Bits and Pieces .....

I laughed when I read yesterday about Malaysia's ranking by FIFA, dropping from 159 to 164. Trouble-torn countries like Palestine and Pakistan even beat Malaysia in ranking. Not only that in the Asia Pacific region, Malaysia is far down the ranking list than Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. For more than two decades, the continuing spiral plunge of Malaysian footballing standard does not seem to affect the chairman of Malaysia's football body, the FAM. He continues in his job oblivious to the fact that footballing standard has deteriorated to the point that it is about the level of Timor Leste's. Like his son, he should get out of football and run his state if he wants to see Malaysian football improves.

Some young folks in Kuala Lumpur are suggesting that the road and lanes that bear the name of Haji Taib be given different names. This is because the area serviced by these roads is notorious for its vice activities and the word Haji is synonymous with a person who is religiously revered. For years, the authorities have tried to eradicate this social illness but to no avail. Here, prostitutes and ponces, openly solicit for business starting as early as 6.00  in the morning. I suggest that, rather than removing the names completely, the road and lanes be named after Mat Taib,  a Malay politician notorious for his nefarious activities.

The other day, I dropped by at a phone shop. I was attracted to the  Nokia E90 Communicator, which was the latest model of the Communicator line of phones since marketed in the early 1990. Why I thought of buying such a phone was because I was getting fed up of using phones with smaller and smaller key pads that have become too small for my fingers and besides , I preferred the easier QWERTY keyboard than the clumsier ABC type. The price was a stubborn RM 3,888 for which you can buy a top end desktop computer or a fairly good laptop computer. Not that I cared about the price but its the attitude of the salesman who was insistent in charging 2% if I used my credit card. He said that he would have no profit if he did not charge the 2%, as though his profit was 2% above his cost when actually he stood to make 30% profit above his cost as he bought it wholesale. To him sales at 28% profit was less important than no sales at 30% profit. So much for traders in Subang Jaya.  If I had gone to Low Yatt Plaza where the competition was tough, the trader would gladly part with the phone without charging the 2% even at much lower price.

In an inquiry about fixing or rather brokering the appointment of judges in the Malaysian judiciary, two characters, among many others in the legal community, surfaces in the local daily. One is an ex-judge by the name of Mohd. Eusoff Chin. His name suggests that he is a Muslim, a European, and a Chinese. Chin is a common Chinese surname, while Eusoff sounds European when it should be spelt Yusof, a common Malay name. The only Malay-Arab name is Mohd. which is a common and accepted short form for Mohammad. The other person is V.K. Lingam. Honestly, Lingam in Tamil means "prick" or "penis". How would you react if someone introduces himself as Robert Prick or James Penis. You would be hard put to hide a smirking grin. I don't know what the VK stands for; though I like to call it as Very Kerdil. These two person professionally face each other in court. One is a member of the Bench while the other is of the Bar. In judiciary ethics all over the world, the two members should behave at arm's length when outside the court. They should not be seen to be pally even, say, when drinking at the club bar. But no, these two were seen having a vacation together in New Zealand and with their families too with the prick, as rumors have it in 1994,  paying for the expenses of the other. 

What inflation of 2 Percent ? ......

A report in the local daily says that the MYR is strengthening against the USD by the end of the year to the tune of RM 3.00 against the current situation of RM 3.40. The report says that  the rise in  KLCI index to plus 1,500 and an inflow of FDI are  a contributing factor and expects a lowering of imported inflation. Since when have these been  contributing to inflation ? What the report does not say is that the Yuan, S$, Baht, Yen, Swiss, Euro, Pound, and many others strengthen by a greater margin against the USD than the MYR does. 

The prices of cars, houses, essential household commodities, and many, many items are on the rise. The price of a new Nissan 350 Fairlady of 25,000 USD (RM 86,000) in USA is a whopping RM 500,000 in Malaysia. The detached house in Damansara Heights that was sold for RM 400,000 in 1990 now costs RM 4,500,000 in 2008. The Cavendish banana that I bought in 1992 for RM 2.50 per comb in Chow Kit area now costs RM 18.00 in 2008.

What happened after the WTO and AFTA talks of abolishing imported duties for cars by 2005 ? Yet car prices are escalating in 2008.

Malay wedings are never a joyous occasion ...

My uncle always complain about Malay weddings. He never likes to attend such events because he has had some bad experiences whenever he attends weddings. Yesterday, he attended a Malay wedding reception at one of the 5-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur. As usual he moaned and groaned about wedding receptions held in hotels because he reckoned that instead of such occasions being celebrated in a spirit of joy, they have become a gathering where guests  were being inflicted with too much protocol. Not only that, the guests at the tables were short on conversation and long on silence. This is what he described to me when he got back home.

• I noticed that all the guests at their respective tables never talked to one another except to their spouses. The man sitting opposite me never even talked  to the guest next to him for most of the evening. If he did talk, it was only because the person next to him  was a friend. I and the guest next to me, however, exchanged pleasantries for some time, including during dinner. 

• I observed that men of 50 years plus exhibit this behaviour. I assumed that they were govt servants or ex-govt servants afraid to hold conversation with strangers for fear of leaking secrets or  shady pasts. They only spoke when spoken to, usually  answering with as little number of words as possible. They talked as though their English vocabulary was limited. And as for talking about the latest political issues, they dared not even discuss them.

• The man of about 60 years to the left of my wife never even shook my hand as he joined the table when it was customary to do so. From about 8.00 pm to 11.30 pm he never spoke to my wife nor to me. While the 2 men seated opposite me never talked to one another. They preferred to fold their arms.