Friday, May 14, 2004
How marketable are we as a person?...have we ever think of it before. I am not referring just to career wise( if you have one, cause I think I don’t , he he ) but in a broader perspective i.e. in this life itself .
Looking it from another angle; if we are to be anywhere, how would others value us as a person?..how do we sell ourselves, what would other see something of us that is of value ...mm don't get me wrong here ok.
Would it be the way we look, dress, talk, et cetra.? What would be the one thing that you would want others to value you when your name crossed their mind?. The so called 'value' that others would see it as an asset and would sought you for.
Imho...each and everyone of us will have at least one. One might or might not realised that it has surfaced (developed) or has yet to be developed...it's there and one and oneself only can discover and develop to him or herself advantage ...no one else
On the other side of it...there's also one's 'liability' ...and one needs to acknowledge and admit it in the spirit of nobody is perfect....I for one got many of it.
Only by admitting can we manage our liability in preventing it from degrading ourselves .
The real questions now is.... what are the marketable values that we want to have...the superficial ones...looks, appearance, style et cetra . Or the ones that really matters the most, the ones that shows what a person are we made of.
Do we want to be remembered as ...ah riezal..the so called macho guy or riezal, the one that always keeps to his promises. I'd say i'll go for the latter. Cause the latter stays on whereas appearance do degrade as time passes.
But then again, as the saying goes..tepuk dada tanya selera ain't it.
The world we are living today emphasize more on the superficial values.....but in times of need , what counts is the inner values. In time of sickness , what counts is real friendship not looks etc ...hey I am not denying looks etc is of importance as well but it is being overly emphasize.too much ,so much so that the focus tends to be diverted from the ones that really maters in this short life.....and you know what...I am as guilty, chasing the superficial...mmm can I blame the capitalists again here aside from me myself !!.....the wife says I am too philosophical !!!
(may 10th. monday in the putra lrt)
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Looking it from another angle; if we are to be anywhere, how would others value us as a person?..how do we sell ourselves, what would other see something of us that is of value ...mm don't get me wrong here ok.
Would it be the way we look, dress, talk, et cetra.? What would be the one thing that you would want others to value you when your name crossed their mind?. The so called 'value' that others would see it as an asset and would sought you for.
Imho...each and everyone of us will have at least one. One might or might not realised that it has surfaced (developed) or has yet to be developed...it's there and one and oneself only can discover and develop to him or herself advantage ...no one else
On the other side of it...there's also one's 'liability' ...and one needs to acknowledge and admit it in the spirit of nobody is perfect....I for one got many of it.
Only by admitting can we manage our liability in preventing it from degrading ourselves .
The real questions now is.... what are the marketable values that we want to have...the superficial ones...looks, appearance, style et cetra . Or the ones that really matters the most, the ones that shows what a person are we made of.
Do we want to be remembered as ...ah riezal..the so called macho guy or riezal, the one that always keeps to his promises. I'd say i'll go for the latter. Cause the latter stays on whereas appearance do degrade as time passes.
But then again, as the saying goes..tepuk dada tanya selera ain't it.
The world we are living today emphasize more on the superficial values.....but in times of need , what counts is the inner values. In time of sickness , what counts is real friendship not looks etc ...hey I am not denying looks etc is of importance as well but it is being overly emphasize.too much ,so much so that the focus tends to be diverted from the ones that really maters in this short life.....and you know what...I am as guilty, chasing the superficial...mmm can I blame the capitalists again here aside from me myself !!.....the wife says I am too philosophical !!!
(may 10th. monday in the putra lrt)
I had a chance of watching a movie touching of the American influence in morocco. It's a make believe story but there's something that I had observed with interest.
There are two portion of it, the Moroccan Berbers(kaum barbar lah dlm bm) and the westerners I.e.the American.
It was in the era of Teddy (Theodore) Roosevelt. He was at that time seeking re election. The plot itself was pretty cynical of the Arabs mainly and at time the Americans.
It's a story about an American family that was kidnapped by a notorious Berber rebel warlord who is fighting against the sultan of morocco for having to accept westerners’ influence in morocco I.e. British, German, French and Russian with a little later, American.
It shows clearly American arrogance when it's ambassador in morocco demanded the sultan to co-operate with them( us)in rescuing American family from the warlord.
In the process, Roosevelt sent his navy and brought down the sultan by force. From there on they execute a rescue operation and saved the family.
What was evident in this movie were;
1. American arrogance attitude . The cowboy kinda way. Teddy was like bush today , both have this attitude making them one arrogant lot.
I am working in an American fortune 500 company. Fortune 100+ to be exact as we are at the 120th placing in 2003. I had worked with another American fortune 50 before that. Prior to that another American 200 company. I can say that the American arrogance trend is definitely there without any doubt.
Lets put it this way ..they're the john Wayne if get what I mean. The people that I've came across during my work clearly showed it.
On the other hand the way Arabs were portrayed in the movie did make me smile. In my heart ..well these Arabs deserve it. They're what was portrayed. Self-centric communal Arabs . Look at the Arab world today. To me they are the most disgusting Muslim I have ever seen. Look at them when they're in Bangkok , in Europe etc. They are more western than the infidel westerners. One hand with a talisman while the other hand on a Thai girl shoulder. Yap dude, these are the filthy Arabs, the same Arabs that are more interested in 'guarding' their oil well and feed it to the great nation of America. The way they've been humiliated serves them right . It's their own doing as I see it. The really unfortunate thing is, as Islam has always been associated with the Arabs, Islam suffered as well. I put it to you, these are the disgusting Arabs that damaged Islam. Not all of them but these socialist and monarchy Arabs. They're the two timers.
Yeah right, viva la Palestine!
P.s. nowadays i'm using my pda..(the new one i.e.O2..yeap i've bought it together with a wifi card for internet access) to update my blog. I do it sometimes during the lrt rides.
(dome wed may 12th)
How I wished that the world is not so self centric.
It's all about me , me and me these days. Not sure if I am the only one feeling this or what..I can understand that at times it's important to look into our self interest but heck what I witnessed most of the times, be it in the office, lrt, mosque etc, it's all about I, me and myself.
We tend to work effectively alone or as a single unit rather than as a team. Pretty evident in our muslim world. Hence the state we are in. Pretty ironic huh, we pray to the one god , to a single kaabah, with one single profess i.e. the kalimah shahadah, yet we are all divided in so many ways. Symbolically we are one yet in reality we are not!!.
And you know what , I too at most of the time, in my daily life, work or social, am guilty of this.
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There are two portion of it, the Moroccan Berbers(kaum barbar lah dlm bm) and the westerners I.e.the American.
It was in the era of Teddy (Theodore) Roosevelt. He was at that time seeking re election. The plot itself was pretty cynical of the Arabs mainly and at time the Americans.
It's a story about an American family that was kidnapped by a notorious Berber rebel warlord who is fighting against the sultan of morocco for having to accept westerners’ influence in morocco I.e. British, German, French and Russian with a little later, American.
It shows clearly American arrogance when it's ambassador in morocco demanded the sultan to co-operate with them( us)in rescuing American family from the warlord.
In the process, Roosevelt sent his navy and brought down the sultan by force. From there on they execute a rescue operation and saved the family.
What was evident in this movie were;
1. American arrogance attitude . The cowboy kinda way. Teddy was like bush today , both have this attitude making them one arrogant lot.
I am working in an American fortune 500 company. Fortune 100+ to be exact as we are at the 120th placing in 2003. I had worked with another American fortune 50 before that. Prior to that another American 200 company. I can say that the American arrogance trend is definitely there without any doubt.
Lets put it this way ..they're the john Wayne if get what I mean. The people that I've came across during my work clearly showed it.
On the other hand the way Arabs were portrayed in the movie did make me smile. In my heart ..well these Arabs deserve it. They're what was portrayed. Self-centric communal Arabs . Look at the Arab world today. To me they are the most disgusting Muslim I have ever seen. Look at them when they're in Bangkok , in Europe etc. They are more western than the infidel westerners. One hand with a talisman while the other hand on a Thai girl shoulder. Yap dude, these are the filthy Arabs, the same Arabs that are more interested in 'guarding' their oil well and feed it to the great nation of America. The way they've been humiliated serves them right . It's their own doing as I see it. The really unfortunate thing is, as Islam has always been associated with the Arabs, Islam suffered as well. I put it to you, these are the disgusting Arabs that damaged Islam. Not all of them but these socialist and monarchy Arabs. They're the two timers.
Yeah right, viva la Palestine!
P.s. nowadays i'm using my pda..(the new one i.e.O2..yeap i've bought it together with a wifi card for internet access) to update my blog. I do it sometimes during the lrt rides.
(dome wed may 12th)
How I wished that the world is not so self centric.
It's all about me , me and me these days. Not sure if I am the only one feeling this or what..I can understand that at times it's important to look into our self interest but heck what I witnessed most of the times, be it in the office, lrt, mosque etc, it's all about I, me and myself.
