Where Is Heaven, If Up There Is Hell?

I saw a church elder today
He berated me for missing church whole month of May
I said I am a poet out of harm's way
To enjoy the sun, moon and stars
Or frolicking with my gal in the hay

Then young lad, you will go to Hell
Where your kidneys, heart and lungs will swell
But the balls will shrink
And your gal will wilt on planet Mars
And thy eyes be blind in a blink

I politely replied: dear Pal
I am not even interested in goin' to Heaven
Why do you frighten me like hell?
I am only twenty-one, and my gal is swell
Soon we will be ringing our wedding bell

Don't you read the Bible?
The endtimes are getting near
I prefer my newspaper from 7ELEVEN
Also, I never tell no lies or beat my table
I ain't not cowerin' in fear

That I can't get to Heaven
I want to enjoy my icecream at 7ELEVEN
My gal can stay forever in Mars
I'll send her some choc bars
Sir, I hope you can ascend from Heaven to Hell

PS: This poem is dedicated to a f(R)iend who cursed Desi
He thought I would be a good boy to Missi
Missi is his loving poodle you see
I put It in a pot, I was damn hungry

Ah, a public CONfession!

OR is it mere political posturing?

Ala PPP President Kayveas' outbursts on several occasions that helped him grab the news headlines, remember?

Here for good measure is another one from a Gerakan's minor chief.

Desi has got used to such acts of CON- fess? ning? nect?

My dear ER, you all know how the Malaysian government and semi-government and allied systems generally work, no?
Let's quote the Awe of Helen then, from my Comments channel of yesterday's post "Lack of racial integration -- fingering?":



"No fear. These youngsters will still be able to afford the damn beemer. It's not what you know, it's whom you know. :-)

By Helen, at 3:56 PM "

From theSun page 4, March 30, 2007

'Less interferrence in
varsities please'

PENANG: Political interference in the university
intake and promotion systems must be reduced or Malaysia
will not be able to continue to progress economically and
academically.

State economic planning, education, human resources,
science, technology and innovation committee chairman
Datuk Dr Toh Kin Woon said political iunterference may
affect local universities' ability in producing high-
quality manpower to meet the rising demands for creative
and innovative human resources.

"Universities must be guided by the pursuit for academic
excellence in order to produce such skilled and high-quality
manpower.

"But just as in other countries, politics does intervene in
the university systems to achieve social and political objectives
instead of academic excellence," he said.

:
:
:

DESIDERATA: You read on mGf -- go to the nearest SEVEN11, or is it
7ELEVEN? to get your free newspaper! -- and see if you discern someone
CONtradicting himself. He wants to "play hero" by his bravado, then
backtracks with a defence of the status quo, even justifying with "..."But just as in other countries, politics does intervene in
the university systems ..."

The last I heard, PPP and Gerakan are still minute components of the 14-member Barisan Nasional, Yes/NO/Maybe/Mayhaps?

Lack of racial integration -- fingering?

Some blame it on the education system.
Desiderata says it's the politicisation of every government instituition -- by who else? THE BARISAN NASIONAL POLITIKUS! -- that's the chief culprit.

As woith every national problem, if we do not diagnose the real causes, we will never begin to arrive at any solutions.

It's always convceniet to the power holders and brokers to "finger" at superficial causes. Skip the real problems, find some convenient cosmetic fcators and adopt some cosmetic remedies -- hopefully yielding lots of gravy, translatted as RM..billions -- NOW THEY DON'T ASPIRE TO BECOMING JUST BEING MILLIONAIRES.

Think BIG, think BILLIONAIRE. Did I write somethin' on this Yesterday, when all my troubles seemed so far away? Maybe moo-t and NSTman have better memory banks, tell us more. I like aMore, Howsy-stylo!:)

Well, somethin' seruous for fellow Malaysians to be "concerned" about follows:






From frontpage of The People's Paper
Thursday March 29, 2007

Teen concerns

Survey: Many youngsters aren't concerned about racial integration

PETALING JAYA: Racial integration among the younger generation in Malaysia still has some way to go, judging by the results of a nationwide survey of 4,400 Form Four students.

Only 52% of the teenagers said they had a friend of a different race.

In fact, mixing with other races was not something that concerned many of the respondents. Only 12.8% felt that it was an issue, while 63.9% were more worried about contracting a disease.

The Cognitive and PsychoSocial Profile of Malaysian Adolescents (CoPs) study was carried out in August by a group of academics from the Education Faculty of Universiti Malaya (UM).

Prof John Arul Phillips, a former UM academic and current dean of the Arts and Social Sciences Faculty at Open University Malaysia, said this was the most complete study of its kind because of the large sampling.

“We went to 44 schools in rural areas, towns and cities across Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.

A total of 16.6% of the 16-year-olds surveyed also admitted to smoking. They cited emotional pressure (27.6%), a desire to be accepted by friends (25.5%) and wanting to be cool and macho (20.1%) as the most common reasons for taking up the habit. Another 12.6% said they were influenced by the mass media.

Other findings include:


8.8% reported using drugs;

10.7% never eat breakfast;

8% have never used a computer; and

3% said they were often not interested in studies.

The study also compared different groups of students. There was no major difference in resilience and self-esteem levels between males and females, but non-smokers were found to be more resilient and had higher self-esteem. In addition, males reported better relationships with their teachers compared with females.

CoPs project leader Assoc Prof Dr Fatimah Hashim from UM’s Education Faculty said:

“There was very low correlation between academic performance in PMR and psycho-social attributes such as self-esteem, resiliency and family bonding.”

In the area of general knowledge, only 23.3% of respondents identified Lee Hsien Loong as the Prime Minister of Singapore and 43.3% knew that Bill Gates founded Microsoft.

However, 81% knew that Manchester United was an English football club.

Students were poor in civic knowledge, too. For example, only 58.4% knew that Parliament consisted of the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara.

DESIDERATA:

The highlights in the report above (BOLDED THUS) are all mine.
Don't blame others for any wrong emphasis, the responsibility is awe mine. Fine by Desi.

Now be a good citizen, Read-lah page 3 related item headlined:

Education system blamed


Go invest RM1.20 on the Star (maybe I'll go negotiate my 30%!). and don't remain ignorant on national issues which are of your concern, your children's concern. Okay, your political master's concern too.

ME? I'm concerned they will all look at the surface.
Go back to bed, have forty winks.
Think of another survey tomorrow that says:

Everything is fine.
The weather is fine.
Your CPI figure is fine.

I've just recoived my traffic compound, only RM300 fine. Still it's only a fine.

UPDATEd @9.27pm:

Desi doesn't own a Beemer, but a bummer he may be, so lazing after dinner he spied belatedly a news item, from page N21 that demonstrates my main contention: The politicisation of a prime Government policy.

The New Ecocomic Policy that was supported by most Malaysians when it was initiated by then PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad had good intentions, with two main prongs:
(1) To eradicate the identification of any profession/occupation with race among Malaysians;
(2) To distribute the nation's wealth in a more equitable way; and to narrow the gap between the rich/haves and poor/haves-not.

But the rakyat saw the corruption of a nation-building instrument to the extent that it created more tensions, disunity and suspicion among the Malaysian populace, and now the new "monster" has become a permanent feature well hogged by BN politikus, mainly the UMNO and its elite known as the UMNOputra. A 20-year policy that was expected to end in 1990 is now seen and feared by many thinking Malaysians to be the proverbial albatross around the Malaysian nation into its 50th year of independence with divions along ethnic lines being more pronounced in the 2000s contrasted with the early 1960s-80s.

This is NOT Desi's assessment, or that of many of my friends (both Malay and non-Malay) -- hear it from a former Deputry Prime Minister.

The Star, page N21,

Thursday March 29, 2007


NEP must be replaced, says Anwar

PETALING JAYA: A new affirmative policy should benefit the poor of all races in Malaysia, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said in an interview on Al Jazeera.

He said the New Economic Policy (NEP) had only benefited a few rich Malays when it was meant for poor Malays.

“The Government should dismantle the NEP and replace it with a policy to benefit the poor of all races. A policy to correct the imbalance of the marginalised should be implemented.

“The Government must introduce a policy without any racial lines to benefit all races,” he said in an interview on the channel’s Riz Khan talk show, in Washington.

When interviewer Anand Naidu asked Anwar how he planned on becoming prime minister when he was banned from political activity (until April 2008), he said that he was looking forward to a pardon.

“It is up to the King to grant the pardon,” said Anwar.

On his anticipated election as the Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader in May, Anwar urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to allow him to lead the party.


DESI: The highlights (BOLDED THUS) are Desi's, just in case some of the pemimpin NegaraKu pretend not to see. Sometimes -- or izzit most times, I hear mGf AweOfHelen whisper all the way from Ipoh! --the Members of Parliament are either having 40 winks, or Closing-One-Eye.
Some wakil rakyat don't even attend the Assembly meetings -- they enjoy a comfortable bed in a "small" house stretching 4-1/2 steps into the highway to H'aven. Or sighted in some luxury cruise-liners off Singapore island -- blown off course by wayward wind. Just like their much pronounced commitment to "transparency, accountability and good governance" when the new government of Pak Lah assumed power November 2003. (I guess the intoxicating pow(d)er rubbed off on their faces!)

I planned a footnote actually on sighting PKR head's item, but I believe the "mouse" unafraid of the cat and croc got carried away. The piot is highly encouraged that an MSM is carrying PM-in-the-wing's news -- is somthin' brewin'? YOU well informed ER tell me!

What is a Beemer?

MALAYSIANS like to think themselves ORIGINAL by coining fashionable words for a place in that Guiness Book, but such thinking to my mind is at most times deluding oneself and the audience.

Can any of my EsteemedReaders explain to Ignoramus here what is a ***Beemer as referred to by esteemed DPM yesterday? (See news item below)

I was overdoesd by the recent plug for the Napoleon Hill Ass's promo: "What the mind can conceive and believe, it can also achieve." And to exploit the best selling proposition, the local asses gave a global award for some funny leadership title to the Chief Executive Officer of NegaraKu.

As if the Prime Minister's office neeeds further elevation into thghat Book with yet another clever award.

Meanwhile, another MOVIE by a truly local and original mind -- AMIR MUHAMMAD -- is banned from local eyes, Oh, for the love of that C-word! No! It's not Desi's 3Cs or sisdar slooone's C4. Commie-ism. Better not spell the Ori -- COmmunisim -- it may be bad for this Blogsite's health.

