Primum ego, tum ego, deinde ego

Fotopage updated. [Tryla2006 pics]

Malaysiaku

I received this from a forwarded email through a yahoogroup forum. An excellent summary on the current Pak Lah's administration that i've read so far.

"..I do not agree that we should read anything out of this courtesy call (referring to Pak Lah's courtesy call on Dr. M in Tokyo). What I do know is that we had such high hopes for his administration and what we get is one disappointment after another. It all started with the Rafidah Affair. Anyone that shows discourtesy in public, cabinet and parliament should be censured instead she escaped unscathed even after being criticised in the UMNO Assembly. Then it was the choice of the Cabinet. After all the speculation he instead brought in individuals who have been more known for their dubiousness rather then their ability to deliver.Next he maintained some who have passed their sell by date. Not much creativity involved in his choice of Cabinet. This lack of creativity continues to plague his administration.

In the last few months issues that could be dealt more creatively was instead settled using the simplest means without scant regard (in the eyes of the public) for others. Petroleum subsidy - reduce it, Malaysia Airlines - get rid of excess manpower, TNB - increase the rates, Malaysia Airlines - give more to Air Asia, Scenic Bridge - cancel it, let's not crack our brains, Augusta - sell it, Proton - let's be knockdown assemblers, Multimedia Development Corporation, not that known? - change its name maybe that will help, the Penang Shipyard fiasco, let LTAT pick up its related to them anyway and let's not talks about it hoping it will go away, the double tracking contract - let's cancel it so we do not have to crack our brains how to finance it.

I admit that some of the decisions made are based on fiscal prudence, let's not spend what we do not have, however with the much touted young circle he has I have expected more creativity in the decision making process. I do not want his administration to be remembered as one that skirted on issues and avoided any form of disagreement. Some need to be faced head on.. " - by Megat Shahrizal

Pak Lah is definitely not much of a risk taker, unlike Tun Dr. Mahathir, father of modern Malaysia, who has proven himself to be an entreprising and visionary leader, with full of great ideas towards achieving vision 2020. Pak lah's style is more of a bureaucratic-type. Malaysia needs someone who is able to take risk and the determination to drive Malaysia further, and most important thing is getting the job done. But in Pak Lah's case, he seems to de-Mahathirise many if not all of Tun Dr Mahathir's projects and plans, and thus giving the impression that the previous Rancangan Malaysia ke-8 (RMK8) was a total failure.

There's no point talking about being open, being more democratic and all those political rethorics, when all you get is endless debates and in the end, you get nothing out of it. I think it is much better to have an authocratic-Mahathir-type of leadership than having an uneffective, indecisive and weak leader.

I just hope that Pak Lah's reign as PM will not be remembered as the period whereby; the rise of petrol prices and electric tariff, rise in inflation, high corruption index and slow economic progression.

Gempa di Jogja

Indonesia Earthquake Kills at Least 2,700
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- A powerful earthquake flattened buildings in central Indonesia early Saturday, killing at least 2,700 people and injuring thousands more in the country's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami.

The magnitude-6.2 quake struck at 5:54 a.m. near the ancient city of Yogyakarta 250 miles east of the capital, Jakarta, as most people were sleeping, causing death and damage in many nearby towns.

Houses, hotels and government buildings collapsed, sending hysterical people running through the streets. Many roads and bridges were destroyed, hindering efforts to get taxis and pickup trucks filled with wounded to hospitals overflowing with patients.

Kesian Indonesia. Lepas satu..satu.. Masa tengok berita di Buletin Utama TV3 tadi ingatkan bencana alam tentang letusan Gunung Merapi yang sedang aktif tu, tapi bukan, ini gempa bumi! Baru je bulan lepas saya melawat kota seni mistik purba Jawa, Jogja (blog/foto). Memori melawat candi purba; Borobudur & Prambanan, Kraton kesultanan Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, shopping di sekitar Jalan Malioboro masih segar lagi dalam ingatan, ataupun pada gambar foto. Masa tu dah mula kecoh-kecoh di akhbar tempatan tentang ramalan aktiviti-aktiviti Gunung Merapi, tapi kini sesuatu yang tak disangka-sangka pula terjadi.

Pening kepala Pak Presiden, SBY.

