unto us”? It is this, one statement encourages us to do what we would do unto ourselves, and another refrains to do what we would not do unto ourselves. So, the latter gives a loving environment instead of involving any elements of hate or ill deeds.

If our country had succeeded in implementing these values to create integration with each other, we would not have such things as sensitive issues which are meant to cover up certain deeds, Never Ending Policy (NEP) that robs others of their wealth and does not serve its purpose after decades of implementation, criminals of money politics go away after appearing in the papers for two days or a week, our Federal Constitution do not entirely promote integration. I shall not expand further yet again, until permitted.

Finally, I shall arrive to my conclusion. Uphold the law of love – “love your neighbour as yourself.” And it shall lead to integrity, and then integration with one another, and then a harmonious, peaceful, equality, etcetera living with one another.

2007-01-11T21:32:00.000+08:00

hmm...its sometime since i posted an entry...its mainly because i havent got the time to sit down and ponder on some stuff to put in. but mayb this post shall be dedicated to those who are suffering much in johor, terengganu and kelantan. we should play a role in helping them through prayers and generous donations.

Viewing in papers that the situation is turning from bad to worse, especially that now the ppl are exposed to chronic diseases that can rob them more of their livelihood. and also the kids! poor kids who have to brave through the floods everyday to reach their skools and the stench that worsens study environment! i think its a time where we can reflect juz how frail our lives are and that by juz a simple flood it could rob us much and devastate us, whilst we thought with much technology and advancement, we're in control of everything, the fact is, we're not. hope this wud be a humbling reminder that we must continue to rely on God and know that He is in control in all situations and also to remind us to count our blessings that sometimes we fail to realize and appreciate them, which in turn cause us to be disatisfied with wat we already have.

anw, thinking of which, if any of u by chance are worshipping in FBC and has graduated from Form 5 and even any of u who are interested to join a cell group, CCF Campus Group would like to invite u to our fellowship every friday. as for 2molo, we'll be gathering at stephen tan's hse to have an unofficial fellowship to get to know each other and plan wat book we are goin to study for the whole yr. details as below:
venue: stephen tan's hse @ 18Jln BM1/10
date: 12/01/07
Time: 8.00pm - 10.00pm
what to bring: urself will do la.

ok, thats for 2molo, as for normal CCF meeting it'll be every Friday:
Venue: FBC Subang
Time: 8.15pm-10.00pm
what to bring: Bible, stationaries.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T17:07:00.000+08:00

Oh well...abit late...but still, its the new year, the old has gone and new has come...have a blessed 2007, God bless u all!

The LORD bless you
and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.

Criminals ARE criminals

2006-12-27T16:55:00.000+08:00

I think in today’s society, pointing fingers are probably the most convenient thing to do to “solve” problems. Somehow, the public is now blamed for many crimes. Is it rightful for these politicians to victimize us who are innocent? In what way we have contributed to these crimes? In such logic, there are no more victims in crimes not unless one would consider the criminal, as in the culprit who executed the act, as victims to temptation or whatever they can think of. That is haywire thinking. And also, it causes confusion over the interpretation of the term criminal, this is definitely going to cause a grey area in our society.

But then again, if such politicians still want to point finger at us, let us stand up and point it back at them. The logical thing to do to fight crime is definitely take these dangerous people out of society, without the person executing it, then, there will be no crime, simple as that. But no, the government is not doing a good job in nabbing these criminals, that is why crime is still rampant. One classic example is the recent murder of Altantuya. I am actually still at a lost why Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda is allowed extended bail when he is a man capable of handling weapon of mass destruction that was actually used to blast a precious life into pieces. Think again, if he is capable of robbing a life that is of infinite value, what is RM1mil to him? And furthermore, he is let loose in society, who knows? He is actually robbing other people to pay for his RM1mil bail.