But thereis muich novelty in this word -- GLOCAL. Or in Bahasa Malaysia, GLOKAL
AS if ala-NapoleonHillAss, just repeating the mantra often enough, the concept-entity takes on its own life and becomes reality.

Sadly, history has shown REALISATION of a dream goal is often 90 percent perspiration and the remainder 10 percent luck.Lest Desi is sued for plagiarism, I must 'fess that the previous statement was not my construct, just could not recall who that blardy scientist cleverly noted the wisdom before Desi a few centuries earlier. My mistake for being born a li'l late.Otherwise, I believe I could have earned a few mentions in some footnotes of some wiscracks. Cool, in the slammer. Glocal indeed.

Most billionaires achieve that status through Blood, Sweat and Tears.Unless some Dr Elie told thee othervioce; go ask Howsy mGf based near that Sports Centre that starts with Bri...ken...or some unpronounceable syllabi (which is an alternative for the plural for sylabus, ie syllabuses.)

Never through sloganeering and nice-sounding Mantras. Or WOmantras.
But what do I know? I am not even a millionaire; jest a poor, mousey writHer good at wordsmithry. It's not even magic.
Let me read my David Copperfield, or The Alchemist,
Maybe I'd learn how to turn that Batu Caves quarry into GoldHill.

Malaysians must never cease to dream
But let's dreamwith vision, noty just mouthing inanities like Little Napoleons.

Okay, the Ori Napoleon, Born quite Apart from Malaysia, did say A Palindrome. If you knoweth not the meaning, ask Nat Tan of jelas.info in-fame.

"Able was I ere I saw Elba."


________________________________________________

From the NST , web edition:



Think glocal, become billionaires’
28 Mar 2007


KUALA LUMPUR: Entrepreneurs who have gained some success must not rest easy but instead push themselves to become truly "glocal", Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday.

He said being truly glocal — local in mindset but thinking internationally — meant Ma- lay entrepreneurs should not lose their focus when they had made profits in their businesses and succumb to what he called the "4 Bs" — Bungalow, Boat, Benz and ***Beemer.

Some entrepreneurs, he said, "stepped on the brakes" when they had obtained these status symbols or paid more attention to their wives even though they could go on to become the country’s next billionaire.

"What I mean is entrepreneurs must not lose their way and stay focused for they can become more successful.


"If you are making a RM10 million profit, you should be trying to push it to RM100 million," he said after the launch of the Glocal Entrepreneurs Programme and exhibition at Putra World Trade Centre yesterday.


The programme, to spur and support entrepreneurial activity, was set up by the Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development Ministry.


At the event yesterday, several memorandas of understanding were exchanged for three entrepreneurial-related projects under the ministry, namely Halmart, MalaysiaKitchen and Forest’Secret.


The projects are aimed at promoting halal products (Halmart), food and culinary specialities (MalaysiaKitchen) and natural resources based cosmetic or pharmaceutical products (Forest’Secret).


Najib said he was pleased that the projects were under way and would be promoted internationally to showcase what Malaysia had to offer.


"If we can have these outlets in other countries, the potential is huge. We need to understand what the global market wants and then we can adjust to it, in terms of business strategies, branding, quality and standards."

Earlier, in his speech, Najib said Malaysia should look at countries such as South Korea, whose work ethic, culture and focus resulted in great success.

He cited an example of a South Korean CEO he met recently who arrived at work before 7am and left after 8.30pm, six days a week.

Also present at the event were Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, ministry secretary-general Datuk Mangsor Saad and Perbadanan Nasional Berhad chairman Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad.



Current Rank:5.0 ( 5-High 1-Low )

REALLY?

From theSUN bright and bold today, comes this follow-up to **yesterday's scandalous uncover:

WEB EDITION :: Local News

Lesson learnt: Dept to avoid costly mistakes at Paya Indah wetlands park

PETALING JAYA (March 26, 2007): The government department rehabilitating the Paya Indah Wetlands has vowed against repeating the mistakes of the previous management, saying it was an expensive lesson learnt.

The Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan), which took over the project in May 2005 from Malaysian Wetlands Foundation (MWF), admitted that the previous management had not conducted thorough soil investigations before planting trees and had installed facilities that were expensive to maintain.

"It was a lesson learnt and we do not want mistakes to recur," said Paya Indah Wetlands principal assistant director Shahrudin Anan when contacted today.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid had recently announced an allocation of RM20 million for rehabilitation works giving a completion deadline of May. It is learnt that Perhilitan is spending only half that amount.

theSun had today front-paged a report that the eco-tourism project opened in 2001 had nothing to show after an expenditure of RM68 million as it closed in 2005.

The previous management was saddled with unpaid bills, lawsuits, irregular financial procedures and lack of transparency. Those associated with the project claimed it failed because of ill-construed ideas and poor management.

In Parliament, the Public Accounts Committee chairman told theSun it would find out from the Auditor-General's Office where the project got its funding from. Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said the parliamentary select committee needed this information to determine whether it had jurisdiction over the project and the MWF which was incorporated as a company in 1997.

"The company might be out of our jurisdiction," said Shahrir.

However, if the RM68 million came from a ministry, the PAC would have reason to question it.

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang was more direct in his response. He said it was yet another government project down the drain and was yet another instance of breakdown in public service delivery. "All the money spent has led it nowhere," he said.


__________________________________________________

DESIDERATA spied a familiar name *** in theSun frontpage report March 26, 2007, and so asked -- in fact, shortest Commentary in my Blog thus far, REALLY?:

***Read howsy.blogspot.com about that Sports Centre in London -- I hear this SENsintrovert goes there/dare daily for workouts, or just looking at God's wellformed human anatomies. Part of his doctoral studies in a subject to do with Life -- BIO means that, yes, Dr How?


RM68m down the drain


It was billed as the nation's premier eco-tourism attraction when it was opened in 2001. However, today, the Paya Indah Wetlands is a testimony to the wastage of millions in taxpayers' money.

Now, amid the government's move to pump in an additional RM20 million to revive the park, accusations are flying between the park's consultants and the Malaysian Wetlands Foundation (MWF) -- see accompanying stories below -- on why Paya Indah Wetlands cost taxpayers RM68 million with nothing to show, other than a dossier of unpaid bills, lawsuits, irregular financial procedures and the lack of transparency.

***MWF's former chief executive officer Muralee Menon was the sole signatory to some of the cheques, which although not illegal, was not a prudent practice, said financial experts.

Menon, who now advises the Cabinet Committee on Sports headed by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, declined to be interviewed for this report. When contacted, he retorted: "They can say what they want."

While the government cited manpower restructuring, high maintenance costs and failure to recoup losses when the park abruptly closed on Feb 1, 2005, those involved in the project claimed that ill-construed ideas and poor management led to its closure.

Consultants and suppliers refused or were unable to work or provide goods and services as they were not paid on time or at all.

"A large part of the management of the project called for consultants to spend their own resources with an undertaking by MWF to reimburse them. However, payments were late and it came to a point where we could not afford it anymore," said a consultant who is being sued by suppliers for defaulting in payments.

In turn, he has sued MWF for breach of contract. He turned down an out-of-court ex-gratia payment of RM200,000 with MWF accepting no liability.

A project engineer said another cause for the work delay was the sudden suspension of several contractors, engineers and consultants by MWF.

"The view of some consultants who are experts in their fields sometimes clashed with MWF's vision and practices.

"This stand-off would end with the consultants being replaced," he said.

Consultant engineer Douglas Chow said the management failed to work on projections and existing constraints.

"Revenue-generating programmes -- including the RM10 gate collection and the rental of chalets -- were insufficient for the park's annual RM2.5 million operating cost," he said.

A market square, floating horse trail, luxury chalets and an RM800,000 restaurant were part of the plan.

Wetlands International Asia Pacific (WIAP) executive director Faizal Parish was involved in formulating the project's masterplan.

"If it were up to us, the cost would be minimal ... from a few hundred thousand ringgit to a few million," said Faizal, who is Global Environment Centre director.

"RM68 million is way too much to spend on the park. We were focused on the natural resources of the wetlands as an attraction, but there were others who were more focused on erecting elaborate structures," he said.

Indicating that such a sensitive ecological tract was not run by professionals, Faizal said the introduction of flora and fauna alien to the wetlands, such as water hyacinths and Chinese cranes, was dangerous to the habitat.

"But there were some people who thought they knew better and felt we were asking too many questions ... So, after awhile, we were cut off."

When the park closed, Menon's successor, CEO Nor Hisham Ismail, said it would reopen after a management restructuring.

The park is home to 210 species of birds, 26 species of mammals and 15 crocodiles. It also houses three of four hippopotamuses -- gifts from the Botswana government -- which were sponsored by Telekom Malaysia. One hippo died of an infection.

The MWF was incorporated as a company in 1997. A recent check with the Companies Commission revealed that its directors were former journalist Datuk Ahmad Talib, Nor Hisham and Menon.

Park the brainchild of former PM

THE 3,100ha Paya Indah Wetlands was the brainchild of then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who had wanted a park in the heart of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC).

Managed by the Malaysian Wetlands Foundation (MWF), the idea was conceived in 1997 and was to be realised in stages from September 1998 to coincide with the completion of the KL International Airport (KLIA) and the meeting of the 1998 Asia Pacific Economic Caucus (Apec), which Malaysia hosted.

Despite the Asian financial crisis and a series of peat fires in 1998, Paya Indah Wetlands was opened in October 2001.

While it was reported that the government channelled RM33.4 million into the park, consultants and engineers who worked on it said the cost to taxpayers was actually RM68 million.

"The initial budget was RM200 million which was then scaled down. Mahathir said the initial cost was too much, especially in the wake of the financial crisis in 1998," said a former consultant.

The management of the wetlands has since come under the purview of the Wildlife Department.

A skeleton crew of eight people are looking after the park, which was then at the mercy of illegal sandminers.

There were also fears that it would be taken over by developers as the Selangor government received at least three applications for residential projects.

These fears, however, were allayed on March 20 when Environment and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid announced that the park will reopen in July, with an additional RM20 million grant.

A recent visit to the wetlands revealed that rehabilitation work is under way by a new contractor, Gema Padu-Grinterra JV Sdn Bhd. A project notice board outside the park stated the work is expected to be completed by May 22.

