Highlights at the Nationals

I know its a bit late, but here are the highlights:



1. My first win!!! Against Fang Hai when he accidently opened one and I put down CURDING


2. My first game against Sim Swee... Lost eventually, but was leading at first


3. My first ever rated win against a certified master... SORRY FISHTAIL!!! I was looking for a bingo until I saw cuteness through the e from abode... was a neck to neck game until then... warren couldnt find a bingo, so he had to dump his blank to extend Shift to shifters...


4. My win against Fang Hai... Oariest and Aeriest, both put by me :)


5. Our rather interesting game. Was leading by 89 points till the end, where the letter Q dropped out... we both saw it, and put it in the bag. This became crucial when he put down harming, and got the lead. I knew he had the Q, and failed to stop him. However, I won the endgame by a mere 2 points :) :) :)


6. The most frusrating game of the tournament. Was leading by 10 points against martin until i opened up zit at the endgame for him to outplay with Agonies. Had to lick my wounds with vacs, which was minimal compared to what he scored :(

EXAMS!!!!

Having my mid year exams. Its the first ever official exam I have sat in in Australia. So far I have done 3 tests:

Indonesian Orals: Scored 9.5/10 for listening and 18/20 for speaking
Indonesian Exams: No mean feat to write 11 pages on 3 essays + answer all the questions in 3 hours
English: 14 pages on 4 essays in 3 hours. Used the same pen as I did in the Indo exams... hmm... see how long it can last me... Will continue using the same pen (from brand new ink become half full after 25 pages)

Tomorrow got Physics ugh...

Sarawakian Elections 2006

The Sarawak government is now the weakest in its history, with 9 seats with the opposition.

With the inroads made by the opposition, especially the DAP, it is now clear that the Chinese are sending a strong message to the Barisan Nasional state government. They had enough!

What is only predictable now is that the BN will win and form the government. No one doubted that. With their massive machinery and unlimited resources, the BN will probably continue to rule the state and country for many more years to come.

What surprised many in the just-concluded state election, and probably those in the BN in particular, is that they had never expected such a swing from the Chinese electorate, especially in Kuching..

That such well known and seasoned candidates, including two assistant ministers and a mayor, from the 50-year-old Supp can lose four of its seats in Kuching to political novices from the DAP, is anything but shocking!

While Padungan has always been seen as a ‘grey’ area for the BN, Pending, Batu Lintang and the new seat of Kota Sentosa have been considered ‘safe’ for Supp. Supp has been ‘untouchable’ in these seats for the past two decades or more.

Assistant Minister and Supp secretary general Sim Kheng Hui was defeated in Pending, the stronghold of his late uncle and former deputy chief minister Sim Kheng Hong. Who would have imagined that he would lose the ‘family’s crown jewel’ to a DAP newcomer, 29-year-old Violet Yong.

Batu Lintang has been Chan Seng Khai’s fortress since 1991. Even former Sarawak DAP strongman Sim Kwang Yang was defeated in Batu Lintang. In subsequent elections in 1996 and 2001, Chan who is mayor of Kuching City South scored overwhelming victories over his opponents. That Voon Lee Shan of the DAP could unseat him with more than 3000-vote majority this time is a total surprise.

Particularly humiliating

In Kota Sentosa, the sleepy town outside Kuching famed for its hospital for the mentally handicapped, Supp’s Alfred Yap must have thought that the electorate there are all mentally unsound. The assistant minister was dumped in favour of DAP’s Chong Chieng Jen. Yap, a long-time aide of former Supp deputy president the late Chong Kiun Kong, also took over from his mentor as the paramount chief of the Hakkas in Batu Kawah.

PKR’s Dominique Ng, a former DAP member, managed to win Padungan after his third attempt.

The hard-working human rights lawyer came face to face with the equally strong workaholic Supp wanita leader Lily Yong. Among all the Chinese seats in Kuching, Padungan has always been a touch-and-go affair and Ng’s victory was not altogether unexpected.

The defeat of Supp candidates in Kuching was particularly humiliating when they lost by big margins of several thousand votes.

This was the first time Chinese voters in Kuching swing to the opposition in such huge numbers. In Kidurong, Bintulu and Bukit Assek, Sibu, the voters there have been quite ‘predictable’ in voting in and out Supp and DAP people. In Meradong, down the mighty Rejang River from Sibu, the victory of DAP’s Ting Tzu Hui was more a result of Supp’s internal strife than anything else.

Now, why did the voters of Kuching swing all the way? What was the cause of such high anti-establishment sentiments among them?