We tend to work effectively alone or as a single unit rather than as a team. Pretty evident in our muslim world. Hence the state we are in. Pretty ironic huh, we pray to the one god , to a single kaabah, with one single profess i.e. the kalimah shahadah, yet we are all divided in so many ways. Symbolically we are one yet in reality we are not!!.
And you know what , I too at most of the time, in my daily life, work or social, am guilty of this.
Saturday, May 08, 2004
BOY!!! just noticed that my May6th entry on LRT was deleted!!!! can't explain why ..oh boy!!! I guess this is another of X File cases. Mulder !! Scully!! where are you guys i need you...some aliens had 'kidnapped' my entry!!! waaaa
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Klia layout does give you the exercise that we all needed...the long walk from one end to another. For me this is an exercise which at times becomes pretty tiring. You see, I normally travel within the country for work. In doing so, i'll try to finish everything within the day itself by taking the 1st flight out to wherever I need to be, then returning to kl on the same day flight i.e. a day trip. I tend not to stay overnight unless required mainly because I missed sleeping with my lovely son. If I have to travel abroad , i'll take the last possible flight out and the earliest possible flight back. I hate long haul flights especially to our hq office in States ( note : I am one person that doesn’t like to travel to Europe or States or anywhere beyond South East Asia except probably for Haj or Umrah. I will try to avoid it as much as possible. And you know what? ,… the best place is still Malaysia no matter what people say.. I love it here!!!)
Having to do a day trip traveling as mentioned earlier ,makes it very very tiring with all the walking within klia going and returning in the same day. Yeah i get all the walking exercise but hell my feet are aching at the end of the day. One sentence I can put as far as klia is concern...it's really not for the elderly ..btw I am not referring the word elderly to myself ok!!. A classic example is my mum. She just refused to take the flight when she travel with my dad from kuantan to kl and vice versa.
My mum is 65 years of age controlled diabetic patient. Unlike my dad , 72,who is as healthy as a horse, she is having problems with too much of walking. I know klia has all the facilities for the elderly but yet I find the layout wise, is not elderly friendly. Everything is too far from each other. Imagine if you are to misread gate A5 as B5, ( talk about elderly vision huh !! ). That's like doing the whole walking 'journey' all over again. It happened to me before as I was rushing for a flight. Gates A are the worse as they are a longer walk than gates B. On my flight back to KL , I’ll always pray that we will be alighting from any of the B Gates. But for overseas ( excluding MAS’s Singapore flights )…all are at Gates C.
KLIA needs to be as friendly as it can be for the Golden Citizen. Imagine when it’s Haj season when 70% of the pilgrims are 50 and above of age……. ( I wonder if I would live to that age with all the strokes going on even to people with the age of 35. Like one of my friend’s friend… he’s gone at the age of 35 . STROKE KNOWS NO AGE dude!!! . So stay healthy .. take less of hard carbohydrate , go with what Islam says .. no drinking, avoid smoking….and try reducing your caffeine intake.. and exercise mate , exercise in what ever way you can. Imagine if you drink , smoke, takes coffee , eats anything that moves and do not exercise…aaah. If you say , well it’s God’s will, so be it but just remember , if you have a family like me, think of them if not for yourself. Think about your son that’s just about to grow up and loses his father. Think how difficult it’ll be for a mother to be a single parent when you are gone. Being a mother, a father and a bread earner at the same time for your child or children..and above ALL think , are we ready for the next world!! ….think about that for a minute and then see whether you can now say ..aah it’s ok if I have to sign out early from this world, it’s God’s will. )
( May 8th, Saturday, Setiawangsa … listening to Linkin Park ‘In The End’ )
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Having to do a day trip traveling as mentioned earlier ,makes it very very tiring with all the walking within klia going and returning in the same day. Yeah i get all the walking exercise but hell my feet are aching at the end of the day. One sentence I can put as far as klia is concern...it's really not for the elderly ..btw I am not referring the word elderly to myself ok!!. A classic example is my mum. She just refused to take the flight when she travel with my dad from kuantan to kl and vice versa.
My mum is 65 years of age controlled diabetic patient. Unlike my dad , 72,who is as healthy as a horse, she is having problems with too much of walking. I know klia has all the facilities for the elderly but yet I find the layout wise, is not elderly friendly. Everything is too far from each other. Imagine if you are to misread gate A5 as B5, ( talk about elderly vision huh !! ). That's like doing the whole walking 'journey' all over again. It happened to me before as I was rushing for a flight. Gates A are the worse as they are a longer walk than gates B. On my flight back to KL , I’ll always pray that we will be alighting from any of the B Gates. But for overseas ( excluding MAS’s Singapore flights )…all are at Gates C.
KLIA needs to be as friendly as it can be for the Golden Citizen. Imagine when it’s Haj season when 70% of the pilgrims are 50 and above of age……. ( I wonder if I would live to that age with all the strokes going on even to people with the age of 35. Like one of my friend’s friend… he’s gone at the age of 35 . STROKE KNOWS NO AGE dude!!! . So stay healthy .. take less of hard carbohydrate , go with what Islam says .. no drinking, avoid smoking….and try reducing your caffeine intake.. and exercise mate , exercise in what ever way you can. Imagine if you drink , smoke, takes coffee , eats anything that moves and do not exercise…aaah. If you say , well it’s God’s will, so be it but just remember , if you have a family like me, think of them if not for yourself. Think about your son that’s just about to grow up and loses his father. Think how difficult it’ll be for a mother to be a single parent when you are gone. Being a mother, a father and a bread earner at the same time for your child or children..and above ALL think , are we ready for the next world!! ….think about that for a minute and then see whether you can now say ..aah it’s ok if I have to sign out early from this world, it’s God’s will. )
( May 8th, Saturday, Setiawangsa … listening to Linkin Park ‘In The End’ )
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Got this from Yahoo news just about 30 mins ago. I like yahoo news coz it's news updates is pretty quick. If some of you remember Vanunu a jew that had converted to Christianity came into the limelight after Iraq WMD issue. a documentry on isreali WMD & Vanunu was done by Discovery and aired through Astro somethime late last year.
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Israel Frees Nuclear Whistleblower Vanunu
26 minutes ago
By PETER ENAV, Associated Press Writer
ASHKELON, Israel - A defiant Mordechai Vanunu walked out of prison on Wednesday after serving 18 years for spilling Israel's nuclear secrets, saying he was proud of his actions and complaining he was treated cruelly by his jailers.
Vanunu, dressed in a checkered shirt and black tie, flashed victory signs and waved to hundreds of cheering supporters as he walked into the sun-splashed courtyard of Shikma Prison in the coastal town of Ashkelon. Dozens of counter-demonstrators booed and shouted epithets.
In the courtyard, Vanunu, 50, held an impromptu news conference, his brother Meir by his side. Vanunu said he was given "very cruel and barbaric treatment" by Israel's security services.
"To all those who are calling me traitor, I am saying I am proud, I am proud and happy to do what I did," Vanunu said in accented and at times broken English. He refused to answer questions in Hebrew because of restrictions Israel has imposed, including a ban on speaking to foreigners.
Vanunu, who converted to Christianity in the 1980s, said he was mistreated because of his religion. He also said there is no need for a Jewish state and demanded that Israel open its nuclear reactor in Dimona to international inspection.
"I said, Israel don't need nuclear arms, especially now that all the Middle East is free from nuclear weapons," he said.
He left the prison in a gray Mazda van as police dispersed a large crowd. His first stop was St. George's, an Anglican church in Jerusalem's Old City. More than a dozen cars and motorcycles followed Vanunu's vehicle to Jerusalem, and a helicopter flew low overhead.
Israeli authorities have imposed a series of travel restrictions and other constraints on Vanunu, saying he still possesses state secrets. But Vanunu said he has no more secrets to reveal. "I am now ready to start my life," he said.
Upon his arrival in Jerusalem, he was mobbed by reporters as the Anglican bishop of Jerusalem, Riah Abu El-Assal, escorted him into the church. Other clergy members embraced Vanunu, and a tearful Peter Hounam, the journalist who wrote the 1986 article that led to Vanunu's imprisonment, hugged him.
In 1986, Vanunu leaked details and pictures of Israel's alleged nuclear weapons program to The Sunday Times of London. Based on his account, experts said at the time that Israel had the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.
The revelations undercut Israel's long-standing policy of neither confirming nor denying its nuclear capability. He was abducted by Israeli secret agents before the article was printed and subsequently convicted of treason in a closed trial.
Vanunu said Israel's Mossad spy agency and the Shin Bet security services tried to rob him of his sanity by keeping him in solitary confinement for nearly 12 years. "I said to the Shabak (Shin Bet), the Mossad, you didn't succeed to break me, you didn't succeed to make me crazy."