NOTE: I invite Howsy to Cut&Paste his historical reports on the Sports Centre nearest his London aboide, can oblige, Sir? or Doctor of Biology?

I hear on the blogger gripevine...

Ooops, it's grapevine, my knotty fingers in a hurry...
that one Malaysian based in London is planning a BIG -- or small also can! it pays more -- do for SoCo Bloggers in May, to commemorate our very own Media Day!

Visit howsy.blogspot.com and see if you squeeze aMore juice out of the newly minted Doctor. No, this Doc is not for healing the body kind. The biology type -- like finding that Elixir of Life, or maybe something to outshine Tongkat Ali/Elie. Or more macrebre-ly,The Island, remember? SENsintrovert's a movie buff himself -- if you're lucky, catch him in the buff at his Movie blog!

Meanwhile, I am rushing some deadline, which as is usual of journalists, is pushed to hardpressed printer. Just a hint of what that's awe about:



Saying Adieu to May

As May comes to a close
Despondency descends like bad weather
For 'twas on a bright May morn
That an angel arrived on the wings of a flower

So every May dawn breaks
With a shy, quiet smile
Gives a lift to sagging spirits
Makes light the burden on my shoulder

Pettiness of man waves goodbye
And purity of friendship warms the heart
But when tomorrow comes, I bid adieu
Till comes again May, my dear

TEASER: This poem was written end-April 200S'X;
anticipating the arrival coming May! let's do a re-mix:)

Herman Hermits vow: "I'm Into Somethin Good"
my dear EsteemedReaders, For thee too, I'd provide the mood
If thou would join the merriment and solidarity
Bloggers United gathering, "Getting to Know You", I would

On eve of May 3 -- World Press Day
Bloggers too long to belong if we may
Come one come all, full of awe --
We celebrate at LakeViewClub hall?

_________________________________________



Relief

Long lonesome months of slogging
Enjoying midnight quiet but for the music
Even the neighbours' dog takes a breather
Howling at the moon or some unseen ghosting

Sometimes bumping into walls of questioning
Is this useful exercise?
Words don't flow easily tonight
Yet the deadline creeps nearer

My computer screen remains blank for minutes
Nay, sometimes hours
While Faith Hill serenades me with C & W courage
Tonic to my unsettled mind and nerves
Trying to put prose to poetry
Or is it the other way round?

Finaly, I hit the word count button
22,318 is the magic figure
I only need 15K for my mistresspeace
What a relief!

Copyright 2007 Chong Yen Long

Blooming youth, wasted youth?

i see a rainbow
colours
exuding beauty
lifting my heart's wavelengths
to dance in tandem with its spectrum
of youth gathered to protest the toll hike
to protest the landpressed squatter huts being demolished
by uncaring warlords -- landlords
in cahoots with councilmen with slippery fingers

i see a cesspool
murky waters
myred by effluents from progressive investors
building large chemical progressive factories
motivated by love for the country

but
at nightime
when only seeing lampposts shine their light
they discharge wastes from the chemical plants
killing off Mother Nature's greens
wasted youth
hanging out at Internet cafe
plying their foul language
pitting their adept fingering skills
killing off imaginary foes
another slew of F-littered words let fly
marking high scores
by wasted youth

a common interest
in wasted
factories of idle mind
grabbing entrepreneuring landlords
investors with the future of young minds in mind
it's plunder first
the young minds can pay later
wasted environs
like a cesspool
a tiger machine arcade
and a dank, dark Internet cafe

where doing my blogging, i seem an alien
from another age
of another Youth?

10.45am
sundae inter:luding

PS or izzit BS?
to meself lest I forget:
I 'rite a poem
w'ile thinking of the recent happenings
in NegaraKu
I see much pessimism
yet i see Hope because I also see Youth
composing rainbows
in my heart-land

This composition on the spur of a sundae morn
is dedicated to Young&Articulates like
Nat Tan
Freelunch2020
polytikus -- mousey like Desi?
johnleemk
kyels
sabrina tan
imran
primroses
Twisted Heels

and sirprise, sirprise
twisted minds like
NSTman
Zorro
AweOfHelen
Howsy
Maverick
MIA -- AM?
xpyre minus da d
sloone
:
:
:
(Drums roll&rock!)
did I 'ear
DEsiderata2?

Pessimism in the air: Antidote from the 1960s?

When I read Comments in my last Post (Thursday's), I feel there is lots of pessimism in the Malaysian air. But there is a reason to everything in life.

Last night's AMERICAN IDOLS was the most enjoyable of all the current season's episodes so far, and I believe it's chiefly due to the theme: THE BRITISH INVASION.
In was the 1960s, and I'm sure one mGf NSTMAN would have echoed this: The age of the Beatles, and other Greats that truly raised the bar in music and creativity. One reason the second millennium starting with 2000/01 suffered in creativity is (IMHO) the attack of the visual medium plus techno gadgetry -- so much so the sound and singing hhas been drowned out into secondary roles.

Last night's outstanding success of AI owed too a lot to two maestros of that bloooming era: Peter Noone (leader of Herman Hermits, who delighted with There's a Kind Of Hush) and Lulu (who aptly drew back much nostalgia with TO SIR WITH LOVE) who mentored the contestants with useful tips.
Everyone of the 11 contestants rose to the occasion, and I think Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell must be mighty hardpressed to give judgements as all the singers (save one, I think) shone in his/her choice of sixties numbers. (I would have liked it better if the lady who sang Diamonds are Forver had instead followed Lulu's advice: Go for Cilla Black's "You're My World" instead!)

At one assessment, Cowell (love him or hate him for his pretty caustic but from the heart remarks!) had just "one liner" to say of Sanjaya Malakar: "The small girl's face says it all!", and she, from the audience by gosh! was rightly acknowledged with a hug by her "idol", and later led onto centre-stage. It Can Only Happen In America -- No wonder it's monikered The Land of Everyone's Dreams Possible!:)

And how does this AI episode have any connection with my Post's Introductory obs?
I will elaborate later can, after half-CON BF!:(

10.30AM

UPDATEd @12.00 noon, rimes with Peter Noone!

The "truckloads pf pessimism" inluded one ferried from Ipoh -- the town of past&PRESENTries and hor-FUN flagged by allofhelen.blogspot.com -- have been unloading their rants and concerns at Desi's Place for two years now. I am honoured these Conversationists take the time to share, but at the same time I am concerned as a Malaysian citizen that this "pessimism" seems not to have tapered off the past two years -- of three years under a new Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi -- and in some cases discerned by Desi, this air of helplessness had in fact increased in magnitude and decibels (I was tempted to 'rite DESIbelles, but some ER complain I try too hard at DDC! No-lah, not a stooge to Washington da das capitol!:( though I wished I had been part of the American dream in the 1960s (NSTman, et tu?)

I like the ethos of mGf-hoRst @zorro-zorro-unmasked.blogspot.com, who recently advised: "Dear .. (RR, or izit RRR?), please write to express, NOT to impress."If Lulu had sung for teachers worldwide, she surely must have the likes of Bernard Khoo in mind! (unlike Bern's some 30 years (?), Desi had had a short stint of 1-1/2 years trying hard to nurture impressionable young minds...)

So from the hear, I have a message to the Young&Articulates of today -- look to the idealism and creativity of youth of the sixties, well paraded by the songs of AI last night over TV8, just mentioning a few: Mick Jagger's Tobacco Road; Dusty Springfield's You Don't Have to Say You Love me; Shirley Bassey's I, Who Have Nothin'...: Sorry, NSTman&Xpyre'&Desi, no one dared try Let It Be!

If the majority of the present Gen 3G had the fervour and idealism of the 1960s "flower child" youth, (If you're goin' to San Francisco, Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...) there would have been greater demonstration of Rage and Outrage over the issues of the day that gave/give rise to their groundswells of doom, gloom and pessimism. The Vietnam War stired strong and deep emotions into worldwide, observable action in common cause of Love and Peace; the Iraq War spurred only loud rantings and muted action.

This partly answers the reason WHY I had said in my Intro: "But there is a reason to everything in life." Dear Y&A, thy pessimism is embedded in the Malaysian air but the answer partly lies embedded in YOU.

Dear Awe:

Is dare a thread with page N17, the Star (See, I like the MSM sometimes, though mGf Howsy thinks orthervice!:(:



Nation
Saturday March 24, 2007


Suhakam: Police interfered with protesters’ right to assembly

KUALA LUMPUR: Excessive force was used by certain police officers against a group of demonstrators at KLCC last year, with one officer being positively identified as one of the aggressors.

In Suhakam’s 355-page report of the public inquiry into the incident on May 28 last year, which was released yesterday, the panel found that excessive force was used on an otherwise peaceful assembly.

The report said excessive force was used on 10 persons and identified L/Kpl Mustika Lambonding as being the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) officer who hit one of the demonstrators, Lee Huat Seng, with his baton.

However, witnesses were unable to identify the other officers because there was no identification (either names or badge number) due to the outer protective armour covering their uniforms (that had nametags).

The panel also examined whether the assembly at KLCC was peaceful and orderly, and the report included excerpts from the inquiry, particularly with the then Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Kamal Pasha, who was the overall ground commanding officer that day.

ACP Kamal told the panel that he expected the crowd to be “unruly and rowdy,” in contrast with Chief Insp Pusparajan and L/Kpl Mohd Nasaruddin Abdul Aziz (both from the FRU), who felt that the crowd was orderly.

ACP Kamal said the crowd was uttering unpleasant words about the Government and that bystanders would have reacted by fighting among themselves.

Panel chairman Datuk K.C. Vohrah said the assembly at KLCC was peaceful and orderly and that the police, in dispersing the assembly, had interfered with the right to the freedom of assembly that was enshrined in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.

Vohrah said the heart of the panel’s recommendations was the decriminalising of peaceful assembly without a licence under section 27 of the Police Act and the call for the repeal of related subsections.

“In lieu of the requirement for a licence, the panel recommends that the organiser of a proposed peaceful assembly notify the police, and the police and organiser discuss practical arrangements.”

The report’s recommendations added that the rights of any person engaged in lawful advocacy, protest or dissent are not limited by any authority and it should also be ensured that such rights would not be considered as prejudicial to national security.

The report also outlined a number of steps that it recommended the police implement urgently, such as wearing clear identification during crowd control, and prohibiting the chasing and arresting of people who are moving or have moved away.