Moga dijauhkanlah sebarang bencana alam di bumi Malaysia..

music therapy

Sigur Rós - Starálfur
Blá Nótt Yfir Himininn
Blá Nótt Yfir Mér
Horf-Inn Út Um Gluggann
Minn Með Hendur
Faldar Undir Kinn
Hugsum Daginn Minn
Í Dag Og Í Gær

Blá Náttfötin Klæða Mig Í
Beint Upp Í Rúm
Breiði Mjúku Sængina
Loka Augunum
Ég Fel Hausinn Minn Undir Sæng
Starir Á Mig Lítill Álfur
Hleypur Að Mér En Hreyfist Ekki
Úr Stað ; Sjálfur
Starálfur

Opna Augun
Stírurnar Úr
Teygi Mig Og Tel (Hvort Ég Sé Ekki)
Kominn Aftur Og Alltalltílæ
Samt Vantar Eitthvað
Eins Og Alla Vegginna

(Translation)
Blue Night Over The Sky
Blue Night Over Me
Disappeared Out Of The Window
Me With Hands
Hidden Under My Cheek
I Think About My Day
Today And Yesterday

I Put On My Blue Nighties
Go Straight To Bed
I Pull The Soft Covers Over
Close My Eyes
I Hide My Head Under The Covers
A Little Elf Stares At Me
Runs Towards Me But Doesn't Move
From Place - Himself
I Open My Eyes

A Staring Elf
Take The Crusts Out
Stretch Myself And Check (If I Haven't)
Returned Again And Everything Is Okay
Still There Is Something Missing
Like All The Walls

Counting 5 4 3 2 1

Hampir 10 hari tak update blog,
TRYLA yang bestgile.
8 Hari, 946 keping gambar!
penat 'TRYLA 2006' tak hilang lagi.
Semalam dah tengok Da Vinci Code!
best!
walaupun belum baca novel Dan Brown tu,
Mungkin kalau dah baca
aku akan kata tak best kot.
blablablahs..
nanti update lagi yah.
later.

Norah Jones - What am I to you

soyez de retour en huit jours

ira's sister's wedding dinner, KL (5 May 2006) [gambar hiasan]

Here's just a short update and I guess this is the last post of the week too. I'll be away/offline for eight days starting from tomorrow. Have a nice day.

Thursday - Running from the Rain

Bila Anwar tengok Gubra. Shakespeare dan Hikayat Hang Tuah

Bila Anwar Tengok Gubra
KUALA LUMPUR (AnwarIbrahim.com) -- Dalam kesibukan Anwar memenuhi program yang telah diatur sejak Januari lalu, beliau dan beberapa pembantu beliau berkesempatan bersantai untuk menonton filem kontroversi Yasmin, Gubra.

Anwar dan ditemani oleh pembantu beliau, Faiz Shahri, Khalid Jaafar dan Shaberimi Sidek serta beberapa yang lain tiba di GSC Midvalley, jam 5 petang semalam untuk menonton filem yang telah menimbulkan pelbagai reaksi dikalangan pengiat dan peminat filem nasional.

Beliau yang ditemui selepas tayangan tersebut menyatakan filem ini agak menarik kerana cuba menampilkan idea-idea yang jujur dalam kehidupan seharian dan menampilkan simbolik-simbolik politik yang halus dan tajam.

"lihat sahaja nama lelaki tionghua (ayah Jason & Alan)" kata Anwar sambil tersenyum. -- anwaribrahim.com

Tak sangka orang politik pun tengok wayang jugak. Apatah lagi orang politik nama besar macam Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar, pidato dan World Shakespeare Congress
Politics aside. Walaupun sejak dari zaman sekolah menengah dulu (lewat 90-an) sampai sekarang saya tak pernah menyanjung atau menyokong gerakan Reformasi anjuran beliau tapi ada beberapa aspek pada diri beliau yang saya kagum. Salah satu daripadanya ialah kehebatan berpidato beliau. Tak keterlaluan kalau saya nak katakan bahawa beliau antara tokoh politik tempatan yang paling hebat berpidato, selain daripada penceramah-penceramah tin kosong dalam PAS.

Kalau dalam UMNO saya meminati gaya pidato/ucapan Khairy Jamaludin (naib ketua pemuda UMNO, eksekutif ECM Libra, Pengerusi World Halal Forum, Pengarah eksekutif MyTeam dan juga menantu PM). Gaya bahasa, ucapan, confidence dan body language beliau penuh keyakinan, lancar tak tergagap-gagap, terhenti-henti dsb. Tak ramai pemimpin UMNO macam beliau. Kalau ada interview dengan Khairy di tv mesti kena tengok. Artikel mingguan tulisan beliau setiap hari Sabtu di NST mesti kena baca (latest). Pak Lah? Najib? Mengantuklah. Tengok Lim Kheng Yaik atau Samy Vellu buat lawak pasal kenaikan tarif elektrik atau perihal keretakan jambatan masa sidang media atau di parlimen dalam Buletin Utama TV3 lebih menghiburkan.