Asked if he was a hero, he said "all those who are standing behind me, supporting me ... all are heroes."
"I am a symbol of the will of freedom," he said. "You cannot break the human spirit."
Hundreds of supporters and opponents squared off in shouting matches outside the prison ahead of his release. Supporters chanted "Mordechai is free," while counterdemonstrators held signs calling him a traitor and shouted curses.
"He won't get out of here alive," opponents screamed as Vanunu's adopted parents, Minnesota couple Nick and Mary Eoloff, arrived at the prison. Vanunu said he hopes to settle in the United States and study history.
While the crowds were vocal, there was no violence.
Anti-nuclear weapons activists from around the world had gathered at Shikma in recent days. Among his supporters, was British actress Susannah York and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland.
But Vanunu is widely detested in Israel.
"He's hell-bent to do as much harm as he can," Justice Minister Tommy Lapid told The Associated Press. "We will keep an eye on him, we will watch him ... We want to know where he is and we want to know whom he may or may not divulge state secrets."
Vanunu will not be allowed to travel abroad for at least a year, speak with foreigners or approach Israeli ports or borders. He also is barred from discussing his work at Israel's nuclear reactor. Vanunu was given a map of Israel marking the areas off-limits to him, the Defense Ministry said.
Defense Ministry spokeswoman Rachel Niedak-Ashkenazi said security services have confiscated several tapes and notebooks with Vanunu's writings. In Hebrew and English, Vanunu wrote a detailed account of places, processes and areas of the nuclear reactor, she said, adding that he has an "excellent memory."
"It was a lot more than a personal diary. To us this showed an intention and ability to make future use of it," Niedak-Ashkenazi said.
Vanunu said the papers were personal and had been written in 1991.
Vanunu's family and Yoav Loeff, of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which is representing the nuclear spy, have said they are concerned about his safety.
But Lapid said no precautions or special security measures are planned. "He's surrounded by at least 100 radicals who are worshipping him so I'm sure they'll take care of his safety," he said.
Vanunu will live in a luxury apartment complex in Jaffa, an old seaport and today part of Tel Aviv. Jaffa has both Arab and Jewish residents. Vanunu, who was raised as an Orthodox Jew, converted to Christianity in the mid-1980s.
The Andromeda Hill complex has 170 apartments, and tenants include both wealthy foreigners and local residents. It was unclear who is paying for Vanunu's apartment.
( DOME 2000hrs 20/04... juz arrived from KLIA and straight to KLCC on a day trip to Kuantan- biz trip)
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=============================
Israel Frees Nuclear Whistleblower Vanunu
26 minutes ago
By PETER ENAV, Associated Press Writer
ASHKELON, Israel - A defiant Mordechai Vanunu walked out of prison on Wednesday after serving 18 years for spilling Israel's nuclear secrets, saying he was proud of his actions and complaining he was treated cruelly by his jailers.
Vanunu, dressed in a checkered shirt and black tie, flashed victory signs and waved to hundreds of cheering supporters as he walked into the sun-splashed courtyard of Shikma Prison in the coastal town of Ashkelon. Dozens of counter-demonstrators booed and shouted epithets.
In the courtyard, Vanunu, 50, held an impromptu news conference, his brother Meir by his side. Vanunu said he was given "very cruel and barbaric treatment" by Israel's security services.
"To all those who are calling me traitor, I am saying I am proud, I am proud and happy to do what I did," Vanunu said in accented and at times broken English. He refused to answer questions in Hebrew because of restrictions Israel has imposed, including a ban on speaking to foreigners.
Vanunu, who converted to Christianity in the 1980s, said he was mistreated because of his religion. He also said there is no need for a Jewish state and demanded that Israel open its nuclear reactor in Dimona to international inspection.
"I said, Israel don't need nuclear arms, especially now that all the Middle East is free from nuclear weapons," he said.
He left the prison in a gray Mazda van as police dispersed a large crowd. His first stop was St. George's, an Anglican church in Jerusalem's Old City. More than a dozen cars and motorcycles followed Vanunu's vehicle to Jerusalem, and a helicopter flew low overhead.
Israeli authorities have imposed a series of travel restrictions and other constraints on Vanunu, saying he still possesses state secrets. But Vanunu said he has no more secrets to reveal. "I am now ready to start my life," he said.
Upon his arrival in Jerusalem, he was mobbed by reporters as the Anglican bishop of Jerusalem, Riah Abu El-Assal, escorted him into the church. Other clergy members embraced Vanunu, and a tearful Peter Hounam, the journalist who wrote the 1986 article that led to Vanunu's imprisonment, hugged him.
In 1986, Vanunu leaked details and pictures of Israel's alleged nuclear weapons program to The Sunday Times of London. Based on his account, experts said at the time that Israel had the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.
The revelations undercut Israel's long-standing policy of neither confirming nor denying its nuclear capability. He was abducted by Israeli secret agents before the article was printed and subsequently convicted of treason in a closed trial.
Vanunu said Israel's Mossad spy agency and the Shin Bet security services tried to rob him of his sanity by keeping him in solitary confinement for nearly 12 years. "I said to the Shabak (Shin Bet), the Mossad, you didn't succeed to break me, you didn't succeed to make me crazy."
Asked if he was a hero, he said "all those who are standing behind me, supporting me ... all are heroes."
"I am a symbol of the will of freedom," he said. "You cannot break the human spirit."
Hundreds of supporters and opponents squared off in shouting matches outside the prison ahead of his release. Supporters chanted "Mordechai is free," while counterdemonstrators held signs calling him a traitor and shouted curses.
"He won't get out of here alive," opponents screamed as Vanunu's adopted parents, Minnesota couple Nick and Mary Eoloff, arrived at the prison. Vanunu said he hopes to settle in the United States and study history.
While the crowds were vocal, there was no violence.
Anti-nuclear weapons activists from around the world had gathered at Shikma in recent days. Among his supporters, was British actress Susannah York and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland.
But Vanunu is widely detested in Israel.
"He's hell-bent to do as much harm as he can," Justice Minister Tommy Lapid told The Associated Press. "We will keep an eye on him, we will watch him ... We want to know where he is and we want to know whom he may or may not divulge state secrets."
Vanunu will not be allowed to travel abroad for at least a year, speak with foreigners or approach Israeli ports or borders. He also is barred from discussing his work at Israel's nuclear reactor. Vanunu was given a map of Israel marking the areas off-limits to him, the Defense Ministry said.
Defense Ministry spokeswoman Rachel Niedak-Ashkenazi said security services have confiscated several tapes and notebooks with Vanunu's writings. In Hebrew and English, Vanunu wrote a detailed account of places, processes and areas of the nuclear reactor, she said, adding that he has an "excellent memory."
"It was a lot more than a personal diary. To us this showed an intention and ability to make future use of it," Niedak-Ashkenazi said.
Vanunu said the papers were personal and had been written in 1991.
Vanunu's family and Yoav Loeff, of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which is representing the nuclear spy, have said they are concerned about his safety.
But Lapid said no precautions or special security measures are planned. "He's surrounded by at least 100 radicals who are worshipping him so I'm sure they'll take care of his safety," he said.
Vanunu will live in a luxury apartment complex in Jaffa, an old seaport and today part of Tel Aviv. Jaffa has both Arab and Jewish residents. Vanunu, who was raised as an Orthodox Jew, converted to Christianity in the mid-1980s.
The Andromeda Hill complex has 170 apartments, and tenants include both wealthy foreigners and local residents. It was unclear who is paying for Vanunu's apartment.
( DOME 2000hrs 20/04... juz arrived from KLIA and straight to KLCC on a day trip to Kuantan- biz trip)
Monday, April 19, 2004
Broadband internet: Statistics: every 2 in 5 internet users in US are on broadband . That makes US having 48 million people with broadband access in their homes. US are having the largest number of broadband internet users in the world. The service provider such as AT&T etc had slashed their broadband rate inducing the number of broadband homes .
Malaysia telcos should follow suit. Although the price of broadband had be reviewed previously by Telekom and other telcos, but the rate of it being accessible to the mass is still slow. Accessibility in terms of location and cost is very important.
Broadband enable multimedia communication to be done in a more speedy way. You are talking about downloading files that contain audio and visual which are big in size. Speed is the essence of broadband. I am very much into this as I like to d/load huge size files ...( hey don't you dare to think that I’m d/loading xxx thingy ok ...he he he ). In short , size does matter when you go on the net.
Education, Health and business sector these day rely mostly on speed in communicating especially through the wide wide world of the web. Hence joining the bandwagon, I had turned my house into wireless internet after signing up with Streamyx june last year. Got a few hardware with WiFi ( wireless LAN) capability ie 2 PDAs and Sony Vaio notebook. Of course my DELL desktop still requires the cable to be linked to the ADSL modem.