The panel of inquiry that comprised Vohrah, Datuk Choo Siew Kioh, Datuk Dr Micheal Yeoh and Datin Paduka Zaitoon Datuk Othman, said the report would be forwarded to the related authorities on Monday.



Pay RM1.20 you stingy pokai, get a copy of The People's Paper(I don't get 30% conmiss... for this promo...), then see also:

Peaceful demo 'necessary' in a democracy

Another ex-DPM promotes significant policy change!

From the Sun frontpage, March 22, 2007:


Musa Hitam: Malaysia Must Waive NEP Policy in Johor



Malaysia should exempt the southern state of Johor from policies that favor the ethnic Malay majority to help attract foreign investors to the area, former Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam said.

Policies that give the racial grouping privileged access to government contracts and guarantee a minimum presence in the workplace may deter foreign companies from coming to Johor, said Musa, who is advising the government on the state’s development.

Contract awards “will have to be on merit,'’ Musa, the country’s deputy leader from 1981 to 1986, said in a March 19 interview (EXCLUSIVE to Bloomberg) “The Malays will have to face competition.'’

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is seeking foreign investors to help fund a two-decade, RM382 billion (US$109 billion) redevelopment of Johor, bordering Singapore. Scrapping the race-based program could lure investors and pave the way for the country to completely drop its 36-year-old policy in support of ethnic Malays, who comprise 60 percent of the population.

“It would be an exit route, politically,'’ said Manu Bhaskaran, a Singapore-based partner at economic research company Centennial Group. Johor “is an extremely important project. The affirmative action program and all the related problems do turn off foreign investors.'’

Foreign direct investment in Malaysia in 2005 dropped to 15 billion ringgit from 17.6 billion ringgit in 2004, according to the government’s department of statistics. Last year’s figures haven’t been released.

Wealth Imbalance

The racial program, introduced under the New Economic Policy in 1971 after clashes between ethnic Chinese and Malays, also known as Bumiputras, aimed to increase the wealth of the nation’s poorest grouping through benefits ranging from cheaper housing to greater access to initial public offerings.

Concern about the policy’s validity grew last year after a report by the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute in Kuala Lumpur showed the original targets to address the wealth imbalance had been surpassed.

The February report by the Centre for Public Policy Studies, controlled by ASLI, said ethnic Malays may own as much as 45 percent of Malaysia’s corporate equity. That was higher than the government’s estimate of 19 percent in 2004 and surpassed the New Economic Policy’s goal of 30 percent.

ALSI on Oct. 10 last year said there were “shortcomings'’ in its report. Lim Teck Ghee, director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies, quit a day later to protest the retraction.

Policy Revision

A five-member council including Musa and Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok that’s advising the Johor project agrees the ethnic program should be dropped, Musa said.

“I am confident that this Bumiputra thing, if I may put it this way, need not be the negative factor, and I am stressing this in this particular exercise,'’ Musa said. “There needs to be a revision, updating, of the way we approach it.'’

Incentives to take part in the Southern Johor Economic Region are being finalized, Musa said. Middle Eastern and Japanese investors are among those that have agreed to plow funds into Johor, he said.

The 2,216-square-kilometer development will include roads, offices, homes, theme parks, hotels, factories and hospitals and is Malaysia’s biggest real-estate project. Development of the region will require 382 billion ringgit of investment from 2006 to 2025, according to Khazanah Nasional Bhd., Malaysia’s state investment unit, which is leading the project.

The site will generate more than 800,000 jobs in 20 years, Prime Minister Abdullah said in November. It may boost growth in Johor to an average of 7 percent from 2005 to 2025, compared with 5.5 percent without the revamp, Khazanah said.

Reaching the project’s targets, without the affirmative action program, would allow the government to remove the policy in other areas, said Bhaskaran at Centennial Group.

“This is a very clever way,'’ he said. “It shows that at the top ranks of the system there are people who are thinking well.'’


______________________________________________

DESIDERATA: First, it was former Deputy Prime Minister Sdr Anwar Ibrahim who said it was time to end the New Economic Policy and replace it with a New Economic Agenda which is needs/economics based and not one grounded on ethnoicty as the NEP was/has been/is.

As Anwar now is Party Adviser to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (rivalling UMNO mainly as an alternative to Malay constituency), his voice might not be popular with UMNO former comrades, even if many members see the wisdom of such a policy change. Now coming from diplomatic and suave Tan Sri Musa Hitam, in a limited sort of way using Johor Iskandar Specil Region as a testbed, it's now raised to an implementable plane. We all know that behind-the-scenes Musa has been lending lots of his experience and advice to help Pak Lah face the challenges of the CEO's office -- fedning off enemies from withion and outside his own party!


Anwar has recently described the Prime Minister as a "decent and placid" bloke, and knowing the PM as a God-fearing man, I tink he will pay heed to Musa's counsel. INdirectly by applying the ISR platform, the weaning of Bumpiputeras' away from the dependency mentality (resultant from NEP abuses chiefly) is starting. The first significant policy adaptation is talking a leap forward.

Maybe the "Rip van Winkle" with former DPMs proddings and cajolings will awaken from his beauty sleep to walk tall? Like a dragon?

Public Service Announcement: AI on EDUCATION

To answer some of my EsteemedReaders's queries about PKR's policies, here's one official statement from Sdr Anwar Ibrahim, Party Adviser:

MEDIA STATEMENT
received via Email from anwaribrahimblog.com:



20 March 2007

Malaysia's Schools Failing Those Without the Luxury of Choice


The centrepiece of any nation's development must include its education policy. Therefore it is worrying that on the verge of our 50th Merdeka, our schools are still stuck in third world curriculum while many still do not have our 'first class infrastructure'.



While the government has talked about Smart Schools for over a decade, the Education Development Masterplan has revealed that nearly 20% of our primary schools do not have clean water supply; nearly 35% lack a computer lab; more than one fifth lack science labs and one tenth do not have uninterrupted electricity supply. Overall, over two thirds of our primary schools do not have complete infrastructure. This is in addition to the revelation by YB Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in her open letter to the Minister of Education on 13 December 2006 that our the percentage of spending on education lags behind Senegal, Malawi and and Kenya while we are among 24 nations including Palestine and Maldives that suffered a drop in primary school enrolment between 1999 to 2004.



The regions stuck with the worst-equipped schools tend to be those in the rural areas, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak, serving poor and marginalised communities. This exacerbates the social inequality and diminshes the ability of education to provide sustainable social mobility. All this talk on human capital is moot if these communities continue to be left behind. The majority of the marginalised are the Bumiputeras, yet the Minister of Education is more concerned about brandishing the keris than solving this problem.



This is further exacerbated by the haphazard decision to switch the teaching of Science and Mathematics to English. This has led to a lowering of standards as the Ministry is intent on proving that the change of medium has not affected students performance. We do not dispute the need to improve the command of English, but this should be done through improving teaching standards and allocating more time towards the subject, not by sacrificing our struggle of establishing our national language as a common bond between all Malaysians.



At the same time, our curriculum remains highly exam oriented. All emphasis is on rote learning and performing well in examinations. Rather than providing for a holistic approach to education, the new open system in SPM has led to an obsession of scoring as many A's as possible without any question of its relevance. More worryingly, this starts from an early age as our children are already burdened with a heavy workload in addition to their heavy school bags. This is only worsened when the parents enroll young children in tuition centres.



The government's utter lack of faith in the national education system is illustrated by the announcement by the Ministry of Education to allow more Malaysians to go to International Schools. While it is a shame that our national schools are no longer the school of choice for those who can afford to choose, the bigger tragedy is that they are failing those who do not have the luxury of choice. Furthermore, the national language must be reinstated as the medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics, while constructive measures are introduced to improve proficiency in English. We have no choice but to prepare our citizens for globalisation, and that can only be done by getting back to basics: creating an accessible and holistic education system for all starting with our primary schools.



ANWAR IBRAHIM


KENYATAAN MEDIA


20 Mac 2007


Sekolah-Sekolah Malaysia Terperangkap dengan Kemudahan dan Kurikulum Dunia Ketiga


Dasar pendidikan seharusnya menjadi asas dasar pembangunan sesebuah negara. Maka adalah amat merisaukan ketika kita berada di ambang Kemerdekaan negara yang ke 50, sekolah-sekolah kita masih lagi terperangkap dengan kurikulum dunia ketiga dan banyak lagi yang tidak memiliki 'kemudahan dunia pertama' kita.



Meskipun kerajaan telah merwarwarkan Sekolah Bestari selama lebih sedekad, Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan telah mendedahkan bahawa hampir 20% daripada sekolah-sekolah rendah kita tidak mempunyai bekalan air bersih; hampir 35% tiada makmal komputer; lebih dari satu perlima tiada makmal sains dan satu persepuluh tidak mempunyai bekalan elektrik sempurna. Secara keseluruhannya, lebih dua pertiga sekolah rendah tidak mempunyai kemudahan yang lengkap. Ini merupakan tambahan kepada pendedahan YB Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail di dalam suratnya kepada Menteri Pelajaran bertarikh 13 Disember 2006 bahawa peratusan perbelanjaan pendidikan kita ketinggalan berbanding Senegal, Malawi dan Kenya di samping kita tergolong di kalangan 24 negara termasuk Palestin dan Maldive yang menghadapi kemerosotan enrolmen sekolah rendah antara 1999 hingga 2004.



Lazimnya, kawasan luar bandar yang memberi perkhidmatan kepada masyarakat miskin dan terpinggir yang terperangkap dengan sekolah-sekolah yang paling dasyat keadaannya, khususnya di Sabah dan Sarawak. Ini mengeruhkan lagi jurang sosial dan melemahkan kebolehan pendidikan untuk memberikan mobiliti sosial yang lestari. Tiada gunanya kerajaan terus bercakap mengenai modal insan sekiranya golongan-golongan ini terus ketinggalan. Majoriti yang menjadi mangsa ialah golongan Bumiputera, tetapi Menteri Pelajaran lebih mementingkan menghunus keris daripada menyelesaikan masalah ini.



