XRoads

8 March 2008 was a historical day for Malaysia. It marked the first time since 1969 that the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition failed to win a 2/3 majority in the Malaysian Parliament. In addition, 5/13 state legislatures (Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan) were won by the opposition, compared with only 1 in the previous election.

What's the significance of this?

Denying BN 2/3 majority
A 2/3 majority in parliament is required to pass amendments to the Malaysian Constitution. As of 2005, the Constitution has been amended 650 times over 48 years of independence, a clear indication of how such power can be easily abused. To put this into perspective, the American Constitution has only been amended 27 times in more than 200 years.

As constitutional scholar Prof. Shad Saleem Faruqi summarises, It is quite clear fundamental rights (speech, expression and assembly) have been subjected to more and more restraints over the years, while executive power has been enhanced more and more.

Denying BN a 2/3 majority in parliament is thus a crucial victory in this election.

Makkal Sakti!
Before the elections, I think many people (myself included) would've felt that the situation back home - corruption, cronyism, nepotism, racial politics, systematic inefficiency - is so hopeless that we'd never be able to make a difference to the country, even by voting, or to see widespread changes in our lifetime.

However, this election has certainly breathed new hope, new life into the people. It's certainly shown that the people do indeed have the power to make a difference if they are actually bothered to get out there and vote. After all, Makkal Sakti (People's Power)! was one of the opposition's campaign slogan.

Interestingly, more than half (52%) of the Malaysian population live in areas where the opposition triumphed - the 5 states plus the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. In terms of economic wealth, these states account for 56% of the country's GDP.

Credit must be given to the opposition's campaigning via cyberspace - blogs (Jeff Ooi, Lim Kit Siang, Anwar Ibrahim, Tony Pua), alternative media (Malaysiakini, Malaysia Today) and YouTube (Malaysiakini) - which has given them a platform to highlight views and issues that (a) wouldn't normally be reported in mainstream media (b) are crucial in enabling the people to make a fair and informed choice (c) include:

1. Inflation, rising crime
   
2. Port Klang Free Zone scandal (largest bailout in Malaysian history) [+]
   
3. Condemnation over police's handling of BERSIH rally [+]
4. Dubious constitutional amendment to extend EC chief's tenure [+]
5. Suspicions that electoral roll is contaminated with nearly 9,000 dead voters [+]
   
6. Dubious last-minute cancellation of the use of indelible ink [+]
7. The Motorola exposé [+] (just to name a few)
   

Shift from race-based politics
As a Malaysian, regardless of race, it is particularly disheartening to hear the various race-based component parties of BN (UMNO, MCA and MIC) constantly speaking of what they are doing for the benefit of their own race.

As Datuk M. Kayveas (leader of one multiracial component party of BN) observed, Every 12 months, the parties go back to one race championing their own causes and, at the end of the day, when the general election comes, we talk about 'Bangsa Malaysia'.

Even after their humiliating defeat at the hands of the opposition in this year's election, MCA leader Dato' Seri Ong Ka Ting still insists, We'll continue to work for Chinese. It's obvious he just doesn't get the fact that when politicians are elected by the people, they serve all Malaysians, not just one race.

It is therefore hardly surprising that the swing in votes in this year's election was not only attributed to the Chinese and Indian communities (as was widely expected), but also to the Malay community, where there is a growing realisation that a Bangsa Malaysia approach to addressing the people's needs (as advocated by the opposition) is indeed the way to go.

Well done Malaysia in taking this step forward towards a better governance!

It's been a while since I updated this blog. Not that I've completely ditched it or anything, it's just that I've been pretty busy lately with the thesis deadline approaching and... well... my supervisor's been getting on my nerves with her unnecessary assignments and constant interfering with my thesis. Grrr...

Anyway, good news is that she's currently in the US attending a conference, so that gives me time to take a mini-breather.


With the World Cup just round the corner, football fever's been pitching unusually high (been playing football a lot recently and participated in a mini inter-OCF competition over the weekend). I played 2 games, losing marginally in both, lol, but it was great fun anyway. The not-so-fun part though, is that I ended up with a couple of black toes (one on each foot) in the process.


