LAST DAY OF 2007

Today is the last day of the year 2007. To sum it up, it is not a 'too bad' year in career wise except for the passing of my father. Up to this moment, my heart is still aching when recalling those moments of his suffering in hospital bed hooking to respirator and medical equipment. Come to think of this, one may says it is pointless thinking of those moments, but it is easier said then done.

Well, some time I just wonder how nice if 'someone' is powerful enough to end these sufferings of living beings. I don't think anyone can do that. That is the reason why I doubt there exist a God. If God is so powerful, He in fact should eliminate sufferings and make all of us all rich, healthy, long life and so on. I may offend some people for saying this, who have faith in God. Anyway, for those who found faith in God, it is good for them. At least they can confide in Him in time of sorrow and helplessness.

Anyway, I hope everyone of us has a nice ending for 2007 and a good start of 2008. In fact, Gary's Garden pineapple plant start to bear fruit again a few days ago and custard apple plant bearing fruit for the first time. Could this be a good omen for me? Hope so, hehe.

EXQUISITE HANDMADE JEWELLERY SHOWCASE

EXQUISITE HANDMADE JEWELLERY SHOWCASE? Wow, sound expensive and classy, but, if you look at the prices, those 'Jewelleries' not expensive at all. Go visit and you know what I meant. Really, come to think of these youngsters' design, why should we opt for those damn expensive jewelleries and feel 'insecured' if you wear those around your neck, wrist, finger. Just ask yourselves, how many time you wear those 'expensive' jewelleries. The answer, I can be sure, is very 'rarely' and most of the time in safe security boxes. If you do a simple costing of 'Value per wear', you will be shocked.

So, it is your choice. Lets make your choice. Hehe, this is just an advice from an accountant.

Kevin Rudd 陆克文 can speak Chinese

The newly elected Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Kevin Rudd 陆克文 can speak Chinese. It is just wonderful.

One of the comments I gathered about this video is :-

Oh yes, I am a Malaysian staying in Australia, I am so happy when "Lu Kewen" won, i am so impress with his Mandarin proficiency, so much so made me feel ashamed of myself. I understand what he was saying in that interview, but don't think I as fluent as him.

He brought in some relieves and a breath of fresh air to the country, everyone esp those in the urban areas are sick and tired of his predecessor whose political party was practically "dismantled" - all the senior ex cabinet members quit frontbench.

I guess politics here is different if compare to malaysia - here it's not based not races - although opposition has taken control - but nobody is worried whether they will be discriminated, sidelined etc. Some may say its left wing and right wing - to me its all the same, just their ability to convince the people whether they are able to do a god job for the benefits of Australians - citizens and residents (like myself). Residents dont made to feel that they are 2nd class citizen - they get to share the benefits like australian citizens the only difference is not able to vote - thats all!

Po

UNIQUE COLLECTIONS OF 'JEWELERIES'

For those who like to buy something affordable and yet meaningful 'Jeweleries' for yourselves or as presents to your wife, someone special or your secret admirer, Gary's Garden recommends you to this blog http://the-mini-diary.blogspot.com/.

Frankly, the items are quite unique to me and they worth your every single cent. Go for it guys and gals.

A VERY UNEQUAL WORLD

A very unequal world - an article of 'DR. HSU FORUM' has prompted me to start a 'DONATION FOR GOOD CAUSE' drive of SGD 5 per click to help out the poor and unfortunates. I quote part of the article here :-

" Businessweek estimated that in 2006, there are 9.6 million household with net worth more than US $1 million dollars. Together , they control about one third of the world’s total wealth.

4.6 million of them are in United States. 2,300 out of this 4.6 million are worth more than 100 US million each.

Japan, Britain, Germany and China made up of the other top 4 nations in the world with the most millionaires. China has the fastest rate of increase for millionaires at 39 % per year .

On the other extreme, 1.1 billion population live under absolute poverty, meaning that they live with less than US$1 a day. Another 2.7 billion live in relative poverty, meaning that they earn less than US$2 a day.

How to have a more equitable world? Perhaps there should be more Warren Buffet, the investment guru and the second richest man after Bill Gates, who donated most of his wealth to charity to help those in poverty. "

Just think this over and we will realize what Dr. Hsu mentioned here is very true. Just imagine if each of the millionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet can impart a 'tiny fraction' of their wealth to the poor and unfortunate, they 'inequality' as stated here would not change much, but it will benefit the mankind.