Ini ditambah pula dengan keputusan tergesa-gesa menukar pengajaran Sains dan Matematik kepada Bahasa Inggeris. Ini telah mengakibatkan tahap pendidikan menjadi lebih rendah kerana Kementerian ingin membuktikan bahawa perubahan bahasa penghantar ini tidak menjejaskan prestasi pelajar. Kita tidak mempertikaikan keperluan meningkatkan penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris, tetapi ini sepatutnya dilakukan menerusi meningkatkan kualiti pengajaran dan penambahan masa pengajarannya, bukannya dengan mengorbankan perjuangan kita menegakkan Bahasa Melayu sebagai Bahasa Kebangsaan di kalangan semua rakyat Malaysia.



Pada masa yang sama, kurikulum kita masih terlalu berorientasikan peperiksaan. Penekanan ialah pada hafalan dan cemerlang di dalam peperiksaan. Sistem terbuka SPM yang baru diperkenalkan bukannya membolehkan suatu pendekatan menyeluruh terhadap pendidikan, sebaliknya mengakibatkan kegilaan untuk mendapat seberapa banyak A tanpa memikirkan tentang keperluannya. Lebih merisaukan lagi, ini bermula dari peringkat umur yang awal lagi memandangkan anak-anak kita dibebankan bukan sahaja dengan beg yang berat tetapi beban kerja yang berat. Ini menjadi lebih parah lagi apabila ibu bapa menghantar kanak-kanak kecil ke pusat-pusat tiusyen.



Pengumuman oleh Kementerian Pelajaran untuk membenarkan lebih ramai warga Malaysia memasuki Sekolah-Sekolah Antarabangsa menggambarkan bagaimana kerajaan sendiri tidak yakin dengan sistem pendidikan negara. Semestinya hakikat sekolah kebangsaan kini bukan lagi sekolah pilihan untuk mereka yang mampu memilih ialah sesuatu yang menyedihkan, tetapi tragedi yang lebih besar ialah ia gagal mendidik mereka yang tidak mempunyai pilihan tersebut. Bahasa Melayu mesti dikembalikan sebagai bahasa penghantar untuk Sains dan Matematik, di samping memperkenalkan langkah-langkah konstruktif untuk meningkatkan penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris. Kita tiada pilihan melainkan menyediakan anak bangsa kita untuk menghadapi globalisasi, dan ini hanya dapat dilakukan dengan kembali kepada asas pendidikan: melahirkan sistem pendidikan yang inklusif dan menyeluruh untuk semua bermula dengan sekolah rendah kita.


ANWAR IBRAHIM

_________________________________________________



DESI:

Desi does NOT get paid for such community service announcements. It's my individual commitment to move political development in NegaraKu in what I deem a progressive direction, especially unifying Opposition parties in a common quest to form an alternative government. The best option I can see available at the moment if you are not happy with the BN government.

If you are happy with UMNO, MCA, MIC et al's shenanigans, then hold thy tongue; bury thy head in the shifting sand.

Read-lah both the statements from Sdr Anwar, ex-DPM to undersatnd what change he is pleading the populace to embrace; also it helps to raise your Bahasa and English language proficiency plus being informed of what to expect should the alternative coalition led by PKR come to power.

YOUR VOTE COUNTS.

To answer some Readers based overseas, please regioster as a Voter at the Malaysian High Commission/Embassy nearest ytou.

Teaser Quiz: PECD goes a -pecking?

The Business Section of The NST on page 47 yesterday carried the following news:




PECD names non-exec chairman


March 20 2007


PECD Bhd has announced the appointment of Datuk Mohammed Azlan Hashim as its independent non-executive chairman effective yesterday.


In a statement, the main board-listed construction, development and energy company also welcomed Datuk Dr Sheikh Awab Sheikh Abod and Shakir Jamil Fisal as non independent and non executive directors.


Mohammed Azlan, also chairman of Proton Holdings Bhd, has extensive experience in the corporate sector including in financial services and investments.


Among others, he has served as chief executive/executive director of Bumiputra Merchant Bank Bhd, group managing director of Amanah Capital Malaysia Bhd and executive chairman of Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (now known as Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd).


He is currently a non- executive director of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Employees Provident Fund and Scomi Group Bhd.


He is also a member of the Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority and chairman of D&O Ventures Bhd.


PECD also announced the resignation of Datuk Dr Mohd Munir Majid and Tan Sri Mohd Razali Abdul Rahman, the group's independent non-executive chairman and non-independent and non-executive director respectively.

___________________________________________


DESIDERATA's challenge:

Tell me in about 50-100 words what is the story behind this appointment? MORE TO IT THAN MEETS THE EYE, they say.
So tell me what YOUR ESTEEMED EYES SEE!

PRIZE/price First five good answers get 5, 4, 3,2 and 1 lots of Desiderata2000 shares respectively.

Wrong answerers are banned from Desi's Place for non-attention!

Moving On...NegaraKu

Sometimes I am amused by the general populace ranting against the government of the day as if they did not have any role in electing the same government into office for the past (how many general elections?) 50 years. I will bet my last ringgit (not 20million nyet!) that after the next General Elections (my prediction is to be called by Pak Lah mid-2008... *Yes, he will enable past DPM Anwar Ibrahim to contest!), the 14-member BN Coalition will continue to rule. It's not to govern, but rule by decrees and dictates as the citizenry asked for it, and the Governent has obliged the past three years under Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.


* Now you ask why would the Prime Minister want to give Anwar a chance to contest?

Because of two main reasons:

1. It would reflect well on the so-pronounced God-fearing leader, that he's generous of heart.

2. It would enable Pak Lah (the shrewd and silent one) to gauge Anwar-PKR's position and status among the chiefly Malay constituency who will determine the government of the day. If Anwar-PKR perform well, UMNO led by Pak Lah will have to deal head-on with ex-DPM Anwar to see how another Malay-majority-based pary can be accomodated.

If Anwar-PKR perform badly, well, it's another feather to Pak Lah's cap. It would also once and for eternity silence chief critic-from-within former PM TUN DR Mahathir Mohamad.

I am analysing the situation as objectively as I can, more from the point of view as a journalist, though I have declared my stand as a PKR supporter for "some time". Let me state for the record I was on-and-off (when journalism workplaces allowed it) a card-carrying member of the Opposition party/ies for as long as I can remember.

I beseech my EsteemedReaders who have not regsitered to vote -- DO SO NOW.
The next General elections may be called any time now, at the whims and fancies of the Sleeping Beauty. (But better a Rip van Winkle than a dictatorial and ill-performing Robert Mugabe, yes?I don't know the relevance of this aside. YTou ask Desi, who'd Desi arse?)

To the Barisan Nasional, I beseech the leaders, CONTINUE WITH YOUR PLUNDER (Sabah CM Musa Aman, Selangor MB Khir Toyo and cronies like Zakaria M(a)d Deros et al) and MULTIPLY YOUR ANTICS (Tengku Adnan Mansor, ZAM; Samy Vellu, Keng Yaik and Fu Ah Kiow, et al), hear me?

As for PKR, DAP and PAS: JUST GET YOUR ACTS TOGETHER-lah, for NegaraKu sake.
Everyone has its partisan interests, no doubt, but visionary leaders know when national interests must sub-ordinate party's. And in the interests of the Rakyat and NegaraKu, Anwar and DAP SG Lim Guan Eng and PAS leader Nik Aziz must subsume their party's and personal interests for a common goal to defeat the ruling BN.

To fellow Malaysians: DO THY DUTY, TO YOURSELF and NEGARKU. Don't sit on the fence. Don't continue to rant against the ruling Government, yet cross against the Dacing! Don't give lame excusess like "Better the Devcil you know...",
and asking rhetorical/acadmice questions: Will Anwar-PKR be better or worse than the BN? How could the DAP work with PAS?...ad nauseum

YOU EITHER GIVE "CHANGE" A CHANCE, or HOLD THY TONGURE AND REMAIN SILENT FOREVER!


There is just one or the most two occasions in the elctoral horizons where Malaysians still have a chance to move back from the slide towards the Edge. Can we arrest the slife before the whole nation goes over into the Abyss?

Can we Move On from waste and plunder into a state of sanity and light that we -- a resource-rich nation -- may yet fulfill te potential of being advanced and great?

Malaysians seek that more economically and socially equitable, ethnic-unbiased, and religion and colour-free nation, where for everyone called a MALAYSIAN, there's:


"A place in the sun"

Stevie Wonder

Like a long lonely stream
I keep runnin' towards a dream
Movin' on, movin' on
Like a branch on a tree
I keep reachin' to be free
Movin' on, movin' on

'Cause there's a place in the sun
Where there's hope for ev'ryone
Where my poor restless heart's gotta run
There's a place in the sun
And before my life is done
Got to find me a place in the sun

Like an old dusty road
I get weary from the load
Movin' on, movin' on
Like this tired troubled earth
I've been rollin' since my birth
Movin' on, movin' on

There's a place in the sun
Where there's hope for ev'ryone
Where my poor restless heart's gotta run
There's a place in the sun
And before my life is done
Got to find me a place in the sun

You know when times are bad
And you're feeling sad
I want you to always remember

Yes, there's a place in the sun
Where there's hope for ev'ryone
Where my poor restless heart's gotta run
There's a place in the sun
Where there's hope for ev'ryone
Where my poor restless heart's gotta run
There's a place in the sun
Where there's hope for ev'ryone...


UPDATEd @3.43pm:

Now be a good boy or obdient galguide, surf to anwaribrahim.com
to view a 3-1/2 minute-video~~~~~~~

SUPPORT A NEW MALYSIA


___________________________________________________



March 19th 2007

Keadilan to Focus on Economic Growth, Institutional Reform and Tackling Corruption
Tom Burgis

Financial Times, London

Anwar Ibrahim, the former golden boy of Malaysian politics, said on Thursday he hopes to stand for prime minister in elections that could be held by the end of this year.

The former deputy prime minister spent five years in prison convicted of sodomy and corruption after accusing his government colleagues of graft.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Anwar said he would stand in May for the presidency of the opposition Keadilan party, a post currently held by his wife. He said he would seek the premiership in elections late this year or early next, provided he wins the backing of his party’s allies.

(Go to the ex-DPM's weblog for mo... and Desi will bribe thee with a goblet of tehtarik;
if you're not carrefool, you may succumb to UMNO's 3Cs instead!
myGOoDfriend quite used to SUE-ing in a bengkok city offers a C4:)
IF you want to know Amore, go to Arabian 1001 Nights @sloone.wordpress.com

We can learn sumthin' from G'Die Oz!:)

from NEWS.com.au

Howard angry as Santoro departs
March 17, 2007 12:00am


PM forced to rejig cabinet for third time


JOHN Howard faces his third ministerial reshuffle this year after Ageing Minister Santo Santoro resigned yesterday, revealing he had failed to declare holdings in dozens of shares.

