on way back from permatang pauh, after the results were announced, we stopped in bukit tambun, batu kawan for seafood. the last time i was here was two days before the march 8 elections. koh tsu koon's was standing for his first parliament elections in this constiiuncey which was proved to be his waterloo. in fact at the time we arrived, the whole place was full of bn buntings and flags and a stage with a band to draw in the crowd to hear tsu koon's campaign speech. but until we finished our seafood, it was already 8 pm but now one had turned up. there were more jagakereta boys than cars.
This time , we came to celebrate the victory of the rakyat of pp.udang, lala, steam fish, kangkung, and a couple more dishes cost rm40. for two very hungry guys. can you kira. in kl it would be no less that rm100.
on way to tasik merah, we had to stop for petrol, but the car stalled about 4 meters from the pump. phew.. had to push it a bit to refill.
but more bad luck to come. 2 km from the gopeng junction, the mzda rx8 had a flat.it was already 11.30 pm, and in a dark spot. worse still this sports car have no spare tire, but got new technology - it comes with a sealant and a contraption to pump the air into the deflated tire until you get to the next tire shop. no, you guesed it. it didn't work. but we got to the gopeng toll and just in time to the petronas station nearby before the flat tire really kaput.
what else to do but to thumb a lift in a teksi sapu who happened to be waiting for us. this guy says that guys like us comes his way all the time.
So we got in the car for the 10km journey to hillside hotel near gunung rapat, ipoh. the teksi sapu really needed a sapu because its a honda civic 1978, which is dirty and smelly. and the driver probably have not had a bath in a week. tahan la. what to do.
the hillside hotel is really cool(RM118 for govt and media people) and i had breakfast on thbalcony.
After the tire change, we got to ipoh for nasi ganja jalan yang kalsom, the famous ayam goreng merah still the same since i was a student in star ipoh, many many years ago. The kopi tiam guy inherited the bisness from hs dad. The building in front was formerly the tanjung rambutan bus station. Anyway, it was a real ipoh mali lorr . The meal cost me RM5,, can you kira.
Friday, August 29, 2008
medan damansara landslide...can you kira!
got an sms yesterday from randir, (or tirrr)."Friends, finally it happened.Hillside development in medan damansara.slope collapsed damaginghouses with residents fleeing 4 safety.It happened at 4 am.Read about n pixes on the controversial project damansara 21."
This morning I called him to tell him that the story is already in the media. Randir has been the leading advcate in the camoaign to stop the ridiculous develoment in the mainly terace housing enclave. Obviouly another example of unseen hands working wth the powerful and poliically connected.He already warned DBKL of the danger of hillslope development and yesterday it happened.
Now is the time for the ACA to really probe into this affair and not just going after a dedicated and clean guy who did not get his dentist bill. Actually, they should also investigate the dentist who cleaned up bukit chelaka, (err.. cherakah ).
Randir said that a team of lawyers have come forward to volunteer legal aid for this case.What was more shocking was when he told me that this project has yet to get any approval from the authorities. Can you kira!!
(P.s. Randhir was the guy who always used th phrase "can you kira" which was oft repeated by my late dad (bless his soul), a keen golfer who used to have a few rounds with randhir whenever he comes to KL. )
This morning I called him to tell him that the story is already in the media. Randir has been the leading advcate in the camoaign to stop the ridiculous develoment in the mainly terace housing enclave. Obviouly another example of unseen hands working wth the powerful and poliically connected.He already warned DBKL of the danger of hillslope development and yesterday it happened.
Now is the time for the ACA to really probe into this affair and not just going after a dedicated and clean guy who did not get his dentist bill. Actually, they should also investigate the dentist who cleaned up bukit chelaka, (err.. cherakah ).
Randir said that a team of lawyers have come forward to volunteer legal aid for this case.What was more shocking was when he told me that this project has yet to get any approval from the authorities. Can you kira!!
(P.s. Randhir was the guy who always used th phrase "can you kira" which was oft repeated by my late dad (bless his soul), a keen golfer who used to have a few rounds with randhir whenever he comes to KL. )
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
permatang pauh d'layang
Last night permatang pauh finally sent the loudest signal about what the young people want. That they cannot tolerate pople who think they are fools who cannot think about what is good for their future.
The collective memory of people who grew up in Penang, and left it to go to the city like KL is that this is a sleepy hollow. IT WAS. Now it's another typical Penang place with all the modern amenities, like bayan baru, prai, seberang jaya or even kepala batas.And with it comes broadband interconnectivity and the internet (read:bloggers).