Ha melalut pulak. Isu satu lagi pula ialah tentang World Shakespeare Congress yang bakal diadakan di University of Queensland, Australia pada 16-21 July 2006 yang turut akan dihadiri oleh Profesor Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim (ya, Profesor kini!) sebagai salah seorang daripada lima panelis jemputan di sidang planeri. Walaupun umum tahu bahawa Anwar adalah seorang peminat Shakespeare dan beliau banyak menghabiskan masa di dalam penjara dengan membaca karya-karya Shakespeare, saya kagum dengan pihak University of Queensland dengan menjemput seseorang yang boleh dikira sbg 'orang luar' sebagai salah seorang panelis berkenaan dengan literasi Shakespeare.

Mungkin kita juga boleh menganjurkan sidang forum tentang Hikayat Hang Tuah (karya agung sastera Melayu yang mendapat pengiktirafan UNESCO) ataupun Sejarah Melayu dengan menjemput seorang dua Profesor dari School of African & Oriental Studies, Uni. of London contohnya, selain tokoh-tokoh sejarawan dari kepulauan Nusantara. DBP dengan kolaborasi Akademi Pengajian Melayu-UM barangkali boleh bertindak sebagai pihak penganjur.

Tak sabar menantikan 'prison diaries' Anwar yang akan muncul sebelum hujung tahun ini. Bakal menjadi hit pastinya.

Time 100 Most Influential People

Time, May 8 issue is one that couldn't be missed. It's a special issue on the world's 100 most influential people and also Time's largest issue since they named Albert Einstein their Person of the Century six years ago. Looking at the names listed, definitely it could have raised a few eyebrows.

Anyway, it's interesting to note that under the ranks of Builders & Titans, three netpreneurs made it into the list. These are the ones that really caught my attention. First the Flickr (web photosharing site) founder - Caterina Fake and husband, Stewart Butterfield. Flickr was created in February 2004 and just after 16 month later, Yahoo! bought it for nearly $30 million! Wow. Simply amazing isn't it. I'm thinking of changing my photoblog from fotopages to Flickr now, as they got much better web tools like the hot tags and loads much faster compared to fotopages (am i right?), but i guess i'll just stick to fotopages.com for the time being. heh.

Next is the Myspace.com dudes, Chris Dewolfe and Tom Anderson. Here's two amazing facts from Time magazine about them. Myspace is currently the seventh most popular website in the world, according to web traffic tracker, Alexa.com! And i guess the most unbelievable fact was that, Australian-born media tycoon, Rupert Murdoch bought Myspace and its parent company for $580 million!! gile sial.

Third, the Skype Guys. Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. Exerpts from Time;

"They are part of the VOIP (voice-over-internet-protocol) movement that is redefining the way telephone calls are made. VOIP calls are made over the internet, using the same underlying transport technology that a web browser uses.."

These two Swedish guys were also the creator of the file-sharing application, Kazaa, back in 2001. Their story is just about the same like the previous two above. Last year, they sold Skype to eBay for $2.6 billion! Omg, 2.6 billion! phew.

It's always wonderful and refreshing to read stories about successful people. It makes you feel so inspired. And of course there's also people like George Bush, Al Gore, Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Palestinian PM, Ismail Haniya and Al-Qaeda's most wanted man- Ayman Al-Zawahiri making into the top 100 list.

Here's another quite similar alternative to the Time 100, 'The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History', a book by Michael H. Hart. It is important to note that Hart's criterion was influence and not the ranking of the greatest. One of the most significant part on Hart's list was that, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was ranked at number one. Quite surprisingly though, perhaps the fact that it was published by a western author.

Sunday sundae - of Wikipedia, Brutus, Sigur Ros & books

Here's another random Sunday writings..

Wikipedia and the Roman republic

I'm currently addicted to wikipedia. Well not that this is the first, but the first time that i write about it. It's like a neverending reading, and perhaps only the non stop blinking DSL light from my TMNet modem could possibly stop it.

