building a mystery

The other day, I sent out an invite to The BF for a mystery date. We've been kinda bogged down with work lately and so I thought I'd do a little something to mix things up a bit.



Then, he started asking funny questions. Where's the place? They look like coordinates. Well, you're supposed to use a GPS to find the location. Do I have to go on time, or can it be earlier or later? Well, preferably on time. Do you know where it is? Yes, sort of, but I've not been there. What time you'll be there? Are we going together? o_O

See, he thought it was an invite to some sort of corporate event, because the invite looks professionally done *ahem ahem*. Actually it's just a stock template from powerpoint, but I appreciate the compliment all the same :D

After the Oh-I-See moment, he then tried to suss out the name of the restaurant from me. Multiple times; so much so I almost regretted setting up a mystery date. What if I parked at the wrong spot? It's OK. What if I can't find you? You will. What if I got the wrong street? You won't. In short, he's the sort of person who likes surprises but can't stand the anticipation. Try and try as he might, he got nada, muahahaha.

Anyway, dinner was at Vintry Ampang. We shared a lovely cereal prawns, special sausage platter, tom yum spaghetti and knocked back a glass of wine each. It was mid-week after all.

what's in a name?

In the news today is famous plastic surgeon from Singapore, Woffles Wu Tze Liang, being fined S$1,000 for getting an elderly employee to take the rap for him for two speeding offences.

Woffles?



Seriously? No offence, but that sounds like something a five year old would name her teddy bear. Mr Woffles.

I really don't know what it is with Asians and strange English first names. There's this once quite popular singer/songwriter based in Taiwan (?) who goes by the name of Panda Xiong. Well, we all know what a panda is, but his surname, Xiong, actually means bear in chinese. Like you know, brown bear, Pooh bear, that kind of bear. So... I guess he's panda bear? It seemed too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence so maybe it's intentional? I'm a little perplexed by that thought too.



However, when it comes to creative English names, nothing beats them good people from Hong Kong: Fruit Chan, Kingdom Yuen, Tats Lau, Sonija Kwok, Yummy Wong, Evergreen Mak, Yoyo Mung, Myolie Wu. These are very real people, mind you, and famous too. I'm just wondering whether they actually use those English names on a daily basis, coz the Hong Kong tabloids/paparazzi calls them by their Chinese name more often than not. I'm also wondering whether Chan Kuo will know it's him when beckoned "Wei, ah Fruit ar". Imagine the endless fun I'll have if my friend calls him or herself Fruit...

But what's the motivation for these unusual sounding monikers? To stand out from the general masses? Unfortunate birth certificate filling accident?

when panglima keris speaketh

It feels like.... maybe the obvious is not obvious enough.

NO HIKE IN CRIME RATE

KUALA LUMPUR, 11 June (The Star): The recent spate of violent crimes targeting women over the past two weeks is not indicative of a rising crime rate in the country, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

He said the Government was aware of the cases but pointed out that these were not so frequent and did not reflect a state of deteriorating security in Malaysia.

“One or two cases do not affect the crime rate but if the cases are constantly played up, then it will create the perception that the country is not safe,” he told reporters after launching a gathering of his ministry's Youth Squad here yesterday.

Hishammuddin said the Government had promised three years ago to tackle street crime and focused on 50 hotspots across the country, on which they had delivered.

“I don't deny that in terms of perception, we need to improve our actions. But the 11% drop in crime rate was not said by us. It was international bodies which said it,” he added, urging the public to inform the authorities if there were areas which needed urgent attention.

Hishammuddin said he would have to discuss with the relevant ministries, local authorities and the private sector on the possibility of mandatory 24-hour surveillance of parking lots following a spate of robberies and attempted abductions in the past two weeks.

We have to talk to them and see whether (there are) legal (obstacles) or operational matters. We are open to any kind of contribution that will help,” he said.

The Government, added Hishammuddin, was also considering a move to expand the “omnipresence” of authorities at schools in a bid to enhance public confidence in the safety of their children in such public places.

The Cabinet had discussed this issue in light of the recent kidnapping of Dutch boy Nayati Shamelin Moodliar, he said.

We will also try to involve volunteer corps such as Rela in this. We believe that with the increased presence in certain areas at certain times, it will change the perception (of poor public safety),” he said.