The voters of the constituency of the founder of the reformasi movement in malaysia have stood behind their leader in delivering the votes and the message (3P - permatang pauh ,parliament ,putrajaya) And broadband is probably the only thing that made that delivery possible. Blow by blow information was delivered via the webmedia and one new blogger that probably stood up was www.tukartiub.blogspot.com. In two weeks nearly 300 thouand visitors have visited the blog as it gave the latest account of the happenings in the run up and final conclusion of the by electon campaign. This again is proof of the power of citizen journalism.
Tukartiubdelivered wasdelib=vered in a simple, easy and straight forward manner with humour,sarcasm, satire and cynicism thrown in for entertainment.Tukartiub was inspired by youtube without the video but the power of the written word fuelled the imagination of the reader even to the point of feeling the atmosphere of the campaigning. Visitors to the blog came from all over the world, some regretting not being in pp to soak in the atmosphere.
I was there for two nights and on polling day. The atmosphere already told everyone who will be the eventual winner. It also confirms the fact that broadband and the young cannot be separated when it comes to putting across ideas and opinions. The mainstream media have to reinvent itself as its relevance is declining faster than you think.
The collective memory of people who grew up in Penang, and left it to go to the city like KL is that this is a sleepy hollow. IT WAS. Now it's another typical Penang place with all the modern amenities, like bayan baru, prai, seberang jaya or even kepala batas.And with it comes broadband interconnectivity and the internet (read:bloggers).
The voters of the constituency of the founder of the reformasi movement in malaysia have stood behind their leader in delivering the votes and the message (3P - permatang pauh ,parliament ,putrajaya) And broadband is probably the only thing that made that delivery possible. Blow by blow information was delivered via the webmedia and one new blogger that probably stood up was www.tukartiub.blogspot.com. In two weeks nearly 300 thouand visitors have visited the blog as it gave the latest account of the happenings in the run up and final conclusion of the by electon campaign. This again is proof of the power of citizen journalism.
Tukartiubdelivered wasdelib=vered in a simple, easy and straight forward manner with humour,sarcasm, satire and cynicism thrown in for entertainment.Tukartiub was inspired by youtube without the video but the power of the written word fuelled the imagination of the reader even to the point of feeling the atmosphere of the campaigning. Visitors to the blog came from all over the world, some regretting not being in pp to soak in the atmosphere.
I was there for two nights and on polling day. The atmosphere already told everyone who will be the eventual winner. It also confirms the fact that broadband and the young cannot be separated when it comes to putting across ideas and opinions. The mainstream media have to reinvent itself as its relevance is declining faster than you think.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
cafe@lui
My Sunday mornings have always been reserved for motorcycle rides to the country side, ie on weekends when I am not in some other parts of the world. So this time it was to a newly discovered place called Cafe@Lui, after Batu 12 in Ulu Langat. The ride on my Vulcan was with my Dmystify..d brother and his Honda ST. As it rained last nite, it was a perfect morning for mists with the cool morning air making you feel sorry for the rest of the world who have never woken up before 10 am to exerience this wonderful feeling.
The winding ride to this place takes you across the short Ampang Hills and then by the Sungai Langat. Pass number of cyclists, including Mat Sallehs. Cafe@Lui is a wonderful place. The owners have successfully bred Kelah fish, a native of Sumatera. Having breakfast of Soto reminds me of my (parent's) Kampung in Broeluck (Dutch for Barulak) near Payakumbuh. Bathing in the river where the mata air or water source is, beats this place as it is very much cooler. But Cafe@Lui us much more well organised iwth modern amenities.And there are no tremours here. Last year, I eperienced my first earthquake (albeit lasting 3 seconds). 10 Km from it epicentre, it was zohor and I was about to have kari kambing by the sawah in Setujuh. The second tremour was at my uncle's house up the hill in Tanjiung Alam, some 5 Km from Batu sangkar and Pagaruyung, the seat of the Raja raja Minangkabau . The tremour had killed 85 people all over West Sumatra. And o think that I was at Bukit Tinggite day before and along the mountain roads where most of the victims were. The quake had destroyed homes along the hill slopes.
In fact, I visited the Kampung of my good frend and media business associate, Zul, who had just completed renovating the mosque in his kampung. The beautiful mosque was funded from profits of his business in Malaysia. You know what? He was praiyng in the mosque when the quake struck, followed by a loud bang and crashing sound. Rushing out he discovered that the beautiful minaret had crashed in to the huge fishing pond in front of the mosque. Allah be praised, no on was injured.
But Zul's trauma resulted in him not going back into his house that day until 3 am when I went to fetch him to go to Padang airport for the flight to KL.
Poor thing. he had slept in the Toyota Inova while waiting for me. There were minor tremours every half hour for the next 24 hours and I don't blame him for being extra careful. But as for me, I simply snored loudly in my mum's house Broeluck, through the night, drowning any effects of the tremours and giving the rest of my family confidence to sleep through the night.