Under pressure since it was revealed this week he had held shares in Brisbane biotech company CBio in a breach of the ministerial code of conduct, Senator Santoro yesterday confessed he was also "negligent" in relation to the reporting of 72 investments.

The Prime Minister will now write to all MPs and senators, requesting they review their shareholdings to ensure they are "absolutely in order" and have not breached the requirements of the pecuniary interest register.

Senator Santoro maintained yesterday there was no impropriety or conflicts of interest in relation to the shareholdings, but the Queensland factional powerbroker refused to disclose the cash value of the shares.

A "frankly angry" Mr Howard said last night that Senator Santoro had no choice but to resign.

"This is a clear breach of the Senate rules and of his obligation to me - he had no alternative but to resign," Mr Howard said in Abu Dhabi, where he has returned after a lightning visit to Afghanistan.

"Frankly, I am angry and disappointed at the senator's conduct. There is no excuse for somebody not complying with the rules. The share investments were not in his area of responsibility and it would have been acceptable if he had made disclosure. But he didn't."

Refusing to sack Senator Santoro over the CBio incident earlier this week, Mr Howard said the minister had been "very proactive" about the problem when he discovered his shareholdings in October.

However, the Queensland senator confirmed yesterday that he did not disclose the other investments as required by the Senate, even though he had discovered scores of them when he was appointed to the ministry in January last year and dumped stocks in health-related companies. It was already known he had discovered the CBio shares last October but did not update the Senate records until December.

"I wish to stress at this point - as I have been stressing all week - that I have done nothing that is illegal, nothing that is dishonest and, more importantly from a ministerial point of view, nothing that has a conflict of interest attached to it," Senator Santoro said. "I never made any statements, extended favour, either overtly, covertly or in any other way.

"There are standards that need to be observed by senators, members of parliament and ministers. I failed to a considerable extent in some areas of disclosure and for that there is a price to pay and as a result of that I'm paying that price."

When asked how he could have possibly been unaware of so many share trades, Senator Santoro quipped: "I now have an accountant."

He also admitted falsely claiming to journalists that he had donated the $6000 profit of the CBio shares to charity when it was in fact a non-profit political lobby group that promoted pro-family, anti-abortion policies. The president of the group, Family Council of Queensland's Alan Baker, is the same man who offered him the financial advice to purchase the CBio shares.

Senator Santoro is the second Howard minister forced to resign in the past fortnight. West Australian senator Ian Campbell quit as human services minister earlier this month after The Weekend Australian revealed he had had a meeting with disgraced former West Australian premier Brian Burke.

The Prime Minister is dealing with a string of scandals among Queensland Liberals, including an AFP investigation into the printing entitlements of three MPs: Andrew Laming, Ross Vasta and Gary Hardgrave. All have denied any impropriety.

Mr Hardgrave, who was dumped from the ministry in January by Mr Howard to spend more time fighting to retain his marginal seat, is now in Taiwan on a free trip with his girlfriend and former private secretary Lorraine Ralph.

It was revealed this week that Mr Laming invited the Prime Minister to a fundraising lunch with a Brisbane pornographer in 2004. Mr Howard yesterday defended his own actions, saying he did not know Scott Gregory Phillips's background and "wouldn't have gone within a mile of that dinner" if he had.

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has not been immune from party scandal, with legal affairs spokesman Kelvin Thomson forced to step down last week after it emerged he provided a reference to drug trafficker Tony Mokbel.

Following Senator Santoro's resignation, Queensland senator Russell Trood, an outspoken critic of the Iraq war and a player in a backbench revolt over the asylum-seeker laws, is tipped for promotion as Mr Howard is confronted with the task of finding another Queensland senator to fill the spot.

Senator Santoro was forced to clarify comments made yesterday suggesting Mr Howard did not ask him to check his records until Tuesday, instead of when he informed the Prime Minister of his first failure to dispose of the CBio issue last year.

In a statement issued after his press conference yesterday, Senator Santoro said that last year Mr Howard had "told me that I must ensure I had fully satisfied the requirements of the reporting of interests both to him and the Senate".


CONTRAST:

The The NST frontpage March 17, 2007:


RM5 million bribery allegations
STOP THIS
OUTBURST

PM says Johari should explain
everything if he's clean


KEPALA BATAS, SAT:

Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Mohd Johari Baharum should answer the allegations of corruption against him and stop blaming others, the Prime Minister said.

“I have spoken to him about it and I have asked him to reply to the allegations. He has said that he is not guilty. If he is not guilty, then he can explain everything,” said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Abdullah was asked if the graft allegations against Johari and Anti-Corruption Agency directorgeneral Datuk Seri Zulkipli Mat Noor had tarnished the government’s credibility.

He said it would be a problem for the government if such cases continued to surface.

“I have spoken to both sides and told them that such things should not be happening.” Johari is being investigated for allegedly releasing Emergency Ordinance detainees for RM5 million.

A posting on the Internet, whose source is unknown, said Johari had corruptly revoked preventive detention orders on three men suspected of gangland activities, including loan-sharking, extortion, prostitution, assault and illegal gambling.

He denied the allegations and appeared to blame police for procedural irregularities in submitting files to his office.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Mohd Najib Abdul Aziz responded that police would conduct an internal investigation into the documentation for the three men alleged to have been freed.

Najib was quoted to have said that police were scrutinising the standard operating procedures involving the detention of suspects under the ordinance.

DESIDERATA:

As usual, the highlights in both news reports (THUS BOLDED) are Desi's -- not the usual suspects out dare in Blogosphere with no face, no face, and hardly any scruples! -- so The Minister of Propaganda is duly informed and need not go on a wild goose chase. The Tourism Minister can continue with his chasing after skirts. LOL! We do have time/dime for some h(R)umour, Yes?

We must hold our Government and Pak Lah's Cabinet to the same standards as any developed nation's (including Aussie's to which I have some loving inclinations because it paid me my salary for some 13 blardy years! The prize I had to pay was to keep my mouth shuit within four grey walls off Jalan Ampang, Koala Lumpuh' othervice the B'g, B'd Wolves would get Desi!:)

By now, if PM Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was serious, the least JOHARI could do was to "stand down" from his deputy minister's post until and unless he (and his name) was completely cleared by any wrongdoing as alleged by very serious charges.

Maybe Desi was too demanding of Pak Lah's high sounding office with his loud battle cry against corruption.

Did someone quote in blogsworld (I read yesterdie!) it is "all sound and fury"?

I enjoy Howard's type of fury.

Pak Lah, by CONtrast, it's awe mega-bytes. Or is it Hi!-Desibelles?

G'Day, mates!:)


PS:
Sweetspirits, how art thou Down Under?
Hope awe is wellA!

Another Community Service Message

This guy of a Blooger dared lable Desi upfront as **crazydesiderata** when the honorific should go rightly to another bold guy (heard of my ex-colleague sloone -- what does a straight Malaysian do based in bengkok!? --I will also be upfront with freelunch2020 -- I am selling you a killer (mr) bill for plugging this!:

Everything 'wlong' he/she has done Desi is 4giften because she includes Desi among
"this SEXY LIST".
(DESIaside: What list, you dare ask? No, I can't detail, after the Tourism Minister may say wan knotty blogger is promoting porno-tourism, and you donwan Desi sent to Gurney's Girls Scool, do you! Masochistic Malsians!)

Okay, here's Email just delivered by 2020freelunch: MEDIA INVITE

Dear sexiest, coolest,...BLOGGERS.....

You've made it on this SEXY LIST.


Anyway, if you would be so kind to sokong felllow blogger Tony Pua's foray into politics by sparing some space on your "lying" blogs to continue "our quest to deceive the MALAYSIAN public."

As Malay Male pointed out, DAP "has no cash" and has to resort to blogosphere advertising BUT AT LEAST we are progressive and embrace new technology instead of labelling them anti-govt and such.

It would be much appreciated if you would help publicise this event and as much as we would like to pay for your "transport expenses, etc", we are not Barisan Nasional. :D

And all are invited to check out the happening centre -- the first of its kind in the area.

More in the media invite below.

peace + ROCK ON,

freelunch2020 aka Jed Yoong


FRI, MAR 16 2007


Attention: ONLY ULTIMATELY COOL Bloggers

"A new community and service centre near you"

LAUNCH: DAP Damansara Branch and Community Service Centre


You are cordially invited to cover the launch of the new DAP Damansara Community Service Centre on Sunday, 18th March 2007 ( 10 am-12.30pm) at 55M, Jalan SS21/1A, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya.

Join us for a few hours of fun, cultural performances accompanied by food and drinks while checking out the facilities.

In addition to the journalist and photographer covering the event, journalists and photographers who are off-duty are ALSO most welcome to join in the festivities.

Under the ambit of the community centre, there will also be an education counselling centre as well as a tuition centre for secondary school students.


In addition, we will be active in organising various activities for the residents, including fund-raising activities for local charities, forums, games and competitions.


DAP Secretary-General YB Lim Guan Eng will be the guest of honour at the opening ceremony and will give a short speech.


We hope to see you there!


Yours faithfully,

MALAYSIAN FIRST

Tony Pua

Pro-term Committee Chairman

DAP Damansara Branch

Economic Advisor to Secretary-General


For more information, please contact:

Lim Ai San @ 012 214 0001 / aisan.lim@gmail.com

Tan Pei Ling @012 385 2151 / tanpeiling@gmail.com

Jed Yoong @ 019 438 1698 / jed.yoong@gmail.com

Tony Pua @ 016 222 0086 / tonypua@yahoo.com

Please RSVP by Friday (March 16).

WISHING BLOGGER MATEY JED YOONG, and of course, Tony Pua,
"A SUCCESSFOOL AND TASTY INTER:LUDE COMING SUNDAE!"M 019 438 1698
E freelunch2020@gmail.com
W 2020freelunch.blogspot.com

*******

PARTING WORD from Desi:

By this CSM, my EsteemedReaders by extension are also deemed sexy to be invited as GUESTS to the Sundae happening. If you don't own a limo like Desi, also can't take the bus or train, I have a lembu keleta on standby! If I should show up late, you know the reason, K!:) S-s-s-s-s-s-s-miles from Furong PKR do!