There’s also to consider, why are people robbing the bank or stealing from others? Why do they need the money for? I’m pretty sure they have a reason to that. To one extreme, they may have sick family members and is in need to pay the medical bills. But why can’t they turn to the government for help? Or is it there is no such governmental organizations to meet their needs? So, do we consider them marginalized in society? Then, the government is not doing a good job in helping these marginalized people. Then another extreme would probably be heavy debts. I think then the government should put in more effort to educate our society to use our money wisely. Another extreme would be drug abuse. Then I suppose the government is not setting up enough centers to provide them shelter and rehabilitation so that they can be saved from their addiction. I think this paragraph very much reflects the story of Robin Hood. When there are people who are marginalized, then there are needs amongst them. When needs are not fulfilled, desperation kicks in, and usually it leads to crime. I hope our government would take notice of marginalized people, meaning those who lives in the slums, those without shelter, those who are without hope of survival, and help them out.

So, if this politician still insists that the public caused such crimes, I think the moral value taught in schools and religion goes to nothing. It is interpreted as it is not sinful to steal, but it is sinful to cause others to steal from you. I would say this is blasphemy. For we all clearly know that if we choose to steal, we are in the wrong, if we choose to rob, we are wrong, if we choose to kill, we are wrong. There is no space at all to blame the victims but instead we should sympathize them and help them out with their shortcomings.

I hope that such ridiculous statements will not be made again because it really causes a lot of disappointments in our society and discourages us in our effort in fighting crimes. Well, to our fellow police who is doing their best, putting their life on the line to combat such criminals, I pray that God will protect and guide you in all your duties. Yes, and I’m quite impressed with North Seberang Prai district OCPD Asst Comm Wan Abdullah Tuanku Said who boldly remind us to label illegal racers as illegal racers, and not with fancy names that they take pride in. Also to volunteers who are keeping our community safe, thank you for stepping up to protect us and to help combat crime. And to all my fellow Malaysians, be street wise and take care of one another at all times. Have a blessed and prosperous New Year!

Oh yes, another thing is...I just found an alternative internet broadband provider...and that is JARING! I'm going to propose to my dad to change to jaring and see whether it fares better than streamyx or not, if it does, i'm definitely taking jaring becuz its cheaper too! look at the comparison below

Jaring

tems	WIRED
tems	Basic	Standard
Speed	1Mbps	1Mbps
Monthly Subscription Fee	RM79	RM99
MY015 Line	1	1+2*
Modem	FREE
E-mail & Dial-up Accounts	1	1+5
IP	1 Dynamic
Installation Fee	RM80 (optional upon request)
Registration Fee	RM75

Streamyx

Streamyx Basic 1.0M	1.0M	384k	RM88 (Without modem)	- Dynamic IP - 1 E-mail
Streamyx Basic 1.0M	1.0M	384k	RM99 (With modem)	- Dynamic IP - 1 E-mail

RM75 for activation
RM88 for installation (if applicable)

Look at the monthly payment, Jaring is cheaper. and also jaring has the members get member program which will benefit the introducer, of course. so, if i ever change to jaring and am satisfied with it, maybe all of u should change to jaring and heck, who cares about streamyx who gives such lousy services and charge you like RM25 for sending an uneducated person to service your line and also recommending lousy modems (Aztech) that is instable and wasting alot of ur time giving slow connections. and jaring also offers wireless broadband, but u gotta check on area availability this is the package pricing:

Items	WIRELESS
Items	Starter	Starter Plus	Standard
Speed	512Kbps	512Kbps	1Mbps
Monthly Subscription Fee	RM79	RM89	RM99
MY015 Line	-	1	1+2*
Modem	RM499 or RM25 x 24 months
E-mail & Dial-up Accounts	1+5	1+5	1+5
IP	1 Dynamic
Installation Fee	RM80 (optional upon request)
Registration Fee	RM75

quite pricey, but i dun mind paying for it. however, it does not cover my area Y_Y

What does Christmas means to u?

2006-12-25T14:57:00.000+08:00

well, juz came back from Christmas service in church. yeap, the title seems like a question seldom asked and perhaps a question that would be answered in different, different ways. some would be shopping, drinking, hanging our with frens, a day off from work, presents, santa claus, christmas trees, elves, snow, to some extend, prosperity and many many more...
but, what about the birth of a baby? a Son of a virgin's womb that was prophesied in Isaiah? about 400yrs before the birth of Christ. but then again, wats the big deal? its juz another birth of a person with a star that guided wise men from afar and angels singing carols and gifts given to that baby. come to think of it, its probably juz normal to have relatives giving gifts to new papas and mamas, yet again, these are wise men who never knew who mary n joseph were, but yet giving gifts that of such high value in those days. but why? wat is so significant of this Baby who deserves such treatment?

