*Ujian Daya Tenaga Asas*

These days, we all see how kids seem to be more interested in video games rather than going out to the “padang” and having a run about or a game of soccer and such. Some parents seem to use technology as a pacifier while they busy themselves chasing materialistic gains.

Having said that, weren’t these the same parents that used to grow up in the rural “kampungs” running around with little or no clothes on? Maybe not but I’m pretty sure that most of the parent’s of today’s pre-teens could count themselves as those who enjoyed the outdoors.

I guess the burning question that I have is if you were a sports participant in your learning years, would you then grow up and also preach to have your kids balance between academic and sporting lifestyles or maybe you would also turn to technology to keep the kids off of your backs? Maybe you would rather throw them from one tuition center to another rather than letting break out a sweat.

I can only hope that when my turn comes around, I won’t forget how much sports can also mould a more complete and balanced individual. Having been fortunate enough to participate in sports at various levels during my formative years, I hope that the children of the future would be guided along in the same way also.

Now I’m not saying that those who avoided sports unless absolutely necessary (like when everyone had to participate in a school’s “merentas-desa” run) would mean they would grow up to be less of an adult but I believe life is in essence a balancing act anyways.

How I would like to crunch the numbers of kids then and now. How would the average height and weight between now and kids then compare? How fit are the kids today compared to their parents? Could they run a sprint or a marathon faster than back in the 80’s or 90’s?

When I was in school we had the “Ujian Daya Tenaga Asas” which is like an examination for the PE subject and I wonder how would the results of less than 10 years ago would compare to today’s students. How about statistics of children missing school through MC’s all those years ago compare to now?

Let’s get those numbers and compare it with the life expectancy of the generations. Some would say that the future adults would far outlive their parents thanks to the advancement in the medical world but even without giving the older generation a handicap, the results might favor our more “active” forefathers.

Sadly in Malaysia such statistics will be almost impossible to find. Even my earlier quest to find the figures for my previous post sadly bore no fruit.

Every parent would like to be the parents of the next Nicole David or Tiger Woods but how many are actually putting the effort in? If you played sports back then would you encourage the same or if you didn’t then would you get your kids to participate in the future?

Cheers!!! :D

Translations:

Padang = Field
Kampung = Village
Merentas Desa = Cross Country

*The Best Things For The Kids Is*

What is the best thing to do for your kids in the future? Is it ensuring that they have money for their education or is it ensuring that they have the means from which they are able to start their own business? Maybe is it to leave a legacy of wealth that will last for 2 more generations? Close but while all those are true it may not be the one.

In my most humble and honest opinion, the best thing to do for your kids in the future is to ensure that you do not burden them when they’re just about to embark on their own individual lives. Everyone knows that when you’re just about to enter the working world, those can be a very trying experience.

Ensuring that when we are in our golden age that the last thing for them to worry about is actually us is the best thing that we can all do. For most of us who start at the bottom of the food chain, we’re normally hard pressed to balance a life that can be pulled in so many directions.

As a responsible adult, one should ensure that not only the kids have enough to get that piece of paper that leads them to work but also that we are able to survive on our own without adding another worry on such young shoulders.

My late father was an excellent example. When I and my sisters started our adult life, he had finished off paying the house and the car and was living comfortably on his pension and contributions from us. Medical bills were accounted for and he and my mom could travel where ever they wanted, when ever they wanted.

I’ve seen too many who have had to continue working way beyond the age that they should be working. Housing loans continue to be serviced and the temptation to replace a perfectly working car with a new one means working well into one’s 60’s and even into one’s 70’s.

Having failed to insure one’s self for any eventualities also mean that should the unavoidable occur, someone has to pick up the bill and the timing of such can be bad if not atrocious to those who are just building a life of their own.

Most of us may not be able to leave a gracious amount of wealth to our future generations but if we can’t do that, we should at least ensure that during our golden age in the future, we stay independent and financially sound enough to not worry them.

So the best thing for your kids in the future is indeed ensuring that you would be the least of their worries when the time comes.

Cheers!!! :D

*Which Malaysia Are You Living In?*

I would like to congratulate my good mate Alex on his recent wedding reception held last Saturday, 15/11/2008. Welcome to the club and congratulations on what was really a simple yet homely event at your house.

Alex had 3 receptions during that day, one in the church, one at his house during lunch and the dinner at one of the local restaurants. I was honored to be invited to all of them though I only managed to attend only one of them.

The lunch reception which I attended was really what I hope most of the politically attached people in this country could see. People of all races and religions were all having a ball of a time. You could hear different languages being spoken and yet the very same difference made for such great harmony.

I wish these people could see how I was hugged by Alex’s mum and embraced as if I was her own child. Indeed, I have been privileged to know such an outstanding lady who broke through so many barriers to be where she is today.

Some people say that the multi-racial TV ads are just mere ads and that it doesn’t really reflect the actual scenario in Malaysia. I say to them they are all wrong. This wedding reception and so many other gatherings are proof that not everyone is politically motivated or associated which divides us so much.

It does make me wonder which Malaysia are some of this people living in. They paint a picture that it seems so many of us just cannot live with one another when the actual truth is really the most total opposite of what these people try to stoke the fears within us.

