Earth Hour!

In support of Earth Hour

Kuala Lumpur during Earth Hour *courtesy of Google Images

Earth Hour was yesterday and I am very happy to state that my family and I have decided to close the lights for an hour to show our support for the second time-all of which were initiated by my little cousin aged 10 and my little sister aged 15.

Yet, WWF Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma urged the people of our country to go beyond simply switching off the lights. Instead of living Earth Hour for every year, let’s live it every day.

Let this be an opportunity to change our lifestyle and our resolutions. This can be done by trying to conserve energy, minimise wastage and encourage preservation and sustainability. We can try to better ourselves every day with the usage of the Earth’s sources and minerals. If we do something this little every day, it will turn into something big that can change the world.

About six million Malaysians took part in last year’s Earth Hour with Tenaga Nasional Bhd recording a 550MW drop in electricity usage, which was equivalent to the usage of about 14 million 40-watt fluorescent bulbs.

I was very happy that my 10 year old cousin was the one that encouraged us to shut off the lights last night. If all the children are educated of the importance of conserving energy, there might be a chance for preservation his children and his children’s children.

Man Ate Boy's Brain To Cure Illness

Throughout my whole years of living, I have heard some insane stories about strange medicine used to cure illnesses. But in our modern world, with our recent technological advances and professional doctors, never have I thought that a man would actually succumb into eating a child’s brain to cure his epilepsy.

Yes, recently a man in China brutally murdered an eleven year old boy named Li Xuetang because he believed that eating a mixture of a human’s brain, earthworms and ants would cure his illness.

This was taken from Wikipedia:
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, with almost 90% of these people being in developing countries. Epilepsy is usually controlled, but cannot be cured with medication, although surgery may be considered in difficult cases. Epilepsy should not be understood as a single disorder, but rather as syndromic with vastly divergent symptoms but all involving episodic abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

The body of the boy named Li Xuetang was found buried in grain field in a neighbouring village. The village leader, Wang Wenzhong also found two stained rocks and some fractured bones before he discovered the corpse. The Sun reported that the top of the child’s head was peeled back and parts of his brain were removed.

His mother named Yu Chaohu, tried to see the body of her son but it was too badly damaged. She said that she was anxious that her son did not come home for dinner that night. She even asked the village head to broadcast on the radio in order for her son to come home. The next few hours, his body was found.

The murderer-now known as Wang Chaoxu was arrested by the authorities. Wang was said to have married a nurse, but she left him because with his illness, he was not able to work. This might have driven him to do the irrational thing in order to cure his illness and to save his marriage.

In other news, a three-year-old girl was found dead in a public toilet with a knife cut to her head. The Police are investigating if whether these cases are interconnected. How could someone succumb to such level, brutally murdering children for their satisfaction? These children do not deserve this ending that I believe will shatter the lives of their family members forever. Therefore, take care of your children before they become the next meal.

Congratulations For The New E! Entertainment Presenters!

Tonight is the grand debut of our two new E! News Asia presenters! Marion Caunter and Dominic Lau have won the dream job fantasized by millions. Being the Asian version of the world renowned hosts-Ryan Seacrest and Giulliana Rancic for the E! Entertainment Channel.

This has been a splendid choice as the duo complements each other perfectly. Marion Caunter has hosted plenty of TV shows and it makes complete sense that they chose this outspoken and bubbly beauty. Dominic Lau (VJ Dom) of Channel V fame is also an outstanding star on his own, taking over the TV waves with his charismatic charms and good looks.

Both of these outstanding individuals cannot believe that both their dreams are coming true. Marion previously said that the duo joked about going on E! and replacing Seacrest and Rancic- now their chance is going to come true.

The auditions were opened to the public and stars did not hesitate to participate. Marion has successfully beaten Nur Fazura and Sazzy Falak-just to name a few for the spot as the female presenter.

“Dom and Marion really stood out among all the people who auditioned. We were looking for a variety of qualities and they had everything we were looking for and, on top of it, they had something special as well,” said Christine Fellowes, managing director for Comcast International Media Group (CIMG), Asia Pacific.