(My right foot looks a little more horrible than this one, so I've decided not to post a pic of it)

Being a relatively inexperienced med student exposed to all kinds of horrific diseases through graphical lecture notes and textbooks, I couldn't help but fear the worst for my toes.

Could it be gangrene? Could my entire toe become infected, turn black and drop off? Would I consequently suffer septicaemia and, in a worst case scenario, die as a result?

Thankfully, my doctor had better news for me. According to him, it was nothing more than a mere case of blood blisters which, although he admitted looked hideous, was completely harmless and would go away in a matter of months.

Phew, at least that's given me some peace of mind to concentrate on my work ahead. It's also reminded me of the time I once got stung on the wrist by a jellyfish in Penang.


Because we were on a secluded beach, my friends and I had no choice but to run to a nearby bunch of campers to seek help. To my horror, one of the campers took a glance at my hand and immediately exclaimed "WAHLAO!! JELLYFISH STING AH!! BETTER ASK YOUR FRIEND PISS ON YOU, OTHERWISE YOUR WHOLE HAND TURN BLACK AH!!"

(Whole hand turn black? But I thought I just got stung on the wrist?)

Nevertheless, with my hand feeling increasingly stinging and burning, this was how I pictured his horrifying words in my head:


"My God," I thought, becoming a little desperate and panicky. Suddy, my friend, offered to do the piss job, but consequently had difficulty aiming. In the end, I was compelled to do it by myself (sheesh).

I guess the piss did the trick afterall, since my hand is as good as ever and has never once turned black (obviously though, this doesn't mean I'm planning to piss on my toes to reverse the blood blisters!).

Wow...

I just finished watching a really touching, eye-opening, and rather disturbing documentary on SBS, entitled Dr. Money and the Boy with No Penis.

The documentary examined the highly-controversial experiment on nature vs. nurture, conducted by renowned sexologist Dr. John Money, in which a young boy who lost his penis in a botched circumcision was raised as a girl to test the hypothesis that nurture, not nature, influenced gender perceptions. The experiment unfortunately went tragically wrong, with the subject eventually committing suicide after years of depression.

I'm actually quite shocked that despite the subject's claims that he and his twin brother were photographed naked and against their wishes by Dr. Money during the study, Dr. Money has never been criminally investigated for what could have constituted a very serious crime (paedophilia). He even went on to become a professor in paediatrics.

In addition, Dr. Money has never been charged for research misconduct, despite leading people into believing that his experiment had been successful long after the results had indicated otherwise. Isn't this comparatively similar to the case of disgraced Korean scientist Hwang Woo-Suk?

All in all, I rate this documentary highly as it serves as a cautionary tale of what may happen when researchers fall in love with a beautiful theory and decide to ignore the so-called ugly facts in pursuit of personal fame and glory.

Unbelievable...


After nearly 10 years of teeny... boppy... (icky...) gossipy... stuff, like erm:

• How to say if i went her to be my gf
• woe is the prettiest in pcghs f3???
  
• Who likes Baju Melayu ?
• Any1 got this people contect?
• ang ai ling so ugly
  

(mind the Engrish) Penang's infamous Original Kay Po Corner is actually still alive and kicking.

It's funny huh, how some things just never change...

In the first case of its kind to reach the courts, British breast cancer patient Ann Marie Rogers, 54, has won a key legal victory in her fight for the drug Herceptin, after an appeals court ruled that her primary care trust (PCT) had acted illegally in refusing to fund the potentially life-saving treatment for her.

The main problem lay in the fact that Herceptin is an expensive treatment (costing £20,000 per patient per year). In addition, despite studies showing that Herceptin is effective in treating early-stage HER2 breast cancer (which Mrs. Rogers has), Herceptin is only licensed for the treatment of advanced breast cancer. Thus, early-stage HER2 breast cancer patients like Mrs. Rogers are only considered for treatment by their PCTs in exceptional circumstances (even after their doctors have prescribed the drug for them), for which there is arguably no rational basis for distinguishment.

