Ervan’s Weltanschauung

So Tun has given his grouses to the PM. And yet he still continue his attacks. And the PM is already busy preparing the answers that Tun is requesting…

My dear Tun, I know the reason you are noisy about the current Government is being incompetent is because you are afraid that they will not take care of your family as you expected them to. After all, they owe you that much. Being nationalistic, or saying that you are doing so for the country is something I never believed…

In fact, you have always used the same words over and over again…use it many times, and people like me will not be fooled again..

Like what Bush said, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. And I do not want to be that.

And as for Pak Lah, for frak sakes, listen to the old Man, and take his advice on, especially things that might affect your PMship. Don’t make the same mistake like what Tun did. One example, do not give business deals from GLC to your own family (including in-laws). That was one mistake Tun did not want you to repeat.

With all these stupid going ons, it’s no wonder that it takes the Sultan to take care of that Zakaria Md Deros. As I am typing this, his satay business is being sealed. But, there is still the double standard, it should have been torn down. After all, didn’t Zakaria tore down his competitor’s illegal extension?

But all these news, my dear Malaysians have managed to shift our focus from the more important thing… our economy. Good job Tun, in your focus to ensure your family have their rice bowl, you are affecting the other Malaysians who really do have to work for their food….

So, Tun, please shut up. You have made the choice, there is no use crying over spilled milk. And for the PM, please do be more decisive.

Let me do my work in peace then….

Oh My God!

The Beast saved the Bucket from destruction.

The part when the Admiral said ” Then, that’s it, it’s been an honor” was dramatic, something a Captain of a sinking ship would say. But all is not lost as The Beast came to the Bucket’s rescue…..

The scene was nicely captured, the Bucket was surrounded by 3 baseships, receiving heavy fire. The camera pans out, and then you see more artillery fire heading towards the Bucket, but…..the artillery fire did not come from another baseship, but it came from The Beast…..

One way trip, the Beast received heavy fire, and was destroyed in the end. But not before taking at least two basehips with it….Wow!

We sure gonna miss the Beast……

I just realised after the CEO of Enron, Jeffrey Skilling was recently sentenced to 24 years and 4 months in jail. Enron was the poster company for CSR prior to it’s bankruptcy.

So even if a company promotes itself as a good CSR agent, it does not mean that it is free from any morale disconduct or corruption.

Point to ponder….

Today, Sunday, should be the last day of Ramadhan. 29 days in total. Unless of course they could not sight the moon. According to lunar orbit, the new moon has already started since 1:15 pm this afternoon. Technically, by sun down, we are already in Syawal.

It has been another interesting Ramadhan for me. As usual, I made few more observations. The big news was the Takaful and Telekom incident where one or two person commented it is blasphemous to utter Happy Diwali greetings to our Hindu friends.

For me it is simple, as long it does not sway my belief in Allah, it won’t hurt for me to wish my Hindu friends Happy Diwali. The funny thing is, in Arab countries, even Christians (or should I say non-Muslims) wish Muslims with the Salam. But only in Malaysia, when a non-Muslim say the Salam to the Muslims, they will be looked upon like they have commited a sin. The same Muslims who think Arab clothes is the real Islamic attire……

If they can wear the clothes, why can’t the follow the good examples of their fellow Arab Muslims who have no problem in greeting Non-Muslims with the words, Assalamualaikum?

But that’s the thing, even within the Muslim ummah, the Muslims themselves try to outdo each other to claim that they are the right “brand” of Islam. The Sunnis and Shiahs claiming that they are right, one following the Quran and the Hadiths, and the other following the Quran and Prophet’s (pbuh) family. Both parties focus too much on the difference (ie the Hadiths and Prophet’s family), but they do not see the uniting factor, and that is the Quran. The Prophet(pbuh) was once reported to worry that his people would leave the Quran. Perhaps the Prophet (pbuh) was right to be worried.

You can tell to others that your way is right and you are more religious than others. But in the end of the day, it is only between the you and Allah. There is no one else who can put you in the fast track to heaven. To claim your place in heaven, you and yourself have to work for it. That’s the beauty of Islam, it is just between you and Allah.

