Although I have to admit I spent a few hours cursing my immune system for failing me once again, Gabby happily reminded me of why it can be awesome to fall sick.

Well, for starters. You get to stay home. Spend the entire day at home, on the couch or your bed, just lying there hoping and wishing for a swift death.

You have a fever! Not the Saturday night kind that kills you the morning after (and if it’s really bad, the day after that as well), but you get to be all high and woozy due to crazy body temperatures.

Not just that, you get to drown yourself in gallons of water and……… legal drugs. I know paracetamol isn’t much of a trippy drug, but guess what is? Flu meds! Yes, I’m talking the cough mixture, anti-cold/flu/congested nose kind. Those just make you even more woozy, and throw you in a state of… well, mild drunkenness.

Mix dizziness + a fever + flu meds and television, and you’ve got a winner right there. Nothing beats stoning to Family Guy, the Simpsons or How I Met Your Mother all day in a slightly darkened living room with a bottle of water, 100 Plus, Panadols & your remote control as your best buds.

But most importantly, you get tons of pampering. That is, if you’re living at home with your mum…. very much unlike me. If you’re living at home with family, you get hot soup, tons of hugs, “How are you?”s and gazillions of TLC. If you’re like me, you’re sweating your pores out in an empty house while the boyf is in the office… which really isn’t too bad, I have to say.

So anyway, the next time you catch the common cold, or even get hit with the seasonal dose of the snotty flu, remember to park yourself on your couch, turn on the TV, and prepare to enjoy the next few hours, even if you’re near death. After alls, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade right?

Warning: Personal experience here, guys. When your temp hits all-time highs of 39.7 degrees and you start seeing stars, time to stop stoning and enjoying yourself. Unless you want to spend the rest of your life in that same hazy, stoning state, you’d better get up and and call reinforcements — apparently you’re pretty close to damaging that little organ up north that we like to call the brain.

PM: Govt Breaking Quota System to Encourage High Calibre Youth

I’m like “Whoa… seriously?”

The quota system has been a local controversy since.. forever, so reading something like that really made my eyebrows hit my hairline, not in a disbelieving way either, but more of a surprised and intrigued way.

The first few lines made me nod and say, “Hmm.. not bad. But is there more?” So I read on… and came across something pretty interesting. And I quote in a screenshot, just in case:

Again, I go, “Whoa… seriously? Top 10 on a global competitiveness index?”

Thanks to my natural inclination to satisfying my curiosity with the aid of my best friend and most favorite site of all, Google, I searched “global competitive index” and the first site that popped up was the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report. Let’s see what they say.

So there are a few possibilities here.Where’s Malaysia? I downloaded the full report to see where we rank. Turns out, we’re ranked 24. Don’t believe me? Download the full report yourself here. In fact, we rank much lower than our neighbor, Singapore.

1. The Star screwed up. Misheard and screwed up, and quoted Najib wrongly.

2. Najib’s speech writer did an awful job and spouted a few numbers for fun.

3. Najib has secret information into the new 2010-2011 report (that is normally tabled at the end of the year, BTW) that hasn’t seen the light of day just yet. He may have been tipped off, who knows.

4. Najib simply cakap.

Hey, it could be any one of the above possibilities. In fact, none of us know which is more true than the other. I’m not going to say which of the following is most possible, but let’s look at this objectively here.

This is the age of search engines. The era of limitless, immediate information. The time of Google. In fact, there is nothing I can think of that is not Google-able! So it baffles me to wonder why no one (The Star, his speech writer or the PM himself( bothered to check with the Internet prior to actually declaring that!

In fact, theStar even goes on to report that we rank 13 spots higher than Japan. That is some detailed info here — where are the references? I mean, if there’s a more reputable index than the one by the World Economic Forum, I’d really like to see it!

Update: Doulos found it! Here’s where we’re ranked 10. Not sure if this is what PM was referring to though…

But I’m deviating from my point here. What I really want to say is how accountable we all are, now that the Internet has brought us so close together. Facebook critics have got to understand one thing — the privacy of yesterday no longer exists. We are no longer afforded the luxury of maintaining secret lives, or pulling numbers, figures and quotes out of our behinds with the Internet. It’s not just Facebook. It’s Google. It’s Bing. It’s Yahoo! It’s Twitter. It’s the Internet. And it’s really not just the newspapers or Najib here.

It’s the boyfriend who’s trying to cheat on his girlfriend (or vice versa).

It’s the kid trying to hide something from his/her family.