That's where the controversy comes in - who's to say that patient A is more deserving of a potentially life-saving treatment than patient B, given that both patients fall under the same category? And in the first place, is it medically- and morally-ethical to withhold an expensive yet potentially life-saving treatment from a patient who simply can't afford it?

The ruling in Mrs. Rogers' favour could thus have broad implications for hundreds of other women in the same situation, potentially leading to fairer and more equal patient access to expensive treatments recommended by their doctors.

Microsoft has created its own ad-free academic search engine, Windows Live Academic, to rival that of Google's (Google Scholar).

Like Google Scholar, Windows Live Academic allows researchers to search the contents of academic journals to find abstracts and, in some cases, full text articles from the publishers' sites. It also features a split-screen for previewing the contents of a particular result.

However, unlike Google Scholar, Windows Live Academic doesn't yet have a feature for seeing which articles cite a particular document.


Verdict: Google Scholar > Windows Live Academic (for the moment at least)

As a contact lens wearer, I've been using CIBA Vision's AOSept hydrogen peroxide-based disinfecting system for over a year now. Though it's slightly pricier than the typical cleaning solution, I find it to be cleaner and more effective.

Since late last year however, it's become increasingly difficult to find the product in Melbourne pharmacies - most pharmacies don't even sell it anymore!

I've been told that the reason for this is that CIBA Vision has actually stopped shipping its AOSept products to Australia. Why though? I have completely no idea.

It's especially strange given that Bausch & Lomb's ReNu contact lens cleaning solution has recently been implicated in more fungal eye infections in the United States, since being first implicated in a series of similar infections across Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong, Brunei, and Malaysia) early this year.

At a time when I need it most, I'm left pondering, "Arghhh... where have all the AOSepts gone??"

The Melbourne International Flower Show is being held at the Royal Exhibition Building (REB) and Carlton Gardens from 5 April - 9 April. I was sorta dragged to accompany my girlfriend to yesterday's session. As it was, it actually turned out to be quite interesting.

Here're a few of the highlights from the show (excluding the many, many flowers that were obviously on display).

First up, my attention was drawn to the high handles on this bike (was wondering how difficult it must be to cycle one of these).


Anyway, next up - inside REB. Believe it or not, this is actually where we sit for our uni exams.


Notice the odd-looking figure near the bottom-right corner of the pic below.


It was one of the bizarre entries in the fashion design competition held inside REB.


(In case you're wondering what those green blobs are, they're watermelons)

Here're a few of the other entries...





...which I thought, were just weird in general.

I guess the same could be said of these fruits (aptly named cow's udder).


I was told that they belong to the same family as tomatoes and capsicums (Solanum), and are also known as the nipple fruit, titty fruit, and apple of sodom.

Apart from its use as a decorative ornament, the plant apparently has a few medicinal properties, while the juice of the fruit has some detergent activity and can be used for washing clothes (aye, learning new stuff everyday).

As we exited the exhibition, this advertisement struck me:


You can't beat a bunch of Aussies? urgh..... no comment on that one.

Uni fees are continuing to rise steeply here, with nearly all Australian unis raising their course fees by the maximum allowable 25% under the government cap.

At this rate, studying Medicine in Australia, for example, could cost an international student newcomer up to AU$60,000 a year by 2007!

In addition, the newcomer may be subjected to annual fee increases of roughly 7% for the duration of his/her course.

Are these really necessary?

According to this article, unis believe that keeping their fees low would:

1. send the government the wrong message (that they did not need more money).
   
   and
   


2. lead to perceptions of lower quality.

But would it really? I mean:

1. (a) education and research have always been viewed as priority areas of investment by the government, so why should they suddenly stop or limit their funding just because Australian unis don't increase their fees by around 25%?
   
   (b) increasing the fees to such ridiculous amounts would send the government the same message (that they do not need more money because they're getting heaps of it from students instead).
   
   (c) how much more money do the unis need anyway, given that most of the academic staff's salaries are covered by the extravagant fees paid by international students, while the majority of uni research is funded by government or affiliated grants?
   