The speed is superb , at least for my residence location , i.e. Setiawangsa. 100Mbps on average. i have no problem in d/loading Norton Antivirus updates, Windows XP updates ( these days windows is sending patches like nobody business !! ). On top of that I had signed up with Streamyx hotspot ( add RM10 monthly to yr monthly streamyx bill) and Maxis Utopia hotspot(RM30 per month).
Alternatively you can buy a WiFi card (PCMCIA type ) for under RM100/= , install it to yr notebook and you are on yr way to broadband WiFi net.. that is after you sign up with the service providers namely Telekom, Maxis, Time, Airzed etc etc....
So guys, if it's within your reach , go wireless , NO STRING ATTACHED !!! try spending on technology for once rather than on your ralph lauren , nautica, your tag watch, your carlo cardini briefcase etc etc......
(coffee bean KLCC 1610hrs Monday 19/4 ...listening to Linkin Park's ' My December ' )
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Malaysia telcos should follow suit. Although the price of broadband had be reviewed previously by Telekom and other telcos, but the rate of it being accessible to the mass is still slow. Accessibility in terms of location and cost is very important.
Broadband enable multimedia communication to be done in a more speedy way. You are talking about downloading files that contain audio and visual which are big in size. Speed is the essence of broadband. I am very much into this as I like to d/load huge size files ...( hey don't you dare to think that I’m d/loading xxx thingy ok ...he he he ). In short , size does matter when you go on the net.
Education, Health and business sector these day rely mostly on speed in communicating especially through the wide wide world of the web. Hence joining the bandwagon, I had turned my house into wireless internet after signing up with Streamyx june last year. Got a few hardware with WiFi ( wireless LAN) capability ie 2 PDAs and Sony Vaio notebook. Of course my DELL desktop still requires the cable to be linked to the ADSL modem.
The speed is superb , at least for my residence location , i.e. Setiawangsa. 100Mbps on average. i have no problem in d/loading Norton Antivirus updates, Windows XP updates ( these days windows is sending patches like nobody business !! ). On top of that I had signed up with Streamyx hotspot ( add RM10 monthly to yr monthly streamyx bill) and Maxis Utopia hotspot(RM30 per month).
Alternatively you can buy a WiFi card (PCMCIA type ) for under RM100/= , install it to yr notebook and you are on yr way to broadband WiFi net.. that is after you sign up with the service providers namely Telekom, Maxis, Time, Airzed etc etc....
So guys, if it's within your reach , go wireless , NO STRING ATTACHED !!! try spending on technology for once rather than on your ralph lauren , nautica, your tag watch, your carlo cardini briefcase etc etc......
(coffee bean KLCC 1610hrs Monday 19/4 ...listening to Linkin Park's ' My December ' )
Sunday, April 18, 2004
Abdel Aziz Al Rantisi quoted : “We are going to die one day. Nothing will change that. If not by Apache ( Israeli American supplied helicopter) by cardiac arrest ( heart attack). I prefer Apache.” …….his response when asked about Israeli threat to kill him after taking over as Hamas leader.
Just several hours ago Abdel Aziz Al Rantisi, Hamas no 1 leader, a pediatrician by profession , who had taken over the leadership after Syeikh Ahmad Yassin was assassinated by Israeli missiles, was killed by Israeli missiles today. The second major assassinations within a month of Hamas leadership. He had escaped the 1st assassination attempt by Mossad ( Israel CIA equivalent ) several months ago last year.
Just a few weeks back, I was attending the Friday prayer at KLCC mosque, my favourite place for friday prayer, the Imam cum Khatib, performed a solah mayat ghaib for Syeikh Ahmad Yassin of which I performed as well . There were scores of muslims who attended and performed the solah for Syeikh Ahmad Yassin. It was ended with a Takbir and the Imam cum Khatib referred him as As Syahid. I am proud that Malaysian Muslim brothers remember him.
Today it’s Abdel Aziz Al Rantisi’s turn to be called by God…..
‘O thy soul that are at peace. Come to your Rabb (God) with His full blessings. Enter O My slave , enter to My heaven ‘. (a translated verse from the Quran)
‘Wahai Jiwa yang tenang, kembalilah kepada Rabb mu (Tuhan mu ) dengan penuh keredhaan Nya. Masuklah wahai hamba ku , masuk lah ke syurga Ku…( terjemahan ayat Al Quran)
Al Fatihah
( ..hmm I am working in an american company that pays tax to the US govt. Part of the tax is being used to give financial support by the American Govt to the Israelis!!!..... what say you? )
|
Just several hours ago Abdel Aziz Al Rantisi, Hamas no 1 leader, a pediatrician by profession , who had taken over the leadership after Syeikh Ahmad Yassin was assassinated by Israeli missiles, was killed by Israeli missiles today. The second major assassinations within a month of Hamas leadership. He had escaped the 1st assassination attempt by Mossad ( Israel CIA equivalent ) several months ago last year.
Just a few weeks back, I was attending the Friday prayer at KLCC mosque, my favourite place for friday prayer, the Imam cum Khatib, performed a solah mayat ghaib for Syeikh Ahmad Yassin of which I performed as well . There were scores of muslims who attended and performed the solah for Syeikh Ahmad Yassin. It was ended with a Takbir and the Imam cum Khatib referred him as As Syahid. I am proud that Malaysian Muslim brothers remember him.
Today it’s Abdel Aziz Al Rantisi’s turn to be called by God…..
‘O thy soul that are at peace. Come to your Rabb (God) with His full blessings. Enter O My slave , enter to My heaven ‘. (a translated verse from the Quran)
‘Wahai Jiwa yang tenang, kembalilah kepada Rabb mu (Tuhan mu ) dengan penuh keredhaan Nya. Masuklah wahai hamba ku , masuk lah ke syurga Ku…( terjemahan ayat Al Quran)
Al Fatihah
( ..hmm I am working in an american company that pays tax to the US govt. Part of the tax is being used to give financial support by the American Govt to the Israelis!!!..... what say you? )
Where are our senses!!!
I hate to pass judgment. Especially when it comes to religious issues. It's always a sensitive issue so much so that in most cases we will try to avoid talking about it.
Have to admit though , i am not a good muslim. far from being a pious muslim. I have my dosa that I can't say it here, but as a muslim i tried very hard to make sure fundamental things such as 5 time prayers , fasting, abstaining from the consumption of alcohol and liquor etc, are being observed strictly. Holding it very dearly as I am a muslim. My principle is : I 've enough of sins, major and minor,why add more of it.
My reason of writing this is not with the objective of me being a better muslim than others. Nope, not at all, cause I am not .Nor am i here to condemn my fellow muslims. There are more muslims out there that are far much better than I am. I'm saying this cause I know of myself. The only intention is , to highlight something that I think ought to be highlighted in view of we being a muslim living in a muslim nation. Something that deep in my unholy, un pious, heart says , this is very wrong and it must be told.
I'm currently @ Dome KLCC. Of course being a Friday night , this place is pretty pack. Youngsters mainly. I'm seated at the open air section. Like it here cause of the fresh air , not that I could get much of it with all the cigarette smoke chimney around me (I aint no smoker by the way). Not far from my table , seated a long row of malays , which I assume are muslim. About 20 of them guys and gals, youngsters aged around 20s with their table being arranged horizontally by combining a few tables. What sadden me is that majority of these malay muslim guys are consuming beer in the open air , publicly as if they are drinking coke or plain water, with other muslims passing by with children and all. These youngsters have no sense of sensitivity that we are still living in a muslim majority nation.
I'm not trying to impose my values on to other but I do believe in respecting others( i.e. the majority muslims ) by being sensitive to the surroundings and the other muslim that walk and pass by their table with kids and so forth. Some would say that go and mind my own business of which I would disagree. If you are to do it in a club or a place where it is enclosed, although it's still wrong , but you are not setting a bad example on to others especially to children and teenagers. It’s an open place for heaven sake with school children, teenagers, roaming around the KLCC area. You just don't drink beer or any alcoholic beverages in an open places when you are a muslim . It sends a signal that you are proud of what you are doing and trying to show to the world of your 'proud' action indirectly. And indirectly saying to God the Almighty: "See , I can even do it publicly and no one cares ". And worst still, you are sending a message to those innocent kids that to drink beer is not wrong in fact its something of or part of the new generation culture that comes with the progress we are hunting for right now.
IMHO (in my humble opinion) this is VERY WRONG.
What is becoming of our muslim these days. I could be labeled as 'kolot' or even 'kampung' but I just pray hard that my son will not become like one of these muslim youngsters.. Amin.
(Friday April 16 Dome KLCC ...hmm gtg nature's call )
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I hate to pass judgment. Especially when it comes to religious issues. It's always a sensitive issue so much so that in most cases we will try to avoid talking about it.
Have to admit though , i am not a good muslim. far from being a pious muslim. I have my dosa that I can't say it here, but as a muslim i tried very hard to make sure fundamental things such as 5 time prayers , fasting, abstaining from the consumption of alcohol and liquor etc, are being observed strictly. Holding it very dearly as I am a muslim. My principle is : I 've enough of sins, major and minor,why add more of it.