It’s the potential employee trying to pretend to be someone he/she is not.

It’s the couple sexing up to a video recorder being in denial that their phone / camera / recording device will never fall into the hands of another.

As long as the Internet exists, our dirty laundry is out there for the world to see. It’s not Facebook’s job to protect our privacy and to make sure that no one butts in, it’s our job. It’s personal responsibility, and let’s not try to dish it off on someone else and blame them.

The same way it’s our own fault for being ridiculed for misreporting something, misquoting something, or really just pulling things out of our ass. You and I have the exact same access to information. We have the same ability to be plugged in. We also have the same ability to Google, before speaking. Or writing. Or publishing.

Sorry guys, but Google makes everyone — from newspapers, to politicians, to the Average Joe — accountable for what they say, and what they do.

Oh and BTW, I’m not as naive to believe that breaking the quota system will happen anytime soon, unless I see it in writing (e.g. 10MP, a law, etc.) or better yet, in practice. I’m not buying it unless I see it tabled as a motion, basically. I mean, yelling through a microphone at a rally? Not the best way to convince me.

Unless, of course, TheStar screwed up. Again.

“What do I do at work?”

Honestly, guys, that’s one question I get really, really, often from parents, relatives, friends, acquaintances, people I just meet, cats, dogs, unicorns.. the list could go on and on really.

Often, people just resort to assuming I do some “Internet-related” thing that is kinda like blogging, Facebook and Twitter. Or sometimes they think I sit on the computer and build sites like techies do. The variety of assumptions I get never fail to amaze and amuse me. But I digress.

So, what do I do at work?

I’m just kidding. Yes, that’s my office, and yes, that was what I was doing just an hour ago. But that’s not all I do at work (and definitely not the norm).

Let’s start with something generic like… where can you find my physical body for 40-45 hours a week (daily time frames range from 9-4 or 10-7)?

For those of you who don’t already know, I work at MindValley with a team age that averages at 24. It’s this crazy young, successful and fast-growing American company that’s based in K.L. and has a business model that is, yes, centered on e-commerce. We’re basically online publishers for personal development gurus / authors like The American Monk, The Silva Method, Brian Johnson of PhilosophersNotes, and Sean Stephenson.. among others. Our business tagline? Spreading enlightened ideas. Although I can’t say I agree with every single one of the ideas we’re spreading, I have to admit we’re on a pretty awesome path.

So what role do I play in this awesome organization of approximately… 40 people?

I’m kinda like the project manager there for one of the businesses called Niche Domination. I know, it’s a mouthful and you’re wondering, “What the **** is that?”. But it’s okay, that part’s the easiest to explain. At work, I’m responsible for a variety of things that include:

• Updating half of the MindValley blog network
• Managing a community of 370,000+ subscribers
• Using social media tools to get our ideas to the masses
• Coordinating online sales promotions & launches
• Experimenting with new ideas and niches
• Identifying the next big personal development partner to publish

Basically, a whole array of stuff. Gabby, one of our copywriters, dished this out for me for the team website:

Organized, creative, and results driven is an understatement. With a brain likened to a supercomputer on steroids, Xinch (as she’s fondly known) manages MindValley’s largest online community, dominates the niches of personal development with a bullwhip, and makes use of the various social media sites to bring in the moolah.

While her mind-manipulating fancies may have faded with the completion of her Psych degree, she’s found new ways to use her understanding of the human mind to sell like a rock star, giving the customers what they want while dazzling them at the same time like Celine Dion in Vegas.

And though she’ll deny it, some have claimed that she is psychic as she seems to know what you need before you ask for it. Because of this uncanny skill, working with her is a cinch (no pun intended).

In order to maintain some semblance of a personal life she blogs on Malaysian politics, travels, is into photography and design, and loves eating, which begs the question, “Why won’t you gain weight, you lucky *****?”

I think in order to be really simple, I rake in cash for the company by using social media tools like blogs, Facebook & Twitter to spread the ideas of the partners we work with. Yeah, I think that’s the easiest.

What’s even better? Aside from the fact that I work my ass off at work, I’m given the freedom to move about as I please, work from wherever I want to, travel frequently if I want (e.g. Bali in March, Laos in October, Penang for a week in December), dress as casually as I can, freelance, and start my own businesses or projects on the side… and given near-complete trust with my often-untested-and-random ideas.

How cool is that?