BRADDEL MEMORIAL LECTURE IN 1982 - TUN SUFFIAN

I am impressed with the following paragraph quoted by Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak during his opening speech of the 14th Malaysia Law Conference :-


“ In a multi-racial and multi religious society like yours and mine, while we judges cannot help being Malay or Chinese or Indian; or being Muslim or Buddhist or Hindu or whatever, we strive not to be too identified with any particular race or religion – so that nobody reading our judgement with our name deleted could with confidence identity our race or religion, and so that the various communities, especially minority communities, are assured that we will not allow their rights to be trampled underfoot.”

A GOAT FARM

Beside the Turtle Sanctuary, we visited a goat farm on the way back to Kuantan. This goat farm is just next to a budget chalet named 'Lis Nar Re', owned by a Canadian who reside in Malaysia. The goat farm was just started about 2 years ago and to my surprise, it is very clean, goats and surrounding, it is very well run. Your kids should like this place, so, keep your fingers crossed for a visit to the farm. This farm is at Sungai Ular, Balok, Kuantan. Nice long, shallow water and low wave beach is there for you to enjoy.

Guess who are holding the young turtles?

TURTLE SANCTUARY, CHERATING

We have been to Cherating a few times but never visit the Turtle Sanctuary. This time around, we decided to drop by the sanctuary and it turned out to be a quite an educational one. All these while, we thought that we can only see turtle laying eggs at Dungun, Trengganu, Malaysia. But, we were told by the sanctuary officer that we can also see this at Cherating beach. The best time to watch this is during the month of May to July every year.

It is good that we have a sanctuary to protect these rare species of leatherback turtles which is fast becoming extinction. We had the chance to watch a video about turtles and most exciting part is letting go the young hatchlings to the sea during night time. We managed to capture young turtles in action but unable to video the event of releasing the young hatchlings to the sea as there was no proper lighting then.



Apart from this video, you are able to see what my kids learned from this experience. My kids had the chance to hold the young hatchlings before releasing them to the sea.

COLD AND MISTY GARDEN

Just look at it and you can feel its cold and mist, without being there.

BUDDHISM IS NOT A RELIGION. IT IS A SCIENCE OF MIND

Well, this is a meaningful video. Everyone should watch it. I realized from the video that Buddhism is the world's first religion without a 'God' yet it is not a 'religion' per se but more of 'teachings' of a great teacher Buddha.

Description : Over 2,500 years ago, one man showed the world a way to enlightenment. This beautifully produced Buddhist film meticulously reveals the fascinating story of Prince Siddhartha and the spiritual transformation that turned him into the Buddha

THIS IS MY GIRL'S DRAWING

Drawing of a 4 year-old girl. Any comment? Probably she trying to draw herself with curly hair.


After looking at her sister's drawing appear in my blog, another girl of mine requested me to publish hers too. This is how I and my wife look like in the eyes of my girl. Handsome? Pretty? Loving couple? Hehe, of course lah.

MALAYSIA TODAY, NEGARAKU

Drawing depict how Malaysia looks like in the eyes of my little girl.

I have some friends who frequently 'flying' all over the world. I always take the opportunity to 'grab' them before they fly to another corner of the world. I asked them, 'why you still want to come back to Malaysia?' . Their answers to this was that 'because my root is here, though Malaysia is not the best amongst the countries that I set foot on.'

So, we can count ourselves lucky to be a Malaysian. No doubt there are a lot of problems here and there, but I believe they can be solved if we are determined to change for the better. I trust that many bloggers like RPK, Screeenshot, Rocky Bru, Harris Ibrahim, Dr. Hsu's Forum are sincere in wanting to make Malaysia a better place to live at. Just read their postings with open mind, you don't need to buy their 'stories' all the time. Be a 'thinking Malaysia', a 'True Malaysian'.

Whether we like it or not, we are the products of Malaysian policies, system and environment that 'mould' us all since young. We are moulded into looking at things racially, which I admit, cannot be changed overnight. But, we can change this, if we try.