Congratulations to the duo and I strongly believe that they will deliver well and will not disappoint the ever-loving fans of this TV show.

E! News Asia premieres tonight. 9.30 p.m. on channel 712.

Download Cap Suspended

TM Net has suspended the download cap on their high-speed broadband services. This is due to the public’s feedback on the cap.

Many voiced out their opinion over the website ‘Twitter’ about their dissatisfaction with TM Net’s performance. The users were extremely disappointed because the cap would restrict the amount of data the users can download via the high speed broadband service each day. They were also disappointed to learn that if the cap was exceeded, their connections would be shot down to about 10% of the purchased speed.

Therefore they cancelled the download cap but still enforce a download limit to ensure that everybody received the same amount of service.

Ban Street Festivities!

Festivities are meant as a celebrated event. In the spirit of 1Malaysia, these festivities are supposed to be enjoyed by everyone- no matter whether they are involved firsthand or not. Regrettably, some of these ‘street celebrations’ have interfered with the daily rituals of several residents.

When certain communities performed their religious acts like offering feasts of food to honour the dead, they performed it in front of other people’s houses. The whole process of cutting, cooking, washing and cleaning is done in front of those houses. The whole neighbourhood reeks of stagnant smells of food that are not cleared thoroughly even after the whole celebration is finished.

This deeply disrupts the residents and denies them from the comfort of their own home. They might stand the noise but the odours are a different story. It is understandable that they are having a celebration and there is nothing wrong in enjoying the festivities but I do not think it is wise to perform these activities in front of other people’s homes. The geographical factors need to be determined properly. It is hoped that the authorities act fast.

*The issue was taken from an e-mail. I am seconding the issue as an effort to help these residents have their rights voiced out.

Slum Dwellers Increased

The United Nations Habitat is an agency specialized in working out policies with the government to move people out of slum areas to improved living conditions. This effort is primarily focused on the developing countries.

The UN-Habitat reports that the number of slum dwellers have increased in the 10 years to a total of 827.6 million worldwide. "The progress made on the slum target has not been enough to counter the growth of informal settlements in the developed world," UN-Habitat said in its annual report. The report also states that the efforts are not adequate to eliminate the recurring problem.

The UN-Habitat have done their best and with their efforts have resulted people moving out of the slums but there have been new slum dwellers that appeared sometime during 2000 to 2010. There have been as estimation of 227 million that were moved out of the slums thanks to this movement and yet, more slum dwellers are at rise.

Some of the nations that have experienced reduce in their slum settlements are India, China and Brazil with 59.7 million, 65.3 and 10.4 million respectively. Other countries are inclusive of Indonesia and Vietnam. African nations that did well were Morocco and Egypt. These reductions also happened in Latin America, Argentina, Colombia and Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru.

Even though the UN and the government have tried their best in helping the unfortunate achieving better living opportunities, more and more slum dwellers are recurring. This may require extra efforts by the UN and the government. Awareness of this oppressing problem must also be done in creating more forces to help out.

A Special Treat For Poor SPM Results

I love the idea that the Education Ministry and the Human Resources Ministry had teamed up to figure out the best solution in order to help those who did poorly in the 2009 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM).

The objective of this plan is to ensure that these students still have the necessary skills that are vital in order for them to prepare themselves for the outside world.

At the 2009 SPM Excellence Awards, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is the current education minister, says that “The Education Ministry will not sideline schools which obtained less than encouraging results,” This would mean that everybody would have a fair chance at getting help.

At the event, Tan Sri Muhyiddin presented certificates of appreciation to 10 schools with stellar SPM performance. The school achievements were categorised as excellent, good, and satisfactory. He adds that this enables the principals of the respective schools to understand the position of the school and what is needed to be done in order to increase the performance of the students.

He also gave awards to 16 students with excellent academic performance. Four of which are with physical disabilities and two are from sport schools. He applauded and strengthens the fact that disabilities and sports are certainly not limitations or barriers in achieving excellence.

These students are indeed heroes and should be the source of inspiration for other students preparing to face their SPM examinations this year. Good luck!