And I have a boss that dishes out booze, chocolates, cookies & crackers at 5pm on Friday just because: “..we are kicking some serious ass I have decided to get drinks and snacks so we can roll into the weekend in style. Be back from my booz run soon and will see you in the Hall of Awesomeness ”

Yup. I’m extremely blessed. And am gonna work my ass off to get to where I wanna be. That’s a promise, homies

It’s been awhile… but that’s because I’ve been two B things — busy, and in Bali. For those of you who don’t already know, this is my second time in Bali (and it won’t be my last either by the looks of it), and I totally love the island.

No, it’s not just the sea and sand and the quaintness of it all. Their temples and architecture don’t even compare to Thai, Burmese or even Cambodian temples. They’re not the cleanest island around – Singapore takes the award for that one. It’s not even really that cheap.

So why do I, or anyone really, love Bali?

Bali has the most amazing people. Yes, they’ve got great people.

In fact, they’re so amazing and friendly that, according to May, she was never serviced better in a bank ever. That coming from the crazy Maybanker.

Anyway, this time I took a quick 4-day getaway with May and Gabby, a copywriter I work with at MindValley, and her friend Tanya. Since it was my second time in Bali, I found it less urgent to sight see, and prioritized chilling and tanning a whole lot more — two things I was unable to do when I visited the island for the first time with my parents.

All in all, it was a pretty awesome trip. Here’re the highlights:

Awesome accommodation

Earlier this year, Gabby and I were surfing around looking for a place to stay in the arts and cultural center of Bali, Ubud, when we stumbled upon the Bali T House website. No, it’s not a resort, and neither is it a budget hotel.

Bali T House is actually a small commune of 8-9 eco-friendly, beautifully designed, modern village homes located in a tiny lane that opens up to vast paddy fields.

They have two communes in the vicinity, that are filled with village homes designed with various concepts. All villas are located very close-by and are unfenced. Instead, they are surrounded by trees, palms, bamboo plants — the entire villa is surrounded by greenery. In fact, it’s so surrounded that if you walk in at night, it’s not that easy to tell the difference between one entrance from the next.

The entire villa seems to be made of wood (with the exception of the bathroom) and glass with tons of open spaces for increased air flow.

That’s Tanya taking a photo. In fact, it’s so open that even the shower area was constructed with an open concept.. a little too open maybe since I’m such an urban youth who’s unused to showering with plants, cows mooing and crickets in the background.

There’s no attached dining area. Instead, there’s a very adorable open air kitchenette & mini-outdoor-verandah for you to have your breakfast each morning. The other awesome part about this place? They serve you breakfast in your villa itself. In the morning, at 8am or so, one of the girls will come by to prepare a healthy, wholesome breakfast of fresh fruits (seasonal local fruits according to your preference), coffee / tea or juice, and pancakes (plain sugared or banana) or an egg-tomato-and-onion omelette for you. Pretty awesome eh?

From the villa, you can walk down the stone path to either someone else’s villa, or the pool. It’s really less than 10 steps away:

Cool thing about this pool? It overlooks the Ubud’s paddy fields.

All this awesomeness was packaged at USD35 a night. And that’s including tax. When you split it by 4 (that’s how many people the villa can sleep), it cost us less than USD10 a night at the place. All in all, we got a pretty sweet deal.

My favorite part about Jasmine House, or even Bali T House in general was the peace and silence I barely get over here in Malaysia. For 4 days, I awoke to cows mooing, the call of roosters, and for 3 nights I dozed off to crickets and gentle, chilly breeze.

Warning, it was really back to nature. The only mishap occurred on my last night at the villa when a frog appeared in the bathroom. I fear frogs greatly and that frog made me scream so loudly, and so shrilly, that I woke the neighbors and stunned Gabby and May out of their peace and silence. So, yes, be prepared for things like that.

If you want to check out Bali T Houses, you can go here >>

Next up…

Cheap, cheap, cheap massages & spa treatments

This was what I looked forward to the most, right after beaching. And I was not disappointed. In Ubud there are tons of spa & massage parlours littering the streets. Some seem really awesome and come with hefty price tags, and some are dodgy. But May and I found one really good one — gorgeous, good, and so super cheap!

Venezia Day Spa!

We found this place by picking a bunch of random brochures off the racks of one of the many tourist information centers along Monkey Forest St. and walked a long way to locate it (it wasn’t that far, but we were just on the wrong end of that long road!), but I personally found it so worth it.

My first time there (yes I went more than once), I took their Milk Bath Package which included a 1 hr traditional massage, 20 minute milk & Balinese spice body scrub and a 20-minute milk bath…. with actual real milk! And fresh flowers!