As Supp leaders in Kuching start licking their wounds in the days ahead, they must ponder on one major issue which the opposition has been harping on - what power does Supp leaders have in the power-sharing concept of the BN state government?

Unable to get things done

It became clear to the urban and more sophisticated voters that many of them could not get things done through their elected representatives. Many are said to be angry at the limited or no business opportunities for them. Government contracts, big or small, are known to be reserved for only an elite group of people.

At the centre of it all is the dominant presence of the larger-than-life Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud. Perhaps, many Chinese in Kuching are starting to believe that a man must not be in power for too long. Perhaps, they are now telling him that he has overstayed his welcome and that it is time for a transition of power to a new state chief executive.

The BN must be congratulated for its resilience in winning the majority votes from the people of Sarawak. They should be happy that the majority of Sarawakians still support the BN government.

But they should bear in mind this message from the Kuching Chinese delivered in the just-concluded election.

When the people are pushed to the wall, when the people are angry without opportunities for survival, they will fight back.

Today, they did…with good reasons.

I Will Survive

I will Survive video... a classic... What do you think?

Customs Culture Cronulla - Is Australia a Multicultural Myth?

I recently wrote a feature article for my school, and decided to post it here, enjoy:

The bashing of two lifeguards at Sydney's Cronulla beach last week has sparked ugly race-related rioting in several Sydney suburbs. Do these incidents signify the intolerance of these ‘True Blue Ozzies’ as they call themselves towards foreigners, when at the same time, we proudly call ourselves an undiscriminating multi multicultural society?
Our Prime Minister confidently states that Australia is not a racist society. He refuses to believe that there is any underlying racism in any part of the Australian society. How true is our Johnny Howard this time? Is Australia a multicultural haven, or is it… a multicultural myth?
The Lebanese antagonists obviously are to blame, but only to a certain extent. However, the general Lebanese Australian community… Were they justly harmed? Should there be a grudge held against for the lifeguard attacks that were performed by these 3 Lebanese youths?
It was a dark night, where several Lebanese Australian citizens were walking home from a hard day’s work. As they relax from their sores from the day’s construction work, they were confronted by several semi-drunk youths of Caucasian descendant. They were beaten up, and left to lick their wounds, supposedly to ‘clean them of the filth they have accumulated’ and to ‘pay for what their brothers did’. When the Lebanese tried to explain, their pleas fell on deaf ears. Is this justifiable?
This doesn’t stop there. How many countless times have you heard racist jokes being thrown at ‘abos’ as we racistly call them, ‘wogs’, ‘dagos’, ‘ching chongs’ etc? Do we still pride ourselves on being a ‘undiscriminating multicultural society’ as our Johnny Howard so lovingly calls it?
A recent survey on foreigners that have either worked of studied in Australia reveals that 98 percent of them have either been bullied once in their life, 67 percent have been actively bullied before, while 35 percent are being actively bullied. Whether this is a result of racism or social bullying, this survey greatly differs from the official bullying rate in Australia of 9 percent. Do we still call ourselves a multicultural society?
I, being a Malaysian studying in Australia, have been, on numerous occasions, been discriminated against and have witness discrimination. These discriminations, which fall between the lines of racial differences, have made me make the early conclusion that Australia is in fact, contrary to its claim, a racist and discriminating society.
These conclusions, which clearly show the true face of the Australian society, have not been drawn out of nowhere. Do we still pride ourselves on being a multicultural society?
This multicultural rebuttal does not end here. We see internally, the Aboriginals, impoverished compared to the ‘white settlers’. The spacious and vast lands with the many abundant resources rightfully belongs to them. Why are these original inhabitants discriminated against? Why are they so impoverished? Are we still a multicultural society?
There is obviously something wrong with our pursue of racial tolerance and multicultural equality. While we contemplate on the racism and racial intolerance that Australia is suffering from, let’s follow the journey of Muhammad and trace the roots and the causes of this discrimination.
Muhamad is a Middle Eastern student in Australia pursuing his education in Australia. While in his pursue of knowledge, he encountered many racist and insulting comments and situations. He is made to feel inferior and is put down by his ‘mates’. After he graduates with a TER of 99.92, he is put down several times for a job.