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:10-12

so, angels do exist afterall. so, does the verses above reflect ur meaning of Christmas? a joy that God the Creator, who gave us life on earth, who made the universe so vast and undescribable by words, who made the earth, the cute lil doggies, cats, birds, and all these amazing things actually came down to us, in human form to save us?

"In the beginning was the Word(Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." John1:1,14

but with all comfort, technology, knowledge, convinience, wat izzit that we need to be saved from? why do we need a Saviour? i think this wud be a question that some wud ask. but think again, we r living in this world temporary, there is death that WILL come, the probability of death is 1. so, when we die, wat happens next? this then is an interesting question, but it leads to the answer why we are in need of a Saviour. so, is there life after death? or is there reincarnation? or it juz ends there?

reincarnation? but lets see wat is the problem there if it is reincarnation. IF it is reincarnation, then how so did the earth's population doubled and tripled over the past centuries? becuz, reincarnation says that when u die, ur born again to become another being. so in another words, there is some sort of a balance system, meaning to say that the total number of living things on earth has to remain the same all the way, no addition, no substraction. if u dun agree, u can object in the comments collum.

next, does it end there? but if it ends there, where did we come from? did we juz popped out from nowhere and existed since then? I think if u were to even ask any scientists, they will not agree that life can spontaneously exist on its own. A scientist by the name of Louis Pasteur disproved the theory of Spontaneous generation which states that the origins of life generated on its own, as in spontaneously. so, then came the theory of biogenesis which states that life can arise oni from pre-existing life. so it raises another question, who is that 1st living thing that gave life? so, therefore, after death, it does not end there, becuz we did not juz merely pop out of nowhere and became life, but there is a creator which we will all face Him when we die.

Thus, the oni options left is either life after death or there is no death, but there is no such thing as there is no death. so, life after death. in fact, scientists are now beginning to accept the conclusion that there is life after death after a series of experiments and testimony of ppl who experienced pre-matured death, meaning they were certified dead, but later came back to life miraculously. and each of them gave similar accounts of wat happens after death, they leave their physical body, ascending slowly to the sky and they see accurately of wat was happening around his/her physical body and followed by a tunnel. some accounts end there, but some went on to experiencing heaven or hell. so, with many evidences and with all such patients giving similar accounts, life after death is very much proven and concluded.

so, life after death aso got problem, who determines who go to heaven and who go to hell? there must be a righteous judge who dwells in heaven. in Rev20:12

"And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books."

well, we all know God dwells in heaven and He is holy and righteous, so obviously as the Creator, He decides who goes into heaven and who doesnt. so, He judges us as mentioned in the verse above, and if our name is not recorded in that Book of Life, then we dun belong to heaven. so, wat is the criteria of heaven? having heavier good works than bad things we've done? but there's a problem with that concept. even if u have 100kgs of good works and 1gram of bad deed, u r still not perfect as God, heaven is perfect.

"therefore, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matt5:48

so, if God allows that kind of person in, then heaven is no longer perfect, neither is god who let u in. because he did not execute the punnishment on that 1gram of bad deed.

"For the wages of sin is death..." Rom6:23

thus, it is impossible that we meet perfection in watever we do, because

"for all have sinned and fall short of God's glory." Rom3:23

then, is God still love? well, some may doubt now because i mainly mentioned the other part of God which is being a just God who must punnish sins. yes, God is Love and does not want to punnish us, thus He knew that we cannot save ourselves and thus sent His Son, Jesus to die on the cross, not because we loved Him nor pleased Him nor deserve it, but because He 1st loved us from the very very beginning.

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1John4:10

so, Jesus came as a Savior, to save us from sin and eternal condemnation in hell. so, imagine this again, our Creator, the God who is in control of everything, came to earth so humbly in a manger, born to a virgin, born to man, to give us a gift in Christmas, and that is eternal Life, that we may have Life in Him forever and ever, that of which is obtained after He suffered and died for our sins, He paid them in our place, that we no longer have to die for our own sins.