My reason of writing this is not with the objective of me being a better muslim than others. Nope, not at all, cause I am not .Nor am i here to condemn my fellow muslims. There are more muslims out there that are far much better than I am. I'm saying this cause I know of myself. The only intention is , to highlight something that I think ought to be highlighted in view of we being a muslim living in a muslim nation. Something that deep in my unholy, un pious, heart says , this is very wrong and it must be told.
I'm currently @ Dome KLCC. Of course being a Friday night , this place is pretty pack. Youngsters mainly. I'm seated at the open air section. Like it here cause of the fresh air , not that I could get much of it with all the cigarette smoke chimney around me (I aint no smoker by the way). Not far from my table , seated a long row of malays , which I assume are muslim. About 20 of them guys and gals, youngsters aged around 20s with their table being arranged horizontally by combining a few tables. What sadden me is that majority of these malay muslim guys are consuming beer in the open air , publicly as if they are drinking coke or plain water, with other muslims passing by with children and all. These youngsters have no sense of sensitivity that we are still living in a muslim majority nation.
I'm not trying to impose my values on to other but I do believe in respecting others( i.e. the majority muslims ) by being sensitive to the surroundings and the other muslim that walk and pass by their table with kids and so forth. Some would say that go and mind my own business of which I would disagree. If you are to do it in a club or a place where it is enclosed, although it's still wrong , but you are not setting a bad example on to others especially to children and teenagers. It’s an open place for heaven sake with school children, teenagers, roaming around the KLCC area. You just don't drink beer or any alcoholic beverages in an open places when you are a muslim . It sends a signal that you are proud of what you are doing and trying to show to the world of your 'proud' action indirectly. And indirectly saying to God the Almighty: "See , I can even do it publicly and no one cares ". And worst still, you are sending a message to those innocent kids that to drink beer is not wrong in fact its something of or part of the new generation culture that comes with the progress we are hunting for right now.
IMHO (in my humble opinion) this is VERY WRONG.
What is becoming of our muslim these days. I could be labeled as 'kolot' or even 'kampung' but I just pray hard that my son will not become like one of these muslim youngsters.. Amin.
(Friday April 16 Dome KLCC ...hmm gtg nature's call )
Sunday, April 04, 2004
Another interesting article from The Guardian
Bremer has destroyed my country
Even the pro-US manager of Iraq's Pepsi plant feels betrayed by an occupation which has spawned fear, hatred and chaos
Naomi Klein in Baghdad
Saturday April 3, 2004
The Guardian
'Do you have any rooms?" we ask the hotelier. She looks us over, dwelling on my travel partner's bald, white head.
"No," she replies.
We try not to notice that there are 60 room keys in pigeonholes behind her desk - the place is empty.
"Will you have a room soon? Maybe next week?"
She hesitates. "Ahh ... No."
We return to our current hotel - the one we want to leave because there are bets on when it is going to get hit - and flick on the TV: the BBC is showing footage of Richard Clarke's testimony before the September 11 commission, and a couple of pundits are arguing about whether invading Iraq has made America safer.
They should try finding a hotel room in this city, where the US occupation has unleashed a wave of anti-American rage so intense that it now extends not only to US troops, occupation officials and their contractors but also to foreign journalists, aid workers, their translators and pretty much anyone else associated with the Americans. Which is why we couldn't begrudge the hotelier her decision: if you want to survive in Iraq, it's wise to stay the hell away from people who look like us. (We thought about explaining that we were Canadians, but all the American reporters are sporting the maple leaf - that is, when they aren't trying to disappear behind their newly purchased headscarves.)
The US occupation chief, Paul Bremer, hasn't started wearing a hijab yet, and is instead tackling the rise of anti-Americanism with his usual foresight. Baghdad is blanketed with inept psy-ops organs like Baghdad Now, filled with fawning articles about how Americans are teaching Iraqis about press freedom. "I never thought before that the coalition could do a great thing for the Iraqi people," one trainee is quoted as saying. "Now I can see it on my eyes that they are doing good things for my country and the accomplishment they made. I wish my people can see that, the way I see it."
Unfortunately, the Iraqi people recently saw another version of press freedom when Bremer ordered US troops to shut down a newspaper run by supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr. The militant Shia cleric has been preaching that Americans are behind the attacks on Iraqi civilians and condemning the interim constitution as a "terrorist law." So far, al-Sadr has refrained from calling on his supporters to join the armed resistance, but many here are predicting that closing down the newspaper - a nonviolent means of resisting the occupation - was just the push he needed. But then, recruiting for the resistance has always been a specialty of the presidential envoy to Iraq: Bremer's first act after being tapped by Bush was to fire 400,000 Iraqi soldiers, refuse to give them their rightful pensions, but allow them to hold on to their weapons - in case they needed them later.
While US soldiers were padlocking the door of the newspaper's office, I found myself at what I thought would be an oasis of pro-Americanism, the Baghdad Soft Drinks Company. On May 1 this bottling plant will start producing one of the most powerful icons of American culture: Pepsi-Cola. I figured that if there was anyone left in Baghdad willing to defend the Americans, it would be Hamid Jassim Khamis, the Baghdad Soft Drinks Company's managing director. I was wrong.
"All the trouble in Iraq is because of Bremer," Khamis told me, flanked by a line-up of 30 Pepsi and 7-Up bottles. "He didn't listen to Iraqis. He doesn't know anything about Iraq. He destroyed the country and tried to rebuild it again, and now we are in chaos."
These are words you would expect to hear from religious extremists or Saddam loyalists, but hardly from the likes of Khamis. It's not just that his Pepsi deal is the highest-profile investment by a US multinational in Iraq's new "free market". It's also that few Iraqis supported the war more staunchly than Khamis. And no wonder: Saddam executed both his brothers and Khamis was forced to resign as managing director of the bottling plant in 1999 after Saddam's son Uday threatened his life. When the Americans overthrew Saddam, "you can't imagine how much relief we felt", he says.
After the Ba'athist plant manager was forced out, Khamis returned to his old job. "There is a risk doing business with the Americans," he says. Several months ago, two detonators were discovered in front of the factory gates. And Khamis is still shaken from an attempted assassination three weeks ago. He was on his way to work when he was carjacked and shot at, and there was no doubt that this was a targeted attack; one of the assailants was heard asking another, "Did you kill the manager?"
Khamis used to be happy to defend his pro-US position, even if it meant arguing with friends. But one year after the invasion, many of his neighbours in the industrial park have gone out of business. "I don't know what to say to my friends anymore," he says. "It's chaos."
His list of grievances against the occupation is long: corruption in the awarding of reconstruction contracts, the failure to stop the looting; the failure to secure Iraq's borders - both from foreign terrorists and from unregulated foreign imports. Iraqi companies, still suffering from the sanctions and the looting, have been unable to compete.
Most of all, Khamis is worried about how these policies have fed the country's unemployment crisis, creating far too many desperate people. He also notes that Iraqi police officers are paid less than half what he pays his assembly line workers, "which is not enough to survive"., The normally soft-spoken Khamis becomes enraged when talking about the man in charge of "rebuilding" Iraq. "Paul Bremer has caused more damage than the war, because the bombs can damage a building but if you damage people there is no hope."
I have gone to the mosques and street demonstrations and listened to Muqtada al-Sadr's supporters shout "Death to America, Death to the Jews", and it is indeed chilling. But it is the profound sense of disappointment and betrayal expressed by a pro-US businessman running a Pepsi plant that attests to the depths of the US-created disaster here. "I'm disappointed, not because I hate the Americans," Khamis tells me, "but because I like them. And when you love someone and they hurt you, it hurts even more."
When we leave the bottling plant in late afternoon, the streets of US-occupied Baghdad are filled with al-Sadr supporters vowing bloody revenge for the attack on their newspaper. A spokesperson for Bremer is defending the decision on the grounds that the paper "was making people think we were out to get them".
A growing number of Iraqis are certainly under that impression, but it has far less to do with an inflammatory newspaper than with the inflammatory actions of the US occupation authority. As the June 30 "handover" approaches, Bremer has unveiled a slew of new tricks to hold on to power long after "sovereignty" has been declared.
Some recent highlights. At the end of March, building on his Order 39 of last September, Bremer passed yet another law further opening up Iraq's economy to foreign ownership, a law that Iraq's next government is prohibited from changing under the terms of the interim constitution. Bremer also announced the establishment of several independent regulators, which will drastically reduce the power of Iraqi government ministries. For instance, the Financial Times reports that "officials of the Coalition Provisional Authority said the regulator would prevent communications minister Haider al-Abadi, a thorn in the side of the coalition, from carrying out his threat to cancel licences the coalition awarded to foreign-managed consortia to operate three mobile networks and the national broadcaster."