*******

Beware the Ides of March, Dr Chen!

THis is a Post dedicated to DAP life adviser Dr Chen Man Hin, who looked "creastfallen" from the photograph I sighted in Kong Ming Daily today.

You mention Dr Chen to any Furongite in Seremban -- not in B'g, B'd Wolfish Koala Lumpuh! -- and there will be narratives of "good feel" factor about the Man of Awe Seasons.

He had served the coomunity well as a medical doctor -- even rendering free treatment to the poor.

He had served the constituency well, until MCA Pres Lee San Choon heard, accepted the challenge and entered the lion's den. Lee, to his credit, came, saw and conquered, winning Dr Chen's stronghold by a 845-vote majority mainly due to two factors. Party SG Lim KS threw the challenge, but when the MCA supremo accepted it, turned away like what? -- a dog ...Ooops, the Canine year had passed us by by two months 16 dies.

Back to Dr Chen -- he groomed many
(sime spell it as machais, but the Lietrary in Desi says a Malay root word has no "ass" for plural, and conforming to current spelling, no "Hedge"-lah! Back from Digression, which is a Blogger's fringe privilege that comes much abused with Desi's terrortry, which you poor readers just have to passively ednure! -- Dr Chen felt another "Et tu, Brute?", and so conspicuously, delivered on the Ides of March.

Two Ides ago, Desi purposely delivered his cyber-babe because to me, the 15th day in the third month in the Julian calendar (please I stand corrected if Julian is not correct!) has always remained a favorite day in my literary writes since I fell in love with Shakepeare's JULIUS CAESAR.

In the year 44BC (which stands for Before Christ and not BloggersSi!), the day dawned with many fortune tellers, or soothsayers they called them in Rome, telling the Emperor-To-Be-or-not-2B not to go to the Senate, as many omens forbode ill for the Roman leader fated to become king. Even his wife's (Capurnia?) exhortationts to stay home as she had dreamt a frightful dream aboiut her husband's impending death ...fell on deaf ears as the band of "Roman noblemen" led by Brutus urged their leader not to fall bondage to rumours.

Of course my dear ER and honourable men of literature know that Caesar fell at the seat of Pompei (his statue-lah) as some half-dozen conspirators put their knives over 30 times into his body. The last stab came from his best friend, hence the famous/or infamous pathetic question, rhetorical? -- "Et us, Brute" which in my hopefully right undersatnding mans "You too, my (best) matey, Brutus?"

Dr Chen's reprisal of the famous quote yesterday then: "Et tu, Lim Fui Ming?"

And before that, "ET...Tiger Lee?; "ET...Khoo Seng Hock?"

Like Dr Mahathir Mohamad's reference in his wrong choice of Pak Lah as successor to PMship, and now also for supporting Najib Razak at DPM, Dr Chen's is a poor judge of fellow-men he had picked as right and left-hand lieutenants.

I can undersatnd Chen's dejection -- betrayal is indeed bitter medicine, dose after dose of venom! I seem to have heard this phrase being mouthed by someone up dare! -- the good doctor was "at a loss of words," Kong Ming reported.

Will we hear more similar laments from Dr Chen; I hope not, for his sake if he wishes to live to 100, and for DAP's s(H)sakes, 'cause if you add in other deserters from out of Negeri Sembilan, they are worthy of a Malysian play -- on par with Da Bard's? -- that Desi has somewhat hatched out in his mind. Any offerer for 20million for Desi's head/hate?

______________________________________


From The Star, page N6:

Nation
Friday March 16, 2007


Ex-DAP strongman Lim joins MCA

SEREMBAN: Bahau state assemblyman Lim Fui Ming has joined MCA two months after he quit the DAP.

MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, who accepted Lim’s application form at a high-tea with Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan here yesterday, said it was a historic day for Barisan Nasional and MCA in the state.


Welcome boost: Lim (right) handing over his application form to Ong witnessed by Mohamad. Behind Mohamad is Yeow Chai Thiam.
“As MCA president, I welcome Lim’s decision to join the big family of Barisan,” Ong said.

He said Lim had decided to join the party without any condition and that leaders and members of the state were giving him a warm welcome.

Mohamad said Lim had made the right choice by joining the MCA and that his decision was a vote of confidence to those in Barisan.

Lim said he had thought through it before making the decision to join the MCA after reading Ong’s policy statement at the party’s 58th anniversary celebration on Sunday.

“The MCA has changed a lot under the leadership of Ong and I agree with his effort and his determination to promote a healthy political culture in the party.”

Later, Ong attended a media night organised by Negri Sembilan MCA. The diners observed a minute's silence as a gesture of respect to the death of Malacca MCA chief Datuk Wira Poh Ah Tiam.

Desi's Blog-Journey Is a Symphony

PREFACE:

I was working at an online newspaper for a year not that long ago and so was well exposed to electronic sources of news and debate, mainly from foreign sources, and I felt most at home with the American and British scenes. Having worked some time with the Aussie diplomatic mission, I also had a soft sport for Down Under people and happenings.

Being of Chinoserie ancestry -- but first and foremost a Malaysian, I stress! -- and knowing a smattering of Mandarin so I can comfortably see annd enjoy a movie like The Banquet without the need to staray to the subtitles, emerging China as a political and economic juggernaut also naturally was my radar-scape.

But being born and bred in NegaraKu, I feel very at home whether in a kampong/ new village or town/ bandar or the city of Kuala Lumpur (though I have never trusted local KL-ites compleatly! hence I describe the capital as B'g, B'd Wolfish Koala Lumpuh!), Desi would never allow any blardy idiot to question my loyalty as a Malaysian.

I mostly enjoy Malay, Chinese and Indian cuisines seven days a week, but make an exception to have a CON BF (continental breakfast) on a Sunday, my capitalist indulgence as I am an out-of-the-closet Socialist (In the league of the current French Sigolene Royale, someone I tease mGf based in London who is quite introvert plus sensitive/ble? > hence "sensintrovert")

Chapter 1

As a freelance journalist taking up blogging chiefly influenced by JeffOoi exactly two years ago, I was happy to be able to connet with a core group of fellow/fella (Fella is defined as tghe female counterpart as fellow is always considered male) bloggers. I must also thank those readers who don't blog but visit often enough to engage in conversations.

There is yet a more connected group who progressed to join Desi's EMAIL LIST, numbering about 12-15 gathered over 24 months. (YOU know who you are if you have exchanged thoughts in intimate detail with Desi. This is mainly jesting -- most ly talking shop on political matters that are not safe to go public; well a small percentage of mayhaps five percent do venture into personal territory, but that's reserved for spinning my fictional novels later, with Hollywood blockustier in mind. Rest assured I'd do it a 30% to the protagonist-blogger who has opened up his/her/gender-neutral soul to Desi.)

Most of all, I must thank these various categories of EsteemedReaders ("ER") who take the time and trouble to comment on my "writes", more formal as in a serious Essay following all the rules of Intro, Body and Conclusion; 'rites as in reecording Malaysiana titbits and snippets that are eye-catching and define our local culture and politics; and lastly, more lustily perhaps than the earlier two, my writHings. In this category I lend my pretty frank thoughts on Malaysian goings-in which concern or trouble or amuse me as a Malysian citizen. The "H" implies that Desi does a lot of gymnastics, sometimes using the much maligned DDC ("Da Desi Code" methinks first gifted by the hoRst of allofhelen.blogspot.com; the R in host arose from an actual event narrated to Desi about how a Guest speaker was pronouncing this word with the R sound consistently -- neigh, neigh!)

Back to my stated Objectives as revealed in my first three Posts from March 15, 2005, to date they are, in gist:

**

I shall be touching on subjects broadly categorised as desiderata.english; desiderata.civilsociety; desiderata.truth -- generally with the ultimate objective of promoting the love and appreciation of outstanding writings in English; the cultivation and promotion of human traits and endeavours to build a civil Malaysian society, and finally, if possible, embark with fellow travellers in this journey called Life in the pursuit of Truth, that undefinable yet essential and desiderable, in my opinion, ingredient in the civilization process so that the human race continues to uplift itself beyond and above the banal, the demeaning and the destructive actvities that now pervade, and in some societies, even dominate human activities worldwide.

**

I believe I am by nature and nurture an organiser and team leader (RESUME hilites include Student Union's office-bearer; Press Training Programme Director; Chairman of LES Committee Chairman at AHC), so it was a natural course I organised what I termed as G7 meetings among Bloggers, mostly KL-based. Numbering half a dozen such meets, with quorum ranging from 2 to SE7EN. These meets gave the participants to see the person behind the anonymous masks of the cyber-writer, and I think all of us ranked these as a peak in our journeys. What say you, mates, Yes?

I believe in a non-profit adventure that is my type of blogging, it's the constant Hi's with very few Lo's (when combined, Hi-Los are still pleasing!) that makes Blogging a happy and learning adventure. The blogging experience spans a wide age range, non-discriminatory of sex, colour and race. Religion and partisan politics take up little space in our discourse; mostly it has been friendly banter and trading of jokes, satire, allowing for caustic soda in-the-face barb trading with an occasional "stranger". Few and in-betwen, such hostile encounters were easily terminated by one party just calling TIME-OUT, erase all traces of animosity and there's no legacy of enmity to bequeath. I can only off-hand record two such episodes.
________________________________________________________

Today I arrive at a sort of crossroads. This Second Anniversary on the Ides of March ushers in what I think is the second chapter as I spent some time the past few weeks of where I am, and the journey I had traveled thus far. Much waters has flowed under the cyber-bridge. I have gained much, didn't lose any, perhaps made a few enemies I term as Agents Provocateur (APs), so I count my journey positive, productive and most important in my mind, "enjoyable".

I have reviewed my Three Original Objectives, and today announce that I have retained
the three objectives, viz:

* Civil Society;
** Promotion of the English language, especially using Poetry as a Special Medium;
*** Truth-seeking.

But to be added a fourth, namely:



**** Nation-building,
which I think is timely and must enjoy priority as Malaysia approaches its 50th anniversary of birth.

I would think Nation-building would encompass Politics, whether Partisan or Non-partisan. I have decided that a ciotizen has every right to involve himself/herself in partisan politics, and this would not detract from the role of any Blogger in contributiong to the community.