At the Padang airport, Zul suddenly discovered he had left his wallet behind, save for his pasport . Furthermore, he never went back to Bukit Tinggi until one year later, to catch up with his buddies over an overnight game of Ginrummy.
Being at Cafe @Lui I realised how blesssed Malaysia is. No earthquakes. Not much excitement save for the political rumblings, swearings, tuduh menuduh and liwat meliwat that have coloured the changing political landscape of this country.
Hmm, I do fancy the Sifu Omar Mee in Tanjung Tokong Penang. So I will take a detour to Permatang Pauh tomorrow evening to experience the tremour of the last day of campaigning. And stay till the results are out to witness another moment of history in the making.
As I left Cafe@Lui on my bike, the sun was beginning to change the temperature of the morning. I kept thinking of how the owners (a retired naval officer and his son-in-law) have put in their resources and the rest of their lives to preserving one of the last beautiful pieces of God's land for us city folks to enjoy and for theirs and our children and grandchildren to claim what is rightfully theirs as inheritance of this earth. After what the dentist and his cronies did to Bukit Chelaka (oops Cherakah) I hope I will also have the resources to do what Cafe@Lui did. After all there is gold in them there hills of Hulu Langat.
Thank you, sir, for giving hope to us kampung-at-heart city folks. (worst case scenario, I will just head back to Broeluck...)Can you kira....!
The winding ride to this place takes you across the short Ampang Hills and then by the Sungai Langat. Pass number of cyclists, including Mat Sallehs. Cafe@Lui is a wonderful place. The owners have successfully bred Kelah fish, a native of Sumatera. Having breakfast of Soto reminds me of my (parent's) Kampung in Broeluck (Dutch for Barulak) near Payakumbuh. Bathing in the river where the mata air or water source is, beats this place as it is very much cooler. But Cafe@Lui us much more well organised iwth modern amenities.And there are no tremours here. Last year, I eperienced my first earthquake (albeit lasting 3 seconds). 10 Km from it epicentre, it was zohor and I was about to have kari kambing by the sawah in Setujuh. The second tremour was at my uncle's house up the hill in Tanjiung Alam, some 5 Km from Batu sangkar and Pagaruyung, the seat of the Raja raja Minangkabau . The tremour had killed 85 people all over West Sumatra. And o think that I was at Bukit Tinggite day before and along the mountain roads where most of the victims were. The quake had destroyed homes along the hill slopes.
In fact, I visited the Kampung of my good frend and media business associate, Zul, who had just completed renovating the mosque in his kampung. The beautiful mosque was funded from profits of his business in Malaysia. You know what? He was praiyng in the mosque when the quake struck, followed by a loud bang and crashing sound. Rushing out he discovered that the beautiful minaret had crashed in to the huge fishing pond in front of the mosque. Allah be praised, no on was injured.
But Zul's trauma resulted in him not going back into his house that day until 3 am when I went to fetch him to go to Padang airport for the flight to KL.
Poor thing. he had slept in the Toyota Inova while waiting for me. There were minor tremours every half hour for the next 24 hours and I don't blame him for being extra careful. But as for me, I simply snored loudly in my mum's house Broeluck, through the night, drowning any effects of the tremours and giving the rest of my family confidence to sleep through the night.
At the Padang airport, Zul suddenly discovered he had left his wallet behind, save for his pasport . Furthermore, he never went back to Bukit Tinggi until one year later, to catch up with his buddies over an overnight game of Ginrummy.
Being at Cafe @Lui I realised how blesssed Malaysia is. No earthquakes. Not much excitement save for the political rumblings, swearings, tuduh menuduh and liwat meliwat that have coloured the changing political landscape of this country.
Hmm, I do fancy the Sifu Omar Mee in Tanjung Tokong Penang. So I will take a detour to Permatang Pauh tomorrow evening to experience the tremour of the last day of campaigning. And stay till the results are out to witness another moment of history in the making.
As I left Cafe@Lui on my bike, the sun was beginning to change the temperature of the morning. I kept thinking of how the owners (a retired naval officer and his son-in-law) have put in their resources and the rest of their lives to preserving one of the last beautiful pieces of God's land for us city folks to enjoy and for theirs and our children and grandchildren to claim what is rightfully theirs as inheritance of this earth. After what the dentist and his cronies did to Bukit Chelaka (oops Cherakah) I hope I will also have the resources to do what Cafe@Lui did. After all there is gold in them there hills of Hulu Langat.
Thank you, sir, for giving hope to us kampung-at-heart city folks. (worst case scenario, I will just head back to Broeluck...)Can you kira....!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
can you kira my first blog
my first posting da dey. it's d second last nite of the olympics. was at the bird's nest on 080808 to attend d opening but was not allowed in. reason? the ticket was given only d next day due to a screw up in arrangements. ..(more of that later..) but I got the cap.
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