The CPA has also confirmed that after June 30, the $18.4bn that the US government is spending on reconstruction will be administered by its embassy in Iraq. The money will be spent over five years and will fundamentally redesign Iraq's most basic infrastructure, including its electricity, water, oil and communications sectors, as well as its courts and police. Iraq's future governments will have no say in the construction of these core sectors of Iraqi society. Retired rear admiral David Nash, who heads the Project Management Office, which administers the funds, describes the $18.4bn as "a gift from the American people to the people of Iraq".
He appears to have forgotten the part about gifts being something you actually give up. And in the same eventful week, US engineers began construction on 14 "enduring bases" in Iraq, capable of housing the 110,000 soldiers who will be posted here for at least two more years. Even though the bases are being built with no mandate from an Iraqi government, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief of operations in Iraq, called them "a blueprint for how we could operate in the Middle East".
The US occupation authority has also found a sneaky way to maintain control over Iraq's armed forces. Bremer has issued an executive order stating that even after the interim Iraqi government has been established, the Iraqi army will answer to US commander Lt General Ricardo Sanchez. In order to pull this off, Washington is relying on a legalistic reading of a clause in UN security council resolution 1511, which puts US forces in charge of Iraq's security until "the completion of the political process" in Iraq. Since the "political process" in Iraq is never-ending, so it seems is US military control.
In the same flurry of activity, the CPA announced that it would put further constraints on the Iraqi military by appointing a national security adviser for Iraq. This US appointee would have powers equivalent to those held by Condoleezza Rice and will stay in office for a five-year term, long after Iraq is scheduled to have made the transition to a democratically elected government.
There is one piece of this country, though, that the US government is happy to cede to the people of Iraq: the hospitals. On March 27 Bremer announced that he had withdrawn the senior US advisers from Iraq's health ministry, making it the first sector to achieve "full authority" in the US occupation.
Taken together, these latest measures paint a telling picture of what a "free Iraq" will look like: the United States will maintain its military and corporate presence through 14 enduring military bases and the largest US embassy in the world. It will hold on to authority over Iraq's armed forces, its security and economic policy and the design of its core infrastructure - but the Iraqis can deal with their decrepit hospitals all by themselves, complete with their chronic drug shortages and lack of the most basic sanitation capacity. (The US health and human services secretary, Tommy Thompson, revealed just how low a priority this was when he commented that Iraq's hospitals would be fixed if the Iraqis "just washed their hands and cleaned the crap off the walls".)
On nights when there are no nearby explosions, we hang out at the hotel, jumping at the sound of car doors slamming. Sometimes we flick on the news and eavesdrop on a faraway debate about whether invading Iraq has made Americans safer.
Few seem interested in the question of whether the invasion has made Iraqis feel safer, which is too bad because the questions are intimately related.
As Khamis says: "It's not the war that caused the hatred. It's what they did after. What they are doing now."
A version of this article first appeared in the Nation
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Bremer has destroyed my country
Even the pro-US manager of Iraq's Pepsi plant feels betrayed by an occupation which has spawned fear, hatred and chaos
Naomi Klein in Baghdad
Saturday April 3, 2004
The Guardian
'Do you have any rooms?" we ask the hotelier. She looks us over, dwelling on my travel partner's bald, white head.
"No," she replies.
We try not to notice that there are 60 room keys in pigeonholes behind her desk - the place is empty.
"Will you have a room soon? Maybe next week?"
She hesitates. "Ahh ... No."
We return to our current hotel - the one we want to leave because there are bets on when it is going to get hit - and flick on the TV: the BBC is showing footage of Richard Clarke's testimony before the September 11 commission, and a couple of pundits are arguing about whether invading Iraq has made America safer.
They should try finding a hotel room in this city, where the US occupation has unleashed a wave of anti-American rage so intense that it now extends not only to US troops, occupation officials and their contractors but also to foreign journalists, aid workers, their translators and pretty much anyone else associated with the Americans. Which is why we couldn't begrudge the hotelier her decision: if you want to survive in Iraq, it's wise to stay the hell away from people who look like us. (We thought about explaining that we were Canadians, but all the American reporters are sporting the maple leaf - that is, when they aren't trying to disappear behind their newly purchased headscarves.)
The US occupation chief, Paul Bremer, hasn't started wearing a hijab yet, and is instead tackling the rise of anti-Americanism with his usual foresight. Baghdad is blanketed with inept psy-ops organs like Baghdad Now, filled with fawning articles about how Americans are teaching Iraqis about press freedom. "I never thought before that the coalition could do a great thing for the Iraqi people," one trainee is quoted as saying. "Now I can see it on my eyes that they are doing good things for my country and the accomplishment they made. I wish my people can see that, the way I see it."
Unfortunately, the Iraqi people recently saw another version of press freedom when Bremer ordered US troops to shut down a newspaper run by supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr. The militant Shia cleric has been preaching that Americans are behind the attacks on Iraqi civilians and condemning the interim constitution as a "terrorist law." So far, al-Sadr has refrained from calling on his supporters to join the armed resistance, but many here are predicting that closing down the newspaper - a nonviolent means of resisting the occupation - was just the push he needed. But then, recruiting for the resistance has always been a specialty of the presidential envoy to Iraq: Bremer's first act after being tapped by Bush was to fire 400,000 Iraqi soldiers, refuse to give them their rightful pensions, but allow them to hold on to their weapons - in case they needed them later.
While US soldiers were padlocking the door of the newspaper's office, I found myself at what I thought would be an oasis of pro-Americanism, the Baghdad Soft Drinks Company. On May 1 this bottling plant will start producing one of the most powerful icons of American culture: Pepsi-Cola. I figured that if there was anyone left in Baghdad willing to defend the Americans, it would be Hamid Jassim Khamis, the Baghdad Soft Drinks Company's managing director. I was wrong.
"All the trouble in Iraq is because of Bremer," Khamis told me, flanked by a line-up of 30 Pepsi and 7-Up bottles. "He didn't listen to Iraqis. He doesn't know anything about Iraq. He destroyed the country and tried to rebuild it again, and now we are in chaos."
These are words you would expect to hear from religious extremists or Saddam loyalists, but hardly from the likes of Khamis. It's not just that his Pepsi deal is the highest-profile investment by a US multinational in Iraq's new "free market". It's also that few Iraqis supported the war more staunchly than Khamis. And no wonder: Saddam executed both his brothers and Khamis was forced to resign as managing director of the bottling plant in 1999 after Saddam's son Uday threatened his life. When the Americans overthrew Saddam, "you can't imagine how much relief we felt", he says.
After the Ba'athist plant manager was forced out, Khamis returned to his old job. "There is a risk doing business with the Americans," he says. Several months ago, two detonators were discovered in front of the factory gates. And Khamis is still shaken from an attempted assassination three weeks ago. He was on his way to work when he was carjacked and shot at, and there was no doubt that this was a targeted attack; one of the assailants was heard asking another, "Did you kill the manager?"
Khamis used to be happy to defend his pro-US position, even if it meant arguing with friends. But one year after the invasion, many of his neighbours in the industrial park have gone out of business. "I don't know what to say to my friends anymore," he says. "It's chaos."
His list of grievances against the occupation is long: corruption in the awarding of reconstruction contracts, the failure to stop the looting; the failure to secure Iraq's borders - both from foreign terrorists and from unregulated foreign imports. Iraqi companies, still suffering from the sanctions and the looting, have been unable to compete.
Most of all, Khamis is worried about how these policies have fed the country's unemployment crisis, creating far too many desperate people. He also notes that Iraqi police officers are paid less than half what he pays his assembly line workers, "which is not enough to survive"., The normally soft-spoken Khamis becomes enraged when talking about the man in charge of "rebuilding" Iraq. "Paul Bremer has caused more damage than the war, because the bombs can damage a building but if you damage people there is no hope."
I have gone to the mosques and street demonstrations and listened to Muqtada al-Sadr's supporters shout "Death to America, Death to the Jews", and it is indeed chilling. But it is the profound sense of disappointment and betrayal expressed by a pro-US businessman running a Pepsi plant that attests to the depths of the US-created disaster here. "I'm disappointed, not because I hate the Americans," Khamis tells me, "but because I like them. And when you love someone and they hurt you, it hurts even more."
When we leave the bottling plant in late afternoon, the streets of US-occupied Baghdad are filled with al-Sadr supporters vowing bloody revenge for the attack on their newspaper. A spokesperson for Bremer is defending the decision on the grounds that the paper "was making people think we were out to get them".
A growing number of Iraqis are certainly under that impression, but it has far less to do with an inflammatory newspaper than with the inflammatory actions of the US occupation authority. As the June 30 "handover" approaches, Bremer has unveiled a slew of new tricks to hold on to power long after "sovereignty" has been declared.