I hope that more and more people would really see pass through all the noise being bandied around by certain people who really have nothing but their own interests at heart. We are the real people living in the real world and our strength lies within one standing together with the other and not otherwise.

I know in which Malaysia am I living in but do you? Sometimes I read the newspapers, the net and watch the TV and wonder which Malaysia are some of these people living in.

So, which Malaysia are you living in?

Cheers!!! :D

*None Of The Above*

What have we done to ourselves? Have we really elected people that deserve to represent our views to the position of power? Are these the people that we have entrusted with our hopes of a better life for us?

Looking at the quality of our elected representatives on the TV supposedly debating shows pretty much how we all were wrong. You don’t need to be a Harvard scholar to understand how an elected representative should behave. What I’ve seen from our news is appalling at best.

Debating with intelligence, figures and facts are replaced with childish and stupid personal remarks and jibes. Name calling chants that we left way back in primary school tend to be the weapon of choice. And yes, when I mean elected representatives it means on both sides of the equation.

Is this blessed and beloved country so deft that we have no other choice but to elect such people to represent us and fight for our rights? Maybe I should write to the new SPR commissioner and propose that in the ballot paper for the next elections, there should be an option to cross which represents “None Of The Above”.

How I and I’m sure a lot of us long for the time when our parliament sitting broadcast would actually reflect the level of intelligence and professionalism that we all crave for; where actual debates on facts and information is truly explored for the benefit of the people that voted for them in the first place.

I came up with an acronym for the term POLITICS previously and the more I think about it and from what I can gather from our televised parliamentary sittings, the more I think it holds true.

POLITICS: People Of Little Intelligence Thinking Ignorantly Childish Stuff

So how about my new proposal that for the next general election, a “None Of The Above” option to be included eh?

Cheers!!! :D

PS>> Sorry, no open letter to the new SPR chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof this time :P

*Leave The Ant Mound Now*

This is somewhat of a follow up I guess to my earlier post. Again this is my view and my personal view entirely and I do not have any vested interest in whatever outcome that can or may be derived from the post. My view is simple, move out of PJ and its surrounding areas. Why?

The question should be why not? Those living in TTDI and the original Damansara areas are all too familiar with what’s going on around them. No roads accessible to these areas are free from traffic congestion irregardless of the time of day. Development is coming up like mushrooms after the rain with little or not control or planning what so ever.

TTDI and the original Damansara residential areas run the risk of losing its allure as residential area of choice no thanks to the overcrowding of its surrounding vicinity. Basically, the whole place is in danger of over crowding due to the little or no planning done what so ever.

I currently live in TTDI and those who live in the area would be wondering why am I preaching to move out of an area with so many amenities so close by. Everything one would need from banks to hospitals to movies and shopping malls are just a stone throws away.

I believe that there will come a point at which the whole area would have become so saturated that it is no longer worth it to pay a hefty amount just for an address. With little or no hope of the public transportation around the TTDI and the original Damansara area being improved, the whole place will literally just choke up.

KL’ites have and will continue to seek residential areas which have a more structured balance between life and work. All you need to do is just read the ads promoting a new residential area and you can see the marketing trend shift from being minutes away from KL marketing ideas to a more balanced living concept.

When will the overcrowding take affect? Who knows to be honest? Maybe 10 or 15 years down the road or maybe even 5 years? It took the entire TTDI area to appreciate to the value that it is today about 20 years or so. Many have gotten used to the fact that going to work is already a bane with traffic jams and the last thing that many want is their residential areas to resemble an ant mound.

Property experts would most probably disagree with me but I’m no property man and all I want is to live a more balanced life in the breakneck speed of KL.

Cheers!!! :D

PS>> IMHO, original Damansara refers to Damansara Heights, Damansara Kim, Damansara Utama and Damansara Jaya

*Not So Easy*

I guess I was pushing the idea a wee bit too much in this post when I talked about the weird or freak economic connections that seem to emerge from such different entities. However, this article seem to somewhat speculate that there is a link between the strangest of bedding mates.

The article shows that businesses do depend on smoking customers for their business and to simply disregard the so called minority can easily affect a business’s ability to stay afloat. Whether or not a smoking customer would generally spend more than his or her opposite, I’m not too sure.

Recently our normal smoking area has been disturbed by a large no smoking sign that was plastered on the wall. Not surprisingly just as our elected MP’s showed the same disregard in the Parliament building (if anyone still has the link or picture please let me know) we didn’t really give much though except for keeping the place tidy.

A colleague of mine once said that we and also the alcohol drinkers in this country do contribute to the nation’s coffers and growth. The amount of jobs that are either directly or indirectly employed by the industry runs into the thousands so imagine if all this anti-smoking campaigns really take affect and the laws are properly enforced.

So what if all the smokers in this country decide to quit cold turkey tomorrow? What happens to the hundreds of tobacco farmers and also the white-collar people that work for the likes of BAT or JTC? How would the government compensate the loss of revenue from the “sin taxes” that it collects by the truck loads every single year? I wish I had the numbers for both but I can’t seem to find the facts for it (Google’s not delivering…yet).