We analyse why Muhammad is put down for most of his jobs. Is it because of his inability? Or is this because of something else? Is this because he is of Middle Eastern origin? Is this because we fear his Middle Eastern origins? So this is it. It’s the fear of the unknown. The fear of all fears. We fear Muhamad because he represents the unknown. We do not know his culture, his attitudes and customs. We are ultimately, fearing difference.
Remember the witch ages? Where we, the civilized people burned people just because they looked like or acted like witches? Well, this is happening again. We discriminate these ‘black people’ or these ‘people that eye’s grow sideways’ because they are the unknown. We fear what they bring. However, the ultimate question is still, why are they feared?
I believe it’s the influence of the media that has put these ‘different’
people in a bad light. How many times have we seen Indonesians blown up Bali? We fear them! We are afraid that they would blow us up again!
It is clear. The only way to stop this discrimination and turn Australia into the visualized multicultural haven is by education. The media has to resists its temptations to exploit the naivety of the public.
Education must be in place to educate the Australian public about these unknowns. Only then, there will be racial equality and they can declare ‘free at last! Free at last from discrimination’ (Martin Luther King – I have a dream speech)

Sarawak Election 2006 - Can it be free and fair?

A new news and another gallery categories on Sarawak Election 2006 is now available for the upcoming Sarawak State Election.

The 9th Sarawak State Election is to take place just after the 9th Malaysian Plan, the 5-yearly national development plan of the country had just been approved by the national parliament. It is purely coincidental of course. The supposed independent Election Commission had set nomination day on 9th May and the polling day will be on 20th May.

For Sarawakians, the upcoming election will perhaps see some livelier contest, as for a long time, there had not been such a coordinated opposition alliance in which this time round, former ruling coalition politicians-turned-opposition is teaming with the only opposition party since its inception – Parti Keadilan Rakyat - to take on the resource and power-rich ruling National Front coalition. So, this should be a more challenging election to watch. To what extend this challenge will prove to be depends on the voters, to a certain extent. Now why only a certain extent? Voters will have the final say in situation to which they can vote according to what would be collectively best for them, without threat, inducement and \"sweet\" promises. In addition, if only election would be free and fair, not just to the political parties, but free and fair to the voters too.

In Malaysia, and more blatantly in the Sarawak context, where outright threat against the voters can be issued by ruling politicians and get away unpunished by any law of the land, voters are more often than not being held to ransom. This is especially so for the rural voters. The by-election of Ba\' Kalalan in interior Sarawak in September 2004 revealed how When votes were tallied at designated polling stations - yet another critical weakness of the electoral process - collective punishment was mooted out when vote-counting allowed for identification of voters from an areas who voted for non-ruling party candidate. Even though the ruling coalition candidate won, that did not stop the Sarawak Government from immediately announcing its intention to stop a \"development\" project - rural growth area - planned for the area where communities had voted for the independent candidate then.

While such is a blatant threat which will serve as reminder to communities contemplating voting non-ruling coalition candidates, that does not stop even federal minister from issuing threat against Sarawak voters as a whole for the upcoming election. The Sarawakian Federal Minister for Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Miri in Sarawak, was reported in The Star newspaper of 30th April 2006 as saying \"vote for the opposition and you may lose projects proposed under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).\" Blackmail, holding voters to ransom or however you choose to call such irresponsible and illegal act, the ruling coalition seems immuned from the laws of the land.

Change must be forced upon such and other illegal and irresponsible act coming from the ruling parties. Sarawakian voters all know that money politics are aplenty, but the voters also need to change, in order to bring about greater changes in the system, of not just voting, but governance. Evidence is needed.

This is where Rengah Sarawak calls upon voters and their friends and families, especially those from rural areas, to arm yourselves with either camera, audio recorded or video recorder or all of them - if you can have access to them of course - and act as the people who will keep the politicians honest. Secretly record any illegal acts - bribing, giving of gifts, threats etc - and pass them on to us and others who will then expose them and their illegal acts.

So bring out your cameras, your video recorders, your audio recorders and help capture audio, video and visual of political parties and politicians carrying out corrupt practices before and during the election period. Submit with details of place, date, time, state seat that the place falls under, contact details if appropriate and any other comments to describe your audio, video and or visual submission. All submissions will be treated with strictest confidentiality.

If all the propaganda talk of Malaysian IT (Information Technology) supremacy is a rhetoric in your rural areas - where it is likely that the basic electricity is not even available, least of all any IT infrastructure - arrange to send them to us when convenient. We will publicize various contact details for you to get in touch in due time.

Thus the new news category of Sarawak Election Monitoring 2006 – to ask the masses to act as eyes, ears and mouth of Sarawak Election.

Until then, happy voting to the Sarawak voters and may citizen powers rule over corrupt politicians.

I HATE ANG MO!!!