Some recent highlights. At the end of March, building on his Order 39 of last September, Bremer passed yet another law further opening up Iraq's economy to foreign ownership, a law that Iraq's next government is prohibited from changing under the terms of the interim constitution. Bremer also announced the establishment of several independent regulators, which will drastically reduce the power of Iraqi government ministries. For instance, the Financial Times reports that "officials of the Coalition Provisional Authority said the regulator would prevent communications minister Haider al-Abadi, a thorn in the side of the coalition, from carrying out his threat to cancel licences the coalition awarded to foreign-managed consortia to operate three mobile networks and the national broadcaster."
The CPA has also confirmed that after June 30, the $18.4bn that the US government is spending on reconstruction will be administered by its embassy in Iraq. The money will be spent over five years and will fundamentally redesign Iraq's most basic infrastructure, including its electricity, water, oil and communications sectors, as well as its courts and police. Iraq's future governments will have no say in the construction of these core sectors of Iraqi society. Retired rear admiral David Nash, who heads the Project Management Office, which administers the funds, describes the $18.4bn as "a gift from the American people to the people of Iraq".
He appears to have forgotten the part about gifts being something you actually give up. And in the same eventful week, US engineers began construction on 14 "enduring bases" in Iraq, capable of housing the 110,000 soldiers who will be posted here for at least two more years. Even though the bases are being built with no mandate from an Iraqi government, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief of operations in Iraq, called them "a blueprint for how we could operate in the Middle East".
The US occupation authority has also found a sneaky way to maintain control over Iraq's armed forces. Bremer has issued an executive order stating that even after the interim Iraqi government has been established, the Iraqi army will answer to US commander Lt General Ricardo Sanchez. In order to pull this off, Washington is relying on a legalistic reading of a clause in UN security council resolution 1511, which puts US forces in charge of Iraq's security until "the completion of the political process" in Iraq. Since the "political process" in Iraq is never-ending, so it seems is US military control.
In the same flurry of activity, the CPA announced that it would put further constraints on the Iraqi military by appointing a national security adviser for Iraq. This US appointee would have powers equivalent to those held by Condoleezza Rice and will stay in office for a five-year term, long after Iraq is scheduled to have made the transition to a democratically elected government.
There is one piece of this country, though, that the US government is happy to cede to the people of Iraq: the hospitals. On March 27 Bremer announced that he had withdrawn the senior US advisers from Iraq's health ministry, making it the first sector to achieve "full authority" in the US occupation.
Taken together, these latest measures paint a telling picture of what a "free Iraq" will look like: the United States will maintain its military and corporate presence through 14 enduring military bases and the largest US embassy in the world. It will hold on to authority over Iraq's armed forces, its security and economic policy and the design of its core infrastructure - but the Iraqis can deal with their decrepit hospitals all by themselves, complete with their chronic drug shortages and lack of the most basic sanitation capacity. (The US health and human services secretary, Tommy Thompson, revealed just how low a priority this was when he commented that Iraq's hospitals would be fixed if the Iraqis "just washed their hands and cleaned the crap off the walls".)
On nights when there are no nearby explosions, we hang out at the hotel, jumping at the sound of car doors slamming. Sometimes we flick on the news and eavesdrop on a faraway debate about whether invading Iraq has made Americans safer.
Few seem interested in the question of whether the invasion has made Iraqis feel safer, which is too bad because the questions are intimately related.
As Khamis says: "It's not the war that caused the hatred. It's what they did after. What they are doing now."
A version of this article first appeared in the Nation
Information is POWER !!!
Today’s world is all about having enough of the right information for decision making , strategizing etc. etc. With the right information, a nation can be destroyed, a business can flourished, a war can be created and an election can be won. It’s all about information . Hence the rush of putting up satellites into the orbit and other computer hardware and programmes that will eventually give a more accurate information. Accuracy had become a critical factor in this era. Overload of information is not what they are after. It’s more of the right and accurate information for that particular situation..
For those who knows SAP will understand. My company had embarked on SAP since 2000. Before SAP, if our HQ in States requires information on Malaysia operations, be it on anything , it will have to be via Malaysian office through the e-mail as the fastest means. Each of our company will store it’s data in it’s local servers, in the local terms, that US will not have a direct access to it.
After SAP was implemented, US HQ does not need to go through the Malaysian office to get ANY information of Malaysian operations. SAP had integrated all the servers of my company offices ( 104 mind you ) throughout the world to the US HQ server in one standard programme . US will have all the country it is represented by virtue of a click of a button in US HQ. You’ve got a CEO that can click just few buttons in his lavish office in New Jersey or from his executive jetliner on the way to L.A., to look at ANY data that he wants in ANY of the company’s 104 offices in the world!! With this kind of accurate, in-depth information, he is in a better control of the company’s operation and will assists him getting a better picture of what’s happening on the ground hence having a more decisive decision making on strategies etc. He will know what’s the actual scenario in Malaysia for that particular sector his involved in. Thus giving him an upper hand against his rival companies.
Boy ain’t that powerful!!!.
That is my company, an American company, in Malaysia dealing in one of the Malaysian economic sectors. Now Imagine this : if there are that other many American companies in other sectors of the Malaysian economy , and they are on SAP as well, don’t you think that if you put all the information together from various sectors that they ‘re in, that the US will have some heck of ‘accurate information’ of Malaysian Economy by just gathering it from these American MNC HQs in US !!!!
Don’t you think that is a heck of a POWER that can be used when deemed necessary to it’s (US) interests?!!!…yeah your guess is as good as mine. And guess what, this ain’t a science fiction , it’s here today and it’s reality. Guys we are under the mercy of the great nation . The United States!!
(Sunday 1215hrs Coffee Bean KLCC ....i'm getting hungry )
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Today’s world is all about having enough of the right information for decision making , strategizing etc. etc. With the right information, a nation can be destroyed, a business can flourished, a war can be created and an election can be won. It’s all about information . Hence the rush of putting up satellites into the orbit and other computer hardware and programmes that will eventually give a more accurate information. Accuracy had become a critical factor in this era. Overload of information is not what they are after. It’s more of the right and accurate information for that particular situation..
For those who knows SAP will understand. My company had embarked on SAP since 2000. Before SAP, if our HQ in States requires information on Malaysia operations, be it on anything , it will have to be via Malaysian office through the e-mail as the fastest means. Each of our company will store it’s data in it’s local servers, in the local terms, that US will not have a direct access to it.
After SAP was implemented, US HQ does not need to go through the Malaysian office to get ANY information of Malaysian operations. SAP had integrated all the servers of my company offices ( 104 mind you ) throughout the world to the US HQ server in one standard programme . US will have all the country it is represented by virtue of a click of a button in US HQ. You’ve got a CEO that can click just few buttons in his lavish office in New Jersey or from his executive jetliner on the way to L.A., to look at ANY data that he wants in ANY of the company’s 104 offices in the world!! With this kind of accurate, in-depth information, he is in a better control of the company’s operation and will assists him getting a better picture of what’s happening on the ground hence having a more decisive decision making on strategies etc. He will know what’s the actual scenario in Malaysia for that particular sector his involved in. Thus giving him an upper hand against his rival companies.
Boy ain’t that powerful!!!.
That is my company, an American company, in Malaysia dealing in one of the Malaysian economic sectors. Now Imagine this : if there are that other many American companies in other sectors of the Malaysian economy , and they are on SAP as well, don’t you think that if you put all the information together from various sectors that they ‘re in, that the US will have some heck of ‘accurate information’ of Malaysian Economy by just gathering it from these American MNC HQs in US !!!!
Don’t you think that is a heck of a POWER that can be used when deemed necessary to it’s (US) interests?!!!…yeah your guess is as good as mine. And guess what, this ain’t a science fiction , it’s here today and it’s reality. Guys we are under the mercy of the great nation . The United States!!
(Sunday 1215hrs Coffee Bean KLCC ....i'm getting hungry )
Got this from Yahoo News Mesagges Board today (4/4/04)..it's from 2 non muslim americanos on the daily increase of American soldier deaths in Iraq:
1st posting :
A SOLDIER'S PRAYERby: nuke44442000 04/03/04 08:10 pmMsg: 259 of 262
"God bless my men, who now lay dead. I know not what your have in mind,but when You judge, please be kind.....when they come before You, they may be poorly dressed, but will walk proudly because they've done their best.Their boots will be muddy and their clothes all torn...but these clothes theyhave so proudly worn. Their hearts will be still and cold inside, for they have fought their bestand with pride, they died.So please take care of them as they pass Your way...the dear price of freedom, they've already paid".
Author Unknown
2nd posting in response to the 1st posting:
Re: A SOLDIER'S PRAYERby: eruditesdw 04/03/04 08:26 pmMsg: 261 of 262
"Allah bless my American terrorist, who now lay dead. I do not care what you have in mind,but when You judge, please do not be kind.....when they come before You, they may be poorly dressed, but will walk in shame because they've done their worst. Their boots will be muddy and their clothes all torn...but these clothes they have so proudly worn. Their hearts will be still and cold inside,( GOOD ) for they have fought their worst and with greed, they died.So please take care of them as they pass Your way...the dear price of freedom, which the terrorist USA doesn't have, they've already paid".