I borrow the words of a media fraternity member: "One cannot remain neutral in a moving train." -- Jacqueline Ann Surin, whose writings have caused much and spirited debates in blogosphere, and mGf Howsy holds her in higher esteem than Desi (YOU, Time's Person of the Year 2006, can interpret this statement any way YOU like, Desi, as you know, tries to practise democracy even in all his discusioins, especially when media is the open field. Blogsworld members aspire and want to be treated with respect as the Fifth Estate. So let's start by adhering to the same exacting and high standards demanded of the Fourth Estate.


At the personal level,
I penned the following over the past 48 hours.

Inside the head resides the rational mind,
In the heart dwells one's soul seeking its home.

But to my mind, at journey's end it's all fruitless
If a seeker finds he has gained much of worldly treasures
but can't feel the warmth in his/her heart at night
to feel the comfort of a person at peace with his soul

The ultimate treasure
resides within the individual's heart
even as soon his life's journey began
except many did not feel their own heartbeats
until it's too late, the heart has stopped chanting.


Follow That Dream

by Elvis Presley


When your heart gets restless, time to move along
When your heart gets weary, time to sing a song
But when a dream is calling you,
There's just one thing that you can do

Well, you gotta follow that dream wherever that dream may lead
You gotta follow that dream to find the love you need


AS the song comes over the airwaves, my thoughts often go back to some lonesome travel by an Andalusian shepherd boy who one night dreamt of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. This shepherd boy broke out of the comfort zone of his father's Andalusian farm in Spain to set out for Morocco, then towards Egypt seeking "the soul of the world". When he bade farewell, his father's only advice was: "Travel the world until you see that our castle is the greatest, and our women the most beautiful".


His journey through desert storms, narrow escapades from theives and marauding robbers, and from other life-threatening situations, being left penniless, and betrayed by a companion -- these werre challenges in an answer to a call to follow his dream that a youth could not ignore or resist, even with a sacrifice of leaving behind his sweetheart. To seek out his destiny he must, or else his heart would not let him rest, for he would be trapped with an unquenched thirst. Even his sweetheart understood his longing, so wished him well on his journey. She too sought the peace within even as her sweetheart sought his far away in a strange and foreign land.

My dear ER, if you have the time, try to read

The Alchemist

by

Paulo Coelho

The Brazilian story-teller only suggests.
He hints. He asks thee to listen to your heart.


As Santiago the shepherd boy travelled on his journey, he found that was "a language that doesn't depend on words". He realised: "If I can learn to understand this language without words, I can learn to understand the world."

So each of us have to define our dreams, then follow these dreams, because to find the Truth at the end of such a quest on Earth is the way to find "God", which could mean happiness, fulfilment, and understanding the ultimate purpose intended by an Almighty perhaps, of individual Man's transient journey on this good earth.

The novel tells the tale of Santiago, a boy who has a dream and the courage to follow it. After listening to "the signs" the boy learns of various intangibles on a terrestrial trip, alike in spirit Jonathan Livingstone Seagull's adventures on air, guided by a few stranger-friends and "omens" that cropped up.His search for a hidden treasure located near the pyramids in Egypt would end...YOU find out yourself, for Desi's a practising democrazee and wouldn't want to serve thee false "madsin" forced down the throat.

I know I must write first true to my heart's desire.
The desiderata of happiness is to seek the Truth within one's soul
to be able to separate the precious from the banal
to discern the right from wrong
to find meaning and tranquility in the dance of life
While we may stumble, even fall,
we learn the language of overcoming the tests
So we won't lose the rhyme, nor the rhythm
As a quest can end in failure
because of corruption of the soul
by discordant notes and unsound distractions.

I just completed the first and second years' movements.
I am still composing the symphony of Life.
The third movement has just begun.
Do be one of my travelling companions
to be entranced by this common dance of life.

The Day Before Ides of March

Pi fans to meet March 14 (3.14, get it?)

to celebrate The Pi-Romance.

By ERIN McCLAM,

AP National Writer
Sun Mar 11, 9:37 PM ET



This is a story about love. About inscrutable complexity and remarkable simplicity, about the promise of forever. It is about obsession and devotion, and grand gestures and 4,000-word love letters.

It is about a curious group of people with an almost religious zeal for a mind-numbing string of numbers. Actually one number, made up of a chain that is known — so far — to be more than one trillion digits long. They are the acolytes of the church of pi.

And once a year many of them gather to talk about pi, rhapsodize about it, eat pi-themed foods (actual pie, sure, but so much more), have pi recitation contests and, just maybe, feel a little less sheepish about their unusual passion.

That day falls on Wednesday this year: March 14. Or 3.14. Obviously.

The question is why, of course. And if you ask the fans of pi why, a startling number of them will come back with the same question: "Why climb Mount Everest?" Because it's there.

But then they start talking about some very simple ideas. Like the beauty of a number that seems to go on forever and yet has no discernible pattern to it. Or about the valor of the memorization gymnastics, challenging oneself always to know more.

This is how Akira Haraguchi, a 60-year-old mental health counselor in Japan, puts it: "What I am aiming at is not just memorizing figures. I am thrilled by seeking a story in pi."

He said this one day last fall after accurately reciting pi to 100,000 decimal places. It took him 16 hours. He does not hold the Guinness world record, only because he has not submitted the required documentation to Guinness. But he has his story.

(Incidentally, the world record belongs to Chao Lu, a Chinese chemistry student, who rattled off 67,890 digits over 24 hours in 2005. It took 26 video tapes to submit to Guinness.)

A brief math refresher: Pi a simple concept, the relationship between a circle's circumference and diameter: Multiply the diameter by pi — 3.14159, to use a crude approximation that would make many of the people in this story blanch — and you get the circumference.

Supercomputers have computed pi to more than a trillion decimal places, looking always for a pattern to unlock its mystery. And for centuries the number has fascinated mathematicians.

And then there are people like Marc Umile. Twelve years ago, while working as an usher at a Philadelphia opera house, he picked up a book on curiosities of math and read about pi's seemingly infinite, random string.

He wondered about applying the way we absorb music to the mystical number. An obsession was born. In 2004 Umile read the digits of pi into a tape recorder. He did it a thousand at a time and gave it a rhythm — some numbers high-toned, some low.

He listened to the tape constantly. This went on for two years. A two-year trance.

"To and from work, in my quiet time, on my lunch break — and when I didn't have the tape I would recite in the shower," he says. "Probably 40 percent of the time there was an earphone in my ear. I said, `Oh my God, what have I created?'"

What he created was what is believed to be U.S. record for pi memorization — 12,887 digits. He typed them into a spreadsheet at a Philadelphia law office — three-and-a-half hours, 1,000 numbers at a time, with two smoke breaks.

Umile, who is 40 and now works as a Medicare biller, believes the fascination with pi has something to do with our desire to learn the ultimate truth of something. Each decimal place, in theory, takes you 10 times closer to the answer.

He says he made a mistake in his training: He told too many people what he was up to. His wife, his family — they were rooting for him. Most of the rest dismissed him as a weirdo.

"I have a delicate confidence level in a way," he says. "Maybe I don't believe in myself too much. If you do something of this magnitude, keep it a secret. Don't tell anybody what you're doing."

Others are less shy about their fixation.

A software engineer in Virginia named Mike Keith wrote a poem to pi, a "piem." A love letter, in a way. To say that it is a something to behold is an understatement: It is nearly 4,000 words long — and the length in letters of each word corresponds to pi's digits.

In other words, if you can remember the poem — which riffs on T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Act V of "Hamlet" and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," among other texts — you too can recite pi.

"One: A Poem: A Raven," it begins (3-1-4-1-5). "Midnights so dreary, tired and weary, silently pondering volumes extolling all by-now obsolete lore. During my rather long nap — the weirdest tap! An ominous vibrating sound disturbing my chamber's antedoor."

And so on.

Keith says he thinks of himself only as "an average pi nut." He figures he knows maybe 100 pi digits off the top of his head. "My daughter knows about 50," he adds. "She's 15."

There are logical gathering places for people like this, and one of them is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where, on March 14, students have been known to wish each other — out loud — a happy Pi Day.

The school plays a role in encouraging this: In the past it has tried to mail its acceptance letters on March 14. (It didn't work out this year. And last year, when an MIT official wrote on an admissions blog that it probably wouldn't work out then either, he was greeted with disappointment. "Pi Day seems so romantic," one prospective student wrote.)

There's a popular chant, an MIT rallying cry, that includes "3.14159." (It rhymes with "Cosine, secant, tangent, sine!" And Bryan Owens, an MIT senior, says the ability to recite pi is a sort of bragging right, a coin of the realm.

"It's like how much money you have," he says. "But you never win. You always find somebody who knows it to more digits than you do. I think the basic idea is we like to celebrate things, kind of celebrate who we are."

And that is why, like the Irish on St. Patrick's Day or Italians on Columbus Day, this Wednesday, 3-14, in many cases at 1:59 p.m., pi enthusiasts will have their moment in the sun.

At the Exploratorium in San Francisco, there will be pies to eat, people wearing pi jewelry, more beads — color-coded by digit — added to the pi string. And the celebrants will gather at a sort of pi shrine, a brass plaque engraved with pi's first 100 digits.

It may be a stretch to say that pi has achieved a kind of cultural cachet, but it is true that, as an obsession, it's not just for math geeks anymore. Givenchy makes a Pi perfume. Kate Bush sings out its digits in a song. And — of course — YouTube stocks videos of people reading pi into the camera.

Umile, the pi-chanting Medicare biller who struggled with self-confidence, is already booked to appear on a local TV show on Wednesday. The other night he rattled off 10,000 pi digits, just to keep the gears oiled.

Funny thing, though: For the life of him, he can't remember the phone number he calls every month to make his mortgage payment. And the other day he got his own bank account number wrong.

"It starts with 6-1-4," he says. "And I wrote 3-1-4."


DESIDERATA: This is an important date for Desi personally, for it marks the EVE OF THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF DESI'S PLACE TOMORROW.
I'm thinking very, very hard tonight about what I'm going to do for the next 365 days via blogosphere.

I need to re-visit my THREE MAIN OBJETIVES that I set out on inception, and study if I have achieved the stated goals. Have I deviated? I have lately become more engaged in Partisan Politics because I feel there is a season for everything. Is this in line with my original objectives I outlined?

Let's see what my prognosis is tomorrow, God willing.

I

___