***

I would like to add that throughout all my years at school, I understood that the students whom failed their examinations-mostly have very personal issues and certainly are not daft. Some have money troubles, family problems and some were fairly distracted with unnecessary dilemmas. And at an age of 17, most of these teenagers do not know how to deal with such things and therefore gave up in their studies. All they need is the right guidance, another chance and a sense that someone out there still believes in them. How do you find diamonds if you don’t polish the stones? It is great that the Education Ministry realizes this and gives these distraught individuals a second chance at hope.

A Switch For The Better

In order to reduce the amount of energy consumption in Malaysia, our government will stop all production, import and sales of the traditional light bulb by 2014 as part of the ever-going effort to save power. These traditional light bulbs-also called incandescent light bulbs, use more energy than the fluorescent lamps, fluorescent tubes and light-emitting diodes.

The moving to stop the production of the bulbs would reduce energy usage in the country by 1,074 gigawatts and would save RM 336 mil a year for energy cost. Apart from that, it will also reduce the emission of the amount of carbon dioxide by 732 000 tonnes per year. This further proves that this move is needed for the continuation of our world.

In order for this plan to come true, two phases must be done. The first phase would involve stopping all production, import and sales of 100 watt or higher capacity bulbs from January to December of 2011. Meanwhile, the second phase from January 2012 till the end of 2013 will see an end to the production, import and sales of all other light bulbs.

The move is also in relation to what our Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is trying to achieve in order to reduce the intensity of carbon usage by 40% by the year 2020. He announced his request at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference that was held in Copenhagen in December last year.

In association to this, the Housing and Local Government Ministry has proposed the use of LED bulbs to substitute the use of conventional light bulbs in street lamps. The 60 Watts LED bulbs are equivalent to 250 Watts conventional light bulb. This would mean that a lot of electricity and energy would be saved by this act.

I am very impressed by the ministry’s act to reduce the consumption of power which is an oppressing problem in our society. I believe that everybody must play their part in order to conserve our environment because if each one of us contributes a little every day, it will help preserve planet Earth for longer.

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In other news, I went to I-City the other day with my friends and was astounded by the sea of colours and beautiful sights. But underneath it all, I wondered how much money and energy is wasted by lighting up those trees, buildings, lights, animals and ornaments every night for the leisure of the visitors. There might be a structural plan of some sort about the power conservation and the usage of the ‘city’ which I am not aware of, but I would like to know if I could, rather than just imposing judgment towards it. All in all, I am very proud of our government to take charge of the situation because not many people in Malaysia consider this as a serious problem.

Car Crash To Heart Attack

On the 7th of March 2010, I was certainly at the wrong place, at the right time. I was on the out of town when a horrible traffic collision happened on the steep roads of Taman Melawati, Kuala Lumpur. The accident happened at around 9pm between a Proton Waja and a Mercedes Benz E-class.

At a particular junction,nearby the International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL), the Waja took a wrong turn and headed to the direction of the accelerating Mercedes.

The Chinese driver of the Mercedes only suffered minor injuries, but the Singh driver of the Waja experienced a heart attack inside the car. Fortunately, a doctor was present at the scene to help. The doctor pulled the Singh out of the car and tried to relieve him but sadly, he breathed his last breath at the scene. On the other hand, the Chinese was taken to the hospital.

There were plenty of crowd at scene, all trying to help. The police arrived at about 45 minutes later and some of the crowd expressed their anger to the police for being slothful. Parts of the crowd were the cousins of the departed. There was a female with her husband and an unidentified male that came a bit late. The family members were all in the state of shock and crying.

At precisely 10.20 pm, the body was taken away and by 10.50 pm, both the cars were towed. After that, traffic was back to normal. I was extremely shocked by the event that had happened; it was such a horrible experience to see somebody dead right in front of your own eyes and the stricken reaction of his family members. I wish his family well.

EMAS:A Car That Is Worth Every Penny

The concept car of the new Proton Emas was launched at the Geneva International Motor Show by Proton adviser Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. Emas short for (Eco Mobility Advance Solution) is expected to put Proton on the map as a global car manufacturer. This is a huge step for Proton as it has only focused solely on the local market.