Posted as a reply to: Msg 259 by nuke44442000
|
1st posting :
A SOLDIER'S PRAYERby: nuke44442000 04/03/04 08:10 pmMsg: 259 of 262
"God bless my men, who now lay dead. I know not what your have in mind,but when You judge, please be kind.....when they come before You, they may be poorly dressed, but will walk proudly because they've done their best.Their boots will be muddy and their clothes all torn...but these clothes theyhave so proudly worn. Their hearts will be still and cold inside, for they have fought their bestand with pride, they died.So please take care of them as they pass Your way...the dear price of freedom, they've already paid".
Author Unknown
2nd posting in response to the 1st posting:
Re: A SOLDIER'S PRAYERby: eruditesdw 04/03/04 08:26 pmMsg: 261 of 262
"Allah bless my American terrorist, who now lay dead. I do not care what you have in mind,but when You judge, please do not be kind.....when they come before You, they may be poorly dressed, but will walk in shame because they've done their worst. Their boots will be muddy and their clothes all torn...but these clothes they have so proudly worn. Their hearts will be still and cold inside,( GOOD ) for they have fought their worst and with greed, they died.So please take care of them as they pass Your way...the dear price of freedom, which the terrorist USA doesn't have, they've already paid".
Posted as a reply to: Msg 259 by nuke44442000
Saturday, April 03, 2004
One fourth is GONE !!. That's it , the 1st quarter of the year is done. Had a long review with my boss from the regional office in Singapore via netmeeting 1st thing on Thursday April 1st @0800hrs. Had to be in the office @0730hrs to tidy up the excel files. Review was done for the 1st qtr in terms of :
1. What was the 1st qtr P&L.
2. How’s the 2nd qtr P&L gonna be.
3. How's the year gonna be like after 1st qtr ..on track or any gaps or even uplifts as far as
P & L is concern.
4. Major Projects execution.
5. Personal Appraisal & Increment for my staff..yeah we only do ours in 2nd qtr backdated from Jan.
Been doing this for 8 years all together . The only difference is every two years or so I had different bosses from the Singapore regional office. Had an American lady, a Filipino guy, Australian guy and now a Singaporean lady.
As far as career is concern, I am happy with where I am. With the free hand given to me to manage my Malaysia Business Unit, i don't have much complaint. Trust is what I had established and being given in this company. When our internal auditors from states HQ came every 2 years, my Business Unit is one of those that had no major issues and we get good ratings . They have this 1 to 5 ratings. These Americano Fortune 500 MNC company internal controls reads as 1 being perfect and 5 being ; change the people (chronic situation). We were rated 2 last year. Our external auditor is Price Waterhouse Coopers & Lybrand of which in my opinion is a pretty 'plain' auditor.
My only problem as at the moment is that . i have no succession plan yet . In my company it's a must for you to establish one in a formal form.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
I am a bumiputra, which benefited from NEP ( New Economic Policy / DEB). My wife and me are a product of DEB. I started my career path in an American Company whilst she started hers with Ministry of Education . I must admit both of us gets the privilege of a bumi in getting into UKM . She did Biochemistry and I did Clinical Biochemistry.. ( there were only 4 of us in my programme as it's the pioneer group with only 2 malays and 2 Chinese. In the final year we were attached to UKM Medical Faculty in HKL ).
When I came out from the varsity , I was timid ; the result of being protected by my parents ( i was the youngest child in my family ) from the day I started my primary school. I tried to go into the private sector and with my timid nature at that time , it was pretty hard to survive in a totally different environment. My first career was with a MNC ( Multi National Company). It was my training ground. But boy it did change me 360 degree. Changed in the way i think, I work and so forth. I guess I had a good training ground. Through out my working years , I was fortunate enough to have learned and worked with a few, what I thought, brilliant people. They had coached me well. Brainstorming was one of methods introduced to me in 1993 and became my favourite avenue of trashing out peoples mind and ideas. It exercises the mind and in the process makes your mind sharp . But guess what , all these brilliant people that I had worked with in the few American MNC, were Chinese. Lucky I was, they were not 'kedekut' ( stingy ) in sharing and coaching me. One guy graduated from Oxford University and boy was he so humble. He was 2 years younger than me at that time. I've learned a lot from him. An excellent manager and most importantly, supervisor' he was. ( hey Mike , if you ever read this , I salute you and my gratitude is yours ).
Such creature no matter what race he/she is , is an asset to us, to Malaysia for that matter. Resourceful , energetic. and ever willing to submit himself/herself to the tasks given. But unfortunately , these are the people that somewhat or other ,being neglected or sidelined by the govt. They would then 'migrate' to Singapore, which obviously welcomes for such assets with arms wide open. In the end we lose out.
This lot of people that I've come across, does not really care what race or religion I am . To them there's a task for us to handle. So lets' do it as team.
I dunno maybe I'm just lucky, but you tell me. Call me with what ever you want to but lemme tell ya one thing : there are still people out there, and I mean good non-bumi people, that are really sincere. Might not be that many but still there . There are times that we just need to keep our prejudice instinct aside for a while.
( April 3rd Setiawangsa 1430hrs ... it's raining heavily out there )
|
1. What was the 1st qtr P&L.
2. How’s the 2nd qtr P&L gonna be.
3. How's the year gonna be like after 1st qtr ..on track or any gaps or even uplifts as far as
P & L is concern.
4. Major Projects execution.
5. Personal Appraisal & Increment for my staff..yeah we only do ours in 2nd qtr backdated from Jan.
Been doing this for 8 years all together . The only difference is every two years or so I had different bosses from the Singapore regional office. Had an American lady, a Filipino guy, Australian guy and now a Singaporean lady.
As far as career is concern, I am happy with where I am. With the free hand given to me to manage my Malaysia Business Unit, i don't have much complaint. Trust is what I had established and being given in this company. When our internal auditors from states HQ came every 2 years, my Business Unit is one of those that had no major issues and we get good ratings . They have this 1 to 5 ratings. These Americano Fortune 500 MNC company internal controls reads as 1 being perfect and 5 being ; change the people (chronic situation). We were rated 2 last year. Our external auditor is Price Waterhouse Coopers & Lybrand of which in my opinion is a pretty 'plain' auditor.
My only problem as at the moment is that . i have no succession plan yet . In my company it's a must for you to establish one in a formal form.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
I am a bumiputra, which benefited from NEP ( New Economic Policy / DEB). My wife and me are a product of DEB. I started my career path in an American Company whilst she started hers with Ministry of Education . I must admit both of us gets the privilege of a bumi in getting into UKM . She did Biochemistry and I did Clinical Biochemistry.. ( there were only 4 of us in my programme as it's the pioneer group with only 2 malays and 2 Chinese. In the final year we were attached to UKM Medical Faculty in HKL ).
When I came out from the varsity , I was timid ; the result of being protected by my parents ( i was the youngest child in my family ) from the day I started my primary school. I tried to go into the private sector and with my timid nature at that time , it was pretty hard to survive in a totally different environment. My first career was with a MNC ( Multi National Company). It was my training ground. But boy it did change me 360 degree. Changed in the way i think, I work and so forth. I guess I had a good training ground. Through out my working years , I was fortunate enough to have learned and worked with a few, what I thought, brilliant people. They had coached me well. Brainstorming was one of methods introduced to me in 1993 and became my favourite avenue of trashing out peoples mind and ideas. It exercises the mind and in the process makes your mind sharp . But guess what , all these brilliant people that I had worked with in the few American MNC, were Chinese. Lucky I was, they were not 'kedekut' ( stingy ) in sharing and coaching me. One guy graduated from Oxford University and boy was he so humble. He was 2 years younger than me at that time. I've learned a lot from him. An excellent manager and most importantly, supervisor' he was. ( hey Mike , if you ever read this , I salute you and my gratitude is yours ).
Such creature no matter what race he/she is , is an asset to us, to Malaysia for that matter. Resourceful , energetic. and ever willing to submit himself/herself to the tasks given. But unfortunately , these are the people that somewhat or other ,being neglected or sidelined by the govt. They would then 'migrate' to Singapore, which obviously welcomes for such assets with arms wide open. In the end we lose out.
This lot of people that I've come across, does not really care what race or religion I am . To them there's a task for us to handle. So lets' do it as team.
I dunno maybe I'm just lucky, but you tell me. Call me with what ever you want to but lemme tell ya one thing : there are still people out there, and I mean good non-bumi people, that are really sincere. Might not be that many but still there . There are times that we just need to keep our prejudice instinct aside for a while.
( April 3rd Setiawangsa 1430hrs ... it's raining heavily out there )