So the article says business will slow if the new ruling is enforced. Multiply that by the number of unemployed workers, farmers, distributors, factory workers, marketers, drivers, executives, Zippo or Cricket lighter manufacturers, restaurant workers, chefs, doctors, private clinics and hospitals that suddenly have their rugs swept from under their feet and tell me what is the impact in the “real” economy.

Take away the tobacco companies from our KLCI and you’d easily wipe out a good chunk of our total market capitalization and value. How many then would suffer so that we can all go to eat at restaurants with a cleaner strawberry flavored air? Shall we add the headcount lost to those I listed previously?

Life is so interconnected that you really can’t have one without the other. It’s just the part and parcel of life. This post is not just to justify the means that smokers take to enjoy their cigarettes. We all have to coexist whether we like it or not and compromise is the only way.

I’d rather be eating in a restaurant with smokers that are quite and peaceful rather than a “healthy” one with patrons screaming at the top of their lungs talking to the person next to them.

Which would cost more in medical expenses? A minority of the population being treated for smoking related diseases or a majority of the overweight and obese kids today who will grow up to be even more overweight and obese adults in the future?

Cheers!!! :D

*What Town Planning?*

Lately our newspapers have printed nothing but rubbish that paints the end of the world as we know it is upon all Malaysians but yesterday was one of those days where I had a wry smile on my face. It wasn’t news about some politician making a fool of themselves but rather this article from the NST:

A day to honor the role of town planners

What a headline indeed and it made me go, REALLY, WE HAD TOWN PLANNERS IN THIS COUNTRY? Forget about the string of comedy shows on Monday nights on channel 711 on Astro because this is certainly a greater and bigger laugh that that!

I must be living in a different Malaysia than these people are because I do not see a single hint of any town or city planning what so ever being implemented in this country and especially in the Klang Valley.

Our roads are a mess with little or no study on the impact on growth of the number of vehicles plying the roads and when capacity is exceeded, we just build a flyover on top of it. Guess what happens when that flyover becomes busy and crowded? You bet your bottom shringgit that another flyover will be built on top of it and so on.

Look at how most housing townships are built. Roads are never ordered properly in sequence in either ascending or descending order. A two lane road in front of your house if you’re not careful might end up being a 4 lane highway if our town planners are to be trusted.

Traffic lights are setup in such unproductive locations and the timing of them can be poor at best. How about the town of the round’o’bouts Shah Alam? Try getting around the place using one of it as a landmark and you’re just as good as driving around like a headless chicken running away from the butcher.

As for KL? Hahahah, this is an even bigger of a joke. I guess the concept of city blocks made of squares is a concept totally alien to them. Every piece of land is just turned into a 20 storey building without thinking the impact on the surrounding roads due to the increase number of cars coming in and out of the new building.

Having said that, our town or city planners are not all that bad you know. They are very systematic, efficient and also well planned when it comes to setting up toll booths on our roads. Why worry about expanding the roads to accommodate larger volume of cars. Just have more toll lanes that would then converge back to small roads right after the toll to “solve” the congestion!

And so many wonder why GPS can never be implemented fully in Klang Valley never mind Malaysia.

Cheers!!! :D

*Plastic Horror*

I was shocked by what I read that resulted in this post but this one certainly takes the cake. I mean talk about the US people living on credit and even taking out a loan just to go on a holiday but some Malaysians are turning into the same car-wrecks of a people that we are laughing at.

I brought the wife and her brother to a local hypermarket in Subang to get some groceries for the still bachelor student. Since we picked up less than 10 items to purchase, we made our way to the “express-counter” for a quick pay before leaving the rather bleak hypermarket.

Across from where we were queuing was a lady with whom I think was her mother who were standing in line when the total amount was displayed. RM16.70 was the amount due after totaling the purchases.

To not only our shock but also the cashier and also other people standing in line, she whipped out her credit card to settle the payment. The cashier was taken aback when he took the credit card in order to process the payment. Those standing in line had baffled faces to say the least.

The stars in the cloudy sky seemed to align and the credit card was somehow rejected. The cashier looked at her with a rather exasperated facial expression and proceeded to try again. After 3 tries he turned to the customer and asks if she had RM20.00 to pay off the bill. Shockingly she kept looking at the credit card terminal willing him to give it another go.

This went on for about 3 minutes (yes, in the EXPRESS lane). To the amazement of the people around the area, they then walked off (without apologizing to the cashier or the other people waiting in line) without the items that they had planned to purchase.

I’m not sure if I can react or how I would react to such a situation happening right before my very eyes. There was a mix of pity and also shocked emotions as we walked out of the hypermarket. How do you walk around in life without at least RM50 in your wallet or purse? She was lucky that if she was driving, there was no parking charge for I have no idea how she planned to pay before exiting the parking lot.

What’s the moral of the story? I’m not sure I have or if there is one. Even when I recall the whole ordeal to type this post I still feel shocked and exasperated. I mean who or what on earth was she thinking to use a credit card to pay off RM20.00, she must be really desperate for reward points indeed.

A plastic horror indeed!

Cheers!!! :D