The car, showed in three variants, was designed by acclaimed Italian design house Italdesign Giugiaro. When asked about the concept of their design, the co-chairman of the design house, Fabrizio Giugiaro says that "This is a car for today, with a design for tomorrow,".

Dr. Mahathir has asked the people of Proton to speed up their productions but Proton Group managing director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, said that they need between 17-24 months to get the car into production. The car is expected to come out in 2012.

The car looks exceptionally good. It has a futuristic look that is different than the other mobiles currently on the market. I am certain that many would want to own an Emas. A job well done to Proton and Dr. Mahathir.

p/s: I want an Emas!

New Hotspots for Dengue!

Even though this might not be news for some, but I have been very concerned with dengue fever as I was once a patient myself. Dengue is not somethng that we can play about. It is a very serious disease that might even be fatal. To make matters worse, Selangor has the current highest ranking of Aedes infestation-totalling of 36 areas and 31 deaths.

The Kuala City Hall has identified seven other areas of infestation. By which, three were at the People Housing Projects, namely Taman Mulia, Desa Tun Razak and Air Panas. Followed by Taman Setapak Jaya, Keramat Wangsa, Bandar Baru Sentul and the Sri Selangor flats.

Residents must be extra careful to keep their surrounding neighbourhood clean and ensure that there is no breeding ground for the mosquitoes. Those who were found to breed the mosquitoes will be served with compound notices.

Therefore, we should stop the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes. Being a little cleaner may save the life of your loved ones.

COURT TRIAL: Armed Robbery

On March 5th, Wan Nadira Fazlinda and myself have attended a court trial held here, in Shah Alam itself. There, we got the help of one Officer Marzuki who led us to courtroom number 6-where a trial about armed robbery was about to be held. This is what I have extracted from the trial.

The purpose of the hearing is to lower the amount of bail needed to free the convicted. The convicted is an Indian male, ranging in his mid-thirties. The trial, which was under the jurisdiction of the honourable judge Hasbi Binti Hasan, started promptly at 12.00pm.

The right side of the courtroom was covered with the convicted's family members. The children were unallowed to enter as it will disrupt the court's procedures. The trial starts with a Malay to Indian translator of the convicted's particulars, the charges and punishment if he is found to be guilty. This may be to avoid any type of miscommunication later on. The convicted agrees to the charges.

The convicted was a taxi driver, whereby his taxi was rented from Uptown Ace. He has a wife and four children (ages 11, 10, 3, and 2) He is the primary source of income for his whole family. This includes his relatives, uncles and aunties. His previous salary was RM 1400 monthly and this was uncertain as it depends on the amount of customers he gets. Uptown Ace has now taken away his taxi and this leaves his whole family in despair. They are also living in a rented house.

His lawyer explains to the judge that on the day, the convicted was driving his taxi and has picked up a passenger from the area of Templer to the destination, Prima Selayang. The passenger has no money but promises that his friend will pay for him when he arrives at his destination. The convicted naively agrees and therefore gets himself into trouble with 7 Myanmarian men that were in the house. Upset and desperate for money, the convicted took two handphones and took out a fruit knife for his protection from the Myanmarian men. At the same time, the Police arrived and the Myanmarian men fled the scene.

His lawyer pled that his client was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and only took the handphones as a means for the men to pay him. The fruit knife was also only meant as a protection from seven men. His lawyer also used the tactic of gathering all of his client's family members to help pleed his case. The judge choose to reduce the amount of the bail to RM 6000 whereby the family members must come up with in order to free the convicted out of prison.

The next trial is on 14th April.

Gang-raped by 15 men.

I have posted long ago in my blog about the indecency of man as the increase in the level of technology. Some have proven to be more civilized yet some, unfortunately, have proven otherwise. They turn into beasts and loses respect for eveything and EVERYONE in his path. This is further proven by the news that a 15-year-old girl from Ipoh was repeatedly raped by 15 men.

It all happened in the area of Sungkai Klah in Sungkai at about 6.30 pm on February 28th. The story goes as the girl was forced by a man called 'Wan' to follow him to a hot spring site nearby where four other guys took turns raping the poor girl. After that, one of the men was supposed to send her home, instead he sent her to a house where 10 other men were waiting.