The entire package cost me no more than RM60. That can’t even cover a 30 minute body massage at a decent massage outlet in Malaysia. So I thought this was one of the sweetest deals!

Two things to look out for — if you’re going with friends and you don’t wish to see each other naked, opt for separate rooms. If you don’t mind, then they provide rooms with double showers.. and you can shower with your buddies. If you’re going with a girl/boyfriend/husband/wife/partner — then enjoy your moments of voyeurism.

And, don’t take their manicures / pedicures. May hated it. Thank God I didn’t pick that set.

And lastly…

Relaxing, Lazy Days By The Beach

This was, is, my favorite part of the entire trip. This was made even more awesome by the fact that May and I found the most amazing chill out place in Kuta called Oceans27 in Centro Mall.

Yes, we went to a mall because May wanted to use the Internet. But, no regrets. This place is a restaurant, lounge, bar that overlooks one of the quietest parts of Kuta beach.

That’s not even the most awesome part. It has a pool with jacuzzi sides for their customers to laze around in or swim in… beach side verandahs for your to laze in, deck chairs for you to tan in, and towels should you need to dry yourself off, and clean shower rooms if you need to clean up.

And free wi-fi…

Anyway, this place was the bomb. You have to check it out if you’re in Bali!

And, lastly, our driver took us to an awesome beach in Nusa Dua after we finished our morning of water sports. It was quiet, secluded, and completely untouristy.

If you’re wondering what we did there… we just ate and slept. Literally. Melia Hotel was a stone’s throw away so we headed there for lunch (our most expensive meal in Bali), then lay out our towels and scarves for a 45 minute nap and tan before moving on to Uluwatu. We were pretty much like pigs.

Anyway, we did tons more awesome stuff, like…

• Walk up and down Monkey Forest St. to hunt for cute & comfy cafes to dine & chat in — there are tons there.
• Buy a dress for RM20 after hefty bargaining
• Buy a cute tin elephant for the boyfriend
• Buy paintings for the mother
• Visit Uluwatu
• Snorkel
• Parasail — not me, May and Tanya
• Tan
• Eat

Yeah, you get the gist. But those were my highlights.

Anyway, if you want to check out more photos, either visit my Facebook or you can go check out my Picasa album here >>

Till next time

]]> http://xinch.com.my/bali-holiday-2010-927/feed/ 2 http://xinch.com.my/public-relations-testimonials-mindvalley-921/ http://xinch.com.my/public-relations-testimonials-mindvalley-921/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:31:02 +0000 xinch http://xinch.com.my/?p=921 I’m sure by now you know that I’m working full time at MindValley – and have been for the past 8 months. Every Thursday, we have a marketing meeting with the entire marketing & media team to share ideas and train the rest of the team.

If you know how much I fear / loathe presenting in public, you’ll understand why I procrastinated 8 months to give a presentation. But I kinda decided that 8 months is a ridiculously long time and I should just throw caution to the wind and do it.

So I presented on what testimonials and success stories can do for our organization’s public relations efforts.. and thought I’d share it on my blog to document it. I’ve embedded my slides right here:

Most Internet-based businesses have TONS of testimonials sitting in their databases… and these testimonials have no other purpose but to be featured in their sales letters. But how many people actually read sales letters? And the more sales-y a page is, the odds are against a person actually reading it.

So here’s a simple, but pretty wild idea about how a person, an organization or a brand can utilize testimonials and success stories to create a storm in their targeted markets, drastically increase their credibility, attract mass attention and develop an offline presence at the sane time.

What are you waiting for? What’s all the procrastination about?

My dear fellow Malaysian,

4.39 million Malaysians over the age of 21 have yet to register as voters.

That’s roughly 28% of our population.

If you’re complaining about…

• the government,
• the roads,
• the slow service,
• corruption,
• petrol,
• the Perak fiasco,
• the current political drama going on in both sides of the fence…

…. what are you waiting for?

VOTE.

If you’ve already registered, good on you. But for those of you who haven’t, and don’t know how, I’ve got the perfect solution for you.

Have you heard of Project Epic?

They’re a bunch of young people, like you and me, dedicated to studying how they can apply leadership and value-based principles in their lives and the lives of our youth.

One of their principles is to be externally-focused — to always give back to society / the community.

They originally started Project Epic with a predominant focus on the plight of the Malaysian Orang Asli (natives) and how we, as young Malaysians, can help to raise their standard of living in the long term.