Yesterday, when i was having a video confrence with my parents, two ANG MOS ( Guai Lou, Orang putih, mat salleh etc etc anything to keep them in the dark) were watching pornography and insulting my parents IN FRONT OF THEM WITH THE PORN!!! They said that my mum was a malaysian prostitute(I TRICK YOU NOT) and my dad was a gigolo. ON TOP OF THAT! THEY WERE DOING THAT IN FRONT OF MY PARENTS!!! (I share a room in the boarding house). So I politely put down the convo, and politely asked them to stop. So i restarted the video confrence. BUT NOOOO THEY DIDNT WANT TO STOP!!! after about 4 times repeatedly asking them to halt their activities, i FINALLY CRACKED AFTER THE BEING STRAINED AND TESTED FOR 2 WEEKS!!! I CONFRONTED THEM, AND STARTED THROWING PUNCHES AT THEM (THIS IS THE ONLY TIME I HAVE RESORTED TO PHYSICAL VIOLENCE AS I USUALLY PREFER A DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION). Wah Lau. My ferocity and anger shocked me. Apprarently, I was shouting so loud, that the Master on Duty, stationed about 200 meters away heard it through 3 solid wooden doors! He came into my room and calmed me down. OK. YOU WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT WAS THE BLOODY END OF STORY!!! Noooo... To cap it off, the master THOUGHT IT WAS MY F*CKING FAULT!!! He gave me a house duty (clean the boarding house etc etc) that was due next week. I was so shaken by the events i didnt think to defend my self. Apparently the 2 other boys said that I was hitting them for no reason. That was yesterday. I am goingn to confront him, today, and clarify it. To justify myself on my blog, I will tell you the strain I was under that time.

1. The insults during the video confrencce. I asked them to stop at least 7 times.
2. They were insulting me BEFORE the video confrence. same old thing, why do your eyes grow sideways, does that mean your vag*na grows sideway as well etc etc
3. I was studying for 2 test, a CHEM and PHYSICS test before that, and I was very well under pressure
4. I just had a outbreak at some of my closest friends for being racist (Australia multicultural society? EAT SH*T LA... RACIST IDIOTS), but none that could match this. They were on about how malaysia and china etc etc were such poor countries same old thing etc etc
5. I had very little dinner as the boarding house's food provided was SH*T... yesterday;s breakfast.
6. I just sat for a rather straining GT test and was still fuming about the SILLY MISTAKES I MADE!!! :@!!!

So reader, was I justified in doing what i did?

MORE governemnt attacks

KUALA LUMPUR: Toe the line. This is the order from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to all Barisan Nasional legislators when it comes to voting in Parliament.

Abdullah sent out this order after chairing the Umno supreme council meeting here yesterday.

He made the order following the controversial decision by former Backbenchers Club (BBC) chairman Datuk Shahrir Samad to support an Opposition motion to refer a Barisan MP to the Parliamentary Rights and Privileges Committee.

Jasin MP Datuk Mohd Said Yusoff was said to have asked the Malacca Customs Department to “close one eye’’ over a timber consignment from Indonesia which had contravened regulations.

The other Barisan MPs, however, did not back Shahrir, who later resigned as BBC chairman.

Abdullah said even if Shahrir had not resigned, he would have been dropped from the position.

“But he (Shahrir) had already anticipated the action that would be taken against him, and so he resigned.”

Abdullah also said any move by the BBC to re-elect the Johor Baru MP as chairman would not be welcome.

“There is no need to pressure him into accepting the post back. He has made his decision and we should respect that,” he added.

The Prime Minister’s order puts paid to an appeal by a group of Barisan MPs yesterday to allow them to vote in Parliament according to their conscience on matters that do not affect the Government’s legislative position.

Abdullah, who is also Umno president, said this sort of voting was not possible for Barisan MPs because they must abide by party rules.

“Everyone knows the rules and not only must they understand them, they must also abide by them,” he said.

“There will not be any leniency (on the rules) or exception to anyone to do whatever he or she wishes,’’ he said.

When pointed out that democracies in developed countries such as the United States allowed representatives to support an Opposition motion, Abdullah replied: “We have our own democracy. We have survived on the basis of what we have been practising before, and we will continue with this practice.”

“That has not caused us to suffer any kind of problem. I still believe party discipline is very important, and all party members have to observe it.’’

Abdullah said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Nazri Aziz would meet the BBC today to seek an explanation.

Earlier, before the Prime Minister's press conference, Shahrir, who is an Umno supreme council member, expressed to reporters his willingness to be re-elected as BBC chairman.
WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THE GOVERNMENT!!! ISN'T THE MPS SUSPOSE TO BE THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PEOPLE? OR IS THE GOVERNMENT SOLELY EXISTING TO 'DISAPPROVE ALL MOTIONS BY THE OPPOSITION'? THIS IS BLOODY REDICULUS!!!