Nayati was abducted near his home on April 27 while walking to the Mont' Kiara International School but released unharmed six days later. Three people have so far been charged with the kidnapping although the mastermind is still at large in Europe.

On the replacement for the two members of the Independent Advisory Panel on Bersih 3.0 who opted out, Hishammuddin said it was the panel's prerogative to find suitable candidates to fill the vacancies.

He stressed that his ministry still intended to release its video compilation of incidents during the Bersih 3.0 rally but only after the panel had viewed the footage and presented its opinions to the ministry.

Well, besides Nayati, let's not forget the girl who was almost abducted from the parking lot of a shopping complex, the teacher who was battered so badly she's in an induced coma, another abduction attempt on a primary school kid, the kidnapping of a project manager, the cold-blooded murder of a little girl over a grudge, also this, this and this.

And all the above, is only in the last 2 months or so. Apprently, we have now been told, this is a matter of perception.

So yea, thank you minister, for that. I feel so much safer now.

infamy 3.0

It makes me so sad hearing from friends and acquiantances, and reading all the blog and facebook updates, of their first hand experience on how the peaceful rally quickly descended into hell. It seemed the attacks started at the point when the organisers declared Bersih 3.0 a success and asked for everyone to disperse.

There's really no need for the excessive use of force against defenseless citizens.



Read more here:
1. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/frontpage/2012/04/30/bersih-experience/
2. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/04/29/punched-slapped-kicked/
3. http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/2012/04/my-bersih-30-experience-behind-barbed.html#!/2012/04/my-bersih-30-experience-behind-barbed.html
4. http://www.malaysiakini.cowarm/letters/196420
5. http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/196403
6. http://legod.blogspot.com/2012/04/arrogance-breeds-contempt.html
7. http://www.malaysiandigest.com/opinion/43511-lets-tell-the-main-story-of-bersih-30.html

Sadder still, what do people remember about Bersih 3.0? Was the coffeeshop talk about the 3 demands and whether or not the point got across? Or is everyone more preoccupied with conspiracy theories on who started the chaos?

but why?

It was with utter disgust when I read that just last week, the Parliament had passed a bill to amend the Election Offences Act 1954.

(a) Section 11(c) which had required any print materials to have the names and addresses of its printer and publisher is DELETED IN FULL;

(b) Section 14 1(a) is replaced with a clause which allows the Election Commission (EC) to appoint time slots to determine when polling agents or counting agents of a candidate may be present. Therefore the time when an agent of a candidate is allowed into the polling station is no longer fixed and is now left to the discretion of the EC to decide. They are free to remove agents from polling station at will;

(c) Section 26 1(e) which allowed for checking of the identity of any person entering a polling centre is DELETED IN FULL; and

(d) Section 26A subsection (2) and (3) are DELETED IN FULL. This means that all channels of election observation are sealed off as it now does not allow election candidates and staff to observe the registration of voters during polling day. There will be no more Barung Observers who were previously the only non-EC people able to look at the IC of the voter and pick up discrepancies.

(Source: http://bersih.org/?p=4744)

What just happened here?

It's like all this campaigning for free and fair elections had fell on deaf ears, and we are now worse off than before. Clearly, the last minute move by BN and EC to push the amendments through sought to make the election process less transparent and easier to manipulate. Clearly, they are also saying to us, "So, what can you do about this, huh?"

I'm all for Bersih 3.0. I'm ready to don my yellow shirt and march with the masses. I'm ready to suffer whatever consequences for partaking in this rally. Most of all, I'm ready for change.

But why is Bersih so adamant on Dataran Merdeka? Why is Bersih refusing to negotiate? The government has offered four other venues to hold the rally. Stadium Merdeka would be a good choice if you're aiming for historical significance and symbolism. Wasn't that the chosen venue last year before the government went back on their promise? You know they will find a way to screw things up so why not just play by their rules for a while?

What's going to happen on Saturday is anyone's guess but I would imagine the government and police would come down hard on Bersih, and they would justify it by saying Bersih did not cooperate. The circumstances surrounding this Bersih 3.0 march and last year's Bersih 2.0 march is different; last year, the government played us for fools. I just feel that if all the chaos, tear-gassing, manhandling and arrests can be avoided this round, why not. Let's not lose focus here.

Are we now fighting for free and fair elections, or fighting to occupy Dataran Merdeka? I'm in two minds over going for the march...