Their first step?

Building the Orang Asli toilets.

You may ridicule it, laugh, or scoff at it, but there are countless people out there who do not have access to basic facilities that you and I take for granted. Like toilets.

But Project EPIC doesn’t stop there. Toilet-building is only step ONE. In light of that crazy, scary statistic out there, they’ve recently taken their “giving back” one step further.

They’ve realized that, you know what, people that surround us daily need to start having faith and hope in this nation. Yes, while it’s been a challenging journey and developing positive feelings for a nation that displays blatant disregard for ethics is tough, there is still hope.

While Malaysia is disillusioned, and is caught in this sordid, sad wave of helplessness, Malaysians have stopped striving for its YOUTH.

• We want to believe that the power of ‘one’ is not simply overrated, just rarely challenged
• We want Positive Action not Negative ReactionsWe want to integrate not tolerate
• We want to stop complaining, and start acting
• We want our friends to stop migrating overseas and our parents to stop telling us to do so
• We want to be colour blind to our neighbours
• We want to stand up to be responsible for our collective future and believe that others want to as well

And with that, they launched….

EPIC for UNITY

Come this April 3rd & 4th, Project EPIC is launching a year-long campaign at all major, high-traffic shopping malls in the Klang Valley.

No, they’re not politically affiliated.
No, they do not gain an ounce of monetary benefit from this.

All they gain is knowing that, they have taken the FIRST STEP in helping you create a better place to live.

If you don’t know where to register, or how to register, or what to do even.

Just be there.

There aren’t that many high-traffic malls in the Klang Valley, so you know what to do.

Take the next step today.

EXERCISE YOUR BASIC RIGHT AS A CITIZEN IN A DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY.
VOTE YOUR CHOICE.

If you’d like to contribute, don’t hesitate.

WEBSITE: http://dosomethingepictoday.blogspot.com/
EMAIL: dosomethingepic@gmail.com
CALL: 016 3177788 (Jasmine)

No she didn’t come bearing ang pow.

It was better than that.

She came bearing this.

A beautiful, two-colored, 3-month-old female Beagle!

I instantly fell in love.

My aunt found her wandering in the middle of a busy intersection, lost and afraid. She stopped the car (yes, right in the middle of the road much to the chagrin of honking drivers) and opened her arms. This little baby instantly ran to her.

She asked around at a nearby petrol station and found out that the attendants had been watching her for some time. They saw her jump out of a moving truck (yes, a moving truck) and the owner never came back to retrieve her.

So my aunt brought her over to my place.

She’s the most lovable creature in the world, always up for fun, and loves snuggling up to you. Needless to say, my animal-loving brother was instantly hooked.

Actually, my entire family is completely in love with her!

Dad, who previously was a dog-elitist and only would consider rearing German Shepards, St. Bernards or Golden Retrievers was very keen on keeping her.
Mum, who’s been pretty much anti-dog-attachment since my German Shepard passed away some 10+ years ago (with the exception of my current mongrel, Hero, who she really grew very accustomed to keeping), was totally in love.
Aunty Helen was totally into her, playing with her, setting up a mini bed for her, cleaning her

We named her Brandy (after the drink, not the singer).

Let’s just say in 2 days my entire family was super attached to her, even her tantrum throwing which involved dragging our shoes and laundry all over the house in fear of abandonment whenever we leave for a few hours.

In typical anal-ness, on the 4th day, right before I had to set for KL, I demanded we take her to the vet just in case she was sick as my older dog succumbed to a mild fever the day before. And since she was a missing dog, I figured we’d want to know more about her (e.g. age, vaccinations, etc.).

So off my mum and I went to the vet.

It was a difficult trip as Brandy was reluctant to get into the car, get out of the car, go into the clinic and even peed on me in a wave of nervousness. She hid under a ledge the entire way and refused to come out even when I coaxed her to.

Then the vet came out.

That was when he dropped the bombshell.

He’d received an email from the SPCA the day before about a lost beagle pup.. and he was quite certain it was her. He could tell from those two patches at the top of her puppy head. Instantly, he notified SPCA and when we got home, the owner called.

My aunt gave him a mini-thrashing on the phone for ultimate irresponsibility (how can anyone let a puppy loose in a car without holding it down / caging it up? or even without an identification collar? and not even noticing it was gone until he reached his destination..)

I called to ask if we could keep her and buy her off him..

But he said no, can do. She belonged to his 5-year-old son.