中秋節快樂

．★／＼︽﹨︽﹨︽☆︽＼．☆
☆．　／中　＼︽﹨︽﹨︽★︽＼°
　☆　│秋　║﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌│．▲
★　　│節快║　田　╭┬╮田│◢█◣
　＠　│　樂║　　　│││　◢███◣
　║╓╥╥╥☆ ●　● ╥★╥╥╥╥▊╖
╔╩╬╬╬╬ _/█\_/█\_╔╩╬╬╬╬╬╬
╭╧╮╭╧╮╭╧╮╭╧╮╭╧╮╭╧╮╭╧╮
║中│║秋│║月│║圓│║人│║團│║圓│


A friend of mine 'skype' this to me. Hope this design is not copy-righted.

一位朋友给我的祝福, 也和你们分享.

WHEN INTEGRITY IS LOST, EVERYTHING IS LOST

As the saying goes..... when wealth is lost, nothing is lost, when health is lost, something is lost, but when INTEGRITY is lost, evetything is lost.

Nice saying, isn't it?

花开花谢，不执著

An article of Master Sheng Yen of Dharma Drum Mountain. 以下是是圣严法师, 法鼓山的作品

世间的万事万物，不论是山川大地、环境中的任何事物与现象、我们的身体、思想、心理反应、…..等，都是在不断的变动之中，没有一样是永恒不变的，甚至包括所谓的原则、真理，也会随著时空的不同，而阶段性的有差异。到了该改变的那一刻，应该要放下的就要放下，不需执著。

　　但是要做到不执著谈何容易，该如何袪除执著呢？不妨试著从理性的分析，和对自己身心的体验，来练习袪除执著。

　　所谓理性的分析，就是用「因缘」的观念，来理解事物的真相。因缘是指一切的现 象，不论生理的、心理的或自然社会的现象，都是时间和空间之下所产生的种种关系，是由许许多多因缘条件和合理而生的，无法单独发生，也不会突然出现，更不 会永远不变地存在；只要其中一项因缘条件改变，牵一发而动全身，原本你以为绝对不会变的事物，就会有了变化。

　　另外一种则是用体验的方式。我们体验自己生命的过程，会发现人的生命从小一直到老，到死为止，都在不停地变化，自己的身体、生理在变，观念也在变。

　　例如一个人，本来是小男孩、小女孩，然后是少男少女，然后变成中年男子妇女， 最后变成老先生、老妇人，不断、不断地在变，如果要执著，究竟要执著哪一个呢？究竟是十六岁的是我呢？还是八十岁的才是我？其实都不是，因为十六岁的时候 已经过去，八十岁的现在也会过去，所以根本不需要执著。

　　从身体的变化可以更进一步来体验心理和观念的改变。从小开始，我们就不断在受教育，也不断受到环境、父母、老师以及时代变迁的影响，几乎没有一个观念是属于自己的，都是外来讯息的累积，然后才成为自己的想法。

　　而这些想法也是会变的，例如当你和别人谈话，对方提出一个你前所未闻的新观念，你听了以后，脑中的现法可能因此转变，不要说昨天的看法和今天的看法不同，可能这一刻的你和前一刻的你就不一样了。

　　不论从理论上来分析，还是从对自己的体验，都可以证明，没有一个永恒不变的我，甚至没有一个「我」存在，那又有什么好执著的呢？

　　不过虽然因缘在变化，但是当下还是有暂时的现象存在。就像一朵花，你今天看它可能好漂亮、好可爱，可是过了几天，它就凋谢，不漂亮、不可爱了，可能要换另外一朵花。既然知道事实如此，就不需要对这朵花太执著。因为花开、花谢，是自然现象，不需要太多的执著。

------摘自《找回自己》--花开花谢，不执著

LEE KUAN YEW

One of the great leader that I admire most is Mr. Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. Even my late father was his fan. I still remember my father requested my relatives to video-tape Mr. Lee's national day speeches for him. Though I may not agree fully with Mr. Lee's ideas, opinions, thoughts or whatsoever, I realized there are many truths in them.

I shall collect his ideas, opinions, thoughts or whatsoever in my blog from time to time, for the benefit of mankind. Lets start with the below :-

" We knew that if we were just like our neighbors, we would die. Because we've got nothing to offer against what they have to offer. So we had to produce something which is different and better than what they have. It's incorrupt. It's efficient. It's meritocratic. It works.