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

(Last stenza of Hark the Herald Angels Sing)

this free gift is received by saving faith which is to place ur full trust in Christ alone for Eternal Life.

"Here I am, I stand at the door and knock. Anyone who hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in eat with him and he with me." Rev3:20

To some of u who have been blessed by Christians sharing with u about Christ and want to make the decision to open the door to Christ, u can contact me on msn: jazzdaman@hotmail.com
but if any of u wanna know more about Christ, feel free to contact me aso. I'll be glad to share with u.

I hope some who are reading this blog now wud listen to the lyrics of carols in shopping malls more intendly, because it speaks of the Savior and what He has done for us, juz like the quoted song above.

Have a blessed Christmas and may God touch ur life personally that u 2 may experience eternal Life now and forevermore.

Merry, Merry CHRISTmas.

2006-12-25T01:19:00.000+08:00

I wish all ye who r few who persevere to read this blog a very merry Christmas and a happy new year! I guess this post wud make into record the shortest post....lol...May the Good Lord bless u and ur family.

"To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."

The smallest things in history matters

2006-12-23T10:45:00.000+08:00

hmm...was so sad that someone wants to demolish a historical building...so i wrote this in to Star blog

Dr. Rais, the fact that you do not want to keep a historical building, meaning a building that has last through the years, means you do not have any appreciation for the little things in history that caused a big change in today’s society. Upon your decision to demolish this building on grounds that it only has architectural significance and 0% historical value, shows that it is possible that you have not done your research thoroughly before making such critical decision. And worst of all, you would label that house as “just a house belonging to a rich man.” I’m saddened by that.

Consider Callie’s Castle. The British guy who built this beautiful building in Perak did not even finish it, and furthermore, committed suicide. Wow, what historical significance to that building. But nevertheless, the State Council of Perak has done a good job in preserving this castle, not only by patching up the building of its structure, but also rebuilt or clone its original upon anticipating that it is not able to stand any longer. Such measures are proactive and voluntary initiatives to preserve that building, whatever significance it has, which of course, is part of history.

Now, back to Bok House. No historical value? As a layman myself, the 1^st historical value I can think of is the fact that it was there a century ago. Imagine if there were no such rich man to build such building, society is way different today, that’s because that man never existed. This is looking at the bigger picture, of how even the “least” significant things in life can change a lot in society. I’m glad that someone spoke up to defend its historical value, all thanks goes to Dr. Tan Loke Mun who appreciates all these little things that matters. Please do consider the builder of Bok House, Chua Cheng Bok which served the country by contributing to the development of Ampang and of course definitely contributed to which Kuala Lumpur stands now. Furthermore, he introduced the bus service to Kuala Lumpur to increase efficiency of transportation.

Dr. Rais, if you still stand firm on the decision to demolish this building, then, I would say, don’t stop right there, continue to demolish all the other historical buildings because the Bok House is just as equally important as compared to others, based on the fact that the Bok House was built by a builder that contributed so much to society about a century ago. Oh yes, and do tell us what you would want to do with that piece of land after demolishing the house, another revolving tower perhaps? I hope it will be something worth while.

Another thing to consider is this, Dr. Rais, imagine your house lasts one century down the road, and the then politician would say, “just a house belonging to a politician, it has no historical significance.” How would you feel? Or perhaps, how would your descendants which continue to live on feel? I hope you would make the best decision that the people may approve that our country’s Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister is a responsible man in managing his department.

anw, this is not my 1st post on star blog, there are others, but over here, i would post 2 blog entries that won me RM50. Praise the Lord.
this would be the entry i won on the 7th Oct 2006

Its quite hillarious reading the news about scholars debating who founded the settlement in Penang. Let's just assume that it was not Francis Light who founded the Prince of Wales island, and its some other local who settled there centuries before him. I guess we should then look back at Malacca's history, was the settlement founded by Parameswara? Or was it because he named the place Melaka and took leadership of that place, which lead on to a great empire? I suppose even centuries before the existence of Parameswara, there are people who already settled there, as it was said in the history books that there were fishing villages. So, we should correct our history books and say Parameswara was not the rightful founder of Malacca, and later on the Malay Empire.
I guess the main point is not which Tom, Dick and Harry found a particular place, but it was the impact they made in history. If not, otherwise, why on earth would their name be recorded in history? As mentioned, Parameswara made an impact by initiating the start of the Malay Empire which grew so succesfully as we all have read in the history books.