My first impulse was to cart her off to KL with me and dog nap her. After all, who would know any better?

When he came to pick her up at 5pm. I kind of let her go with a very, very heavy heart. And she looked so confused when we handed her over.

Honestly, I was kind of stumped, stunned, and tons sad. Sometimes I still am.

When I spoke to Khailee that night, he reminded me of how impermanent everything is. And it’s kind of true. Nothing is permanent.

Not our parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, boyfriends, husbands, wives, girlfriends, friends, acquaintances.

None of them are permanent.

Permanence is an illusion of security that we allow ourselves to feel. We’d rather believe that the people we know will be that way forever, be there forever.. and will never change or leave. We delude ourselves into thinking that, things will always be this way. Why? Because it feels safe. It feels like we’re in control of the situation.

It’s why the overprotective mother smothers her child with love. It’s why she has endless rules and regulations that she cloaks with discipline — to maintain an illusion of permanence.
It’s why the insecure girlfriend clings to her boyfriend. It’s why she prohibits him from doing anything — to maintain an illusion of permanence.
It’s why governments scramble to enforce martial law, cheat at elections and lie to their constituents — to maintain an illusion of permanence.

It’s why so many people fear death. It takes away permanence.

But… one day people will leave. YOU will leave. Be it purposefully, forcefully, unwillingly, be it stolen, taken or given. One day we will all leave.

That being said, I realized one important thing from that. God is permanent. But people, things, are never permanent. But love is constant. And it can be permanent.

I loved my grandfather when he was alive. I love him now that he’s gone. And I will love him for every day of my life.
I love my parents right now. I will love them long after they’re gone. And I will love them for every day of my life.

Same goes for my grandmother, aunt, uncles, brother, cousins and for my friends.

They will not be permanent. But my love for them, is.

In this case, it’s the same with that little puppy.

Even though we only had her for 4 days, we had her for 4 pretty amazing days. And we all loved her, and still love her. We all cherish those 4 days and while it would hurt a lot less if we’d never met her, it’s really better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

Because at the end of the day, we have to accept this one truth: Nothing is permanent.

And I don’t say that with bitterness either. It’s with acceptance and a wistful smile.

Your parents aren’t always going to be around. So be spiritually, emotionally present with them when they are.
Your friends aren’t always going to be around. Give it all you have. Be the best friend that you can be. So when either one of you has to leave, you both know you were the best.
Someone you love isn’t always going to be around. So live each moment with them, not against them. Appreciate each other, and take a pause in your busy life to say, “I’m here. Right now. With you. And right now, that is all that matters”.
A child will not always be a child. Cultivate that bond, that feeling and enjoy his/her young years.

Really, my lesson is this: Cherish every moment you have. Because it is ALL you have. Live for the moment and enjoy each moment. The next may not be the same. And when you look back on those moments, you know that you lived it fully, you cherished it fully, and you were there fully.

]]> http://xinch.com.my/loving-losing-lessons-learned-909/feed/ 2 http://xinch.com.my/things-bee-sim-says-that-crack-me-up-905/ http://xinch.com.my/things-bee-sim-says-that-crack-me-up-905/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:32:08 +0000 xinch http://xinch.com.my/?p=905 If you know Bee Sim like I do, she’s full of critical nonsense.

She just sent me the video of “We Are The World 25″ for Haiti

It’s a really good song, mind you, and I love that Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie placed all the strong vocalists in the beginning, where I feel more emotion and power is needed to convey the message of the song – Jennifer Hudson, Josh Groban, Pink, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion.. you know what I mean.

But Bee Sim has beef with the fact that Miley Cyrus has a few lines among the greats.

Here’s an excerpt of our conversation:

This is what I mean:

Take #1 — Rais Yatim’s urge for a “wider use of the National language in the private sector” to further dignify it.

The ministry — with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) — would carry out continuous campaigns to “enculture Bahasa Malaysia usage” as well as make it an appealing language.

Don’t know bout you, but that sounds pretty communistic to me.

Among them was that the leaders should communicate well and more often in the national language, including at official meetings, while it was also suggested that forums and conventions held in the country not be conducted in English.

Right. And I’m assuming you want all expats working in Malaysia to sit for a 1 year course on BM as well.Oh. And while we’re at it, the rest of the world. Since, I don’t know, the private firms in Malaysia generally deal with international corporations?