The system works regardless of your race, language or religion because otherwise we'd have divisions. We are pragmatists. We don't stick to any ideology. Does it work? Let's try it and if it does work, fine, let's continue it. If it doesn't work, toss it out, try another one. We are not enamored with any ideology."

PENANG TRIP - 17 to 20 August 2007

Hehe, time flies. Another trip to Penang this year, sort of pilgrimage during school holidays and after busy period of mine. The different this time is that this trip is partly subsidized, in conjunction with my niece's convocation at University Sains Malaysia.

My dad aspired to attend this convocation during his lifetime. How nice if he is still alive to join us with this memorable celebration. We believe though he is unable to be with us physically, spiritually, he is still around us during the convocation.

Also, sharing with you a slide show of my trip there, enjoy.

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包括妻子在內,納吉坦言不瞭解女人

Interesting news. You agree with him? How about you? Can you understand women?

难怪有这么多有名无实的夫妻呢! 嘻嘻哈哈!

QUOTATIONS 引文

Below are quotations that I come across when browsing internet. I shall update these quotations in this blog from time to time. You can read them with ease by clicking on the link 'QUOTATIONS 引文' on your right. Lets start with :-


Who knows perhaps we will all make history…..ONLY IF WE DARE TO DREAM

我愛我的國家．有國才有家．有家才有我

A man has to do what a man has to do

Religion is one path towards personal peace and spiritual fulfilment. It is also something which depends entirely on faith. Even if the religion is a ‘way of life’, a term commonly used to describe xxxxx; it still needs belief and faith. How can one be forced to follow a ‘way of life’ if one simply does not believe in it? Once the element of force comes into the picture, be it in the form of fines, imprisonment or ‘rehabilitation’, then religion ceases to be about the spiritual and becomes instead a matter of power.

"Berani kerana benar"

i was born in Malaysia... sure i love this place, this country. But i don't need anyone else to TEACH ME HOW to love this country.

I am beginning to see a glimmer of hope at the end of what once seemed a hopeless tunnel.

It has indeed been a long and winding road, but alas, I can see that the Ray of Hope is bursting thru’ the clouds. Though I may be in my sixties, living each day as a bonus, but i know the future “children of Negara Ku” will be able to experience and love the “fruits of sacrifice” from all our sincere and truthful “Anak Malaysia”

A joke was just a joke. An opinion was just an opinion. A viewpoint was just a viewpoint. Differences were respected and accepted.

" You reap what you sow"

Jesus once said "do unto others what you want others do unto you"


I know Malaysia has its faults and bad feeling
It is the leaders whom we made them to the office
We can make a change in the box
It is our rights to initiate change


I am trying hard not to be a racist, because racism is simply wrong, once in grave, God only sees ones deeds, not race

I support causes, not personalities. If that personality carries a cause I can relate to then I rally behind him. If I do not like his cause or feel that he has abandoned the cause then I move on. Life is too short to bitch and whine. If we meet eye-to-eye, we talk. If not, we walk.......RPK of malaysia-today.net

I have been lucky to have always had a shoulder to lean on when needed. God bless all those who love me. The rest he may bless if he so desires!

If by definition a judiciary means an independent, incorruptible and neutral judiciary, then we don't have one" - former Lord President Salleh Abas in Malaysiakini.

CHICKEN SOUP FOR A TIRED SOUL

I came across a comment which I treasure, read it :-

“Don’t cling to things, because everything is impermanent”….a Buddhist saying.

It is alright to cling to negative emotions like fear, pain, failure, desperation, hopelessness, meaningless, worry and so forth. After you allow yourself to be fully penetrated by them, you got to detach from them and continue your journey. We don’t necessary taste the fruits from the good seeds we sowed in our mortal life span. If you hold back on your emotions…and don’t allow yourself to go all the way through them, you can never get to being detached. You become too busy being in all your emotions. After you have experienced and recognized all your emotions…tell yourself it is time to detach and carry on with the journey. There are more things and emotions awaiting you. ….hahaha learnt this entire talking cure from Morrie on the Tuesdays. Poem is chicken soup for a tired soul.