She was kept at the house till the next there where she was sent to the Sungai Kruit Bus Station where her godbrother was waiting. Thankfully, she was not about to keep a secret. She told her mother about her grave ordeal and reported her case at the Sungkai Police Station.

I detest the fact that some girls are willing to keep these types of information to themselves instead of coming out to the police. It might be emotionally tormenting to do so because of the shame and the turbulent physical and emotional abuse, but the truth needs to be out there in order for justice to happen. This girl got an immense amount of courage because she was brave enough to face the police, the public, her family and more importantly, herself.

Based on police reports, two suspects-aged 15 and 29 have both been detained. The police are certain that they are going to round up the others soon. The Sungkai hot spring is a popular destination and it disturbs me to think that people are actually getting raped when some of us are having fun just right next to them.

Contrary to what I have said before, not all men are heartless beasts. I have come to known some very noble and wise gentlemen in all my years of living. But, there are some who still falls and react with their instincts instead of their brains. We are humans, and what separates us from turning into beasts is our brains. If we fail to use it, we might just as well call ourselves animals.

Gold Necklace Robbed By Plumber?!

On February 23rd, my roommate filed an order to investigate the lost of her expensive gold necklace that is believed to be stolen by our plumber. She kept it hidden behind some of her toiletries and found it missing once she got back from the Chinese New Year holidays.

The reason why the plumber is believed to be involved is because on Thursday of the CNY holiday, our landlord gave the key to the plumber, after two days of overseeing the whole plumbing fiasco. The plumber was also with two of his co-workers, an Indian male and and an Indonesian male-which are yet to be found.

The only thing valuable inside our room was the necklace as I had taken every piece of jewellery with me when going home. My roommate searched intently for her necklace but did not find it. This ultimately broke her heart because the necklace was worth at an estimation of RM 900 and is a family heirloom, given to her by her late grandmother.

She filed for investigation of our plumber's name (which I dare not state) at the Section 11 Police Department, Shah Alam. I followed her for moral support. Once there, we met with the Sargeant Inspector as he asked my roommate questions.

He soon told us that our plumber has a bad background with the police. He was charged with breaking and entering of a 19-year-old girl's house from PTPL. Our plumber is now imprisoned by the charge of lying directly to a police officer because he lied about the whereabouts of his employee.

The case is further investigated. I will update you soon.

The Dalai Lama Joins Twitter!

I have a major debate on Thursday on whether social networking sites being bad versus good for you and I stumbled on something weird and out-of-the-blue. The Dalai Lama is now on Twitter!

The Tibetan spiritual leader that leads people into the ways of spiritual light and the age old principles of tolerance and peace is now utlising the Internet. His office in India set up a page for him, telling of his current interviews and photos of his current trip to the USA.

He has not written any personal messages yet to further educate people of the world of his wisdom and laughs about the idea of having a social-networking site. More and more of the leaders of the world are now hooked on Twitter, as it is a way to be closer with their followers and therefore solidifying and further creating a special bond. It also is a beneficial mutual relationship, as the personality can read what their followers think about their plans before making any abrupt desicions.

As I have mentioned before about Najib's Online Tea Party with his Twitter followers, it is a good idea because of the mutual benefits. The personality gets to evaluate their decisions based on the public's viewpoint and the people now have a voice that somebody will hear too.

Sticky!

I had always admired the beauty of ideas, visions and wisdom people portray in their art. Art is such an expressionism of oneself and I had always admired that. From the brilliance of individuals such as Andy Warhol's modern art to Edgar Mueller's street paintings, I just thought that I could not be more impressed, but the participants of Scotch Packaging Tape art contest proved me otherwise.

Imagine creating something spectacular only using Scotch tape. Call me crazy but this is what the applicants must do to enter and show the judges what their masterpiece. I was marvelled by the entries! There were sculptures of a dragon, a postman, a child on a swing, a jellyfish, a peacock, an octopus, a fisherman and a pregnant lady. Both the fisherman and the pregnant lady used 4 rolls of tape. Meanwhile sculptures of a drumset and an office desk used 48 and 36 rolls respectively.