   AND...
   
   
2. surely the quality of a uni is not judged by the cost of its courses, but rather its longstanding reputation.
   

So, is the widespread increase in uni fees based mainly on sheer necessity or rather, simply by the phenomenon my ex-Chemistry teacher, Mr. George, coins the kiasu effect (i.e. the domino effect)? You judge...

Nah, not really... but I guess The Star just decided to do it again anyway - i.e. combine 2 completely irrelevant stories, under one rather catchy headline, Artiste caught for alleged adultery with lecturer's wife.

(Hmm... what happened to Short Is Good?)


I would imagine that on this instance though, our honourable Health Minister Datuk Chua Soi Lek wouldn't have been particularly thrilled at having his name tied to an adultery story on national tabloids.

One ordinary chicken egg - RM0.30

One egg-straordinary "hor pau tan" - RM5.00

Savouring its taste - Priceless


Find out here what's the deal with the RM5 egg on the left.

The saga began more than a month ago, when the first erroneous Optus bill I received was issued on 14 February. The total amount due was $600+, and was auto-debited by Optus from my bank account.

The majority of that sum comprised erroneous handset payout charges and an unusually large GST fee of $56.32. As a result of Optus' auto-debiting, I was left with only $100 in my bank account at the time.

Despite repeatedly chasing Optus' bill enquiries over the phone for the past month (Optus' bill enquiries are, strangely, only sorted out over the phone), I have yet to receive the promised cheque refund of $600+ which should have arrived weeks ago.

Since then, I have received another erroneous bill (issued in March). The amount of $55 was supposedly for cancellation fees. I rang up Optus immediately after receiving the bill to dispute it, and was reassured that it was just another billing error. However, 2 weeks later, Optus auto-debited the $55 from my bank account without any notice.

I am also waiting for a refund for this amount.

It's really quite frustrating that whenever it comes to auto-debiting funds from my bank account, Optus is outstandingly efficient. Yet, when it comes to refunding my money, it's a completely different story!

Equally frustrating is the fact that I've had to repeatedly chase Optus' representatives myself, and over the phone, to sort out the matter, even though Optus is the one at fault in the first place. The problem with this is that not only do I get put on hold for anything between 10-20 minutes each time I call in, I also have to repeat my story all over again as it's usually a different representative I speak to each time.

All this leaves me wondering... had I not brought up the issue at all in the first place, would Optus have had the dignity or competence to come forward and take the initiative to refund my $600+ on their own?

I highly doubt so.

I'm not exactly an Arsenal fan, but it was nice to see them beating Italian powerhouses Juventus 2-0 in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.

I mean, Eboue, Senderos, Cesc, Flamini, and Hleb (not exactly very big names) beating the likes of Vieira, Emerson, Cannavaro, Ibrahimovic, Buffon, and co.? Way to go underdogs!

With Juventus' former Arsenal captain and star player Vieira ruled out for the return leg due to suspension, things are looking good for the Gunners. They could even go all the way and bring the trophy back to England for a second consecutive season (and I emphasise that, they could).

As usual, much will depend on the form of Henry and Cesc. But from the way they're playing at the moment, the signs are certainly positive.

This has to be the shortest news article I've seen in ages:

Whoa... wait a minute here... genetically modified pigs that produce omega-3 fish oil? What's this world coming to?!

If a new kind of pork makes it to the dinner table, diners worried about fat and heart disease might finally be free to, well, pig out.

Scientists using genetic-engineering techniques have produced pigs rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a kind of healthful fat abundant in fish but not naturally found in meat. [The Seattle Times]

While the idea sounds cool (imagine, healthy bacon and pork chops for a change), aren't we playing God a bit too much here?