True, you can try to make other people to convert to Islam. But, if the intention is wrong, even if you convert a million people, you might still not enter heaven. Case to ponder, as you raise a child, you force the child to pray five times a day, and fast in the month of Ramadhan. You have to ask yourself, whether the child is praying / fasting because he wants to, or because he was forced to?

It is better to pray / fast because the person wants to, and not because the person was forced to.

With this, I would like to wish Eid Mubarak to my Muslim brothers and sisters.

No, it does not mean literally that I want to go home.

It is Deeparaya season now, and did anyone manage to catch PETRONAS Raya commercial? I am sure it managed to bring a tear, or two for many people out there. The story is nothing new, and has repeated for generations. I think it originated from China…. different variation, whether it is the daughter or son in law..

For this, it is the son in law, and the daughter. But the choice of the background music. It really complements the advertisement. And I found the lyric
Kemanapun aku pergi
Bayang bayangmu mengejar
Bersembunyi dimanapun
S’lalu engkau temukan
Aku merasa letih dan ingin sendiri

Ku tanya pada siapa
Tak ada yang menjawab
Sebab semua peristiwa
Hanya di rongga dada
Pergulatan yang panjang dalam kesunyian

Aku mencari jawaban di laut
Ku sadari langkah menyusuri pantai
Aku merasa mendengar suara
Menutupi jalan
Menghentikan petualangan
Du du du

Kemanapun aku pergi
Selalu ku bawa bawa
Perasaan yang bersalah datang menghantuiku
Masih mungkinkah pintumu ku buka
Dengan kunci yang pernah kupatahkan
Lihatlah aku terkapar dan luka
Dengarkanlah jeritan dari dalam jiwa

Aku ingin pulang uhuu
Aku harus pulang uhuu
Aku ingin pulang uhuu
Aku harus pulang uhuu
Aku harus pulang

For once, in my opinion, the Nobel Peace Prize was won by someone worthy. Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank, of Bangladesh is this year’s recipient. And their contribution has benefited millions of poor people in Bangladesh. A pilot project started in 1976 has helped many to escape poverty.

It just shows, with the right intention, and the right implementation, we can help the poor to help themselves.

Malaysia is a country built on a compromise. Three major racial based parties created an alliance, each party losing something to gain independence from Britain. Compromise.

We can build from a compromise to a collaboration. Or it can be shattered by a competition. That’s when one party take advantage of the weakness of the other parties to gain a stronger foothold. Collaboration, a win-win situation. Or competition where one win, and the other loses.

Let’s face it, we see competition everyday. Even if the person has already such a huge advantage, but due to human greed, the person will still want more, at the expense of others.

I see it every day. At the roads when a two lanes road become one, and you’ll see the drivers competing with each other to clear the bottleneck first. One will certainly lose, or even both lose should there be an accident. Or even at places of worships where people park indiscriminately without a care for the traffic flow.

In matters pertaining to scholarships, my experience in PETRONAS has opened my eyes to see the sons and daughters of Datuks/Datuk Seris/Tan Sris got the scholarships. True, they are deserving of the scholarship. But isn’t it better to give it to the more deserving, and less fortunate? Instead of just one who can further their studies, two can further their studies. 

For all the NEPs that the Government been harping on, it will not succeed so long that the Malays do not believe in collaboration. UMNO kept on harping on the poor Malays, but I also see many well to do Malays. The NEP has helped to build a sizeable middle class Malays, but there are still many Malays, Chinese and Indians who are economically challenged.

Perhaps for a better Malaysia, we should not only focused to help the disadvantaged Malays, but to also include the Chinese and Indians, and all other races in Malaysia. In the long run, it would be better for Malaysia. Collaborating for a better Malaysia.

The Indonesian President has apologised to its neighbours for the haze. Now, it is for us to quit blaming each other, and try to find a solution for the haze. Easier said than done, and I do hope that the Singaporean/Malaysian/Bruneian governments do not take this as a sign of weakness…

After all, the aim is to prevent the haze from occuring, and not to show who is the boss.

A comment from the First Secretary (Political Affairs) of the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur. His name is Mudzakir.