From a quote from the Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, by Tun Dr. Mahathir during his term as Prime Minister during an UMNO general assembly, to an article in Malaysia-today and a yahoo movie review on 'Hannibal the Conquerer' to the wikipedia web search. Wikipedia is so damn addictive. I could be reading from one topic to another different one for hours. And im so into reading Roman history now. From Julius Caesar, Brutus, the Ides of March, Hannibal, the Great Fire of Rome & Nero (no doubt that the cd burner software 'Nero' got its name from him) to John Wilkes Booth (the so-called American Brutus, assasin of Abraham Lincoln).

It is interesting to note that how people will try to justify certain historical event to relate with issues in present time. But nevertheless, as the popular saying goes, history often repeats itself. One example would be the case of John Wilkes Booth, the assasin of President Abraham Lincoln, who was said to be influenced by Brutus, the assasin of Julius Caesar, hence the name of 'American Brutus'.

Look no further. Wasn't the history of Hang Nadim (not to be confused with Hang Nadim of the Malacca Sultanate) of the 'Singapura dilanggar Todak' legend was being repeated again in the story of Hang Tuah? - the false accusation of Hang Tuah committing adultery with the Sultan's dayang/gundik by one of the pembesar istana, Patih Kerma Wijaya because of jealousy and hatred towards him. and subsequently led to his death sentence by the Sultan of Malacca without further investigations. But thankfully the Bendahara didn't execute the Sultan's order, but hid Hang Tuah in a far away place. And in Hang Nadim's case it was the also the case of jealousy of the pembesar istana toward the young boy, Hang Nadim, because he managed to solve the country's major problem; the ikan todaks when he suggested to use banana sticks as a defense method, and thus, solving the ikan todak problem. The intelligent of Hang Nadim has made the pembesar istana became furious and they worry one day Hang Nadim would risk their positions and also the kingdom, so they persuaded the Raja, Demang Lebar Daun, to kill him off, simply because to them, the boy was too clever. And the Raja blindly trusted his advisors. Same story like Hang Tuah's isn't it. What are the similarity of these two examples? - the Malays are so fond of calling it, the PHD or the perasaan hasad dengki.

Twice, if I'm not mistaken, that Khairy Jamaluddin, the PM's son-in-law, has been compared to Hang Nadim, perhaps because of his young age in his involvement in politics. First was during the 2004 general election campaign in Kelantan, when Pak Lah mentioned the story of Hang Nadim, but didn't specifically name who. But it wasnt too hard to get the message on Pak Lah's kiasan. Secondly, by the Larut MP, Raja Ahmad Zainuddin, in parliament few months back. He defended Khairy when Khairy was being criticised by the opposition leader, Lim Kit Siang, also by comparing him to Hang Nadim. Is Khairy truly comparable to the legendary figure, Hang Nadim? Talking of Khairy, i don't know whether to believe the rumours of him and his association with the Singapore secret service and all sorts of stories about him. ok, i'd better stop now. Maybe i've been reading Raja Petra's Malaysia-today and the anti-Khairy group in KMU too much.

Hannibal the Conquerer

I can't wait to watch Hannibal the Conquerer (directed by Vin Diesel)! I hope it won't be a dissapoinment like the previous King Arthur epic. Here's a short note on the movie;

Based Upon: This movie is based upon the life of the Carthaginian general, Hannibal Barca, who in the third century B.C. (218 B.C., specifically) famously led an army of elephants through the Alps in an attempt to attack Rome. More specifically, this movie is being adapted from the novel, "Hannibal," by Ross Leckie about Hannibal.

Premise: When his father is killed by the Romans, Hannibal (Diesel), a young man from the ruling clans of the city of Carthage on the Mediterranean shore of North Africa, makes an oath of vengeance against Rome. Dedicating his life to fulfilling that challenge, Hannibal becomes a general by the time he's in his mid-20s, and with an army of 100,000 committed to his goal, he sets out to bring Rome down, first by conquering Spain, and then by setting loose a surprise (and famous) attack on Italy by way of the Alps, with an array of forces that included war-trained elephants. This movie shows how far a son can be willing to go to avenge the death of his father. >>

Sigur Ros and latest albums

Sigur Ros is currently the next best thing. You could never possibly get bored listening to them. I know that this is the second time i blog on them, but who cares. i just looove their songs. Whenever you feel like you've been listening too much of 'Taak', there's 'Agætis Byrjun' that you could turn to, and vice versa. Damn these Icelandic guys making songs so addictive. hehe. No, not that I'm complaining :p

On another note, Thursday has released their new album, 'A City by the Light Divided' and i think they sound better than the previous one. Unlike Matchbook Romance, they didn't change their music one bit. and Pretty Girls Make Graves too has released their latest album, 'Élan Vital'. Boy, they do sound like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, especially in The Magic Hour and I like the intro and the music beat of Pyrite Pedestal. And oh yeah, how could i forgot! Nak beli album baru Siti jugak(original ye)! :p

Good songs and lyrics are like music therapy too, don't you think? or am i confused with the idea of music therapy? Haha, well, nevermind. As long as it feels good to listen to.