The winner will receive 3200 pounds when judging takes place next month. That is a whole lot of money and but the winner will be known worldwide for his/her contribution of art in a new medium.

The see-through sculptures look amazing and real! I am also impressed by the strength and durability of Scotch Tape that is able to produce so many artwork such as this. Let's try to build a sculpture on our own!

Death By Depression.

Depression is not something that should be considered lightly. It is a severe dysfunction that can affect one's view of this entire world that we live in. Depression has no boundaries and affects anybody from all walks of life. Race, religious beliefs and social classes does not matter. Anybody around you could be affected. Severe depression can cause individuals to cut themselves or worse, develop suicidal thoughts.

This is what that Law Seow Ean, a thirty-year-old secretary from Georgetown, Pulau Pinang was going through. At 9.15 am, her mother found her body hanged with a towel from the ceiling fan of their house in Jalan S.P. Chelliah.

The family knew that she suffered from mild depression and has been taking medication. Normally, a patient would be given anti-depressants such as Prozac to help control their persistent dark moods. A few days earlier, Law was said to be complaining about having a fever and having trouble sleeping due to the heat. Insomnia is also one of the symptoms of depression.

The George Town OCPD Asst Comm Gan Kong Meng said police have classified the case as sudden death. The body was sent to the Penang hospital for an autopsy.

This is another death won over by depression. For me, death by depression is a sad loss because it usually involves in individuals such as Law, taking their own lives. In Islam, it is forbidden to perform suicide, but some people just could not stand being in the state that they are in and rather die than live another second. This is you should never be hurtful to the ones around you as this can affect them mentally in harmful ways. Take care of everyone around you and show them that you care. A little TLC (Tender, Love and Care) goes a long way.

Law Seow Ean would have celebrated her birthday on Feb 26th. R.I.P.

The New Malaysian E-Passports At RM 100

Adventurers and travel-seekers are in for a delight! The new Malaysian e-passports was launched by our beloved Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, on February 2nd.

The new passports are equipped with extra security features, such as microchips and higher resolution photographs. Therefore, the new passports cannot be easily forged (yay!) and this new technology will make it easier for the government to keep track of Malaysians who overstayed their 'visits' to a foreign country.

* 32-page passports valid for 2 years = RM 100
* 32-page passports valid for 3 years = RM 300
* 64-page passports valid for 5 years = RM 600

These passports can all be obtained from the nearest immigration department.

Malaysians do not have to change their passports as it will be issued upon renewal.

The passports are indeed cheaper than the usual price of RM 300. This will lessen the burden of pricey family trips because parents can just focus on spending during the holiday itself , not beforehand. It is hoped that airport taxes are reduced too. I am definitely pushing my luck here. Did I mention that these new and improved passports can be used in 74 countries? A trip to Cabo, anybody?

Aceh holds out a transvestite contest!

I was ecstatic when this happened. Aceh is holding out their first transvestite contest! The beauty pageant was held in the central capital, Banda Aceh.

While most might raise an eyebrow to the occasion, but the event was held to increase the friendships between fellow transvestites and to stop the stigma surrounding them.

Dozens of contestants signed up for the event and 19-year-old Zifana Lestisia from the northern district of Lhokseumawe was chosen the region's Social and Culture Envoy 2010. He will also represent Aceh in the international level.

This opportunity will show them that are beautiful and indeed welcomed in the community. This will also bring them self-confidence and a sense of knowing that they are not alone. God is fair in each and every one of His creations. Therefore, as His 'khalifahs', we shall be fair to those who are different than us and show them that they are loved and cared for.

Some might not agree with my sentiment, but I stand tall with my perspective. May I remind you of the passing of the great Yasmin Ahmad, who has contributed so much inspiration to the citizens of Malaysia. She taught me that whether you are Malay, Chinese, Indian, transvestite, bisexual, or even gay, we all stand united as one. And that is what 1Malaysia is truly about. Accepting one another with no boundaries whatsoever.