Lets say a motion to ban drugs (bad example, but i'll stick to it) was proposed by the opposition. What is the government going to do? OPPOSE IT??? WHAT IS THE BLOODY REASON FOR A PARLIAMENT THEN???

CAN'T YOU BLOODY SEE THAT THE FIRST WORLD COUNTRIES ALL ALLOW THAT??? WHAT DO WE WANT TO BE? SPECIAL??? OR A STUPID BACKWARD THIRD WORLD AGRICULTURAL BASED COUNTRY???

GOVERNEMNT, PLEASE RECONSIDER.

Political Rantings

Yesterday, on MSN, I was speaking to various people about the political party they support. One of the interesting answers to why someone would vote for the opposition is: We need a strong opposition to keep the government in check. The governemnt will be too arrogant and not listen to the people.

Personally, I support the opposition DAP. This is mainly because I see the incompetence of the Pak Lah government. (OK... blogs are suppose to be cencored free and everyone can criticise anything, its a free world) Who would cancel the bridge project just because there are 'certain legal implications'? You alreasdy put in like 500 million in it, why not go ahead. This has shamed me as a Malaysian when I am in a international community. Singaporeans have came up to me and laughed about Malaysians being scared of Singaporeans. I say, TAKE THE SINGAPOREANS TO THE ICJ!!! What is there to be afraid of? Even Mahathir strongly opposes this cancelation of the bridge project. This is a key issue and reason why I think the government is incompetent.

I quote a famous DAP political leader's quote. Who owns Malaysia? Malaysians. Who are Malaysians? I hope I am Malaysian, Mr Speaker, but sometimes, sitting in this Chamber, I question this fact... Why is it that Bumiputras get so much extra benefit? Why is the educational system so tilted and distorted that Matriculation is used comparable to the STPM??? Can't the government see that MAtriculation, a paper marked by your OWN TEACHERS is much easier that STPM, a OPEN EXAM??? Why are the best amanah sahams reserved for the Bumis? Amanah saham bumiputra gets about 20 percent dividents while Normal Amanah Saham gets about 5%. If I was to name the countless list of things the Bumis get in extra, there would be no space, not to mention the NEP. To prevent another 513 riot? Are there 513 riots when BN wins? NOOOO.... but when DAP and GERAKAN gets some extra seats, ALL THE MALAYS GET ANGRY? Government, enough is enough. How many more feet and tongkats do you want to add to the so heavily support malay population? You are making them more and more unindipendant!!!

Pak Lah is also famous for emphasizing on Agriculture. This type of Agriulture is effective for large amounts of land like Australia, but come on Malaysia, advance. Start relying on other sectors ie services. Look at Singapore. They are so much more advanced and succesfull. Do they have any agricultural land??!?

So readers, you are welcomed to comment on this. I would like to see the general views of everyone.

Hammarskjold Trophy

Just returned from the finals of the prestigious Hammarskjold Trophy held in the legislative chamber in the parliament house. I was representing SLovakia in this mock Security Council UN meeting. The highlight of the day (for me) was definately the last impromptu resolution. The resolution was about North Korea's nuclear weapons and whether to enpose sanctions and embargoes on them. I was the only person to vote not to impose sanctions. It was a last ditch attempt to win the trophy. It was either make it or break it. I quote my 'famous' climax of the speech:

Who are we, a western dominated organization, to infiringe upon the sovereignity of this country, this country with a proud history reaching back to more than a thousand years. Who are we, the outsiders, to execute the basic decisions for the country, and by that, taking the sole privilidge of the country to decide upon where it wants its people to go, what it wants to do. Who are we, the Security Council, to decide why or what another state can't do. We say North Korea might causes a war. Well, the US (at this point member state from USA started staring at us) has nuclear weapons and caused the Iraq war. Should it be taken away from them? We all take the assumption that what we decide is what is best for this society. By invading the sovereignity of this country, we are taking away its sovereign, its pride, its independant existance. Do we want another Iraq? I am sure most member of states voted against that war that the US indefinately decided to ignore the UN and continued( at this stage US started scribbling intensively, probably to suggest a point of information), even as the world opposed. This is why, I pledge to all members of state, to vote against this blasphemous resolution and stop the United Nations from being a busybody. Thank YOu

Hehe... couldnt resist, had to type up the second part of my speech. I was shouting at the climax, and the president of the UN youth association said that that was the most memorable speech of the day. Feel proud :) Check my blog later tomorrow to see whether i won :) the results will be announced in the presentation evening to night.