PC WAN

2006, a year some want to remember, while some so want to forget…

Lupakanlah yang lain….

As a Malaysian, this is just an ordinary year. A year where truth is always hidden by false, politicians and PMs arguing like cats and dogs, racial disunity went up and down like Genting’s new flying coaster and the we-know-its-gonna-happen-but-we-don’t-have-time-warn-people flood in the South.

This is a year we may want to forget, because we are all looking forward to 50 years of independence celebration next year and the 9MP to roll on.

Lupakanlah yang lain….

As a world-citizen, this year cant be any better. The Lebanon Crisis (a.k.a. boring news), the rise of new nuclear powers, the mess in Taiwan, Thailand, US, Iraq, Afghan etc, global warming, and all of these sums up another year to be forgotten.

Ok, our economy is getting bigger this year u may say, we are spending more money, buying more stuffs. New car, new laptop, new phone, new PS. Billboards are getting bigger all along

Federal Highway

. Bigger autocity, bigger one-u, bigger sunway, bigger queensbay, bigger McD, bigger Umno (oops, oversaid….)

Come on dude, these are certainly good for the economy !

Its definitely good for the economy, but WAIT, until when can our planet satisfy our greed? Oil is running out and we are still talking about more CARS?

Ok, forgive me for being so pessimistic, come on la, 2006 sure gave everyone something good..

Sure lah got something good, i haven’t finish his story mah, wait lah, aiyo…

*          *          *

And this year, its quite a journey for me..

Moving from a place to another, mixing with different friends in different places on different periods of time, its really an amazing journey.

2006 is a year of highs and lows. I had the best moment and also the worst moment in my life. But because of my ignorance and blindness, I let the worst moment conquer most of the time, wasting so much time walking in circles..

And as I am on my way to end this miserable year, a twist of fate brought me to the hills of Taiping, and at there, I spent 2 weeks without phone, music,tv, PC (yes, I didn’t use my name there too)

First I thought I went crazy for not bringing those things along.

But then, I will never know that I could live pretty well without those gadgets.

I never know that electronics are NOT OUR NECCESSITIES

I need them to SURVIVE because I am being told so by NOKIA, MAXIS and ASTRO

Believe it or not, we are being hypnotised by the mass media and billboards everyday, every moment you step out of your house,

They telling you and me to:

buy things we DON’T REALLY NEED

do things we DON’T REALLY WANT

go places WHICH ARE REALLY BORING

watch tv shows WHICH ARE REALLY STUPID

eating foods WHICH ARE REALLY JUNKS

Its all attachments, burdens, damaging our health spiritually and physically.

Everyday we are buying and wearing this and that to impress people we don’t like, to avoid looking stupid, to avoid being called ‘ah pek’ and ‘outdated’…

There’s nothing wrong wanting to look good, to follow the ‘trend’, I am not harming anyone. I always want, want, want ,want, want, but do I always give, give, give, give, give?

how about my spiritual development? Do I have time for that after watching the movies? When will I start my spiritual journey if the football season wont stop?

Actually, those are the things WHICH I REALLY NEED….i need to give, I need to meditate, I need to learn and understand and practise and realize…

OF COURSE, I need to get real, I must say that i also need my laptop to post this blog. I am not yet a saint or enlightened being, I still have attachments, defilements, so many of them…detachment is hard…but its not impossible..

I wonder, how simple life would be without electronics. IMAGINE how our ancestors live without them, I don’t see them complaining…

*          *          *

Nearing the end of the 2 weeks, I looked back at 2006, trying to make my own review of the year.

and a thought smacked straight on my face

“Apalaah ! look back for what, look at the present lah bodoh!”

Yes, look at the present, there is no other moment as real as the present moment. Its funny how our mind tends to be so busybody regretting and worrying about things of the past and future, when we always neglect the truth of all time— the present

As I sat on a big stone surrounded by the rushing streams, and I closed my eyes, all I could feel is the breeze of wind, the sounds of the surrouding. Of course, my mind tends to wander around, but then, notice it and bring your mind back to the sensations of body.

That’s peace, that’s the present moment…

And I am not sitting near a river, I am sitting on a chair in my room. The breeze came from the fan, the sounds came from the factories nearby…

One need not go to the deep jungles or Hawaii or climb up hills to relax, one just need to close ur eyes and bring the mind to the present moment…

May the wind bring away our regrets and worries..

May we love those Umno leaders no matter how selfish they are, Let us love all creatures, all God/Gods regardless of our faith, all friends, all enemies, all beings, let us love each other like a mother loving her only child, unconditionally and truthfully…

May westop follow the norm, the crowd, the trend..