And, hold your horses... it seems that after experimenting with the pigs, the same wacky scientists are planning to develop a similar concept with cows and chickens:

Dr. Jing X. Kang, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the lead author of the new paper, said pigs were only the beginning, adding that he was also developing cows that make omega-3's in their milk and chickens that have the fatty acids in their eggs. [New York Times]

Seriously though, what's the point when omega-3 is already in abundant supply (in fish meat and dietary supplements available over the pharmacy and supermarket counters)? Shouldn't we instead be concentrating our research efforts on areas that have more genuine potential health benefits, rather than instant financial ones (e.g. by the unnecessary marketing of such pigs)?

Come on, the world doesn't need omega-3-producing pigs (no offence, pigs). The world needs a cure for AIDS, cancer, and Alzheimer's!

With yet more bird flu outbreaks detected in Malaysia this week (Penang on Monday and Perak again yesterday), the Agriculture Ministry must have some nerve to ask Singapore today to reduce its ban on all poultry imports from Perak:

After working nearly 3 weeks (casual) at the bakery, this is the daily task I've come to hate most about my job (apart from sweeping and mopping):


Step 1: LOTS of bread, delicious bread.


Step 2: A garbage bin.


Step 3: No more delicious bread.


Step 4: A garbage bin full of delicious bread.

Don't blame it on my employers - it's the Australian law.

I can't believe it's already Monday after a busy and happening weekend in Melbourne, with the Commonwealth Games still on, and the Festival Melbourne2006 being held in conjunction with it. I tried uploading some of my photos from the festival, but my handphone's Bluetooth doesn't seem to be working (forgot to bring my camera for the event).

Anyway, one of the performing acts which caught my attention at the festival was the 13-member percussion group, Wicked Aura Batucada, who hail from Singapore. Their unique fusion of Brazillian samba music with funk, afrobeat, and local Singaporean ethnic rythms, combined with their infectious beats and positive energy, certainly brought about much life and groove to the festival's beach party on Saturday (the beach I'm referring to is the much hyped-up artificial beach in front of the Arts Centre, with lots of sand but no water!).

You can find out more about the group, which was formed in 2003, via their homepage.

While Man Who Ate Dog Suffers Blurred Vision was a catchy headline, I find it hard to understand the relevance of the latter part of this story on Malaysia's The Star:

On the home front... quit rent for land in the Cameron Highlands had increased from RM300 to RM800 a year.

Are we forgotting that a dog has been killed, and eaten by its murderer? Surely the culprit would have been prosecuted had this happened in another country.

As a dog lover, I'm appalled to say the least.

Following up to my previous post, here's more information regarding the online job scammers who have, for some time now, been enticing job seekers into becoming a part of their elaborate international online auction scam.

Dubbed postal forwarding or reshipping fraud, the scam involves Eastern European-based con artists recruiting unsuspecting job seekers in the US, UK, and now Australia to act as the middle men in their online auction transactions.

The con artists would impersonate the recruit to fraudulently purchase auction items (including electronics, jewellery, and collectibles) using stolen credit cards, and have the items shipped to the recruit's address. The recruit would then be instructed to repack the items and ship them to an address in Eastern Europe, with the promise of a 10-15% cut of the resale price.

Auction bidders are also targetted. The con artists impersonate the recruit and place auction items for sale. They then tell the winners to wire funds to the recruit's bank account, avoiding any suspicions aroused by the mention of overseas wire transfers, without ever shipping the items to the winners. The recruit, of course, is then instructed to wire the funds to a Western Union office in Eastern Europe. Since no ID is required to pick up the money, it leaves the con artists pretty much untraceable.

The recruits meanwhile eventually start receiving calls from angry auction winners and are left to deal with the embarassment and possible legal action relating to theft, falsifying government documents (in declaring the packages as gifts on Customs forms), and income tax evasion.

While it seems that such online scams are easy to detect, thousands of job seekers are still caught up in the con annually, unwittingly helping the con artists steal up to an estimated US$500 million in merchandise thus far. Much of this is down to the fact that the job ads posted by these companies seem innocuous enough, while most of the companies pose as ordinary courier service firms and even have their own legitimate-looking websites like the one below (formerly located at Postforward.org) to avoid suspicion.

More info here, here, and here.