Likewise, Francis Light, was well recorded in the history books for his contribution to the island of Penang of making it a succesful port. And of course, it is the mark of the British settlement in Penang for their strategic purposes and plans. I guess we should not debate so much on who founded so and so places, but be focused on what history teaches us. Anyway, after learning history all these years, all i knew is Francis Light called that place the Prince of Wales island, not that he claimed to have found that island. Just like Christopher Columbus who called the present American continent the "New World" in his era.

next entry is just recently, 5th Dec 2006.

I love watching movies, as it is a great time to hang out with friends and socialize AND there are bonuses like student price, Wednesday special offer, Tuesday ladies day, and many offers. Furthermore, watching movies in cinemas is one of the ways in supporting original movies, and we need not go to the night market to buy pirated goods.

However, I’m not too impressed with the student rate format, it is only applicable on weekdays before 6pm only. This is quite bias in the sense it benefits and applies to morning session students only. This is because, operating hours of cinemas usually starts at 10am. Imagine if an afternoon student would like to watch movies on a weekday, it is more likely they have to wait till after school in order to catch one. If they go at 10am, be done by 12.30 pm, rush to school, I think that’s not practical at all. Therefore, if they were to watch after 6.40pm, which is after school hours, they’ll have to pay at normal rate that is probably an addition of RM2 or more. That leaves them with the weekend, but the bad news is, student rates do not apply during weekends.

Some would probably argue that it is not appropriate for students to watch during weekdays, then I would propose that student rates should only apply during weekends for such practices and encouragements, if majority of parents would agree upon this practice.

I would like to suggest to cinema operators to consider this situation because it causes unfairness among students, burdening the afternoon session students on such fees but the morning session students get to enjoy them.

Nevertheless, I do appreciate cinema operators of introducing student rates in their services because it does relieve my pocket and it shows that the cinema operators do give their attention to us and realize that our monthly pocket money would not be able to support us to watch movies at normal rates. I hope this suggestion would be considered and put into appropriate actions so that each and every student can benefit from this offer.

3G

2006-12-22T00:46:00.000+08:00

juz got back from youth camp on wed, tired but was very blessed and encouraged by the Spirit. anw, on the...
17th Dec
our camp theme is "Growing in God's Grace" so that explains the 3G and of which, all our groups are named after cellphone brands...and sadly, i led the group name alcatel, which is a dying breed. basically, 3 or 4 youths came and asked me..."wats alcatel ah..." but the gud news is...julian is still using it. anw, sat on jo's van and reached Golden Sands, PD. nice cozy place i wud say. reached there and was brieved briefly by jo, the camp commandant. the speaker for the camp was mr. daniel loh from George Town Baptist. we relli had a great time learning and experiencing to grow in God's grace. our very 1st session speaks mainly about freedom in God's grace. and this is very true in the sense that our faith is basically how eternal Life is a free gift by grace and through faith. thats cuz, neither of us can ever reach nor strive the standard of perfection which God and heaven is, and which is the very 1st requirement to get to heaven. so, by grace, God gave us heaven through our Lord Jesus Christ who took and paid all our sins on that cross, not that because we led a gud life and so deserve it, but because He loved us and wanna help us with the problem of sin that is connected to us.
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. " 1John4:10
therefore, neither gud works nor any of our effort can gain our way to heaven but, only by saving faith which is juz merely to place our trust in Christ alone for this free gift.
later, we had scavenger hunt to hunt for all sorts of things, from pictures to mangoes which are not found there. well...jo told me that although 3 small rocks worth 1 point, but to get more...tahu buat la...so...my group filled 2 bags of small rocks, and jo cancelled that deal cuz he lazy to count..haha...well..at the end i found a "mango" and conned the camp committee that it is a mango...it is actually a guava...haha..they bought the idea that it was a round, dried mango

18thDec
woke up at 6am and found a praying mantis in the toilet....wehehehe...caught it for my bio project...poor guy...
the next session, we learn about mental strength, how it is by the renewal of our minds that we win the race.
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2
we learn to be renewed and tuned to God's frequency that we may not conform with the world which leads us astray from wat we are made for. thus, boundaries are important, juz like a gud and fair referee in a football game. without a referee, well..u know how the havoc wud b. and, at this point, mayb some of u wud think that following these commands and laws wud be burdensome and boring, this is when some parts of ur mind is still tuned to the world. becuz, being in tune with God's frequence wud enable us to "approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will." lets say for example, lying. think about it, God knows that lying wud hurt others, and so, he forbids lying.