May all beings be free, be well, and be happy…

Farewell 2006..                                 

This is an Article published in an Australian newspaper which was later taken out from the website due to protest by Malaysians leaders. The editor apologizes to Malaysians for hurting our feelings. FOR WHAT?

 

While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry

Michael Backman
November 15, 2006

http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/

MALAYSIA’S been at it again, arguing about what proportion of the
economy each of its two main races — the Malays and the Chinese — owns.

It’s an argument that’s been running for 40 years. That wealth and race
are not synonymous is important for national cohesion, but really it’s
time Malaysia grew up.

It’s a tough world out there and there can be little sympathy for a
country that prefers to argue about how to divide wealth rather than get
on with the job of creating it.

The long-held aim is for 30 per cent of corporate equity to be in Malay
hands, but the figure that the Government uses to justify handing over
huge swathes of public companies to Malays but not to other races is
absurd. It bases its figure on equity valued, not at market value, but
at par value.

Many shares have a par value of say $1 but a market value of $12. And so the Government figure (18.9 per cent is the most recent figure) is a
gross underestimate. Last month a paper by a researcher at a local
think-tank came up with a figure of 45 per cent based on actual stock
prices. All hell broke loose. The paper was withdrawn and the researcher
resigned in protest. Part of the problem is that he is Chinese.

"Malaysia boleh!" is Malaysia’s national catch cry. It translates to
"Malaysia can!" and Malaysia certainly can. Few countries are as good at
wasting money. It is richly endowed with natural resources and the
national obsession seems to be to extract these, sell them off and then
collectively spray the proceeds up against the wall.

This all happens in the context of Malaysia’s grossly inflated sense of
its place in the world.

Most Malaysians are convinced that the eyes of the world are on their
country and that their leaders are world figures. This is thanks to
Malaysia’s tame media and the bravado of former prime minister Mahathir
Mohamad. The truth is, few people on the streets of London or New York
could point to Malaysia on a map much less name its prime minister or
capital city.

As if to make this point, a recent episode of /The Simpsons/ features a
newsreader trying to announce that a tidal wave had hit some place
called Kuala Lumpur. He couldn’t pronounce the city’s name and so made
up one, as if no-one cared anyway. But the joke was on the script
writers — Kuala Lumpur is inland.

Petronas, the national oil company is well run, particularly when
compared to the disaster that passes for a national oil company in
neighbouring Indonesia. But in some respects, this is Malaysia’s
problem. The very success of Petronas means that it is used to
underwrite all manner of excess.

The KLCC development in central Kuala Lumpur is an example. It includes
the Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world when they were
built, which was their point.

It certainly wasn’t that there was an office shortage in Kuala Lumpur —
there wasn’t.

Malaysians are very proud of these towers. Goodness knows why. They had little to do with them. The money for them came out of the ground and the engineering was contracted out to South Korean companies.
They don’t even run the shopping centre that’s beneath them. That’s
handled by Australia’s Westfield.

Next year, a Malaysian astronaut will go into space aboard a Russian
rocket — the first Malay in space. And the cost? $RM95 million ($A34.3
million), to be footed by Malaysian taxpayers. The Science and
Technology Minister has said that a moon landing in 2020 is the next
target, aboard a US flight. There’s no indication of what the Americans
will charge for this, assuming there’s even a chance that they will
consider it. But what is Malaysia getting by using the space programs of
others as a taxi service? There are no obvious technical benefits, but
no doubt Malaysians will be told once again, that they are "boleh". The
trouble is, they’re not. It’s not their space program.

Back in July, the Government announced that it would spend $RM490
million on a sports complex near the London Olympics site so that
Malaysian athletes can train there and "get used to cold weather".

But the summer Olympics are held in the summer.

So what is the complex’s real purpose? The dozens of goodwill missions
by ministers and bureaucrats to London to check on the centre’s
construction and then on the athletes while they train might provide a
clue.

Bank bale outs, a formula one racing track, an entire new capital city —
Petronas has paid for them all. It’s been an orgy of nonsense that
Malaysia can ill afford.

Why? Because Malaysia’s oil will run out in about 19 years. As it is,
Malaysia will become a net oil importer in 2011 — that’s just five years
away. So it’s in this context that the latest debate about race and wealth is so sad.

It is time to move on, time to prepare the economy for life after oil.
But, like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the Malaysian Government is
more interested in stunts like sending a Malaysian into space when
Malaysia’s inadequate schools could have done with the cash, and arguing about wealth distribution using transparently ridiculous statistics.

That’s not Malaysia "boleh", that’s Malaysia "bodoh" (stupid).