Be careful if you're looking for a job online. A couple of days ago I was offered a part-time position as an administrative assistant by a company claiming to be involved in internet auctioning on reknowned sites such as eBay, Amazon, and QXL among others. My responsibilities were apparently to enter data, make reports, and maintain a database for the company using Excel. The offer also stated briefly that I would be required to receive payments from buyers, but it was unclear how this would be done.

At the time, the offer of a $2200-$2700 monthly salary for a 10-15 hour-a-week job seemed too good to be true (I mean, that would more than cover my living expenses, while still enabling me to study full-time). The fact that I had no means of traceable contact with the company though, other than by e-mail with a dodgily-named correspondent ("Holly Hooper") with a dodgy-sounding e-mail address (holly.hooper@ponymail.com), seemed rather suspicious.

The company claimed to be based in Maryland, US, but did not provide a full address, city, zip code, or even a phone number. I tried to do a background check on them via the internet but came up with no results. They weren't even listed in the US Better Business Bureau. After contacting SEEK (Australia's number one job site/the site where the job ad was posted), my suspicions were confirmed - the company going by the name of Douglas & Berns Int. were just a bunch of scammers.

Given that providing personal information such as full name, address, and phone number is mandatory during online job applications, it would be preferable if such job ads could be screened out more promptly in future (especially in leading Australian job sites such as SEEK and CareerOne) so as to prevent applicants' personal details from falling into the wrong hands, be it for fraudulent or harassment purposes.

For some time now, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has insisted on providing student discount fares to only students holding a Grads card. I have a problem with this system though, and here are my reasons:

1. Redundancy - Why should students have to be identified by means of the Grads card and be subjected to the annual Grads membership fee of RM25, when they already have hard documentation and proof that they are indeed students (eg. certificate of enrolment, student card, student visa)? Not only is it an inconvenience for student passengers like myself to have to go through the tedious Grads card application and waiting process, but also for MAS' administration, who have to process the applications.
2. Outdated application methods - The only method of application for the Grads card is by post, while the only means of payment for the annual membership fee of RM25 are by money order or bank draft. MAS seems to be lagging so far behind in modern day technology where modern day applications can now be carried out online and paid for via internet banking, credit card, or even cash.
3. Inconvenient annual renewal process - Every year, when my Grads card expires, I am required to "renew" my membership by sending in a photocopy of my IC/Passport, student matriculation card, 2 colour passport-size photographs, and a letter of acceptance from my university yet again. Shouldn't these documents only be required for first-time applicants, since previous members like myself have already been sending in the exact same documents for each of the previous 4 years?

Quite frankly, I see the whole thing as more of a deterrent to put off students seeking discounted airfares, rather than a programme that is genuinely aimed at benefiting students.

Check out the contradiction in the last 2 lines of the following job advertisement placed by Crown Limited for a casual usher position:

Candidates who are not Australian Citizens or Permanent residents need not apply

Crown is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Erm, equal opportunity? Yeah... right.....

My AMS thesis may be due in 2 months, but I'm definitely lacking the motivation to work on it just yet. Maybe it's time for a new challenge... time to get a paid job of my own so that at least I know that my efforts aren't going to waste!

The search began last week (I never knew that searching for a decent part time or casual job would be so difficult - guess it has to do partly with the fact that I'm an international student). Anyway, for the moment at least (having met with much frustration after enquiring with several cafes and restaurants), I'm putting up with the first offer I received - a store assistant position at a bakery, where the hours are average (5pm - 9.30pm, 3 days a week) and the pay fairly miserable ($8 per hour).

Work began Friday, and continued this week. The working conditions are pretty good I must admit (I get to help myself to free orange juice once in a while), plus the colleagues have been really helpful and friendly, but I'm still hoping that a better opportunity, in terms of salary, might arise in the near future.

Guess I'll just have to wait and see...

I contributed something here. This blog has been left pretty much static since New Year's Day when I, impulsive as I am, decided out-of-the-blue to start up my very first blog, XRoads (Crossroads), only to leave it rotting with neglect ever since. Guess I was pretty busy back then, but now it seems I've got way too much time on my hands...