10 things to do b4 i die. this workshop was relli interesting as we list down the 10 things we wanna do b4 we die...and out of 10 groups, 9 groups had "getting married" and 1 odd group had assasinating all sorta ppl, including George Bush and then seek forgiveness then another had changing our education system...then i was suggesting the group that was assasinating random ppl shud assasinate the guy in msia who thinks his keris can beat a gun. 2 groups had skinny dipping without knowing wat it meant....another group, sadly had "stuffing chicken head in cow's ass" not sure wat he was thinking about...

it is the Amazingrace! it is the amazing race and the amazin grace. station games. well..there were all sorta games, tasting game, word game, statue, spider web, basketball, toss em balloons, picking coins from cricket infested box (i squashed a cricket thinking it was a coin...) and the list goes on...till the game ended very late and robbed us of our free time...

this is the special recipe made by jo...we were suppose to guess wats it made out of...the ingrediants are: peanut butter, milo, banana, and last of all...tuna

the crickets are in that box

then, the 3rd session, we learn of emotional boundaries, wat it means to grow in God's grace emotionally. the scripture is taken from Matthew 6:19-21. toking about storing treasures in heaven shud where our hearts b. think about it, no matter how much we earn and gain on earth, we cant bring along with us to another realm
"For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it." 1Tim6:7
thus, treasures on earth are stored temporarily, and also it is in risk of rotting, robbed, and so on. although it does fulfill temporary pleasures, but it does not last for eternity. therefore, which is more practical? to store something on earth or in heaven which lasts forever as our primary objective? i think the answer is somewhat obvious. how izzit we store treasures in heaven? living for Christ, blessing others, bearing good fruits, making disciples, etc etc. and in verse 21, "where your treasure is, there your heart will be." and so, the speaker challenges us to put our heart into seeking such eternal treasures, to seek His kingdom and His righteousness. juz like how we get so excited with certain tv shows, com game and other stuffs.

after that, i had an opportunity to share the Gospel with Chow Yang, it was a wonderful time 2gether, although he was not rdy to accept Christ

19thDec
well...another session of spiritual maturity. as the 1st 3 sessions have laid the foundation of Grace, it is time to grow. so, there is maturity physically, and mentally...but there is aso the spiritual side in each and everyone of us. so, as we grow we seek independance from our parents or guardians, whetehr spiritually or physically or even mentally. but spiritual growth has a source, and that is God Himself, we seek independant from our spiritual parents, but begin to be dependant on God. so, as we mature, we will take certain initiative to feed ourselves spiritually, to continue to grow. but then again, we must know who we are seeking, and thus, we shud have a personal encounter with God, juz like knowing a friend personally,
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6
and our growth is described in the Bible as to a baby who starts off with milk, and later on to solid food, so, it is a gradual process, not overnight. Heb5:11-14,6:1-3 and 1peter2:2.

hmm...then we break off to discuss our skit. we were given soft toys as props and we must adapt from a Bible story. 1st, no one wud bring soft toys to camp, except 1 or 2. but we solved that problem by taking those dangly stuff on bags and phones as soft toys....smart rite..haha..and then we thought that soft toys are mainly animals...and we came to a point where we'd probably do the Creation story or Noah's ark..but we took Creation becuz we were crazy over the idea of Vegetales when God created vegetation...oh yes, and the tortoise won the rabbit in the race because he was a tripppeeerrrr!! (juz a word that is a craze among the kembaraians)

Group photo under the rain...so cham man...even our group photo was affected cuz the camera lense got wet...so..some faces were smeared...and at the same time..took the opportunity to pie patrick for his bday.

camp photo under the rain

patrick pied.