Check out his verbal diarrhea here >>

Oh.. and watch him changing “mode” here :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Take #2 — #yorais, time to take your eyes (and mouth really) outta your ass and face the 21st century

He added that facilities like internet (Facebook, Twitter and… I don’t know, L-Band? -_- )could not be accepted wholly because it was a form of business introduced by the West and “Malaysians were just users.”

“They are just selling Facebook, Twitter, L-Band and various other services, even through space, as a product but we do not do such business. We accept all this in a state of cultural shock,” he said.

Perhaps it’s his old, ancient mouth speaking from where the sun don’t shine… so, I’m not even going to dignify this with a response.

Check out his verbal diarrhea here >>

Take #3 — Nazri Aziz says, “But THEY started it!” *points finger at The Herald*

“It’s not the fault of the government. Let it be known that it was Tan Sri Pakiam, not the government, who brought the matter to court,” Nazri stressed.

If there was to be any out-of-court settlement over the “Allah” row, Pakiam, as the official publisher of Herald — the Catholic Weekly, must make the first move, the government minister added.

“I got no choice as the minister in charge of law. Because of Tan Sri Pakiam, I must be the person to advise the government that we must use the courts-lah,” Nazri, who is also Padang Renggas MP said.

Honestly? What is this… kindergarten? Of course, he neglects to add that the Home Ministry banned it first.

Instead, he noted that the judge is not a Muslim, and had ruled over a matter that concerned the “akidah” (faith) of the Muslim community.

I thought neutrality is upheld in the judiciary. If the judge is not christian / catholic, and not Muslim, I’m assuming he/she makes the best decision for both parties from an on the fence perspective.

The Umno man said in the Borneo states the people had embraced the “1 Malaysia” concept a long time ago, unlike in the west where racial lines are still very apparent.

Dude. They’ve been using Allah for 300 years. So have we. So mengapa pula cari pasal skarang?

“I’m very liberal, I’m very confident, but if I try to explain to them… no way,” Nazri disclosed, referring to his contituents when asked how real the worry was that Christians would try and convert Muslims if the High Court ruling was upheld.

“Those people not in politics, they can say anything. But people like me, I depend on my voters,” the federal lawmaker said.

“I may look liberal but my constituents are not,” he added.

So… genius. You’re openly admitting that this public charade and cat-mouse-chase is all for… political gain?

“If everyone prays to Allah, they’ll all be Muslim. It’s a good ploy for Muslims to convert non-Muslims,” he quipped.

Pot calling kettle black. Your earlier fear was Christians would try to convert Muslims by calling God “Allah”.

Check out his verbal diarrhea here >>

This whole church / Allah / Internet nonsense is getting out of hand. So dudes in our Cabinet / Parliament, hear me out here.

Message to Malaysian Politicians:

Instead of bickering over all this shit and not respecting the court’s decision, why don’t you just do your job and govern our country right.

Instead of worrying about Bahasa Malaysia, whether we’re being “brainwashed” by Twitter and Facebook and fearing that the Christians are on the move to convert all Muslims by declaring that God and Allah are the same, allow me to suggest far more urgent things you should be dedicating your attention to:

• Investigating the MACC’s involvement in Teoh Beng Hock’s death.
• The whole Port Klang Free Zone joke
• The VK Lingam case.. and properly investigating it instead of sweeping it under the carpet
• The hilarity that was our stolen jet engines
• The brainwashing Biro Tata Negara nonsense
• The rape of the Penans
• and Khir Toyo’s misues of Selangor State funds (I mean, that huge ass mansion? Pfft, guys. Seriously, how stupid do you think Malaysians are?

(Taken, and slightly adapted from RibutKL)

Your thoughts?

….

Facebook guys, just in case the videos don’t load, you can read the full post here if anything is missing: http://www.xinch.com.my

In fact, I was so horrified at this woman’s completely misguided and misled portrayal of Islam and Malaysia that I felt compelled to respond with this:

I felt a strong need to stand up for my country and reiterate the lack of persecution by Muslims in Malaysia. In fact, I wasn’t the only one. Gabby, the copywriter I work with, had the same sentiments and even extended her defense to Muslims in general.

For 24 hours, I found such claims so ridiculous and my colleagues and I spent many moments wondering where people like these get ideas planted in their heads. I mean — elimination and persecution? All my life as a Christian living in Malaysia, I have never been persecuted. And I have not known of any other Christians being persecuted.

Until I came into the office this morning, and read this >>

In fact, last I checked, we’re right on the front page of BBC News Online, right under “More Top Stories” and with a header image to boot.