“If you can guarantee the wind will not blow (in this direction), then I can guarantee it (haze) will not happen again.” [...]
“When we export oxygen, you don’t say anything; when we export haze, you complain.”

Another statement made by Indonesia’s Forestry Minister, Malem Sambat Kaban,

“We have forests producing oxygen and bringing clean air to them but they don’t thank us. Now there’s smoke and they complain. There must be a balance.”

Now, for the facts..

Refer to here

Now during the months of April to September is the Southwest monsoon. And the period of November to February is the Northeast monsoon. The months of October and March is monsoon changeover with light variable winds.
Compare it to the yearly occurance of the haze and you will notice if falls between the months of July-August-September, and this year, October. The winds came from Indonesia (the Sumatran island, and West Kalimantan) towards Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak. Come the period of November to February, haze is hardly noticeable. That’s during the Northeast monsoon where the winds came from Malaysia to the Sumatran islands, and Sabah to Kalimantan.

So Mudzakir and Malem statements are in error, as Indonesia exports oxygen (and the haze) during April to September. While Malaysia exports oxygen during November to February. Mudzakir and Malem tried to avoid the issue, but did not realise that their words will come back to haunt them later.

I am just stating the facts. But this is no reason for Malaysians to jump their guns and say we export clean oxygen to Indonesia. For all we know, Malaysia might export acid rain along the way.

So stop avoiding the issue, and try to solve this haze issue at its root cause.

THES just released the latest list. Based on the following criteria

1. Peer reviews by 3703 academics (would be interesting to know who they are to understand why 2 British Universities jumped to get the 2nd and 3rd spot)
2. 736 International Employers feedback
3. Student - Staff Ratio
4. University’s ability to attract international students and renowned academicis…

I can understand why UM dropped in its ranking. Anyway, I have to point out that I never believe totally in surveys, and University rankings. By now, you should know that. Perhaps because back in Uni, I realised how easy for me to skew the results by changing one small variables for anything……

Nevertheless, it is always interesting to study the university rankings. And, for the record, Brandeis University in Massachusetts should be in the top 10. Just by virtue for having a Professor who enriched the life of his students with his life philosophies. My alma mater got 25th. A position I am not surprised as UCL is backed by a strong medical school and a famous Arts School.

This was never mentioned in the Malaysian newspapers, instead they focussed on the drop in UM standings, and welcoming the new UKM ranking as the premier university in Malaysia. Should we be proud? No. Why should we? Knowing how well politics have trully invaded our Universities, and one of the main reason in the decline of our local Universities.

Peer reviews and the ability of the university to attract renowned academicians. Not surprising when K S Jomo and Terence Gomez who are possibily one of the few outstanding academics are no longer in UM. Perhaps if they were still to be in UM, UM’s ranking would have been better. *wink*

By the way, the reason why K S Jomo and Terence Gomez are no longer in UM is due to politics.

I mentioned before the quality of graduates from UM is not the same as back in the 70s or 80s. And being privileged to know, met and discussed issues with previous graduates from UM, the gap is too big for me not to ignore. Perhaps, in the quest for preferential treatment to Bumiputeras, we have sacrified the quality of our graduates. It does help for one to earn a University degree, but now, a University degree does not guarantee a job. Now, employers realise that to earn a degree from local universities do not mean the graduates can do the job, unless the employers want a loyal and always listen to the authority kind of employee. That translates to ass licking employees ya….and that is prevalent in Malaysian companies. Put these people in multinationals, then they know what it is like…..

I even suspect the SPM results, after all, most of the time, the top students would hail from the boarding school. Only when they arrive in UK do they know the level playing field. Perhaps the change of the medium of instructions from BM to English affected it, but who knows…

Rehman Rashid was once a tutor at a local university. And his observation back in the 80s still holds true today. And by giving leeway to these group of people, we are not helping at all. Both in imparting knowlegde and maintaining or improving our Universities. We do want these people to succeed, but if they choose not to, then, we might as well cut the losses and focus our energy on those who want to. After alll, God only helps those who help themselves. And these people are the ones who excel in the working environment, no matter where they are…