Skit nite was fine, well..every group relli presented gud skits, and peter, as usual wud be doin all sorta things...having bananas as props, he used it to represent wisdom in solo man's story. and yes, he labelled other groups "bad" indirectly when soloman was choosing a phone to use...oh well..all of us had a good laugh.
lights out extra late today, so matt, feli, sam and i had a good time playing board game, puerto rico, an extraodinary board game that doesnt make me bored. i admit im addicted to it, even though i lose most of the time.

20thDec
madness again...wake up at 6am with feli to play puerto rico again...same 4 kaki playin the game early in the morning...
everyone was all grogy and most of them din wake up on time for breakfast...so...happy me la..makan banyak banyak....
final session...this session is specialized to challenge those who do no know God personally to take this special and important step to do so. and daniel loh used the illustration of experimenting mento+coke=fountain of coke. by word of mouth, it sounds interesting, but seeing urself, is awesome...wasted 4 bottles of coke and countless sticks of mentos. got pics below of the experiments. then, he used another illustration of the guy who balanced over niagra falls on a mere steel rope, doin all sorts of crazy stuff, including wheel barrowing stuff to and fro. and the next thing he questioned the ppl whether he is capable of wheel barrowing ppl over and back again, and all of them with confidence agree he can. but when he asked any of them to jump in, none dared to, somehow despite with such confidence to agree with his statement. but nevertheless, his manager jumped in, and he had a great experience being on a tight rope across niagra falls. likewise, to take this step of faith to trust Christ to bring us across the niagra falls on a tight rope is easy to hear, but not easy to do. and many youths were challenged. it was relli a great session as i was relli touched by the Spirit that most of the youths responded to this calling. Praise the Lord.

and this is the best pic for the whole camp, which features the effect of coke+mentos.

Balik kampung time...and we all left the campsite with alot of great memories and experiences with God. I relli hope that the youths in FBC will relli grow in God's grace and live in Christ-likeness.

On Top of S.E.A.

2006-12-16T23:32:00.000+08:00

Been away for the past few days in Sabah climbing the highest non-volcanic mountain in South East Asia. Unbelievable probably because of my size and laziness, but here is the proof!
I'm 4095.2m above sea level
"Is that you?" my dad asked...weird la...maybe its because of the hood draped over my head that he couldnt recognize me, mayb u wouldnt either.
12thDec
The climb was reali tiring but somehow compensated by nature around that lifted my spirits. The first 4km of the climb to Layang-layang was rather easy going. We started to climb at 8.40am and I was ahead with the rest from the 1st pondok onwards with Isaak, the rest decided to take a break longer. when we reached Layang-layang at 10.55am, it came to 4 of us. and we rested until 11.15. the climb after this are steps all the way up for the next 2km until laban rata, we literally stopped after every 20steps or so, it was taking too much of our breaths in thin air.
Oh well, reached laban rata by 1.21pm. fastest among all the climbers who participated but in expense of my health as i later got bad headache and fever.
knowing me, i immediately ordered an RM13 fried rice kampung style at the cafeteria to fill me empty stomache, the portion of rice served was really big. Checked into the dorm and immediately took a rest because i relli need the rest for my climb to the summit next morning.
1 after another arrived laban rata from 2.30pm onwards, all soaked under the rain. hehe...i escaped.

Towering mountain in KK, and we were up on the peak! its amazing

this is the map to Low's peak

this is madness man...2hrs 50min to reach the summit and back down...

Layang-layang pondok, the 5th pondok

this is laban rata where we stayed for the night. its 3272.7m above sea level.

13th Dec
Rise and shine at 1.30am, and by now after doses and doses of panadol, some wet towel, pinching my forehead, and of earnest prayer with the team, my headache and fever vanished! Praise the Lord, now i am all ready to climb up the summit, so excited man. there are some who din feel well aso, and remained in laban rata, some was too exhausted 1/2 way through and turned back, but some of us managed to reach the summit, and the sunrise view close from the peak was awesome. here are some pics i took while resting.

this is abit dark, but if u look carefully, theres abit of the sun...

here is more of it

this is my favourite pic, a view of st.john's peak with the sunrise at the backdrop.