Suddenly, it hit me. Perhaps this Elizabeth woman wasn’t so far off after all. Is she predicting what may come?

After all, in the past 12 hours, the number of churches fire-bombed has increased to 4 and according to various news sources, even more phone threats have been reported.

For those of you who are not aware (how can you not, though), this follows hot on the heels of the “Allah” debate in our country.

Our politicians disrespectfully disagreed with the High Court’s decision to allow a Catholic weekly to use the word “Allah” in their Bahasa Malaysia circulation and went ahead to appeal to an even higher court. In fact, they appealed as the “Prime Minister’s Department”.

Honestly, this speaks volumes. It’s essentially saying that our entire government is completely against the decision made by the judiciary. The implications this appeal has is tremendous.

Even more so disappointing is our Prime Minister’s reaction (or lackthereof) to the entire fiasco.

The Prime Minister said he viewed the matter seriously as these actions could jeopardise harmony, adding that the Government would take all possible action to prevent such incident from recurring. (Source: theStar)

In any other country, whether for PR or public gain, a full and official statement is usually made, almost immediately, by the premier following such acts of terrorism. Why? Because a proper, strong and unwavering stance should be made by the leader of the country.

But all our PM said (or reportedly said) was that he condemns it because it jeopardises our harmony and to not blame UMNO for instigating such violent responses?

Where is mention of our freedom of worship?
Where does he say that such acts are unIslamic?

Perhaps he means to maintain that everyone is innocent, until proven guilty. But the truth is this…

“Is it enough to just say ‘stop overreacting and being overzealous and stop jumping to conclusions’?”

I don’t know about you. But any moderately intelligent person can deduce that an act of terrorism performed four times in 12 hours using the same modus operandi is premeditated.

And any moderately intelligent person can deduce that it very possibly has something to do with the fact that protests against the use of “Allah” in Christian publications were scheduled to be held today.

Perhaps, sir, a better response would be to address the possibilities, and not sweep it under the carpet. Perhaps, then, you would increase the amount of respect your people have for you and that of the world. By taking a strong stance, you lead not only the voice of your party, but the voice of your community, and the voice of your country.

For those of you professing hate for our Muslim brothers and sisters, please refrain from doing so. I strongly believe that the acts of a few do not represent the thoughts of the majority.

Any act of terrorism, particularly against a house of worship, is condemned in the Quran. Surah 22, Verse 40 of the Quran says:

“(They are) those who have been expelled from their homes in defiance of right,- (for no cause) except that they say, “our Lord is Allah.. Did not Allah check one set of people by means of another, there would surely have been pulled down monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the name of Allah is commemorated in abundant measure. Allah will certainly aid those who aid his (cause);- for verily Allah is full of Strength, Exalted in Might, (able to enforce His Will)”.( Quran 22:40)

(Taken from the blog of Anas Zubedy)

Christianity and Islam share the same birth land, the same language, and the same prophets. In fact, we are more similar than the modern world makes us out to be.

Perhaps the solution to all this would be to have a public and educated forum on religions. Instead of focusing on our differences, why not focus on our similarities? Why not increase the awareness of the fact that Allah is God, and God is Allah?

At the end of the day, one thing stands out very clearly — Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

So why are we still fighting?

Truth is, I’m more sad, than I am angry. Dark days will come from this. Local news reports say that “no one has been hurt in these attacks”. But the truth is this…

Irregardless of race, religion, ethnicity or nationality.

We have all been hurt.

So to all my friends, irregardless of your faith, let us pray.

Let us pray for our nation’s strength.
Let us pray for the hand of the Lord to guide our leaders as they navigate our people and country through such troubled times.
Let us pray for fairness, transparency and truth in this investigation.
Let us pray for clear minds for our people.
Let us pray for that our wonderful Muslim brothers and sisters stand up, speak up and dissociate themselves from such acts of terrorism.
Let us pray for light in this time of darkness.
Let us pray for love among our people.

For my friends who do not adhere to any particular religious belief / doctrine, let us possess the same intentions.

The same intentions of fairness, transparency and truth in our country. The same intentions of light.

We really only have one world, and one lifetime to live in it.

But if you only have love for your own race
Then you only leave space to discriminate
And to discriminate only generates hate
And when you hate then you’re bound to get irate, yeah
Madness is what you demonstrate
And that’s exactly how anger works and operates
Man, you gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love, y’all, y’all…

Instead of spreading love we’re spreading animosity
Lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity

Where is the love?