Books

Have you ever feel like you just want to finish off reading all the unread books left on the shelve all at once? heheh. but at the same time you keep on buying new books? tak masuk akal. So now I'm trying to avoid visiting any bookstores for the moment. I just feel like at least wanting to finish one book in a week, so that i could complete four books in a month! Whoa.. but so far i've only managed two books on an average. I think i should list down the few books that i wanted to read next as a self-reminder; 'My Name is Red' by Orhan Pamuk, A. Samad Said's 'Adik Datang', 'Tenggelamnya Kapal van der Wijk' by Hamka and VS Naipaul's 'Among the Believers'. There's a lot more if i were to list it here. So let's just stop for now.

Later guys.

Thursday - The Lovesong Writer

'Gubra' lagi

Dah banyak review Gubra yang pro & kontra yang aku baca di blog-blog (termasuk blog ni juga) ataupun dalam Utusan Malaysia. Rasanya belum pernah lagi sebuah filem Melayu (filem Malaysia) mendapat respons yang begitu meluas seperti Gubra di dunia blog. Klimaks review Gubra yang aku kira mendapat publisiti paling meluas di internet ialah komentar Faisal Tehrani - 'Gubra yang Sesat Lagi Menyesatkan' yang telah turut disebarkan melalui blog-blog, e-mail, forum-forum internet dan yahoo messenger. Tak ketinggalan Harakahdaily turut menyiarkan tulisan Faisal Tehrani tersebut sebagai salah satu bahan artikel pada 28 April lalu.

Baru-baru ni aku terjumpa satu lagi ulasan Gubra oleh Khalid Jaafar (pengarang 'Tumit Achilles' dan pengarah IKD) di bawah tajuk 'Gubra - Sebuah filem filsafat' yang aku anggap sebagai satu pandangan alternatif. Baca komen beliau di sini. Lain daripada review kebanyakan. Satu persatu isu kontroversi dalam Gubra dikupasnya dengan panjang lebar secara ilmiah.

Sebahagian petikan komen Khalid Jaafar;

"..Mahunya kebanyakkan kita adalah bilal menjadi wira pencegah maksiat, mengajak orang kampung membersihkan kampungnya dari maksiat, mengusir pelacur dan menutup rumah pelacuran. Atau mengadukannya kepada polis atau jabatan pencegah maksiat.

Tetapi bilal dalam Gubra juga seorang pencegah maksiat, tetapi bukan dengan cara biasa masyarakat fahami.Bilal menahan pencuri yang mencuri wang mata pencarian pekerja seks, dan mendapatkan kembali wang yang dicuri. Ada isyarat bahawa pencuri itu adalah suami atau bekas suami kepada si pelacur. Ini menjadikan watak bilal dalam Gubra sesuatu yang unprecedented dalam perfileman tempatan. Berbeda dengan serangan bertubi-tubi setengah penonton dan mengulas saya melihat penampilan watak bilal sebagai watak agama yang paling otentik dari segi isi.

Bilal tidak berleter tentang kebaikan dan keburukan. Bilal keras dan tegas pada pencuri tetapi lembut kepada mereka yang menderita dan dieksploitasi. Dan bilal menggoreng cok kodok untuk isterinya dengan jelingan bergurau.. bersambung"

Aku kira beliau cuba untuk memberi komen yang adil dan rasional tanpa terlalu emosional atau kritis dalam menjustifikasikan beberapa babak kontroversi dalam Gubra. Aku tak berniat nak menyanggah pendapat Faisal dengan menyiarkan komen Khalid Jaafar ini, cuma hanya ingin berkongsi pendapat beliau di sini.

Lainnya blog Khalid Jaafar ialah beliau tidak menulisnya dalam satu entri sekaligus tetapi berperingkat-peringkat. Mungkin nak bagi pembaca terus-menerus melawat blog beliau.