this is one of the peaks, but i cant remember the name

a pic on my hike down to laban rata

front, from left: wei zheng, wei ren, isaak, hannah and julian. back, from left: samong, sam chuah, jimmy, jon ng and su teng. it was 7degree celsius up there...

and yeah, there were shooting stars and i mean stars, many many of them! so i made many many wishes at the same time...aha...sad thing is, my camera aint gud enuf to capture shooting stars...oh well..and the night sky is just awesome, i was filled with awe and its just beyond description. indeed, this is my Father's world made by His infinite creativity.
arrived at the peak at 6.00am though...missed the sunrise on the summit T_T....but nevertheless, there was just so much to appreciate and experience, i relli had a wonderful time up there. when the group was done, we hiked our way down to laban rata and took some rest, and after that, all the way down back to timpohon gate where we started at 10.40am.
at this point, all our legs were all rubbery and flimsy, hannah had to hire a portal to carry her down to layang-layang...and most of us climbed down in agony... climbing down was slower than i hiked up, somehow...i took 5hrs to reach timpohon gate... and on the way down...jon luo and i scared a few climbers saying " ur 1st 4km very easy 1...but after that...dun think about it.." cuz some of them asked us whether layang-layang is just around the corner or not...well..after that..when all of us reached timpohon gate safely by 5pm, we were brought to the city and stayed in North Borneo Cabin. quite a luxurius place to be called backpacker's cabin.

14thDec.
we went around Jesselton town (old name for Kota Kinabalu) walking like penguins becuz of our aching bodies.
we went to Manukan Island in the morning. it was awesome, the water was clean and clear, saw colourful fishes and "jellyfishes" (plastic bags lah!) wonderful time there swimming, feeding fishes, but at the same time looking out for real jellyfishes and sea rambutan, or known as sea urchins. the fishes there are lovely, but some of them got nth better to do but to start attacking our legs...aihz...back to mainland, we spotted a jellyfish at the jetty and jon luo, again with his humour said," imagine if that thing flip around....and emerges with "carefour" on it..." pengsanz man...cuz all of us was ooo ahhing at the jellyfish...

view of Mt.KK on my way to Manukan Island

Colourful fishes!! all of us got glued at the sight of them.

more colourful fishes! amazing creations

oh well...got scared of jellyfish and sea rambutans...so...collect shells lah!

my sand castle..

a beautiful butterfly..too bad...cant take it for my bio project...T_T

Next, to the mall down the road. everywhere we went, ppl asked, "u all climbed mt.kk ah??" friendly bunch of ppl there spotting penguins in their town. then we stopped by Osim, and saw the nice massage chairs and thought of getting a gud rub on the leg, but...was occupied by 2 climbers coincidently, they were the same batch with us..and i joked abit saying they used the excuse of testing the chair to get some good relaxation....and one of them laughed after hearing that. oh well...i was crapping all the way...and guess wat? i saw this amusing thing...

guardania COLA! and a whole range of soft drink products. GG man..."so good u can even eat it on its own...."

hmm...after that got the news that our flight was delayed from 8pm to 9.55pm, so continued to walk in that mall like penguins until 5pm. we departed at 10.40pm in the end...pilot was saying something of bad weather in KLIA, watever the reason lah...as long can go home can d la...so touched down KLIA at 1.10am the next day...while walking to the building from the plane...i saw something amusing on the road...it wrote:
passenger
to
give way

its for the vehicles to read from bottom to top as they travel on the road, so that makes "give way to passenger." i joked and sed some joker might read it"passenger to give way" and probably ram down all the passengers trying to cross that road. din manage to take a pic, because one of the traffic martial was about to blow his whistle...

15thDec
was planning on taking the skybus to KL sentral and then home with Isaak. the web site says it is non-stop bus service...but at the pick up area...aint no skybus...was so dissapointed, because i couldnt find any air asia personal to enquire of this...taxi drivers came about like vultures offering me a ride home with a hefty fee of RM92...siao man..i juz told the guy," can, i only have RM10, u can take me home and i'll keep the change." however sarcastic i could get to fend of these vultures. but thank God, aunty siew har aka pn chuah was still there and so, isaak and myself hitched a ride home from them. thx a bunch! so, here ends the journey up the mount. Praise God, because of His wonderful and abundant blessings that we could enjoy so much on the summit!